Comparison of pharyngeal airway volume in different skeletal facial patterns using cone beam computed tomography

This study aimed to compare the pharyngeal airway volume in class I,II and III skeletal malocclusion patients using cone beam computed tomography (CBCT). This retrospective, cross sectional study was conducted on lateral cephalograms of 71 patients derived from their CBCT scans. Using the ANB angle, the patients were divided into class I,II and III malocclusion. Two observers used Dolphin 3D software to calculate the pharyngeal airway volume, airway area, minimum axial area, minimum area location, airway length and morphology. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis test, Tukey?s test, Spearman?s correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis. The three skeletal classes were significantly different in airway volume, minimum axial area, mean airway area and airway morphology (P<0.05). Significant differences were found in airway volume and mean airway area between class II and III patients (P<0.05). The minimum axial area and airway morphology in class III patients were greater than those in class I and II patients (P<0.05). Every one unit increase in the ANB angle decreased the airway volume by 0.261 units. The effect of ANB angle on airway volume was statistically significant and it was shown that one unit increase in the angle decreased the airway volume by 453.509 units. A significant correlation exists between the skeletal facial pattern and upper airway dimensions. In our study, the total airway volume and the mean airway area of class III patients were larger than those in class II patients

Graphene oxide and its derivatives as promising In-vitro bio-imaging platforms

Intrinsic fluorescence and versatile optical properties of Graphene Oxide (GO) in visible and near-infrared range introduce this nanomaterial as a promising candidate for numerous clinical applications for early-diagnose of diseases. Despite recent progresses in the impact of major features of GO on the photoluminescence properties of GO, their modifications have not yet systematically understood. Here, to study the modification effects on the fluorescence behavior, poly ethylene glycol (PEG) polymer, metal nanoparticles (Au and Fe3O4) and folic acid (FA) molecules were used to functionalize the GO surface. The fluorescence performances in different environments (water, DMEM cell media and phosphate buffer with two different pH values) were assessed through fluorescence spectroscopy and fluorescent microscopy, while Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were utilized to evaluate the modifications of chemical structures. The modification of GO with desired molecules improved the photoluminescence property. The synthesized platforms of GO-PEG, GO-PEG-Au, GO-PEG-Fe3O4 and GO-PEG-FA illustrated emissions in three main fluorescence regions (blue, green and red), suitable for tracing and bio-imaging purposes. Considering MTT results, these platforms potentially positioned themselves as non-invasive optical sensors for the diagnosis alternatives of traditional imaging agents. A correction for this article can be viewed at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-75090-

Novel 4-thiazolidinone derivatives as agonists of benzodiazepine receptors

A new series of 4-chloro-N-(2-(substitutedphenyl)-4-oxothiazolidin-3-yl)-2-phenoxybenzamide derivatives were designed, synthesized and biologically evaluated as anticonvulsant agents. The designed compounds have the main essential functional groups for binding to the benzodiazepine receptors and 4-thiazolidinone ring as an anticonvulsant pharmacophore. Some of the new synthesized compounds showed considerable anticonvulsant activity in electroshock and pentylenetetrazole-induced lethal convulsion tests. Compound 5i, 4-chloro-N-(2-(4-methoxyphenyl)-4-oxothiazolidin-3-yl)-2-phenoxybenzamide, with the best activity was selected for evaluation of other benzodiazepine pharmacological effects. This compound induced significant sedative-hypnotic activity. However, it does not impair the learning and memory in the experimental condition. Flumazenil was able to antagonize the sedative-hypnotic and anticonvulsant effects of compound 5i indicating that benzodiazepine receptors are highly involved in the pharmacological properties of the novel compounds

The Effect of Using Different Fat Sources in Close-Up Diets on the Feed Consumption, Blood Parameters, Body Measurements and Performance of Holstein Dairy Calves

Introduction Raising healthy calves is indeed a critical concern in the dairy industry. Close up diets have important effects on the quantity and quality of produced colostrum, on the other hand, colostrum and milk are considered the most important sources of food that contain energy, protein, and other nutrients for the newborn calf’s growth. Including fatty acids in the late pregnancy supplements are controversial because of the potential reduction of cows DMI. Also, the growth and health of calves can be influenced by feeding linoleic acid to pregnant cows. Safflower as a rich source of linoleic acid (55-70%) is a significant oil alternative product, and has a high nutritional value. This study aimed to examine the effects of safflower seeds and palmitic fatty acids on the transition diet in cow feed consumption, colostrum quality, blood parameters, body measurements and Holstein calf performance.   Materials and methods Thirty pregnant Holstein cows, 15 primiparous and 15 multiparous, were used 21 days prior to the expected calving date. The experiment was conducted using a completely randomized experimental design with three treatments and ten replicates in every treatment. Cows were randomly assigned to experimental treatments so that each treatment have an average body weight 659.34 ± 84.2 kg, parity 2.04 ± 1.31 and body condition score (BCS) 3.23 ± 0.15 The experimental rations have similar energy and protein content. Diets were thoroughly mixed and fed to cows based on the recommendations of the US National Research Council (NRC, 2001). The experimental rations included: 1) Control diet without fat source (Ctrl), 2) Diet with palmitic fatty acid (SFA), and 3) Diet with safflower seed (UFA). Daily feed intake was calculated by subtracting distributed feed to every cow from the leftover amount on following day. Newborn calves were weighed immediately after birth. An individual colostrum yield for every cow was recorded at each milking. The quality of colostrum was determined using an optical refractometer (ATC., China). The body weight and skeletal parameters of calves were evaluated at birth day, 21 d, and 49 d. Blood samples were taken immediately after birth, two hours after colostrum feeding and on days 3, 7, 21, and 49 via the jugular vein. Samples were centrifuged at 3000× g and the plasma was stored at −20°C until analysis. Plasma metabolites were analyzed using an autoanalyzer (Alcyon 300., USA). Colostrum composition (fat, protein, lactose, solids, solids not fat) was determined using a Milkoscan (Foss Electric, Hillerød, Denmark). Fatty acids profile were measured according to O'Fallon (2007) et al., using gas chromatography (GC) equipped FID detector and 100 meter column. Data were analyzed using the MIXED procedure of SAS using a completely randomized design with ten replications.    Results and Discussion Using sources of SFA (palm oil powder) and UFA (safflower seeds) in the transition diets were not affected on dry matter intake in Holstein dairy cows (P>0.05). Dry matter intake in Ctrl, SFA, and UFA were 10.29, 10.98, and 10.80 kg per day, respectively. We found that  using SFA and UFA did not have any significant effect on colostrum parameters such as colostrum volume, the percentage of fat, protein, lactose, total solids, fat not solids, and also, immunoglobulin concentration, and Brix number of colostrum (P>0.05). The colostrum volume in UFA and SFA treatments was higher than in the Ctrl treatment, but this difference was not significant (5.82, 5.23, and 4.19 kg, respectively). According to the results, the researchers stated that adding raw and processed safflower seeds to the diet did not have any significant effect on milk production, milk fat, protein, and lactose in Holstein dairy cows (Paya and Taghizadeh, 2020). Feeding omega-6 sources in the transition period (35 days before calving) caused higher colostrum protein and Brix values (Salehi et al., 2016) but was not consistent with our results. Feeding palm fat powder as a source of SFA and safflower seeds as UFA did not have any significant differences in concentration of short chain, medium chain, and long chain fatty acids in colostrum. It was reported that various fat sources in the rations of dairy and transition cows did not affect colostrum fatty acid and milk fatty acid. However some studies showed that different fat sources in the diet of dairy cows changed the fatty acid profile in milk. In general, it can be stated that because of the high-producing dairy cows experience a negative energy around calving, the diet energy meets the requirements, which probably causes the fatty acid composition of the colostrum not to be affected. Our results showed that blood factors such as glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, blood urea nitrogen, ALT, AST, total antioxidant capacity, malondialdehyde, total protein, albumin, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and HDL did not differ between treatments. It was observed that the addition of SFA and UFA had no significant effect on the birth weight of calves, weight at d 21 and 49, and dry matter intake during the experimental period. Skeletal parameters such as hip height and width, withers height, chest circumference, and body length at 3, 21, and 49 days had no significant differences in the treatments.     Conclusion It seems that using saturated and unsaturated fatty acids sources in the transition diets did not reduce feed intake. Moreover, it had no significant influence on the calves' performance, bone condition, the colostrum's quality and the colostrum fatty acids profile

An epidemiological survey of psychiatric disorders in Iran

BACKGROUND: The nation-wide epidemiological survey of psychiatric disorders in term of lifetime prevalence is not adequately known in Iran. The prevalence of lifetime psychiatric disorders was estimated among the population of aged 18 and over on gender, age group, educational level, occupational status, marital status, and residential area. METHODS: The subjects were 25,180 individuals selected through a clustered random sampling method. The psychiatric disorders were diagnosed on the bases of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV criteria. It is the first study in which the structured psychiatric interview administered to a representative sample of the Iranian population age 18 and over by the 250 trained clinical psychologist interviewers. The data was entered through EPI-Info software twice in an attempt to prevent any errors and SPSS-11 statistical software was also used for analyses. The odds ratios and their confidence intervals estimated by using logistic regression. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The prevalence of psychiatric disorders was 10.81%. It was more common among females than males (14.34% vs. 7.34%, P < 0.001). The prevalence of anxiety and mood disorders were 8.35% and 4.29% respectively. The prevalence of psychotic disorders was 0.89%; neuro-cognitive disorders, 2.78% and dissociative disorders, 0.77%. Among mood disorders, major depressive disorder (2.98%) and among anxiety disorders, phobic disorder (2.05%) had the higher prevalence. The prevalence of psychiatric disorders among divorced and separated 22.31%; residents of urban areas 11.77%; illiterates 13.80%; householders 15.48%; unemployed 12.33% that were more than other groups. CONCLUSION: The mental health pattern in Iran is similar to the western countries, but it seems that the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in Iran may be lower than these countries. It is estimated that at least about 7 millions of Iranian population suffer from one or more of the psychiatric disorders. It shows the importance of the role of the psychiatric disorders in providing preventive and management programs in Iran

Global, regional, and national burden of chronic kidney disease, 1990–2017 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Background Health system planning requires careful assessment of chronic kidney disease (CKD) epidemiology, but data for morbidity and mortality of this disease are scarce or non-existent in many countries. We estimated the global, regional, and national burden of CKD, as well as the burden of cardiovascular disease and gout attributable to impaired kidney function, for the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2017. We use the term CKD to refer to the morbidity and mortality that can be directly attributed to all stages of CKD, and we use the term impaired kidney function to refer to the additional risk of CKD from cardiovascular disease and gout. Methods The main data sources we used were published literature, vital registration systems, end-stage kidney disease registries, and household surveys. Estimates of CKD burden were produced using a Cause of Death Ensemble model and a Bayesian meta-regression analytical tool, and included incidence, prevalence, years lived with disability, mortality, years of life lost, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs). A comparative risk assessment approach was used to estimate the proportion of cardiovascular diseases and gout burden attributable to impaired kidney function. Findings Globally, in 2017, 1·2 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 1·2 to 1·3) people died from CKD. The global all-age mortality rate from CKD increased 41·5% (95% UI 35·2 to 46·5) between 1990 and 2017, although there was no significant change in the age-standardised mortality rate (2·8%, −1·5 to 6·3). In 2017, 697·5 million (95% UI 649·2 to 752·0) cases of all-stage CKD were recorded, for a global prevalence of 9·1% (8·5 to 9·8). The global all-age prevalence of CKD increased 29·3% (95% UI 26·4 to 32·6) since 1990, whereas the age-standardised prevalence remained stable (1·2%, −1·1 to 3·5). CKD resulted in 35·8 million (95% UI 33·7 to 38·0) DALYs in 2017, with diabetic nephropathy accounting for almost a third of DALYs. Most of the burden of CKD was concentrated in the three lowest quintiles of Socio-demographic Index (SDI). In several regions, particularly Oceania, sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America, the burden of CKD was much higher than expected for the level of development, whereas the disease burden in western, eastern, and central sub-Saharan Africa, east Asia, south Asia, central and eastern Europe, Australasia, and western Europe was lower than expected. 1·4 million (95% UI 1·2 to 1·6) cardiovascular disease-related deaths and 25·3 million (22·2 to 28·9) cardiovascular disease DALYs were attributable to impaired kidney function. Interpretation Kidney disease has a major effect on global health, both as a direct cause of global morbidity and mortality and as an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease. CKD is largely preventable and treatable and deserves greater attention in global health policy decision making, particularly in locations with low and middle SDI

Socioeconomic inequalities in prevalence, awareness, treatment and control of hypertension: evidence from the PERSIAN cohort study

Background Elevated blood pressure is associated with cardiovascular disease, stroke and chronic kidney disease. In this study, we examined the socioeconomic inequality and its related factors in prevalence, Awareness, Treatment and Control (ATC) of hypertension (HTN) in Iran. Method The study used data from the recruitment phase of The Prospective Epidemiological Research Studies in IrAN (PERSIAN). A sample of 162,842 adults aged > = 35 years was analyzed. HTN was defined according to the Joint National Committee)JNC-7(. socioeconomic inequality was measured using concentration index (Cn) and curve. Results The mean age of participants was 49.38(SD = +/- 9.14) years and 44.74% of the them were men. The prevalence of HTN in the total population was 22.3%(95% CI: 20.6%; 24.1%), and 18.8%(95% CI: 16.8%; 20.9%) and 25.2%(95% CI: 24.2%; 27.7%) in men and women, respectively. The percentage of awareness treatment and control among individuals with HTN were 77.5%(95% CI: 73.3%; 81.8%), 82.2%(95% CI: 70.2%; 81.6%) and 75.9%(95% CI: 70.2%; 81.6%), respectively. The Cn for prevalence of HTN was -0.084. Two factors, age (58.46%) and wealth (32.40%), contributed most to the socioeconomic inequality in the prevalence of HTN. Conclusion The prevalence of HTN was higher among low-SES individuals, who also showed higher levels of awareness. However, treatment and control of HTN were more concentrated among those who had higher levels of SES, indicating that people at a higher risk of adverse event related to HTN (the low SES individuals) are not benefiting from the advantage of treatment and control of HTN. Such a gap between diagnosis (prevalence) and control (treatment and control) of HTN needs to be addressed by public health policymakers

Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990-2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015

SummaryBackground The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2015 provides an up-to-date synthesis of the evidence for risk factor exposure and the attributable burden of disease. By providing national and subnational assessments spanning the past 25 years, this study can inform debates on the importance of addressing risks in context. Methods We used the comparative risk assessment framework developed for previous iterations of the Global Burden of Disease Study to estimate attributable deaths, disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), and trends in exposure by age group, sex, year, and geography for 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks from 1990 to 2015. This study included 388 risk-outcome pairs that met World Cancer Research Fund-defined criteria for convincing or probable evidence. We extracted relative risk and exposure estimates from randomised controlled trials, cohorts, pooled cohorts, household surveys, census data, satellite data, and other sources. We used statistical models to pool data, adjust for bias, and incorporate covariates. We developed a metric that allows comparisons of exposure across risk factors—the summary exposure value. Using the counterfactual scenario of theoretical minimum risk level, we estimated the portion of deaths and DALYs that could be attributed to a given risk. We decomposed trends in attributable burden into contributions from population growth, population age structure, risk exposure, and risk-deleted cause-specific DALY rates. We characterised risk exposure in relation to a Socio-demographic Index (SDI). Findings Between 1990 and 2015, global exposure to unsafe sanitation, household air pollution, childhood underweight, childhood stunting, and smoking each decreased by more than 25%. Global exposure for several occupational risks, high body-mass index (BMI), and drug use increased by more than 25% over the same period. All risks jointly evaluated in 2015 accounted for 57·8% (95% CI 56·6–58·8) of global deaths and 41·2% (39·8–42·8) of DALYs. In 2015, the ten largest contributors to global DALYs among Level 3 risks were high systolic blood pressure (211·8 million [192·7 million to 231·1 million] global DALYs), smoking (148·6 million [134·2 million to 163·1 million]), high fasting plasma glucose (143·1 million [125·1 million to 163·5 million]), high BMI (120·1 million [83·8 million to 158·4 million]), childhood undernutrition (113·3 million [103·9 million to 123·4 million]), ambient particulate matter (103·1 million [90·8 million to 115·1 million]), high total cholesterol (88·7 million [74·6 million to 105·7 million]), household air pollution (85·6 million [66·7 million to 106·1 million]), alcohol use (85·0 million [77·2 million to 93·0 million]), and diets high in sodium (83·0 million [49·3 million to 127·5 million]). From 1990 to 2015, attributable DALYs declined for micronutrient deficiencies, childhood undernutrition, unsafe sanitation and water, and household air pollution; reductions in risk-deleted DALY rates rather than reductions in exposure drove these declines. Rising exposure contributed to notable increases in attributable DALYs from high BMI, high fasting plasma glucose, occupational carcinogens, and drug use. Environmental risks and childhood undernutrition declined steadily with SDI; low physical activity, high BMI, and high fasting plasma glucose increased with SDI. In 119 countries, metabolic risks, such as high BMI and fasting plasma glucose, contributed the most attributable DALYs in 2015. Regionally, smoking still ranked among the leading five risk factors for attributable DALYs in 109 countries; childhood underweight and unsafe sex remained primary drivers of early death and disability in much of sub-Saharan Africa. Interpretation Declines in some key environmental risks have contributed to declines in critical infectious diseases. Some risks appear to be invariant to SDI. Increasing risks, including high BMI, high fasting plasma glucose, drug use, and some occupational exposures, contribute to rising burden from some conditions, but also provide opportunities for intervention. Some highly preventable risks, such as smoking, remain major causes of attributable DALYs, even as exposure is declining. Public policy makers need to pay attention to the risks that are increasingly major contributors to global burden. Funding Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation