Investigation on factors affecting drug delivery using polymers and phospholipids.

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Study of Physicochemical Properties of Hydroquinone Nanofibers

Introduction:  Melasma is a common hypermelanotic disorder affecting the face that is associated with considerable psychological impacts that one of the treatment options is hydroquinone. The phenolic and hydroquinone derivatives and derivatives thereof, including the sesquiterpenoid hydroquinone and quinone, are widely used to inhibit bacteria, fungi and viruses, on the other Polymeric drug delivery system are able to improve therapeutic efficacy, reduce toxicity, and prolong drug release by adjusting the degradation rate of the polymer. So in this study we product and investigate of antifungal activity of Hydroquinone nanofibers. Methods and Results:  Films containing hydroquinone were produced from electrospining method. The physicochemical properties of prepared films were investigated by electronic microscopy and FTIR. Physical stability and degradation rate of nanofibers as well as the rate of hydroquinone release were also studied. In this study, the antifungal effects of hydroquinone were studied in laboratory conditions. The release test revealed that the release rate of hydroquinone nanofibers increased with increase in temperature. Hydroquinone prevents the growth of the fungal species of Candida albicans Conclusions:  Hydroquinone is widely used in the treatment of melasma, but no report has yet been made of the use of hydroquinone in the treatment of fungal diseases. Antifungal effects of hydroquinone on the Candida albicans species have been tested in laboratory conditions and its positive effect has been determined

Towards Understanding the Benefits and Challenges of Demand Responsive Public Transit- A Case Study in the City of Charlotte, NC

Access to adequate public transportation plays a critical role in inequity and socio-economic mobility, particularly in low-income communities. Low-income workers who rely heavily on public transportation face a spatial disparity between home and work, which leads to higher unemployment, longer job searches, and longer commute times. The overarching goal of this study is to get initial data that would result in creating a connected, coordinated, demand-responsive, and efficient public bus system that minimizes transit gaps for low-income, transit-dependent communities. To create equitable metropolitan public transportation, this paper evaluates existing CATS mobile applications that assist passengers in finding bus routes and arrival times. Our community survey methodology includes filling out questionnaires on Charlotte's current bus system on specific bus lines and determining user acceptance for a future novel smart technology. We have also collected data on the demand and transit gap for a real-world pilot study, Sprinter bus line, Bus line 7, Bus line 9, and Bus lines 97-99. These lines connect all of Charlotte City's main areas and are the most important bus lines in the system. On the studied routes, the primary survey results indicate that the current bus system has many flaws, the major one being the lack of proper timing to meet the needs of passengers. The most common problems are long commutes and long waiting times at stations. Moreover, the existing application provides inaccurate information, and on average, 80 percent of travelers and respondents are inclined to use new technology.Comment: 22 pages, 54 figure

The effects of aerobic exercise with lavender essence use on cognitive state and serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels in elderly with mild cognitive impairment

Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of 12-week aerobic exercise and lavender essence on cognitive states and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels of elderly with mild cognitive impairment (MCI).Methods: In this clinical study, 40 elderly whose scores for mini–mental state examination (MMSE) ranged 21 to 25 were purposively selected by simple sampling. They were randomly divided into 4 equal groups: aerobic exercise, lavender extract, aerobic-lavender. and placebo. They underwent their respective treatments for 12 weeks. The aerobic exercise consisted of 8-minute running session with intensity of 75-85 HRR Max for the first session. One minute was added to the running span after each 2 sessions. Accordingly, the running span reached 26 minutes at the end of the 12-week exercise period. To conduct treatment with lavender, 2 drops of lavender essence were administered twice a day. Before and after the treatments, cognitive state was measured and blood samples collected to measure BDNF.Results: BDNF levels of the exercise and exercise + lavender groups increased significantly compared to those of the other 2 groups (P < 0.05). In addition, the cognitive states of the 3 intervention groups increased significantly compared to that of the placebo group (P < 0.05).Conclusion: Combination of 12-week aerobic exercise and lavender may decelerate or probably halt the progressive process of the impairment via improving the cognitive state in elderly with MCI

Association of Body Surface Area and Body Composition with Heart Structural Characteristics of Female Swimmers

In healthy nonathletic populations, some left ventricle (LV) parameters such as LV mass (LVM) and LV end diastolic dimension (LVEDD) can be predicted by some of body size parameters such as body surface area (BSA), fat-free mass (FFM), and height (H). These body size parameters use to remove covariate influence of body size from cardiac dimension variables and allow comparisons to be made between individuals and groups of different body size. Endurance exercise has been associated with changes in LV size and body composition of athletes. The aim of this study was to evaluate in 30 trained female swimmers (age range 12-17 years) possible correlations between BSA, FFM, fat mass (FM) determined by bioelectrical impedance analyzer(BIA); and a range of cardiac dimensions derived by echocardiography. Univariate correlations were studied between left ventricular and body size variables. Stepwise multiple linear regression was performed to determine the best determinants of LV variables. LVM and LVEDD had a significant relation with FFM and BSA (p\u3c0.001), (p\u3c0.05) respectively. Left ventricle posterior wall thickness (PWT) had a significant relation with BSA (p\u3c0.001) and FFM (p\u3c0.005). No relation was found between heart’s structural variable (LVM, LVEDD, LVESD and PWT) and FM. Using a multivariate regression analysis, FFM was the only independent predictor of both LVM (R2=0.541, p\u3c0.001) and LVEDD (R2=0.189, P\u3c0.05). These results suggest that Correction of LVM and LVEDD by FFM in athletes may be more appropriate than other measures of body size for indexing absolute amounts of LV dimension. Yet further researches in other athletes are required to confirm these findings. Key words: Indexation, LVM, LVEDD, fat-free mass, athlet

System for evaluating effects of immersion in molten copper chloride salts on corrosion resistant coatings

Hydrogen, as one of the best alternative energy carrier candidates, is easier to sustain than fossil fuel. Hydrogen demand has significantly increased as a clean energy carrier. The Cu-Cl cycle is one of the capable thermochemical cycles which is supposed to develop hydrogen production. Since this cycle has some high temperature stages, a study on these parts is essential to realize the entirety of the cycle. This research is about designing a system to evaluate candidate coatings following an immersion test in molten CuCl at 500??C for a prolonged time. Medium carbon steel was selected as the base metal. There were six types of combination coatings applied to evaluate the corrosion resistance of the generated coatings during the molten CuCl exposure??

The effect of continuous and intermittent training on resting level and acute response of salivary IgA and total protein in male basketball players

زمینه و هدف: ایمونوگلوبولین A بزاقی (S-IgA) اصلی ترین بخش سیستم ایمنی در مجاری تنفسی فوقانی می باشد. این مطالعه با هدف بررسی تاثیر تمرینات تداومی و تناوبی بر سطوح استراحتی و پاسخ سریع ایمنی مخاطی انجام شده است. روش بررسی: در این مطالعه نیمه تجربی 20 بسکتبالیست مرد به مدت هشت هفته تمرینات تداومی و تناوبی را انجام دادند. پنج میلی لیتر بزاق تحریک نشده قبل، بلافاصله و یکساعت پس از پایان یک جلسه فعالیت در آغاز و پایان دوره جهت تعیین پاسخ سریع ایمنی مخاطی جمع آوری شد. همچنین هر دو هفته یکبار قبل از تمرین نمونه های بزاقی جمع آوری شد. میزان ایمنوگلوبولین A و پروتئین تام بزاق اندازه گیری و داده ها به کمک آزمون های آماری اسمیرنوف-کولموگروف تحلیل واریانس یک طرفه و t زوجی تجزیه و تحلیل گردید. یافته ها: یک جلسه فعالیت در آغاز هفته اول موجب کاهش معنی دار S-IgA شد (001/0

A Novel Neural Network Approach for Predicting the Arrival Time of Buses for Smart On-Demand Public Transit

Among the major public transportation systems in cities, bus transit has its problems, including more accuracy and reliability when estimating the bus arrival time for riders. This can lead to delays and decreased ridership, especially in cities where public transportation is heavily relied upon. A common issue is that the arrival times of buses do not match the schedules, resulting in latency for fixed schedules. According to the study in this paper on New York City bus data, there is an average delay of around eight minutes or 491 seconds mismatch between the bus arrivals and the actual scheduled time. This research paper presents a novel AI-based data-driven approach for estimating the arrival times of buses at each transit point (station). Our approach is based on a fully connected neural network and can predict the arrival time collectively across all bus lines in large metropolitan areas. Our neural-net data-driven approach provides a new way to estimate the arrival time of the buses, which can lead to a more efficient and smarter way to bring the bus transit to the general public. Our evaluation of the network bus system with more than 200 bus lines, and 2 million data points, demonstrates less than 40 seconds of estimated error for arrival times. The inference time per each validation set data point is less than 0.006 ms

The Effect of Short-Term Treadmill Exercise on the Expression Level of TFAM in the Heart of Nicotine-Sensitized Rats

Introduction: TFAM (mitochondrial transcription factor A) is involved in mitochondrial biogenesis and induces anti-oxidant and anti-apoptotic effects. Nicotine can also alter the function of cardiovascular system and induce heart failure and other heart diseases. Interestingly, it has been reported that exercise can interfere with the effects of nicotine, and change the expression pattern of different genes. The goal of the present study was to investigate the effect of short-term treadmill exercise on the expression level of TFAM in the heart of nicotine-sensitized rats.Materials and Methods: Nicotine was administered intraperitoneally at the dose of 0.21 mg/kg. Treadmill exercise was performed during 14 days, according to the study’s protocol.Results: The results revealed that nicotine reduced the expression of TFAM. The treadmill (Fourteen-day training) increased the expression of TFAM in the heart of the control rats. Furthermore, 14-day training with treadmill restored the effect of nicotine on the expression of TFAM in nicotine-sensitized rats.Conclusion: Nicotine induced pro-apoptotic and anti-oxidative stress effects via down-regulating the expression of TFAM. Fourteen -day training with treadmill induced a protective effect against nicotine-induced cardiac apoptosis and oxidative stress, via restoring the effect of nicotine on TFAM. The results are indicative of the fact that short-term treadmill exercise may decrease the risk of heart failure and other cardiac diseases.