Effet du type de station forestière sur la rigidité du bois de Thuya de Maghreb (Tetraclinis articulata). Application de la méthode acoustique dans les mesures de module de Young

Le Thuya de Maghreb, Tetraclinis articulata, est une essence endémique de la méditerranée Sud Occidental, surtout dans les trois pays de Maghreb. Dans ce contexte, nous avons choisi 10 arbres de Tetraclinis provenant de trois stations, écologiquement distinctes, situées dans un massif forestier purement méditerranéen, pour déterminer le module d'élasticité longitudinale par la méthode acoustique. Cette méthode acoustique non standard mettant en oeuvre un dispositif conçu au Cirad-forêt (France) permet de mesurer le module d'Young EL d'éprouvette sans défaut et donner des résultats très similaires à ceux de la méthode mécanique. Nous avons étudié aussi l'influence des facteurs stationnels sur ce module. Les résultats obtenus indiquent que le bois de Thuya doit être qualifié comme un bois lourds, son module de Young est faible. L'analyse de la variance à deux critères de classification hiérarchisée a montré que l'effet type de station et l'effet arbre dans la station sont toujours significatif. Le bois de cette essence présente une faible rigidité surtout dans les stations de climat sub-humide à altitudes faibles

Comparison of four methods for isolation of Yersinia enterocolitica from raw and pasteurized milk from northern Iran

Four methods for isolation of Yersinia enterocolitica from raw and pasteurized milk from northern Iran were compared. Three hundred and ten raw milk samples were collected from tanks on their arrival at various central dairies, and 40 pasteurized milk samples were collected from tanks on their arrival at a manufacturing plant. Each sample was examined for the presence of Y. enterocolitica by (1) direct culture; (2) enrichment in double-strength buffered peptone water at 4°C for 1 month; (3) enrichment in modified Rappaport medium at room temperature for 72 h after a preenrichment in double-strength peptone water at 4°C for 1 month; and (4) enrichment in a medium containing sucrose, tris (hydroxymethyl) aminomethane, sodium azide, and ampicillin at 28°C for 48 h after a preenrichment in double-strength peptone water at 4°C for 1 month. All samples and enrichments were spread on MacConkey agar plus calcium chloride and Tween 80, Yersinia selective agar, and Hektoen medium plus ampicillin. Five samples (1.6%) of raw milk but no pasteurized milk samples were positive for Y. enterocolitica. No Y. enterocolitica were recovered by methods 1 or 2. Y. enterocolitica were recovered from 2 samples by method 3 followed by culture on Yersinia selective agar, and from 5 samples by method 4 followed by culture on Hektoen medium plus ampicillin. The isolates were biotype 1A or 1B, serotype O:7-13 or O:9 and phage type Xo or Xz. All isolates were resistant to ampicillin and amoxicillin, and sensitive to tetracycline, streptomycin, chloramphenicol, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Evaluation of SOVAT: An OLAP-GIS decision support system for community health assessment data analysis

Background. Data analysis in community health assessment (CHA) involves the collection, integration, and analysis of large numerical and spatial data sets in order to identify health priorities. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) enable for management and analysis using spatial data, but have limitations in performing analysis of numerical data because of its traditional database architecture. On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) is a multidimensional datawarehouse designed to facilitate querying of large numerical data. Coupling the spatial capabilities of GIS with the numerical analysis of OLAP, might enhance CHA data analysis. OLAP-GIS systems have been developed by university researchers and corporations, yet their potential for CHA data analysis is not well understood. To evaluate the potential of an OLAP-GIS decision support system for CHA problem solving, we compared OLAP-GIS to the standard information technology (IT) currently used by many public health professionals. Methods. SOVAT, an OLAP-GIS decision support system developed at the University of Pittsburgh, was compared against current IT for data analysis for CHA. For this study, current IT was considered the combined use of SPSS and GIS ("SPSS-GIS"). Graduate students, researchers, and faculty in the health sciences at the University of Pittsburgh were recruited. Each round consisted of: an instructional video of the system being evaluated, two practice tasks, five assessment tasks, and one post-study questionnaire. Objective and subjective measurement included: task completion time, success in answering the tasks, and system satisfaction. Results. Thirteen individuals participated. Inferential statistics were analyzed using linear mixed model analysis. SOVAT was statistically significant (α = .01) from SPSS-GIS for satisfaction and time (p < .002). Descriptive results indicated that participants had greater success in answering the tasks when using SOVAT as compared to SPSS-GIS. Conclusion. Using SOVAT, tasks were completed more efficiently, with a higher rate of success, and with greater satisfaction, than the combined use of SPSS and GIS. The results from this study indicate a potential for OLAP-GIS decision support systems as a valuable tool for CHA data analysis. © 2008 Scotch et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

Molecular detection of TEM broad spectrum β-lactamase in clinical isolates of Escherichia coli

Resistance to β-lactam antibiotics, along with clinical isolates, frequently results to production of β- lactamase enzymes. In recent years, the production of extended spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) among clinical isolates, especially Escherichia coli has greatly increased. On the other hand, β lactamase genes have several subfamilies, and designing universal primers could be valuable to detect all of them. The beta lactamase enzyme producing E. coli, resistant to β-lactam antibiotics, created many problems for the patients. The TEM gene is responsible for β-lactamase resistance. The purpose of this study was to find out the percentage of E. coli strains that carry TEM in genes. In total, 500 clinical samples were collected from different Hospitals in Tehran. All the samples were isolated on EMB and MacConkey agar and incubated at 37°C for 24 h. The identification was carried out by conventional biochemical tests. Out of the 500 samples, 200 were identified as E. coli. The TEM gene was determined by PCR method on the isolates, which were already identified as Phenotypic by disk diffusion agar and combined disk. Out of the 200 isolated E. coli strains, 128 (64%) were producing ESBls. The PCR results show that 74 isolates of E. coli (57.8%) had the TEM gene. Our findings show that the majority of the ESBL positive clinical isolates of E. coli carried the TEM gene.Key words: Escherichia coli, β-lactamase enzymes, TEM-type extended spectrum beta-lactamases

Epidemiology, etiology and outcomes of burn patients in a referral burn hospital, Tehran

Background: Burns and its complications are regarded as a major problem in the society. Skin injuries resulted from ultraviolet radiation, radioactivity, electricity or chemicals as well as respiratory damage from smoke inhalation are considered burns. This study aimed to determine the epidemiology and outcome of burn patients admitted to Motahari Hospital, Tehran, Iran. Methods: Two hundred patients with second-degree burns admitted to Motahari Referral Center of Burn in Tehran, Iran. They were studied during a period of 12 months from May 2012 to May 2013. During the first week of treatment swabs were collected from the burn wounds after cleaning the site with sterile normal saline. Samples were inoculated in blood agar and McConkey agar, then incubation at 37 °C for 48 hours. Identification was carried out according to standard conventional biochemical tests. Treatment continued up to epithelial formation and wound healing. Results of microbial culture for each patient was recorded. Healing time of the burn wounds in patients was recorded in log books. Chi-square test and SPSS Software v.19 (IBM, NY, USA) were used for data analysis. Results: Our findings indicate that the most causes of burns are hot liquids in 57 of cases and flammable liquid in 21 of cases. The most cases of burns were found to be in the range of 21 to 30 percent with 17.5 and 7 in male and female respectively. Gram-negative bacteria were dominated in 85.7 and among them pseudomonas spp. with 37.5 were the most common cause of infected burns, followed by Enterobacter, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Acinetobacter and Klebsiella spp. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the most cause of burns in both sex is hot liquid. Men were more expose to burn than women and this might be due to the fact that men are involved in more dangerous jobs than female. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the most common organism encountered in burn infection. © 2016, Tehran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Hybrid Deep Convolutional Neural Networks Combined with Autoencoders And Augmented Data To Predict The Look-Up Table 2006

This study explores the development of a hybrid deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) model enhanced by autoencoders and data augmentation techniques to predict critical heat flux (CHF) with high accuracy. By augmenting the original input features using three different autoencoder configurations, the model\u27s predictive capabilities were significantly improved. The hybrid models were trained and tested on a dataset of 7225 samples, with performance metrics including the coefficient of determination (R2), Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), mean absolute error (MAE), and normalized root-mean-squared error (NRMSE) used for evaluation. Among the tested models, the DCNN_3F-A2 configuration demonstrated the highest accuracy, achieving an R2 of 0.9908 during training and 0.9826 during testing, outperforming the base model and other augmented versions. These results suggest that the proposed hybrid approach, combining deep learning with feature augmentation, offers a robust solution for CHF prediction, with the potential to generalize across a wider range of conditions.11 pages, 6 figure

Epidemiologic Risk Factors for In Situ and Invasive Breast Cancers Among Postmenopausal Women in the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study

Comparing risk factor associations between invasive breast cancers and possible precursors may further our understanding of factors related to initiation versus progression. Accordingly, among 190,325 postmenopausal participants in the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study (1995-2011), we compared the association between risk factors and incident ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS; n = 1,453) with that of risk factors and invasive ductal carcinomas (n = 7,525); in addition, we compared the association between risk factors and lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS; n = 186) with that of risk factors and invasive lobular carcinomas (n = 1,191). Hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals were estimated from multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models. We used case-only multivariable logistic regression to test for heterogeneity in associations. Younger age at menopause was associated with a higher risk of DCIS but lower risks of LCIS and invasive ductal carcinomas (P for heterogeneity < 0.01). Prior breast biopsy was more strongly associated with the risk of LCIS than the risk of DCIS (P for heterogeneity = 0.04). Increased risks associated with use of menopausal hormone therapy were stronger for LCIS than DCIS (P for heterogeneity = 0.03) and invasive lobular carcinomas (P for heterogeneity < 0.01). Associations were similar for race, age at menarche, age at first birth, family history, alcohol consumption, and smoking status, which suggests that most risk factor associations are similar for in situ and invasive cancers and may influence early stages of tumorigenesis. The differential associations observed for various factors may provide important clues for understanding the etiology of certain breast cancers

Attributable Outcomes of Endemic Clostridium difficile–associated Disease in Nonsurgical Patients

CDAD led to significantly worse outcomes in these patients

IMPACT OF ROUX-EN-Y GASTRIC BYPASS SURGERY (RYGB) ON METABOLIC SYNDROME COMPONENTS AND ON THE USE OF ASSOCIATED DRUGS IN OBESE PATIENTS

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND The prevalence of obesity and metabolic syndrome is increasing worldwide and both behavior modification and drug therapy have low adherence. Gastric bypass has shown effective results in both reducing weight and improving comorbidities. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the impact of Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass Surgery (RYGB) on both metabolic syndrome components and the use of associated drugs in obese patients. METHODS Historical cohort of patients subjected to Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass Surgery (RYGB) between January 2007 and March 2014 in a private clinic. The sample consisted of 273 obese class II and III individuals, 86.4% of whom were female, with age ≥20 years, followed up for 2 months after surgery. Sociodemographic, anthropometric, biochemical, clinical, and drug-use data were collected from patients’ medical records. RESULTS Significant differences were found in weight, body mass index and waist circumference, after 60 postoperative days. Components for metabolic syndrome diagnosis (hypertension P=0.001; hyperglycemia P<0.001; hypertriglyceridemia P=0.006) were reduced after 60 days of postoperative, with the exception HDL-c (P=0.083). There was a significant reduction in the use of antihypertensive (P<0.001), hypoglycemic (P=0.013), lipid lowering (P<0.001), and antiobesity (P=0.010) drugs and increased use of gastroprotective drugs, vitamins, and minerals (P<0.001) after 60 postoperative days. CONCLUSION Patients subjected to Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass Surgery exhibited both weight loss and significant improvement not only in metabolic syndrome components (except for HDL-c) but in the use of drugs associated with obesity and metabolic syndrome