Presence of swelling soils under the foundations of civil engineering structures particularly lightly loaded structures has caused serious damages around the globe due to their differential up heaving. In this paper, based on the results of swell tests on bentonite mixed clay, correlations for predicting the swelling parameters (i.e., swell potential and swell pressure) have been proposed. Mixi...

In 1678, Stefano Lorenzini first described a network of organs of unknown function in the torpedo ray-the ampullae of Lorenzini (AoL). An individual ampulla consists of a pore on the skin that is open to the environment, a canal containing a jelly and leading to an alveolus with a series of electrosensing cells. The role of the AoL remained a mystery for almost 300 years until research demonstr...

UNLABELLED Objectives : The aim of the present study was to evaluate protective effect of royal jelly on sperm parameters, testosterone level, and malondialdehyde (MDA) production in mice. MATERIALS AND METHODS Thirty-two adult male NMRI mice weighing 30±2 g were used. All the animals were divided into 4 groups. CONTROL GROUP received saline 0.1 ml/mouse/day orally for 30 days. Royal jelly ...

objective(s):paclitaxel is a potent chemotherapy agent with severe side effects, including allergic reactions, cardiovascular problems, complete hair loss, joint and muscle pain, which may limit its use and lower its efficiency. the cardioprotective effect of royal jelly was investigated on paclitaxel-induced damages. materials and methods:adult male wistar rats were divided into control and te...

Sperm limitation may be an important selective force influencing gamete traits such as egg size. The relatively inexpensive extracellular structures surrounding many marine invertebrate eggs might serve to enhance collision rates without the added cost of increasing the egg cell. However, despite decades of research, the effects of extracellular structures on fertilization have not been conclus...

Organisms with external fertilization are often sperm limited, and in echinoids, larger eggs have a higher probability of fertilization than smaller eggs. This difference is thought to be a result of the more frequent sperm-egg collisions experienced by larger targets. Here we report how two components of egg target size, the egg cell and jelly coat, contributed to fertilization success in a se...

BACKGROUND Royal jelly is a nutritious substance produced by the young nurse bees and contains significant amounts of proteins which are important for cell growth and proliferation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of royal jelly as an alternative to fetal bovine serum (FBS) in cell culture using cell proliferation assays and live cell imaging. MATERIALS AND METHODS MRC-5 cell...

The description of the geochemical properties of the bentonite backfill that serves as engineered barrier for nuclear repositories is a central issue for performance assessment since these play a large role in determining the fate of contaminants released from the waste. In this study the porewater chemistry of bentonite was assessed with a thermodynamic modelling approach that includes ion exc...

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of ascites-related physiological and metabolic parameters in broiler chickens fed with different components of bentonite. Two hundred and seven days old Arian male chicks were allocated into five dietary treatment groups including 1) basal diet (control); 2) basal diet + 1% sulphated sodium bentonite (SSB); 3) basal diet + 1% non-processed sodi...

Lime sludge is a special type of precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) recovered from black liquor, which can be used as paper filler in the paper-making process. However, one of the biggest problems when lime sludge is used as filler is that it is difficult to hydrophobically size the filled paper, especially in the case of paper with high filler content. Also, the efficient retention of the si...