The effect of low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on the treatment of aphasia caused by Cerebrovascular Accident (CVA)

Background: Aphasia is a common outcome of Cerebrovascular Accident (CVA) in which clinical interventions have limited effectiveness. Some evidence suggests that noninvasive stimulation of the brain can have beneficial effects in the treatment of CVA induced aphasia. In patients with motor aphasia, repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) is used to facilitate long-term improvement in speech ability. Since identifying effective methods for treating CVA induced aphasia can be very important in subsequent decision-making and treatment interventions, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of low-frequency TMS in Broca's area in the right hemisphere on the treatment of CVA induced motor aphasia. Methods: This clinical trial enrolled 24 patients with a clinical diagnosis of motor aphasia caused by CVA using convenient sampling. In this study, the effect of stimulation of Broca's area in the right hemisphere was examined by low-frequency rTMS (one Hz) on aphasia caused by CVA. To conduct verbal fluency test in patients, their correct responses to the selected images before and after rTMS during a certain time were recorded and compared by non-parametric Wilcoxon test using SPSS16 and the significance level was considered < 0.05. Registration ID of this research in IRCT is IRCT2014052417814N1. Results: The study findings suggested a significant difference between Wilcoxon test results of patients before and after rTMS (z= -4.401), and it was found that using low-frequency rTMS in the right hemisphere was effective on improving dysarthria in the study population with 95 percent confidence interval (p < 0.001). Conclusion: According to the findings, low-frequency rTMS has the potential to be considered as a treatment for patients with nonfluent aphasia caused by CVA. © Iran University of Medical Sciences

A Review of the Indices of Mizaj-e-Meda (Temperament of Stomach) identification in Persian Medicine

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Digestive diseases are one of the problems of the health system in the world. From the perspective of Persian medicine, the stomach begins the second stage of digestion and its function plays an important role in human health or illness. The written sources of Persian medicine have been widely used to determine the health of the stomach. The purpose of this study is to summarize indices of Mizaj-e-Meda (Temperament of Stomach) identification to help better diagnose the status of health or illness of stomach. METHODS: In this review article, 11 valid Iranian medicine sources and scientific databases of Scopus, PubMed, Science Direct, Google Scholar, Elsevier, and web of science as well as Persian indices of SID, Iran Doc, Magiran were searched and the existing views were summarized. FINDINGS: In the sources of Persian medicine, the indices of different types of Mizaj (temperament) and Su-e-mizaj (abnormal temperament) have been proposed. Seventeen articles on the subject of gastric diseases in Persian medicine were found; one case merely examined gastric symptoms, while others only slightly referred to the indices. Some of the most important indices considered in these sources for identifying the type of Mizaj-e-Meda were the way of digestion, desire for food according to the type of Mizaj (temperament), thirst, appetite, burrow, moisture and taste of the mouth, tongue and mouth condition, flatulence, quality of waste matter, speed of food passage, sour stomach, burning stomach, stomach ache and stomach malmas (touch). CONCLUTIONS: Persian medicine sources have fully cited gastric indices, which can be used for a more effective diagnose and treatment and even prevention of gastric diseases, and can also be used for designing and validating standard scales for Mizaj-e-Meda (Temperament of Stomach) identification

Apigenin as Tumor Suppressor in Cancers: Biotherapeutic Activity, Nanodelivery, and Mechanisms With Emphasis on Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer is the most lethal malignancy of the gastrointestinal tract. Due to its propensity for early local and distant spread, affected patients possess extremely poor prognosis. Currently applied treatments are not effective enough to eradicate all cancer cells, and minimize their migration. Besides, these treatments are associated with adverse effects on normal cells and organs. These therapies are not able to increase the overall survival rate of patients; hence, finding novel adjuvants or alternatives is so essential. Up to now, medicinal herbs were utilized for therapeutic goals. Herbal-based medicine, as traditional biotherapeutics, were employed for cancer treatment. Of them, apigenin, as a bioactive flavonoid that possesses numerous biological properties (e.g., anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effects), has shown substantial anticancer activity. It seems that apigenin is capable of suppressing the proliferation of cancer cells via the induction of cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. Besides, apigenin inhibits metastasis via down-regulation of matrix metalloproteinases and the Akt signaling pathway. In pancreatic cancer cells, apigenin sensitizes cells in chemotherapy, and affects molecular pathways such as the hypoxia inducible factor (HIF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and glucose transporter-1 (GLUT-1). Herein, the biotherapeutic activity of apigenin and its mechanisms toward cancer cells are presented in the current review to shed some light on anti-tumor activity of apigenin in different cancers, with an emphasis on pancreatic cancer. © Copyright © 2020 Ashrafizadeh, Bakhoda, Bahmanpour, Ilkhani, Zarrabi, Makvandi, Khan, Mazaheri, Darvish and Mirzaei

Pre-agricultural plant management in the uplands of the central Zagros: the archaeobotanical evidence from Sheikh-e Abad

Prior to the emergence of agriculture in southwest Asia, sedentarising human communities were experimenting with a diverse range of wild plant species over a prolonged period. In some cases, this involved the cultivation of species that would go on to be domesticated and form the foundation of future agricultural economies. However, many forms of plant use did not follow this trajectory, and in multiple places farming was only taken up later as an established ‘package’. In this paper, we present new archaeobotanical evidence from the Early Neolithic site of Sheikh-e Abad in the central Zagros of western Iran. Sheikh-e Abad is unique in being the only settlement known to date within southwest Asia that lies at an altitude above 1000m and which has occupation spanning the agricultural transition. Thus, it provides a rare opportunity to examine pre-agricultural plant management strategies in an upland zone. Our analyses of the plant remains from Sheikh-e Abad suggest that from its earliest occupation inhabitants were unconsciously ‘auditioning’ a suite of locally available wild grasses which ultimately were never domesticated. We discuss the possible reasons for this from a socio-ecological perspective, considering both the biology and ecology of the plant species in question, as well as the ways in which they were potentially managed

Closed-form Solution for Freely Vibrating Functionally Graded Thick Doubly Curved Panel-A New Generic Approach

Abstract Today, double curvature shell panels are the main parts of each design because their geometrical characteristics provide high strength to weight ratio, aerodynamic form and beauty for the structures such as boats, submarines, automobiles and buildings. Also, functionally graded materials which present multiple properties such as high mechanical and heat resistant, simultaneously, have attracted designers. So, as the first step of any dynamic analysis, this paper concentrates on presenting a high precision and reliable method for free vibration analysis of functionally graded doubly curved shell panels. To this end, panel is modeled based on third order shear deformation theory and both of the Donnell and Sanders strain-displacement relations. A new set of potential functions and auxiliary variables are proposed to present an exact Levy-type close-form solution for vibrating FG panel. The validity and accuracy of present method are confirmed by comparing results with literature and finite element method. Also, effect of various parameters on natural frequencies are studied which are helpful for designers

Ab initio study of solid CeIn3 at high pressures

  Electric field gradients (EFG’s) at the In sites and spin magnetic moments at the Ce sites were calculated for the case of solid CeIn3. The calculations were performed by increasing pressure gradually from -5 to +22 GPa within the density functional theory (DFT) using the augmented plane waves plus local orbital (APW+lo) method employing the well-known PBE-GGA+U and WC-GGA+U schemes. The results almost show a linear reduction of spin magnetic moments of Ce by gradually increasing the pressure from -5 GPa to 22 GPa. However, from our results one can see that the calculated electric field gradients at the In site are growing up by increasing the pressure. We have compared the EFG’s at zero pressure with experimental and theoretical results of the others. The comparison shows that at ambient pressure our EFG’s are more consistent with experiment than the results of the other groups. Our result shows that the calculated spin magnetic moments are suppressed in the vicinity of some quantum critical point

Validity of telephone calls to assess percentage of syllables stuttered with adolescents in clinical research

Purpose: Karimi, O’Brian, Onslow, and Jones (2013) reported, for adults, no systematic differences between percentage of syllables stuttered (%SS) scores during a 12-hour day and 10-minute phone calls. The present study replicated that finding with adolescents, using valid methods for the age group. The present study also extended that initial report by determining whether the gender of the caller influenced %SS scores. Method: Participants were 17 adolescents with stuttering. Percentage of syllables stuttered scores were obtained from a 12-hour day of the adolescents’ lives, and two 10-minute unscheduled phone calls made before and after that day. One phone call was from a male caller and the other from a female caller. Results: For adolescents, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and intraclass correlations (ICC) replicated the overall Karimi, O’Brian, Onslow, and Jones (2013) finding. No significant differences were found between the %SS scores of the three speech samples, and these %SS scores were found to be highly correlated. However, in contrast to the Karimi, O’Brian, Onslow, and Jones (2013) finding with adults, Bland-Altman plot results revealed a caveat to this finding when applied to individual adolescents. Additionally, there was no effect due to the gender of the caller. Conclusion: A 10-minute phone call can be used confidently to assess group mean %SS scores during stuttering research with adolescents. However, a 10-minute phone call cannot be used confidently to assess %SS scores of individual adolescent participants. For the latter context, such as with data-based case studies and single-subject experimentation, we recommend supplementing %SS scores with self-reported severity scores

A Comparison Between Two Methods of Face-Lift Surgery in Nine Cadavers: SMAS (Superficial Musculo-Aponeurotic System) Versus MACS (Minimal Access Cranial Suspension)

Background: This study aimed to compare the average amounts of facial skin and muscle lifting in two different face-lift methods, superficial musculo-aponeurotic system (SMAS) plication and minimal access cranial suspension (MACS), to evaluate the effectiveness of each method in facial excursion. Methods: Thirty-six face-lift surgeries were performed on nine cadavers between October and December 2010. Both SMAS and MACS surgeries were done on each side of the cadaver faces. The average amounts of skin and muscle lifting up and out in three defined anatomical landmarks were compared between the two methods, SMAS plication and MACS lift procedure. Results: Nine fresh cadavers with the mean age of 53 ± 6.7 years entered the study. Seven (77.8 ) were males and two (22.2 ) were females. The average amounts of lifting of the anatomical landmarks up and out were significantly greater in the SMAS plication method compared to the MACS lift procedure (P values <0.05), whereas facial symmetry was not significantly different between the two methods. Conclusion: The overall amounts of facial skin and muscle lifting by the SMAS plication method were greater than the MACS lift procedure. However, it does not justify ignoring the benefits of the MACS lift procedure in terms of less invasiveness and quicker recovery. No Level Evidence: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each submission to which Evidence-Based Medicine rankings are applicable. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266. © 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York and International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery