Lap joints of commercially pure magnesium plates to aluminium plates (Magnesium plate on the top, and Aluminium plate, grade 1100, on the bottom side) were conducted by friction stir welding using various traveling and rotation speeds of the tool to investigate the effects of the welding parameters on the joint characteristics and strength. Defect-free lap joints were obtained in the welding traveling speed range of 40-80 mm/min, and rotational speed range of 1200-1600 rpm. The shear tensile strength of Mg/Al joints increased as a result of decreasing the welding speed from 120 to 40 mm/min at constant rotation speed of 1600 rpm. defects such as surface grooves, excessive flash, tunnels, and voids were observed if the joints prepared out of the mentioned range. The effects of the welding parameters are discussed metallographically based on observations with optical and scanning electron microscopes.

Background: Exposure to glucocorticoids such as dexamethasone (Dex) leads to numerous changes in various biological systems including the reproductive system. The present study investigates the efficacy of curcumin (Cur), an active component of turmeric, to attenuate Dex-induced spetmatogenic defects in the mouse testicles.Materials and Methods: A total of 32 male mice were divided into four groups (8 mice each). The first group served as control and received corn oil only for 25 days. Mice of the second group received Dex at the dose of 7 mg/kg body weight by i.p. injection for 7 days. Mice of the third group received curcumin dissolved in corn oil at a dose of 200 ml/kg body weight. The fourth group received Cur at the dose of 200 mg/kg for 25 days and Dex at the same dose of the second group was injected during the last 7 (18 to 25) days. Statistical significance was determined using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followedby Tukey-Kramer multiple comparison tests. A p value<0.05 denoted the presence of a statistically significant difference.Results: Testicular histopathology, morphometric analysis and immunohistochemistry assessments were performed for evaluation of the Dex and Cur effects on testicular germ cells. There was marked staining for bcl-2, an important antiapoptotic factor, expression with Cur+Dex compared with the Dex groups. Dex caused epithelial vacuolization, sloughing of germ cells, reduction of seminiferous tubule diameter, and significant maturation arrest (p<0.05). Cur+Dex treatments showed significantly prevented these histopathologic changes (P< 0.05).Conclusion: Curcumin may improve the adverse effects of Dex in the mouse testicular tissue by inducing anti-apoptotic mechanism.

Statistical data from 1966 till 1995 showed that Neural tube defects, in the American continent, Venezuela had the highest prevalence of 38.9 and some Latin American countries showed the low of 7.7. In Europe, Norway had the highest prevalence of 68, and Denmark the lowest, 5.8. In Asia, India had the highest of 181.8 and Japan the lowest of 10. In Africa, Nigeria had the highest of 70 and Negroes of South Africa had the lowest of 9.9. In Australia the figure was 20.05. According to the statistics available of the years 1967 till 1996, anencephaly in China had the highest prevalence of 87. In the American continent, state of Michigan in the USA had the highest of 10.5 and Jamaica, in Central America, had the lowest of 2.6. In Europe, Turkey with 16.4 and Italy with 2.73; in Asia, China with 87 and Iran with 0.8 had the highest and the lowest prevalence, respectively. In Africa, Nigeria with 3.5, and in Oceania, Newzeland with 7.8 in 10000, were reported. Data available on spina bifida, from the years 1968 till 1991 showed the highest prevalence in China with 36, and the lowest in the Alps Mountains with 0.55 in 10000 individuals. In the American continent, state of Arkansas with 7.8 and California with 3.87; in Europe, England with 23.1 and Rhein-Alp with 0.55 in 10000 had the highest and the lowest prevalence. Finally, in China this rate was 36, in Australia 10, in Newzeland 9.4, and in Nigeria 7/10000. In a study carried out in Tehran, from 1969 till 1978 by the authors, out of 13037 births, (17.6 in 10000) newborns had neural tube defects, with anencephaly 0.8 and spina bifida 3.8/10000. In a new study on 8585 deliveries (1991-1997) in Hamadan (a North West province of Iran), Prevalence of total NTDs was 50.1/10000, anencephaly 15.6 and spin bifida 6.98.

Weld strength is one of the most important goals in the welding industry. Non-destructive testing methods such as Radiography testing (RT) are widely used for weld strength inspection. In RT test, discontinuities and defects appear on the radiograph and are surveyed by interpreters. To increase the contrast of the radiographs, image processing methods are used to sharpen the edges and identify the defects by reducing the fogginess. In this research, two different Fourier algorithms, namely, discrete Fourier transform, and cosine Fourier transform have been used to improve the contrast of welding radiographs and to identify defects and their information. The comparison of the results of the two methods shows that the discrete Fourier transform method has a better efficiency than the cosine Fourier transform method in determining the information of the welding region, IQI lines and welding defects, and its execution time is also less. The evaluation of results by experts show that the contrast of the reconstructed images improves between 5 and 40% for different welding region with the discrete Fourier transform method. According to experts’,opinions, the reconstructed images with the cosine Fourier transform method do not have the necessary efficiency due to the artifact.

Background: Neural tube defects (NTD) are one of the leading causes of infant mortality worldwide. This study was designed to determine the prevalence of NTDs among native Fars ethnic groups during 1998-2005, and to identify maternal and demographic factors associated with NTDs.Methods: We performed a descriptive cross-sectional hospital-based study in Dezyani Hospital, Gorgan, North of Iran, since January 1998 until December 2005. The design was based on a sample of 30,639 births of native Fars ethnic groups. Data were analyzed by using spss V13.5 software and were compared with the chi-square test.Results: The prevalence of NTDs in Native Fars during the 8-year period was 25.4 per 10000 births (95% confidence interval: 20.1-31.8). The prevalence of NTDs was 20.6/10000 and 30.6/10000 in males and females respectively but this difference was not significant. The prevalence of spina bifida, anencephaly and encephalocele were 12.7, 11.4 and 1.3 per 10000 respectively. The rate of NTD was 48.9/10000 in newborns with mothers aged > 35 years. The highest rate of NTDs and spina bifida was in 2002. The highest and lowest rate of anencephaly was in 2005 and 2003 respectively. Twenty eight percent of the parents had consanguineous marriages. Degree relatedness 3, 4, 5 and 6 of consanguineous marriages were 12.8%, 9%, 3.8%, 2.5%, respectively. Also 47.5% of the parents resided in rural areas.Conclusion: This investigation showed that the rate of NTDs in Native Fars was higher in Iran. In addition, this rate is higher than the Canada and Ukraine and lower than Chinese people.

he inadequate production of existing poplar cultivations can be due to unfavorable planting, maintenance, and harvesting operations. In order to clarify the defects in operations, the diameter, height, wood volume and yearly wood volume growth per hectare in thirty stands of poplar trees were measured. Additionally, primary planting spacing, tree number per hectare, etc. were determined by a field survey. The causal and noncausal relationships between the independent variables and the volume growthand. the direct and indirect effects of each component on growth were determined. were. Results showed that the area of the stands varied from 0. 3 to 4 hectares. The planting spacing was less than 2×2 m for over 60 percent of the stands, . In most of the stands the percentage of survival was less than 50%. Only 10% of the stands had 25 m 3 wood volume per year and per hectare. . Principle component analysis showed that decreasing the planting distance were the most important parameters reducing the annual growth. Irrigation intensity represented the highest positive correlation with annual growth. Also, initial density displayed the highest negative correlation with diameter and height. Similar results were obtained through path analysis. . According to the results, the main defects of poplar farming are low spacing and more irrigation intervals, respectively.