The Relation of Q Angle and Anthropometric Measures with Ankle Sprain; a Case-control study

Introduction: Since most studies on ankle sprain are medical and sports-related and not much epidemiologic and etiologic data from the general population exist in this field, the present study evaluates the relationship between Q angle and anthropometric measures with ankle sprain in the general population.Methods: In the present case-control study, all of the patients over 18 years age presenting to emergency departments (ED) of two educational Hospitals, complaining from ankle sprain, were evaluated during more than 1 year. A checklist consisting of demographic data, height, weight, body mass index (BMI), and history of ankle sprain, as well as degree of Q angle was filled for all participants. The correlation of mentioned variables with incidence of ankle sprain was calculated using SPSS 22.Results: 300 patients with ankle sprain were evaluated (53.5% male). Mean age of the patients was 37.03 ± 14.20 years. Mean weight, height, and BMI were 71.71 ± 11.26 (43 – 114), 168.74 ± 8.63 (143 – 190) and 25.14 ± 3.19 (18.41 – 38.95), respectively. Mean Q angle of the patients was 12.78 ± 3.19 degrees (5 – 23). There was a significant correlation between weight (p < 0.001), BMI (p = 0.001), history of sprain (r: 0.26, p < 0.001) and Q angle (p = 0.002) with incidence of ankle sprain. In addition, there was a significant statistical correlation between weight (p = 0.031), BMI (p = 0.020) and Q angle (p = 0.004) with history of ankle sprain. In patients with a history of ankle sprain, Q angle was wider by about 2 degrees.Conclusion: It seems that the prevalence of ankle sprain directly correlates with high weight, BMI, and Q angle and is more prevalent in those with a history of sprain. Although the findings of the present study show a statistically significant correlation between these factors and ankle sprain, the correlation is not clinically significant

Investigating of drying kinetics and mathematical modeling of turnip

The drying process of turnip and drying rate curves were investigated at different temperatures (55, 70 and 85°C) with air flow rate of 1.5 m/s.  Also effective diffusion coefficient and activation energy were calculated by using Arrhenius equation and Fick’s second law for infinite slab.  The effective diffusivity varied between 5.471×10-10 and 8.966×10-10 in the range of (55°C to 85°C).  The value of activation energy was found to be 16.013 kJ/mol.  The mathematical models (Newton, Page, Modified Page, Henderson and Pabis, Logarithmic, Two term, Two term exponential, Wang and Singh, Simplified Fick’s diffusion, Modified Page –II, Verma, Midilli–Kucuk, Hii, Law and Cloke, Approximation of diffusion, Modified Henderson and Pabis) were fitted to the experimental data.  Sigmaplot v10.0 software was used to find the best model for evaluating the rate of moisture change.  Decency of fit by these models was based on comparing the coefficient of determination (R2), reduced chi-square (χ2), mean bias error (MBE) and root mean square error (RMSE) between the observed and predicted variables.  Among 15 evaluated models, Modified Henderson and Pabis in 85°C and Hii, Law and Cloke in 55°C and 70°C with highest R2 and lowest MBE, χ2 and RMSE were selected to better estimate the drying curves.Keywords: Turnip, hot air convective drying, modeling, drying rate, effective diffusivity, activation energ

Synergistic effects of Ferula gummosa and radiotherapy on induction of cytotoxicity in HeLa cell line

Objective: Cervical cancer is the second most common type of cancer among women, worldwide; and for treatment of this type of cancer radiotherapy is commonly used. Ferula gummosa Boiss(“Barije” in Persian, from the family Apiaceae), (F. gummosa), is an extremely precious medicinal plant which naturally grows throughout the Mediterranean and Central Asia and is a native plant in Iran. The present study examined the cytotoxic effects of F. gummosa in terms of induction of apoptosis and radiosensitivity in HeLa cells. Materials and Methods: In order to determine F. gummosa cytotoxicity in HeLa cells, the cells were incubated with different concentrations of the plant resin(0-1000 µg/ml) for 24, 48 and 72 hr. Cytotoxicity was determined by MTT assay. The role of apoptosis in F. gummosa cytotoxicity was investigated using flow cytometry following propidium iodide (PI) staining of DNA. For radiosensitivity assessment, F. gummosa-treated cells were exposed to 2 Gy γ-rays, and cytotoxicity was determined in irradiated and non-irradiated (control) groups by MTT and the synergism factor was calculated. Results: F. gummosa decreased cell viability in HeLa cells in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. Flow cytometryanalysisindicated that apoptosis is involved in F. gummosa-induced cytotoxicity. Co-administration of F. gummosa and radiotherapy, showed that this plantat non-toxic low doses, could result in almost 5-fold increment in sensitization of cells towards radiation-induced toxicity. Conclusion: The concurrent use of F. gummosa and radiation increases radiosensitivity and cell death. Therefore, F. gummosa can be considered as a potential radiosensitizer agent against cervical cancer

Investigation of the Risk Factors for Congenital Hypothyroidism in Iran: A Population-Based Case-Control Study

Background Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) is one of the most common causes of mental disability, which can be prevented in the case of early diagnosis and treatment. We aimed to study the some relevant risk factors for CH in neonates born in Khorasan Razavi Province, Iran. Materials and Methods: This was a population-based case-control study conducted on 97,380 neonates.The study population consisted of neonates born from April, 2016 to March, 2018 and undergone a screening program for CH.Overall, 530 neonates diagnosed with CH by a specialist were assigned to a case group and the remaining were considered as controls. Information was extracted from the Sina Electronic Health Record System (SinaEHR®, Iran). Bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions were carried out to determine the associations between independent variables and CH. Results: Of the 97,380 neonates, the case and control groups included 530 (248 females) and 96,860 (47,061 males) newborns, respectively. In multivariate analysis, the use of neonate formula (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]=0.63; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.43-0.93, P=0.02), medication during pregnancy (AOR=1.29; 95% CI: 0.86-1.94, P=0.23), maternal hypertension (AOR=3.25; 95% CI: 1.15-9.19, P=0.03), maternal depression (AOR=2.19; 95% CI: 1.16-4.14, P=0.02), maternal diabetes (AOR=0.65; 95% CI: 0.51-0.83, P=0.001), consanguineous marriage (AOR=1.34; 95% CI:1.12-1.60, P=0.002), place of residence, and birth season after adjusting for confounding variable remained in the final model. Conclusion: The study findings showed that birth season, place of residence, maternal hypertension and depression, and consanguineous marriage can be the main risk factors for CH. However, further studies are needed to analyze the findings of the present study to be more confident about the causality of these relationships

The Prevalence of Pain and the Role of Analgesic Drugs in Pain Management in Patients with Trauma in Emergency Department

Background: Pain could potentially affect all aspects of patient admission course and outcome in emergency department (ED) when left undertreated. The alleviation of acute pain remains simply affordable but is usually, and sometimes purposefully, left untreated in patients with trauma. This study challenged the conventional emergency department policies in reducing the intensity of acute pain considering the pharmacological treatments.Methods: In this case-control study, the prevalence and intensity of pain in 200 patients were evaluated on admission (T1) and 24 hours later (T2) based on the valid, standardized 10-point numeric rating scale (NRS 0-10) for pain intensity. A group of patients received analgesic drugs and others did not. Changes in pain patterns regarding different aspects of trauma injuries in these two groups were compared.Results: The pain prevalence was high both on admission and 24 hours later. 51.5% of the study population received analgesics and 77.6% of them reported a decrease in the intensity of their pain. Only half of the patients, who did not receive any medication, reported a decrease in their pain intensity after 24 hours. The most beneficial policy to manage the acute pain was a combination therapy of the injury treatment and a supplementary pharmacological intervention.Conclusions: Pharmacological management of pain in patients with trauma is shown to be significantly beneficial for patients as it eases getting along with the pain, and still seems not to affect the diagnostic aspects of the trauma. Pain management protocols or algorithms could potentially minimize the barriers in current pain management of patients with trauma

Comparison of Interferon-Gamma (IFNG) +874 T/A single nucleotide polymorphism in hepatitis C virus infected patients and non-infected controls in Mashhad, Iran

This study was financially supported by Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran (Grant No. 900513).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Mapping 123 million neonatal, infant and child deaths between 2000 and 2017

Since 2000, many countries have achieved considerable success in improving child survival, but localized progress remains unclear. To inform efforts towards United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3.2—to end preventable child deaths by 2030—we need consistently estimated data at the subnational level regarding child mortality rates and trends. Here we quantified, for the period 2000–2017, the subnational variation in mortality rates and number of deaths of neonates, infants and children under 5 years of age within 99 low- and middle-income countries using a geostatistical survival model. We estimated that 32% of children under 5 in these countries lived in districts that had attained rates of 25 or fewer child deaths per 1,000 live births by 2017, and that 58% of child deaths between 2000 and 2017 in these countries could have been averted in the absence of geographical inequality. This study enables the identification of high-mortality clusters, patterns of progress and geographical inequalities to inform appropriate investments and implementations that will help to improve the health of all populations