Evaluation of expression ratio of HOXB13:IL17BR in patients with breast cancer by qRT-PCR method using SYBR Green dye

Background and aims: Studies have shown that a HOXB13:IL17BR expression ratio index predicts clinical outcome in ER-positive, lymph node-negative breast cancer patients that treated with adjuvant tamoxifen. All of these experiments were conducted with qReal Time RT-PCR using TaqMan probes. The aim of this study was to determine the ratio using SYBR Green I qReal Time RT-PCR. Methods: In this case- control study, expression levels of HOXB13:IL17BR was measured in 40 paired formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded primary breast tumor specimens. After extracting RNA from the tissues, cDNA synthesis and amplification with the polymerase chain reaction to obtain the optimum annealing temperature, the expression levels was measured by SYBR Green I qReal Time RT-PCR. To determine and normalize the expression levels, BestKeeper software was used to obtain the BestKeeper Index using the geometric mean of expression levels of housekeeping genes. Comparison of mean expression of genes between tumoral and non-tumoral tissues was performed by t-test and association between patient grouping (high/low risk) and time for disease free survival was assessed by Fisher`s Exact test. Results: HOXB13:IL17BR expression value did not show significant difference between tumoral and non-tumoral tissues. The results showed that there was a direct and significant association between patient grouping (based on HOXB13:IL17BR ratio) and disease free survival status. Conclusion: Results in the current study showed that in spite of using SYBR Green dye (instead of TaqMan probes), there is still a significant correlation between HOXB13:IL17BR ratio and disease free survival status

The Effectiveness of Prenatal Intervention on Pain and Anxiety during the Process of Childbirth‑Northern Iran: Clinical Trial Study

Background: Due to the painful nature of childbirth and its maternal and neonatal complications, the woman needs support in this phase of their life. Increased knowledge and skills during pregnancy prepares pregnant mothers for labor and leads to promoted health. Aim: This study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of “prenatal education” on the process of childbirth. Subjects and Methods: This clinical trial was conducted on 195 pregnant women, that is, control group (N = 132) and case group (N = 63) attending health centers in Amol‑Iran from 20 weeks of gestation age during 2012. Case group members attended in “prenatal education” class and the control group only received routine care. Data were collected through demographic questionnaire, standard hospital anxiety questionnaire, and a checklist related to childbirth information, and intensity of pain based on visual analogue scale and McGill scales. The data were analyzed by Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software using t‑test and Chi‑square test. Results: The result of this study showed that the parent with a high level of education was more interested to participant in prenatal classes. The anxiety level in case group (who received education) was 14.47 (4.69) and in control group it was 16 (4.86), (P < 0.001) the pain intensity in case group was 85.68 (1.85) and in control group was 90.99 (14.72) (P = 0.03), intervention on labor such episiotomy was 39 %66.1 (39/63) in case group and 80 %72.8 (80/132) in control group (P = 0.01) and cesarean section was 13 %17.1 (13/63) in case group and 58 %32.2 (58/132) in control group (P = 0.01). Conclusions: According to findings of this study, the prenatal education and psychological support are beneficial for mothers during pregnancy and labor. Therefore, it is recommended for educating all the pregnant women.Keywords: Delivery, Obstetric, Pregnancy training classes, Prenatal care, Prenatal educatio

3-Ethyl­sulfanyl-5-methyl-1-phenyl-7-(pyrrolidin-1-yl)-1H-pyrimido[4,5-e][1,3,4]thia­diazine

In the crystal structure of the title compound, C18H21N5S2, the thia­diazine six-membered ring and pyrrolidine five-membered ring display boat and envelope conformations, respectively. The crystal structure contains weak C—H⋯N and C—H⋯S hydrogen bonding

Face Recognition using an Affine Sparse Coding approach

Sparse coding is an unsupervised method which learns a set of over-complete bases to represent data such as image and video. Sparse coding has increasing attraction for image classification applications in recent years. But in the cases where we have some similar images from different classes, such as face recognition applications, different images may be classified into the same class, and hence the classification performance may be decreased. In this paper, we propose an Affine Graph Regularized Sparse Coding approach for face recognition problem. Experiments on several well-known face datasets show that the proposed method can significantly improve the face classification accuracy. In addition, some experiments have been done to illustrate the robustness of the proposed method to noise. The results show the superiority of the proposed method in comparison to some other methods in face classification

Comparison of Recurrent Urinary Tract Infection in Children with Different Grades of Vesicoureteral Reflux

Background and Objective: Urinary reflux is the most common urological abnormality in children. About half of the children with urinary infection have urinary reflux at the same time. Considering the importance of urinary reflux in children and contradictory results reported regarding the relationship between different grades of vesicoureteral reflux and recurrent urinary tract infection, this study was conducted with the aim of comparing recurrent urinary tract infection in children with different grades of vesicoureteral reflux. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 150 children with pyelonephritis and vesicoureteral reflux who refered to Amirkola Children's Hospital in 2011-2019. Reflux grades were determined by voiding cystourethrogram (VCUG) or direct radionuclide cystography (DRNC). Children were followed up for 2 years and in case of clinical symptoms with positive urine culture, they were considered as recurrent urinary tract infection. Findings: Of the 150 children studied, 126 (84%) were girls and 24 (16%) were boys with a mean age of 27.17±11.53 months. 95 people (63.3%) had once, 37 people (24.7%) twice, 8 people (5.3%) three times, and 10 people (6.7%) four times experience of recurrent urinary tract infection. The odds ratio of recurrent urinary tract infection was more than two times higher in children with grade 3 and 4 reflux involvement than in children with grade 1 and 2 reflux (OR=3.20, 95% CI=1.05-9.75, p=0.041). However, there was no significant difference in recurrent urinary tract infection in children based on age at diagnosis, gender, and whether the reflux was unilateral or bilateral. Conclusion: The results of the study showed that children with moderate and severe involvement of vesicoureteral reflux experience higher recurrent urinary tract infection compared to mild involvement

Heavy metals (Hg,Cd,Pb,Ni,Cu) concentrations in Euryglossa orientalis and sediments from Khur-e-Musa Creek in Khuzestan Province

Heavy metals contamination (Hg,Cd,Pb,Ni,Cu) in muscle of the fish Euryglossa orientalis and in sediments was assessed in 2007 in Khur-e-Musa Creek (Ahmadi and Ghanam). In total, 30 fish specimens and 18 sediment samples were collected and analyzed. Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer was used to determine contamination of the specimens with Cd, Pb, Ni, Cu, and cold vapor method was applied for Hg. Results showed 2.35, 0.99, 1.32, 14.48 and 5.71µg/g dry weight of the fish for Hg, Cd, Pb, Ni and Cu in muscle tissue, respectively. Metal levels in the muscle tissue were compared with standard values such as those of the World Health Organization (WHO), British Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF), Australia National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and American Food and Drug Administration (FDA), based on which only Hg, Cd, and Ni showed higher than standard levels in Khur-e-Musa Creek (Ahmadi and Ghanam). Results showed 4.76, 2.52, 18.64, 119.91, 31.23µg/g dry weight for Hg, Cd, Pb, Ni and Cu in sediments, respectively

Health promotion behaviors and quality of life among elderly in West area in Tehran-Iran 2006: A cross-sectional survey

As individuals live longer, health promotion behaviors become even more important, particularly with regard to maintaining functional independence and improving quality of life (QoL).The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between health promotion behaviors and QoL in west area in Tehran-Iran. This study was a descriptive-correlational study to explore the relationship between health promotion behaviors and QoL among elderly in west area in Tehran-Iran. A convenience sample of 410 community residents who were over 60 years old and cognitively intact were selected from 6 regions in west of Teran. Participants who consented to participate in the study were interviewed by trained interviewers with a structured questionnaire. The results of the study showed that there were statistically significant differences in QoL of the elderly related to exercise, Low salt& fat diet, drinking milk, consumption of dairy and meat, consumption fresh vegetables and fruits, Health check-up, BP check-up (p<.05). Multiple regression analysis revealed that Economic status, Perceived health status, hypertension, cancer, mental disorder, visual disorder, number of chronic illnesses, exercise, low fat diet, consumption fresh vegetables and fruits, ADLs were statistically significant predictors of QoL. R2 for this whole regression model was .416, indicating that approximately 41.6 of the variance in QoL was accounted for by the linear combination of these variables. Nurses should enhance the QoL in elderly persons by facilitating health promotion behaviors through formal nursing interventions which will maintain and increase a healthy and active life. © EuroJournals Publishing, Inc. 2007

Comparison of pulmonary function test in school - Age children in clean and polluted air in Tehran, Iran

Background: Children seem to be more susceptible to deleterious effects of air pollution related to respiratory functional parameters as compared to adults and thus quite perceptively assessment of these pathological changes among children is necessary. The present study aimed to assess the effects of air pollution on respiratory functional parameters among primary school children in Tehran, Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional survey was performed on 102 children aged less than 12 years studying at a primary school in Tehran in 2015. At two time points with healthy and unhealthy air conditions (December 2015 and May 2016), all eligible children were evaluated with respect to respiratory functional parameters (FEV1, FEV1/FVC, FVC, PEF, FEF25-75) using a spirometer. Results: There were significant differences in respiratory some parameters including FEV1 (P = 0.013) and PEF (P = 0.003) between the two times of respiratory assessment, no difference was found in some others such as FVC, FEV1/FVC and FEF25-75. Conclusions: Air pollution can be harmful for respiratory functional status in children by reducing FEV1 and PEF parameters. © 2018, Iranian Journal of Pediatrics

The association of low complement with disease activity in systemic sclerosis: a prospective cohort study

Background: In some rheumatic diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), low serum complement ('hypocomplementaemia') is a feature of active disease. However, the role of hypocomplementaemia in systemic sclerosis (SSc) is unknown. We sought to determine the frequency, clinical associations and relationship to disease activity of hypocomplementaemia in SSc. Methods: The study included 1140 patients fulfilling the 2013 American College of Rheumatology criteria for SSc. Demographic, serological and clinical data, obtained prospectively through annual review, were analysed using univariable methods. Linear and logistic regression, together with generalised estimating equations, were used to determine the independent correlates of hypocomplementaemia ever, and at each visit, respectively. Results: At least one episode of hypocomplementaemia (low C3 and/or low C4) occurred in 24.1 % of patients over 1893 visits; these patients were more likely to be seropositive for anti-ribonucleoprotein (OR = 3.8, p = 0.002), anti-Ro (OR = 2.2, p = 0.002), anti-Smith (OR = 6.3, p = 0.035) and anti-phospholipid antibodies (OR = 1.4, p = 0.021) and were more likely to display features of overlap connective tissue disease, in particular polymyositis (OR = 16.0, p = 0.012). However, no association was found between hypocomplementaemia and either the European Scleroderma Study Group disease activity score or any of its component variables (including erythrocyte sedimentation rate) in univariate analysis. Among patients with SSc overlap disease features, those who were hypocomplementaemic were more likely to have digital ulcers (OR = 1.6, p = 0.034), tendon friction rubs (OR = 2.4, p = 0.037), forced vital capacity <80 % predicted (OR = 2.9, p = 0.008) and lower body mass index (BMI) (OR for BMI = 0.9, p < 0.0005) at that visit, all of which are features associated with SSc disease activity and/or severity. Conclusions: While hypocomplementaemia is not associated with disease activity in patients with non-overlap SSc, it is associated with some features of increased SSc disease activity in patients with overlap disease features.James Esposito, Zoe Brown, Wendy Stevens, Joanne Sahhar, Candice Rabusa, Jane Zochling, Janet Roddy, Jennifer Walker, Susanna M. Proudman, and Mandana Nikpo

Concentration polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in coastal waters of Bushehr Port

In order to study concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in seawater from Bushehr coast and for comparison with available guidelines samples of seawater were collected from five different stations along the Bushehr coast in August and February 2011. PAHs were extracted by Hexane solvent and analyzed using HPLC system (Knauer). Results showed that tPAHs concentration in seawater were 31.0, 20.8, 4.0, 17.6 and 12.3 µg l-1, in August and 38.4, 23.0, 5.4, 19.3 and 17.2 µg l-1 in February respectively, at stations Rafael, Sheghab, Abshirinkon, Lian and Helyleh. The concentrations of tPAHs in the seawater were not significantly different during August and February (P>0.05). Significant difference was observed between tPAHs concentration between the stations (P<0.05). The tPAHs concentration was maximum in Rafael and its minimum was found in Abshirinkon. The tPAHs concentration in Bushehr area was relatively higher compared to other locations of the world. Even though concentrations of anthracene, phenanthrene, fluoranthene and pyrene were above the Canadian Environment Guidance, the carcinogenic compounds appeared in lower concentrations than the non-carcinogenic PAHs. Since Bushehr coastal waters is contaminated by PAHs, precise monitoring and control of oil discharge into the coastal waters as well as reduction of urban effluents input should be undertaken. Meanwhile the continuous monitoring of PAHs compounds in the area is recommended