The Rating of Insurance Companies Based on The Regulatory Indicators Using Three Different Scenarios

The rating of insurance companies is one of the necessary and operational policies to regulate and evaluate the performance of the insurance industry. It informs shareholders, customers, insurers, and even regulatory authorities, as well as formal and informal support bodies, about the current performance of insurance companies and their capabilities and prospects for the future. The rating of insurance companies in terms of the regulatory indicators and decision-making and implementation of the administrative measures for the companies based on the regulatory rating of each company is one of the needs of the regulatory body. Therefore, doing this properly requires using the indicators in principal areas, weighting them according to their importance, and implementing the model, finally. For this reason, in this study, first, the effective indicators for the regulatory rating of insurance companies were identified using documentary studies and relevant writings, and the initial indicators were scrutinized and completed using the results of a questionnaire. Then, the indicators prioritization and weighting and implementation of the model for regulatory rating of insurance companies are performed for 2019. Weighting the indicators is done by the Shannon entropy method, and the rating of insurance companies is implemented under three different scenarios with the TOPSIS model and the weighted average method

The impact of laminate veneer restoration on oral health-related quality of life: A case series study

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Laminate veneer restorations exhibit excellent ability to reproduce the natural teeth regarding esthetic and biomechanics. The aim of the present study was to determine the impact of laminate veneers on oral health-related quality of life (OHQoL). METHODS: In this case series study, the impact of treatment on OHQol was measured using the standard questionnaire OHIP-14. This tool was applied to 19 patients who visited the private office of restorative and cosmetic specialist before and six months after treatment. RESULTS: The maximum score recorded by Oral Health Impact Profile-14 was 34 before treatment, with 31 after treatment. The average score decreased from 13.1 ± 9.44 (before treatment) to 12 ± 10.6 (after treatment). Comparison of the frequencies of patient’s responses to OHQoL suggested that changes in OHQoL for question number 4 (uncomfortable to eat food) and question number 9 (difficult to relax) were significant, respectively (P = 0.03, P = 0.02) and for question number 10 (feeling embarrassed) were nearly significant (P = 0.07). Nineteen subjects in this study exhibited improvement in OHQoL. CONCLUSION: Esthetic dental treatment using laminate veneers would significantly affect OHQoL enhancement in some aspects. KEYWORDS: Oral Health; Quality of Life; Cosmetic Dentistry; Laminate Venee

Optimization of the fermentation media, mathematical modeling, and enhancement of paclitaxel production by Alternaria alternata after elicitation with pectin

Alternaria alternata fungus is a potent paclitaxel producer isolated from Corylus avellana. Themajor challenge is the lack of optimized media for endophytic fungi productivity. In the effort tomaximize the production of taxoids by A. alternata, several fermentation conditions, including pH(pH 4.0–7.0), different types and concentrations of carbon (fructose, glucose, sucrose, mannitol,sorbitol, and malt extract), and nitrogen (urea, ammonium nitrate, potassium nitrate, ammoniumphosphate, and ammonium sulfate) were applied step by step. Based on the results, A. alternata in amedium containing sucrose 5% (w/v) and ammonium phosphate 2.5 mM at pH 6.0 showed a rapid andsustainable growth rate, the highest paclitaxel yield (94.8 μg gFW−1 vs 2.8 μg gFW− 1 in controls), andthe maximum content of amino acids. Additionally, the effect of pectin was evaluated on fungus, andmycelia harvested. Pectin significantly enhanced the growth and taxoid yield on day 21 (respectively171% and 116% of their corresponding on day 7). The results were checked out by mathematicalmodeling as well. Accordingly, these findings suggest a low-cost, eco-friendly, and easy-to-produceapproach with excellent biotechnological potential for the industrial manufacture of taxoids.</p

Evaluation of the effect of Kandovan propolis against Streptococcus Mutans

BACKGROUND AND AIM: In recent years, propolis has been introduced as one the most efficient agents against cariogenic bacteria. However, due to the lack of data on the propolis collected from Kandovan (Easthern Azarbaijan, Iran), this study was designed to investigate the effect of this type of propolis on Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans). METHODS: In this experimental study, the ethanolic extraction of propolis (EEP) was prepared with different concentrations (1%, 3%, 5%, and 10%) while the distilled water was incorporated as control. The antibacterial efficacy was tested via two standard methods including the agar disk diffusion and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) tests. Finally, the resulting data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Bonferroni post-hoc tests ( = 0.05). RESULTS: The obtained MIC was 2.5 mg/ml. However, in disk diffusion test, the 1% and 3% EEP solutions did not exhibit any zone of inhibition, however the 5% EEP showed very strong antibacterial effect (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The EEP extracted from Kandovan had significant antibacterial effect against S. mutans when prepared in 5% concentration. Therefore, this type of propolis could be considered as one of the most efficient propolis against S. mutans. KEYWORDS: Propolis; Streptococcus Mutans; Antibacteria

The impact of laminate veneer restoration on oral health-related quality of life: A case series study

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Laminate veneer restorations exhibit excellent ability to reproduce the natural teeth regarding\ud esthetic and biomechanics. The aim of the present study was to determine the impact of laminate veneers on oral\ud health-related quality of life (OHQoL).\ud METHODS: In this case series study, the impact of treatment on OHQol was measured using the standard questionnaire\ud OHIP-14. This tool was applied to 19 patients who visited the private office of restorative and cosmetic specialist before\ud and six months after treatment.\ud RESULTS: The maximum score recorded by Oral Health Impact Profile-14 was 34 before treatment, with 31 after treatment.\ud The average score decreased from 13.1 ± 9.44 (before treatment) to 12 ± 10.6 (after treatment). Comparison of the frequencies\ud of patient’s responses to OHQoL suggested that changes in OHQoL for question number 4 (uncomfortable to eat food) and\ud question number 9 (difficult to relax) were significant, respectively (P = 0.03, P = 0.02) and for question number 10 (feeling\ud embarrassed) were nearly significant (P = 0.07). Nineteen subjects in this study exhibited improvement in OHQoL.\ud CONCLUSION: Esthetic dental treatment using laminate veneers would significantly affect OHQoL enhancement in\ud some aspects

Comparison of various concentrations of tricalcium phosphate nanoparticles on mechanical properties and remineralization of fissure sealants.

The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanical properties (flexural strength, micro-shear bond strength) and remineralizing potential of fissure sealants by adding various concentrations of β-tricalcium phosphate nanoparticles.This in-vitro study consisted of five experimental groups containing prepared nano-fisssure sealants (1-5 wt.% β-TCP nanoparticles) and two control groups containing a prepared and a commercial fissure sealant. Flexural/micro-shear bond strength values were measured using Zwick test machine. Cavities on sixty healthy premolar teeth were filled with the fissure sealants containing 0-5 wt.% of nano β-TCP. The samples were assessed for remineralization under scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and EDAX. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, One-way ANOVA and Tukey's Post Hoc analysis/HSD were used to analyze the data.There was no significant difference between the flexural strengths/elastic modulus of the 0-5 wt.% nano β-TCP groups (p>0.05). The average flexural strength/elastic modulus of the prepared fissure sealant group (0%) was significantly higher than the commercial fissure sealant group (Clinpro) (p0.05). Examining the samples under SEM showed a significant increase in thickness of the intermediate layer with increasing concentrations of β-TCP nanoparticles (

Isolation, characterization, and functional study of extracellular vesicles derived from Leishmania tarentolae

Leishmania (L.) species are protozoan parasites with a complex life cycle consisting of a number of developmental forms that alternate between the sand fly vector and their host. The non-pathogenic species L. tarentolae is not able to induce an active infection in a human host. It has been observed that, in pathogenic species, extracellular vesicles (EVs) could exacerbate the infection. However, so far, there is no report on the identification, isolation, and characterization of L. tarentolae EVs. In this study, we have isolated and characterized EVs from L. tarentolaeGFP+ (tEVs) along with L. majorGFP+ as a reference and positive control. The EVs secreted by these two species demonstrated similar particle size distribution (approximately 200 nm) in scanning electron microscopy and nanoparticle tracking analysis. Moreover, the said EVs showed similar protein content, and GFP and GP63 proteins were detected in both using dot blot analysis. Furthermore, we could detect Leishmania-derived GP63 protein in THP-1 cells treated with tEVs. Interestingly, we observed a significant increase in the production of IFN-γ, TNF-α, and IL-1β, while there were no significant differences in IL-6 levels in THP-1 cells treated with tEVs following an infection with L. major compared with another group of macrophages that were treated with L. major EVs prior to the infection. Another exciting observation of this study was a significant decrease in parasite load in tEV-treated Leishmania-infected macrophages. In addition, in comparison with another group of Leishmania-infected macrophages which was not exposed to any EVs, tEV managed to increase IFN-γ and decrease IL-6 and the parasite burden. In conclusion, we report for the first time that L. tarentolae can release EVs and provide evidence that tEVs are able to control the infection in human macrophages, making them a great potential platform for drug delivery, at least for parasitic infections.ISSN:2235-298

Prevalence, Demographic Characteristics and Comorbid Psychiatric Disorders in Children and Adolescents with Substance Use Disorder in Iran

Background: The present study aimed to investigate the prevalence of substance use disorder in Iranian children and adolescents and its relationship with demographic characteristics and psychiatric comorbidities. Methods: The data were taken from a national survey on the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in Iranian children and adolescents. The national survey was conducted on 30,532 children and adolescents aged 6-18 years which were selected using multistage cluster sampling. The psychiatric disorders were assessed by employing k-SADS-PL questionnaire and interviews carried out by 240 clinical psychologists with the participants and their parents. Data were analyzed by Chi-square test and logistic regression. Results: A total of 277 (0.97%) were diagnosed as people with substance use disorder that were further studied for comorbid disorders. Among the various types of drugs, hypnotic/sedative/anti-anxiety drugs were abused by 84 people (46.15%), cannabis by 68 (37.36%) and stimulants by 43 (23.63%). The variables of gender, place of residence, and father's occupation and parents' education level were identified as predictors of substance use disorder in children and adolescents. At the same time, 42.50% substances and alcohol abusing people had at least one comorbid psychiatric disorder and the highest comorbidity was observed in oppositional defiant disorder, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder and separation anxiety disorder (p≤0.05). Conclusion: The findings can be used in the prevention and treatment of substance use disorder and promotion of mental health in children and adolescents by focusing on the psychiatric comorbidities of people with substance use disorder