Enhancement of thermal energy transfer behind a double consecutive expansion utilizing a variable magnetic field.

This research focuses on utilizing non-uniform magnetic fields, induced by dipoles, to control and enhance thermal energy transfer in a two-dimensional cooling conduit including a double backward-facing step. The presence of electronic equipment along the straight channel path creates such arrangements, and cooling is often ineffective in the corners of the formed steps. The use of a non-constant magnetic field is a passive technique to improve the cooling rate in these sections without changing the internal geometry, thereby increasing the heat transfer rate. A commercial software based on the finite volume technique is employed to solve the governing equations of fluid flow and heat transfer. Multiple parameters are examined in this study, including the flow Reynolds number (12.5-50), dipole location and strength (0.1-5 A-m), and the number of dipoles (single or double). The results indicate that all of these parameters have a significant impact on the thermal energy transfer. The results of the study show that a single dipole increase the average heat transfer by about 22%, two magnetic fields by 40%, the strength of the magnetic source by 24% with respect to the non-magnetic field in the present study.

C-FSCV: Compressive Fast-Scan Cyclic Voltammetry for Brain Dopamine Recording.

This paper presents a novel compressive sensing framework for recording brain dopamine levels with fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV) at a carbon-fiber microelectrode. Termed compressive FSCV (C-FSCV), this approach compressively samples the measured total current in each FSCV scan and performs basic FSCV processing steps, e.g., background current averaging and subtraction, directly with compressed measurements. The resulting background-subtracted faradaic currents, which are shown to have a block-sparse representation in the discrete cosine transform domain, are next reconstructed from their compressively sampled counterparts with the block sparse Bayesian learning algorithm. Using a previously recorded dopamine dataset, consisting of electrically evoked signals recorded in the dorsal striatum of an anesthetized rat, the C-FSCV framework is shown to be efficacious in compressing and reconstructing brain dopamine dynamics and associated voltammograms with high fidelity (correlation coefficient, ), while achieving compression ratio, CR, values as high as ~ 5. Moreover, using another set of dopamine data recorded 5 minutes after administration of amphetamine (AMPH) to an ambulatory rat, C-FSCV once again compresses (CR = 5) and reconstructs the temporal pattern of dopamine release with high fidelity ( ), leading to a true-positive rate of 96.4% in detecting AMPH-induced dopamine transients.

Herbal Medicines for the Management of Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Systematic Review.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a chronic digestive disorder, which is characterized by abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea and constipation periods. The etiology is unknown. Based on the different mechanisms in the etiology, treatment focuses on controlling symptoms. Due to the longtime of syndrome, inadequacy of current treatments, financial burden for patients and pharmacologic effects, several patients have turned to the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). Complementary and alternative treatments for IBS include hypnosis, acupuncture, cognitive behavior therapy, yoga, and herbal medicine. Herbal medicines can have therapeutic effects and adverse events in IBS. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of herbal medicines in the control of IBS, and their possible mechanisms of action were reviewed. Herbal medicines are an important part of the health care system in many developing countries It is important for physicians to understand some of the more common forms of CAM, because some herbs have side effects and some have interactions with conventional drugs. However herbal medicines may have therapeutic effects in IBS, and further clinical research is needed to assess its effectiveness and safety.

Melatonin therapy in shift workers with difficulty falling asleep: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover field study.

BACKGROUND: Disturbed sleep is common in shift work. It is hypothesized that administration of exogenous melatonin could reduce the sleep latency and improve the sleep quality. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of 3 mg melatonin taken 30 min before night time sleep on shift workers with difficulty falling asleep. METHODS: Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) were applied to find out shift workers with difficulty falling asleep. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study with periods of 3 night and washouts of 2 weeks comparing melatonin with placebo was performed. Night time sleep parameters obtained from somnowatch including total sleep time (TST), sleep onset latency (SOL), sleep efficiency (SE) and wakening after sleep onset (WASO) were analyzed. RESULTS: Among 295 workers, 103 had difficulty falling asleep. Finally, from 50 randomly selected workers with difficulty falling asleep, 39 workers completed the study. Melatonin treatment significantly increased SE and decreased SOL in comparison with baseline and taking placebo. SE was increased from 82.1% at baseline to 85.5% after melatonin therapy. Also SOL was decreased from 0.27 h at baseline to 0.20 h after melatonin therapy. Effects of Melatonin administration on TST and WASO were not significant. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that melatonin therapy in shift workers with difficulty falling asleep significantly improved the sleep onset latency and sleep efficiency.

Lack of Association between Toll Like Receptor-2 and Toll Like Receptor-4 Gene Polymorphisms and Other Feature in Iranian Asthmatics Patients.

Asthma as a chronic inflammatory airway disease is considered to be the most common chronic disease that is involving genetic and environmental factors. Toll like receptors (TLRs) and other inflammatory mediators are important in modulation of inflammation. In this study, we evaluated the role of TLR2 Arg753Gln and TLR4 Asp299Gly polymorphisms in the asthma susceptibility, progress, control levels and lung functions in Iranian patients. On 99 asthmatic patients and 120 normal subjects, TLR2 Arg753Gln and TLR4 Asp299Gly polymorphisms were evaluated by PCR-RFLP method recruiting Msp1 and Nco1 restriction enzymes, respectively. IgE serum levels by ELISA technique were determined and asthma diagnosis, treatment and control levels were considered using standard schemes and criteria. Our results indicated that the genotype and allele frequencies of the TLR2 Arg753Gln and TLR4 Asp299Gly polymorphisms were not significantly different between control subjects and asthmatics and were not related to in asthma features such as IgE levels, asthma history and pulmonary factors. Wherease some previous studies indicated TLRs and their polymorphisms might have some role in asthma incidence and features, our data demonstrated that TLR2 Arg753Gln and TLR4 Asp299Gly gene variants were not risk factors for asthma or its features in Iranian patients. Genetic complexity, ethnicity, influence of other genes or polymorphisms may overcome these polymorphisms in our asthmatics.