Association of Serum Uric Acid Level with the Severity of Brain Injury and Patient's Outcome in Severe Traumatic Brain Injury

Introduction: The prognostic value of serum Uric Acid (UA) levels in Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is unclear. Aim: To investigate the relationship between serum UA levels and prognosis of patients with TBI when in hospital and at six months after discharge. Materials and Methods: All patients attended our emergency department during July 2014 and December 2015 and were consecutively entered into the study and among 890 evaluated candidates based on inclusion criteria we finally investigated the serum UA levels of 725 TBI patients. Computed Tomography (CT) images of the brain were obtained within the first 24 hours of hospitalization. Outcome was assessed using the Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) score at discharge and at six months after discharge. Results: Data of 725 patients (42.89 men; mean age: 54.69+/-12.37 years) were analyzed. Mean+/-Standard Deviation (SD) of Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores was 4.65+/-1.76. Serum levels of UA, when in hospital and at six months after discharge, among those who died were lower than those who survived (in hospital: 0.126+/-0.026 vs. 0.243+/-0.942 mmol/l, p = 0.000; 6 months post-discharge: 0.130+/-0.044 vs. 0.286+/-0.069 mmol/l, p<0.001). The mean UA plasma was significantly different between deceased and alive patients according to GOS scores (p<0.001 and p=0.030, respectively). The UA levels showed a significant relationship with GCS scores and severity of brain injury assessed using the Marshall Classification Score (p=0.005). Conclusion: Our results showed a strong relationship between UA levels and patients' outcomes either in hospital or at six months after discharge. Serum UA level could be considered as a valuable marker for evaluating the severity of brain injury and outcomes of TBI

INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PHASE ANGLE AND MICRO-ALBUMINURIA IN TYPE 2 DIABETIC PATIENTS WITH A HISTORY OF MORE THAN 5 YEARS OF THE DISEASE IN ILAM PROVINCE, IRAN

Introduction: Phase angle is the ratio between cell mass and fat-free tissue and a cell health indicator which is measurable through bio-impedance analysis with 50 KHZ alternating current and can be interpreted as a voltage and a wave-form current. Diabetes mellitus contains a group of metabolic disorders that are in common in terms of appearance characteristic of hyperglycemia. Micro-albuminuria of urine albumin amounts 30-300mg/24h and the higher values are for diagnostic diabetic nephropathy. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between Phase angle and micro-albuminuria in type 2 diabetic patients with a history of more than 5 years of the disease in the city of Ilam. Materials and methods: This is an analytical-practical case-control study and statistical society includes two case and control groups with an average age 52.06 +/- 6.69 years in case group and 50.02 +/- 5.42 years in the control group. The sample size in each group has been designated equal to 50 and data analysis is performed using SPSS and parametric and Non-parametric statistical methods and the related tests. Conclusion: The average Ph. A was obtained equal to 5.87 +/- 1.42 in the case group and 7.29 +/- 0.355 in the control group which statistically significant relationship exists between the two groups in Ph. A value (P<0.000). Average micro-albuminuria was 67.32 +/- 75.92 in the case group and 0.276 +/- 0.147 in the control group which there was a significant relationship statistically between the amount of micro-albuminuria within the both groups (P< 0.000). Discussion: By investigation of the relationship between ph. Angle and micro-albuminuria in diabetic patients it can be concluded that the amount Ph. A reduces with the increase of micro-albuminuria and by increasing micro-albuminuria, the variables of overall body water volume, intracellular water and extracellular water relatively increase and fat mass relatively decreases

Changes of growth, food intake and plasma cortisol in juvenile common carp (Cyprinus carpio) following cortisol injection

The present study conducted to investigate the effect of cortisol injection on growth indices, food intake and plasma cortisol in juvenile common carp (Cyprinus carpio). After 2 weeks adaptation, 240 fish with 19.5 ± 0.2 g average weight were randomly distributed in to 12 fiberglass tanks with four treatments and three replicates (20 fish per tank). Based on body weight, cortisol (mixed with oil) was injected to treatments with different dosages at 0 (C0), 1 (C1) and 10 (C10) µg/g. At the end of 21 days, fish were weighed and growth parameters showed significant reduction in C10. No significant change was observed in hepatosomatic index among different treatments. Food intake were recorded daily during the experiment and showed significant reduction in days 1 to 8, 16 and 19 in C10 compared to control group . Blood was taken to determine plasma cortisol at the start, day 3, day 7 and day 21 of the experiment. Cortisol concentrations showed significant reduction in C10 compared to C0 group three days after the initiation of the experiment. The results showed that increasing of cortisol in a short time after injection, affected by changes of blood plasma cortisol and reduction of food intake could negatively have an effect on growth

Therapeutic Periocular Vaccination with a Subunit Vaccine Induces Higher Levels of Herpes Simplex Virus-Specific Tear Secretory Immunoglobulin A Than Systemic Vaccination and Provides Protection against Recurrent Spontaneous Ocular Shedding of Virus in Latently Infected Rabbits

AbstractRabbits latently infected with herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) were vaccinated either periocularly or systemically with a subunit vaccine (gB2 + gD2) plus adjuvant or adjuvant alone. Tear films were collected daily to measure recurrent infectious HSV-1 shedding. After systemic vaccination, the latently infected rabbits were not protected against recurrent ocular viral shedding (HSV-1-positive tear film cultures/total cultures) compared with either the systemic or periocular adjuvant controls (systemic vaccination = 49 of 972, 5.0%; systemic control = 46 of 972, 4.7%; periocular control = 43 of 930, 4.6%;P> 0.8). In contrast, latently infected rabbits vaccinated periocularly with the same vaccine had significantly reduced recurrent shedding (20 of 1026, 2.0%) compared with controls (P< 0.001) or systemic vaccination (P= 0.0002). Thus, recurrent HSV-1 shedding was significantly reduced by therapeutic local periocular subunit vaccination but not by therapeutic systemic subunit vaccination. Neutralizing antibody titers in the serum of systemically and ocularly vaccinated rabbits was similar. In contrast, HSV-specific tear secretory immunoglobulin A was significantly higher in the ocularly vaccinated group (P< 0.01). These results strongly suggest that in the rabbit, and presumably in humans, the local ocular (mucosal) immune response is much more important than the systemic immune response for therapeutic protection against recurrent ocular HSV-1. Thus development of a therapeutic vaccine against recurrent ocular HSV-1 should be directed at enhancing the local ocular (mucosal) immune response

Design sensor-less PID filter controller for first order delays system

The dynamics of a first order delay system is highly nonlinear, time variant, uncertain and coupling effects. The main objectives to control of first order delay system are time response and acceleration measurements. The problem of acceleration measurements can be reduced, based on design sensor-less Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) filter controller in this research. Assuming unstructured uncertainties and structure uncertainties can be defined into one term and considered as an uncertainty and external disturbance, the problem of computation burden and large number of parameters can be solved to some extent. To solve the uncertainties acceleration measurements play an important role. In order to design sensor-less PID filter controller, an accurate PD surface and the derivative of PD surface plays important role. To design an accurate PD surface, stable and tuning surface slope is needed to form the structure of main PID controller. In this algorithm, the derivative of PD surface computes the second derivation of error. Regarding to this method, the challenge of system uncertainties and time response have been solved based on sensor-less acceleration linear filter controller. As this point if s = K1e + e + K2Σe is chosen as desired surface, if the dynamic of first order delay is derived to surface then the linearization can be realized. Because, when the system dynamic is on the surface is used the derivative of surface S = K1e + e + K2e is equal to the zero that is a decoupled and linearized closed-loop systems dynamics. Linearization and decoupling by the above method can be obtained in spite of the quality of the first order delay dynamic model

A novel MRE adaptive seismic isolator using curvelet transform identification

Magnetorheological elastomeric (MRE) material is a novel type of material that can adap-tively change the rheological property rapidly, continuously, and reversibly when subjected to real-time external magnetic field. These new type of MRE materials can be developed by employing various schemes, for instance by mixing carbon nanotubes or acetone contents during the curing process which produces functionalized multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). In order to study the mechanical and magnetic effects of this material, for potential application in seismic isolation, in this paper, different mathematical models of magnetorheological elastomers are analyzed and modified based on the reported studies on traditional magnetorheological elastomer. In this regard, a new feature identification method, via utilizing curvelet analysis, is proposed to make a multi-scale constituent analysis and subsequently a comparison between magnetorheological elastomer nanocomposite and traditional magnetorheological elastomers in a microscopic level. Furthermore, by using this “smart” material as the laminated core structure of an adaptive base isolation system, magnetic circuit analysis is numerically conducted for both complete and incomplete designs. Magnetic distribution of different laminated magnetorheological layers is discussed when the isolator is under compressive preloading and lateral shear loading. For a proof of concept study, a scaled building structure is established with the proposed isolation device. The dynamic performance of this isolated structure is analyzed by using a newly developed reaching law sliding mode control and Radial Basis Function (RBF) adaptive sliding mode control schemes. Transmissibility of the structural system is evaluated to assess its adaptability, controllability and nonlinearity. As the findings in this study show, it is promising that the structure can achieve its optimal and adaptive performance by designing an isolator with this adaptive material whose magnetic and mechanical properties are functionally enhanced as compared with traditional isolation devices. The adaptive control algorithm presented in this research can transiently suppress and protect the structure against non-stationary disturbances in the real time

The Relationship between Prostate Cancer and Metformin Consumption: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis study.

INTRODUCTION: Prostate cancer is the most common malignant cancer in men worldwide and after lung cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in men. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between prostate cancer and metformin consumption in men. METHOD: The current study is a systematic and meta-analysis review based on the PRISMA statement. To access the studies of domestic and foreign databases, Iran Medex, SID, Magiran, Iran Doc, Medlib, ProQuest, Science Direct, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and the Google Scholar search engine were searched during the 2009-2018 period for related keywords. In order to evaluate the heterogeneity of the studies, Q test and I2 indicator were used. The data were analyzed using the STATA 15.1 software. RESULTS: In 11 studies with a sample size of 877058, the odds ratio of metformin consumption for reducing prostate cancer was estimated 0.89 (95%CI: 0.67-1.17). Meta-regression also showed there was no significant relationship between the odds ratio and the publication year of the study. However, there was a significant relationship between the odds ratio and the number of research samples. CONCLUSION: Using metformin in men reduces the risk of prostate cancer but it is not statistically significant

The connexin 43 regulator rotigaptide reduces cytokine-induced cell death in human islets

Background: Intercellular communication mediated by cationic fluxes through the Connexin family of gap junctions regulates glucose-stimulated insulin secretion and beta cell defense against inflammatory stress. Rotigaptide (RG, ZP123) is a peptide analog that increases intercellular conductance in cardiac muscle cells by the prevention of dephosphorylation and thereby uncoupling of Connexin-43 (Cx43), possibly via action on unidentified protein phosphatases. For this reason, it is being studied in human arrhythmias. It is unknown if RG protects islet cell function and viability against inflammatory or metabolic stress, a question of considerable translational interest for the treatment of diabetes. Methods: Apoptosis was measured in human islets shown to express Cx43, treated with RG or the control peptide ZP119 and exposed to glucolipotoxicity or IL-1β + IFNɣ. INS-1 cells shown to lack Cx43 were used to examine if RG protected human islet cells via Cx43 coupling. To study the mechanisms of action of Cx43-independent effects of RG, NO, IkBα degradation, mitochondrial activity, ROS, and insulin mRNA levels were determined. Results: RG reduced cytokine-induced apoptosis ~40% in human islets. In Cx43-deficient INS-1 cells, this protective effect was markedly blunted as expected, but unexpectedly, RG still modestly reduced apoptosis, and improved mitochondrial function, insulin-2 gene levels, and accumulated insulin release. RG reduced NO production in Cx43-deficient INS-1 cells associated with reduced iNOS expression, suggesting that RG blunts cytokine-induced NF-κB signaling in insulin-producing cells in a Cx43-independent manner. Conclusion: RG reduces cytokine-induced cell death in human islets. The protective action in Cx43-deficient INS-1 cells suggests a novel inhibitory mechanism of action of RG on NF-κB signaling

Assessment of SGS closure for isochoric combustion of hydrogen-air mixture

Direct numerical simulation (DNS) data of freely propagating turbulent premixed flame of stoichiometric hydrogen air mixture inside a closed vessel is analysed to study a sub-grid combustion closure based on unstrained flamelet approach. This modelling framework needs closures for the sub-grid scale (SGS) reaction rate and scalar dissipation rate. The results show that the closure models for these two SGS quantities work quite well. The dissipation rate closure involves a scale dependent parameter, β c , which is related to the flame curvature induced effects. The reactivity of reactant mixture increases with time in isochoric combustion because the mixture temperature and pressure increases with time. This also influences the parameter β c and thus the dynamic evaluation of this parameter is investigated using the DNS data