Effects of morphine on replication of herpes simplex virus type 1 and 2

Several drugs are being used in treatment of HSV (Herpesviridae) infection in human but still introducing an effective safe drug is desirable. We investigated the inhibitory effect of morphine on replication of HSV in vitro. The results indicated that a concentration of up to 200 ìg/ml morphine had a limited effect on Vero cell viability. At this concentration, the growth of HSV was inhibited considerably and after the third passage in presence of morphine it was completely eliminated. The presence of viral antigens in infected cells in presence of morphine by immunoflourescent staining showed that after the first passage a small number of infected cells contained viral proteins and at the third passage no cells with viral antigen was observed. This was confirmed by page and immunobloting techniques. Electronmicroscopy observation in cellular section indicated that there was no virus present in treated cells as compared with control untreated infected cells

Effect of Natural Zeolite-Pozzolan on Compressive Strength of Oil-Polluted Concrete Marine Structures

Oil pollution into the concrete composed materials, leads to decrease the compressive strength of the constructed structure. In the present study, effect of using a natural pozzolan named Zeolite on concrete structures was tested in different marine conditions. A fixed amount of oil equal to 2% of sand weight was added as the pollution into the concrete composed materials. Natural Zeolite was added into the concrete instead of cement to the mix design with weight percentages of 10, 15 and 20. After preparing and curing, concrete specimens were placed into the three different conditions: fresh water, tidal, and sea water environments. Results of compressive strength tests showed that replacement of natural Zeolite instead of cement significantly increased compressive strength in comparison with control specimens, in all environments. Adding 20% natural Zeolite increased the compressive strength to its highest values about 60-85% higher than control specimens

On the prediction of pseudo relative permeability curves: meta-heuristics versus Quasi-Monte Carlo

International audienceThis article reports the first application of the Quasi-Monte Carlo (QMC) method for estimation of the pseudo relative permeability curves. In this regards, the performance of several meta-heuristics algorithms have also been compared versus QMC, including the Genetic Algorithm (GA), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), and the Artificial Bee Colony (ABC). The mechanism of minimizing the objective-function has been studied, for each method. The QMC has outperformed its counterparts in terms of accuracy and efficiently sweeping the entire search domain. Nevertheless, its computational time requirement is obtained in excess to the meta-heuristics algorithms

The Relationship between Core Competencies and Critical Thinking with regard to the Moderating Role of Mental Maturity: a study on staff of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences

Background & Objectives: Core competencies are used to order organizational skills and techonlogies for the purpose of satisfying the customers' needs. Critical thinking and mental maturity help to achieve this goal. The aim of this research was to study the relationship between core competencies and critical thinking with regard to the moderating role of mental maturity in staff of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences in 2016. Methods: This descriptive - analyctical study was done on 267 staff of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences selected through randomized stratified sampling. Data collection was conducted through using core competencies questionnaire (14 qeustions), critical thinking questionnaire (23 qeustions) and mental maturity questionnaire (19 qeustions). The relationship between variables were analyzed using Partial Least Squares (PLS) and through Smart PLS 2 software. Results: The coefficient between core competencies and critical thinking variables was 11.223 and core competencies directly explained 36 percent of critical thinking variations. But, the coefficient between core competencies and mental maturity variables was 0.993. Therefore, the effect of mental maturity as a moderating variable was not approved. Conclusion: The presence of critical thinking in organization and the opportunity for employees to express their opinions and suggestions lead to the presence of core competencies in organizations and it is possible through gathering, sharing and saving data. Key¬words: Core competence, Critical thinking, Mental maturity, Employees ¬Citation: JafarAbadi Shahrabadi H, Beheshtifar M, Vali L. The Relationship between Core Competencies and Critical Thinking with regard to the Moderating Role of Mental Maturity: a study on staff of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences. Journal of Health Based Research 2017; 2(4): 395-405

Detection of indoor and outdoor stairs

There are a few applications in which stairs must be detected, for example for aiding blind persons during navigation and for autonomous robots which must rely on vision. . In this paper we present a very simple algorithm for detecting stairs, both in indoor and outdoor environments, when the camera is at a distance of approximately five meters from the stairs. The problem is hard to solve due to different factors like lighting, different constructions, materials and view angles. However, first results are very promising, although false positive and negative detections cannot yet be avoided

Development of a latex agglutination method for diagnosis of rotavirus infections

Background: Rotavirus is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among children with gastroenteritis. Since the discovery of rotaviruses, several techniques have been used for their laboratory diagnosis; those included Electron Microscopy (EM) and enzyme immunoassay. These methods, however, are expensive and not readily available everywhere. We have developed a technique which can be used for routine diagnosis of rotavirus gastroenteritis. Methods: Purified simian rotavirus, SA11, was injected into rabbits and the γ-globulin fraction of antisera was purified and used for coating of latex beads. The prepared sensitizied latex was then used for agglutination test on fecal samples. 94 stool samples from infants with acute gastroenteritis were tested by (EM), enzyme immunoassay and Latex Agglutination (LA) method. Results: The sensitivity of enzyme immune assay and (LA) were 92.5 and 90, respectively; the specificity of both tests was 98.1 as compared with (EM). Conclusion: Latex Agglutination Test (LAT) is a simple and relatively inexpensive test which can be used for diagnosis of rotavirus gastroenteritis in diagnostic laboratories and health centers

Realtime local navigation for the blind: detection of lateral doors and sound interface

Worldwide there are about 285 million visually impaired persons, of which 39 million are blind and the others have low vision. Almost all systems designed to assist them are quite complex and expensive, but most blind persons do not have advanced technical assistance and they are rather poor. We are therefore developing a low-cost navigation aid which can be afforded by almost all blind persons: basically, the ultimate goal is to use only a mobile phone with a built-in camera. This aid complements the white cane, it is easily portable, and it is not a hindrance when walking with the cane. The system will have an easy and intuitive interface, yet providing assistance in local and global navigation in realtime. In this paper we present the progress concerning local navigation. Path and obstacle detection just beyond the reach of the cane is now supplemented by detection of doors in corridors. This is necessary for localization, i.e., for developing a better impression of the environment and for finding a specific room. A sophisticated sound interface can assist the user for centering on paths like sidewalks and corridors, alerting to looming obstacles for avoiding them

Buthionine sulfoximine inhibits cytopathic effects and apoptosis induced by infection with AIK-HDC strain of measles virus

Background: Measles virus (MV) is a highly contagious agent which causes a major health problem in developing countries. We studied the effect of buthionine sulfoximine (BSO) on the replication of an AIK-HDC strain of MV and its induced apoptosis in Vero cell lines. Methods: In this study, toxicity of BSO on Vero cells was investigated first, resulted in determination of sub-lethal or non-toxic concentration zone of BSO for cells. Next, anti-viral effect of BSO at various time limits was evaluated and virus titer was determined at each stage either as 50 tissue culture infective dose (TCID) 50 or by plaque assay method. Using specific anti-measles IgG, anti-viral effect of BSO on MV replication cycle was evaluated through indirect immunofluorescence assay, meanwhile presence of viral RNA was investigated by RT-PCR and gel electrophoresis. Results: According to the experiments, BSO, at concentration of 50 μM, markedly inhibited the cytopathic effect (CPE) induced by MV. BSO also significantly inhibited apoptosis induced by MV. BSO either influences replication of MV genome, or may inhibit virion formation. Conclusion: These results suggest that the inhibition of CPE and apoptosis by BSO induced by MV may be associated with the effect of BSO on viral RNA genome. Therefore, it is suggested that MV infections can induce apoptosis through the activation of a common pathway that can be inhibited by BSO

Defect detection in the textile industry using image-based machine learning methods: A brief review

Traditionally, computer vision solutions for detecting elements of interest (e.g., defects) are based on strict context-sensitive implementations to address contained problems with a set of well-defined conditions. On the other hand, several machine learning approaches have proven their generalization capacity, not only to improve classification continuously, but also to learn from new examples, based on a fundamental aspect: the separation of data from the algorithmic setup. The findings regarding backward-propagation and the progresses built upon graphical cards technologies boost the advances in machine learning towards a subfield known as deep learning that is becoming very popular among many industrial areas, due to its even greater robustness and flexibility to map and deal knowledge that is typically handled by humans, with, also, incredible scalability proneness. Fabric defect detection is one of the manual processes that has been progressively automatized resorting to the aforementioned approaches, as it is an essential process for quality control. The goal is manifold: reduce human error, fatigue, ergonomic issues and associated costs, while simultaneously improving the expeditiousness and preciseness of the involved tasks, with a direct impact on profit. Following such research line with a specific focus in the textile industry, this work aims to constitute a brief review of both defect types and Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) mostly based on machine learning techniques, which have been proving their effectiveness in identifying anomalies within the context of textile material analysis. The inclusion of Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) based on known architectures such as AlexNet or Visual Geometry Group (VGG16) on computerized defect analysis allowed to reach accuracies over 98%. A short discussion is also provided along with an analysis of the current state characterizing this field of intervention, as well as some future challenges.ERDF - European Regional Development Fund(undefined

Prediction of Academic Achievement Evaluation in University of Medical Sciences, Based on the Students' Course Experience

Background & Objective: Evaluation of academic progress is done by comparing the results of measuring the performance of learners with educational goals and learning objectives. The aim of this study was to survey the predictions of academic achievement evaluation of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Iran, based on the students' course experience. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed in 2012-2013. Medicine, dentistry, nursing and paramedical students were selected based on their filed of study and gender by stratified random sampling from the Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences (n = 370). Data gathering tool was a Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ). The questionnaire fields included good teaching, clear and standards goals, appropriate assessment, workload, and general skills; one question about satisfaction of course was used to measure their course experience. Students’ grade point average (GPA) in previous semesters was used as an index for academic achievement. Results: 31.8% of participants were boys and the rest (68.2%) were girls. Statically significant difference existed between GPA of boys and girls (P = 0.001). Nursing-midwifery students had the highest score (15.23 ± 3.30) in five course experience variables and medical students the lowest (14.06 ± 4.35) (P = 0.001). CEQ and GPA had significant and positive correlation (P = 0.004, r = 0.164). Predictor factors of GPA were clear and standard goals and appropriate assessment. Conclusion: This study represents the importance of appropriate assessment (particular emphasis on understanding until know something from memory) and of clear and standards goals at the beginning of the semester by teachers to promote academic achievement and performance of students. Thus, teachers should can promote and provide student's progress with teaching appropriate intervention. Keywords Evaluation Academic achievement Course experience Predictor Student