An Experimental Method for Measuring the Clamping Force in Double Lap Simple Bolted and Hybrid (Bolted-Bonded) Joints

In this research, an experimental method for measuring the clamping force as a result of tightening torque in double lap simple bolted and hybrid (bolted-bonded) joints is proposed. Two types of joints, i.e. double lap simple and hybrid (bolted-bonded) joints were prepared for testing. In order to measure the clamping force or pretension resulting from the tightening torque at different applied torques, for both types of joints, a special experimental method was designed using a steel bush that was placed between the nut and the plate. Two strain gauges were stuck to the outer surface of the bush to measure the compressive axial strain and also the stress in the bush using Hooke’s law. Finally, the axial force in the bush and subsequently the clamping force were determined. The test was repeated three times for each case to obtain the mean value of compressive strains and to determine the corresponding clamping forces. The relationship between the applied tightening torques and the mean value of compressive strains for both types of joints are shown in graphs

Clinical and molecular genetics association of polymorphisms in interleukin-17A genes with risk of Oral Lichen Planus (OLP) in an Azery population

Lichen Planus (LP) is a chronic disease that affects the skin and oral mucosa. Although the precise aetiology of LP is not known, it is thought to be comprised of, in majority, genetic and immunological factors. The objective of this study was to assess the association of interleukin-17A (IL-17A) with Oral LP (OLP). 22 adult patients with OLP and 40 healthy controls were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and DNA direct   sequence technology for the polymorphism of the IL-17A gene. The genotype frequencies of G1776A  (p.Arg29Ter rs139620979) and G3566A (rs7747909) in the IL-17A gene polymorphism were 9 and 13.6% in the OLP group and 0 and 40% in the controls, respectively. Although the proportion of detected polymorphisms did not differ between individuals, a higher prevalence of G3566A (rs7747909) homozygote polymorphism (4.5%) was observed in the OLP patients. Our results show no statistically significant difference in the IL-17A  genotype single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) distribution amongst the two groups. Therefore, further  studies on a larger population and novel genetic variants are needed to better understand the pathobiology of OLP.Key words: Oral Lichen Planus (OLP), interleukin-17A (IL-17A) gene, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), direct sequencing

Security framework for the semiconductor supply chain environment

This paper proposes a security framework for secure data communications across the partners in the Semiconductor Supply Chain Environment. The security mechanisms of the proposed framework will be based on the SSL/TLS and OAuth 2.0 protocols, which are two standard security protocols. However, both protocols are vulnerable to a number of attacks, and thus more sophisticated security mechanisms based on these protocols should be designed and implemented in order to address the specific security challenges of the Semiconductor Supply Chain in a more effective and efficient manner

Lived Experiences of Patients Suffering from Acute Old World Cutaneous Leishmaniasis: a Qualitative Content Analysis Study from Iran

Background: The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of patients who suffer from acute cutaneous leishmaniasis in Iran, focusing on quality of life.Methods: The study was conducted at two different sites in Iran in 2010–2011. Individual in-depth interviews were conducted with six men and six women parasitologically confirmed acute cutaneous leishmaniasis. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and translated into English. Qualitative content analysis was used for data analysis.Results: The participants, aged 23 to 63yr, had mild to severe disease. Based on the analysis four main themes were developed. "Fearing an agonizing disease" reflects patients' experiences of disease development resulting in sadness and depression, "struggling to cope" and "taking on the blame" both illustrate how patients experience living with the disease, which included both felt and enacted stigma as major social concerns. "Longing for being seen and heard" refers to patients' experiences with healthcare as well as their expectations and demands from communities and healthcare to be involved in closing the knowledge and awareness gap.Conclusion: Mental and social dimensions of cutaneous leishmaniasis were complex and adversely affected patients' lives by causing psychological burden and limiting their social interactions. Health authorities have to plan programs to increase the disease awareness to prevent the existing stigma to improve patients' social condition and medical care.</p

TransONet: Automatic Segmentation of Vasculature in Computed Tomographic Angiograms Using Deep Learning

Pathological alterations in the human vascular system underlie many chronic diseases, such as atherosclerosis and aneurysms. However, manually analyzing diagnostic images of the vascular system, such as computed tomographic angiograms (CTAs) is a time-consuming and tedious process. To address this issue, we propose a deep learning model to segment the vascular system in CTA images of patients undergoing surgery for peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Our study focused on accurately segmenting the vascular system (1) from the descending thoracic aorta to the iliac bifurcation and (2) from the descending thoracic aorta to the knees in CTA images using deep learning techniques. Our approach achieved average Dice accuracies of 93.5% and 80.64% in test dataset for (1) and (2), respectively, highlighting its high accuracy and potential clinical utility. These findings demonstrate the use of deep learning techniques as a valuable tool for medical professionals to analyze the health of the vascular system efficiently and accurately. Please visit the GitHub page for this paper at https://github.com/pip-alireza/TransOnet.Comment: Accepted for the 2023 International Conference on Computational Science and Computational Intelligence (CSCI), Las Vegas, US

Isolation, Characterization, and Antifungal Sensitivity Pattern of Candida Species Causing Otomycosis

Otomycosis is one of the overwhelming diseases both for patients and specialists with a high recurrence rate despite adequate and proper treatment. This study aims to investigate further the various types of fungi involved in otomycosis and test their susceptibility against common antifungals. In total, among candidiasis-suspected patients, 60 samples were incorporated into the study. PCR method was used for Candida species detection. Broth microdilution method of Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute document M60 was applied to assess MIC values of rampant antifungals. We used SPSS software (version 16.0) for statistical analysis. In this survey, 20, 3, and 1 type of Candida albicans, Candida parapsilosis, and Candida glabrata were identified, respectively. All 20 C. albicans isolates were sensitive to amphotericin B (range 0.03-1 μg/ml), voriconazole, (0.03-1 μg/ml), and itraconazole (0.03-0.5 μg/ml.); moreover, one isolate was resistant to fluconazole. Two isolates out of three isolates of C. parapsilosis, were susceptible to all agents while the other one isolate was resistant to fluconazole. C. glabrata isolate was susceptible to all agents. In summary, the results conveyed the importance of clinicians remaining vigilant in diagnosing otomycosis due to its non-specific manifestations. To manage effectively otomycosis and avoid complications or recurrence, it is imperative to diagnose the condition at the earliest time, confirm its virulence through various tests, and identify antifungal susceptibility patterns. Despite this, relapse is often seen and achieving complete remission can prove to be a major hurdle in individuals who have had mastoidectomy and those with weakened immune systems

A lightweight authentication mechanism for M2M communications in industrial IoT environment

In the emerging Industrial IoT era, Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication technology is considered as a key underlying technology for building Industrial IoT environments where devices (e.g., sensors, actuators, gateways) are enabled to exchange information with each other in an autonomous way without human intervention. However, most of the existing M2M protocols that can be also used in the Industrial IoT domain provide security mechanisms based on asymmetric cryptography resulting in high computational cost. As a consequence, the resource-constrained IoT devices are not able to support them appropriately and thus, many security issues arise for the Industrial IoT environment. Therefore, lightweight security mechanisms are required for M2M communications in Industrial IoT in order to reach its full potential. As a step towards this direction, in this paper, we propose a lightweight authentication mechanism, based only on hash and XOR operations, for M2M communications in Industrial IoT environment. The proposed mechanism is characterized by low computational cost, communication and storage overhead, while achieving mutual authentication, session key agreement, device’s identity confidentiality, and resistance against the following attacks: replay attack, man-in-the-middle attack, impersonation attack, and modification attack

Variation of Biophysical Parameters of the Skin with Age, Gender, and Body Region

Background. Understanding the physiological, chemical, and biophysical characteristics of the skin helps us to arrange a proper approach to the management of skin diseases. Objective. The aim of this study was to measure 6 biophysical characteristics of normal skin (sebum content, hydration, transepidermal water loss (TEWL), erythema index, melanin index, and elasticity) in a normal population and assess the effect of sex, age, and body location on them. Methods. Fifty healthy volunteers in 5 age groups (5 males and females in each) were enrolled in this study. A multifunctional skin physiology monitor (Courage & Khazaka electronic GmbH, Germany) was used to measure skin sebum content, hydration, TEWL, erythema index, melanin index, and elasticity in 8 different locations of the body. Results. There were significant differences between the hydration, melanin index, and elasticity of different age groups. Regarding the locations, forehead had the highest melanin index, where as palm had the lowest value. The mean values of erythema index and melanin index and TEWL were significantly higher in males and anatomic location was a significant independent factor for all of 6 measured parameters. Conclusion. Several biophysical properties of the skin vary among different gender, age groups, and body locations

The expression of heat shock proteins 27 and 105 in squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue and relationship with clinicopathological index

Introduction: In oral cavity, the tongue is the most common site prone to development of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Considering malignant transformation as a cellular stress, the expression of heat shock proteins (HSPs) may be affected in this process. In this study we assessed the expression of HSP105 and HSP27 as two of the most interested stress proteins and investigated their relationship with grade and stage of the tongue SCC. Material and Methods: Fifty-six specimens including 31 early and 25 advanced tongue SCC were gathered. All specimens were graded histologically from I to III. Sixteen sections of normal oral mucosa were used as control group. The cellularity and intensity of HSP105 and HSP27 expression were studied immunohistochemically in both case and control groups. Results were expressed by histochemical score (HSCORE). Results: Significant differences were observed between expression of HSPs and stage of the disease. From early to advanced stage, the expression of HSP105 and HSP27 increased and decreased, respectively. There was no relationship between histological grade of lesion and HSCORE of HSP105 expression (P=0.5), although, HSP27 expression had reverse relationship with the SCC histological grade. Conclusion: HSP27 and HSP105 may be indicated for prognostic purposes in evaluation of tongue SCC. HSP 27 may be used for more accurate microscopic grading of tongue SCC. Increased expression of HSP105 in advanced stage may lead to using this protein for immunotherapy of tongue SCC. © Medicina Oral S. L

Acne and smoking: is there a relationship?

BACKGROUND: There are contradictory reports on the relationship between acne vulgaris and cigarette smoking. The objective of this study was to examine the relation between acne and cigarette smoking in a case-control study. METHODS: A questionnaire on smoking habits was offered to 350 patients with acne vulgaris and 350 patients suffering from skin diseases other than acne, aged 15 – 40 years, attending in a skin clinic in Tehran, Iran. The patients completed the questionnaires anonymously in the waiting room. RESULTS: Two hundred and ninety-three patients with acne (response rate 83.7 %) and 301 patients with other skin diseases (response rate 86.0 %) completed the questionnaires. Twelve acne patients (4.1 %) and 27 control patients (9.0 %) were current smokers (odds ratio = 0.43, 95% confidence limits 0.22 – 0.87, p < 0.05). But after adjustment for sex, this difference was not significant (odds ratio: 0.61, 95% CI: 0.30–1.26, p > 0.05, Mantel-Haenszel test). CONCLUSION: An association between acne and cigarette smoking was not found in this study