[en] Previous studies have shown that injection of iodized oil in pregnant women can be used as a prophylactic strategy for iodine deficiency disorders and may improve the growth indices of their offspring. Since administration of pharmacological doses of iodine may lead occasionally to large goiter and rarely to hypothyroidism, in the present study the thyroid function tests of neonates and infants born to women who had received 480 mg iodized oil intramuscularly during pregnancy were assessed and compared to those of a control group. Off 277 cord blood samples obtained from Mazandaran and Khohkiluyeh-Boyerahmad provinces, 125 made up the case (injected) and 152 the control (non-injected) group. Of 1026 blood samples of the neonates and infants from Mazandaran province. 544 made up the case and 482 the control group. Serum T₄, T₃ and TSH concentrations were measured with RIA kits. in the cord blood samples, mean serum T₄ in cases who had received iodized oil was lower than that of the control group:140± 32 vs. 149± 33 nmol/L, respectively; p<0.03. T₃ and TSH were not however different. In the neonates and infants, T₄ and T₃ concentrations were significantly higher in the case than control group:178± 40 vs. 168± and 3.5±0,02 nmol/L, respectively, both p<0.001. In contrast, TSH concentrations were lower in the experimental group in coparison to control:2.6± 2.2 vs. 3.1± 2.9 mU/L, respectively; p<0.001. Increased T₃ and decreased TSH were seen in infants of mothers who were injected in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. Injection of iodized oil in pregnant women does not cause hypothyroidism in the offsprings, however it does cause a transient increase in serum thyroid hormones and a decrease in TSH concentrations

[en] Three cases of diffuse lung uptake of the bone scanning agent /sup 99m/Tc diphosphonate, which appears to reflect metastatic pulmonary calcification, are described. Each patient had hypercalcemia and renal failure. Clinical features common to patients with this scan pattern were ascertained from a review of the literature. Renal failure was present in all, and the majority have had hypercalcemia. The bone scan may prove to be a valuable adjunct to the diagnosis of metastatic pulmonary calcification; this characteristic pattern should be more widely appreciated

[en] We present the behaviors of both dynamical and static charge susceptibilities of undoped armchair graphene nanoribbon using the Green’s function approach in the context of tight binding model Hamiltonian. Specifically, the effects of magnetic field on the the plasmon modes of armchair graphene nanoribbon are investigated via calculating the correlation function of charge density operators. Our results show that the increase of magnetic field makes the high-frequency plasmon mode for both metallic and insulating cases disappear. We also show that low-frequency plasmon mode for metallic nanoribbon appears due to increase of magnetic field. Furthermore, the number of collective excitation modes increases with ribbon width at zero magnetic field. Finally, the temperature dependence of the static charge structure factor of armchair graphene nanoribbon is studied. The effects of both magnetic field and ribbon width on the static charge structure factor are discussed in detail. (paper)

[en] We have theoretically studied the spin structure factors of Heisenberg model on honeycomb lattice in the presence of longitudinal magnetic field, i.e. magnetic field perpendicular to the honeycomb plane, and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. The possible effects of next nearest neighbor exchange constant are investigated in terms of anisotropy in the Heisenberg interactions. This spatial anisotropy is due to the difference between nearest neighbor exchange coupling constant and next nearest neighbor exchange coupling constant. The original spin model hamiltonian is mapped to a bosonic model via a hard core bosonic transformation where an infinite hard core repulsion is imposed to constrain one boson occupation per site. Using Green's function approach, the energy spectrum of quasiparticle excitation has been obtained. The spectrum of the bosonic gas has been implemented in order to obtain two particle propagator which corresponds to spin structure factor of original Heisenberg chain model Hamiltonian. The results show the position of peak in the dynamical transverse spin structure factor at fixed value for Dzyaloshinskii Moriya interaction moves to higher frequency with magnetic field. Also the intensity of dynamical transverse spin structure factor is not affected by magnetic field. However the Dzyaloshinskii Moriya interaction strength causes to decrease the intensity of dynamical transverse spin structure factor. The increase of magnetic field does not varied the frequency position of peaks in dynamical longitudinal spin susceptibility however the intensity reduces with magnetic field. Our results show static transverse structure factor is found to be monotonically decreasing with magnetic field and temperature for different values of next nearest neighbor coupling exchange constant.

[en] We study the effects of longitudinal magnetic field and temperature on the thermodynamic properties of two dimensional Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the honeycomb lattice in the presence of anisotropic Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and next nearest neighbor coupling exchange constant. In particular, the temperature dependence of specific heat have been investigated for various physical parameters in the model Hamiltonian. Using a hard core bosonic representation, the behavior of thermodynamic properties has been studied by means of excitation spectrum of mapped bosonic gas. The effect of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction term on thermodynamic properties has also been studied via the bosonic model by Green's function approach. Furthermore we have studied the magnetic field dependence of specific heat and magnetization for various anisotropy parameters. At low temperatures, the specific heat is found to be monotonically increasing with temperature for magnetic fields in the gapped field induced phase region. We have found the magnetic field dependence of specific heat shows a monotonic decreasing behavior for various magnetic fields due to increase of energy gap in the excitation spectrum. Also we have studied the dependence of magnetization on Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction strength for different next nearest neighbor coupling constant.

[en] The crystalline structure, grain morphology, electrical and electrochemical properties of Sr_2-xLa_xFeMoO₆ (x = 0, 0.25, 0.5 and 1) double perovskite has been investigated by means of X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron micrography, electrical and electrochemical measurements. It was found that the grain morphology, the resistivity and the electrochemical activity are strongly influenced by La doping. While the surface area as the determining factor in the oxygen reaction rate was excluded, the electrical resistivity was found to have a great effect on the electrochemical activity of the compounds.

[en] Mining generates large amounts of waste which may contain potentially toxic elements (PTE), which, if released into the wider environment, can cause air, water and soil pollution long after mining operations have ceased. The fate and toxicological impact of PTEs are determined by their partitioning and speciation and in this study, the concentrations and mineralogy of arsenic in mine wastes and stream sediments in a former metal mining area of the UK are investigated. Pseudo-total (aqua-regia extractable) arsenic concentrations in all samples from the mining area exceeded background and guideline values by 1–5 orders of magnitude, with a maximum concentration in mine wastes of 1.8 × 10⁵ mg kg⁻¹ As and concentrations in stream sediments of up to 2.5 × 10⁴ mg kg⁻¹ As, raising concerns over potential environmental impacts. Mineralogical analysis of the wastes and sediments was undertaken by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and automated SEM-EDS based quantitative evaluation (QEMSCAN®). The main arsenic mineral in the mine waste was scorodite and this was significantly correlated with pseudo-total As concentrations and significantly inversely correlated with potentially mobile arsenic, as estimated from the sum of exchangeable, reducible and oxidisable arsenic fractions obtained from a sequential extraction procedure; these findings correspond with the low solubility of scorodite in acidic mine wastes. The work presented shows that the study area remains grossly polluted by historical mining and processing and illustrates the value of combining mineralogical data with acid and sequential extractions to increase our understanding of potential environmental threats. - Highlights: • Stream sediments in a former mining area remain polluted with up to 25 g As per kg. • The main arsenic mineral in adjacent mine wastes appears to be scorodite. • Low solubility scorodite was inversely correlated with potentially mobile As. • Combining mineralogical and chemical methods helps understand environmental threats

[en] Background and Objective: Particles are main pollutants from view point of general health and environmental issue. The aim of this research was to review the monthly, seasonal and annual trend of PM10 and to determine air quality using AQI and its relation with drop of water level in Uremia Lake during 2008-2011 in order to present a knowledge base plan to manage particles. Method: This study is a cross-sectional type. The data on PM10 were collected from Department of Environment in Tabriz and Meteorological Organization of West Azerbaijan Province. Then, the obtained data were analyzed considering air quality index using SPSS ver.21 software. Results: During the four years (2008-2011), changes in concentration of PM10 were meaningful (P=0.001). The concentrations in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 were 86.13±70, 83.63±60.87, 87.40±42, and 92.69±73 microgram per cubic meter, respectively. Spring, winter, May and March had the highest amount of particles as 103.18, 98.01, 88.81, 5.57 microgram per cubic meter, respectively. Conclusion: Among the studied months, March and among the studied seasons, spring and winter possessed the worst air quality in terms of PM10. The reasons are intensity of particles entrance and environmental conditions during that period in one hand, and the worsen condition of Uremia Lake on the other hand. Therefore, several factors increase the amount of hazardous particles and salt particles effect. It can be concluded that there is a need for an integrated management to reduce these emissions.