Our objective was to study skin disorders in neonates within the first 48 hours of life in Ahvaz, Iran. One thousand consecutive neonates were examined in a descriptional prospective cohort study for 1 year (2002-03). The rate of skin disorders and their relationship to age of gestation and sex were calculated and analyzed using the computerized program SPSS version 10 and chi-squared test (chi2). Our findings were Mongolian spots (71.3%), Epstein pearls (70.2%), sebaceous hyperplasia (43.7%), salmon patch (26.2%), hypertrichosis (25.7%), erythema toxicum (11.1%), milia (7.5%), desquamation (1.9%), hemangioma (1.3%), and miliaria (1.3%). The most frequent skin disorders were Mongolian spots, Epstein pearls, and sebaceous hyperplasia. Differences between our study findings and those of others may be based on racial differences and study method.

In this paper, a closed-loop multistep process which allows leaching and precipitation of magnesium and calcium as carbonate from Victorian brown coal fly ash has been examined. Victorian brown coal fly ash has a distinctively high concentration of alkaline earth metals and low amounts of aluminum and silica. The main objective here is to clarify the dissolution kinetics of magnesium and calcium in regenerative ammonium chloride and subsequent carbonation of dissolved cations. Instead of a once-through test with fresh ammonium chloride, multiple locked circuits were adopted to assess the leaching capability of regenerated ammonium salt, as well as the accumulation of impurities upon the recycling and reuse of the leaching agent. As has been revealed, upon increasing cycles of ammonium chloride use, the extraction yields of both target cations decreased significantly. Their extraction by ammonium chloride was favored by the presence of the oxide form in the original ash sample, with the extraction of calcium occurring much faster than that of magnesium. Both phenomena were in agreement with the thermodynamic equilibrium prediction on the lowest Gibbs function for the dissolution of oxides, especially calcium oxide in ammonium chloride solution. Carbonation results dropped gradually upon the increase in the cycle number; meanwhile, the size and morphology of precipitates were changed from the first to last cycle. By fitting the observed results with a shrinking core model, it was shown that the extraction of Mg2+ followed a pseudo-second-order reaction with a nonconstant ammonium chloride concentration in the film layer on the surface of a solid particle. The activation energy of 20.7 kJ mol–1 was obtained for the dissolution of magnesium from both Hazelwood fly ash and pure MgO in ammonium chloride solution.

Much of our food directly or indirectly originates from plant material; thus, detailed studies on plant contamination processes are an essential part of international environmental research. This overview attempts to identify and describe the most important parameters and processes affecting the behaviour of radionuclide transfer to plants. Many parameters influence these processes. These parameters are related to: (1) plant, (2) soil, (3) radionuclide, (4) climate and (5) time. Often there is no boundary between the factors and they are linked to each other. Knowledge of important factors in radionuclide transfer to plants can help to assess and prevent radiological exposure of humans. This knowledge can also help to guide researches and modelling related to transfer of radionuclides to food chain.

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The concentrations of (238)U and (226)Ra were determined in different foodstuffs purchased from markets in Tehran. Determinations of the radionuclides have been carried out using alpha spectrometry technique, on samples of egg, lentil, potato, rice, soya, spinach, tea and wheat. Average concentrations of natural radionuclides and foodstuff consumption rate were used to assess annual intake and based on intake values, the annual effective ingestion dose has been estimated for Tehran city residents. The measurement results show that soya has the maximum concentration of (238)U equal to 15.6 +/- 2.6 mBq kg(-1) and tea has the maximum concentration of (226)Ra equal to 1153.3 +/- 265.3 mBq kg(-1). Besides, the maximum annual effective dose from (238)U and (226)Ra were assessed to be 2.88 x 10(-2) +/- 7.20 x 10(-3) and 2.15 +/- 0.54 muSv, respectively, from wheat samples.