Propagation of Light in Photonic Crystal Fibre Devices

We describe a semi-analytical approach for three-dimensional analysis of photonic crystal fibre devices. The approach relies on modal transmission-line theory. We offer two examples illustrating the utilization of this approach in photonic crystal fibres: the verification of the coupling action in a photonic crystal fibre coupler and the modal reflectivity in a photonic crystal fibre distributed Bragg reflector.Comment: 15 pages including 7 figures. Accepted for J. Opt. A: Pure Appl. Op

Tropical Dominating Sets in Vertex-Coloured Graphs

Given a vertex-coloured graph, a dominating set is said to be tropical if every colour of the graph appears at least once in the set. Here, we study minimum tropical dominating sets from structural and algorithmic points of view. First, we prove that the tropical dominating set problem is NP-complete even when restricted to a simple path. Then, we establish upper bounds related to various parameters of the graph such as minimum degree and number of edges. We also give upper bounds for random graphs. Last, we give approximability and inapproximability results for general and restricted classes of graphs, and establish a FPT algorithm for interval graphs.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figure

Hyperglycemia decreased medial amygdala projections to medial Preoptic area in experimental model of diabetes mellitus

In Wistar rats, reproductive behavior is controlled in a neural circuit of ventral forebrain including the medial amygdala (Me), bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) and medial preoptic area (MPOA) via perception of social odors. Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a widespread metabolic disease that affects many organs in a variety of levels. DM can cause central neuropathies such as neuronal apoptosis, dendritic atrophy, neurochemical alterations and also causes reproductive dysfunctions. So we hypothesized damage to the nuclei of this circuit can cause reproductive dysfunctions. Therefore in this project we assessed diabetic effect on these nuclei. For this purpose neuron tracing technique and TUNEL assay were used. We injected HRP in the MPOA and counted labeled cells in the Me and BNST to evaluate the reduction of neurons in diabetic animals. Also, coronal sections were analyzed with the TMB histochemistry method. Animals in this study were adult male Wistar rats (230 ± 8g) divided to control and 10-week streptozotocin-induced diabetic groups. After data analysis by SPSS 16 software, a significant reduction of HRP-labeled neurons was shown in both Me and BNST nuclei in the diabetic group. Moreover, apoptotic cells were significantly observed in diabetic animals in contrast to control the group. In conclusion, these alterations of the circuit as a result of diabetes might be one of the reasons for reproductive dysfunctions. © 2015 Tehran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Mutation Analysis of the CYP21A2 Gene in the Iranian Population

Background: Defects in the CYP21A2 gene cause steroid 21-hydroxylase deficiency, which is the most frequent cause of congenital adrenal hyperplasia. Forty four affected families were investigated to identify the mutation spectrum of the CYP21A2 gene. Methods: Families were subjected to clinical, biochemical, and molecular analyses. Allele-specific polymerase chain reaction amplification was used for eight common mutations followed by dosage analysis to exclude CYP21A2 deletions. Results: The most frequent mutations detected were gene deletions and chimera (31.8). Other mutation frequencies were as follows: Q318X, 15.9; I2G, 14.8; I172N, 5.8; gene duplication, 5.7; R356W, 8; and E6 cluster mutations, 2.3. Direct sequencing of the CYP21A2 gene revealed R316X, P453S, c.484insT, and a change at the start codon. Different modules carried by patients were classified into five different haplotypes. The genotype phenotype correlation (positive predictive value) for group null, A, B, and C were 92.3, 85.7, 100, and 0, respectively. Conclusions: Methods used will be helpful for carrier detection and antenatal diagnosis, especially with inclusion of the multiplex ligation probe dependent amplification technique, which is easier for routine tests in comparison with other methods. Mutation frequencies indicate that Iranians are possible descendants of Asians and Europeans

The effect of resveratrol on the expression of MDR1 gene in leukemic lymphoblast's of acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients

Background: Chemotherapy plays a very important role in the treatment of leukemia but the resistance properties of the lymphoblasts limit the effect of chemotherapy. One of the main mechanisms of resistance to chemotherapy is the increased expression of MDR1 gene. The aim of this study was to explore the effect of resveratrol on the expression of MDR1 gene in leukemic lymphoblast of new cases of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients in vitro. Methods: Separation of lymphoblasts of 5 new case ALL patients from peripheral blood was performed by ficoll density gradient centrifugation. Lymphoblasts were cultured in RPMI 1640 medium. Lymphoblasts were treated with 50μmol/L resveratrol for 48 h. Total RNA was extracted with guanidine isothiocyanate. RNA was converted to cDNA. Real time PCR was used to detect mRNA expression of MDR1. Results: The results of gene detection showed that the expression of MDR1 did not change significantly in the patients however, in one patient expression of MDR1 increased upon treatment with resveratrol. Conclusion: The results of this study did not support resveratrol as a compound to reverse multidrug resistance in leukemic lymphoblasts

Mass Deformation of the Multiple M2 Branes Theory

Based on recent developments, in this letter we study the one parameter deformation of 2+1 dimensional gauge theories with scale invariance and N = 8 supersymmetry, which is expected to be the field theory living on a stack of M2 branes. The deformed gauge theory is defined by a Lagrangian and is based on an infinite set of novel 3-algebras constructed by relaxing the assumption that the invariant metric is positive definite. Under the Higgs mechanism, we can obtain the D-branes world volume theory in the presence of background fluxes.Comment: 13pages, no figures, reference adde

Role of Nitric Oxide in the Altered Calcium Homeostasis of Platelets from Rats with Biliary Cirrhosis.

© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/)

Single Impurity Problem in Iron-Pnictide Superconductors

Single impurity problem in iron-pnictide superconductors is investigated by solving Bogoliubov-de Gennes (BdG) equation in the five-orbital model, which enables us to distinguish s$_{+-}$ and s$_{++}$ superconducting states. We construct a five-orbital model suitable to BdG analysis. This model reproduces the results of random phase approximation in the uniform case. Using this model, we study the local density of states around a non-magnetic impurity and discuss the bound-state peak structure, which can be used for distinguishing s$_{+-}$ and s$_{++}$ states. A bound state with nearly zero-energy is found for the impurity potential $I\sim 1.0$ eV, while the bound state peaks stick to the gap edge in the unitary limit. Novel multiple peak structure originated from the multi-orbital nature of the iron pnictides is also found.Comment: 5 page

Incorporating family function into chronic pain disability: The role of catastrophizing

Background: Observers' responses to pain are recently investigated to more comprehensively explain chronic pain (CP) and disability. However, the role of family context, defined as interference in roles, communication, and problem-solving, and how (i.e., through which mechanisms) these variables contribute to CP related disability have yet to be examined. Objectives: The aim of the present study is to examine family context in relationship to pain catastrophizing, fear of movement, and depression and its role in understanding CP disability. Three different models were examined. Methods: A total sample of 142 patients with musculoskeletal chronic pain was recruited to examine the role of fear of movement, pain intensity, pain catastrophizing, and depression in relationship to family functioning as predictors of disability. Results: Findings indicated that two models showed acceptable fit, but one of them revealed superior fit indices. Results of the model with superior fit indices indicated that family dysfunction may contribute to catastrophic thinking, which, in turn, contributes to patients' disability through increasing fear of movement and depression. Discussion.The current study provides further support for the notion that the impact of emotional and cognitive variables upon CP-related disability can be better understood when we consider the social context of pain patients and family function in particular. Copyright © 2016 Fatemeh Akbari et al