Relationship between stuttering severity in children and their mother's speaking rate

Context and Objective: Stuttering is a complex disease that influences occupational, social, academic and emotional achievements. The aim of this study was to correlate the stuttering severity index with speaking rates of mothers and children. Design and Setting: Cross-sectional study, at the child rehabilitation clinics of Tehran city. Methods: 35 pairs of mothers and their children who stuttered were studied. There were 29 boys and six girls, of mean age 8.5 years (range: 5.1-12.0). Speech samples from the mother-child pairs were audiotaped for approximately 15 minutes, until a reciprocal verbal enteraction had been obtained. This sample was then analyzed in accordance with a stuttering severity index test and speaking rate parameters. Results: The research results outlined a significant relationship between the mothers' speaking rate and their children stuttering severity. Conclusion: The results suggest that the mothers' speaking rate should be incorporated in the assessment and treatment of stuttering. Copyright © 2008, Associação Paulista de Medicina

Evaluation of the antioxidant activity of extracts from some fruit peels

The growing interest on the replacement of synthetic antioxidants with natural ones has directed many research toward the plant-derived raw materials. The special attention is focused on inexpensive or residual sources from food agricultural industries. Fruit peels are valuable wastes obtained from domestic and industrial sources. The potential of fruit wastes as sources of natural antioxidants was explored in the present research. The peels of five kinds of fruits commonly used were obtained from domestic consumption. Antioxidant activity of their separate extract was assessed using DPPH radical scavenging activity and ferric-reducing antioxidant power. Besides, total phenol, flavonoid anthocyanin, protein and soluble sugar contents of the samples were also determined. According to the results, the apple peel extract contained the most content of total flavonoid, soluble sugar, protein and ferric-reducing antioxidant power. The maximum DPPH radical scavenging activity (256.78 ± 4.54 mg AA.g^-1 dry weight = DW), total phenol (13.17 ± 0.268 mg of GAE.g^-1 DW) and total anthocyanin (0.811 ± 0.024 mg.g-1 DW) were observed in orange peel. This study demonstrated that fruit peels could serve as potential sources of antioxidants in the food and pharmaceutical industries

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

A density functional theory study of CO2 hydrogenation on carbon-terminated TaC (111) surface

In this study, the density functional theory implemented in the Vienna ab initio simulation package was used to shed more light on the catalytic Carbon dioxide (CO2) hydrogenation process on the (111) facet of the carbon-terminated tantalum carbide (TaC) surface. The adsorption of several intermediates and their hydrogenation elementary steps on the TaC (111) surface towards the formation and desorption of the main products including carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH4), and methanol (CH3OH) was investigated. The results indicate that the involved intermediates adsorb strongly to the carbon-terminated TaC (111) surface by releasing large energies. The calculated reaction energies concluded in proposing the preferred mechanisms energetically, where the found pathways are overall endothermic which can be provided by the large exothermic adsorption energies of the intermediates. The favorite routes to the formation of desired compounds including CO, CH4, and CH3OH require overall reaction energies of 1.29, 5.96, and 6.63 eV, where they go through dihydroxycarbene (HOCOH) intermediate created from t-COOH hydrogenation. Along these routes, COH dehydrogenation to CO releases the largest exothermic reaction energy of − 2.30 eV, while hydrogenation of t-HCOH to CH2OH requires the highest endothermic reaction energy of 2.69 eV to proceed. It is concluded that CO and CH4 are the main products of CO2 hydrogenation on carbon terminated TaC (111) surface, in agreement with experimental and theoretical studies

Signal Processing in Ocean Bottom Seismographs for Refraction Seismology

This paper presents some experimental results on the application of signal processing techniques to underwater seismic signals. The novelty of this paper stems from the fact that it is the first paper, to the best of the authors' knowledge, dealing with a comprehensive processing of signals obtained from active refraction seismology. In particular, this paper has adapted known signal processing techniques to problems such as time of arrival detection (TOA), compression, and representation through conventional images (hodocrones) used in underwater seismology. This work is part of a wider project aimed at the design of a small ocean bottom seismometer (OBS) undertaken by several research and development groups in Spain. This sophisticated easy to handle equipment allows recording useful active and passive seismicity information. © 2006 IEEEPeer Reviewe

MicroRNA-494 induces breast cancer cell apoptosis and reduces cell viability by inhibition of nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase expression and activity

Breast cancer (BC) is the most prevalent cause of cancer-related death in women worldwide. BC is frequently associated with elevated levels of nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (NAMPT) in blood and tumor tissue. MicroRNA-494 (miR-494) has been described to play key anti-tumor roles in human cancers. The aim of the present study was to investigate the inhibitory effect of miR-494 on NAMPT-mediated viability of BC cells. In this experimental study, MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells were cultured and then transfected with miR-494 mimic, miR-494 inhibitor and their negative controls. The mRNA and protein expression of NAMPT were assessed using real-time PCR and Western blotting, respectively. Subsequently, intracellular NAD levels were determined by a colorimetric method. Finally, cell apoptosis was examined by flow cytometry. Bioinformatics evaluations predicted NAMPT as a miR-494 target gene which was confirmed by luciferase reporter assay. Our results showed an inverse relationship between the expression of miR-494 and NAMPT in both MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines. miR-494 significantly down-regulated NAMPT mRNA and protein expression and was also able to reduce the cellular NAD content. Cell viability was decreased following miR-494 up-regulation. In addition, apoptosis was induced in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells by miR-494 mimic. Our findings indicate that miR-494 acts as a tumor suppressor and has an important effect in suppressing the growth of BC cells through NAMPT. Therefore, miR-494 might be considered as a novel therapeutic target for the management of human breast cancer. © 2019, Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors. All rights reserved