Search results for: body length

Authors: Sabrina Barsky, Ashley Monks

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In humans, exercise improves symptoms of various pathological states, although exercise adaptations seem to differ in response to sex. Skeletal muscle anabolism is thought to be regulated by androgen receptor (AR) through poorly specified mechanisms. Interactions of AR and exercise on muscle phenotype remain inconclusive in males, and undetermined in females. We hypothesized that sex differences in exercise adaptations are regulated by the androgenic system and the type of exercise performed. Here we examined interactions between a muscle-specific AR overexpression transgene (HSA-AR) and forced aerobic exercise paradigm on muscle and adipose exercise adaptation in male and female rats. We used dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) to examine body composition adaptations post 9-week exercise protocol. We replicated the effects of HSA-AR on body composition, with males only having increased % lean mass and reduced % fat mass (P<0.05). Aerobic exercise improved lean body phenotype significantly, with lesser indices of total and % fat mass (P<0.01) in both sexes. Sex-specific effects of exercise included decreased total body mass (P<0.01) in males and increased lean mass % (P<0.001) in females. Surprisingly, neither AR manipulation nor exercise affected bone parameters in either sex. This varied response in total mass and lean mass according to exercise presents a sexually dimorphic response to exercise. Neither sex showed an interaction between HSA-AR and forced aerobic exercise on body composition. Future work is proposed to examine the effects of exercise type (aerobic versus resistance) and the role of gonadal androgens in sexually dimorphic exercise-mediated mitochondrial adaptations. This work implicates the development of sex-specific exercise therapies.

Keywords: androgen receptor, forced exercise, muscle physiology, sexual dimorphism

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Authors: Xiquan Weng, Chaoge Wang, Guoqin Xu, Wentao Lin

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Objective: Cold exposure and exercise serve as two powerful physiological stimuli to launch the conversion of fat-accumulating white adipose tissue (WAT) into energy-dissipating brown adipose tissue (BAT). So far, it remains to be elucidated whether exercise plus cold exposure can produce an addictive effect on promoting WAT browning. Methods: 64 SD rats were subjected to high-fat and high-sugar diets for 9-week and successfully established an obesity model. They were randomly divided into 8 groups: normal control group (NC), normal exercise group (NE), continuous cold control group (CC), continuous cold exercise group (CE), intermittent cold control group (IC) and intermittent cold exercise group (IE). For continuous cold exposure, the rats stayed in a cold environment all day; For intermittent cold exposure, the rats were exposed to cold for only 4h per day. The protocol for treadmill exercises were as follows: 25m/min (speed), 0°C (slope), 30mins each time, an interval for 10 mins between two exercises, twice/two days, lasting for 5 weeks. Sampling were conducted on the 5th weekend. The body length and weight of the rats were measured, and the Lee's index was calculated. The visceral fat rate (VFR), subcutaneous fat rate (SFR), brown fat rate (BrFR) and body fat rate (BoFR) were measured by Micro-CT LCT200, and the expression of UCP1 protein in inguinal fat was examined by Western-blot. SPSS 22.0 was used for statistical analysis of the experimental results, and the ANOVA analysis was performed between groups (P < 0.05 was significant). Results: (1) Compared with the NC group, the weight of obese rats was significantly declined in the NE, CE and IE groups (P < 0.05), the Lee's index of obese rats significantly declined in the CE group (P < 0.05). Compared with the NE group, the weight of obese rats was significantly declined in the CE and IE groups (P < 0.05). (2)Compared with the NC group, the VFR and BoFR of the rats significantly declined in the NE, CE and IE groups (P < 0.05), the SFR of the rats significantly declined in the CE and IE groups (P < 0.05), and the BFR of the rats was significantly higher in the CC and IC groups (P < 0.05), respectively. Compared with the NE group, the VFR and BoFR of the rats significantly declined in the CE group (P < 0.05), the SFR of the rats was significantly higher in the CC and IS groups (P < 0.05), and the BrFR of the rats was significantly higher in the IC group (P < 0.05). (3)Compared with the NC group, the up-regulation of UCP1 protein expression in the inguinal fat of the rats was significant in the NE, CC, CE, IC and IE groups (P < 0.05). Compared with the NE group, the up-regulation of UCP1 protein expression in the inguinal fat of the rats was significant in the CC, CE and IE groups (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Exercise in the continuous and intermittent cold, especially in the former, can effectively decline the weight and body fat rate of obese rats. This is related to the effect of cold and exercise on the browning of white fat in rats.

Keywords: cold, browning of white fat, exercise, obesity

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Authors: M. Jathaveda, Joben Leons, G. Vidya

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Reentry from orbit is a critical phase in the entry trajectory. For a non-propulsive ballistic entry, static and dynamic stability play an important role in the trajectory, especially for the safe deployment of parachutes, typically at subsonic Mach numbers. Static stability of flight vehicles are being estimated through CFD techniques routinely. Advances in CFD software as well as computational facilities have enabled the estimation of the dynamic stability derivatives also through CFD techniques. Longitudinal static and dynamic stability of a typical reentry body for subsonic Mach number of 0.6 is predicted using commercial software CFD++ and presented here. Steady state simulations are carried out for α = 2° on an unstructured grid using SST k-ω model. Transient simulation using forced oscillation method is used to compute pitch damping derivatives.

Keywords: stability, typical reentry body, subsonic, static and dynamic

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Authors: Nafiseh Ebrahimi, Gautham Muthukumaran, Amir Jafari

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Human walking gait is considered to be the most efficient biped walking gait. There are various types of gait human follows during locomotion and arm swing is one of the most important factors which controls and differentiates human gaits. Earlier studies declared a 7% reduction in the metabolic cost due to the arm swing. In this research, we compared different types of arm swings in terms of metabolic cost reduction and then suggested, designed, fabricated and tested a quasi-passive upper body exoskeleton to study the metabolic cost reduction in the folded arm walking gate scenarios. Our experimental results validate a 10% reduction in the metabolic cost of walking aided by the application of the proposed exoskeleton.

Keywords: arm swing, MET (metabolic equivalent of a task), calorimeter, oxygen consumption, upper body quasi-passive exoskeleton

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Authors: Vladyslav Povoroznyuk, Galina Dubetska, Roksolana Povoroznyuk

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In recent years, the problem of hyperuricemia is getting a particular importance due to its increased incidence in the world population. The aim of this study was to determine uriс acid level in blood serum, incidence of hyperuricemia among women in postmenopausal period and their association with body mass index and some components of metabolic syndrome (triglyceride, cholesterol, systolic and diastolic pressure). We examined 412 women in postmenopausal period. They were divided in to the following groups: I group (BMI = 18,5-24,9), II group (BMI = 25,0-29,9), III group (BMI = 30,0-34,9), IV group (BMI > 35). We determined uric acid level among women during postmenopausal period depending on their body mass index. The higher level of uric acid was found in patients with the maximal body mass index (BMI > 35). In the I group it was 277,52 ± 8,40; in the II group – 286,81 ± 7,79; in the III group – 291,81 ± 7,56; in the IV group – 327,17 ± 12,17. Incidence of hyperuricemia among women in the I group was 10,2%, in the II group – 15,9%; in the III group – 21,2%, in the IV group – 34,2%. We found an interdependence between an uric acid level and BMI in the examined women (r = 0,21, p < 0,05). We determined that the highest level of triglyceride (F = 18,62, p < 0,05), cholesterol (F = 3,64, p < 0,05), atherogenic coefficient (F = 22,64, p < 0,05), systolic (F = 10,5, p < 0,05) and diastolic pressure (F = 4,30, p < 0,05) was among women with hyperuricemia. It was an interdependence between an uric acid level and triglyceride (r = 0,26, p < 0,05), atherogenic coefficient (r = 0,24, p < 0,05) among women in postmenopausal period.

Keywords: hyperuricemia, uric acid, body mass index, women

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Authors: Jiahe Liu, Hongyang Yu, Miao Luo, Feng Qian

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The widespread application of 3D human body reconstruction spans various fields. Smplify-X, an algorithm reliant on single-image input, employs three distinct body parameter templates, necessitating gender classification of individuals within the input image. Researchers employed a ResNet18 network to train a gender classifier within the Smplify-X framework, setting the threshold at 0.9, designating images falling below this threshold as having neutral gender. This model achieved 62.38% accurate predictions and 7.54% incorrect predictions. Our improvement involved refining the MobileNet network, resulting in a raised threshold of 0.97. Consequently, we attained 78.89% accurate predictions and a mere 0.2% incorrect predictions, markedly enhancing prediction precision and enabling more precise 3D human body reconstruction.

Keywords: SMPLX, mobileNet, gender classification, 3D human reconstruction

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Authors: Astika Swastirani

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Chronological age estimation can be done by looking at the stage of growth and development of teeth from orthopantomogram and mandibular remodeling from lateral cephalogram. Mandibular morphological changes associated with the size and remodeling during growth is a strong indicator of age estimation. These changes can be observed with lateral cephalogram. Objective: To prove the difference between chronological age and age estimation using orthopantomogram (dental age) and lateral cephalogram (skeletal age). Methods: Sample consisted of 100 medical records, 100 orthopantomograms digital and 100 lateral cephalograms digital belongs to 50 male and 50 female of Airlangga University hospital of dentistry. Orthopantomogram were matched with London atlas and lateral cephalograms were observed by digital tracing. The difference of dental age and skeletal age was analyzed by pair t –test. Result: Result of the pair t-test between chronological age and dental age in male (p-value 0.002, p<0.05), in female (p-value 0.605, p>0.05). Result of pair t-test between the chronological age and skeletal age (variable length Condylion-Gonion, Gonion-Gnathion, Condylion-Gnathion in male (p-value 0.000, p<0.05) in female (variable Condylion-Gonion length (p-value 0.000, Condylion-Gnathion length (p-value 0,040) and Gonion-Gnathion length (p-value 0.493). Conclusion: Orthopantomogram with London atlas and lateral cephalograms with Gonion- Gnathion variable can be used for age estimation in female. Orthopantomogram with London atlas and lateral cephalograms with Condylion-Gonion variable, Gonion-Gnathion variable and Condylion-Gnathion can not be used for age estimation in male.

Keywords: age estimation, chronological age, dental age, skeletal age

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Authors: M. J. Pourvaghar, M. E. Bahram, M. Sayyah, Sh. Khoshemehry

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Adiponectin is a cytokine secreted by the adipose tissue that functions as an anti-inflammatory, antiathrogenic and anti-diabetic substance. Its density is inversely correlated with body mass index. The purpose of this research was to examine the effect of 12 weeks of high intensity interval training (HIIT) with the level of serum adiponectin and some selected adiposity markers in overweight and fat college students. This was a clinical research in which 24 students with BMI between 25 kg/m² to 30 kg/m². The sample was purposefully selected and then randomly assigned into two groups of experimental (age =22.7±1.5 yr.; weight = 85.8±3.18 kg and height =178.7±3.29 cm) and control (age =23.1±1.1 yr.; weight = 79.1±2.4 kg and height =181.3±4.6 cm), respectively. The experimental group participated in an aerobic exercise program for 12 weeks, three sessions per weeks at a high intensity between 85% to 95% of maximum heart rate (considering the over load principle). Prior and after the termination of exercise protocol, the level of serum adiponectin, BMI, waist to hip ratio, and body fat percentages were calculated. The data were analyzed by using SPSS: PC 16.0 and statistical procedure such as ANCOVA, was used. The results indicated that 12 weeks of intensive interval training led to the increase of serum adiponectin level and decrease of body weight, body fat percent, body mass index and waist to hip ratio (P < 0.05). Based on the results of this research, it may be concluded that participation in intensive interval training for 12 weeks is a non-invasive treatment to increase the adiponectin level while decreasing some of the anthropometric indices associated with obesity or being overweight.

Keywords: adiponectin, cardiovascular, interval, overweight, training

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Authors: Karam Chand Gupta

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When steel reinforcement is placed in mesh form in circular concrete slab at base or domes at top in case of over head service reservoir or any other structure, it is difficult to estimate/measure the total quantity of steel that would be needed or placed. For the purpose of calculating the total length of the steel bars, at present, the practice is – the length of each bar is measured and then added up. This is tiresome and time consuming process. I have derived a mathematics formula with the help of which we can calculate in one line the quantity of total steel that will be needed. This will not only make it easy and time saving but also avoids any error in making entries and calculations.

Keywords: dome, mesh, slab, steel

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Authors: Mohammad Mojtahedpoor

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In this paper, it has been studied the method of optimal design of the supersonic nozzle. It could make viscous axisymmetric nozzles that the quality of their outlet flow is quite desired. In this method, it is optimized the divergent nozzle, at first. The initial divergent nozzle contour is designed through the method of characteristics and adding a suitable boundary layer to the inviscid contour. After that, it is made a proper grid and then simulated flow by the numerical solution and AUSM+ method by using the operation boundary condition. At the end, solution outputs are investigated and optimized. The numerical method has been validated with experimental results. Also, in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the present method, the nozzles compared with the previous studies. The comparisons show that the nozzles obtained through this method are sufficiently better in some conditions, such as the flow uniformity, size of the boundary layer, and obtained an axial length of the nozzle. Designing the convergent nozzle part affects by flow uniformity through changing its axial length and input diameter. The results show that increasing the length of the convergent part improves the output flow uniformity.

Keywords: nozzle, supersonic, optimization, characteristic method, CFD

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Authors: M. R. Naroui Rad, A. Ghalandarzehi, J. A. Koohpayegani

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Nine advanced cultivars and lines were planted in transplant trays on March, 2013. In mid-April 2014, nine cultivars and lines were taken from the seedling trays and were evaluated and compared in an experiment in form of a completely randomized block design with three replications at the Agricultural Research Station, Zahak. The results of the analysis of variance showed that there was a significant difference between the studied cultivars in terms of average fruit weight, fruit length, fruit diameter, ratio of fruit length to its diameter, the relative number of seeds per fruit, and each plant yield. The total yield of Sohrab and Y6 line with and an average of 41.9 and 36.7 t/ ha allocated the highest yield respectively to themselves. The results of simple correlation between the analyzed traits showed the final yield was affected by the average fruit weight due to direct and indirect effects of fruit weight and plant yield on the final yield. The genotypic and heritability values were high for fruit weight, fruit length and number of seed per fruit. The first two principal components accounted for 81.6% of the total variation among the characters describing genotypes.

Keywords: eggplant, principal component, variation, path analysis

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Authors: Zhang Lei, Zhao Qingrong, Wang Chen, Zhang Sufang, Zhang Hanguo

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Larch is the main afforestation and timber tree species in Northeast China, and drought is one of the main factors limiting the growth of Larch and other organisms in Northeast China. In order to further explore the mechanism of Larch drought resistance, PEG was used to simulate drought stress. The full-length sequencing of Larch embryogenic callus under PEG simulated drought stress was carried out by combining Illumina-Hiseq and SMRT-seq. A total of 20.3Gb clean reads and 786492 CCS reads were obtained from the second and third generation sequencing. The de-redundant transcript sequences were predicted by lncRNA, 2083 lncRNAs were obtained, and the target genes were predicted, and a total of 2712 target genes were obtained. The de-redundant transcripts were further screened, and 1654 differentially expressed genes (DEGs )were obtained. Among them, different DEGs respond to drought stress in different ways, such as oxidation-reduction process, starch and sucrose metabolism, plant hormone pathway, carbon metabolism, lignin catabolic/biosynthetic process and so on. This study provides basic full-length sequencing data for the study of Larch drought resistance, and excavates a large number of DEGs in response to drought stress, which helps us to further understand the function of Larch drought resistance genes and provides a reference for in-depth analysis of the molecular mechanism of Larch drought resistance.

Keywords: larch, drought stress, full-length transcriptome sequencing, differentially expressed genes

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Authors: Zeynep Altinkaya, Ugur Dal, Figen Dag, Dilan D. Koyuncu, Merve Turkegun

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Obesity is defined as abnormal fat-tissue accumulation as a result of imbalance between energy intake and expenditure. Since 50-70% daily energy expenditure of sedantary individuals is consumed as resting energy expenditure (REE), it takes an important place in the evaluation of new methods for obesity treatment. Also, it is known that walking is a prevalent activity in the prevention of obesity. The primary purpose of this study is to evaluate and compare the resting and walking energy expenditures of individuals with different body mass index (BMI). In this research, 4 groups are formed as underweight (BMI < 18,5 kg/m2), normal (BMI=18,5-24,9 kg/m2), overweight (BMI=25-29,9 kg/m2), and obese (BMI ≥ 30) according to BMI of individuals. 64 healthy young adults (8 man and 8 woman per group, age 18-30 years) with no known gait disabilities were recruited in this study. The body compositions of all participants were measured via bioelectric empedance analysis method. The energy expenditure of individuals was measured with indirect calorimeter method as inspired and expired gas samples are collected breath-by-breath through a special facemask. The preferred walking speed (PWS) of each subject was determined by using infrared sensors placed in 2nd and 12th meters of 14 m walkway. The REE was measured for 15 min while subjects were lying, and walking energy expenditure was measured during subjects walk in their PWS on treadmill. The gross REE was significantly higher in obese subjects compared to underweight and normal subjects (p < 0,0001). When REE was normalized to body weight, it was higher in underweight and normal groups than overweight and obese groups (p < 0,0001). However, when REE was normalized to fat-free mass, it did not differ significantly between groups. The gross walking energy expenditure in PWS was higher in obese and overweight groups than underweight and normal groups (p < 0,0001). The regression coefficient between gross walking energy expenditure and body weight was significiant among normal and obese groups (p < 0.05). It accounted for 70,5% of gross walking energy expenditure in normal group, and 57,9% of gross walking energy expenditure in obese group. It is known that obese individuals have more metabolically inactive fat-tissue compared to other groups. While excess fat-tissue increases total body weight, it does not contribute much to REE. Therefore, REE results normalized to body weight could lead to misleading results. In order to eliminate fat-mass effect on REE of obese individuals, REE normalized to fat-free mass should be used to acquire more accurate results. On the other hand, the fat-mass increasement raises energy requirement while walking to retain the body balance. Thus, gross walking energy expenditure should be taken into consideration for the evaluating energy expenditure of walking.

Keywords: body composition, obesity, resting energy expenditure, walking energy expenditure

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Authors: Yoseph Halala Handiso, Zewdi Gebregziabher

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Background: Malnutrition in hospitalized patients remains a major public health problem in both developed and developing countries. Despite the fact that malnourished patients are more prone to stay longer in hospital, there is limited data regarding the magnitude of malnutrition and its effect on length of stay among surgical patients in Ethiopia, while nutritional assessment is also often a neglected component of the health service practice. Objective: This study aimed to assess the prevalence of malnutrition at admission and its effect on the length of hospital stay among adult surgical patients in Wolaita Sodo University Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, South Ethiopia, 2022. Methods: A facility-based prospective cohort study was conducted among 398 adult surgical patients admitted to the hospital. Participants in the study were chosen using a convenient sampling technique. Subjective global assessment was used to determine the nutritional status of patients with a minimum stay of 24 hours within 48 hours after admission (SGA). Data were collected using the open data kit (ODK) version 2022.3.3 software, while Stata version 14.1 software was employed for statistical analysis. The Cox regression model was used to determine the effect of malnutrition on the length of hospital stay (LOS) after adjusting for several potential confounders taken at admission. Adjusted hazard ratio (HR) with a 95% confidence interval was used to show the effect of malnutrition. Results: The prevalence of hospital malnutrition at admission was 64.32% (95% CI: 59%-69%) according to the SGA classification. Adult surgical patients who were malnourished at admission had higher median LOS (12 days: 95% CI: 11-13) as compared to well-nourished patients (8 days: 95% CI: 8-9), means adult surgical patients who were malnourished at admission were at higher risk of reduced chance of discharge with improvement (prolonged LOS) (AHR: 0.37, 95% CI: 0.29-0.47) as compared to well-nourished patients. Presence of comorbidity (AHR: 0.68, 95% CI: 0.50-90), poly medication (AHR: 0.69, 95% CI: 0.55-0.86), and history of admission (AHR: 0.70, 95% CI: 0.55-0.87) within the previous five years were found to be the significant covariates of the length of hospital stay (LOS). Conclusion: The magnitude of hospital malnutrition at admission was found to be high. Malnourished patients at admission had a higher risk of prolonged length of hospital stay as compared to well-nourished patients. The presence of comorbidity, polymedication, and history of admission were found to be the significant covariates of LOS. All stakeholders should give attention to reducing the magnitude of malnutrition and its covariates to improve the burden of LOS.

Keywords: effect of malnutrition, length of hospital stay, surgical patients, Ethiopia

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Authors: Harpreet Kaur, Er. Arjun, Kirandeep Kaur, P. K. Mittal

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Simulation of a human body from a 20% gelatin & 80% water mixture is examined from a wound ballistics point of view. Parameters such as incapacitation energy & temporary to permanent cavity size & tools of hydrodynamics have been employed to arrive at a model of the human body similar to the one adopted by NATO. Calculations using equations of motion yield a value of 339 µs in which a temporary cavity with maximum size settles down to a permanent cavity. This occurs for 10mm size bullets & settles down to a permanent cavity in the case of 4 different bullets, i.e., 5.45, 5.56, 7.62,10 mm sizes. The obtained results are in excellent agreement with the body as a right circular cylinder of 15 cm height & 10 cm diameter. An effort is made here in this work to present a sound theoretical base to parameters commonly used in wound ballistics from field experience discussed by Col Coats & Major Beyer.

Keywords: gelatine, gunshot, hydrodynamic model, oscillation time, temporary and permanent cavity, wound ballistics

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Authors: Haoui Rabah

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The aim of this work is to analyze a viscous flow around the axisymmetric blunt body taken into account the mesh size both in the free stream and into the boundary layer. The resolution of the Navier-Stokes equations is realized by using the finite volume method to determine the flow parameters and detached shock position. The numerical technique uses the Flux Vector Splitting method of Van Leer. Here, adequate time stepping parameter, CFL coefficient and mesh size level are selected to ensure numerical convergence. The effect of the mesh size is significant on the shear stress and velocity profile. The best solution is obtained with using a very fine grid. This study enabled us to confirm that the determination of boundary layer thickness can be obtained only if the size of the mesh is lower than a certain value limits given by our calculations.

Keywords: supersonic flow, viscous flow, finite volume, blunt body

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Authors: Maged A. Mogalli, Abdullah I. Al-Mansour, Seongkwan Mark Lee

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In the last decades, population growth has gradually exceeded transportation infrastructure growth, and today’s transportation professionals are facing challenge on how to meet the mobility needs of a rising population especially in the absence of adequate public transport, as is the case in Saudi Arabia. The traffic movement congestion can be decreased by carrying out some appropriate alternative designs of interchanges such as diverging diamond interchange (DDI) and single diamond interchange (SPDI). In this paper, evaluation of newly implemented DDIs at the interchange of Makkah road with Prince Turki road and the interchange of King Khaled road with Prince Saud Ibn Mohammed Ibn Mugrin road in Riyadh city was carried out. The comparison between the DDI and SPDI is conducted by evaluating different measures of effectiveness (MOE) such as stop delay, average queue length, and number of stops. In this connection, each interchange type was evaluated for traffic flow at peak hours using micro-simulation program namely 'Synchro/SimTarffic' to measure its effectiveness such as stop delay, average queue length, and number of stops. The results of this study show that DDI provides a better result when compared with SPDI in terms of stope delay, average queue length, and number of stops. The stop delay for the SPDI is greater than DDI by three times. Also, the average queue length is approximately twice that of the SPDI when compared to the DDI. Furthermore, the number of stops for the SPDI is about twice as the DDI.

Keywords: single point diamond interchange, diverging diamond interchange, measures of effectiveness, simulation

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Authors: Kadeejah Alsolami, Zainab Alrefay, Husaam Awad

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Obesity and vitamin D deficiency have both been related to cardiovascular disease. The present work aimed to investigate the possible protective effect of vitamin D on cardiac apoptosis in a rat model of dietary-induced obesity. Methods: 30 male Wistar rats included in this study. They were allocated into 4 groups: Control (n=5), animal were fed standard diet for 3 months: Control + vitamin D (VD) (n=5),animals were fed a standard diet with 400IU VD/kg for 3 months: hypercaloric diets group (n=10), animals were fed a high fat diet for 3 months: hypercaloric diet with VD group (n=10), animals were fed a high fat diet with 400IU VD/kg for 3 months. At the beginning of the experiment, the weight and length were measured to assess body mass index (BMI) and repeated every 45 days. Food intake and body weight were monitored throughout the study period. Then rats were sacrificed and heart tissues collected for Quantitative Real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). qRT-PCR used to detect different genetic markers of apoptosis (anti-apoptotic gene (BCL2), a pro-apoptotic gene(BAX), pro-apoptotic genes (FAS, FAS-L), tumour necrosis factor (TNF), mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK). Results: FAS and FAS-L gene expression were significantly upregulated in rats fed with high fat diet. And FAS-L gene expression was significantly upregulated in all groups on comparison with control. Whereas Bax gene expression was significantly downregulated in rats fed with high-fat diet supplied with vitamin D. TNF was significantly upregulated in rats fed with high-fat diet treated with vitamin D. MAPK was significantly upregulated in rats fed with high fat diet group, and in rats fed with high-fat diet supplied with vitamin D. Conclusion: The cardiac apoptotic pathways were more activated in rats fed with high-fat than lean rats. And vitamin D protect the heart from the cardiac mitochondrial-dependent apoptotic pathway.

Keywords: apoptosis, heart, obesity, Vitamin D

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Authors: Waqar Ahmad Butt, Gholamreza Vakili Nezhaad, Ali Soud Al Bemani, Yahya Al Wahaibi

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Miscible gas injection processes as secondary recovery methods can be applied to a huge number of mature reservoirs to improve the trapped oil displacement. Successful miscible gas injection processes require an accurate estimation of the minimum miscibility pressure (MMP) to make injection process feasible, economical, and effective. There are several methods of MMP determination like slim tube approach, vanishing interfacial tension and rising bubble apparatus but slim tube is the deployed experimental technique in this study. Slim tube method is assumed to be non-standardized for MMP determination with respect to both operating procedure and design. Therefore, 25 slim tube runs were being conducted with three different coil lengths (12, 18 and 24 m) of constant diameter using three different injection rates (0.08, 0.1 and 0.15 cc/min) to evaluate uniqueness and repeatability of determined MMP. A trend of decrease in MMP with increase in coil length was found. No unique trend was found between MMP and injection rate. Lowest MMP and highest recovery were observed with highest coil length and lowest injection rate. It shows that slim tube measured MMP does not depend solely on interacting fluids characteristics but also affected by used coil selection and injection rate choice. Therefore, both slim tube design and procedure need to be standardized. It is recommended to use lowest possible injection rate and estimated coil length depending upon the distance between injections and producing wells for accurate and reliable MMP determination.

Keywords: coil length, injection rate, minimum miscibility pressure, multiple contacts miscibility

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Authors: Elnaz Dabiri, Somayeh Hamidnezhad

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Background and Objective: This study aims at investigating the effect of whole word method on Mean Length of Utterance (MLU) of 3 to 6 years old children with cochlear implants having normal IQ. Materials and Methods: In this quasi-experimental and interventional study, 20 children with cochlear implants, aged between 3and 6 years, and normal IQ were selected from Tabriz cochlear implants center using convenience sampling. Afterward, they were randomly bifurcated. The first group was educated by whole-word reading method along with traditional methods and the second group by traditional methods. Both groups had three sessions of 45-minutes each, every week continuously for a period of 3 months. Pre-test and post-test language abilities of both groups were assessed using the TOLD test. Results: Both groups before training have the same age, IQ, and MLU, but after training the first group shows a considerable improvement in MLU in comparison with the second group. Conclusions: Reading training by the whole word method have more effect on MLU of children with cochlear implants in comparison of the traditional method.

Keywords: cochlear implants, reading training, traditional methods, language therapy, whole word method, Mean Length of Utterance (MLU)

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Authors: Kelsey Scanlon

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Introduction: With the rate of female collegiate and professional athletes on the rise in recent decades, fluctuations in physical performance in relation to the menstrual cycle is an important area of study. PURPOSE: The purpose of this research was to compare differences in upper and lower body maximal anaerobic capacities across a single menstrual cycle. Methode: Participants (n=11) met a total of four times; once for familiarization and again on day 1 of menses (follicular phase), day 14 (ovulation), and day 21 (luteal phase) respectively. Upper body power was assessed using a bench press weight of ~50% of the participant’s predetermined 1-repetition maximum (1-RM) on a ballistic measurement system and variables included peak force (N), mean force (N), peak power (W), mean power (W), and peak velocity (m/s). Lower body power output was collected using a standard Wingate test. The variables of interest were anaerobic capacity (w/kg), peak power (W), mean power (W), fatigue index (W/s), and total work (J). Result: Statistical significance was not observed (p > 0.05) in any of the aforementioned variables after completing multiple one ways of analyses of variances (ANOVAs) with repeated measures on time. Conclusion: Within the parameters of this research, neither female upper nor lower body power output differed across the menstrual cycle when analyzed using 50% of one repetition (1RM) maximal bench press and the 30-second maximal effort cycle ergometer Wingate test. Therefore, researchers should not alter their subject populations due to the incorrect assumption that power output may be influenced by the menstrual cycle.

Keywords: anaerobic, athlete, female, power

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Authors: Karwan Khudhir

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A cross-sectional study was carried out to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and psychosocial factors associated with it, among Kurdistan nursing professionals. Simple random sampling was used to select 220 nurses and data were collected by self-administrative questionnaire. Results of the study showed that the overall prevalence of MSDs among Kurdistan nurses was 74% in different body regions and, by body regions, neck pain was reported to be the highest complaint of twelve-month MSDs (48.4%) compared to other body parts. Logistic regression analysis indicated 6 variables that are significantly associated with musculoskeletal disorders: smoking (OR=19.472, 95% CI: 5.396, 70.273), BMI (OR= 5.106, 95% CI: 1.735, 15.025), physical activity (OR=8.639, 95% CI: 3.075, 24.271), psychological demand (OR=6.685, 95% CI: 3.318, 13.468), social support (OR=3.143, 95% CI: 1.202, 4.814) and job satisfaction (OR=2.44, 95% CI: 1.04, 5.63). Prevention strategies and health education which emphasizes on psychosocial risk factors and how to improve working conditions should be introduced.

Keywords: Kurdistan Region, Iraq, musculoskeletal disorders, nurses, psycho-social factors

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Authors: Nahla Al-Bayyari, Rae’d Hailat

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Vitamin D deficiency and overweight are common in women suffering from polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Weight gain in PCOS is an important factor for the development of menstrual dysfunction and signs of hyperandrogenism and alopecia. Features of PCOS such as oligomenorrhea can be predicted by anthropometric measurements as body mass index (BMI). Therefore, the aim of this trial was to study the effect of 50,000 IU/week of vitamin D₃ supplementation on the body composition and on the anthropometric measurements of overweight women with PCOS and to examine the impact of this effect on ovaries ultrasonography and menstrual cycle regularity. The study design was a prospective randomized, double-blinded placebo-controlled clinical trial conducted on 60 overweight Jordanian women aged (18-49) years with PCOS and vitamin D deficiency. The study participants were divided into two groups; vitamin D group (n = 30) who were assigned to receive 50,000 IU/week of vitamin D₃ and placebo group (n = 30) who were assigned to receive placebo tablets orally for 90 days. The anthropometric measurements and body composition were measured at baseline and after treatment for the PCOS and vitamin D deficient women. Also, assessment of the participants’ picture of ovaries by ultrasound and menstrual cycle regulatory were performed before and after treatment. Results showed that there were no significant (p > 0.05) differences between the placebo and vitamin D group basal 25(OH)D levels, body composition and anthropometric parameters. After treatment, vitamin D group serum levels of 25(OH)D increased (12.5 ± 0.61 to 50.2 ± 2.04 ng/mL, (p < 0.001), and decreased (50.2 ± 2.04 to 48.2 ± 2.03 ng/mL, p < 0.001) after 14 days of vitamin D₃ treatment cessation. There were no significant changes in the placebo group. In the vitamin D group, there were significant (p < 0.001) decreases in body weight, BMI, waist, and hip circumferences and fat mass. In addition, there were significant increases (p < 0.05) in fat free mass and total body water. These improvements in both anthropometric and body composition as well as in 25(OH)D concentrations, resulted in significant improvements in the picture of PCOS women ovaries ultrasonography and in menstrual cycle regularity, where nearly most of them (93%) had regular cycles after vitamin D₃ supplementation. In the placebo group, there were only significant decreases (p < 0.05) in waist and hip circumferences. It can be concluded that vitamin D supplementation improving serum 25(OH)D levels and PCOS prognosis by reducing body weight of overweight PCOS women and regulating their menstrual cycle.

Keywords: anthropometric, overweight, polycystic ovary syndrome, vitamin D₃

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Authors: Christodoulou Christos, Politis Anastasios

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The utilization of Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) is experiencing a notable surge in popularity as a result of its widespread implementation in the field of smart health. WBANs utilize small sensors implanted within the human body to monitor and record physiological indicators. These sensors transmit the collected data to hospitals and healthcare facilities through designated access points. Bio-sensors exhibit a diverse array of shapes and sizes, and their deployment can be tailored to the condition of the individual. Multiple sensors may be strategically placed within, on, or around the human body to effectively observe, record, and transmit essential physiological indicators. These measurements serve as a basis for subsequent analysis, evaluation, and therapeutic interventions. In conjunction with physical health concerns, numerous smartwatches are engineered to employ artificial intelligence techniques for the purpose of detecting mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety. The utilization of smartwatches serves as a secure and cost-effective solution for monitoring mental health. Physiological signals are widely regarded as a highly dependable method for the recognition of emotions due to the inherent inability of individuals to deliberately influence them over extended periods of time. The techniques that WBANs employ to recognize emotions are thoroughly examined in this article.

Keywords: emotion recognition, wireless body area network, WBAN, ERC, wearable devices, psychological signals, emotion, smart-watch, prediction

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Authors: Jongho Park, Taekyun Kim, Jinwoong Choi, Sungnam Hong, Sun-Kyu Park

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Recently, the climate change is the one of the main problems. This abnormal phenomenon is consisted of the scorching heat, heavy rain and snowfall, and cold wave that will be enlarged abnormal climate change repeatedly. Accordingly, the width of temperature change is increased more and more by abnormal climate, and it is the main factor of cracking in the reinforced concrete. The crack of the reinforced concrete will affect corrosion of steel re-bar which can decrease durability of the structure easily. Hence, the elimination of the durability weakening factor (steel re-bar) is needed. Textile which weaves the carbon, AR-glass and aramid fiber has been studied actively for exchanging the steel re-bar in the Europe for about 15 years because of its good durability. To apply textile as the concrete reinforcement, the bond strength between concrete and textile will be investigated closely. Therefore, in this paper, pull-out test was performed with change of development length of textile. Significant load and stress was increasing at D80. But, bond stress decreased by increasing development length.

Keywords: bond strength, climate change, pull-out test, substitution of reinforcement material, textile

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Authors: Cheng Sim Quah, Sandra Phek Lin Sim

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This study examined how individuals in their respective teams contributed to innovation performance besides defining the term of innovation in their own respective views. This study also identified factors that motivated University staff to contribute to the innovation products. In addition, it examined whether there is a significant relationship between professional training level and the length of service among university staff towards innovation and to what extent do the two variables contributed towards innovative products. The significance of this study is that it revealed the strengths and weaknesses of the university staff when contributing to innovation performance. Stratified-random sampling was employed to determine the samples representing the population of lecturers in the study, involving 123 lecturers in one of the local universities in Malaysia. The method employed to analyze the data is through categorizing into themes for the open-ended questions besides using descriptive and inferential statistics for the quantitative data. This study revealed that two types of definition for the term “innovation” exist among the university staff, namely, creation of new product or new approach to do things as well as value-added creative way to upgrade or improve existing process and service to be more efficient. This study found that the most prominent factor that propel them towards innovation is to improve the product in order to benefit users, followed by self-satisfaction and recognition. This implies that the staff in the organization viewed the creation of innovative products as a process of growth to fulfill the needs of others and also to realize their personal potential. This study also found that there was only a significant relationship between the professional training level and the length of service of 4-6 years among the university staff. The rest of the groups based on the length of service showed that there was no significant relationship with the professional training level towards innovation. Moreover, results of the study on directional measures depicted that the relationship for the length of service of 4 - 6 years with professional training level among the university staff is quite weak. This implies that good organization management lies on the shoulders of the key leaders who enlighten the path to be followed by the staff.

Keywords: innovation, length of service, performance, professional training level, motivation

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Authors: Nazmul Huda, Ashik Mosaddik, Abdul Awal, Shafiqur Rahman, Rukhsana Shaheen, Mustofa Nabi

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Polyherbal formulation Sharbat Deenar is a very popular unani medicine in Bangladesh. It is usually used for different kinds of liver disorders. In absence of reliable and inadequate hepatoprotective agents in conventional medicine, the herbal preparations are preferred for liver diseases. The present study was designed to evaluate the hepatoprotective activity of Sharbat Deenar on carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄) induced hepatotoxicity in male Long-Evans albino rats. Group I served as normal control and received neither formulation nor carbon tetrachloride. Group II received only CCl₄ 1mL/kg body weight of rat intraperitoneally for consecutive 14 days. Group III received CCl₄ 1mL/kg body weight of rat intraperitoneally and Silymarin, in dose 50mg/kg body weight of rat orally. Group IV received CCl₄ 1mL/kg body weight of rat intraperitoneally and Sharbat Deenar 1mL/kg body weight of rat for the same 14 consecutive days. At the end of the study, hepatoprotective activity was evaluated by the levels of total bilirubin, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP). Histopathological study of rat liver was also carried out. The results showed that polyherbal formulation Sharbat Deenar exhibited a significant hepatoprotective effect. Such an outcome seems to be the synergistic effect of all ingredients of tested herbal formulation. Although this study suggests that Sharbat Deenar may be used to cure or minimize various liver diseases, it needs further study to attain the clarity of mechanism and safety.

Keywords: polyherbal formulation, sharbat deenar, carbon tetrachloride, silymarin, hepatoprotective

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Authors: Kang-Hyun Leem, Myung-Gyou Kim, Hye Kyung Kim

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Eggs have long been an important contributor to the nutritional quality of the human, and recognized as a very valuable source of proteins for human nutrition. Egg yolk is composed of various important chemical substances for human health. Growth means not only the increase of body weight but also the elongation of height and the enlargement of each organ's anatomical and morphological size. A calcium shortage causes the growth retardation on the body growth. In this study, we examined the therapeutic effects of egg yolk peptide (EYP) on the retardation of the longitudinal bone growth induced by low-calcium diet (0.05%) in adolescent rats. Low calcium diets were administrated for 15 days. During the last five days, calcium and/or vitamin D and/or EYP were administrated. The body weights, longitudinal bone growth rates, the heights of growth plates, and bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-2 and insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1 expressions were measured using histochemical analysis. Low calcium diets caused the significant reduction in body weight gains and the longitudinal bone growth. The heights of growth plates and the expressions of BMP-2 and IGF-1 showed the impairment of body growth as well. Calcium and/or vitamin D administration could not significantly increase the longitudinal bone growth. However, calcium, vitamin D, and EYP administration significantly increased the bone growth, the growth plate height, and BMP-2 and IGF-1 expressions. These results suggest that EYP enhances the longitudinal bone growth in the calcium and/or vitamin D deficiency and it could be a promising agent for the treatment of children suffering from malnutrition.

Keywords: egg yolk peptide, low-calcium diet, longitudinal bone growth, morphogenetic protein-2, insulin-like growth factor-1, vitamin D

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Authors: Zahra Ashraf

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Flax and pumpkin seeds are a rich source of unsaturated fatty acids, antioxidants and fiber, known to have anti-atherogenic properties. Hypercholesterolemia is a state characterized by the elevated level of cholesterol in the blood. This research was designed to study the effect of flax and pumpkin seeds powder mixture on hypercholesterolemia and body weight. Rat’s species were selected as human representative. Thirty male albino rats were divided into three groups: a control group, a CD-chol group (control diet+cholesterol) fed with 1.5% cholesterol and FP-chol group (flaxseed and pumpkin seed powder+ cholesterol) fed with 1.5% cholesterol. Flax and pumpkin seed powder mixed at proportion of (5/1) (omega-3 and omega-6). Blood samples were collected to examine lipid profile and body weight was also measured. Thus the data was subjected to analysis of variance. In CD-chol group, body weight, total cholesterol TC, triacylglycerides TG in plasma, plasma LDL-C, ratio significantly increased with a decrease in plasma HDL (good cholesterol). In FP-chol group lipid parameters and body weights were decreased significantly with an increase in HDL and decrease in LDL (bad cholesterol). The mean values of body weight, total cholesterol, triglycerides, low density lipoprotein and high density lipoproteins in FP-chol group were 240.66±11.35g, 59.60±2.20mg/dl, 50.20±1.79 mg/dl, 36.20±1.62mg/dl, 36.40±2.20 mg/dl, respectively. Flaxseed and pumpkin seeds powder mixture showed reduction in body weight, serum cholesterol, low density lipoprotein and triglycerides. While significant increase was shown in high density lipoproteins when given to hypercholesterolemic rats. Our results suggested that flax and pumpkin seed mixture has hypocholesterolemic effects which were probably mediated by polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega-3 and omega-6) present in seed mixture.

Keywords: hypercolesterolemia, omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids, cardiovascular diseases

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Authors: Nalla Somaiah, Praveen Kumar

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Scaling of transistors and, hence, interconnects is very important for the enhanced performance of microelectronic devices. Scaling of devices creates significant complexity, especially in the multilevel interconnect architectures, wherein current crowding occurs at the corners of interconnects. Such a current crowding creates hot-spots at the respective corners, resulting in non-uniform temperature distribution in the interconnect as well. This non-uniform temperature distribution, which is exuberated with continued scaling of devices, creates a temperature gradient in the interconnect. In particular, the increased current density at corners and the associated temperature rise due to Joule heating accelerate the electromigration induced failures in interconnects, especially at corners. This has been the classic reliability issue associated with metallic interconnects. Herein, it is generally understood that electromigration induced damages can be avoided if the length of interconnect is smaller than a critical length, often termed as Blech length. Interestingly, the effect of non-negligible temperature gradients generated at these corners in terms of thermomigration and electromigration-thermomigration coupling has not attracted enough attention. Accordingly, in this work, the interplay between the electromigration and temperature gradient induced mass transport was studied using standard Blech structure. In this particular sample structure, the majority of the current is forcefully directed into the low resistivity metallic film from a high resistivity underlayer film, resulting in current crowding at the edges of the metallic film. In this study, 150 nm thick Cu metallic film was deposited on 30 nm thick W underlayer film in the configuration of Blech structure. Series of Cu thin strips, with lengths of 10, 20, 50, 100, 150 and 200 μm, were fabricated. Current density of ≈ 4 × 1010 A/m² was passed through Cu and W films at a temperature of 250ºC. Herein, along with expected forward migration of Cu atoms from the cathode to the anode at the cathode end of the Cu film, backward migration from the anode towards the center of Cu film was also observed. Interestingly, smaller length samples consistently showed enhanced migration at the cathode end, thus indicating the existence of inverse Blech length effect in presence of temperature gradient. A finite element based model showing the interplay between electromigration and thermomigration driving forces has been developed to explain this observation.

Keywords: Blech structure, electromigration, temperature gradient, thin films

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