Health outcomes attributed to PM10 due to dust storms in Ilam city, in Iran from 2012 to 2013

Background and Aim: In recent years, increasing dust storms originating from the Iran's neighbors in the west have led to social, economic, and health concerns. The aim of this study was to assess the acute health effects of dust and estimate the mortality rate associated with cardiovascular and pulmonary disorders, attributed to dust particles in Ilam city, by using WHO protocols. Material and Methods: In this study, concentrations of PM10, PM2.5, and PM1 were measured from March 2012 to Feb 2013. The measurement was performed using the Grimm aerosol spectrometer model 1.108. Air Quality Health Impact Assessment software (Air Q 2.2.3) was used for quantification of health outcomes attributed to PM10 in Ilam, Iran. Results: Using the model, the number of cumulative excess mortality, mortality due to cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases, and all admitted patients due to cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases attributed to PM10 in Ilam were 69.2, 42.5, 12.3, 80.3 and 208.7 cases respectively. The additional cases of disorders attributed to PM10 showed an increasing trend with concentrations of more than 100 µg/m3. This trend was more severe with concentrations of more than 200 µg/m3. Conclusion: The estimated rates of health outcomes attributed to PM10 associated with dust storms necessitate urgent regional measures to bring the problem of harmful particles under control. In addition, personal care and training are of great importance. © 2015, Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

From cineradiography to biorobots: an approach for designing robots to emulate and study animal locomotion

Robots are increasingly used as scientific tools to investigate animal locomotion. However, designing a robot that properly emulates the kinematic and dynamic properties of an animal is difficult because of the complexity of musculoskeletal systems and the limitations of current robotics technology. Here we propose a design process that combines high-speed cineradiography, optimization, dynamic scaling, 3D printing, high-end servomotors, and a tailored dry-suit to construct Pleurobot: a salamander-like robot that closely mimics its biological counterpart, Pleurodeles waltl. Our previous robots helped us test and confirm hypotheses on the interaction between the locomotor neuronal networks of the limbs and the spine to generate basic swimming and walking gaits. With Pleurobot, we demonstrate a design process that will enable studies of richer motor skills in salamanders. In particular, we are interested in how these richer motor skills can be obtained by extending our spinal cord models with the addition of more descending pathways and more detailed limb central pattern generators (CPG) networks. Pleurobot is a dynamically-scaled amphibious salamander robot with a large number of actuated degrees of freedom (27 in total). Because of our design process, the robot can capture most of the animal’s degrees of freedom and range of motion, especially at the limbs. We demonstrate the robot’s abilities by imposing raw kinematic data, extracted from X-ray videos, to the robot’s joints for basic locomotor behaviors in water and on land. The robot closely matches the behavior of the animal in terms of relative forward speeds and lateral displacements. Ground reaction forces during walking also resemble those of the animal. Based on our results we anticipate that future studies on richer motor skills in salamanders will highly benefit from Pleurobot’s design

Polyamide capsules via soft templating with oil drops—1. Morphological studies of the capsule wall

Poly(terephthalamide) microcapsules can be reproducibly and easily prepared by interfacial polycondensation around emulsion droplets in water. Oil drops of cyclohexane/chloroform mixture stabilized with poly(vinyl alcohol) containing terephthaloylchloride serve as soft template. The interfacial polycondensation starts immediately after addition of an amine mixture (hexamethylenediamine/diethylenetriamine). Light and scanning electron microscopy prove the formation of capsules with size distribution in the range from a few up to 100 µm depending on particular composition of the reaction mixture. The morphology of the capsule wall is characterized by precipitated particles. If instead of pure organic solvents a reactive oil phase is used as template, the capsules can serve in subsequent reactions as templates for the synthesis of composite particles. In this way, styrene can be radically polymerized inside the capsule leading to composite capsules. The capsule morphology is determined by the partition of all components between all phases

Drug-related mutational patterns in hepatitis B virus (HBV) reverse transcriptase proteins from Iranian treatment-Naïve chronic HBV patients

Background: Immunomodulators and Nucleotide analogues have been used globally for the dealing of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. However, the development of drug resistance is a major limitation to their long-term effectiveness. Objectives: The aim of this study was to characterize the hepatitis B virus reverse transcriptase (RT) protein variations among Iranian chronic HBV carriers who did not receive any antiviral treatments. Materials and Methods: Hepatitis B virus partial RT genes from 325 chronic in active carrier patients were amplified and directly sequenced. Nucleotide/amino acid substitutions were identified compared to the sequences obtained from the database. Results: All strains belonging to genotype D.365 amino-acid substitutions were found. Mutations related to lamivudine, adefovir, telbivudine, and entecavir occurred in (YMDD) 4% (n = 13), (SVQ) 17.23% (n = 56), (M204I/V + L180M) 2.45% (n = 8) and (M204I) 2.76% (n = 9) of patients, respectively. Conclusions: RT mutants do occur naturally and could be found in HBV carriers who have never received antiviral therapy. However, mutations related to drug resistance in Iranian treatment-naïve chronic HBV patients were found to be higher than other studies published formerly. Chronic HBV patients should be monitored closely prior the commencement of therapy to achieve the best regimen option. © 2013, KOWSAR Corp

A comprehensive model of gain recovery due to unipolar electron transport after a short optical pulse in quantum cascade lasers

We have developed a comprehensive model of gain recovery due to unipolar electron transport after a short optical pulse in quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) that takes into account all the participating energy levels, including the continuum, in a device. This work takes into account the incoherent scattering of electrons from one energy level to another and quantum coherent tunneling from an injector level to an active region level or vice versa. In contrast to the prior work that only considered transitions to and from a limited number of bound levels, this work include transitions between all bound levels and between the bound energy levels and the continuum. We simulated an experiment of S. Liu et al., in which 438-pJ femtosecond optical pulses at the device’s lasing wavelength were injected into an In0:653Ga0:348As=In0:310Al0:690As QCL structure; we found that approximately 1% of the electrons in the bound energy levels will be excited into the continuum by a pulse and that the probability that these electrons will be scattered back into bound energy levels is negligible, 104. The gain recovery that is predicted is not consistent with the experiments, indicating that one or more phenomena besides unipolar electron transport in response to a short optical pulse play an important role in the observed gain recovery

In vitro cytotoxicity of folate-silica-gold nanorods on mouse acute lymphoblastic leukemia and spermatogonial cells

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate in vitro cytotoxicity of gold nanorods (GNRs) on the viability of spermatogonial cells (SSCs) and mouse acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells (EL4s). Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, SSCs were isolated from the neonate mice, following enzymatic digestion and differential plating. GNRs were synthesized, then modified by silica and finally conjugated with folic acid to form F-Si-GNRs. Different doses of F-Si-GNRs (25, 50, 75, 100, 125 and 140 μM) were used on SSCs and EL4s. MTT (3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) proliferation assay was performed to examine the GNRs toxicity. Flow cytometry was used to confirm the identity of the EL4s and SSCs. Also, the identity and functionality of SSCs were determined by the expression of specific spermatogonial genes and transplantation into recipient testes. Apoptosis was determined by flow cytometry using an annexin V/propidium iodide (PI) kit. Results: Flow cytometry showed that SSCs and EL4s were positive for Plzf and H-2kb, respectively. The viability percentage of SSCs and EL4s that were treated with 25, 50, 75, 100, 125 and 140 μM of F-Si-GNRs was 65.33 ± 3.51, 60 ± 3.6, 51.33 ± 3.51, 49 ± 3, 30.66 ± 2.08 and 16.33 ± 2.51 for SSCs and 57.66 ± 0.57, 54.66 ± 1.5, 39.66 ± 1.52, 12.33 ± 2.51, 10 ± 1 and 5.66 ± 1.15 for EL4s respectively. The results of the MTT assay indicated that 100 μM is the optimal dose to reach the highest and lowest level of cell death in EL4s and in SSCs, respectively. Conclusion: Cell death increased with increasing concentrations of F-Si-GNRs. Following utilization of F-Si-GNRs, there was a significant difference in the extent of apoptosis between cancer cells and SSCs. © 2019 Royan Institute (ACECR). All rights reserved

Advanced Silicon-on-Insulator: Crystalline Silicon on Atomic Layer Deposited Beryllium Oxide

Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology improves the performance of devices by reducing parasitic capacitance. Devices based on SOI or silicon-on-sapphire technology are primarily used in high-performance radio frequency (RF) and radiation sensitive applications as well as for reducing the short channel effects in microelectronic devices. Despite their advantages, the high substrate cost and overheating problems associated with complexities in substrate fabrication as well as the low thermal conductivity of silicon oxide prevent broad applications of this technology. To overcome these challenges, we describe a new approach of using beryllium oxide (BeO). The use of atomic layer deposition (ALD) for producing this material results in lowering the SOI wafer production cost. Furthermore, the use of BeO exhibiting a high thermal conductivity might minimize the self-heating issues. We show that crystalline Si can be grown on ALD BeO and the resultant devices exhibit potential for use in advanced SOI technology applications

The Transcriptome of Human Epicardial, Mediastinal and Subcutaneous Adipose Tissues in Men with Coronary Artery Disease

The biological functions of epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) remain largely unknown. However, the proximity of EAT to the coronary arteries suggests a role in the pathogenesis of coronary artery disease (CAD). The objectives of this study were to identify genes differentially regulated among three adipose tissues, namely EAT, mediastinal (MAT) and subcutaneous (SAT) and to study their possible relationships with the development of cardiovascular diseases.Samples were collected from subjects undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting surgeries. Gene expression was evaluated in the three adipose depots of six men using the Illumina® HumanWG-6 v3.0 expression BeadChips. Twenty-three and 73 genes were differentially up-regulated in EAT compared to MAT and SAT, respectively. Ninety-four genes were down-regulated in EAT compared to SAT. However, none were significantly down-regulated in EAT compared to MAT. More specifically, the expression of the adenosine A1 receptor (ADORA1), involved in myocardial ischemia, was significantly up-regulated in EAT. Levels of the prostaglandin D2 synthase (PTGDS) gene, recently associated with the progression of atherosclerosis, were significantly different in the three pairwise comparisons (EAT>MAT>SAT). The results of ADORA1 and PTGDS were confirmed by quantitative real-time PCR in 25 independent subjects.Overall, the transcriptional profiles of EAT and MAT were similar compared to the SAT. Despite this similarity, two genes involved in cardiovascular diseases, ADORA1 and PTGDS, were differentially up-regulated in EAT. These results provide insights about the biology of EAT and its potential implication in CAD