Demographic Factors, Duration and Costs of Hospitalization, and Causes of Death in Patients Intoxicated with Opioids and Amphetamines

Background: Intoxications are medical emergencies and among the significant causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. In recent years, prevalence of intoxication with opioids and stimulants, such as amphetamines, is increasing particularly among young people. In this study, we investigated demographic factors, duration of hospitalization, costs of hospitalization, and cause of death in patients intoxicated with amphetamines and opioids.Materials and Methods: This study was a prospective descriptive–analytic study. Sampling method was census, and Subjects were patients intoxicated with amphetamines and opioids, alone or combined, who referred to toxicology ward of Ali-Asghar hospital in Isfahan, from October 2009 to April 2010.Results: During 6 months, among 2325 subjects, 419 patients used opioids, 98 patients used amphetamines, and 25 patients used both of them. The mean age of patients in the three groups was not significantly different. Most patients were male in all groups. The most common route of intoxication was orally in opioid group and inhalation in amphetamine group. The most common cause of intoxication was intentional attempt. Vital signs at admission were normal in three groups, but the average of heart rate, body temperature, respiratory rate and blood pressure, was slightly higher in the amphetamine group than the opioid group. Duration and cost of hospitalization were not significantly different between groups. Four patients were died totally and the outcome was not significantly different between groups. The mean age and duration of hospitalization were significantly higher in died compared to living patients.Conclusion: Opioids and amphetamines accounted for high percentages of intoxication, especially in young single men with self-employed job. Therefore, control and prevention of opioids and amphetamines consumption are important ways to reduce this kind of intoxication in this group

Wireless Application Middleware

The use of middleware has been acknowledged as the principal means of simplifying distributed applications building in the enterprise. Wireless messaging middleware, in particular, allows loosely coupled distributed components and has emerged as being well suited to the wireless environment. In this paper we present a lightweight wireless messaging middleware solution which addresses the reliability and bandwidth issues associated with wireless links

ILC3 function as a double-edged sword in inflammatory bowel diseases

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), composed mainly of Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), are strongly implicated in the development of intestinal inflammation lesions. Its exact etiology and pathogenesis are still undetermined. Recently accumulating evidence supports that group 3 innate lymphoid cells (ILC3) are responsible for gastrointestinal mucosal homeostasis through moderate generation of IL-22, IL-17, and GM-CSF in the physiological state. ILC3 contribute to the progression and aggravation of IBD while both IL-22 and IL-17, along with IFN-γ, are overexpressed by the dysregulation of NCR− ILC3 or NCR+ ILC3 function and the bias of NCR+ ILC3 towards ILC1 as well as regulatory ILC dysfunction in the pathological state. Herein, we feature the group 3 innate lymphoid cells’ development, biological function, maintenance of gut homeostasis, mediation of IBD occurrence, and potential application to IBD therapy

Enhancing Classification Through Multi-view Synthesis in Multi-Population Ensemble Genetic Programming

This study proposes a genetic programming (GP) approach for classification, integrating cooperative co-evolution with multi-view synthesis. Addressing the challenges of high-dimensional data, we enhance GP by distributing features across multiple populations, each evolving concurrently and cooperatively. Akin to multi-view ensemble learning, the segmentation of the feature set improves classifier performance by processing disparate data "views". Individuals comprise multiple genes, with a SoftMax function synthesizing gene outputs. An ensemble method combines decisions across individuals from different populations, augmenting classification accuracy and robustness. Instead of exploring the entire search space, this ensemble approach divides the search space to multiple smaller subspaces that are easier to explore and ensures that each population specializes in different aspects of the problem space. Empirical tests on multiple datasets show that the classifier obtained from proposed approach outperforms the one obtained from a single-population GP executed for the entire feature set

Hard Superconductivity of a Soft Metal in the Quantum Regime

Superconductivity is inevitably suppressed in reduced dimensionality. Questions of how thin superconducting wires or films can be before they lose their superconducting properties have important technological ramifications and go to the heart of understanding coherence and robustness of the superconducting state in quantum-confined geometries. Here, we exploit quantum confinement of itinerant electrons in a soft metal to stabilize superconductors with lateral dimensions of the order of a few millimeters and vertical dimensions of only a few atomic layers. These extremely thin superconductors show no indication of defect- or fluctuation-driven suppression of superconductivity and sustain supercurrents of up to 10% of the depairing current density. The extreme hardness of the critical state is attributed to quantum trapping of vortices. This study paints a conceptually appealing, elegant picture of a model nanoscale superconductor with calculable critical state properties. It indicates the intriguing possibility of exploiting robust superconductivity at the nanoscale.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Nature Physic

AFCo1, a meningococcal B-derived cochleate adjuvant, strongly enhances antibody and T-cell immunity against Plasmodium falciparum merozoite surface protein 4 and 5

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Whilst a large number of malaria antigens are being tested as candidate malaria vaccines, a major barrier to the development of an effective vaccine is the lack of a suitable human adjuvant capable of inducing a strong and long lasting immune response. In this study, the ability of AFCo1, a potent T and B cell adjuvant based on cochleate structures derived from meningococcal B outer membrane proteoliposomes (MBOMP), to boost the immune response against two <it>Plasmodium falciparum </it>antigens, merozoite surface protein 4 (MSP4) and 5 (MSP5), was evaluated.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA), which is able to confer protection against malaria in animal MSP4/5 vaccine challenge models, was used as positive control adjuvant. MSP4 and 5-specific IgG, delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH), T-cell proliferation, and cytokine production were evaluated in parallel in mice immunized three times intramuscularly with MSP4 or MSP5 incorporated into AFCo1, synthetic cochleate structures, CFA or phosphate buffered saline.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>AFCo1 significantly enhanced the IgG and T-cell response against MSP4 and MSP5, with a potency equivalent to CFA, with the response being characterized by both IgG1 and IgG2a isotypes, increased interferon gamma production and a strong DTH response, consistent with the ability of AFCo1 to induce Th1-like immune responses.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Given the proven safety of MBOMP, which is already in use in a licensed human vaccine, AFCo1 could assist the development of human malaria vaccines that require a potent and safe adjuvant.</p

Loss of expression of TGF-βs and their receptors in chronic skin lesions induced by sulfur mustard as compared with chronic contact dermatitis patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Sulfur mustard (SM) is a blister-forming agent that has been used as a chemical weapon. Sulfur mustard can cause damage in various organs, especially the skin, respiratory system, and eyes. Generally, the multiple complications of mustard gas result from its alkalizing potency; it reacts with cellular components like DNA, RNA, proteins, and lipid membranes.</p> <p>TGF-β is a multi-functional cytokine with multiple biological effects ranging from cell differentiation and growth inhibition to extracellular matrix stimulation, immunosuppression, and immunomodulation. TGF-β has 3 isoforms (TGF-β 1, 2, 3) and its signaling is mediated by its receptors: R1, R2 and intracellular Smads molecules.</p> <p>TGF-β has been shown to have anti-inflammatory effects. TGF-βs and their receptors also have an important role in modulation of skin inflammation, proliferation of epidermal cells, and wound healing, and they have been implicated in different types of skin inflammatory disorders.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Seventeen exposed SM individuals (48.47 ± 9.3 years), 17 chronic dermatitis patients (46.52 ± 14.6 years), and 5 normal controls (44.00 ± 14.6 years) were enrolled in this study.</p> <p>Evaluation of TGF-βs and their receptors expressions was performed by semiquantitative RT-PCR. Only TGF1was analyzed immunohistochemically.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our results showed significant decreases in the expression percentages of TGF-β 1, 2 and R1, R2 in chemical victims in comparison with chronic dermatitis and normal subjects and significant decreases in the intensity of R1 and R2 expressions in chemical victims in comparison with chronic dermatitis and normal controls. (P value < 0.05)</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>TGF-βs and their receptors appear to have a noticeable role in chronic inflammatory skin lesions caused by sulfur mustard.</p