The comparative effect of Valeriana officinalis versus Diazepam on the state of anxiety before operation in female patients admitted in Kashani hospital

Background and aims: Valeriana officinalis is one of the most practical herbal medicines with anxiolytic and sedative properties. This study was conducted to compare herbal medicine V. officinalis and diazepam on reduction of preoperative anxiety. Methods: In this double-blinded clinical trial study, 60 female patients candidated for elective surgery were enrolled into the study. The patients were randomly divided into 3 groups including: V. officinalis (5 dl concentrated extract Zardband Pharmaceutical Co.), Diazepam (5 mg tablet), and Placebo. The medicines were orally administered to the patients every 2 hours before anesthesia. The data were gathered by Spielberger Anxiety Inventory (manifest anxiety) and form of individual information and vital signs including blood pressure, pulse, and respiration at 2 steps, before medicine administration and two hours after medicine administration. Collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, pair t- test, Chi- square, and ANOVA in SPSS software. Results: Mean score of manifest anxiety in the patients was 28.26±7.94 prior to treatment with V. officinalis and 16.56±7.25 after treatment, in diazepam group prior to treatment 25.56±5.44 and after treatment 22.40±5.54, and in placebo group prior to treatment 24.70±7.09 and after treatment 23.60±7.09, with a significant reduction in score of manifest anxiety in the patients in all three groups (P=0.001). The highest reduction of anxiety score was associated with V. officinalis followed by diazepam and placebo (P=0.001). Conclusion: Considering the findings of this study could be argued that V. officinalis has effect on preoperative anxiety and could be used in reducing preoperative anxiety in operating rooms

Novel additive for sperm cryopreservation media: Holotheria parva coelomic cavity extract protects human spermatozoa against oxidative stress—A pilot study

Cryopreservation is the most effective method for preserving semen for a long period of time. However, during the freeze–thaw process, production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) leads to a steep reduction in sperm fertility indices. In this study, we tested the effects of the extract of the coelomic cavity of five Holotheria parva, a marine organism rich in antioxidants, for its ROS-scavenging activity and cryoprotective effects on oxidative stress. Using a total of 50 semen samples, our results demonstrated that doses of 250 and 500 µg/ml of H. parva coelomic cavity extract significantly increased sperm vitality as compared to the control (p <.05). The addition of 250 µg/ml of the extract exerted a significant positive effect on sperm motility. Moreover, sperm DNA damage and ROS production were significantly reduced at extract concentrations of 250 and 500 µg/ml (p <.05). To the best of our knowledge, the results of this study represent the first demonstration of the possibility of improving sperm parameters and reducing ROS production and DNA damage by supplementing sperm freezing media with H. parva coelomic extract. Our results suggested that H. parva coelomic extract could be useful for improving the fertilising ability of frozen-thawed human semen

Turn-turn short circuit fault management in permanent magnet machines

This paper presents a systematic study on turn-turn short circuit fault and ways to manage them to provide a basis for comparison of the various options available. The possible methods to reduce the likelihood of the winding SC fault and the fault mitigation techniques related to such faults are discussed. A Finite Element (FE) analysis of a surface-mount Permanent Magnet (PM) machine under application of different mitigation techniques during a turn-turn fault is presented. Both machine and drive structural adaptations for different fault mitigation techniques are addressed. Amongst the investigated fault mitigation techniques, the most promising solution is identified and validated experimentally. It is shown that the shorting terminal method adopting vertical winding arrangement is an effective method in terms of the implementation, reliability and weight

Path analysis of the relationship between optimism, humor, affectivity, and marital satisfaction among infertile couples

Marital satisfaction is an important factor for establishing a family relationship, feeling satisfied, and living happily together. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between optimism, humor, positive and negative affect, and marital satisfaction among infertile couples. The sample comprised 80 infertile Iranian couples (n = 160) who visited infertility clinics. Participants completed a series of Persian versions of psychometric scales related to optimism (Attributional Style Questionnaire), humor (Humor Styles Questionnaire), marital satisfaction (Enrich Marital Satisfaction Questionnaire), positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule). The obtained result of Smart PLS statistical analysis confirmed the significant positive correlation between optimism and humor with marital satisfaction and high PA and low NA. Moreover, the findings also provided an adequate fit of the model. The findings demonstrated that infertile couples high in optimism and humor have higher levels of marital satisfaction and high PA and low PA. Based on the study’s findings, interventions for facilitating optimism and humor among infertile couples are discussed

Purification and immobilization of engineered glucose dehydrogenase: A new approach to producing gluconic acid from breadwaste

Background Platform chemicals are essential to industrial processes. Used as starting materials for the manufacture of diverse products, their cheap availability and efficient sourcing are an industrial requirement. Increasing concerns about the depletion of natural resources and growing environmental consciousness have led to a focus on the economics and ecological viability of bio-based platform chemical production. Contemporary approaches include the use of immobilized enzymes that can be harnessed to produce high-value chemicals from waste. Results In this study, an engineered glucose dehydrogenase (GDH) was optimized for gluconic acid (GA) production. Sulfolobus solfataricus GDH was expressed in Escherichia coli. The Km and Vmax values for recombinant GDH were calculated as 0.87 mM and 5.91 U/mg, respectively. Recombinant GDH was immobilized on a hierarchically porous silica support (MM-SBA-15) and its activity was compared with GDH immobilized on three commercially available supports. MM-SBA-15 showed significantly higher immobilization efficiency (> 98%) than the commercial supports. After 5 cycles, GDH activity was at least 14% greater than the remaining activity on commercial supports. Glucose in bread waste hydrolysate was converted to GA by free-state and immobilized GDH. After the 10th reuse cycle on MM-SBA-15, a 22% conversion yield was observed, generating 25 gGA/gGDH. The highest GA production efficiency was 47 gGA/gGDH using free-state GDH. Conclusions This study demonstrates the feasibility of enzymatically converting BWH to GA: immobilizing GDH on MM-SBA-15 renders the enzyme more stable and permits its multiple reuse

Design a PID Controller for Suspension System by Back Propagation Neural Network

This paper presents a neural network for designing of a PID controller for suspension system. The suspension system, designed as a quarter model, is used to simplify the problem to one-dimensional spring-damper system. In this paper, back propagation neural network (BPN) has been used for determining the gain parameters of a PID controller for suspension system of automotive. The BPN method is found to be the most accurate and quick. The best results were obtained by the BPN by Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm training with 10 neurons in the one hidden layer. Training was continued until the mean squared error is less than . Desired error value was achieved in the BPN, and the BPN was tested with both data used and not used for training. By training of this network, it is possible to estimate the gain parameters of PID controller at any condition. The inputs of network are automotive velocity, overshoot percentage, settling time, and steady state error of suspension system response. Also outputs of the net are the gain parameters of PID controller. Resultant low relative error value of the ANN model indicates the usability of the BPN in this area

Fixed Points of Nonlinear and Asymptotic Contractions in the Modular Space

A fixed point theorem for nonlinear contraction in the modular space is proved. Moreover, a fixed point theorem for asymptotic contraction in this space is studied