Assessment of the knowledge and attitude of the pregnant women who referred to Iran University of Medical Sciences in 2005 toward Islams hygienic instructions during their pregnancy and breast feeding periods

Background and aim: Pregnancy and infancy are as diving profits, which are of the most enjoyable times of women. Islams living doctrine recommends some adwises for pregnant women to have healthy generation with good physical, mental and social dimensions. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge and attitude of the pregnant women who referred to Iran University of Medical Sciences in 2005 toward Islam’s hygienic instructions during their pregnancy and breast feeding period. Methods: In this descriptive-analytical study, a total of 300 pregnant women were selected from parental care unite using multistage sampling. The data was gathered through self-reporting questionnaire which contained some questions about the individuals characteristics, attitude and awareness. Subsequently, using χ2, Pearson correlation and Spearman tests, data were analyzed. Results: The percentage of the knowledge about the Islams healthy instructions during pregnancy was graded: good 20.6%, average 64.7% and poor 14.7%. During breast-feeding, the knowledge was 6.3% good, 77% average and 16.7% poor. There was a positive relationship between the women’s level of education and their knowledge about Islamic trainings. The attitude of the women about the instructions during their pregnancy was positive in 68.3% and negative in 31.7% of them. This attitude during breast feeding was positive in 64% and negative in 36% of the women studied. There was relationship between the knowledge toward the instructions and the level of education during pregnancy and also between this knowledge and the number of pregnancy and the level of education (p<0.01). Conclusion: In addition to moderate knowledge and positive attitude of most of samples and undeniable religious force, on promoting health, recommended that health managers programmed to pregnant women care based on Islamic recommendations and health care workers have more attention in their education training

Investigation of horizontal coherent structures in a shallow open-channel flow using velocity signal decomposition

River morphodynamics and sediment transportRiver morphology and morphodynamic

Pregnancy Outcomes Among Hospitalized Patients Infected With 2009 H1N1 Influenza Virus in Qom, Iran, in Oct-Nov. 2009

Background: Pandemic H1N1 influenza A 2009 (H1N1/09) virus has been identified as a leading cause of febrile respiratory diseases worldwide, and pregnant women constitute a high risk group. Objectives: To determine the clinical characteristics and outcomes of pregnant women with H1N1 influenza A hospitalized in university hospitals of Qom city in Iran. Patients and Methods: This descriptive retrospective study was conducted using existed data related to October and November 2009. All pregnant women with influenza manifestations were admitted to the hospitals to undergo nasopharyngeal culture. H1N1 virus was confirmed in 11 cases. Data including demographic characteristics, clinical manifestations, laboratory test results, and pregnancy complications was extracted from medical records, and analyzed by descriptive statistics. Results: The mean age of the women was 28.1 ± 4.7 years with a mean gestational age of 28.7 ± 10.9 weeks. The most common clinical manifestations included coughing (100%), fever (87.5%), and dyspnea (75%). The most common abnormal test was anemia (88%). Pregnancy complications included preterm delivery (36.3%), low birth weight (18%), oligohydramnios (9%), gestational diabetes (9%), and fetal distress (9%). Also one (12.5%) wound dehiscence happened. Conclusions: vaccination seems to be necessary to prevent this potentially fatal infectious disease. Furthermore, timely prescription of antiviral medications is recommended to decrease the risk of severe complications

Effect of Nano-Silica on The Thermo-Physical Properties of the Thermal Eutectic (Na0.6K0.4)NO3 System

Here, we investigate the effect of adding nano-silica particles on the thermo-physical properties of the (Na0.6K0.4)NO3 based thermal energy storage systems. Five different systems tagged as M00, M01, M02, M03 and M04, with different nano-silica percentage of 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 wt%, respectively, were prepared. Various experimental techniques were employed to study the thermo-physical properties of the systems during (solid-solid) phase P1, (solid-liquid) phase P2 and (liquid-solid) phase P3, and to clarify the effect of nano-silica on the thermal energy storage efficiency during both charging and discharging processes. According to the Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) thermal analysis, it was found that the system M02 whose nano-silica addition rate of 2 wt%, has the most favorable thermal characteristics (i.e., highest specific heat and lowest enthalpy change). Moreover, the addition of 2 wt% represents the optimum distribution of nano-silica inside the principal base system M00. This leads to an improvement in the porosity of the system due to the degree of homogeneity caused by the thermophoresis effect distribution, the high surface area of the nano-silica with the activity of the M00 matrix alongside the degree of the alkalinity of nano-silica. Besides, the electric conductivity measurements showed that the 2wt% percentage is the optimum one for thermal energy storage systems

Dynamics of Multiple Trafficking Behaviors of Individual Synaptic Vesicles Revealed by Quantum-Dot Based Presynaptic Probe

Although quantum dots (QDs) have provided invaluable information regarding the diffusive behaviors of postsynaptic receptors, their application in presynaptic terminals has been rather limited. In addition, the diffraction-limited nature of the presynaptic bouton has hampered detailed analyses of the behaviors of synaptic vesicles (SVs) at synapses. Here, we created a quantum-dot based presynaptic probe and characterized the dynamic behaviors of individual SVs. As previously reported, the SVs exhibited multiple exchanges between neighboring boutons. Actin disruption induced a dramatic decrease in the diffusive behaviors of SVs at synapses while microtubule disruption only reduced extrasynaptic mobility. Glycine-induced synaptic potentiation produced significant increases in synaptic and inter-boutonal trafficking of SVs, which were NMDA receptor- and actin-dependent while NMDA-induced synaptic depression decreased the mobility of the SVs at synapses. Together, our results show that sPH-AP-QD revealed previously unobserved trafficking properties of SVs around synapses, and the dynamic modulation of SV mobility could regulate presynaptic efficacy during synaptic activity

Mutations in Wnt2 Alter Presynaptic Motor Neuron Morphology and Presynaptic Protein Localization at the Drosophila Neuromuscular Junction

Wnt proteins are secreted proteins involved in a number of developmental processes including neural development and synaptogenesis. We sought to determine the role of the Drosophila Wnt7b ortholog, Wnt2, using the neuromuscular junction (NMJ). Mutations in wnt2 produce an increase in the number of presynaptic branches and a reduction in immunolabeling of the active zone proteins, Bruchpilot and synaptobrevin, at the NMJ. There was no change, however, in immunolabeling for the presynaptic proteins cysteine-string protein (CSP) and synaptotagmin, nor the postsynaptic proteins GluRIIA and DLG at the NMJ. Consistent with the presynaptic defects, wnt2 mutants exhibit approximately a 50% reduction in evoked excitatory junctional currents. Rescue, RNAi, and tissue-specific qRT-PCR experiments indicate that Wnt2 is expressed by the postsynaptic cell where it may serve as a retrograde signal that regulates presynaptic morphology and the localization of presynaptic proteins

Dynamic assembly of ribbon synapses and circuit maintenance in a vertebrate sensory system

Ribbon synapses transmit information in sensory systems, but their development is not well understood. To test the hypothesis that ribbon assembly stabilizes nascent synapses, we performed simultaneous time-lapse imaging of fluorescently-tagged ribbons in retinal cone bipolar cells (BCs) and postsynaptic densities (PSD95-FP) of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). Ribbons and PSD95-FP clusters were more stable when these components colocalized at synapses. However, synapse density on ON-alpha RGCs was unchanged in mice lacking ribbons (ribeye knockout). Wildtype BCs make both ribbon-containing and ribbon-free synapses with these GCs even at maturity. Ribbon assembly and cone BC-RGC synapse maintenance are thus regulated independently. Despite the absence of synaptic ribbons, RGCs continued to respond robustly to light stimuli, although quantitative examination of the responses revealed reduced frequency and contrast sensitivity

Dlgap1 knockout mice exhibit alterations of the postsynaptic density and selective reductions in sociability

Abstract The scaffold protein DLGAP1 is localized at the post-synaptic density (PSD) of glutamatergic neurons and is a component of supramolecular protein complexes organized by PSD95. Gain-of-function variants of DLGAP1 have been associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), while haploinsufficient variants have been linked to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and schizophrenia in human genetic studies. We tested male and female Dlgap1 wild type (WT), heterozygous (HT), and knockout (KO) mice in a battery of behavioral tests: open field, dig, splash, prepulse inhibition, forced swim, nest building, social approach, and sucrose preference. We also used biochemical approaches to examine the role of DLGAP1 in the organization of PSD protein complexes. Dlgap1 KO mice were most notable for disruption of protein interactions in the PSD, and deficits in sociability. Other behavioral measures were largely unaffected. Our data suggest that Dlgap1 knockout leads to PSD disruption and reduced sociability, consistent with reports of DLGAP1 haploinsufficient variants in schizophrenia and ASD

Cryo-electron tomography of cells: connecting structure and function

Cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) allows the visualization of cellular structures under close-to-life conditions and at molecular resolution. While it is inherently a static approach, yielding structural information about supramolecular organization at a certain time point, it can nevertheless provide insights into function of the structures imaged, in particular, when supplemented by other approaches. Here, we review the use of experimental methods that supplement cryo-ET imaging of whole cells. These include genetic and pharmacological manipulations, as well as correlative light microscopy and cryo-ET. While these methods have mostly been used to detect and identify structures visualized in cryo-ET or to assist the search for a feature of interest, we expect that in the future they will play a more important role in the functional interpretation of cryo-tomograms