The effect of lavender essential oil and nanoemulsion on Trichomonas vaginalis in vitro

Background: Trichomonas vaginalis is the cause of trichomoniasis. Due to increased resistance and side effects of the drugs, the aim of this study was to assess an anti-trichomonias effect of lavender (Lavandula officinalis) essential oil and nanoemulsion on T. vaginalis in vitro. Materials and Methods: Lavender essential oil components were characterized by gas chromatography. To determine the cytotoxicity effects, the macrophage cell line J774.A.1 was used. Trichomonas vaginalis was isolated from vaginal secretions of the infected women and then cultured in the TYM complete medium and passaged for 10 days. The effect of essential oil and 1 lavender nanoemulsion in concentrations 10, 25, 50 and 100 μg/mL in the 24-well plate were examined at 1, 2 and 3 hours as triplicate. Positive control was metronidazole (50 μg/mL). The number of live and dead parasites was counted by trypan blue stain with a Neubauer slide. Results: The viability of the macrophages for lavender essential oil was 93.70 and for nanoemulsion was 90.90. Essential oil and nanoemulsion of lavender in concentration of 100 μg/mL and during 3 hours showed 81.7 and 81.9 growth inhibitory, respectively. This difference was not statistically significant. Conclusion: Lavender essential oil and nanoemulsion has a desirable inhibitory effect on growth of T.vaginalis and can be a good choice for conducting therapeutic investigations regarding trichomonial infections

Indium Antimonide Nanowires: Synthesis and Properties

This article summarizes some of the critical features of pure indium antimonide nanowires (InSb NWs) growth and their potential applications in the industry. In the first section, historical studies on the growth of InSb NWs have been presented, while in the second part, a comprehensive overview of the various synthesis techniques is demonstrated briefly. The major emphasis of current review is vapor phase deposition of NWs by manifold techniques. In addition, author review various protocols and methodologies employed to generate NWs from diverse material systems via self-organized fabrication procedures comprising chemical vapor deposition, annealing in reactive atmosphere, evaporation of InSb, molecular/chemical beam epitaxy, solution-based techniques, and top-down fabrication method. The benefits and ill effects of the gold and self-catalyzed materials for the growth of NWs are explained at length. Afterward, in the next part, four thermodynamic characteristics of NW growth criterion concerning the expansion of NWs, growth velocity, Gibbs-Thomson effect, and growth model were expounded and discussed concisely. Recent progress in device fabrications is explained in the third part, in which the electrical and optical properties of InSb NWs were reviewed by considering the effects of conductivity which are diameter dependent and the applications of NWs in the fabrications of field-effect transistors, quantum devices, thermoelectrics, and detectors

An improved microculture method for diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis

This study evaluated the performance of three diagnostic methods for cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL). Patients who came to the Health Center Laboratory of Gonbad-e-Qabus in Golestan Province, Iran, were enrolled in the study. Skin scraping smear, improved microculture (IMC) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were performed. A total of 303 subjects were recruited, among whom 273 subjects fulfilled the criteria for CL. Sensitivity and specificity were 88.8 % (95 % CI = 84.2–92.2 %) and 100.0 % for smears, 98.4 % (95 % CI = 96.1–99.1 %) and 100.0 % for IMC, both of them 100.0 % for PCR. Although, PCR was relatively more sensitive than the IMC, the high correlation (agreement = 96 %, Kappa = 0.82) between IMC and PCR along with the advantages of simplicity, rapidity, adequate sensitivity and as a needle free method, offers the IMC as a valuable alternative diagnostic method for PCR in diagnosis of CL. © Indian Society for Parasitology 2013

Emergence of a new focus of visceral leishmaniasis due to Leishmania infantum in Golestan Province, north-eastern of Iran

Over the last decade, a few cases of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) have been reported in some districts of the province of Golestan, in north-eastern Iran. The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of Leishmania infantum infection among humans and domestic dogs by using direct agglutination test (DAT) and PCR assays in the eastern zone of the province. Between 2011 and 2012, blood samples were randomly collected from 450 humans and 50 domestic dogs, in the eastern zone of Golestan Province including 7 villages from Marave-tappeh district where new cases of human VL had been recorded there. Each of these samples was tested for anti-Leishmania antibodies, in DAT, and for L. infantum kinetoplast DNA on whole blood, in PCR-based assays. A total of 450 human samples, 6 (1.33 %) were found seropositive and 13 (2.8 %) was found PCR-positive. Of the 50 dog samples, 16 (32 %) were found seropositive and 15 (30 %) were PCR-positive. All PCR-positive dogs were found seropositive except one as well as 6 (46.2 %) PCR-positive humans were also found seropositive. Moreover, the species of L. infantum was detected in all PCR-positive samples. The high prevalence of VL in the study areas offer it has emerged as an endemic focus in the province. Further investigations on the vectors, reservoirs and human population are recommended. © 2013 Indian Society for Parasitology

Cloud computing: survey on energy efficiency

International audienceCloud computing is today’s most emphasized Information and Communications Technology (ICT) paradigm that is directly or indirectly used by almost every online user. However, such great significance comes with the support of a great infrastructure that includes large data centers comprising thousands of server units and other supporting equipment. Their share in power consumption generates between 1.1% and 1.5% of the total electricity use worldwide and is projected to rise even more. Such alarming numbers demand rethinking the energy efficiency of such infrastructures. However, before making any changes to infrastructure, an analysis of the current status is required. In this article, we perform a comprehensive analysis of an infrastructure supporting the cloud computing paradigm with regards to energy efficiency. First, we define a systematic approach for analyzing the energy efficiency of most important data center domains, including server and network equipment, as well as cloud management systems and appliances consisting of a software utilized by end users. Second, we utilize this approach for analyzing available scientific and industrial literature on state-of-the-art practices in data centers and their equipment. Finally, we extract existing challenges and highlight future research directions

Investigation of optical, electrical and magnetic properties of hematite α-Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles via sol-gel and co-precipitation method

Hematite (α-Fe2O3) nanoparticles were synthesized using co-precipitation and sol–gel methods. X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique was employed to structural properties of the synthesized α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles and SEM(scanning electron microscopy) was used to analyze the morphological structure. The crystallite size is determined Sample-A (33 nm) and Sample-B (29 nm) by Scherer formula, while Volume of unit cell is measured 301.8 x106 pm3 and 301.8 x106 pm3 respectively. The X-ray density is found in the Sample-A 5.27 (g/cm3) and Sample-B 5.26 (g/cm3). The optical band gap energy measured 2.4–2.6 eV, calculated by the Tauc plot with the optical absorption data. The electrical characteristics of the samples were examined by using two probe methods and the possible impact of temperature on the electrical properties of α-Fe2O3 was investigated. Dielectric analysis reveals an inverse relationship between the permittivity of α-Fe2O3 samples and frequency that fulfills the Maxwell Wagner Model. The magnetic parameters were observed Ms = 9.29 emu, 1.72 emu and coercivity Hc = 1404(G) as well as Hc = 1040(G). The observed values of these factors indicate that the materials can be employed in a variety of applications such as catalysis, sensors and water purification.</p

Fuzzy decision making in Business intelligence in the context of Gilgit-Baltistan

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate and implement fuzzy decision based on unequal objectives and minimization of regret for the decision making in the business intelligence and to compare the weight of products while the minimization of regret that uses regression of products in Gilgit-Baltistan. Here we will convert the verbal expressions in to linguistic variables and use in fuzzy decision making model, which influences the main two factors, one is effect of the influence on the product and second its payoff for the most effectiveness on the products