Geostatistical modeling and spatial distribution analysis of porosity and permeability in the Shurijeh-B reservoir of Khangiran gas field in Iran

The main objectives of this study are analysis of spatial behavior of the porosity and permeability, presenting direction of anisotropy for each variable and describing variation of these parameters in Shurijeh B gas reservoir in Khangiran gas field. Porosity well log data of 32 wells are available for performing this geostatistical analysis. A univariate statistical analysis is done on both porosity and permeability to provide a framework for geostatistical analysis and modeling. For spatial analysis of these parameters, the experimental semivariogram of each variable in different direction as well as their variogram map plotted to find out the direction of anisotropy and their geostatistical parameters such as range, sill, and nugget effect for later geostatistical work and finally for geostatistical modeling, two approaches kriging and Sequential Gaussian Simulation are used to get porosity and permeability maps through the entire reservoir. All of statistical and geostatistical analysis has been done using GSLIB and PETREL software. Maximum and minimum direction of continuity are found to be N75W and N15E, respectively. Geostatistical parameters of calculated semivariogram in this direction like range of 7000 m and nugget of 0.2 are used for modeling. Both kriging and SGS method used for modeling but kriging tends to smooth out estimates but on the other hand SGS method tends to show up details. Cross-validation also used to validate the generated modeling

The pseudogap: friend or foe of high Tc?

Although nineteen years have passed since the discovery of high temperature superconductivity, there is still no consensus on its physical origin. This is in large part because of a lack of understanding of the state of matter out of which the superconductivity arises. In optimally and underdoped materials, this state exhibits a pseudogap at temperatures large compared to the superconducting transition temperature. Although discovered only three years after the pioneering work of Bednorz and Muller, the physical origin of this pseudogap behavior and whether it constitutes a distinct phase of matter is still shrouded in mystery. In the summer of 2004, a band of physicists gathered for five weeks at the Aspen Center for Physics to discuss the pseudogap. In this perspective, we would like to summarize some of the results presented there and discuss its importance in the context of strongly correlated electron systems.Comment: expanded version, 20 pages, 11 figures, to be published, Advances in Physic

Comparison of Post-injection Site Pain Between Technetium Sulfur Colloid and Technetium Tilmanocept in Breast Cancer Patients Undergoing Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy

BACKGROUND: No prior studies have examined injection pain associated with Technetium-99m Tilmanocept (TcTM). METHODS: This was a randomized, double-blinded study comparing postinjection site pain between filtered Technetium Sulfur Colloid (fTcSC) and TcTM in breast cancer lymphoscintigraphy. Pain was evaluated with a visual analogue scale (VAS) (0–100 mm) and the short-form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ). The primary endpoint was mean difference in VAS scores at 1-min postinjection between fTcSC and TcTM. Secondary endpoints included a comparison of SF-MPQ scores between the groups at 5 min postinjection and construction of a linear mixed effects model to evaluate the changes in pain during the 5-min postinjection period. RESULTS: Fifty-two patients underwent injection (27-fTcSC, 25-TcTM). At 1-min postinjection, patients who received fTcSC experienced a mean change in pain of 16.8 mm (standard deviation (SD) 19.5) compared with 0.2 mm (SD 7.3) in TcTM (p = 0.0002). At 5 min postinjection, the mean total score on the SF-MPQ was 2.8 (SD 3.0) for fTcSC versus 2.1 (SD 2.5) for TcTM (p = 0.36). In the mixed effects model, injection agent (p < 0.001), time (p < 0.001) and their interaction (p < 0.001) were associated with change in pain during the 5-min postinjection period. The model found fTcSC resulted in significantly more pain of 15.2 mm (p < 0.001), 11.3 mm (p = 0.001), and 7.5 mm (p = 0.013) at 1, 2, and 3 min postinjection, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Injection with fTcSC causes significantly more pain during the first 3 min postinjection compared with TcTM in women undergoing lymphoscintigraphy for breast cancer

Surgical Trial in Lobar Intracerebral Haemorrhage (STICH II) Protocol

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Within the spectrum of spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage there are some patients with large or space occupying haemorrhage who require surgery for neurological deterioration and others with small haematomas who should be managed conservatively. There is equipoise about the management of patients between these two extremes. In particular there is some evidence that patients with lobar haematomas and no intraventricular haemorrhage might benefit from haematoma evacuation. The STICH II study will establish whether a policy of earlier surgical evacuation of the haematoma in selected patients will improve outcome compared to a policy of initial conservative treatment.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>an international multicentre randomised parallel group trial. Only patients for whom the treating neurosurgeon is in equipoise about the benefits of early craniotomy compared to initial conservative treatment are eligible. All patients must have a CT scan confirming spontaneous lobar intracerebral haemorrhage (≤1 cm from the cortex surface of the brain and 10-100 ml in volume). Any clotting or coagulation problems must be corrected and randomisation must take place within 48 hours of ictus. With 600 patients, the study will be able to demonstrate a 12% benefit from surgery (2p < 0.05) with 80% power.</p> <p>Stratified randomisation is undertaken using a central 24 hour randomisation service accessed by telephone or web. Patients randomised to early surgery should have the operation within 12 hours. Information about the status (Glasgow Coma Score and focal signs) of all patients through the first five days of their trial progress is also collected in addition to another CT scan at about five days (+/- 2 days). Outcome is measured at six months via a postal questionnaire to the patient. Primary outcome is death or severe disability defined using a prognosis based 8 point Glasgow Outcome Scale. Secondary outcomes include: Mortality, Rankin, Barthel, EuroQol, and Survival.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>ISRCTN: <a href="http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN22153967">ISRCTN22153967</a></p

A Combination of Compositional Index and Genetic Algorithm for Predicting Transmembrane Helical Segments

Transmembrane helix (TMH) topology prediction is becoming a focal problem in bioinformatics because the structure of TM proteins is difficult to determine using experimental methods. Therefore, methods that can computationally predict the topology of helical membrane proteins are highly desirable. In this paper we introduce TMHindex, a method for detecting TMH segments using only the amino acid sequence information. Each amino acid in a protein sequence is represented by a Compositional Index, which is deduced from a combination of the difference in amino acid occurrences in TMH and non-TMH segments in training protein sequences and the amino acid composition information. Furthermore, a genetic algorithm was employed to find the optimal threshold value for the separation of TMH segments from non-TMH segments. The method successfully predicted 376 out of the 378 TMH segments in a dataset consisting of 70 test protein sequences. The sensitivity and specificity for classifying each amino acid in every protein sequence in the dataset was 0.901 and 0.865, respectively. To assess the generality of TMHindex, we also tested the approach on another standard 73-protein 3D helix dataset. TMHindex correctly predicted 91.8% of proteins based on TM segments. The level of the accuracy achieved using TMHindex in comparison to other recent approaches for predicting the topology of TM proteins is a strong argument in favor of our proposed method. Availability: The datasets, software together with supplementary materials are available at: http://faculty.uaeu.ac.ae/nzaki/TMHindex.htm

Nutrition and lung cancer: a case control study in Iran

Background: Despite many prospective and retrospective studies about the association of dietary habit and lung cancer, the topic still remains controversial. So, this study aims to investigate the association of lung cancer with dietary factors. Method: In this study 242 lung cancer patients and their 484 matched controls on age, sex, and place of residence were enrolled between October 2002 to 2005. Trained physicians interviewed all participants with standardized questionnaires. The middle and upper third consumer groups were compared to the lower third according to the distribution in controls unless the linear trend was significant across exposure groups. Result: Conditional logistic regression was used to evaluate the association with lung cancer. In a multivariate analysis fruit (Ptrend < 0.0001), vegetable (P = 0.001) and sunflower oil (P = 0.006) remained as protective factors and rice (P = 0.008), bread (Ptrend = 0.04), liver (P = 0.004), butter (Ptrend = 0.04), white cheese (Ptrend < 0.0001), beef (Ptrend = 0.005), vegetable ghee (P < 0.0001) and, animal ghee (P = 0.015) remained as risk factors of lung cancer. Generally, we found positive trend between consumption of beef (P = 0.002), bread (P < 0.0001), and dairy products (P < 0.0001) with lung cancer. In contrast, only fruits were inversely related to lung cancer (P < 0.0001). Conclusion: It seems that vegetables, fruits, and sunflower oil could be protective factors and bread, rice, beef, liver, dairy products, vegetable ghee, and animal ghee found to be possible risk factors for the development of lung cancer in Iran

Molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the evolution of form and function in the amniote jaw.

The amniote jaw complex is a remarkable amalgamation of derivatives from distinct embryonic cell lineages. During development, the cells in these lineages experience concerted movements, migrations, and signaling interactions that take them from their initial origins to their final destinations and imbue their derivatives with aspects of form including their axial orientation, anatomical identity, size, and shape. Perturbations along the way can produce defects and disease, but also generate the variation necessary for jaw evolution and adaptation. We focus on molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate form in the amniote jaw complex, and that enable structural and functional integration. Special emphasis is placed on the role of cranial neural crest mesenchyme (NCM) during the species-specific patterning of bone, cartilage, tendon, muscle, and other jaw tissues. We also address the effects of biomechanical forces during jaw development and discuss ways in which certain molecular and cellular responses add adaptive and evolutionary plasticity to jaw morphology. Overall, we highlight how variation in molecular and cellular programs can promote the phenomenal diversity and functional morphology achieved during amniote jaw evolution or lead to the range of jaw defects and disease that affect the human condition

Angiotensin-converting enzyme genotype and late respiratory complications of mustard gas exposure

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Exposure to mustard gas frequently results in long-term respiratory complications. However the factors which drive the development and progression of these complications remain unclear. The Renin Angiotensin System (RAS) has been implicated in lung inflammatory and fibrotic responses. Genetic variation within the gene coding for the Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE), specifically the Insertion/Deletion polymorphism (I/D), is associated with variable levels of ACE and with the severity of several acute and chronic respiratory diseases. We hypothesized that the ACE genotype might influence the severity of late respiratory complications of mustard gas exposure.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>208 Kurdish patients who had suffered high exposure to mustard gas, as defined by cutaneous lesions at initial assessment, in Sardasht, Iran on June 29 1987, underwent clinical examination, spirometric evaluation and ACE Insertion/Deletion genotyping in September 2005.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>ACE genotype was determined in 207 subjects. As a continuous variable, FEV₁% predicted tended to be higher in association with the D allele 68.03 ± 20.5%, 69.4 ± 21.4% and 74.8 ± 20.1% for II, ID and DD genotypes respectively. Median FEV₁% predicted was 73 and this was taken as a cut off between groups defined as having better or worse lung function. The ACE DD genotype was overrepresented in the better spirometry group (Chi²4.9 p = 0.03). Increasing age at the time of exposure was associated with reduced FEV₁%predicted (p = 0.001), whereas gender was not (p = 0.43).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The ACE D allele is associated with higher FEV₁% predicted when assessed 18 years after high exposure to mustard gas.</p

3D Bioprinted Human Skeletal Muscle Constructs for Muscle Function Restoration

A bioengineered skeletal muscle tissue as an alternative for autologous tissue flaps, which mimics the structural and functional characteristics of the native tissue, is needed for reconstructive surgery. Rapid progress in the cell-based tissue engineering principle has enabled in vitro creation of cellularized muscle-like constructs; however, the current fabrication methods are still limited to build a three-dimensional (3D) muscle construct with a highly viable, organized cellular structure with the potential for a future human trial. Here, we applied 3D bioprinting strategy to fabricate an implantable, bioengineered skeletal muscle tissue composed of human primary muscle progenitor cells (hMPCs). The bioprinted skeletal muscle tissue showed a highly organized multi-layered muscle bundle made by viable, densely packed, and aligned myofiber-like structures. Our in vivo study presented that the bioprinted muscle constructs reached 82% of functional recovery in a rodent model of tibialis anterior (TA) muscle defect at 8 weeks of post-implantation. In addition, histological and immunohistological examinations indicated that the bioprinted muscle constructs were well integrated with host vascular and neural networks. We demonstrated the potential of the use of the 3D bioprinted skeletal muscle with a spatially organized structure that can reconstruct the extensive muscle defects