The Relationship between Orotracheal Intubation Difficulty Scoring Systems and Anthropometric Factors

Introduction: Although rare, but it is very important to understand that intubation will be difficult for which of the patients. Some scoring systems are available in this regard that influenced by many factors such as body anthropometric factors. Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between Mallampati score, biting the upper lip as well as 2-3-3 maneuver with body anthropometric factors in different population of society. Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted during the years 2014-2015 in Yazd, Iran. The subjects using simple randomized sampling method, and they were included in study after obtaining their informed consent. Demographic (age and gender) as well as anthropometric parameters of body, including weight, height, neck, waist circumference, hip circumference, body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) were collected in a pre-prepared checklist. Then, Mallampati score, biting the upper lip score, maneuver 2-3-3 were examined and calculated by researchers. The results of these examinations were recorded for each person in checklist. Results: In this study, 498 people with mean age of 42.1 ± 16.1 were enrolled (51% female). Based on results of this study, although all three methods significantly correlated with age but none had any relation with gender. Significant relationship was found between upper lip biting and Mallampati score and all body anthropometric factors evaluated in this study (p < 0.05). By increasing the mean of these factors, Mallampati score increases, while this relationship is reverse in the case of height. In addition, significant correlation was found between maneuver 2-3-3 and weight, height, waist circumference, hip circumference and BMI, while it showed no correlation with neck circumference (p = 0.328) and WHR (p = 0.121). Conclusion: Based on findings of current study, it is likely that upper lip biting test and Mallampati score have significant relation with all body anthropometric factors evaluated in this study. But maneuver 2-3-3 has no correlation with neck circumference and WHR

Providing SSPCO Algorithm to Construct Static Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI) Networks

Protein-Protein Inter-action Networks are dynamic in reality; i.e. Inter-actions among different proteins may be ineffective in different circumstances and times. One of the most crucial parameters in the conversion of a static network into a temporal graph is the well-tuning of transformation threshold. In this part of the article, using additional data, like gene expression data in different times and circumstances and well-known protein complexes, it is tried to determine an appropriate threshold. To accomplish this task, we transform the problem into an optimization one and then we solve it using a meta-heuristic algorithm, named Particle Swarm Optimization (SSPCO). One of the most important parts in our work is the determination of interestingness function in the SSPCO. It is defined as a function of standard complexes and gene co-expression data. After producing a threshold per each gene, in the following section we will discuss how using these thresholds, active proteins are determined and then temporal graph is created. For final assessment of the produced graph quality, we use graph clustering algorithms and protein complexes determination algorithms. For accomplishing this task, we use MCL, Cluster One, MCODE algorithms. Due to high number of the obtained clusters, the obtained results, if they have some special conditions, will filter out or be merged with each other. Standard performance criteria like Recal, Precision, and F-measure are employed. There is a new proposed criterion named Smoothness. Our experimental results show that the graphs produced by the proposed method outperform the previous methods

Sensitivity and Specificity of Procalcitonin in Diagnosis of Neonatal Sepsis

Background and Objective: According to the fact that neonatal infection is a challenging diagnosis field, several studies have tried to test sensitivity and specificity of diagnostic tests. This study was conducted to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of procalcitonin (PCT) as a single early marker of neonatal sepsis. Materials and Methods: In this study, 150 neonates admitted to NICU and neonatal ward in Shahrekord Hajar hospital were enrolled. A full workup including blood cultureand other tests and PCT was conductede. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values for PCT was determined. Results: It was found out that 8 patients had definite infection, 15 patients had possible infection, and 127 patients had no infection. Although PCT was not able to significantly differentiate between those with definite and possible infections (p>0.05), but there was a significant difference for frequency of abnormal PCT between non-infectious patients and other patients. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of PCT was 87.5%, 87.4%, 30.4%, 99.1%, and 87.41% respectively. Conclusion: Beside the limitation of the sample size, the satisfactory diagnostic characteristics of PCT highlight it as a good measure for diagnosis of neonatal sepsis. Further studies are essential to be carried out

Borna disease virus (BDV) infection in psychiatric patients and healthy controls in Iran

Background Borna disease virus (BDV) is an evolutionary old RNA virus, which infects brain and blood cells of humans, their primate ancestors, and other mammals. Human infection has been correlated to mood disorders and schizophrenia, but the impact of BDV on mental-health still remains controversial due to poor methodological and cross-national comparability. Method This first report from the Middle East aimed to determine BDV infection prevalence in Iranian acute psychiatric disorder patients and healthy controls through circulating immune complexes (CIC), antibodies (Ab) and antigen (pAg) in blood plasma using a standardized triple enzyme immune assay (EIA). Samples of 314 subjects (114 psychiatric cases, 69 blood donors, and 131 healthy controls) were assayed and data analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Results CICs revealed a BDV prevalence of one third (29.5%) in healthy Iranian controls (27.5% controls; 33.3% blood donors). In psychiatric patients CIC prevalence was higher than in controls (40.4%) and significantly correlating with bipolar patients exhibiting overt clinical symptoms (p = 0.005, OR = 1.65). CIC values were significantly elevated in bipolar (p = 0.001) and major depressive disorder (p = 0.029) patients as compared to controls, and in females compared to males (p = 0.031). Conclusion This study supports a similarly high prevalence of subclinical human BDV infections in Iran as reported for central Europe, and provides again an indication for the correlation of BDV infection and mood disorders. Further studies should address the morbidity risk for healthy carriers and those with elevated CIC levels, along with gender disparities

Combined Effects of Protocatechuic Acid and 5-Fluorouracil on p53 Gene Expression and Apoptosis in Gastric Adenocarcinoma Cells

Objectives: This study evaluated the combined effects of protocatechuic acid (PCA) and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) on gastric adenocarcinoma (AGS) cells. Materials and Methods: The 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay, colony formation assay, flow cytometry technique, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and Western blotting were used to investigate cytotoxic effects, colony formation, apoptosis, p53 gene expression, and Bcl-2 protein level in AGS cells treated with 5-FU and PCA. Results: Our results demonstrated that PCA (500 mu M) alone or in combination with 5-FU (10 mu M) inhibited AGS cell proliferation, inhibited a colony formation, and increased apoptosis compared with untreated control cells. Moreover, the combined 5-FU/PCA exposure led to upregulation of p53 and downregulation of Bcl-2 protein when compared to the untreated control cells. Conclusion: The results demonstrate that the combined 5-FU/PCA may promote antiproliferative and pro-apoptotic effects with the inhibition of colony formation in AGS cells. The mechanisms by which the combined 5-FU/PCA exposure exerts its effects are associated with upregulation of p53 gene expression and downregulation of Bcl-2 level. Therefore, the combination of 5-FU with PCA not only could be a promising approach to potentially reduce the dose requirements of 5-FU but also could promote apoptosis via p53 and Bcl-2 signaling pathways

Ventral tegmental area inactivation suppresses the expression of CA1 long term potentiation in anesthetized rat.

The hippocampus receives dopaminergic projections from the ventral tegmental area (VTA). Modulatory effect of dopamine on hippocampal long term potentiation (LTP) has been studied before, but there are conflicting results and some limitations in previous reports. Most of these studies show a significant effect of dopamine on the late phase of LTP in CA1 area of the hippocampus, while few reports show an effect on the early phase. Moreover, they generally manipulated dopamine receptors in the hippocampus and there are few studies investigating influence of the VTA neural activity on hippocampal LTP in the intact brain. Besides, VTA neurons contain other neurotransmitters such as glutamate and GABA that may modify the net effect of dopamine. In this study we examined the effect of VTA reversible inactivation on the induction and maintenance of early LTP in the CA1 area of anesthetized rats, and also on different phases of learning of a passive avoidance (PA) task. We found that inactivation of the VTA by lidocaine had no effect on CA1 LTP induction and paired-pulse facilitation, but its inactivation immediately after tetanic stimulation transiently suppressed the expression of LTP. Blockade of the VTA 20 min after tetanic stimulation had no effect on the magnitude of LTP. Moreover, VTA inactivation immediately after training impaired memory in the passive avoidance task, while its blockade before or 20 min after training produced no memory deficit. It can be concluded that VTA activity has no effect on CA1 LTP induction and acquisition of PA task, but involves in the expression of LTP and PA memory consolidation

Baseline synaptic response in Schaffer–CA1 pathway is not affected by lidocaine injection into the VTA.

<p>No significant differences observed between lidocaine versus saline groups during 2 h of recording. The data are shown as mean ± SEM. Inset: Original analog traces showing evoked responses in the CA1 stratum radiatum after saline (S) and lidocaine (L) injection. The vertical scale bar corresponds to 1 mV and the horizontal to 5 ms.</p

The effect of intra-VTA injection of saline or lidocaine immediately after tetanic stimulation on the expression of Schaffer-CA1 LTP.

<p>A) In both groups LTP was induced, but in the lidocaine group the magnitude of LTP was significantly lower than the control during the first 20 minutes (<i>p</i> = 0.029 for the time point of 1 min, and for the time points of 5, 10, 15 and 20 min <i>p</i> = 0.042, <i>p</i> = 0.012, <i>p</i> = 0.010, and <i>p</i> = 0.031, respectively). The data are shown as mean ± SEM. Inset: Exemplar original analog traces showing the magnitude of LTP in the saline (S) and lidocaine (L) groups for the first 20 min after HFS. The vertical scale bar corresponds to 1 mV and the horizontal to 5 ms. B) When fEPSPs were averaged in 10 min periods after the injection, difference between saline and lidocaine groups remained significant for 30 min (for 1–10 min <i>p</i> = 0.025, for 10–20 min <i>p</i> = 0.014, and for 20–30 min <i>p</i> = 0.034). Bar charts represent means ± SEM of fEPSPs.</p