A new conducting polymer with exceptional visible-light photocatalytic activity derived from varbituric acid polycondensation

Abstract A novel covalent, metal-free, photocatalytic material is prepared by thermal polymerization of barbituric acid (BA). The structure of the photocatalyst is analyzed by using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and infrared, UV?visible, and 1H solution and 13C solid-state NMR spectroscopy. The photodegradation efficiency of BA thermally polymerized at different temperatures is tested by photocatalytic degradation of aquatic rhodamine B (RhB) dye under visible-light irradiation. It is shown that heating BA at an optimized temperature of 300 °C, that is, still in the range that polymer-like polycondensation takes place, results in a photocatalyst that can remove RhB with 96% photodegradation efficiency after 70 min exposure to visible light. The polycondensation reaction of BA is identified to process through precipitation of trimer units as primary building blocks. Reference experiments such as addition of scavengers and saturation with oxygen are studied to understand the photodegradation process. It is shown that the presence of triethanolamine, and excess of oxygen and p-benzoquinone in the solution of RhB and photocatalyst (BA300) is not beneficial, but decreases the photodegradation efficiency

Estudio etnobotánico de áreas del noroeste de la provincia de Isfahan, Iran

Iran is one of the countries which enormously used medicinal plants from the ancient times. In this study, we documented the ethnobotanical data of Golpayegan, and Shahin Shahr and Meymeh counties (Isfahan province) for the first time in Iran. Field study and plant collecting were done in different seasons in 2016–2017. Ethnobotanical data were analyzed using information of questionnaires gained from 27 inhabitants. Totally, 48 plants of 24 families were recorded from studied areas. Asteraceae (36%) and Lamiaceae (23%) are those containing the biggest numbers of cited plants. Moreover, leaves (45.83%) and seeds (18.75%) were the most used parts. This study indicated the importance of useful plants of studied areas and the necessity of doing this kind of research on other parts of country in order to preserve this valuable information of local inhabitants.Irán es un país que ha utilizado de manera destacada las plantas medicinales desde la antigüedad. En este estudio, documentamos los datos etnobotánicos de los condados de Golpayegan, Shahin Shahr y Meymeh (provincia de Isfahán) por primera vez en Irán. El estudio de campo y la recolección de plantas se realizaron en diferentes temporadas en 2016 y 2017. Los datos etnobotánicos se analizaron utilizando información proveniente de cuestionarios realizados a 27 informantes. En total, se registraron 48 plantas de 24 familias de las áreas estudiadas. Las familias Asteraceae (36%) y Lamiaceae (23%) son las que contienen un mayor número de plantas citadas. Las hojas (45,83%) y las semillas (18,75%) son las partes de planta más utilizadas. Este estudio indica la importancia de las plantas útiles de las áreas estudiadas y la necesidad de realizar este tipo de investigación en otras partes del país con el fin de preservar esta valiosa información de los habitantes locales

Transcranial alternating current stimulation with the theta-band portion of the temporally-aligned speech envelope improves speech-in-noise comprehension

Transcranial alternating current stimulation with the speech envelope can modulate the comprehension of speech in noise. The modulation stems from the theta- but not the delta-band portion of the speech envelope, and likely reflects the entrainment of neural activity in the theta frequency band, which may aid the parsing of the speech stream. The influence of the current stimulation on speech comprehension can vary with the time delay between the current waveform and the audio signal. While this effect has been investigated for current stimulation based on the entire speech envelope, it has not yet been measured when the current waveform follows the theta-band portion of the speech envelope. Here, we show that transcranial current stimulation with the speech envelope filtered in the theta frequency band improves speech comprehension as compared to a sham stimulus. The improvement occurs when there is no time delay between the current and the speech stimulus, as well as when the temporal delay is comparatively short, 90 ms. In contrast, longer delays, as well as negative delays, do not impact speech-in-noise comprehension. Moreover, we find that the improvement of speech comprehension at no or small delays of the current stimulation is consistent across participants. Our findings suggest that cortical entrainment to speech is most influenced through current stimulation that follows the speech envelope with at most a small delay. They also open a path to enhancing the perception of speech in noise, an issue that is particularly important for people with hearing impairment

First Report of Dermestes frischii Kugelann (Coleoptera: Dermestidae) on a Human Corpse, South of Iran

The necrophagous species of beetles provide useful complementary data to estimate the post-mortem interval in forensic cases. We report, for the first time, Dermestes frischii Kugelann, 1792 larvae from a mummified human body covered with bushes and located in a canal in Sarvestan district, Fars province, south of Iran. The human corpse was a 63 year old male. The time of death was estimated to have been 23 days prior to the finding of the body based on the police investigations and confessions of a suspect. This beetle can be helpful to estimate the time of death in the future

Probabilistic Tensor Decomposition of Neural Population Spiking Activity

The firing of neural populations is coordinated across cells, in time, and across experimental conditions or repeated experimental trials, and so a full understanding of the computational significance of neural responses must be based on a separation of these different contributions to structured activity. Tensor decomposition is an approach to untangling the influence of multiple factors in data that is common in many fields. However, despite some recent interest in neuroscience, wider applicability of the approach is hampered by the lack of a full probabilistic treatment allowing principled inference of a decomposition from non-Gaussian spike-count data. Here, we extend the Polya-Gamma (PG) augmentation, previously used in sampling-based Bayesian inference, to implement scalable variational inference in non-conjugate spike-count models. Using this new approach, we develop techniques related to automatic relevance determination to infer the most appropriate tensor rank, as well as to incorporate priors based on known brain anatomy such as the segregation of cell response properties by brain area. We apply the model to neural recordings taken under conditions of visual-vestibular sensory integration, revealing how the encoding of self- and visual-motion signals is modulated by the sensory information available to the animal

Anatomical study of some Silene L. species of Lasiostemones Boiss. section in Iran

Silene (Caryophyllaceae) composed of 110 species in Iran from which 35 species are endemic. Lasiostemones section is one of Silene sections with 10 species in Iran. In present study leaf and stem anatomical structure were considered for the first time. In order to study the anatomical variations of stem and leaf, 36 populations of 7 species of Silene (Lasiostemonessection) were collected from different habitats of Iran. In leaf anatomy vascular bundle shape, shape of dorsal surface of mid vein, cortex diameter, hair presence in dorsal and ventral surface of leaf, mid rib diameter, cuticle upper and lower thickness, fiber presence in mid rib, stomata cell shape, stomata index and hair frequency show significant differences among studied species. In stem anatomy features as shape of cross section, hair type, cortex and xylem and phloem diameter were of diagnostic value in species separation

Patients� experience of tuberculosis treatment using directly observed treatment, short-course (DOTS): A qualitative study

Background: Despite effective diagnosis and treatment, prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) is still growing. The directly observed treatment, short-course (DOTS) strategy to treat TB was introduced by the World Health Organization more than a decade ago. Little is known about patients� experience of TB treatment, according to DOTS, in Iran. Objectives: This study aimed to understand the patients� experience of tuberculosis treatment according to DOTS in Iran. Patients and Methods: This study is a qualitative study, using content analysis to examine patients� experience of TB treatment and to understand their compliance during DOTS. In this study, a semi-structured interview with open questions was answered by 40 patients, who had a diagnosis of pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis, and improved during the course of their treatment. The method of sampling was purposive sample and the interview process lasted until data saturation. Results: Data analysis resulted in the extraction of six themes, which reflect the experiences of the study participants. The themes are: 1) individual factors; 2) change of the attitudes and beliefs of patients on TB treatment; 3) support terms of patients with tuberculosis; 4) the role of health care professionals; 5) social factors and 6) the financial burden. Conclusions: Successful completion of TB treatment requires an effective partnership between the patient and health care professionals, and a harmony between the cultural context, attitude of the patient, family support and health literacy. Future health policies should address these issues to improve patients� adherence to DOTS. © 2015, Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal