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The aim of this study was to compare energy consumption in dairy farms with different sizes. Sources of energy include non renewable sources such as fossil fuel, and electricity and renewable sources such as forage, concentrate, machinery, labor, and water. The required data were collected from 42 dairy farms in Tehran province, Iran and were analyzed to assess energy consumption based on different herd sizes. In this study, the average consumption of non-renewable energy in small, medium, and large dairy farms per kg fat and protein corrected milk were respectively 5.95 MJ kg-1, 3.39 MJ kg-1 and 1.71 MJ kg-1 (P<0.0002). The largest share of energy consumption in all dairy farms was related to feed; 81.49%, 84.37% and 88.62% for small, medium, and large dairy farms, respectively (P<0.0002). Also, energy ratio for small, medium, and large dairy farms were calculated as 0.11, 0.16 and 0.23, respectively (P<0.0001). Likewise, energy productivity in small, medium, and large dairy farms was 0.033 kg MJ-1, 0.047 kg MJ-1 and 0.068 kg MJ-1, respectively (P<0.0001). The less non-renewable energy use per kg fat and protein corrected milk in large dairy farms would lead to reduce pollution and protect the environment which in turn cause to a sustainable and more efficient production system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reactive blends of ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) and polyamide (PA) 66 were prepared in the single screw and twin screw extruder using maleic anhydride as coupling agent and dicumyl peroxide (DCP) as initiator. The optimum concentration of DCP for grafting maleic anhydride on EPDM was determined. The grafting efficiency was determined by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and (DMTA) tests were conducted to determine the damping, loss, and storage modulus of PA 66 composites. A capillary rheometer and parallel plate rheometer were employed to characterize the rheological properties at high and low shear rates. It was seen that the glass fibers are not long and continuous, and they act as fillers, therefore reducing the damping in the composite. No significant change was observed in the glass transition temperature of the blend as compared with the individual components, especially PA 66. In malienated EPDM blends with increasing EPDM from 10 to 15%, the height of glass transition temperature peak increases. Capillary rheometer tests show that for all samples the apparent viscosity decreases with increasing shear rate, which is a characteristic of a non-Newtonian pseudo plastic fluid. The viscosity ration of malienated EPDM and PA 66 shows a considerable difference between them and only at higher shear rates do the viscosities get closer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate and continuous blood glucose monitoring is essential for effective diabetes management, yet traditional finger pricking methods are often inconvenient and painful. To address this issue, photoplethysmography (PPG) presents a promising non-invasive alternative for estimating blood glucose levels. In this study, we propose an innovative 1-second signal segmentation method and evaluate the performance of three advanced deep learning models using a novel dataset to estimate blood glucose levels from PPG signals. We also extend our testing to additional datasets to assess the robustness of our models against unseen distributions, thereby providing a comprehensive evaluation of the models' generalizability and specificity and accuracy. Initially, we analyzed 10-second PPG segments; however, our newly developed 1-second signal segmentation technique proved to significantly enhance accuracy and computational efficiency. The selected model, after being optimized and deployed on an embedded device, achieved immediate blood glucose estimation with a processing time of just 6.4 seconds, demonstrating the method's practical applicability. The method demonstrated strong generalizability across different populations. Training data was collected during surgery and anesthesia, and the method also performed successfully in normal states using a separate test dataset. The results showed an average root mean squared error (RMSE) of 19.7 mg/dL, with 76.6% accuracy within the A zone and 23.4% accuracy within the B zone of the Clarke Error Grid Analysis (CEGA), indicating a 100% clinical acceptance. These findings demonstrate that blood glucose estimation using 1-second PPG signal segments not only outperforms the traditional 10-second segments, but also provides a more convenient and accurate alternative to conventional monitoring methods. The study's results highlight the potential of this approach for non-invasive, accurate, and convenient diabetes management, ultimately offering improved health management., Competing Interests: Declarations. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Metal carbonate hydroxides have emerged as novel and promising candidates for water splitting due to their good electrochemical properties and eco-friendly features. In this study, the hierarchical mesoporous structure of nickel carbonate hydroxide hydrate (Ni 2 (CO 3 )(OH) 2 ·4H 2 O) was synthesized by a one-pot facile hydrothermal method. It demonstrated photocatalytic properties for the first time, exhibiting a hydrogen evolution reaction yield of 10 μmol g -1 h -1 under white light irradiation with a nominal power of 0.495 W. This facile synthesis strategy and the good photocatalytic properties indicate that nickel carbonate hydroxide is a promising material for application in photocatalytic hydrogen evolution., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Background: Human hydatidosis as a public concern has increased in a number of countries that have reduced control programs for the disease due to lack of resources or policies. We aimed to estimate Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) for human hydatidosis in Iran in 2018., Methods: Data were collected from the Center of Communicable Diseases Control, Ministry of Health &Medical Education, Tehran, Iran in 2018. To calculate DALYs, years of life lost due to premature death (YLL) with years of life with disability (YLD) were calculated according to the formula as DALY = YLL + YLD. The standard life expectancy lost method (SEYLL) was used to calculate the years lost due to premature death., Results: DALYs for human hydatidosis was calculated as 1210.12 years (YLD equals to 177.12 and YLL equals to 1033) in Iran for the year 2018. It was estimated to be 700.2 years for men and 509.8 years for women. DALYs in men were significantly different from women ( P = 0.001) so DALYs were more in men than women were. YLD was calculated at 78.228 years in men and 98.892 years in women and in both men and women at 177.12 years. YLD was significantly different in women compared to men ( P =0.001), so YLD in women was more than in men., Conclusion: We reached considerable indices for hydatidosis in our study. Therefore, disease prevention and control programs in Iran seem necessary by the policy makers., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Parandin et al. Published by Tehran University of Medical Sciences.)

Background: Brucellosis is a common zoonotic infection worldwide. Transmission can be occasionally observed via transfusion or transplantation. This study was designed to survey the seroprevalence of anti- Brucella antibody in blood donors in different endemic provinces., Materials and Methods: A total of 14,706 blood donors from the 5 most prevalent provinces were studied by standard tube agglutination (STA) and any positive subjects were further confirmed by 2-mercaptoethanol agglutination test (2-ME). Significant titres were 80 for STA and 40 for 2-ME., Result: A total of 63 (0.43%) serum samples were STA-positive. Of these, the 2-ME test was reactive in 42 samples. The 2-ME test was reactive in 31 samples with a low titre. However, concomitant STA ≥80 and the titre of ≥40 for the 2-ME test were found in 11 subjects (0.075%), mostly resident in urban areas. Exposure to manure products was identified as a significant risk factor ( p = 0.0128). Conclusion : The observed data show a somewhat noticeable prevalence among Iranian blood donors, bringing attention to the importance of pre-donation screening via a questionnaire which supplies answers about occupational history, and any history of exposure or past infections. Further studies to evaluate the frequency and related risk factors in certain populations, in conjunction with implementing stricter regulations in blood donor selection in endemic areas, may be necessary., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2019 by S. Karger AG, Basel.)

Dysmenorrhea, also known as painful periods, or menstrual cramps, is pain during menstruation. This study was done in young women that assess the association of serum vitamin D concentration and severity of dysmenorrhea pain. This descriptive-analytic study conducted on young girls referred to Shahid fakuri clinic in Tehran. Eligible girls completed the visual analog scale (VAS) and 372 participants with mild, moderate and severe dysmenorrhea completed the study. In order To measure the serum concentration of 25-hydroxy vitamin D, 5 ml of blood was be taken from participants. Most of the participants (53.22%) described their menstrual pain as moderate, while 24.73% and 22.04% of participants reported severe and mild dysmenorrhea respectively. About 37% of women had Vit D insufficiency, 36.55% had moderate Vit D deficiency, and 26.34% had severe deficiency. There was a negative correlation between the serum levels of 25(OH) D and pain indices (PV: 0.044). Positive relationship between pain intensity and waist circumference, hip circumference, fat percentage, and fat mass was observed, but between pain intensity with BMI and WHR no significant relationship was observed. According to these results supplementation with Vit D may be useful to girls for decreasing of dysmenorrhea pain., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Background: Electroencephalogram (EEG) signals of a brain contain a unique pattern for each person and the potential for biometric applications. Authentication and security is a very important issue in our life and brainwave-based authentication is an addition to biometric authentication systems, which has many advantages over others. In this paper, we study the performance of a single channel brainwave-based authentication systems and select optimum channels based on mental activities., Methods: In this study, we used a dataset with five mental activities with seven subjects (325 samples). The EEG based authentication system includes three pre-processing steps, feature extraction, and classification. Features for Subject Authentication, are obtained from discrete Fourier transform, discrete wavelet transform, autoregressive modeling, and entropy features. Then these features are classified using the Neural Network, Bayesian network and Support Vector Machine., Results: We achieved accuracy in the range of 97-98% mean accuracy with Neural Network classifier for single-channel authentication system with optimum electrode placement for mental activity. We also analyzed the authentication system independently from the type of mental activity and chose channel O 2 as the optimum channel with an accuracy of 95%., Conclusions: Channel optimization can obtain higher performance by reducing the number of EEG channels and defined the optimum electrode placement for different mental activities., (Copyright © 2019 Chang Gung University. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Aim: The goal of this study was to fnd a method to eliminate bond strength reduction after vital bleaching., Materials and Methods: Sixty fat surfaces of enamel central human incisors were prepared by diamond disks. In the frst group, the samples immediately bonded to the tooth after bleaching. For the second group, the bleached samples were treated by sodium ascorbate for 1 hours. In the third and fourth groups the treatment was down using a new antioxidant agent for 1 hour and 15 minutes respectively. For the ffth group no bleaching was done. Cylindrical composite resin (Z 100) with a Single Bond adhesive system was bonded to the enamel with a special metal mold. After thermocycling, the samples were loaded at a crosshead speed of 0.5 mm/min. The mode of failures was inspected by the Dino Lite microscope and the microstructure of the debonding surfaces was observed by SEM. Considering normal data, statistical analysis was conducted by ANOVA and Tukey tests (p = 0.05)., Results: The fourth group had maximum (21.82), while the frst group had the least (9.0971) shear bond strength. The ANOVA test showed a signifcant difference among the fve groups (p = 0.0002). There was not any signifcant statistical difference between the three types of debonding (p = 0.165)., Conclusion: The usage of sodium ascorbate or sodium ascorbate with detergent after vital bleaching are effective methods for reducing the damaging effects of bleaching agents on the shear bond strength of composite resin restoration to enamel. CLINICAL SIGNIFCANCE: Using antioxidants is necessary post bleaching and before resin bonding.

To verify the fracture resistance of premolars with mesioocclusodistal preparations restored by different resin composites and placement techniques. Sixty premolars were randomly divided into two groups based on type of composite resin: Filtek P60 or Nulite F, and then each group was separated into three subgroups: bulk, centripetal, and fiber insert according to the type of placement method (n = 10). Single-bond adhesive system was used as composite bonding according to the manufacturer's instructions. Specimens were restored in Groups 1, 2, and 3 with Filtek P60 and in Groups 4, 5, and 6 with Nulite F. After being stored 24 hours at 37°C, a 4 mm diameter steel sphere in a universal testing machine was applied on tooth buccal and lingual cusps at a cross-head speed of 5 mm/min until fracture occurred. Groups 3 and 6 showed higher fracture resistance than Groups 1, 2, 4, and 5. Among the placement techniques, the fiber insert method had a significant effect, but the type of composite was ineffective. The insertion technique in contrast to the type of material had a significant influence on the fracture resistance of premolar teeth.