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Maryam Sarraf Yazdy, Bruce D Cheson Division of Hematology-Oncology, Georgetown University Hospital, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Washington, DC, USA Abstract: Although rituximab-based chemoimmunotherapy prolongs the survival of patients with follicular lymphoma (FL), this disease is considered incurable in most patients. Thus, new therapies are needed not only for those in the relapsed/refractory setting, but also for initial treatment. Obinutuzumab (G, GA101) is a third-generation, fully humanized type II glycoengineered, anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody that results in increased direct cell death and antibody-dependent, cell-mediated cytotoxicity/phagocytosis compared to rituximab. Obinutuzumab has significant antitumor activity when used alone or in combinations in untreated or relapsed refractory FL patients. Studies have demonstrated its ability to prolong progression-free survival and, in some cases, overall survival, and to eliminate minimal residual disease. Several ongoing trials are investigating combinations with chemotherapy, immunomodulators, targeted drugs, and immunotherapy agents. G is generally well tolerated, with associated adverse effects including infusion-related reactions, neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, and reactivation of hepatitis B virus. Future studies with this antibody should focus on identifying predictive markers and developing chemotherapy-free combinations that will improve the outcome of patients with FL. Keywords: obinutuzumab, follicular lymphoma, MRD, monoclonal antibody

Introduction: Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have some impairment in emotional relationship which can be due to problems in emotional processing. The present study investigated neural correlates of early stages of emotional face processing in this group compared with typically developing children using the Gamma Band Activity (GBA). Methods: A total of 19 children diagnosed with ADHD (Combined type) based on DSM-IV classification were compared with 19 typically developing children matched on age, gender, and IQ. The participants performed an emotional face recognition while their brain activities were recorded using an event-related oscillation procedure. Results: The results indicated that ADHD children compared to normal group showed a significant reduction in the gamma band activity, which is thought to reflect early perceptual emotion discrimination for happy and angry emotions (P

High pressure torsion provides an opportunity to process materials with low formability such as magnesium at room temperature. The present work shows the microstructure evolution in commercially pure magnesium processed using a pressure of 6.0 GPa up to 10 turns of rotation. The microstructure evolution is evaluated using electron microscopy and the hardness is determined using dynamic hardness testing. The results show that the grain refinement mechanism in this material differs from materials with b.c.c. and f.c.c. structures. The mechanism of grain refinement observed at high temperatures also applies at room temperature. The hardness distribution is heterogeneous along the longitudinal section of the discs and is not affected by the amount of deformation imposed to the material.

Objectives Vitamin D deficiency may be responsible for endothelial dysfunction which in turn affects the onset and progression of coronary artery disease and its risk factors. The Apo B/Apo AI ratio indicates the balance between atherogenic and anti atherogenic particles, the higher the value, the higher is the cardiovascular risk. The aim of study is to find a possible association between unstable angina and vitamin D3, Apo A1, Apo B, and Apo B/Apo A1 ratio and other risk factors (age, body mass index and smoking). Methods This case-control study was conducted during the period from Nov. 2015 to Sep. 2016. A total of 40 patients of unstable angina presented with typical chest pain to the coronary care unit in Al-Hussein Teaching Hospital, Al-Hussein Medical City/ Kerbala. The diagnosis was based on the clinical history and electrocardiography. A total of 50 persons were matched in age, gender and BMI as a control group. The procedures were measured using Auto Immunoassay Analyzer. Results Vitamin D3 deficiency (< 30 ng/mL) was prevalent in unstable angina (UA) compared with controls (vitamin D3 ≥ 30 ng/mL) (odds ratio [OR], 21.93; 95%, confidence interval [CI], 5.91–81.31; P < 0.001). The results obtained that serum 25(OH) D3 was highly significant in smoker compared with non-smoker in both groups (P < 0.001, P < 0.05, respectively). The serum Apo B, Apo A1 and Apo B/Apo A1 ratio were highly significant between both groups (P < 0.01, P < 0.001, P < 0.001, respectively). On the other hand, vitamin D3 recorded significant correlation with each of the age and BMI in control group (all P < 0.01). Conclusion The present study showed a highly significant association between vitamin D3, Apo B, Apo A1 levels, Apo B/Apo A1 ratio and unstable angina as compared with the control group, and significant correlation between vitamin D3 and age, BMI and smoking. Keywords unstable angina, vitamin D3, ApoA1, Apo B, Apo B/Apo A1 ratio

Background and Objectives: Abdominal and general obesities are greatly affected by diet and physical activities. Prevalence of this complication in communities has an increasing trend, so that even adolescents are no exception in this regard. The current study aimed to investigate abdominal and general obesity and its related factors in’ students of Qom city. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 301 (17 girls and 114 boys) students in medical and Azad universities in Qom city. These individuals were selected by proportional to size sampling method and studied by anthropometric measures, international short physical activity questionnaire, and 11-item nutritional habits questionnaire. Data were analyzed by independent t-, chi-square, and correlation coefficient tests. The significance level was considered to be α=0.05. Results: The mean BMI and WHR in students was 22.6±3.2kg/m2 and 0.8±0.0, respectively. A significant direct correlation was observed between anthropometric measures and abdominal obesity. Only 23.3% of the students had regular sport activity, so that the mean light physical activity in obese students was lower than normal students (38.9±43.1 vs. 60.8±67.5min). No heavy physical activity was seen in this group, and fast-food consumption was higher in this group of students compared to the normal students (93.2% vs. 67.8%). Conclusion: According to the findings of this study, there is a significant relationship between nutritional status and level of physical activity and abdominal and general obesity. Therefore, overweight, abdominal, and general obesity were lower in male students, and subjects involved in regular physical activity and lower fast-food consumption.

In this study, the parameters affecting the synthesis of silver nanoparticles were optimized by green chemical reduction method to make a conductive pattern. The raw materials used in this study, include silver nitrate as a source of silver ions, polyvinylpyrrolidone as surface stabilizer, and glucose as the reducing agent. Effective parameters were investigated by Taguchi statistical design, to determine the optimum conditions and achieve the smallest average particle size. Silver nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction and field emission scanning electron microscopy. The smallest particle size can be applied by solution adding rate of 0.1 ml/min, temperature 90 °C, weight ratio of glucose to silver nitrate 3 g/g and weight ratio of Polyvinylpyrrolidone to silver nitrate 3.2 g/g. According to.our expectation 20 nm silver nanoparticles were obtained in this condition. FE-SEM confirmed the above results and showed nanoparticles with a size of 25 nm. Finally, A conductive pattern was printed on a glass substrate with synthesized powder. The electrical resistance of the printed pattern was 0.088× 10 -4 Ω.cm.

Background and Objectives: Leisure time is an opportunity allowing a person to fill his/her time with mental or entertaining activity according to his/her interest and incentive, when he/she is relatively free. The current study aimed to assess and prioritize the activities of the students of Qom University of Medical Sciences in their leisure time. Methods: This analytical cross-sectional study was conducted on 405 students of Qom University of Medical Sciences in 2015. A total of 325 students were selected using random stratified sampling method. Data were collected by a researcher-made questionnaire, which its reliability and validity had been confirmed. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square test. Results: Ninety percent of the students had leisure time during the day, which was more than 1 hour in 78% of them. The most important priorities of the students for spending their leisure time was recreation and having fun in 261 subjects (70.5%), rest in 239 (64.6%), using social networks in 239 (64.6%), reading non-school related materials in 229 (61.9%), reading school related materials in 220 (59.5%), sport in 201 (54.3%), and using game software in 193 (52.2%), among which, reading school related materials was significantly different between males and females (p

Background: Serum venous lactate (LAC) levels help guide emergency department (ED) resuscitation of patients with major trauma. Critical LAC level (CLAC, ≥4.0 mmol/L) is associated with increased disease severity and higher mortality in injured patients. The characteristics of injured patients with non-CLAC (NCLAC) (

Background: There are various secreted proteins affecting the prognosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and one of them is Angiopoietin-2(Ang-2) which is thought to have an essential role in the development and progression of the tumor. Aim of the study: This study was conducted to determine the expression of (Ang-2) in (OSCC) to assess its correlations with clinicopathological parameters of the tumor. Material and Methods: 36 formalin- fixed, paraffin- embedded tissue blocks histologically diagnosed as OSCC were examined for Ang-2 immunohistochemical expression semi quantitively. Results: The expression of Ang-2 was significantly associated with histopathological grade (P value=0.023), while there is no significant association with the clinical parameters analyzed in OSCC patients. Conclusion: A significant association between Ang-2 expression and histopathological grade of OSCC may predict its biological behavior.

Arabidopsis thaliana's VirE2-Interacting Protein 1 (VIP1) interacts with Agrobacterium tumefaciens VirE2 protein and regulates stress responses and plant immunity signaling occurring downstream of the Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase (MPK3) signal transduction pathway. In this study, a full-length cDNA of 972bp encoding HvVIP1 was obtained from barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) leaves. A corresponding 323 amino acid poly-peptide was shown to carry the conserved bZIP (Basic Leucine Zipper) domain within its 157th and 223rd amino acid residue. 13 non-synonymous SNPs were spotted within the HvVIP1 bZIP domain sequence when compared with AtVIP1. Moreover, minor differences in the bZIP domain locations and lengths were noted when comparing Arabidopsis thaliana and Hordeum vulgare VIP1 proteins through the 3D models, structural domain predictions and disorder prediction profiling. The expression of HvVIP1 was stable in barley tissues infected by pathogen (whether Agrobacterium tumefaciens or Fusarium culmorum), but was induced at specific time points. We found a strong correlation between the transcript accumulation of HvVIP1 and barley PR- genes HvPR1, HvPR4 and HvPR10, but not with HvPR3 and HvPR5, probably due to low induction of those particular genes. In addition, a gene encoding for a member of the barley MAPK family, HvMPK1, showed significantly higher expression after pathogenic infection of barley cells. Collectively, our results might suggest that early expression of PR genes upon infection in barley cells play a pivotal role in the Agrobacterium-resistance of this plant.

Polysaccharides are highly variable and complex biomolecules whose inventory of structures is still very incomplete, as nature still preserves unexplored biotopes. Plants, macroalgae and microalgae are an integral part of the daily life of human being regardless of culture, time, or knowledge development of a country. Natural medicine is an ancestral knowledge widely distributed throughout the world, handed down for centuries from generation to generation by those commonly referred to as “nganga” healers or shamans. It is also called alternative medicine or traditional medicine, and has been associated for millennia to legends. This review gives an emphasis regarding the ethnobotanic approach associated to the structural variability of poly- and oligosaccharides for designing the new polysaccharide-based drugs and hydrocolloids of tomorrow. The guiding thread is to survey the potential of plants (and some macroalgae) from Africa as a source of polysaccharides with original structures and, secondly, to correlate these structures with biological and/or functional properties in particular to address and advance the sustainable development and economic growth of mankind.

Improving the accuracy of the slurry flow predictions in different operating flow regimes remains a major focus for multiphase flow research, and it is especially targeted at industrial applications such as oil and gas. In this paper we develop a robust integrated method consisting of an artificial neural network (ANN) and support vector regression (SVR) to estimate the critical velocity, the slurry flow regime change, and ultimately, the frictional pressure drop for a solid–liquid slurry flow in a horizontal pipe, covering wide ranges of flow and geometrical parameters. Three distinct datasets were used to develop machine learning models with totals of 100, 325, and 125 data points for critical velocity, and frictional pressure drops for heterogeneous and bed-load regimes respectively. For each dataset, 80% of the data were used for training and the rest 20% for evaluating the out of sample performance. The K-fold technique was used for cross-validation. The prediction results of the developed integrated method showed that it significantly outperforms the widely used existing correlations and models in the literature. Additionally, the proposed integrated method with the average absolute relative error (AARE) of 0.084 outperformed the model developed without regime classification with the AARE of 0.155. The proposed integrated model not only offers reliable predictions over a wide range of operating conditions and different flow regimes for the first time, but also introduces a general framework of how to utilize prior physical knowledge to achieve more reliable performances from machine learning methods.

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The prevalence of neck pain due to the overuse of mobile phones has been reported among university students. This study aims to investigate the impact of self-management corrective exercises on text neck syndrome among university students using smartphones. This experimental study was conducted on 60 students in the two experimental and control groups. Demographic information and the Neck Disability Index (NDI) questionnaires were used for data collection. The Severity of Neck Pain (SNP) was determined using the visual analog scale. The head and neck tilt angles, the gaze angle, and the amount of change in the forward head posture were determined using photogrammetry and Kinovea software. The experimental group performed corrective exercises 5 days a week for 8 weeks. The desired variables were re-determined in both groups after the intervention. The SNP and NDI in the experimental group after the intervention decreased by 0.61-1.45, and 1.20-5.14, respectively. Significant differences between the measured variables before and after the intervention in the experimental group showed that the head tilt angle (7.17-22.30 degrees), gaze angle (3.21-23.5 degrees), and forward head posture (3.26-5.42 cm) were reduced, and the neck tilt angle (2.00-17.24 degrees) increased and improved after the intervention in various measurement positions. After performing the corrective exercises, 36.6% of the SNP and 13.3% of the NDI were reduced in the experimental group. Head and neck angles during using smartphones in a sitting position on a chair without a backrest were the most awkward posture compared with other postures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe the characteristic pattern of progression of pentosan polysulfate (PPS) maculopathy with multimodal retinal imaging in two patients, including one with over 9 years of follow-up. Methods: Two patients with PPS maculopathy were sequentially evaluated with nearinfrared reflectance (NIR) and optical coherence tomography. Results: Near-infrared reflectance showed characteristic centrifugal progression of the parafoveal hyperreflective lesions toward the vascular arcades with the development of hyporeflective areas in both cases. Optical coherence tomography demonstrated focal retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) thickening that corresponded to the hyperreflective lesions on NIR. On subsequent optical coherence tomography scans, the hyperreflective areas resolved with the development of ellipsoid zone attenuation, RPE disruption, and atrophy, which colocalized with hyporeflectivity on NIR. Conclusion: This report describes the progression of pentosan polysulfate maculopathy over almost 10 years of PPS treatment and highlights the importance of NIR as a tool for the diagnosis and monitoring of PPS maculopathy. Pentosan polysulfate lesions present as areas of focal RPE thickening with ensuing development of ellipsoid zone loss and RPE drop-out. The pathophysiology of PPS toxicity is unknown and may either result from primary RPE or choroidal toxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to report a unique case of pentosan polysulfate sodium (PPS) maculopathy with remarkable rapid progression over 2 years. These findings show the importance of early detection of macular disease to limit toxic exposure and reduce the risk of progression. Methods: Multimodal retinal imaging including fundus autofluorescence, near-infrared reflectance with pseudocolor, and spectral domain optical coherence tomography was performed in an elderly patient with a history of PPS therapy (cumulative dose of 1,205 g) at baseline and 2 years later. Results: Baseline multimodal retinal imaging failed to show significant macular findings of PPS toxicity in either eye, but on repeat evaluation 2 years later, advanced features of PPS maculopathy were detected in both eyes with fundus autofluorescence, near-infrared reflectance, pseudocolor, and spectral domain optical coherence tomography. Conclusion: This report describes a remarkable case of rapid progression of PPS maculopathy as documented with multimodal retinal imaging. The dramatic progression of macular findings over just 2 years underscores the importance of early detection and prompt withdrawal of therapy, if systemically feasible, to retard the development and rate of progression of PPS maculopathy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The predatory mite, Amblyseius swirskii (Athias-Henriot) is an efficient predator of some insect pests particularly thrips and whiteflies. To evaluate the optimum temperature for A.swirskii, a life table study, based on the age-stage, two-sex life table theory, was conducted using the stored product mite, Carpoglyphus lactis L. as the food diet. Experiments were performed at temperatures of 22, 25, 30 and 32° C, %70 ± 5 relative humidity and 16: 8 (L: D) photoperiod. Developmental time of eggs at 30° C was significantly shorter comparing to the temperatures 22 and 32° C. Developmental time of the mobile pre-adult stages, male and female, were significantly shorter at 32° C, comparing to 25° C. The highest fecundity of the predator was observed at 25° C (72.34 eggs / female). The intrinsic rate of increase (r), finite rate of population increase (λ), net reproductive rate (R0), at temperature of 22° C were 0/226 day-1, 1/25 day-1, 25/53 offspring/individual; at 25° C were 0/304 day-1, 1.35 day-1, 33/82 offspring/ individual; at 30° C were 0/097 day-1, 1/102 day-1, 2/42 offspring/ individual; at a temperature of 32° C were 0/128 day-1, 1/137 day-1, 2/67 offspring/ individual. The population parameters of A. swirskii, except mean generation times (T), at 25° C and 32° C were significantly higher than those at 30° C, and the average generation time (T), at temperature of 22° C, was found to be the highest. The total population projection demonstrated that the highest population growth of predatory mite, A. swirskii occurred at 25° C.

Background and objectives: Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF) is an autosomal recessive disease. Generally, the Mediterranean basin is the region where the first cases of FMF have been identified. The gene responsible for FMF is gene MEFV. Disease occurs due to mutations in the gene MEFV. Our aim was to determine the geographical distribution of the most frequent mutations in Familial Mediterranean Fever Disease in the world. Material and Methods: In this study, databases including Google Scholar, PubMed, Medline, Ovid, IranMedex, Irandoc, SID, Magiran and published papers were searched with no limitation in time. Then, all collected studies without any limitation were assessed to determine relevant studies. At the end, world map of the most frequent mutations of FMF was generated by Geographical Information System (GIS) software. Results: Although more than 290 mutations of the MEFV gene have been described, only four mutations (M694V, M694I, V726A, and E148Q) were prevalent among patients with FMF. Conclusion: The most frequent mutation associated with FMF mutation is M694V all over the world. E148Q mutation was found to be with mild clinical relevance.

Interpretive approach refers to the main ideas which construct the interpretive method of a judge or a jurist. We classify the interpretive approaches as intentional and functional attitudes. Feqh (Islamic jurisprudence) proceeds two purposes in interpretation; discovery of divine rules and integrity of interpretation. for these aims, Islamic jurists leads to the text and they are mostly textualist. However, sometimes the context helps the jurist to understand the hidden rules. In other hand, they attend to systemic interpretation, legal essentialism, sovereignty of legal principles and legal deduction. In contrast, pragmatic interpretation justifies the plural views, does not need to deduction and is anti-essentialist. this article tries to state these dimensions of the approaches and study the interpretation of Feqh in a methodological way. In that way, we define the meaning of approach. then introduce the characteristics of each approaches. The result is that, every approach has it’s own advantages and disadvantages. The jurist must choose the one which is more useful for his/her society.

Background: Genital warts are the most common viral sexually transmitted disease affecting 1% of the population. A prospective, open-label controlled trial was performed to compare topical 5% potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution with CO2 laser in the treatment of female genital warts. Methods: Seventy patients were enrolled in the study after convenience sampling. Right-sided lesions of the patients were treated by CO2 laser every 3 weeks. The left-sided lesions of the same patients were treated by topical 5% KOH solution twice a day using a toothpick with cotton wrap on the tip. The patients were visited at 3, 6, and 9 weeks after initiation of the treatment and followed up for 6 months after the last visit. Results: Out of seventy patients, sixty three completed the study and were analyzed. A total of 56 KOH treated-patients (88.9%) showed complete response. On the other hand, 56 laser-treated patients (88.9%) presented complete clearing of the lesion. There was not any difference in response to both modalities of treatment. Complications of KOH solution and CO2 laser were 24% and 19% respectively (P>0.05), but serious adverse events were not observed. The patients under KOH treatment displayed a recurrence rate of 11.1% (7 cases), while the same patients with CO2 laser therapy demonstrated a recurrence rate of 7.9% (5 cases) (P=0.54). Conclusion: Topical 5% KOH solution was as effective as CO2 laser in the treatment of female genital warts. There was not any serious complication in the application of KOH solution. This could be used as a new treatment for genital warts.

​ Background and objectives : Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is an autosomal recessive disease. Generally, the Mediterranean basin is the region where the first cases of FMF have been identified. Yearly, some people undergo unnecessary surgery, due to misdiagnosis of doctors. In this study, our aim was to determine the prevalence rate and status of familial Mediterranean fever in the world and Iran which was done using meta-analysis method. Material and Methods : In this study, Google Scholar, Pubmed, Medline, Ovid, IranMedex, Irandoc, SID, Magiran databases and published written sources were searched without limit of time. Then, all the studies were collected without limitation, to determine the relevant studies were assessed. After verifying the quality of the studies, required data were extracted and analyzed using the method of meta-analysis (random effects model) in the CMA software. In the end, world map of the prevalence of familial Mediterranean fever disease was traced by the GIS software. Results : The primary search identified 400 studies which only 23 studies had the required quality for inclusion in the meta-analysis. Two of the studies were related to Iran.The results of the meta-analysis showed that the overall prevalence rate of familial Mediterranean fever in the world and in Iran along with their 95% confidence intervals (in parentheses) are 0.116% (0.088 - 0.144) and 0.018% (0.001 - 0.037), respectively. Since the studies were limited, the overall prevalence rate obtained from Iran does not have the capability of generalization to other regions of Iran. Conclusion : FMF in the world is prevalent in the Mediterranean and the Middle East region, among ethnic Turks, Armenians, Jews and Arabs, respectively. But FMF epidemiology is rapidly changing, due to population migrations from Mediterranean countries and the Middle East to the rest of the world and the increasing diagnostic sensitivity. The FMF has to be considered as a worldwide disease, even if it initially originated in the Mediterranean area.

​ Background and objectives : Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a metabolic error which is caused by the deficiency of phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) inverting phenylalanine to tyrosine. This disease is the most common form of hyperphenyalaninaemia stow which is inherited in a form of a predominant autosomal. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the distribution of occurrence of phenylketonuria disease in the world by using the systematic review and meta-analysis. Material and Methods : The national and international databases such as Medline, CINAHL, Embase, PubMed and OVID, Google scholar, IranDOC, IranMedex, SID, Magiran, have been searched from 1990 onwards, without language restrictions and by using the key words: phenylketonuria, prevalence, incidence, congenital diseases. A total of 304 articles related with this topic were found. Finally, 62 studies were accepted. Data were analyzed by using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software at 95% confidence level. The distribution of diseases was shown by using Geographic Information System software on the world map. Results : The findings showed that in 100000 people, the best estimate of the disease prevalence of phenylketonuria is 11.83 (95% CI: 10.22- 13.44) and the best estimate of the incidence of this disease is 8.2 (95% CI: 6.37- 10.03) in the world. The distribution of phenylketonuria disease has the highest rate in Europe and Asia and lowest rate in Africa and America, respectively. Conclusion : According to the findings of the present study, it can be said that there is a wide variety in the occurrence of phenylketonuria in the world and recent studies have confirmed his. Therefore, because of the irreversible consequences of the disease, the development of the appropriate training and control programs is recommended to reduce the occurrence of the disease.

We aimed to evaluate the utility of clinical somatosensory testing (SST), an office adaptation of laboratory quantitative sensory testing, in a biopsychosocial assessment of a pediatric chronic somatic pain sample (N = 98, 65 females, 7–18 years). Stimulus–response tests were applied at pain regions and intra-subject control sites to cutaneous stimuli (simple and dynamic touch, punctate pressure and cool) and deep pressure stimuli (using a handheld pressure algometer, and, in a subset, manually inflated cuff). Validated psychological, pain-related and functional measures were administered. Cutaneous allodynia, usually regional, was elicited by at least one stimulus in 81% of cases, most frequently by punctate pressure. Central sensitization, using a composite measure of deep pressure pain threshold and temporal summation of pain, was implied in the majority (59.2%) and associated with worse sleep impairment and psychological functioning. In regression analyses, depressive symptoms were the only significant predictor of pain intensity. Functional interference was statistically predicted by deep pressure pain threshold and depressive symptoms. Manually inflated cuff algometry had comparable sensitivity to handheld pressure algometry for deep pressure pain threshold but not temporal summation of pain. SST complemented standard biopsychosocial assessment of pediatric chronic pain; use of SST may facilitate the understanding of disordered neurobiology.

The present study focuses on the inception, the growth, and the potential unsteady dynamics of attached vapor cavities into laminar separation bubbles. A viscous silicon oil has been used in a Venturi geometry to explore the flow for Reynolds numbers ranging from Re=800 to Re=2000. Special care has been taken to extract the maximum amount of dissolved air. At the lowest Reynolds numbers the cavities are steady and grow regularly with decreasing ambient pressure. A transition takes place between Re=1200 and Re=1400 for which different dynamical regimes are identified: a steady regime for tiny cavities, a periodical regime of attached cavity shrinking characterized by a very small Strouhal number for cavities of intermediate sizes, the bursting of aperiodical cavitational vortices which further lower the pressure, and finally steady super-cavitating sheets observed at the lowest of pressures. The growth of the cavity with the decrease of the cavitation number also becomes steeper. This scenario is then well established and similar for Reynolds numbers between Re=1400 and Re=2000.

Crop yield can be raised by establishment of adequate plant stand using seeds with high germination ratio and vigor. Various pre-sowing treatments are adopted to achieve this objective. One of these approaches is the exposure of seeds to a low-to-medium level magnetic field (MF), in pulsed and continuous modes, as they have shown positive results in a number of crop seeds. On the basis of the sensitivity of plants to MF, different types of MF have been used for magnetopriming studies, such as weak static homogeneous magnetic fields (0–100 μT, including GMF), strong homogeneous magnetic fields (milliTesla to Tesla), and extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic fields of low-to-moderate (several hundred μT) magnetic flux densities. The agronomic application of MFs in plants has shown potential in altering conventional plant production systems; increasing mean germination rates, and root and shoot growth; having high productivity; increasing photosynthetic pigment content; and intensifying cell division, as well as water and nutrient uptake. Furthermore, different studies suggest that MFs prevent the large injuries produced/inflicted by diseases and pests on agricultural crops and other economically important plants and assist in reducing the oxidative damage in plants caused by stress situations. An improved understanding of the interactions between the MF and the plant responses could revolutionize crop production through increased resistance to disease and stress conditions, as well as the superiority of nutrient and water utilization, resulting in the improvement of crop yield. In this review, we summarize the potential applications of MF and the key processes involved in agronomic applications. Furthermore, in order to ensure both the safe usage and acceptance of this new opportunity, the adverse effects are also discussed.

The popularity of online student surveys has been associated with greater item nonresponse. This chapter presents research aimed at exploring what factors might help minimize item nonresponse, such as altering online survey page length and using progress indicators.

Porous Ti/HA nano-composite was prepared for implant fixtures and in situ formation of Hydroxyapatite. At first, Ca(OH)2 nanoparticles were synthesized by precipitation. Raw materials included Ca(NO3)2.4H2O, NaOH, a mixture of deionized water and ethanol. Synthesized Ca(OH)2 nano powder was mixed with (NH4)2HPO4 and the mixture was calcined at 700 ºC for 30 min. After calcination, Ca2P2O7 and CaPO3(OH).2H2O were synthesized with imperfect hexagonal morphology. The resulting powder was mixed with pure titanium powder and pressed under 300, 500 and 700 MPa. The samples were sintered at 1000 ºC for an hour under pure argon. Final composition was Ti/HA with hexagonal morphology. XRD and SEM showed the in situ formation of nano hydroxyapatite besides titanium phases during the sintering procedure. The density and open porosity of the 700 MPa pressed-samples were 3.07 g/cm3 and 28.2%, respectively. In general, porous Ti/HA nano-composite with suitable porosity could be successfully synthesized by co-precipitation procedure.