Methotrexate hepatotoxicity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

BACKGROUND Increases in aminotransferases (transaminitis) are potential major adverse reactions seen with long-term use of methotrexate (MTX). The aim of this study, therefore was to evaluate the incidence of MTX induced hepatotoxicity and its risk factors among rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. METHODS This retrospective study described 286 patients with RA who received ≥ 7.5 mg MTX weekly in an academic rheumatology clinic over a 15 year period. The results of serial liver function tests, concurrent MTX dose, cumulative dose and use of hepatotoxic drugs were collected and statistically analyzed according to a consecutive elevation in aminotransferases which occurred over at least a two week interval. RESULTS During the study period, 286 patients (84.4% female) with mean age of 46.6±12.7 years (18-84 years) were enrolled. Transaminitis occurred among 23.7% of patients (incidence: 6.9 per 100 person-years) during 40.5±34.6 month's exposure to MTX (989.6 person-years). The time difference between onset of therapy and occurrence of transaminitis was 22.1±22.0 months. The only significant factor related to the occurrence of transaminitis was the duration of MTX therapy. The average duration of treatment among patients with transaminitis (59.6±42.3 months) was greater than those with no transaminitis (p<0.001). The cumulative dose of MTX was significantly related to the occurrence of transaminitis (p<0.001). CONCLUSION MTX hepatotoxicity is a common complication of long-term treatment with MTX. It is associated with mild liver enzyme elevation and related to the duration of therapy

Nonlinearity in Single Photon Detection: Modeling and Quantum Tomography

Single Photon Detectors are integral to quantum optics and quantum information. Superconducting Nanowire based detectors exhibit new levels of performance, but have no accepted quantum optical model that is valid for multiple input photons. By performing Detector Tomography, we improve the recently proposed model [M.K. Akhlaghi and A.H. Majedi, IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. 19, 361 (2009)] and also investigate the manner in which these detectors respond nonlinearly to light, a valuable feature for some applications. We develop a device independent model for Single Photon Detectors that incorporates this nonlinearity

Epidemiology and the agreement rate of serological tests in human brucellosis in North East of Iran

Background: Brucellosis still remains a major health problem with different symptoms and various diagnostic methods. Diagnostic methods of brucellosis are usually based on detecting specific antibodies in the patient’s serum. Nowadays, many serological tests are applied for the diagnosis of human brucellosis. Most routine tests are serum agglutination tests based on Wright and 2-Mercaptoethanol (2-ME). Objectives: The aim of this study (cross sectional study) was to evaluate the prevalence of brucellosis and assess the degree of agreement among serum samples of suspected brucellosis serological tests routinely performed in Mashhad, Iran. Patients and Methods: This study was conducted in Mashhad from August 2011 to September 2012. Sera (2 - 3 mL) were collected from 83 cases suspected of brucellosis among 594 patients. Ten serum samples were collected from healthy subjects as control sera. Rose Bengal test for initial screening and Wright and 2 ME as standard tests were conducted to determine antibody titers. Thereafter, IgG and IgM levels were determined by the Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) method. Results: Among 83 serum samples, Rose Bengal test was able to identify 20 (12%) positive specimens; the standard tube agglutination test was able to detect 30 (18%) positive samples, and the ELISA IgG and ELISA IgM were able to trace 42 (21%) and 13 (6.5%) positive samples, respectively. Ten control samples had negative results for the ELISA method. The results were calculated by the Kappa formula. The highest level of agreement was among 1 = KRB-SAT tests and the lowest level of agreement was among tests K ELISA IgM-IgG = 0.30. Conclusions: According to the results, brucellosis has remained endemic in this region. Most cases were detected by ELISA IgG. The highest kappa agreements were between tests KRB-SAT, KRB-IgG and KSAT-IgG, while the lowest levels of agreement were between tests SAT-IgM and ELISA IgM-IgG. Considering that ELISA IgM results are covered by SAT and ELISA IgG test results, applications of this test do not seem necessary. © 2015, Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center

Serum antibody against Vibrio anguillarum in cultured rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

In order to determine the concentration of the antibodies against the pathogenic Vibrio anguillarum, three hundred blood samples were taken from 9-12 month old cultured rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in 4 farms in the north and west region of Fars Province, which had been exposed to this bacteria. An indirect ELISA was employed to examine the serum. Using soluble antigen (SA) indicated that 54% of the examined blood samples contained antibodies against Vibrio anguillarum, while by using whole cell antigen (WCB) only 53% of samples were found to be seriopositive. The highest seriopositivity rate (83%) was observed in farm #2, where clinical signs of vibriosis also occurred. This study revealed that Rainbow trouts fed on raw marine fish meal powder are more exposed to V. anguillarum. Vibriosis in cultured Rainbow trout in Iranian inland freshwater farms is also discussed in this paper

Speed Roughness Control of an SI Engine Using Fuzzy Self Tuning Method

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Associations between Western and Mediterranean-type dietary patterns and anxiety and stress

In this study we investigated the relationship between dietary patterns and anxiety and stress in adults living in Shiraz, Iran. In a cross-sectional design, 416 subjects (180 men and 236 women) aged 20 to 50 years were selected by stratified multistage random sampling. Dietary intakes were assessed using a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Mental health information was collected by depression, anxiety and stress scale (DASS) questionnaire. Three major dietary patterns were extracted by factor analysis: vegetable, Western, and Mediterraneantype dietary patterns. Regression analysis showed a strong positive association between Western dietary pattern and anxiety (β=0.66; 95% CI: 0.03, 1.28), and stress (β=0.84; 95% CI: 0.1, 1.57). Also, there was an inverse association between Mediterranean-type dietary pattern and anxiety (β= ‒0.81; 95% CI: ‒1.43, ‒0.19). These associations remained statistically significant even after adjustments for demographic characteristics, physical activity, smoking, body mass index, and energy intake. No association was found between vegetable dietary pattern and any of the assessed psychiatric disorders

On the character degree graph of finite groups

Given a finite group G, let cd (G) denote the set of degrees of the irreducible complex characters of G. The character degree graph of G is defined as the simple undirected graph whose vertices are the prime divisors of the numbers in cd (G) , two distinct vertices p and q being adjacent if and only if pq divides some number in cd (G). In this paper, we consider the complement of the character degree graph, and we characterize the finite groups for which this complement graph is not bipartite. This extends the analysis of Akhlaghi et al. (Proc Am Math Soc 146:1505\u20131513, 2018), where the solvable case was treated