Microchips and their significance in isolation of circulating tumor cells and monitoring of cancers

In micro-fluid systems, fluids are injected into extremely narrow polymer channels in small amounts such as micro-, nano-, or pico-liter scales. These channels themselves are embedded on tiny chips. Various specialized structures in the chips including pumps, valves, and channels allow the chips to accept different types of fluids to be entered the channel and along with flowing through the channels, exert their effects in the framework of different reactions. The chips are generally crystal, silicon, or elastomer in texture. These highly organized structures are equipped with discharging channels through which products as well as wastes of the reactions are secreted out. A particular advantage regarding the use of fluids in micro-scales over macro-scales lies in the fact that these fluids are much better processed in the chips when they applied as micro-scales. When the laboratory is miniaturized as a microchip and solutions are injected on a micro-scale, this combination makes a specialized construction referred to as "lab-on-chip". Taken together, micro-fluids are among the novel technologies which further than declining the costs; enhancing the test repeatability, sensitivity, accuracy, and speed; are emerged as widespread technology in laboratory diagnosis. They can be utilized for monitoring a wide spectrum of biological disorders including different types of cancers. When these microchips are used for cancer monitoring, circulatory tumor cells play a fundamental role

Short view of leukemia diagnosis and treatment in Iran

Background: Early diagnosis and treatment of leukemia patients remains a fundamental aim in clinical oncology, especially in developing country. Present study highlights the basic requirements of these patients in Iran. Better understanding of these issues may lead to improve the healthcare standards toward leukemia diagnosis and treatment. Methods: This descriptive study included 101 specialists in hematology-oncology and pathology serving in oncology centers. The participants were then asked to fill out a standard questionnaire on the issues around diagnosis and treatment of blood malignancies. Results: According to specialists, unfair distribution of facilities across the country, delayed diagnosis of disease, absence of psychological support for patients, and insufficient financial support were the main reasons of inappropriate diagnosis and treatment in leukemia patients. Conclusions: Our results show that making an amendment to health policies by preparing well-equipped medical centers in all provinces, improving the morale of patients through consultation during the process of treatment, and above all, subsiding leukemia patients' financial problems will promote the health standard regarding the leukemia diagnosis and treatment in Iran. © 2015, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS). All rights reserved

Detection of ISPa1328 and ISPpu21, Two Novel Insertion Sequences in the OprD Porin and bla_IMP-1 Gene Among Metallo-Beta-Lactamase-Producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa Isolated From Burn Patients

Background: Carbapenemes are a good choice for treatment of infections caused by multidrug resistant Pseudomonads aeruginosa. The emergence of carbapenem resistance has become a major problem in treatment of this organism especially among immunocompromised patients including burn patients. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate carbapenem-resistance mechanisms among burn patients in Tehran, Iran, during 2014 - 2015. Methods: The antibiotic resistance phenotypic test was accomplished by the Kirby Bauer disk diffusion method. The phenotypic investigation of metallo-beta-lactamase (MBL) producers was evaluated by the combined disk diffusion test (CDDT) method. The prevalence of MBL genes, including blaIMP-1 and blaVIM-1 was evaluated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing methods. Amplification of oprD was performed by PCR and the results of sequencing were aligned with wild-type P. aeruginosa strain PAO1. Results: A total of 100 P. aeruginosa were investigated, of which, 95 were resistance to imipenem. Out Of 95 imipenem resistant isolates,, 81 (85.2%) were MBL producers. Among all isolates, 13 strains carried the blaIMP-1 gene, whereas all of the strains were negative for the blaVIM-1 gene. Amplification of OprD porin was performed for all 100 P. aeruginosa strains. Two insertion sequences (ISs) including ISPpu21 and ISPa1328 were detected in PCR products of OprD gene, that were larger than expected. Conclusions: The prevalence of β-lactamase-producing isolates and their isolation from life-threatening infections in burn patients is increasing at an alarming rate worldwide. Also, we have identified two novel IS elements, ISPa1328 and ISPpu21, in P. aeruginosa isolates from hospitals in Tehran, Iran. In most of the isolates, insertional inactivation of oprD by ISPa1328 and ISPpu21 were associated with carbapenem resistance

2D Qubit Placement of Quantum Circuits using LONGPATH

In order to achieve speedup over conventional classical computing for finding solution of computationally hard problems, quantum computing was introduced. Quantum algorithms can be simulated in a pseudo quantum environment, but implementation involves realization of quantum circuits through physical synthesis of quantum gates. This requires decomposition of complex quantum gates into a cascade of simple one qubit and two qubit gates. The methodological framework for physical synthesis imposes a constraint regarding placement of operands (qubits) and operators. If physical qubits can be placed on a grid, where each node of the grid represents a qubit then quantum gates can only be operated on adjacent qubits, otherwise SWAP gates must be inserted to convert non-Linear Nearest Neighbor architecture to Linear Nearest Neighbor architecture. Insertion of SWAP gates should be made optimal to reduce cumulative cost of physical implementation. A schedule layout generation is required for placement and routing apriori to actual implementation. In this paper, two algorithms are proposed to optimize the number of SWAP gates in any arbitrary quantum circuit. The first algorithm is intended to start with generation of an interaction graph followed by finding the longest path starting from the node with maximum degree. The second algorithm optimizes the number of SWAP gates between any pair of non-neighbouring qubits. Our proposed approach has a significant reduction in number of SWAP gates in 1D and 2D NTC architecture.Comment: Advanced Computing and Systems for Security, SpringerLink, Volume 1

The Effect of Silymarin on the Expression of Urotensin–II and Urotensin–II Receptor Genes in the Liver Tissue of Type 2 Diabetic Rats

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Studies have shown that the increase in urotensin – II is associated with diabetes disorders. Considering that using herbal medicines for the treatment of diseases leads to fewer complications compared to most chemical drugs, the present study was conducted to investigate the effect of silymarin on glucose, and insulin levels and the expression of urotensin – II (U–II) and urotensin – II receptor (U–II R) genes in the liver tissue of type 2 diabetic male rats. METHODS: In this experimental study, 36 male albino Wistar rats were randomly divided into 6 groups (n=6): 1. Control group; 2 and 3. Control groups treated with 60 and 120 mg / kg / day silymarin; 4. Type 2 diabetic group which received an intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of 60 mg / kg streptozotocin and 120 mg / kg nicotinamide; 5 and 6. Diabetic rats treated with 60 and 120 mg/kg/day silymarin. After 60 days of treatment, serum and liver tissue samples were collected. Glucose, insulin, HOMA-IR index and liver enzymes were evaluated by spectrophotometry and ELISA methods, while gene expression in liver tissue was analyzed by Real-time PCR method. FINDINGS: Insulin levels increased significantly in diabetic groups treated with silymarin (60 and 120 mg/kg) (9.6±1.11 and 9.8±0.96, respectively) in comparison with the diabetic control group (7.10±1.06) (p<0.05). Moreover, glucose level, HOMA-IR, liver enzymes, U–II and U – II R expression in diabetic group treated with silymarin significantly decreased compared to diabetic control group (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed that administration of silymarin improves liver function in diabetic rats

Retraction Note: Ambient particulate matter concentration levels of Ahvaz, Iran, in 2017 (Environmental Geochemistry and Health, (2019), 41, 2, (841-849), 10.1007/s10653-018-0182-0)

The Editor-in-Chief has retracted this article because it contains material that substantially overlaps with another published article [1]. Sina Dobaradaran agrees to this retraction. Gholamreza Goudarzi, Sahar Geravandi, and Mohammad Javad Mohammadi do not agree to this retraction. Nadali Alavi, Ahmad Reza Yari, Farzaneh Aslanpour Alamdari, Majid Farhadi, Hamed Biglari, Maryam Dastoorpour, and Bayram Hashemzadeh have not responded to any correspondence from the publisher about this retraction

Basic Criteria, Models, and Indicators of Intersectoral Collaboration in Health Promotion: A Scoping Review

Background: In this study, the basic criteria, models, and indicators of intersectoral collaboration in health promotion were investigated to facilitate the implementation of collaboration.&#x0D; Methods: This scoping review was conducted using datasets of Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed, and search engines of Google, Google Scholar, and ProQuest.&#x0D; Results: 52 studies were included, and 32 codes in Micro, Meso, and Macro level, were obtained. Micro-level criteria had the highest frequency. Among the models used in the reviewed studies, social network analysis, Diagnosis of Sustainable Collaboration, Bergen, and logic models had the highest frequency. Among the indicators studied, the number of participants and the level of collaboration as well as its sustainability were the most frequent indicators.&#x0D; Conclusion: The findings identified the most important and widely used criteria, models, and indicators of intersectoral collaboration in health promotion which can be useful for decision-makers and planners in the domain of health promotion, in designing, implementing, and evaluating collaborative programs.</jats:p

Characterization of Pharmaceutical Tablets by X-ray Tomography

Solid dosage forms such as tablets are extensively used in drug administration for their simplicity and large-scale manufacturing capabilities. High-resolution X-ray tomography is one of the most valuable non-destructive techniques to investigate the internal structure of the tablets for drug product development as well as for a cost effective production process. In this work, we review the recent developments in high-resolution X-ray microtomography and its application towards different tablet characterizations. The increased availability of powerful laboratory instrumentation, as well as the advent of high brilliance and coherent 3rd generation synchrotron light sources, combined with advanced data processing techniques, are driving the application of X-ray microtomography forward as an indispensable tool in the pharmaceutical industry