Alternative Medicine’ Complaints Lodged to the Tehran Forensic Medicine Organization From 2011 to 2017

Background: Complementary and alternative medicine is a non-conventional therapy and includes a wide range of medical treatments in different countries. This study was done to evaluate alternative medicine complaints lodged to the Tehran Forensic Medicine Organization from 2011-2017.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, all documented complaints of complementary medicine lodged to the Tehran Forensic Medicine Organization from 2011-2017 were reviewed and assessed with retrospective follow-up. The inclusion criterion was complaints from complementary and alternative medicine, and the exclusion criterion was incomplete data. The study data included patients’ demographic data, the therapist, the specialty of the therapist, type of disease, treatment method, adverse effects, the initial and final decision by the commission, and the amount of medical error. This information was extracted from the existing documents and recoded in the checklists.Results: Medical errors were found in 53.4% of the complaints examined. The most common cause of complaint (63%) was the adverse effects, of which the most common ones were phytotherapy (45.2%) and cupping (Hijama) (20.5%). The error was significantly different between physician and non-physician healers (P=0.001).Conclusion: Based on this study, among the alternative medicine complaints lodged to the Tehran Forensic Medicine Organization from 2011-2017, the adverse effects were the main problem of complementary therapies confirmed in more than half of the complaints

Comparison of the Efficacy of Oral Simvastatin and Topical Simvastatin Solution in Decreasing Post-Laparotomy Adhesions in Rats

Background: Intra-abdominal adhesions and their complications occur frequently after laparotomy. The aim of this study was to compare oral versus intraperitoneal administration of simvastatin in decreasing postlaparotomy adhesions in rat.Methods: Thirty male Wistar albino rats were divided into three groups of ten. All the rats underwent laparotomy and induction of adhesions using the method of Meso-Stitch approximation of injured cecum and abdominal wall. One group received oral simvastatin (40 mg/kg) daily during two weeks before the laparotomy. In the two other groups, 2 ml of solution of simvastatin (40 mg/kg) or distilled water (as placebo) was spilled into abdomen before closing abdominal wall, respectively. After 14 days, all the rats were put under laparotomy again to be compared. Rates and grades of adhesions were assessed using Hoffman et al. and Lauder et al. Scale and histopathological reports.Results: In placebo group, the grade II and III adhesion was seen in 2 and 8 rats, respectively. In local simvastatin group, there was no adhesion in 5 rats, and grade I and II adhesion was seen in 3 and 2 rats, respectively. In oral simvastatin group, 6 rats were without adhesion, and 3 cases with grade I and 1 case with grade II adhesion. The frequency and grade of adhesion were statistically different in simvastatin groups compared to the placebo group (P < 0.001), but not with each other.Conclusions: Oral simvastatin for two weeks before the laparotomy can reduce post-laparotomy adhesion bands as well as local administration of simvastatin solution

A Monte Carlo study on dose enhancement and photon contamination production by various nanoparticles in electron mode of a medical linac

The aim of this study is the evaluation of electron dose enhancement and photon contamination production by various nanoparticles in the electron mode of a medical linac. MCNPX Monte Carlo code was used for simulation of Siemens Primus linac as well as a phantom and a tumor loaded with nanoparticles. Electron dose enhancement by Au, Ag, I and Fe2O3 nanoparticles of 7, 18 and 30 mg/ml concentrations for 8, 12 and 14 MeV electrons was calculated. The increase in photon contamination due to the presence of the nanoparticles was evaluated as well. The above effects were evaluated for 500 keV and 10 keV energy cut-offs defined for electrons and photons. For 500 keV energy cut-off, there was no significant electron dose enhancement. However, for 10 keV energy cut-off, a maximum electron dose enhancement factor of 1.08 was observed for 30 mg/ml of gold nanoparticles with 8 MeV electrons. An increase in photon contamination due to nanoparticles was also observed which existed mainly inside the tumor. A maximum photon dose increase factor of 1.07 was observed inside the tumor with Au nanoparticles. Nanoparticles can be used for the enhancement of electron dose in the electron mode of a linac. Lower energy electron beams, and nanoparticles with higher atomic number, can be of greater benefit in this field. Photons originating from nanoparticles will increase the photon dose inside the tumor, and will be an additional advantage of the use of nanoparticles in radiotherapy with electron beams

A Monte Carlo study on dose enhancement and photon contamination production by various nanoparticles in electron mode of a medical linac

The aim of this study is the evaluation of electron dose enhancement and photon contamination production by various nanoparticles in the electron mode of a medical linac. MCNPX Monte Carlo code was used for simulation of Siemens Primus linac as well as a phantom and a tumor loaded with nanoparticles. Electron dose enhancement by Au, Ag, I and Fe2O3 nanoparticles of 7, 18 and 30 mg/ml concentrations for 8, 12 and 14 MeV electrons was calculated. The increase in photon contamination due to the presence of the nanoparticles was evaluated as well. The above effects were evaluated for 500 keV and 10 keV energy cut-offs defined for electrons and photons. For 500 keV energy cut-off, there was no significant electron dose enhancement. However, for 10 keV energy cut-off, a maximum electron dose enhancement factor of 1.08 was observed for 30 mg/ml of gold nanoparticles with 8 MeV electrons. An increase in photon contamination due to nanoparticles was also observed which existed mainly inside the tumor. A maximum photon dose increase factor of 1.07 was observed inside the tumor with Au nanoparticles. Nanoparticles can be used for the enhancement of electron dose in the electron mode of a linac. Lower energy electron beams, and nanoparticles with higher atomic number, can be of greater benefi t in this field. Photons originating from nanoparticles will increase the photon dose inside the tumor, and will be an additional advantage of the use of nanoparticles in radiotherapy with electron beams

A comparison of artificial intelligence algorithms in diagnosing and predicting gastric cancer: a review study

Today, artificial intelligence is considered a powerful tool that can help physicians identify and diagnose and predict diseases. Gastric cancer has been the fourth most common malignancy and the second leading cause of cancer mortality in the world. Thus, timely diagnosis of this type of cancer could effectively control it. This paper compares AI (artificial intelligence) algorithms in diagnosing and predicting gastric cancer based on types of AI algorithms, sample size, accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity.  This narrative-review paper aims to explore AI algorithms in diagnosing and predicting gastric cancer. To achieve this goal, we reviewed English articles published between 2011 and 2021 in PubMed and Science direct databases. According to the reviews conducted on the published papers, the endoscopic method has been the most used method to collect and incorporate samples into designed models. Also, the SVM (support vector machine), convolutional neural network (CNN), and deep-type CNN have been used the most; therefore, we propose the usage of these algorithms in medical subjects, especially in gastric cancer

SIDU:Similarity Difference And Uniqueness Method for Explainable AI

A new brand of technical artificial intelligence ( Explainable AI ) research has focused on trying to open up the 'black box' and provide some explainability. This paper presents a novel visual explanation method for deep learning networks in the form of a saliency map that can effectively localize entire object regions. In contrast to the current state-of-the art methods, the proposed method shows quite promising visual explanations that can gain greater trust of human expert. Both quantitative and qualitative evaluations are carried out on both general and clinical data sets to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method.Comment: Accepted manuscript in IEEE International Conference on Image Processin

Developmental morphology and growth patterns of laboratory-reared giraffe cichlid, Nimbochromis venustus Boulenger, 1908

The giraffe cichlid Nimbochromis venustus Boulenger, 1908 is a well-known species in aquarium trade. The laboratory-reared electric giraffe cichlid was studied in terms of early morphological development and allometric growth pattern from hatching until the juvenile stage i.e.51 dph. Total length increased linearly from hatching until 51 dph, with a high regression coefficient. The yolk sac exhaustion completed throughout 15 days. Significant morphological and morphometric variations occurred before the yolk sac absorption and early juvenile stage by evolving the anterior and posterior body section which improve swimming ability and food capturing. Positive growth coefficient of the body and trunk lengths were occurred after inflexion point coinciding with development of digestive system function. Eye diameter showed negative allometry at the inflexion point of 9.3 mm, continuing with positive growth rate until day 51. Body shape variation in early life history revealed consequent development in anterior and posterior body section in preflexion phase and development of body and trunk length in post flexion phase to support high survival of larvae. The present study emphasizes ontogenic study of different species to interpret biology and ecology of fish in association with evolutionary biology