Background:Precise and accurate measurements of body composition are useful in achieving a greater understanding of human energy metabolism in physiology and in different clinical conditions, such as, cardiovascular disease and overall mortality. Dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) can be used to measure body composition, but the easiest method to assess body composition is the use of anthropometric indices. This study has been designed to evaluate the accuracy and precision of body composition prediction equations by various anthropometric measures instead of a whole body DXA scan.Materials and Methods:We identified 143 adult patients underwent DXA evaluation of the whole body. The anthropometric indices were also measured. Datasets were split randomly into two parts. Multiple regression analysis with a backward stepwise elimination procedure was used as the derivation set and then the estimates were compared with the actual measurements from the whole-body scans for a validation set. The SPSS version 20 for Windows software was used in multiple regression and data analysis.Results:Using multiple linear regression analyses, the best equation for predicting the whole-body fat mass (R2 = 0.808) included the body mass index (BMI) and gender; the best equation for predicting whole-body lean mass (R2 = 0.780) included BMI, WC, gender, and age; and the best equation for predicting trunk fat mass (R2 = 0.759) included BMI, WC, and gender.Conclusions:Combinations of anthropometric measurements predict whole-body lean mass and trunk fat mass better than any of these single anthropometric indices. Therefore, the findings of the present study may be used to verify the results in patients with various diseases or diets.

Wettability alteration of carbonate reservoirs from oil-wet to water-wet is an important method to increase the efficiency of oil recovery. Interaction between surfactants and polymers can enhance the effectiveness of surfactants in EOR applications. In this study, the interaction of polyethylene glycol (PEG) with an ionic surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS), is evaluated on an oil-wet carbonate rock surface by using contact angle measurements. The results reveal that wettability alteration of carbonate rocks is achieved through PEG/SDS interaction on the rock surface above a critical aggregation concentration (CAC). The behaviour of PEG/SDS aqueous solutions is evaluated using surface and interfacial tension measurements. Furthermore, the effect of PEG and SDS concentrations and impact of electrolyte addition on PEG/SDS interaction are investigated. It is shown that electrolyte (NaCl) can effectively decrease the CAC values and accordingly initiate the wettability alteration of rocks. Moreover, in a constant SDS concentration, the addition of NaCl leads to a reduction in the contact angle, which can also be obtained by increasing the aging time, temperature and pre-adsorption of PEG on the rock surface.

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A multifunctional nanoparticle, Super Paramagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticle-Carbon Dots (SPION-CDs), for fluorescence and magnetic resonance imaging is introduced. This nanoparticle possesses the magnetic properties of super-paramagnetic iron oxide (SPION) core as well as the fluorescence characteristics of carbon dots (CDs) coated in mesoporous structure. The SPION-CDs were synthesized using a high temperature facile single-pot hydrothermal method. The products were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV/vis absorption, vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The cytotoxic effect of SPION-CDs on OVCAR-3 cells was also evaluated. The synthesized nanoparticle possesses optimal size, low toxicity and excellent magnetic properties, including super-paramagnetic behavior (Ms = 42 emu g−1). Moreover, in the viewpoint of optical properties, the quantum yield of ~2.4% was obtained and the nanoparticle shows good fluorescence stability for cell-labeling studies. This multifunctional nanoparticle with appropriate characterization is a promising candidate for multimodal fluorescence/magnetic resonance imaging platform.

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