Outcome of children operated for congenital anorectal malformations: A prospective single center study

Introduction: Anorectal malformations (ARM) have an incidence of 1 in 5000 live births and affect male and female almost equally. Operative correction of pediatric ARM is of potential clinical interest; however, longterm outcome of patients in respect to probable complications requires precise follow up and surveillance. The aim of our study was to assess the outcomes of children undergoing surgical correction of ARMs.Materials and Methods: In a prospective follow-up study, we wanted to assess occurrence of incontinence, constipation, soiling, abdominal distension, diarrhea, stenosis, dilated sphincter and failure to thrive (FTT) in ARM patients. In addition, management of these conditions has been discussed. Reoperations have also been reviewed. The primary outcome of the study was determination of occurrence of incontinence at follow-up visits. Secondary outcomes were occurrence of constipation, anal stenosis, soiling, abdominal distension, dilated sphincter, diarrhea and FTT at followup visits. In addition, the decision of research team on patients at followup visits was considered as secondary outcomes.Results: Two hundred and ninety patients were studied. Of the study patients, 174 (60.4%) were boys and 114 (39.6%) were girls. Mean age of boys was 4.8 ± 2.0 years and mean age of girls was 5.0 ± 2.0 years. The mean follow-up period of our patients was 39.5 ± 29.1 months. During the study follow-up period, 63 patients (21.7%) had complications. The most common complication was constipation. It was present in 21 patients (33.3%). Soiling, incontinence, dilated sphincter, FTT, stenosis, abdominal distension and diarrhea were present in 21 (33.3%), 11 (17.5%), 9 (14.3%), 6 (9.5%), 6 (9.5%), 5 (7.9%), 3 (4.8%) and 2 (3.3%) patients respectively.Conclusion: We found that the most common complications following ARM surgery are constipation, soiling, incontinence, dilated sphincter, FTT, stenosis, distension and diarrhea. The overall complication rate was 21.7%. 7.2 % and 3.1% of study population experienced constipation and incontinency respectively. In 3.1% of the study population reoperation was required. We revealed that outcome of surgical correction of ARMs is considerably good and complication rates are acceptable. Continence rate was also acceptable

Is there any correlation between duration of vomiting before pyloromyotomy and eradication of symptoms after pyloromyotomy in hypertrophic pyloric stenosis?

Introduction: Hypertrophic pyloric stenosis (HPS) is among common GI disorders in young infants, with an incidence of 1-2:1000 live births in the world. In this study, we wanted to investigate the correlation between duration of symptoms before surgery and eradication of symptoms after pyloromyotomy in HPS.Materials and methods: One hundred and twenty five (102 boys and 23 girls) patients with suspected infantile HPS were treated surgically by Ramstedt pyloromyotomy between 2004 and 2014 at pediatric surgery ward of Tabriz Children’s Hospital, Iran. The demographic features, clinical findings, diagnostic work-up and postoperative specifications of the patients were studied retrospectively.Results: We studied 125 patients with HPS. Male to female ratio was 4:1. The patients were 16 to 90 days of old and the mean age was 39±1.42 days. The range of pyloric canal length was 7.60 to 29.00 mm and the mean length was 19.54±3.42 mm. Pyloric muscle diameter was 2.70 to 9.00 mm and the mean diameter was 4.86±1.14 mm. Seventy two percent of patients had episodes of vomiting after operation. Mean time of persistence of vomiting after pyloromyotomy was 15.73±0.15 hours. Mean discharge time was 55.22±0.08 hours. Radiologic findings did not show any significant correlation with persistence of vomiting or discharge time. Conclusion: The present study revealed that duration of vomiting before surgery and continuing symptoms could not predict postoperative symptom eradication after pyloromyotomy in HPS

Seroprevalence of Toxoplasmosis among Women Referring to Shahid Beheshti Hospital, Hamadan, Iran

Background: Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii. The aim of this study was investigate the prevalence of toxoplasmosis among young women who referred to check up for toxoplasmosis attended in Shahid Beheshti hospital, Hamadan during 2013-2014.Materials and Methods: This study was performed on 2523 pregnant women who referred to laboratory of Shahid Beheshti hospital in Hamadan province (western of Iran) during 2013-2014. Age, level of education and place of residence were recorded in the relevant forms. Antibodies serum levels for all samples were examined by ELISA. IgG titer equals and more than 1:200 was presumed as seropositive. Data were analyzed using by SPSS version 19.0 software.Results: 26.1% of IgG seropositive persons were city residents while 32.3% of them lived at village and suburb of city. 1.4% and 1.1% of at risk persons (based on IgG titration) were city and village residents, respectively. 1.3% and 1.9% of IgM seropositives were city and village residents, respectively. The percentage of at risk persons of city and village (based on IgM titration) were 0.3% and 0.6%, in a row. 29.7% of IgG seropositives did not have academic education while 30.4% of them graduated from high school, at least. The seropositive IgM percentage of non-academic educated persons and graduated/academic ones were 1.7% and 1.4%, respectively.Conclusion: Our funding indicates the association between age of women and their level of education with percentage of contamination and prevalence. IgM seropositive is lesser than IgG. It means that toxoplasmosis is chronic or there is previous contact. To avoid the risk of toxoplasmosis infection particularly in pregnant women should be examined and the necessary preventive measures and training for young women should be presented

Determinants of Economic Growth in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: An Application of Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model

This paper provides an empirical analysis of the relationship between economic growth and its determinants with special focus on gross fixed capital formation, export, import, and financial development for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Therefore, the study utilized an annual data from 1980 till 2014, and employed both the autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL) and the error correction method (ECM) to investigate the long-run and the short-run parameters between the variables. The findings suggest a positive relationship between fixed capital formation, export, in one hand and economic growth in the other hand, both in the short-run and the long-run. In contrast, the financial development variable found to have a negative effect on economic growth in the short-run, however, it turned out to be positive in the long-run. Finally, the import variable showed a negative contribution to growth in the long-run as well as in the short-run. The results are consistent with the theoretical and empirical predictions

A quantum circuit rule for interference effects in single-molecule electrical junctions

A quantum circuit rule for combining quantum interference effects in the conductive properties of oligo(phenyleneethynylene) (OPE)-type molecules possessing three aromatic rings was investigated both experimentally and theoretically. Molecules were of the type X-Y-X, where X represents pyridyl anchors with para (p), meta (m) or ortho (o) connectivities and Y represents a phenyl ring with p and m connectivities. The conductances GXmX (GXpX) of molecules of the form X-m-X (X-p-X), with meta (para) connections in the central ring, were predominantly lower (higher), irrespective of the meta, para or ortho nature of the anchor groups X, demonstrating that conductance is dominated by the nature of quantum interference in the central ring Y. The single-molecule conductances were found to satisfy the quantum circuit rule Gppp/Gpmp=Gmpm/Gmmm. This demonstrates that the contribution to the conductance from the central ring is independent of the para versus meta nature of the anchor groups

Synthesis and characterization of cost-effective and high-efficiency biochar for the adsorption of Pb2+ from wastewater

Abstract This study aimed to investigate the adsorption mechanism of Pb2+ in wastewater using activated carbon derived from inexpensive materials, specifically avocado, bitter orange, and walnut leaves, through a single-step chemical activation process. The activated carbon was prepared using sulfuric acid as an activator, with a particle size of 1 mm. The pyrolysis reactor (slow-pyrolysis) operated at 600 °C for 90 min with a nitrogen flow rate of 5 L/min. Batch experiments were conducted under various conditions to determine the optimal dosage (1.5 g/L), equilibrium contact time (180 min), and pH (6.5). The study focused on employing cost-effective and highly efficient adsorbents, namely biochar produced from tree leaves, for the adsorption process. The results indicated that the pseudo-second-order kinetic model accurately described the adsorption process, while the Freundlich isotherm model best fit the experimental data. These findings suggest that tree leaves can serve as cost-effective and efficient adsorbents for a wide range of applications. Furthermore, multiple adsorption factors were evaluated in batch mode, including contact duration, pH, adsorbent dosage, concentration of the Pb2+ solution, and temperature. The maximum adsorption capacities for the activated carbon derived from avocado, bitter orange, and walnut leaves were found to be 60.46, 59.42, and 58.48 mg/g, respectively. Thus, this study highlights the effectiveness and economic feasibility of using pyrolysis-derived activated carbon from low-cost materials for the removal of Pb2+ from wastewater

A comparative study of aggrecan synthesis between natural articular chondrocytes and differentiated chondrocytes from adipose derived stem cells in 3D culture

Introduction: The main obstacle for tissue engineering is to find the most appropriate cell which is able to produce extracellular matrix (ECM) similar or better than natural chondrocytes in vitro. This study compared aggrecan synthesis′s potential between differentiated chondrocytes (DCs) from adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) and natural articular chondrocytes (NCs) in 3D culture in vitro. Materials and Methods: Human ADSCs were isolated from sub-cutaneous adipose tissue and then the surface markers including CD 14, 45 CD105, CD90, CD44 were analyzed by flow cytometry. Also human articular chondrocytes were yielded of non-weight bearing area of Knee cartilage. Both types of the cells were encapsulated in alginate scaffolds and cultured in chondrogenic medium with and without TGFβ3 for 3 weeks. Then the extent of aggercan (AGC) production was evaluated by ELISA on days 14 and 21. Results: Our findings indicated that differentiated chondrocytes (DCs) with and without TGFβ3 synthesized more AGC than natural chondrocytes (NCs) on day 14. But DCs without TGFβ3 had higher production than other groups on day 21. Application of TGFβ3 resulted in an increase of amount of AGC in DCs on day 14 but a decrease on day 21 than same group. Conclusion: Since, aggrecan is an important chondrogenic marker, it was concluded that ADSCs can be possible reliable alternative cell source for cartilage tissue engineering in future