Trunk Kinematic Analysis during Gait in Cerebral Palsy Children with Crouch Gait Pattern.

BACKGROUND: Deficits in upper body movement have received little attention during gait in cerebral palsy (CP) children with crouch gait pattern (CGP). OBJECTIVE: Purpose of this research is to describe the correlation of trunk movement with the excessive knee flexion and ankle kinematic in CP children with CGP. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Gait analysis data from 57 limbs of diplegic CP children with CGP and 26 limbs of normal children was gathered. Kinematic parameters of trunk in relation to the pelvis were extracted in the sagittal, transverse and coronal planes. CP limbs were clustered using K-means cluster analysis according to the knee flexion angle at initial contact and the mean position of ankle joint during the stance phase of gait cycle, to three clusters. Pearson correlation coefficient between knee, ankle and trunk kinematic variables was assessed. Differences between clusters were analyzed with Kruskal-Wallis and post hoc tests. RESULTS: The results revealed: 1) crouch clusters had more trunk obliquity and rotation mean position than normal; 2) the range of motions of the trunk obliquity and rotation exhibited significant differences between crouch and normal clusters; 3) the level of excessive knee flexion had positive correlation with the trunk mean position in all planes; 4) the ankle kinematic at stance phase was associated with the trunk mean position in all planes. CONCLUSION: The results revealed the trunk mean position is correlated with the excessive knee flexion severity and ankle joint kinematic in CP children with CGP.

Bacterial etiology and antibiotic resistance pattern of septicemia in HIV and non-HIV patients admitted to tertiary care hospitals, Shiraz, South of Iran.

The present study aimed to determine the bacteriological etiology and antibiotic susceptibility pattern of sepsis in HIV infected and HIV uninfected patients, and related risk factors to introduce an appropriate therapy. This cross-sectional study was conducted from January 2014 to January of 2015 enrolling patients with sepsis associated with or without HIV infection admitted to Shiraz teaching hospitals, South of Iran. Blood and urine cultures were performed and standard microbiological methods were followed for isolation and identification of the bacteria. HIV antibody testing and CD4+ lymphocyte count were done for HIV-infected patients. Antimicrobial susceptibility tests were performed using the disk diffusion method in accordance with CLSI recommendations. Totally, 140 patients with sepsis including 30 HIV-positive, and 110 HIV-negative were enrolled. Our finding showed 26.7% and 20% blood and urine culture positivity in HIV-positive and 20.9% and 14.5% positivity in HIV-negative patients. Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella spp. and coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) each with frequency of 25% were detected as the most prevalent isolates in samples of HIV patients. In contrast, the main etiology for sepsis in HIV-negative patients was CoNS (47.8%), followed by Escherichia coli (17.4%). The median of CD4+ lymphocyte count and viral load in HIV patients were estimated 10.15 cells/mm3 and 68019.48 copies/mL, respectively. The results of the present study revealed that the main cause of sepsis in the studied hospitals was nosocomial pathogens. These findings highlighted the importance of infection control policies for preventing the emergence and spread of nosocomial infections.

The incidence of hip fracture in Shiraz, Iran: a promising rate comparing to previous studies.

We evaluate the incidence of hip fracture in 50 years old or above in southwest of Iran. Age-adjusted incidence rates of hip fracture, standardized to the 2000 US white population, were 79.55 per 105 in total and 66.51 and 92.37 per 105 in male and female, respectively. INTRODUCTION: Osteoporosis-related hip fracture is associated with considerable morbidity, mortality, and costs in older people. The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence rate of hip fracture in the capital of Fars Province, southern Iran. METHODS: This study was conducted in Shiraz, Iran, from September 1, 2011, to August 30, 2012. All 50-year-old or above patients with hip fracture diagnosis, lived in Shiraz at least 6 months prior to hospital admission, were included in this study. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS, version 18.0, and Microsoft Excel 2007 software. RESULTS: The mean age of 608 patients was 75.95 ± 11.07 and 353 (58.3%) were female. Age-adjusted incidence rates of hip fracture, standardized to the 2000 US white population, were 79.55 per 105 in total and 66.51 and 92.37 per 105 in male and female, respectively. The adjusted incidence rate of neck of the femur fracture (30.62 per 105 versus 23.49 per 105, p = 0.61) and intertrochanteric fracture (40.48 per 105 versus 28.5 per 105, p = 0.74) were higher in females than males but the differences were not statistically significant. Under the age of 65 years, the incidence rate of hip fracture was significantly higher in men, but after 65 years, it was higher among women. CONCLUSION: The rate of osteoporotic hip fracture was relatively low in southern Iran. However, by aging population, this rate will increase and health policy makers should implement targeted osteoporosis screening and management programs.

Sono-synthesis of biodiesel from soybean oil by KF/γ-Al2O3 as a nano-solid-base catalyst.

In this work, biodiesel has successfully prepared via ultrasonic method in a short time and low temperature by nano-solid-base catalyst (KF/γ-Al2O3). The catalyst was obtained by calcination of a mixture of KF and γ-Al2O3 m(KF)/m(γ-Al2O3) at 500 °C for 3 h. Nano-solid-base catalyst was characterized with scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), thermal gravimetry (TG) and the Hammett indicator methods. The TEM image depicted nanoparticles and uniform dispersion of active phase over alumina. The XRD analysis confirmed the formation of potassium aluminum fluoride (K3AlF6) and potassium oxide, active catalyst for transesterification. The transesterification of soybean oil with methanol was performed by using both low frequency ultrasonic reactor (20 kHz) and mechanical stirring in the presence of KF/γ-Al2O3. The influence of various parameters such as ultrasonic power, oil/methanol molar ratio, catalyst concentration, time, and temperature were studied on the biodiesel formation. The maximum yield (95%) was achieved by applying 45 W acoustic power, molar ratio of alcohol to oil at 12:1, catalyst concentration of 2.0 wt%, 40 min sonication, and temperature of 50 °C. The transesterification was performed in 360 min using mechanical stirring with 76% yield. The results confirm that ultrasound significantly accelerates the transesterification reaction in comparison with the mechanical stirring.