Comparing Perceived Social Support and Perceived Stress in Healthy Pregnant Women and Pregnant Women with Preeclampsia

BACKGROUND: Preeclampsia is a prevalent side effect of pregnancy. Different studies have reported different results about the relationship between mental stress and blood pressure disorders. In addition, social support is highly important to help women who experience risky pregnancy in adapting to the stressors they experience. This study aimed to compare perceived social support and perceived stress in women with and without preeclampsia.METHODS AND MATERIALS: Fifty pregnant women definitely diagnosed with preeclampsia and 50 healthy pregnant women visiting public hospitals including Hazrat Masoumeh, Motazedi,and Imam Reza in Kermanshah-Iran took part in a descriptiveanalytical study from June 2017 to January 2018. Data gathering tools included demographics questionnaire, social support appraisals scale and perceived stress scale. The collected data was analyzed with SPSS (v.20) using independent t-test.RESULTS: The mean score of perceived social support in the preeclampsia and non-preeclampsia groups were 69.88±7.3 and 76.80±7.6 respectively (P<0.01). The mean score of perceived stress in the preeclampsia and non-preeclampsia groups were 35.6±8.7 and 26.01±5.56 respectively (P<0.01). This means that compared with healthy women, women with preeclampsia perceived more stress and less social support.CONCLUSION: In comparison with healthy pregnant women, women with preeclampsia perceived more stress and less social support. Healthcare providers should recommended to pay more attention to improving social support and attenuating stress inpregnant women

Perbandingan Pemberian Brodifakum Ld50 Dan Ld100 Terhadap Perubahan Gambaran Histopatologi Usus Halus Tikus Wistar

Background : Brodifacoum is an anticoagulant substance which usually used as pest control, but this substance has a poisoning effect the body. Brodifacoum is absorbed through gastrointestinal tract which can cause the disorder of blod clotting by slowing down the process of epoxide reductase of vitamin-K.Aim : To know the comparison of Histopathology Rattus norvegicus Intestine against brodifacoum administration LD50 and LD100.Methods :This study was an experimental study with post test only group design. The sample of this study are 27 Rattus norvegicus which given per oral administration of brodifacoum. Barthel Manja scores were used to assess changes in intestine Histopatology. Normal and desquamation are a minor damage, while erosion and ulcers are major damage. Non-parametric test of Mann-Whitney to the results are revealed significant if p <0.05.Results :On LD50, 2 rats died on days 3, 5 on day 5, and 2 rats terminated on day 7. In LD100 2 rats died on day 3, 2 on day 5, and 5 rats terminated on day 7. On LD50 groups there are 66,67% minor damage and 33,33% major damage, while in LD100 groups there are 55,56% minor damage and 44,44% major damage. Test non parametric Mann-Whitney in the control group with LD50 was found p = 0.269, in control group with LD100 was found p = 0106, then group with the LD50 and LD100 found p = 0.159.Conclusion :There are not significant differentiation of histopatology picture between LD50 and LD100 dose ( p = 0.159

Mycorrhizal Application as a Biocontrol Agent against Common Root Rot of Barley

This study was conducted to assess the biocontrol efficacy of vesicular arbuscular mycorrhizae (VAM) against barley common root rot caused by Cochliobolus sativus. Mycorrhization of barley was achieved by growing the plants in expanded clay mixed with 10% (v/v) VAM fungus inoculum in pots experiments. Large differences in disease reactions were observed among genotypes and among treatments. VAM treatments significantly reduced the percentage of disease severity in infected barley plants and increased significantly root biomass, which could be attributed to enhanced nutrients uptake, via an increase in the absorbing surface area. It can be concluded that the application of VAM as a biocontrol agent played an important role in plant resistance and exhibit greater potential to protect barley plants against C. sativus

Comparing multivariate regression and artificial neural network to predict barley production from soil characteristics in northern Iran

In this study artificial neural network (ANN) models were designed to predict the biomass and grain yield of barley from soil properties; and the performance of ANN models was compared with earlier tested statistical models based on multivariate regression. Barley yield data and surface soil samples (0–30 cm depth) were collected from 1 m2 plots at 112 selected points in the arid region of northern Iran. ANN yield models gave higher coefficient of determination and lower root mean square error compared to the multivariate regression, indicating that ANN is a more powerful tool than multivariate regression. Sensitivity analysis showed that soil electrical conductivity, sodium absorption ratio, pH, total nitrogen, available phosphorus, and organic matter consistently influenced barley biomass and grain yield. A comparison of the two methods to identify the most important factors indicated that while in the ANN analysis, soil organic matter (SOM) was included among the most important factors; SOM was excluded from the most important factors in the multivariate analysis. This significant discrepancy between the two methods was apparently a consequence of the non-linear relationships of SOM with other soil properties. Overall, our results indicated that the ANN models could explain 93 and 89% of the total variability in barley biomass and grain yield, respectively. The performance of the ANN models as compared to multivariate regression has better chance for predicting yield, especially when complex non-linear relationships exist among the factors. We suggest that for further potential improvement in predicting the barley yield, factors other than the soil properties considered such as soil micronutrient status and soil and crop management practices followed during the growing season, need to be included in the models

Knowledge, Attitude and Perception of Physicians towards Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting at King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Purpose: To assess the knowledge and attitudes of physicians towards adverse drug reaction (ADR) reporting at King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.Method: The study was conducted in King Khalid University Hospital (KKUH), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia over a three-month period (April to June 2014). A  self-administered questionnaire was delivered to 116 physicians. The questionnaire comprised of close-ended as well as open-ended questions. Descriptive  statistics including, frequency distribution and percentages, were used for both demographic data and various responses to the questions.Results: The response rate was 81.09 %. The mean age of the respondents was 33.3 ± 11.49 years. Of the 94 physicians who completed the questionnaire, 88.7 % of them didn’t know about the National  Pharmacovigilance Center. Almost all the physicians (95.7 %) were not satisfied by their training in ADRs reporting while half (49.3 %) of the respondents thought that only serious ADRs should be reported.Conclusion: There is a need for more educational and training programs for physicians regarding the pharmacovigilance system and ADRs reporting. More  research is needed to study the knowledge and attitudes of other healthcare professionals and in various settings.Keywords: Health care providers, Pharmacovigilance, Adverse drug reactions, Reporting, Knowledg

Soil Surface Salinity Prediction Using ASTER Data: Comparing Statistical and Geostatistical Models

This study was conducted to evaluate the performance of univariate spatial (ordinary kriging- OK), hybrid/multivariate geostatistical methods (regression-kriging- RK, Co-kriging- CK) with multivariate linear regression (MLR) in incorporation with ASTER data in order to predict the spatial variability of surface soil salinity in an arid area in northern Iran. The primary attributes were obtained from grid soil sampling with nested-systematic pattern of 169 samples and the secondary information extracted from spectral data of ASTER satellite images. The principal component analysis, NDVI and some suitable ratioing bands were applied to generate new arithmetic bands. According to validation based RMSE and ME calculated by a validation data set, the predictions for soil salinity were found to be the best and varied in the following order: RK ASTERmultivariate > REG ASTERmultivariate > Co-kriging ASTER> kriging. Overall, this comparative study demonstrated that RK approach was a better predicator than other selected methods to predict spatial variability of soil salinity. The overall results confirmed that using ancillary variables such as remotely sensed data, the accuracy of spatial prediction can further improved

Relationships of barley biomass and grain yields to soil properties within a field in the arid region: Use of factor analysis

Understanding the variability of soil properties and their effects on crop yield is a critical component of site-specific management systems. The objective of this study was to employ factor and multiple regression analyses to determine major soil physical and chemical properties that influence barely biomass and grain yield within a field in the arid region of northern Iran. For this purpose, soil samples and crop-yield data were collected from 108 sites, at regular intervals (20 30 m) in a 5.6 ha field. Soil samples were analysed for total nitrogen (TN), available phosphorus (Pava), available potassium (Kava), cation-exchange capacity(CEC), electrical conductivity (EC), pH, mean weight diameter of aggregates (MWD), water-stable aggregates (WSA), field capacity volumetric (FC), available water-holding capacity (AWHC), bulk density (BD), and calcium carbonate equivalent (CCE). Results of the factor analysis, followed by regression of biomass and grain yield of barley with soil properties, showed that the regression equations developed accounted for 78 and 73% of the total variance in biomass and grain yield, respectively. Study of covariance analysis among soil variables using factor analysis indicated that some of the variation measured could be grouped to indicate a number of underlying common factors influencing barley biomass and grain yields. These common factors were salinity and sodicity, soil fertility, and water availability. The most effective soil variables to barley production in the study area identified as EC, SAR, pH, TN, Pava, AWHC, and FC. In this study, factor analysis was effective to identify the groups of correlated soil variables that were significantly correlated with the within field variability in the yield of the barley crop. Our results also suggest that the approach can be applied to other crops under similar soil and agroclimatic conditions

Mechanical effect of friction and stretching on endothelium denudation

Peer reviewed: NoNRC publication: Ye

The hRPC62 subunit of human RNA polymerase III displays helicase activity.

In Eukaryotes, tRNAs, 5S RNA and U6 RNA are transcribed by RNA polymerase (Pol) III. Human Pol III is composed of 17 subunits. Three specific Pol III subunits form a stable ternary subcomplex (RPC62-RPC39-RPC32α/β) being involved in pre-initiation complex formation. No paralogues for subunits of this subcomplex subunits have been found in Pols I or II, but hRPC62 was shown to be structurally related to the general Pol II transcription factor hTFIIEα. Here we show that these structural homologies extend to functional similarities. hRPC62 as well as hTFIIEα possess intrinsic ATP-dependent 3'-5' DNA unwinding activity. The ATPase activities of both proteins are stimulated by single-stranded DNA. Moreover, the eWH domain of hTFIIEα can replace the first eWH (eWH1) domain of hRPC62 in ATPase and DNA unwinding assays. Our results identify intrinsic enzymatic activities in hRPC62 and hTFIIEα

Relationships between soil depth and terrain attributes in a semi arid hilly region in western Iran

Soil depth generally varies in mountainous regions in rather complex ways. Conventional soil survey methods for evaluating the soil depth in mountainous and hilly regions require a lot of time, effort and consequently relatively large budget to perform. This study was conducted to explore the relationships between soil depth and topographic attributes in a hilly region in western Iran. For this, one hundred sampling points were selected using randomly stratified methodology, and considering all geomorphic surfaces including summit, shoulder, backslope, footslope and toeslope; and soil depth was actually measured. Eleven primary and secondary topographic attributes were derived from the digital elevation model (DEM) at the study area. The result of multiple linear regression indicated that slope, wetness index, catchment area and sediment transport index, which were included in the model, could explain about 76 % of total variability in soil depth at the selected site. This proposed approach may be applicable to other hilly regions in the semi-arid areas at a larger scale