A Comparative Clinical Study on Phalatrikadi Kwata and Darvyadi Kwatha in the management of Kamala w.s.r. to Jaundice

Background: Jaundice (Kamala) is a yellowish pigmentation of the skin, the conjunctival membranes over the sclera (whitish of the eyes), and other mucous membranes caused by hyperbilirubinemia (increased levels of bilirubin in the blood). Today’s lifestyle with unhygienic and poor dietary habits and alcoholic habits etc. are responsible factors to promote hepatic damage which clinically reflects as Kamala Roga. The incidence of such causes resulting in Jaundice. In India it is 2.37-3.15 per 1000 population. The effect of Ayurvedic treatment was assessed in relation to improvement in overall clinical signs and symptoms. Objectives: To evaluate the effect of Phalatrikaadi Kwatha and Darvyadi Kwatha in Kamala Roga. Methodology: A comparative clinical study was conducted on Kamala for period of 15 days. The patients were divided into 2 groups. In Group A 20 patients were administered with Phalatrikadi Kwatha internally and in Group B 20 patients were administered with Darvyadi Kwatha internally. Results: Group A and Group B have shown statistically significant result. Group B treated with Darvyadi Kwatha showed better result compared with Group B treated with Phalatrikadi Kwatha

Studying the chronic effects of silver nanoparticles on survival, growth rate and reproductive traits of Urmia Lake Artemia (Artemia urmiana)

The application and environmental hazards of nanotechnology to aquatic species are increasingly growing. To address the issue, the present study was designed and carried out to elucidate the toxic effects of silver nanoparticles on growth, survival and reproductive traits of Artemia urmiana. The experiment consisted of five treatments, namely control group and those exposed to 0.001, 0.01, 0.1 and 1 mgl-1 silver nanoparticles, with four respective replicates. To do so, 500 newly hatched nauplii were counted and transferred to 1 liter containers exposing to various concentrations of the silver nanoparticles. Microalgae Dunaliella tertiolecta and zymogenic was used to feed Artemia. Growth and survival rates were recorded on days 8, 11, 17, 20 and 23. After sexual maturation, Artemia were transferred to a new environment free from nanoparticles and their reproductive traits were studied. Results showed that higher concentrations of silver nanoparticles led to lower survival rate and augmented growth rate of Artemia (p<0.05). Regarding reproductive traits, group exposed to 1mgl-1 silver nanoparticles showed the lowest total offspring, offspring per day, offspring per brood and life span (p<0.05). In conclusion, the discharge of silver nanoparticles even at lower concentrations would undesirably influence reproductive cycle of A. urmiana and result in lower survival and reproductive performance of the animal

Relationship between urbanization and cancer incidence in Iran using quantile regression

Quantile regression is an efficient method for predicting and estimating the relationship between explanatory variables and percentile points of the response distribution, particularly for extreme percentiles of the distribution. To study the relationship between urbanization and cancer morbidity, we here applied quantile regression. This cross-sectional study was conducted for 9 cancers in 345 cities in 2007 in Iran. Data were obtained from the Ministry of Health and Medical Education and the relationship between urbanization and cancer morbidity was investigated using quantile regression and least square regression. Fitting models were compared using AIC criteria. R (3.0.1) software and the Quantreg package were used for statistical analysis. With the quantile regression model all percentiles for breast, colorectal, prostate, lung and pancreas cancers demonstrated increasing incidence rate with urbanization. The maximum increase for breast cancer was in the 90th percentile (β=0.13, p-value < 0.001), for colorectal cancer was in the 75th percentile (β=0.048, p-value < 0.001), for prostate cancer the 95th percentile (β=0.55, p-value < 0.001), for lung cancer was in 95th percentile (β=0.52, p-value=0.006), for pancreas cancer was in 10th percentile (β=0.011, p-value < 0.001). For gastric, esophageal and skin cancers, with increasing urbanization, the incidence rate was decreased. The maximum decrease for gastric cancer was in the 90th percentile(β=0.003, p-value < 0.001), for esophageal cancer the 95th (β=0.04, p-value=0.4) and for skin cancer also the 95th (β=0.145, p-value=0.071). The AIC showed that for upper percentiles, the fitting of quantile regression was better than least square regression. According to the results of this study, the significant impact of urbanization on cancer morbidity requirs more effort and planning by policymakers and administrators in order to reduce risk factors such as pollution in urban areas and ensure proper nutrition recommendations are made. © 2016, Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention

Estimating the esophagus cancer incidence rate in Ardabil, Iran: A capture-recapture method

Background: Accurate cancer registry and awareness of cancer incidence rate is essential in order to define strategies for cancer prevention and control programs. Capture-recapture methods have been recommended for reducing bias and increase the accuracy of cancer incidence estimation. Objectives: This study aimed to estimate the esophagus cancer incidence by capture-recapture method based on Ardabil population-based cancer registry data. Patients and Methods: Total new cases of esophagus cancer reported by three sources of pathology reports, medical records, and death certificates to Ardabil province cancer registry center in 2006 and 2008 were enrolled in the study. All duplicated cases between three sources were identified and removed using Excel software. Some characteristics such as name, surname, father�s name, date of birth and ICD codes related to their cancer type were used for data linkage and finding the common cases among three sources. The incidence rate per 100,000 was estimated based on capture-recapture method using the log-linear models. We used BIC, G2 and AIC statistics to select the best-fit model. Results: After removing duplicates, total 471 new cases of esophagus cancer were reported from three sources. The model with linkage between pathology reports, medical record sources and independence with the death certificates source was the best fitted model. The reported incidence rate for the years 2006 and 2008 was 18.77 and 18.51 per 100,000, respectively. In log-linear analysis, the estimated incidence rate for the years 2006 and 2008 was 49.71 and 53.87 per 100,000 populations, respectively. Conclusions: Based on the obtained results, it can be concluded that none of the sources of pathology reports, death certificates and medical records individually or collectively were fully covered the incidence cases of esophagus cancer and need to apply some changes in data abstracting and case finding. © 2016, Iranian Journal of Cancer Prevention

Parasitic helminth infections of dogs, wolves, foxes, and golden jackals in Mazandaran Province, North of Iran

Background and Aim: There is a large amount of information on intestinal parasites in stray dogs and golden jackals (Canis aureus) in Mazandaran Province, Iran. However, there is little information about foxes and wolves, which have a potential role in the spread of dangerous parasitic diseases, such as echinococcosis and toxocariasis. The aim of the present study was to identify the genus or species of parasitic worms in stool samples obtained from carnivores in Mazandaran Province, Iran, from August 2017 to April 2018. Materials and Methods: A total of 274 fecal samples were collected from carnivores, including dog, fox, wolf, and C. aureus in three areas of Mazandaran Province, Iran. All specimens were examined by centrifugal fecal flotation using a solution of Sheather's sugar to detect helminths eggs. Then, all samples were assessed using a light microscope. Data analysis was performed by SPSS version 18 (Chicago, IL, USA). Results: In this study, seven genera of helminths were observed, including Ancylostoma, Uncinaria, Toxocara, Dipylidium, Toxascaris, Taenia, and Spirocerca. The prevalence of helminth infections was 97.7 (127 out of 130), 56.7 (51 out of 90), 51.4 (18 out of 35), and 52.6 (10 out of 19), among dogs, C. aureus, foxes, and wolves, respectively. The highest prevalence of Ancylostoma and Toxocara infections occurred in the eastern and central areas of the province (42.1 and 35.7, respectively). Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, the infection with intestinal zoonotic helminths in carnivores was an important public health factor in Mazandaran. Therefore, these infections can be potentially harmful to humans and other animals. Copyright © 2020 Siyadatpanah, et al

Liquid Marble Actuator for Microfluidic Logic Systems

© 2018, The Author(s). A mechanical flip-flop actuator has been developed that allows for the facile re-routing and distribution of liquid marbles (LMs) in digital microfluidic devices. Shaped loosely like a triangle, the actuating switch pivots from one bistable position to another, being actuated by the very low mass and momentum of a LM rolling under gravity (~4 × 10 −6 kg ms −1 ). The actuator was laser-cut from cast acrylic, held on a PTFE coated pivot, and used a PTFE washer. Due to the rocking motion of the switch, sequential LMs are distributed along different channels, allowing for sequential LMs to traverse parallel paths. This distributing effect can be easily cascaded, for example to evenly divide sequential LMs down four different paths. This lightweight, cheap and versatile actuator has been demonstrated in the design and construction of a LM-operated mechanical multiplication device — establishing its effectiveness. The actuator can be operated solely by gravity, giving it potential use in point-of-care devices in low resource areas

Bioactive Hydrogel Marbles

Liquid marbles represented a signifcant advance in the manipulation of fuids as they used particle flms to confne liquid drops, creating a robust and durable soft solid. We exploit this technology to engineering a bioactive hydrogel marble (BHM). Specifcally, pristine bioactive glass nanoparticles were chemically tuned to produce biocompatible hydrophobic bioactive glass nanoparticles (H-BGNPs) that shielded a gelatin-based bead. The designed BHM shell promoted the growth of a bone-like apatite layer upon immersion in a physiological environment. The fabrication process allowed the efcient incorporation of drugs and cells into the engineered structure. The BHM provided a simultaneously controlled release of distinct encapsulated therapeutic model molecules. Moreover, the BHM sustained cell encapsulation in a 3D environment as demonstrated by an excellent in vitro stability and cytocompatibility. The engineered structures also showed potential to regulate a pre-osteoblastic cell line into osteogenic commitment. Overall, these hierarchical nanostructured and functional marbles revealed a high potential for future applications in bone tissue engineering.Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology − FCT (Grant Nos SFRH/BD/73174/2010 and SFRH/BD/73172/2010, respectively), from the program POPH/FSE from QREN. The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the European Research Council grant agreement ERC-2014-ADG-669858 for project ATLASinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio