Relationship between p53 expression and gastric cancers in cardia and antrum

Background: The mutations in p53 gene and accumulation of p53 protein are the most common genetic events in gastric carcinomas. The present study was conducted to compare the frequency of p53 gene overexpression in a consecutive series of adenocarcinomas arising from the cardia and the antrum. This study also evaluates the associations of this gene expression with demographic and clinicopathologic findings (age, sex, histology, and grade of tumor). Methods: Retrospective analysis was performed on 111 patients with gastric cancer who had undergone upper gastrointestinal endoscopies in 5th Azar Medical Center (northeastern, Iran), during 1998-2005. The series comprised of 25 patients with cardia adenocarcinoma and 86 patients with antral adenocarcinoma. p53 alteration (nuclear p53 overexpression) was detected by immunohistochemistry. Results: Nuclear p53 overexpression was found in 14 (56%) out of the 25 and 27 (31.3%) out of the 86 patients with cardia and antral adenocarcinomas, respectively. p53 gene overexpression was significantly more frequent in adenocarcinomas of the cardia than the antrum. There were no differences in the clinicopathologic characteristics of the tumors between p53-positive and p53-negative cases in both types of the cancer. Conclusion: This study shows that p53 alterations correlate well with gastric location, and they are more frequent in adenocarcinoma of the cardia than the antrum. This result reinforce the hypothesis that the cancers of the lower esophagus and upper stomach have distinct epidemiologic, pathogenesis, and molecular characteristics from that observed in cancers of the lower part of the stomach

Exceptional Points of Degeneracy Induced by Linear Time-Periodic Variation

We present a general theory of exceptional points of degeneracy (EPD) in periodically time-variant systems. We show that even a single resonator with a time-periodic component is able to develop EPDs, contrary to parity-time- (PT) symmetric systems that require two coupled resonators. An EPD is a special point in a system parameter space at which two or more eigenmodes coalesce in both their eigenvalues and eigenvectors into a single degenerate eigenmode. We demonstrate the conditions for EPDs to exist when they are directly induced by time-periodic variation of a system without loss and gain elements. We also show that a single resonator system with zero time-average loss-gain exhibits EPDs with purely real resonance frequencies, yet the resonator energy grows algebraically in time since energy is injected into the system from the time-variation mechanism. Although the introduced concept and formalism are general for any time-periodic system, here, we focus on the occurrence of EPDs in a single LC resonator with time-periodic modulation. These findings have significant importance in various electromagnetic and photonic systems and pave the way for many applications, such as sensors, amplifiers, and modulators. We show a potential application of this time-varying EPD as a highly sensitive sensor

Evaluation of Causes of Death in East of Iran during 2004-2010

Background: Analysis of the leading causes of death in a community and comparing it with other communities is crucial for planning public health policy. The aim of this study was to determine mortality statistics in South Khorasan Province of Iran by using causes of death data which are classified based on the 10th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD10).Methods: In this cross-sectional study, data related to 20281 deaths for the period of 2004 to 2010 which were under the coverage of Birjand University of Medical Sciences were used. These data were collected by the office of statistical system of mortality (Death Registry) and the causes of deaths were classified based on ICD10. The obtained data was analyzed statistically with Pearson's Chi-square (χ2) test, t test and ANOVA in order to find out the pattern of mortality trend in South Khorasan Province.Results: Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) were the leading cause of death (29.8%) with the mean age of 72.6±15.5 in all registered deaths. Moreover, ischemic heart disease (44.87%) and cerebrovascular disease (25.67%) were the most common causes in CVD group, respectively. The second leading cause was unintentional injuries (12.9%) which are mostly due to road traffic accidents. The mean age in this group was 36.8±24. Cancers ranked the 3rd place during the period of study with the mean age of 64.86±18.26. The most frequent cancers are related to stomach (15.3%) followed by liver and biliary system (11.4%), lungs and bronchus (9.5%).Conclusion: Three leading causes of death were cardiovascular diseases, unintentional injuries and cancers which may be prevented by changing life style, diet and reducing risk factors like smoking, obesity and stress

Survival rates associated with in vitro low-temperature storage of kutum (Rutilus kutum) eggs

To study the effects of post-stripping oocyte ageing at low temperatures on the viability of kutum (Rutilus kutum) oocytes, unfertilised eggs of five females were stored in ovarian fluid at temperatures of 4 and 7 degrees centigrade for 24 hours post stripping (HPS). The stored ova of five female kutum were separately fertilised at 0 (i.e., control eggs fertilised prior to storage), 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, and 24 HPS. The eyeing and hatching rates were recorded as indices of the egg quality. The results indicated that the maximum eyeing and hatching rates of the eggs (92% and 74%, respectively) were observed at 0 HPS, whereas the storage of the eggs at 4 °C for 24 HPS decreased the eyeing and hatching rates to 36% and 28%, respectively. The use of the higher storage temperature resulted in a more rapid decrease in the egg viability: eyeing and hatching rates of 9% and 2%, respectively, were obtained after storage at 7 °C for 24 HPS. The present study demonstrated that stripped kutum eggs that are stored in ovarian fluid at 4 and 7 degrees centigrade should be fertilised within 12 and 8 HPS, respectively, to obtain viability rates higher than 50%

Hierarchical Over-the-Air Federated Edge Learning

Federated learning (FL) over wireless communication channels, specifically, over-the-air (OTA) model aggregation framework is considered. In OTA wireless setups, the adverse channel effects can be alleviated by increasing the number of receive antennas at the parameter server (PS), which performs model aggregation. However, the performance of OTA FL is severely limited by the presence of mobile users (MUs) located far away from the PS. In this paper, to mitigate this limitation, we propose hierarchical over-the-air federated learning (HOTAFL), which utilizes intermediary servers (IS) to form clusters near MUs. We provide a convergence analysis for the proposed setup, and demonstrate through experimental results that local aggregation in each cluster before global aggregation leads to a better performance and faster convergence than OTA FL

The predictive value of HLA-DR matching and cytokine gene polymorphisms in renal allograft acute rejection: A living-unrelated donor (LURD) study

Background: In addition to Human Leukocyte Antigens (HLA) compatibility, gene polymorphisms in cytokines might also be important in the quality of allogeneic immune response. Objective: To evaluate the influence of HLA-DR matching and a number of cytokine gene polymorphisms on acute rejection after living-unrelated donor (LURD) kidney transplantation. Methods: A total of 42 renal transplants performed at Hashemi Nejad Kidney Hospital (Tehran/Iran) and followed up for 3 months post-transplantation were included. Using PCR-SSP, HLA-DR alleles (DR1-18) of recipients and donors and gene polymorphisms in TNF-a, TGF-b1, IL-10, IL-6, and IFN-γ of recipients were determined. Results: Acute rejection was observed in 11(26.2) of renal recipients. The frequency of one and two HLA-DR mismatches in rejector group was 2(18.2) and 9(81.8) and in non-rejector group was 13(41.9) and 17(54.8), respectively. HLA-DR incompatibility was not significantly higher in rejector (1.82±0.40) compared with non-rejector (1.52±0.57) recipients (P=0.069) and more than half of non-rejectors had completely mismatched HLA-DR antigens with donors. Polymorphisms associated with the mentioned cytokines had no correlation with acute rejection. Conclusion: The predictive value of HLA-DR mismatching for acute rejection is not as prominent in LURD kidney transplantation as in the cadaveric one. In addition, we failed to demonstrate an association between combined cytokine genotypes and HLA-DR matching with acute rejection. Further and more detailed immunogenetic investigations are required in order to have a better prediction of the transplant outcome

Comparison of marital conflict dimensions between substance dependence patients: Shishe, Crack, Opioids.

زمینه و هدف: رضایت از رابطه زناشویی عامل مهمی در استحکام و حفظ بهداشت روانی خانواده است. یکی از عوامل موثر در تجربه رضایت مندی از رابطه زناشویی و افزایش کیفیت زندگی و بهداشت روان در خانواده وجود یا عدم تعارضات شدید زناشویی بوده و تعارضات زناشویی یکی از مشکلات شایع در بیماران وابسته به مواد می باشد. مطالعه حاضر با هدف بررسی مقایسه ای تعارضات زناشویی در سه گروه سوء مصرف کننده شیشه، کراک و تریاک انجام شده است. روش بررسی: در این مطالعه توصیفی- تحلیلی 70 نفر از بیماران مبتلا به وابستگی به مواد (16 نفر تریاک، 18 نفر کراک و 17 نفر شیشه) مراجعه کننده به کلینیک اعصاب و روان اصفهان (کلینیک پارسه) و بخش ترک اعتیاد بیمارستان حضرت علی اصغر(ع) اصفهان به روش نمونه گیری در دسترس انتخاب شدند. تعارضات زناشویی در بیماران با استفاده از مقیاس شیوه های تعارض در اختلافات زناشویی اشتراوس ( CTS-II ) بررسی و با 19 نفر در گروه کنترل مورد مقایسه قرار گرفت. داده ها به کمک آزمون های آماری آنالیز واریانس چند متغیره و آزمون تعقیبی شفه تجزیه و تحلیل شد. یافته ها: بین نمرات گروه ها در نمره کل و نیز در تمامی خرده مقیاس های خشونت روانی، خشونت جسمانی، آزار کلامی، آزار جنسی و آسیب اختلاف معنی داری وجود داشت (05/0 P< ). وابستگان به شیشه در تمامی خرده مقیاس ها، میانگین نمرات بالاتری نسبت به گروه کنترل و نیز گروه وابسته به تریاک نشان می دادند (05/0 P< ). تفاوت بین نمرات افراد وابسته به کراک و شیشه فقط در خرده مقیاس خشونت جسمانی معنی دار بود (05/0 P< ). نتیجه گیری: به نظر می رسد درمان مشکلات زناشویی در این بیماران و آموزش شیوه های موثر کنترل خشم، آموزش ارتباط جنسی سالم، آموزش حل تعارض و حل مساله نقش مهمی در افزایش رضایتمندی و به دنبال آن افزایش حمایت های خانوادگی و کاهش تعارضات و نارضایتی از روابط زناشویی ایفا خواهد کرد

A gene expression study on strains of Nostoc (Cyanobacteria) revealing antimicrobial activity under mixotrophic conditions

Cyanobacteria are well known for their production of a multitude of highly allelopathic compounds. These products have features such as incorporation of non-proteinogenic amino acids which are characteristics of peptides biosynthesized by non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs). Some of these peptides have acetate-derived moieties, suggesting that their biosynthesis also involves polyketide synthases (PKSs). Among the photosynthetic microorganisms, cyanobacteria belonging to the genus Nostoc are regarded as good candidates for producing biologically active secondary metabolites. Aiming at the maximization in the production of natural product, we compared autotrophic, and mixotrophic growth at high light intensity of two Nostoc species in relation to the production of bioactive compounds with the antimicrobial activity at different source of sugar. Glucose was shown to be the best substrate for the production of high natural product when compared with sucrose. Also, the rate of biomass production and antimicrobial activity was reaching ~2.0 to 2.5 and ~1.5 times greater than that of the autotrophic and sucrose grown cultures, respectively. Also, we conduct a combined NRPSs and PKSs polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The sequences presented in this study was deposited in GenBank and had accession numbers JF795278 and JF795279 (NRPS A domains) and JF795280 and JF795281 (PKS KS domains). Computer modeling and phylogenetic analysis was conducted to predict the putative amino acid recognized by the unknown adenylation domain in the NRPS sequences. This study highlights the importance of environmental and nutrimental factors in maximization of antibiotic production of two Nostoc species.Keywords: Peptide synthetase gene, polyketide synthase gene, Nostoc, secondary metabolites, mixotrophic condition