Evaluation of biological characteristics such as age, sexuality and growth parameters of fish roach (Rutilus rutilus caspicus) in the southeastern coasts of the Caspian Sea (Sari and Turkmen of port)

Purpose of this study was to evaluate the biological parameters of growth and some roach (Rutilus rutilus caspicus) on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. Therefore, 160 pieces of fish taken from two the regions and some biological characteristics such as age, sexuality and growth, given the importance and development of population and time were studied. The mean (±Standard Deviation) age, body weight and fork length fish roach respectively in Sari and Turkmen of port 2.8±0.68 and 2.4±0.97 years, 18.56±2.12 and 16.5±2.62 cm, 117.67±48.82 and 76.73±36.31 gr. There is a significant correlation between fork length, weight and age of fish (P<0.001). The sex ratio of male to female fish roach in Sari 1:1.5 and Turkmen of port 1.7: 1, which respectively, differences significant are statistically (Sari: t test=15.39, P<0.001) (Turkmen port: t-test= 18.25, P <0.001). Index GSI (Gonad Somatic Index) in Sari fish roach over the fish roach of Turkmen of port and season gonad growth in both areas was appropriate. The mean condition factor (CF) in Sari and Turkmen of port fish roach showing respectively 1.24±0.14 and 1.12±0.09. Also, the length and weight relationship, positive growth pattern in both locations is displayed. All these factors indicate different status, age, sexuality and growth of the fish is investigated in the two areas

The diet of big-scale sand smelt Atherina boyeri caspia (Risso, 1810) in the southeastern coast of the Caspian Sea

Big-scale sand smelt is one of the fishes with high ecological value, which consume by fishes such as sturgeon in the Caspian Sea. In this study, 191 samples of Big-scale sand smelt from southeast coast of the Caspian Sea were collected seasonally from December 2013 to September 2014. In the present study, food items and the relative index of gastrointestinal (RLG), stomach emptiness index (VI) and feeding intensity (IF) were determined. The fork length, weight and age (mean ±SD) were 7.70 ± 1.09 cm, 3.64 ± 1.49 g and 2.00 ± 0.81 year, respectively. This fish with a relative gastrointestinal tract length of 0.46 ± 0.06 (mean ± Standard Deviation) can be considered as a carnivorous fish. The average of empty stomach was 45% showing big-scale sand smelt is a relatively voracious feeder. The average intensity of feeding (mean± Standard Deviation) 535±221.21, as a moderate level for this fish in the region. Gammarus (benthos) and Daphnia (zooplankton) were the favored food for this fish. This study also showed opportunistic hunting activities of this fish

The Role of Microgravity in Cancer: A Dual-edge Sword

Since human beings could travel beyond the earth atmosphere, scientists started to investigate the effect of microgravity on human cells. Microgravity has different effects on normal and cancer cells, but the related mechanisms are not well-known till now. The aim of the present review is to focus on the consequences of exposing the cancer cells to reduced gravity. Some cancer cells organize three-dimensional structures under microgravity. Obviously, microgravity is an external stress, which can affect cell proliferation, apoptosis, cytoskeleton and signaling pathways. In addition, it touches immune-related components, regulates immune responses, and implicates immune cell activation. Low mutation aggregation and cancer rate in astronauts may lead to use microgravity as a therapeutic approach. However, it reduces the invasion and migration in some types of cancer cells, triggers the oncogenic signaling pathways including KRAS, and inhibits proliferation in normal lymphocytes. In conclusion, using microgravity as a therapeutic method in cancer treatment needs to be more investigated on both cancer and normal cells, and might not become true in the near future

Molecular Epidemiology of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Strains in the North‑West and West of Iran

Background: Identifying Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) transmission type is a key step in the control of this disease. Aim: This study aimed to determine the path and transmission type of MTB and the insertion sequence IS6110 band number and verify their relationship to demographic and clinical risk factors. Subjects and Methods: In this cross‑sectional study, 64 MTB patients from three border provinces of Iran were selected after full clinical history and physical evaluation design. The drug susceptibility testing was carried out using the standard proportion technique on sputum samples. Isolates tested with restriction fragment length polymorphism technique used IS6110. Results: Recent transmission of disease was 33/50 (66%) based on clustering rate. The IS6110 band number had a significant relationship with drug resistance detected in proportion method tested by univariate linear regression (P &lt; 0.01). Furthermore, the IS6110 band number had association with Bacillus Calmette–Guérin vaccination history (P = 0.02), sex (P &lt; 0.01), and purified protein derivative (PPD) reaction size (P &lt; 0.01) tested by multiple analysis. The risk of recent transmission inferred from the clustering rate was significantly higher in patients from Western provinces compared to those from the North‑West province (P = 0.048). However, age (P = 0.39), gender (P = 0.16), vaccination history (P = 0.57), drug susceptibility, and PPD (P = 0.6) were independent of clustering. The largest cluster of up to six subjects was found in the Western provinces.Conclusion: Recent MTB transmission was much more common in the West compared to the North‑West of Iran. Large MTB clusters with strong epidemiological links may be reflective of a disease outbreak. Correlation noted between the IS6110 band number and vaccination history; PPD size and female gender necessitates further studies.Keywords: Molecular epidemiology, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Polymorphism, Restriction fragment lengt

Thin-film composite membrane on a compacted woven backing fabric for pressure assisted osmosis

© 2016 Elsevier B.V. The water flux in forward osmosis (FO) process declines substantially when the draw solution (DS) concentration reaches closer to the point of osmotic equilibrium with the feed solution (FS). Using external hydraulic pressure alongside the osmotic driving force in the pressure assisted osmosis (PAO) has been found effective in terms of enhancing water flux and even potentially diluting the DS beyond osmotic equilibrium. The net gain in water flux due to the applied pressure in the PAO process closely depends on the permeability of the FO membrane. The commercial flat sheet cellulose triacetate (CTA) FO membrane has low water permeability and hence the effective gain in water flux in the PAO process is low. In this study, a high performance thin film composite membrane was developed especially for the PAO process through casting polyethersulfone (PES) polymer solution on a compacted woven fabric mesh support followed by interfacial polymerisation for polyamide active layer. This PAO membrane possesses a water flux of 37 L m2h− 1using 0.5 M NaCl as DS and deionised water as the feed at an applied hydraulic pressure of 10 bar. Besides, the membrane was able to endure the external hydraulic pressure required for the PAO process owing to the embedded backing fabric support. While the membranes with low structural parameters are essential for higher water flux, this study shows that for PAO process, polymeric membranes with larger structural parameters may not be suitable for PAO. They generally resulted in compaction and poor mechanical strength to withstand hydraulic pressure

A NEMO-HWSN solution to support 6LoWPAN network mobility in hospital wireless sensor network

IPv6 Low-power Personal Area Networks (6LoWPANs) have recently found renewed interest because of the emergence of Internet of Things (IoT). Mobility support in 6LoWPANs for large-scale IP-based sensor technology in future IoT is still in its infancy. The hospital wireless network is one important 6LoWPAN application of the IoT, it keeps continuous monitoring of vital signs of moveing patients. Proper mobility management is needed to maintain connectivity between patient nodes and the hospital network. In this paper, first we survey IPv6 mobility protocols and propose a solution for a hospital architecture based on 6LoWPAN technology. Moreover, we discuss an important metric like signaling overload to optimize the power consumption and how it can be optimized through the mobility management. This metric is more effective on the mobile router as a coordinator in network mobility since a mobile router normally constitutes a bottleneck in such a system. Finally, we present our initial results on a reduction of the mobility signaling cost and the tunneling traffic on the mobile PAN

Formulation of Manufacturing Strategies Based on An Extended SWARA Method with Intuitionistic Fuzzy Numbers: An Automotive Industry Application

Applying any kind of manufacturing strategy requires evaluating the current situation of the system at the internal and external levels and providing strategies for improving the system performance. Hence, the study presents review and design the optimal manufacturing strategy for increasing the efficiency of the automotive industry. This article presents a three-step manufacturing strategy model using Miltenburg worksheet and extended the Stepwise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis (SWARA) method into the intuitionistic fuzzy environment. It concentrates on five manufacturing objectives encompassing the production system, manufacturing outputs, manufacturing leverage, production capabilities, and competitive analysis. First,the basis of current production system is Product\Volume Layout\Flow Matrix (PV-LF) matrix. At the point, six manufacturing levers are analysed and assessed. The following step extends the SWARA method into the intuitionistic fuzzy environment. The research evaluates manufacturing outputs (delivery and cost, quality and performance) to define criteria of the optimal production system. Eventually, the study describes optimal strategies. Thus, the production system could change to the optimal policy. The results demonstrated that the case study production system is Equipment Paced Line Flow (EPL) and should vary from EPL to Just in Time (JIT). Furthermore, changing manufacturing levers is necessary to execute the proposed framework successfully

Linc-ROR and its spliced variants 2 and 4 are significantly up-regulated in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Objective(s): Similar characteristics of molecular pathways between cellular reprogramming events and tumorigenesis have been accentuated in recent years. Reprogramming-related transcription factors, also known as Yamanaka factors (OCT4, SOX2, KLF4, and c-MYC), are also well-known oncogenes promoting cancer initiation, progression, and cellular transformation into cancer stem cells. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a major class of RNA molecules with emerging roles in stem cell pluripotency, cellular reprogramming, cellular transformation, and tumorigenesis. The long intergenic non-coding RNA ROR (lincRNA-ROR, linc-ROR) acts as a regulator of cellular reprograming through sponging miR-145 that normally negatively regulates the expression of the stemness factors NANOG, OCT4, and SOX2. Materials and Methods: Here, we employed a real-time PCR approach to determine the expression patterns of linc-ROR and its two novel spliced variants (variants 2 and 4) in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Results: The quantitative real-time RT-PCR results revealed a significant up-regulation of linc-ROR (P=0.0098) and its variants 2 (P=0.0250) and 4 (P=0.0002) in tumor samples of ESCC, compared to their matched non-tumor tissues obtained from the margin of same tumors. Our data also demonstrated a significant up-regulation of variant 4 in high-grade tumor samples, in comparison to the low-grade ones (P=0.04). Moreover, the ROC curve analysis demonstrated that the variant 4 of ROR has a potential to discriminate between tumor and non-tumor samples (AUC=0.66, P<0.05). Conclusion: Our data suggest a significant up-regulation of linc-ROR and its variants 2 and 4 in ESCC tissue samples. � 2016, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

In-Hospital Code Status Updates: Trends Over Time and the Impact of COVID-19

Objective: The primary objective was to evaluate if the percentage of patients with missing or inaccurate code status documentation at a Trauma Level 1 hospital could be reduced through daily updates. The secondary objective was to examine if patient preferences for DNR changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This retrospective study, spanning March 2019 to December 2022, compared the code status in ICU and ED patients drawn from two data sets. The first was based on historical electronic medical records (EHR), and the second involved daily updates of code status following patient admission. Results: Implementing daily updates upon admission was more effective in ICUs than in the ED in reducing missing code status documentation. Around 20% of patients without a specific code status chose DNR under the new system. During COVID-19, a decrease in ICU patients choosing DNR and an increase in full code (FC) choices were observed. Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of regular updates and discussions regarding code status to enhance patient care and resource allocation in ICU and ED settings. The COVID-19 pandemic’s influence on shifting patient preferences towards full code status underscores the need for adaptable documentation practices. Emphasizing patient education about DNR implications and benefits is key to supporting informed decisions that reflect individual health contexts and values. This approach will help balance the considerations for DNR and full code choices, especially during health care crises