Prevalence of depression among infertile couples in Iran: A meta-analysis study

Background: Several studies have been conducted in Iran in order to investigate the prevalence of depression among infertile couples. However, there is a remarkable diversity among the results. This meta-analysis was conducted to estimate an overall prevalence rate of depression among infertile couples in Iran. Methods: International and national electronic databases were searched up to June 2011 including MEDLINE, Science Citation Index Expanded, Scopus, SID, MagIran, and IranMedex as well as conference databases. Furthermore, reference lists of articles were screened and the studies' authors were contacted for additional references. Cross-sectional studies addressing the prevalence of depression among infertile couples were included in this meta-analysis. We assessed 12 separate studies involving overall 2818 participants of which 1251 had depression. Results: Overall prevalence rate of depression among infertile couples was 0.47 (95% CI: 0.40, 0.55). The prevalence rate of depression was 0.44 (95% CI: 0.32, 0.56) during 2000 to 2005 and 0.50 (95% CI: 0.43, 0.57 during 2006 to 2011. The prevalence rate of depression was 0.46 (95% CI: 0.39, 0.53) among women and 0.47 (95% CI: 0.40, 0.54) among men. Conclusion: Not only the prevalence of depression in infertile couples was high but also had increasing growth in recent years. Furthermore, despite many studies conducted addressing the prevalence of depression in infertile couples, there is however a remarkable diversity between the results. Thus, one can hardly give a precise estimation of the prevalence rate of depression among infertile couples in Iran now

Stripe formation in horizontally oscillating granular suspensions

We present the results of an experimental study of pattern formation in horizontally oscillating granular suspensions. Starting from a homogeneous state, the suspension turns into a striped pattern within a specific range of frequencies and amplitudes of oscillation. We observe an initial development of layered structures perpendicular to the vibration direction and a gradual coarsening of the stripes. However, both processes gradually slow down and eventually saturate. The probability distribution of the stripe width approaches a nonmonotonic steady-state form which can be approximated by a Poisson distribution. We observe similar structures in MD simulations of soft spherical particles coupled to the motion of the surrounding fluid.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, to appear in Europhys. Lett. (2014

Scoring Coreference Chains with Split-Antecedent Anaphors

Anaphoric reference is an aspect of language interpretation covering a variety of types of interpretation beyond the simple case of identity reference to entities introduced via nominal expressions covered by the traditional coreference task in its most recent incarnation in ONTONOTES and similar datasets. One of these cases that go beyond simple coreference is anaphoric reference to entities that must be added to the discourse model via accommodation, and in particular split-antecedent references to entities constructed out of multiple discourse entities, as in split-antecedent plurals and in some cases of discourse deixis. Although this type of anaphoric reference is now annotated in many datasets, systems interpreting such references cannot be evaluated using the Reference coreference scorer (Pradhan et al., 2014). As part of the work towards a new scorer for anaphoric reference able to evaluate all aspects of anaphoric interpretation in the coverage of the Universal Anaphora initiative, we propose in this paper a solution to the technical problem of generalizing existing metrics for identity anaphora so that they can also be used to score cases of split-antecedents. This is the first such proposal in the literature on anaphora or coreference, and has been successfully used to score both split-antecedent plural references and discourse deixis in the recent CODI/CRAC anaphora resolution in dialogue shared tasks

Modelling the evaporation of nanoparticle suspensions from heterogeneous surfaces

We present a Monte Carlo (MC) grid-based model for the drying of drops of a nanoparticle suspension upon a heterogeneous surface. The model consists of a generalised lattice-gas in which the interaction parameters in the Hamiltonian can be varied to model different properties of the materials involved. We show how to choose correctly the interactions, to minimise the effects of the underlying grid so that hemispherical droplets form. We also include the effects of surface roughness to examine the effects of contact-line pinning on the dynamics. When there is a `lid' above the system, which prevents evaporation, equilibrium drops form on the surface, which we use to determine the contact angle and how it varies as the parameters of the model are changed. This enables us to relate the interaction parameters to the materials used in applications. The model has also been applied to drying on heterogeneous surfaces, in particular to the case where the suspension is deposited on a surface consisting of a pair of hydrophilic conducting metal surfaces that are either side of a band of hydrophobic insulating polymer. This situation occurs when using inkjet printing to manufacture electrical connections between the metallic parts of the surface. The process is not always without problems, since the liquid can dewet from the hydrophobic part of the surface, breaking the bridge before the drying process is complete. The MC model reproduces the observed dewetting, allowing the parameters to be varied so that the conditions for the best connection can be established. We show that if the hydrophobic portion of the surface is located at a step below the height of the neighbouring metal, the chance of dewetting of the liquid during the drying process is significantly reduced.Comment: 14 pages, 14 figure

FERMAT: an alternative to accuracy for numerical reasoning

While pre-trained language models achieve impressive performance on various NLP benchmarks, they still struggle with tasks that require numerical reasoning. Recent advances in improving numerical reasoning are mostly achieved using very large language models that contain billions of parameters and are not accessible to everyone. In addition, numerical reasoning is measured using a single score on existing datasets. As a result, we do not have a clear understanding of the strengths and shortcomings of existing models on different numerical reasoning aspects and therefore, potential ways to improve them apart from scaling them up. Inspired by CheckList (Ribeiro et al., 2020), we introduce a multi-view evaluation set for numerical reasoning in English, called FERMAT. Instead of reporting a single score on a whole dataset, FERMAT evaluates models on various key numerical reasoning aspects such as number understanding, mathematical operations, and training dependency. Apart from providing a comprehensive evaluation of models on different numerical reasoning aspects, FERMAT enables a systematic and automated generation of an arbitrarily large training or evaluation set for each aspect.The datasets and codes are publicly available to generate further multi-view data for ulterior tasks and languages

Incorporating tool deformation in the design of extrusion dies for complex hollow profiles

The potential of OpenFOAM to design extrusion dies, incorporating the Fluid Structure Interaction (FSI)Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-015126 (Refª. FCT PTDC/EMEMFE/ 113988/2009), FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-010190 (Refª. FCT PTDC/EME-FME/102729/2008) and PEst-C/CTM/LA0025/2011 (Strategic Project - LA 25 – 2011-2012), SFRH/BD43632/2008, FCT-SFRH/ BPD/ 77467/ 201

Thermal inactivation and conformational lock studies on glucose oxidase

In this study, the dissociative thermal inactivation and conformational lock theories are applied for the homodimeric enzyme glucose oxidase (GOD) in order to analyze its structure. For this purpose, the rate of activity reduction of glucose oxidase is studied at various temperatures using b-D-glucose as the substrate by incubation of enzyme at various temperatures in the wide range between 40 and 70 �C using UV–Vis spectrophotometry. It was observed that in the two ranges of temperatures, the enzyme has two different forms. In relatively low temperatures, the enzyme is in its dimeric state and has normal activity. In high temperatures, the activity almost disappears and it aggregates. The above achievements are confirmed by dynamic light scattering. The experimental parameter ‘‘n’’ as the obvious number of conformational locks at the dimer interface of glucose oxidase is obtained by kinetic data, and the value is near to two. To confirm the above results, the X-ray crystallography structure of the enzyme, GOD (pdb, 1gal), was also studied. The secondary and tertiary structures of the enzyme to track the thermal inactivation were studied by circular dichroism and fluorescence spectroscopy, respectively. We proposed a mechanism model for thermal inactivation of GOD based on the absence of the monomeric form of the enzyme by circular dichroism and fluorescence spectroscopy

The correlation of RNase A enzymatic activity with the changes in the distance between Nepsilon2-His12 and N delta1-His119 upon addition of stabilizing and destabilizing salts.

The effect of stabilizing and destabilizing salts on the catalytic behavior of ribonuclease A (RNase A) was investigated at pH 7.5 and 25 degrees C, using spectrophotometric, viscometric and molecular dynamic methods. The changes in the distance between N(epsilon2) of His(12) and N(delta1) of His(119) at the catalytic center of RNase A upon the addition of sodium sulfate, sodium hydrogen sulfate and sodium thiocyanate were evaluated by molecular dynamic methods. The compactness and expansion in terms of Stokes radius of RNase A upon the addition of sulfate ions as kosmotropic salts, and thiocyanate ion as a chaotropic salt, were estimated by viscometric measurements. Enzyme activity was measured using cytidine 2', 3'-cyclic monophosphate as a substrate. The results from the measurements of distances between N(epsilon2) of His(12) and N(delta1) of His(119) and Stokes radius suggest (i) that the presence of sulfate ions decreases the distance between the catalytic His residues and increases the globular compactness, and (ii) that there is an expansion of the enzyme surface as well as elongation of the catalytic center in the presence of thiocyanate ion. These findings are in agreement with activity measurements

Protective Effects of Regular Exercise Combined With Curcumin Supplementation Against Lead-Induced Cerebellar Oxidative Damage in an Animal Model

Lifestyle modifications, such as physical exercise and dietary supplements, were recommended as protective measures against some neurological disorders. We examined the effects of regular exercise combined with curcumin supplementation against lead-induced oxidative damage of the cerebellum in male rats. Experimental animals (n = 50) were randomly divided into five groups. Lead acetate (20 mg/kg) was i.p. administered to three groups (except sham and control ones), while the sham group received ethyloleate (30 mg/kg) three times per week. The curcumin and curcumin + exercise groups received curcumin (30 mg/kg) i.p. five times per week for eight weeks. The exercise program consisted of progressive running on a treadmill, speed from 15 to 22 m/min, 25 to 64 min per day, five times per week for eight weeks. Two days after the last application, the rats were euthanized, and their cerebellum was removed and homogenized to measure the levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARSs). Chronic administration of lead significantly increased the cerebellar TBARS levels but did not alter considerably the BDNF levels. Curcumin and curcumin + exercise treatments significantly lowered the cerebellar TBARS levels; a significant increase in the BDNF level was observed in the cerebellum of rats treated with combined intervention. Thus, regular exercise combined with curcumin supplementation may exert a significant neuroprotective effect against lead-induced cerebellar injury by attenuating oxidative stress and improving the brain state through an increase in the BDNF amount.Модифікації стилю життя, такі як фізичні тренування та вживання добавок до дієти, рекомендуються як протективні заходи щодо низки неврологічних розладів. Ми дослідили впливи регулярних тренувань, поєднаних з уведенням куркуміну, на індуковане свинцевою інтоксикацією оксидативне ушкодження мозочка у самців щурів. Експериментальні тварини (n = 50) були рандомізовано поділені на п’ять груп. Ацетат свинцю (20 мг/кг) уводився тваринам трьох груп (дві слугували контролем). Одна з контрольних груп отримувала етилолеат (30 мг/кг) тричі на тиждень. У двох інтоксикованих групах тварини отримували 30 мг/кг куркуміну п’ять разів на тиждень протягом восьми тижнів. Програма тренувань включала в себе прогресивно збільшувані епізоди бігу на тредбані (від 15 до 25 м/хв, від 25 до 64 хв/добу, п’ять разів на тиждень протягом восьми тижнів). Через дві доби після закінчення курсів щурів піддавали евтаназії, мозочок видаляли та гомогенізували для вимірювання рівнів мозкового нейротрофічного фактора (BDNF) та речовин, реактивних щодо тіобарбітурової кислоти (TBARSs). Хронічне введення свинцю викликало вірогідне збільшення рівнів TBARS, але не змінювало істотно рівнів BDNF. У групах «куркумін» та «куркумін+тренування» спостерігалися значно нижчі рівні TBARS; вірогідно більший рівень BDNF у мозочку відмічався в групі з комбінацією заходів. Отже, регулярні фізичні тренування, поєднані з уведенням куркуміну, можуть забезпечити істотний протекторний ефект щодо індукованого свинцем ушкодження мозочка, опосередкований зменшенням оксидативного стресу та поліпшенням стану мозку завдяки певному збільшенню кількості BDNF