A Critical Look at the Use of Wavelets in Damage Detection

publishedVersio

Identification of Candida Species Associated with Blood Infection by Multiplex PCR and Phenotypic Characteristics

Background and Aim: The correct identification of Candida species is one of the most critical procedures in prognostic and therapeutic significance, allowing an early and appropriate antifungal therapy. This study aimed to evaluate multiplex PCR as a rapid diagnostic method and traditional phenotypic tests in identifying Candida species isolated from candidemia cases. Methods: In this study, 38 Candida spp were isolated from culturing of human blood obtained from patients suspected to candidemia. The isolated species were evaluated by phenotypic and molecular methods including carbohydrate assimilation test, colony colour on CHROMagar Candida, chlamydoconidia production, germ tube formation and Multiplex PCR. Multiplex PCR was performed using specific primers of 4 common species. The results of multiplex PCR were compared with those obtained from phenotypic tests. Results: According to multiplex PCR findings, the isolated Candida species were identified as C. albicans, C. parapsilosis, C. glabrata, and C. tropicalis. Phenotypic tests identified that 23 (60.52%), 8 (21.05%), 5 (13.15%), and 2 (5.26%) isolates belonged to C. albicans, C. parapsilosis, C. glabrata, and C. tropicalis, respectively, that were confirmed by multiplex PCR results. C. albicans and C. parapsilosis had the same carbohydrate assimilation pattern but were differentiated based on their colonies color on CHROMagar and the ability of C. albicans to produce chlamydoconidia and germ tube. C. glabrata (100%) and C. tropicalis (100%) assimilated trehalose and cellobiose, respectively. Conclusion: Our study showed that the both phenotypic and molecular techniques provide appropriate information for identification of Candida spp from blood samples. *Corresponding Author: Masoomeh Shams-Ghahfarokhi; Email: [email protected]; ORCID ID: 0000-0003-2562-965X Please cite this article as:  Fallah B, Shams-Ghahfarokhi M, Salehi M. Identification of Candida Species Associated with Blood Infection by Multiplex PCR and Phenotypic Characteristics.  Arch Med Lab Sci. 2023;9:1-9 (e1). https://doi.org/10.22037/amls.v9.3840

The role of fine excipient particles in adhesive mixtures for inhalation

Despite the fact that adding fines improve the drug dispersion performance during inhalation, the scarcity of mechanistic insight into the formulation process, independent of the aerosolization, has kept the dispute on the underlying improvement mechanism open. We therefore simulate ternary formulations (carrier, drug, fines) in a vibrational cell to explore the mixing mechanism and the effect of particle size and loading ratio of fines on formulation performance. Results suggest that the buffer theory is a critical contributory mechanism since it curtails the carrier\u27s collision rate and, therefore, decreases agglomerate breakage. Consequently, relatively larger drug aggregates are formed over the carrier, which eventually experiences greater detachment forces. A simple dispersion test is performed to evaluate drug detachment rate at wall-collision. An excess of cohesive fines, or using larger fines, diminishes the rotational kinetic energy of coarse particles by lumping them together. This reduces drug agglomerate breakage and leads to poor mixing

SHARCS: Efficient Transformers through Routing with Dynamic Width Sub-networks

We introduce SHARCS for adaptive inference that takes into account the hardness of input samples. SHARCS can train a router on any transformer network, enabling the model to direct different samples to sub-networks with varying widths. Our experiments demonstrate that: (1) SHARCS outperforms or complements existing per-sample adaptive inference methods across various classification tasks in terms of accuracy vs. FLOPs; (2) SHARCS generalizes across different architectures and can be even applied to compressed and efficient transformer encoders to further improve their efficiency; (3) SHARCS can provide a 2 times inference speed up at an insignificant drop in accuracy

Effect of Ramadan fasting on physiologic myopia

زمینه و هدف: نزدیک بینی از شایع ترین نوع عیوب انکساری چشم است. با توجه به اینکه تغذیه از جمله عوامل متعددی است که در ایجاد میوپی دخیل میباشد . این مطالعه با هدف بررسی میزان تاثیر روزه داری بر مقدار میوپی در طی ماه مبارک رمضان انجام شد. روش بررسی: مطالعه به صورت توصیفی – تحلیلی بر روی 122 چشم از 61 نفر انجام شد. جامعه مورد بررسی افراد میوپ مذکر با درجه نزدیک بینی 50/0- تا 00/8- دیوپتر در سنین 50-22 سال بودند. قبل از ماه مبارک رمضان کلیه افراد تحت معاینه کامل چشمی قرار گرفتند و عیب انکساری آنها با روش Cycloplegic refraction اندازه گیری شد. پس از پایان ماه مبارک رمضان در افرادی که توفیق روزه داری به مدت حداقل 29 روز را داشتند مجدداً معاینات چشمی شامل حدت بینایی و عیب انکساری و معاینه با Slit lamp و فوندوسکپی انجام شد و نتایج قبل و بعد از روزه داری با استفاده از آزمون t زوج مورد بررسی و تحلیل قرار گرفت. یافته ها: میانگین سنی بیماران 24/11±20/31 (دامنه 50-22) سال بود. حدت بینایی تمام بیماران 20/20 بود. میانگین عیب انکساری افراد قبل و پس از روزه داری به ترتیب 80/2±21/3- و 00/3±16/3- دیوپتر به دست آمد (05/0P>). نتیجه گیری: روزه داری در افراد مذکر بالای 22 سال موجب تغییر مقدار میوپی نمی شود

A Double Blind Clinical Trial on the Efficacy of Honey Drop in Vernal Keratoconjunctivitis

Purpose. This trial was designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of topical honey eye drops in patients with diagnosed VKC. Methods. This clinical trial was conducted on 60 patients with diagnosed VKC. The patients were selected and randomly allocated between two groups of 30. Patients in two groups received honey eye drop (60% in artificial tear) or placebo, other than cromolyn and fluorometholone 1% eye drops, to be used topically in each eye, four times per day. The patients were examined with slit lamp and torch at baseline and the follow-up visits on the 1st, 3rd, and 6th months of the study for redness, limbal papillae, and intraocular pressure. Results. Out of 60 patients who completed the study, 19 patients (31.7%) were female. There was significant increase in eye pressure and reduction in redness as well as limbal papillae, following the consumption of the honey drop in honey group compared to placebo control group (P < 0.05). At the end of trial, one patient in honey group and 7 ones in placebo group had limbal papillae (P < 0.05). Conclusion. Topical honey eye drops, when used along with Cromolyn and Fluorometholone eye drops, might be beneficial for the treatment of VKC

Post-Viral Aspergillosis

Post-viral aspergillosis (PVA) is a clinical form of Aspergillus infection that occurs after some viral infections. Aspergillus is the most common respiratory fungal co-pathogen in patients with viral infections. Most cases of PVA have been reported as invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) after influenza, COVID-19, and the cytomegalovirus infection. PVA is more commonly reported in critically ill patients with viral pneumonia. Suggested risk factors for PVA include cellular immune deficiency, ARDS, pulmonary tracts and parenchyma damage, and corticosteroid therapy. New pulmonary nodules such as dense, well-circumscribed lesions with or without a halo sign, air crescent sign, or cavity, or wedge-shaped and segmental or lobar consolidation on the chest CT scan can suggest PVA. As in the treatment of invasive aspergillosis in other settings, triazoles, such as voriconazole or isavuconazole, have been suggested as the first-line treatment for PVA. It seems that the presence of PVA has significantly decreased the survival rate in patients with viral infections

Fighting COVID-19: What Are the Available Options?

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the novel coronavirus, and its infection, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), have quickly become a worldwide threat. It is essential for clinicians to learn about this pandemic to manage patients. Among different aspects of the condition, is the treatment of this disease. Unfortunately, currently there is no effective treatment option that can be supported by evidence-based medicine. This review analyzes information from literature on treatments