The effect of family training and support on the quality of life and cost of hospital readmissions in congestive heart failure patients in Iran

Background: This study was conducted to investigate the effects of family training and support on quality of life and cost of hospital readmissions in congestive heart failure patients. Methods: In this single-blinded, randomized, controlled trial, the participants were heart failure patients hospitalized in an Iranian hospital. Data were collected from available hospitalized patients. The participants were enrolled through randomized sampling and were divided randomly into two groups, an intervention group and a control group. The intervention group received extra training package for the disease. Training was provided at discharge and three months after. A standard questionnaire to assess the QoL was filled out by both groups at discharge and six months after. Results: Mean scores of QoL domains at the beginning of the study decreased in control group and increased in intervention in comparison with six months after (p < 0.01). Conclusion: Nursing care follow-up according to heart failure patients' needs promoted their QoL

Detection and sequencing of phosphopeptides affinity bound to immobilized metal ion beads by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry

AbstractConsecutive enzymatic reactions of analytes which are affinity bound to immobilized metal ion beads with subsequent direct analysis of the products by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry have been used for detecting phosphorylation sites. The usefulness of this method was demonstrated by analyzing two commercially available phosphoproteins, β-casein and α-casein, as well as one phosphopeptide from a kinase reaction mixture. Agarose loaded with either Fe3+ or Ga3+ was used to isolate phosphopeptides from the protein digest. Results from using either metal ion were complementary. Less overall suppression effect was achieved when Ga3+-loaded agarose was used to isolate phosphopeptides. The selectivity for monophosphorylated peptides, however, was better with Fe3+-loaded agarose. This technique is easy to use and has the ability to analyze extremely complicated phosphopeptide mixtures. Moreover, it eliminates the need for prior high-performance liquid chromatography separation or radiolabeling, thus greatly simplifying the sample preparation

Reversing conditional orderings

We analyze some specific aspects concerning conditional orderings and relations among them. To this purpose we define a suitable concept of reversed conditional ordering and prove some related results. In particular we aim to compare the univariate stochastic orderings ≤ st, ≤ hr, and ≤ lr in terms of differences among different notions of conditional orderings. Some applications of our result to the analysis of positive dependence will be detailed. We concentrate attention to the case of a pair of scalar random variables X, Y ​. Suitable extensions to multivariate cases are possible

Određivanje donepezil hidroklorida u humanoj plazmi i ljekovitim oblicima pomoću HPLC s detekcijom fluorescencije

A sensitive, isocratic reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatographic method involving fluorescence detection was developed for the determination of donepezil hydrochloride in tablets and in human plasma. Pindolol was successfully used as an internal standard. Good chromatographic separation was achieved by using analytical column C18. The system operated at room temperature using a mobile phase consisting of methanol, phosphate buffer (0.02 mol L1) and triethyl amine (pH 3.5) (55: 45: 0.5 V/V/V) at a flow rate 0.9 mL min1. The analyte and internal standard were extracted from human plasma via liquid-liquid extraction. The proposed method was validated for selectivity, linearity, accuracy and precision. The calibration curve was linear over the range of 5-2000 ng mL1 of donepezil with detection limit of 1.5 ng mL1. Intra- and inter-day relative standard deviations were less than 2.5 %. The method was found to be suitable for the quality control of donepezil hydrochloride in bulk drug as well as in human plasma.Ovaj rad opisuje HPLC metodu određivanja donepezil hidroklorida (DP) u tabletama i u ljudskoj plazmi u nano području. Postavljena je osjetljiva metoda izokratične HPLC s fluorescencijskom detekcijom. Kao unutarnji standard upotrebljen je pindolol. Dobro kromatografsko odjeljivanje postignuto je primjenom analitičke kolone C18. Radna temperatura bila je sobna, a kao mobilna faza upotrebljena je smjesa metanola, fosfatnog pufera (0,02 mol L1) i trietilamina (pH 3,5) (55:45:0.5 V/V/V). Analit i unutarnji standard su ekstrahirani iz ljudske plazme ekstrakcijom tekuće-tekuće. Predložena metoda je validirana s obzirom na selektivnost, područje linearnosti, ispravnost i preciznost. Kalibracijska funkcija bila je linearna u području od 5-2000 ng mL1 donepezila, a granica detekcije iznosila je 2 ng mL1. Relativna standardna devijacija za repetabilnost i intermedijarnu preciznost bila je manja od 2,5 %. Metoda je primjenljliva u kontroli kvalitete ljekovitih formulacija s DP-om i u praćenju DP-a u ljudskoj plazmi

On conditional skewness with applications to environmental data

The statistical literature contains many univariate and multivariate skewness measures that allow two datasets to be compared, some of which are defined in terms of quantile values. In most situations, the comparison between two random vectors focuses on univariate comparisons of conditional random variables truncated in quantiles; this kind of comparison is of particular interest in the environmental sciences. In this work, we describe a new approach to comparing skewness in terms of the univariate convex transform ordering proposed by van Zwet (Convex transformations of random variables. Mathematical Centre Tracts, Amsterdam, 1964), associated with skewness as well as concentration. The key to these comparisons is the underlying dependence structure of the random vectors. Below we describe graphical tools and use several examples to illustrate these comparisons.The research of Félix Belzunce, Julio Mulero and José María Ruíz is partially funded by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Spain) under Grant MTM2012-34023-FEDER. Alfonso Suárez-Llorens acknowledges support received from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Spain) under Grant MTM2014-57559-P

Post-traumatic colon ruptures in Isfahan and Kashan, 2007-2009

Background: As trauma is the leading cause of mortality and related complications in Iran, colon rupture and injury during trauma is of much importance as well. In present study through a three-year epidemiological study, cases of colon ruptures and injuries along with the diagnostic and therapeutic approaches in Isfahan Al-Zahra and Kashan Shahid Beheshti hospitals were reviewed.Materials and Methods: During a three-year period (2007-9), a number of 28 patients with post-traumatic colon ruptures were studied in two educational hospitals of Isfahan and Kashan. This retrospective survey was based on the patients' medical records. Collected data was included of sex, age, cause and site of rupture, clinical manifestations, type of surgical treatment, mortality, and length of hospital stay. Results: Fourteen patients (50) had penetrating and another 14 ones (50) blunt traumas. Mean age for the penetrating and blunt traumas were 26/21 ±11/98 and 35/07 ±16/8 years, respectively. The most reported injury sites were sigmoid and transverse colon for blunt and penetrating traumas, respectively. Colostomy with or without repair has often been performed for the penetrating traumas. One penetrating trauma case (7/2) and 5 blunt trauma cases (35/7) have deceased in the hospital. In terms of the severity of peritonitis, in penetrating trauma patients, 10 cases (71/4) and 4 cases (28/5)) were in stage I and stage IV, respectively, but for blunt traumas, 12 cases (85/7) and one case (7/2) and one case (7/2) were in stage I, stage III, and stage IV, respectively, with no significant difference between the two groups. Average length of hospital stay was 13/07±7/97 (range 6-28) days for penetrating traumas and 11/71±9/8 (range 6-40) days for blunt traumas, with no significant difference between two groups.Conclusion: Summing up, the study demonstrates that cases of post-traumatic colon rupture are in accordance with other causes of colon rupture in terms of mortality. In spite of the suggestions of reference texts and regarding the lower severity of the peritonitis, in most penetrating traumas, surgeons still resort to colostomy as a supporting factor for repairing or even as an independent treating approach

Optimal allocation of policy deductibles for exchangeable risks

© 2016 Elsevier B.V. Let X1,…,Xn be a set of n continuous and non-negative random variables, with log-concave joint density function f, faced by a person who seeks for an optimal deductible coverage for these n risks. Let d=(d1,…dn) and d∗=(d1∗,…dn∗) be two vectors of deductibles such that d∗ is majorized by d. It is shown that ∑i=1n(Xi∧di∗) is larger than ∑i=1n(Xi∧di) in stochastic dominance, provided f is exchangeable. As a result, the vector (∑i=1ndi,0,…,0) is an optimal allocation that maximizes the expected utility of the policyholder's wealth. It is proven that the same result remains to hold in some situations if we drop the assumption that f is log-concave.status: publishe

Clearance of Brucella with formulation rCagA, TN-OMPs & LPS in mice

The development of vaccines against Brucella is necessary. The formulations rCagA/OMP/LPS were evaluated against the clearance of Brucella. All of the mouse groups were immunized three times orally and followed two times by IM. Two weeks after the last immunization mice were challenged with B. abortus strain 544. Blood and spleen samples were collected from mice. Antigen-specific interleukine responses were measured in the spleen of immunized mice before and post-challenge by ELISA. Specific IgG1,2 isotopes were measured from sera before and after challenge. Sandwich ELISA assays were used to determine IFN-γ, IL-4 and IL-10 levels in the supernatants of the splenocyte cells. Statistical analysis of IFN-γ titers indicated a significant difference between all groups with Mock (p = 0.00). However, there was no significant difference between other groups. Furthermore, the analysis of IL-10 titers had similar results. The statistical analysis for IL-4 showed a significant difference between rCagA with LPS-rCagA conjugate and LPS-rCagA+ CpG groups (p = 0.001). Statistical analysis between IFN-γ and IL-4 titers showed a significant difference among all groups (p = 0.00). Statistical analysis between IFN and IL-10 titers showed a significant difference among all groups (p = 0.00). Statistical analysis between IL-10 and IL-4 titers showed no significant difference in any group. Clearance finally was 7 log with OMP/rCagA against B. abortus strain 544. Immunization with the current combination was safe in animal models and was able to induce appropriate responses and also decrease Brucella colonization. © 202