Frequency dependent effective conductivity of two-dimensional metal-dielectric composites

We analyze a random resistor-inductor-capacitor $(RLC)$ lattice model of 2-dimensional metal-insulator composites. The results are compared with Bruggeman's and Landauer's Effective Medium Approximations where a discrepancy was observed for some frequency zones. Such a discrepancy is mainly caused by the strong conductivity fluctuations. Indeed, a two-branches distribution is observed for low frequencies. We show also by increasing the system size that at $p_c$ the so-called Drude peak vanishes; it increases for vanishing losses.Comment: 7 pages including all figures, accepted in Int. J. Mod. Phys.

Survey on Epidemiological Status and Incidence Rate of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Abadan County, Khuzestan Province, Southwestern Iran

Cutaneous Lieshmaniasis (CL) has been considered as a large hygienic challenge, and the epidemiological studies have been useful in controlling this problem, and also taking prevention stages. Khuzestan Province is one of the common foci of the wet or rural zoonotic CL in Iran. Due to the lack of data about the epidemiology and prevalence of CL in Abadan County (30 degrees 16'N 48 degrees 34'E), this study was conducted in this area within 2011-2015. This descriptive-analytical study was based on 179 cases of CL submitted to the medical and health centers of Abadan County (30 degrees 42'02''N 49 degrees 49'53''E) during the past years. The study was done by extracting the demographic and epidemiologic data from a standard information questionnaire as well as analyzing the study data via SPSS software with chi-square and T tests. Demographic information-epidemiologic features, such as the number and location of lesions on the body, job, month, season, age, gender was collected. The patients were diagnosed by direct microscopic examination of the samples and clinical information. All ethical issues were also addressed. The average incidence rate was reported to be 0,15 / 1000 person. The results revealed that the number of the infected cases in Abadan was 179 people during the study. The most frequent age group was 21-30 years old (24.6). Meanwhile, about 54.7 of CL patients were male and 45.3 were female. Housekeepers had the highest incidence (29.1) of CL. The analysis of the lesions on the different parts of the body showed that 24.3 of the lesions occurred on the hand, 20.1 on the foot, 14.5 on the hand as well foot, and 11.7 on the face. The maximum number of CL cases was reported in the autumn with 34.1. Most of the cases were seen in October (14.5) and November (12.3). About 59.2 of the patients had one ulcer. The findings showed an increasing and decreasing trend of the incidence and prevalence rate of CL over the period study in this area. Also, CL has been remaining a health threat in the future. Therefore, it is recommended that the regional authorities pay more attention to control the spread of the disease

Spectral, Spatial, and Time properties of the hydrogen nebula around exoplanet HD209458b

All far ultraviolet observations of HD209458 tend to support a scenario in which the inflated hydrogen atmosphere of its planetary companion strongly absorbs the stellar \lya flux during transit. However, it was not clear how the transit absorption depends on the selected wavelength range in the stellar line profile, nor how the atomic hydrogen cloud was distributed spatially around HD209458b. Here we report a sensitivity study of observed time and spectral variations of the stellar flux. In particular, the sensitivity of the absorption depth during transit to the assumed spectral range in the stellar line profile is shown to be very weak, leading to a transit depth in the range $(8.4-8.9)$ for all possible wavelength ranges, and thereby confirming our initially-reported absorption rate. Taking the ratio of the line profile during transit to the unperturbed line profile, we also show that the spectral signature of the absorption by the exoplanetary hydrogen nebula is symmetric and typical of a Lorentzian, optically thick medium. Our results question the adequacy of models that require a huge absorption and/or a strong asymmetry between the blue and red side of the absorption line during transit as no such features could be detected in the HST FUV absorption profile. Finally, we show that standard atmospheric models of HD209458b provide a good fit to the observed absorption profile during transit. Other hybrid models assuming a standard model with a thin layer of superthermal hydrogen on top remain possible.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journa

A computational drug repositioning method applied to rare diseases : adrenocortical carcinoma

Rare or orphan diseases affect only small populations, thereby limiting the economic incentive for the drug development process, often resulting in a lack of progress towards treatment. Drug repositioning is a promising approach in these cases, due to its low cost. In this approach, one attempts to identify new purposes for existing drugs that have already been developed and approved for use. By applying the process of drug repositioning to identify novel treatments for rare diseases, we can overcome the lack of economic incentives and make concrete progress towards new therapies. Adrenocortical Carcinoma (ACC) is a rare disease with no practical and definitive therapeutic approach. We apply Heter-LP, a new method of drug repositioning, to suggest novel therapeutic avenues for ACC. Our analysis identifies innovative putative drug-disease, drug-target, and disease-target relationships for ACC, which include Cosyntropin (drug) and DHCR7, IGF1R, MC1R, MAP3K3, TOP2A (protein targets). When results are analyzed using all available information, a number of novel predicted associations related to ACC appear to be valid according to current knowledge. We expect the predicted relations will be useful for drug repositioning in ACC since the resulting ranked lists of drugs and protein targets can be used to expedite the necessary clinical processes

Preparation and application of a molecularly imprinted polymer for determination of glibenclamide residues

The performance of a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) as selective packing material for solid-phase extraction (SPE) of residual glibenclamide in an industrial process was investigated. MIP was prepared using 4-vinylpyridine as monomer, ethylenedimethacrylate as cross linker, 2,2’-azobis-2-methylpropionitrile as initiator and dimethyl formamide as porogen. Use of acetonitrile as a rebinding solvent allows good recognition of the glibenclamide template. It was found that this polymer can be used for determination of trace levels of glibenclamide with a recovery percentage that could reach 87.1 %. Furthermore, the synthesized MIP showed higher selectivity towards glibenclamide than other compounds such as glimepiride and metformine. The synthesized MIP enabled direct determination of the target contaminant after an enrichment step that allowed quantification of a low glibenclamide concentration as low as 0.016 mg L–1. Combination of high performance liquid chromatography with MIP-SPE could be successfully used for quality control of pharmaceuticals during the cleaning process in the production of dry drug forms

Causative Constructions in Modern Persian

This article is a conceptual exploration of causative constructions in Modern Persian. Based on a typology of causative constructions proposed by Song (1996), Persian causatives are surveyed in both formal and functional terms. The data are then exploited in order to shed further light on the cognitive basis of causativity, and to recast Song's formulation of causative types in more solid cognitive terms drawn from Talmy's (1985, 1988, 2000) force-dynamic account of causation. A tentative account of the grammaticisation of factual/nonfactual causation in Persian concludes the discussion

Proliferationsinhibition und Induktion der Differenzierung bei Gliomzellinien durch das Zytokin "Oncostatin M" (OSM)

In dieser Arbeit wurde die Wirkung dreier neurotropher Zytokine aus der Interleukin-6-Familie (IL-6, LIF, OSM) auf anaplastische Gliomzellinien untersucht. Waehrend IL-6 und LIF kaum einen Effekt auf die Proliferationsrate und Morphologie der Zellen zeigten, konnten wir eine deutliche Suppression der Proliferation durch OSM bewirken, zudem aenderte sich die Morphologie dieser Tumorzellen signifikant, die Zellen zeigten eine Form, die mit zahlreichen langen und duennen Fortsaetzen an normale Astrozyten erinnerte. Darueber hinaus stieg die Zytoplasma-Kern-Relation mit steigender Groeße der Zellen an. Die inhibierende Wirkung von OSM war dosisabhaengig mit einer maximalen Inhibitionsdosis von 50ng/ml. Die DNA-Synthese-Hemmung durch OSM konnte durch Antikoerper aufgehoben werden, die gegen das Zytokin selbst oder gegen seine Rezeptorkomponente gp130 gerichtet waren

The effect of terrain factors on landslide features along forest road

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of physiographic features such as slope, altitude, aspect and soil on landslides dimensions and distribution in Pahnehkola forest, north of Iran. 30 landslides were selected for detailed observation, with their occurrences recorded by global positioning system (GPS) along the surveyed forest road. Then, landslides were mapped in Arc view and subsequently digitized into a geographic information system (GIS). Results indicate that the landslide area at a distance of 80 to 100 m from road edge was significantly more than that of other distances. The landslide dimensions increased with increasing slope angle. The mean of landslide area and mean of landslide volume on the Northwest aspect was significantly more than that on other aspects (P<0.01). The mean of landslide dimensions in altitude class of 400 to 650 m was significantly less than that in altitude class of 150 to 400 m (P<0.01). The mean of landslide dimensions increased significantly with increasing soil liquid and plastic limit. The logistic regression modeling indicate that independent variables including aspect, liquid limit, plastic limit and soil moisture, significantly influence the landslides area. The majority of landslides were situated along roads and on faults, and shallow landslides were more frequent along roads compared to those on faults.Key words: Landslide, forest road, physiographic features, GPS, Pahnehkola forest

Quantum Correlations in Neutrino Oscillation: Coherence and Entanglement

In this paper, we consider the quantum correlations, coherence and entanglement, in neutrino oscillation. We find that the $l_{1}$-norm as a coherence measure is equal to sum of the three possible concurrences for measuring the entanglement among different flavor modes which were calculated in the paper by (M. Blasone et al., Europhys. Lett., {\bf 112}, 20007). Our result shows that the origin of the flavor entanglement in neutrino oscillation is the same as that of quantum coherence. Furthermore, in the wave packet framework, the variation of $l_{1}$-norm is investigated by varying the wave packet width $\sigma_{x}$. As it is expected the amount of coherence increases by $\sigma_{x}$ due to the increase in the overlapping of the mass eigenstates.Comment: 12 pages; 1 figur