The effect of zinc sulphate syrup on children's respiratory tract infections

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: After Iron, zinc is the second most abundant trace element in the body that is present in all organs, tissues and body fluids. It is a necessary component for maintaining immunological integrity antioxidant activity, and has critical role in the control and prevention of infection. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of zinc sulphate syrup in treatment of children with respiratory tract infection. METHODS: In this randomized clinical trial study, one hundred and twenty four children with respiratory infection (62 in case and 62 in control group) from pediatric ward of Hajar hospital of Sharekord university enrolled. Both groups received standard treatment. In addition to, zinc sulphate syrup was given to case group and placebo to control group. Respiratory rate, bed and cough and fever duration were compared between the case and control groups (IRCT: 201103025951N1). FINDINGS: The mean duration of fever in the case group was 2.6±0.82 days and in the control group 4±1.5 days (p<0.001). The mean of bed duration in the case group was 4.7±1.5 days and in the control group 5±1.8 days (p=0.42). The mean of cough duration in the case and control groups was 3.4±1.3 and 4.7±1.6 days respectively (p=0.09). Respiratory rate in the case group was 28.3±4.3 and in the control 28.1±4.9 (p=0.77). CONCLUSION: The study showed that zinc supplementation has a beneficial effect in decreasing the fever duration in children with respiratory infection. But there was no significant effect on respiratory rate, duration of bed and cough

Brazilian disk tests: Circular holes and size effects

Abstract Size effects related to circular notched samples imply that the strength of the structure decreases as the hole radius increases. In this framework, Brazilian disk tests are carried out on brittle samples containing a circular hole. By considering two different polymers, namely Polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA) and General-purpose Polystyrene (GPPS), respectively, five different notch radii were machined and tested for each material, keeping low the hole to disk diameter ratio in order to reproduce an infinite geometry. Under this assumption, analytical relationship for the stress field and the stress intensity factor can be implemented without loss of accuracy. The coupled finite fracture mechanics (FFM) is then applied to catch the recorded failure stresses, allowing a complete description of the experimental size effects. On the contrary, the smallest radius leads to a locally negative geometry, opening the discussion on the stability of crack propagation in circularly notched plates under generic biaxial loadings

Automatic detection of equiaxed dendrites using computer vision neural networks

Equaixed dendrites are frequently encountered in solidification. They typically form in large numbers, which makes their detection, localization, and tracking practically impossible for a human eye. In this paper, we show how recent progress in the field of machine learning can be leveraged to tackle this problem and we present computer vision neural network to automatically detect equiaxed dendrites. Our network is trained using phase-field simulation results, and proper data augmentation allows to perform the detection task in solidification conditions entirely different from those simulated for training. For example, here we show how they can successfully detect dendrites of various sizes in a microgravity solidification experiment. We discuss challenges in training such a network along with our solutions for them, and compare the performance of neural network with traditional methods of shapes detection

Acute leukemia of ambiguous lineage with trisomy 4 as the sole cytogenetic abnormality: A case report and literature review

AbstractWe describe a patient with acute leukemia of ambiguous lineage who had trisomy 4 as the sole cytogenetic abnormality. Clinical, pathological, immunophenotypic and molecular features are presented and compared with the previous 4 published cases. Over expression of c-kit, which is localized to chromosome 4, was documented on the leukemic blasts. Prognosis seems to be poor. Treatment with acute lymphoblastic leukemia like regimens seems to be superior compared to acute myeloid leukemia like regimens and allogeneic stem cell transplant is recommended after achieving remission

Study of the relationship between Educational- Research Environment and Research Interest in students

Introduction: Research means trying to obtain realities and in this regards, educational research environment refers to facilities and educational factors to create scientific- research motivation in person. Research in medical science universities is important because it is used to identifying and resolving educational, research, health problems and eliminating health- related problems. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the relationship between educational- research environment and research interest in graduated students of Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences. Methods: This cross- sectional descriptive- analytic study carried out on 101 graduate students through census sampling. Demographic data, students' perceptions of the educational- research environment and interest in the research were collected by a three- part questionnaire including 49 questions. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation), and analytical statistics (Pearson correlation coefficient, independent t- test, Tukey test and ANOVA) through SPSS. Results: results show that there is a significant positive correlation between educational- research environment and interest to the research (r= 0.40, p≤0.03). There is also a significant negative correlation between age and interest in the research (P≤0.001, r =-0.38). A significant difference was found between the educational environment and the college of education (P= 0.006). Conclusion: There was a positive and significant correlation between educational- research environment and research interest in Masters' students of Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences. So deputies of education as well as research and technology should considered the result of this research and by doing proper intervention try to promote the level of educational- research services of students

Analysis of bovine growth hormone gene polymorphism of local and Holstein cattle breeds in Kerman province of Iran using polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP)

Bovine growth hormone (bGH) gene is a part of the multiple gene family that contains prolactin and placental lactogens. Also, variations in introns have potential usefulness as genetic markers and could help in the genetic improvement of populations. Genomic DNA was isolated from blood samples of two local herds (53 animals) and two Holstein herds (50 animals). Genomic DNA samples were genotyped for the GHI-AluI polymorphism by polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). A 211 bp (bGH) gene exon 5 segment was amplified by PCR using bovine specific primers. RFLPs in this segment were studied using AluI restriction enzyme. The frequencies of V and L alleles in the local and Holstein herds were 0.2 and 0.65, respectively. For both herds, significant difference from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium was observed.Key words: Growth hormone, polymorphism, polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism, local herds, Holstein herds

Using the equivalent material concept and the average strain energy density to analyse the fracture behaviour of structural materials

ABSTRACT: This paper provides a complete overview of the applicability of the Equivalent Material Concept in conjunction with the Average Strain Energy Density criterion, to provide predictions of fracture loads in structural materials containing U-notches. The Average Strain Density Criterion (ASED) has a linear-elastic nature, so in principle, it does not provide satisfactory predictions of fracture loads in those materials with nonlinear behaviour. However, the Equivalent Material Concept (EMC) is able to transform a physically nonlinear material into an equivalent linear-elastic one and, therefore, the combination of the ASED criterion with the EMC (EMC?ASED criterion) should provide good predictions of fracture loads in physically nonlinear materials. The EMC?ASED criterion is here applied to different types of materials (polymers, composites and metals) with different grades of nonlinearity, showing the accuracy of the corresponding fracture load predictions and revealing qualitatively the limitations of the methodology. It is shown how the EMC?ASED criterion provides good predictions of fracture loads in nonlinear materials as long as the nonlinear behaviour is mainly limited to the tensile behaviour, and how the accuracy decreases when the nonlinear behaviour is extended to the material behaviour in the presence of defectsFunding: This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, grant number PGC2018-095400-B-I00 (MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE)