Contribution of family risk, emergent literacy and environmental protective factors in children’s reading difficulties at the end of second-grade

It is well established that emergent literacy is a strong predictor of later reading difficulties, and that the home literacy environment plays an important role in the development of children’s preschool emergent literacy and oral language. Furthermore, reading difficulties runs in families and children with a family risk of reading difficulties tend to show delays in emergent literacy and might experience a less advantageous home literacy environment. This study examined whether family risk predicts children’s second-grade reading difficulties in a multifactorial model including both emergent literacy and environmental protective factors such as home literacy environment and parental level of education. Children were assessed for emergent literacy at the beginning of first grade, and were identified as having reading difficulties at the end of second grade if they performed below the national threshold in at least three of the subtests in reading and spelling. The multifactorial model suggested that children with family risk showed reading difficulties that could not be explained in terms of individual differences in emergent literacy, gender, interest in literacy, years in kindergarten, home literacy environment or parental education level. These findings highlight the advantages of using multifactorial models of reading difficulties that encompass different domains of genetic, cognitive-based and environmental factors. In sum, not only did we find family risk is associated with children’s literacy outcomes after 2 years of formal reading instruction, but we also identified possible modifiable factors that may benefit from interventions and lessen the likelihood of developing reading difficulties

Effectiveness of Fan Anchors in Preventing Debonding in FRP-Strengthened Steel Members

Copyright © The Author(s) 2022. Fibre Reinforced Polymers (FRPs) are extensively employed to strengthen existing structures because of their several advantages over other strengthening techniques. On the other hand, the premature debonding of FRP reduces its effectiveness in strengthening steel structures. Anchoring FRP composites is an effective solution to delay or even prevent their debonding. Very limited anchorage methods, however, have been introduced for FRP-strengthened steel structures and the need for an effective anchorage system remains. Fan anchor has been validated as one of the remedies against debonding failure in FRP-strengthened concrete structures. Considering the advantages that fan anchors offer, the use of fan anchors for FRP-strengthened steel structures is proposed and evaluated in this paper. Since FRP-steel joints have a different bond-slip law than FRP-concrete joints and the strengthened steel members are prone to buckling-debonding interactions, this study focuses on the efficiency of fan anchors in delaying FRP debonding by assuming that an adequate mechanical connection between the dowel and the steel substrate is provided. Three experimental studies involving shear, flexural and buckling strengthening of steel components were simulated through finite element modelling, and fan anchors were added to the models after validation. The effect of fan anchors on strength, failure mode and FRP's strain distribution of the models was examined. The study showed that the fan anchor was successfully able to delay debonding mode, which increased the strength and ductility and exploited a higher strain capacity of FRP plates.No funding was received to assist with the preparation of this manuscript

Comparing efficacy of montelukast versus doxycycline in treatment of moderate acne

Background: Treatment of acne is an important issue for reducing the cosmetic and psychological burden of disease. Regarding the inflammatory effect of LT-B4 in acne lesions and action mechanism of Montelukast, this study was performed to determine the efficacy of Montelukastin acne treatment comparison with doxycycline. Materials and Methods: In a randomized clinical trial that was performed in Dermatology Clinic in a Training Tertiary Health Care Center in Tehran, Iran since January 2012 to May 2014, 52 patients with moderate acne were evaluated. The included patients were randomly assigned to receive doxycycline 100 mg/day plus 1 Clindamycin solution (Group 1) or Montelukast 5 mg daily plus 1 clindamycin solution (Group 2). The acne severity index was measured and compared between two groups at baseline (on admission), 1-month and 3 months later. Independent-Sample-T, Chi-Square, and Repeated-Measure ANOVA tests were used and were considered statistically significant at P < 0.05. Results: The mean age was 26.8 ± 7.1 in Group 1 and25 ± 4.8 in Group 2 (P = 0.1). 73 women and 26.7 4 men in Group 1 and 86.7 women, and 13.3 men in Group 2 (P = 0.01). The mean acne severity index at baseline was 18.2 ± 6.1 and 19 ± 4.2 in Montelukast and doxycycline group, respectively (P = 0.679). The mean acne severity index after 1-month was 10.5 ± 6.2 and 12.9 ± 3.3 in Montelukast and doxycycline group, respectively (P = 0). Finally, the mean acne severity index after 3 months follow-up was 8.6 ± 4.8 and 8.2 ± 1.2 in Montelukast and doxycycline group, respectively (P = 0.01). There was no significant difference between two groups regarding the amount of decrease in acne severity index across the study (P = 0.186). However, each groups showed a significant reduction in the acne severity index, separately (P = 0.001). Conclusion: It may be concluded that Montelukast is an effective and safe medication for moderate-level acne treatment. © 2015, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences(IUMS). All rights reserved

Enhancing Mechanical Properties Of TRM Using Biaxial PVA MESH And SHCC

Data Availability Statement: Data on which this paper is based is available from the authors upon reasonable request.This study explores the benefits of combining Strain Hardening Cementitious Composite (SHCC) with biaxial Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) mesh to develop TR-SHCC. The hydrophilic nature and modulus of elasticity of PVA foster a strong bond and efficient stress redistribution within the composite. Tensile testing of a PVA-SHCC reinforced with different layouts of a PVA textile grid revealed that a three double-layer (3DL) configuration significantly improves tensile strength and strain-hardening capacity over the baseline SHCC. It also maintains an average crack width below 150 μm at 4% strain-hardening, a promising feature for applications in corrosive environments subject to dynamic actions such as earthquake

A combination of GFRP sheets and steel cage for seismic strengthening of shear-deficient corner RC beam-column joints

International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology (IEES), project number 7342

A combination of GFRP sheets and steel cage for seismic strengthening of shear-deficient corner RC beam-column joints

International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology (IEES), project number 7342

Caon serum iron level, ferritin and total iron binding capacity level among nonpregnant women with and without melasma

Background: Melasma is a common acquired disorder characterized by symmetric, hyperpigmented patches with an irregular outline, occurring most commonly on the face. It is most prevalent among young to middle-aged women. Although iron overload affects skin pigmentation, effect of iron deficiency on skin is not clear. So, we evaluated serum iron level, ferritin and total iron binding capacity (TIBC) level among nonpregnant women with and without melasma. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional case study was conducted in 2012 at university dermatologic department on 33 nonpregnant women with melasma (case) and 33 nonpregnant women without melasma (control). Serum iron level, TIBC and ferritin in the two groups was measured and compared. Results: Serum iron level was lower in the case group (85 ± 11) in comparison with control group (102 ± 9), but the difference was not significant (P: 0.9). Mean TIBC and Ferritin were higher in the case group (TIBC: 329.4 ± 29, ferritin: 6 ± 18) than the control group (TIBC: 329.3 ± 29, ferritin: 33 ± 6) without significant difference. Conclusion: Although the serum iron level was lower in nonpregnant women with mealsma, it was not significant compared with those without melasma. © 2015, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences(IUMS). All rights reserved

Bilateral asynchronous acute epidural hematoma : a case report

BACKGROUND: Bilateral extradural hematomas have only rarely been reported in the literature. Even rarer are cases where the hematomas develop sequentially, one after removal of the other. Among 187 cases of operated epidural hematomas during past 4 years in our hospital, we found one case of sequentially developed bilateral epidural hematoma. CASE PRESENTATION: An 18-year-old conscious male worker was admitted to our hospital after a fall. After deterioration of his consciousness, an emergency brain CT scan showed a right temporoparietal epidural hematoma. The hematoma was evacuated, but the patient did not improve afterwards. Another CT scan showed contralateral epidural hematoma and the patient was reoperated. Postoperatively, the patient recovered completely. CONCLUSIONS: This case underlines the need for monitoring after an operation for an epidural hematoma and the need for repeat brain CT scans if the patient does not recover quickly after removal of the hematoma, especially if the first CT scan has been done less than 6 hours after the trauma. Intraoperative brain swelling can be considered as a clue for the development of contralateral hematoma