Pagophagia, or the practice of consuming ice, is a particular expression of the more general phenomenon of pica. Pagophagia is a complex behavioral phenomenon arising from the interplay of biochemical, hematological, psychological, and cultural factors. This compulsive dietary aberration is observed in many children and pregnant women worldwide. The authors report 3 cases of severe iron deficiency anemia with a serum ferritin level of 2-3 ng/mL, in which the patients were consuming 2 trays and many bags of ice per day. Following treatment with iron therapy, pagophagia spontaneously resolved within 2 weeks. It is a commonly missed problem. Pediatricians should be alert to this phenomena and its association with iron-deficiency anemia.
The aim of this research is to evaluate the groundwater geochemistry in western Nile Delta area as an example of an aquifer influenced by reclamation and seawater intrusion. To conduct this study, 63 groundwater samples and one surface water sample from El Nubaria Canal were collected. To estimate the origin of dissolved ions and the geochemical processes influencing this groundwater, integration between land use change, pedological, hydrogeological, hydrogeochemical, and statistical approaches was considered. Results suggest that the groundwater flow regime changed from northeast and southwest directions around El Nubaria canal before 1966 to northern and northeastern directions due to newly constructed channel network. Soil salinity and mineral contents, seepage from irrigation canal, and seawater intrusion are the main factors controlling the groundwater chemistry. Statistically, the groundwater samples were classified into eight groups, one to four for the deep groundwater and five to eight for the shallow groundwater. The deep groundwater is characterized by two groups of chemicals (SO-HCO-Mg-Ca-K and Cl-Na), while the shallow groundwater groups of chemicals are Na-Cl-SO and K-HCO-Ca-Mg. Both shallow groundwater and deep groundwater are mostly saturated with respect to carbonate minerals and undersaturated with respect to chloride minerals. Sulfate minerals are above the saturation limit in the shallow groundwater, but in the deep samples, these minerals are under the saturation limit. Ion exchange, carbonate production, mineral precipitation, and seawater intrusion are the geochemical processes governing the groundwater chemistry in the study area.
Detailed lithostratigraphic and calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphic studies were carried out across the Paleocene–Eocene (P-E) that outcrops at Gebel Nezzazat (G. Nezzazat) in West Central Sinai (Egypt). The study interval spans from the upper part of the Tarawan Formation to the lowermost Thebes Formation covering the whole Esna Formation in between them. The Esna Formation had been subdivided into four members: the Hanadi, Dababiya Quarry, Mahmiya, and Abu Had Members. Five calcareous nannofossil biozones (NP7/8, NP9 to NP12) and four subzones (NP9a and NP9b and NP10a and NP10b) were recognized. The lowest occurrences (LOs) of Fasciculithus alanii group, Neochiastozygus junctus, Sphenolithus radians, and Blackites herculesii as well as the highest occurrence of F. alanii group and the increased frequency of N. junctus are biostratigraphically significant. On contrast, the LOs of Discoaster binodosus, Discoaster mahmoudii, Discoaster diastypus, Zygrhablithus bijugatus, and Campylosphaera dela as well as the LOs of Fasciculithus tympaniformis are unreliable bioevents. Calcareous nannofossils increase in abundance close to the P-E transition. Ericsonia subpertusa suddenly increases above the base of Eocene, whereas the diversity of Fasciculithus drops close to this level. The P-E boundary at G. Nezzazat was placed at the base of the Dababiya Quarry Member in coincidence with the base of Subzone NP9b that was delineated by the LOs of Discoaster araneus, Rhomboaster cuspis, Rhomboaster calcitrapa, Rhomboaster spineus, and Rhomboaster bitrifida. A small gap was recorded across the P-E boundary as indicated by the lack of the four beds of the Dababiya Quarry Member. The changes in calcareous nannofossil assemblages reveal warm-water and oligotrophic conditions prevailed during the transition at G. Nezzazat.
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