Somatic embryogenesis in two Iranian date palm cultivars

Shoot tips were removed from 3 to 4 year-old offshoots of adult date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L. cv. Khanizi and Mordarsing) and were cultured on medium that consisted of Murashige and Skoog basal salts medium. After 12 months they were transferred to three different treatments of growth regulators. Five months later, cv. Khanizi produced embryogenic callus on a medium containing 453 ìM 2,4- dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), 15 ìM N2-(2-isopentenyl)adenine (2ip), and 13 ìM 6-benzyl amino purine. This callus was subcultured to another medium that was supplemented with 54 ìM NAA and 148 ìM 2ip. At this stage the embryos grew into plantlets. The cv. Mordarsing explants, on a medium containing 679 ìM 2,4-D and 15 ìM 2ip, produced embryogenic callus but the embryos remained in the globular stage

New hybrid CPU-GPU solver for CFD-DEM simulation of fluidized bed

Modeling is an alternative to experiment to explore more in multiphase flows. Various modeling approaches have been developed and used from 1D models in the macro-scale to multidimensional models in the micro scale. Well-known modeling approaches for fluidization systems are TFM and CFD-DEM, both have found many practical applications in fluidization systems. The TFM considers both fluid and particulate phase as interpenetrating continua. In contrast, the CFD-DEM considers the fluid as a continuous fluid in the meso-scale (cell-scale) and the solid as discrete particles in the micro-scale. The translational and rotational motions of individual particles are described by applying Newton’s and Euler’s second laws of motion, respectively. Since the first introduction of CFD-DEM technique by Tsuji et al. (1) and Hoomans et al. (2), different aspects of this modeling approach have been being enhanced and developed. Nowadays, this modeling approach has found many applications in different engineering fields specially fluidization (3). One of the main limitations of this modeling approach is its high computational demand which makes the parallelization necessary in order to model larger systems with more details. A CFD-DEM code comprises of three computational parts: CFD, DEM and coupling. The CFD part can be efficiently parallelized using space decomposition method on the distributed-memory platform like MPI, while the DEM part, due to its low granularity, is better to be parallelized using loop-level parallelization on the shared-memory platform like CUDA. We used a combination of both platforms to speed-up the CFD-DEM code. Figure 1 shows the data transfer between different parts of the code and the platforms that are used for their implementation. As it can be seen, the CFD and coupling parts are parallelized using MPI and executed on multiple CPUs and the DEM part is parallelized using CUDA and executed on a GPU. To solve the Navier-Stokes equations, we used the open-source CFD package, OpenFOAM®, while the code for coupling and DEM calculations were developed internally. The main goal of this programing style was to benefit from the maximum computational power of CPU and GPU in a single PC equipped with a CUDA-capable GPU. This code was successfully utilized for a fluidization system containing 100,000 spherical particles with the mean size of 2200 micrometers and density of 1500 kg/m3. Particles were placed in a cylinder with inner diameter of 0.14 m and height of 1 m. Number of fluid cells in the simulation was 7,400. The superficial gas velocity was 2 m/s. The code was executed on one CPU core of an Intel® core™-i7 processor (3.6 GHz) and an NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 660 Ti GPU. The simulation was continued for 1 second and the execution time was about 1.5 hr. Snapshots of this simulation are shown in Figure 2. These snapshots show the contour of gas velocity field and particles which are colored based on their velocity. This code is in its very first stages of developments and needs optimizations in both coupling and DEM parts to gain more execution speed. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Alcohol, cannabinoids, and opioids abuse and dependence among psychiatric inpatients

Background: While substance abuse among psychiatric patients is a widely known problem in clinical practice, there is no local study about prevalence and co-occurrence of substance abuse in north of Iran. Objectives: The present study was designed to determine the frequency of smoking, alcohol, opioid and cannabinoid substances, and prescription medicines abuse or dependence among Psychiatric Inpatients. Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional 2-year case register study was conducted on all (n = 492) psychiatric inpatients of Zare Psychiatric Hospital in Sari located in north of Iran. The data were obtained by using a standardized and validated questionnaire that contained demographic information along with information on co-morbid psychiatric problems and alcohol, cannabinoids, opioids, and cigarette usage. Results: The mean (± SD) age of samples was 39.9 (± 11.9) years and male:female ratio was 3.6. Opium with or without using other illicit substances was the most frequently abused substance (67). Significant association were found between illicit substance abuse and demographic variables of male gender, a low level of literacy, living in the urban area, unemployment, cigarette smoking, and young age. There were statistically significant association between schizophrenia and substance abuse (P < 0.001). Conclusion: High prevalence of dual diagnosis warrants attention to the management of substance misuse while treating mental disorders, and should be incorporated in the holistic treatment plan of psychiatric inpatients. © 2015, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences

Myocardial Infarction in a Young Female with Palindromic Rheumatism: A Consequence of Negative Remodeling

Palindromic rheumatism is a rare disease associated with systemic inflammation. Negative or constrictive coronary artery remodeling is typically not seen until the 7th or 8th decade of life. We report a case of a young female with palindromic rheumatism who suffered a non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction secondary to a flow-limiting lesion that demonstrated negative remodeling by intravascular ultrasound (IVUS)

Transdiagnostic treatment of co-occurrence of anxiety and depressive disorders based on repetitive negative thinking: A case series

Objective: The transdiagnostic cognitive behavioral treatments for treating the coexistence of anxiety and mood disorders received useful empirical supports in the recent years. However, these treatments still have moderate efficacy. Following the improvements and developments in transdiagnostic protocols and considering the importance of repetitive negative thinking as a core transdiagnostic factor in emotional disorders, this study examined a new form of transdiagnostic treatment based on Repetitive Negative Thinking (TTRNT) of co-occurrence of anxiety and depressive disorders. Methods: Treatment efficacy was assessed using single case series with multiple baselines. Three patients meeting the criteria for co-occurrence of anxiety and depressive disorders were selected using the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-IV. The patients were treated individually for 12 weekly sessions. Participants completed the standardized outcome measures during the baseline, treatment and one-month follow-up. Results: At post-treatment, all participants showed significant clinical changes on a range of standardized outcome measures, and these gains were largely maintained through the one-month follow-up both in the principle and co-principal diagnosis. Conclusions: Although the results of this preliminary investigation indicated that TTRNT could be a time effective and efficient treatment for individuals with co-occurrence of anxiety and depressive disorders, further controlled clinical trials are necessary to examine this new treatment approach

SOME IDENTITIES AND INEQUALITIES FOR G-FUSION FRAMES

G-fusion frames, which are obtained from the combination of g-frames and fusion frames, were recently introduced for Hilbert spaces. In this paper, we present a new identity for gframes, which was given by Najati for a special case. Also, by using the idea of this identity and the dual frames, some equalities and inequalities are presented for g-fusion frames