Human bocavirus in hospitalized iranian adults with respiratory tract infections during January-June 2014

The epidemiology of respiratory human bocavirus (HBoV) infection has not been described in Tehran's adult and to determine the epidemiological and clinical characteristics associated with HBoV infection, a population of adults hospitalized with respiratory tract infections were chosen. Throat swab samples were collected from 91 hospitalized adults aged between 29 to 91 year and Real-time PCR TaqMan was used to screen specimens by amplifying a part of the NP1 gene. HBoV was detected in 6 adults (6.6). Mean age was 76 years and 67 of patients were female. The most common symptoms were wheezing (100), tachypnea (100), cough (100), rhinorrhea/pharyngitis (83.33) and fever (83.33) which clinically diagnosed by a physician. Gastrointestinal symptoms was present only in 1 patient (16.6). In our study the distribution of HBoV was influenced by temperature, relative humidity and precipitation. HBoV is circulating in Tehran and is associated with both upper and lower respiratory tract disease in adults

BIODESULFURIZATION OF SIMULATED LIGHT FUEL OIL BY A NATIVE ISOLATED BACTERIA BACILLUS CEREUS HN

In the present paper, the biodesulfurization of simulated light fuel oil (i.e., dibenzothiophene (DBT) in dodecane) and untreated kerosene with a high total sulfur content has been studied by a native isolated bacterium named Bacillus cereus HN. The influences of various parameters such as the reaction temperature (T), biocatalyst cell density, oil phase fraction (OFP), and initial DBT concentration on the fractional conversion of the model sulfur compound were investigated. The experimental data obtained were used to determine the reaction rate constant of the model sulfur compound and the corresponding activation energy. Furthermore, the biodesulfurization of un-treated kerosene with a total sulfur content of 2333 ppmw produced by an Iranian refinery company (Isfahan refinery) was investigated to examine the capability of this new microorganism. It was realized that about 33% of the total sulfur content of untreated kerosene could be removed after 72 hrs. The results of the response surface methodology (RSM) showed that a quadratic correlation could be proposed for the influences of biocatalyst cell density, OFP, and initial DBT concentration on the desulfurization of DBT.</span

Phosphorescent heterobimetallic complexes involving platinum(IV) and rhenium(VII) centers, connected by unsupported μ-oxido bridge

Heterobimetallic compounds [(CN)LMe2Pt(mu-O)ReO3] (CN = ppy, L = PPh3, 2a; CN = ppy, L = PMePh2, 2b; CN = bhq, L = PPh3, 2c; CN = bhq, L = PMePh2, 2d) containing a discrete unsupported Pt(IV)-O-Re(VII) bridge have been synthesized through a targeted synthesis route. The compounds have been prepared by a single-pot synthesis in which the Pt(IV) precursor [PtMe2I(CN)L] complexes are allowed to react easily with AgReO4 in which the iodide ligand of the starting Pt(IV) complex is replaced by an ReO4- anion. In these Pt-O-Re complexes, the Pt(IV) centers have an octahedral geometry, completed by a cyclometalated bidentate ligand (CN), two methyl groups and a phosphine ligand, while the Re(VII) centers have a tetrahedral geometry. Elemental analysis, single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis and multinuclear NMR spectroscopy are used to establish their identities. The new complexes exhibit phosphorescence emission in the solid and solution states at 298 and 77 K, which is an uncommon property of platinum complexes with an oxidation state of +4. According to DFT calculations, we found that this emission behavior in the new complexes originates from ligand centered (LC)-L-3 (CN) character with a slight amount of metal to ligand charge transfer ((MLCT)-M-3). The solid-state emission data of the corresponding cycloplatinated(IV) precursor complexes [PtMe2I(CN)L], 1a-1d, pointed out that the replacement of I- by an ReO4- anion helps enhancing the emission efficiency besides shifting the emission wavelengths

Hodgkin's lymphoma presenting with heart failure: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Cardiac involvement in malignant lymphoma is one of the least investigated subjects in oncology. This article reports a case of cardiac involvement in Hodgkin's lymphoma which presented as heart failure.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report the case of an 8-year-old Afghan girl with Hodgkin's lymphoma. The disease presented with systemic signs and symptoms, including abdominal distension, weakness, pallor, chills, fever, generalized edema, hepatosplenomegaly and generalized lymphadenopathy, as well as signs of heart failure. Test results showed a rare form of heart metastasis.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We report a case of Hodgkin's lymphoma with metastasis to the heart, detected premortem. Although the involvement of the heart in a malignancy is relatively common, premortem detection is unusual and only few studies have reported it in the literature.</p

Percutaneous closure of atrial septal defects leads to normalisation of atrial and ventricular volumes

Background: Percutaneous closure of atrial septal defects (ASDs) should potentially reduce right heart volumes by removing left-to-right shunting. Due to ventricular interdependence, this may be associated with impaired left ventricular filling and potentially function. Furthermore, atrial changes post-ASD closure have been poorly understood and may be important for understanding risk of atrial arrhythmia post-ASD closure. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is an accurate and reproducible imaging modality for the assessment of cardiac function and volumes. We assessed cardiac volumes pre- and post-percutaneous ASD closure using CMR. Methods: Consecutive patients (n = 23) underwent CMR pre- and 6 months post-ASD closure. Steady state free precession cine CMR was performed using contiguous slices in both short and long axis views through the ASD. Data was collected for assessment of left and right atrial, ventricular end diastolic volumes (EDV) and end systolic volumes (ESV). Data is presented as mean ± SD, volumes as mL, and paired t-testing performed between groups. Statistical significance was taken as p &lt; 0.05. Results: There was a significant reduction in right ventricular volumes at 6 months post-ASD closure (RVEDV: 208.7 ± 76.7 vs. 140.6 ± 60.4 mL, p &lt; 0.0001) and RVEF was significantly increased (RVEF 35.5 ± 15.5 vs. 42.0 ± 15.2%, p = 0.025). There was a significant increase in the left ventricular volumes (LVEDV 84.8 ± 32.3 vs. 106.3 ± 38.1 mL, p = 0.003 and LVESV 37.4 ± 20.9 vs. 46.8 ± 18.5 mL, p = 0.016). However, there was no significant difference in LVEF and LV mass post-ASD closure. There was a significant reduction in right atrial volumes at 6 months post-ASD closure (pre-closure 110.5 ± 55.7 vs. post-closure 90.7 ± 69.3 mL, p = 0.019). Although there was a trend to a decrease in left atrial volumes post-ASD closure, this was not statistically significant (84.5 ± 34.8 mL to 81.8 ± 44.2 mL, p = NS). Conclusion: ASD closure leads to normalisation of ventricular volumes and also a reduction in right atrial volume. Further follow-up is required to assess how this predicts outcomes such as risk of atrial arrhythmias after such procedures.Karen SL Teo, Benjamin K Dundon, Payman Molaee, Kerry F Williams, Angelo Carbone, Michael A Brown, Matthew I Worthley, Patrick J Disney, Prashanthan Sanders and Stephen G Worthle

Scaling Effects and Spatio-Temporal Multilevel Dynamics in Epileptic Seizures

Epileptic seizures are one of the most well-known dysfunctions of the nervous system. During a seizure, a highly synchronized behavior of neural activity is observed that can cause symptoms ranging from mild sensual malfunctions to the complete loss of body control. In this paper, we aim to contribute towards a better understanding of the dynamical systems phenomena that cause seizures. Based on data analysis and modelling, seizure dynamics can be identified to possess multiple spatial scales and on each spatial scale also multiple time scales. At each scale, we reach several novel insights. On the smallest spatial scale we consider single model neurons and investigate early-warning signs of spiking. This introduces the theory of critical transitions to excitable systems. For clusters of neurons (or neuronal regions) we use patient data and find oscillatory behavior and new scaling laws near the seizure onset. These scalings lead to substantiate the conjecture obtained from mean-field models that a Hopf bifurcation could be involved near seizure onset. On the largest spatial scale we introduce a measure based on phase-locking intervals and wavelets into seizure modelling. It is used to resolve synchronization between different regions in the brain and identifies time-shifted scaling laws at different wavelet scales. We also compare our wavelet-based multiscale approach with maximum linear cross-correlation and mean-phase coherence measures

A neural population model of the bi-phasic EEG-power spectrum during general anaesthesia

International audienceThe neuronal mechanisms of general anaesthesia are still poorly understood, though the induction of analgesia, amnesia, immobility and loss of consciousness by anaesthetic agents is well-established in hospital practice. To shed some light onto these mysterious effects, the chapter analyzes mathematically a neural field model describing the neural population dynamics by an integro-differential equation. The power spectrum is derived and compared to experimental results

Noncommutative Phase Space Schrödinger Equation with Minimal Length

We consider the Schrödinger equation under an external magnetic field in two-dimensional noncommutative phase space with an explicit minimal length relation. The eigenfunctions are reported in terms of the Jacobi polynomials, and the explicit form of energy eigenvalues is reported

DKP oscillator in the presence of magnetic field in (1+2)-dimensions for spin-zero and spin-one particles in noncommutative phase space

The DKP oscillator in the presence of a magnetic field is solved for spin-zero and spin-one particles in noncommutative phase space in (1+2) dimensions. We obtain the energy eigenvalues and the corresponding wave functions in an exact analytical manner. In addition, we discuss our solutions in various conditions and comment on the critical values of the magnetic field as well as the coinciding points of commutative and noncommutative cases. We include some illustrating figures and numerical data