Comparative analysis of morphometric parameters of intercondylar notch in patients with and without anterior cruciate ligament tears

BACKGROUND: Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is the most common type of ligament injury whose prevalence is higher in athletes. There are different external risk factors for this injury. However, it is important to find its physiological risk factors, as well. This study assessed the relationship between morphometric parameters of intercondylar notch and ACL tears in patients suffering from knee complications. METHODS: Patients with or without ACL tears who had undergone knee magnetic resonance imaging for any reason were recruited based on inclusion criteria. Intercondylar notch width, femoral bicondylar width, and intercondylar notch index were calculated in both groups. Then, significant variables from univariate analysis were entered in multiple regression analysis with intercondylar notch width, femoral bicondylar width, and intercondylar notch index being assumed as dependent variables. RESULTS: Overall, 199 participants, including 81 patients with ACL tear and 118 without ACL tear, were evaluated. Multiple regression analysis revealed intercondylar notch width and intercondylar notch index to be less common among women and subjects with ACL tears (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Based on the results of this study, there are relationships between ACL tears and being female and intercondylar notch width. Therefore, intercondylar notch index can be used for screening athletes and people at risk of ACL tears

Comparison of Efficacy and Side Effects of Different Administration Routes of Misoprostol (Oral, Vaginal, and Sublingual) for Second-Trimester Abortion

Background The current study was designed to compare the effectiveness and side effects of oral, vaginal, and sublingual misoprostol in termination of second-trimester pregnancy. Materials and Methods: In this clinical trial (2014 to 2015), 85 pregnant women in the second trimester of pregnancy were included in Imam Reza hospital, Kermanshah, Iran. They were randomly divided into three groups as follows: oral misoprostol (n=28), vaginal misoprostol (n=30), and sublingual misoprostol (n=27). Misoprostol was administered orally (oral misoprostol group), vaginally (vaginal misoprostol group), or sublingually (sublingual misoprostol group). The dosage was similar in three groups (400 micrograms every four hours up to a maximum of five doses). The mothers were followed and induction-abortion interval time, number of dosages required, and misoprostol side effects were documented. The data were analyzed by SPSS version 20.0 software. Results: The mean (standard deviation) age of the sample was 28.27 (±4.97) years. Mean gestational age was 16.58 weeks and mean gravidity was 1.99. Mean number of administered misoprostol doses was 3.89 and most patients responded to three doses of misoprostol. Mean abortion time was 20.08 hours. No side effects were reported in 60% of the subjects. Others experienced side effects such as nausea (16.5%), fever and chills (12.9%), and vaginal bleeding (9.4%). The abortion duration in 35.3% of the subjects was within 18 hours. The most successful method was oral route (82.1%), followed by vaginal route (80%), and sublingual route (70.4%). The abortion duration was statistically different between the three groups (P= 0.001). Conclusion: Finding of the presented study showed that misoprostol is a safe medication to be used for medical abortion in the second trimester of pregnancy. Oral route of administration was superior to vaginal or rectal use of misoprostol

Comparative analysis of morphometric parameters of intercondylar notch in patients with and without anterior cruciate ligament tears

BACKGROUND: Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is the most common type of ligament injury whose prevalence is higher in athletes. There are different external risk factors for this injury. However, it is important to find its physiological risk factors, as well. This study assessed the relationship between morphometric parameters of intercondylar notch and ACL tears in patients suffering from knee complications. METHODS: Patients with or without ACL tears who had undergone knee magnetic resonance imaging for any reason were recruited based on inclusion criteria. Intercondylar notch width, femoral bicondylar width, and intercondylar notch index were calculated in both groups. Then, significant variables from univariate analysis were entered in multiple regression analysis with intercondylar notch width, femoral bicondylar width, and intercondylar notch index being assumed as dependent variables. RESULTS: Overall, 199 participants, including 81 patients with ACL tear and 118 without ACL tear, were evaluated. Multiple regression analysis revealed intercondylar notch width and intercondylar notch index to be less common among women and subjects with ACL tears (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Based on the results of this study, there are relationships between ACL tears and being female and intercondylar notch width. Therefore, intercondylar notch index can be used for screening athletes and people at risk of ACL tears

Fatigue Analysis of Bitumen Modified with Composite of Nano-SiO2 and Styrene Butadiene Styrene Polymer

Since fatigue cracking is caused in the middle-temperature conditions due to the stresses from heavy traffic and as the bitumen plays a very important role in controlling this failure, therefore, in recent years, the production of the modified bitumen that can give a good performance in the middle temperatures has always attracted the interest of researchers. One of these bitumen modifiers is the styrene butadiene styrene (SBS) polymer. Due to the phase separation of bitumen and polymer, aging and oxidation, this polymer may not exhibit expected field performance at middle temperatures. Therefore, in this research, it is attempted to analyze the middle-temperature performance using the combination of nano-SiO2 and SBS polymer in the bitumen modification. In this paper, the addition of SBS and nano-SiO2 to the base bitumen resulted in the reduction of the complex modulus, phase angle, storage modulus and loss modulus at middle temperatures, thereby improving the potential of fatigue failure resistance. In general, considering the requirement for the rotational viscosity value up to 3 Pa.s at 135 °C and also, regarding the economic issues in choosing a lower percentage, the combination of 4.5% SBS + 3% nano-SiO2 is selected as the optimal composite

Superpulsed CO 2

Background. Periorbital basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is considered a high risk case because it is associated with high rate of recurrence and complication. Superpulsed CO2 laser with intraoperative pathologic assessment could be an alternative and appropriate treatment for periocular lesions where Mohs micrographic surgery is not available. Objective. To evaluate the efficacy of superpulsed CO2 laser therapy with intraoperative pathologic assessment on periocular BCC involving eyelash line. Method. This follow-up study was performed on 20 patients with a total of 21 BCC lesions that were pathologically documented. Firstly, debulkation of tumoral mass was done by curettage. Then, irradiation and intraoperative pathologic evaluation were done by concurrent CO2 laser. The patients were followed up for a period of 36 months. Results. Out of 21 lesions, the nodular type accounted for 15 (71.4%) lesions, and 12 (57.1%) lesions were seen in the lower lid as the most common clinical type and site involvement. Twenty BCC lesions (95.2%) were treated after one session. Damage to eyelash was seen in 2 (10%) patients, but ectropion and other complications were not seen in any patient. Conclusion. Treatment with superpulsed CO2 laser and intraoperative pathologic evaluation for periorbital BCC lesions much close to conjunctiva could be an effective method with minimal complications without major danger of recurrence. This modality can be used with care in the inner canthus and high risk pathologic lesions

Application of lanthanides tetrad effect as a geochemical indicator to identify fluorite generations: A case study from the Laal-Kan fluorite deposit, NW Iran

The Laal-Kan fluorite deposit situated in north margin of the Sanandaj-Sirjan metamorphic belt and Urmia-Dokhtar magmatic arc, NW Iran. The fluorite mineralization in the form of open-space filling, veins and veinlets have been deposited in the contact zone between highly metamorphosed schist, gneiss, amphibolite of the Paleozoic age and the Jangutaran limestone of the Precambrian age. The occurrence of convex tetrad effect and the calculated tetrad values indicate that early and late stage fluorite mineralization display various geochemical behavior, which are supported by the bivariate diagrams including T1, T3 and T4 versus each other and some geochemical parameters such as La/Ho, Y/Ho and Zr/Hf ratios. It can, therefore, deduced that fluorite have been probably formed during two stages from hydrothermal fluids with a relatively constant composition. The fluid-rock interaction during deposition of fluorite and REE-F complex were likely the main mechanisms for the occurrence of tetrad effect

Application of lanthanides tetrad effect as a geochemical indicator to identify fluorite generations: A case study from the Laal-Kan fluorite deposit, NW Iran

The Laal-Kan fluorite deposit situated in north margin of the Sanandaj-Sirjan metamorphic belt and Urmia-Dokhtar magmatic arc, NW Iran. The fluorite mineralization in the form of open-space filling, veins and veinlets have been deposited in the contact zone between highly metamorphosed schist, gneiss, amphibolite of the Paleozoic age and the Jangutaran limestone of the Precambrian age. The occurrence of convex tetrad effect and the calculated tetrad values indicate that early and late stage fluorite mineralization display various geochemical behavior, which are supported by the bivariate diagrams including T1, T3 and T4 versus each other and some geochemical parameters such as La/Ho, Y/Ho and Zr/Hf ratios. It can, therefore, deduced that fluorite have been probably formed during two stages from hydrothermal fluids with a relatively constant composition. The fluid-rock interaction during deposition of fluorite and REE-F complex were likely the main mechanisms for the occurrence of tetrad effect

Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing in Child Victims of Domestic Violence

Objective: This study was conducted to examine and compare the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) in child victims of domestic violence (child physical abuse and/or witnessing parents’ conflicts). Method: A total of 139 girls and boys, aged 8-12 years, were randomly assigned into CBT (n = 40), EMDR (n = 40), or control groups (n=59). All children received up to 12 individual treatment sessions over 4–12 weeks. Blind assessment was done before and 2 weeks after the treatment and on a variety of teacher-parent-rated and self-report measures of posttraumatic symptomatology, depression, anxiety, and behavior problems. Results: CBT and EMDR were effective in ameliorating psychological sequelae of victims of domestic violence on the measured variables (p =.001). Comparison of the treatment and control groups suggested moderate to high practical significance in treatment groups vs controls. Conclusion: Both CBT and EMDR can help children to greatly recover from the outcomes of domestic violence in comparison with control group. Moreover, structured trauma treatments are strongly recommended and can be used for children

A New Family Of Time Series To Model The Decreasing Relative Increment Of Spreading Of An Outbreak

Introduction: There are different mathematical models describing the propagation of an epidemic. These models can be divided into phenomenological, compartmental, deep learning, and individual-based methods. From other viewpoints, we can classify them into macroscopic or microscopic, stochastic or deterministic, homogeneous or heterogeneous, univariate or multivariate, parsimonious or complex, or forecasting or mechanistic. This paper defines a novel univariate bi-partite time series model able to describe spreading a communicable infection in a population in terms of the relative increment of the cumulative number of confirmed cases. The introduced model can describe different stages of the first wave of the outbreak of a communicable disease from the start to the end. Methods: The outcome of the model is relative increment, and it has five positive parameters: the length of the first days of spreading and the relative increment in these days, the potent of the mildly decreasing trend (after the significant decrease), and the adjusting coefficient to adapt this trend to the initial pattern, and the fixed ratio of the mean to the variance. Results: We use it to describe the propagation of various disease outbreaks, including the SARS (2003), the MERS (2018), the Ebola (2014-2016), the HIV/AIDS (1990-2018), the Cholera (2008-2009), and the COVID-19 epidemic in Iran, Italy, the UK, the USA, China and four of its provinces; Beijing, Guangdong, Shanghai, and Hubei (2020). In all mentioned cases, the model has an acceptable performance. In addition, we compare the goodness of this model with the ARIMA models by fitting the propagation of COVID-19 in Iran, Italy, the UK, and the USA. Conclusion: The introduced model is flexible enough to describe a broad range of epidemics. In comparison with ARIMA time series models, our model is more initiative and less complicated, it has fewer parameters, the estimation of its parameters is more straightforward, and its forecasts are narrower and more accurate. Due to its simplicity and accuracy, this model is a good tool for epidemiologists and biostatisticians to model the first wave of an epidemic