Investigating Effective Factors in Performing Screening Mammography among Women Referring to Mammography Center

Background: Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer among women. This cancer could be easily intervened and even treated if it is diagnosed in the early stages. A screening program has been provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) to diagnose this cancer in the early stages and treat it successfully. Women refuse to undergo mammography for various reasons such as lack of knowledge about the necessity of doing mammography, low educational level, low household income, and woman’s unemployment, having no medical insurance, having no family history of breast diseases, and a woman’s lack of breast problems. This study aims to investigate the effective factors in performing screening mammography among women. Methods: All the clients referring to the mammography center were included in the study to determine the desired sample size. In total, 150 individuals were selected and questions were asked of them. The questionnaire consisted of 17 items. In the first part of the questionnaire, demographic information including age, educational level, occupation, place of residence, insurance status, and monthly household income was asked. The second part included women’s fertility history in terms of number of children, using hormonal methods of contraception, and other information like history of breast cancer and family history of breast cancer. In the last part, women under study were divided into 2 groups, one of them had done screening mammography before coming to the hospital and another group did not. We asked the second group about their reasons for refusing to do mammography in the past and we asked from first group about the source of information they had about doing mammography. The data were entered into SPSS software and analyzed. Results: There was no significant correlation between doing screening mammography and educational level, age, place of residence, having health insurance, being employed and type of occupation, number of children, income level, using contraceptive methods, and family history of breast cancer. A significant correlation was observed between performing screening mammography and women’s history of benign tumors (p<0.05, X2=7.44). A significant correlation was found between performing screening mammography and women’s history of a malignant tumor (p<0.05 and X2=7.143

Ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide ([bmim]Br): a green and neutral reaction media for the efficient, catalyst-free synthesis of quinoxaline derivatives

Quinoxaline derivatives were produced in excellent yields and short reaction times via the condensation of 1,2-diamines with 1,2-diketones in the neutral ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide ([bmim]Br) under catalyst-free and microwave irradiation conditions

Molecular depiction of lepa, lida, ralf, rtxa and ivhb virulence factors of legionella pneumophila isolated from respiratory tract infections

Background: Among all bacterial species in the genus Legionella, Legionella pneumophila is responsible for 90% of Legionella infections in humans. Putative virulence genes are the main factors in pathogenesis of L. pneumophila. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of L. pneumophila in the broncho alveolar lavages of patients hospitalized due to respiratory tract infections as well as study the distribution of lepA, lidA, ralF, rtxA and lvhB virulence factors in bacterial strains.Methods: One hundred fifty BAL samples were collected from patients who were referred to several Iranian health centers. Samples were cultured and those that were L. pneumophila positive were subjected to PCR method targeting the 16S rRNA gene. Samples positive for Legionella were analyzed for presence of latent virulence factors.Results: Thirteen out of 90 male BAL samples (14.4%) and 5 out of 60 female BAL samples (8.3%) were positive for L. pneumophila (P =0.046). Patients older than 50 years had the highest incidence of L. pneumophila (20%), while patients younger than 15 years old had the lowest (4.16%) (P =0.017). All patients positive for L. pneumophila had fever, while the distribution of cough, dyspnea, chest pain and headache were 77.7%, 77.7%, 66.6% and 44.4%, respectively. The most commonly detected virulence factors among L. pneumophila isolates were lidA (50%) and ralF (27.77%).Conclusion: Results indicate that sex and age of patients and climate conditions may constitute risk factors for incidence of L. pneumophila. Due to the high prevalence of L. pneumophila, wide-ranging amendments should be done in the principles of clinical care in some Iranian hospitals

Legionella pneumophila in bronchoalveolar lavage samples of patients suffering from severe respiratory infections: Role of age, sex and history of smoking in the prevalence of bacterium

Introduction. Legionella pneumophila is the most commonly detected cause of legionellosis, which is an acute respiratory tract infection with high morbidity and mortality rates. Objective. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence rate of L. pneumophila in bronchoalveolar lavages and study the role of sex, age and history of smoking as risk factors for susceptibility to the bacterium. Methods. One hundred bronchoalveolar lavage samples were collected from the Iranian health centers and immediately transferred to laboratory. The samples were cultured and those that were L. pneumophila positive were subjected to PCR method with respect to the 16S rRNA gene. Results. Twelve out of 100 samples were positive for L. pneumophila (12%). Patients older than 70 years had the highest incidence of L. pneumophila (17.77%). Prevalence of L. pneumophila in male and female patients was 14.81% and 8.69%, respectively. Total incidence of L. pneumophila in patients with and without history of smoking was 18% and 6%, respectively. There were significant differences in the incidence of bacterium between groups of our study. Conclusion. Sex, age and history of smoking are predominant risk factors for the occurrence of L. pneumophila. However, more studies should be undertaken to confirm these results

β-Amyloid Targeting with Two-Dimensional Covalent Organic Frameworks : Multi-Scale In-Silico Dissection of Nano-Biointerface

Cytotoxic aggregation of misfolded beta-amyloid (A beta) proteins is the main culprit suspected to be behind the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this study, A beta interactions with the novel two-dimensional (2D) covalent organic frameworks (COFs) as therapeutic options for avoiding beta-amyloid aggregation have been investigated. The results from multi-scale atomistic simulations suggest that amine-functionalized COFs with a large surface area (more than 1000 m(2)/gr) have the potential to prevent A beta aggregation. Gibb's free energy analysis confirmed that COFs could prevent protofibril self-assembly in addition to inhibiting beta-amyloid aggregation. Additionally, it was observed that the amine functional group and high contact area could improve the inhibitory effect of COFs on A beta aggregation and enhance the diffusivity of COFs through the blood-brain barrier (BBB). In addition, microsecond coarse-grained (CG) simulations with three hundred amyloids reveal that the presence of COFs creates instability in the structure of amyloids and consequently prevents the fibrillation. These results suggest promising applications of engineered COFs in the treatment of AD and provide a new perspective on future experimental research.Peer reviewe

Assessment of Shahrekord's People's Awareness in Municipal Solid Waste Management

Introduction: Solid waste management became an important environmental issue in the last century. This study was conducted to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes of people regarding urban waste management in Shahrekord in 2013. Solid waste materials in Shahrekord often include household, commercial, industrial, construction and agricultural waste. These wastes are buried unseparated and a percentage of the waste remains unmanaged. Since there is no recycling factory in Chaharmahal & Bakhtiari Province, many wastes, which have high economic value, are destroyed with indifference. Considering the influential role of urban and provincial managers and planners, with a little reflection and acceptance of the role of community members in the management cycle, many problems related to the next stages of the waste disposal system can be reduced to the minimum possible.Materials and Methods: In order to execute this study, a combined method (field, library and documentary, analytical and descriptive methods) was used. The city was divided into three districts and randomly, 50 questionnaires (n=150) were distributed. The validity of the questionnaires was confirmed by an expert in the field of waste materials from the medical sciences universities in the country and its reliability was confirmed by Cronbach’s alpha test. Finally, the data obtained from these questionnaires were analyzed using Excel and SPSS version 19 software, aided by descriptive statistics, correlation tests and variance analysis. In order to investigate the effect of gender on the participation rate, independent T-test was used, and the effect of education and age structure on the participation rate was evaluated by ANOVA test.Results: Given a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.87, the questions asked in the questionnaires had good validity. The largest number of respondents to the questionnaires were in the age range of 25-40 years old (53.3 percent), and in terms of education, they had associate and bachelors degrees (55.3 percent). Also, 50.7% of the respondents were women and 49.3% were men. The results showed a significant relationship between the level of education of people and their knowledge about solid waste management (chi-square, 0.05). There was no relationship between the awareness of people and their age and gender (chi-square, 0.05). The results of the frequency distribution of people’s responses regarding solid waste showed that approximately 97% of people are fully aware of the difference between dry and wet waste. The mean score of awareness of people in this study was 31.88 ± 0.98 (mean ± SD) of 68 score.Discussion: According to these results, awareness of people in Shahrekord was estimated as medium. These results indicated that in a society with a high level of culture, it is easier to manage solid waste. Therefore, there is a need for planning to change the behavior and attitudes of families and implement programs to increase people’s knowledge based on the social and cultural context of the study area. Therefore, to improve solid waste management, it should be use appropriate educational media to promote public culture in relation to solid waste management

Cs2CO3/[bmim]Br as an Efficient, Green, and Reusable Catalytic System for the Synthesis of N-Alkyl Derivatives of Phthalimide under Mild Conditions

Aza-conjugate addition of phthalimide to α,β-unsaturated esters efficiently achieves in the presence of catalytic amount of Cs2CO3 and ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide ([bmim]Br) under mild reaction conditions (70°C) to afford N-alkyl phthalimides in high yields and relatively short reaction times

JSCS–4054 Original scientific paper

Ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide ([bmim]Br): a green and neutral reaction media for the efficient, catalyst-free synthesis of quinoxaline derivative

Molecular scale study on the interactions of biocompatible nanoparticles with macrophage membrane and blood proteins

Macrophage targeting and researches centered on immunological responses have received interest thanks to studies unveiling the significant role of macrophages in inflammatory diseases and cancer. In this regard, we have selected four types of nanoparticles (NPs), including acetalated dextran-based nano-carrier functionalized with atrial natriuretic peptide and linTT1(AcDEX-PEG-TT1-ANP), PEGylated acetalated dextran (AcDEX-PEG), acetalated dextran (AcDEX), and hyaluronic acid (HA) to investigate their interactions with macrophage membrane. Using microsecond coarse-grained molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, we studied the interactions between the NPs and the macrophage membrane and subsequent immunological reactions that occur after the penetration of the NPs within the macrophage cell. Different parameters that determine the strength and amount of macrophage membrane interaction were measured and compared for all four types of NPs. The results showed that AcDEX-PEG-TT1-ANP has the most favorable interaction with the macrophage membrane while HA has the least favorable results by comparison. Moreover, drug encapsulation and release in different pH conditions showed the pH-responsivity of the considered NPs for drug delivery in acidic environments. On the other hand, evaluations with human serum albumin (HSA), fibrinogen (Fib), and transferrin (Tf) declared that peptide modified AcDEX polymers are the most probable NPs to absorb a layer of the protein corona