Background: Dietary intakes are critical during pregnancy, because inadequate amounts of key nutrients may compromise fetal development or maternal health. In addition to that maternal diet could be one of the methods to select the gender of the baby. The aim of the study is to correlate the level of the minerals in the mother’s blood with the gender and wellbeing of the baby after delivery.Patients and Methods: Fifty women were involved in this study with a mean age (23.92 ± 4.75), collected from the labor room during labor in the period between December 2013 and May 2014, in Baghdad teaching hospital. After taking a full history from the women, 10 ml of blood was withdrawn from them, 2ml in EDTA tubes for lead estimation and 8 ml in plain tubes, centrifuged and the serum was used for magnesium, copper, calcium and zinc estimation. The estimation was done by spectrophotometer method.Results: Birth weight of the delivered babies was correlated negatively but not significantly to the age of the delivered women. The level of the minerals in the maternal blood was not different between those who delivered male or female babies except for the zinc level which was higher in those women who give birth to male babies. The correlation between the birth weight of the babies and the level of maternal minerals shows a not significant positive correlation between them except for zinc which was significant and the lead level was correlated negatively but not significantly with birth weight.Conclusions: Age seems to have no significant effect on birth weight. There is no significant effect of the minerals level on the selection of the baby’s gender except for zinc which is higher in women with male babies, in addition to its significant effect on the birth weight being higher in women with higher birth weight babies.
A novel demountable shear connector for precast steel-concrete composite bridges is presented. The connector uses high-strength steel bolts, which are fastened to the top flange of the steel beam with the aid of a special locking nut configuration that prevents bolts from slipping within their holes. Moreover, the connector promotes accelerated construction and overcomes the typical construction tolerance issues of precast structures. Most importantly, the connector allows bridge disassembly. Therefore, it can address different bridge deterioration scenarios with minimum disturbance to traffic flow including the following: (1) precast deck panels can be rapidly uplifted and replaced; (2) connectors can be rapidly removed and replaced; and (
... Show MoreThe cost-effective removal of heavy metal ions represents a significant challenge in environmental science. In this study, we developed a straightforward and efficient reusable adsorbent by amalgamating chitosan and vermiculite (forming the CSVT composite), and comprehensively investigated its selective adsorption mechanism. Different techniques, such as Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), zeta potential analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Brunauer, Emmett, Teller (BET) analysis were employed for this purpose. The prepared CSVT composite exhibited a larger surface area and higher mesoporosity increasing from 1.9 to 17.24 m2/g compared to pristine chitosan. The adsorption capabilities of the
... Show MoreRealistic implementation of nanofluids in subsurface projects including carbon geosequestration and enhanced oil recovery requires full understanding of nanoparticles (NPs) adsorption behaviour in the porous media. The physicochemical interactions between NPs and between the NP and the porous media grain surface control the adsorption behavior of NPs. This study investigates the reversible and irreversible adsorption of silica NPs onto oil-wet and water-wet carbonate surfaces at reservoir conditions. Each carbonate sample was treated with different concentrations of silica nanofluid to investigate NP adsorption in terms of nanoparticles initial size and hydrophobicity at different temperatures, and pressures. Aggregation behaviour and the
... Show MoreEmploying phase-change materials (PCM) is considered a very efficient and cost-effective option for addressing the mismatch between the energy supply and the demand. The high storage density, little temperature degradation, and ease of material processing register the PCM as a key candidate for the thermal energy storage system. However, the sluggish response rates during their melting and solidification processes limit their applications and consequently require the inclusion of heat transfer enhancers. This research aims to investigate the potential enhancement of circular fins on intensifying the PCM thermal response in a vertical triple-tube casing. Fin arrays of non-uniform dimensions and distinct distribution patterns were des
... Show MoreWell integrity is a vital feature that should be upheld into the lifespan of the well, and one constituent of which casing, necessity to be capable to endure all the interior and outside loads. The casing, through its two basic essentials: casing design and casing depth adjustment, are fundamental to a unique wellbore that plays an important role in well integrity. Casing set depths are determined based on fracturing pressure and pore pressure in the well and can usually be obtained from well-specific information. Based on the analyzes using the improved techniques in this study, the following special proposition can be projected: The selection of the first class and materials must be done correctly and accurately in accordance with the
... Show MoreIn this work, an efficient energy management (EEM) approach is proposed to merge IoT technology to enhance electric smart meters by working together to satisfy the best result of the electricity customer's consumption. This proposed system is called an integrated Internet of things for electrical smart meter (2IOT-ESM) architecture. The electric smart meter (ESM) is the first and most important technique used to measure the active power, current, and energy consumption for the house’s loads. At the same time, the effectiveness of this work includes equipping ESM with an additional storage capacity that ensures that the measurements are not lost in the event of a failure or sudden outage in WiFi network. Then then these
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