Cyanobacterial community patterns as water quality bioindicators

The main goal of this study was to examine the use of cyanobacteria for evaluating the quality of running water. Accordingly epilithic cyanobacterial communities were collected in Dez River and Ojeyreb drain in south of Iran. Samples were collected in two seasons: autumn and spring. Effective physical and chemical factors on the structure of cyanobacterial communities and the dispersion of the species in relation with them were determined using PCA and CCA analyses. The Shannon-Wiener biodiversity index was used to define the species diversity. The concentration of nitrate as main nutrient had significant increase in Drain stations. A decline in species richness was observed associated with these increases in nutrient load in both seasons in different cyanobacterial community structure. The results indicated that order Oscillatoriales had higher proportion of cyanobacteria species at Drain. The species Oscillatoria chlorina, Chroococcus minor, Phormidium tenue and Lyngbya kuetzingii S had the most positive correlation with nutrient factor. Species Lyngbya infixa and Lyngbya mesotrichia had the most negative correlation with nitrate. Our results confirm the using of cyanobacteria species as indicators for monitoring eutrophication in rivers and define them as water eutrophication bioindicators

A new method for critical path method with fuzzy processing time

Critical path method plays an important role on managing medium to large-scale problems. It is often difficult to determine the critical path for different reasons such as the existing uncertainties in processing tasks. One alternative to handle the uncertainty associated with the processing time is to use fuzzy techniques. We present a new method to calculate the critical path method when the processing times follow trapezoidal fuzzy numbers. The proposed model of this paper does not use any defuzzification technique to find the final processing time. The implementation of the proposed model is compared with other techniques using a well-known example from the literature

A two-level temporal fair scheduler for multi-cell wireless networks

We propose a two-level scheduler for a frequency reuse-1 multi-cell wireless network satisfying inter-and intra-cell weighted temporal fairness constraints. As opposed to hard partitioning of the entire frequency band to different cell patterns in frequency reuse-M systems (M>1), we propose sharing this band opportunistically in time by these patterns. Through numerical examples, we show notable gains in overall network throughput due to improved multi-user diversity in comparison with a conventional frequency reuse-3 system. © 2012 IEEE

Electrophilic oligodeoxynucleotide synthesis using dM-Dmoc for amino protection

Solid-phase synthesis of electrophilic oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) was achieved using dimethyl-Dmoc (dM-Dmoc) as amino protecting group. Due to the high steric hindrance of the 2-(propan-2-ylidene)-1,3-dithiane side product from deprotection, the use of excess nucleophilic scavengers such as aniline to prevent Michael addition of the side product to the deprotected ODN during ODN cleavage and deprotection was no longer needed. The improved technology was demonstrated by the synthesis and characterization of five ODNs including three modified ones. The modified ODNs contained the electrophilic groups ethyl ester, α-chloroamide, and thioester. Using the technology, the sensitive groups can be installed at any location within the ODN sequences without using any sequence- or functionality-specific conditions and procedures

Distribution of staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec types among methicillin-resistant coagulase negative staphylococci in central Iran

Background and Objectives: Methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci (MR-CoNS) are important nosocomial pathogens. They may serve as a reservoir of SCCmec, the genomic island encoding amongst other methicillin resistance. This study was designed to determine the distribution of different SCCmec types from MR-CoNS isolated from clinical specimens in a tertiary hospital in central Iran, having high frequency of nosocomial methicillin-resistant staphylococcal infections. Materials and Methods: We evaluated isolates from patients attending the Vali-Asr Hospital located in the center of Iran, from February to December 2012. Multiplex PCR was performed for SCCmec typing. For isolates in which SCCmec could not be typed directly, additional ccr and mec complex analyses were performed. Results: Totally, 70 MR-CoNS isolates, comprising of 47 S. epidermidis strains (67%), 10 S. saprophyticus (14.3%), 9 S. hemolyticus (13%) and 4 S. lugdunensis (5.7%) were identified. Thirty-nine were characterized as type IVa 19 (27%), type III 11 (16%), type II 7 (10%) and type V 2 (3%). Only 20 isolates (28.6%) carried the ccr complex, while the current methods could not characterize the 11 remaining isolates. Conclusion: A high level of SCCmec genetic diversity was found among MR-CoNS isolates. MR-CoNS may act as a reservoir of SCCmec IV for MRSA. This issue should be taken into consideration seriously

Predicting inpatient length of stay in Iranian Hospital: Conceptualization and validation

Objective: The length of stay is an important indicator of hospital performance and efficiency. Regarding the importance of the length of stay, this study aimed to design a structural model of the inpatients' length of stay in the educational and therapeutic health care facilities of Iran in order to identify the influencing dimensions. Methods: The present study was an analytical and applied study. The face validity of the data gathering tool was investigated by the expert judgment and the construct validity was examined by using the exploratory factor analysis. In order to verify the reliability of the tool, the internal consistency was also trialed by using the Cronbach's alpha. For ranking the influencing dimensions and factors and also in order to examine the causal relationships between the variables in a coherent manner and presenting the final model, the structural equation modeling technique was used in AMOS software at a significant level of 0.05. Results: The mentioned structural model consists of 4 dimensions and 29 factors influencing the length of stay of hospitalized patients. The independent variables are based on priority and importance as follows: patients' conditions, the underlying factors, the clinical staff performance, and hospitals' service delivery, which were examined by second-order factor analysis in order to study the relationship between them and the inpatients' length of stay. Conclusion: Considering the importance of each one of the proposed dimensions from the point of view of service providers in some therapeutic centers of the country by paying attention to the role of each one of them in preventing prolonged hospitalization can be essential in the effectiveness of the treatment and cost reduction. © 2020 Asian Pacific Organization for Cancer Prevention

Diabetic retinopathy clinical practice guidelines: Customized for Iranian population

Purpose: To customize clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for management of diabetic retinopathy (DR) in the Iranian population. Methods: Three DR CPGs (The Royal College of Ophthalmologists 2013, American Academy of Ophthalmology Preferred Practice Pattern 2012, and Australian Diabetes Society 2008) were selected from the literature using the AGREE tool. Clinical questions were designed and summarized into four tables by the customization team. The components of the clinical questions along with pertinent recommendations extracted from the above-mentioned CPGs; details of the supporting articles and their levels of evidence; clinical recommendations considering clinical benefts, cost and side effects; and revised recommendations based on customization capability (applicability, acceptability, external validity) were recorded in 4 tables, respectively. Customized recommendations were sent to the faculty members of all universities across the country to score the recommendations from 1 to 9. Results: Agreed recommendations were accepted as the fnal recommendations while the non-agreed ones were approved after revision. Eventually, 29 customized recommendations under three major categories consisting of screening, diagnosis and treatment of DR were developed along with their sources and levels of evidence. Conclusion: This customized CPGs for management of DR can be used to standardize the referral pathway, diagnosis and treatment of patients with diabetic retinopathy. © 2016 Journal of Ophthalmic and Vision Research