Comparison of the effect of topical application of Eugenia caryophylata extract and topical diclofenac in primary knee osteoarthritis: a clinical trial study

Background and aims: osteoarthritis is one of the most common arthritis in elderly. we evaluated to compare the effect of topical application of Eugenia caryophylata extract and topical diclofenac in primary knee osteoarthritis. Methods: This randomized double-blind clinical trial study was carried out upon 105 patients with primary knee osteoarthritis. Patients were selected randomly and divided into three groups of 35(diclofenac) and 35 (Eugenia caryophylata) and 35(placebo).The first group was given three times diclofenac 1 of one mg, the second group was given topical caryophylata 10 of one mg three times daily and third group was given placebo 1 mg three times daily. For three groups, WOMAC questionnaire (overall pain, knee pain, morning stiffness, stiffness during day, physical activity ) were completed pretreatment, one week and three and four weeks post-treatment. Findings: The findings indicated that there is a significant decrease in overall pain (p=o.oo5), stiffness during day (p=0.001), morning stiffness (p=0.001) and knee pain (p=0.017) and physical activity (p=0.001) in four weeks after the initiation of treatment in three groups of topical Eugenia caryophylata, diclofenac and placebo . In all the three groups, mean overall score of womac questionnaire was significantly decreased .no side effects related to the intake of medication in three groups was observed. Conclusion: Extract of Eugenia caryophylata is effective in decreasing knee pain, morning stiffness, and stiffness during day and improvement of physical activity in patients with knee osteoarthritis and it can be used alongside of chemical medication to reduce symptoms of knee osteoarthritis

In vitro regeneration ability of diploid and autotetraploid plants of Cichorium intybus L.

Polyploidy has played a significant role in the evolutionary history of plants and is a valuable tool for obtaining useful characteristics. Because of the novelty of polyploids, comparison of their in vitro culture responses with diploids would be notable. In this study, leaf explants from diploid, autotetraploid and mixoploid plants of Cichorium intybus L. were cultured in vitro on the similar media and under same conditions. The ploidy level of the obtained calluses and regenerants were determined by flow cytometry analysis. The callogenic response of leaf explants cultured on the callus induction medium did not depend on the ploidy level of their parental plants. According to the flow cytometry analysis, the increased ploidy levels (4x) and (8x) were observed in the callus cultures with diploid and tetraploid origin, respectively. A considerable difference was observed between the ploidy level of mixoploid plants and their calluses, indicating the dominance of diploid cells in the callus tissue. The results showed that polyploidy led to the loss of organogenic potential as the tetraploid origin calluses failed to regenerate, while the diploid origin calluses successfully regenerated to whole plants.Полиплоидия сыграла значительную роль в эволюционной истории растений как ценный инструмент получения полезных признаков. В настоящей работе приведено сравнение культурального ответа in vitro полиплоидов с диплоидами. Листовые экспланты диплоидных, автотетраплоидных и миксоплоидных растений Cichorium intybus L. культивировали на одних и тех же средах в одинаковых условиях. Уровень плоидности индуцированных каллусов и регенерантов определяли с помощью жидкостной цитометрии. Способность листовых эксплантов к каллусообра-зованию на среде для индукции каллуса не зависела от уровня плоидности исходных растений. По данным жидкостной цитометрии в каллусных культурах диплоидного и тетраплоидного происхождения на блюдалось увеличение уровней плоидности (4x и 8x соответственно). Значительные отличия в уровнях плоидности обнаружены у миксоплоидных растений и их каллусов, при этом в каллусной ткани доминировали диплоидные клетки. Показано, что поли плоидия приводила к потере органогенного потенциала, так как тетраплоидные каллусы не были способны к регенерации, а в каллусах диплоидного происхождения успешно происходила регенерация растений

Numerical studies of the conventional impact damper with discrete frequency optimization and uncertainty considerations

AbstractThis paper presents the performance of a single horizontal conventional Impact Damper (ID) in both wide range frequency and resonance excitations. The effects of the coefficient of restitution, e, mass ratio, μ, and clearance, d, on the performance of ID are investigated. The optimal parameters are numerically found by discretely varying the clearance and excitation frequency. The performance of optimal ID is discussed, with respect to different parameters, in both resonance and off-resonance modes. In addition, it is shown how the efficiency of the optimal conventional ID is deteriorated as a result of mistuning in the amplitude and frequency of excitation. This is estimated by suggesting a new criterion of post processing data. It is shown that an ID designed to resist high amplitude excitation is able to perform well at lower amplitude. However, the opposite trend can significantly deteriorate the efficiency of optimal ID. In regard to excitation frequency, the ID, optimized with respect to a wide range of frequency, is less sensitive to frequency mistuning. Finally, the vulnerability of the optimized ID versus uncertainties in structural parameters is clearly determined and it is illustrated that less robustness occurs when the performance of the controller is more efficient

Nutritional care of elderly patients in acute care settings: A qualitative study

© 2016 Japan Geriatrics Society. Aim: Poor nutritional status is common in older adult patients. The present study aimed to explore barriers and facilitators to nutritional care of elderly patients in acute care settings. Methods: Data were collected through individual face-to-face interviews with 12 registered nurses, and analyzed using interpretive description methodology. Results: Two core themes emerged from the analysis of data: (i) neglected care, with three subthemes of "support but also independence," "unsupportive environment" and "responsibility of the family;" and (ii) a humanitarian ethic, with two subthemes of "respect and dignity" and "humanitarian care." Conclusions: As an integral part of holistic care, elderly patient nutrition should be emphasised in health professional education, and promoted through managerial support, multidisciplinary collaborations, and implementation of appropriate monitoring and evaluation systems

Benthic invertebrate community in Khur-e-Mussa creeks in northwest of Persian Gulf and the application of the AMBI (AZTI's Marine Biotic Index)

Benthic invertebrates are a well-established target in environmental quality status evaluations. The AMBI (AZTI's Marine Biotic Index) was developed to determine the impacts and the quality status of soft-bottom marine benthic communities. The aim of this study was investigating multivariate pattern of benthic invertebrate community and application of AMBI (AZTI's Marine Biotic Index) for determining quality of health status in Khuzestan coastal waters. Seasonal samplings were collected from eight creeks over one year study by Peterson grab sampler, beginning from October 2005. All creeks are characterized by muddy bottom. According to sensitivity to environmental stress, macrobenthic animals classified into 5 ecological groups. Among 28 identified faunal groups the most abundant groups were polychaets, molluscs, crustaceans and nematodes, respectively. Two way ANOVAs showed only seasonal significant differences in mean abundance (P<0.05) and Margalef richness index values (P<0.05), while all of studied creeks shows similar biological characters based on benthic communities. According to annual mean of AMBI value all creeks were in ecological group III with slightly polluted condition, except for Darvish that was in unpolluted category. In the present study, although the number of species initially increased, but due to appearance of dominant species such as Capitella sp. and nematods (as opportunist species), diversity values reduced. In general, according to AMBI and Biotic index values, the most creeks are classified into unpolluted and slightly polluted categories except for Zangy, Doragh and Patil in summer and also Zangy and Bihad in winter which was in moderate to heavily polluted category. Different types of exploitation, industrial and shipping activities in this area could result in unbalanced to polluted status in benthic animals (as the best indicators in sediment quality assessment) so these results can be acceptable

Short communication: Jellyfish of Khuzestan coastal waters and their impact on fish larvae populations

One of the most valuable groups in the food chain of aquatic ecosystems is zooplankton. A large portion of them are invertebrate organisms with great variety of forms and structure, size, habitat and food value. The term ‘jellyfish’ is used in reference to medusa of the phylum Cnidaria (hydromedusae, siphonophores and scyphomedusae) and planktonic members of the phylum Ctenophora (Mills, 2001). Jellyfish medusa is a zooplankton which is frequently present in coastal ocean waters and all marine habitats. They are also primary predators of other zooplanktons which have significant impact on abundance and diversity of zooplankton communities that are one of the key parts of the marine food web. Most jellyfish include Hydromedusae, Siphonophora and Scyphomedusae and planktonic Ctenophora, especially in the productive warm months (Brodeur et al., 1999). In recent years, the frequency of the jellyfish in many ecosystems has increased (Xian et al., 2005; Lynam et al., 2006)

Technical requirements framework of hospital information systems: Design and evaluation

Background: Implementing the health information system (HIS) is more complex and costly than implementing other information systems. The present study was conducted to design and evaluate technical requirements for the HIS. Methods: The present study was conducted in 2016 by determining technical requirements for the HIS using the Delphi technique and then evaluating this system using a checklist based on the approved requirements. Results: The first part of the study designed a 73-item final list of technical requirements for the HIS in four domains, i.e. communication service, system architecture, security service and system response time. The evaluation results obtained in the second part showed that communication service was met in 63.8 of the HIS programs, system architecture in 65.5, security service in 72.4 and system response time in 76.3. Conclusions: A technical evaluation tool was designed and used to select and evaluate the HIS. The evaluation results suggested the study HIS was poorer in terms of communication service and system architecture than in the other two dimensions. © 2020 The Author(s)

Evaluating the toxicity of permeability enhanchers of polyethylene glycol brij ethers surfactants group on cellular membranes and some of their physicochemical properties

The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of polyethylene glycol brij ethers surfactants group on red blood cells as a model for biological membranes. Also in this study, physicochemical properties including emulsification index (E24), foam producing activity (Fh) and critical micelle concentration (cmc) were studied. Surfactant solutions were prepared in McIvan’s buffer in specific concentrations. 0.2 ml of red blood cells (RBC) was mixed with 0.2 ml of each surfactant solution. The four surfactant solutions had each been incubated differently at two different temperatures for three different times. Each test was done six times. The results were presented as mean absorbance ± the standard deviation. E24, Fh and cmc were also determined for each surfactant solution. All of the surfactant solutions showed hemolytic activity. In comparison with the four studied surfactants, brij 56 had the highest hemolytic effect and brij 72 the lowest. The values of E24 and Fh had good correlation with hydrophilic-lipophilic balance values. According to the results of this study, brijs should be used at concentrations lower than cmc in formulations. Also, according to the results, the use of brijs with low hemolytic effect such as brij 72, is preferred in pharmaceutical preparations.Key words: Brij, biological membrane, hemolysis, hydrophile-lipophile balance (HLB)

Comparison of Current Balancing Configurations for Primary Parallel Isolated Boost Converter

Different current balancing configurations have been investigated for Primary Parallel Isolated Boost Converter (PPIBC). It has been shown that parallel branch current balancing is possible with several configurations of coupled/uncoupled inductors. Analytical expressions for branch currents have been derived for different cases of gate signal mismatch causing current imbalance. It has been observed that turn-on and turn-off delays in parallel power stages of the PPIBC have different effects in the branch currents deviating from ideal. It has also been observed that in some configurations inductance differences due to core tolerances play an important role in current imbalance. Analytical and simulation results have shown that another side effect of the gate signal delay and inductor value difference is additional voltage stress over the switches during the mismatch times. Advantages of each configuration in terms of effective current balancing, efficiency and manufacturing simplicity have been highlighted. Simulations with ideal components for each case have been carried out to confirm the analytical derivations. Experimental results have also been included to show the performances of different configurations where component non-idealities like transformer leakage inductances also become effective