Informed Consent for Inclusion into Clinical Trials: A Serious Subject to Note in the Developing World Morteza

Introduction: Informed consent is a critical issue especially in conducting clinical trials that expose human life to medical or surgical interventions. It necessitates a long and complex process through which the participant ispresented with all potential favorable and non-favorable consequences upon getting enrolled in the study.Review: The process of taking informed consent is wellunderstoodin developed countries, with every effort taken to enhance and maintain the autonomy of patients and their right to make an informed choice of whether to participate or not. This may not be the case in thedeveloping world. The information given to patients before the trial might not be properly developed and presented, an issue that can result in serious threat to the decision-making process. On the other hand, investigators should remember that enrolling people into a trial withno potential benefit for themselves cannot be considered ethical. In the current debate, we aim to address the issue of how respectfully and ethically clinical research trials can be done on human subjects and what we can do to enhance the practice in an ethical context.Conclusion: Development of a system through which we could warrant all rights of study participants in all cases around the world seems far from view. However, if we are in doubt about the ethics of a clinical trial, we can ask ourselves: “what would we do, if we were in the same position our patients are in now?&#8221

The response of a high voltage transformer with various geometries of core joint design

The core losses in a three phase transformer can be significantly reduced by improving the core joint geometry. The researchers were applied numerous types of T-joint designs in order to reach the optimum design that can be used in three phase transformer to reduction the losses. Two types of T-joint design are presented in this paper; T-joint with 90° butt-lap design and T-joint with 45° mitered design. A 3-phase distribution transformer was simulated in 3D using Ansys Maxwell software. The core loss for a three-leg three phase transformer rated 1000 KVA and the flux density distribution are investigated. The simulation results show the core losses were increased up to 3% and the flux density was increased to reach more than 22% flux density become higher when using T-joint with 90° butt-lap design as compared with T-joint with 45° mitered design

Analysis on magnetic flux density and core loss for hexagonal and butt-lap core joint transformers

This paper presents the results of new hexagonal configuration at the T-joint of three-phase transformer core. The proposed model is compared with previous T-joint design, Butt-lap, which is widely used at present by many transformer manufacturers. The magnetic flux density distribution and core loss of a transformer rated 1000kVA are analyzed for the two types of T-joint design. The 3D simulation are carried out by using the ANSYS-Maxwell software. The results show that the magnetic flux density of the hexagonal shape T-joint is well distributed compared to that in the Butt-lap T-joint design. The core loss for the proposed model (hexagon) T-joint indicates a reduction of more than 11 % compared to the Butt-lap T-joint design

Effects of Cimetidine and Glucantime on cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Balb/c mice

سالک یکی از بیماری های بومی و شایع در برخی از نقاط کشور ماست. این عارضه پوستی یک بیماری انگلی است که توسط تک یاخته ای به نام لیشمانی (Leishmania) ایجاد و از طریق گزش پشه خاکی منتقل می شود. پس از گزش پشه و طی دوره کمون، زخمی ایجاد می شود که پس از گذشت مدتی، معمولا بهبود یافته و گاهی از خود جوش باقی می گذارد. درمان بیماری سالک به عوامل متعددی مانند تعداد زخم ها، مدت زمان پیدایش و محل زخم ها و همچنین شرایط سنی و جنسی و اجتماعی بستگی دارد. امروزه برای درمان از روش های شیمیایی، فیزیکی و یا بطور توام استفاده می شود. در این مطالعه داروهای سایمتیدین (Cimetidine) و گلوکانتیم (Glucantime) با مقادیر مختلف برای درمان بیماری لیشمانیوز جلدی (سالک) در موش مورد بررسی قرار گرفته است. موش های خالص نژاد بالب سی (Balb/c) به صورت زیر جلدی با انگل لیشمانیا در قاعده دم عفونی شده و پس از ظهور زخم، به 11 گروه دهه تایی تقسیم شدند و سپس با مقادیر مختلف سایمتیدین و گلوکانتیم بطور مجزا یا مخلوط، تحت درمان قرار گرفتند. از میان رژیم های متعدد درمانی بکار رفته در این تحقیق، استفاده از رژیم ترکیبی شامل سایمتیدین به میزان 80 میلی گرم و گلوکانتیم به مقدار 20 میلی گرم در روز به ازای هر کیلوگرم از وزن بدن از سایر رژیم های درمانی موثرتر بود

New optimization technique to design the core of three-phase transformer

Reduction losses in three-phase transformers have drawn the attention of researchers, in the recent years. In this study, an intelligent algorithm employing particle swarm optimization (PSO) has been used to get the optimum T-joint design of a core in a three-phase transformer. This technique was employed to design a new geometry of a joint to obtain the minimum loss in a three-phase transformer. In achieving this target, a 3D finite element method had been used to simulate the proposed transformer model. Power losses in the core and winding losses had been considered as the heat sources, and the results were validated based on the test data obtained from transformer factory. The results presented that the total losses have been decreased up to 10% compared to the corresponding values from common designs. Moreover, the core losses have been reduced in the range of 11% compared to similar parameters in the conventional design

On-demand fuzzy clustering and ant-colony optimisation based mobile data collection in wireless sensor network

In a wireless sensor network (WSN), sensor nodes collect data from the environment and transfer this data to an end user through multi-hop communication. This results in high energy dissipation of the devices. Thus, balancing of energy consumption is a major concern in such kind of network. Appropriate cluster head (CH) selection may provide to be an efficient way to reduce the energy dissipation and prolonging the network lifetime in WSN. This paper has adopted the concept of fuzzy if-then rules to choose the cluster head based on certain fuzzy descriptors. To optimise the fuzzy membership functions, Particle Swarm Optimisation (PSO) has been used to improve their ranges. Moreover, recent study has confirmed that the introduction of a mobile collector in a network which collects data through short-range communications also aids in high energy conservation. In this work, the network is divided into clusters and a mobile collector starts from the static sink or base station and moves through each of these clusters and collect data from the chosen cluster heads in a single-hop fashion. Mobility based on Ant-Colony Optimisation (ACO) has already proven to be an efficient method which is utilised in this work. Additionally, instead of performing clustering in every round, CH is selected on demand. The performance of the proposed algorithm has been compared with some existing clustering algorithms. Simulation results show that the proposed protocol is more energy-efficient and provides better packet delivery ratio as compared to the existing protocols for data collection obtained through Matlab Simulations

Mapping geographical inequalities in oral rehydration therapy coverage in low-income and middle-income countries, 2000-17

Background Oral rehydration solution (ORS) is a form of oral rehydration therapy (ORT) for diarrhoea that has the potential to drastically reduce child mortality; yet, according to UNICEF estimates, less than half of children younger than 5 years with diarrhoea in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) received ORS in 2016. A variety of recommended home fluids (RHF) exist as alternative forms of ORT; however, it is unclear whether RHF prevent child mortality. Previous studies have shown considerable variation between countries in ORS and RHF use, but subnational variation is unknown. This study aims to produce high-resolution geospatial estimates of relative and absolute coverage of ORS, RHF, and ORT (use of either ORS or RHF) in LMICs. Methods We used a Bayesian geostatistical model including 15 spatial covariates and data from 385 household surveys across 94 LMICs to estimate annual proportions of children younger than 5 years of age with diarrhoea who received ORS or RHF (or both) on continuous continent-wide surfaces in 2000-17, and aggregated results to policy-relevant administrative units. Additionally, we analysed geographical inequality in coverage across administrative units and estimated the number of diarrhoeal deaths averted by increased coverage over the study period. Uncertainty in the mean coverage estimates was calculated by taking 250 draws from the posterior joint distribution of the model and creating uncertainty intervals (UIs) with the 2 center dot 5th and 97 center dot 5th percentiles of those 250 draws. Findings While ORS use among children with diarrhoea increased in some countries from 2000 to 2017, coverage remained below 50% in the majority (62 center dot 6%; 12 417 of 19 823) of second administrative-level units and an estimated 6 519 000 children (95% UI 5 254 000-7 733 000) with diarrhoea were not treated with any form of ORT in 2017. Increases in ORS use corresponded with declines in RHF in many locations, resulting in relatively constant overall ORT coverage from 2000 to 2017. Although ORS was uniformly distributed subnationally in some countries, within-country geographical inequalities persisted in others; 11 countries had at least a 50% difference in one of their units compared with the country mean. Increases in ORS use over time were correlated with declines in RHF use and in diarrhoeal mortality in many locations, and an estimated 52 230 diarrhoeal deaths (36 910-68 860) were averted by scaling up of ORS coverage between 2000 and 2017. Finally, we identified key subnational areas in Colombia, Nigeria, and Sudan as examples of where diarrhoeal mortality remains higher than average, while ORS coverage remains lower than average. Interpretation To our knowledge, this study is the first to produce and map subnational estimates of ORS, RHF, and ORT coverage and attributable child diarrhoeal deaths across LMICs from 2000 to 2017, allowing for tracking progress over time. Our novel results, combined with detailed subnational estimates of diarrhoeal morbidity and mortality, can support subnational needs assessments aimed at furthering policy makers' understanding of within-country disparities. Over 50 years after the discovery that led to this simple, cheap, and life-saving therapy, large gains in reducing mortality could still be made by reducing geographical inequalities in ORS coverage. Copyright (c) 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.Peer reviewe

Field evaluation of the pirimiphos-methyl as a larvicide

Background : With respect to the importance of chemical control of malaria, the present study was conducted in order to evaluate the pirimiphos-methyl as a larvicide. In this respect, its stability, activity, and the interval between two treatments with pirimiphos-methyl were evaluated. This study was performed in artificial and natural breeding place at two villages in Kazeroon area. Materials and Methods : It was an experimental study. Having prepared the artificial breeding places, they were sprayed by concentrations of 12.5, 20, 25, 40, 50, and 80 gr/ha. Meanwhile, temphos, reldan and pirimiphos-methyl were compared in concentrations of 25, 22.5, and 25gr/ha, respectively. Bioassay test was used to evaluate the poison stability. Results: The recorded mortality rate for Anopheles larvae were 91.7, 99.7, 100, 100, 100, and 100, respectively. Results have revealed there was a significant statistically difference between the concentrations of 12.5 and 20gr/ha of pirimiphos-methyl, however, this difference did not reach the statistical significant between concentrations of 20gr/ha and higher. Reldan has shown a great larvicide activity. Conclusion : Temphos is quite safe but expensive, thus can not be widely used. On the other hand, Reldan is not biologically safe. Pirimiphos-methyl is a versatile, easy-to-handle, broad-spectrum insecticide of low toxicity to mammals. Further studies are needed to determine the rate of degradation of pirimiphos-methyl in natural breeding sites

Patients with massive honeybee stings: report of four cases

"nBackground: Insect stings can cause local or systemic reactions that range from mild to fatal, and are among the most common causes of anaphylaxis. The major allergens of honeybee venom are phospholipase A2, hyaluronidase, acid phosphatase, allergen C and melitin. Phospholipase and melitin induce hemolysis, rhabdomyolysis and liver damage due to cell membrane breakdown, damage of the vascular endothelium and activation of the inflammatory response. Rhabdomyolysis has been implicated as the cause of acute renal failure in approximately 5-7% of cases. However, bee stings are a rare cause of rhabdomyolysis, and are usually associated with 50 or more stings. It has been reported that more than 250 bee stings are capable of causing death in humans. "nCase report: We report two cases of massive honeybee stings (>2000) with rhabdomyolysis, hemolysis and acute renal failure who survived with full recovery, and two cases of >500 honeybee stings who survived without significant complications