In Vitro Study of Transverse Strength of Fiber Reinforced Composites

Objective: Reinforcement with fiber is an effective method for considerable improvement in flexural properties of indirect composite resin restorations. The aim of this in-vitrostudy was to compare the transverse strength of composite resin bars reinforced with preimpregnated and non-impregnated fibers.Materials and Methods: Thirty six bar type composite resin specimens (3×2×25 mm)were constructed in three groups. The first group was the control group (C) without any fiber reinforcement. The specimens in the second group (P) were reinforced with preimpregnatedfibers and the third group (N) with non-impregnated fibers. These specimens were tested by the three-point bending method to measure primary transverse strength.Data were statistically analyzed with one way ANOVA and Tukey's tests.Results: There was a significant difference among the mean primary transverse strength in the three groups (P<0.001). The post-hoc (Tukey) test showed that there was a significant difference between the pre-impregnated and control groups in their primary transversestrength (P<0.001). Regarding deflection, there was also a significant difference among the three groups (P=0.001). There were significant differences among the mean deflection of the control group and two other groups (PC&N<.001 and PC&P=.004), but there was no significant difference between the non- and pre-impregnated groups (PN&P=.813).Conclusion: Within the limitations of this study, it was concluded that reinforcement with fiber considerably increased the transverse strength of composite resin specimens, but impregnationof the fiber used implemented no significant difference in the transverse strength of composite resin samples

Fabrication and room temperature operation of semiconductor nano-ring lasers using a general applicable membrane transfer method

This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and AIP Publishing. This article appeared in Appl. Phys. Lett. 110, 171105 (2017) and may be found at https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4982621.Semiconductor nanolasers are potentially important for many applications. Their design and fabrication are still in the early stage of research and face many challenges. In this paper, we demonstrate a generally applicable membrane transfer method to release and transfer a strain-balanced InGaAs quantum-well nanomembrane of 260 nm in thickness onto various substrates with a high yield. As an initial device demonstration, nano-ring lasers of 1.5 μm in outer diameter and 500 nm in radial thickness are fabricated on MgF2 substrates. Room temperature single mode operation is achieved under optical pumping with a cavity volume of only 0.43λ03 (λ0 in vacuum). Our nano-membrane based approach represents an advantageous alternative to other design and fabrication approaches and could lead to integration of nanolasers on silicon substrates or with metallic cavity

Pengaruh Karakteristik Corporate Governance Terhadap Effective Tax Rate (Studi Empiris Pada Bumn Yang Terdaftar Di Bei 2009-2011)

This study aims to examine the influence of Corporate Governance Characteristics consisting of:Independent Commissioner, Audit Committee and the Institutional Shareholders on the EffectiveTax Rate. This study is an empirical research with the purpose of sampling techniques in datacollection. Secondary data obtained from financial statements that have been privatizedgovernment enterprises and listing on the Stock Exchange during the year 2009 to the year 2011.Multiple regression analysis was conducted using SPSS version 16.00 for windows. The test resultsshowed that of the three hypotheses proposed hypothesis none accepted hypothesis. Hypothesis 1(the proportion of independent commissioners positive effect on effective tax rate), hypothesis 2(the size of the audit committee is a positive influence on effective tax rate) and hypothesis 3(institutional investors a positive effect on effective tax rate)

Effects of glycerin oil and lavender oil massages on hemodialysis patients� restless legs syndrome

Objectives: To determine the effects of glycerin oil and lavender oil massages on hemodialysis patients� restless legs syndrome (RLS). Methods: Ninety hemodialysis patients with RLS were randomly allocated into two intervention groups and one control group, each consisting of 35 participants. The control group received routine care, and the intervention groups received effleurage massage with lavender and glycerin oil in addition to routine care for one month. RLS intensity was measured among the three groups using the Restless Legs Syndrome Rating Scale. Results: At the beginning of the study, the results showed no significant difference among the three groups� scores. At the end of the study, the mean RLS scores were significantly lower in the intervention groups compared to the control group (F = 63.4, p � 0.001). This difference was not significant between the two intervention groups; nonetheless, the differences between the control and lavender oil groups, as well as the control and glycerin oil groups, were significant (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The findings showed the effectiveness of the oils through the effleurage massage for reducing RLS in a sample of hemodialysis patients. © 2019 Elsevier Lt

Sleep Patterns and Sleep Disorders in Primary School Children in Qazvin, Iran

ObjectiveSleep disorders are common in children; they also have a significant impact on the whole family, the parents in particular. Few studies in this field have been performed in Iran; hence the  present study was carried out in order to determine sleep patterns and the  prevalence of sleep disorders in school aged children in Qazvin.Material and MethodsThis cross sectional study was done on 300 students (150 males and 150 females) of elementary schools in Qazvin, selected from cluster random samples. The duration of the study was from November 2006 to February 2007, and data was acquired by means of a standard pediatric sleep questionnaire.ResultsThe prevalence of sleep disorder among subjects was 44.3% (47.3% in males, and 41.3% in females), and the disorder was severe in 21% of the studied children. Sleep patterns during the school days differed significantly from what was observed on Fridays (p=0.000). In addition, there was a significant difference between males and females in terms of duration of sleep on Fridays (p=0.014).ConclusionConsidering the high prevalence of sleep disorders in children, their harmful impact on the development of the  nervous system and the child's learning and psychological health as well as on parental competency, and again bearing in mind the low level of awareness among the general population about sleep hygiene, we strongly recommend educational programs via public media and via meetings with the parents in schools

Comparing the patterns of hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus in patients with colorectal cancer

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension are worldwide epidemic. Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the most prevalent gastrointestinal cancer in Iran. Prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension in the patients with colorectal cancer had not reported in Iran, before this study. Methods: Overall, 2570 individual-year follow-ups were conducted for 1127 patients with colorectal cancer. For diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus, fasting blood sugar and glycosylated hemoglobin tests were used and for that of hypertension, blood pressure was measured in two turns. The descriptive indices were calculated and the mean and median survivals, from colorectal cancer diagnosis time, were calculated using survival analysis and the comparison among survival times was done through log-rank test. Stata12 software was used for data analysis. Findings: The prevalences of hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus in the patients with colorectal cancer were 13.38 (95 CI: 11.1-15.8) and 8.69 (95 CI: 7.0-10.7), respectively. Median survival time in patients with hypertension and diabetes mellitus were 8.52 and 4.90 years, respectively. According to log-rank test, no significant difference was observed between the survival time of patients with colorectal cancer suffering from hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Conclusion: The obtained findings in this study indicate that survival time in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus is less than those with hypertension; but two metabolic diseases have same effect on survival rate of the patients with colorectal cancer. © 2014, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences(IUMS). All rights reserved

Prevalence of hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus in patients with colorectal cancer and their median survival time: A cohort study

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension are worldwide epidemic. Association between DM and colon cancer was obtained in previous studies. Prevalence of DM and hypertension in the patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) has not been reported in Iran. The present study was aimed to investigate the prevalence of hypertension and type 2 DM and their effect on median survival time in patients with CRC. Materials and Methods: Overall, 2570 individual-year follow-ups were conducted for 1127 patients with CRC. For the diagnosis of type 2 DM, fasting blood sugar test and glycosylated hemoglobin test were used and for hypertension, blood pressure was measured in two turns. The descriptive indices were calculated, and the mean and median survival from CRC diagnosis time was calculated using survival analysis and a comparison among survival times was done through log-rank test. Stata software 12 (Stata Corp. 2011. Stata Statistical Software: Release 12. College Station, TX: Stata Corp LP) was used for data analysis. Results: The prevalence of hypertension and type 2 DM in the patients with CRC was respectively 13.38% (95% confidence interval CI]: 11.1-15.8) and 8.69% (95% CI: 7-10.7). Median survival time in patients with hypertension and DM were 8.52 and 4.9 years. According to log-rank test, no significant difference was observed between the survival time of CRC patients suffering from hypertension and diabetes type 2. Conclusion: The obtained findings in this study indicate that survival time in patients with type 2 DM less than hypertension but two metabolic diseases have the same effect on survival rate of the patients with CRC. Understanding the risk factors for CRC may guide the development of strategies targeted toward its prevention

Global Ultrasound Elastography Using Convolutional Neural Network

Displacement estimation is very important in ultrasound elastography and failing to estimate displacement correctly results in failure in generating strain images. As conventional ultrasound elastography techniques suffer from decorrelation noise, they are prone to fail in estimating displacement between echo signals obtained during tissue distortions. This study proposes a novel elastography technique which addresses the decorrelation in estimating displacement field. We call our method GLUENet (GLobal Ultrasound Elastography Network) which uses deep Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to get a coarse time-delay estimation between two ultrasound images. This displacement is later used for formulating a nonlinear cost function which incorporates similarity of RF data intensity and prior information of estimated displacement. By optimizing this cost function, we calculate the finer displacement by exploiting all the information of all the samples of RF data simultaneously. The Contrast to Noise Ratio (CNR) and Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) of the strain images from our technique is very much close to that of strain images from GLUE. While most elastography algorithms are sensitive to parameter tuning, our robust algorithm is substantially less sensitive to parameter tuning.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; added acknowledgment section, submission type late

Effect of green cardamom on lipoproteins, glycemic control and anthropometric parameters: A meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials

Introduction: The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to summarize all the existing randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evidence and to evaluate the effects of green cardamom on lipoproteins, glycemic control and anthropometric parameters in healthy and/or with disease types compared with the control. Method: Two independent authors systematically searched online databases including EMBASE, Scopus, PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science from inception until 30th July 2019. RCTs complying with the following criteria were included in this meta-analysis: human trials with either cross-over design or parallel design, trials with data on the effects of green cardamom on serum lipoproteins and glycemic control and anthropometric parameters with standard deviation and related 95 confidence interval for the both intervention and placebo groups. The heterogeneity among the included studies was assessed using Cochrane's Q test and I-square (I2) statistic. Data were pooled using a random-effects model and weighted mean difference (WMD) was considered as the overall effect size. Result: Seven trials were included in this meta-analysis. Triglycerides were significantly reduced after cardamom supplementation when compared with the control group. Cardamom intake from 3 small studies resulted in a significant increase in BMI when compared with the control group. However, cardamom supplementation did not have any significant effect on total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, fasting plasma glucose and body weight when compared with the control group. Conclusion: This meta-analysis demonstrated that green cardamom intake significantly reduced triglycerides levels which may have played an indirect role in improved clinical symptoms in diseases with metabolic disorders. © 2020 European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolis