The application of Multi Attribute Decision Methods (MADM) on prioritizing Iranian fisheries research projects

The ultimate goal of an agriculture research system is on-time, correct and clear response to the problems and expectations of agriculture household and stakeholders. In this respect, though, due to variation and frequency of the problems and expectations and as well as many limitations such as financial deficit, short time and shortage in work force and equipments etc, the system cannot be thoroughly responsive. Therefore, the necessity for optimizing the system to response through prioritizing the research projects has been a major challenge before the responsible managers and authorities. In this paper, the Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) has been introduced as a well known Multi Attribute Decision Methods (MADM) that combines qualitative and quantitative criteria for prioritizing the research projects of the Iranian Fisheries Research Organization. For implementation of the mentioned principles and methods of prioritizing the research projects have been studied and then by determining the final decision making criteria, the priority of the projects in the Institute have been determined by drawing decision hierarchy tree. Required data was gathered through pair wise comparison questionnaires filled by the experts and researchers. In the next step, Expert Choice software used to analyze and determine the priorities. Based on results criteria of research possibility, scientific development, economic development, and stability development with respective weight .377, .263, .187, and .173 are the most important criteria for the institute in the south area of Caspian Sea. Finally, according to the produced results, the priorities of the six studied research programs determined

Hysteroscopic and Pathologic Evaluation of Chronic Endometritis in Patients with Unexplained Recurrent Spontaneous Abortion

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Chronic endometritis is one of the most specific, but not the most common causes of infertility, which reduces the amount of pregnancy and poor results of pregnancy, such as preterm labor and abortion. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of chronic endometritis in recurrent spontaneous abortions (RSA) and to determine the bilateral relationship between the histological and pathological findings of this inflammation. METHODS: A case controlled-prospective observational study was performed on one hundred women 20-35 years in the Fatemeh Zahra infertility center and Rohani hospital. Patient group include forty patients with unexplained RSA and control group include 60 women that underwent hysteroscopy due to vaginal bleeding or other causes except RSA. All of the women underwent endometrial biopsy and examined by pathologist for presence plasma cells in stroma. FINDINGS: In all patients endometritis rate was 8%. Patients with RSA had a significantly higher incidence of CE both hysteroscopically (30% vs. 6.7%; p<0.005) and pathologically (27.5% vs. 6.7%; p < 0.005). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of hysteroscopy in the diagnosis of CE were 93.3%, 97.6%, 87.5% and 98.8% respectively. Also the PPV and NPV of hysteroscopy, sensitivity, specificity in the diagnosis of endometrial polyp were 100%, 87.3%, 76.3% and 100% respectively. CONCLUSION: Based on the results, there was a significant association between CE and unexplained RSA. Due to high sensitivity and acceptable specificity of hysteroscopy in diagnosis of CE and endometrial polyp, we recommended hysteroscopic evaluation of patients with unexplained RSA

Topical application of silymarin enhances cutaneous wound healing in rats

Abstract Wound healing in a short period with minimum side effects is one of the major goals of medical sciences. Silymarin, an extract from Silybum marianum, has been shown to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. This study investigates the wound healing activity of silymarin topical formulation in an in experimental model. A 875 mm2 (25 × 35 mm) full-thickness excision was made on the abdominal region of each rat by a surgical blade and the day on which the wound was made considered as day 0. Each rat was treated two times each day. On days 1,4, 8 and 12, the wound area was measured using precise caliber and camera imaging. On day 12, blood samples were collected for the analysis of antioxidant, malondialdehyde and estradiol levels. After 12 days of treatment, rats were sacrificed and abdominal region tissues used for histological analyses. The study showed that topical application of silymarin on wound in rats improved wound healing correlating with less redness, exudates and swelling. Furthermore, in serum of rats treated with silymarin ointment improved antioxidant and estradiol levels, while decreased malondialdehyde levels, a marker of oxidative stress. Histological analyses showed also an improve of novel blood vessels. This effect on angiogenesis correlated with improve nitric oxide synthase expression and epithelial cells after treatment with silymarin. Silymarin ointment represents a promising therapeutic agent for the treatment of wounds through its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties

The Predictive Role of Preoperative Leukocytosis, Anemia and Thrombocytosis with the Severity of Epithelial Ovarian Tumors

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Ovarian cancer is the sixth common cancer among women in the world. Preoperative blood cell count can be a biomarker that predicts the severity of different types of cancer and determine the type of surgery. Therefore, the present study was conducted to determine the predictive role of the three blood markers of anemia, leukocytosis and thrombocytosis in the stage and grade of epithelial ovarian cancer before the operation. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, the data of 60 patients with epithelial ovarian cancer were evaluated. Demographic data, hemoglobin, white blood cell count and platelets were statistically compared based on the stage of disease and the grade of mass differentiation as good, moderate and undifferentiated. FINDINGS: 61.1% of patients with thrombocytosis were in stage 3 and 33.3% of patients with leukocytosis were in stage 2 (p≤0.05), while 20.5% of the patients with anemia were in stage 3 (p>0.05). Moreover, 52.4% of patients with leukocytosis and 61.1% of patients with thrombocytosis had grade 3 tumor (p≤0.05), but only 34.1% of patients with anemia were in this group (p>0.05). Based on the evaluation of the ROC curve, cut-off point of the white blood cell was calculated to be 9050/ml with a sensitivity of 64% and specificity of 65% and platelet count was calculated to be 266000/ml with a sensitivity of 88% and specificity of 53%. CONCLUSION: Based on the results of this study, preoperative leukocytosis and thrombocytosis were correlated with stage and grade of epithelial ovarian cancer and had a predictive role

Dendritic cells loaded with exosomes derived from cancer stem cell-enriched spheroids as a potential immunotherapeutic option

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are responsible for therapeutic resistance and recurrence in colorectal cancer. Despite advances in immunotherapy, the inability to specifically eradicate CSCs has led to treatment failure. Hence, identification of appropriate antigen sources is a major challenge in designing dendritic cell (DC)-based therapeutic strategies against CSCs. Here, in an in vitro model using the HT-29 colon cancer cell line, we explored the efficacy of DCs loaded with exosomes derived from CSC-enriched colonospheres (CSCenr-EXOs) as an antigen source in activating CSC-specific T-cell responses. HT-29 lysate, HT-29-EXOs and CSCenr lysate were independently assessed as separate antigen sources. Having confirmed CSCs enrichment in spheroids, CSCenr-EXOs were purified and characterized, and their impact on DC maturation was investigated. Finally, the impact of the antigen-pulsed DCs on the proliferation rate and also spheroid destructive capacity of autologous T cells was assessed. CSCenr-EXOs similar to other antigen groups had no suppressive/negative impacts on phenotypic maturation of DCs as judged by the expression level of costimulatory molecules. Notably, similar to CSCenr lysate, CSCenr-EXOs significantly increased the IL-12/IL-10 ratio in supernatants of mature DCs. CSCenr-EXO-loaded DCs effectively promoted T-cell proliferation. Importantly, T cells stimulated with CSCenr-EXOs disrupted spheroids' structure. Thus, CSCenr-EXOs present a novel and promising antigen source that in combination with conventional tumour bulk-derived antigens should be further explored in pre-clinical immunotherapeutic settings for the efficacy in hampering recurrence and metastatic spread. © 2021 The Authors. Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine published by Foundation for Cellular and Molecular Medicine and John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Staff perspectives on the relationship between knowledge management and social capital with organizational health in selected educational hospitals in Tehran

INTRODUCTION: Knowledge management enhances efficiency, empowers employees, and enhances organizational health. Social capital provides a good basis for more productive human resources, and training hospitals also play a key role in the health-care system. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between knowledge management and social capital with organizational health in selected educational hospitals of Tehran in 2018. METHODS: This analytical cross-sectional study was performed on 310 medical staff of hospitals using proportional sampling method. The data gathering tools consisted of three standard questionnaires of knowledge management, social capital, and organizational health. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS version 22 software. RESULTS: Most participants in this study were male (8/66) and in the age group 31-36 years. The mean of knowledge management and organizational health were 3.43 and 3.49, respectively. There is a significant direct relationship between knowledge management components and organizational health. Moreover, there is a significant but weak direct relationship between knowledge management and social capital with organizational health dimensions (P � 0.05). CONCLUSION: Considering the relationship between knowledge management and social capital with organizational health, enhancing the level of organizational health can help to improve the dimensions of knowledge management and social capital. It is suggested that hospital managers, using knowledge management and social capital components, enhance organizational health so that the hospital is more prepared to adapt to the complexities and changes in the market providing services. © 2020 Journal of Education and Health Promotion

The Synergistic Effects of Ultrasound Waves and Ethanol Exposure on Intracellular Calcium and Reactive Oxygen Species Rates of Hippocampal Cells During the Embryonic Course in Rats

Objective: Ultrasound (US) is an imaging procedure with various applications, such as checking the fetus during pregnancy. To the best of our knowledge no study have investigated the simultaneous effect of diagnostic US waves and ethanol exposure on intracellular calcium (Ca2+i) processes and reactive oxygen species (ROS). Thus, in the current study, we first aimed to investigate the impacts of diagnostic US during fetal life on Ca2+i and ROS in rats’ hippocampal cells; then whether the diagnostic US has intensified ethanol effects on these two variables. Materials and Methods: After mating, adult female Wistar rats were divided into six groups as follows: Control group, ethanol group (5 g/kg), groups that were exposed to diagnostic US at frequencies of 3 and 5 MHz for 10 minutes on the 11-13 days of pregnancy, and groups that underwent US waves accompanied with ethanol on the same term of pregnancy. Fourteen days after delivery, the offspring were anesthetized, the hippocampus was isolated, and Ca2+i was measured using the Flou 3-AM and fluorimetry instrument after cell culture. Results: The results showed that the diagnostic US with 3 and 5 MHz frequencies significantly increased Ca2+i levels up to 17.8% and 21.8 %, as well as ROS levels by 81.18% and 128.51% compared to the control group. In addition, Ca2+i levels in the groups with simultaneous exposure to ethanol and US with frequencies 3 and 5 MHz were 19.19% and 23.33% higher than the ethanol group. Besides, the amount of ROS in the groups with simultaneous exposure to ethanol and US with frequencies 3 and 5 MHz were 77.5% and 172.5% higher than the ethanol group, respectively. However, ethanol alone did not alter intracellular Ca2+i and ROS levels. Conclusion: It is concluded that diagnostic US with 3 and 5 MHz frequencies increase the Ca2+i and ROS rate, and it also intensifies the effects of ethanol on the Ca2+i and ROS levels. © 2022, Turkish Neurosurgical Society. All rights reserved