Diagnostic efficacy of sonography for diagnosis of ovarian torsion

Objectives: Misdiagnosing ovarian torsion is now suggested as an important issue in clinical setting. The aim of this study was to determine the diagnostic accuracy of sonography for ovarian torsion. Methods: In this study 323 women with acute pelvic pain with highly suspected ovarian torsion signs and symptoms attending Imam Reza Medical Center in Kermanshah between 2011 through 2012 were included and underwent a transabdominal sonography (2-5 MHz probes). Then findings of sonography were compared with laparatomy. Results: The ultrasound correctly diagnosed 72.1% of ovarian torsion and missed 27.9% of them (false negatives). However, one free subject (0.4%) was misclassified as ovarian torsion (false positive). There was a strong correlation between sonography and laparatomy with a kappa value of 84.0%. The sensitivity and specificity of sonography were 72.1% and 99.6%, respectively. Sonography had a positive predictive value of 96.9%, a negative predictive value of 95.9%, and a total accuracy of 96.0% for detection of ovarian torsion. Conclusion: Sonography appears to be an excellent method to evaluate patients with suspected ovarian torsion. Abnormal blood flow detected by sonography is highly predictive of ovarian torsion and is therefore useful in the diagnosis of this phenomenon

Time difference of arrival estimation of sound source using cross correlation and modified maximum likelihood weighting function

The Generalized Cross Correlation (GCC) framework is one of the most widely used methods for Time Difference Of Arrival (TDOA) estimation and Sound Source Localization (SSL). TDOA estimation using cross correlation without any pre-filtering of the received signals has a large number of errors in real environments. Thus, several filters (weighting functions) have been proposed in the literature to improve the performance of TDOA estimation. These functions aim to mitigate TDOA estimation error in noisy and reverberant environments. Most of these methods consider the noise or reverberation, and as one of them increases, TDOA estimation error increases. In this paper, we propose a new weighting function. This function is a combined and modified version of Maximum Likelihood (ML) and PHAT-rho gamma functions. We named our proposed function as Modified Maximum Likelihood with Coherence (MMLC). This function has merits of both ML and PHAT-rho gamma functions and can work properly in both noisy and reverberant environments. We evaluate our proposed weighting function using real and synthesized datasets. Simulation results show that our proposed filter has better performance in terms of TDOA estimation error and anomalous estimations. (c) 2017 Sharif University of Technology. All rights reserved.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Evaluation of medical science staff awareness of factors causing high blood pressure and its complications in Yasouj year 2017

Introduction: Blood pressure is the force per unit area of the blood vessel wall is entered and measured in millimeters of mercury systolic and diastolic pressure, and is therefore expressed. Various risk factors that can be a precursor to hypertension, such as poor nutrition and highcalorie foods and salty, high blood pressure, family history, gender, age, BMI is increasing. Early symptoms include high blood pressure, dizziness, redness of the face, and headache, which, if not treated promptly, can damage the kidneys, eyes, or lead to stroke and stroke and ultimately cause death. The most important factors affecting high blood pressure are age, genetic background and food. In this study, we studied the factors affecting high blood pressure and its complications among staff members of Yasouj University of Medical Sciences

Molecular Identification and Sequencing of Mannose Binding Protein (MBP) Gene of Acanthamoeba palestinensis

"nBackground: Acanthamoeba keratitis develops by pathogenic Acanthamoeba such as A. pal­es­tinen­sis. Indeed this species is one of the known causative agents of amoebic keratitis in Iran. Mannose Binding Protein (MBP) is the main pathogenicity factors for developing this sight threatening disease. We aimed to characterize MBP gene in pathogenic Acanthamoeba isolates such as A. palestinensis."nMethods: This experimental research was performed in the School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran during 2007-2008.  A. palestinensis was grown on 2% non-nutrient agar overlaid with Escherichia coli. DNA extraction was performed using phenol-chloroform method. PCR reaction and amplification were done using specific primer pairs of MBP. The amplified fragment were purified and sequenced. Finally, the obtained fragment was deposited in the gene data bank."nResults: A 900 bp PCR-product was recovered after PCR reaction. Sequence analysis of the purified PCR product revealed a gene with 943 nucleotides. Homology analysis of the ob­tained sequence showed 81% similarity with the available MBP gene in the gene data bank. The fragment was deposited in the gene data bank under accession number EU678895"nConclusion: MBP is known as the most important factor in Acanthamoeba pathogenesis cas­cade. Therefore, characterization of this gene can aid in developing better therapeutic agents and even immunization of high-risk people

Macroscopic and microscopical investigations of the effects of alcoholic extract of henna (Lawsonia inermis) on skin healing of experimentally induced tissue damage in macro fish (Labidochromis caeruleus)

One of the well-known herbal drugs is henna (Lawsonia inermis). According to the components in henna, several beneficial properties (i.e., antimicrobial, anti-inflammation, wound healing, trypsin inhibitory and antioxidant) have been reported. The present study was designed to investigate the effects of two natural substances (sodium chloride and henna extract) on experimental skin lesion due to pulling out scales and trypsin injection (0/02 ml, beneath dorsal fin). For this purpose, 54 fish in weight 5/5±0/55 of were divided to 3 groups, with eighteen fish in each group. Fishes were placed in laboratory condition in 22-25 ˚C. Two, four and six days after induction of skin injury, fishes were treated with different agents for 10 minutes. First group was treated in salt water 1%, second group in henna extract 0.5% and the control group without any additives. The fish were sampled weekly, 3 times by sampling from the wound. Macroscopic examination showed that color changes of wound place decreased in henna group in comparison with that other groups. In third week of healing, normal appearance of skin were seen in most of fishes in henna and salt groups. Microscopic study revealed a decrease in inflammatory cells infiltration in henna group second week after induction of skin injury. It seems that henna by decreasing inflammatory process, can also prevent skin damage and secondary infections that can help faster and more effective on wound healing than salt bath in fish

The Enzymatic Activity and Molecular Characterization of a Secreted Subtilisin-Like Protease in Microsporum gypseum and Trichophyton vanbreuseghemii

Background: Subtilisin -like proteases are the group of proteases including keratinases found in dermatophytes which de­graded keratin. Determination of the proteases activity of Trichophyton vanbreuseghemii isolates which were obtained from soil and clinical and soil isolates of Microsporum gypseum in Iran and characterization of their genome were aim of present study.Methods: Ezymatic activity was determined by use of chromogenic substrates. The genes, which coded subtilisin-like pro­teases in above-mentioned dermatophytes, was identified and amplified by using specific primers in PCR. Results: The highest yield of enzyme production was observed in only one isolate of T. vanbreuseghemii Ir-84 whereas low enzyme activity was observed in M. gypseum isolates. Homology study of obtained nucleotide as well as amino acid sequences indicated different rates of homology with other subtilisin-like proteases genes in other pathogenic dermato­phytes. Conclusion: Intra-strain differences were observed in production of serine proteinases and molecular characterization of genes encoding such enzymes could be of great interest for studies on pathogenicity and other purposes

A NOVEL METHOD FOR SYNTHESIS OF METASTABLE TETRAGONAL ZIRCONIA NANOPOWDERS AT LOW TEMPERATURES

Zirconia (ZrO2) nanopowder was synthesized using sucrose and fructose as a chelating agent from zirconium hydroxide. The synthesized powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), simultaneously thermal analysis (STA), BET surface area, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The above-experimental results showed that the synthesized powders had particle sizes in the range 40-60 nm and mean crystallite sizes of 7-8 nm. Finally, in this research, chelating agents of sucrose and fructose were compared and the obtained results demonstrated that using fructose, nanopowder of zirconia with tetragonal phase was obtained

The Role of the Primary Sensory Cortices in Early Language Processing.

The results of this magnetoencephalography study challenge two long-standing assumptions regarding the brain mechanisms of language processing: First, that linguistic processing proper follows sensory feature processing effected by bilateral activation of the primary sensory cortices that lasts about 100 msec from stimulus onset. Second, that subsequent linguistic processing is effected by left hemisphere networks outside the primary sensory areas, including Broca's and Wernicke's association cortices. Here we present evidence that linguistic analysis begins almost synchronously with sensory, prelinguistic verbal input analysis and that the primary cortices are also engaged in these linguistic analyses and become, consequently, part of the left hemisphere language network during language tasks. These findings call for extensive revision of our conception of linguistic processing in the brain