Determining the Frequency Distribution of Ocular Manifestations in Multiple Sclerosis Patients

Introduction: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is the most common disabling neurological disease in young people. It is estimated that about 2 million people in the world suffer from this disease. Ocular involvement is one of the most prevalent clinical signs of MS. It is said that 25% of individuals suffer from vision problems during the development of disease. Therefore, this study was conducted in Yazd due to its climate changes and lack of study in this regard. Methods: This study is a cross sectional type, conducted with the aim of studying the frequency of eye symptoms in MS patients referring to the Shahid Sadoughi Yazd ophthalmology Clinic from 2012 to 2014. The Sample size includes 150 patients who referred to the clinic. The tool for gathering information was a questionnaire. After gathering 150 samples, all the data was coded and entered into the computer. Results were analyzed by SPSS18, descriptive statistics, and Chi 2 test. Results: The examined patients included 150 MS patients aged 33.48 years on average and with 28.43 years the onset age of disease examined. This study shows that blurred vision rate of 78.7% and the diplopia rate of 56% were the most prevalent vision complaints of patients from the starting the disease until examination. Optic atrophy with 14.7% and optic neuritis with 12% were the most common ocular findings in the examination. Conclusion: We can conclude that vision disorders are the common consequences of MS. These disorders are accompanied by factors such as age, sex, residence, and family background. Therefore, it is necessary to take the patients’ demographic characteristics into account in their initial examinations.</span

Optimizing inspection strategies for multi-stage manufacturing processes using simulation optimization

This paper deals with the problem of determining the op-timal inspection strategy for a multi-stage production process using simulation optimization. An optimal inspec-tion strategy is the one that results in the lowest total in-spection cost, while still assuring a required output qual-ity. Because of the complexity of the problem, simulation is used to model the multi-stage process subject to inspec-tion and to calculate the resulting inspection costs. Simu-lation optimization is then used to find the optimal inspec-tion strategy. The performance of the proposed method is presented through the use of a numerical example.

An efficient method for cell sheet bioengineering from rBMSCs on thermo-responsive PCL-PEG-PCL copolymer

Abstract Utilizing both medium enrichment and a thermos-responsive substrate to maintain the cell-to-cell junctions and extracellular matrix (ECM) intact, cell sheet technology has emerged as a ground-breaking approach. Investigating the possibility of using sodium selenite (as medium supplementation) and PCL-PEG-PCL (as vessel coating substrate) in the formation of the sheets from rat bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (rBMSCs) was the main goal of the present study. To this end, first, Polycaprolactone-co-Poly (ethylene glycol)-co-Polycaprolactone triblock copolymer (PCEC) was prepared by ring-opening copolymerization method and characterized by FTIR, 1 H NMR, and GPC. The sol-gel-sol phase transition temperature of the PCEC aqueous solutions with various concentrations was either measured. Next, rBMSCs were cultured on the PCEC, and let be expanded in five different media containing vitamin C (50 µg/ml), sodium selenite (0.1 µM), vitamin C and sodium selenite (50 µg/ml + 0.1 µM), Trolox, and routine medium. The proliferation of the cells exposed to each material was evaluated. Produced cell sheets were harvested from the polymer surface by temperature reduction and phenotypically analyzed via an inverted microscope, hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining, and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). Through the molecular level, the expression of the stemness-related genes (Sox2, Oct-4, Nanog), selenium-dependent enzymes (TRX, GPX-1), and aging regulator gene (Sirt1) were measured by q RT-PCR. Senescence in cell sheets was checked by beta-galactosidase assay. The results declared the improved ability of the rBMSCs for osteogenesis and adipogenesis in the presence of antioxidants vitamin C, sodium selenite, and Trolox in growth media. The data indicated that in the presence of vitamin C and sodium selenite, the quality of the cell sheet was risen by reducing the number of senescent cells and high transcription of the stemness genes. Monolayers produced by sodium selenite was in higher-quality than the ones produced by vitamin C