Search results for: 2- sample t-test

Authors: Sylwia Krawiec, Joanna Cabaj, Karol Malecha

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Nowadays, progress in the field of the analytical methods is of great interest for reliable biological research and medical diagnostics. Classical techniques of chemical analysis, despite many advantages, do not permit to obtain immediate results or automatization of measurements. Chemical sensors have displaced the conventional analytical methods - sensors combine precision, sensitivity, fast response and the possibility of continuous-monitoring. Biosensor is a chemical sensor, which except of conventer also possess a biologically active material, which is the basis for the detection of specific chemicals in the sample. Each biosensor device mainly consists of two elements: a sensitive element, where is recognition of receptor-analyte, and a transducer element which receives the signal and converts it into a measurable signal. Through these two elements biosensors can be divided in two categories: due to the recognition element (e.g immunosensor) and due to the transducer (e.g optical sensor). Working of optical sensor is based on measurements of quantitative changes of parameters characterizing light radiation. The most often analyzed parameters include: amplitude (intensity), frequency or polarization. Changes in the optical properties one of the compound which reacts with biological material coated on the sensor is analyzed by a direct method, in an indirect method indicators are used, which changes the optical properties due to the transformation of the testing species. The most commonly used dyes in this method are: small molecules with an aromatic ring, like rhodamine, fluorescent proteins, for example green fluorescent protein (GFP), or nanoparticles such as quantum dots (QDs). Quantum dots have, in comparison with organic dyes, much better photoluminescent properties, better bioavailability and chemical inertness. These are semiconductor nanocrystals size of 2-10 nm. This very limited number of atoms and the ‘nano’-size gives QDs these highly fluorescent properties. Rapid and sensitive detection of dopamine is extremely important in modern medicine. Dopamine is very important neurotransmitter, which mainly occurs in the brain and central nervous system of mammals. Dopamine is responsible for the transmission information of moving through the nervous system and plays an important role in processes of learning or memory. Detection of dopamine is significant for diseases associated with the central nervous system such as Parkinson or schizophrenia. In developed optical biosensor for detection of dopamine, are used graphene quantum dots (GQDs). In such sensor dopamine molecules coats the GQD surface - in result occurs quenching of fluorescence due to Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET). Changes in fluorescence correspond to specific concentrations of the neurotransmitter in tested sample, so it is possible to accurately determine the concentration of dopamine in the sample.

Keywords: biosensor, dopamine, fluorescence, quantum dots

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Authors: C. Mothobiso, D. Root

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Purpose: This study attempts to identify the clients’ main priorities when delivering green projects. The aim is to compare if the clients have the same interest that are similar in delivery of convectional buildings as compared to green buildings. The main purpose is to find why other clients are investing in green buildings while others are reluctant and adopting green building at a slow pace. Design/methodology/approach: A sample of construction professional accredited by the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA) was sent a questionnaire to participate in the research. Since GBSCSA accredited professionals have knowledge and experience about the green buildings, they are chosen as the sample. The research is qualitative because it evaluates the perceptions and knowledge around the subject matter. Research limitations: The research focuses only on the South African construction clients. Findings: Findings reveal that private clients invest more on green buildings as compared to government and parastatal entities. Private clients prioritise on maximising returns on investments and they mainly invest on buildings that save energies and have low life cycle costs. Private clients are perceived to be more knowledgeable about the benefits of green building project as compared to government and Parastatals clients. Shortage of expertise and managerial skill leads to low adaptation of green buildings in the government and parastatal projects. Other factors, which seem to disintegrate the adoption of green buildings, are the readiness of supply chain within the industry and inappropriate procurements strategies adopted by clients. The evaluation of the clients’ priorities will enable the design team to come up with innovative ways to approach the design process so that clients’ priorities and needs are identified and met. Practical implications: The findings are indicating that clients’ needs and priorities have a huge impact on the delivery of the project in terms of time, quality and cost of the project.

Keywords: construction clients, design team, green construction and project deliver

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Authors: E. A. Alaswad, H. M. Choudhry, F. Z. Filimban

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Sickle Cell Anemia (SCA) is one type of blood diseases related to autosomal disorder. The sickle shaped red blood cells are the main cause of many problems in the blood vessels and capillaries. Aerva Javanica (J) and Ficus Palmata (P) are medicinal plants that have many popular uses and have been proved their efficacy. The aim of this study was to assess the antioxidants activity and the antisickling effect of J and P extractions. The period of this study, air-dried leaves of J, and P plants were ground and the active components were extracted by maceration in water (W) and methanol (M) as solvents. The antioxidants activity of JW, PW, JM, and PM were assessed by way of the radical scavenging method using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH). To determine the antisickling effect of J and P extracts. 20 samples were collected from sickle cell anemia patients. Different concentrations of J and P extracts (200 and 110 μg/mL) were added on the sample and incubated. A drop of each sample was examined with light microscope. Normal and sickled RBCs were calculated and expressed as the percent of sickling. The stabilization effect of the extracts was measured by the osmotic fragility test for erythrocytes. The finding suggests as estimated by DPPH method, all the extracts showed an antioxidant activity with a significant inhibition of the DPPH radicals. PM has the least IC50% with 71.49 μg/ml while JM was the most with 408.49 μg/ml. Sickle cells treated with extracts at different concentrations significantly reduced the percentage of sickling compering to control samples. However, JM 200 μg/mL give the highest anti-sickling affect with 17.4% of sickling compared to control 67.5 of sickling while PM at 200 μg/mL showed the highest membrane cell stability. In a conclusion, the results showed that J and P extracts have antisickling effects. Therefore, the Aerva javanica and Ficus palmata may have a role in SCA management and a good impact on the patient's lives.

Keywords: Aerva javanica, antioxidant, antisickling, Ficus palmata, sickle cell anemia

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Authors: Vladimir Littva, Peter Kutis

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Based on common practice, we know that an empathic approach to a patient is one of the characteristics of a physiotherapist. Although empathy is regarded as an essential condition of the psychotherapeutic relationship, it has taken quite a while for attention to be paid to it in clinical practice. Patients who are experiencing a sense of understanding from health care providers are more willing to cooperate, and treatment within the optimistic attunes a more comfortable framework of care. Age, experience, family, education and the working environment may have an impact on the degree of empathy for paramedics. Within the KEGA project no. 003KU-4-2021, we decided to investigate the level of empathy in the work of physiotherapists in Slovakia. Research sample and Methods: The sample comprised 194 respondents – physiotherapists working on the territory of Slovakia. 112 were men and 82 women. The age of respondents was between 21 and 64 years of age. 133 were married, 51 were single and ten were divorced. 98 were living in the countryside and 96 in towns. Twenty-two grew up without siblings, 95 with one sibling and 77 with two and more siblings. In the survey, we used the Empathy Assessment Questionnaire (EAQ) with 18 questions with four possible answers: strongly disagree, disagree, agree; and strongly agree, which we validated linguistically and psychometrically. All data were statistically processed by SPSS 25. Results: We evaluated the intrinsic reliability of the questionnaire EAQ using Cronbach's Alpha and the coefficient is 0.756 in the whole set. This means that the questionnaire is a quite strong and reliable measurement tool. The mean for individual questions ranged from 2.39 to 3.74 (maximum was 4). In Pearson's correlations, we confirmed the significant differences between the groups regarding sex in 8 questions out of 18, regarding age in 5 questions, regarding family status in 4 questions and regarding siblings in 4 questions out of 18 at the level 5% (p <0.05). Conclusion: The results obtained during the research show the importance of adequate communication with the patient due to his health and well-being. Empathy in the physiotherapists’ profession is very important. It would be worthwhile if the students of physiotherapy would receive a course during their study that would deal exclusively with empathy, empathic approach, burnout, or psycho-emotional hygiene.

Keywords: empathy, approach, clinical practice, physiotherapists

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Authors: Monika Rani, Claudio Marchesi, Stefania Federici, Laura E. Depero

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Degradation of the aquatic environment by plastic litter, especially microplastics (MPs), i.e., any water-insoluble solid plastic particle with the longest dimension in the range 1µm and 1000 µm (=1 mm) size, is an unfortunate indication of the advancement of the Anthropocene age on Earth. Microplastics formed due to natural weathering processes are termed as secondary microplastics, while when these are synthesized in industries, they are called primary microplastics. Their presence from the highest peaks to the deepest points in oceans explored and their resistance to biological and chemical decay has adversely affected the environment, especially marine life. Even though the presence of MPs in the marine environment is well-reported, a legitimate and authentic analytical technique to sample, analyze, and quantify the MPs is still under progress and testing stages. Among the characterization techniques, vibrational spectroscopic techniques are largely adopted in the field of polymers. And the ongoing miniaturization of these methods is on the way to revolutionize the plastic recycling industry. In this scenario, the capability and the feasibility of a miniaturized near-infrared (MicroNIR) spectroscopy combined with chemometrics tools for qualitative and quantitative analysis of urban plastic waste collected from a recycling plant and microplastic mixture fragmented in the lab were investigated. Based on the Resin Identification Code, 250 plastic samples were used for macroplastic analysis and to set up a library of polymers. Subsequently, MicroNIR spectra were analysed through the application of multivariate modelling. Principal Components Analysis (PCA) was used as an unsupervised tool to find trends within the data. After the exploratory PCA analysis, a supervised classification tool was applied in order to distinguish the different plastic classes, and a database containing the NIR spectra of polymers was made. For the microplastic analysis, the three most abundant polymers in the plastic litter, PE, PP, PS, were mechanically fragmented in the laboratory to micron size. The distinctive arrangement of blends of these three microplastics was prepared in line with a designed ternary composition plot. After the PCA exploratory analysis, a quantitative model Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR) allowed to predict the percentage of microplastics in the mixtures. With a complete dataset of 63 compositions, PLS was calibrated with 42 data-points. The model was used to predict the composition of 21 unknown mixtures of the test set. The advantage of the consolidated NIR Chemometric approach lies in the quick evaluation of whether the sample is macro or micro, contaminated, coloured or not, and with no sample pre-treatment. The technique can be utilized with bigger example volumes and even considers an on-site evaluation and in this manner satisfies the need for a high-throughput strategy.

Keywords: chemometrics, microNIR, microplastics, urban plastic waste

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Authors: Gabriel Sepulveda Navarro

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Traditional interventions for young offenders are necessary but not sufficient to tackle the multiple causes of juvenile crime. For instance, interventions offered to young offenders often are verbally mediated and dialogue based, requiring important metacognitive abilities as well as abstract thinking, assuming average performance in a wide variety of skills. It seems necessary to assess a broader set of abilities and functions in order to increase the efficiency of interventions while addressing offending. In order to clarify these assumptions, Stroop Test, as well as Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test were applied to juvenile offenders tried and sentenced for violent crimes in Santiago de Chile. A random sample was drawn from La Cisterna Half-Open Program, consisting of 50 young males between 18 and 24 years old, residing in different districts of Santiago de Chile. The analysis of results suggests a disproportionately elevated incidence of impairments in executive functions and visuospatial skills. As an outcome, over 40% of the sample shows a significant low performance in both assessments, exceeding four times the same prevalence rates among young people in the general population. While executive functions entail working memory (being able to keep information and use it in some way), cognitive flexibility (to think about something in more than one way) and inhibitory control (being able to self-control, ignore distractions and delay immediate gratification), visuospatial skills permit to orientate and organize a planned conduct. All of these abilities are fundamental to the skill of avoiding violent behaviour and abiding by social rules. Understanding the relevance of neurodevelopmental impairments in the onset of violent and criminal behaviour, as well as recidivism, eventually may guide the deployment of a more comprehensive assessment and treatment for juvenile offenders.

Keywords: executive functions, half-open program, juvenile offenders, neurodisabilities, visuospatial skills

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Authors: Makda Yeshitela Kifele

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Hair treatment prevents the hair from loss of volume, changing colour, and damaging its properties of the hair. Hair is the beauty of human beings that makes people beautiful and takes the other hearts to see them and to give them an appreciation for their effort to treat their hair and save it from damage. There are different methods to protect human hair from loss and damage that influence human psychology better than the problems. Chemicals products are available in the world that keeps safely the hair and provide beauty for the hair. But chemical products have side effects and are not cost-effective. Even some of the chemicals are allergic for users and left some changes in the hair. Indigenous hair treatment is an effective method that reduces the bad effects and the problems of the chemical that are lefts in human being’slife. Indigenous hair treatment can treat the hair safely and effectively that does not have much effect or spots in the human hair the users rather, it improves some attributes of the hair such that shine, quality, quantity improvements, length, and flexibility can be modified by these indigenous treatments. Rate is the local plant that plays a significant role in hair treatment. Rate is the local plant that can be available everywhere in the country, and anybody can be used for hair treatments. For this research, 50 women are identified as sample populations with different hair characteristics. The treatments were collected from the fields and squeezed into the pots to be prepared as specimens. The squeezed plants were deposited in the refrigerator for three days with some amounts of salts to prevent some bacteria. Chemical analysis has been done to sort out some detrimental substances. So the result showed that there are no detrimental substances that affect the hair properties and the health of the users. The sample population used the oil for one month without any other oily cosmetics that disturbs the treatment. The output is very effective and brings shining the hair, preventing greying of the hair, showing fast-growing, increasing the volume of the hair, and becoming flexible and curly, straight hair, thicker, and with no allergic effects.

Keywords: indigenous, chemicals, curly, treatment

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Authors: Afshin Zohdi, Selçuk Özdemir, Mustafa Aksoy

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Tungsten carbide-cobalt (WC-Co) is a widely utilized material for cold forming dies, including those employed in fastener production. In this study, we investigated the effectiveness of the pack boriding method in improving the surface properties of WC-Co cold forging dies. The boriding process involved embedding WC-Co samples, along with a steel control sample, within a chamber made of H13 tool steel. A boriding powder mixture was introduced into the chamber, which was then sealed using a paste. Subsequently, the samples were subjected to a temperature of 700°C for 5 hours in a furnace. Microstructural analysis, including cross-sectional examination and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), confirmed successful boron diffusion and its presence on the surface of the borided samples. The microhardness of the borided layer was significantly increased (3980 HV1) compared to the unborided sample (1320 HV3), indicating enhanced hardness. The borided layer exhibited an acceptable thickness of 45 microns, with a diffusion coefficient of 1.125 × 10-7 mm²/s, signifying a moderate diffusion rate. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) mapping revealed an increase in boron content, desirable for the intended purpose, while an undesired increase in oxygen content was observed. Furthermore, the pin-on-disk wear test demonstrated a reduction in friction coefficient, indicating improved mechanical and tribological properties of the surface. The successful implementation of the pack boriding process highlights its potential for enhancing the performance of WC-Co cold forging dies.

Keywords: WC-Co, cold forging dies, pack boriding, surface hardness, wear resistance, microhardness, diffusion coefficient, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy

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Authors: Feiyu Yang, Chunfang Ni, Rong Wang, Yun Zou, Wenbin Liu, Chenggong Zhang, Fenjin Sun, Chun Wang

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Cocaine is the most frequently used illegal drug globally, with the global annual prevalence of cocaine used ranging from 0.3% to 0.4 % of the adult population aged 15–64 years. Growing consumption trend of abused cocaine and drug crimes are a great concern, therefore urine sample testing has become an important noninvasive sampling whereas cocaine and its metabolites (COCs) are usually present in high concentrations and relatively long detection windows. However, direct analysis of urine samples is not feasible because urine complex medium often causes low sensitivity and selectivity of the determination. On the other hand, presence of low doses of analytes in urine makes an extraction and pretreatment step important before determination. Especially, in gathered taking drug cases, the pretreatment step becomes more tedious and time-consuming. So developing a sensitive, rapid and high-throughput method for detection of COCs in human body is indispensable for law enforcement officers, treatment specialists and health officials. In this work, a new automated magnetic dispersive solid-phase extraction (MDSPE) sampling method followed by high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) was developed for quantitative enrichment of COCs from human urine, using prepared magnetic nanoparticles as absorbants. The nanoparticles were prepared by silanizing magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles and modifying them with divinyl benzene and vinyl pyrrolidone, which possesses the ability for specific adsorption of COCs. And this kind of magnetic particle facilitated the pretreatment steps by electromagnetically controlled extraction to achieve full automation. The proposed device significantly improved the sampling preparation efficiency with 32 samples in one batch within 40mins. Optimization of the preparation procedure for the magnetic nanoparticles was explored and the performances of magnetic nanoparticles were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, vibrating sample magnetometer and infrared spectra measurements. Several analytical experimental parameters were studied, including amount of particles, adsorption time, elution solvent, extraction and desorption kinetics, and the verification of the proposed method was accomplished. The limits of detection for the cocaine and cocaine metabolites were 0.09-1.1 ng·mL-1 with recoveries ranging from 75.1 to 105.7%. Compared to traditional sampling method, this method is time-saving and environmentally friendly. It was confirmed that the proposed automated method was a kind of highly effective way for the trace cocaine and cocaine metabolites analyses in human urine.

Keywords: automatic magnetic dispersive solid-phase extraction, cocaine detection, magnetic nanoparticles, urine sample testing

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Authors: Sarah Maiter

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Heightened globalization, migration, displacement of citizens, and refugee needs is putting increasing demand for approaches to social services for diverse populations that responds to families to ensure the safety and protection of vulnerable members while providing supports and services. Along with this social works re-focus on socially just approaches to practice increasingly asks social workers to consider the challenging circumstances of families when providing services rather than a focus on individual shortcomings alone. Child protection workers then struggle to ensure safety of children while assessing the needs of families. This assessment can prove to be difficult when providing services to immigrant, refugee, and racially diverse families as understanding of and familiarity with these families is often limited. Furthermore, child protection intervention in western countries is state mandated having legal authority when intervening in the lives of families where child protection concerns have been identified. Within this context, racialized immigrant and refugee families are at risk of misunderstandings that can result in interventions that are overly intrusive, unhelpful, and harsh. Research shows disproportionality and overrepresentation of racial and ethnic minorities, and immigrant families in the child protection system. Reasons noted include: a) possibilities of racial bias in reporting and substantiating abuse, b) struggles on the part of workers when working with families from diverse ethno-racial backgrounds and who are immigrants and may have limited proficiency in the national language of the country, c) interventions during crisis and differential ongoing services for these families, d) diverse contexts of these families that poses additional challenges for families and children, and e) possible differential definitions of child maltreatment. While cultural and ethnic diversity in child rearing approaches have been cited as contributors to child protection concerns, this approach should be viewed cautiously as it can result in stereotyping and generalizing that then results in inappropriate assessment and intervention. However, poverty and the lack of social supports, both well-known contributors to child protection concerns, also impact these families disproportionately. Child protection systems, therefore, need to continue to examine policy and practice approaches with these families that ensures safety of children while balancing the needs of families. This presentation provides data from several research studies that examined definitions of child maltreatment among a sample of racialized immigrant families, experiences of a sample of immigrant families with the child protection system, concerns of a sample of child protection workers in the provision of services to these families, and struggles of families in the transitions to their new country. These studies, along with others provide insights into areas of consideration for practice that can contribute to safety for children while ensuring just and equitable responses that have greater potential for keeping families together rather than premature apprehension and removal of children to state care.

Keywords: child protection, child welfare services, immigrant families, racial and ethnic diversity

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Authors: Claudia Seabra, Elisabeth Kastenholz, José Luís Abrantes, Manuel Reis

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In a world of increasing mobility and global risks, terrorism has, in a perverse way, capitalized on contemporaneous society’s growing interest in travel to explore a world whose national boundaries and distances have decreased. Terrorists have identified the modern tourist flows originated from the economically more developed countries as new appealing targets so as to: i) call attention to the causes they defend and ii) destroy a country’s foundations of tourism, with the final aim of disrupting the economic and consequently social fabric of the affected countries. The present study analyses sensitivity towards risk and travel behaviors in international travel amongst a sample of 600 international tourists from 49 countries travelling by air. Specifically, the sample was segmented according to the Global Peace Index. This index defines country profiles regarding the levels of peace. The indicators used are established over three broad themes: i) ongoing domestic and international conflict; ii) societal safety and security; and iii) militarisation. Tourists were segmented, according to their country of origin, in different levels of peacefulness. Several facets of travel behavior were evaluated, namely motivations, attitude towards trip planning, quality perception and perceived value of the trip. Also factors related with risk perception were evaluated, specifically terrorism risk perception during the trip, unsafety sensation as well as importance attributed to safety in travel. Results contribute to our understanding of the role of previous exposure to the lack of peace and safety at home in the international tourists behaviors, which is further discussed in terms of tourism management and marketing implications which should particularly interest tourism services and destinations more affected by terrorism, war, political turmoil, crime and other safety risks.

Keywords: terrorism, tourism, safety, risk perception

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Authors: Elitsa Kolentsova, Dimitar Dimitrov, Vasko Idakiev, Tatyana Tabakova, Krasimir Ivanov

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Formaldehyde production by selective oxidation of methanol is an important industrial process. The main by-products in the waste gas are CO and dimethyl ether (DME). The idea of this study is to combine the advantages of both Cu-Mn and Cu-Co catalytic systems by obtaining a new mixed Cu-Mn-Co catalyst with high activity and selectivity at the simultaneous oxidation of CO, methanol, and DME. Two basic Cu-Mn samples with high activity were selected for further investigation: (i) manganese-rich Cu-Mn/γ–Al2O3 catalyst with Cu/Mn molar ratio 1:5 and (ii) copper-rich Cu-Mn/γ-Al2O3 catalyst with Cu/Mn molar ratio 2:1. Manganese in these samples was replaced by cobalt in the whole concentration region, and catalytic properties were determined. The results show a general trend of decreasing the activity toward DME oxidation and increasing the activity toward CO and methanol oxidation with the increase of cobalt up to 60% for both groups of catalyst. This general trend, however, contains specific features, depending on the composition of the catalyst and the nature of the oxidized gas. The catalytic activity of the sample with Cu/(Mn+Co) molar ratio of 2:1 is gradually changed with increasing the cobalt content. The activity of the sample with Cu/(Mn+Co) molar ratio of 1: 5 passes through a maximum at 60% manganese replacement by cobalt, probably due to the formation of highly dispersed Co-based spinel structures (Co3O4 and/or MnCo2O4). In conclusion, the present study demonstrates that the Cu-Mn-Co/γ–alumina supported catalysts have enhanced activity toward CO, methanol and DME oxidation. Cu/(Mn+Co) molar ratio 1:5 and Co/Mn molar ratio 1.5 in the active component can ensure successful oxidation of CO, CH3OH and DME. The active component of the mixed Cu-Mn-Co/γ–alumina catalysts consists of at least six compounds - CuO, Co3O4, MnO2, Cu1.5Mn1.5O4, MnCo2O4 and CuCo2O4, depending on the Cu/Mn/Co molar ratio. Chemical composition strongly influences catalytic properties, this effect being quite variable with regards to the different processes.

Keywords: Cu-Mn-Co catalysts, oxidation, carbon oxide, VOCs

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Authors: Wilfred Jeyatheese Jeyaraj

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Education is a key determinant of future success, and every person deserves non-discriminant access to information for educational inevitabilities in any case. Analysing and understanding complex information is a crucial learning tool, especially for students. In order to compete equally with sighted students, visually impaired students require the unhinged access to access to all the available information resources. When the education of visually impaired students comes to a focal point, it can be stated that visually impaired students encounter several obstacles and barriers before they enter the university and during their time there as students. These obstacles and barriers are spread across technical, organizational and social arenas. This study reveals the possible approaches to absorb and benefit from the information provided by the Sri Lankan University Libraries for visually impaired students. Purposive sampling technique was used to select sample visually impaired students attached to the Sri Lankan National universities. There are 07 National universities which accommodate the visually impaired students and with the identified data, they were selected for this study and 80 visually impaired students were selected as the sample group. Descriptive type survey method was used to collect data. Structured questionnaires, interviews and direct observation were used as research instruments. As far as the Sri Lankan context spread is concerned, visually impaired students are able to finish their courses through their own determination to overcome the barriers they encounter on their way to graduation, through moral and practical support from their own friends and very often through a high level of creativity. According to the findings there are no specially trained university librarians to serve visually impaired users and less number of assistive technology equipment are available at present. This paper enables all university libraries in Sri Lanka to be informed about the social isolation of visually compromised students at the Sri Lankan universities and focuses on the rectification issues by considering their distinct case for interaction.

Keywords: information access, Sri Lanka, university libraries, visual impairment

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Authors: Mohammad Hossein Pazandeh, Monir Doudi, Sona Rostampour Yasouri

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—Results The prudent administration of antibiotics aims to avoid the side effects and the microbes' resistance to antibiotics. An approach developing methods of local administration of antibiotics is especially required for localized infections caused by bacterial colonization of medical devices or implant materials. Among the wide variety of materials used as drug delivery systems, bioactive glasses (BG) have large utilization in regenerative medicine . firstly, the production of bioactive glass/nickel oxide/tin dioxide nanocomposite using sol-gel method, and then, the controlled release of imipenem from the double metal oxide/bioactive glass nanocomposite, and finally, the investigation of the antibacterial property of the nanocomposite. against a number of implant-related infectious agents. In this study, BG/SnO2 and BG/NiO single systema with different metal oxide present and BG/NiO/SnO2 nanocomposites were synthesized by sol-gel as drug carriers for tetracycline and imepinem. These two antibiotics were widely used for osteomyelitis because of its favorable penetration and bactericidal effect on all the probable osteomyelitis pathogens. The antibacterial activity of synthesized samples were evaluated against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa as bacteria model using disk diffusion method. The BG modification using metal oxides results to antibacterial property of samples containing metal oxide with highest efficiency for nancomposite. bioactivity of all samples was assessed by determining the surface morphology, structural and composition changes using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), FTIR and X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectroscopy, respectively, after soaking in simulated body fluid (SBF) for 28 days. The hydroxyapatite formation was clearly observed as a bioactivity measurement. Then, BG nanocomposite sample was loaded using two antibiotics, separately and their release profiles were studied. The BG nancomposite sample was shown the slow and continuous drug releasing for a period of 72 hours which is desirable for a drug delivery system. The loaded antibiotic nanocomposite sample retaining antibacterial property and showing inactivation effect against bacteria under test. The modified bioactive glass forming hydroxyapatite with controlled release drug and effective against bacterial infections can be introduced as scaffolds for bone implants after clinical trials for biomedical applications . Considering the formation of biofilm by infectious bacteria after sticking on the surfaces of implants, medical devices, etc. Also, considering the complications of traditional methods, solving the problems caused by the above-mentioned microorganisms in technical and biomedical industries was one of the necessities of this research.

Keywords: antibacterial, bioglass, drug delivery system, sol- gel

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Authors: H. F. Shi, C. L. Zhang

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Visible-light-responsive g-C3N4/NaNbO3 nanowires photocatalysts were fabricated by introducing polymeric g-C3N4 on NaNbO3 nanowires. The microscopic mechanisms of interface interaction, charge transfer and separation, as well as the influence on the photocatalytic activity of g-C3N4/NaNbO3 composite were systematic investigated. The HR-TEM revealed that an intimate interface between C3N4 and NaNbO3 nanowires formed in the g-C3N4/NaNbO3 heterojunctions. The photocatalytic performance of photocatalysts was evaluated for CO2 reduction under visible-light illumination. Significantly, the activity of g-C3N4/NaNbO3 composite photocatalyst for photoreduction of CO2 was higher than that of either single-phase g-C3N4 or NaNbO3. Such a remarkable enhancement of photocatalytic activity was mainly ascribed to the improved separation and transfer of photogenerated electron-hole pairs at the intimate interface of g-C3N4/NaNbO3 heterojunctions, which originated from the well-aligned overlapping band structures of C3N4 and NaNbO3. Pt loaded NaNbO3-xNx (Pt-NNON), a visible-light-sensitive photocatalyst, was synthesized by an in situ photodeposition method from H2PtCl6•6H2O onto NaNbO3-xNx (NNON) sample. Pt-NNON exhibited a much higher photocatalytic activity for gaseous 2-propanol (IPA) degradation under visible-light irradiation in contrast to NNON. The apparent quantum efficiency (AQE) of Pt-NNON sample for IPA photodegradation achieved up to 8.6% at the wavelength of 419 nm. The notably enhanced photocatalytic performance was attributed to the promoted charge separation and transfer capability in the Pt-NNON system. This work suggests that surface nanosteps possibly play an important role as an electron transfer at high way, which facilitates to the charge carrier collection onto Pt rich zones and thus suppresses recombination between photogenerated electrons and holes. This method can thus be considered as an excellent strategy to enhance photocatalytic activity of organic decomposition in addition to the commonly applied noble metal doping method.

Keywords: CO2 reduction, NaNbO3, nanowires, g-C3N4

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Authors: Adetokunbo Ademola Falade, Oluwatoyin Olakunle Akinsete, Hussein Omeiza Aliu

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Solvent-aided dilution processes are often employed to recover bitumen by reducing its viscosity. In this study, methanol, toluene, and xylene were investigated as potential hydrocarbon solvents for solvent-aided hydrocarbon recovery of Agbabu bitumen. Solubility, Viscosity, and Saturate, Aromatic, Resin and Asphaltene (SARA) Analysis tests were carried out to determine the solubility of the bitumen in the solvents, the viscosity, and the SARA fraction of the natural bitumen and bitumen-solvent mixtures. Agbabu bitumen was found to have a high content of saturates and aromatics. Viscosity decreases as pressure increases, while solubility reduces as temperature increases. The experimental diffusivity of the sample decreases with temperature and increases with pressure, indicating that the presence of additional solvent molecules in the oil phase facilitates diffusion. Agbabu bitumen was found to be most soluble in toluene, and its viscosity was reduced most in it. Xylene exhibited a similar effect as toluene on the sample, though lesser but better than methanol. Methanol reduced the saturated content and significantly raised the asphaltene content, keeping the mixture viscosity high, a condition that, in turn, favors its colloidal stability. The colloidal instability index (CII) values, which account for the asphaltene stability of the mixture, show that the bitumen-methanol system with a CII of 0.874 will have mild asphaltene deposit issues while others are unstable. This approach of combining multiple tests with the CII can accurately predict the behavior of Agbabu bitumen in solvents and enhance the decision on the choice of bitumen recovery technology.

Keywords: asphaltene, bitumen, diffusivity, hydrocarbon solvent, SARA

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Authors: Doostishoar Farzad, Forootanfar Hamid, Hasan-Bikdashti Morvarid, Faramarzi Mohammad Ali, Ameri Atefe

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Introduction: Chili peppers and related plants in the family of capsaicum produce a mixture of capsaicins represent anticarcinogenic, antimutagenic, and chemopreventive properties. Vanillylamine, the main product of capsaicin hydrolysis is applied as a precursor for manufacturing of natural vanillin (a famous flavor). It is also used in the production of synthetic capsaicins harboring a wide variety of physiological and biological activities such as antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects as well as enhancing of adrenal catecholamine secretion, analgesic, and antioxidative activities. The ability of some lipases, such as Novozym 677 BG and Novozym 435 and also some proteases e.g. trypsine and penicillin acylase, in capsaicin hydrolysis and green synthesis of vanillylamine has been investigated. In the present study the optimized culture broth of a newly isolated lipase-producing bacterial strain (Stenotrophomonas maltophilia) applied for the hydrolysis of capsaicin. Materials and methods: In order to compare hydrolytic activity of optimized and basal culture broth through capsaicin 2 mL of each culture broth (as sources of lipase) was introduced to capsaicin solution (500 mg/L) and then the reaction mixture (total volume of 3 mL) was incubated at 40 °C and 120 rpm. Samples were taken every 2 h and analyzed for vanillylamine formation using HPLC. Same reaction mixture containing boiled supernatant (to inactivate lipase) designed as blank and each experiment was done in triplicate. Results: 215 mg/L of vanillylamine was produced after the treatment of capsaicin using the optimized medium for 18 h, while only 61 mg/L of vanillylamine was detected in presence of the basal medium under the same conditions. No capsaicin conversion was observed in the blank sample, in which lipase activity was suppressed by boiling of the sample for 10 min. Conclusion: The application of optimized broth culture for the hydrolysis of capsaicin led to a 43% conversion of that pungent compound to vanillylamine.

Keywords: Capsaicin, green synthesis, lipase, stenotrophomonas maltophilia

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Authors: Shirin Sadat Ahmadi

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The number of people, particularly university students, migrating from Iran and applying for American and European universities has been rising during recent years. Different people may have various reasons and goals for migration, but one of the common issues among all these people is the cultural challenges they experience when living in the adopted society. Immigrants usually confront obstacles during the Intercultural transition and adaption process. Different variables such as age, religion, gender, education, knowing the spoken language in destination country, financial condition, interactions with natives, and using social media can affect the cultural challenges people face after migration and how they conquer issues appearing due to intercultural differences and conflicts. In this research we have interviewed a sample consisted of 15 Iranian students living and studying abroad found by using snowball sampling technique via video call to realize what cultural challenges they have experienced in the new society, how the mentioned variables above eased these challenges or made them harder and what approaches and solutions they adopted to adjust themselves to the new society and its cultural dimensions. Based on John Berry's acculturation theory of migrant-host relationship, we have classified these 15 people in five different categories: Assimilation, Separation, Marginalization, and Integration. In addition we have considered Y.Y. Kim's communication-based theory of cross-cultural adaption to explain how communications helped migrant populations in adaption process. Based on the findings of this study, 12 of 15 interviewed members of the study used the integration strategy to adapt to the new cultural environment, 3 of them used the assimilation strategy, and none of them used marginalization or separation strategies. Communicating with natives, knowing the language, and education were the factors that helped all the interviewed members of the sample to overcome the difficulties of intercultural transition.

Keywords: acculturation, culture, intercultural transition, migration

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Authors: Vaibhav Pandey, K. Chattopadhyay, N. C. Santhi Srinivas, Vakil Singh

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Aluminium alloy 7075 consist of different intermetallic precipitate particles MgZn2, CuAl2, which result in heterogeneity of micro structure and influence the corrosion properties of the alloy. Artificial ageing was found to enhance the strength properties, but highly susceptible to stress-corrosion cracking. Various conventional surface modification techniques are developed for improving corrosion properties of aluminum alloys. This led to development of novel surface mechanical attrition treatment (SMAT) technique the so called ultrasonic shot peening which gives nano-grain structure at surface. In the present investigation the influence of surface mechanical attrition treatment on corrosion behavior of aluminum alloy 7075 was studied in 3.5wt% NaCl solution. Two different size of 1 mm and 3 mm steel balls are used as peening media and SMAT was carried out for different time intervals 5, 15 and 30 minutes. Surface nano-grains/nano-crystallization was observed after SMAT. The formation of nano-grain structure was observed for larger size balls with time of treatment and consequent increase in micro strain. As-SMATed sample with 1 mm balls exhibits better corrosion resistance as compared to that of un-SMATed sample. The enhancement in corrosion resistance may be due to formation of surface nano-grain structure which reduced the electron release rate. In contrast the samples treated with 3 mm balls showed very poor corrosion resistance. A decrease in corrosion resistance was observed with increase in the time of peening. The decrease in corrosion resistance in the shotpeened samples with larger diameter balls may due to increase in microstrain and defect density.

Keywords: aluminum alloy 7075, corrosion, SMAT, ultrasonic shot peening, surface nano-grains

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Authors: Elham Jafari

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The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of emotional intelligence training on reducing marital conflict and marital adjustment in married students of the University of Tehran. This research is an applied type in terms of purpose and a semi-experimental design of pre-test-post-test type with the control group and with follow-up test in terms of the data collection method. The statistical population of the present study consisted of all married students of the University of Tehran. In this study, 30 married students of the University of Tehran were selected by convenience sampling method as a sample that 15 people in the experimental group and 15 people in the control group were randomly selected. The method of data collection in this research was field and library. The data collection tool in the field section was two questionnaires of marital conflict and marital adjustment. To analyze the collected data, first at the descriptive level, using statistical indicators, the demographic characteristics of the sample were described by SPSS software. In inferential statistics, the statistical method used was the test of analysis of covariance. The results showed that the effect of the independent variable of emotional intelligence on the reduction of marital conflicts is statistically significant. And it can be inferred that emotional intelligence training has reduced the marital conflicts of married students of the University of Tehran in the experimental group compared to the control group. Also, the effect of the independent variable of emotional intelligence on marital adjustment was statistically significant. It can be inferred that emotional intelligence training has adjusted the marital adjustment of married students of the University of Tehran in the experimental group compared to the control group.

Keywords: emotional intelligence, marital conflicts, marital compatibility, married students

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Authors: Kaling Taki, Rohit Gahlot, Manish Kumar

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Disposal of Sewage Sludge (SS) is a big issue especially in developing nation like India, where there is no control in the dynamicity of SS produced. The present research work demonstrates the potential application of SS amended with varying percentage (0-100%) of Fly Ash (FA) for brick manufacturing as an alternative of SS management. SS samples were collected from Jaspur sewage treatment plant (Ahmedabad, India) and subjected to different preconditioning treatments: (i) atmospheric drying (ii) pulverization (iii) heat treatment in oven (110°C, moisture removal) and muffle furnace (440°C, organic content removal). Geotechnical parameters of the SS were obtained as liquid limit (52%), plastic limit (24%), shrinkage limit (10%), plasticity index (28%), differential free swell index (DFSI, 47%), silt (68%), clay (27%), organic content (5%), optimum moisture content (OMC, 20%), maximum dry density (MDD, 1.55gm/cc), specific gravity (2.66), swell pressure (57kPa) and unconfined compressive strength (UCS, 207kPa). For FA liquid limit, plastic limit and specific gravity was 44%, 0% and 2.2 respectively. Initially, for brick casting pulverized SS sample was heat treated in a muffle furnace around 440℃ (5 hours) for removal of organic matter. Later, mixing of SS, FA and water by weight ratio was done at OMC. 7*7*7 cm3 sample mold was used for casting bricks at MDD. Brick samples were then first dried in room temperature for 24 hours, then in oven at 100℃ (24 hours) and finally firing in muffle furnace for 1000℃ (10 hours). The fired brick samples were then cured for 3 days according to Indian Standards (IS) common burnt clay building bricks- specification (5th revision). The Compressive strength of brick samples (0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 ,60, 70, 80, 90, 100%) of FA were 0.45, 0.76, 1.89, 1.83, 4.02, 3.74, 3.42, 3.19, 2.87, 0.78 and 4.95MPa when evaluated through compressive testing machine (CTM) for a stress rate of 14MPa/min. The highest strength was obtained at 40% FA mixture i.e. 4.02MPa which is much higher than the pure SS brick sample. According to IS 1077: 1992 this combination gives strength more than 3.5 MPa and can be utilized as common building bricks. The loss in weight after firing was much higher than the oven treatment, this might be due to degradation temperature higher than 100℃. The thermal conductivity of the fired brick was obtained as 0.44Wm-1K-1, indicating better insulation properties than other reported studies. TCLP (Toxicity characteristic leaching procedure) test of Cr, Cu, Co, Fe and Ni in raw SS was found as 69, 70, 21, 39502 and 47 mg/kg. The study positively concludes that SS and FA at optimum ratio can be utilized as common building bricks such as partitioning wall and other small strength requirement works. The uniqueness of the work is it emphasizes on utilization of FA for stabilizing SS as construction material as a replacement of natural clay as reported in existing studies.

Keywords: Compressive strength, Curing, Fly Ash, Sewage Sludge.

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Authors: Betül Sönmez, Aytolan Yıldırım

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Objective: This systematic review aims to methodically analyze studies regarding mobbing behavior prevalence, individuals performing this behavior and the effects of mobbing on Turkish nurses. Background: Worldwide reports on mobbing cases have increased in the past years, a similar trend also observable in Turkey. It has been demonstrated that among healthcare workers, mobbing is significantly widespread in nurses. The number of studies carried out in this regard has also increased. Method: The main criteria for choosing articles in this systematic review were nurses located in Turkey, regardless of any specific date. In November 2014, a search using the keywords 'mobbing, bullying, psychological terror/violence, emotional violence, nurses, healthcare workers, Turkey' in PubMed, Science Direct, Ebscohost, National Thesis Centre database and Google search engine led to 71 studies in this field. 33 studies were not met the inclusion criteria specified for this study. Results: The findings were obtained using the results of 38 studies carried out in the past 13 years in Turkey, a large sample consisting of 8,877 nurses. Analysis of the incidences of mobbing behavior revealed a broad spectrum, ranging from none-slight experiences to 100% experiences. The most frequently observed mobbing behaviors include attacking personality, blocking communication and attacking professional and social reputation. Victims mostly experienced mobbing from their managers, the most common consequence of these actions being psychological effects. Conclusions: The results of studies with various scales indicate exposure of nurses to similar mobbing behavior. The high frequency of exposure of nurses to mobbing behavior in such a large sample highlights the importance of considering this issue in terms of individual and institutional consequences that adversely affect the performance of nurses.

Keywords: mobbing, bullying, workplace violence, nurses, Turkey

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Authors: Athanasia Eirini Zarkadi, Despoina Balli, Olga Elpis Kolokitha

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Objective: Impacted maxillary canines are a frequent condition and a common reason for patients seeking orthodontic treatment. Their simultaneous presence with dental anomalies raises a question about their possible connection. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of maxillary impacted canines with dental anomalies. Materials and Methods: Files of 874 patients from an orthodontic private practice in Greece were evaluated for the presence of maxillary impacted canines. From this sample, a group of 97 patients (39 males and 58 females) with at least one impacted maxillary canine were selected and consisted of the study group (canine impaction group) of this study. This group was compared to a control group of 97 patients (42 males and 55 females) that was created by random selection from the initial sample without maxillary canine impaction. The impaction diagnosis was made from the panoramic radiographs and confirmed from the surgery. The association between maxillary canine impaction and dental anomalies was examined with the chi-square test. A classification tree was created to further investigate the relations between impaction and dental anomalies. The reproducibility of diagnoses was assessed by re-examining the records of 25 patients two weeks after the first examination. Results: The found associated anomalies were cone-shaped upper lateral incisors and infraocclusion of deciduous molars. There is a significant increase in the prevalence of 12,4% of distal displacement of the unerupted mandibular second premolar in the canine impaction group compared to the control group that was 7,2%. The classification tree showed that the presence of a cone-shaped maxillary lateral incisor gave rise to the probability of an impacted canine to 83,3%. Conclusions: The presence of cone-shaped maxillary lateral incisors and infraocclusion of deciduous molars can be considered valuable early risk indicators for maxillary canine impaction.

Keywords: cone-shaped maxillary lateral incisors, dental anomalies, impacted canines, infraoccluded deciduous molars

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Authors: Homa Hedayat

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Public spaces have been a central concern of urban planners for centuries but have been neglected for a long time. In the modernist planning, the focus has been on the requirements of cars rather than the needs and expectations of pedestrians, and therefore, cities have lost many qualities. Urban public space is a space within the city area which is accessible to all people and is the ground for their activity. People’s public life occurs in urban public spaces in a complex set of forms and functions. These spaces must facilitate diverse behavior, uses, and activities such as shopping, walking, conversation, entertainment, relaxation or even passing the time during festivities and events. One of the public spaces is the surrounding space of public transportation stations. Subway stations, although potentially encompass many different groups of people accommodate few social interactions. Making the surrounding areas of subway stations pedestrian-oriented, potentially increases the socialization capacity. The Sadeghieh Subway Station can be considered as the most important subway station in Tehran, which on the one hand is the rail port of Tehran's western entrance, and on the other is the port for railway journeys inside the city. The main concern of this study is to assess the success or failure of the interventions made by the municipality for changing the surrounding area of the Sadeghieh Subway Station into a pedestrian-oriented space and examine the amount of the area's improvement into a desirable space. The method used in this study is surveying, in which the data were collected using a questionnaire and interview. The study's population is all people who use Sadeghieh Subway, and the sample size for the study was 140 subjects. Using parametric one-sample t-test, we found improvement in factors such as transportation, security, pedestrian infrastructure, vitality and climate comfort. However, there was no improvement in mix use, recreational activity, readability.

Keywords: public space, public transportation stations, pedestrian-oriented space, socialization

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Authors: Tharaki Hetti Arachchi

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Sri Lanka has undergone numerous changes in the fields of social-economic and cultural processors during the past decades. Consequently, the Sri Lankan construction industry was subjected to rapid growth while contributing a considerable amount to the national economy. The prevailing situation under the Covid-19 pandemic exhibited challenges to almost all of the sectors of the country in attaining success. Although productivity is one of the dimensions that measure the degree of project success, achieving sufficient productivity has become challengeable due to the Covid-19 outbreak. As employee motivation is an influential factor in defining productivity, the present study becomes significant in discovering ways of enhancing construction productivity via employee motivation. The study has adopted a combination of qualitative and quantitative methodologies in attaining the study objectives. While the research population refers to construction professionals in Sri Lanka, the study sample is aimed at Quantity Surveyors in the bottom and middle managements of organizational hierarchies. The data collection was implemented via primary and secondary sources. The primary data collection was accomplished by undertaking semi-structured interviews and online questionnaire surveys while sampling the overall respondents based on the purposive sample method. The responses of the questionnaire survey were gathered in a form of a ‘Likert Scale’ to examine the degree of applicability on each respondent. Overall, 76.36% of primary data were recovered from the expected count while obtaining 60 responses from the questionnaire survey and 24 responses from interviews. Secondary data were obtained by reviewing sources such as research articles, journals, newspapers, books, etc. The findings suggest adopting and enhancing sixteen motivational factors in achieving greater productivity in the Sri Lankan construction sector.

Keywords: Covid 19 pandemic, motivation, quantity surveying, Sri Lanka

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Authors: Aytakin Huseynli

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The paper reports findings of the study which examined under-five mortality rate among resource-rich countries. Typically when countries obtain wealth citizens gain increased wellbeing. Societies with new wealth create equal opportunities for everyone including vulnerable groups. But scholars claim that this is not the case for developing resource-rich countries and natural resources become the curse for them rather than the blessing. Spillovers from natural resource curse affect the social wellbeing of vulnerable people negatively. They get excluded from the mainstream society, and their situation becomes tangible. In order to test this hypothesis, the study compared under-5 mortality rate among resource-rich countries by using independent sample one-way ANOVA. The data on under-five mortality rate came from the World Bank. The natural resources for this study are oil, gas and minerals. The list of 67 resource-rich countries was taken from Natural Resource Governance Institute. The sample size was categorized and 4 groups were created such as low, low-middle, upper middle and high-income countries based on income classification of the World Bank. Results revealed that there was a significant difference in the scores for low, middle, upper-middle and high-income countries in under-five mortality rate (F(3(29.01)=33.70, p=.000). To find out the difference among income groups, the Games-Howell test was performed and it was found that infant mortality was an issue for low, middle and upper middle countries but not for high-income countries. Results of this study are in agreement with previous research on resource curse and negative effects of resource-based development. Policy implications of the study for social workers, policy makers, academicians and social development specialists are to raise and discuss issues of marginalization and exclusion of vulnerable groups in developing resource-rich countries and suggest interventions for avoiding them.

Keywords: children, natural resource, extractive industries, resource-based development, vulnerable groups

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Authors: N.Quaranta, M. Caligaris, R. Varoli, A. Cristobal, M. Unsen, H. López

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Corncobs are agricultural wastes and they can be used as fuel or as raw material in different industrial processes like cement manufacture, contaminant adsorption, chemical compound synthesis, etc. The aim of this work is to characterize this waste and analyze the feasibility of its use as a pore-forming material in the manufacture of lightweight ceramics for the civil construction industry. The characterization of raw materials is carried out by using various techniques: electron diffraction analysis X-ray, differential and gravimetric thermal analyses, FTIR spectroscopy, ecotoxicity evaluation, among others. The ground corncobs, particle size less than 2 mm, are mixed with clay up to 30% in volume and shaped by uniaxial pressure of 25 MPa, with 6% humidity, in moulds of 70mm x 40mm x 18mm. Then the green bodies are heat treated at 950°C for two hours following the treatment curves used in ceramic industry. The ceramic probes are characterized by several techniques: density, porosity and water absorption, permanent volumetric variation, loss on ignition, microscopies analysis, and mechanical properties. DTA-TGA analysis of corncobs shows in the range 20°-250°C a small loss in TGA curve and exothermic peaks at 250°-500°C. FTIR spectrum of the corncobs sample shows the characteristic pattern of this kind of organic matter with stretching vibration bands of adsorbed water, methyl groups, C–O and C–C bonds, and the complex form of the cellulose and hemicellulose glycosidic bonds. The obtained ceramic bodies present external good characteristics without loose edges and adequate properties for the market requirements. The porosity values of the sintered pieces are higher than those of the reference sample without waste addition. The results generally indicate that it is possible to use corncobs as porosity former in ceramic bodies without modifying the usual sintering temperatures employed in the industry.

Keywords: ceramic industry, biomass, recycling, hemicellulose glycosidic bonds

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Authors: Rukia Yosuf

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Diabetes is a national healthcare crisis related to both macrovascular and microvascular complications. We hypothesized that higher levels of physical activity are associated with lower total and visceral fat mass, lower systolic blood pressure, and increased insulin sensitivity. Participant inclusion criteria: 21-50 years old, BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2, hemoglobin A1C 5.7-6.4, fasting glucose 100-125 mg/dL, and HOMA IR ≥ 2.5. Exclusion criteria: history of diabetes, hypertension, HIV, renal disease, hearing loss, alcoholic intake over four drinks daily, use of organic nitrates or PDE5 inhibitors, and decreased cardiac function. Total physical activity was measured using accelerometers, body composition using DXA, and insulin resistance via fsIVGTT. Clinical and biochemical cardiometabolic risk factors, blood pressure and heart rate were obtained using a calibrated sphygmomanometer. Anthropometric measures, fasting glucose, insulin, lipid profile, C-reactive protein, and BMP were analyzed using standard procedures. Within our study, we found correlations between levels of physical activity in a heterogeneous group of prediabetic adults. Patients with more physical activity had a higher degree of insulin sensitivity, lower blood pressure, total visceral adipose tissue, and overall lower total mass. Total physical activity levels showed small, but significant correlations with systolic blood pressure, visceral fat, lean mass and insulin sensitivity. After normalizing for the race, age, and gender using multiple regression, these associations were no longer significant considering our small sample size. More research into prediabetes will decrease the population of diabetics overall. In the future, we could increase sample size and conduct cross sectional and longitudinal studies in various populations with prediabetes.

Keywords: diabetes, kidney disease, nephrology, prediabetes

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Authors: Fidelis E. Uwumiro, Chimaobi O. Nwevo, Favour O. Osemwota, Victory O. Okpujie, Emeka S. Obi, Omamuyovbi F. Nwoagbe, Ejiroghene Tejere, Joycelyn Adjei-Mensah, Christopher N. Ekeh, Charles T. Ogbodo

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Several risk factors associated with cardiovascular events have been identified as specific to Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). This study endeavors to validate these CKD-specific risk factors using up-to-date national-level data, thereby highlighting the crucial significance of confirming the validity and generalizability of findings obtained from previous studies conducted on smaller patient populations. The study utilized the nationwide inpatient sample database to identify adult hospitalizations for CKD from 2016 to 2020, employing validated ICD-10-CM/PCS codes. A comprehensive literature review was conducted to identify both traditional and CKD-specific risk factors associated with cardiovascular events. Risk factors and cardiovascular events were defined using a combination of ICD-10-CM/PCS codes and statistical commands. Only risk factors with specific ICD-10 codes and hospitalizations with complete data were included in the study. Cardiovascular events of interest included cardiac arrhythmias, sudden cardiac death, acute heart failure, and acute coronary syndromes. Univariate and multivariate regression models were employed to evaluate the association between chronic kidney disease-specific risk factors and cardiovascular events while adjusting for the impact of traditional CV risk factors such as old age, hypertension, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, inactivity, and smoking. A total of 690,375 hospitalizations for CKD were included in the analysis. The study population was predominantly male (375,564, 54.4%) and primarily received care at urban teaching hospitals (512,258, 74.2%). The mean age of the study population was 61 years (SD 0.1), and 86.7% (598,555) had a CCI of 3 or more. At least one traditional risk factor for CV events was present in 84.1% of all hospitalizations (580,605), while 65.4% (451,505) included at least one CKD-specific risk factor for CV events. The incidence of CV events in the study was as follows: acute coronary syndromes (41,422; 6%), sudden cardiac death (13,807; 2%), heart failure (404,560; 58.6%), and cardiac arrhythmias (124,267; 18%). 91.7% (113,912) of all cardiac arrhythmias were atrial fibrillations. Significant odds of cardiovascular events on multivariate analyses included: malnutrition (aOR: 1.09; 95% CI: 1.06–1.13; p<0.001), post-dialytic hypotension (aOR: 1.34; 95% CI: 1.26–1.42; p<0.001), thrombophilia (aOR: 1.46; 95% CI: 1.29–1.65; p<0.001), sleep disorder (aOR: 1.17; 95% CI: 1.09–1.25; p<0.001), and post-renal transplant immunosuppressive therapy (aOR: 1.39; 95% CI: 1.26–1.53; p<0.001). The study validated malnutrition, post-dialytic hypotension, thrombophilia, sleep disorders, and post-renal transplant immunosuppressive therapy, highlighting their association with increased risk for cardiovascular events in CKD patients. No significant association was observed between uremic syndrome, hyperhomocysteinemia, hyperuricemia, hypertriglyceridemia, leptin levels, carnitine deficiency, anemia, and the odds of experiencing cardiovascular events.

Keywords: cardiovascular events, cardiovascular risk factors in CKD, chronic kidney disease, nationwide inpatient sample

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Authors: Matthew McArthur, Margaret Friend

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The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the stability of the home environment for families across the world. Potential disruptions include parent work modality (in-person vs. remote), levels of health anxiety, family routines, and caregiving. These disruptions may have interfered with the processes of early vocabulary acquisition, carrying lasting effects over the life course. Our justification for this research is as follows: First, early, stable, caregiver-child reciprocal interactions, which may have been disrupted during the pandemic, contribute to the development of the brain architecture that supports language, cognitive, and social-emotional development. Second, early vocabulary predicts several cognitive outcomes, such as numeracy, literacy, and executive function. Further, disruption in the home is associated with adverse cognitive, academic, socio-emotional, behavioral, and communication outcomes in young children. We are interested in how disruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic are associated with vocabulary acquisition in children born during the first two waves of the pandemic. We are conducting a moderated online experiment to assess this question. Participants are 16 children (10F) ranging in age from 19 to 39 months (M=25.27) and their caregivers. All child participants were screened for language background, health history, and history of language disorders, and were typically developing. Parents completed a modified version of the COVID-19 Family Stressor Scale (CoFaSS), a published measure of COVID-19-related family stressors. Thirteen items from the original scale were replaced to better capture change in family organization and stability specifically related to disruptions in income, anxiety, family relations, and childcare. Following completion of the modified CoFaSS, children completed a Web-Based version of the Computerized Comprehension Task and the Receptive One Word Picture Vocabulary if 24 months or older or the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory if younger than 24 months. We report our preliminary data as a partial correlation analysis controlling for age. Raw vocabulary scores on the CCT, ROWPVT-4, and MCDI were all negatively associated with pandemic-related disruptions related to anxiety (r12=-.321; r1=-.332; r9=-.509), family relations (r12=-.590*; r1=-.155; r9=-.468), and childcare (r12=-.294; r1=-.468; r9=-.177). Although the small sample size for these preliminary data limits our power to detect significance, this trend is in the predicted direction, suggesting that increased pandemic-related disruption across multiple domains is associated with lower vocabulary scores. We anticipate presenting data on a full sample of 50 monolingual English participants. A sample of 50 participants would provide sufficient statistical power to detect a moderate effect size, adhering to a nominal alpha of 0.05 and ensuring a power level of 0.80.

Keywords: COVID-19, early vocabulary, home environment, language acquisition, multiple measures

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