Comparison of isometric and Pilates exercises on Knee pain and quality of life in women with Knee Osteoarthritis

Knee is the largest and the most complicated joint in your body that in addition to being moving has a kind of stability role .Since it is exposed to direct hits it is mostly peculiar to the outbreak of osteoarthritis. Excess use of the knee and its repeated injuries leads to the weakness of the knee and it also causes the reduction of the power of Quadriceps femur muscle. For this reason the knee is the most problem part of the body for spread of this disease. Strengthening the Quadriceps femur muscle plays an important part in prevention and improvement of knee osteoarthritis. The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of isometric and Pilates exercise on pain and physical and mental aspects of quality of life in women 40 to 65 years with knee osteoarthritis.Methods 40 female patients with knee osteoarthritis were selected randomly and divided into two groups. Pilates exercise, (n=20,mean age 54/8 ± 7/1 years, height 159/ 8± 6/4 cm and weight 67/1 ± 14/7 kg ) and isometric exercise (n=20, mean age 56± 5/2 years, height 161/25 ± 7/5 cm weight 70/15 ± 9/7 kg ) were used . Before beginning an exercise, the pain visual scales (vas) were used . For physical and mental aspects of quality of life questionnaire SF36 was used. Both exercises groups were executed for 8 weeks, 3 times per week and each session 1 hour. After 8 weeks training, both groups were assessed. Statistical analysis using analysis of covariance, significant at P <0/05 was performed.Results The results showed that in both Pilates and isometric group’s decreased pain and as well as improving the physical and mental aspects of quality of life. There is no significant difference between both methods of training as well as the size of the improvement disease in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee joint. Conclusion Both methods reduce the negative effects of knee osteoarthritis and both exercises can reduce pain and also improved quality of life

Economic Evaluation of the Drugs Used In Treating Patients with Myocardial Infarction: A Systematic Review

Introduction: Myocardial infarctions (MI), as one of the outcomes of cardiovascular diseases, are responsible for 20% of deaths, so that every 30 seconds, one person suffers from MI. Various drugs are used to treat myocardial infarction, and we need to have precise information of the cost-effectiveness of these drugs. The aim of this study was to examine economic evaluation of the drugs used for treatment of patients with MI. Methods: In the present systematic review study, published articles related to economic evaluation of the drugs used for treatment of patients with MI within the time interval between 2000 and 2017 were searched, using electronic databases such as Tufts Medical Center Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Registry ,Cochrane library, NHS Economic Evaluations Database Medline, PubMed, Google scholar, web of science using the following keywords: Cost- effectiveness* OR cost- utility* OR economic evaluation * AND (myocardial infarction*) AND (angiotensin- converting enzyme inhibitor (lisinopril) OR thrombolytic agents (streptokinase, anistreplase or anisoylated plasminogen streptokinase activator complex OR beta blockers (metoprolol, propranolol, atenolol, acebutolol, bisoprolol). Due to heterogeneity in the outcome, we were not able to use meta-analysis. Methodological quality of the structure e of tarticles was examined by Drummond’s standard checklist. Results: Based on the inclusion criteria, the search of databases resulted in 12 articles that fully covered economic evaluation of the drugs used in treating patients with MI. The results of the present study indicated that a streptokinase and t-PA drug for treatment of patients with myocardial infarction was cost-effective. The results showed that most of the studies clearly stated the time horizon of the study and included direct medical costs in their analysis. In addition, the majority of the studies were used the Markov model. The quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) were the main outcome used for measuring the effectiveness. Conclusion: The results of the present study showed that a thrombolytic agent for treatment of patients with myocardial infarction was cost-effective. The results were relatively varied due to the differences in time horizon and variables used in the models such as efficacy and drug prices. Furthermore, these studies were designed and conducted in high-income countries; thus, the application of these results in low- and middle-income countries will be limited

A Novel Method for Detecting and Delineating Coppice Trees in UAV Images to Monitor Tree Decline

Monitoring tree decline in arid and semi-arid zones requires methods that can provide up-to-date and accurate information on the health status of the trees at single-tree and sample plot levels. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are considered as cost-effective and efficient tools to study tree structure and health at small scale, on which detecting and delineating tree crowns is the first step to extracting varied subsequent information. However, one of the major challenges in broadleaved tree cover is still detecting and delineating tree crowns in images. The frequent dominance of coppice structure in degraded semi-arid vegetation exacerbates this problem. Here, we present a new method based on edge detection for delineating tree crowns based on the features of oak trees in semi-arid coppice structures. The decline severity in individual stands can be analyzed by extracting relevant information such as texture from the crown area. Although the method presented in this study is not fully automated, it returned high performances including an F-score = 0.91. Associating the texture indices calculated in the canopy area with the phenotypic decline index suggested higher correlations of the GLCM texture indices with tree decline at the tree level and hence a high potential to be used for subsequent remote-sensing-assisted tree decline studies

Adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells -conditioned medium effects on Glioma U87 cell line migration, apoptosis, and gene expression

The conditioned medium of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) has controversial roles in cancer, either promoting or suppressing tumor growth. Our research on the results of adipose tissue-derived MSC (AD-MSC)-conditioned media on U87 glioma cells was motivated by the disputed role of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in cancer, which may either promote or inhibit tumor growth. Using flow cytometry, AD-MSCs were identified, verified, and their conditioned media was used to treat U87 cells. Through RT-qPCR, scratch assay, and apoptosis analysis, we evaluated gene expression (SOX4, H19, and CCAT1), cell migration, and apoptosis in U87 cells.The conditioned media greatly increased the expression of SOX4 and H19, but not CCAT1. Although there were few differences in migration and apoptosis, both were slightly increased in the treated group.These outcomes have drawn attention to the complexity of the interactions between MSCs and glioma cells. This complexity requires further research to identify the specific mechanisms governing MSC-mediated impacts on the development of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM)

Investigating the relationship between intra-operative electrolyte abnormalities (sodium and potassium) with post-operative complications of coronary artery bypass surgery

Background: Generally, the electrolyte abnormalities are seen in many hospitalized patients, and this problem increases in ones with heart diseases. The purpose of this study is determination of the prevalence of electrolyte abnormalities during the coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) and detecting the relationship between these abnormalities with the complications after the surgeries. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study, which is done in Chamran hospital, the medical and educational center of Isfahan, Iran, in 2011. The target population included the patients who have undergone CABG in this hospital. In this study, 100 patients who had been candidates for CABG were selected, and we extracted their recorded intra-operative electrolyte information. The collected data was entered into the computer and analyzed by SPSS software. The Chi-square and t student tests were used for data analysis. Results: The mean ± SD of sodium during CABG was 137.95 ± 4.6 (range 127-152) mg\dl. Also, the mean ± SD of potassium was 4.65 ± 0.9 (range: 2.9-7.4). According to these results, 48 patients (48% of all) had electrolyte imbalance and 52 patients (52% of all) were normal. Sodium level in 71% of patients was normal, and in 29% of them was abnormal. Potassium level in 73% of individuals was normal, and in 27% of them was abnormal. Conclusion: Giving an attention to electrolyte abnormalities in patients who have undergone CABG surgery is a considerable necessity for them, and sufficient arrangements are needed to prevent such abnormalities

A novel linear spectral unmixing-based method for tree decline monitoring by fusing UAV-RGB and optical space-borne data

Remote sensing-assisted monitoring of forest health entails methods that can provide up-to-date and accurate information on decline and mortality of individual trees, while maintaining time and cost efficiency. However, the trade-off of applying consumer-grade UAV-RGB data as the most affordable and accessible data source at the catchment level is constrained by its poor spectral information content. We developed a method based on the fusion of UAV-RGB data with space-borne Sentinel-2 Multispectral Instrument (MSI) at the level of tree crowns, with the specific target of supporting studies on semi-arid tree decline. We applied linear spectral unmixing (Spectral Unmixing-Based data Fusion method, LSUBF) by considering a limited number of endmembers and calculating the abundances (fractional covers) from the UAV data, and evaluated the results by high-resolution MSI space-borne data including SPOT-6 (1.5 m spatial resolution) and PlanetScope (3 m spatial resolution). This method suggested an increase in the coefficient of determination of the applied generalized additive model for decline severity estimation at tree crown level from 0.61 to 0.69, while it was improved from 0.70 to 0.91 when fitting a non-parametric random forest model. The results of sensitivity analysis demonstrated that the additional spectral information obtained from the proposed method results in higher accuracy in estimating decline severity. We suggest this method as a cost-effective alternative to monitor periodical tree decline, in particular across semi-arid ecosystems.</p

Risk factors for in-hospital mortality among patients with coronavirus-19 in Isfahan City, Iran

Background: The aim of the study is to explore the risk factors of mortality for hospitalized patients in three designated hospitals in Isfahan province.Materials and Methods: This retrospective cohort study was conducted on all positive coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 patients admitted to Khorshid, Isabn Maryam, and Amin hospitals in Isfahan province. The demographic, clinical, laboratory, and outcome data of patients who were died or discharged from February 24, 2020, to April 18, 2020, were extracted from patient's medical records.Results: Overall 1044 COVID-19 patients were included in this analysis. Based on the findings of this study, older age (& GE;65 years) (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR]: 2.06; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.13-3.76), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) history (aHR: 2.52; 95% CI: 1.09-5.83), white blood cell (WBC) counts more than 10 x 103/L (aHR: 3.05; 95% CI: 1.42-6.55), Hb level < 13 gr/L (aHR: 2.82; 95% CI: 1.34-5.93), bilateral pulmonary infiltrates (aHR: 2.02; 95% CI: 1.12-3.64) at admission, development of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) (aHR: 1.87; 95% CI: 1.01-3.47), and intensive care unit (ICU) admission (aHR: 2.09; 95% CI: 1.04-4.18) during hospitalization were risk factors for in-hospital mortality in patients with COVID-19.Conclusions: Multiple factors were found related to the severity and death among COVID-19 patients. We were found that older age (& GE;65 years) with COPD history, high level of WBC, low level of Hb (< 13 g/L), bilateral pulmonary infiltrates at admission, development of ARDS, and ICU admission during hospitalization were identified as risk factors of death among COVID-19 patients. More related studies are needed in the futur