A one-pot rotational DC-bipolar approach for fabricating artistic metallic carpets.

This is a brief report on the fabrication of concentric multi-element metallic carpets through a one-pot rotational bipolar electro-engineering procedure. A suspended piece of nickel foam as a bipolar electrode (BPE) is rotated in an aqueous solution containing a ternary mixture of metal ions when sufficient DC potential is applied to driving electrodes. The customizable tools of this art are potential gradient, rotation, and concentration/kinetic polarizations. Creating the multi-element radial gradient is typically tested in a one-pot artistic jewelry electroplating.

Direct Enzymatic Glucose/O2 Biofuel Cell based on Poly-Thiophene Carboxylic Acid alongside Gold Nanostructures Substrates Derived through Bipolar Electrochemistry.

Bipolar electrochemistry (BPE) has been lately explored as a simple, reliable and novel electrochemical technique for the adjustment of various conductive substrates. Herein, BPE is performed to derive both of cathode and anode electrodes for the development of mediatorless/membraneless biofuel cell (BFC). On one hand, a preferable substrate for immobilization of bilirubin oxidase enzyme is prepared based on the electropolymerization of thiophene-3-carboxcylic acid (TCA) on an Au microfilm as a bipolar electrode. The resulted biocathode as novel bioelectrocatalyst offers a high electrocatalytic activity toward direct oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) with onset potential and current density of 0.55 V (vs. Ag/AgCl) and 867 µA cm-2, respectively. On the other hand, another analogous Au bipolar electrode is electroplated through BPE to derive Au nanostructures (AuNSs). This modified Au electrode is utilized as an anodic platform for immobilization of flavin adenine dinucleotide-dependent glucose dehydrogenase (FAD-GDH) enzyme aimed at electrocatalytic glucose oxidation. The prepared bioanode displays a current density of 2.7 mA cm-2 with onset potential of -0.03 V. Finally, the proposed bioanode and biocacthode in an assembled membraneless glucose/O2 BFC offers a power output of 146 µW cm-2 with open circuit voltage of 0.54 V. This novel BPE method provides disposable electrochemical platforms for design of novel sensors, biosensors or other devices.

Onset of Labor in Post-Term Pregnancy by Chamomile.

BACKGROUND: Post-term pregnancy is an important factor in perinatal mortality and morbidity. Generally, to reduce perinatal mortality in pregnancy, the delivery is done before adverse perinatal morbidity occurs. To prevent prolonged pregnancy, labor is induced with chemical drugs and complementary therapies. Due to the side effects and contraindications of chemical medicine, the use of herbs has been investigated in the induction of labor in post-term pregnancy. OBJECTIVES: This study was done to identify the effect of chamomile on inducing labor in women with post-term pregnancy of Shahid Akbarabadi hospital in Tehran in 2013. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This double-blind clinical trial study was performed in Iran on 80 post-term pregnant women with a gestational age of 40 weeks or more, a single pregnancy, 18 - 35 years old, cephalic presentation, an estimated fetal weight of 2500 - 4000 grams, an absence of uterine contraction, a cervical Bishop score of less than 4, the safety of the membrane, and low-risk pregnancy; they were randomly assigned to one of two groups of 40 women. Each of the participants was given a bottle containing 42 capsules (500 mg each) and took 2 capsules every 8 hours. The data were collected through the questionnaire of demographic observational, and examinal characteristics. Descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test, and Fisher's exact test using SPSS (16/win) were used to determine and compare the effects of drugs on inducing labor in the groups. RESULTS: After a week of using the first dose, the results showed that in 92.5% of the chamomile group and 62.5% in the placebo group, delivery symptoms started after taking the oral capsules, and there were significant statistical differences between the two groups for the onset of labor (P = 0.003) There was a noticeable statistical difference between the two groups regarding the mean interval time to the onset of labor pain after taking the capsules (P = 0.000). CONCLUSIONS: In this study¸ chamomile stimulated labor in post-term pregnancy. With further studies, chamomile, which has no chemical side effects, can be suggested for stimulating labor in post-term pregnancy.