A Comparison between Clinical and Pathologic Staging in Patients with Bladder Cancer

Purpose: To determine the accuracy of clinical staging methods of bladder cancer and TURBT results in estimating the pathologic stage of tumor.Materials and Methods: Thirty two patients who had undergone radical cystectomy were studied in this retrospective survey. The results of bimanual examination, cystoscopy, TURBT pathology report and the tumor contour in CT scan, (size, infiltrative deepness, pelvic lymph nodes involvement and hydronephrosis) were recorded. The type of surgery and pathologic report of cystectomy sample were analyzed as well. Then the results of bimanual examination, tumor size, hydronephrosis and CT scan findings including tumor infiltrative deepness, pelvic lymph adenopathy and TURBT findings were compared to pathologic results of cystectomy sample.Results: Seven patients were females and 25 were males. Their mean age was 62 (range 36 to 80) years. Gross hematuria and irritative urinary symptoms were the most common complaints. The duration between symptom manifestation and patient’s referral was 5 days to 72 months (mean 12 months). Bimanual examination in estimating the extravesical involvement of tumor had a specificity of 82%, sensitivity of 46%, positive predictive value of 70% and negative predictive value of 63%. The size of tumor in determining extravesical involvement had a specificity of 41%, sensitivity of 93%, and positive predictive value of 58% and negative predictive value of 87%. Hydronephrosis was present in 15 patients of whom, 14 (93%) had bladder muscle involvement. CT scan specificity was 70%, and sensitivity was 46% regarding pelvic lymph adenopathy and perivesical fat involvement. In TURBT report no muscle sample was observed in 11 cases, so that the interpretations of results were impossible. The reported grade of tumor was lower than pathologic sample of cystectomy in 4 patients.Conclusion: Clinical staging in invasive bladder cancers has not high accuracy regarding the involvement of bladder surrounding fats and pelvic adenopathies. A tumor sized more than 5 cm could be sensitive in estimating extravesical involvement. Positive predictive value of hydronephrosis is considerable regarding bladder muscle involvement. Tumor understaging by TURBT is happened in high percentage of patients with invasive bladder cancer.</p

Using System Dynamics to Model Rod Bar Supply Chain in Iranian Market

Steel market and particularly rod bar market play important roles in economy of countries. Economic systems are considered as complex systems which are sophisticated to be modeled mathematically. One way to model these systems is simulation and use of system dynamics. This paper models rod bar supply chain in Iran using system dynamics. Data of this research is gathered from first hand materials published by governmental sector. In order to modeling relationships between variables, interviews were conducted with experts in Iran Ministry of Commerce. Proposed model explains turbulence of rod bar market during 5 years ago and the fluctuations of its price. In addition, it is examined and confirmed by experts of this market in Iran Ministry of Commerce. Although proposed model may not offer an exact prediction of future market, but could be used as an applicable tool for analyzing and adjusting the market in Iran Ministry of Commerce

Study of fusion cross-sections of 16O + 208Pb and 28Si + 208Pb reactions by effective soft-core nucleon-nucleon interaction

In this paper, the cross-sections of fusion reactions 16O + 208Pb, 28Si + 208Pb, 40C + + 40Ca, 40Ca + 48Ca, 58Ni + 58Ni, and 16O + 154Sm at bombarding energies above and near the fusion barrier have been investigated. The fusion cross-sections have been studied by means of the Monte Carlo method and effective soft-core nucleon-nucleon interaction. One adjustable parameter was used in these calculations. This parameter can change the strength and repulsive parts of soft-core potential values. It has to be adjusted, so that the analytical results are in acceptable agreement with the experimental data. In our calculations, we have taken the range of the nucleon-nucleon soft-core interaction to be constant and equal to that of the M3Y-Raid potential. Results show that the higher values for the diffusion parameter in the Woods-Saxon potential obtained from a careful analysis of 16O + 208Pb and 28Si + 208Pb reactions are due to the many particle effects on the nucleon-nucleon potential

Synthesis of Ge_1−xSn_x Alloy Thin Films by Rapid Thermal Annealing of Sputtered Ge/Sn/Ge Layers on Si Substrates

In this work, nanocrystalline Ge1&#8722;xSnx alloy formation from a rapid thermal annealed Ge/Sn/Ge multilayer has been presented. The multilayer was magnetron sputtered onto the Silicon substrate. This was followed by annealing the layers by rapid thermal annealing, at temperatures of 300 &#176;C, 350 &#176;C, 400 &#176;C, and 450 &#176;C, for 10 s. Then, the effect of thermal annealing on the morphological, structural, and optical characteristics of the synthesized Ge1&#8722;xSnx alloys were investigated. The nanocrystalline Ge1&#8722;xSnx formation was revealed by high-resolution X-ray diffraction (HR-XRD) measurements, which showed the orientation of (111). Raman results showed that phonon intensities of the Ge-Ge vibrations were improved with an increase in the annealing temperature. The results evidently showed that raising the annealing temperature led to improvements in the crystalline quality of the layers. It was demonstrated that Ge-Sn solid-phase mixing had occurred at a low temperature of 400 &#176;C, which led to the creation of a Ge1&#8722;xSnx alloy. In addition, spectral photo-responsivity of a fabricated Ge1&#8722;xSnx metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodetector exhibited its extending wavelength into the near-infrared region (820 nm)

Effect of Ramadan Fasting on Blood Pressure and Lipid Profiles

Introduction: Ramadan is a holy month for Muslims during which avoid from eating, drinking and sexual intercourse for about 13-17 hours. The aim of this study was surveying the effects of Islamic fasting in Ramadan on lipid profile and blood pressure.Materials and Methods: we designed this study in two phases, a week before and a week after Ramadan month. Eighty nine healthy subjects with 20-50 years old were participated in this study. Blood sampling for lipid profile measurement was done in the morning and blood pressure was measured in the afternoon with digital sphygmomanometer. Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS version 16.0 software.Results: In a week after Ramadan, body weight and body mass index (BMI) decreased in both sexes, comparing with the week before Ramadan measurements (