The prevalence of staphylococcus aureus contamination in the ambulances and on-call emergency medical service personnel of kashan city in iran

Objective: Emergency medical services systems are at the first line of dealing with patients who suffer from various infections. Conducting investigations on the bacterial contamination of emergency ambulances play a crucial role to improve the occupational health of staff as well as the quality of patient care. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the presence of Staphylococcus aureus and other life treating bacteria in the urban and rural ambulances and their on-call emergency medical service personnel. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 12 front line pre-hospital emergency urban and rural ambulances in Kashan, Iran, in 2015. A total of 18 sites were sampled in each ambulance and from the nose of personnel. Grown colonies were confirmed based on colony morphology on mannitol salt agar plates, gram stain reaction and biochemical characteristics reactions. Results: The S. aureus contamination was only isolated from the nose of on-call emergency medical service providers of 12 urban and road ambulances, while no sign of contamination was found in 18 sampling sites of these front-line ambulances. Also, further evaluation of these sampling sites revealed the contamination with coagulase-negative staphylococci in all of them and oxygen tank was introduced as the most contaminated site inside the ambulances. Moreover, the prevalence of equipment contamination was significantly higher in urban ambulances. Conclusion: Identifying the rate of pathogens in clinical settings like the pre-hospital ambulance setting is an important issue which should be carefully considered. © 2020 The Author(s)

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

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

Inhibitive effect of sodium (E)-4-(4-nitrobenzylidenamino) benzoate on the corrosion of some metals in sodium chloride solution

The inhibition performance of a novel anionic carboxylic Schiff base, sodium (E)-4-(4-nitrobenzylideneamino)benzoate (SNBB), was investigated for various metals, namely low carbon steel F111, pure iron and copper, in neutral 10 mM NaCl solution. Potentiodynamic polarization, scanning vibrating electrode technique (SVET), quantum chemical (QC) calculation, and molecular dynamics (MD) simulation were employed. The potentiodynamic polarization data showed that SNBB acts as an effective corrosion inhibitor for both iron and F111 steel, but it is not effective for the copper. In situ spatially-resolved SVET maps evidenced a major change in surface reactivity for Fe and F111 steel immersed in 10 mM aqueous solution in the absence and in the presence of SNBB. Featureless ionic current density distributions were recorded in the presence of SNBB at both their spontaneous open circuit potential (OCP) and under mild anodic polarization conditions, while major ionic flows were monitored above the metals in the absence of SNBB. On the basis of computer simulations, it is proposed that SNBB produces a stable chelate film on iron and steel surfaces that accounts for the good corrosion inhibition efficiency observed. The different inhibition efficiencies of SNBB molecules on the iron and copper was attributed to the special chemical structure of SNBB molecule and its different chelation ability with the released metal ions on the metal surface. The QC calculations also confirmed the high corrosion inhibition efficiency of SNBB. The MD simulation indicated higher binding energy of SNBB on iron surface compared to that of copper surface. The interaction mode of SNBB on iron and F111 steel surfaces corresponds to a mixed chemical and physical adsorption, and it obeys the Langmuir isother

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

Longitudinal Imaging of the Ageing Mouse

Several non-invasive imaging techniques are used to investigate the effect of pathologies and treatments over time in mouse models. Each preclinical in vivo technique provides longitudinal and quantitative measurements of changes in tissues and organs, which are fundamental for the evaluation of alterations in phenotype due to pathologies, interventions and treatments. However, it is still unclear how these imaging modalities can be used to study ageing with mice models. Almost all age related pathologies in mice such as osteoporosis, arthritis, diabetes, cancer, thrombi, dementia, to name a few, can be imaged in vivo by at least one longitudinal imaging modality. These measurements are the basis for quantification of treatment effects in the development phase of a novel treatment prior to its clinical testing. Furthermore, the non-invasive nature of such investigations allows the assessment of different tissue and organ phenotypes in the same animal and over time, providing the opportunity to study the dysfunction of multiple tissues associated with the ageing process. This review paper aims to provide an overview of the applications of the most commonly used in vivo imaging modalities used in mouse studies: micro-computed-tomography, preclinical magnetic-resonance-imaging, preclinical positron-emission-tomography, preclinical single photon emission computed tomography, ultrasound, intravital microscopy, and whole body optical imaging

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