Comparative efficacy of deferiprone, deferoxamine and combination of deferiprone and deferoxamine on serum ferritin value in Beta-Thalassemia patients

Background: Iron overload is a predictable and life-threatening complication in patients with thalassemia. Effective and convenient iron chelation remains one of the main targets of clinical management of thalassemia major. The development of a safe and effective chelator has been the goal for many years. Aims and Objective: It was aimed to compare the effect of deferiprone, deferoxamine and combination of deferiprone and deferoxamine on serum ferritin value in beta-thalassemia patients. Material and Methods: This controlled clinical trial was conducted on 46 major beta-thalassemic patients. Fifteen patients in deferiprone group received deferiprone 75mg/kg/day three times a day orally. Nineteen patients in deferoxamine group received deferoxamine 30-50 mg/kg/day subcutaneously for 8-12 hours/day and 5 days per week. Twelve patients in combined therapy group received deferiprone 75 mg/kg/day three times a day orally with deferoxamine 30–50 mg/kg subcutaneously every other day. Serum ferritin value was measured at the beginning and at the end of 6th and 12th months of study. Results: The mean of serum ferritin value in deferiprone group insignificantly increased from 2731± 1398.5 μg/L at the beginning to 2788.5 ± 978.6 μg/L and to 3331.8 ± 1833.9 μg/L at the end of 6th and 12th months of study, respectively. The mean of serum ferritin value in deferoxamine group insignificantly increased from 2883.5 ± 1598.1 μg/L at the beginning to 2935.3 ± 1258.2 μg/L at the end of 6th month of study and decreased to 2773.8 ± 1216.1 μg/L and 12th month of study. The mean of serum ferritin level in combined therapy group significantly decreased from 7498.7 ± 3512.9 μg/L at the beginning to 4839.9 ± 2698.2 μg/L (P < 0.001) and to 4298.2 ± 2288.7 μg/L (P < 0.001) at the end of 6th and 12th months of study, respectively. Conclusion: Combined therapy significantly decreases serum ferritin level. Study suggests deferiprone as a significant addition to support therapy in patients with betathalassemia major on regular transfusion regimens. © 2015 Journal of Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences University

The effect of communications system on organizational conflicts, case study: automobile press parts department

Nowadays, organizations are characterized by direct relation between perception of different aspect and patterns of human relations with staff performance and human resources (HR) management. To confronting environmental threats companies need to identify their internal capacities and capabilities, improve strengths and compensate their weaknesses. Effective and correct transfer of message or communication process, in other words, is one of the main aspects of staffs behavior in organization. The present work investigates roles of organizational communication system on the conflicts (case study: Iran Khodro, press machines parts department). To this end, a questionnaire was designed taking advice from experts and specialists and results were examined using statistics tests and methods. The paper is concluded by presenting recommendations to overcome conflicts and reform organization communication system in Iran Khodro Press Parts Department

IDENTIFYING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE SKILLS OF STRATEGIC THINKING AND MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES AMONG BUSINESS AND SALE MANAGERS

ABSTRACT In the changing world of today, understanding the conditions and predicting their trends is the only way of the organizations for impowerment in order to exceed their rivals. This doesn&apos;t occur, unless the managers with high strategic abilities are used in the rganizations.Therefore, this study aims to use multiple intelligence theory due to its importance for measuring different human capabilities and personal differences. The results can help the organizations in selecting the managers with high abilities of the related intelligences with strategic thinking to provide a competitive advantage for their organizations. According to the findings, there was a significant correlation between 3 out of 7 intelligences of Gardner (visual/spatial, logical/mathematic, interpersonal) and strategic thinking ability

On the strength assessment of pitted stiffened plates under biaxial compression loading

ABSTRACT Structural components of ships are subjected to corrosion, especially when exposed to sea environment. It is, therefore, essential to seek rational standards for the structural integrity of aging structures without economic penalties with respect to the repair and maintenance costs incurred over the life cycle of the structure. To make proper decisions about costs and safety, knowledge about the effect of corrosion and other degradation phenomena on the strength is of crucial importance. The main objective of the present study is to investigate the strength of pitted stiffened plates under biaxial compression loading. For this purpose, systematic numerical FE investigations of ultimate collapse and post-ultimate responses for the stiffened plates with pit corrosion wastage are undertaken, varying the degree of pit corrosion intensity (DOP), pit depth and the location of the densest pitted zone. The focus here is on local plate failure mode which is desired to be governing failure mode in designing of stiffened plates. Geometric imperfections and residual stresses were included in the models. It is found that the ultimate strength of a stiffened plate can be significantly decreased due to pitting corrosion. The ultimate strength of pitted stiffened plates is governed not only by the level of DOP, but also by the smallest sectional area and the location of densest pitted zone. This improved knowledge of the damage tolerance assessment of stiffened plates can be used to schedule repairs more efficiently, while risk or reliability assessment schemes are normally applied for that purpose

Nonlinear System Identification of Laboratory Heat Exchanger Using Artificial Neural Network Model

This paper addresses the nonlinear identification of liquid saturated steam heat exchanger (LSSHE) using artificial neural network model. Heat exchanger is a highly nonlinear and non-minimum phase process and often its working conditions are variable. Experimental data obtained from fluid outlet temperature measurement in laboratory environment is used as the output variable and the rate of change of fluid flow into the system as input too. The results of identification using neural network and conventional nonlinear models are compared together. The simulation results show that neural network model is more accurate and faster in comparison with conventional nonlinear models for a time series data because of the independence of the model assignment.DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/ijece.v3i1.195

Design, construction, sequence analysis and bioinformatics study of RTB-ipaD gene cassette: A new way in generation of Shigellosis vaccine

زمینه و هدف: شیگلا شایع ترین عامل اسهال می‌باشد. آنتی‌ژن پلاسمیدی IpaD برای تهاجم باکتری به درون سلول میزبان ضروری می‌باشد. یکی از چالش‌ها در باره واکسن مخاطی علیه شیگلا بر پایه پروتئین IpaD قدرت پایین آن می‌باشد. به نظر می‌رسد که با متصل کردن IpaD به یک ناقل و ادجوانت مناسب همچون زیر واحد B سم ریسین، می‌توان پروتئین IpaD را بسیار ایمنوژنیک نمود. این مطالعه به منظور تولید وکتور بیانی نوترکیب دارای کاست ژنی RTB-ipaD، آنالیز تعیین توالی و بررسی بیوانفورماتیکی آن انجام گرفته است. روش بررسی: در این مطالعه ژن های RTB و (163-483) ipaD در وکتور pGEM-T همسانه‌سازی شدند. ژن ipaD به روش برش آنزیمی با ژن RTB به همراه لینکر کد کننده GPGP در وکتور pGEM متصل شد. سپس قطعه کایمریک RTB-ipaD در وکتور بیانی pET28a(+) زیر همسانه‌سازی گردید. در پایان آنالیز تعیین توالی و بررسی بیوانفورماتیکی کاست ژنی انجام گرفت. یافته‌ها: صحت ساخت کاست ژنی RTB-ipaD در وکتور بیانی pET28a(+) با واکنش PCR و هضم آنزیمی مورد تایید قرار گرفت. نتایج حاصل از تعیین توالی کاست ژنی مطابق با توالی ذخیره شده در بانک ژنی بود. مطالعات بیوانفورماتیکی بر مبنای شاخص سازگاری کدون نشان داد این کاست قابلیت بیان در گیاه ترانس ژن و برخی سویه های باکتری اشرشیاکلی را دارد. نتیجه‌گیری: اتصال RTB به عنوان ناقل و ادجوانت به آنتی‌ژن IpaD رویکردی نوین و مطلوب در جهت تولید واکسن مخاطی شیگلوزیس می‌باش

Review on the Caspian Shemaya, Alburnus chalcoides (Güldenstädt, 1772)

Alburnus chalcoides, Caspian Shemaya, is found in the river systems of the Aral, Black and Caspian sea basins and is an economically valuable cyprinid from the southern Caspian Sea. This species has been reported as near threatened species in this basin due to damming, over and illegal fishing, destruction of its spawning grounds and water pollution. The Caspian Shemaya is an important species ecologically and economically, but information about its biology and ecology is widely scattered. Hence, in this review, its taxonomy, general characteristics and morphology, distribution, habitat and ecology, age and growth, reproduction, conservation status and threats in the southern Caspian Sea is summarized, and a bibliography on this fish is provided

Sequencing Mixed Model Assembly Line Problem to Minimize Line Stoppages Cost by a Modified Simulated Annealing Algorithm Based on Cloud Theory

This research presents a new application of the cloud theory-based simulated annealing algorithm to solve mixed model assembly line sequencing problems where line stoppage cost is expected to be optimized. This objective is highly significant in mixed model assembly line sequencing problems based on just-in-time production system. Moreover, this type of problem is NP-hard and solving this problem through some classical approaches such as total enumeration or exact mathematical procedures such as dynamic programming is computationally prohibitive. Therefore, we proposed the cloud theory-based simulated annealing algorithm (CSA) to address it. Previous researches indicates that evolutionary algorithms especially simulated annealing (SA) is an appropriate method to solve this problem; so we compared CSA with SA in this study to validate the proposed CSA algorithm. Experimentation shows that the CSA approach outperforms the SA approach in both CPU time and objective function especially in large size problems.</p

Hydraulic and mechanical response of base course aggregate with recycled glass particles

The industry of glass recycling remains a challenge in the province of Quebec due to the lackof equipment required to produce new glass that meets the manufacturing quality. All kinds of glass can be recycled indefinitely because it can retain the similar properties of the reference glass used in the manufacture. Using recycled glass in fabricating new glass needs to separate glass by colors. In the province of Quebec, the collect of recyclable materials is done in a way that glass containers break during transportation and all recyclable materials such as carton, plastic, paper and glass are mixed together. Hence, mixed-colored glass that is unsuitable for producing new containers is utilized in other applications or sent to landfill. This thesis is devoted to using recycled glass (RG) as a replacement for aggregate in pavement structures, which can be a solution for the problems of glass recycling in Quebec. Reusing recycled material in the geotechnical engineering and roadwork has proved a great attraction. However, insufficient knowledge about mechanical characteristics of recycled glass as an aggregate and the shortage of information about the benefit of using it as the aggregate in unbound layers of pavement structures prevents its widespread use. This research program aims to study the advantages and disadvantages of using glass in base course materials from hydraulic and mechanical aspects. The program was divided into three parts. The first part was studying the physical and hydraulic properties of the separate sizes of RG and crushed limestone aggregate, as the reference material. In the second and third parts, the experimental tests were applied to trace the impact of utilizing RG blends with limestone as the unbound granular materials in the pavement structures. A wide range of geotechnical laboratory testing was analyzed to find conclusive evidence for the use of blends of this recycled material in road applications. The findings of this research show that RG blends can provide adequate drainage that is valuable to pavement performance during freeze-thaw cycles in cold region like province of Quebec. The properties of RG aggregate reveals that RG can be safely integrated in pavement base/subbase course regarding hydraulic aspects as well as mechanical aspects. However, it is recommended to limit RG ratio to 25% of fine fraction (0-5 mm) of base course aggregate to keep the least decrease of mechanical properties of blends

Analytical modelling and optimization of a piezoelectric cantilever energy harvester with in-span sttachment

In this paper, the location of masses and of a piezoelectric patch for energy harvesting reported onto a vibrating cantilever beam is studied and optimized. To this aim, a genetic algorithm is adapted and utilized to optimize the voltage amplitude generated by the piezoelectric patches by choosing attachment mass, attachment mass moment of inertia, attachment location, piezoelectric patch location and force location on the beam as parameters. While an analytical approach is proposed to evaluate the voltage amplitude, a multi-layer perceptron neural network is trained by the derived characteristic matrix to obtain an approximate function for natural frequencies based on the attachment parameters. The trained network is then used in the core of genetic algorithm to find the best optimization variables for any excitation frequency. Numerical simulation by COMSOL Multiphysics finite element software validates the calculated voltage by analytical approach. The optimization method successfully matches the natural frequency of the beam with the excitation frequency which therefore maximizes the output energy. On the other hand, the superiority of the optimized design over the conventional configuration in harvesting the energy at high frequency excitation is also approved