Assessment of normal hemodynamic profile of mechanical pulmonary prosthesis by doppler echocardiography: a prospective cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVES: Very few reports have described the Doppler-derived echocardiographic parameters for mechanical pulmonary valve prosthesis (MPVP). This study aims to describe the normal Doppler hemodynamic profile of MPVP using Doppler echocardiography. METHODS: The current prospective, single center observational study enrolled 108 patients who underwent pulmonary valve replacement (PVR) surgery for the first time and had a normally functioning prosthesis post-operation. The hemodynamic performance of MPVPs, considering flow dependent and flow independent parameters, was evaluated at two follow-up points, at week one and week four post-operation. All assessments were conducted by an experienced echocardiographer. RESULTS: The mean age (±SD) of the participants was 26.4 (±8.98). Tetralogy of Fallot (ToF) was the most common underlying disease leading to PVR, with a prevalence of 88. At first week post-operation, measurement of indices reported the following values (±SD): peak pressure gradient (PPG): 18.51(±7.64) mm Hg; mean pressure gradient (MPG): 10.88(±5.62) mm Hg; peak velocity (PV): 1.97(±0.43)m/s; doppler velocity index (DVI): 0.61(±18); pulmonary velocity acceleration time (PVAT): 87.35(±15.16) ms; effective orifice area (EOA): 2.98(±1.02) cm2;and effective orifice area to body surface area ratio (EOA/ BSA): 1.81(±0.62) cm2/m2. Comparing these measurements with those obtained from the second follow-up (at week four post-op) failed to hold significant difference in all values except for PVAT, which had increased from its primary value (p�=�0.038). Also, right ventricular (RV) function showed significant improvement throughout the follow up period. CONCLUSION: The findings of this study help strengthen the previously scarce data pool and better establish the normal values for Doppler hemodynamics in mechanical pulmonary prosthesis

Intravital FRAP Imaging using an E-cadherin-GFP Mouse Reveals Disease- and Drug-Dependent Dynamic Regulation of Cell-Cell Junctions in Live Tissue.

E-cadherin-mediated cell-cell junctions play a prominent role in maintaining the epithelial architecture. The disruption or deregulation of these adhesions in cancer can lead to the collapse of tumor epithelia that precedes invasion and subsequent metastasis. Here we generated an E-cadherin-GFP mouse that enables intravital photobleaching and quantification of E-cadherin mobility in live tissue without affecting normal biology. We demonstrate the broad applications of this mouse by examining E-cadherin regulation in multiple tissues, including mammary, brain, liver, and kidney tissue, while specifically monitoring E-cadherin mobility during disease progression in the pancreas. We assess E-cadherin stability in native pancreatic tissue upon genetic manipulation involving Kras and p53 or in response to anti-invasive drug treatment and gain insights into the dynamic remodeling of E-cadherin during in situ cancer progression. FRAP in the E-cadherin-GFP mouse, therefore, promises to be a valuable tool to fundamentally expand our understanding of E-cadherin-mediated events in native microenvironments

narrating traditional iranian carpet merchants

Iranian carpet merchants developed a collective identitary narrative to enhance their capital creation in the social field of the German market, the field of Iranian foreign trade, and transnational bazari networks. This chapter goes beyond the practicalities of juggling resources across social fields: it explains the motivation behind this agency. Building on David Graeber's anthropology of value, as well as on studies about identity marketing and ethnic entrepreneurship, I show how the merchants' resources were evaluated between the 1950s and today to explain by which systems of value these social fields were shaped. From the confrontation between changing systems of value emerges Iranian carpet merchants' potential to increase the efficiency of their capital creation by—collectively—trying to redefine the meaning of their resources

Study on Behavior of Ductile Iron Pipelines with Earthquake Resistant Joint Buried across a Fault

The Tenth International Symposium on Mitigation of Geo-disasters in Asia Matsue Symposium Place: Shimane Civil Center, Matsue Date: 8 October 2012This study is focusing on behavior of ductile iron pipelines with the earthquake resistant joint buried across a fault being used widely for water pipelines in Japan. It is necessary to design a pipeline carefully in case of crossing a fault, because the partially large displacement occurs on the pipelines when a fault moves by an earthquake. However, there are few studies on behavior of ductile iron pipelines. We analyzed the behavior of pipelines near a fault by large displacement analysis method, and we confirmed that the earthquake resistant joint nearest to a fault began to move when a fault began to move, then the joints next in line began to move when the joints movement reached their capacity. In this study, we investigated the behavior of ductile iron pipeline installed into a sand container which moved like a fault for verification of pipeline behavior analysis. As a result, we confirmed that pipeline showed the behavior like the analysis result and we verified the validity

Diagnosis of brucellosis via BACTEC blood culture system

Background: Brucellosis is a zoonosis infectious disease and endemic in Iran. The certain diagnosis of disease is established on isolation of brucella from blood and other clinical samples. So, because of fastidious nature of this organism and problems in its isolation by conventional methods, and attending to the high prevalence of brucellosis in Kashan, Iran, the BACTEC9050 blood culture system was used in this survey for diagnosis of brucella bacteremia; advantages of this method has been discussed, too. Methods: In this descriptive research, the blood samples of 206 patients suspected to brucellosis were studied in Brain-Heart Infusion (BHI) broth and BACTEC9050 blood culture system simultaneously. Findings: In a period of 5 days, from 206 samples, totally 50 cases were positive; 32 cases were positive in both methods and 18 cases were positive only in BACTEC method. Continuing the incubation, 14 cases became positive but 4 cases were negative, even after 30 days of incubation. The average incubation period for specimens to become positive was 4 days. Conclusion: The BACTEC automatic system reduced the examination process, and economized the time and the material. In cases that this system is not available for diagnosis of brucella, it is recommended to keep the final subcultures in 37°C for 1 month to get better diagnostic results. © 2015, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences(IUMS). All Rights Reserved

Sequences of mycoplasma hominis in patients with urinary tract infection in a hospital in Kashan, Iran

Mycoplasma hominis is normally found in the urinary tract of human and its role in Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) has been proved. This bacterium causes inflammatory responses and accumulation of leucocytes in urethra. In spite of the presence of the bacteria, the urine culture might be negative. Mycoplasma hominis can be transferred sexually and causes human infertility. The present study was conducted to detect and identify Mycoplasma hominis by molecular methods in urine samples of the patients with UTI, who were referred to our hospital. A total number of 864 urine samples from the patients with UTI were subjected to this study. After routine culture, urine analysis were performed on the samples. The DNA was extracted from the sediments of the urine samples, using phenol and chloroform method. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was conducted on the extracted DNA to detect the 16S rRNA of Mycoplasma hominis, with the primers; RNAH1 and RNAH2. Based on the results of PCR tests, out of 100 pyuria positive samples, 9 and 1 were infected with Mycoplasma sp. and Mycoplasma hominis, respectively. The sequencing of amplified product of 16S-rRNA revealed a single nucleotide substitution (269 T A), compared with the reference gene of this species. © 2015 Academic Journals Inc

The effect of colchicine on the echocardiographic constrictive physiology after coronary artery bypass graft surgery

Background: Constrictive physiology is a transitory condition that could lead to constrictive pericarditis, which is a rare complication after open-heart surgery. Anti-inflammatory drugs like colchicine are recommended for prevention of constrictive pericarditis; however, there is no evidence about the effect of colchicine on constrictive pericarditis. Thus, the aim of this study is to evaluate the preventive effect of colchicine on the incidence of echocardiographic constrictive physiology after open-heart surgery. Methods: This was a parallel randomized, double-blind trial. Patients were randomly assigned to receive 1 mg colchicine once-daily from 48 hours before and 0.5 mg twice daily for 5 days after surgery. Primary outcome was the incidence of the constrictive physiology after primary endpoint (1 week after the surgery). The secondary outcome was the primary outcome after secondary endpoint (4 weeks after surgery) plus the new cases of constrictive physiology between the primary and secondary endpoints. Results: Out of 160 participating patients, the primary outcome occurred in 19 patients (23) in placebo and 11 (13) in intervention groups. There was no significant difference between two groups (P =.106). After 4 weeks of follow-up, 19 patients (23) in placebo and 9 (11) in intervention groups had constrictive physiology whereas 2 out of 11 patients (18.2) were recovered. The difference was significant (P =.038). No new case of constrictive physiology occurred between primary and secondary endpoints. Conclusion: Short-term use of colchicine has a preventive effect on reducing constrictive physiology after 1 month of open-heart surgery but not a week after that. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Association between 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and the carotid intima-media thickness

Background: There are insufficient data on the association between the serum level of vitamin D and the carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT). The aim of this study was to investigate the association between the level of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and the CIMT. Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited 341 patients. The level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D was measured with radioimmunoassay, and the CIMT was measured with color Doppler ultrasound. Results: The mean serum level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D was 14.88±14.63 ng/mL in the patients with a significant carotid artery involvement and 17.02±13.56 ng/mL in those without a carotid involvement, with the difference between the 2 groups constituting statistical significance (P=0.034). The prevalence rate of vitamin D deficiency in those with and without a carotid involvement was 88.6 and 74.4; the rate was significantly higher in the former group (P=0.039). Conclusions: Our study confirmed recent suggestions regarding the association between vitamin D deficiency and the progress of atherosclerosis in carotid arteries as CIMT. © 2019, Iranian Heart Association. All rights reserved

Recurrent Arthritis by Candida glabrata, a Diagnostic and Therapeutic Challenge

Infectious arthritis due to Candida glabrata is very rare. A 40-year-old Iranian man had developed a painful swelling on the left knee since a year ago. A surgery (meniscectomy) was performed on his knee. However, in follow-up visit after 2 months, the patient's condition was deteriorated. Direct examination of synovial fluid with Gram and hematoxylin-eosin stains were negative for any bacterial or fungal infection or crystal elements; however, inoculation into BACTEC� Mycosis IC/F and Plus Aerobic/F culture bottles led to the isolation of a yeast strain. The macroscopic examination on CHROMagar� Candida medium combined with microscopical examination on CMT80 agar made a presumptive identification of the isolate to be considered as C. glabrata, and it was later on confirmed by ITS sequencing. Initial empirical treatment was started with intravenous amphotericin B for 4 weeks followed by oral itraconazole which was unsuccessful. Prescription of an oral 150-mg tablet of fluconazole was considered for a 2-month course. All symptoms completely declined, and no recurrence of infection was detected. Antifungal susceptibility testing (AFST) was performed for this isolate, and the result showed sensitivity to both amphotericin B and itraconazole and less susceptibility to fluconazole while clinical recovery was achieved by fluconazole. In any suspected clinical case caused by infectious agents, application of an effective fungal diagnostic test should be considered to avoid complications due to misdiagnosis. The correlation of AFST result with real in vivo therapeutic responses can be strain or patient dependent, and this should be considered for a successive treatment. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

Mucormycosis in Iran: A six-year retrospective experience

Mucormycosis is a devastating infection caused by Mucoralean fungi (Mucormycotina, Mucorales). Data concerning the global epidemiology of mucormycosis are scarce and little is known about the characteristics of mucormycosis in Iran. In this study, we aimed to understand the distribution of this infection in Iran retrospectively and to ascertain whether the patterns of infection are associated with specific host factors or not. A total of 208 cases were included in this study occurring during 2008–2014 and were validated according to (EORTC/MSG) criteria. A rising trend as significant increase from 9.7% in 2008 to 23.7% in 2014 was observed. The majority of patients were female (51.4%) with median age of 50 and the infections were seen mostly in autumn season (39.4%). Diabetes mellitus (75.4%) was the most common underlying condition and sinus involvement (86%) was the mostly affected site of infection. Amphotericin B (AmB) was the drug of choice for the majority of cases. Sixty four isolates did not show any growth in the lab and only 21 cases were evaluated by ITS sequencing, among them; Rhizopus arrhizus var. arrhizus was the dominant species. Considering the high mortality rate of mucormycosis, early and accurate diagnosis, with the aid of molecular methods may provide accurate treatments and improve the survival rate. Therefore, increased monitoring and awareness of this life-threatening disease is critical. © 2018 Elsevier Masson SA