Damage and restoration of historical urban walls: literature review and case of studies

Within this work, the causes of collapses and damages occurred in masonry artefacts have been evaluated to properly identify suitable monitoring and restoration methods. In this regard, a comprehensive literature review has been performed. Based on the results, moisture has been found to be a critical parameter, that affects the structural health of masonry artefacts. Various non-destructive methods were employed to measure moisture and monitor the materials involved, including Infrared Thermography, Electrical Resistivity Tomography, Ground Penetrating Radar, Laser Scanning and Digital Terrestrial Photogrammetry, Global Navigation Satellite Systems, Unilateral Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Laser-Induced Fluorescence technique, Acoustic Imaging and Acoustic Tomography, Geographic Information System, on-site survey process and computer modeling of the structure with specific FEM software. Finally, the implementation of tie-beams, Fiber Reinforced Polymers layers, ventilation, draining systems, and high-quality materials are proposed as solutions for controlling the moisture effect and retrofitting

Prevalence of Soft Tissue Calcification in Panoramic Radiographs in Northern of Iran

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Soft tissue calcification is a relatively common issue in panoramic radiography. Some of these calcifications may have non-specific clinical symptoms as feeling of foreign body, dysphagia, otalgia and non-reflective cough. Therefore, for correct diagnosis and avoiding incorrect and excess treatments it’s necessary to have information about prevalence of these calcifications in regional populations. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of soft tissue calcification in panoramic radiographs in a selected population in northern Iran. METHODS: In this cross sectional study, panoramic radiographs of 5000 patients referring to Oral & Maxillofacial radiology department of Babol dental school from 2014 to 2017 were examined. Radiographs were evaluated for the presence of any calcification, and their prevalence and their relationship with age were evaluated in two groups of under and over 40 years of age and gender. FINDING: The prevalence of the observed soft tissue calcifications including calcification of stylohyoid ligands was 484 cases (9.7%), tonsilolith 52 cases (1%), calcification of lymph nodes 9 cases (0.2%), calcification of carotid artery 22 cases (0.4%) and thyroid cartilage calcification was 17 cases (0.3%). No cases of rhinolith, antrolith, sialolith and phlebolitis were found. The amount of tonsilolith (34 to 18 cases) and lymph node calcification (7 versus 2 cases) were significantly higher in men. (p=0.002 and p =0.048). Also, the prevalence of calcification of stylohyoid ligament (290 versus 194 cases) (p=0.001), tonsilolith (13% vs. 39 cases) (p=0.001), calcification of carotid artery (18 versus 4) (p=0.001), and thyroid (14 versus 3) (p=0.003) were significantly relevant with age. CONCLUSION: The results of this study showed that soft tissue calcifications are prevalent and the most common is stylohyoid ligament calcification

Association of CREBRF variants with obesity and diabetes in Pacific Islanders from Guam and Saipan

Aims hypothesis Variants in CREBRF (rs12513649 and rs373863828) have been strongly associated with increased BMI and decreased risk of type 2 diabetes in Polynesian populations; the A allele at rs373863828 is common in Polynesians but rare in most other global populations. The aim of the present study was to assess the association of CREBRF variants with obesity and diabetes in Pacific Islander (largely Marianas and Micronesian) populations from Guam and Saipan. Methods CREBRF rs12513649 and rs373863828 were genotyped in 2022 participants in a community-based cross-sectional study designed to identify determinants of diabetes and end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Associations were analysed with adjustment for age, sex, ESRD and the first four genetic principal components from a genome-wide association study (to account for population stratification); a genomic control procedure was used to account for residual stratification. Results The G allele at rs12513649 had an overall frequency of 7.7%, which varied from 2.2% to 20.7% across different Marianas and Micronesian populations; overall frequency of the A allele at rs373863828 was 4.2% (range: 1.1–5.4%). The G allele at rs12513649 was associated with higher BMI (β=1.55 kg/m2 per copy; p=0.0026) as was the A allele at rs373863828 (β=1.48 kg/m2, p=0.033). The same alleles were associated with lower risk of diabetes (OR per copy: 0.63 [p=0.0063] and 0.49 [p=0.0022], respectively). Meta-analyses combining the current results with previous results in Polynesians showed a strong association between the A allele at rs373863828 and BMI (β=1.38 kg/m2;p=2.5×l0−29) and diabetes (OR=0.65, p=1.5×l0−13). Conclusions interpretation These results confirm the associations of CREBRF variants with higher BMI and lower risk of diabetes and, importantly, they suggest that these variants contribute to the risk of obesity and diabetes in Oceanic populations

Genetic Variation Determines PPARγ Function and Anti-diabetic Drug Response In Vivo

SNPs affecting disease risk often reside in non-coding genomic regions. Here, we show that SNPs are highly enriched at mouse strain-selective adipose tissue binding sites for PPARγ, a nuclear receptor for anti-diabetic drugs. Many such SNPs alter binding motifs for PPARγ or cooperating factors and functionally regulate nearby genes whose expression is strain selective and imbalanced in heterozygous F1 mice. Moreover, genetically determined binding of PPARγ accounts for mouse strain-specific transcriptional effects of TZD drugs, providing proof of concept for personalized medicine related to nuclear receptor genomic occupancy. In human fat, motif-altering SNPs cause differential PPARγ binding, provide a molecular mechanism for some expression quantitative trait loci, and are risk factors for dysmetabolic traits in genome-wide association studies. One PPARγ motif-altering SNP is associated with HDL levels and other metabolic syndrome parameters. Thus, natural genetic variation in PPARγ genomic occupancy determines individual disease risk and drug response

Application of Spirulina algae as a food supplementation in the zinc fortification of bread

Background: Zinc is the second only to iron among trace elements in the human body. Approximately 48 of the people worldwide suffer from the zinc deficiency disorders, such as hypogonadism, hypospermia, growth retardation, immune deficiencies. Routinely, the use of food supplementation in daily regiments is common. Use of sea foods as one of the richest source of supplementaries, persuade us to exploit it. Materials and Methods: Academic scientific databases (e.g. Scopus and Elsevier) were researched. Results: A green single-cell algae "Spirulina" is one of these sources. Nowadays this algae has its top position among other microalgae for the production and consumption by man. In addition, Spirulina has 8 essential amino acids and various vitamins (e.g. A,E,C,B1,B2,B6,B12,biotin) and minerals such as Fe, Ca, Mg, Zn. Furthermore this sea source has essential fatty acids such as Omega 6 and Omega 9. Presence of these compounds in Spirulina algae is its unique characteristic comparing to other supplements. Furthermore, this algae has various therapeutic benefits such as amplifying an immunity system, excretion of heavy metals, aiding the food digestion, ulcer repair, improving vision. Conclusion: According to the food pyramid among the cereal products, we choose bread for this fortifying purpose. This bread was prepared in two colors. We inspected and examined this product under laboratorial assessment which proved our hypotheses

Comparing care behaviors between sophomore and senior nursing students

Caring is defined as a core of health. It is believed that caring promotes patients' health and satisfaction. Some study revealed that caring in all of dimension did not applicable in the contemporary nursing care. With the effect of education on nursing students care quality, we decided to compare nursing care behaviors in first year and fourth year nursing students. The descriptive-cross sectional study was conducted on all of nursing students in second and forth years in Islamic Azad University (Dezful Branch). Sample size was 54 person including thirty six students in the third semester and twenty students in the eighth semester that passed clinical trainings in general wards. For data gathering Wolf's Caring Behaviors Inventory, which designed based on Watson's theory and literature review, was used. The Inventory was comprised of 42 statements. Every item was ranked 6point Likert- type scale. Reliability ascertained by Cronbach's alpha (0.97). All the inventories were filled by clinical supervisor of the course that was equal in two groups. Observation of behaviors revealed "professional knowledge and skill" as the most and "to pay respect to others" as the least important subscales. Moreover, the senior students gained higher caring point than the sophomores. The total point of care behavior follows an increasing trend as the students go through the program. Apparently, formal and informal educations are effective on behavioral development of the student. The main limitation of the study was that only one trainer participated as behavior observer and the author has no way to ensure no biased evaluation against/in favor a participant

Forest road planning to improve tourism accessibility: a comparison of different methods applied in a real case study

Forest road planning with the available tools, e.g. PEGGER and GIS, still requires a lot of time of an expert, and the designed roads are not guaranteed to be efficient in terms of the cost or suitability of the road. In this article, we propose a novel Genetic Algorithm (GA) based method for forest road planning. To do so, each road is represented as a sequence of fixed and variable (control) points. A novel objective (fitness) function is defined based on the length, gradient, and suitability of the roads (individuals). The proposed algorithm is applied to the Arasbaran forest area and the resulted roads are compared with PEGGER-designed roads regarding length, Bachmund index, accessibility, and suitability. The results clearly show the power of the proposed GA algorithm in reducing computation time, road construction costs, and environmental impacts compared to the common road planning approaches

Birth Weight and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease Incidence in Adulthood: a Dose-Response Meta-analysis

Purpose of Review: Studies have revealed a relation between birth weight (BW) and later risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). This meta-analysis aimed to report the dose-response relationship between BW and risk of CVDs. Recent Findings: The relation of BW to CVD subtypes was found to be U-shaped as BW below ~ 2500 g and above ~ 4000 g affected positively CVD risk (OR = 1.14 = 95CI 1.03�1.27 and OR = 1.08; 95CI 0.99�1.18, respectively). Regarding CVD subtypes, low BW was directly linked to greater risk of CHD (OR = 1.15; 95CI 1.02�1.29) and stroke (OR = 1.28; 95 CI 1.05�1.55), while high BW was related to increased risk of arterial fibrillation in adulthood. A U-shaped nonlinear relationship was specifically demonstrated between BW and overall CVD and its subtypes. Summary: There is a U-shaped association between BW and all CVD subtypes. © 2020, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

Prevalence of Food-Borne Toxoplasma in Pregnant Women Population of Urmia, Iran

Background: Toxoplasmosis is one of the most prevalent parasitic infections among humans and animals which caused by Toxoplasma gondii. This study was carried out to detection and identification of T. gondii in pregnant women population of Urmia, Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was done from August 2015 to March 2016. Totally, 620 pregnant women referred to the urban and rural healthcare centers of Urmia were studied. IgG and IgM specific for T. gondii were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The demographic and risk factors data were collected by questionnaires. All included women completed the consent letter of agreement. The identification of T. gondii was performed using nested Polymerase Chain Reaction. The statistical analysis was done using SPSS 16.0. Results: Out of 620 pregnant women, 114 (18.4%) had specific IgG and three (0.5%) had specific IgM for T. gondii. Statistical analysis showed significant relation between the IgG level and age (p0.05) between the level of ­T. gondii specific antibodies with career, education, and vegetable and meat consumption habits. Molecular identification of T. gondii showed type I in isolates obtained from three newborns of IgM-positive mothers. Conclusion: In order to prevent of the disease in newborns, screening of pregnant women and healthcare education are suggested. DOI: 10.29252/jfqhc.5.1.1