Comparing Carotid Intima-Media Thickness in Women with and Without Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract: Background & Aims: Women with history of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) are at risk for developing cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome. Carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) is noninvasive marker of sub clinical atherosclerosis assessment. The aim of the present study was to assess relationship between GDM and increased CIMT. Methods: Twenty women with previous history of GDM and twenty women without it (as a control group) were included in the study. Two groups were matched based on their age, body mass index (BMI) and parity. CIMT was measured one year after delivery in two groups by B-mode sonography and compared with ultrasonic results of CIMT in mid- and late-gestational periods. Results: CIMT in both groups increased in gestational period and decreased after delivery and this diminution was significant at late-gestational period in both groups and also significant at mid-gestational period in women with history of GDM. Conclusion: CIMT was significantly decreased one year after delivery in women with GDM Keywords: Carotid intima_media thickness, Gestational diabetes mellitus, Ultrasonograph

Ultrasound and Perforated Viscus; Dirty Fluid, Dirty Shadows, and Peritoneal Enhancement.

Early detection of free air in the peritoneal cavity is vital in diagnosis of life-threatening emergencies, and can play a significant role in expediting treatment. We present a series of cases in which bedside ultrasound (US) in the emergency department accurately identified evidence of free intra-peritoneal air and echogenic (dirty) free fluid consistent with a surgical final diagnosis of a perforated hollow viscus. In all patients with suspected perforated viscus, clinicians were able to accurately identify the signs of pneumoperitoneum including enhanced peritoneal stripe sign (EPSS), peritoneal stripe reverberations, and focal air collections associated with dirty shadowing or distal multiple reflections as ring down artifacts. In all cases, hollow viscus perforation was confirmed surgically. It seems that, performing US in patients with suspected perforated viscus can accurately identify presence of intra-peritoneal echogenic or dirty free fluid as well as evidence of free air, and may expedite patient management

Bedside teaching on time to disposition improves length of stay for critically-ill emergency departments patients

Introduction: We tested the effect of a brief disposition process intervention on residents’ time to disposition and emergency department (ED) length of stay (LOS) in high acuity ED patients. Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study design in a single teaching hospital where ED residents are responsible for administrative bed requests for patients. Enrollment was performed for intervention and control groups on an even-odd day schedule. Inclusion criteria were ED patients triaged as Emergency Severity Index (ESI) 1 and 2. In the intervention group, the attending physician prompted the resident to make the disposition immediately after the evaluation of resuscitation patients. In the control group, the attending physicians did not intervene in the disposition process unless more than 2 hours passed without a disposition. Main outcomes were time to disposition and total ED LOS. Results: A total of 104 patients were enrolled; 53 (51%) in the intervention group and 51 (49%) in the control group. After controlling for ESI and resident training year, mean disposition time was significantly shorter in the intervention group by 41.4 minutes (95% CI: 32.6-50.1). LOS was also shorter in the intervention group by 93.3 minutes (95% CI: 41.9-144.6)

Effect of long-chain inulin and modified starch on the physicochemical and rheological properties of doogh (Iranian yogurt drink)

In this research, simultaneous contribution of long-chain inulin (0–2.34%) and modified starch (0–0.58%) on the physical stability and rheological properties of doogh within 30 days of production was studied. Increased concentration of both hydrocolloids redounded to improvements in physical stability, apparent viscosity, flow behaviour, and viscoelastic properties compared to the control sample. Fitting the data to Herschel—Bulkley model showed a decrease in flow behaviour index, while consistency coefficient (k) increased. Furthermore, for samples containing inulin and starch, G′ was greater than G″, unlike control sample. Indeed, contribution of long-chain inulin at concentrations above 1.18% and modified starch at above 0.3% promote the formation of gel network structure. The expected viscosity increases in the continuous phase in the presence of starch, and also the interactions established between inulin and yoghurt casein aggregates seem to be responsible in the improvement observed in physical characteristics of the product. Among the concentrations studied here, two samples, containing 2% inulin and 0.5% modified starch and 1.18% inulin and 0.58% modified starch, respectively, were recognized as functional doogh samples presenting premier physicochemical and rheological properties

Degradation of phenol using US/periodate/nZVI system from aqueous solutions

In the present work, the degradation of phenol from aqueous solutions was investigated using periodate/zero valent iron nanoparticle (nZVI) in the presence of ultrasound at a batch reactor. The Experimental tests were carried out using pre-designated concentrations of nZVI, periodate, and pH ranging from 1-7 mM, 0.5-5 mM, 3-11 respectively. During the all experimental tests the ultrasonic reactor was operated at a fix frequency (40 kHz), temperature (33±1) and power (350 W). The results of nZVI/periodate/ultrasound system on degradation of phenol showed that the removal efficiency was indeed affected by the amount of free radicals produced to initiate the oxidative decomposition of phenol. also, by increasing the nZVI loading to 3 mM and periodate concentration to 3 mM, the efficiency of phenol removal was increased. Besides, the acidic pH (pH = 3) was found to be more effective than neutral and alkaline pH in degradation of phenol. © 2019 Global NEST Printed in Greece. All rights reserved

Automatic alignment of surgical videos using kinematic data

Over the past one hundred years, the classic teaching methodology of "see one, do one, teach one" has governed the surgical education systems worldwide. With the advent of Operation Room 2.0, recording video, kinematic and many other types of data during the surgery became an easy task, thus allowing artificial intelligence systems to be deployed and used in surgical and medical practice. Recently, surgical videos has been shown to provide a structure for peer coaching enabling novice trainees to learn from experienced surgeons by replaying those videos. However, the high inter-operator variability in surgical gesture duration and execution renders learning from comparing novice to expert surgical videos a very difficult task. In this paper, we propose a novel technique to align multiple videos based on the alignment of their corresponding kinematic multivariate time series data. By leveraging the Dynamic Time Warping measure, our algorithm synchronizes a set of videos in order to show the same gesture being performed at different speed. We believe that the proposed approach is a valuable addition to the existing learning tools for surgery.Comment: Accepted at AIME 201

The effect of opium addiction on arrhythmia following acute myocardial infarction

The effect of opium addiction on the appearance of different types of arrhythmias after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) has been assessed in few studies. This study is aimed to determine the effect of opium on post-MI arrhythmia and also to address the differences in the appearance of different types of arrhythmias after AMI between opium addicted and non-addicted patients. In this comparative study, participants were classified into two groups with opium addiction (n=94) and without opium addiction (n=106). Post-MI arrhythmias were determined among each group. Study populations were included all patients with first AMI admitted within 6 hours of the onset of chest pain to coronary care units (CCU) of two teaching hospitals affiliated to Kerman University of Medical Sciences (KUMS) in the city of Kerman, Iran. Opium addicted subjects had significantly more frequency of arrhythmia than non-opium addicted subjects (80.9 vs. 22.6, respectively; P<0.001). Opium addiction was a strong predictor for the occurrence of post-MI arrhythmias in two models of crude analysis (crude OR=14.4, P<0.001) and after adjusting for potential confounder factors (adjusted OR = 21.9, P<0.001). The prevalence of sinus tachycardia, sinus bradycardia and atrial fibrillation in opium addicts were significantly higher than non opium addicts (P<0.05). The results of our study showed that opium addiction is a potential and strong risk for occurring post-MI arrhythmias. © 2012 Tehran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Patterns of social determinants of health associated with drug use among women living with HIV in Canada: a latent class analysis

Background and AimsIdentifying typologies of social determinants of health (SDoH) vulnerability influencing drug use practices among women living with HIV (WLWH) can help to address associated harms. This research aimed to explore the association of SDoH clusters with drug use among WLWH.DesignLatent class analysis (LCA) was used to identify the distinct clusters of SDoH. Inverse probability weighting (IPW) was employed to account for confounding and potential selection bias. Associations were analyzed using generalized linear model with log link and Poisson distribution, and then weighted risk ratio (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were reported.Setting and ParticipantsData from 1422 WLWH recruited at timeâ point 1 of the Canadian HIV Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Cohort Study (CHIWOS, 2013â 15), with 1252 participants at 18 months followâ up (timeâ point 2).MeasurementsDrug use was defined as use of illicit/nonâ prescribed opioids/stimulants in the past 6 months. SDoH indicators included: race discrimination, gender discrimination, HIV stigma, social support, access to care, food security, income level, employment status, education, housing status and histories of recent sex work and incarceration.FindingsLCA identified four SDoH classes: no/least SDoH adversities (6.6%), discrimination/stigma (17.7%), economic hardship (30.8%) and most SDoH adversities (45.0%). Drug use was reported by 17.5% and 17.2% at timeâ points 1 and 2, respectively. WLWH with no/least SDoH adversities were less likely to report drug use than those in economic hardship class (weighted RR = 0.13; 95% CIs = 0.03, 0.63), discrimination/stigma class (weighted RR = 0.15; 95% CIs = 0.03, 0.78), and most SDoH adversities class (weighted RR = 0.13; 95% CIs = 0.03, 0.58).ConclusionsSocial determinants of health vulnerabilities are associated with greater likelihood of drug use, underscoring the significance of addressing interlinked social determinants and drug use through the course of HIV care and treatment.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149504/1/add14566_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149504/2/add14566.pd

Removal of bisphenol, using antimony nanoparticle multi-walled carbon nanotubes composite from aqueous solutions

This study focuses on preparing Antimony Nanoparticle Multi-walled Carbon (ANMWC) composite as an effective adsorbent and then the effect of produced composite in BPA removal from aqueous solutions was studied. ANMWC were prepared using chemical method and characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET). Moreover, the removal efficiency of prepared AMWCNT and Nanoparticle Multi-walled Carbon (MWCNT) in removal of Bisphenol A was investigated. Results revealed that the BPA removal efficiency by AMWCNT increased from 80 to 93 with the increase of contact time 5 to 60 min. The maximum removal efficiency for the both adsorbents was seen at pH 7, which was 85 for MWCNT and 95 for ANMWC composite. According to the results obtained, pHzpc for both adsorbents was 7. Results showed that the adsorption process followed the pseudo-first order model with a high correlation value and BPA adsorption on MWCNT followed the Langmuir isotherm model

Pattern of contributing behaviors and their determinants among people living with HIV in Iran: A 30-year nationwide study

Introduction: A major shift in the routes of HIV transmission seams to be taking place in Iran. Our study aimed to investigate the 30-year trend of major HIV related behaviors in Iran. Methods: The national HIV/AIDS registry database (from September 1986 to July 2016 with data on 32,168 people newly diagnosed with HIV) was used to study the 30 years trend and demographic determinants of major HIV related behaviors. Results: The highest rate of drug injection (DI) among people living with HIV (PLHIV) was reported during 1996 to 1999 (p-for trend &lt; 0.001) while the highest rate of sexual activity by minorities or hard to reach groups was during 2004 to 2011 (p-for trend &lt; 0.001). Among males, drug injection was directly associated with being single (ORsingle/married = 1.34), being unemployed (ORunemployed/employed = 1.94) and having lower level of education (OR&lt;highschool/≥highschool = 2.21). Regarding females, drug injection was associated with being housewife (ORhousewife/employed = 1.35) and lower level of education (OR&lt;highschool/≥highschool = 1.85). In females, condomless sexual contact was more common among those younger (OR20−29/&lt;20 = 6.15), and married (ORmarried/single = 7.76). However, among males those being single (ORmarried/single = 0.82), being more educated (OR≥highschool/&lt;highschool = 1.24), and being unemployed (ORunemployed/employed = 1.53) reported more sexual activity by minoritised or hard to reach groups. Discussion: The pattern of major HIV related behaviors among Iranian males and females have been rapidly changing and people living with HIV (PLHIV) are being diagnosed at a younger age. Health education to younger individuals is an essential HIV controlling strategy among Iranian population. Implementation of surveys in hidden and hard-to-reach populations is also recommended. Copyright © 2023 Gheibi, Fararouei, Afrashteh, Akbari, Afsar Kazerooni and Shokoohi