Harmful effects of pyrethroid ester insecticide on the male reproductive system mainly through affecting testicular function and inflammatory markers

Pyrethroid esters are widely used as insecticides worldwide. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the harmful effect of deltamethrin on the male reproductive system through the assessment of reproductive hormones, inflammatory markers, and testicular function. To achieve our aim, eighty male 7-9-week-old, Wistar rats were taken, weighed, and divided into four experimental groups. The first group was kept as a control group, and the other three groups were given deltamethrin orally at different concentrations (0.87, 8.7, and 17.4 mg/kg body weight) for nine weeks. The results indicated that deltamethrin administration associated with a significant decrease in reproductive hormones, especially FSH, LH, and significant elevation in the interleukin 2 (IL2), interleukin 6 (IL6), histamine, and cortisol levels. Also, the significance of inhibition of sperm motility and viability, decreased testis weights, sperm count, and fructose in semen were noted. These findings clarify the harmful effect of deltamethrin on the male reproductive system by producing a significant alteration in reproductive hormones, inflammatory markers as well as testicular function.     

Vacuum preloading combined electroosmotic strengthening of ultra-soft soil

To assess the effectiveness of vacuum preloading combined electroosmotic strengthening of ultra-soft soil and study the mechanism of the process, a comprehensive experimental investigation was performed. A laboratory test cell was designed and applied to evaluate the vacuum preloading combined electroosmosis. Several factors were taken into consideration, including the directions of the electroosmotic current and water induced by vacuum preloading and the replenishment of groundwater from the surrounding area. The results indicate that electroosmosis together with vacuum preloading improve the soil strength greatly, with an increase of approximately 60%, and reduce the water content of the soil on the basis of consolidation of vacuum preloading, howeve~ further settlement is not obvious with only 1.7 mm. The reinforcement effect of vacuum preloading combined electroosmosis is better than that of electroosmosis after vacuum preloading. Elemental analysis using X-ray fluorescence proves that the soil strengthening during electroosmotic period in this work is mainly caused by electroosmosis-induced electrochemical reactions, the concentrations of Al2O3 in the VPCEO region increase by 2.2%, 1.5%, and 0.9% at the anode, the midpoint between the electrodes, and the cathode, respectively.     

Experimental comparison of two configurations of hybrid photovoltaic thermal collectors

The combination of a thermal collector and a photovoltaic module in a single system allows for increased efficiency of the total conversion of solar energy. A synergistic effect can be obtained in a structure combining these two devices in a judicious manner to those of thermal and photovoltaic system installed separately. Production of total energy from hybrid collector depends on the input (that is to say, the. energy of solar radiation, air temperature and wind speed) and output which is the electric production and the temperature of the system. Thin production also depends on the mode of heal extraction. In this paper, an experimental Study of two configurations of hybrid collectors is described. The configuration that the absorber is made by galvanized steel and in the second, the absorber is a copper serpentine. The advantages of the first configuration are mainly due to low cost and simplicity but the second configuration has the advantage of promoting the heat transfer between cells and fluid.     

Chemical composition and nutritive value of spray dried permeate powder

Reconstituted skimmed milk (10% TS) was ultrafiltered, and the permeate was concentrated threefold by reverse osmosis and then spray dried at different temperatures (145–195° C). The drying conditions had no effect on the moisture content or the major constituents of permeate powder. The powder was mainly lactose (85%) with 6.35460% ash. A small percentage of the lactose in the permeate powder was present as a-lactose. Sodium, potassium and citrate were present in high concentrations nearly equivalent to their average percentage in skimmed milk. The calcium, magnesium and inorganic phosphorus contents of permeate powder were also determined. The thiamine, riboflavin and niacin contents of permeate powder averaged 0.445, 0.947 and 0.729 mg/100 g respectively. The drying temperatures had no effect on the vitamin contents of the powder. The permeate powder had average Fe, Zn, Mn and Cu contents of 94.7, 21.1, 3.1 and 9.5 Fg/100 g respectively.     

Study of the approximate approaches to the POD based spectral representation method

The spectral representation method (SRM) is most widely used in simulating the stochastic field.The proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) based SRM is an important form.This paper investigates the approximate approaches to the POD-based SRM in simulating two typical problems,i.e.,the seismic ground motion and wind velocity fields simulations.Then,the accuracy resulting from the power spectral density matrix-based POD method (PSRM) is compared to that of the coherency matrix-based POD method (CPSRM).It is concluded that the CPSRM maintains a much higher accuracy than the PSRM.In the CPSRM,the linear interpolation of eigenvectors and third-order polynomial interpolation of eigenvalues can be accepted to attain high accuracy;the linearly distributed interpolation nodes are effective in the ground motions simulation;however,the exponentially distributed interpolation nodes are effective in the wind velocity simulation.     

EFFECT OF GAMMA IRRADIATION ON SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF SHELL EGGS AND MAYONNAISE PREPARED FROM IRRADIATED EGGS

Shell eggs were irradiated at doses of 0.0, 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 kGy of gamma irradiation. Immediately after irradiation, bacterial, physical and chemical analyses of eggs and sensory evaluation of the mayonnaise prepared from irradiated egg yolk were performed. Results indicated that all doses of gamma irradiation reduced the total counts of mesophilic bacteria and total coliforms of eggs. The radiation dose required to reduce the Salmonella load one log cycle (D₁₀) in eggs was 448 Gy. Eggs irradiated with 1.5 kGy may be suitable microbiologically to prepare safe mayonnaise. There were no significant differences in saturated fatty acids (C14:0; C16:0; C18:0) and thiobarbituric acidvalues between the yolk lipid extracted from irradiated eggs and that of nonirradiated ones. Gamma irradiation reduced the viscosity of egg whites. Sensory evaluation showed no significant differences between mayonnaises prepared from irradiated and nonirradiated egg yolks.