Recurrent Syncope following Substance Abuse; a Case Report

Drug abuse is considered as the most common poisoning in the world. Stimulants agent especially amphetamines and methamphetamines are among important abused substances. Different types of neurologic, psychiatric, respiratory, gastrointestinal, and cardiogenic complications have been reported to be related to methamphetamine consumption. Some of these substances could cause dysrhythmias which is the most prevalent etiology of cardiogenic syncope. Ecstasy, as one of the most commonly abused drugs, is known as a cause of cardiac dysrhythmias. Here we report a young boy who was admitted into the emergency department following three syncope attacks. All cardiac and neurologic assessments were normal; and finally ecstasy abuse was detected as the main etiology of syncopes

Role of Long Non-Coding RNAs in Conferring Resistance in Tumors of the Nervous System

Tumors of the nervous system can be originated from several locations. They mostly have high mortality and morbidity rate. The emergence of resistance to chemotherapeutic agents is a hurdle in the treatment of patients. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been shown to influence the response of glioblastoma/glioma and neuroblastoma to chemotherapeutic agents. MALAT1, NEAT1, and H19 are among lncRNAs that affect the response of glioma/glioblastoma to chemotherapy. As well as that, NORAD, SNHG7, and SNHG16 have been shown to be involved in conferring this phenotype in neuroblastoma. Prior identification of expression amounts of certain lncRNAs would help in the better design of therapeutic regimens. In the current manuscript, we summarize the impact of lncRNAs on chemoresistance in glioma/glioblastoma and neuroblastoma

Regulatory Changes of N-Acetylgalactosamine Terminal Sugar in Early Mouse Embryonic Paraxial Mesenchyme

Objective: The development of vertebrae is a complex phenomenon that is correlated with distinct morphological and biochemical alterations in the paraxial mesenchyme and glycoconjugates. The purpose of this study is to investigate the glycosylation pattern in paraxial mesenchyme-forming vertebrae by using the lectin histochemical technique.Materials and Methods: In this descriptive-analytic study, B4G fixed paraffin sections of 9 to 15 day Balb/c mouse embryos were processed for histochemical studies using seven different HRP-labelled lectins: Glycin max (SBA), Maclura pomifera (MPA), Wistaria floribunda (WFA), Vicia villosa (VVA) which all of them are specific for N-acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc), Ulex europius (UEA1, binds to α-L-fucose), wheat germ agglutinin (WGA, binds to sialic acid), and Griffonia simplicifolia (GSA1-B4, binds to galactose terminal sugars). The sections were observed separately by three examiners who were blinded to the lectins. Grading was done according to the intensity of the tested lectins’ reactions with the specimen, from negative (-) to severe (+++). Data was analysed with SPSS software (version 11.5) and the non-parametric Kruskal Wallis test; p<0.05 was considered significant.Results: Our findings showed that among the tested lectins, only GalNAc residue sensitive lectins showed regulated changes in paraxial mesenchyme. Reactions of WFA and MPA lectins with paraxial mesenchyme were severe on GD9. Reactions of WFA continued to GD15 constantly, while MPA reactions continued strongly to GD12, significantly decreased thereafter (p<0.001), and then disappeared. VVA and SBA bindings initiated weakly on GD10 and continued to GD12 without changing. These reactions increased significantly (p<0.001) thereafter, became severe to GD14, and later disappeared. The other tested lectins did not reveal regulated changes.Conclusion: According to these findings it can be concluded that only the GalNAc terminal sugar showed temporally regulated changes during the early embryonic development of vertebrae in mice. Therefore it most likely plays a key role (s) in the development of vertebrae, especially in the conversion of mesenchymal cells into chondroblasts. The other tested terminal sugars may have no role in this phenomenon

Lectin Histochemical Study of Vasculogenesis During Rat Pituitary Morphogenesis

Objective(s) The aim of this study was to investigate glycoconjugates distribution patterns as well as their changes during the course of pituitary portal vasculogenesis and angiogenesis.Materials and MethodsFormalin fixed paraffin sections of 10 to 20 days of Sprague Dawly rat fetuses were processed for histochemical studies using four different horseradish peroxidase (HRP) conjugated lectins. Orange peel fungus (OFA), Vicica villosa (VVA), Glycine max (SBA) and Wistaria floribunda (WFA) specific for α-L-Fucose, D-Gal, α, ß-D-GalNAc and D- GalNAc terminal sugars of glycoconjugates respectively.ResultsOur finding indicated that adenohypophysal cells reacted with OFA on gestational day 10 (E10) and increased progressively to E14. Staining intensity did not change from days 14 to17, then after increased following days to E20 significantly (P< 0.05). A few cells around Rathke’s pouch reacted with VVA on E13, increased to E14 and decreased significantly afterward (P< 0.05). Reaction of some cells around Rathke’s pouch reacted with SBA on E14. This visible reaction was the same as E18 and decreased later (P< 0.05). Many cells around Rathke’s pouch reacted with WFA on E13 and increased on E 14 and E15 and decreased thereafter (P< 0.05).ConclusionReactions of OFA and other tested lectins with endothelial cells around Rathke’s pouch and developing pars distalis were different. These results suggest that embryonic origin of hypophiseal pituitary portal (HPP) system endothelial cells are not the same and our finding also indicated that glycoconjugates with terminal sugars α-L-Fucose, D-Gal, α, ß-D-GalNAc may play critical role(s) in cell interactions and tissue differentiations such as vasculogensis and angiogenesis as well as other developmental precursors in formation of the pituitary gland

An innovative configuration for new marine current turbine

Researchers have shown growing interest in the development of traditional Savonius turbine due to their numerous benefits such as structural simplicity, self-start ability, relatively low operating speed, bi-directional rotational ability and lower environmental impact. However, Savonius turbines exhibits lower efficiency as compared to other similar marine current turbines. This paper proposes a novel design concept for the Savonius turbine. In addition, this work investigates flow and pressure distribution around the buckets of novel rotor with a two-dimensional unsteady numerical model. The proposed marine current turbine with novel design is named as Reza Turbine. Numerical model employed the Dynamic Mesh Method (DMM) for modelling mesh movement around the blades of rotor for different position with respect to computational domain. Developed numerical model solves the unsteady Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations by using SIMPLE algorithm. In addition, we conducted an experiment in a low speed wind tunnel to obtain important performance parameters namely torque, power and performance for the proposed turbine. A set of flow speed were used as inlet boundary condition for both numerical and experimental model. A comparison between numerical and experimental results shows that the SST k-ω turbulence model gives satisfactory results for the developed novel turbine. The developed ReT is showed 52% improvement in efficiency as compared conventional Savonious turbine. Since the peak of power coefficient obtained was 0.321 for ReT, while 0.21 was reported for conventional Savonius turbine

Survey of the efficacy of antibiotic therapy on complications consequent of tonsillectomy and adenotonsillectomy

Background and Aim: Tonsillectomy and adenotonsillectomy are the most common ENT surgeries. Because there are not sufficient investigations about antibiotic therapy, and, also, due to .some disagreement over post-surgery use of antibiotics, the present study was designed to find out the efficacy of antibiotic therapy on consequent complications of tonsillectomy and adenotonsillectomy. Materials and Methods: This randomized, clinical trial (RCT) study was carried out on 138 candidates for tonsillectomy or adenotonsillectomy. The patients were randomly divided into two equal groups the first group, i.e. the cases, received antibiotics and the. Control group received no antibiotics. Both groups were compared regarding variables such as fever, mean number of the white blood cells, severity of pain and” nausea and vomiting” after operation, vocalization, mean lapse in drinking time, extent of bleeding during and after operation, pus secretion , regenerating of injury after the two types of surgery. The obtained data was analyzed by means of SPSS software (version 13). using chi-square, T-test, Fisher and Man-Withny tests at the significant level α<0.05. Results: It was found that 49.3% of the cases and 40.6% of the controls were males and the rest females. Mean and standard deviation of the age was 12.2±8.3 and 11.5±5.9 in case and control groups, respectively. Mean and standard deviation of severity of the pain and “nausea and vomiting” were 2.72±0.95 and 16.4±0.94, and 2.54±0.83 and 16.3±1.4 in the cases and controls 24 hours after surgery was 12923±3544 and 14223±3591, respectively. Only, mean number of the white blood cells difference was significantly higher in the control group (14223±3591 vs, 12923±3544, P=0.03). Conclusion: Administering antibiotics to tonsillectomy and adenotonsillectomy patients has no effect on complications consequent to these surgeries

Experimental investigation of an innovative configuration for new marine current turbine

The numerous benefits of Savonius turbine including simplicity in structure, appropriateness of its self-start ability, operating in relatively low velocity, independency from flow direction and its low environmental burdening have caused the Savonious to gain momentum in recent Marine Current Turbine research. However, the turbine suffers from low efficiency as compared with other water turbines. This paper proposes a novel Savonius turbine configuration design for marine currents. The new model design was tested in the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) in the low-speed wind tunnel at different speeds while measuring parameters such as pressure and performance. The experiment was conducted by measuring the pressure distribution on blade surfaces. Various angles of the new rotor were tested at different speeds in the low-speed wind tunnel. The comparison revealed substantial improvement in turbine efficiency for the new configuration in comparison with the conventional design

Effects of Matricaria chamomilla Extract on Growth and Maturation of Isolated Mouse Ovarian Follicles in a Three-dimensional Culture System

Background: The aim of this study was to design and assess the effects of hydroalcoholic extract of Matricaria chamomilla (MC) on preantral follicle culture of mouse ovaries in a three-dimensional culture system. Methods: Isolated preantral follicles were randomly divided into three main groups: the control group containing 10% fetal bovine serum without MC extract (G1), the first experimental group supplemented with 25 μg/ml hydroalcoholic extract of chamomile (G2), and the second experimental group supplemented with 50 μg/ml hydroalcoholic extract of chamomile (G3). Results: After 12 days of culture, the survival rate (P < 0.05), antrum formation (P < 0.01), metaphase two oocytes (P < 0.01), and the expression of PCNA (P < 0.05) and FSHR (P < 0.05) genes significantly decreased in G3 as compared with G1. On the other hand, at the last day of culture (day 12), the mean diameter of follicles cultured in the medium which was supplemented with 50 μg/ml hydroalcoholic extract of chamomile significantly decreased as compared with the G1 (P < 0.05). In addition, the levels of progesterone and dehydroepiandrosterone hormones significantly increased in the medium of G3 relative to G1 (P < 0.01), while in the medium of G1, the level of 17β-estradiol was significantly higher than that of other groups (P < 0.01). Reactive oxygen species levels of metaphase II oocytes were significantly decreased in G2 as compared with G1 (P < 0.01). Conclusion: Adding chamomile extract to culture media appeared to decrease follicular function and development