Effect of trigonellafoenum-graecum seed-containing herbal tea consumed by mothers on growth parameters of breastfed baby girls

Background and purpose: Trigonellafoenum-graecum seed has galactogogues properties due to phytoestrogens structure and can increase the volume of breast milk. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of herbal tea containing Trigonellafoenum-graecum seed consumed by mothers on growth parameters of baby girls (0-4 months of age) attending health centers in south of Tehran, 2014. Materials and methods: This clinical trial study was performed in 78 mothers breast feeding their 0-4 month old baby girls. They were randomly assigned into two groups (n=39 per groups). The intervention group received herbal tea containing 7.5g Trigonellafoenum-graecum seed powder and 3g black tea and the control group received herbal tea containing 3g black tea powder. The mothers used the beverages three times a day for 4 weeks,. The weight, height and head circumference of the babies were measured using baby weight measurement scale, stadiometer and tape measure in the beginning of the study and each week until 4 weeks. Data was analyzed by independent sample t-test and repeated measurement test in SPSS. Results: No significant difference was found between the two groups in weight, height and head circumference before the intervention (P>0.05). After four weeks Trigonellafoenum-graecum significantly increased the babies� weight from 5282.05 ± 1021.51 to 6383.07 ± 952.06 and head circumference from 38.31 ± 1.62 to 39.92 ± 1.50 (P<0.001), but it had no effect on the height of studied girls (P=0.078). Conclusion: The results showed that consumption of Trigonellafoenum-graecum seedcontaining herbal tea by mothers could improve the weight and head circumference of breastfed babies. © 2015, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Quaternary syn-collision magmatism from the Iran/Turkey borderlands

Quaternary basaltic and andesitic lavas from the NW Iran/eastern Turkey border area are related to the active Arabia–Eurasia collision. The lavas occur within the Turkish–Iranian plateau, which ceased crustal thickening before the establishment of a number of volcanic centres within Iran and eastern Turkey, beginning at ~ 10 Ma. Models for generating syn-collision magmatism in eastern Anatolia have invoked slab-break-off beneath the thick crust and thin mantle lithosphere of the Cenozoic East Anatolia Accretionary Complex and/or partial loss of the lower lithosphere. Here we report geochemical and Sm–Nd/Rb–Sr data from a ~ 200 km long, N–S traverse that samples volcanic flows in NW Iran, many of which originate from centres in Turkey such as Ararat and Tendürek. Samples are transitional alkali/tholeiitic basalts and andesites. Ararat samples have lower Nb, lower large ion lithophile element (LILE) concentrations with 143Nd/144Nd ~ 0.51290. Other, volumetrically smaller, centres have higher Nb, higher LILE, with 143Nd/144Nd ~ 0.51265. Abundances of LILE and Nb increase from north to south. The presumed degree of partial melting increases in the opposite direction, away from the Arabia–Eurasia suture. Melting is inferred to have taken place in the spinel lherzolite field, largely from a continental lithosphere source influenced by Mesozoic and early Cenozoic Neo-Tethyan subduction, but a separate source with long-term enrichment is needed to explain the high Nb, lower 143Nd/144Nd compositions

The effect of herbal tea containing fenugreek seed on the signs of breast milk sufficiency in iranian girl infants

Background: One of the important reasons behind termination of breast-feeding in the first six months after childbirth is insufficient production of breast milk. Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the effect of herbal tea containing fenugreek seed on the signs of breast milk sufficiency in Iranian girl infants aged 0 - 4 months, at the medical health centers of Tehran university of medical sciences. Patients and Methods: This study was a clinical trial with a control group. Seventy-eight girl infants, 0 - 4 months old that were exclusively breastfed by their mothers, were randomly assigned to the intervention group (received herbal tea containing 7.5 g fenugreek seed powder in addition to 3 g of black tea, three times a day) and the control group (received herbal tea containing 3 g of black tea powder, three times a day). Before and during the four weeks of study, the signs of breast milk sufficiency were evaluated through measurement of growth parameters and use of follow-up forms for measuring the number of wet diapers in one day, frequency of defecation and infant breast-feeding times in a day. Results: Before the intervention there was no significant difference between weight, height, head circumference, the number of wet diapers and frequency of defecation between the two groups (P > 0.05), yet the number of breast feeding times of the control group was more than the Fenugreek group. At the end of the fourth week in proportion to the pre-intervention conditions, the weight of the infants in the fenugreek group increased significantly from 5282.0513 ± 1021.51121 to 6383.0769 ± 952.06190, while head circumference increased from 38.3103 ± 1.62736 to 39.9256 ± 1.50660, number of wet diapers from 5.2821 ± 0.93044 to 8.1648 ± 1.20620, frequency of defecation from 1.8846 ± 1.08495 to 2.7326 ± 0.94771 and the number of breast feeding times from 9.1795 ± 1.39778 to 15.9597 ± 1.45056 (P 0.05). Conclusions: Herbal tea of fenugreek seed in comparison to the control group improves the signs of breast milk sufficiency. © 2015, Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal

WhiteHaul: an efficient spectrum aggregation system for low-cost and high capacity backhaul over white spaces

We address the challenge of backhaul connectivity for rural and developing regions, which is essential for universal fixed/mobile Internet access. To this end, we propose to exploit the TV white space (TVWS) spectrum for its attractive properties: low cost, abundance in under-served regions and favorable propagation characteristics. Specifically, we propose a system called WhiteHaul for the efficient aggregation of the TVWS spectrum tailored for the backhaul use case. At the core of WhiteHaul are two key innovations: (i) a TVWS conversion substrate that can efficiently handle multiple non-contiguous chunks of TVWS spectrum using multiple low cost 802.11n/ac cards but with a single antenna; (ii) novel use of MPTCP as a link-level tunnel abstraction and its use for efficiently aggregating multiple chunks of the TVWS spectrum via a novel uncoupled, cross-layer congestion control algorithm. Through extensive evaluations using a prototype implementation of WhiteHaul, we show that: (a) WhiteHaul can aggregate almost the whole of TV band with 3 interfaces and achieve nearly 600Mbps TCP throughput; (b) the WhiteHaul MPTCP congestion control algorithm provides an order of magnitude improvement over state of the art algorithms for typical TVWS backhaul links. We also present additional measurement and simulation based results to evaluate other aspects of the WhiteHaul design

Comparing the effects of acupressure at LI4 and BL32 points on intramuscular injection pain

Introduction The effectiveness of some acupressure techniques in relieving the acute pain of intramuscular injection pain has been assessed in previous studies. However, the effects of acupressure at LI4 point have still remained unknown. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of acupressure at LI4 and BL32 points on intramuscular injection pain. Methods This after-only interventional study was made on 90 women were who referred to the injection unit of the Central Emergency Department, Kashan, Iran, in 2015 for receiving an intramuscular injection of penicillin. The women were randomly allocated to three 30-person groups, namely control, LI4 acupressure, and BL32 acupressure groups. After intramuscular injection of penicillin, the level of intramuscular injection pain of all women was assessed by using a 0–10 visual analog scale. Data were analyzed through doing the Kruskal–Wallis, the Chi-square, and the Fisher's exact tests, and Spearman correlation coefficient. Results The means of pain intensity in the control, LI4 acupressure, and BL32 acupressure groups were 2.76 ± 1.75, 2.33 ± 1.80, and 1.76 ± 2.45, respectively. In other words, the mean pain intensity in the control group was significantly higher than the LI4 and BL32 acupressure groups by 0.43 and 1.0 points, respectively (p = 0.011). Except for educational status, intramuscular injection pain was not significantly correlated with the participants’ other demographic characteristics as well as injection time. Conclusion Acupressure can significantly relieve intramuscular injection pain. This simple, cost-effective, and easily applicable therapy can be used in all healthcare settings for relieving intramuscular injection pain

WhiteHaul: white space spectrum aggregation system for backhaul

Today almost half the world's population does not have Internet access. This is particularly the case in rural and undeserved regions where providing Internet access infrastructure is challenging and expensive. To this end, we present demonstration of WhiteHaul [5], a low-cost hybrid cross-layer aggregation system for TV White Space (TVWS) based backhaul. WhiteHaul features a custom-designed frequency conversion substrate that efficiently handles multiple noncontiguous chunks of TVWS spectrum using multiple low-cost COTS 802.11n/ac cards but with a single antenna. At the software layer, WhiteHaul uses MPTCP as a link-level tunnel abstraction to efficiently aggregate multiple chunks of the TVWS spectrum via a novel uncoupled, cross-layer congestion control algorithm. This demo illustrates the unique features of the WhiteHaul system based on a prototype implementation employing a modified version of MPTCP Linux Kernel and a custom-designed conversion substrate. Using this prototype, we highlight the performance of the WhiteHaul system under various configurations and network conditions

UCIP: User controlled internet protocol

Internet protocols have developed significantly over the last 50 years but have reached a point where the further improvements in performance, resilience, security and privacy cannot be achieved by simple incremental changes. This paper proposes a new IP protocol that puts the user's end host at the centre of major algorithmic decisions. It consist of three new mechanisms: a private source routing establishment protocol that allows inter-domain traffic routes to be decided by the user and kept private from the providers whilst allowing for anonymous connections where two node can communicate without knowing the identity/address of the other end point; a mechanism to control reception of packets that mitigates denial-of-service attacks and a new directory system that puts the end user at the core of the decisions enabling anycast and mobility with a pub-sub mechanism with fine grain capabilities for describe resources. These changes allow end nodes to have a much tighter control of how they send and receive their traffic and provide a paradigm shift for the Internet ecosystem

The Effects of Pregnancy-Adaptation Training on Maternal-Fetal Attachment and Adaptation in Pregnant Women With a History of Baby Loss

Background: Studies have shown that educating mothers can improve their adaptation to pregnancy and motherhood roles. There are also studies that have investigated the effects of certain interventions on maternal-fetal attachment. However, studies on the effects of maternal adaptation training on maternal-fetal attachment in mothers with a history of fetal or baby loss are rare. Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the effects of a pregnancy adaptation training package on maternal-fetal attachment in pregnant women with a history of baby loss. Patients and Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 60 pregnant women with previous fetal or neonatal death in 2014. The women were randomly divided into an experimental group (n = 30) and a control group (n = 30). The pregnant women in the experimental group received routine prenatal education in addition to four sessions of a pregnancy adaption training package. The control group received only routine prenatal education. The data were collected using a demographic questionnaire, Cranley’s maternal-fetal attachment scale, and a prenatal self-evaluation questionnaire at the beginning and at the end of the study. The data analysis was conducted using the Mann-Whitney U, Wilcoxon, chi-square, Fisher’s exact, and spearman correlation coefficient tests. Results: Before the intervention, there were no statistically significant differences between the study and control groups in terms of maternal-fetal attachment (P = 0.280) and adaptation to pregnancy (P = 0.883). However, following the intervention, the mean score of the maternal-fetal attachment was significantly higher in the experimental group, when compared with the control (77.57 ± 7.23 vs. 61.53 ± 2.62; P = 0.001). In addition, the mean post-intervention adaptation to pregnancy score was significantly lower in the experimental group than in the control group (118.89 ± 8.12 vs. 126.38 ± 4.17; P = 0.001). Conclusions: The pregnancy adaptation training package increased the adaptation and maternal-fetal attachment scores in pregnant women with a history of baby loss

ABCB1-C3435T polymorphism and breast cancer risk: A case-control study and a meta-analysis

Purpose: To investigate the association of ABCB1-C3435T transition with breast cancer risk which was followed by a meta-analysis. Methods: In a case-control study we collected blood samples from 290 women (including 150 breast cancer patients and 140 healthy controls). ABCB1-C3435T genotyping was performed by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. A meta-analysis was performed for a total of 13 eligible studies involving 5,835 cases and 8,178 controls. Results: The results of case-control study revealed a significant association between T allele (OR=1.770, 95%CI=1.236-2.535, p=0.002), CT genotype (OR=1.661, 95%CI=1.017-2.713, p=0.042), and TT genotype (OR=3.399, 95%C1=1.409-8.197, p=0.006) with breast cancer risk. Data from meta-analysis revealed a significant association between ABCB1-C3435T polymorphism and breast cancer risk in allelic (OR=1.243, 95%CI=1.079-1.432, p=0.003), co-dominant (OR=1.349, 95%CI=1.042-1.746, p=0.023), dominant (OR=1.204, 95%CI=1.019-1.422, p=0.029), and recessive (OR=1.226, 9S%C1-1.0U-1.488, p=0.039) models. Conclusions: The results suggest that the ABCB1-C3435T gene polymorphism might be a genetic risk factor and a potential biomarker for breast cancer