Metal concentrations in razor clam Solen dactylus (Von Cosel, 1989) (Bivalvia: Solenidae), sediments and water in Golshahr coast of Bandar Abbas, Persian Gulf

In a complementary field study, the concentrations of some metals (Cu, Ag, Pb, Zn, Ni, Co, Mn, Fe, As, Cd, Cr, Mg and Ba) were measured in clam Solen dactylus, sediments and water collected at two stations (Park-e-Qadir, 56° 20/ E, 27° 11/ and Nakhl-e-Nakhoda, 56° 23/ E, 27° 10/ N) of Bandar Abbas coastal waters of the Persian Gulf in November 2008 and February 2009 showing different contamination levels. Although there is little information on metal concentrations in macro-benthic animals in this area, this study, for the first time, reports the accumulation of some metals in S. dactylus in order to introduce this species as a bioindicator for this area. Results indicated that Mg and Fe were the two most abundant metals in clams and sediments. The maximum and minimum metal concentrations in clams belonged to Mg (3850-5040 µgg-1 dry wt) and Ag (0.30-0.40-0.58 µgg-1 dry wt), respectively. There was a significant relationship between the accumulation of metals in clams, sediment and water samples. A significant relationship between clam lengths and concentrations of Cu (positive) and Mg (negative) were observed. Our study also showed that variable metal concentrations were related to different sampling stations, seasons and their interactions as well. Bioaccumulation of metals in clams was significantly different for eight metal elements between start of the gametogenesis and ripeness stages. Our investigation indicated that the clam S. dactylus could be a useful bioindicator for Zinc

Morphometric and meristic study of Garra rufa populations in Tigris and Persian Gulf Basins

This study was conducted to determine morphometric and meristic characteristics of Garra rufa in 13 stations of Tigris and Persian Gulf basins. We caught 310 specimens during the year 2007-2008 using electro-shocker and sachok. Univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) and principal component analysis were conducted and the ANOVA revealed significant differences in 28 morphometric and 9 meristic factors (P<0.05). Factor analysis showed that G. rufa of thirteen stations had 48.855% changes in 3 factors of the first morphometric characters (pectoral fin length, ventral fin length, depth of anal fin) and 71/611% changes in 3 factors of the first meristic characters (lateral line scales , circum peduncle scales, predorsal scales). Plotting the first and second principal component morphometric and meristic characters showed that the Mond River population was separated from the others but the other populations were overlapping with each other in the characteristics studied

The Effectiveness of Well-Being Therapy on Coping Strategies and Self-Efficacy of Patients with Chronic Neuropathic Pain

Background and Objective: Neuropathic diseases are neurodegenerative conditions and a wide and difficult group of peripheral nerve diseases in humans. Since well-being therapy emphasizes the high levels of six domains of psychological well-being, this study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of well-being therapy on pain coping strategies and self-efficacy of patients with chronic neuropathic pain. Methods: This clinical trial was conducted on 30 chronic neuropathic patients referred to Ayatollah Rouhani hospital in Babol and a neurologist's private office in two groups of experimental and control (n=15). Well-being therapy was performed in 8 sessions of 120 minutes, once a week for the experimental group, while the control group received the routine treatment. After the follow-up period, the control group also underwent psychotherapy. Both groups completed questionnaires of pain coping strategies (Rosenstiel and Keefe, 1985) and pain self-efficacy (Nicholas, 1989) in the pre-test, post-test and follow-up (two months after the post-test) and were compared. Findings: The results showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the two experimental and control groups in the score of the subscales of pain coping strategies in distraction from pain (23.13±3.88 versus 11.47±7.34) (p<0.001), reinterpretation of pain (17.33±5.56 versus 13.0±8.65) (p=0.114), catastrophizing (10.0±6.24 versus 16.33±5.4) (p<0.001), ignoring pain (24.4±6.67 versus 12.6±5.11) (p<0.001), hoping/praying (29.13±9.97 versus 22.4±5.7) (p=0.031), self-talk (25±4.03 versus 21.2±4.79) (p=0.026), behavioral activation (20.47±4.43 versus 11.20±4.94) (p<0.001) and pain self-efficacy (43.2±9.45 versus 33.33±13.34) (p=0.027). These results were maintained in the follow-up period. Conclusion: The present study showed that wellness therapy can be an effective intervention in improving pain coping strategies and increasing pain self-efficacy in chronic neuropathic patients

The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Group Therapy on Psychological Capital in Cardiovascular Patients in Babol

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Psychological capital is one of the positive psychological indices that is defined by the characteristics of optimism, perseverance, positive self-efficacy, and tolerance. This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment group therapy on psychological capital in cardiovascular patients in Babol. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was performed among 24 cardiovascular patients who referred to governmental and non-governmental medical centers of Babol in two groups of 12 based on pretest-posttest design. The therapy based on acceptance and commitment was performed for the experimental group in 8 sessions. Participants were re-evaluated one month after the sessions, and psychological capital was evaluated according to self-efficacy, hope, tolerance and optimism subscales. FINDINGS: The results of the study showed that there was a significant difference between the subscales of the psychological capital in the experimental and control groups in tolerance (3.53±0.48 vs. 2.88±0.67) (p6.03) and optimism (40.6±0.56 vs. 2.94±0.66) (p>26.459). CONCLUSION: The present study showed that acceptance and commitment therapy could be considered as an effective intervention in increasing the psychological capital of cardiovascular patients

A novel pathogenic variant of SRD5A2 in an Iranian psuedohermaphrodite male

Deficiency of the 5-alpha-reductase may have an important role in 46,XY DSD in some cohorts. The prenatal ultrasonography and karyotyping can trigger the attention toward the presence of a DSD in fetus. © 2020 The Authors. Clinical Case Reports published by John Wiley & Sons Lt

Lithium decreases streptozocin-induced diabetic neuropathy in rats by inhibiting of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) degradation

One of the most frequent complications of diabetes is diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Hyperglycemia would result in the advancement of this condition over a period of time. The most effective way in preventing diabetic neuropathy is regular control of glucose. In this study; we evaluated the effects of lithium onstreptozocin (STZ)-induced diabetic neuropathy in rats. Diabetic neuropathy was created 7 weeks after administration of STZ (45 mg/kg). Lithium was added to drinking water (450 mg/l) for 7 weeks and its plasma level after this period of time was 0.17±0.02 mmol/l. Levels of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons, oxidative stress parameters, open-field activity test and morphological analysis were assessed in this investigation. Currentresults showed significant elevation of oxidative stress biomarkers, reduction of ATP, abnormal morphology of DRG neurons and decrease of total distance moved in rats with STZ-induced diabetic neuropathy. The alterations in mentioned parameters were considerably restored by lithium treatment. These findings provide evidence for protective effects of lithium on STZ-induced diabetic neuropathy. © 2018 Tehran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Multi-period Project Portfolio Selection under Risk considerations and Stochastic Income

This paper deals with multi-period project portfolio selection problem. In this problem, the available budget is invested on the best portfolio of projects in each period such that the net profit is maximized. We also consider more realistic assumptions to cover wider range of applications than those reported in previous studies. A novel mathematical model is presented to solve the problem, considering risks, stochastic incomes, and possibility of investing extra budget in each time period. Due to the complexity of the problem, an effective meta-heuristic method hybridized with a local search procedure is presented to solve the problem. The algorithm is based on genetic algorithm (GA), which is a prominent method to solve this type of problems. The GA is enhanced by a new solution representation and well selected operators. It also is hybridized with a local search mechanism to gain better solution in shorter time. The performance of the proposed algorithm is then compared with well-known algorithms, like basic genetic algorithm (GA), particle swarm optimization (PSO), and electromagnetism-like algorithm (EM-like) by means of some prominent indicators. The computation results show the superiority of the proposed algorithm in terms of accuracy, robustness and computation time. At last, the proposed algorithm is wisely combined with PSO to improve the computing time considerably