Experience of 138 Transurethral Urethrotomy With Holmium:YAG Laser

Introduction: Many valid option modalities are available for the management of urethral stricture disease (USD), such as internal urethrotomy which has the success rates of 33%–60%. The aim of this study was to assess the outcome of holmium: YAG (Ho: YAG) laser urethrotomy (HLU).Methods: One hundred thirty-eight patients with urethral stricture with the mean age of 48±3.03 years old treated by HLU from March 2011 to August 2017. The main purpose of this investigation was to evaluate mean operation time, stricture recurrence rate and post-operation Qmax and complications of transurethral HLU.Results: The most common cause of USD was trauma in 82 (59.4%) patients. Mean laser operation time, mean hospital stay and mean postoperative duration of catheterization were 23.08 ± 9.1 minutes, 19.02 ± 10.7 hours and 10.3 ± 1.05 days respectively. The mean Qmax was 8.3 ± 2.07 mL/s before surgery and 16 ±3.1 mL/s afterward. At the end of 12 months follow-up, a total of 37 (26.8%) patients developed recurrence of the stricture. Patients with posterior, longer urethral strictures and previous history of interventions have more recurrence rate of the stricture.Conclusion: HLU is minimally invasive and seems to be an effective and safe management option for primary, short, urethral strictures. The hospital stay is remarkably short and complications are negligible

Radiation Therapy in Patients With Brain Cancer: Post-proteomics Interpretation

Introduction: Radiation Therapy (RT) as a common method for cancer treatment could conclude in some side effects. Molecular investigation is one of the approaches that could assist in decrypting the molecular mechanisms of this incident. For this aim, protein-protein interaction network analysis as a complementary study of proteome is applied to explore the RT effect on brain cancer effect after the early stage of exposure prior to skin lesion appears.Methods: Cytoscape 3.7.2 and its plug-ins analyzed the network of DEPs in the treatment condition and the centrality and pathway enrichments were conducted by the use of NetworkAnalyzer and ClueGO+CluePedia.Results:  A network of 15 DEPs indicated that six nodes are key players in the network stability and SERPINC1 and F5 are from the query proteins. Pathways of post-translational protein phosphorylation, Platelet degranulation, and Complement and coagulation cascades are the most highlighted ones for the central nodes that could be affected in radiation therapy.Conclusion: The central proteins of the network of early stage treatments could have additional importance in the mechanisms of radiotherapy response prior to skin lesions. These candidates worth precise attention for this type of therapy after approving by validation studies

The Long-term Effects of Percutaneous Laser Disc Decompression (PLDD) Treatment on Lumbar Disc Protrusion: A 2-Year Follow-up

Introduction: Nowadays many physicians have focused their attention on using low invasive methods for the treatment of disc protrusion. Thus, the current study was carried out to evaluate the effect and therapeutic outcomes of clinical percutaneous laser disc decompression (PLDD) in the treatment of chronic low back pain caused by disc protrusion during a two-year follow-up.Methods: This historical cohort study was conducted on 40 patients, who were suffering from chronic low back pain caused by disc protrusion diagnosed, and referred to the pain clinic of Akhtar Hospital from March to August 2016 were treated with PLDD and were followed up for at least two years after performing PLDD (from 2018 to 2019). All the information has been extracted using medical records and patient interviews. The severity of pain was measured by the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS), and the Oswestry disability index (ODI) was measured before and two years after the treatment.Results: The most common sites for two-level PLDD were L4-S1 and L3-L5, and the most common sites for one-level PLDD were L5-S1 and L4-L5. Overall, the levels of pain and functional disability two years after PLDD showed significant improvements (P = 0.0001). The results revealed no statistically significant differences in NRS and ODI scores between the two groups of men and women two years after PLDD (P > 0.05). Furthermore, they indicated no statistically significant differences in NRS and ODI scores between the different disc protrusion levels two years after PLDD (P > 0.05).Conclusion: It seems that the PLDD is a low-invasive, safe, and effective method that can be used in patients with chronic low back pain caused by a disc protrusion. Therefore, it can be considered as a suitable choice in treating patients with chronic low back pain caused by a disc protrusio

Social Factors Influencing Adoption of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Technologies by Paddy Farmers

This study aimed to identify the factors influencing adoption of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) technologies by paddy farmers in Sari County of Iran. A sample of 260 farmers who selected randomly, participated in this study through a survey questionnaire. Findings of the study revealed a statistically significant positive correlation between adoption of IPM technologies and farmers’ participation in extension activities, Farmers’ Field School, local associations, and influence of opinion leaders. Regression analysis indicated that nearly 43 % of variation in the IPM technologies adoption could be explained by participation in extension activities, local associations, and influence of opinion leaders. Findings have implications for designing extension programs that can encourage adoption of IPM technologies by farmers

Comparison of Stone Retrieval Basket, Stone Cone and Holmium Laser: Which One Is Better in Retropulsion and Stone-Free Status for Patients with Upper Ureteral Calculi?

Introduction: Transurethral lithotripsy (TUL) is an appropriate treatment for ureteral stones and is usually used for stones in the middle and lower part of the ureter. Different devices such as Holmium laser, stone basket and stone cone exist to prevent any fragments from retropulsion during TUL. The present study aims to compare the advantages and disadvantages of the Holmium laser, stone basket and stone cone. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted from September 2016 to January 2018 comparing various TUL methods in 88 subjects with proximal ureteral calculi. The study participants were devided into four matched groups. The first one included 20 patients undergoing TUL with no device (Group 1), the second group included 22 patients undergoing TUL while using the stone retrieval basket, the third group included 18 patients undergoing TUL while utilizing the stone cone and the fourth group included 28 patients undergoing TUL while using Hol-YAG laser. Results: A residual stone ≥ 3 mm was recorded in 15.9% of the patients. stone free rate were seen in 100%, 90.9, 83.3%and 55% in Holmium laser group, retrieval basket group, stone cone group and no device group respectively(p:0.001). Lowest rate of surgery complications including ureteral perforation, Post-operative fever and mucosal damage between 4 groups (p: 0.003) and highest time of surgery (p: 0.001) belong to laser group. If we want to ignore the laser group, success rate for lithotripsy was better in both groups with stone retrieval device compared to the no device group, but no advantage existed between stone basket and stone cone. Conclusion:We can safely conclude that laser significantly help to prevent stone migration during TUL. If we want to ignore the laser group, success rate for lithotripsy was significantly better in both groups with stone retrieval device compared to the no device group, but no advantage existed between stone basket and stone cone

Assessment of Laser Effects on Skin Rejuvenation

Laser skin resurfacing has changed the approach of facial skin rejuvenation over the past decade. This article evaluates the laser effects on skin rejuvenation by the assessment of laser characteristics and histological and molecular changes, accompanied by the expression of proteins during and after laser-assisted rejuvenation of skin. It is important to note that different layers of skin with different cells are normally exposed to the sun’s UV radiation which is the most likely factor in aging and damaging healthy skin. To identify the expression of proteins, using validated databases and reviewing existing data could reveal altered proteins which could be analyzed and mapped to investigate their expression and their different effects on cell biological responses. In this regard, proteomics data can be used for better investigation of the changes in the proteomic profile of the treated skin. Different assessments have revealed the survival and activation of fibroblasts and new keratinocytes with an increase of collagen and elastin fibers in the dermis and the reduction of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and heat shock proteins (HSPs) as a result of different low-power laser therapies of skin. There are a wide range of biological effects associated with laser application in skin rejuvenation; therefore, more safety considerations should be regarded in the application of lasers in skin rejuvenation

Assessment of the Microbiome Role in Skin Protection Against UV Irradiation Via Network Analysis

Introduction: Diverse microbiotas which have some contributions to gene expression reside in human skin. To identify the protective role of the skin microbiome against UV exposure, protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis is used to assess gene expression alteration.Methods: A microarray dataset, GEO accession number GSE117359, was considered in this respect. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the germ-free (GF) and specific pathogen-free (SPF) groups are analyzed by GEO2R. The top significant DEGs were assigned for network analysis via Cytoscape 3.7.2 and its applications.Results: A total of 28 genes were identified as significant DEGs and the centrality analysis of the network indicated that only one of the seven hub-bottlenecks was from queried genes. The gene ontology analysis of Il6, Cxcl2, Cxcl1, TNF, Il10, Cxcl10, and Mmp9 showed that the crucial genes were highly enriched in the immune system.Conclusion: The skin microbiome plays a significant role in the protection of the skin against UV irradiation and the role of TNF and IL6 is prominent in this regard

Neuroprotective Properties of Photobiomodulation in Retinal Regeneration in Rats: Perspectives From Interaction Levels

Introduction: Photobiomodulation (PBM) is known as low-level laser (or light) therapy and is applied in different fields of medicine. However, it is required that its molecular and cellular mechanism be investigated. This study aims to assess the neuroprotective properties of PBM in the rat retina.Methods: GSE22818 was downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and the regulation of the significant differentially expressed genes (DEGs) which are produced by light damage in the rat retina by the pretreatment of PBM application was assessed via network analysis and gene ontology enrichment.Results: The 78 produced DEGs by light-damage in the rat retina were protected via PBM pretreatment action. Among these determined DEGs, 53 individuals were included in the main connected component of the constructed protein-protein interaction (PPI) network. Ccl2, Icam1, Cxcl10, Timp1, and Fos were determined as hub nodes. Eight clusters including 26 regulated biochemical pathways by PBM pretreatment were identified. The critical DEGs based on the action maps were introduced.Conclusion: The finding indicates that PBM treatment protects rat retina against light damage via the prevention of Fos, Ccl2, Icam1, Cxcl10, and Myc dysregulation.

A New Method to Locate Faults in Power Networks Based on Electromagnetic Time Reversal

The paper presents a new method based on the Electromagnetic Time-Reversal (EMTR) for locating faults in power systems. The applicability of the EMTR to electromagnetic transients associated with traveling waves in transmission lines originated by the fault is theoretically demonstrated. A new fault location technique is then proposed and illustrated for a simple case of a singleconductor transmission line, for which the performance of the proposed technique in terms of location accuracy is discussed. The use of the EMTR technique appears to be particularly promising for locating faults in passive and active electrical distribution networks in view of their radial structure

An epidemiological survey of psychiatric disorders in Iran

BACKGROUND: The nation-wide epidemiological survey of psychiatric disorders in term of lifetime prevalence is not adequately known in Iran. The prevalence of lifetime psychiatric disorders was estimated among the population of aged 18 and over on gender, age group, educational level, occupational status, marital status, and residential area. METHODS: The subjects were 25,180 individuals selected through a clustered random sampling method. The psychiatric disorders were diagnosed on the bases of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV criteria. It is the first study in which the structured psychiatric interview administered to a representative sample of the Iranian population age 18 and over by the 250 trained clinical psychologist interviewers. The data was entered through EPI-Info software twice in an attempt to prevent any errors and SPSS-11 statistical software was also used for analyses. The odds ratios and their confidence intervals estimated by using logistic regression. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The prevalence of psychiatric disorders was 10.81%. It was more common among females than males (14.34% vs. 7.34%, P < 0.001). The prevalence of anxiety and mood disorders were 8.35% and 4.29% respectively. The prevalence of psychotic disorders was 0.89%; neuro-cognitive disorders, 2.78% and dissociative disorders, 0.77%. Among mood disorders, major depressive disorder (2.98%) and among anxiety disorders, phobic disorder (2.05%) had the higher prevalence. The prevalence of psychiatric disorders among divorced and separated 22.31%; residents of urban areas 11.77%; illiterates 13.80%; householders 15.48%; unemployed 12.33% that were more than other groups. CONCLUSION: The mental health pattern in Iran is similar to the western countries, but it seems that the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in Iran may be lower than these countries. It is estimated that at least about 7 millions of Iranian population suffer from one or more of the psychiatric disorders. It shows the importance of the role of the psychiatric disorders in providing preventive and management programs in Iran