Ethnopharmacology of Medicinal Plants in the Southwest of Mond Mountain

Background: Ethnopharmacology has been seen as a multidisciplinary approach for novel drug discovery by providing valuable data about medicinal plants in different cultures. The aim of this ethnopharmacological study was to identify medicinal plants in the Southwest of Mond Mountain in the North of Persian Gulf. Materials and Methods: The medical uses of medicinal plants were gathered from 20 local informants by face to face interviews. The relative frequency of citation (FRC) and cultural importance (CI) indices were calculated. Results: A total of 116 medicinal plants belonging to 65 families were identified. Zataria multiflora, Achillea eriophora DC, Foeniculum vulgare, Teucrium polium, Haplophyllum tuberculatum, Cuminum cyminum, Plantago psyllium, Nigella sativa and Aleo vera had the highest cultural importance indices. Zataria multiflora, Foeniculum vulgare, Nigella sativa, Cuminum cyminum, and Achillea eriophora DC had the highest FRC indices. The highest medical uses were for gastrointestinal diseases, gynecological diseases, metabolic disorders, respiratory disorders and infectious diseases, respectively. Conclusion: There is a vast variety of medicinal plants in the Southwest of Mond Mountain. Although most of therapeutic applications of these plants in this region are the same as Iran’s traditional medicine, but the people in the Southwest of Mond Mountain use some of these plants for some diseases which are unique for this region. For example, the native people of this region used Zataria multiflora, Achillea eriophora DC, Foeniculum vulgare and Haplophyllum tuberculatum for abdominal pain, Nigella sativa for postpartum complications, Aleo vera for hyperlipidemia, Plantago psyllium for drainage of abscesses, Haplophyllum tuberculatum for infectious diseases and muscular pain and Foeniculum vulgare for jaundice.Thus, investigation about these plants should be initiated to discover novel drugs for clinical applications

Testicular expression of TDRD1, TDRD5, TDRD9 and TDRD12 in azoospermia.

BACKGROUND: Tudor domain-containing proteins (TDRDs) play a critical role in piRNA biogenesis and germ cell development. piRNAs, small regulatory RNAs, act by silencing of transposons during germline development and it has recently been shown in animal model studies that defects in TDRD genes can lead to sterility in males. METHODS: Here we evaluate gene and protein expression levels of four key TDRDs (TDRD1, TDRD5, TDRD9 and TDRD12) in testicular biopsy samples obtained from men with obstructive azoospermia (OA, n = 29), as controls, and various types of non-obstructive azoospermia containing hypospermatogenesis (HP, 28), maturation arrest (MA, n = 30), and Sertoli cell-only syndrome (SCOS, n = 32) as cases. One-way ANOVA test followed by Dunnett's multiple comparison post-test was used to determine inter-group differences in TDRD gene expression among cases and controls. RESULTS: The results showed very low expression of TDRD genes in SCOS specimens. Also, the expression of TDRD1 and TDRD9 genes were lower in MA samples compared to OA samples. The expression of TDRD5 significantly reduced in SCOS, MA and HP specimens than the OA specimens. Indeed, TDRD12 exhibited a very low expression in HP specimens in comparison to OA specimens. All these results were confirmed by Western blot technique. CONCLUSION: TDRDs could be very important in male infertility, which should be express in certain stages of spermatogenesis

A Review of Common Problems in Design and Installation of Water Spray Cooling and Low Expansion Foam System to Protect Storage Tanks Containing Hydrocarbons Against Fires

Tank fires are rare but carry significant potential risk to life and property. For this reason fire protection of tanks is critical. Fixed Low expansion foam and water spray cooling systems are one of the most effective and economical ways to reduce damages to a tank from fire. Such systems are currently installed in many companies but are not effective enough and require involvement of firefighters which in turn threaten their lives. This paper studies in a systematic way the problems of foam and cooling systems currently installed in a few domestic companies which operate storage tanks with focus on floating and fixed roof atmospheric tanks containing hydrocarbons and offers possible solutions for more efficient installation, design and operation of such systems

Evolving concepts on the role of dyslipidemia, bioenergetics, and inflammation in the pathogenesis and treatment of diabetic peripheral neuropathy

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is one of the most widespread and disabling neurological conditions, accounting for half of all neuropathy cases worldwide. Despite its high prevalence, no approved disease modifying therapies exist. There is now a growing body of evidence that DPN secondary to type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) represents different disease processes, with T2DM DPN best understood within the context of metabolic syndrome rather than hyperglycemia. In this review, we highlight currently understood mechanisms of DPN, along with their corresponding potential therapeutic targets. We frame this discussion within a practical overview of how the field evolved from initial human observations to murine pathomechanistic and therapeutic models into ongoing and human clinical trials, with particular emphasis on T2DM DPN and metabolic syndrome.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/155898/1/jns12387.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/155898/2/jns12387_am.pd

Content Analysis of Articles Published in Iranian Scientific Nursing Journals From 2009 Through 2011

Background: Little is known about the features of Iranian nursing journals, specifically the subject areas used in articles, study designs, sampling methods, international collaboration of Iranian nursing scholars, specialty and academic rank of authors, and the most frequently contributing academic institutions in articles. Objectives: The aim of this study was to analyze the content of the articles published in Iranian scientific nursing journals. Materials and Methods: Quantitative content analysis was implemented to study Iranian nursing journals, which were approved by the commission for accreditation and improvement of Iranian medical journals in 2011. Thus, 763 articles from six journals, published from 2009 through 2011, were investigated. Data were extracted from the abstracts and when necessary, from the full-text of articles by visiting the websites of these journals. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Results: The main subjects of published articles in Iranian scientific nursing journals were consecutively renal dialysis (n = 21), intensive care unit (n = 16), nursing education (n = 15), patient satisfaction (n = 13), quality of life (n = 12), health education (n = 11), patient education (n = 11), pain (n = 10), and education (n = 9). The majority of authors had nursing and midwifery specialty (52.59%) followed by epidemiology/biostatistics specialty (7.72%). Isfahan, Tehran, Shahid Beheshti, Iran, Baqiyatallah, and Urmia universities of medical sciences had consecutively the largest number of publications in the studied journals. Only three papers (0.39%) were published by the international collaboration. Conclusions: Iranian nursing journals should publish special issues in the neglected subject areas. These journals should encourage authors to publish research evidence with higher quality

Relative commutants of strongly self-absorbing C*-algebras

The relative commutant $A'\cap A^{\mathcal{U}}$ of a strongly self-absorbing algebra $A$ is indistinguishable from its ultrapower $A^{\mathcal{U}}$. This applies both to the case when $A$ is the hyperfinite II$_1$ factor and to the case when it is a strongly self-absorbing C*-algebra. In the latter case we prove analogous results for $\ell_\infty(A)/c_0(A)$ and reduced powers corresponding to other filters on $\bf N$. Examples of algebras with approximately inner flip and approximately inner half-flip are provided, showing the optimality of our results. We also prove that strongly self-absorbing algebras are smoothly classifiable, unlike the algebras with approximately inner half-flip.Comment: Some minor correction

Shape memory nanocomposite of poly(L-lactic acid)/graphene nanoplatelets triggered by infrared light and thermal heating

In this study, the effect of graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) on the shape memory properties of poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) was studied. In addition to thermal activation, the possibility of infrared actuating of thermo-responsive shape memory PLLA/GNPs nanocomposite was investigated. The incorporated GNPs were expected to absorb infrared wave’s energy and activate shape memory PLLA/GNPs. Different techniques such as differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), field emission gun scanning electron microscope (FEG-SEM) and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) were used to characterize samples. DSC and WAXD results indicated that GNPs augmented crystallinity due to nucleating effect of graphene particles. GNPs improved both thermal and infrared activating shape memory properties along with faster response. Pure shape memory PLLA was slightly responsive to infrared light and its infrared actuated shape recovery ratio was 86% which increased to more than 95% with loading of GNPs. Drastic improvement in the crystallinity was obtained in nanocomposites with lower GNPs contents (0.5 and 1 wt%) due to finer dispersion of graphene which resulted in more prominent mechanical and shape memory properties enhancement. Infrared activated shape memory PLLA/GNPs nanocomposites can be developed for wireless remote shape control of smart medical and bio-systems

Statistical Properties of the Interbeat Interval Cascade in Human Subjects

Statistical properties of interbeat intervals cascade are evaluated by considering the joint probability distribution $P(\Delta x_2,\tau_2;\Delta x_1,\tau_1)$ for two interbeat increments $\Delta x_1$ and $\Delta x_2$ of different time scales $\tau_1$ and $\tau_2$. We present evidence that the conditional probability distribution $P(\Delta x_2,\tau_2|\Delta x_1,\tau_1)$ may obey a Chapman-Kolmogorov equation. The corresponding Kramers-Moyal (KM) coefficients are evaluated. It is shown that while the first and second KM coefficients, i.e., the drift and diffusion coefficients, take on well-defined and significant values, the higher-order coefficients in the KM expansion are very small. As a result, the joint probability distributions of the increments in the interbeat intervals obey a Fokker-Planck equation. The method provides a novel technique for distinguishing the two classes of subjects in terms of the drift and diffusion coefficients, which behave differently for two classes of the subjects, namely, healthy subjects and those with congestive heart failure.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure

Ultra-high frequency, high Q/volume micromechanical resonators in a planar AlN phononic crystal

Citation: Baboly, M. G., Alaie, S., Reinke, C. M., El-Kady, I., & Leseman, Z. C. (2016). Ultra-high frequency, high Q/volume micromechanical resonators in a planar AlN phononic crystal. Journal of Applied Physics, 120(3), 5. doi:10.1063/1.4958671This paper presents the first design and experimental demonstration of an ultrahigh frequency complete phononic crystal (PnC) bandgap aluminum nitride (AlN)/air structure operating in the GHz range. A complete phononic bandgap of this design is used to efficiently and simultaneously confine elastic vibrations in a resonator. The PnC structure is fabricated by etching a square array of air holes in an AlN slab. The fabricated PnC resonator resonates at 1.117 GHz, which corresponds to an out-of-plane mode. The measured bandgap and resonance frequencies are in very good agreement with the eigen-frequency and frequency-domain finite element analyses. As a result, a quality factor/volume of 7.6 x 10(17)/m(3) for the confined resonance mode was obtained that is the largest value reported for this type of PnC resonator to date. These results are an important step forward in achieving possible applications of PnCs for RF communication and signal processing with smaller dimensions. Published by AIP Publishing

Associations between socio-environmental determinants and the risk of pulmonary tuberculosis in Guilan, Iran

Background: Certain social determinants may influence host susceptibility to tuberculosis (TB) infections, and increase the risk of developing the disease. Objectives: The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of several host and environmental factors on the risk of TB in northern Iranian households. Patients and Methods: This case control study was conducted for one year between 2010 and 2011 in the Guilan province in Iran. Eightyseven confirmed TB positive cases, based on convenience sampling, were included in this study. A patient positive for TB was confirmed by a positive sputum smear, chest X-ray, and clinical manifestations as diagnosed by a physician. The data were collected using observational methods, and were analyzed by SPSS software. Results: The average mean age of the TB cases was 51±22 years old, and 40.2 (35/87) of the TB cases were male and 59.8 (52/87) were female. The majority of TB cases were from rural areas (71.3, 62/87), while 28.7 (25/87) were from urban areas. Significant differences (P < 0.001) were observed between the geographical conditions and distribution of the disease. The room density of the individuals was significantly different (2.9±1.2 vs. 2.2±1.9, P<0.002) among the TB cases and control group, respectively. A statistical difference was observed between the groups in terms of the building materials (P < 0.05), while significantly inadequate UV irradiation was seen in the houses of the TB patients, compared to the control group (82.8 vs. 14.9,P<0.001). The hygiene of the houses seemed to be a significant risk factor (P<0.001) for TB infection.Conclusions: The results suggest that in the studied region several host and environmental factors were associated with higher risks of TB infection. © 2016, Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center