The effect of zinc sulphate syrup on children's respiratory tract infections

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: After Iron, zinc is the second most abundant trace element in the body that is present in all organs, tissues and body fluids. It is a necessary component for maintaining immunological integrity antioxidant activity, and has critical role in the control and prevention of infection. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of zinc sulphate syrup in treatment of children with respiratory tract infection. METHODS: In this randomized clinical trial study, one hundred and twenty four children with respiratory infection (62 in case and 62 in control group) from pediatric ward of Hajar hospital of Sharekord university enrolled. Both groups received standard treatment. In addition to, zinc sulphate syrup was given to case group and placebo to control group. Respiratory rate, bed and cough and fever duration were compared between the case and control groups (IRCT: 201103025951N1). FINDINGS: The mean duration of fever in the case group was 2.6±0.82 days and in the control group 4±1.5 days (p<0.001). The mean of bed duration in the case group was 4.7±1.5 days and in the control group 5±1.8 days (p=0.42). The mean of cough duration in the case and control groups was 3.4±1.3 and 4.7±1.6 days respectively (p=0.09). Respiratory rate in the case group was 28.3±4.3 and in the control 28.1±4.9 (p=0.77). CONCLUSION: The study showed that zinc supplementation has a beneficial effect in decreasing the fever duration in children with respiratory infection. But there was no significant effect on respiratory rate, duration of bed and cough

Success Rate and Complications of Internal Jugular Vein Catheterization With and Without Ultrasonography Guide

Background: Central venous catheterization (CVC) is an important procedure in emergency departments (EDs). Despite existence of ultrasonography (US) devices in every ED, CVC is done using anatomical landmarks in many EDs in Iran. Objectives: This study aimed to compare the traditional landmark method vs. US-guided method of CVC placement in terms of complications and success rate. Patients and Methods: In this randomized controlled trial, patients who were candidate for internal jugular vein catheterization, and referred to Baqiyatallah Hospital ED were randomly allocated into US-guided CVC and anatomical landmarks guided CVC groups. Central vein access time, number of attempts, success rate, and complications in each group were evaluated. Mann-Whitney U, chi-square and Fisher exact tests along with Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients were used to analyze the data. Results: Out of 100 patients, 56 were male and 44 were female. No significant differences were found between the US-guided and traditional landmark methods of CVC insertion in terms of age, gender, BMI, and site of catheter insertion. The mean access time was significantly lower in the US-guided group (37.12 ± 17.33 s vs. 63.42 ± 35.19 s, P < 0.001). The mean number of attempts was also significantly lower in the US-guided group (1.12 ± 0.3 vs. 1.58 ± 0.64 times, P < 0.001). Eighty-eight percent of patients in the US-guided group were catheterized in the first attempt, while 50% of patients in the traditional landmark group were catheterized in the second or more attempts (P < 0.001). The success rate was 100% in the US-guided group, while it was 88% in the landmark group (P = 0.013). Moreover, the rate of complications was significantly lower in the US-guided group (4% vs. 24%, P = 0.004). Conclusions: The US-guided method for CVC placement was superior to the traditional landmark method in terms of access time, number of attempts, success rate, and fewer complications

Study of the relationship between Educational- Research Environment and Research Interest in students

Introduction: Research means trying to obtain realities and in this regards, educational research environment refers to facilities and educational factors to create scientific- research motivation in person. Research in medical science universities is important because it is used to identifying and resolving educational, research, health problems and eliminating health- related problems. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the relationship between educational- research environment and research interest in graduated students of Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences. Methods: This cross- sectional descriptive- analytic study carried out on 101 graduate students through census sampling. Demographic data, students' perceptions of the educational- research environment and interest in the research were collected by a three- part questionnaire including 49 questions. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation), and analytical statistics (Pearson correlation coefficient, independent t- test, Tukey test and ANOVA) through SPSS. Results: results show that there is a significant positive correlation between educational- research environment and interest to the research (r= 0.40, p≤0.03). There is also a significant negative correlation between age and interest in the research (P≤0.001, r =-0.38). A significant difference was found between the educational environment and the college of education (P= 0.006). Conclusion: There was a positive and significant correlation between educational- research environment and research interest in Masters' students of Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences. So deputies of education as well as research and technology should considered the result of this research and by doing proper intervention try to promote the level of educational- research services of students

Herding model and 1/f noise

We provide evidence that for some values of the parameters a simple agent based model, describing herding behavior, yields signals with 1/f power spectral density. We derive a non-linear stochastic differential equation for the ratio of number of agents and show, that it has the form proposed earlier for modeling of 1/f^beta noise with different exponents beta. The non-linear terms in the transition probabilities, quantifying the herding behavior, are crucial to the appearance of 1/f noise. Thus, the herding dynamics can be seen as a microscopic explanation of the proposed non-linear stochastic differential equations generating signals with 1/f^beta spectrum. We also consider the possible feedback of macroscopic state on microscopic transition probabilities strengthening the non-linearity of equations and providing more opportunities in the modeling of processes exhibiting power-law statistics

High Temperature Method Of Measuring Electrical And Magnetic Properties Of Europium Doped Nickel Oxide

The measurement of the magnetic moment of materials as a function of temperature in modern AC or DC magnetometers normally has a limited high temperature range up to 400 K. To overcome this problem one needs to design ovens which can handle high temperatures. The highest Curie temperature observed in materials is in pure Co which is about 1400 K. However, most materials and compounds show Tc below 800 K. My thesis research topic is to study the substitution of Ni ions by rare earth ions in NiO. The NiO is a semiconductor which exhibits antiferromagnetism below 520 K, which makes it suitable for applications; to name a few, rechargeable batteries, and p-type transport conducting lms. In this study, Ni ions were substituted by 2, 5, and 8 percent of Eu ions. The effect of substitution on the semiconducting properties of Ni1-xEuxO was studied as function of temperature from room temperature to 1000 K. To study the magnetic properties and the effect of Eu substitution on the Neel temperature of Ni1-xEuxO we adapted two ovens for high temperature measurements of AC susceptibility by using the ac modulation technique implementing a lock-in ampli er and the DC susceptibility using the SQUID magnetometer. To check the reliability of these two ovens we also examined the ferromagnetic transition temperatures of Bismuth Ferrite samples as function of Co substitutions for Fe

Berry effect in acoustical polarization transport in phononic crystals

We derive the semiclassical equations of motion of a transverse acoustical wave packet propagating in a phononic crystal subject to slowly varying perturbations. The formalism gives rise to Berry effect terms in the equations of motion, manifested as the Rytov polarization rotation law and the polarization-dependent Hall effect. We show that the formalism is also applicable to the case of non-periodic inhomogeneous media, yielding explicit expressions for the Berry effect terms.Comment: To appear in JETP Let

Bundling and stacking in bio-sequestration schemes: Opportunities and risks identified by Australian stakeholders

The stacking and bundling of ecosystem services credits has emerged as mechanisms to promote the conservation of biodiversity in carbon sequestration schemes. Globally, apart from a few certification standards in the voluntary market, little genuine action has eventuated, but actors in these markets are continuing to examine the idea of combining carbon and biodiversity credits. This paper provides the first empirical analysis of the opportunities and barriers of bundling and stacking carbon and biodiversity credits as articulated by policymakers and academics, in Australia. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) acts as a driving force for business interest in the co-benefits of carbon plantings; however, uncertainty in the market and policy settings act as barriers for both buyers and sellers. Interviewees highlighted substantial benefits of both bundling and stacking, including easing transaction costs for landholders, reduced monitoring costs for regulators. Nevertheless, there is a risk that stacking can affect the perceived additionality of carbon plantings, which has the potential to erode the integrity of carbon markets. Obstacles to the establishment of stacked/bundled markets include the lack of standards to show that co-benefits are real, dealing with the additionality rule, and designing scenarios to achieve genuine outcomes for both biodiversity conservation and carbon abatement

Solid-state laser system for laser cooling of Sodium

We demonstrate a frequency-stabilized, all-solid laser source at 589 nm with up to 800 mW output power. The laser relies on sum-frequency generation from two laser sources at 1064 nm and 1319 nm through a PPKTP crystal in a doubly-resonant cavity. We obtain conversion efficiency as high as 2 W/W^2 after optimization of the cavity parameters. The output wavelength is tunable over 60 GHz, which is sufficient to lock on the Sodium D2 line. The robustness, beam quality, spectral narrowness and tunability of our source make it an alternative to dye lasers for atomic physics experiments with Sodium atoms