This study expands the state of the art in studies that assess torsional retrofit of reinforced concrete (RC) multi-cell box girders with carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) strips. The torsional behavior of non-damaged and pre-damaged RC multi-cell box girder specimens externally retrofitted by CFRP strips was investigated through a series of laboratory experiments. It was found that retrofitting the pre-damaged specimens with CFRP strips increased the ultimate torsional capacity by more than 50% as compared to the un-damaged specimens subjected to equivalent retrofitting. This indicated that the retrofit has been less effective for the girder specimen that did not develop distortion beforehand as a result of pre-loading. From

In the present study, magnet silica-coated Ag2WO4/Ag2S nanocomposites (FOSOAWAS) were fabricated via a multistep method to address the drawbacks related to single photocatalysts (pure Ag2WO4 and pure Ag2S) and to clarify the significant influence of semiconductor heterojunction on the enhancement of visible-light-driven organic degradation. Different techniques were performed to investigate the elemental composition, morphology, magnetic and photoelectrochemical properties of the fabricated FOSOAWAS photocatalyst. The FOSOAWAS photocatalyst (1 g/L) exhibited excellent photodegradation efficiency (99.5%) against Congo red dye (CR = 20 ppm) after 140 min of visible-light illumination. This result confirmed the ability of the heterojunction be

The current study was designed to evaluate the anti-inflammatory effect of GKB in the rat model of granulomatous inflammation. Thirty rats were distributed into five groups:  The first group served as negative control group that received distilled water (DW) only without inducting inflammation, positive control group; treated with DW with the induction of inflammation and they were assigned to cotton pellet-induced granuloma, ginkgo biloba (GKB) treated group (200mg/kg/day), dexamethasone-treated group (1mg/kg), and Prednisolone treated group (5mg/kg). All the treatments were given orally for seven consecutive days.  On day eight, the rats were anesthetized and the pellets together with granulation tissue were carefully removed

The purpose of this research was to evaluate rice husk functionalized with Mg-Fe-layered double hydroxide (RH-Mg/Fe-LDH) as an adsorbent for the removal of meropenem antibiotic (MA) from an aqueous solution. Several batch experiments were undertaken using various conditions. Based on the results, the optimal Mg/Fe-LDH adsorbent with a pH of 9 and an M2+/M3+ ratio of 0.5 was associated with the lowest particle size (specifically. 11.1 nm). The Langmuir and Freundlich models were consistent with the experimental isotherm data (R2 was 0.984 and 0.993, respectively), and MA’s highest equilibrium adsorption capacity was 43.3 mg/g. Additionally, the second-order model was consistent with the adsorption kinetic results.

The neutrophil/ lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR) have the potential to be inflammatory markers that reflect the activity of many inflammatory diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the NLR and PLR as potential markers of disease activity in patients with ankylosing spondylitis.