Impact of childbirth on women's sexuality in the first year after the delivery

AIM

The aim was to compare the quality of sexual life before pregnancy and after delivery and to find out whether and how selected factors affect women's sexuality during this period.

METHODS

The study group consisted of 433 women who completed the survey containing basic demographic questions and two Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) questionnaires: a retrospective one, regarding time before pregnancy and the current period. The inclusion criteria: time between 10 weeks and 1 year after delivery, vaginal intercourses before pregnancy and the resumption of vaginal intercourses after delivery.

RESULTS

We observed the negative impact of labor on the total FSFI score, regardless of the time that had passed since birth and the delivery mode. The decrease by at least 10% of the initial FSFI score was noticed in 44.3% of the participants. FSD (Female Sexual Dysfunction) occurred statistically more commonly after delivery than before pregnancy (45.3% vs 17.1%; P < 0.001). The following factors had an impact on the risk of post-partum FSD: pre-pregnancy FSD (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 4.17 [95% confidence interval [CI] 2.38-7.31]) and nulliparity (aOR = 1.67 [95% CI 1.09-2.53]).

CONCLUSION

Childbirth has an undeniable impact on women's sexuality. The prevention and treatment of sexual dysfunctions is very important, especially in this crucial period of life.

Effect of clozapine on ketamine-induced deficits in attentional set shift task in mice

RATIONALE

Clozapine (CLZ) is an effective treatment for schizophrenia, producing improvements in both negative symptoms and cognitive impairments. Cognitive impairments can be modelled in animals by ketamine (KET) and assessed using the attentional set-shift task (ASST).

OBJECTIVE

Our first aim was to determine whether CLZ improves cognitive function and reverses KET-induced cognitive impairments using the ASST. Our second aim was to assess dose dependency of these effects.

RESULTS

Our findings demonstrate that acute as well as sub-chronic administration of KET cause cognitive deficits observed as increase in number of trails and errors to reach the criterion in the EDS phase. CLZ 0.3 mg/kg reversed the effects of both acute and sub-chronic KET, with no effects on locomotor activity. However, clozapine's effect after sub-chronic administration of dose 0.3 mg/kg was not as explicit as in the case of acute treatment. Moreover, administration of 1 mg/kg CLZ to KET-treated mice induced or enhanced deficits in the extra-dimensional shift phase compared to 1 mg/kg CLZ administration to mice not receiving KET. Locomotor activity test showed sedation effects of CLZ 1 mg/kg after acute treatment; therefore, effect of CLZ 1 mg/kg on KET-induced cognitive deficits was not evaluated in the attentional set-shift task (ASST) test.

CONCLUSIONS

The present findings support dose-dependent effects of CLZ to reverse KET-induced cognitive deficits. The observed dose dependency may be mediated by activation of different receptors, including monomers and/or heterodimers.

Optimisation of Reactive Black 5 dye removal by electrocoagulation process using response surface methodology

In this work, a regression model obtained from response surface methodology (RSM) was proposed for the electrocoagulation (EC) treatment of textile wastewater. The Reactive Black 5 dye (RB5) was used as a model dye to evaluate the performance of the model design. The effect of initial solution pH, applied current and treatment time on RB5 removal was investigated. The total number of experiments designed by RSM amounted to 27 runs, including three repeated experimental runs at the central point. The accuracy of the model was evaluated by the F-test, coefficient of determination (R²), adjusted R² and standard deviation. The optimum conditions for RB5 removal were as follows: initial pH of 6.63, current of 0.075 A, electrolyte dose of 0.11 g/L and EC time of 50.3 min. The predicted RB5 removal was 83.3% and the percentage error between experimental and predicted results was only 3-5%. The obtained data confirm that the proposed model can be used for accurate prediction of RB5 removal. The value of the zeta potential increased with treatment time, and the X-ray diffraction pattern shows that iron complexes were found in the sludge.

Adsorption of methylene blue and Congo red from aqueous solution by activated carbon and carbon nanotubes

This study was conducted to determine the adsorption removal of dyes by powdered activated carbon (PAC, Norit) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs, Chinese Academy of Science) from an aqueous solution. Methylene blue (MB) and Congo red (CR) were selected as model compounds. The adsorbents tested have a high surface area (PAC 835 m(2)/g, MWCNTs 358 m(2)/g) and a well-developed porous structure which enabled the effective treatment of dye-contaminated waters and wastewaters. To evaluate the capacity of PAC and MWCNTs to adsorb dyes, a series of batch adsorption experiments was performed. Both adsorbents exhibited a high adsorptive capacity for MB and CR, and equilibrium data fitted well with the Langmuir model, with the maximum adsorption capacity up to 400 mg/g for MB and 500 mg/g for CR. The separation factor, RL, revealed the favorable nature of the adsorption process under experimental conditions. The kinetics of adsorption was studied at various initial dye concentrations and solution temperatures. The pseudo-second-order model was used for determining the adsorption kinetics of MB and CR. The data obtained show that adsorption of both dyes was rapid in the initial stage and followed by slower processing to reach the plateau. The uptake of dyes increased with contact time, irrespective of their initial concentration and solution temperature. However, changes in the solution temperature did not significantly influence dye removal.

Aeration performance of hydrodynamic flow regulators

Hydrodynamic flow regulators are used in environmental engineering as a replacement for traditional flow throttling devices. They are extremely efficient, reliable and free from the common disadvantages of traditional devices. Recent research by the authors indicated that the atomization of a liquid by hydrodynamic flow regulators accelerates oxygenation and may be used for improving the quality of wastewater and stormwater. To date, an evaluation of the aeration capacity of a hydrodynamic flow regulator at the pilot scale or in a practical situation has not been presented in the literature. This study presents the experimental results of oxygen absorption tests for conventional and modified cylindrical hydrodynamic flow regulators (patent pending). These devices were tested in a closed-circuit experimental setup at the semi-commercial scale. The aeration efficiency of hydrodynamic flow regulators was assessed by means of the overall standard oxygen transfer coefficient (KLa(20), h⁻¹) and standard oxygen transfer rate (SOTR, gO₂/h) for a wide range of tested configurations. The effect of flow rate and discharge mode on the aeration capacity of flow regulators was investigated. The values of KLa(20) for cylindrical hydrodynamic flow regulators obtained in the experiments were between 2.62 and 15.57 h⁻¹ while SOTR values ranged from 53 to 316 gO₂/h. The modified discharge mode with two active outlets allowed for an increase in aeration efficiency of up to 15% compared to conventional designs.

Effects of natural organic matter removal by integrated processes: alum coagulation and PAC-adsorption

This paper presents the results of bench-scale research into the efficiency of NOM removal by integrated processes-alum coagulation and PAC-adsorption. Experiments were conducted using riverine water samples (collected from the Odra River, Poland) and commercial powdered activated carbon. It has been shown that a PAC-enhanced coagulation process reduces the coagulant dose required and increases the process efficiency at the same time. For example, a coagulant dose of 2.0 mgAl/L and a PAC dose of 5 mg/L have produced results comparable to those of a coagulation process with no adsorbent aid but with a coagulant dose increased by 54%. The coagulation-adsorption tests were carried out at a pH of 6.0, which was lower than the pH(IEP) of the adsorbent. This procedure yielded a high extent of DOC and UV-254 removal, at 90% and 77%, respectively. The drop observed in the SUVA value after the process implied a decrease in reactive DOC forms and consequently a diminished risk that disinfection by-products might form. HPSEC analyses made it possible to describe the changes in the molecular weight distribution for the organic substances persisting in the water both after coagulation and after PAC-aided coagulation, and to evaluate their propensity to removal by the two methods. The coagulation process was effective as far as the removal of high-molecular-weight fractions is concerned. An increase in the removal of the low molecular weight NOM was achieved when the PAC-adsorption process had been combined with coagulation.