Accessory gene regulator types of Staphylococcus aureus isolated in Gorgan, North of Iran

Background: Staphylococcus aureus is a gram-positive bacterium that has remained a persistent pathogen, causing infections such as endocarditis, meningitis, and toxic shock syndrome in humans. The accessory gene regulator (agr) system of Staphylococcus aureus is responsible for controlling the expression of many genes that code for virulence factors. In this study, we assessed the S.aureus agr Group, based on their source of isolation, in Gorgan, North of Iran. Materials and Methods: DNA of 194 S. aureus isolates was extracted by lysozyme-phenol chloroform method, which included 85 clinical samples, 58 samples which were isolated from noses of health care workers and 51 cases which were obtained from food products in Gorgan, northern Iran. PCR-based assays were used to evaluate agr locus nucleotide polymorphism for the identification of agr specificity Group. Distributions of each agr Group were determined and comparison between different sources was assessed by X2. A p-value of <0.05 was considered as significant. Results: The majority of isolates belonged to agr Group I (43.3%), followed by agr Group III (28.87%), agr Group II (22.68%), and agr Group IV (5.15%). In our study, a majority of S. aureus isolates were recovered from health care workers and food product specimens were of agr Group I and isolates which were recovered from patients were of agr Group III. These differences were statistically significant (P=0.005). There was no statistical difference between the source of isolation of clinical samples of S.aureus and agr type. Conclusion: Agr Group I was predominant among health care workers and food product specimens in Gorgan, North of Iran, but in strains which were isolated from patients, agr Group III was predominant. Investigating the possible role of agr Group III in Staphylococcus aureus infection in future studies is recommended

Effect of acupressure on cervical ripening

Background: Cervical ripening is one of the main stages of initiation labor. Acupressure in Chinese medicine is considered as an invasive technique, which through reliving oxytocin ripens the cervix. Acupoint Sanyinjiao (SP6) was selected in this study because it is the acupoint selected in gynecology and it is easy for women to locate and apply pressure without medical assistance. Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the effect of acupressure on cervical ripening. Patients and Methods: In this randomized clinical trial, 150 primigravida with term pregnancy who had referred to Deziani hospital in Gorgan were chosen and divided to three groups: in the first group acupressure was done by the researcher while in the second groups this was performed by the mother her self, and the third group served as a control and only received routine care. For both intervention groups the pressure was applied on Sp6 for about 20 minutes during one to five days. Elements were checked from cervical ripening at 48 and 96 hours after intervention and at the time of hospitalization. The tools for gathering information included demographic characteristics and midwifery history questionnaire, daily records and follow up forms. Content validity was used for validity of tools. Reliability of the observation check-list and physical examination was confirmed by inter-rater scores (inter observer), and daily records by test-re-test. Data was analyzed by analysis of variance (ANOVA), Kruskal-Wallis and Chi-squared tests (P ≤ 0.05). Results: There was a significant difference between mothers’ educations in the three groups. Most of the mothers (59.5%) in the researcher-performed acupressure group had secondary education. Cervical ripening was significantly different between the three groups after 48 hours (P ≤ 0.05), yet there was no significant difference after 96 hours and at the time of admission. Mean Bishop score was enhanced after 48 hours in the researcher-performed acupressure group (P ≤ 0.021) and the self-performed acupressure group (P ≤ 0.007) in comparison to the control group. Conclusions: The results showed that acupressure is a safe technique and leads to cervical ripening. Thus, regarding the desired results that were achieved when mothers applied acupressure themselves, it could be suggested that it is beneficial for mothers to be trained to apply this method at home. © 2015, Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal

Effect of Matricaria Camomilla Aroma on Severity of first stage Labor Pain

Abstract Background and Aims: Labor pain relief is one of the challenges in health care systems in the most countries and is the main goal in midwifery cares. This study aimed to investigate the Effect of Matricaria Camomilla Aroma on Severity of first stage Labor Pain in primiparous women in Abhar Emdadi hospital, 2013. Methods: This study was a randomized clinical trial carried out on 130 eligible primiparous women (65 in intervention and 65 in control group) at Emdadi hospital of Abhar. In the aroma therapy group gauze were soaked in 2 drop of Matrica Camomilla water and in the control group gauze were soaked in 2 drop of distilled water and attached to the women's collars. Pain severity was measured in first and after intervention in 3-4, 5-7, and 8-10 centimeter dilatations. Data were collected by demographic and obstetrics questionnaire, observation and exam checklist and the numeral scale of pain measurement. Results: The mean pain severity score after the intervention in 3-4 cm (5/75 1/99), 5-7cm (7/84 1/52) and 8-10cm (8/55 1/22) decreased significantly compared with control group in dilatation 3-4 cm (6/93 1/96), 5-7 cm (9/41 0/63) and 8-10 cm (9/8 0/40). (p<0/005). Conclusion:The findings of the study revealed that aroma therapy using Matrica Camomilla water alleviates the labor pain. More research for uses Matrica Camomilla to reduce the labor pain is recommended

Explode Metacarpal Bone by Gunshot: A Case Report

Background: The incidence of firearm related non-fatal and fatal accidents has been increased worldwide. Most of the unintentional or intentional nonfatal gunshot injuries involve an extremity.Case Report: A 33-year-old man was admitted to emergency department with a complaint of injury related to 5th metacarpal area of right hand. The patient reported that he is a police officer who suffered gunshot injury during crashes with smugglers in himself right hand. At arriving time into hospital, hand was neurologically intact and no vascular injury was noted. There was a distractive entrance wound in the 5th metacarpal hypothenar palmar area and a distractive exit wound on the dorsal side. The wound was irrigated and debrided. All lose bone fragments were removed. The lose area covered by distant flap of skin from the abdomen. All of the wounds were healed on postoperative 15th day.Conclusion: This report is an attempt to present the problem of firearm injury and appeal to a wide range of disciplines working to expand their knowledge and redirect new energy to address the urgent problem of firearm injury

Articulation features, phonological awareness, and language skills in children with speech sound disorders

Background and purpose: Speech sound disorders are the most common speech disorders in children which are associated with other problems and can lead to social problems, attention deficit and academic skills challenges. The aim of this study was to investigate articulation characteristics, phonological awareness and language skills in children with speech sound disorders. Materials and methods: In a descriptive analytical study 24 children with speech sound disorder and 16 normal children were participated. The patients were selected from speech therapy clinics and the controls were chosen from nurseries based on convenience sampling. Speech production, oromotor and language skills were assessed by P-DEAP, TOLD-P3 and Phonological Awareness Test, respectively. Data was analyzed in SPSS ver. 20 using independent-samples t-test. Results: There were significant differences between the two groups in phonological awareness skills (except blending phonemes (P= 0.2)), syntax (P=0.002), semantic (P=0.009), spoken language (P=0.003), listening (P=0.002), organizing (P=0.004), and speaking (P=0.02). Conclusion: Children with speech sound disorders had atypical errors demonstrating weaker performance in language skills such as syntax, semantic, and phonological awareness compared to normal children. According to this study despite evaluating speech production it is necessary to assess language skills and phonological awareness in children with speech sound disorders. © 2016, AMazandaran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

No evidence of association between CTLA-4 polymorphisms and systemic lupus erythematosus in Iranian patients

Aim: Cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen-4 (CTLA-4) is an important negative regulator of T-cell responses. CTLA-4 polymorphisms have been confirmed to be associated with several autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). We analyzed the role of CTLA-4 polymorphism at positions -1661 and -1722 in Iranian patients suffering from SLE. Methods: One hundred and eighty SLE patients and 304 ethnically and age-matched healthy controls were studied. Polymerase chain reaction restriction fragments length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was used to analyze the genotype and allele frequencies of these polymorphisms. Results: There was no significant association between the studied genotypic and allelic frequencies between SLE patients and the controls. Although the TC genotype in 1722TC polymorphism was more common among the control group, the correlation was not statistically significant. Conclusion: Our results suggest that the -1661AG and -1722TC polymorphisms in the promoter region of the CTLA-4 gene does not play any role in genetic susceptibility to SLE. However, further studies on larger sample sizes are needed to approve our results. © 2013 Asia Pacific League of Associations for Rheumatology and Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd

Association between CTLA-4 gene polymorphism and the risk of systemic lupus erythematosus: Brief report

Background: Cytotoxic lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4) plays an important role in regulating T cell activation. CTLA-4 gene polymorphisms are related with genetic susceptibility to various autoimmune diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). We analyzed the role of CTLA-4 polymorphisms at positions -318CT in patients who suffer from SLE. Methods: This study was performed on 180 SLE patients referred to 5th Azar University Hospital in Gorgan, Iran. Three hundred and four ethnically-and age-matched healthy controls with no history of autoimmune diseases entered the study between 5th May 2008 and 23rd October 2009. DNA was extracted from blood samples according to the standard procedure. Polymerase chain reaction- restriction fragments length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was used to analyze the genotype and allele frequencies of this polymorphism. PCR was carried out using the following primers: forward 5′- AAATGAATTGGACTGGATGGT-3′ and reverse 5′-TTACGAGAAAGGAAGCCGT G-3′. The frequency of alleles and genotypes were assessed using direct counting. Chisquare test and Fisher’s exact test were used to compare the association between the alleles and genotype frequencies and SLE. P<0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: The CC genotype was observed in 94.5% of the SLE patients and 82.4% of the controls; the difference was statistically significant (P=0.0001, OR=3.51, CI95%=1.77- 7.53). The CT genotype, on the other hand, was more frequently observed in the control group (17.1% vs. 5.5%, P=0.0001, OR=0.28). T allele was significantly more common in the controls compared to SLE patients (P=0.0001, OR=0.26, CI95%=0.13-0.53). Conclusion: Our results suggest that the -318C/T polymorphism of CTLA-4 gene might play a significant role in the genetic susceptibility to SLE. Therefore, further studies on populations, especially from other Middle East countries, are needed to confirm our results. © 2015, Tehran University of Medical Sciences. All Rights Reserved

Association between 318C/T polymorphism of the CTLA-4 gene and systemic lupus erythematosus in Iranian patients

Background: Cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen-4 (CTLA-4) is an important negative regulator of T-cell response. It is a functional candidate gene connected with susceptibility to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). We analyzed the role of -318C/T polymorphism in the promoter region of the CTLA-4 gene in Iranian patients suffering from SLE. Methods: A total of 180 SLE patients and 304 healthy ethnically matched controls were enrolled in the study. DNA was extracted from blood samples according to the standard procedure. Polymerase chain reaction restriction fragments length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was used to analyze the genotype and allele frequencies of these polymorphisms. Results: The CC genotype was observed in 170 (94.5%) of the SLE patients, which was significantly different compared to the controls (251 [82.4%]; P = 0.0001, OR = 3.51 95%CI = 1.77-7.53). T allele was significantly more common in the controls (9.2%) compared to SLE patients 2.8% (P = 0.0001, OR = 0.26, 95%CI = 0.13-0.53). There was no significant correlation between different genotypes and age, gender or family history of SLE in the studied population. Conclusion: It can be concluded that -318C/T polymorphism of CTLA-4 gene might play a significant role in the development of SLE in the Iranian patients. © 2014 Asia Pacific League of Associations for Rheumatology and Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd

Optimal Compressive Strength of RHA Ultra-High-Performance Lightweight Concrete (UHPLC) and Its Environmental Performance Using Life Cycle Assessment

Frequent laboratory needs during the production of concrete for infrastructure development purposes are a factor of serious concern for sustainable development. In order to overcome this trend, an intelligent forecast of the concrete properties based on multiple data points collected from various concrete mixes produced and cured under different conditions is adopted. It is equally important to consider the impact of the concrete components in this attempt to take care of the environmental risks involved in this production. In this work, 192 mixes of an ultra-high-performance lightweight concrete (UHPLC) were collected from literature representing different mixes cured under different periods and laboratory conditions. These mix proportions constitute measured variables, which are curing age (A), cement content (C), fine aggregate (FAg), plasticizer (PL), and rice husk ash (RHA). The studied concrete property was the unconfined compressive strength (Fc). This exercise was necessary to reduce multiple dependence on laboratory examinations by proposing concrete strength equations. First, the life cycle assessment evaluation was conducted on the rice husk ash-based UHPLC, and the results from the 192 mixes show that the C-783 mix (87 kg/m3 RHA) has the highest score on the environmental performance evaluation, while C-300 (75 kg/m3 RHA) with life cycle indices of 289.85 kg CO2eq. Global warming potential (GWP), 0.66 kg SO2eq. Terrestrial acidification and 5.77 m3 water consumption was selected to be the optimal choice due to its good profile in the LCA and the Fc associated with the mix. Second, intelligent predictions were conducted by using six algorithms (ANN-BP), (ANN-GRG), (ANN-GA), (GP), (EPR), and (GMDH-Combi). The results show that (ANN-BP) with performance indices of R; 0.989, R2; 0.979, mean square error (MSE); 2252.55, root mean squared error (RMSE); 42.46 MPa and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE); 4.95% outclassed the other five techniques and is selected as the decisive model. However, it also compared well and outclassed previous models, which had used gene expression programming (GEP) and random forest regression (RFR) and achieved R2of 0.96 and 0.91, respectively. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2022-08-11-03 Full Text: PD