Cataract Risk Factors in Yazd Province, Iran

Purpose: to determine the probable cataract risk factors in Yazd province, Iran.Patients and Methods: In this cross-sectional study all patients over 40 years old undergoing cataract surgery in Shahid Sadoughi hospital, Yazd, Iran, from January to September 2016 were evaluated. A checklist was filled for all patients including information about their sex, age, weight, height, place of living (city or village), being native or non-native of Yazd, type of job, the level of household income, level of education, smoking habits, drug usage, as well as a history of related diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, glaucoma, rheumatism, kidney, and heart diseases. Results: Two hundred and fifty four patients (45.8%) had income of less than 6,000,000 Rials per month, 270 (48.6%) had income of between 6000000 and 10,000,000 Rials per month and the rest of patients (5.6%) had an income of over 10,000,000 Rials per month. Regarding the education level 512 patients (92.3%) had less than high school diploma, 38 (6.8%) had high school diploma and 5 patients had university education. Eighteen patients (3.2%) had a history of glaucoma. From 437 patients who their BMI was recorded 4.8% had a BMI of under 18, 49.7% had a BMI of between 18 and 25 and 45.5% had a BMI of over 25. Conclusion: Our study suggests a relationship between the income land education level as well as BMI and the prevalence of cataract among patients in Yazd province, Iran. Future case control trials, with higher number of participants, are recommended.Keywords: Cataract; risk factor; Yazd; Iran

Effect of mitomycin-C on corneal endothelial cell parameters after refractive surface ablation procedures

Background: The effect of mitomycin-C (MMC) on the reduction of endothelial cell count in the cornea remains controversial. We aimed to evaluate the effect of MMC on corneal endothelial cell parameters after refractive surface ablation procedures, including photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) and laser epithelial keratomileusis (LASEK). Methods: In this interventional, comparative, follow-up study, 342 eyes of 171 patients were followed up for 6 months. Patients undergoing PRK or LASEK were included and were divided into two groups: group one (188 eyes of 94 patients) with an ablation depth of ? 65 µm and who received intraoperative 0.02% MMC for 30 s, and group two (154 eyes of 77 patients) with an ablation depth of < 65 µm and who received balanced salt solution for 30 s. Changes in endothelial cell density (ECD), central corneal thickness (CCT), coefficient of variation (CV), and hexagonality values were compared between the groups at 3 and 6 months after surgery. Results: The mean ± standard deviaiton (SD) age of the patients was 28.11 ± 6.56 years. The mean ± SD ECD did not change significantly in either group between the baseline and at 3 and 6 months postoperatively. The baseline mean ECD was significantly higher in group one than that in group two (P < 0.001) and remained so at 3 (P = 0.002) and 6 months (P = 0.022) postoperatively. The baseline hexagonality value was lower in group one (P = 0.173), with a gradual decrease during the postoperative follow-up as compared with that in group two (P = 0.016 and 0.001 at 3 and 6 months postoperatively, respectively). Group one had a significantly lower CCT at 3 and 6 months postoperatively (both P < 0.001) and a higher mean CV (3 months: P = 0.028; 6 months: P = 0.328). Conclusions: A single intraoperative application of MMC for 30 s as prophylaxis for corneal haze development during refractive surface ablation procedures had no significant effect on ECD up to 6 months postoperatively. Future studies with a contralateral-eye design (to neutralize factors specific to the individual patient), a larger sample size, and longer follow-up are necessary to confirm or disprove our observations

Depression and anxiety in sterilised women in Iran

Sterilisation is an effective and convenient means of contraception and has become increasingly popular as a birth control technique throughout the world during the past 40 years. However some women who choose sterilisation may suffer a neurotic syndrome, which is manifested in the form of pain, depression and loss of libido.1We undertook a study designed to investigate depression, anxiety and post-operation regret rate in sterilised women referred to health centres in Tabriz, Iran in 2006. The study design was descriptive-analytical. The study participants comprised 300 women in the age range 25–45 years, of whom 150 women were sterilized between 1 and 10 years ago and 150 were a control group of non-sterilised women who used condoms, withdrawal or safe period methods for contraception. The control group was selected by a cluster random sampling method. Fifteen health centres were selected as a cluster from 96 health centres located in Tabriz. Ten women were selected randomly from each health centre using health documents. Women were eligible for inclusion in the study if they were aged between 25 and 45 years at the time of sampling, and if they had no history of psychological disorders and no recent sorrowful events. There were no differences between the two groups as regards the number of children, income or demographic characteristics. The women were contacted by telephone at their last known address and were asked to complete questionnaires. Data collection was done using Zung’s self-rating depression and anxiety scale in addition to questions about post-sterilisation regret. Data were collected from the subjects anonymously and analysed using SPSS (v. 11.5) statistics software. Analysis employed t-test, Chi-square test and descriptive statistics. The comparison of the means for depression in the two groups was not significantly different (p = 0.96), however the mean of anxiety in the case group was remarkably greater than the control group (p = 0.03). Insufficient poststerilisation rest was a significant risk factor for depression and anxiety (p = 0.008 and p = 0.02, respectively). Requesting information about reversal after tubal sterilisation was 2.7% and the post-sterilisation regret rate was 6%, which was significantly related to women’s conflict with their husbands about the decision-making process prior to sterilisation (p<0.001). The study findings as regards psychological disorders of sterilisation suggested that women undergoing sterilisation should ensure that they have a good rest after their operation in order to reduce the extent of psychological disorders. Unlike studies undertaken in other countries,2–4 women’s age, parity, marriage duration and the timing of sterilisation was unrelated to the women’s regret in our study. The earlier the sterilisation is carried out, the longer the woman’s remaining period of fertile life and the greater the chances of changes in her marital status and/or the loss of a child, both circumstances that may lead to a change in the desired family size and expression of regret. In our study, probably one of the reasons why women’s regret did not appear to be significantly related to young age of sterilisation was the infrequency of divorce or remarriage in our study population. Consistent with our study, Jamieson et al. reported that women who had substantial conflict with their husbands or partners prior to sterilisation were more than three times as likely to regret their decision and more than five times more likely to request a reversal than women who did not report such conflict.5 In our study, pre-sterilisation counseling was reported by 29.3% of subjects. With respect to personality and adaptability differences in facing the changes, pre-sterilisation counseling and post-sterilisation follow-up systems have an important role to play in women’s psychological and psychosexual health promotion

Advanced Thermochromic Ink System for Medical Blood Simulation

Simulators for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) have problems of bulky devices and low-fidelity methodologies. Hence, ongoing efforts for optimizing modern solutions focus on minimizing expenses and blending training with the intensive care unit. This is particularly evident following the coronavirus pandemic, where economic resources have been extensively cut. In this paper, as a part of an ECMO simulator for training management, an advance thermochromic ink system for medical blood simulation is presented. The system was developed and enhanced as a prototype with successful and reversible transitions between dark and bright red blood color to simulate blood oxygenation and deoxygenation in ECMO training sessions

Design of small autonomous boat for course-keeping manuevers

This paper presents design, modeling and control of a small autonomous boat (SAB) where an Remote Control (RC) commercial boat is augmented with an embedded system and the required sensors in order to conduct simple maneuvers autonomously. The detailed kinematic and dynamic equations of the SAB are presented and simulation and experimental results for the boat heading control demonstrate the efficacy of SAB. 1 2017 IEEE.This publication was made possible by NPRP grants No. NPRP 5 - 045 - 2 - 017 and No. NPRP 6-463-2-189 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). The statements made herein are solely the responsibility of the authors.Scopu

Deactivation of SARS-CoV-2 via Shielding of Spike Glycoprotein Using Carbon Quantum Dots: Bioinformatic Perspective

The interaction of the spike (S) glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2 with angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) correlates with increased virus transmissibility and disease severity in humans. Two strategies may be considered for preventive or treatment purposes: the blockage of the ACE2 receptors or the shielding of receptor-binding domains (RBD) in the Sprotein of COVID-19, as well as the S2 cleavage site that is used by the furin enzyme of the host cells in the late phase of virus activation. Herein, the interaction of carbon quantum dots (CQDs) with the Sprotein of SARS-CoV-2 was investigated using molecular docking and molecular dynamics. CQD molecules were optimized by the HF/3-21G level of theory; the probable interactions between the CQDs with Sprotein were studied by blind docking mode, considering the Sprotein as the receptor and CQDs as ligands. Ethanol, folic acid, Favipiravir, two kinds of functionalized triangular hexagonal graphene, and four kinds of functionalized CQDs were studied on a comparative basis. The results show that OH and amine-functionalized CQDs tend to interact with three branches of Sprotein, especially RBD. The fact that they can block the S2 cleavage site leads to their potential use as a therapeutic agent

Deactivation of SARS-CoV-2 via Shielding of Spike Glycoprotein Using Carbon Quantum Dots: Bioinformatic Perspective

The interaction of the spike (S) glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2 with angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) correlates with increased virus transmissibility and disease severity in humans. Two strategies may be considered for preventive or treatment purposes: the blockage of the ACE2 receptors or the shielding of receptor-binding domains (RBD) in the Sprotein of COVID-19, as well as the S2 cleavage site that is used by the furin enzyme of the host cells in the late phase of virus activation. Herein, the interaction of carbon quantum dots (CQDs) with the Sprotein of SARS-CoV-2 was investigated using molecular docking and molecular dynamics. CQD molecules were optimized by the HF/3-21G level of theory; the probable interactions between the CQDs with Sprotein were studied by blind docking mode, considering the Sprotein as the receptor and CQDs as ligands. Ethanol, folic acid, Favipiravir, two kinds of functionalized triangular hexagonal graphene, and four kinds of functionalized CQDs were studied on a comparative basis. The results show that OH and amine-functionalized CQDs tend to interact with three branches of Sprotein, especially RBD. The fact that they can block the S2 cleavage site leads to their potential use as a therapeutic agent

A Machine Learning Based Framework for Real-Time Detection and Mitigation of Sensor False Data Injection Cyber-Physical Attacks in Industrial Control Systems

In light of the advancement of the technologies used in industrial control systems, securing their operation has become crucial, primarily since their activity is consistently associated with integral elements related to the environment, the safety and health of people, the economy, and many others. This work presents a distributed, machine learning based attack detection and mitigation framework for sensor false data injection cyber-physical attacks in industrial control systems. It is developed using the system&#x2019;s standard operational data and validated using a hybrid testbed of a reverse osmosis plant. A MATLAB/Simulink-based simulation model of the process validated with actual data from a local plant is used. The control system is implemented using Siemens S7-1200 programmable logic controllers with 200SP Distributed Input/Output modules. The proposed solution can be adopted in the existing industrial control systems and demonstrated effective performance in real-time detection and mitigation of actual cyber-physical attacks launched by compromising the communication links between the process and the programmable logic controllers

QT Dispersion: Does It Change after Percutaneous Coronary Intervention?

Background: Myocardial ischemia is one of several causes of prolonged QT dispersion. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect that percutaneous coronary intervention has on the depolarization and repolarization parameters of surface electrocardiography in patients with chronic stable angina.Methods: We assessed the effects of full revascularization in patients with chronic stable angina and single-vessel disease who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention. Twelve-lead electrocardiograms were recorded before intervention and 24 hours subsequently. We measured parameters including QRS duration, QT and corrected QT durations, and JT and corrected JT duration in both electrocardiograms and compared the values.Results: There were significant differences between the mean QRS interval (0.086 ± 0.01sec vs. 0.082 ± 0.01 second; p value = 0.01), mean corrected QT dispersion (0.080 ± 0.04 sec vs. 0.068 ± 0.04 sec; p value = 0.001), and mean corrected JT dispersion (0.074 ± 0.04 sec vs. 0.063 ± 0.04 sec; p value = 0.001) before and after percutaneous coronary intervention. No significant differences were found between the other ECG parameters.Conclusion: Our data indicate that the shortening of corrected QT dispersion and corrected JT dispersion in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention is prominent