Development of the conditional moment closure method for modelling turbulent combustion

Abstract Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of low-level laser irradiation (LLLI) on the in vitro growth characteristics and in vivo pathogenicity of Candida albicans in a murine model in the absence of a photosensitizer. Background data: C. albicans is an opportunistic commensal organism that causes a wide variety of diseases in human beings, ranging from superficial infections to life-threatening invasive candidiasis. The incidence of C. albicans infection is increasing, because of the greater frequency of acquired immunodeficiency conditions. A high recurrence rate has been reported for vulvovaginal and oral candidiasis, despite the best available treatments. Therefore, the search for new treatment modalities seems quite rational. Methods: Candida culture plates were exposed to common clinical energies of LLLI: 3, 5, 10, and 20 J at 685 nm (BTL Laser 5000, Medicinos Projektai, Czech Republic, Prague, max power output 50 mW) and 3, 5, 10, 30, and 50 J at 830 nm (BTL Laser 5000, Medicinos Projektai, Czech Republic, Prague, max power output 400 mW). Results: Following LLLI with energies >10 J at both 685 and 830 nm wavelengths, statistically significant effects were observed in vitro on the turbidimetric growth kinetics of C. albicans and in vivo on the survival rate of infected mice (p value </=0.05). Therefore, this energy could be considered a threshold for clinical investigation. Conclusions: Translating our data into the clinical setting, it can be proposed that a direct laser-based approach without using a photosensitizing dye can significantly reduce the pathogenicity of Candida albicans. It can also be concluded that laser light at specific wavelengths could be a possible promising novel treatment for superficial and mucocutaneous C. albicans infections

Imidazol-1-ylethylindazole Voltage-Gated Sodium Channel Ligands Are Neuroprotective during Optic Neuritis in a Mouse Model of Multiple Sclerosis

[Image: see text] A series of imidazol-1-ylethylindazole sodium channel ligands were developed and optimized for sodium channel inhibition and in vitro neuroprotective activity. The molecules exhibited displacement of a radiolabeled sodium channel ligand and selectivity for blockade of the inactivated state of cloned neuronal Na(v) channels. Metabolically stable analogue 6 was able to protect retinal ganglion cells during optic neuritis in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis

Sonochemical synthesis and structural determination of novel the nano-card house Cu(II) metal-organic coordination system

Abstract not availableFaeze Mojtabazade, Babak Mirtamizdoust, Ali Morsali, Pejman Talem

Investigation of p53 codon72 polymorphism in oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) specimens and normal population by PCR

&quot;nBackground and Aim: A single nucleotide polymorphism at codon 72 of the p53 gene alters the p53 protein structure and affects its activity. This polymorphism depends on geographic regions and race. Also its association with some cancers has been reported. The aim of this study was to investigate this polymorphism in well differentiated oral SCC and normal population in the city of Isfahan. &quot;nMaterials and Methods: In this case-control study, 20 paraffin blocks of non metastatic and well differentiated oral SCC were selected from the archive of oral pathology department of dental school between 2001 and 2005. 20 whole blood samples from normal people were considered as control group. After DNA extraction, p53 codon 72 polymorphism was determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique using specific primers of Arg and Pro and agarose gel electrophoresis. Data were analyzed by Fisher&apos;s exact test with p&amp;lt;0.05 as the level of significance. &quot;nResults: The prevalence of Arg/Arg , Arg/Pro and Pro/Pro genotypes in case group were 45%,45% and 10% respectively compared to 45%,50% and 5% in controls. There was no statistical significant difference in p53 codon 72 genotypes distribution between case and control groups. &quot;nConclusion: Based on the results of this study, p53 polymorphism could not be considered as a genetic predisposing factor for oral SCC development in Isfahan

Serum hypercoagulability states in Coats&rsquo; disease

Fariba Ghassemi,1 Carol L Shields,2 Masoumeh Mohebbi,1 Mehdi Nili Ahmadabadi,1 Fatemeh Morsali,1 Siamak Sabour3,4 1Ocular Oncology and Retina and Vitreous Service, Farabi Eye Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 2Ocular Oncology Service, Wills Eye Hospital, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA; 3Safety Promotion and Injury Prevention Research Centre, 4Department of Clinical Epidemiology, School of Health, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran,&nbsp;Iran Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the serum hypercoagulability state and common viral and protozoan infections in Coats&rsquo; disease versus a normal control group. Materials and methods: In this comparative case series, 22 consecutive patients with Coats&rsquo; disease and 19 non-Coats&rsquo; patients undergoing lensectomy for congenital, traumatic, or senile cataract between January 2011 and June 2014 were included. Laboratory data for hypercoagulability states and common viral and protozoan infections were investigated. Results: The mean age for the Coats&rsquo; group was 14.5 years (median 8 years, range: 2 months to 59 years), and for the control group it was 30.6 years (median 17 years, range: 2&ndash;82 years). In&nbsp;patients aged 10 years or younger, anticytomegalovirus immunoglobulin G (IgG) (P&le;0.01), homocysteine (P=0.03), and serum beta globulin (P&lt;0.001) were associated with Coats&rsquo; disease. In those older than 10&nbsp;years, higher serum protein S (P=0.04), beta globulin (P=0.05), and gamma globulin (P=0.04) were related to Coats&rsquo; diagnosis. After adjusting for sex and age as confounding factors, only beta globulin was found to be associated with Coats&rsquo; disease in logistic regression analysis (odds ratio: 1.8, 95% confidence interval: 1.0&ndash;3.1, P=0.02). Conclusion: Serum beta globulin levels appear to be elevated in patients with Coats&rsquo; disease. Keywords: anti-cytomegalovirus antibody, anti-herpes simplex antibody, Coats&rsquo; disease, blood hypercoagulability state, retinal telangiectasia, serum electrophoresi

The effect of exercise therapy on cognitive functions in multiple sclerosis patients: A pilot study

BACKGROUND: The positive impacts of exercise therapy on patients' cognitive problems still remain unknown. This study was a pilot intervention to examine the effects of combined exercise on the cognitive problems of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) in Iranian MS Society over 2012 to 2013. METHODS: This quasi-experimental research was carried out in the form of a pretest/posttest study. Forty two patients with MS were selected from those visiting the rehabilitation center of Iranian MS Society, using non-probability convenience sampling. The Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) of each patient was recorded before the intervention and Brief Repeatable Battery of Neuropsychological (BRB-N) test was administered before and after the intervention. The data were analyzed using the analytical tests such as Wilcoxon test. RESULTS: Of 21 participants, 17 subjects (82%, n=14) female with mean (±SD) age of 37 (±9.98) years and mean (±SD) EDSS of 2.35 (±0.90) completed all stages of the study. Changes in long-term storage and permanent long-term retrieval of information after the intervention were statistically significant (p<0.001). In addition, the change in the average of total delay after the intervention was also significant by 1.11 (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Our study confirmed the possibility of change in the cognitive abilities of MS patients through physical interventions. This finding emphasizes the necessity of more clinical examinations and increases the hopes for new rehabilitation methods for the disorder

Evaluation of new primers for detecting toxigenic vibrio cholerae by multiplex PCR

Vibrio cholerae is the etiological agent of cholera that has emerged as an endemic disease in different regions of the world in recent years. Traditional microbial culture and microscopy methods are considered to be the best standard for diagnosing V. cholerae infection. These methods, however, delay any available confirmatory answer by days. Molecular methods have the potential to provide sensitive, accurate, and rapid analysis of V. cholerae infection. We have developed a multiplex PCR assay to detect virulence and toxigenic-associated (VTA) genes (ctxA, tcpA, and ompW). To evaluate PCR specificity, additional bacteria from the enterobacteriaceae family (Salmonella typhi, Shigella dysantry, and entrotoxigenic E. coli) and Aeromonas hidrophyla were examined in this study. Specificity tests were evaluated using the genome dilution method. Importantly, the results show that our PCR specificity method represents the best tool for the rapid detection of VTA genes because of its simplicity, cost effectiveness, and accuracy. This multiplex PCR method can be used for examining the existence of VTA genes in patient samples, and therefore will distinguish V. cholerae from other vibrios and bacteria. This method is able to detect 10-100 colony forming units (CFUs) of V.Cholerae and 8.5-85 picograms (pg) of genomic DNA. The multiplex PCR method is also more specific and sensitive than other methods, validating it as an appropriate and sensitive tool for detecting the presence of toxigenic and pathogenic V. cholerae

Investigating the Vagueness Markers and Gender Representation in News Media: A Case Study of Articles Related to COVID-19

This paper examines the use of vagueness markers in different news agencies' articles. The articles which are selected as the corpus of this study were related to the coronavirus. In order to examine this issue, 119 articles were randomly selected among nine news agencies. After analyzing the data, the paper finds out that the vagueness markers were used in different news articles, but the most markers used in CNN news agency the related frequency for CNN agency is 94. The Guardian news agency has the lowest number of markers, just 1). Among the markers considered in this paper, More or Less has the highest frequency (157) and sort of had the lowest (2). In the case of gender, it must be noted that women with a frequency of 77 had the highest frequency of using vagueness markers in the news articles. This value for men is 50. According to the paper's findings, we can conclude that the women are more interested in using vagueness markers in their writing

In vitro antifungal susceptibility of Trichophyton violaceum isolated from tinea capitis patients

PubMedID: 25492394Objectives: Trichophyton violaceum is an anthropophilic dermatophyte that is endemic to parts of Africa and Asia and is sporadic in Europe. T. violaceum mainly causes tinea capitis in both children and adolescents. Although the infections caused by T. violaceum are of considerable medical importance, its antifungal susceptibility profile remains poorly examined. Methods: In this study, we tested the in vitro antifungal susceptibility of a set of clinical T. violaceum isolates obtained from tinea capitis patients, using the CLSI broth microdilution method. We tested eight antifungals and used isolates collected from Western China (21), Eastern China (12), the Middle East (1), Europe (20), South Africa (7) and Canada (1). Results: The geometric means of the MICs of the antifungals for all isolates were as follows (in increasing order): posaconazole, 0.021 mg/L; terbinafine, 0.023 mg/L; voriconazole, 0.062 mg/L; amphotericin B, 0.20 mg/L; itraconazole, 0.34 mg/L; caspofungin, 0.56 mg/L; fluconazole, 4.23 mg/L; and flucytosine, 8.46 mg/L. No statistically significant differences in the susceptibility profiles of T. violaceum were detected within the geographical regions tested. Conclusions: Posaconazole, terbinafine and voriconazole were shown to be the most potent antifungal agents against T. violaceum isolates obtained from tinea capitis patients worldwide. These results might help clinicians in developing appropriate therapies that have a high probability of successfully treating tinea capitis due to T. violaceum. © The Author 2014.Islamic Azad University 2012211A063This study was supported in part by Program 973 (2013CB531601, 2013CB531606) and Fund 2013ZX10004612 of Severe Infectious Disease of China, and the Xinjiang Nature Science Fund No. 2012211A063 of China; and by the CBS-KNAW Fungal Biodiversity Centre, Utrecht, The Netherlands, and the Department of Medical Microbiology, Radboudumc, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, and the Department of Medical Mycology and Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Ardabil Branch, Ardabil, Iran