Medicinal herbs in Iranian traditional medicine for learning and memory

Background: There are some factors such as age, stress and emotions that may lead to impaired learning, memory loss, amnesia, and dementia or threats like Schizophrenia and Alzheimer�s disease (AD). Traditional Iranian medicine (TIM) recommended some herbs and herbal preparations for treatment or prevention of CNS problems. In this study, the scientific evidences related to effectiveness of TIM herbal medicine on memory and learning will be reviewed. Materials and Methods: The scientific evidences of the plant efficacy were searched in electronic databases including Pub Med, Scopus, SID, Science Direct, and Google Scholar by keywords like memory, Alzheimer, amnesia, learning and scientific plant names from 1969 to 2014. Results: The finding of this study confirmed effectiveness of some of TIM medicinal plants on enhancing memory and learning or in treatment or prevention of amnesia and AD. Some of TIM plants like Melissa officinalis, Crocus sativus and Nigella sativa showed improving effect on memory in clinical trials. In some cases, the active principles responsible for efficacy of these plants on memory were also determined. Conclusion: Most of the studies on TIM plants were designed in animal models and a few herbs were evaluated in clinical trials on AD. Also, for some of the herbal medicine used in TIM, there are no or not enough studies to confirm their effectiveness on memory and learning. Therefore, further experimental and clinical studies are necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of these plants on memory and AD and also to determine the active components of them. © 2016, African Ethnomedicines Network. All Rights reserved

Modelling and optimization of the Cavity Transfer Mixer

The blending of different materials is an important process in polymer industry, where a good mixing is essential to guarantee adequate performances of the finished product. In the 80s a new device called the Cavity Transfer Mixer (CTM) was invented and patented by Gale at Rapra Technology Limited, as an add-on to be mounted downstream of existing extruders, in order to improve distributive mixing. The CTM consists of two concentric cylinders, the rotor and the stator, both provided with staggered rows of hemispherical cavities. The inner cylinder (rotor) rotates, while the outer (stator) remains still. At the same time, the pressure load imposed upstream, pushes the fluid through the mixer. The result of the interaction between the moving geometry, the imposed pressure load and the rheology of the fluid is the complex flow field driving the mixing mechanisms inside the device. Because of the variety of the phenomena involved, a clear understanding of the CTM mixing processes is still missing and the system development and optimization encounter noticeable difficulties. In this context, the present work proposes a full three dimensional model of the CTM, able to accurately simulate the device operations. A finite element solver provides the transient velocity field, which is used in the mapping method implementation in order to compute the concentration field evolution. A broad range of simulations is run assessing the impact on mixing of several geometrical and functioning parameters, such as the number of cavities per row, the number of rows, the size of the mixer, the rheology of the fluid and the ratio between the rotation speed and the fluid throughput. Results are used to develop some design and operation guidelines for the CTM

Birkhoff type decompositions and the Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff recursion

We describe a unification of several apparently unrelated factorizations arisen from quantum field theory, vertex operator algebras, combinatorics and numerical methods in differential equations. The unification is given by a Birkhoff type decomposition that was obtained from the Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff formula in our study of the Hopf algebra approach of Connes and Kreimer to renormalization in perturbative quantum field theory. There we showed that the Birkhoff decomposition of Connes and Kreimer can be obtained from a certain Baker-Campbell-Hausdorff recursion formula in the presence of a Rota-Baxter operator. We will explain how the same decomposition generalizes the factorization of formal exponentials and uniformization for Lie algebras that arose in vertex operator algebra and conformal field theory, and the even-odd decomposition of combinatorial Hopf algebra characters as well as to the Lie algebra polar decomposition as used in the context of the approximation of matrix exponentials in ordinary differential equations.Comment: accepted for publication in Comm. in Math. Phy

Application of allogeneic fibroblast cells in cellular therapy of recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa

Context: Connective tissue cells include fibroblasts, chondrocytes, adipocyte, and osteocytes. These cells are specialized for the secretion of collagenous extracellular matrix and are responsible for the architectural framework of the human body. Evidence Acquisition: Connective tissue cells play a central role in supporting as well as repairing tissues and organs. Fibroblast cell therapy could be used for the treatment of burn wounds, scars, diabetic foot ulcers, acne scars and skin aging. This review focused on biology of fibroblasts and their role in cell therapy of recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB). Results: Fibroblasts are known to play a pivotal role in skin structure and integrity, and dermal fibroblasts are believed to promote skin regeneration and rejuvenation via collagen production. Conclusions: Fibroblasts can be used in transplantations to ameliorate an immune system response, in order to reduce antigen production. Human fibroblasts suppress ongoing mixed lymphocyte reactions (MLRs) between lymphocyte cells from two individuals, and supernatant materials from fibroblast cultures suppress MLRs. © 2015, Skin and Stem Cell Journal

Constructions of free commutative integro-differential algebras

In this survey, we outline two recent constructions of free commutative integro-differential algebras. They are based on the construction of free commutative Rota-Baxter algebras by mixable shuffles. The first is by evaluations. The second is by the method of Gr\"obner-Shirshov bases.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1302.004

Bulk scalar field in brane-worlds with induced gravity inspired by the L(R){\cal L}(R) term

We obtain the effective field equations in a brane-world scenario within the framework of a DGP model where the action on the brane is an arbitrary function of the Ricci scalar, ${\cal L}(R)$, and the bulk action includes a scalar field in the matter Lagrangian. We obtain the Friedmann equations and acceleration conditions in the presence of the bulk scalar field for the $R^n$ term in four-dimensional gravity.Comment: 9 pages, to appear in JCA

Testing one-body density functionals on a solvable model

There are several physically motivated density matrix functionals in the literature, built from the knowledge of the natural orbitals and the occupation numbers of the one-body reduced density matrix. With the help of the equivalent phase-space formalism, we thoroughly test some of the most popular of those functionals on a completely solvable model.Comment: Latex, 16 pages, 4 figure

Experiences and challenges of Prostitute Women in Iran: A phenomenological qualitative study

Background: Prostitutes in Iran are faced with many challenges and problems that pose risks to their health. Objective: The present study is an attempt to identify and narrate the challenges and experiences of Iranian prostitutes based on a qualitative approach. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted with a phenomenological approach in (2018) in Tehran, Iran. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 22 prostitutes who were selected using a snowball sampling method and analyzed with Colaizzi's method. In order to examine the quality of findings, Guba and Lincoln's measures were used. Results: Data analysis results were classified into five main categories and 14 subcategories. The main issues are: The experience of violence, Heath risk, social ostracism, objectifying, and lack of social and legal supporting structures. Conclusion: Prostitutes in Iran experience numerous problems at personal and social levels. By providing social, economic, and legal supports for them such as social services (e.g. educations on how to use contraceptives, how to have safe sexual intercourse, and free counseling services for mental support), we can improve their health and welfare. © 2020 The Author(s

Effective synthesis of biodiesel from Jatropha curcas oil using betaine assisted nanoparticle heterogeneous catalyst from eggshell of Gallus domesticus

The recovery of waste as feedstock away from organizational limitations corresponds to a prospective supplementary revenue stream for the organization. A novel waste eggshell of Gallus domesticus derived superbasic nanocatalyst was synthesized through betaine amphoteric surfactant-assisted decomposition, adsorption and precipitation processes. By varied the duration synthesis of gel mixture, the morphology transformation from liquid-solid interconnected macro-size particles to regular spheroidal nanoassemblies particles is detected. The surfactant at the liquid-solid interface facilitates the mono dispersion of nanoparticles by hindering growth of crystals. The average particle diameter of the produced superbasic nanocatalyst was in the range of 27e16 nm. The synthesized nanoparticle formation mechanism in the presence surfactant has also been addressed in this study. The catalytic activity of superbasic nanocatalyst was investigated for biodiesel production from crude Jatropha curcas oil (JCO) via glycerolysis and transesterification with methanol at atmospheric pressure. Artificial neural network (ANN) based on the genetic algorithm (GA) was applied for optimization of varied reaction parameters. It was observed that the reduction of acidity varied with varying reaction conditions. The highest fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) yield (97%) was obtained when the reaction was allowed to run at 60 C for 300 min, while at 90 C the maximal FAME yield of 98% was achieved after 120 min. The kinetic parameters of nanocatalyst were determined, and the reaction system followed pseudo first order kinetics. The results suggest that this two steps process using superbasic nanocatalyst affords a promising method to convert oils with high FFA level to biodiesel