Replacement of dietary fish meal with plant sources in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss); effect on growth performance, immune responses, blood indices and disease resistance

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of replacing fish meal with plant sources on growth performance, immune responses, hematological parameters and disease resistance in rainbow trout. In this study, mean of initial body weight of fish was 15±2 g and the experiment was carried out for a period of 60 days. Four experimental diets were formulated to replace 0, 40, 70 and 100% fish meal with plant protein sources (wheat gluten, corn gluten and soybean meal). According to results, higher plant protein inclusions (70 and 100%) resulted in undesirable effects on growth, nutritional indices, serum total immunoglobulin and alternative complement activity (P 0.05). Furthermore, replacement of fish meal with plant sources in all treatments had no significant effects on blood parameters (hematocrit, hemoglobin, white blood cells, hetrophil and lymphocytes count). Finally, no significant differences were observed in fish mortality after 15 days of challenges with Yersinia ruckeri among treatments (P > 0.05)

A model for evaluation of faculty members� activities based on meta-evaluation of a 5-year experience in medical school

Background: There is a global interest for deploying faculty members� activities evaluation systems, however implementing a fair and reliable system is a challenging issue. In this study, the authors devised a model for evaluation of faculty members� activities with regard to their viewpoints and meta-evaluation standards. Materials and Methods: The reliability of the current faculty members� activities metrics system was investigated in Medical School of Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2014. Then authors conducted semi-structured interviews regarding meta-evaluation standards and designed a questionnaire based on interviews� results which were delivered to faculty members. Finally, they extracted the components of the model regarding interviews� content analysis and questionnaire�s factor analysis and finalized them in a focus group session with experts. Results: Reliability of the current system was 0.99 (P < 0.05). The final model had six dimensions (mission alignment, accuracy, explicit, satisfaction, appropriateness, and constructiveness) derived from factor analysis of the questionnaire and nine factors (consensus, self-reporting, web-based system, evaluation period, minimum expectancies, analysis intervals, verifiers, flexibility, and decision making) obtained via qualitative content analysis of the interviews. Conclusion: In this study, the authors presented a model for faculty members� activities evaluation based on meta-evaluation of the existing system. The model covered conceptual and executive aspects. Faculty members� viewpoints were the core component of this model, so it would be acceptable in a medical school to use the model for evaluating their activities. © 2015 Journal of Research in Medical Sciences

Effect of repetitive feedbackon residents' communication skills improvement

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Morphine Suppository versus Indomethacin Suppository in the Management of Renal Colic: Randomized Clinical Trial

Background. Renal colic is a medical emergency due to the rapid onset and devastating nature of its pain. Opioids and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are both used as first-line choices in its management. Aim. This study aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of opioids and NSAIDs in the management of acute renal colic. Methods. One hundred and fifty-eight patients were divided into two groups (n=79) and received either 10 mg morphine or 100 mg indomethacin suppositories. The severity of pain was measured using verbal numeric rating scale at baseline and 20, 40, 60, and 90 minutes after the administration of analgesics. Drug side effects as well as patients' vital signs were also recorded. Results. The mean decrease in the pain score during the first 20 minutes was significantly higher among those who received morphine suppository. However, no significant difference was observed between the two groups regarding the mean decrease in pain score during the first 40, 60, and 90 minutes after the admission. Prevalence of drug side effects or changes in the vital signs was not significantly different between the two groups. Conclusions. Morphine suppositories seem to be more efficient in achieving rapid pain relief comparing to indomethacin. © 2016 Forough Zamanian et al

An elegant technology for ultrasensitive impedimetric and voltammetric determination of cholestanol based on a novel molecularly imprinted electrochemical sensor

In this work, a novel molecularly imprinted electrochemical sensor (MIES) has been fabricated based on electropolymerization of a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) onto a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with gold-palladium alloy nanoparticles (AuPd NPs)/polydopamine film (PDA)/multiwalled carbon nanotubes-chitosan- ionic liquid (MWCNTs-CS-IL) for voltammetric and impedimetric determination of cholestanol (CHO). Modifications applied to the bare GCE formed an excellent biocompatible composite film which was able to selectively detect CHO molecules. Modifications applied to the bare GCE were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (SEM). Under optimal experimental conditions, the sensor was able to detect CHO in the range of 0.1-60 pM and 1-50 pM by EIS and DPV, respectively. Moreover, the sensor showed high sensitivity, selectivity, repeatability, reproducibility, low interference and good stability towards CHO determination. Our records confirmed that the sensor was successfully able to the analysis real samples for determination of CHO

The first attempt on fabrication of a nano-biosensing platform and exploiting first-order advantage from impedimetric data: application to simultaneous biosensing of doxorubicin, daunorubicin and idarubicin

In this work, for the first time, we have developed a novel and very interesting electroanalytical methodology assisted by first-order multivariate calibration (MVC) for simultaneous determination of doxorubicin (DX), daunorubicin (DN) and idarubicin (ID) as three chemotherapeutic drugs at simulated physiological conditions. A sever overlapping was observed among signals of the three drugs which hindered us for simultaneous determination of them by conventional electroanalytical techniques. Therefore, we had to assist our method by chemometric approaches to develop a novel method for simultaneous determination of DX, DN and ID. Among the existing electroanalytical methods, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) due to its high sensitivity was chosen. After individual calibration of the three drugs with the EIS data, a set of calibration samples was designed which was used to develop several first-order MVC models by partial least squares (PLS), continuum power regression (CPR), radial basis function-partial least squares (RBF-PLS), RBF-artificial neural network (RBF-ANN) and least squares-support vector machines (LS-SVM) as linear and non-linear chemometric algorithms. Then, performance of the developed MVC models in predicting concentrations of DX, DN and ID in synthetic samples was compared to choose the best model for the analysis of real samples. Our records confirmed more superiority of RBF-PLS algorithm than the other developed models which motivated us to choose it for the analysis of real samples. Fortunately, the results of the RBF-PLS in the analysis of real samples towards simultaneous determination DX, DN and ID was acceptable.Fil: Soleimani, Shokoufeh. Kermanshah University Of Medical Sciences; IránFil: Arkan, Elham. Kermanshah University Of Medical Sciences; IránFil: Farshadnia, Tooraj. Kermanshah University Of Medical Sciences; IránFil: Mahnam, Zahra. Kermanshah University Of Medical Sciences; IránFil: Jalili, Faramarz. Kermanshah University Of Medical Sciences; IránFil: Goicoechea, Hector Casimiro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Bioquímica y Ciencias Biológicas. Laboratorio de Desarrollo Analítico y Quimiometría; ArgentinaFil: Jalalvand, Ali R.. Kermanshah University Of Medical Sciences; Irá

The cyclin-like protein Spy1/RINGO promotes mammary transformation and is elevated in human breast cancer

Abstract Background Spy1 is a novel \u27cyclin-like\u27 activator of the G1/S transition capable of enhancing cell proliferation as well as inhibiting apoptosis. Spy1 protein levels are tightly regulated during normal mammary development and forced overexpression in mammary mouse models accelerates mammary tumorigenesis. Methods Using human tissue samples, cell culture models and in vivo analysis we study the implications of Spy1 as a mediator of mammary transformation and breast cancer proliferation. Results We demonstrate that this protein can facilitate transformation in a manner dependent upon the activation of the G2/M Cdk, Cdk1, and the subsequent inhibition of the anti-apoptotic regulator FOXO1. Importantly, we show for the first time that enhanced levels of Spy1 protein are found in a large number of human breast cancers and that knockdown of Spy1 impairs breast cancer cell proliferation. Conclusions Collectively, this work supports that Spy1 is a unique activator of Cdk1 in breast cancer cells and may represent a valuable drug target and/or a prognostic marker for subsets of breast cancers