Comparative Effects of Diazepam Infusion and Divided Doses of Diazepam on the Treatment of Absence Status Epilepticus

ObjectiveAbsence status epilepticus (ASE) is a common form of nonconvulsive status epilepcticus. It is  characterized by loss of consciousness with spike and wave discharges in EEG simultaneously. The most effective treatment of ASE is diazepam, either infusion or in divided doses; the former is more expensive since patients must be admitted in an Intensive Care Unit. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the efficacy of diazepam infusion and parenteral diazepam in divided doses in the treatment of ASE.Materials & MethodsThis randomized controlled clinical trial, enrolled 20 patients with absence status epilepticus. Diagnosis was made based on the clinical manifestations and electroencephalogram (EEG). Prior to treatment, all patients underwent EEG and imaging. Patients were randomized to receive 0.2 mg/kg/h diazepam infusion or 0.2 mg/kg in six daily doses. Clinical and EEG improvements were considered to be optimal responses.ResultsOf the 20 patients studied, 13 (65%) were boys and the remaining 7(35%) were girls. There were no differences between the two groups regarding age and sex (non-significant). Following treatments after 48 hours, 1 week and 1 month respectively, clinical improvement in previous problems (loss of consciousness, ataxia, behavior and speech problems) and EEGs was similar in both groups (p=1). There were controlled seizures in 18 (90%), abnormal CT scans in 5 (25%), abnormal EEGs after treatments in 6 (30%) cases; however no significant differences were seen between the two groups.ConclusionThis study demonstrates that there are no significant differences between treatments of ASE with diazepam infusion and parenteral diazepam in divided doses. Treatment of ASE, with divided doses of diazepam is easier, less expensive and patients do not require to be hospitalized in an Intensive Care unit

Desmoplastic fibroma of the jaws: A case series and review of literature

Desmoplastic fibroma (DF) is a benign, locally aggressive neoplasm that rarely occurs in the facial skeleton. It usually presents during the first three decades of life. Due to its aggressiveness and high recurrence rate, early diagnosis is imperative, and complete surgical removal of the lesion is the treatment of choice. Herein, we present three cases of DF namely a 2 year-old girl with a mandibular DF, a 9 year-old boy with a maxillary lesion and a 1.5-year old boy with a mandibular DF. Complete clinicopathological information, treatment plan and long-term follow-up of patients are discussed. Histopathologic features of 3 cases revealed non-capsulated spindle cell tumor with fascicular or swirling patterns in incisional biopsy. Immunohistochemical staining was performed to make a definitive diagnosis. Strongly positive nuclear immunoreactivity for β-catenin confirmed the diagnosis of desmoplastic fibroma in 3 cases. Segmental mandibulectomy, partial maxillectomy and hemimandibulectomy were done for the cases. There was no recurrence in our reported cases after 8 and 11 months and 3 years follow up, respectively. It is noteworthy that despite the aggressive nature of DF, young patients often respond well to wide resection treatment. © 2020, Iranian Society of Pathology. All rights reserved

Electrostatic Origins of CO2-Increased Hydrophilicity in Carbonate Reservoirs

Injecting CO2 into oil reservoirs appears to be cost-effective and environmentally friendly due to decreasing the use of chemicals and cutting back on the greenhouse gas emission released. However, there is a pressing need for new algorithms to characterize oil/brine/rock system wettability, thus better predict and manage CO2 geological storage and enhanced oil recovery in oil reservoirs. We coupled surface complexation/CO2 and calcite dissolution model, and accurately predicted measured oil-on-calcite contact angles in NaCl and CaCl2 solutions with and without CO2. Contact angles decreased in carbonated water indicating increased hydrophilicity under carbonation. Lowered salinity increased hydrophilicity as did Ca2+. Hydrophilicity correlates with independently calculated oil-calcite electrostatic bridging. The link between the two may be used to better implement CO2 EOR in fields

Multi-hop wireless transmission with half duplex and imperfect full duplex relays7'th International Symposium on Telecommunications (IST'2014)

A multi-hop wireless transmission system employing both half duplex and imperfect full duplex relays is proposed. In this scheme, which uses Ksub-channels for transmission and reception over Rayleigh fading channels, we aim to mitigate the most dominant source of interference in each node by allocating different sub-channels to various groups of nodes. The outage probability of the proposed scheme under decode and forward relaying is analyzed and a closed form expression is obtained and validated by simulation. The proposed multi-hop transmission scheme based on full and half duplex relays, although less complex, still improves the outage probability of the network in comparison to complete full duplex multi-hop relaying

Coal-on-a-Chip: Visualizing Flow in Coal Fractures

© 2017 American Chemical Society. Geomaterial microfluidics are the next generation of tools necessary for studying fluid flows related to subsurface engineering technologies. Traditional microfluidic devices do not capture surface wettability and roughness parameters that can have a significant influence on porous media flows. This is particularly important for coal seam gas reservoirs in which methane gas is transported through a well-developed system of natural fractures that display unique wettability and roughness characteristics. A coal geomaterial microfluidic device can be generated by etching a fracture pattern on a coal surface by using three-dimensional laser micromachining; however, it is unclear if the resulting surface properties are representative of real coal. In an effort to generate a realistic coal microfluidic device, we characterize coal surface roughness properties from real coal cleats. We then compare these results to the roughness of the patterns, generated from laser etching. Roughness measurements in real coal fractures show that cleats and microfractures are mostly oriented parallel to the coal beddings rather than perpendicular to the bedding, which is important when selecting coal for fabrication of a microfluidic device since we find that the natural microfractures influence the resulting roughness of etched fractures. We also compare resulting coal/brine/gas contact angles under static and dynamics conditions. The contact angle for coal is highly heterogeneous. Surface roughness and pore pressure may influence the contact angle. With the aid of the coal geomaterial device, the effect of these parameters on coal wettability can be explored and a range of possible coal contact angles can be visualized and represented. The geomaterial fabrication, as outlined herein, provides a tool to capture more realistic coal surface properties in microfluidics experiments

Adipocyte-Specific Fatty Acid-Binding Protein (AFABP) and Chemerin in Association with Gestational Diabetes: A Case-Control Study

Background. Adipocytokines participate in regulating the inflammatory response in glucose homeostasis and type 2 diabetes. However, among these peptides, the role of adipocyte-specific fatty-acid-binding protein (AFABP), chemerin, and secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC) in gestational diabetes (GDM) has not been fully investigated. Method. The maternal fasting level of adipocytokines of 53 subjects with GDM and 43 normal pregnant (NGDM) was measured using multiplex immunoassay at 24–28 weeks, before delivery, immediate postpartum, and 2–6 months postpuerperium. Results. Higher levels of AFABP were associated with a 3.7-fold higher risk of GDM. Low chemerin levels were associated with a 3.6-fold higher risk of GDM. Interleukin-10 (IL-10) was inversely associated with the risk of GDM. SPARC had no association with GDM. AFABP was directly correlated to interleukin-6 (r=0.50), insulin resistance index (r=0.26), and body mass index (r=0.28) and inversely correlated to C-reactive protein (r=−0.27). Chemerin levels were directly and strongly correlated with IL-10 (r=0.41) and interleukin-4 (r=0.50) and inversely correlated to insulin resistance index (r=−0.23) in GDM but not NGDM. In the longitudinal assessment, there were no significant differences in AFABP and chemerin concentrations of both studied groups. Conclusion. AFABP and chemerin were associated with a higher risk of GDM. These adipocytokines were related to insulin resistance, body mass index, and inflammation in pregnant women diagnosed with GDM

Microfluidics for Porous Systems: Fabrication, Microscopy and Applications

© 2018, Springer Nature B.V. No matter how sophisticated the structures are and on what length scale the pore sizes are, fluid displacement in porous media can be visualized, captured, mimicked and optimized using microfluidics. Visualizing transport processes is fundamental to our understanding of complex hydrogeological systems, petroleum production, medical science applications and other engineering applications. Microfluidics is an ideal tool for visual observation of flow at high temporal and spatial resolution. Experiments are typically fast, as sample volume is substantially low with the use of miniaturized devices. This review first discusses the fabrication techniques for generating microfluidics devices, experimental setups and new advances in microfluidic fabrication using three-dimensional printing, geomaterials and biomaterials. We then address multiphase transport in subsurface porous media, with an emphasis on hydrology and petroleum engineering applications in the past few decades. We also cover the application of microfluidics to study membrane systems in biomedical science and particle sorting. Lastly, we explore how synergies across different disciplines can lead to innovations in this field. A number of problems that have been resolved, topics that are under investigation and cutting-edge applications that are emerging are highlighted

Prediction of HCV load using genotype, liver biomarkers, and clinical symptoms by a mathematical model in patients with HCV infection

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major public health problem with about 1.75 million new HCV cases and 71 million chronic HCV infections worldwide. The study aimed to evaluate clinical, serological, molecular, and liver markers to develop a mathematical predictive model for the quantification of the HCV viral load in chronic HCV infected patients. In this cross-sectional study, blood samples were taken from 249 recently diagnosed HCV-infected subjects and were tested for liver condition, viral genotype, and HCV RNA load. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves and multiple linear regression analysis were used to predict the HCV-RNA load. Genotype 3 followed by genotype 1 were the most prevalent genotypes in Mashhad, Northeastern Iran. The maximum levels of viral load were detected in the mixed genotype group, and the lowest levels in the undetectable genotype group. The log of the HCV viral load was significantly associated with thrombocytopenia and higher serum levels of alanine transaminase (ALT). In addition, the log HCV RNA was significantly higher in patients with arthralgia, fatigue, fever, vomiting, or dizziness. Moreover, genotype 3 was significantly associated with icterus. A ROC curve analysis revealed that the best cut-off points for serum levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), ALT, and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were >31, >34, and ≤246 IU/L, respectively. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive values for AST were 87.7%, 84.36%, and 44.6%, for ALT they were 83.51%, 81.11%, and 36%, and for ALP were 72.06%, 42.81%, and 8.3%, respectively. A mathematical regression model was developed that could estimate the HCV-RNA load. Regression model: log viral load = 7.69 − 1.01 × G3 − 0.7 × G1 + 0.002 × ALT − 0.86 × fatigue