Breast tuberculosis in Northeast Iran: Review of 22 cases

Background: Breast tuberculosis (breast TB) is an extremely rare disease, so case reviews are also rare.Methods: This study is a retrospective review of patients with breast TB who were treated between 2002 and 2012 at the Health Center of Gorgan City.Results: All 22 patients were females, their mean age was 32.4 years, and all were new cases. Patients presented with swelling of the breast (22%), lump (55%) and excretion from the involved breast (27%), and breast pain (55%). The highest rate of breast TB occurred in 2011 (27%). All patients received the DOTS regimen for a mean duration of 7.3 ± 0.7 months; in addition, segmental resection was performed on 11 patients (50%).Conclusions: The findings confirmed that breast TB in Iran should be considered as a differential diagnosis of breast masses. All patients in our study received the daily and 'Directly Observed Treatment Short-course' (DOTS) regimens. Anti-tubercular therapy for six months with or without minimal surgical intervention currently is the main treatment. © 2014 Khodabakhshi and Mehravar; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

On the classification of consistent boundary conditions for f(R) \mathit{f}(\mathit{R})-Gravity

Using a completely covariant approach, we discuss the role of boundary conditions (BCs) and the corresponding Gibbons--Hawking--York (GHY) terms in $\mathit{f}(\mathit{R})$-gravity in arbitrary dimensions. We show that $f(\mathit{R})$-gravity, as a higher derivative theory, is not described by a degenerate Lagrangian, in its original form. Hence, without introducing additional variables, one can not obtain consistent BCs, even by adding the GHY terms (except for $f(\mathit{R})=R$). However, following the Ostrogradsky approach, we can introduce a scalar field in the framework of Brans-Dicke formalism to the system to have consistent BCs by considering appropriate GHY terms. In addition to the Dirichlet BC, the GHY terms for both Neumann and two types of mixed BCs are derived. We show the remarkable result that the $f(\mathit{R})$-gravity is itself compatible with one type of mixed BCs, in $D$ dimension, i.e. it doesn't require any GHY term. For each BC, we rewrite the GHY term in terms of Arnowit-Deser-Misner (ADM) variables.Comment: 21 page

Complications leading to hospitalization due to consumption of anti-TB drugs in patients with tuberculosis in Gorgan, Iran (2007-12)

Background and Objective: Anti tuberculosis drugs therapy is the most effective method for controling the tuberculosis (TB). Early detection and appropriate treatment can prevent the TB-drug resistance. This study was carried out to determine the complications leading to hospitalization due to consumption of anti-TB drugs in patients with tuberculosis. Methods: In this descriptive-analytic study, 1550 records of patients with TB in urban and rural health centers of Gorgan, north of Iran were assessed during 2007-12. Checklist consists of demographic and clinical data for each patient was recorded in a questionare. Results: 44 cases experienced the complications of anti-TB drugs. 27 (61.4%) of cases with complications were women. 77.3% and 22.7% of patients affected with pulmonary and extra pulmonary tuberculosis,respectively. 38.6% of patients were diabetic. The hepatic complication was seen in 37 cases (84.1%). Skin and other complications were seen in 5 and 2 cases, respectively. There was not any relationship between drug complications and other disases. Conclusion: Hepatic damage is the most common complication leading to hospitalization in tuberculosis patients using anti-TB drugs. Keywords: Tuberculosis, Anti-TB drug, Live

Cosmological Time Crystals from Gauss-Bonnet Gravity in Four Dimensions

We investigate various cosmological aspects of a 4-Dimensional Gauss-Bonnet Lagrangian, which is integrated into the Einstein Lagrangian with an arbitrary sign, using the Friedman-Lema\^itre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) metric. We consider a general potential term, $V(a)$, that depends on the scale factor $a$, and we analyze several scenarios by investigating the critical points of the dynamical equations and stability conditions to understand how the universe's behavior is affected by the Gauss-Bonnet term. Our research suggests that choosing the negative sign, this integration allows for the spontaneous breaking of time reflection symmetry. This can lead to the generation of a bounce universe even with a normal matter sector, marking a significant departure from traditional theories. Furthermore, we examine the possibility of a time-crystal universe, showing that under certain circumstances, the theory might give rise to cyclic universes.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figure

Modified Nonradial Supper Efficiency Models

Ranking Efficient Decision Making Units (DMUs) are an important issue in Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). This is one of the main areas for the researcher. Different methods for this purpose have been suggested. Appearing nonzero slack in optimal solution makes the method problematic. In this paper, we modify the nonradial supper efficiency model to remove this difficulty. Some numerical examples are solved by modified model

Biosorption of lead using Penicillium notatum dead biomass from aqueous solutions

Lead is one of the stable and biodegradable pollutants released from industrial, agricultural and technological development activities more than the permitted level in the environment. This metal, due to its toxicity, even at low concentrations, has adverse effects on the environment and health of living organisms. The aim of this study is to investigate the bio-absorption of lead by the fungus Penicillium notatum in aqueous solutions. For this purpose, the fungus Penicillium notatum PTCC 5074 was prepared from the Iranian Scientific Research Organization as lyophilisation and to culture and reproduce it in the culture medium of potato dextrose agar and sabouraud dextrose broth. In this study, the effect of some parameters such as lead concentration, ion intensity, biomass concentration, temperature and contact time on the rate of adsorption of lead by abiotic biomass at pH = 5 were evaluated. The maximum absorption rate was 180.75 mg g(-1) under optimal conditions (concentration of metal = 228 mg L-1, ion intensity = 43.2 mg L-1 Ca2+, biomass concentration = 1.2 g L-1 of dry weight of biomass, temperature = 33 degrees C, and contact time = 105 min). Absorption data were better fitted by Langmuir model R-2 = 0.9820). Also, due to the thermodynamic constants, it was found that lead absorption process is thermally abiotic by a biomass. Gibbs free energy values (Delta G) showed that all absorption processes are spontaneous and physical. The false quadratic equation (R-2 = 1) has the best compatibility with regard to kinetic data. BET, SEM and EDX tests were also used to determine the biomass characteristics

Allocating the fixed cost:an approach based on data envelopment analysis and cooperative game

Allocating the fixed cost among a set of users in a fair way is an important issue both in management and economic research. Recently, Du et al. (Eur J Oper Res 235(1): 206–214, 2014) proposed a novel approach for allocating the fixed cost based on the game cross-efficiency method by taking the game relations among users in efficiency evaluation. This paper proves that the novel approach of Du et al. (Eur J Oper Res 235(1): 206–214, 2014) is equivalent to the efficiency maximization approach of Li et al. (Omega 41(1): 55–60, 2013), and may exist multiple optimal cost allocation plans. Taking into account the game relations in the allocation process, this paper proposes a cooperative game approach, and uses the nucleolus as a solution to the proposed cooperative game. The proposed approach in this paper is illustrated with a dataset from the prior literature and a real dataset of a steel and iron enterprise in China