Introduction: In some soils, special phenomena happen with increases in their moisture content that sometimes inflict major damages on development projects. Dispersive soils are one type of such soils. The physico-chemical properties of the particles in dispersive soils cause them to disperse and separate from each other upon contact with water. If dispersive clays are not accurately identified, they will cause damages and failures. In the Simin Dasht region of Semnan Province, some hydraulic structures have incurred serious damages because they are located on dispersive soils.

Compact clay layers are one the most impermeable layers. Dispersivity and cracking of clay layers are among the factors that reduce the efficiency of clay and necessitate clay stabilization. Clay healing properties and the importance of self-healing cracks in clay layers as one of the characteristics and attributes of clay in recent years have been studied. In this research, the self-healing performance of clay layers due to the addition of lime to the clay materials of Gordyan dam borrow pit (Gargar) was investigated. For this purpose, two dispersive (S2 and S3) soil samples (ND3 and ND4) were investigated by adding lime to the extent 0. 25, 0. 5, 1 and 2%, and Double Hydrometer, Atterberg limits and Pinhole tests of dispersivity and self-healing were investigated. The results showed that by adding 1% of lime to clay, the range of plasticity index increased and the discharge rate of the pinhole test for both samples was 28% and the final diameter of the sample for both samples decreased by 67%, indicating an improvement in self-healing process and a reduction of dispersivity and becoming non-dispersive soil (ND1). The results also showed that pinhole testing has reliable and more accurate results than other tests in determining soil dispersivity.

Dispersive soils are among the most important problematic soils in earth structures, especially earth dam projects. Lime and aluminum sulfate are common and traditional additives for stabilization of dispersive soils due to the proper replacement of calcium or aluminum ions instead of sodium ions. Considering the progress of nanotechnology and using its in soil improvement, in this study, nano-sized aluminum oxide powder was used to improve dispersive soil. Five different nano material ratios (0, 0. 2, 0. 4, 0. 8 and 1% by weight of dry clay) were mixed with a dispersive clay and four different lime contents (0, 2, 4 and 6% by weight of dry clay) and the dispersion potential of mixtures are obtained from double hydrometer test. The results show that increasing nano Al2O3 greatly reduced the percentage of dispersion. Adding 1% nano-Al2O3 in dispersive clay has diminished 64% the potential of dispersion. In samples with containing 2% lime, only 0. 2% of the nano material has been able to place the soil in non-dispersive category.

Marls produce the highest deposits in the catchment areas among lithological units. This property of marls can cause the reduced useful life of dams, river, and sedimentation of water channels, the destruction of road, utilities, and ultimately desertification phenomenon. Hence, understanding the characteristics influencing the erodibility and marls divergence can be a priority. In this thesis, marls located in the south of Tehran (south of Hassan Abad- Varamin) were evaluated in terms of shape and intensity of erosion, physical, chemical, engineering and divergence features. Marl unit studied includes the onshore marl of Upper Red Formation unit M3 and Pliocene marl of unit Plm. Sampling in the unit of red upper geology and Pliocene was conducted in slopes 5%, 20% and 40%. Tests such as gradation, Atterberg limits, chemical analysis such as cations and anions, SAR, TDS, EC and dual Hydrometry and pinhole were carried out to achieve the predetermined goals. Granulation distribution showed no significant difference in different slopes. Comparing the plasticity index among the different forms of erosion, it can be seen that the surface erosion plasticity index is greater than other forms of erosion.it is a factor in the postponement of erosion. But overall, it's not much different from many other forms of erosion. The cation exchange capacity in the samples is between 14.2 to 25.88 meq per liter. The mean of this variable is further in the stream erosion. the range of this variable in samples is between 0.9 to 2.17 meq per liter. The mean of this variable in the erosion of stream and ditch is more than the rest of upper red formation units. The results of the double hydrometer tests on 20 samples indicate the high non-divergence. The sample collected from Station 1 (in the form of gully erosion) and station 5 with a gradient of 5% (with stream erosion) shows the average divergence. According to the pinhole experiment conducted at different stations, station 5 (with single stream erosion M3) and station 7 (with a form of gully erosion M3) showed a moderate divergence.

Producion of efficient antimicrobial drugs against to common human pathogens is one of the most important challenges in the field of medical microbiology. Continuous screening of clinical isolates and survey of antimicrobial resistance pattern is critical.Today, disk diffusion and dilution methods are known as the common antimicrobial susceptibility testing methods. Disk diffusion method does not render dependable results in determination of antimicrobial susceptibility pattern because this method is semi quantitative. MIC determination by microdilution and macrodilution techniques and recent method “E-Test”, have given interpretable results to researchers. Microdilution and macrodilution methods are also time consuming, expensive and error- prone methods. Whereas E-Test method is one of the means by which we will be able to determine susceptibility pattern of known species in low cost and short time. In this survey, constructing and printing of E-Test, coating of antibiotic on O.H.P film and quality control of constructed E-Tests were performed according to M7 A7 CLSI Standard. In this study quality of required materials for E-Test Production were suitable. Evaluation of constructed strips was performed using standard strain of staphylococcus aureus and reproducibly of results was appreciated.

Contact dermatitis is an inflammatory skin disease due to contact with different substances and caused by two mechanisms: allergy and irritation. Contact dermatitis is a common skin disease and the most common occupational dermatosis. Differentiating between allergic and irritant contact dermatitis is essential in the identification of etiologic factor(s) and hence, its control and prognosis. This differentiation can be done only by patch test. Unfortunately, this simple, safe and useful test is always neglected. We review the basics of patch test, the method of performance, reading and interpretation of its results, possible side effects and results of studies done with patch test in different countries.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: In infertility without suffering tubal factor, IUI is the choice therapeutic method. Some studies recommended double IUI for every cycle. Since double IUI needs more laboratory materials and more expenses, so in this study it was tried to evaluate pregnancy rate in infertile couples after single and double IUI.METHODS: This clinical trial study was performed on infertile couples referred to Fatemeh Alzahra or Babol Clinic hospital for IUI cycles. Patients divided into two groups. In the first group, 36 hours after HCG injection, IUI was done as a single protocol and in the other group; IUI was done 24 & 72 hours after HCG injection as double protocol. Then data were analyzed by fishers exact test.FINDINGS: Two hundred and fifteen women participated in our study and their mean age was 26.02±5.5 and the mean (±SD) duration of infertility was 3.73 (±2.75) years. In the first group, pregnancy rate was 16.9% and in second group it was 19.6% without any significant difference between two groups. Also, there was no significant difference between groups in pregnancy rate with different etiology of infertility.CONCLUSION: Some studies recommended that double IUI is more successful than single IUI But present findings suggest that there is no difference in pregnancy rate between single IUI and double IUI.

Background and Objectives: Brucellae are gram-negative intracellular pathogens which cause zoonotic disease in humans. Clinical manifestations of brucellosis in human are variable and often are non-specific, and the diagnosis requires fast and accurate confirmation. Since the use of serum instead of whole-blood samples offers several advantages for nucleic acid amplification methods, in this study we developed an improved PCR assay for the rapid and specific laboratory diagnosis of human brucellosis directly from serum specimens.Material and Methods: DNA was extracted from 100 µL of serum from 30 patients with acute serologic brucellosis. The PCR reaction was carried out with Specific primers. Second PCR reaction for reamplification of the first reaction products was designed.Results: a 223 bp conserved region on the sequence encoding the 31-KDa immunogenic outer membrane protein which is specific to the genus Brucella (BCSP31) and present in all its biovars was amplified in all serum samples.Conclusion: For confirmation and efficient amplification of the specific target, reamplification of the first PCR products had a sharper banding patterns with high sensitivity and specificity that might be considered as a new useful method for diagnosis of human brucellosis in serum specimens.