Recent Articles

There are widespread eutrophication problems in lakes and rivers in China. Eutrophication means that the water body receives too much nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, and the organic matter is excessive. When the algae dies, it rots, causing the water quality to deteriorate, thereby causing damage and destruction of the ecological functions of the water, bringing huge use of water resources. loss. While a considerable number of countries or regions use lakes, rivers, etc. as drinking water sources, the problems caused by eutrophication cannot be ignored, and it is urgent to find a reliable and effective method to provide safe water supply. The combination process with ultrafiltration as the core removes algae and has good effects, low energy consumption, simple process and easy control, and has broad application prospects in the future water treatment industry. However, the problem of membrane fouling is still seriously hindering the further development of membrane technology in the water treatment industry.

This project aims to determine the effect of different coarse aggregate sizes and type on the compressive strength of concrete. The most important property of concrete is its compressive strength. The exceeding strength of concrete is as a result of the presence of coarse aggregate. Normal concrete is being produced from different types of aggregate and size and this imparts different property to the resulting concrete. The research has established that the coarse aggregates and their sizes play critical roles in the development of adequate strength in concrete. Fine aggregate is normal sand obtained from a borrow pit. Preliminary laboratory investigation was conducted to ascertain the suitability of using the aggregates for construction work. Tests conducted include sieve analysis, bulk density, and specific gravity. From the graph of the sieve analysis for fine and coarse aggregate, the coefficient of uniformity calculated was 1.5 and 3.45 respectively. It was observed that with proper mixing, the slump test results did not witness shear or collapse type of slump rather there were true slump in all cases of the test. The result of the slump test for 12.5mm, 19.5mm, and 25mm coarse aggregate were 60, 100, and 90. The workability decreased with slight differences when the coarse aggregate size was increased. Three different sizes of coarse aggregates with 25mm maximum size for both processed (granite) and sand stone (Local stone) were employed in the investigation, namely; 12.5mm, 19.5mm and 25mm. The grading and relative densities of the aggregates were studied. The mix ratio and water / cement ratio adopted for the study was 1:2:4 and 0.5 respectively. Twelve concrete cubes (72 total) (150mm× 150mm×150mm) were cast for each coarse aggregate size and type of which three were crushed at each maturity age namely; 7, 14, 21 and 28 days. The 28 day strength…

Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) is a thrombotic microangiopathy that is characterized by intravascular hemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenia and acute renal failure. Typical form occurred with the shiga-like toxin produced by Escherichia coli bacterium or Shigella dysenteriae bacterium while atypical HUS is sporadic or familial form of the disease which develops due to uncontrolled activation in alternative complement pathway. It may present with recurrent attacks and it has a potential of poor prognosis. In this case report we presented a 36-year-old woman in her 22nd week pregnancy without any history of chronic disease or medication whom admitted to hospital with abdominal pain, bloody diarrhea, oliguria and diagnosed with atypical HUS. She was diagnosed with ileus at the first month of Eculizumab treatment and a polyploid lesion obstructing the lumen of the colon was detected. Pathologic examination of the mass revealed a chronic active inflammatory lesion.

The Jammu and Kashmir state is covered by lofty mountains hang dense forests everywhere consists of three divisions i.e., Jammu division, Kashmir division and Ladakh division, and the state is further divided into 22 districts. Kashmir division consists of 10 districts each whereas Ladakh division consists of 2 districts. Srinagar is the summer capital of J&K state. Plants have been traditionally used for hundreds of years throughout globe as a source of medicine. Forest resources in the state of Jammu and Kashmir have played the most significant role in the economy of the state. The present study was conducted to know the attitude of women towards use of medicinal plants in Kashmir valley. In this paper, a well designed and validated questionnaire was used to collect the information from a sample of 400 women who visited unani hospitals selected randomly from Srinagar district of Kashmir valley. The results of our study showed that women show positive attitude towards the use of medicinal plants during illness. The women’s under study further revealed that due to less expenditure and side effect of modern medicines they are encouraged by elders to use medicinal plants for treatment. It is concluded from our study that there is an urgent need of giving mass awareness on importance of forests and medicinal plants to the women of Kashmir valley. Finally, in this paper, we discuss the importance of medicinal plants and suggestions were given which definitely help in conservation of the fast eroding precious medicinal plants of the Kashmir valley.

It is well known that aging is the process of becoming older. It is also associated normally with a progressive loss of biological functions – both physical and mental –, underlied by naturally-occurring changes at the molecular level that may lead to the development of so-called aging-related health problems – e.g., Parkinson’s Disease, dementia, memory loss, cerebrovascular problems and Alzheimer’s Disease. Along this idea, a fundamental question remains – are self-consciousness and mindfulness also affected by these physiological or pathophysiological changes? This short article summarizes briefly some of the key sementic, conceptual, methodological and physiological issues that shall be addressed prior to tentatively providing answers to comparable questions.

Propanediol (1,3-propanediol) is an ingredient increasingly used by the industry for electronic cigarettes, personal care creams and anti-aging serums among many other products. For some skin care purposes, it is used to enhance the transdermal absorption of other ingredients (e.g., the actives) enabling moisturizing effects and skin smoothness to be improved. Propanediol may be derived from corn although synthetic forms also exist. It is a chemical similar to other glycols such as propylene glycol (1,2-propanediol) but generally believed to be safer. This short communication reveals in fact that only limited scientific evidence of safety is available. Preliminary signs of toxicity have been found following administration of propanediol in humans although its dose-dependent toxicity and long-term side effects on health have not been significantly explored. Consequently, as of today, skin care and anti-aging products for elderly, a vulnerable population, should not automatically be considered as safe. Those comprising 1,3-propanediol should probably be used with caution until scientifically-proven safety data for the intended purposes are obtained by independent scientists.

This paper investigates the design and operation of an intermodal terminal for Underground Freight Transportation (UFT) system. UFT is considered as a new mode of freight transportation that uses pipelines for transporting freight between two intermodal terminals. The load size and route length of the UFT system can be variable depending on the purpose and specifications of the project. In this paper two sizes of loads and two route lengths are considered to show that the terminal design and operation are independent from route length and load size. Each UFT route starts at the Port of Houston where shipping container or pallet size loads will be delivered to the UFT system. The short-haul route ends at a proposed intermodal satellite terminal outside Houston and the long-haul route terminates in a proposed intermodal inland port in Dallas. This paper develops inclusive equations to estimate the operational attributes of the UFT intermodal terminal. These attributes include operational headway, system flow, fleet size, and number of handlers/forklifts required in operation of the terminal. Based on the terminal operation requirements, a typical design for a UFT intermodal terminal is presented. In addition, the loading/unloading process and the freight circulation scheme are discussed. Although, this schematic terminal design and operation are for shipping container loads, but the same concept can be applied to smaller scale loads such as pallets.

The paradigm shift from traditional teaching to new methodologies faces the challenges of current implementation in universities, especially in health courses where it is necessary to adequately train professionals in ethical and moral aspects for social work and working in teams with social responsibility, with the capacity to adapt to technological challenges and the incessant search for knowledge. Active teaching methodologies are one of the options that can be applied to higher education in order to improve the training of students, preparing them to solve the problems that are bound to present themselves in professional activities. To verify whether or not an active methodology can improve learning within the difficult circumstances of traditional teaching of the neural pathways and structures of the spinal cord and encephalon in the basic discipline of neuroanatomy. Simple materials such as wood, A4 paper, cardboard, colored pencils or pens, colored threads and adhesive tapes were used to produce three-dimensional models that represent the pathways and structures of the medulla, brain stem, cerebellum and brain. The students were divided into groups of 5 and built the models after studying the textbook, internet sites and atlas. Another process was the condensing of various data to construct structure schemes, with free access to the websites in all cases. The models were made and studied, as well as the schemes. Spontaneous information from the students showed positive acceptance of the method, with few negative points being cited, at least not directly to the professor. The use of three-dimensional model constructions, two-dimensional schemes and digital technology in the teaching of neuroanatomy, integrated with an active methodology process, allowed the students to gain autonomy in the studies and develop a more comprehensive view of the content, to the extent that they felt satisfied in seeing the final model generated by their…

This work discusses the relationship of the biological aging between mole-rats and rats through a unified approach from the perspective of thermodynamics. Taking calorimetric data from some published studies of the metabolism on mole-rats and rats, it is calculated the entropy production rate. It is observed that the entropy production rate in rats decays with chronological age, and develops a kind of first order phase transition. However, the mole-rats, showed that entropy production rate did not change significantly with age and exhibits a slightly higher value as an average compared to the rats analyzed. This result can be interpreted in terms of a mole-rats exhibit a more robustness, i.e. greater plasticity than rats. Furthermore, it is shown that the entropy production rate could be consider as a physical marker of biological age and a predictor of Lifespan.

Ergotamine and its derivatives were used for multiple diseases; in the nineties, its use in association with caffeine was considered a standard treatment for migraines, although it has been in decline, due to the evidenced toxic effects related to its chronic use including vascular, cardiovascular and central nervous system manifestations. In this article is reported a case of a 59-year-old female with chronic use of caffeine plus ergotamine for more than 20 years; afterwards she develops peripheral artery disease, severe mitral and tricuspid valve regurgitation with requirement of valve replacement. In the absence of past cardiovascular history and rheumatic fever, its clinical evolution and pathology results are associated with ergotism.