Seroprevalence of toxocariasis in children aged 1-9 years in western Islamic Republic of Iran, 2003

We determined the seroprevalence of Toxocara canis infection in 544 children under 10 years randomly selected from urban and rural areas of Hamadan, An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used for detection of antibodies to T. canis excretion - secretion antigens. Using a questionnaire, epidemiological factors associated with infection were examined, including age, sex, residence. Antibodies to T. canis were detected in 29 children (5.3%) and 19 children (3.5%) were categorized as borderline positive; thus together this gave a prevalence of toxocariasis of 8.8%. No significant differences were found in terms of sex, age and residence

Neurological and Other Manifestations of Wilson Disease; 1998-2005

ObjectiveWilson disease (WD) is an inherited copper metabolism dysfunction disease characterized by cirrhosis and CNS findings. Wilson disease is important because it is fatal if not recognized and treated. Our Goal of study is to investigate the clinical signs and symptoms, lab results and other relevant matters in our patients in order to obtain a better understanding of this potentially lethal disease in our country.Materials & MethodsWe have evaluated 21 cases of children with Wilson disease who were referred to Loghman and Imam Hussein Hospital between years 1998-2005. The mean age of our patients was 9 years.ResultsThe presenting symptom was ascites and extremity edema in 6(28.5%) patients, behavioral changes or neurological signs in 5 (24%) simultaneous Ascites and icter in 9(43%) patients and in one patient the presenting manifestation was hemolytic anemia(4.8%). One of our patients died because of fulminant hepatitis in the course of admission(4.8%).Conclusionwe showed in this study that Wilson disease can be presented by a manifold symptoms in children and adolescence .Having a good concept of these symptoms and high clinical suspicious are required to diagnose this potentially lethal disease at the proper time in order to decrease the potential adverse effects of the disease especially the neuropsychiatric damages significantly.

Association between Endothelial Selectin (E-selectin) gene polymorphisms and E-selectin level with visceral leishmaniais, in an ARMS-PCR based study

Background: In the visceral leishmaniasis (VL), parasites reside in reticuluendothelial system, mainly in macrophages. Endothelial Selectin (E-selectin) might play an important role in leukocyte-endothelium interactions and inflammatory cell recruitment. The aim of this study was determining E-selectin level and its polymorphism in three groups, patients, seropositive and healthy individuals. Methods: Serum soluble E-selectin levels as well as 2 polymorphisms of E-selectin (Ser128Arg and Leu554Phe) were measured in a cohort of patients with documented VL (n=64), a healthy control group (n=74) and a seropositive for VL but without any symptoms (n=81). Circulation concentration of E-selectin levels was measured by ELIS. The amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS)-PCR procedure was used for detecting polymorphisms. Results: The mean of E-selectin levels significantly differed between three groups (P<0.026), and were increased in patients in comparison with other groups. Difference was more considerable between two groups of patients and healthy ones (patients 92.8 ng/ml; healthy individuals 71.9 ng/ml). Polymorphisms were associated with soluble E-selectin levels and altogether explained 14.4%, 7.2%, and 8.7% in patients, seropositive and seronegative healthy individuals, respectively. Distribution of polymorphisms of 128Ser/Arg and 554Leu/Phe among three groups was not different significantly; however, there was a considerable arrangement in distribution of Ser128Arg polymorphism and 128Arg allele in healthy group was more than two fold of patients (55% against 20%). Conclusion: The association between soluble E-selectin levels and visceral leishmaniasis suggests that this molecule might have significant role in the inflammatory process in VL. Moreover, frequency of 128Arg allele in healthy group was higher than patients

Numerical simulation of the dynamic response in pulse-loaded fibre-metal-laminated plates

This article presents a three-dimensional constitutive model to replicate the dynamic response of blastloaded fibre–metal laminates made of 2024-0 aluminium alloy and woven composite (glass fibre–reinforced polypropylene). Simulation of the dynamic response is challenging when extreme localised loads are of concern and requires reliable material constitutive models as well as accurate modelling techniques. It is well known that back layers in a fibre–metal laminate provide structural support for front layers; thus, proper modelling of constituent failure and degradation is essential to understanding structural damage and failure. The improved developed model to analyse damage initiation, progression and failure of the composite is implemented in finite element code ABAQUS, and a good correlation is observed with experimental results for displacements of the back and front faces as presented by other researchers. The model was also able to predict accurately the tearing impulses. Finally, the concepts of the ‘efficiency of the charge’ and ‘effectiveness of the target’ are proposed in the context of localised blast loading on a structure. Dimensionless parameters are introduced to quantify these parameters

Investigating the Impact of Different Representations of Data on Neural Network and Regression

In this research the impact of different data representation on the performance of neural network and regression was investigated on different datasets that has binary or Boolean class target. In addition, the performance of particular predictive data mining model could be affected with the change of data representation. The seven data representations that have been used in this research are As - Is, Min Max normalization, standard deviation normalization, sigmoidal normalization, thermometer representation, flag representation and simple binary representation. Moreover, all data representations have been applied on two datasets which are Wisconsin breast cancer and German credit dataset. As a result, the neural network performance is better than logistic regression on both datasets if we exclude the thermometer and flag representations. For datasets having a binary or Boolean target class, flag or thermometer binary representation is recommended to be used if logistic regression analysis is performed. Meanwhile, As-is representation, min max normalization, standard deviation normalization or sigmoidal normalization is recommended for neural network analysis on datasets having binary or Boolean target class

Special Issue “Extreme Mechanics in Multiscale Analyses of Materials”

EditorialThe responses and behaviour of engineering structures and materials subjected to various types of loading, particularly those under extreme loading such as earthquakes, explosions, and impacts, as well as under exposure to environmental elements, are of critical significance for the safety and integrity of said structures to fulfil their intended functions [...

Interrater reliability in visual identification of interictal high-frequency oscillations on electrocorticography and scalp EEG.

High-frequency oscillations (HFOs), including ripples (Rs) and fast ripples (FRs), are promising biomarkers of epileptogenesis, but their clinical utility is limited by the lack of a standardized approach to identification. We set out to determine whether electroencephalographers experienced in HFO analysis can reliably identify and quantify interictal HFOs. Two blinded raters independently reviewed 10 intraoperative electrocorticography (ECoG) samples from epilepsy surgery cases, and 10 scalp EEG samples from epilepsy monitoring unit evaluations. HFOs were visually marked using bandpass filters (R, 80-250 Hz; FR, 250-500 Hz) with a sampling frequency of 2,000 Hz. There was agreement as to the presence or absence of epileptiform discharges (EDs), Rs, and FRs, in 17, 18, and 18 cases, respectively. Interrater reliability (IRR) was favorable with κ = 0.70, 0.80, and 0.80, respectively, and similar for ECoG and scalp electroencephalography (EEG). Furthermore, interclass correlation for rates of Rs (0.99, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.96-0.99) and FRs (0.77, 95% CI 0.41-0.91) were superior in comparison to EDs (0.37, 95% CI -0.60 to 0.75). Our data suggest that HFO identification and quantification are reliable among experienced electroencephalographers. Our findings support the reliability of utilizing HFO data in both research and clinical arenas

Quasi-periodicities of BL Lac Objects

We review the reports of possible year-long quasi-periodicities of BL Lac objects in the $\gamma$-ray and optical bands, and present a homogeneous time analysis of the light curves of PKS2155$-$304, PG1553+113, and BL Lac. Based on results from a survey covering the entire Fermi $\gamma$-ray sky we have estimated the fraction of possible quasi-periodic BL Lac objects. We compared the cyclical behaviour in BL Lac objects with that derived from the search of possible optical periodicities in quasars, and find that at z$\lesssim$1 the cosmic density of quasi-periodic BL Lac objects is larger than that of quasi-periodic quasars. If the BL Lac quasi-periodicities were due to a supermassive binary black hole (SBBH) scenario, there could be a tension with the upper limits on the gravitational wave background measured by the pulsar timing array. The argument clearly indicates the difficulties of generally associating quasi-periodicities of BL Lac objects with SBBHs.Comment: In publication on A&A, 6 pages, 4 figure (11 plots). Minor corrections adde