Sensitivity to Antibiotics of Bacteria Exposed to Gamma Radiation Emitted from Hot Soils of the High Background Radiation Areas of Ramsar, Northern Iran

Background: Over the past several years our laboratories have investigated different aspects of the challenging issue of the alterations in bacterial susceptibility to antibiotics induced by physical stresses. Objective: To explore the bacterial susceptibility to antibiotics in samples of Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. typhimurium), Staphylococcus aureus, and Klebsiella pneumoniae after exposure to gamma radiation emitted from the soil samples taken from the high background radiation areas of Ramsar, northern Iran. Methods: Standard Kirby-Bauer test, which evaluates the size of the zone of inhibition as an indicator of the susceptibility of different bacteria to antibiotics, was used in this study. Results: The maximum alteration of the diameter of inhibition zone was found for K. pneumoniae when tested for ciprofloxacin. In this case, the mean diameter of no growth zone in non-irradiated control samples of K. pneumoniae was 20.3 (SD 0.6) mm; it was 14.7 (SD 0.6) mm in irradiated samples. On the other hand, the minimum changes in the diameter of inhibition zone were found for S. typhimurium and S. aureus when these bacteria were tested for nitrofurantoin and cephalexin, respectively. Conclusion: Gamma rays were capable of making significant alterations in bacterial susceptibility to antibiotics. It can be hypothesized that high levels of natural background radiation can induce adaptive phenomena that help microorganisms better cope with lethal effects of antibiotics

Loss of expression of TGF-βs and their receptors in chronic skin lesions induced by sulfur mustard as compared with chronic contact dermatitis patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Sulfur mustard (SM) is a blister-forming agent that has been used as a chemical weapon. Sulfur mustard can cause damage in various organs, especially the skin, respiratory system, and eyes. Generally, the multiple complications of mustard gas result from its alkalizing potency; it reacts with cellular components like DNA, RNA, proteins, and lipid membranes.</p> <p>TGF-β is a multi-functional cytokine with multiple biological effects ranging from cell differentiation and growth inhibition to extracellular matrix stimulation, immunosuppression, and immunomodulation. TGF-β has 3 isoforms (TGF-β 1, 2, 3) and its signaling is mediated by its receptors: R1, R2 and intracellular Smads molecules.</p> <p>TGF-β has been shown to have anti-inflammatory effects. TGF-βs and their receptors also have an important role in modulation of skin inflammation, proliferation of epidermal cells, and wound healing, and they have been implicated in different types of skin inflammatory disorders.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Seventeen exposed SM individuals (48.47 ± 9.3 years), 17 chronic dermatitis patients (46.52 ± 14.6 years), and 5 normal controls (44.00 ± 14.6 years) were enrolled in this study.</p> <p>Evaluation of TGF-βs and their receptors expressions was performed by semiquantitative RT-PCR. Only TGF1was analyzed immunohistochemically.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our results showed significant decreases in the expression percentages of TGF-β 1, 2 and R1, R2 in chemical victims in comparison with chronic dermatitis and normal subjects and significant decreases in the intensity of R1 and R2 expressions in chemical victims in comparison with chronic dermatitis and normal controls. (P value < 0.05)</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>TGF-βs and their receptors appear to have a noticeable role in chronic inflammatory skin lesions caused by sulfur mustard.</p

Implicit extended discontinuous Galerkin scheme for solving singularly perturbed Burgers' equations

We present the implicit-modal discontinuous Galerkin scheme for solving the coupled viscous and singularly perturbed Burgers’ equations. This scheme overcomes overshoot and undershoots phenomena in the singularly perturbed Burgers’ equations. We present the stability analysis and obtain suitable ranges for penalty terms and time steps. Also, we gain the constant of trace inequality for the approximate function and its first derivatives based on Legendre basis functions. The numerical results have good agreement with the analytical and available approximate solutions

Effect of Training Eye Care Clinical Guideline for ICU Patients on Clinical Competence of Eye Care in Nurses

Introduction. Sight is one of the most important and vital human senses. Lack of proper eye care (EC) in anesthetized patients can lead to serious ocular complications and even vision loss. Insufficient knowledge, attitude, and skills of nurses are considered as a barrier to providing EC in the intensive care unit (ICU). The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of training EC clinical practice guidelines for ICU patients on nurses’ knowledge, attitude, and practice of EC. Methods. This was an interventional study with a pre-post design performed on 60 ICU nurses. For the experimental group, EC clinical guideline training was performed for anesthetized patients in three sessions. The data collection tool included nurses’ clinical competence of the EC questionnaire with a possible score range of 0–86. This tool consists of three domains, including knowledge (0–18), attitude (0–28), and practice (0–40), which was completed in a self-assessment manner before and three months after the training program. Data analysis was carried out using SPSS16. Findings. The mean scores of knowledge, attitude, and practice after the intervention in the experimental and control groups were 15.03 ± 2.72 and 11.11 ± 3.50, 25.65 ± 3.47 and 22.07 ± 3.08, and 33.88 ± 4.14 and 28.5 ± 55.08, respectively, which were statistically significant (P≤0.001). Also, the total score of clinical competence of EC after the intervention in the experimental and control groups was 74.56 ± 7.93 and 61.74 ± 9.66, which showed a significant difference (P≤0.001). Conclusion. Training nurses based on EC clinical guidelines for anesthetized patients can improve the knowledge, attitude, and practice of ICU nurses. Evidence-based EC practice requires continuous training based on clinical guidelines and EC practice monitoring by nursing managers according to EC clinical guideline for an anesthetized patient

The effect of the heel- to- toe rocker shoe on limitation of the foot and ankle joints motions

Background : Rocker sole are the most commonly prescribed external therapeutic shoe modification. rocker profiles have also proven useful in the treatment of conditions requiring limitation of the ankle and midfoot motions. The aim of this study was to assessed the effects of the heel- to-toe rocker shoes on the motion of the forefoot and hindfoot . Materials and Methods: In this quasi-exprimental study, three-dimentional gait analysis was performed on 15 healthy volunteers girls with normal BMI and normal gait pattern, between 18-24 years old . A Vicon 470 system(Oxford Metrix, U.K.) consisting of 6 ultra-red cameras operating at 60Hz and two kistler forceplate(A9286) was used.The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to statistical analysis. the motion of the forefoot and hindfoot compared between traditional shoes and heel- to-toe rocker shoes. Results: The statistical analysis using Wilcoxon signed-rank test showed that the hindfoot joint excursion while wearing rocker shoes in sagittal plane was significantly less than that while wearing traditional shoes(p=0.005) but in frontal plane increased(p=0.028) and no obvious rocker shoe effect was found in the transverse plane(p=0.203). The average of forefoot joint excursion in the sagittal plane while wearing modified shoes shoes was significantly less than that while wearing traditional shoes(p=0.047) but in frontal plane with modified shoes forefoot joint excursion increased(p=0.013). and in transverse plane this rocker shoe significantly restricted hindfoot motion (p=0.015). Conclusion: Thisstudy showed that the heel- to-toe rocker shoe significantly restricts foot joints motions in sagittal plane but joints motions in frontal plain increase with this modification