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Pudendal nerve blockade decreases vaginal pressures, increases length of urogenital hiatus, and decreases electromyography activity of the puborectalis muscle, all of which suggest that the pudendal nerve does innervate the levator ani muscle.

Purpose 3Local open markets, trading fruits and vegetables, are widespread in Mediterranean 4 countries, such as Tunisia and Jordan, producing large amounts of organic waste. 5Applying an anaerobic digestion process on this substrate makes it crucial to evaluate 6 the waste mixture composition and seasonal variability properly. In this study, after 7 defining an average composition of the fruit and vegetable waste (FVW) mixture 8 produced in Sfax (Tunisia) and Amman (Jordan) in three seasonal intervals (autumn-9 winter, spring, and summer), the biochemical methane potential (BMP) of an 10 artificially created FVW mixture was individually determined by three European 11 institutions located in Spain, Italy, and Greece. The average BMP from all three 12 seasons and laboratories was 286±52 NmL CH 4 g COD added -1 , close to the theoretical 13 maximum yield of 350 NmL CH 4 g COD added -1 , indicating a high biodegradability of 14 the waste. Τhe biochemical methane yields of the spring mixtures were not 15 statistically different across the three labs. The most significant differences among the 16 BMP results were obtained for the autumn/winter and the summer mixtures used in 17 Spain, likely due to the variety or ripeness of fruits and vegetables collected in the 18 local markets. In the other two labs in Italy and Greece, no statistical difference was 19 observed for the BMPs of the three season mixtures within the same lab. Therefore, 20 not a critical difference in the biodegradability of such FVW is expected along the 21 different seasons, indicating that the operation of a full-scale digester over a whole 22 year would constantly benefit from the supplementation of a high biochemical 23 methane potential feedstock.

As a potential approach for enhanced energy generation from anaerobic digestion, iron-based conductive nanoparticles have been proposed to enhance the methane production yield and rate. In this study, the impact of two different types of iron nanoparticles, namely the nano-zero-valent-iron particles (NZVIs) and magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles (NPs) was investigated, using batch test under mesophilic conditions (35 °C). Magnetite NPs have been applied in doses of 25, 50 and 80 mg/L, corresponding to 13.1, 26.2 and 41.9 mg magnetite NPs/gTS of substrate, respectively. The results reveal that supplementing anaerobic batches with magnetite NPs at a dose of 25 mg/L induces an insignificant effect on hydrolysis and methane production. However, incubation with 50 and 80 mg/L magnetite NPs have instigated comparable positive impact with hydrolysis percentages reaching approximately 95% compared to 63% attained in control batches, in addition to a 50% enhancement in methane production yield. A biodegradability percentage of 94% was achieved with magnetite NP doses of 50 and 80 mg/L, compared to only 62.7% obtained with control incubation. NZVIs were applied in doses of 20, 40 and 60 mg/L, corresponding to 10.8, 21.5 and 32.2 mg NZVIs/gTS of substrate, respectively. The results have shown that supplementing anaerobic batches with NZVIs revealed insignificant impact, most probably due to the agglomeration of NZVI particles and consequently the reduction in available surface area, making the applied doses insufficient for measurable effect.

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