Pulmonary tuberculosis and some underlying conditions in Golestan Province of Iran, during 2001-2005

Context: Pulmonary tuberculosis has been a major health problem in Golestan province of Iran. Aims: This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed to evaluate the frequency of coexisting medical conditions and their effects on some epidemiologic factors in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. Setting and Design: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. Methods and Material: Demographic information, time of admission in the hospital and coexisting medical conditions (diabetes, chronic renal failure/hemodyalysis, corticosteroids consumption and malignancies) were extracted from the patient's file. Statistical analysis used: Chi-square test was used to assess the relationship between variables. Results: Two hundred forty three patients with pulmonary tuberculosis during 5 years were studied. Out of all, 162 cases (66.7%) did not have any co-morbidities. Diabetes mellitus was found to be the most prevalent condition (23.05%) followed by chronic renal failure, corticosteroid consumption and malignancy ranking second, third and forth in the list (5.8%, 2.5% and 2 respectively). The mean age of the patients was 50.15±19 years old. In the group without co morbidities, male/ female ratio was 1.41/1, but co morbidity with diabetes was significantly more prevalent in females (p<0.05). Conclusions: We suggest screening of tuberculosis in patients with chronic renal failure and diabetes mellitus in our area. Also for patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, diabetes screening should be considered essential

Anthropometric indices in individuals infected with ascaris lumbericoids in Iran

Context: Ascaris Lumbericoids infection is more common in children and teenagers and in areas with poor sanitation or crowded living conditions. Largest of all the parasites inhabiting the human intestine it is also the most common of parasitic infections in developing countries. It has been reported to infect about one-fourth of the world population. Chronic ascariasis has been reported to adversely effect the growth rate and anthropometric indices in infected individuals of growing age. Aims: The goal of this research was to evaluate the anthropometric indices in individuals infected with Ascaris in Hamedan province of Iran. Settings and Design: This was a descriptive cross sectional study. Methods and Material: Six hundred fourteen randomly selected individuals who were inhabitants of Hamedan province of Iran were chosen for this study. Stool samples of these individuals were collected and then experimented with Formel-Ether method to determine Ascaris Lumbericoids infection. Height and weight of these individuals were measured and compared with the indices related to NCHS. Demographic information of these individuals was entered into questionnaires and ultimately was analyzed with SPSS software. Results: Out of the total study population, 16.5% of individuals were found to be infected with Ascaris. Out of the individuals infected with Ascaris, 1% were underweight. In the age groups of 6-10, 11-15, 16-20 years, 3.5%, 5.1% and 3.5% were found to be suffering from malnutrition, respectively. Conclusion: Malabsorption in children might result in malnutrition. In this study, few individuals infected with Ascaris had malnutrition, thus Ascaris infection may not be an important cause of malnutrition among children in our area

Actinomycosis may be presented in unusual organs: A report of two cases

Actinomycosis is a chronic granulomatous suppurative disease characterized by direct extension to the contagious tissue with the formation of multiple drainage sinus tracts through which tiny colonies of organisms called sulfur granules are discharged. Here, we report 2 cases of actinomycosis from Iran. One of them had actinomycosis on the hand and the other on the foot. Samples of tissue biopsy showed sulfur granules associated with colonies of actinomyces, thus confirming the diagnosis in both cases. The response to curettage and penicillin therapy was satisfactory in our patients. The chronic and indolent course of actinomycosis resembles tuberculosis, fungal infection and malignancy. So, increasing awareness among the clinicians and clinical microbiologists will help in the early diagnosis of the disease and in the initiation of early and proper treatment

Investigation of Fossil Fuel and Liquid Biofuel Blend Properties Using Artificial Neural Network

Gasoline fuel is the baseline fuel in this research, to which bioethanol, biodiesel and diesel are additives. The fuel blends were prepared based on different volumes and following which, ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) test methods analysed some of the important properties of the blends, such as: density, dynamic viscosity, kinematic viscosity and water and sediment. Experimental data were analysed by means of Matlab software. The results obtained from artificial neural network analysis of the data showed that the network with feed forward back propagation of the Levenberg-Marquardt train LM function with 10 neurons in the hidden layer was the best for predicting the parameters, including: Water and sediment (W), dynamic viscosity (DV), kinematic viscosity (KV) and density (De). The experimental data had a good correlation with ANN-predicted values according to 0.96448 for regression

A Simplest Swimmer at Low Reynolds Number: Three Linked Spheres

We propose a very simple one-dimensional swimmer consisting of three spheres that are linked by rigid rods whose lengths can change between two values. With a periodic motion in a non-reciprocal fashion, which breaks the time-reversal symmetry as well as the translational symmetry, we show that the model device can swim at low Reynolds number. This model system could be used in constructing molecular-size machines

Lymphomas in Golestan province of Iran: Results of a population-based cancer registry

Introduction: Malignancies of lymphoid cells can be divided into Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHL) on the basis of pathologic features, clinical manifestations and treatment. In this paper we present data on lymphomas in Golestan province, in the northeast of Iran, during 2004-2006, using three years results of the Golestan population-based cancer registry (GPCR), a voting member of the International Association of Cancer Registries (IACR). Methods: GPCR started collecting data on all cancers from all public and private diagnostic and therapeutic centers (hospitals, specialist physicians' offices, pathology, laboratory, and imaging centers) of Golestan province in 2004. Here, we used the Iranian national census data to identify the population characteristics of this geographical area. The last census was done in 2006 and the next one will be done in 2011. The population data for years between the national census intervals are retrieved from provincial census done annually by health deputy of Golestan University of Medical Sciences (GOUMS). Results: A total of 5,076 cancer cases were diagnosed in the GPCR between 2004 and 2006. Of these, 237 (4.67 %) were lymphomas, among the ten top cancers of this area, the patients having a mean (±SD) age of 45.2 (±20.9) years. The number of cases, frequency, age specific rates, crude rates and age standardized incidence rates (ASR) (per 100,000 personyears) for lymphomas in males and females are presented. Conclusion: It could be concluded that according to available therapies for HL and NHL, the outcome of the patients could be improved in this area, due to the better diagnostic and therapeutic methods now available

Buckling instability for a charged and fluctuating semiflexible polymer

In this article we address the problem of Euler's buckling instability in a charged semi-flexible polymer that is under the action of a compressive force. We consider this instability as a phase transition and investigate the role of thermal fluctuations in the buckling critical force. By performing molecular dynamic simulations, we show that the critical force decreases when the temperature increases. Repulsive electrostatic interaction in the finite temperature is in competition with thermal fluctuations to increase the buckling threshold

An experimental investigation of the effective parameters on wet washing of biodiesel purification

The purity level of biodiesel has a strong effect on fuel properties and on engine life. Therefore, a purification step is necessary. Generally, there are two accepted methods for purifying biodiesel: wet washing and dry washing. In this research, the effective parameters on wet purification of biodiesel were investigated. Three types of biodiesel wash water (tap water, distilled water and water with 3% phosphoric acid), three wet washing temperatures (30, 45 and 60°C), and three levels of water to biodiesel ratios (0.5, 1 and 1.5 v/v) were used. In order to perform the wet washing of biodiesel, a bubble washing technique was used. The catalyst, soap and water residue were considered as the criteria to choose the optimum water washing condition and were measured after the wet washing of crude biodiesel. The results showed that the best condition for catalyst and soap removal from biodiesel are acidified water, a temperature of 60°C and a water to biodiesel ratio of 1.5 (v/v). Also, the least amount of water residue in the final purified biodiesel was observed when using tap water at a temperature of 60°C and a water to biodiesel ratio of 0.5 (v/v)