Seroprevalence of IgG and IgM anti—Toxoplasma antibodies in HIV/AIDS patients, northern Iran

AbstractObjectiveTo determine the seroprevalence of anti-Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) IgG and IgM antibodies in HIV/AIDS patients and uninfected subjects.MethodsThis cross sectional survey was carried out on 78 healthy and 62 HIV+/AIDS individuals in northern Iran between September 2007 and October 2008. Five mL of blood samples were collected from each person in case and control groups. Determination of CD4+ counts was performed by flow cytometry. The serum separated from blood samples was evaluated by conventional ELISA technique to determine the presence of antibodies to T. gondii.ResultsForty eight out of 62 (77.4%) HIV/AIDS serum samples were found positive for anti-T. gondii IgG antibody, compared with 59 among 78 (75.6%) HIV negative samples from the same area (P > 0.05). Six out of 62 (9.7%) HIV+/AIDS patients showed anti-T. gondii IgM antibody in their serum samples, compared with 7 among 78 (9%) HIV negative samples (P > 0.05). The mean of CD4+ counts in HIV+/AIDS was (430.8±182.3) cells/μL and in control group was (871.0±243.3)% cells/μL (P<0.01). CD4+ estimation in 5 (11.1%) of HIV+/AIDS patients was <200 cells/μL (P < 0.0001).ConclusionsSeroprevalence of latent toxoplasmosis in HIV patients is high, therefore the prevention of toxoplasmic encephalitis, administration of primary prophylaxis with co-trimoxazole to all HIV+/AIDS patients are necessary

Silver Nanoparticles Decorated in In Situ Reduced Graphene Oxide Nanohybrids Improved Properties in Poly(vinylidene fluoride)/Poly(methyl methacrylate) Blends

In this paper, reduced graphene oxide decorated with silver nanoparticle (rGO-Ag) nanohybrids were prepared using an environmentally friendly approach and incorporated as reinforcement in poly(vinylidene fluoride)-poly(methyl methacrylate) blends via a melt mixing process. The microstructure of rGO-Ag nanohybrids and its effect on the microstructure, mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties of the PVDF/PMM/rGO-Ag was studied using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), tensile, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and impedance spectroscopy methods. FTIR and TEM analysis confirmed that rGO-Ag successfully synthesized and Ag nanoparticles are located on the rGO surface. The tensile analysis demonstrated that incorporating 1 wt.% of rGO-Ag in PVDF/PMMA blend increases Young’s modulus and strength of nanocomposite up to 31% and 35%, respectively. The Halpin-Tsai model was also used for PVDF/PMMA/rGO-Ag nanocomposites, and the results confirmed that this model works well to predict the tensile modulus. Impedance spectroscopy analysis showed that the presence of rGO-Ag nanohybrids in PVDF/PMMA blend effectively enhanced the conductivity of PVDF/PMMA blend. TGA results demonstrated that the presence of rGO-Ag nanohybrids enhanced the thermal stability of nanocomposites and increased the degradation temperature of PVDF/PMMA/rGO-Ag nanocomposites in the range of 20°C compared to PVDF/PMMA blend

Antimicrobial Effects of SeptiTurbo, Deconex (Solarsept) and 0.525% Sodium Hypochlorite Spray on Alginate Impression Materials

Objectives: Dental impressions are among the potentially infectious items in dentistry. Dental impressions are invariably contaminated with saliva or blood. Such fluids may contain viral or bacterial pathogens including Bacteroides, Fusobacterium, Porphyromonas and Prevotella. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of three different types of disinfectants on alginate impression materials after one, three and five minutes.Methods: In this in vitro experimental study, 126 circular samples of alginate impression materials were contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa and were then disinfected with 0.525% sodium hypochlorite, Deconex (Solarsept) and SeptiTurbo spray. Afterwards, the samples were wrapped in moist paper towels and kept in plastic bags for one, three and five minutes. Number of bacterial colonies was counted 24 hours after incubation. Negative and positive controls were included.Results: After five minutes, 0.525% sodium hypochlorite showed the highest disinfection activity against S. aurous as it eradicated over 99.98% of the bacteria. Although the disinfecting agents showed non-significant results in eradicating S. aureus, SeptiTurbo was more effective in elimination of S. aurous . The disinfection activity of different agents increased with time.Conclusion: This study revealed that alginate can be effectively disinfected with SeptiTurbo and sodium hypochlorite by the spraying technique. This study highlighted the efficacy of SeptiTurbo for eradication of S. aurous

Increasing Employee Organizational Commitment by Correlating Goal Setting, Employee Engagement and Optimism at Workplace

The aim of this study is to explore the link among important factors with effect organizational commitment. Secondly this study focuses to make a positive significant relation in setting of goals, engagement of employee and optimistic approach of behavior at work place environment in order to enhance organizational commitment level of employee. The data for that hypothesized model will be collected form individual belongs to from different organizations and research institutions. The results of this study will contribute new improved ways to achieve maximum level of organizational commitment from employees. This study will provide new insight for the field of performance management. Key words: Organizational commitment, Employee engagement, Work place optimism, Enhancing performance, Goal Settin

Effects of psycho-educational intervention on health-related quality of life (QOL) of patients with chronic liver disease referring to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences

BACKGROUND: Chronic liver diseases (CLDs) are progressive disorder which has a significant impact on the well-being of patients and leads to significant morbidity. CLDs are characterized by disturbances in physical, psychological and social aspects of well-being. It causes significant health-related quality of life (QOL) impairment. Psycho-educational interventions targeting to functional factors could be beneficial for patients with CLDs. METHODS: An interventional study was conducted on 110 patients with CLDs in Shiraz Liver Transplantation Center (SLTC). Subjects with the required CLDs criteria were selected and randomly divided into experimental (55) and control (55) groups. A two part questionnaire with 25 items concerning demographic and general information and 29 items regarding QOL was used. The psycho-educational needs of the experimental group were assessed in a session before the intervention, then the experimental group took part in 3 sessions individually and one session in groups. The questionnaires were filled in again for both groups but the control group did not receive the intervention program. The questionnaires were filled in again for both groups one day and three months after the intervention. RESULTS: Findings revealed no significant differences between the two groups from the view point of demographic characteristics such as marital status, gender, etc... (p > 0.05) and from the point of clinical variables no statistically significant differences were found (p > 0.05). Findings revealed statistically significant differences in all domain of QOL in the experimental group three months after the intervention (p = 0.001), while there was no statistically significant differences in the control group. CONCLUSION: The results of this study revealed that psycho-educational intervention had a significant effect on QOL of patients with CLDs

Intelligent management of social and environmental factors of businesses in order to achieve profitability

Among the growth and development of businesses, managing financial flows and increasing its effectiveness is an important achievement that causes value stability, efficiency of systems and procedures throughout the chains of Business. Therefore, paying attention to uncontrollable and controllable variables that lead to value creation is inevitable. The purpose of this study is to study the impact of social and biological factors (production and recycling of polymer parts) of environment on the value creation of the company along the supply chain. Also the key role of financial ratios has also been considered in this regard.The present research is of quantitative and applied types and is based on mathematical modeling. It is the result of a combination of genetic algorithms and Simulated Annealing. The financial analysis parameters of the model include current ratios, debt to equity, Instantaneous ratio, net profit margin, cash ratio and rate of return.The analysis of the results shows that considering financial goals and indicators leads to improved profitability and by removing financial indicators from the model, profitability is reduced. Therefore,this is means that the environmental and social performance of the supply chain is improved.Companies can pay special attention to social issues and environmental factors along with their profitability Increase their economic value. Profitability can also be improved by exposing social responsibilities and the mission of environmental protection

Multiparty Non-Interactive Key Exchange and More From Isogenies on Elliptic Curves

We describe a framework for constructing an efficient non-interactive key exchange (NIKE) protocol for n parties for any n >= 2. Our approach is based on the problem of computing isogenies between isogenous elliptic curves, which is believed to be difficult. We do not obtain a working protocol because of a missing step that is currently an open mathematical problem. What we need to complete our protocol is an efficient algorithm that takes as input an abelian variety presented as a product of isogenous elliptic curves, and outputs an isomorphism invariant of the abelian variety. Our framework builds a cryptographic invariant map, which is a new primitive closely related to a cryptographic multilinear map, but whose range does not necessarily have a group structure. Nevertheless, we show that a cryptographic invariant map can be used to build several cryptographic primitives, including NIKE, that were previously constructed from multilinear maps and indistinguishability obfuscation