Rhazes, pionir koji je pridonio istraživanju u medicinskoj praksi

Medical history explains that Persian physicians used scientific methods based on clinical experiences and observations for treatment from pre-Islamic time (before 637 AD) and centuries later (in the Islamic era). Rhazes was one of the Persian physicians acknowledged as a pharmacist, chemist and prominent scientific writer on various subjects of medicine and philosophy. In this study, we aimed to investigate clinical experiences, as well as the ethical and critical views of Rhazes in medical practice. Rhazes promoted ethics in the medical profession. He expressed critical key points about ancient written texts. He broke ancient physicians’ taboos in medical theories and evaluated them based on his own experiences. He designed animal and preclinical evaluations for his theories and also performed the first clinical trials with control groups in the history. His critical views about medical sciences as well as his beliefs in experiments resulted in many medical, chemical and pharmaceutical findings. Therefore, in history, he can be considered as the pioneer in using trials and experiments for approving medical methods.Medicinska povijest pokazuje da su se perzijski liječnici služili znanstvenim metodama u liječenju, temeljenim na kliničkim iskustvima i promatranjima još od predislamskog vremena (prije 637. godine) i stoljećima poslije (u islamskom dobu). Rhazes je bio jedan od perzijskih liječnika priznat kao ljekarnik, kemičar i istaknuti znanstveni pisac o različitim temama iz medicine i filozofije. U ovom radu nastojali smo istražiti klinička iskustva, kao i etičke i kritičke stavove Rhazesa u medicinskoj praksi. Rhazes je promovirao etiku u medicinskoj struci. Iznio je kritične ključne točke o antičkim pisanim tekstovima. Srušio je drevne liječničke tabue u medicinskim teorijama i procijenio ih na temelju vlastita iskustva. Provodio je evaluacije za svoje teorije na životinjama i u predklinici te proveo i prva klinička ispitivanja s kontrolnim grupama u povijesti. Njegova kritička stajališta o medicinskim znanostima, kao i vjerovanje u eksperimente rezultirali su mnogim medicinskim, kemijskim i farmaceutskim otkrićima. Stoga se Rhazesa u povijesti može smatrati pionirom u korištenju ispitivanja i eksperimenata za odobravanje medicinskih metoda

Rhazes, pionir koji je pridonio istraživanju u medicinskoj praksi

Medical history explains that Persian physicians used scientific methods based on clinical experiences and observations for treatment from pre-Islamic time (before 637 AD) and centuries later (in the Islamic era). Rhazes was one of the Persian physicians acknowledged as a pharmacist, chemist and prominent scientific writer on various subjects of medicine and philosophy. In this study, we aimed to investigate clinical experiences, as well as the ethical and critical views of Rhazes in medical practice. Rhazes promoted ethics in the medical profession. He expressed critical key points about ancient written texts. He broke ancient physicians’ taboos in medical theories and evaluated them based on his own experiences. He designed animal and preclinical evaluations for his theories and also performed the first clinical trials with control groups in the history. His critical views about medical sciences as well as his beliefs in experiments resulted in many medical, chemical and pharmaceutical findings. Therefore, in history, he can be considered as the pioneer in using trials and experiments for approving medical methods.Medicinska povijest pokazuje da su se perzijski liječnici služili znanstvenim metodama u liječenju, temeljenim na kliničkim iskustvima i promatranjima još od predislamskog vremena (prije 637. godine) i stoljećima poslije (u islamskom dobu). Rhazes je bio jedan od perzijskih liječnika priznat kao ljekarnik, kemičar i istaknuti znanstveni pisac o različitim temama iz medicine i filozofije. U ovom radu nastojali smo istražiti klinička iskustva, kao i etičke i kritičke stavove Rhazesa u medicinskoj praksi. Rhazes je promovirao etiku u medicinskoj struci. Iznio je kritične ključne točke o antičkim pisanim tekstovima. Srušio je drevne liječničke tabue u medicinskim teorijama i procijenio ih na temelju vlastita iskustva. Provodio je evaluacije za svoje teorije na životinjama i u predklinici te proveo i prva klinička ispitivanja s kontrolnim grupama u povijesti. Njegova kritička stajališta o medicinskim znanostima, kao i vjerovanje u eksperimente rezultirali su mnogim medicinskim, kemijskim i farmaceutskim otkrićima. Stoga se Rhazesa u povijesti može smatrati pionirom u korištenju ispitivanja i eksperimenata za odobravanje medicinskih metoda

Rhazes, pionir koji je pridonio istraživanju u medicinskoj praksi

Medical history explains that Persian physicians used scientific methods based on clinical experiences and observations for treatment from pre-Islamic time (before 637 AD) and centuries later (in the Islamic era). Rhazes was one of the Persian physicians acknowledged as a pharmacist, chemist and prominent scientific writer on various subjects of medicine and philosophy. In this study, we aimed to investigate clinical experiences, as well as the ethical and critical views of Rhazes in medical practice. Rhazes promoted ethics in the medical profession. He expressed critical key points about ancient written texts. He broke ancient physicians’ taboos in medical theories and evaluated them based on his own experiences. He designed animal and preclinical evaluations for his theories and also performed the first clinical trials with control groups in the history. His critical views about medical sciences as well as his beliefs in experiments resulted in many medical, chemical and pharmaceutical findings. Therefore, in history, he can be considered as the pioneer in using trials and experiments for approving medical methods.Medicinska povijest pokazuje da su se perzijski liječnici služili znanstvenim metodama u liječenju, temeljenim na kliničkim iskustvima i promatranjima još od predislamskog vremena (prije 637. godine) i stoljećima poslije (u islamskom dobu). Rhazes je bio jedan od perzijskih liječnika priznat kao ljekarnik, kemičar i istaknuti znanstveni pisac o različitim temama iz medicine i filozofije. U ovom radu nastojali smo istražiti klinička iskustva, kao i etičke i kritičke stavove Rhazesa u medicinskoj praksi. Rhazes je promovirao etiku u medicinskoj struci. Iznio je kritične ključne točke o antičkim pisanim tekstovima. Srušio je drevne liječničke tabue u medicinskim teorijama i procijenio ih na temelju vlastita iskustva. Provodio je evaluacije za svoje teorije na životinjama i u predklinici te proveo i prva klinička ispitivanja s kontrolnim grupama u povijesti. Njegova kritička stajališta o medicinskim znanostima, kao i vjerovanje u eksperimente rezultirali su mnogim medicinskim, kemijskim i farmaceutskim otkrićima. Stoga se Rhazesa u povijesti može smatrati pionirom u korištenju ispitivanja i eksperimenata za odobravanje medicinskih metoda

Bactericidal and Bacteriostatic effect of sesame oil, olive oil and their synergism on Escherichia coli in vitro

Background and aims: Escherichia coli is one of the important bacteria in nosocomial infections and its resistance to a wide range of antibiotics caused many problems for doctors and patients. So, it was attempted to find new substitution for these antibiotics. The aim of the present study was to determine the antimicrobial effect of olive oil, sesame oil and their synergism on E. coli. Methods: In this study, olive oil and sesame oil were extracted by cold press assay and standard strain of lyophilized E. coli ATCC 25922 was prepared from the Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology. Olive oil, sesame oil and their synergism, with the same proportion, in concentrations of 2 mg/ml to 1024 mg/ml were made individually and their MBC and MIC amounts were determined by broth micro dilution. Results: This study declared MIC and MBC for olive oil; 16 mg/ml and 64 mg/ml, for sesame oil and their mixture; 64 mg/ml and 265mg/ml, respectively. Conclusion: The study showed that both oils and their synergism inhibits the growth of bacteria and the antibacterial properties of sesame oil is approximately equal to the mixture of olive oil and sesame oil and although the oils have good antibacterial effect, there was no synergetic effect in these oils

Reducing water conveyance footprint through an advanced optimization framework

This study investigates the optimal and safe operation of pumping stations in water distribution systems (WDSs) with the aim of reducing the environmental footprint of water conveyance processes. We introduced the nonlinear chaotic honey badger algorithm (NCHBA), a novel and robust optimization method. The proposed method utilizes chaotic maps to enhance exploration and convergence speed, incorporating a nonlinear control parameter to effectively balance local and global search dynamics. Single-objective optimization results on a WDS show that NCHBA outperforms other algorithms in solution accuracy and convergence speed. The application of the proposed approach on a water network with two variable-speed pumps demonstrated a significant 27% reduction in energy consumption. Expanding our focus to the multi-objective optimization of pump scheduling programs in large-scale water distribution systems (WDSs), we employ the non-dominated sorting nonlinear chaotic honey badger algorithm (MONCHBA). The findings reveal that the use of variable-speed pumps not only enhances energy efficiency but also bolsters WDS reliability compared to the use of single-speed pumps. The results showcase the potential and robustness of the proposed multi-objective NCHBA in achieving an optimal Pareto front that effectively balances energy consumption, pressure levels, and water quality risk, facilitating carbon footprint reduction and sustainable management of WDSs

The value of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography for prediction of treatment response in gastrointestinal stromal tumors: a systematic review and metaanalysis

Background: Early detection of response to treatment is critically important in gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST). Therefore, the present systematic review and meta-analysis assessed the value of 18f-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18FDG– PET) on prediction of therapeutic response of GIST patients to systemic treatments. Methods: The literature search was conducted using PubMed, SCOPUS, Cochrane, and Google Scholar databases, and review article references. Eligible articles were defined as studies included confirmed GIST patients who underwent 18FDG–PET as well as assessing the screening role of it. Results: Finally, 21 relevant articles were included. The analysis showed the pooled sensitivity and specificity of 18FDG–PET in evaluation of response to treatment of GIST patient were 0.90 (95% CI: 0.85–0.94; I 2 = 52.59, P = 0.001) and 0.62 (95% CI: 0.49–0.75; I 2 = 69.7, P = 0.001), respectively. In addition, the pooled prognostic odds ratio of 18FDG–PET for was 14.99 (95% CI, 6.42–34.99; I 2 = 100.0, P < 0.001). The Meta regression showed that sensitivity of 18FDG-PET was higher if the sample size of study was equal or more than 30 cases (sensitivity = 0.93; 95% CI: 0.89–0.97), when using PET/CT (sensitivity = 0.92; 95% CI: 0.89–0.97), and self-design criteria (sensitivity = 0.93; 95% CI: 0.87–1.0). Conclusion: The present meta-analysis showed 18FDG–PET has a significant value in predicting treatment response in GIST patients

Sprayable antibacterial Persian gum-silver nanoparticle dressing for wound healing acceleration

Wound infection is considered a significant challenge in skin injuries. Sprayable antibacterial wound dressings are interesting alternatives to their traditional counterparts because of their facile preparation, ease-of-use, and the possibility of topical delivery of antibacterial materials. Herein, novel sprayable antibacterial dressings are formulated and reported. The dressings were developed by in-situ formation of Ag-nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) using Persian gum (PG) as a carbohydrate polymer. Several tests were conducted to investigate the effect of polymer concentration on the sprayablity, biocompatibility, and antibacterial activity of the dressings (PG/Ag-NPs). Results showed that formulations up to 2 wt.% PG/Ag-NPs could be sprayed properly and form intact films. Antibacterial evaluations also showed biocidal activity of 1% PG/Ag-NPs against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. Cytotoxicity and in vivo full-thickness wound healing evaluation confirmed that 1% PG/ Ag-NPs spray was safe and improved wound healing process. All the results confirmed the high potential of formulated sprayable dressings for wound repair.Peer reviewe

Differential privacy preserved federated transfer learning for multi-institutional 68Ga-PET image artefact detection and disentanglement.

PURPOSE Image artefacts continue to pose challenges in clinical molecular imaging, resulting in misdiagnoses, additional radiation doses to patients and financial costs. Mismatch and halo artefacts occur frequently in gallium-68 (68Ga)-labelled compounds whole-body PET/CT imaging. Correcting for these artefacts is not straightforward and requires algorithmic developments, given that conventional techniques have failed to address them adequately. In the current study, we employed differential privacy-preserving federated transfer learning (FTL) to manage clinical data sharing and tackle privacy issues for building centre-specific models that detect and correct artefacts present in PET images. METHODS Altogether, 1413 patients with 68Ga prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)/DOTA-TATE (TOC) PET/CT scans from 3 countries, including 8 different centres, were enrolled in this study. CT-based attenuation and scatter correction (CT-ASC) was used in all centres for quantitative PET reconstruction. Prior to model training, an experienced nuclear medicine physician reviewed all images to ensure the use of high-quality, artefact-free PET images (421 patients' images). A deep neural network (modified U2Net) was trained on 80% of the artefact-free PET images to utilize centre-based (CeBa), centralized (CeZe) and the proposed differential privacy FTL frameworks. Quantitative analysis was performed in 20% of the clean data (with no artefacts) in each centre. A panel of two nuclear medicine physicians conducted qualitative assessment of image quality, diagnostic confidence and image artefacts in 128 patients with artefacts (256 images for CT-ASC and FTL-ASC). RESULTS The three approaches investigated in this study for 68Ga-PET imaging (CeBa, CeZe and FTL) resulted in a mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.42 ± 0.21 (CI 95%: 0.38 to 0.47), 0.32 ± 0.23 (CI 95%: 0.27 to 0.37) and 0.28 ± 0.15 (CI 95%: 0.25 to 0.31), respectively. Statistical analysis using the Wilcoxon test revealed significant differences between the three approaches, with FTL outperforming CeBa and CeZe (p-value < 0.05) in the clean test set. The qualitative assessment demonstrated that FTL-ASC significantly improved image quality and diagnostic confidence and decreased image artefacts, compared to CT-ASC in 68Ga-PET imaging. In addition, mismatch and halo artefacts were successfully detected and disentangled in the chest, abdomen and pelvic regions in 68Ga-PET imaging. CONCLUSION The proposed approach benefits from using large datasets from multiple centres while preserving patient privacy. Qualitative assessment by nuclear medicine physicians showed that the proposed model correctly addressed two main challenging artefacts in 68Ga-PET imaging. This technique could be integrated in the clinic for 68Ga-PET imaging artefact detection and disentanglement using multicentric heterogeneous datasets

Global, regional, and national burden of disorders affecting the nervous system, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BackgroundDisorders affecting the nervous system are diverse and include neurodevelopmental disorders, late-life neurodegeneration, and newly emergent conditions, such as cognitive impairment following COVID-19. Previous publications from the Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factor Study estimated the burden of 15 neurological conditions in 2015 and 2016, but these analyses did not include neurodevelopmental disorders, as defined by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-11, or a subset of cases of congenital, neonatal, and infectious conditions that cause neurological damage. Here, we estimate nervous system health loss caused by 37 unique conditions and their associated risk factors globally, regionally, and nationally from 1990 to 2021.MethodsWe estimated mortality, prevalence, years lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), with corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs), by age and sex in 204 countries and territories, from 1990 to 2021. We included morbidity and deaths due to neurological conditions, for which health loss is directly due to damage to the CNS or peripheral nervous system. We also isolated neurological health loss from conditions for which nervous system morbidity is a consequence, but not the primary feature, including a subset of congenital conditions (ie, chromosomal anomalies and congenital birth defects), neonatal conditions (ie, jaundice, preterm birth, and sepsis), infectious diseases (ie, COVID-19, cystic echinococcosis, malaria, syphilis, and Zika virus disease), and diabetic neuropathy. By conducting a sequela-level analysis of the health outcomes for these conditions, only cases where nervous system damage occurred were included, and YLDs were recalculated to isolate the non-fatal burden directly attributable to nervous system health loss. A comorbidity correction was used to calculate total prevalence of all conditions that affect the nervous system combined.FindingsGlobally, the 37 conditions affecting the nervous system were collectively ranked as the leading group cause of DALYs in 2021 (443 million, 95% UI 378–521), affecting 3·40 billion (3·20–3·62) individuals (43·1%, 40·5–45·9 of the global population); global DALY counts attributed to these conditions increased by 18·2% (8·7–26·7) between 1990 and 2021. Age-standardised rates of deaths per 100 000 people attributed to these conditions decreased from 1990 to 2021 by 33·6% (27·6–38·8), and age-standardised rates of DALYs attributed to these conditions decreased by 27·0% (21·5–32·4). Age-standardised prevalence was almost stable, with a change of 1·5% (0·7–2·4). The ten conditions with the highest age-standardised DALYs in 2021 were stroke, neonatal encephalopathy, migraine, Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, diabetic neuropathy, meningitis, epilepsy, neurological complications due to preterm birth, autism spectrum disorder, and nervous system cancer.InterpretationAs the leading cause of overall disease burden in the world, with increasing global DALY counts, effective prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation strategies for disorders affecting the nervous system are needed