2-[(1H-Imidazol-2-yl)disulfan­yl]-1H-imidazole

In the title molecule, C6H6N4S2, a twofold rotation axis passes through the mid-point of the S—S bond. The C—S—S—C torsion angle is 83.62 (17)°. π–π stacking between imidazole rings of adjacent mol­ecules is observed in the crystal structure, the centroid–centroid distance being 3.447 (2) Å. Inter­molecular N—H⋯S hydrogen bonding results in the formation of a linear chain in the c-axis direction

2-Phenyl-1H-imidazole

In the title compound, C9H8N2, a mirror plane lies perpendicular to the phenyl and imidazole rings and passes through the bridging C—C bond, so that the imidazole ring is disordered over two sites about the mirror plane with the equal site occupancy; the asymmetric unit contains one half-mol­ecule. In the crystal, adjacent mol­ecules are linked via N—H⋯N hydrogen bonds

Technical Report on the Modification of 3-Dimensional Non-contact Human Body Laser Scanner for the Measurement of Anthropometric Dimensions: Verification of its Accuracy and Precision

Introduction: Three-dimensional (3D) scanners are widely used in medicine. One of the applications of 3D scanners is the acquisition of anthropometric dimensions for ergonomics and the creation of an anthropometry data bank. The aim of this study was to evaluate the precision and accuracy of a modified 3D scanner fabricated in this study.Methods: In this work, a 3D scan of the human body was obtained using DAVID Laser Scanner software and its calibration background, a linear low-power laser, and one advanced webcam. After the 3D scans were imported to the Geomagic software, 10 anthropometric dimensions of 10 subjects were obtained. The measurements of the 3D scanner were compared to the measurements of the same dimensions by a direct anthropometric method. The precision and accuracy of the measurements of the 3D scanner were then evaluated. The obtained data were analyzed using an independent sample t test with the SPSS software.Results: The minimum and maximum measurement differences from three consecutive scans by the 3D scanner were 0.03 mm and 18 mm, respectively. The differences between the measurements by the direct anthropometry method and the 3D scanner were not statistically significant. Therefore, the accuracy of the 3D scanner is acceptable.Conclusion: Future studies will need to focus on the improvement of the scanning speed and the quality of the scanned image

High Frequency of Diarrheagenic Escherichia coli in HIV-Infected Patients and Patients with Thalassemia in Kerman, Iran

This study was conducted on patients with thalassemia and HIV-infected patients to determine the frequency of diarrheagenic Escherichia coli in Kerman, Iran. We analyzed 68 and 49 E coli isolates isolated from healthy fecal samples of patients with thalassemia and HIV-infected patients, respectively. The E coli isolates were studied using a multiplex polymerase chain reaction to identify the enterotoxigenic E coli (ETEC), enterohemorrhagic E coli (EHEC), and enteropathogenic E coli (EPEC) groups. Statistical analysis was carried out to determine the correlation of diarrheagenic E coli between HIVinfected patients and patients with thalassemia using Stata 11.2 software. The frequency of having at least 1 diarrheagenic E coli was more common in patients with thalassemia (67.64%) than in HIV-infected patients (57.14%; P ¼ .25), including ETEC (67.64% versus 57.14%), EHEC (33.82% versus 26.53%), and EPEC (19.11% versus 16.32%). The results of this study indicate that ETEC, EHEC, and EPEC pathotypes are widespread among diarrheagenic E coli isolates in patients with thalassemia and HIV-infected patients

Factor Affecting the Sustainable Management of Agricultural Water

The main purpose of the study was to investigate the factors affecting the sustainable management of agricultural water in Hamedan. The study population included all wheat farmers possessing irrigated farms in Hamedan city (N=1800). Of these farmers a sample of 317 people has been selected by using randomized multi-stage sampling method. The data were collected through a questionnaire's tool with help of the interview technique. Accuracy of the questions in the questionnaire was face validated by a panel of specialists. To test the reliability of the questionnaires, the questionnaires were first given to 30 farmers and Cronbach's Alpha was calculated (Alpha=0.92) then the questionnaire was finalized. Data analyzing methods such as Multiple Regression and the coefficient of variation (CV= standard deviation /mean) were used in this study. To determine the level of sustainability of the farms Bossel method proposed for classification and grading the fields was used. The results showed that variables agronomic factors, policy factors and institutional factors were able to explain 34 percent of the dependent variable's changes (sustainable management of agricultural water). According to the results, 95.3 percent of the farmers were categorized into unsustainable group, 4.1 percent into semi-sustainable and only 0.6 percent in sustainable group

Removal of copper ions from dilute sulfuric acid solutions: Effect of solution composition and applied potential

Removal of copper from synthesized and real dilute sulfuric acid solutions was investigated. Effects of copper, iron concentrations and applied potential were studied. In pure copper solutions, increasing the Cu2+ concentration from 1000 to 5000 mg.L-1 increased the copper recovery from about 30-300% depending on the cathode potential and decreased the energy consumption by about 30%. Also, with increasing the acid concentration from 15 to 50 g.L-1 an about 25% increase in copper recovery and a 30% decrease in energy consumption were observed. The addition of Fe2+ to the solution improved the ionic conductivity and so that the copper recovery. The specified energy consumption for the real leaching solutions increased to 31-47 KWh.kg-1. The diffusion coefficients for several synthesized and real copper electrowinning electrolytes were determined. Moreover, the maximum value of the diffusion coefficient (D) was obtained 2.27*10-4 cm2.s-1 for the pure copper solution at a concentration of 1000 mg.L-1 Cu2+ which was higher than impure and real solutions

A Study of Opportunities and Threats of Descriptive Assessment from Managers, Teachers and Experts Points of View in Chaharmahal and Bakhteyari Primary Schools

The aim of current study is to determine the strength and weakness of executing descriptive evaluation from the viewpoint of deans, teachers and experts of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province. A survey descriptive approach was performed. Statistical population includes 208 deans, 303 teachers, and 100 executive experts of descriptive evaluation scheme in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province in educational year 1387-88. Sample’s volume after some statistical estimation calculated to be 175, and members of the sample were selected by random sampling of a category proportional to the selected volume, that contains 100 teachers, 50 deans and 25 experts. To identify the justifiability of the inventory, opinions of twelve persons including advisor professor, consulting professor, designer of the descriptive evaluation scheme, four of educational planning department professors and five of experts holding masters and Ph.D. degrees that are executives of the scheme in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, were used. Measurement tools included: 1) documents including reports, regulations and documents related to the running of this plan; 2) interviews conducted to use the opinions of experts in doing descriptive evaluation; 3) a self-administrated questionnaire including 4 items and 74 close–ended questions, and open – ended ones. For analyzing the data produced by inventory, we used SPSS-13 to analyze the data in two levels of descriptive and inferential. We also have used single variable t-test, independent t-test, one-way analysis of variance, and least significant difference (LSD) tests. Results showed that the executives of descriptive evaluation scheme in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province evaluate the so called scheme above average regarding to four scales (strength and weakness).Key words: Chaharmahal; Bakhteyari; Opportunities; Threats; Primary schoo

In vivo effects of allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells in a rat model of acute ischemic kidney injury

Objective(s): Renal ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) as a severe condition of acute kidney injury (AKI) is the most common clinical problem with high mortality rates of 35-60% deaths in hospital. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) due to unique regenerative characteristics are ideal candidates for the treatment of the ischemic injuries. This work is focused on the administration of MSC to IRI-induced AKI Wistar rats and evaluating their significance in AKI treatment. Material and Methods: Animals underwent surgical procedure and AKI was induced by 40 min bilateral renal pedicle clamping. Immediately after reperfusion, 2×106 rat bone marrow derived MSCs were injected via intra-parenchymal or intra-aortic route. Results: Animals subjected to AKI after days 1 and 3 showed significant increase in the serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) concentration along with a declined glomerular filtration rate (GFR) when compared with non-ischemic animals. On the other hand, treated animals showed a significant enhanced regeneration as compared to ischemic animals in both administration route groups. Conclusion: According to the results concluded from the renoprotective effects of MSC in IRI/AKI, MSCs could be considered as promising therapeutic approach for AKI in clinical applications

Voluntary Exercise Prevents Lead-Induced Elevation of Oxidative Stress and Inflammation Markers in Male Rat Blood

Regular mild exercise enhances antioxidant and anti-inflammatory systems of the body. The present study investigates voluntary exercise effects on lead toxicity as a known oxidative stressor. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 2 groups. Sedentary control: the animals were housed 7 weeks in the regular cages. Exercise group: the animals were housed 7 weeks in the running wheel equipped cages, that is, the animal model of voluntary exercise. During the 7th week, all animals were administered lead acetate. Blood samples were collected at the end of the 6th week and 7th week (before and after lead administrations). Glutathione peroxidase (GPx), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), malondialdehyde (MDA), and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-) were measured in the samples. Our results showed that lead administration reduced blood SOD, GPx and CAT and increased TNF-; in the controls, but in the exercise group, changes were not statistically significant. MDA in both groups increased after lead injections but it was significantly lower in exercise group compared to the sedentary animals. We concluded that voluntary exercise may be considered as a preventive tool against lead-induced oxidative stress and inflammation

Sheep Genome Functional Annotation Reveals Proximal Regulatory Elements Contributed to The Evolution of Modern Breeds

Domestication fundamentally reshaped animal morphology, physiology and behaviour, offering the opportunity to investigate the molecular processes driving evolutionary change. Here we assess sheep domestication and artificial selection by comparing genome sequence from 43 modern breeds (Ovis aries) and their Asian mouflon ancestor (O. orientalis) to identify selection sweeps. Next, we provide a comparative functional annotation of the sheep genome, validated using experimental ChIP-Seq of sheep tissue. Using these annotations, we evaluate the impact of selection and domestication on regulatory sequences and find that sweeps are significantly enriched for protein coding genes, proximal regulatory elements of genes and genome features associated with active transcription. Finally, we find individual sites displaying strong allele frequency divergence are enriched for the same regulatory features. Our data demonstrate that remodelling of gene expression is likely to have been one of the evolutionary forces that drove phenotypic diversification of this common livestock species