A sham-controlled trial of acupressure on the quality of sleep and life in haemodialysis patients

Background Sleep disorder in haemodialysis patients can lead to disturbance in their psychosocial function and interpersonal relations, and reduced quality of life. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of acupressure on the quality of sleep of haemodialysis patients. Methods In a randomised controlled trial, 108 haemodialysis patients were randomly divided into three groups: true acupressure, placebo acupressure, and no treatment. The two acupressure groups received treatment three times a week for 4 weeks during dialysis. Routine care only was provided for the no treatment group. The main study outcome was sleep quality. Results The total Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index score decreased significantly from 11.9±3.13 to 6.2±1.93 in the true acupressure group, from 11.3±3.69 to 10.6±3.82 in the sham acupressure group, and from 10.9±4.10 to 10.7±3.94 in the no treatment group. There was a significant difference between groups (p<0.001). Conclusions Acupressure seems to have a positive effect on the sleep quality in haemodialysis patients. Clinical trial registration IRCT201106145864N2

Risk factors and consequent outcomes of placenta previa: Report from a referral center

Because of an unknown factor, the frequency of complicated pregnancy with placenta previa has been raised during past decade. This study was designed to deepen our understanding of risk factors and outcomes of placenta previa in our country. This study investigated 694 cases of placenta previa comparing with 600 healthy pregnant women with not overlie placenta in two referral and tertiary Obstetrics and Gynecological Hospital in Iran on the basis of the clinical and para-clinical analysis, in order to find the probable risk factors for occurrence of placenta previa and its effect on maternal and neonatal complications. The most important risk factor for the occurrence of placenta previa was advanced maternal age (P<0.001) and history of stillbirth (OR=117.2, CI=58.3-236.0). In the other hand, the most substantial outcome of this disorder was a reduction of gestational age (P<0.001) and low birth weight neonatally (P<0.001). The conservative follow-up should be programmed for women with placenta previa based on the type of risk factors which can provide the best possible management to decrease the morbidity and mortality of their related complications. © 2016 Tehran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Replacing Sugar by Date Syrup in Gaz and Investigation of Texture Properties

Date Syrup is a natural sweetener that is suitable replacement for sugar in food stuffs formulation. In this Research Amounts of 25-100 percent of sugar in Gaz formulation were replaced with date syrup and to study effect of its use in product formulation, characteristics of texture, color and sensory analyse of treatments were investigated. Statistical analyse of data was also done by SPSS software and Dankan test. The results of this research showed that amount of used date syrup in formulation had a significant effect on color parameters (L*,a*,b*), texture characteristics and sensory analyse of samples. By increase of date syrup in Gaz formulation, samples texture became softer than control sample and yellowness and redness index of samples were increasedDoi: DOI: 10.12777/ijse.6.1.11-15 [How to cite this article: Shafiei, Z., Hojjatoleslami, M., Soha, S., and Shariati, M.A. 2014. The Influence of Malt Extraction Adding to UF Fresh Low Fat Cheese on Its Textural Properties. International Journal of Science and Engineering, 6(1):57-60. Doi: 10.12777/ijse.6.1.11-1

A systematic review of case reports of hepatic actinomycosis

Background: Hepatic Actinomycosis (HA) is one of the infections that causes disorders in patients when diagnosed untimely and inappropriately. Methods: Case reports on HA in patients published between 2000 and April 2020 were gathered by carrying out a structured search through PubMed/Medline. Results: Through a survey of the Medline database, 130 studies were identified and then, 64 cases with HA were included in the final analysis. Asia had the largest share of cases with 37.5 (24 reports), followed by Europe and the Americas. Affected patients were predominantly males (64) and the overall mortality rate was 1 with only one male patient in his 50 s dying. Nearly all patients (92) were immunocompetent. However, in four patients, the use of immunosuppressive medication led to depression of the immune system. Most of the patients (80) experienced complications. In terms of the complications, the most frequent ones were previous history of abdominal surgery (32) and foreign bodies in the abdominopelvic region (20). Actinomyces israelii was the most common pathogen isolated from patients. Abdominal pain (66), fever (62), weight loss (48), night sweat, malaise, and anorexia (14) over about 3.1 months were the most frequently reported clinical symptoms. Extension to one or more surrounding organs was evident in 18 patients (28). Histopathologic examination confirmed infection in 67 of the patients and samples obtained from liver puncture biopsy (32) were most frequently used in diagnosis. Surgery or puncture drainage + anti-infection was the most common method to treat patients and penicillin, Amoxicillin, Doxycycline, and ampicillin were the most frequently used drugs to control infection. Conclusion: HA should be considered in patients with a subacute or chronic inflammatory process of the liver. With accurate and timely diagnosis of infection, extensive surgery can be prevented. © 2021, The Author(s)

The effect of fresh frozen plasma in severe closed head injury

Objective: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality. Coagulopathy, commonly occurring after severe TBI, is associated with poor outcome and secondary complications, especially delayed traumatic intracerebral hematoma (DTICH). In this study we evaluated the effect of fresh frozen plasma (FFP) on the reduction in the incidence of DTICH in severe closed head injury victims. Methods: This study was carried out as a double-blind randomized clinical trial. Ninety patients were entered in two parallel groups taking either FFP or normal saline (N/S). Patients' selection criteria for both groups were: severe closed head injury (Glasgow coma scale �8), no mass lesion required evacuation and no history of coagulopathy. The clinical findings, laboratory data, computed tomography (CT) scans and Glasgow outcome scale after 1 month were assessed and compared in two groups. Results: Out of 90 patients, 44 received FFP and 46 received N/S. The development of new intracerebral hematoma in follow-up CT scans were more common in the FFP group than the N/S group (p = 0.012). Both groups showed similar frequency of poor outcome (p = 0.343). The mortality was significantly more common in the FFP group than in the N/S group (63 versus 35, p = 0.006). Conclusion: The result of this study revealed that early empirical infusion of FFP in patients with severe head injury may lead to adverse effects, such as an increase in the frequency of DTICH and an increase in the mortality. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Bacteriophage therapy for inhibition of multi drug�resistant uropathogenic bacteria: a narrative review

Multi-Drug Resistant (MDR) uropathogenic bacteria have increased in number in recent years and the development of new treatment options for the corresponding infections has become a major challenge in the field of medicine. In this respect, recent studies have proposed bacteriophage (phage) therapy as a potential alternative against MDR Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) because the resistance mechanism of phages differs from that of antibiotics and few side effects have been reported for them. Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Proteus mirabilis are the most common uropathogenic bacteria against which phage therapy has been used. Phages, in addition to lysing bacterial pathogens, can prevent the formation of biofilms. Besides, by inducing or producing polysaccharide depolymerase, phages can easily penetrate into deeper layers of the biofilm and degrade it. Notably, phage therapy has shown good results in inhibiting multiple-species biofilm and this may be an efficient weapon against catheter-associated UTI. However, the narrow range of hosts limits the use of phage therapy. Therefore, the use of phage cocktail and combination therapy can form a highly attractive strategy. However, despite the positive use of these treatments, various studies have reported phage-resistant strains, indicating that phage�host interactions are more complicated and need further research. Furthermore, these investigations are limited and further clinical trials are required to make this treatment widely available for human use. This review highlights phage therapy in the context of treating UTIs and the specific considerations for this application. © 2021, The Author(s)

Bacteriophage therapy against Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms: A review

Multi-Drug Resistant (MDR) Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the most important bacterial pathogens that causes infection with a high mortality rate due to resistance to different antibiotics. This bacterium prompts extensive tissue damage with varying factors of virulence, and its biofilm production causes chronic and antibiotic-resistant infections. Therefore, due to the non-applicability of antibiotics for the destruction of P. aeruginosa biofilm, alternative approaches have been considered by researchers, and phage therapy is one of these new therapeutic solutions. Bacteriophages can be used to eradicate P. aeruginosa biofilm by destroying the extracellular matrix, increasing the permeability of antibiotics into the inner layer of biofilm, and inhibiting its formation by stopping the quorum-sensing activity. Furthermore, the combined use of bacteriophages and other compounds with anti-biofilm properties such as nanoparticles, enzymes, and natural products can be of more interest because they invade the biofilm by various mechanisms and can be more effective than the one used alone. On the other hand, the use of bacteriophages for biofilm destruction has some limitations such as limited host range, high-density biofilm, sub-populate phage resistance in biofilm, and inhibition of phage infection via quorum sensing in biofilm. Therefore, in this review, we specifically discuss the use of phage therapy for inhibition of P. aeruginosa biofilm in clinical and in vitro studies to identify different aspects of this treatment for broader use. © 2020 The Author(s)

New time-type and space-type non-standard quantum algebras and discrete symmetries

Starting from the classical r-matrix of the non-standard (or Jordanian) quantum deformation of the sl(2,R) algebra, new triangular quantum deformations for the real Lie algebras so(2,2), so(3,1) and iso(2,1) are simultaneously constructed by using a graded contraction scheme; these are realized as deformations of conformal algebras of (1+1)-dimensional spacetimes. Time-type and space-type quantum algebras are considered according to the generator that remains primitive after deformation: either the time or the space translation, respectively. Furthermore by introducing differential-difference conformal realizations, these families of quantum algebras are shown to be the symmetry algebras of either a time or a space discretization of (1+1)-dimensional (wave and Laplace) equations on uniform lattices; the relationship with the known Lie symmetry approach to these discrete equations is established by means of twist maps.Comment: 17 pages, LaTe

Evaluation of the effectiveness of a novel brain-computer interface neuromodulative intervention to relieve neuropathic pain following spinal cord injury: Protocol for a single-case experimental design with multiple baselines

Background: Neuropathic pain is a debilitating secondary condition for many individuals with spinal cord injury. Spinal cord injury neuropathic pain often is poorly responsive to existing pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatments. A growing body of evidence supports the potential for brain-computer interface systems to reduce spinal cord injury neuropathic pain via electroencephalographic neurofeedback. However, further studies are needed to provide more definitive evidence regarding the effectiveness of this intervention. Objective: The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a multiday course of a brain-computer interface neuromodulative intervention in a gaming environment to provide pain relief for individuals with neuropathic pain following spinal cord injury. Methods: We have developed a novel brain-computer interface-based neuromodulative intervention for spinal cord injury neuropathic pain. Our brain-computer interface neuromodulative treatment includes an interactive gaming interface, and a neuromodulation protocol targeted to suppress theta (4-8 Hz) and high beta (20-30 Hz) frequency powers, and enhance alpha (9-12 Hz) power. We will use a single-case experimental design with multiple baselines to examine the effectiveness of our self-developed brain-computer interface neuromodulative intervention for the treatment of spinal cord injury neuropathic pain. We will recruit 3 participants with spinal cord injury neuropathic pain. Each participant will be randomly allocated to a different baseline phase (ie, 7, 10, or 14 days), which will then be followed by 20 sessions of a 30-minute brain-computer interface neuromodulative intervention over a 4-week period. The visual analog scale assessing average pain intensity will serve as the primary outcome measure. We will also assess pain interference as a secondary outcome domain. Generalization measures will assess quality of life, sleep quality, and anxiety and depressive symptoms, as well as resting-state electroencephalography and thalamic γ-aminobutyric acid concentration. Results: This study was approved by the Human Research Committees of the University of New South Wales in July 2019 and the University of Technology Sydney in January 2020. We plan to begin the trial in October 2020 and expect to publish the results by the end of 2021. Conclusions: This clinical trial using single-case experimental design methodology has been designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a novel brain-computer interface neuromodulative treatment for people with neuropathic pain after spinal cord injury. Single-case experimental designs are considered a viable alternative approach to randomized clinical trials to identify evidence-based practices in the field of technology-based health interventions when recruitment of large samples is not feasible