Do sperm and lubricants gel well with each other?:A systematic review

Vaginal lubricants are commonly used to aid sexual pleasure and/or to help combat vaginal dryness and dyspareunia. Several studies have reported their impact on sperm function, however there are no published guidelines to help healthcare professionals and couples select a vaginal lubricant that is 'sperm-safe'. To address this, we conducted a literature search using both PubMed and Scopus to identify and appraise manuscripts that reported the impact of lubricants on sperm function. We did not restrict the literature search by year of publication, and we only included manuscripts that looked at the impact of vaginal lubricants on human sperm. The quality of the eligible studies was assessed using the Björndahl et al., (2016) checklist for semen analysis, as most of the studies reported the findings of a basic semen analysis. A total of 24 articles were eligible for analysis with a total of 35 vaginal lubricants (that were available to buy over the counter) being included, 2 of which studied the effect of vaginal lubricants on sperm function in vivo, and 22 being conducted in vitro. KY Jelly, PreSeed and Astroglide were most studied, with most manuscripts focussing on their impact on sperm motility. A paucity of data on most lubricants combined with methodological variations between studies and limited/no reporting on pregnancy outcomes means greater efforts are required before an evidence-based guideline can be published.</p

Do sperm and lubricants gel well with each other?:A systematic review

Vaginal lubricants are commonly used to aid sexual pleasure and/or to help combat vaginal dryness and dyspareunia. Several studies have reported their impact on sperm function, however there are no published guidelines to help healthcare professionals and couples select a vaginal lubricant that is 'sperm-safe'. To address this, we conducted a literature search using both PubMed and Scopus to identify and appraise manuscripts that reported the impact of lubricants on sperm function. We did not restrict the literature search by year of publication, and we only included manuscripts that looked at the impact of vaginal lubricants on human sperm. The quality of the eligible studies was assessed using the Björndahl et al., (2016) checklist for semen analysis, as most of the studies reported the findings of a basic semen analysis. A total of 24 articles were eligible for analysis with a total of 35 vaginal lubricants (that were available to buy over the counter) being included, 2 of which studied the effect of vaginal lubricants on sperm function in vivo, and 22 being conducted in vitro. KY Jelly, PreSeed and Astroglide were most studied, with most manuscripts focussing on their impact on sperm motility. A paucity of data on most lubricants combined with methodological variations between studies and limited/no reporting on pregnancy outcomes means greater efforts are required before an evidence-based guideline can be published.</p

Bioremediation of oil waste under field experiment

The remediation process of oily waste, selected in the tank battery, was conducted under field experiment. Compost (5 and 50%), prepared from the organic fraction of municipal solid waste, sewage sludge and sawdust, as well as two strains of soil bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis RG2 and Bacillus pumilus RG1 were used for remediation process. The lowest amount of petroleum hydrocarbons was detected when mixing waste with soil and compost at the amount of 50%. In the first case noted effect was achieved by increasing the number of hydrocarbon oxidizing bacteria, whereas in the second case it was attained by increasing the total microbial biomass and metabolic activity of the mixtures. Adding microorganisms-destructors did not have a significant effect on the hydrocarbon decomposition process. Taking into account the relevancy for soil resources preservation, the use of compost for bioremediation seems to be the most promising technique. © IDOSI Publications, 2014

Effects of leakage of compounds from radioactive oily waste on soil microbial community

The study deals with the effects of disposal of oily waste containing natural radionuclides on chemical and biological properties of different soil layers. Two wastes were used in a laboratory experiment: raw oily waste H (TPH - 575±121 g kg-1,226Ra - 4403±312,232Th - 2848±211, 40K - 1276±133 Bq kg-1) from a production yard, and treated waste R obtained by eluting oily components from waste H. The wastes were disposed on soil columns (H-and R-columns), at the amount equalized by the concentration of radionuclides. C-columns without waste disposed were used as a control. After 30 days of irrigation, soil properties of layers 0-20,20-40 and 40-60cm were estimated. TPH content in all the layers of H-columns was significantly higher than in C- and R-columns. Activity concentrations of 226Ra and 232Th in R0-20 samples were 3.5 times higher than in control samples. Soil microbial biomass decreased from the upper to the lower layer in all the columns. Significant reduction of microbial biomass in the upper layer of column H was observed in comparison with columns C and R (12, 26 and 22 mg Cmic kg-1 correspondingly). Respiration activity in samples H0-20 was 2.4 and 1.5 times higher in comparison to C0-20 and Rn.20 samples. Hydrocarbon oxidizing bacterial counts was significantly higher in all the samples of H-column, whereas there were no differences in total bacteria counts. On the basis of cluster analysis of the data obtained, it was concluded that namely the oily compounds cause the alteration in microbial communities, especially in the upper layer of soil. The effect of radionuclides on soil microbiota was not observed

High-tech businesses management based on the trends of explicit and implicit knowledge markets

© 2015, Asian Social Science. All rights reserved. The research presents a model of high-tech businesses management, basing on the trends of explicit and explicit knowledge market; classification of high-tech businesses, taking into consideration the three types of economic activity: high-, middle- and low-tech; possibilities to manage the life span of high-tech business basing on its market value, technological innovations costs and business indicators. The research is based upon: authors’ methodology of explicit and implicit knowledge market analysis; methodology of classification of the types of industrial production and science-intensive services; the knowledge management model; methodological materials of the Russian Agency on Statistics (Rosstat), statistical data of the National research university “Higher School of Economics”

Assessing the efficiency of methods for the bioremediation of oil production wastes

The results obtained during the laboratory remediation modeling of oil-containing waste (652 g/kg) and natural radionuclides (Ra226, Th232, and K40) using the methods of landfarming, biostimulation, and bioaugmentation are given in the article. It is found that landfarming and biostimulation decrease the content of oil products and phytotoxicity of the waste. Landfarming is the most rapid process. © 2013 Pleiades Publishing, Ltd

Eco-toxicity of oily wastes containing TENORM

Oily wastes are considered as one of the most hazardous waste types. Additionally to petroleum components, they can contain radioactive elements. This study aimed to estimate the toxicity of four raw and two treated waste samples obtained from petroleum production yard. Eight elutriate bioassays using plants (Raphanus sativus and algae Scenedesmus quadricauda), crustacean (Daphnia magna and Thamnocephalus platyurus), rotifer (Brachionus calyciflorus), protozoa (Paramecium caudatum) and bacteria (Bacillus pumilus and luminescent commercial strain) were used. Two contact bioassays based on R. sativus and B. pumilus were applied. Total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) content and activity concentrations of radium, thorium and potassium were determined. Copyright © 2014 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd

Changes of hydrocarbon and oil fractions contents in oily waste treated by different methods of bioremediation

In this study content of oil fractions in wastes produced was estimated during oil extraction and transportation. It was demonstrated, that these wastes differ in their fraction content: either aromatic or saturated hydrocarbons are dominant. In modeling of bioremediation processes by means of composting with soil, compost and addition of selected microorganisms, different speed of degradation of different oily fractions was revealed. In case of low final content of oil, concentration of asphaltens and resins, in case of uncompleted degradation of hydrocarbons concentrations of asphaltens and aromatic hydrocarbons became higher

Oily waste containing natural radionuclides: Does it cause stimulation or inhibition of soil bacterial community?

© 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim. Contamination with oily wastes containing natural radionuclides is a potential hazard for soil health and function. Our study aimed to reveal both structural and functional changes of the microbial community resistant to and able to decompose oily wastes in soil. To do this, we determined CO2 efflux, microbial biomass (by the extraction-fumigation method), and community structure (by PCR-SSCP) for 120 d after application of radioactive oily wastes to the soil at the ratio 1:4. The addition of the waste resulted in an increase of the activity concentration of 226Ra by 130 times (up to 643 Bq kg-1) and of 232Th by 29 times (up to 254 Bq kg-1). The calculated weighted dose for the radionuclide 226Ra was found to be below the values that are known to affect microorganisms. However, the cumulative effect of a repeated deposition of radioactive oily waste may result in an increase of the weighted dose up to an effective level. During the incubation, the hydrocarbon (HC) content of the waste-treated soil decreased from 156 to 54 g kg-1 of soil indicating intensive decomposition of added organics by soil microorganisms. The waste application, however, led to an inhibition of soil microbial biomass compared with the control (by 26-47%). Microbial respiration was stimulated in the first month of incubation and then decreased until the end of the incubation period (by up to 74% compared to the control). The qCO2 was estimated to be 3-fold higher than the control on day 1 of incubation and equal to the control on day 120 of incubation. The bacterial diversity decreased in the contaminated soil compared with the control soil. The bacterial community structure was altered by domination of new oil degrader species belonging to the genera Dyella, Pseudoxanthomonas, Sinobacter, and Parvibaculum. Thus, disposal of radioactive petroleum waste strongly altered the structure of the microbial community resulting in the selection of resistant species able to decompose pollutants and also affected the community function (inhibition of microbial biomass and stimulation of respiration) which tended to stabilize after long-term incubation

Arterial Stiffness Parameters and Subendocardial Viability Ratio in Patients with Arterial Hypertension Affected by Subclinical and Clinical Atherosclerosis

Aim. Assessment the arteries' stiffness parameters and subendocardial viability ratio in hypertensive patients with various degrees of severity of the atherosclerotic process manifestation.Material and methods. 133 hypertensive patients were divided into 3 groups, similar in age and sex, depending on the severity of the atherosclerotic process: hypertensive patients without atherosclerosis (n=42; 53.3±7.6 years); patients with hypertension and  subclinical  atherosclerosis  (SА) (n=52; 56.5±8.0 years); patients with hypertension and coronary artery disease (CAD) (n=39; 57.4±6.8years) and control group which consisted of individuals without cardiovascular diseases (n=33; 54.6±8.4 years). All participants underwent 24-hour blood pressure monitoring with assessment of arterial stiffness parameters and subendocardial viability ratio (SERV).Results. Subjects from all groups with hypertension have significantly higher mean systolic blood pressure (SBP) (131.1±11.9, 127.8±14.8, 128.6±15.3 respectively; p&lt;0.001), as well as central systolic blood pressure (SBPao) (122.0±11.0, 118.8±12.7, 119.9±13.3 respectively; p&lt;0.001), pulse pressure (PP) (46.4±9.8, 45.6±10.6, 48.9±12.0 respectively; p&lt;0.05) and central pulse pressure (PPao) (35.5±8.5, 34.9±8.5, 38.5±9.6 respectively; p&lt;0.05), pulse wave velocity in aorta (PWVao) (11.3±1.5, 12.3±1.8, 11.5±1.7 respectively; p&lt;0.05) compared with control group (SBP 116.3±7.3; SBPao 108.9±6.4, PP 39.9±6.5, PPao 30.9±5.4, PWVao 10.4±1.3). In hypertensive patients with SA, PWVao was significantly higher compared to other groups (p&lt;0.05). With bringing the indicator to SBP 100 mmHg and HR=60 beats/min, there were no differences between the control group and the group with hypertension (p=0.3), also groups with hypertension+SA and hypertension+CAD did not significantly differ from each other (p=0.6). SERV in subjects with hypertension+SA was significantly lower than in patients with hypertension (p&lt;0.05) and no significant differences were detected with the group with hypertension+CAD (p=0.77).Conclusions. In hypertensive patients with SA, a decrease in subendocardial perfusion is associated with an increase in pulse wave velocity in aorta. Moreover, such a decrease in perfusion approaches to the values of patients suffering from coronary artery disease, which indicates significant changes in the small vessels of the heart that form the coronary reserve