Quality of Life in Iranian Patients with Acne

Acne is a chronic inflammatory disease of pilosebaceous units. Although the acne isnot a life threatening disease, studies have revealed that it has significant effect on self-image and quality of life. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the health-related quality of life in patients with acne in an Iranian context. Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) and Cardiff Acne Disability Index (CADI) were used for measuring quality of life, and severity of acne was measured by Global Acne Grading System (GAGS). The mean (±SD) of DLQI and CADI scores was 6.42 (±4.77) and 5.97 (±2.97), respectively. Acne influenced the quality of life in 51.8% of patients from moderate to very much, and the quality of life was affected by the severity of acne (P < 0.01). Since acne has significant effects on patient's quality of life, the management of patients with acne requires more attention to different aspects of quality of life

Astrometric Microlensing as a Method of Discovering and Characterizing Extra-Solar Planets

We introduce a new method of searching for and characterizing extra-solar planets. We show that by monitoring the center-of-light motion of microlensing alerts using the next generation of high precision astrometric instruments the probability of detecting a planet orbiting the lens is high. We show that adding astrometric information to the photometric microlensing lightcurve greatly helps in determining the planetary mass and semi-major axis. We introduce astrometric maps as a new way for calculating astrometric motion and planet detection probabilities. Finite source effects are important for low mass planets, but even Earth mass planets can give detectable signals.Comment: 9 pages includes 8 postscript figures, AAS Latex, submitted to Ap

The Use of High Magnification Microlensing Events in Discovering Extra-solar Planets

Hundreds of gravitational microlensing events have now been detected towards the Galactic bulge, with many more to come. The detection of fine structure in these events has been theorized to be an excellent way to discover extra-solar planetary systems along the line-of-sight to the Galactic center. We show that by focusing on high magnification events the probability of detecting planets of Jupiter mass or greater in the lensing zone (.6 -1.6 $R_E$) is nearly 100%, with the probability remaining high down to Saturn masses and substantial even at 10 Earth masses. This high probability allows a nearly definitive statement to made about the existence of lensing zone planets in each such system that undergoes high magnification. One might expect lightcurve deviations caused by the source passing near the small primary lens caustic to be small due to the large distance of the perturbing planet, but this effect is overcome by the high magnification. High magnification events are relatively rare (e.g. $\sim 1/20$th of events have peak magnifications greater than 20), but they occur regularly and the peak can be predicted in advance, allowing extra-solar planet detection with a relatively small use of resources over a relatively small amount of time.Comment: 17 pages includes 10 postscript figures, AAS Latex, submitted to Ap

Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Bam: A Comparative Evaluation of Pre- and Post- Earthquake Years (1999-2008)

Background: The recent devastating earthquake of December 26 in Bam, 2003 created various risk factors; caused a sharp increase in incidence of anthroponotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) cases and reached to an epidemic proportion. The objective of this study was to evaluate the status of ACL cases five years before the earthquake compared to the cases occurred five years after the earthquake (1999-2008). Methods: Status of disease was assessed retrospectively for the five years before the earthquake and prospectively for the five years after the earthquake. Identification was confirmed by smear and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results: The mean annual incidence of ACL for the period from 1999 to 2003 was 1.9 per 1000 comparing to post earthquake period, which was 7.6 per 1000. Most of the infection was in individuals of <20 years, more frequently in females before the earthquake, whilst in contrast, there was a progressive rise in the number of cases, significantly in male individuals of >20 years (P< 0.0001) in post earthquake era. The anatomical distribution of lesions considerably changed during the two periods. Most of the cases were limited to three zones within the city prior to the earthquake, whereas it was spread throughout different zones after the earthquake. PCR indicated that the CL was due to Leishmania tropica in the city. Conclusion: The results strongly suggest that in natural disasters such as earthquakes various precipitating factors in favor of disease will be created, which in turn provide a suitable condition for propagation of the vector and the transmission of the parasite

Properties of Microlensing Light Curve Anomalies Induced by Multiple Planets

In this paper, we show that the pattern of microlensing light curve anomalies induced by multiple planets are well described by the superposition of those of the single-planet systems where the individual planet-primary binary pairs act as independent lens systems. Since the outer deviation regions around the planetary caustics of the individual planets occur in general at different locations, we find that the pattern of anomalies in these regions are hardly affected by the existence of other planet(s). This implies that even if an event is caused by a multiple planetary system, a simple single-planet lensing model is good enough for the description of most anomalies caused by the source passage of the outer deviation regions. Detection of the anomalies resulting from the source trajectory passing both the outer deviation regions caused by more than two planets will provide a new channel of detecting multiple planets.Comment: total 13 pages, including 6 figures and no table, MNRAS, submitted, for better quality pdf file is avalilable at http://astroph.chungbuk.ac.kr/~cheongho/publication.htm

On the Measurement of Perceived Consumer Risk

The role of perceived risk in consumer behavior has been studied extensively by academic researchers. This paper introduces a methodology for the measurement of the effects of product features, marketing mix components, and individual differences on perceived consumer risk based on theoretical foundations in the literature. A conjoint-type model based on paired comparison judgments is estimated to provide attribute weights. A modification of a stochastic multidimensional scaling-based vector model is then used to measure and summarize individual consumer differences with respect to the impact of brand attributes and marketing mix components on latent levels of perceived consumer risk. An illustration is provided using students’ risk perceptions of sports cars.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75462/1/j.1540-5915.1991.tb00372.x.pd

ASXL1 mutations predict inferior molecular response to nilotinib treatment in chronic myeloid leukemia

Gene mutations independent of BCR::ABL1 have been identified in newly diagnosed patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in chronic phase, whereby mutations in epigenetic modifier genes were most common. These findings prompted the systematic analysis of prevalence, dynamics, and prognostic significance of such mutations, in a clinically well-characterized patient population of 222 CML patients from the TIGER study (CML-V) by targeted next-generation sequencing covering 54 myeloid leukemia-associated genes. In total, 53/222 CML patients (24%) carried 60 mutations at diagnosis with ASXL1 being most commonly affected (n = 20). To study mutation dynamics, longitudinal deep sequencing analysis of serial samples was performed in 100 patients after 12, 24, and 36 months of therapy. Typical patterns of clonal evolution included eradication, persistence, and emergence of mutated clones. Patients carrying an ASXL1 mutation at diagnosis showed a less favorable molecular response to nilotinib treatment, as a major molecular response (MMR) was achieved less frequently at month 12, 18, and 24 compared to all other patients. Patients with ASXL1 mutations were also younger and more frequently found in the high risk category, suggesting a central role of clonal evolution associated with ASXL1 mutations in CML pathogenesis

Evaluation of local and circulating osteopontin in malignant and benign primary bone tumors

Purpose: The development of novel and efficient biomarkers for primary bone cancers is of grave importance. Methods: The expression pattern of osteopontin (OPN) was investigated in the 153 patients with benign (n = 72) and malignant (n = 81) primary bone cancers. Both local and circulating OPN mRNA expression levels and their protein concentration in serum and tumor site were assessed using real-time qRT-PCR, ELISA, and immunohistochemistry techniques, respectively. As a control, 29 healthy individuals were considered. The number of 153 tumor tissue specimens and the 153 paired margins were taken on surgical resection from the patients. 153 blood samples were also drained from all participants, then peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and sera were separated. Results: The mean mRNA expression was significantly higher in all of the cancerous tissues than the paired margins and the PBMC of the patients than the controls. Consistently, the protein concentrations of OPN in serum and tumor tissues were significantly higher in the patients. Furthermore, the malignant cases had significantly elevated the mRNA levels and the protein compared to the benign cases. OPN could potentially differentiate the patients from the controls with 100 sensitivity and specificity in serum. Moreover, OPN could predict some of the malignant cases' clinicopathological features, including metastasis, recurrence, grade, and response to chemotherapy. Conclusions: In conclusion, OPN might be involved in the pathogenesis of primary bone tumors and can be considered as a potential biomarker to bone cancer diagnosis. © 202

Multiple Regression Analysis in the Development of NiFe Cells as Energy Storage Solutions for Intermittent Power Sources Such as Wind or Solar

Multiple regression analysis was used to investigate the effect of bismuth sulphide and iron sulphide as anode additives for NiFe cells. With this in mind, in-house made Fe/FeS/Bi2S3 based electrodes were cycled against commercially available nickel electrodes. A simplex centroid design was used to investigate the combined effects of any of the aforementioned additives on cell performance. The manuscript ends with an initial look at electrolyte systems as a means to further improve the performance of our cells. Finally, our findings support the idea that HS- ions improve the overall performance of NiFe cells

Product–process matrix and complementarity approach

The relationship between different types of innovation is analysed from three different approaches. On the one hand, the distinctive view assumes that the determinants of each type of innovation are different and therefore there is no relationship between them. On the other hand, the integrative view considers that the different types of innovation are complementary. Finally, the product–process matrix framework suggests that the relationship between product innovation and process innovation is substitutive. Using data from Spain belonging to the Technological Innovation Panel (PITEC) for the years 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, we tested which of the three approaches is predominant. To perform the hypothesis test, we used the so-called complementarity approach. We find that there is no unique relation. The nature of the relationship depends on the types of innovation that interact. Our most significant finding is that the relationship between product innovation and process innovation is complementary. This finding contradicts the proposal of the product–process matrix framework. Consequently, the joint implementation of both types of innovation generates a greater impact on the performance of a company than the sum of their separate implementation