Relationship between microscopic analysis and quantitative and qualitative indicators of moisture susceptibility evaluation of warm-mix asphalt mixtures containing modifiers

Given the defects of bitumen in asphalt mixtures particularly exposed to moisture, this study mainly aims to investigate the relationship between qualitative and quantitative results of moisture susceptibility tests on asphalt mixtures modified by ZycoTherm, nanoclay, nanosilica and SBS. The Marshall stability, modulus of resilience and indirect tensile strength tests are carried out. Boiling water and SEM qualitative tests are also used. Eventually, the qualitative tests results are digitalized through image processing by MATLAB and compared with the moisture susceptibility results of indirect tensile strength test. For modulus of resilience testing, the results show that this modifier has the maximum impact on Marshall stability, improving it by about 23%. For moisture susceptibility testing, the nanosilica-modified mixture has the maximum effect among anti-stripping additives, with an improvement by about 20%. An investigation into the results of SEM images and boiling water test via MATLAB indicates the high accuracy of SEM images and their results show the most compatibility with the results of quantitative data

Effect of Exosomes Derived from Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells on Ovarian Granulosa Cells of Immature NMRI Mice

Objective: In recent years, in vitro maturation (IVM) has become the focus of fertility maintenance, and infertilitytreatment. The aim of this study is development of oocytes during folliculogenesis and oogenesis is greatly influencedby the presence of BMP-7, BMP-15, and GDF-9 genes, which are present in exosomes generated from bone marrowstem cells.Materials and Methods: In the experimental study, we investigated how exosomes obtained from bone marrow stemcells affected development and expansion of ovarian granulosa cells (GCs) in NMRI mice. In this in vitro experiment,bone marrow stem cells were isolated from mice’s bone marrow, and after identification, exosomes were recovered.Exosome doses of 100, 50, and 25 μg/ml were applied to GCs before using MTT assay to measure survival rates andquantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to measure expression of the BMP-7, BMP-15, andGDF-9 genes.Results: The results showed that the GCs treated with exosomes concentrations of 25, 50, and 100 μg/ml significantlyincreased bioavailability, growth and proliferation and it also increased expression level of BMP-7, BMP-15 and GDF-9genes compared to the controls.Conclusion: Findings of this study indicated that exosomes derived from bone marrow stem cells improved growthof GCs in NMRI mice and they were a good candidate for further clinical studies to improve quality of the assistedreproductive techniques

Current Treatments and Therapeutic Options for COVID-19 Patients: A Systematic Review

International audienceIntroduction: COVID-19 is the third rising epidemic in the 21st century that quickly turned into a worldwide pandemic. Many clinical studies have been achieved to investigate treatments to confrontation of COVID-19. Therefore, we conducted a systematic reviewto describe the recent treatment strategies to treat COVID-19 patients. Methods: A systematic search was performed in the databases of PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Science direct, Up to date, and Web of Science using the keywords of Coronavirus, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Novel Coronavirus, 2019-nCoV, Treatment, Medicine, Therapy, Intervention, Drug, Medications, and Cure. Results: We included 58 studies including 38 articles (eleven reviews, ten editorial documents, three case reports, one mix method, one cohort study,) and 19 published clinical trials. Review of studies showed that Lopinavir/Ritonavir (n=16), Remdesivir (n=13), Convalescent plasma (n=11), Chloroquine (n=11), Ribavirin (n=9), Hydroxychloroquine sulfate (n=8), Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) (n=8), and Arbidol (n=7), were the most frequently used therapies used to treat COVID-19 patients. Conclusion: In the absence of definitive treatment protocols, recently proposed approaches appear to be an effective therapy for accelerating the recovery of COVID-19 patients. Some of these treatments may have been in the early stages of testing. However, future preclinical and clinical trials are warranted to validate findings

International Medical Travelers’ Behavioral Intention: An Empirical Study in Iran

A few studies have examined destination image (DI), hospital service quality (HSQ), hospital accreditation (HA), patient attitude (PA) on patient satisfaction (PS), revisit intention (RI) and word of mouth (WOM) in a tourism context. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of medical travelers’ behavioral intention in Iran. A total of 250 questionnaires were distributed with a response rate of 68. Quantitative techniques were used to test the hypotheses within the structural equation modelling (SEM) using SmartPLS software. Our statistical results support the positive relationship between DI and PS, HSQ and PA, HSQ and RI, HSQ and WOM, HA and PA, PA and PS, PS and RI, and PS and WOM. However, the relationship between DI and PA, DI and RI, HA and PS, and HA and WOM were not supported. The research contribution, implication, and limitation are discussed