The effects of peracetic acid solution on the treatment of otomycosis in an animal model: a new antifungal drug?

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the therapeutic effects of 1 per cent and 0.01 per cent peracetic acid as an antifungal agent in animal otomycosis. METHOD: After creating a superficial scratch in the external auditory canal of guinea pigs, a suspension of Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus fumigatus and candida were inoculated into the ears of the animals. After otomycosis, the effect of 1 per cent or 0.01 per cent peracetic acid on otomycosis was evaluated by otomicroscopy and culture at 10 days post-treatment and compared with 2 per cent acetic acid as the control. RESULTS: A 10-day treatment with 1 per cent peracetic acid and 2 per cent acetic acid (control) showed normal otomicroscopy and negative cultures compared with 0.01 per cent peracetic acid. Drug sedimentation or other side effects in the external auditory canal or tympanic membrane were not observed during treatment with peracetic acid. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study confirm that the treatment of otomycosis with 1 per cent peracetic acid in an animal model is beneficial and may be a novel therapeutic treatment for otomycosis.

Effects of an specific methodology (I Pass the Baton) on quality of handoff information among Nurses: A comparative study.

AIM: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of applying I Pass the Baton (IPB) on the quality of handoff among nurses. METHOD: The present study was a quasi-experimental study. All nurses of the internal wards of Sanandaj educational hospitals, Kurdistan Province, Iran were selected by census method and randomly assigned to intervention (n=34) and control (n=31) groups. Handoff quality was measured by self-report and observation methods. The intervention included a face-to-face training session, training on how to use the IPB, inserting the IPB chart into the patient file, training leaflet, and installing a poster in the ward. The Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation (SBAR) was used according to routine practice in the control group. Descriptive and inferential tests were applied to analyze the data using SPSS-16. RESULTS: The mean score of handoff quality was 82.61±12.77 and 107.11±7.97 before and after the intervention in the intervention group (p<0.05) and 89.00±0.34 and 85.64±19.19 before and after the intervention in the control group, respectively (p=0.91). There was a statistically significant difference between the two groups after the intervention (p<0.05). Implementation of the training program and the IPB tool improved the handoff quality in terms of interaction and support, patient involvement, information quality, and efficiency. CONCLUSIONS: The IPB has various indicators of patient participation and includes the criteria needed for patient evaluation. Therefore, it can be used to handoff a wide range of patients in the internal ward.

Mouse Degenerating Optic Axons Survived by Human Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Neural Progenitor Cells.

Objective: Any damage to the optic nerve can potentially lead to degeneration of non-regenerating axons and ultimately death of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) that in most cases, are not curable by surgery or medication. Neuroprotective functions of different types of stem cells in the nervous system have been evaluated in many studies investigating the effectiveness of these cells in various retinal disease models. Neural progenitor cells (NPCs) secrete an assortment of trophic factors that are vital to the protection of the visual system. We aimed to assess the therapeutic potentials of NPCs in an ONC mouse model. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, NPCs were produced using noggin and retinoic acid from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). Fifty mice were divided into the following three groups: i. Intact , ii. Vehicle [optic nerve crush+Hank's balanced salt solution (HBSS)], and iii. Treatment (optic nerve crush+NPCs). The visual behavior of the mice was examined using the Visual Cliff test, and in terms of RGC numbers, they were assessed by Brn3a immunostaining and retrograde tracing using DiI injection. Results: Intravenous injection of 50,000 NPCs through visual cliff did not produce any visual improvement. However, our data suggest that the RGCs protection was more than two-times in NPCs compared to the vehicle group as examined by Brn3a staining and retrograde tracing. Conclusion: Our study indicated that intravenous injection of NPCs could protect RGCs probably mediated by trophic factors. Due to this ability and good manufacturing practices (GMP) grade production feasibility, NPCs may be used for optic nerve protection.

Operational matrices based on the shifted fifth-kind Chebyshev polynomials for solving nonlinear variable order integro-differential equations.

In this research, we study a general class of variable order integro-differential equations (VO-IDEs). We propose a numerical scheme based on the shifted fifth-kind Chebyshev polynomials (SFKCPs). First, in this scheme, we expand the unknown function and its derivatives in terms of the SFKCPs. To carry out the proposed scheme, we calculate the operational matrices depending on the SFKCPs to find an approximate solution of the original problem. These matrices, together with the collocation points, are used to transform the original problem to form a system of linear or nonlinear algebraic equations. We discuss the convergence of the method and then give an estimation of the error. We end by solving numerical tests, which show the high accuracy of our results.

Integrative quantitative-phase and airy light-sheet imaging.

Light-sheet microscopy enables considerable speed and phototoxicity gains, while quantitative-phase imaging confers label-free recognition of cells and organelles, and quantifies their number-density that, thermodynamically, is more representative of metabolism than size. Here, we report the fusion of these two imaging modalities onto a standard inverted microscope that retains compatibility with microfluidics and open-source software for image acquisition and processing. An accelerating Airy-beam light-sheet critically enabled imaging areas that were greater by more than one order of magnitude than a Gaussian beam illumination and matched exactly those of quantitative-phase imaging. Using this integrative imaging system, we performed a demonstrative multivariate investigation of live-cells in microfluidics that unmasked that cellular noise can affect the compartmental localization of metabolic reactions. We detail the design, assembly, and performance of the integrative imaging system, and discuss potential applications in biotechnology and evolutionary biology.

Gene Expression Patterns of Royan Human Embryonic Stem Cells Correlate with Their Propensity and Culture Systems.

OBJECTIVE: Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) have the potential to give rise to all types of cells in the human body when appropriately induced to differentiate. Stem cells can differentiate spontaneously into the three-germ layer derivatives by embryoid bodies (EBs) formation. However, the two-dimensional (2D) adherent culture of hESCs under defined conditions is commonly used for directed differentiation toward a specific type of mature cells. In this study, we aimed to determine the propensity of the Royan hESC lines based on comparison of expression levels of 46 lineage specific markers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this experimental study, we have compared the expression of lineage-specific markers in hESC lines during EB versus adherent-based spontaneous differentiation. We used quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) to assess expressions of 46 lineage-specific markers in 4 hESC lines, Royan H1 (RH1), RH2, RH5, and RH6, during spontaneous differentiation in both EB and adherent cultures at 0, 10, and 30 days after initiation of differentiation. RESULTS: Based on qRT-PCR data analysis, the liver and neuronal markers had higher expression levels in EBs, whereas skin-specific markers expressed at higher levels in the adherent culture. The results showed differential expression patterns of some lineage-specific markers in EBs compared with the adherent cultures. CONCLUSION: According to these results, possibly the spontaneous differentiation technique could be a useful method for optimization of culture conditions to differentiate stem cells into specific cell types such ectoderm, neuron, endoderm and hepatocyte. This approach might prove beneficial for further work on maximizing the efficiency of directed differentiation and development of novel differentiation protocols.

Multivariate spectrofluorimetric detection of lipase isolated from Serratia marcescens in chromatographic fractions.

Lipases are ubiquitous enzymes and widespread in nature. They have been widely purified as one of the most important enzymes in molecular biosciences and biotechnology. In this paper, the extracellular lipase was separated from Serratia marcescens. The separated enzyme was purified partially by ammonium sulfate precipitation, dialysis and gel filtration chromatography. Presence of the lipase in chromatography fractions was assayed by the hydrolysis of paranitrophenyl palmitate (pNPP) as substrate. The excitation and emission (EEM) fluorescence spectra of purified lipase in chromatographic fractions were investigated. The study demonstrates an application of fluorescence spectroscopy, combined with multivariate regression methods, to the analysis of fluorescent lipase component. N-way partial least squares (N-PLS) was utilized to show the importance of region selection in calibration modeling of the data. Genetic algorithm (GA) optimization was applied to improve the performance of radial basis function network based regression model. RBF-ANN was used to calibrate and predict lipase activity. The analytical performance of RBF-ANN method was characterized by Q^2parameter. The value of Q^2 was 0.919. The proposed method was successfully applied to the analysis of protein containing fractions and in order to explore the three way fluorescence data array from separated fractions, parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) was applied. The fluorescence signal was resolved into excitation and emission profiles of the pure fluorescent compounds.

Blood transfusion in burn patients: Triggers of transfusion in a referral burn center in Iran.

OBJECTIVES: Blood and its derivatives are one of the most lifesaving products in the modern medicine practice. However, it is not an absolutely safe prescription. Many adverse effects such as infection, transfusion-related acute lung injury, immunosuppression, multi-organ dysfunction, acute respiratory syndrome, transfusion errors, transmission of infectious agents such as HIV, HBV, HCV are attributable to blood transfusion. The aim of this study was to describe how and when blood products were transfused in a referral burn center. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study was performed on medical records of all admitted patients in the Department of Burns and Reconstructive Surgery of Imam Reza Hospital, Mashhad, Iran during September 2014 up to August 2015. Transfusion measures such as Hb, Hct and demographic data were extracted from patient records. SPSS version 11.5 was used for data analysis. RESULTS: During the study period, 701 acute burnt patients were admitted with the mean age of 25.5±20.5 years. Sixty-four percent were male and burnt percentage of total body surface area (TBSA) was 30.9±24.3%. About one third (240) of patients received at least one blood product. Mean of the transfused packed red blood cell was 274.1±674.6mL per patient and 8.85mL per 1% of burnt TBSA. Anemia was the most common transfusion trigger. CONCLUSION: Mortality in burnt patients who received blood products was two folds more than patients who did not receive any blood products. We prescribed less blood products compared with other reviewed burn centers. However, following a written blood transfusion protocol by all clinicians may reduce blood transfusion in unnecessary situations even more significantly.

Solvent immersion imprint lithography: A high-performance, semi-automated procedure.

We expand upon our recent, fundamental report on solvent immersion imprint lithography (SIIL) and describe a semi-automated and high-performance procedure for prototyping polymer microfluidics and optofluidics. The SIIL procedure minimizes manual intervention through a cost-effective (∼$200) and easy-to-assemble apparatus. We analyze the procedure's performance specifically for Poly (methyl methacrylate) microsystems and report repeatable polymer imprinting, bonding, and 3D functionalization in less than 5 min, down to 8 µm resolutions and 1:1 aspect ratios. In comparison to commercial approaches, the modified SIIL procedure enables substantial cost reductions, a 100-fold reduction in imprinting force requirements, as well as a more than 10-fold increase in bonding strength. We attribute these advantages to the directed polymer dissolution that strictly localizes at the polymer-solvent interface, as uniquely offered by SIIL. The described procedure opens new desktop prototyping opportunities, particularly for non-expert users performing live-cell imaging, flow-through catalysis, and on-chip gas detection.

Comparison of metformin and N-acetyl cysteine, as an adjuvant to clomiphene citrate, in clomiphene-resistant women with polycystic ovary syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of short- and long-term treatment with metformin and NAC, in an adjuvant to clomiphene citrate (CC), on the improvement of hormonal profile (SHBG, total testosterone, FBS, and fasting insulin) and fertility status in CC-resistant women with PCOS. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and eight CC-resistant PCOS patients participated in the study and received either metformin (1500mg/day) or NAC (1800mg/day) with 100mg/day of CC for 8 and 12 weeks. Mean BMI, hirsutism score, LH/FSH ratio, endometrial thickness, mature follicle number, and serum concentrations of LH, FSH, E2, fasting insulin, total testosterone and FBS were evaluated before and after short- and long-term treatment. Furthermore, ovulation and pregnancy rates in the first and second cycles were also determined in treated patients. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in all variables before and 8 weeks after treatment with metformin and NAC. The BMI- and insulin-lowering effects of metformin were significantly higher than NAC after long-term treatment. However, the reducing-effect of NAC on hirsutism score and FBS levels was significantly more than metformin after 12 weeks. Treatment with metformin and NAC significantly increased ovulation and pregnancy rates in CC-resistant PCOS patients. In the first and second cycles, ovulation and pregnancy rates in patients treated with NAC were slightly higher than those received metformin. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with metformin, administration of NAC in an adjuvant to CC is recommended for improving of hormonal profile and treatment of anovulatory infertility in hyperinsulinemic patients especially women with PCOS who are CC-resistant.

Accumulated deep sleep is a powerful predictor of LH pulse onset in pubertal children.

CONTEXT: During puberty, reactivation of the reproductive axis occurs during sleep, with LH pulses specifically tied to deep sleep. This association suggests that deep sleep may stimulate LH secretion, but there have been no interventional studies to determine the characteristics of deep sleep required for LH pulse initiation. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine the effect of deep sleep fragmentation on LH secretion in pubertal children. DESIGN AND SETTING: Studies were performed in a clinical research center. SUBJECTS: Fourteen healthy pubertal children (11.3-14.1 y) participated in the study. INTERVENTIONS: Subjects were randomized to two overnight studies with polysomnography and frequent blood sampling, with or without deep sleep disruption via auditory stimuli. RESULTS: An average of 68.1 ±10.7 (± SE) auditory stimuli were delivered to interrupt deep sleep during the disruption night, limiting deep sleep to only brief episodes (average length disrupted 1.3 ± 0.2 min vs normal 7.1 ± 0.8 min, P < .001), and increasing the number of transitions between non-rapid eye movement (NREM), REM, and wake (disrupted 274.5 ± 33.4 vs normal 131.2 ± 8.1, P = .001). There were no differences in mean LH (normal: 3.2 ± 0.4 vs disrupted: 3.2 ± 0.5 IU/L), LH pulse frequency (0.6 ± 0.06 vs 0.6 ± 0.07 pulses/h), or LH pulse amplitude (2.8 ± 0.4 vs 2.8 ± 0.4 IU/L) between the two nights. Poisson process modeling demonstrated that the accumulation of deep sleep in the 20 minutes before an LH pulse, whether consolidated or fragmented, was a significant predictor of LH pulse onset (P < .001). CONCLUSION: In pubertal children, nocturnal LH augmentation and pulse patterning are resistant to deep sleep fragmentation. These data suggest that, even when fragmented, deep sleep is strongly related to activation of the GnRH pulse generator.

RAD50 single-nucleotide polymorphism in predominantly antibody deficiency

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AICDA single nucleotide polymorphism in common variable immunodeficiency and selective IgA deficiency

BACKGROUND: Primary antibody deficiencies (PADs) are a heterogeneous group of disorders, characterised by increased susceptibility to recurrent bacterial infections. Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) is the most important PAD from the clinical point of view and selective IgA deficiency (IgAD) is the most common PAD. However, the underlying gene defect in both is still unknown. As a recent study in Europe showed an association between a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of AICDA gene with PADs, this study was performed to evaluate such an association in Iranian patients. METHODS: Fifty-eight patients with PAD, including 39 CVID and 19 IgAD, as well as 34 healthy volunteers, were enrolled in this study. Genotyping was done in all groups for an intronic SNP in AICDA (rs2580874), using real-time PCR genotyping assay. RESULTS: The less frequent genotype of AICDA in IgAD patients was AA, seen in 10.5% of the patients, which was much lower than the 30.8% in CVID patients and 38.2% in the controls. However, these differences were not significant. Indeed the GG genotype in the patients with PADs was seen in 20.7%, compared to 8.8% in the controls without any significant difference. CONCLUSIONS: There was no significant association between the previously reported genetic variant of AICDA gene and the development of CVID or IgAD, but further multi-center studies are also needed

No disponible

AICDA single nucleotide polymorphism in common variable immunodeficiency and selective IgA deficiency.

BACKGROUND: Primary antibody deficiencies (PADs) are a heterogeneous group of disorders, characterised by increased susceptibility to recurrent bacterial infections. Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) is the most important PAD from the clinical point of view and selective IgA deficiency (IgAD) is the most common PAD. However, the underlying gene defect in both is still unknown. As a recent study in Europe showed an association between a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of AICDA gene with PADs, this study was performed to evaluate such an association in Iranian patients. METHODS: Fifty-eight patients with PAD, including 39 CVID and 19 IgAD, as well as 34 healthy volunteers, were enrolled in this study. Genotyping was done in all groups for an intronic SNP in AICDA (rs2580874), using real-time PCR genotyping assay. RESULTS: The less frequent genotype of AICDA in IgAD patients was AA, seen in 10.5% of the patients, which was much lower than the 30.8% in CVID patients and 38.2% in the controls. However, these differences were not significant. Indeed the GG genotype in the patients with PADs was seen in 20.7%, compared to 8.8% in the controls without any significant difference. CONCLUSIONS: There was no significant association between the previously reported genetic variant of AICDA gene and the development of CVID or IgAD, but further multi-center studies are also needed.

Simple bone cyst of the mandible: report of two cases.

Despite their names, simple bone cysts are no longer categorized as cysts since they lack an epithelial lining. However, their nature remains controversial. The internal structure is totally radiolucent, sometimes showing multilocular appearance, although the lesion does not contain true septa and the ridges of bone is produced by the scalloping effect. We presented two cases of histopathologically confirmed simple bone cyst. Radiographic features such as multilocular appearance and significant buccal and lingual expansion are not usual findings for simple bone cyst, whereas evident in our presented cases.

Investigation of some effective factors on yield traits of Pepino (Solanum muricatum) as a new vegetable in Iran.

To find out the effects of media culture and foliar fertilization on some yield traits including the number of fruits per bush, mean weight of fruit, yield of per bush, long of fruits and diameter of fruits 9 months completely randomized factorial experiment (3 x 5) with four replications was conducted. Media culture treatments include 5 levels namely soil; mixture of soil and vermy compost; mixture of soil and sand; mixture of soil and peat moss and mixture of soil, sand and peat moss. Foliar fertilization treatments include 3 levels namely applying once a week, once a 3 week and no fertilization (control). The results showed that the media culture treatments on the whole of traits and foliar fertilization also on the whole of traits except yield of per bush had a significant difference (p < 0.01). In the foliar fertilization except yield per bush the once a 3 week fertilization caused highest increase than other treatments and in the media culture treatments, the mixture of soil and peat moss showed highest increase than other treatments.

An Open-Source Standard T-Wave Alternans Detector for Benchmarking.

We describe an open source algorithm suite for T-Wave Alternans (TWA) detection and quantification. The software consists of Matlab implementations of the widely used Spectral Method and Modified Moving Average with libraries to read both WFDB and ASCII data under windows and Linux. The software suite can run in both batch mode and with a provided graphical user interface to aid waveform exploration. Our software suite was calibrated using an open source TWA model, described in a partner paper [1] by Clifford and Sameni. For the PhysioNet/CinC Challenge 2008 we obtained a score of 0.881 for the Spectral Method and 0.400 for the MMA method. However, our objective was not to provide the best TWA detector, but rather a basis for detailed discussion of algorithms.

An Artificial Multi-Channel Model for Generating Abnormal Electrocardiographic Rhythms.

We present generalizations of our previously published artificial models for generating multi-channel ECG so that the simulation of abnormal rhythms is possible. Using a three-dimensional vectorcardiogram (VCG) formulation, we generate the normal cardiac dipole for a patient using a sum of Gaussian kernels, fitted to real VCG recordings. Abnormal beats are then specified either as new dipoles, or as perturbations of the existing dipole. Switching between normal and abnormal beat types is achieved using a hidden Markov model (HMM). Probability transitions can be learned from real data or modeled by coupling to heart rate and sympathovagal balance. Natural morphology changes form beat-to-beat are incorporated as before from varying the angular frequency of the dipole as a function of the inter-beat (RR) interval. The RR interval time series is generated using our previously described model whereby time-and frequency-domain heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) characteristics can be specified. QT-HR hysteresis is simulated by coupling the Gaussian kernels associated with the T-wave in the model with a nonlinear factor related to the local HR (determined from the last n RR intervals). Morphology changes due to respiration are simulated by coupling the RR interval to the angular frequency of the dipole. We demonstrate an example of the use of this model by simulating T-Wave Alternans (TWA). The magnitude of the TWA effect is modeled as a disturbance on the T-loop of the dipole with a magnitude that differs in each of the three VCG planes. The effect is then turned on or off using a HMM. The values of the transition matrix are determined by the local heart rate, such that when the HR ramps up towards 100 BPM, the probability of observing a TWA effect rapidly but smoothly increases. In this way, no 'sudden' switching from non-TWA to TWA is observed, and the natural tendency for TWA to be associated with a critical HR-related activation level is simulated. Finally, to generate multi-lead signals, the VCG is mapped to any set of clinical leads using a Dower-like transform derived from a least-squares optimization between known VCGs and known lead morphologies. ECGs with calibrated amounts of TWA were generated by this model and included in the PhysioNet/CinC Challenge 2008 data set.

Induction of somatic embryogenesis in saffron using thidiazuron (TDZ).

In vitro propagation of saffron either through somatic embryogenesis or cormogenesis is considered to be an efficient alternative method for large-scale propagation of pathogen-free corms. In order to develop an efficient protocol for in vitro propagation of saffron, a factorial experiment was carried out based on completely randomized design to investigate the effects of various concentrations of TDZ (0, 0.1, 0.25 and 0.5 mg L(-1)) on somatic embryogenesis induction from 5 different types of corm explants (terminal or axillary buds, upper or lower parts of the corm tissue and terminal buds from pre-treated corms at 4 degrees C for 2 weeks). The results revealed that TDZ concentrations affected the induction of somatic embryogenesis significantly while different types of corm explants showed no significant effect on this process. Among TDZ concentrations used, 0.5 mg L(-1) was the most effective treatment for embryogenesis induction. Embryogenic calli (globular stage) proliferated well when subcultured into MS medium supplemented with 0.25 mg L(-1) TDZ before transferring to hormone-free MS medium containing 6% sucrose for maturation (scutellar or horn-shape stage). Matured embryos were transferred to half strength MS medium without growth regulators for further development, from which microcorms were produced at the basal part after 3 months.