The Role of Chest CT Scan in Diagnosis of COVID-19

As the number of patients infected by COVID-19 increases worldwide, and in the absence of appropriate therapeutic drugs or vaccines, it is essential to detect patients with COVID-19 pneumonia at its early stages, in order to isolate the patients from healthy population. Computed tomography (CT) scan seems to be promising in detection of COVID-19 as shown in some studies

Generation of Al Nanoparticles via Laser Ablation in Deionized Water with Structural and Morphological Study

In this work, Al nanoparticles were generated using Pulsed Nd : YAG laser (1064 nm) ablation in water confined plasma. Productions were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED). Laser ablation of the Al target in deionized water leads to fabrication core-shell type structure due to partial oxidation in the water medium. The Nano sized core-shells are spherical in shape and have mean size ~ 16 nm. NPs were in the crystalline form as bulk Al. Obviously, the chemical composition of the Nano sized core-shells surface must be Al2O3 because of water medium

A Generic Assessment of Persian Translations of English Fairy Tales and Fairy Tales Written in Persian: From a Cultural Perspective

It is a commonly held belief that fairy tales as a major literary genre play a pivotal role in children's literature. Accordingly, the present study sought to investigate how the generic skeleton of fairy tales influences the quality of their translations into Persian for the children between 6 and 12 years old. To achieve this purpose, from among the English fairy tales translated into Persian, 15 works were selected based on a purposive sampling method. The contrastive analysis of the targeted texts written in both English and Persian revealed insightful facts about the interconnection between translators’ consideration of SL text generic sensitivities and the quality of translation. The findings revealed that there were no significant differences between English fairy tales and their corresponding Persian translations, in general. However, the results reflected particular cultural variations existing between SL and TL texts- that is, English fairy tales and fairy tales written in Persian. Notably, the results of the study may have important implications for both translation students and translation trainers

Gap between the expectations and perceptions of students regarding the educational services offered in a school of nursing and midwifery

Introduction: Awareness of students’ opinions about the various aspects of training provided is an essential factor to evaluate the quality of education. Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the gap between the students’ expectations and perceptions from the educational services provided to them in the School of Nursing and Midwifery in Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 320 students were selected by stratified random sampling method and data were collected by SERVQUAL questionnaire to examine the areas of assurance, responsiveness, empathy, tangibles and confidence. Data analysis was conducted by descriptive (frequency, percentage, mean±SD) and analytical (paired t-test, independent t-test and One-Way ANOVA) statistics in SPSS 20. Results: The mean scores of the students’ expectations and perceptions of the educational services delivered to them were 4.34±0.63 and 3.56±0.68, respectively, with a significant, negative gap (–0.77±0.77, p<0.001). The lowest gap of quality was derived for assurance (-0.65) followed by reliability (-0.69), accountability (-0.74), and empathy (-0.81), and the greatest gap observed in tangibles (-0.96). Conclusion: A negative gap was observed between the students’ expectations and perceptions of the quality of educational services delivered to them. This means that the quality of services delivered to students was less than what they expected. The highest gap was related to the tangibles. In order to improve the educational services, paying attention to different areas of quality of educational services, especially, the tangibles, is necessar

An Investigation of EFL Learners’ Mental Processes in L2 Writing: The Case of Iranian EFL Learners

Normal human communication manifests itself mostly either in written or spoken form. Examination of speech and writing processes enables psycholinguists to peek into the way people plan their language production. This article aimed to examine how EFL learners plan their writing activities. To this end, two groups of High proficiency (HPG) and Low proficiency (LPG) of 16 EFL students were asked to write an argumentative essay on the given topic. Based on the data obtained from their think-aloud protocols, retrospective interviews, and the comparisons of the two groups’ performance, it was found that both groups approached the writing task in a linear progression of three stages of Formulation, Execution, and Monitoring. However, there were differences in the ways the two groups planned their writing productions

Differences in Mean Platelet Volume and Platelet Count between Children with Simple and Complex Febrile Seizures

How to Cite This Article: Nikkhah A, Salehiomran MR, Asefi SS. Differences in Mean Platelet Volume and Platelet Count between Children with Simple and Complex Febrile Seizures. Iran J Child Neurol. Spring 2017; 11(2):44-47.AbstractObjectiveThe aim of our study was to find the relationship of MPV (Mean Platelet Volume) levels and platelet counts as markers of inflammation between simple and complex febrile seizures.Materials &amp; MethodsIn this retrospective comparative study, we investigated the recordings of 356 children between 5 months and 6 yr with diagnosis of simple and complex febrile seizure (SFS&amp;CFS) in Amircola’s Children’s Hospital, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran between Mar 2011 and Dec 2015.ResultsMean age was similar in two groups. The MPV of the CFS group (8.32±0.48fl) was lower than that of the SFS group (8.58±0.34fl) but this difference was not significant statistically. The platelet count of the CFS group (315.03×103 ±117.17×103) was higher than that of SFS group (291.82×103 ± 87.49×103) but there was no significant statistical difference.ConclusionWe did not find significant differences between two groups. Therefore, further studies about this idea should be performed. References 1. Commission on Epidemiology and Prognosis, International League Against Epilepsy. Guidelines for epidemiologic studies on epilepsy. Epilepsia 1993; 34:592–596.2. Shinnar S. Febrile seizure. In: Swaiman KF, Ashwal S, Ferriero DM, editors. Pediatric neurology principle &amp; practice. 4th ed, vol. 1.Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams &amp; Wilkins Press; 2006. P. 1079-1089.3. Shinnar S, Glauser TA. Febrile seizures. In: Pellock JM, Bourgeois FD, Edwin Dodson W. editors. Pediatric 47 epilepsy, Diagnosis &amp; Therapy. 3rd ed. New York: Demos Press; 2008. P. 293- 301. Shinnar S, Glauser TA. Febrile seizures. J Child Neurol 2002; 17(suppl1):S44-S52.4. Lux AL. Treatment of febrile seizures: historical perspective, current opinions, and potential future directions. Brain Dev 2010; 32(1):42-50.5. Jons T, Jacobsen S.J. Childhood Febrile Seizures: Overview and Implications. Int J Med Sci 2007; 4(2):110- 4.6. Iwasaki N, Nakayama J, Hamano K, et al. Molecular genetics of febrile seizures. Symposium I Epilepsia 2002; 43(9): 32-5.7. Amirsalari S, Keihani doust Z, Ahmadi M, et al. Relationship between iron deficiency anemia and febrile seizures. Iran J Child Neurol 2010; (4)1:27-30.8. Ghasemi F, Valizadeh F, Taee N. Iron-deficiency Anemia in Children with Febrile Seizures. A Case-Control Study. Iran J Child Neurol 2014; (8) 2:38-44.9. Bidabadi E, Mashouf M. Association between iron deficiency anemia and first febrile convulsion: a case-control study. Seizure 2009; 18: 347-51.10. Hartfield DS, Tan J, Yager JY, et al. The association between iron deficiency and febrile seizures in childhood. Clin Pediatr 2009; 48(4): 420-6.11. Ozaydin E, Arhan E, Cetinkaya B, et al. Differences in iron deficiency anemia and mean platelet volume between children with simple and complex febrile seizures. Seizure 2012; 21(3): 211-214.12. Weyrich AS. Platelets: more than a sack of glue. American Society of Hematology (ASH). Hematology 2014; 5(1):400-3.13. Rondina MT, Weyrich AS, Zimmerman GA. Platelets as cellular effectors of inflammation in vascular diseases. Circ Res 2013; 112(11):1506-1519.14. Semple JW, Italiano JE Jr, Freedman J. Platelet and the immune continuum. Nat Rev Immunol 2011; 11(4):264- 274.15. Mahmut Abuhandan, Abdullah Solmaz, et al. Evaluation of Selenium Levels and Mean Platelet Volume in Patients with Simple Febrile Convulsion. Iran J Pediatr 2014; 24(4):401-405

Classification-Based Adaptive Search Algorithm for Video Motion Estimation

A video sequence consists of a series of frames. In order to compress the video for efficient storage and transmission, the temporal redundancy among adjacent frames must be exploited. A frame is selected as reference frame and subsequent frames are predicted from the reference frame using a technique known as motion estimation. Real videos contain a mixture of motions with slow and fast contents. Among block matching motion estimation algorithms, the full search algorithm is known for its superiority in the performance over other matching techniques. However, this method is computationally very extensive. Several fast block matching algorithms (FBMAs) have been proposed in the literature with the aim to reduce computational costs while maintaining desired quality performance, but all these methods are considered to be sub-optimal. No fixed fast block matching algorithm can effi- ciently remove temporal redundancy of video sequences with wide motion contents. Adaptive fast block matching algorithm, called classification based adaptive search (CBAS) has been proposed. A Bayes classifier is applied to classify the motions into slow and fast categories. Accordingly, appropriate search strategy is applied for each class. The algorithm switches between different search patterns according to the content of motions within video frames. The proposed technique outperforms conventional stand-alone fast block matching methods in terms of both peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) and computational complexity. In addition, a new hierarchical method for detecting and classifying shot boundaries in video sequences is proposed which is based on information theoretic classification (ITC). ITC relies on likelihood of class label transmission of a data point to the data points in its vicinity. ITC focuses on maximizing the global transmission of true class labels and classify the frames into classes of cuts and non-cuts. Applying the same rule, the non-cut frames are also classified into two categories of arbitrary shot frames and gradual transition frames. CBAS is applied on the proposed shot detection method to handle camera or object motions. Experimental evidence demonstrates that our method can detect shot breaks with high accuracy

The effect of pregnant women attending in delivery preparation classes on their attitudes mode of delivery

Background and aims: One of the reasons for the increase of Caesarean section is women’s tend to choose this type of delivery. This tendency is due to unawareness and negative attitude of them toward normal vaginal delivery. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of attending women in childbirth preparation classes during pregnancy on their attitude toward mode of delivery. Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, 59 women in case and 58 in control groups were enrolled in health centers in Isfahan. Women were randomly divided into two groups and the case group participated in 8 sessions of 90-minute classes and the control group just received routine care. Data were gathered by a researcher- made questionnaire in the beginning of the study, after classes and two weeks after delivery in the two groups. Data were analyzed using SPSS software and ANOVA with repeated measures and independent t-test. Results: In case group there was a significant difference in the scores of women attitude before and after the intervention also between the scores before of the intervention and post-delivery (P<0.001). No significant difference was found in scores of attitude between post-delivery and after the intervention (P=0.393).The scores of attitude were significantly more in the case group after the intervention and post-delivery (P<0.001). Conclusion: Due to the positive effect of childbirth preparation classes on women's attitude toward normal vaginal delivery, it is proposed to create conditions in which all women and their companions have an easy access to these classes