Ocular Brucellosis: A Brief Update

Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease of important health significance in endemic areas such as Iran. Brucellosis can affect any organ or system in the human body. Ocular involvement is rare and can lead to poor visual prognosis if not treated early. The most common ocular manifestation of brucellosis is uveitis, although any ocular structure can be involved. The diagnosis of ocular brucellosis is based on clinical examination as well as culture and serological tests. The classical treatment regimen includes doxycycline and rifampin. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment are effective in preventing blindness. Here we breifly review the manifestations, diagnostic tools, and treatment of ocular brucellosis

Generalized c-distance on cone b-metric spaces endowed with a graph and fixed point results

[EN] The aim of this paper is to present fixed point results of contractive mappings in the framework of cone b-metric spaces endowed with a graph and associated with a generalized c-distance. Some corollaries and an example are presented to support the main result proved herein. Our results unify, extend and generalize various comparable results in the literature.Fallahi, K.; Abbas, M.; Soleimani Rad, G. (2017). Generalized c-distance on cone b-metric spaces endowed with a graph and fixed point results. Applied General Topology. 18(2):391-400. doi:10.4995/agt.2017.7673SWORD39140018

An optimisation approch to determine the electromagnetic properties of lanthanum iron garnet filled PVDF-polymer composite at microwave frequencies

In this study, an optimization approach is shown to improve the accuracy of the Nicholson and Ross Weir (NRW) method to determine both the complex permittivity and permeability of the lanthanum iron garnet-filled PVDF-polymer nanocomposite loaded in a rectangular waveguide. The complex permittivity and permeability values were in turn used in Finite Element Method to calculate the S-parameter and were found to be in good agreement with the measured values

Acute electrocardiogram pseudoinfarction pattern and reversible left ventricular systolic dysfunction in a patient with diabetic ketoacidosis and hyperkalemia: a case report

Coexisting myocardial infarction (MI) and diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) are the most common causes of death in diabetic patients. We report a patient with ischemic heart disease manifestations who was finally diagnosed to have DKA as a predisposing factor. The case we present in this paper is a 57-year-old man who was found unconscious in a hotel and presented with complaints of vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. He had severe dyspnea and chest pain radiating to his back. He had ST-segment elevation in anterior leads on electrocardiogram (ECG), with non-obstructive coronary artery disease in the subsequent heart catheterization. MI patients should be treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or fibrinolytic agents, but pseudoinfarction due to DKA responds to medical treatment. Thus, it is also important to know that coexistence of both DKA and MI is possible, and neglecting such situations can lead to lethal consequences

Assessment of high risk pregnancy in Bam Mahdieh maternity hospital, 2001

Background and aim: Attention to health of mother during pregnancy is essential for the health of both mother and infant. Early detection of high-risk pregnancies is fundamental for prenatal care. This survey was performed to find the prevalence of the high-risk pregnancies and causing factors in the maternity hospital of Bam in 2001. Method: This descriptive and cross sectional study was performed on 850 randomly selected pregnant women. Results: We found that 11.8% of the cases were younger than 18 years, 6.6% were older than 35 years, 8.8% had five or more pregnancies, 5.4% had pre-term, 6.3% had post-term labor, 2% had hemorrhaged pregnancy and 4.2% indicated signs of preeclampsia. The prevalence of various diseases were as follows: 12.3% afflicted with urinary infection, 0.8% had addiction. 0.4% had sexual transmitted disease, 0.4% had anemia, 0.6% had thyroid disease, 0.6% had cardiac diseases, 0.1% had liver disease, 9.1% had diabetes mellitus and 4.3% afflicted with more than one disease. Also 22.9% had low birth weight. Conclusion: Inappropriate age, urinary tract infection, hemorrhage and hypertension were the most important health problems of the pregnant women. For prevention of the high-risk pregnancies, education and prenatal care are necessary

User engagement in social network platforms: what key strategic factors determine online consumer purchase behaviour?

Social network platforms as ubiquitous media in our today lives are the venue of many everyday activities including purchasing products and services. This study set out to explore key strategic factors of online consumer purchase behavior in social network platforms. ISM methodology is used for comparing the variables that are extracted from the Delphi technique and confirmed by the experts. To collect the data, a questionnaire was developed and distributed among a limited sample of experts in microeconomics, social networks marketing and consumer purchase behavior to compare twelve factors. The findings revealed that ‘Consumer engagement’, ‘Consumer’s value perception’ and ‘Perceived risk’ are placed at the level I. Thus, they would be positioned at the top of the ISM model. Meanwhile, findings show that ‘Trust’, ‘Social influence’, ‘Social support’ and ‘Value co-creation’ are the most important strategic variables of research. Thereafter, all linkage variables are strategic variables. This, in terms of MICMAC analysis, means such variables are significant and are worth the investment in the future based on the crossimpact analysis. The results of this study can be used for platform businesses to deepen the user engagement level and to lead the customers to purchase decision. Also future researchers can use the findings of this research to propose new models of user engagement in social network platforms or to investigate the relationship among the identified factors

Determination reflection and transmission coefficients of lanthanum iron garnet filled PVDF-polymer nanocomposite using finite element method modeling at microwave frequencies

In our previous work, the lanthanum iron garnet-filled PVDF-polymer nanocomposite has been prepared. The reflection and transmission coefficients of PVDF/LIG were measured using rectangular waveguide in conjunction with a microwave vector network analyzer (VNA) at X-band frequencies (8 GHz 12 GHz). In this study, the distribution of electric field intensity of PVDF/LIG which was loaded in rectangular waveguide was simulated based on Finite Element Method (FEM) formulation to show the essential differences of intensity of emitted electrical field. The computations of reflection and transmission coefficients of PVDF/ LIG were determined by using implementation FEM modeling rectangular waveguide. The FEM results were compared with the experimental achievement results using the rectangular waveguide. An excellent agreement between measured and simulated results was obtained based on the values of mean relative errors

Targeting the balance of T helper cell responses by curcumin in inflammatory and autoimmune states

CD4+ T helper (Th) cells are a crucial player in host defense but under certain conditions can contribute to the pathogenesis of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Beside the Th1/Th2 subset, several additional Th subsets have been identified, each with a distinctive transcription factor, functional properties, signature cytokine profile, and possible role in the pathophysiology of diseases. These newer Th subsets include Th17, regulatory Th cells (Tregs), and more recently, Th9, Th22, and follicular T helper cells. Interestingly, imbalance of Th subsets contributes to the immunopathology of several disease states. Therefore, targeting the imbalance of Th subsets and their signature cytokine profiles by a safe, effective and inexpensive nutraceutical agent such as curcumin could be helpful to treat autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. In this study different Th subsets and how the imbalance of these subsets could promote pathology of several diseases has been reviewed. Furthermore, the role of curcumin in this process will be discussed and the impact of targeting Th subsets by curcumin

Leaf spot on lettuce (Lactuca sativa) caused by Stemphylium solani, a new disease in Malaysia.

In June 2011, lettuce (Lactuca sativa) plants cultivated in major lettuce growing areas in Malaysia, including the Pahang and Johor states, had extensive leaf spots. In severe cases, disease incidence was recorded to be more than 80%. Symptoms on 50 plants were initially water-soaked spots (1-2 mm in diameter) on leaves, which then became circular spots spreading over much of the leaves. Main lettuce growing areas infected by the pathogen in the aforementioned states were investigated and the pathogen was isolated onto potato dextrose agar. Fourteen isolates were identified as Stemphylium solani based on morphological criteria. To confirm morphological characterization, the DNA of the fungus was extracted from mycelium and PCR was conducted using universal primers ITS5 (5′-GGAAGTAAAAGTCGTAACAAGG-3′) and ITS4 (5′-TCCTCCGCTTATTGATATGC-3′), which amplified the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of rDNA. The sequencing result was subjected to BLAST analysis, revealing a 99% similarity to other published sequences in the GenBank database (GenBank accession nos. AF203451 and HQ840713). This is thought to be the first report of Stemphylium solani on lettuce in Malaysia

Tripled fixed point results for T-contractions on abstract metric spaces

In this paper we introduce the notion of T-contraction for tripled xed points in abstract metric spaces and obtain some tripled xed point theorems which extend and generalize well-known comparable results in the literature. To support our results, we present an example and an applications to integral equations.http://www.etamaths.comam201