Treatment of American tegumentary leishmaniasis in special populations : a summary of evidence

We aimed to assess and synthesize the information available in the literature regarding the treatment of American tegumentary leishmaniasis in special populations. We searched MEDLINE (via PubMed), EMBASE, LILACS, SciELO, Scopus, Cochrane Library and mRCT databases to identify clinical trials and observational studies that assessed the pharmacological treatment of the following groups of patients: pregnant women, nursing mothers, children, the elderly, individuals with chronic diseases and individuals with suppressed immune systems. The quality of evidence was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations (GRADE) approach. The available evidence suggests that the treatments of choice for each population or disease entity are as follows: nursing mothers and children (meglumine antimoniate or pentamidine), patients with renal disease (amphotericin B or miltefosine), patients with heart disease (amphotericin B, miltefosine or pentamidine), immunosuppressed patients (liposomal amphotericin), the elderly (meglumine antimoniate), pregnant women (amphotericin B) and patients with liver disease (no evidence available). The quality of evidence is low or very low for all groups. Accurate controlled studies are required to fill in the gaps in evidence for treatment in special populations. Post-marketing surveillance programs could also collect relevant information to guide treatment decision-making

The Efficacy of Carbon Dioxide Laser in the Treatment of Chronic and Lupoid Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Kerman City: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Abstract: Background & Aims: Lupoid (LL) and chronic leishmaniais (CCL) are variants of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) which are resistant to various treatments. The diseases are endemic in some developing countries such as Iran. A Variety of drugs with different effects have been suggested in recent decades. Carbon deoxide laser has been recently applied in the treatment of different dermatological diseases. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of CO2 laser compared to systemic Glucantime plus Allopurionl in the treatment of LL and CCL. Methods: A total of 50 patients with 86 LL or CCL lesions were participated in this study. They were divided into the two groups; the first group was treated with CO2 laser for one session and the second group was treated with Glucantime (50 mg/kg IM for 21 days) plus Allopurionl (20mg/kg for 30 days). All patients were followed at weeks 4th, 8th, 48th and 72nd and the results were compared. Results: At week 4, the cure rate of complete improvement of two treatment groups was not statistically different (P=0.609). By week 8, the cure rate slightly decreased (P=0.417). The decreasing trend continued until weeks 48th and 72nd (P=0.289 and P=0.095, respectively). Finally, 16 patients of laser group and 22 patients of the other group were cured, but statistically no significant difference was observed between the two groups (P=0.095). Conclusions: Carbon deoxide laser therapy could be used in patients with hypersensitivity to pentavalent antimoniate or those with serious systemic diseases. Keywords: Cutaneous leishmaniasis, Carbon Deoxide laser, Meglumine antimoniat

Comparison of The Spatial Variability of Magnetic Susceptibility and some of Heavy metals in Soils of Lenjanat Region, Isfahan

One of the most important soil contaminants are heavy metals. Chemical analysis of the samples can be used to evaluate the contamination but these methods are expensive and time consuming. Thus, for rapid evaluation, other techniques such as magnetic susceptibility are considered. The aim of this study was to compare the spatial distribution of magnetic susceptibilityand cadmium, lead, nickel and copper in soil series of Isfahan, Khomeinishahr and Zayanderood in Lenjan at region, Isfahan province. Estimation of heavy metals via pedotransfer functions using magnetic susceptibility was also investigated. Total concentration of Cd, Pb, Ni and Cu in soil samples was determines and the magnetic susceptibility of the samples was also measured. Results showed magnetic susceptibility does not have high accuracy for estimation of heavy metals contents in the soils of this region. On the other hand, similar trends of continuous maps for heavy metals and magnetic susceptibility suggest that magnetic susceptibility can be a good indicator for trend of soil contamination in this area

Data for: Error and uncertainty analysis of digital mapping methods for soil classes' prediction in Shahrekord plain, Central Iran

The attached file contains 120 soil profiles excavated in a stratified random sampling method in Shahrekord plain, Chaharmahal-va-Bakhtiari Province, Central Iran

Data for: Error and uncertainty analysis of digital mapping methods for soil classes' prediction in Shahrekord plain, Central Iran

The attached file contains 120 soil profiles excavated in a stratified random sampling method in Shahrekord plain, Chaharmahal-va-Bakhtiari Province, Central Iran.THIS DATASET IS ARCHIVED AT DANS/EASY, BUT NOT ACCESSIBLE HERE. TO VIEW A LIST OF FILES AND ACCESS THE FILES IN THIS DATASET CLICK ON THE DOI-LINK ABOV

Optimal feature selection for prediction of wind erosion threshold friction velocity using a modified evolution algorithm

12 Pags.- 6 Tabls.- 6 Figs.Threshold friction velocity (u⁎t) is a very important parameter, which represents wind erosion potential. Because of the difficulty of measuring u⁎t, it would be advantageous if u⁎t could be estimated indirectly from its effecting factors that can be easily measured. The main purpose of this research was to quantify relationships between u⁎t and various topsoil features using inexpensive approaches. To prepare a reliable dataset, we used a portable wind tunnel for measuring u⁎t at a total of 118 observation points in Kerman province, southeast Iran. We developed a non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II), specifically designed to operate with artificial neural network (ANN) to select the most determinant properties that influence u⁎t. A permutation of nine input features including surface crust (SC), gravel coverage (GC), very fine sand (VFS), fine sand (FS), very coarse sand (VCS), electrical conductivity (EC), sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), calcium carbonate equivalent (CCE), and mean weight diameter (MWD), was introduced as explanatory variables. We also examined the potential power of using a Multi-Layer Perception (MLP) neural network for prediction of u⁎t changes in response to spatial variation of the selected features. The results of constructed MLP model revealed the ability of the model for u⁎t prediction and showed that the coefficient of determination (R2) values were 0.91 and 0.89 for training and testing data, respectively. Furthermore, acceptable level of the statistical validation criteria verified reliable performance of the MLP model. This research provided a powerful basis for prediction of u⁎t from topsoil features and surface roughness in arid and semi-arid areas of Iran; however, its generic framework could be used to other arid and semi-arid regions with similar challenges.Peer reviewe

The Fe addition as an effective treatment for improving the radiation resistance of fcc NixFe1-x single-crystal alloys

Funding Information: Financial support from the National Science Center , Poland through the PRELUDIUM 21 Program in the frame of grant no. 2022/45/N/ST5/02980 is gratefully acknowledged. This work was co-financed by the Polish Ministry of Education and Sciences through the project RaDeNiS ( 5003/LATR/2019/0 ). We acknowledge support from the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under NOMATEN Teaming grant agreement No. 857470 and from the European Regional Development Fund via the Foundation for Polish Science International Research Agenda Plus Program grant No. MAB PLUS/2018/8 . The Research Council of Norway is acknowledged for the support of the Norwegian Micro- and Nano-Fabrication Facility, NorFab , project number 295864 . | openaire: EC/H2020/857470/EU//NOMATENIn this work, five different compositions of fcc Ni and NixFe1-x single crystal alloys namely Ni, Ni0.88Fe0.12, Ni0.77Fe0.23, Ni0.62Fe0.38, Ni0.38Fe0.62 were irradiated by 1.5 MeV 58Ni ions at room temperature in a wide fluence range (4 × 1013 to 4 × 1015 ions/cm2). The role of Fe addition on the radiation resistance of the NixFe1-x single crystals was studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), ion channeling technique (RBS/C) and nanoindentation techniques. The Multi-Step Damage Accumulation analysis revealed the cross-sections for damage formation significantly decreases for Ni0.38Fe0.62 and Ni0.62Fe0.38 as compared to that in pure Ni single crystal, which is consistent with RBS/C and TEM results. The results of nanoindentation show that Ni0.62Fe0.38 alloy possesses the highest hardness (2.96 GPa) among the other compositions in a pristine state. To interpret this result, hybrid Monte Carlo/ Molecular dynamics simulations were used to check the presence of the ordered crystal phase structure for NixFe1-x binary alloys. The simulation results have shown that depending on the iron content, we deal with different amounts of FeNi3 (L12) phase. This result revealed that in Ni0.62Fe0.38 alloy, nanoprecipitate FeNi3 (L12) phase (around 20%) is formed inside the disordered matrix, which could be one of the main reasons for the high hardness of this alloy before irradiation. Additionally, we have found adding iron reduced the number and size of the defects (as a result of ion irradiation) in NixFe1-x because the Fe element is more stable than Ni, which results from the electron configuration of both elements in the excited state. Therefore, the more iron in the material, the fewer defects are created.Peer reviewe