Comparisons of Emotional Boundaries: A case study of water neutrality and sustainable urban development in London

Emotions can shape decisions through the content of thought, depth of thought, goal activation, and interpersonal relationships within groups. While the formal aspects of the system have often been used to compare stakeholders' different perceptions of the system, the role of emotions still needs to be explored in the analysis. Drawing from a case study in London, UK, which explores how local developments contribute to water neutrality (WN) and sustainable growth, this study asks how the emotional boundaries that stakeholders attach to the variables contribute to the dynamics of sustainable urban development. We found that patterns and boundaries of different organizational groups’ emotions towards variables in causal mechanisms were explored. Despite the shared goal of achieving WN in developments, stakeholders have various emotional perceptions of the variables that contribute to WN and long-term sustainable growth. This paper illustrates the proof of the concept of how emotional boundaries impact the dynamics of decision-making in the sustainable urban environment

Clinico-Hematological and cytogenetic spectrum of adult myelodysplastic syndrome: The first retrospective cross-sectional study in Iranian patients

Background: Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a heterogeneous group of hematopoietic malignancy, has been shown to present different cytogenetic abnormalities, risk factors, and clinico-hematological features in different populations and geographic areas. Herein, we determined the cytogenetic spectrum and clinico-hematological features of Iranian MDS patients for the first time. Methods: This prospective cross-sectional study was conducted on 103 patients with MDS in Ahvaz, southwest of Iran, from 2014 to 2018. Clinical presentations, complete blood counts (CBC), and bone marrow (BM) biopsy samples were assessed. Perls' staining was used to evaluate BM iron storage. The cytogenetic evaluation was performed using the conventional G banding method on the BM. Results: Patients� median age was 62.3 (ranged from 50�76), and the majority were male (72.8). The most common clinical symptom at the time of admission was fatigue (n = 33) followed by pallor (n = 27). The most common subgroup was MDS-Multi Lineage Dysplasia (MDS-MLD) (n = 38, 36.8), followed by MDS-Single Lineage Dysplasia (MDS-SLD) (n = 28, 18.4). A normal karyotype was observed in 59 patients (57.3), while 44 patients (42.7) had cytogenetic abnormalities. Trisomy 8 (+ 8) was the most common cytogenetic abnormality (n = 14) followed by del 17p (n = 9) and monosomy 7 (� 7) (n = 7). Twelve patients (11.65) were transformed to AML. Conclusion: Our data betokened that among our MDS patients, Trisomy 8 is the predominant cytogenetic abnormality, and MDS-MLD and MDS-SLD are the most common of subtypes. Noteworthy, the male: female ratio was slightly higher in Iran than in previous reports from other parts of the world. Our study is the first report of the clinical, hematological, and cytogenetic spectrum of MDS patients in Iran © 2021, The Author(s)

Prevalence and determinants of diabetes and prediabetes in southwestern Iran: the Khuzestan comprehensive health study (KCHS)

Background: The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is postulated to have the highest increase in the prevalence of diabetes by 2030; however, studies on the epidemiology of diabetes are rather limited across the region, including in Iran. Methods: This study was conducted between 2016 and 2018 among Iranian adults aged 20 to 65 years residing in Khuzestan province, southwestern Iran. Diabetes was defined as the fasting blood glucose (FBG) level of 126 mg/dl or higher, and/or taking antidiabetic medications, and/or self-declared diabetes. Prediabetes was defined as FBG 100 to 125 mg/dl. Multinomial logistic regression models were used to examine the association of multiple risk factors that attained significance on the outcome. Results: Overall, 30,498 participants were recruited; the mean (±SD) age was 41.6 (±11.9) years. The prevalence of prediabetes and diabetes were 30.8 and 15.3, respectively. We found a similar prevalence of diabetes in both sexes, although it was higher among illiterates, urban residents, married people, and smokers. Participants aged 50�65 and those with Body Mass Index (BMI) 30 kg/m2 or higher were more likely to be affected by diabetes RR: 20.5 (18.1,23.3) and 3.2 (3.0,3.6). Hypertension RR: 5.1 (4.7,5.5), waist circumference (WC) equal or more than 90 cm RR: 3.6 (3.3,3.9), and family history RR: 2.3 (2.2,2.5) were also significantly associated with diabetes. For prediabetes, the main risk factors were age 50 to 65 years RR: 2.6 (2.4,2.8), BMI 30 kg/m2 or higher RR: 1.9 (1.8,2.0), hypertension and WC of 90 cm or higher RR: 1.7 (1.6,1.8). The adjusted relative risks for all variables were higher in females than males, with the exception of family history for both conditions and waist circumference for prediabetes. Conclusions: Prediabetes and diabetes are prevalent in southwestern Iran. The major determinants are older age, obesity, and the presence of hypertension. Further interventions are required to escalate diabetes prevention and diagnosis in high-risk areas across Iran. © 2021, The Author(s)

OpenACC GPU implementation of double-stage delay-multiply-and-sum algorithm: Toward enhanced real-time linear-array photoacoustic tomography

Double-stage delay-multiply-and-sum (DS-DMAS) is one of the algorithms proposed for photoacoustic image reconstruction where a linear-array transducer is used to detect signals. This algorithm provides a higher contrast image in comparison with the conventional delay-multiply-and-sum (DMAS) and delay-and-sum (DAS), but it imposes a high computational complexity. In this paper, open accelerators (OpenACC) GPU computation parallel approach is used to lessen the computational time and address the high computational time of the DSDMAS for photoacoustic image reconstruction process. Compared with sequential execution of the DS-DMAS on CPU, a speed-up of approximately 74× is achieved (for an image having 1024 × 1024 pixels). The proposed approach provides possibility to have an accurate reconstructed photoacoustic image with a reasonable frame rate. In addition, the higher the number of the image pixels, the higher speed-up is achieved. Using the suggested GPU implementation, it is feasible to reconstruct photoacoustic images having a size of 128 × 128, and 256 × 256 with a frame rate of 3 and 2, respectively.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.ImPhys/Acoustical Wavefield Imagin

Overexpression of MiR-138 inhibits cell growth and induces caspase-mediated apoptosis in acute promyelocytic leukemia cell line

Dysregulated expression of miRNAs can play a vital role in pathogenesis of leukemia. The shortened telomere length, and elevated telomerase activity in acute promyelocytic leukemia cells are mainly indicative of extensive proliferative activity. This study aimed to investigate the effect of overexpression of miR-138 on telomerase activity, and cell proliferation of acute promyelocytic leukemia NB4 cells. MiR-138 was overexpressed in NB4 cells using GFP hsa-miR-138-expressing lentiviruses. hTERT mRNA and protein expression levels were assessed by qRT-PCR and western blot analysis. For evaluation of apoptosis, annexin-V staining and activation of caspases were assessed using flow cytometry and western blot analysis, respectively. Our data demonstrate that overexpression of miR-138 attenuated the hTERT mRNA and protein expression levels. In addition, cell growth was inhibited, and malignant cells underwent caspase mediated-apoptosis in response to miR-138 overexpression. These findings suggest that loss of miR-138 expression may be associated with increased telomerase activity in NB4 cells. Therefore, strategies for up-regulation of miR-138 may result in inhibition of malignant cell growth, and provide a promising therapeutic approach for acute promyelocytic leukemia. © 2018 Babol University of Medical Sciences

Overexpression of MiR-138 inhibits cell growth and induces caspase-mediated apoptosis in acute promyelocytic leukemia cell line

Dysregulated expression of miRNAs can play a vital role in pathogenesis of leukemia. The shortened telomere length, and elevated telomerase activity in acute promyelocytic leukemia cells are mainly indicative of extensive proliferative activity. This study aimed to investigate the effect of overexpression of miR-138 on telomerase activity, and cell proliferation of acute promyelocytic leukemia NB4 cells. MiR-138 was overexpressed in NB4 cells using GFP hsa-miR-138-expressing lentiviruses. hTERT mRNA and protein expression levels were assessed by qRT-PCR and western blot analysis. For evaluation of apoptosis, annexin-V staining and activation of caspases were assessed using flow cytometry and western blot analysis, respectively. Our data demonstrate that overexpression of miR-138 attenuated the hTERT mRNA and protein expression levels. In addition, cell growth was inhibited, and malignant cells underwent caspase mediated-apoptosis in response to miR-138 overexpression. These findings suggest that loss of miR-138 expression may be associated with increased telomerase activity in NB4 cells. Therefore, strategies for up-regulation of miR-138 may result in inhibition of malignant cell growth, and provide a promising therapeutic approach for acute promyelocytic leukemia. © 2018 Babol University of Medical Sciences