Ectopic Cushing's syndrome secondary to lung and mediastinal tumours - Report from a tertiary care centre in Iran

Introduction: Ectopic Cushing's syndrome (ECS) secondary to neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) of the lung and mediastinum are rarely encountered. In this study, we present our experience in Iran on 15 patients with ECS secondary to lung and mediastinal tumours over a period of 27 years. Material and methods: Since 1985, 15 patients with ECS secondary to lung and mediastinal tumours have been diagnosed and prospectively followed by the endocrinology team of Taleghani Hospital, Tehran, Iran. The clinical signs and symptoms, laboratory findings, radiological features, immunohistochemical characteristics, management strategies and outcome data are here presented. Results: There were six women and nine men, aged 26-70 years, all presenting with typical features of Cushing's syndrome. Based on histopathologic evaluations, four patients had small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and seven patients had pulmonary NETs, one patient had a thymic NET, and one case was diagnosed as a lung tumourlet. The mean ± SD serum cortisol, 24h urine free cortisol and plasma ACTH were 47.2 ± 20.5 μg/dL, 2,702 ± 5,439 μg/day, and 220 ± 147 pg/mL, respectively. Pulmonary lesions ranged in diameter from 1.1 to 4 cm (mean 1.9 ± 1.1 cm). One patient had a 10 cm mediastinal mass. The duration of follow up in these cases was between one month and seven years (mean 29.9 ± 27.5 months). The four patients with SCLC died within three months of diagnosis. Conclusion: Our data demonstrates the protean clinical and laboratory manifestations of ECS secondary to lung and mediastinal tumours, the problems encountered in diagnosis, and the need for a multidisciplinary approach. This study confirms other series from Western Europe and North America that, unlike the SCLC patients who show a poor outlook, ECS secondary to lung carcinoids has a more favourable prognosis

Evaluation of post operative analgesic efficacy of intramuscular pethidine, compared to indometacin and diclofenac Na suppositories in unilateral inguinal hernioplasty patients

We compared analgesic effects of intramuscular pethidine to diclofenac sodium and indometacin suppositories. This study is a semiexperimental clinical trial study over 55 patients of 17 to 60 years old who had undergone unilateral inguinal hernioplasty. These patients divided into 3 groups incidentally the first group including 17 patients who received 100 mg indometacin suppository every 8 h to relief postoperative pain. The second group of 18 patients who received 100 mg Diclofenac Na suppository every 8 h and the third group including 20 patients who received 0.5 mg kg-1 body weight pethidine intramuscularly every 8 h and the first dose of each drug started 2 h after termination of operation. The severity of pain was checked by Visual Analogue Scale (VSA) method every 2 h for 24 h. Mean pain severity checked and compared in 6 h intervals. Mean pain severity and standard deviation in the first 24 h were 23±12 for indometacin and 27±12 for pethidine and 31±9 for diclofenac Na groups respectively. There is no meaningful difference in pain relief during the first post op day. We concluded that Indometacin and diclofenac Na suppositories are good substitutes of intramuscular pethidine to relief post op pain during the first post op day

Comparison of the Antifungal Activity of Titanium Dioxide Based Nano-Silver Packaging and Conventional Polyethylene Packaging in Consumed Bread

Using titanium dioxide nano-silver packaging, which is antibacterial and resistance to the diffusion of gases such as oxygen, is increasing in food industry. Therefore, we compared the effect of titanium dioxide-based nano-silver packaging and conventional polyethylene packaging on the fungal flora of consuming bread in order to increase the shelf-life storage of consuming bread. One hundred forty four samples of 6 different types of loaf of bread were randomly obtained from 12 bakeries in District 2 of Tehran. The samples were packaged with 3%, 5% and 10% nano-coatings, and also conventional polyethylene coatings as the control group. The bacterial examination and monitoring of samples, according to the national standards of Iran, was carried out 3 times, on the days 1, 3, 7, 14 and 28 of the study period. This study showed that the film type and storage period were the main factors, which significantly influenced the fungal flora of bread. The lowest rate of various fungi growth (%14) was observed in the 10% nano-film, while the highest rate of various fungi growth (47%) was observed in the conventional polyethylene coating (P<0.001). With the increase of the storage period, the number of various fungi increased; however, this correlation was not similar in most of the breads and fungi types, and there were significant difference between them in this regard (P=0.001). According to the results of the present study, due to increasing population growth and in order to improve food security, the use of packages with nano-silver particles, which are based on titanium dioxide, prevails over the polyethylene packages. Therefore, using such packages is highly recommended in the bakery industry

Biodegradation of phenanthrene in an anaerobic batch reactor: growth kinetics

The purpose of the present research was to demonstrate the ability of mixed consortia of microorganisms to degrade high concentrations of phenanthrene (PHE) as the sole carbon source. Batch experiments were carried out by the induction of mineral salt medium containing PHE to the seed culture and monitoring PHE biodegradation. The microbial propagation was conducted using PHE concentrations in the range of 20 to 100 mg/l. The microbial growth on PHE was defined based on Monod and modified Logistic rate models. The kinetic studies revealed that maximum specific growth rates (μm) for PHE concentrations of 20, 50 and 100 mg/l were 0.12, 0.23 and 0.035 h-1, respectively. The doubling times for microbial population in PHE concentrations of 20, 50 and 100 mg/l were 13, 15 and 17.5 h, respectively. Also, maximum cell dry weight (xm) of 54.23 mg/l was achieved, while the inhibition coefficient was 0.023 h-1. It was observed that the experimental data were well represented by the proposed models. It was also found that the biodegradation of PHE was successfully performed by the isolated strains

Community-based physical activity interventions among women: A systematic review

Objective: Review and assess the effectiveness of community-based physical activity interventions among women aged 18-65 years. Design: Systematic review Methods: To find relevant articles, the researcher selected reports published in English between 1 January 2000 and 31 March 2013. Systematic search was to find controlled-trial studies that were conducted to uncover the effect of community-based interventions to promote physical activity among women 18-65 years of age, in which physical activity was reported as one of the measured outcomes. The methodological quality assessment was performed using a critical appraisal sheet. Also, the levels of evidence were assessed for the types of interventions. Results: The literature search identified nine articles. Four of the studies were randomised and the others studies had high methodological quality. There was no evidence, on the basis of effectiveness, for social cognitive theory-based interventions and inconclusive evidence of effectiveness for the rest of interventions. Conclusions: There is insufficient evidence to assess the effectiveness of community-based interventions for enhancing physical activity among women. There is a need for high-quality randomised clinical trials with adequate statistical power to determine whether multicomponent and community-based intervention programmes increase physical activity among women, as well as to determine what type of interventions have a more effective and sustainable impact on women's physical activity. © 2015, BMJ. All rights reserved

Quality assessment of fish burgers from deep flounder (Pseudorhombus elevatus) and brushtooth lizardfish (Saurida undosquamis) during storage at -18ºC

Microbiological, chemical and sensory changes of fish burgers prepared from deep flounder (Pseudorhombus elevatus) and brushtooth lizardfish (Saurida undosquamis) were determined during storage at -18ºC for 5 months. Microbiological counts were including total plate count (TPC), total coliform (TC), Staphylococcus aureus, Psychotropic and Escherichia coli decreased throughout the frozen storage . Reduction of microbial load in brushtooth lizardfish was higher than that in deep flounder, except for Staphylococcus aureus counts that was almost equal in both groups. There was a significant increase in pH value in both groups (P<0.05) in first and second months of storage only. Moisture content increased in both groups at the end of 5th month, with increase of moisture in deep flounder fish burgers being higher than that in brushtooth lizardfish burgers. TVB-N values in both groups increased significantly (P<0.05 and P<0.008 for deep flounder and brushtooth lizardfish burgers, respectively) at the end of the second month, however, there was a decrease or no significant change afterward. TBA value of deep flounder fish burgers had a significant decrease (P<0.05) as storage time continued, however, it increased significantly in brushtooth lizardfish burgers at the end of second month (P<0.006) following by a decrease at the end of storage period. Peroxide value (PV) in both groups increased significantly (P<0.05 and P<0.002 in deep flounder and brushtooth lizardfish burgers, respectively) during storage time but a significant decrease was observed at the end of third and fourth months (P<0.005 and P<0.001 in deep flounder and brushtooth lizardfish burgers, respectively). Sensory parameters (color, texture, taste and general acceptability) for two groups decreased significantly (P<0.003 for all parameters in 2 groups) during storage with deep flounder fish burgers receiving higher scores than brushtooth lizardfish burgers at the beginning and end of the storage period

Differentiation between metastatic and tumour-free cervical lymph nodes in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma by grey-scale sonographic texture analysis

Purpose: Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most common thyroid cancer, and cervical lymph nodes (LNs) are the most common extrathyroid metastatic involvement. Early detection and reliable diagnosis of LNs can lead to improved cure rates and management costs. This study explored the potential of texture analysis for texture-based classification of tumour-free and metastatic cervical LNs of PTC in ultrasound imaging. Material and methods: A total of 274 LNs (137 tumour-free and 137 metastatic) were explored using the texture analysis (TA) method. Up to 300 features were extracted for texture analysis in three normalisations (default, 3sigma, and 1-99). Linear discriminant analysis was employed to transform raw data to lower-dimensional spaces and increase discriminative power. The features were classified by the first nearest neighbour classifier. Results: Normalisation reflected improvement on the performance of the classifier; hence, the features under 3sigma normalisation schemes through FFPA (fusion Fisher plus the probability of classification error POE + average correlation coefficients ACC) features indicated high performance in classifying tumour-free and metastatic LNs with a sensitivity of 99.27%, specificity of 98.54%, accuracy of 98.90%, positive predictive value of 98.55%, and negative predictive value of 99.26%. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.996. Conclusions: TA was determined to be a reliable method with the potential for characterisation. This method can be applied by physicians to differentiate between tumour-free and metastatic LNs in patients with PTC in conventional ultrasound imaging. © Pol J Radiol

Differentiation between metastatic and tumour-free cervical lymph nodes in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma by grey-scale sonographic texture analysis

Purpose: Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most common thyroid cancer, and cervical lymph nodes (LNs) are the most common extrathyroid metastatic involvement. Early detection and reliable diagnosis of LNs can lead to improved cure rates and management costs. This study explored the potential of texture analysis for texture-based classification of tumour-free and metastatic cervical LNs of PTC in ultrasound imaging. Material and methods: A total of 274 LNs (137 tumour-free and 137 metastatic) were explored using the texture analysis (TA) method. Up to 300 features were extracted for texture analysis in three normalisations (default, 3sigma, and 1-99). Linear discriminant analysis was employed to transform raw data to lower-dimensional spaces and increase discriminative power. The features were classified by the first nearest neighbour classifier. Results: Normalisation reflected improvement on the performance of the classifier; hence, the features under 3sigma normalisation schemes through FFPA (fusion Fisher plus the probability of classification error POE + average correlation coefficients ACC) features indicated high performance in classifying tumour-free and metastatic LNs with a sensitivity of 99.27%, specificity of 98.54%, accuracy of 98.90%, positive predictive value of 98.55%, and negative predictive value of 99.26%. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.996. Conclusions: TA was determined to be a reliable method with the potential for characterisation. This method can be applied by physicians to differentiate between tumour-free and metastatic LNs in patients with PTC in conventional ultrasound imaging. © Pol J Radiol

Application of deep learning technique to manage COVID-19 in routine clinical practice using CT images: Results of 10 convolutional neural networks

Fast diagnostic methods can control and prevent the spread of pandemic diseases like coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and assist physicians to better manage patients in high workload conditions. Although a laboratory test is the current routine diagnostic tool, it is time-consuming, imposing a high cost and requiring a well-equipped laboratory for analysis. Computed tomography (CT) has thus far become a fast method to diagnose patients with COVID-19. However, the performance of radiologists in diagnosis of COVID-19 was moderate. Accordingly, additional investigations are needed to improve the performance in diagnosing COVID-19. In this study is suggested a rapid and valid method for COVID-19 diagnosis using an artificial intelligence technique based. 1020 CT slices from 108 patients with laboratory proven COVID-19 (the COVID-19 group) and 86 patients with other atypical and viral pneumonia diseases (the non-COVID-19 group) were included. Ten well-known convolutional neural networks were used to distinguish infection of COVID-19 from non-COVID-19 groups: AlexNet, VGG-16, VGG-19, SqueezeNet, GoogleNet, MobileNet-V2, ResNet-18, ResNet-50, ResNet-101, and Xception. Among all networks, the best performance was achieved by ResNet-101 and Xception. ResNet-101 could distinguish COVID-19 from non-COVID-19 cases with an AUC of 0.994 (sensitivity, 100; specificity, 99.02; accuracy, 99.51). Xception achieved an AUC of 0.994 (sensitivity, 98.04; specificity, 100; accuracy, 99.02). However, the performance of the radiologist was moderate with an AUC of 0.873 (sensitivity, 89.21; specificity, 83.33; accuracy, 86.27). ResNet-101 can be considered as a high sensitivity model to characterize and diagnose COVID-19 infections, and can be used as an adjuvant tool in radiology departments. © 2020 Elsevier Lt

Correction to: 1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 modulates adipogenesis of human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells dose-dependently (Nutrition & Metabolism, (2021), 18, 1, (29), 10.1186/s12986-021-00561-4)

Following publication of the original article 1, the authors identified an error in the affiliation of Dr. Mehdi Hedayati. © 2021, The Author(s)