[Fe3O4@SiO2@(C3H6)2-(Imidazolium)2-Butyl][MnCl42-] as a novel nanomagnetic catalyst for the one-pot synthesis of tetrahydrobenzo[b]pyran derivatives

In this article a convenient method for the synthesis of tetrahydrobenzo[b]pyran derivatives using imidazolium-based ionic liquid-stabilized on magnetic nanoparticles [Fe3O4@SiO2@(C3H6)2-(Imidazolium)2-Butyl][MnCl42-] as a new heterogeneous catalyst has been described. These compounds were synthesized via one-pot three component condensation reaction between several aromatic aldehydes, malononitrile, and dimedone in water under reflux condition. The magnetic nanoparticle catalyst was fully characterized by Fourier transform infrared, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and vibrating sample magnetometer. Furthermore, the solid catalyst could be recovered and reused conveniently several times with satisfactory yields.               KEY WORDS: Chromene derivatives, Magnetic nanoparticles, Dicationic ionic liquid, Reusability, One-pot synthesis Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2018, 32(2), 309-321. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v32i2.1

The Relationship between Mothers’ Empowerment in Breastfeeding with Exclusive Breast Feeding in Infants

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Exclusive breastfeeding until 6 months has a positive effect on the maternal and the child health. In the Qur'an had also been mentioned to the nutrition of infant with breastfeeding. Knowing the effective factors on it has significant role in promoting exclusive breastfeeding policy. This study aimed to investigate relationship between the mothers’ empowerment in breastfeeding with exclusive breastfeeding and identification of related demographic-reproductive factors. METHODS: The cross-sectional study was done on 370 mothers with a six-month-old child admitted to the primary health care centers in Noor Township. Mothers were categorized according to type of breastfeeding to two the exclusive breastfeeding and the non-exclusive breastfeeding groups. The mothers’ empowerment in breastfeeding was assessed by breastfeeding empowerment questionnaire. The questionnaire includes seven domains of knowledge, attitude, skills of proper breastfeeding technique, skills of preventing and solving breastfeeding problems, breastfeeding sufficiency, receiving family support and Breastfeeding self-efficacy with probability total score in range of 45 to 225. FINDINGS: The mean total score of the mothers’ empowerment domains in breastfeeding in the exclusive breastfeeding group (202.70±13.12) is significantly higher than the non-exclusive breastfeeding group (160.59±27.82) (p=0.015). In the final analysis after entering variables in the logistic regression model, the breastfeeding empowerment’s domains including; attitude (OR=1.688, CI-95%=1.137-2.506, p=0.009), skills of proper breastfeeding technique (OR=1.471, CI-95%=1.078-2.007, p=0.015), skills of preventing and solving breastfeeding problems (OR=1.521, CI-95%=1.099-2.106, p=0.011), breastfeeding sufficiency (OR=5.150, CI-95%=2.707-9.795, p=0.001), receiving family support (OR=1.636, CI-95%=1.184-2.260, p=0.003) and Breastfeeding self-efficacy (OR=1.113, CI-95%=1.088-1.139, p=0.001) were found as significant related factors. CONCLUSION: The findings of the study showed that knowledge alone cannot increase the prevalence of breastfeeding, but should also focus on other domains of mothers' empowerment, especially the belief to breastfeeding sufficiency in mothers

PERSIAN CUED SPEECH: THE EFFECT ON PHONOLOGICAL COMBINATION AND SEGMENTATION SKILLS OF CHILDREN WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY

The aim of this paper was to study the effect of a Persian Cued Speech training program for increasing the phonological combination and segmentation skills of intellectually disabled children. This study was a quasi–experimental study. A convenience sample was selected and divided in two groups, namely an experimental group and a control group (n = 5). The study used the Phonological Awareness Questionnaire as the tool of analysis. The Cued Speech training is a forty 90-minute session program, which was implemented on the experimental group. At the end of the program, they were again assessed with the questionnaire. The findings from the study show the efficacy of our intervention on increasing the Phonological Combination and Segmentation skills (P < 0/10, P < 0/05). Using Cued Speech with the intellectually disabled children can be helpful to develop their pre reading skills such as phonological awareness

The Impact of Sleep Debt on Excess Adiposity and Insulin Sensitivity in Patients with Early Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

STUDY OBJECTIVES: We examined cross-sectional and prospective associations between sleep debt and adiposity measures, as well as homeostatic model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) in early type 2 diabetes. METHODS: Prospective data analysis from participants of a randomized controlled trial based on an intensive lifestyle intervention (usual care, diet, or diet and physical activity). Data were collected at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months post-intervention. The study was performed across five secondary care centers in the United Kingdom. Patients (n = 593) with a recent diagnosis of type 2 diabetes were recruited. Objective height and weight were ascertained for obesity status (body mass index [BMI]; ≥ 30 kg/m(2)), waist circumference (cm) for central adiposity, and fasting blood samples drawn to examine insulin resistance (IR). Seven-day sleep diaries were used to calculate weekday sleep debt at baseline, calculated as average weekend sleep duration minus average weekday sleep duration. RESULTS: At baseline, compared to those without weekday sleep debt, those with weekday sleep debt were 72% more likely to be obese (OR = 1.72 [95% CI:1.03–2.88]). At six months, weekday sleep debt was significantly associated with obesity and IR after adjustment, OR = 1.90 (95% CI:1.10–3.30), OR = 2.07 (95% CI:1.02–4.22), respectively. A further increase at 12 months was observed for sleep debt with obesity and IR: OR = 2.10 (95% CI:1.14–3.87), OR = 3.16 (95% CI:1.38–7.24), respectively. For every 30 minutes of weekday sleep debt, the risk of obesity and IR at 12 months increased by 18% and 41%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Sleep debt resulted in long-term metabolic disruption, which may promote the progression of type 2 diabetes in newly diagnosed patients. Sleep hygiene/education could be an important factor for future interventions to target early diabetes. CITATION: Arora T, Chen MZ, Cooper AR, Andrews RC, Taheri S. The impact of sleep debt on excess adiposity and insulin sensitivity in patients with early type 2 diabetes mellitus. J Clin Sleep Med 2016;12(5):673–680

ARCTIC: A Dataset for Dexterous Bimanual Hand-Object Manipulation

Humans intuitively understand that inanimate objects do not move by themselves, but that state changes are typically caused by human manipulation (e.g., the opening of a book). This is not yet the case for machines. In part this is because there exist no datasets with ground-truth 3D annotations for the study of physically consistent and synchronised motion of hands and articulated objects. To this end, we introduce ARCTIC -- a dataset of two hands that dexterously manipulate objects, containing 2.1M video frames paired with accurate 3D hand and object meshes and detailed, dynamic contact information. It contains bi-manual articulation of objects such as scissors or laptops, where hand poses and object states evolve jointly in time. We propose two novel articulated hand-object interaction tasks: (1) Consistent motion reconstruction: Given a monocular video, the goal is to reconstruct two hands and articulated objects in 3D, so that their motions are spatio-temporally consistent. (2) Interaction field estimation: Dense relative hand-object distances must be estimated from images. We introduce two baselines ArcticNet and InterField, respectively and evaluate them qualitatively and quantitatively on ARCTIC

Facial Expression Restoration Based on Improved Graph Convolutional Networks

Facial expression analysis in the wild is challenging when the facial image is with low resolution or partial occlusion. Considering the correlations among different facial local regions under different facial expressions, this paper proposes a novel facial expression restoration method based on generative adversarial network by integrating an improved graph convolutional network (IGCN) and region relation modeling block (RRMB). Unlike conventional graph convolutional networks taking vectors as input features, IGCN can use tensors of face patches as inputs. It is better to retain the structure information of face patches. The proposed RRMB is designed to address facial generative tasks including inpainting and super-resolution with facial action units detection, which aims to restore facial expression as the ground-truth. Extensive experiments conducted on BP4D and DISFA benchmarks demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method through quantitative and qualitative evaluations.Comment: Accepted by MMM202

In situ synthesis of hydroxyapatite-grafted titanium nanotube composite

The present study is an investigation to demonstrate the effectiveness of insitu approach in the synthesis of hydroxyapatite-grafted titanium nanotube composite (HA-TNT). This method involves combining the process of HA sol–gel and rapid breakdown anodisation of titanium in a novel solution consisting of NaCl and N3PO4. This new synthesis approach produced a uniform dispersion of Anatase and Rutile phases of TiO2 nanotubes with minimal agglomeration in the matrix of crystalline HA. The characterisation of homogenised HA-TNT composite was investigated via field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). FESEM and TEM images indicated the nanostructure of composite with TiO2 nanotube diameter of approximately 10 nm. XRD and EDS analyses confirmed the formation of HA crystalline with the Ca/P ratio of 1.58 and formation of Anatase and Rutile phase of TiO2 nanotubes

The influence of infertility on sexual and marital satisfaction in Iranian women with polycystic ovary syndrome: a case-control study

Background: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate sexual and marital satisfaction in couples with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). A case-control study was conducted on 90 couples with PCOS and 90 healthy couples as a control group. Three measures were used to evaluate sexual function and marital satisfaction: the female sexual function index (FSFI), the Larson sexual satisfaction, and the ENRICH marital satisfaction measures. Results: The results of this study show that the mean scores of sexual function, sexual satisfaction, and marital satisfaction were significantly lower in PCOS couples compared with the control group (P < 0.05). Infertility was reported as the strongest predictive factor for sexual function and marital satisfaction in couples with PCOS (P < 0.05). Compared to the control group, sexual and marital satisfaction was lower in patients with PCOS and their partners. Conclusion: Since infertility is the strongest predictive factor for the sexual health of couples with PCOS and sexual health is important in family health and marital life, sexual counseling may prove beneficial for these patients