Efficacy of flour fortification with folic acid in women of childbearing age in Iran

Background: Flour fortification with folic acid is one of the main strategies for improving folate status in women of childbearing age. No interventional trial on the efficacy of folic acid fortification has been conducted so far in Iran. Objectives: To study the effects of flour fortification with folic acid on any reduction in neural tube defects (NTDs) and folate status of women of childbearing age. Methods: In a longitudinal hospital-based study, 13,361 postpartum women were studied after admission for childbirth before and after fortification. In addition, two cross-sectional surveys were conducted before (2006) and after flour fortification (2008). The cluster sampling method was used and 580 women, 15-49 years old, were studied as a representative sample of Golestan province in the north of Iran. Fasting blood samples were collected to measure serum vitamin B 12, folate and plasma homocysteine. Sociodemographic data, health characteristics and dietary intake were determined. Results: The mean daily intakes of folate from natural food before and after flour fortification were 198.3 and 200.8 μg/day, respectively. The total folate intake increased significantly from 198.3 to 413.7 μg/day after fortification (p < 0.001). Folate intake increased by an average of 226 μg/day from fortified bread. The mean serum folate level increased from 13.6 to 18.1 nmol/l; folate deficiency decreased from 14.3 to 2.3% (p < 0.001). The incidence rate of NTDs declined by 31% (p < 0.01) in the post-fortification period (2.19 per 1,000 births; December 2007 to December 2008) compared to the pre-fortification period (3.16 per 1,000 births; September 2006 to July 2007). Conclusions: Implementation of mandatory flour fortification with folic acid can lead to a significant increase in serum folate and a significant decrease in NTDs. Copyright © 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel

Therapeutic potentials of curcumin in the treatment of glioblstoma

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), a greatly aggressive malignancy of the brain, is correlated with a poor prognosis and low rate of survival. Up to now, chemotherapy and radiation therapy after surgical approaches have been the treatments increasing the survival rates. The low efficacy of mentioned therapies as well as their side-effects has forced researchers to explore an appropriate alternative or complementary treatment for glioblastoma. In experimental models, it has been shown that curcumin has therapeutic potentials to fight against GBM. Given that curcumin has pharmacological effects against cancer stem cells, as major causes of resistance to therapy in glioblastoma cells. Moreover, it has been showed that curcumin exerts its therapeutic effects on GBM cells via affecting on apoptosis, oxidant system, and inflammatory pathways. Curcumin would possess a synergistic impact with chemotherapeutic agents. Herein, we summarized the current findings on curcumin as therapeutic agent in the treatment of GBM. © 2020 Elsevier Masson SA

Quantum induced w = -1 crossing of the quintessence and phantom models

Considering the single scalar field models of dark energy, i.e. the quintessence and phantom models, it is shown that the quantum effects can cause the system crosses the w = -1 line. This phenomenon does not occur in classical level. The quantum effects are described via the account of conformal anomaly.Comment: LaTex, 7 pages, the version to be appeared in JCAP (2009

National Spinal Cord Injury Registry of Iran (NSCIR-IR) � a critical appraisal of its strengths and weaknesses

The National Spinal Cord Injury Registry of Iran (NSCIR-IR) is a not-for-profit, hospital-based, and prospective observational registry that appraises the quality of care, long-term outcomes and the personal and psychological burden of traumatic spinal cord injury in Iran. Benchmarking validity in every registry includes rigorous attention to data quality. Data quality assurance is essential for any registry to make sure that correct patients are being enrolled and that the data being collected are valid. We reviewed strengths and weaknesses of the NSCIR-IR while considering the methodological guidelines and recommendations for efficient and rational governance of patient registries. In summary, the steering committee, funded and maintained by the Ministry of Health and Medical Education of Iran, the international collaborations, continued staff training, suitable data quality, and the ethical approval are considered to be the strengths of the registry, while limited human and financial resources, poor interoperability with other health systems, and time-consuming processes are among its main weaknesses. © 2019 Chinese Medical Associatio

Exact Black Holes and Universality in the Backreaction of non-linear Sigma Models with a potential in (A)dS4

The aim of this paper is to construct accelerated, stationary and axisymmetric exact solutions of the Einstein theory with self interacting scalar fields in (A)dS4. To warm up, the backreaction of the (non)-minimally coupled scalar field is solved, the scalar field equations are integrated and all the potentials compatible with the metric ansatz and Einstein gravity are found. With these results at hand the non-linear sigma model is tackled. The scalar field Lagrangian is generic; neither the coupling to the curvature, neither the metric in the scalar manifold nor the potential, are fixed ab initio. The unique assumption in the analysis is the metric ansatz: it has the form of the most general Petrov type D vacuum solution of general relativity; it is a a cohomogeneity two Weyl rescaling of the Carter metric and therefore it has the typical Plebanski-Demianski form with two arbitrary functions of one variable and one arbitrary functions of two variables. It is shown, by an straightforward manipulation of the field equations, that the metric is completely integrable without necessity of specifiying anything in the scalar Lagrangian. This results in that the backreaction of the scalar fields, within this class of metrics, is universal. The metric functions generically show an explicit dependence on a dynamical exponent that allows to smoothly connect this new family of solutions with the actual Plebanski-Demianski spacetime. The remaining field equations imply that the scalar fields follow geodesics in the scalar manifold with an affine parameter given by a non-linear function of the spacetime coordinates and define the on-shell form of the potential plus a functional equation that it has to satisfy. Finally, a general family of (A)dS4 static hairy black holes is explicitly constructed and its properties are outlined.Comment: Several typos correcte

The data set development for the National Spinal Cord Injury Registry of Iran (NSCIR-IR): progress toward improving the quality of care

STUDY DESIGN: Descriptive study. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this manuscript is to describe the development process of the data set for the National Spinal Cord Injury Registry of Iran (NSCIR-IR). SETTING: SCI community in Iran. METHODS: The NSCIR-IR data set was developed in 8 months, from March 2015 to October 2015. An expert panel of 14 members was formed. After a review of data sets of similar registries in developed countries, the selection and modification of the basic framework were performed over 16 meetings, based on the objectives and feasibility of the registry. RESULTS: The final version of the data set was composed of 376 data elements including sociodemographic, hospital admission, injury incidence, prehospital procedures, emergency department visit, medical history, vertebral injury, spinal cord injury details, interventions, complications, and discharge data. It also includes 163 components of the International Standards for the Neurologic Classification of Spinal Cord Injury (ISNCSCI) and 65 data elements related to quality of life, pressure ulcers, pain, and spasticity. CONCLUSION: The NSCIR-IR data set was developed in order to meet the quality improvement objectives of the registry. The process was centered around choosing the data elements assessing care provided to individuals in the acute and chronic phases of SCI in hospital settings. The International Spinal Cord Injury Data Set was selected as a basic framework, helped by comparison with data from other countries. Expert panel modifications facilitated the implementation of the registry process with the current clinical workflow in hospitals

First narrow-band search for continuous gravitational waves from known pulsars in advanced detector data

Spinning neutron stars asymmetric with respect to their rotation axis are potential sources of continuous gravitational waves for ground-based interferometric detectors. In the case of known pulsars a fully coherent search, based on matched filtering, which uses the position and rotational parameters obtained from electromagnetic observations, can be carried out. Matched filtering maximizes the signalto- noise (SNR) ratio, but a large sensitivity loss is expected in case of even a very small mismatch between the assumed and the true signal parameters. For this reason, narrow-band analysis methods have been developed, allowing a fully coherent search for gravitational waves from known pulsars over a fraction of a hertz and several spin-down values. In this paper we describe a narrow-band search of 11 pulsars using data from Advanced LIGO’s first observing run. Although we have found several initial outliers, further studies show no significant evidence for the presence of a gravitational wave signal. Finally, we have placed upper limits on the signal strain amplitude lower than the spin-down limit for 5 of the 11 targets over the bands searched; in the case of J1813-1749 the spin-down limit has been beaten for the first time. For an additional 3 targets, the median upper limit across the search bands is below the spin-down limit. This is the most sensitive narrow-band search for continuous gravitational waves carried out so far

The data set development for the National Spinal Cord Injury Registry of Iran (NSCIR-IR): progress toward improving the quality of care

STUDY DESIGN: Descriptive study. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this manuscript is to describe the development process of the data set for the National Spinal Cord Injury Registry of Iran (NSCIR-IR). SETTING: SCI community in Iran. METHODS: The NSCIR-IR data set was developed in 8 months, from March 2015 to October 2015. An expert panel of 14 members was formed. After a review of data sets of similar registries in developed countries, the selection and modification of the basic framework were performed over 16 meetings, based on the objectives and feasibility of the registry. RESULTS: The final version of the data set was composed of 376 data elements including sociodemographic, hospital admission, injury incidence, prehospital procedures, emergency department visit, medical history, vertebral injury, spinal cord injury details, interventions, complications, and discharge data. It also includes 163 components of the International Standards for the Neurologic Classification of Spinal Cord Injury (ISNCSCI) and 65 data elements related to quality of life, pressure ulcers, pain, and spasticity. CONCLUSION: The NSCIR-IR data set was developed in order to meet the quality improvement objectives of the registry. The process was centered around choosing the data elements assessing care provided to individuals in the acute and chronic phases of SCI in hospital settings. The International Spinal Cord Injury Data Set was selected as a basic framework, helped by comparison with data from other countries. Expert panel modifications facilitated the implementation of the registry process with the current clinical workflow in hospitals