Comparison of quality of clinical supervision as perceived by attending physicians and residents in university teaching hospitals in Tehran

Background: Clinical supervision is an important factor in the development of competency in residency program. Attending physicians play a key role in supervision of residents. However little is known about how attending physicians and residents perceive the quality of clinical supervision. The aim of this study was to explore the differences between perceived qualities of supervision in these two groups in different wards in teaching hospitals in Tehran, Iran. Methods: A valid questionnaire were completed by 219 attending physicians and residents from surgery, psychiatry, gynecology, pediatrics, internal medicine, orthopedics and radiology wards in two teaching hospital affiliated to Iran University of Medical Sciences. This questionnaire contained 15 items in regards to supervisory roles, rated on a five point Likert scale (1=never, 2=seldom, 3=sometimes, 4=often, 5=always). Results: Out of 219 participants, 90 (41) were attending physicians and 129 (59) were residents. The overall mean±SD scores of perceived clinical supervision achieved by attending physicians and residents were respectively, 4.20±0.5 and 3.00±0.7 which was statistically significant (p<0.05). Attending physicians and residents acquired minimum scores (mean=4.06 and 2.7, respectively) regarding expectation from their supervisor to know and do during training period of residency. Conclusion: It seems that the clinical supervisory does not have an efficient performance in teaching hospitals which needs to be more assessed and improved. Therefore it is suggested that policymakers in medical education system pay more attention to this important issue and enhance some faculty development programs for clinical educators in Iran

Development of a Biomimetic Semicircular Canal with MEMS Sensors to Restore Balance

© 2001-2012 IEEE. A third of adults over the age of 50 suffer from chronic impairment of balance, posture, and/or gaze stability due to partial or complete impairment of the sensory cells in the inner ear responsible for these functions. The consequences of impaired balance organ can be dizziness, social withdrawal, and acceleration of the further functional decline. Despite the significant progress in biomedical sensing technologies, current artificial vestibular systems fail to function in practical situations and in very low frequencies. Herein, we introduced a novel biomechanical device that closely mimics the human vestibular system. A microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) flow sensor was first developed to mimic the vestibular haircell sensors. The sensor was then embedded into a three-dimensional (3D) printed semicircular canal and tested at various angular accelerations in the frequency range from 0.5Hz to 1.5Hz. The miniaturized device embedded into a 3D printed model will respond to mechanical deflections and essentially restore the sense of balance in patients with vestibular dysfunctions. The experimental and simulation studies of semicircular canal presented in this work will pave the way for the development of balance sensory system, which could lead to the design of a low-cost and commercially viable medical device with significant health benefits and economic potential

Mini-Exon Genotyping of Leishmania Species in Khuzestan Province, Southwest Iran

Background: Leishmaniasis is a protozoan disease cause by Leishmania genus. Anthroponotic and zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis are endemic in Iran. The aim of this study was to identify the causative agent of cutaneous leishmaniasis by mini-exon gene in five regions of Khuzestan Province, southwest of Iran. Methods: From 2007 to 2008 in this cross-sectional study, cutaneous samples were collected from patients referred to Health Centers and Hospitals of the Khuzestan Province for cutaneous leishmaniasis diagnosis and cultured in Novy-MacNeal-Nicolle (NNN) and RPMI 1640. The propagated promastigotes were harvested and Leishmania species of cutaneous leishmaniasis were identified by RFLP and DNA sequencing of the PCR generated fragments. Results: L. major and L. tropica were the causative agents of cutaneous leishmaniasis by predominantly of L. major species. The alignment of the mini-exon sequencing isolates with reported sequencing of L. major and L. tropica revealed 92-99 identity. Conclusion: Our study showed that mini-exon PCR-RFLP was useful method to identify the causative species of cutaneous leishmaniasis

Resistance of different tomato cultivars to the two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae)

Two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae), is one of the most important pests of tomato crops. Using resistant cultivars is a useful control method against the pest in integrated pest management programs. In this study, resistance of the tomato cultivars Super Chief, Super Strain B, Korral, Khorram, HAS 2274, Super H, Calji, Early Urbana Y and Mobil to two-spotted spider mite were evaluated under laboratory conditions at 25 ± 2 °C, 60 ± 10% R.H. and a photoperiod of 16: 8 (L: D).The shortest pre-adult stage was recorded on Super Strain B. Female life span ranged from 26.47 to 30.40 days, on Super Chief and Early Urbana Y, respectively. The intrinsic rate of increase (rm) was from 0.091 to 0.163 day-1 which the lowest rm was observed on Super Chief and the highest rm was on Super Strain B. The lowest net reproductive rate (R0) and finite rate of increase (λ) belonged to Super Chief cultivar. Super Chief cultivar showed the highest antibiosis resistance against the two-spotted spider mite

Fabrication of unconventional inertial microfluidic channels using wax 3D printing.

Inertial microfluidics has emerged over the past decade as a powerful tool to accurately control cells and microparticles for diverse biological and medical applications. Many approaches have been proposed to date in order to increase the efficiency and accuracy of inertial microfluidic systems. However, the effects of channel cross-section and solution properties (Newtonian or non-Newtonian) have not been fully explored, primarily due to limitations in current microfabrication methods. In this study, we overcome many of these limitations using wax 3D printing technology and soft lithography through a novel workflow, which eliminates the need for the use of silicon lithography and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) bonding. We have shown that by adding dummy structures to reinforce the main channels, optimizing the gap between the dummy and main structures, and dissolving the support wax on a PDMS slab to minimize the additional handling steps, one can make various non-conventional microchannels. These substantially improve upon previous wax printed microfluidic devices where the working area falls into the realm of macrofluidics rather than microfluidics. Results revealed a surface roughness of 1.75 μm for the printed channels, which does not affect the performance of inertial microfluidic devices used in this study. Channels with complex cross-sections were fabricated and then analyzed to investigate the effects of viscoelasticity and superposition on the lateral migration of the particles. Finally, as a proof of concept, microcarriers were separated from human mesenchymal stem cells using an optimized channel with maximum cell-holding capacity, demonstrating the suitability of these microchannels in the bioprocessing industry

Multiple zoonotic helminth infections in domestic dogs in a rural area of Khuzestan Province in Iran

Background: Echinococcosis and toxocarosis caused by the genus of Echinococcus and Toxocara spp. are among important helminthic diseases worldwide. Limited data on the prevalence of these parasites persuaded us to determine the prevalence of E. granulosus, E. multilocularis, and T. canis infections in domestic dogs in rural areas of Ahvaz, southwestern Iran. Fecal samples from 167 domestic dogs were examined using both microscopy and PCR techniques. Multiplex PCR was performed for the presence of Echinococcus, and Taenia spp. and single PCR for detection of T. canis and Toxascaris leonina. Results: The total occurrence of identified parasites was 65 (38.9). The microscopic examinations showed that 40 (24), 18 (10.8), and four (2.4) of dogs were infected with taeniid-like, ascarid, and both genera eggs, respectively. Echinococcus granulosus was identified in seven (4.2), Taenia spp. in 29 (17.4), and mixed infection with both in 11 (6.6) samples. Sequencing of PCR-positive samples identified E. granulosus s.s. (G1), 18 T. hydatigena (10.8), five T. multiceps (3), three T. serialis (1.8), one T. ovis (0.6), one Spirometra erinaceieuropaei voucher (0.6), and two Mesocestoides corti (1.2). This is the first report of S. erinaceieuropaei voucher and M. corti in dogs in Iran. Nine (5.4) and 16 (9.6) dogs showed infection with T. canis and T. leonina, respectively. Two samples showed coinfection with both ascarids. Conclusions: Several studies have reported echinococcosis and toxocarosis in intermediate hosts from the southwest of Iran; however, this study is the first molecular research on E. granulosus and T. canis in domestic dogs in a rural area of southwestern Iran. Furthermore, issues of soil contamination with dogs' feces and recent dust storms in Khuzestan may have a role in the spreading of these zoonotic infections to other provinces close to it, and neighboring countries such as Iraq. © 2018 The Author(s)

Probabilistic Routing for On-Street Parking Search

An estimated 30% of urban traffic is caused by search for parking spots [Shoup, 2005]. Suggesting routes along highly probable parking spots could reduce traffic. In this paper, we formalize parking search as a probabilistic problem on a road graph and show that it is NP-complete. We explore heuristics that optimize for the driving duration and the walking distance to the destination. Routes are constrained to reach a certain probability threshold of finding a spot. Empirically estimated probabilities of successful parking attempts are provided by TomTom on a per-street basis. We release these probabilities as a dataset of about 80,000 roads covering the Berlin area. This allows to evaluate parking search algorithms on a real road network with realistic probabilities for the first time. However, for many other areas, parking probabilities are not openly available. Because they are effortful to collect, we propose an algorithm that relies on conventional road attributes only. Our experiments show that this algorithm comes close to the baseline by a factor of 1.3 in our cost measure. This leads to the conclusion that conventional road attributes may be sufficient to compute reasonably good parking search routes

Conjugated linoleic acid stimulates apoptosis in RH and tehran strains of Toxoplasma gondii, in vitro

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) on apoptosis of tachyzoites of T. gondii, RH strain (type I) and the cyst-forming Tehran strain (type II) in vitro. Methods: Toxoplasma strains were injected into the peritoneal cavity of BALB/c mice. The Tehran strain forms cysts in the brain of mice. Bradyzoites within the cysts are reactivated to proliferative tachyzoites, by dexamethasone. Tachyzoites were aspirated from the peritoneum of infected mice, and the percentage of viable parasites was estimated with trypan blue staining. Tachyzoites were inoculated into HeLa cells cultivated in DMEM medium. Different concentrations of CLA were evaluated on T. gondii in HeLa cells by the tetrazolium (MTT) colorimetric assay. Differentiation between apoptosis and cell death was determined by flow cytometry using Annexin V and propidium iodide (PI) double staining. The statistical analysis performed by GraphPad Prism version 6.00. Results: CLA induces apoptosis in virulent (RH) and avirulent (Tehran) strains of T. gondii. The results of MTT indicated that CLA could decrease the proliferation of tachyzoites of both strains in HeLa cells. Conclusion: Conjugated linoleic acid has anti-toxoplasmacidal activity on tachyzoites of T. gondii. Therefore, we recommended further studies on this component in order to achieve a new drug against the parasite. © 2015, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS). All rights reserved

Resistance of wheat cultivars to bird cherry-oat aphid, Rhopalosiphum padi (Hem.: Aphididae)

The bird cherry-oat aphid, Rhopalosiphum padi (L.), is polyphagous with a nearly worldwide distribution and known as an important pest of wheat and the main vector of barley yellow dwarf virus. In this study, the possibility of antixenosis, antibiosis and tolerance of six common wheat cultivars of Chamran, Darab 2, Shiraz, Ghods, Marvdasht and Niknezhad was investigated at 2-3 leaf growth stage in the Fars province, Iran. The experiments were conducted at 24 ± 5°C, 65 ± 5% R.H. and natural light in a greenhouse, using a randomized complete design. The analysis of variance in regard to the number of adult aphids attracted to each cultivar, was indicative of significant differences among the cultivars (P < 0.01). The highest (21 ± 0.71) and the lowest (11.6 ± 0.51) mean number of adult aphids attracted per plant was observed on Shiraz and Darab 2, respectively. The antibiosis test, based on nymphs per female was significantly different among the cultivars (P < 0.01) whose average values were 62.05, 55.84, 49.89, 47.63, 42.76 and 40.65 nymphs per female on Niknezhad, Shiraz, Ghods, Marvdash, Chamran, and Darab 2, respectively. The tolerance studies based on the damage index, showed that Chamran and Darab 2, with the lowest damage index (1.33), were the most tolerant cultivars while Shiraz and Niknezhad, with the highest damage indexes of 3.00 and 3.67 respectively, were the most susceptible cultivars. The cutivars Niknezhad and Shiraz are found to be susceptible, Ghods and Marvdasht partially resistant, and Chamran and Darab 2 resistant to the bird cherry - oat aphid

Impact of Platelet-Rich Plasma on Arthroscopic Repair of Small- to Medium-Sized Rotator Cuff Tears: A Randomized Controlled Trial

© 2016, © The Author(s) 2016. Background: Increased interest in using platelet-rich plasma (PRP) as an augment to rotator cuff repair warrants further investigation, particularly in smaller rotator cuff tears. Purpose: To examine the effectiveness of PRP application in improving perioperative pain and function and promoting healing at 6 months after arthroscopic repair of small- or medium-sized rotator cuff tears. Study Design: Randomized controlled trial; Level of evidence, 1. Methods: This was a double-blinded randomized controlled trial of patients undergoing arthroscopic repair of partial- or full-thickness rotator cuff tears of up to 3 cm who were observed for 6 months. Patients were randomized to either repair and PRP application (study group) or repair only (control group) groups. The patient-oriented outcome measures utilized were the visual analog scale (VAS), the Short Western Ontario Rotator Cuff Index (ShortWORC), the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) form, and the Constant-Murley Score (CMS). Range of motion (ROM) and inflammatory and coagulation markers were measured before and after surgery. Magnetic resonance imaging was used at 6 months to assess retear and fatty infiltration rate. Results: Eighty-two patients (41 males) with a mean age of 59 ± 8 years were enrolled; 41 patients were included in each group. Both the PRP and control groups showed a significant improvement in their pain level based on the VAS within the first 30 days (P .05), retear (14% vs 18% full retear; P =.44), or fatty infiltration rate (P =.08). Conclusion: The PRP biological augmentation for repair of small- to medium-sized rotator cuff tears has a short-term effect on perioperative pain without any significant impact on patient-oriented outcome measures or structural integrity of the repair compared with control group