^1H{^(19)F} NOE NMR Structural Signatures of the Insulin R_6 Hexamer: Evidence of a Capped HisB10 Site in Aryl- and Arylacryloyl-carboxylate Complexes

New and improved insulin: ^1H{^(19)F} NOE NMR difference spectra for CF_3-substituted aromatic carboxylates bound at the HisB10 sites of the R_6 human insulin (HI) hexamer show strong NOEs between the CF_3 groups and the LeuB6, AsnB3, and PheB1 sidechains. The NOEs and structural modeling establish that these carboxylates form closed complexes with the HisB10 site capped by the PheB1 rings

Contextualizing Kurdish gender studies decolonial feminist knowledge production and the genesis of the Kurdish Gender Studies Network

Established in 2020, the Kurdish Gender Studies Network (KGSN) is an online epistemic community that brings together activists and scholars dedicated to advancing knowledge in Kurdish gender and sexuality studies. This paper aims to introduce the network to a larger public while situating the formation of the KGSN in relation to the growth of Kurdish gender studies (KGS), and the increasing influence of women and queer scholars in Kurdish studies (KS) since 2010. It highlights that both KGSN and KS have been greatly influenced by the conditions shaped by the colonial legacy surrounding Kurdistan and the Kurdish issue while discussing the ways in which Kurdish women’s and gender studies were often marginalized in KS. As Kurdish women scholars and members of the network’s steering committee, we position the trajectory of the network and the evolution of KGS within the broader framework of knowledge production in colonial contexts and address the ongoing struggle to decolonize feminist knowledge production, which, historically, has been dominated by Western-centric epistemologies and methodologies

Jin, Jiyan, Azadî and the Historical Erasure of Kurds

This is the final version. Available on open access from Cambridge University Press via the DOI in this recordFollowing the murder of Jîna (Mahsa) Amini on September 16, 2022, her parents decided—despite the threats and intimidation by security forces—to hold a public funeral. Protests were ongoing outside Kasra Hospital in Tehran as word spread across the capital of Jîna's murder.1 The family transferred her body to their hometown of Saqez the next day. Hundreds of people traveled to the Ayçî cemetery within hours of the announcement of the public funeral on social media. There, they helped bury Jîna among Kurdish chants and songs. Kurdish women threw their scarves in the air and chanted Jin, Jiyan, Azadî (Woman, Life, Freedom), among other slogans. In addition to the initial print reports about Jîna's murder by journalists Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi—both of whom remain imprisoned for their work— social media participated and propelled the protests. Photos, videos, and other types of testimony circulated online. The funeral, solidarity demonstrations in Kurdish cities, towns, and villages, and the observation of mass strikes in the following days captured the attention of Iranians all over the country

‘Gan qey bedenî yeno çi mana’ (What the soul means for the body): Collecting and archiving Kurdish folklore as a strategy for language revitalization and indigenous knowledge production

This is the final version. Available on open access from Routledge via the DOI in this record. Folklore-collecting initiatives in Turkey and Iran have become increasingly popular over the past decade. In this article we present a historical overview of folklorecollecting practices and focus on more recent developments in this field. While Kurdish folklore has been perceived as a cornerstone of Kurdish national identity and as a source of information on Kurdish history, today’s collectors in Turkey and Iran understand its role in a wider context of language revitalization and indigenous knowledge production. Collecting oral traditions in the Kurdish dialects of Kurmanji, Sorani, and Zazaki is appreciated as a step towards protecting and developing the Kurdish language, which is endangered by language assimilation policies in both countries. Reviving folkloric vocabulary, stories, and traditional knowledge practices such as agricultural teachings, folklore collectors revive and promote indigenous knowledge production, and enrich education and research. Drawing on language revitalization theories and indigenous knowledge production, this article offers insights into unexplored aspects of collecting, archiving, and publishing Kurdish folklore in recent years.National Science Centre of Polan

Association of Serum Leptin with Prognostic Factors in Breast Cancer

Background: Nowadays, cytokines such as Leptin and adiponectin are introduced as prognostic factors which, according to some studies, are also associated with body mass index. This study aimed to determine serum leptin level and its relationship with prognostic factors in breast cancer patients.Methods: This case–control study was conducted in the oncology department of Tohid Hospital, Sanandaj, Iran, between 2019 and 2020. Hundred new cases of breast cancer patients with histological evidence were enrolled in this study. Additionally, 100 age-and BMI-matched healthy individuals were recruited as the control group. The serum leptin level was measured using the ELISA method.Results: Serum leptin levels were significantly higher in breast cancer patients compared to the control group (21.68 ± 9.16 vs 11.89 ± 4.45; p < 0.001). There was no significant relationship between plasma leptin levels with ER, PR, and HER2 expressions (p > 0.05). Also, no significant associations were noted between leptin levels and grading and disease staging (p > 0.05).Conclusion: The study found that leptin is higher in breast cancer patients than in healthy individuals, however, it did not prove that leptin is a predictive or prognostic factor.Keywords: leptin, breast cancer, staging, gradin

A narrative review of thallium toxicity; preventive measures

Thallium (Tl) toxicity is an important clinical disease and its effects on the human body are devastating. Tl poisoning is an important health issue in many countries in the world. Thallium is a toxic heavy metal that exists in nature. Tl toxicity may occur in food and drinking water, occupational exposure, environment (air, industrial combustion of coal, water, and plants), arable soils and vegetables, aquatic and terrestrial animals, prenatal thallium exposure, illicit drugs, cigarette smokers. Adding lead to the opium is a recently health hazard that has been observed among opioid poisoned patients. The clinical manifestation of Tl poisoning has a wide spectrum but painful ascending peripheral neuropathy, gastrointestinal, and dermatologic manifestations are major characteristics in Tl toxicity. The toxicity of thallium based compounds is mainly caused by the similarity between TL ions and potassium ions, which results in the disorder of potassium associated metabolic processes due to thallium interference. The aim of this review is to assess identify eliminate, sources or control sources, and environmental exposures and hazards to prevent thallium toxicity. © 2019, Advanced Scientific Research. All rights reserved

Exploring the response of a resistive soot sensor to AC electric excitation

The resistive particulate matter sensor is a simple device that transduces the presence of soot through impedance change across inter-digital electrodes (IDEs). We investigate the information provided by impedance spectroscopy over the frequency range from 100 Hz to 10 kHz for two purposes. The first is to investigate the opportunities for an improved sensor response to particulate matter (PM), based on the additional information provided by the measurement of both the in-phase (resistive) and out-of-phase (capacitive) components of the change in impedance over this frequency range as compared to DC resistance measurement only. Secondly, the origin of the capacitive response of the device is investigated from the perspective that soot on the device is in the form of bendable dendrites that grow in three dimensions. An IDE structure with the housing acting as an additional suspended electrode for introducing a controllable vertical electric field component has been used for this purpose. The formation of dipoles, due to bending of the charged dendrites, is found to be the source of the capacitive response. Simulation of electrostatic soot deposition reinforces dendritic self-assembly mechanisms, driven by charged particle trajectories along electric field lines. Optical microscopy confirms that dendrites growing out of the substrate plane are sensitive to electric and flow forces, bending when force balances are appropriate. We also apply impedance spectroscopy under varying electric field strengths, showing that capacitive response is only observed when conditions are conducive to dendrite bending in response to the applied AC electric fields

Main determinants of catastrophic health expenditures: a Bayesian logit approach on Iranian household survey data (2010)

BACKGROUND: During recent decades, increase in both health care expenditures and improvement of the awareness as well as health expectations have created some problems with regard to finance healthcare expenditures so that the issue of health financing by households has been determined as a major challenge in health sector. According to the definition by the World Health Organization, catastrophic health expenditure is considered if financial contribution for health service is more than 40 of income remaining after subsistence needs have been met. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of our study was determination of Main factors on catastrophic health expenditures in Iranian households. PATIENTS & METHODS: In this study, using an econometrics Bayesian logit model, determinants of the appearance of catastrophic health expenditure based on household budget data collected in 2010 were evaluated. RESULTS: Among Iranian households, the following groups were more likely to encounter with unsustainable health expenditures: rural households, households with the numbers of the elderly more than 65 years, illiterate householders, unemployed householders, households with some unemployed persons, households in upper rank and households with larger equivalent household size were higher than the average of community could significantly predict catastrophic health expenditures. CONCLUSIONS: About 2.1 of households were faced with catastrophic health expenditures in 2010. Thus, the implemented policies could not make considerable and significant change in improving justice in financing in health systems

Razumikhin Stability Theorem for Fractional Systems with Delay

Fractional calculus techniques and methods started to be applied successfully during the last decades in several fields of science and engineering. In this paper we studied the stability of fractional-order nonlinear time-delay systems for Riemann-Liouville and Caputo derivatives and we extended Razumikhin theorem for the fractional nonlinear time-delay systems