Effect of Foam on Liquid Phase Mobility in Porous Media

We investigate the validity of the assumption that foam in porous media reduces the mobility of gas phase only and does not impact the liquid-phase mobility. The foam is generated by simultaneous injection of nitrogen gas and a surfactant solution into sandstone cores and its strength is varied by changing surfactant type and concentration. We find, indeed, that the effect of foam on liquid-phase mobility is not pronounced and can be ignored. Our new experimental results and analyses resolve apparent discrepancies in the literature. Previously, some researchers erroneously applied relative permeability relationships measured at small to moderate capillary numbers to foam floods at large capillary number. Our results indicate that the water relative permeability in the absence of surfactant should be measured with the capillary pressure ranging up to values reached during the foam floods. This requires conducting a steady-state gas/water core flood with capillary numbers similar to that of foam floods or measuring the water relative-permeability curve using a centrifuge

The Prevalence of Restless Legs Syndrome in Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Study

Introduction: Restless legs syndrome is a sensory-motor disorder that causes sleep disorder. The syndrome in patients undergoing hemodialysis associates with depression, sleep deprivation, performance disorder, day fatigue, excessive daytime sleepiness, stress, anxiety, and higher risk of cardiovascular diseases. The objective of this systematic meta-analysis study was to estimate prevalence of restless legs syndrome in patients undergoing hemodialysis. Methods: Twenty-six relevant articles published between 2000 and 2015 indexed in Iranian (MagIran and IranMedex) and international databases (SID, Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, PubMed, Pre Quest, and Scopus) were selected. Data analysis was carried out through metaanalysis (random effect model) and heterogeneity of the studies was determined using I2 index. The obtained data were analyzed in STAT (11.2). Results: Prevalence of the syndrome according to the found articles was 50 (95 CI: 38-61) in Iranian and 30 (95 CI: 23-37) in international databases. There was an ascending trend of prevalence of the syndrome corresponding to the publication year of the articles (P= 0.419), while the trend based on age of the patients was descending (P= 0.604). However, the variations were not significant. Conclusion: Given the high prevalence and considerable effects of restless legs syndrome on patients undergoing hemodialysis, it is recommended that these patients be screened for the syndrome

Inhibitory Effects of Several Essential Oils towards Salmonella typhimurium, Salmonella paratyphi A and Salmonella paratyphi B

Plant essential oils are natural products extracted from plants and because of their antimicrobial properties can be used as natural additives in foods. They are also useful for decontamination of food-borne pathogens and can be a safe additive in foods. The antimicrobial activities of essential oils belonging to Saturiea hortensis, Thymus vulgaris, Mentha polegium, Cuminum cyminum, Lavandula officinalis and Mentha viridis L. (spearmint) were investigated at different concentrations (0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 1, 2, 5 and 10%v/v) against Salmonella typhimurium, Salmonella paratyphi A and Salmonella paratyphi B by using the agar well diffusion method. Essential oils showed inhibitory effect on Salmonella spp. in the agar well diffusion assay. In addition, the capability of essential oils for decontamination of minced row beef, ground beef, minced raw chicken and minced raw fish inoculated with Salmonella spp. at 0.1 and 0.5%v/v were assessed. Reduction of the Salmonella spp. population was observed following the inoculation of the cultures with 0.1 and 0.5%v/v essential oils

The Association Between Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Depression in Older Adults

Background: Depression is the most frequent psychiatric disorder among the elderly. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a chronic and prevalent disease that has an ambiguous role in triggering depression. Several researches with contradictory findings have been performed about the association between OSA and depression. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the association between OSA and depression among elderly. Patients and Methods: A total of 350 home residing elderly took part in this case-control study. The participants were selected using clustering method. All cases were divided into two groups of depressed and non-depressed using the geriatric depression scale (GDS). Then they were matched in age, gender, education and body mass index (BMI). Berlin questionnaire (BQ) was used to diagnose OSA. Data analysis was performed using Mann-Whitney U test, t-test, Chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests and odds ratio. Results: Totally, 60.6 % of depressed group and 18.9 % of non-depressed group were in high risk for OSA. A significant association was found between OSA and depression (P < 0.001, OR = 6.61, CI 95 % = 4.1 - 10.7). In addition, a significant association was found between gender and OSA (P = 0.008). Conclusions: OSA was associated with depression among the elderly patients. Given the high prevalence of OSA in older adults, implementation of screening methods is necessary to identify people at high risk of OSA

Relationship between Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) and Difficult Intubation

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: One of the challenges of patients who are candidates for anesthesia is difficult intubation, which leads to severe complications and even death after anesthesia. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between obstructive sleep apnea and difficult intubation through systematic review and meta-analysis. METHODS: In this review article, observational articles about the relationship between obstructive sleep apnea and difficult intubation were extracted without time limit by searching national and international databases and the keywords were: difficult intubation, problematic intubation, Intra tracheal-endotracheal, difficult airway OSA, OSAS, obstructive sleep apnea, sleep breathing disorder, anesthesia, and their Persian equivalents. Data were analyzed using meta-analysis and fixed effects model. In order to study the heterogeneity and contradictions in the studies, Q Cochrane and I2 indices were used, respectively. FINDINGS: Of the 72 found articles, 9 articles with a sample size of 1,126 and an average of 125 subjects were included in the study. The results of this study showed that the relationship between obstructive sleep apnea and difficult intubation is significant (OR = 3.88, CI95% = 2.69 – 5.61). In addition, the results of the analysis based on country showed that the highest and lowest odds ratios were observed in studies conducted in France and Canada, respectively. CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed that there is a correlation between obstructive sleep apnea and difficult intubation

An evaluation model for the implementation of hospital information system in public hospitals using multi-criteria-decision-making (MCDM) approaches

Background: Hospital Information System (HIS) is implemented to provide high-quality patient care. The aim of this study is to identify significant dimensional factors that influence the hospital decision in adopting the HIS. Methods: This study designs the initial integrated model by taking the three main dimensions in adopting HIS technology. Accordingly, DEMATEL was utilized to test the strength of interdependencies among the dimensions and variables. Then ANP approach is adapted to determining how the factors are weighted and prioritized by professionals and main users working in the Iranian public hospitals, in-volved with the HIS system. Results: The results indicated that "Perceived Technical Competence" is a key factor in the Human dimension. The respondents also believed that "Relative Advantage," "Compatibility" and "Security Concern" of Technology dimension should be further assessed in relation to other factors. With respect to Organization dimension, "Top Management Support" and "Vendor Support" are considered more important than others. Conclusion: Applying the TOE and HOT-fit models as the pillar of our developed model with significant findings add to the growing literature on the factors associated with the adoption of HIS and also shed some light for managers of public hospitals in Iran to success-fully adopt the HIS

A multimodal deep learning framework using local feature representations for face recognition

YesThe most recent face recognition systems are mainly dependent on feature representations obtained using either local handcrafted-descriptors, such as local binary patterns (LBP), or use a deep learning approach, such as deep belief network (DBN). However, the former usually suffers from the wide variations in face images, while the latter usually discards the local facial features, which are proven to be important for face recognition. In this paper, a novel framework based on merging the advantages of the local handcrafted feature descriptors with the DBN is proposed to address the face recognition problem in unconstrained conditions. Firstly, a novel multimodal local feature extraction approach based on merging the advantages of the Curvelet transform with Fractal dimension is proposed and termed the Curvelet–Fractal approach. The main motivation of this approach is that theCurvelet transform, a newanisotropic and multidirectional transform, can efficiently represent themain structure of the face (e.g., edges and curves), while the Fractal dimension is one of the most powerful texture descriptors for face images. Secondly, a novel framework is proposed, termed the multimodal deep face recognition (MDFR)framework, to add feature representations by training aDBNon top of the local feature representations instead of the pixel intensity representations. We demonstrate that representations acquired by the proposed MDFR framework are complementary to those acquired by the Curvelet–Fractal approach. Finally, the performance of the proposed approaches has been evaluated by conducting a number of extensive experiments on four large-scale face datasets: the SDUMLA-HMT, FERET, CAS-PEAL-R1, and LFW databases. The results obtained from the proposed approaches outperform other state-of-the-art of approaches (e.g., LBP, DBN, WPCA) by achieving new state-of-the-art results on all the employed datasets