Effect of Low Intensity Cathodal Direct Current on Rate of Healing and Quality Of Life in Diabetic Patients with Ischemic Foot Ulcer

Introduction: Adjunctive treatment using electrical stimulation has recently been shown to promote healing in patients with diabetic foot ulcer. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether low intensity cathodal direct current electrical stimulation improves healing rate of foot ulcers and health related quality of life in diabetic patients. Materials and methods: A total of 30 type 2 diabetic patients with ischemic foot ulcer were included in the present randomized, single-blind, placebo controlled trial. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either electrical stimulation therapy (direct current with low intensity, ES group, n=15) or sham treatment (placebo group, n=15) for 1 h/day, 3 days/week, for 4 weeks (12 sessions). Improvement ratio of wound and quality of life was evaluated at the 1st and 12th sessions. The quality of life was assessed using SF-36 questionnaire. Results: The mean of improvement ratio was significantly higher in the electrical stimulation group (59.4%) compared with that of the placebo group (27.07%) at the 12th session (P=0.02). Overall score of quality of life significantly increased in the electrical stimulation group as compared with that for the placebo group (0.01). Conclusion: By promotion of wound healing, applied low intensity cathodal direct current may increase the health-related quality of life in diabetic patients with ischemic foot ulcer.Key words: Diabetics, Ischemic foot ulcers, Low intensity direct current, Wound improvement rate, Quality of lif

The Fragile Coalition and Political Competition UAE and Saudi Arabia in Yemen (2015-2020)

With the aim of defeating the goals of the Yemeni revolution, the Saudi-led Arabic Coalition entered the Yemeni campaign in 2015. But there were clear signs of disagreement among key members of the coalition on the Yemeni scene. The southern regions of Yemen became competition place of Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Accordingly, the main question of the article is what are the most important factors of competition between the UAE and Saudi Arabia in the Yemeni crisis? The hypothesis is that the two actors' different perceptions of the common enemy component and their skeptical attitude about the desired results are the main factors in the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and UAE in Yemen. This article describes the components of competition between the two countries in Yemen through a descriptive-analytical method, and examines the impact of the competition between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi on the political future of Yemen

History of treated pulmonary tuberculosis will also be an underlying symptom of opportunistic aspergillosis by Aspergillus flavus: A case report

AbstractIntroductionAspergillus species as cosmopolitan fungi with remarkable virulence factors were found to be agents of pulmonary aspergillosis in patients with impaired immunity. The formed cavity of some previously treated lung diseases, such as tuberculosis, sarcoidosis and pneumoconiosis, is usually predisposed to the development of aspergillosis.Pulmonary aspergillosis (PA) is an uncommon disease which is characterized by hemoptysis, malaise, fever, cough, weight loss and nonspecific radiographic manifestations, including an oval or round mass with a radiolucent halo or crescent of air, a focal consolidation, and cavitary lesions.Case presentationThis study presents the case of a 54-year-old woman with dyspnea alongside a history of treated pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) by ATT 2years ago. X-ray confirmed the presence of a rounded mass in a surrounding cavity in the lung. Tracheobronchial and chest CT images of the patient showed cavities with tuberculous nodules. Clinical symptoms of the patient were fever, malaise, anorexia, weight loss, chest pain, cough and dark mucus sputum. Aspergillus sp. was detected primarily as branching hyaline hyphae in direct examination of the sputum by calcofluor-white staining. The sample was positive with culture as well. Aspergillus flavus was identified in culture and confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing of the ITS region of rDNA and β-tubulin of fungus. The patient signed an agreement for reporting her case as a medical document in journals or in conferences.ConclusionThe importance of tuberculosis (TB) in the development of aspergillosis, even after treatment, has been highlighted by multiple studies. Microbiological and molecular evaluation are needed to detect PA quickly and accurately. The WHO reported about 8.8million new cases of TB in 2010. Therefore, it is essential to focus more on monitoring of diagnosis and treatment of PA

The immunomodulatory effect 1,25 (OH)2 D3 on TLR 2 and TLR4 expression on monocytes of patients with type II diabetes mellitus

Background: Recent studies have shown the immunomodulatory effect of vitamin D3 through down-regulation of Toll-like receptor (TLR) expression in human monocytes. In this study, the effects of vitamin D treatment on TLR2 and TLR4 expression on monocytes derived from type 2 diabetes was investigated.Materials and Methods: To assess the influence of vitamin D3 on expression of TLR2 and TLR4 on monocytes from patients with type II diabetes, peripheral blood sample was taken of 30 patients. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated by density gradient centrifuge and then monocytes were isolated from these cells with using the magnetic activated cell sorting (MACS). To investigate the effect of vitamin D3 on the expression of TLR2 and TLR4, monocytes were cultured in the presence of vitamin D3 (10-9 M) for 48 hours. Then the expression of TLR2 and TLR4 was determined by Real-time PCR.Results: We found that vitamin D3 suppresses the mRNA expression of TLR2 and TLR4 in patients with type II diabetes. TLR2 and TLR4 expression in the patients exposed to vitamin D3 were significantly decreased in comparison with patients who were not treated with vitamin D3.Conclusion: It can be concluded that vitamin D3 supplements may be further analyzed as a therapeutic option by reducing TLR2 and TLR4 expression in patients with type II diabetes

The Prevalence of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Infection and Genotypes in Patients with Hemophilia and Other Blood Coagulopathies in Mashhad, Iran

Background and Aim: Patients with blood coagulopathies treated with multiple transfusions have a high risk to acquire some viral infections such as hepatitis C. This research was aimed to identify hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection prevalence, and the viral genotypes among patients with hemophilia and other inherited coagulopathies in Mashhad, Iran. Methods: Medical records of 760 patients with inherited coagulopathies including hemophilia were reviewed in Sarvar Clinic of Mashhad. Plasma samples were subjected to detect antibodies against HCV (anti-HCV) by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. HCV RNA and genotypes were determined by a real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. Results: Totally 128 individuals (16.8%) including patients with hemophilia (n=116) and individuals with other coagulopathies (n=12) were found to be seropositive for anti-HCV. They comprised 122 men and six women with a mean age of 31.6 ± 10.5 years. The PCR results were available for 118 patients, of whom 86 individuals (72.9%) were found to have detectable HCV RNA in their serum. The most frequent genotypes were 1a and 3a (49.1% and 35.8%, respectively). HCV genotypes were not significantly correlated with the patients’ age (p=0.477) as well as with the serum levels of alanine aminotransferase (p=0.655) and aspartate aminotransferase (p=0.332). Conclusion: The patients with blood coagulation disorders had a greater prevalence of HCV infection in comparison with the general population in our region. The most common subgenotypes of HCV were 1a, and 3a, respectively. These results could assist professionals to choose more efficient approaches for the management of their patients. *Corresponding Author: Mohammad Reza Hedayati-Moghaddam; Email: [email protected] Please cite this article as: Badiei Z, Ahmadi-Ghezeldasht S, Sima HR, Habibi M, Khamooshi M, Azimi A, Hedayati-Moghaddam MR. The Prevalence of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Infection and Genotypes in Patients with Hemophilia and Other Blood Coagulopathies in Mashhad, Iran. Arch Med Lab Sci. 2021;7:1-7 (e9). https://doi.org/10.22037/amls.v7.3396

Topical Timolol Inhibits Corneal Neovascularization in Rabbits

Timolol is a non-selective beta-adrenergic antagonist that is similar to propranolol. The mechanism through which these drugs act on the regression of neovascularization is largely unknown. However, it is thought that the drugs may act through vascular endothelial growth factor signaling, vasoconstriction, and vascular endothelial cell apoptosis. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of timolol on corneal neovascularization in rabbits. Neovascularization was induced in the eyes of 20 rabbits. Next, the rabbits were divided into two groups: the timolol (experimental) group received eye drops containing timolol 0.5% twice per day; and the saline (control) group received saline drops twice per day for two weeks. After 7 days, the mean area of corneal neovascularization (presented as a percentage relative to baseline) was significantly lower in the timolol group than in the saline group (4.63 ± 4.61% versus 58.39 ± 6.31%, P < 0.001). After 2 weeks, the mean area of corneal neovascularization was 0.85 ± 1.33% in the timolol group and 1.73 ± 2.06% in the saline group (P = 0.315). After the first week of treatment, timolol significantly reduced the area of neovascularization compared to control. Timolol may increase the rate of recovery from corneal neovascularization.Â

First Autochthonous Coinfected Anthrax in an Immunocompetent Patient

Cutaneous anthrax has a mortality rate of 20% if no antibacterial treatment is applied. The clinical manifestations of cutaneous anthrax are obviously striking, but coinfection may produce atypical lesions and mask the clinical manifestations and proper laboratory diagnosis. Anthrax is known to be more common in the Middle East and Iran is one of the countries in which the zoonotic form of anthrax may still be encountered. We report a case of a 19-years-old male who used to apply Venetian ceruse on his skin. Venetian ceruse (also known as Spirits of Saturn) is an old cosmetic product used for skin whitening traditionally made from sheep’s spinal cord. The patient referred to the Referral Laboratory, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran, with atypical dermatosis, pronounced pain, and oedema of the affected tissue. It was confirmed by both conventional and molecular analysis that culture was a mixture of Bacillus anthracis and Trichophyton interdigitale. The patient was initially treated with ceftriaxone (1000 mg/day for two weeks), gentamicin (1.5–2 mg/kg/day), terbinafine (200 mg/week for one month), and 1% clotrimazole cream (5 weeks) two times per day which resulted in gradual improvement. No relapse could be detected after one-year follow-up. Anthrax infection might present a broader spectrum of symptoms than expected by clinicians. These unfamiliar characteristics may lead to delayed diagnosis, inadequate treatment, and higher mortality rate. Clinicians need to be aware of this issue in order to have successful management over this infection

A Novel Mode Un-Mixing Approach in Variational Mode Decomposition for Fault Detection in Wound Rotor Induction Machines

Condition monitoring of induction machines (IMs) with the aim of increasing the machine’s lifetime, improving the efficiency and reducing the maintenance cost is necessary and inevitable. Among different types of methods presented for mechanical and electrical fault tracing in induction machines, stator current signature analysis has attracted great attention in recent decades. This popularity is mainly due to the non-invasive nature of this technique. A non-recursive method named variational mode decomposition (VMD) is used for the decomposition of any signal into several intrinsic mode functions (IMFs). This technique can be employed for detection of faulty components in a current signature. However, mode mixing of extracted IMFs makes the mechanical and electrical fault detection of IMs complicated, especially in the case where fault indices emerge close to the supply frequency. To achieve this, we rectify the signal of stator current prior to applying VMD. The main advantage of the presented approach is allowing the fault indices to be properly demodulated from the main frequency to avoid mode mixing phenomenon. The method shows that the dominant frequencies of the current signal can be isolated in each IMFs, appropriately. The proposed strategy is validated to detect the rotor asymmetric fault (RAF) in a wound rotor induction machine (WRIM), in both transient and steady-state conditions