Effect of rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) extract on weight, hematology and cell-mediated immune response of newborn goat kids

This study aimed at evaluating the effects of different levels of rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) extract on growth rate, hematology and cell-mediated immune response in Markhoz newborn goat kids. Twenty four goat kids (aged 7 +/- 3 days) were randomly allotted to four groups with six replicates. The groups included: control, T1, T2 and T3 groups which received supplemented-milk with 0, 100, 200 and 400mg aqueous rosemary extract per kg of live body weight per day for 42 days. Body weights of kids were measured weekly until the end of the experiment. On day 42, 10 ml blood samples were collected from each kid through the jugular vein. Cell-mediated immune response was assessed through the double skin thickness after intradermal injection of phyto-hematoglutinin (PHA) at day 21 and 42. No significant differences were seen in initial body weight, average daily gain (ADG) and total gain. However, significant differences in globulin (P 0.05), and white blood cells (WBC) (P 0.001) were observed. There were no significant differences in haemoglobin (Hb), packed cell volume (PCV), red blood cells (RBC), lymphocytes and neutrophils between the treatments. Skin thickness in response to intra dermal injection of PHA significantly increased in the treated groups as compared to the control group at day 42 (P 0.01) with the T3 group showing the highest response to PHA injection. In conclusion, the results indicated that aqueous rosemary extract supplemented-milk had a positive effect on immunity and skin thickness of newborn goat kids

Analytical investigation of the one dimensional heat transfer in logarithmic various surfaces

AbstractThe purpose of the present study was to investigate of the effect of temperature variation on the logarithmic surface. By using the appropriate similarity transformation for the generation components and temperature, the basic equations governing flow and heat transfer are reduced to a set of ordinary differential equations. These equations have been solved approximately subject to the relevant boundary conditions with numerical and analytical techniques. The reliability and performance of the present method have been compared with the numerical method (Runge–Kutta fourth-rate) to solve this problem. Then, LSM is used to solve nonlinear equation in heat transfer. This method is useful and practical for solving the nonlinear equation in heat transfer. It is observed that the obtained results by present analytical method are very close to result of the numerical method. Furthermore, the results show that the temperature profiles decreased by increasing the α number, and, temperature profiles increased by increasing the β number

Learning-Based Single Image Super Resolution

Recent advancements in signal processing techniques have led to obtain more high resolution images. A high resolution image refers to an image with high density of pixels. The importance and desire of high resolution images are obvious in the field of electronic and digital imaging applications.The quality of an image can be improved either by hardware or software approaches. Hardware approaches are straightforward solutions to enhance the quality of a given image, but some constraints, such as chip size increment, making them expensive to some extend. Therefore, most of the researchers are focused on software methods. Super resolution is one of the software image processing approaches where a high resolution image can be recovered from low resolution one(s). The main goal of super resolution is the resolution enhancement. This topic has been widely brought into attention in image processing society due to the current and future application demands especially in the field of medical applications. Super resolving a high resolution image can be performed from either a single low resolution or many low resolution images. This thesis is completely concentrated on Single Image Super Resolution (SISR) where a single low resolution image is the candidate to be exploited as the input image. There are several classes of methods to obtain SISR where three important ones, i.e., the Example-based, Regression-based and Self-similarity-based are investigated within this thesis. This thesis evaluates the performance of the above-mentioned methods. Based on achieved results, the Regression method shows better performance compared to other approaches. Furthermore, we utilize parameters, such as patch size, to improve the numerical and virtual results in term of PSNR and resolution, respectively. These modifications are applied to the Regression-based and Self-similarity-based methods. The modified algorithms in both methods lead to improve results and obtain the best ones

Association of 757 C/T polymorphismin PRODH gene with Schizophrenia in Iranian population

Evidence is emerging for the association of polymorphisms in PRODH gene and increased risk of schizophrenia. In this project, peripheral blood sampling was obtained from 175 schizophrenia patients that their diseases were confirmed by psychiatrists. 185 healthy individuals were considered as control group. The related tests were administered on the basis of PCR-RFLP. In the continuation, statistical analysis was made on the basis of obtained genotypes from two groups of healthy and patient groups using SPSS16.0 software. The administration of this project aims at investigating the hypothesis that proline dehydrogenase gene, as one of the most important genes involved in schizophrenia incidence which is proved in various populations [outside Iran], may also be involved in incidence of schizophrenia in Iran. This study has analyzed one single nucleotide polymorphism in the PRODH gene, including 757C/T in the incidence of this disease in the given statistical population. According to our results, SNP 757 C/T may be effective in incidence of the disease since P value was < 0.01. Ultimately, our results suggest that outbreak of mutation in PRODH gene in our population can be one of causes of increasing risk of Schizophrenia in this population

Effect of Laser-Assisted Hair Removal (LAHR) on the Quality of Life and Depression in Hirsute Females: A Single-Arm Clinical Trial

Introduction: Hirsutism, mainly due to poly cystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), causes stress, anxiety and depression in females. LAHR is currently accepted as a good treatment option for hirsutism. The goal of the current study was to ascertain how LAHR affected the degree of hirsutism, quality of life, and depression in hirsute females. Methods: A single arm before/after clinical trial was designed and performed in the Razi Hospital Laser Clinic over a 15-months period. All hirsute females visiting Razi hospital laser clinic, were enrolled and received three sessions of LAHR every 4-6 weeks if they were interested and signed an informed consent. Before the commencement of LAHR and six to eight weeks after the last session, the Ferriman-Gallwey score (hirsutism severity), Beck score (depression index) and DLQI score (quality of life index) were calculated and stored. Results: There were 80 subjects in all. The mean± (SD) of the Ferriman-Gallwey score was reduced from 7.05 ± 2.27 to 4.91 ± 2.41, p<0.001. Beck depression score’s mean± (SD) was reduced from 13.3 ± 8.7 to 10.2 ± 8.4, p<0.001 and mean± (SD) of DLQI score was decreased from 5.6 ± 5.2 to 3.5 ± 2.3, p<0.001. No significant complication were reported. Conclusion:   LAHR can improve hirsutism related depression and degradation of quality of life as well as hirsutism physical signs

Investigating Impacts of CVR and Demand Response Operations on a Bi-Level Market-Clearing With a Dynamic Nodal Pricing

This paper investigates the impacts of conservation voltage reduction (CVR) on electricity prices, the local market, and technical issues in distribution networks. An increase in electricity demand is one of the key challenges for developing sustainable societies. An increase in electric consumption puts immense pressure on electricity providers, which forces them to apply for load reduction programs during peak-demand time intervals. The CVR is one of the popular methods for load reduction, but how it would impact the pricing process and electricity market at the distribution level needs further investigation. The proposed methodology includes a power tracing and loss allocation-based pricing method. Since the distribution networks are going to be confronted by penetration of distributed energy resources (DER), prosumers, and microgrids, it is important to have a comprehensive methodology. This paper deploys a bi-level optimization algorithm to consider the financial benefits of all participating agents. In addition to CVR, the demand response (DR) programs are considered to shift and curtail flexible loads by the distribution system operator (DSO) and prosumers, respectively. The price sensitivity of prosumers toward change in the network’s voltage for better planning is calculated. The operation costs/profits of DSO/prosumers decrease/increase during CVR and DR programs by 4.63% / 3%, respectively.©2023 Authors. Published by IEEE. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License. For more information, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Endoscopic correction of vesicoureteral reflux in children

Introduction: Dextranomer/hyaluronic (Dx/HA) acid is the only tissue-augmenting agent approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) treatment. Objectives: We aimed to evaluate short-term outcomes of the Dx/HA in patients who had undergone subureteric injection. Patients and Methods: In this study, 30 patients with VUR diagnosis who had indications for open surgery were enrolled in the study. Patients underwent subureteric Dx/HA injection. Additionally patients underwent a one-year follow up period, subsequently. Follow up included urine analysis, urine cultures and kidney and urinary tract ultrasonography study. Results: Of a total 30 patients, 8 patients (27) were male and 22 patients (73) were female. The mean age of patients was 25.19 ± 0.70 months. Postoperative VUR resolution was observed in 28 patients (93.3). Moreover, during one year follow up, urinary tract infection (UTI) was not reported in patients. However, recurrent VUR was detected in 8 patients (27) during ultrasonography follow up. Analysis showed no significant difference of recurrence in VUR between males and females (P = 0.285) and VUR severity (P = 0.1). There was a significant relationship between recurrent UTI history before intervention and VUR recurrence after subureteric injection (P = 0.007). Conclusion: Dx/HA acid subureteric injection provides acceptable resolution rate among VUR patients, but its biodegradability causes VUR recurrence during one-year follow up. © 2018 The Author(s)

Endoscopic correction of vesicoureteral reflux in children

Introduction: Dextranomer/hyaluronic (Dx/HA) acid is the only tissue-augmenting agent approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) treatment. Objectives: We aimed to evaluate short-term outcomes of the Dx/HA in patients who had undergone subureteric injection. Patients and Methods: In this study, 30 patients with VUR diagnosis who had indications for open surgery were enrolled in the study. Patients underwent subureteric Dx/HA injection. Additionally patients underwent a one-year follow up period, subsequently. Follow up included urine analysis, urine cultures and kidney and urinary tract ultrasonography study. Results: Of a total 30 patients, 8 patients (27) were male and 22 patients (73) were female. The mean age of patients was 25.19 ± 0.70 months. Postoperative VUR resolution was observed in 28 patients (93.3). Moreover, during one year follow up, urinary tract infection (UTI) was not reported in patients. However, recurrent VUR was detected in 8 patients (27) during ultrasonography follow up. Analysis showed no significant difference of recurrence in VUR between males and females (P = 0.285) and VUR severity (P = 0.1). There was a significant relationship between recurrent UTI history before intervention and VUR recurrence after subureteric injection (P = 0.007). Conclusion: Dx/HA acid subureteric injection provides acceptable resolution rate among VUR patients, but its biodegradability causes VUR recurrence during one-year follow up. © 2018 The Author(s)

Quality of life in patients with vitiligo: A cross-sectional study based on Vitiligo Quality of Life index (VitiQoL)

Background: Vitiligo is a multi-factorial pigmentary skin disorder. Recently, the importance of emotional and psychological issues is proposed in incidence, progression, relapse and remission of vitiligo. There are limited studies conducted in developing countries, which assess life quality of patients with vitiligo. The aim of this study was the application and evaluation of a disease-specific quality of life index in Iranian patients, for the first time. Methods: This cross-sectional biphasic study was conducted on 25 patients as a pilot and another 173 patients as the main study group, in Razi Hospital, Tehran, Iran, 2013-2014. Persian version of Vitiligo Quality of Life index (VitiQoL) was developed with backward-forward method. Based on the pilot study, the validity and reliability were assessed. The Vitiligo Area and Score Index (VASI), VitiQoL, and their relationship, demographic and clinical characteristic of patients were measured. Results: The Mean and standard deviation of the VitiQoL score was 30.5 ± 14.5 (range 0-60 in Persian version). There was a significant relationship between VASI score and VitiQoL (p = 0.015, r = 0.187). Confirmatory factor analysis revealed three important factors within VitiQoL: participation limitation, stigma, and behavior. In subscale analysis based on behavior factor, female patients had poorer quality of life (p = 0.02). Concomitant psychiatric problems, e.g. anxiety and depression, were not associated with QOL; however, they were near to being meaningful (p = 0.06, r = 0.14). Conclusion: VitiQoL is a valid index in estimating life quality of vitiligo patients and has proper relation to disease severity. Focusing on patient's life quality is an important entity in the management of vitiligo patients; relevant supportive group-based consultations and therapies are also important arms when approaching vitiligo. © 2016 The Author(s)