Sensitivity, Specificity and Accuracy of Color Doppler Ultrasonography for Diagnosis of Retinal Detachment

Purpose: This study evaluated the sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy of Color Doppler Ultrasonography (CDUS) in patients with suspected retinal detachment (RD) who underwent surgery. Methods: In this prospective, observational clinical study, 65 eyes of 65 consecutive patients with suspected RD with opaque media were included. Following a standardized protocol, CDUS of the retina of the affected eye was performed. The sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy of CDUS were determined and compared to the findings during surgery. Results: The mean age of patients (18 men and 47 women) was 52.36 years (range: 8–77 years). The sensitivity, specificity, and overall accuracy of ocular CDUS were 91.3%, 88.1%, and 89.2%, respectively. The false-negative rate (negative CDUS images but presence of RD at operation) was 3.1% (2/65) and the false-positive rate (positive CDUS images but absence of RD at operation) was 7.7% (5/65). Conclusion: CDUS of the retina could be considered as a promising tool in the diagnosis of RD in patients with opaque media

The Prediction Incidence of the Three Most Common Cancers Among Iranian Military Community During 2007-2019: a Time Series Analysis.

Objective. Cancers are one of the most important public health problems in Iran. Because of the importance of cancers, the purpose of the current study was to the prediction of the future incidence of the most common cancers among Iranian military community (MC) by using the time series analysis during 2007 to 2019.Methods. In the current cross-sectional study, all registered cancers among Iranian MC entered the study. To select the best model of prediction, various methods including autocorrelation function (ACF), partial autocorrelation function (PACF), and Akaike information criterion (AIC) statistics were used. All analysis was performed by using ITSM, stata14, and Excel2010 software.Results. The most prevalent cancers among Iranian MC were breast, prostate, and colon cancers respectively. The time series analysis was shown that the trend of all mentioned cancers in Iranian MC will increase in the coming years.Conclusion. the trend of most prevalent cancers among Iranian MC was increasing but the different factors like the growth of population size and improving the registration system

Candidate Biomarkers for Targeting in Type 1 Diabetes; A Bioinformatic Analysis of Pancreatic Cell Surface Antigens

Objective: Type 1 diabetes (T1Ds) is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system invades and destroysinsulin-producing cells. Nevertheless, at the time of diagnosis, about 30-40% of pancreatic beta cells are healthy andcapable of producing insulin. Bi-specific antibodies, chimeric antigen receptor regulatory T cells (CAR-Treg cells), andlabeled antibodies could be a new emerging option for the treatment or diagnosis of type I diabetic patients. The aimof the study is to choose appropriate cell surface antigens in the pancreas tissue for generating an antibody for type Idiabetic patients.Materials and Methods: In this bioinformatics study, we extracted pancreas-specific proteins from two largedatabases; the Human Protein Atlas (HPA) and Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) Portal. Pancreatic-enrichedgenes were chosen and narrowed down by Protter software for the investigation of accessible extracellular domains.The immunohistochemistry (IHC) data of the protein atlas database were used to evaluate the protein expression ofselected antigens. We explored the function of candidate antigens by using the GeneCards database to evaluate thepotential dysfunction or activation/hyperactivation of antigens after antibody binding.Results: The results showed 429 genes are highly expressed in the pancreas tissue. Also, eighteen genes encodedplasma membrane proteins that have high expression in the microarray (GEO) dataset. Our results introduced fourstructural proteins, including NPHS1, KIRREL2, GP2, and CUZD1, among all seventeen candidate proteins.Conclusion: The presented antigens can potentially be used to produce specific pancreatic antibodies that guide CARTreg,bi-specific, or labeling molecules to the pancreas for treatment, detection, or other molecular targeted therapyscopes for type I diabetes

Reliability investigation of a carbon nanotube array thermal interface material

As feature density increases within microelectronics, so does the dissipated power density, which puts an increased demand on thermal management. Thermal interface materials (TIMs) are used at the interface between contacting surfaces to reduce the thermal resistance, and is a critical component within many electronics systems. Arrays of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have gained significant interest for application as TIMs, due to the high thermal conductivity, no internal thermal contact resistances and an excellent conformability. While studies show excellent thermal performance, there has to date been no investigation into the reliability of CNT array TIMs. In this study, CNT array TIMs bonded with polymer to close a Si-Cu interface were subjected to thermal cycling. Thermal interface resistance measurements showed a large degradation of the thermal performance of the interface within the first 100 cycles. More detailed thermal investigation of the interface components showed that the connection between CNTs and catalyst substrate degrades during thermal cycling even in the absence of thermal expansion mismatch, and the nature of this degradation was further analyzed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. This study indicates that the reliability will be an important consideration for further development and commercialization of CNT array TIMs

Magnetized Chitosan Hydrogel and Silk Fibroin, Reinforced with PVA: A Novel Nanobiocomposite for Biomedical and Hyperthermia Applications

Herein, a multifunctional nanobiocomposite was designed for biological application, amongst which hyperthermia cancer therapy application was specifically investigated. This nanobiocomposite was fabricated based on chitosan hydrogel (CS), silk fibroin (SF), water-soluble polymer polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles (Fe3O4 MNPs). CS and SF as natural compounds were used to improve the biocompatibility, biodegradability, adhesion and cell growth properties of the nanobiocomposite that can prepare this nanocomposite for the other biological applications such as wound healing and tissue engineering. Since the mechanical properties are very important in biological applications, PVA polymer was used to increase the mechanical properties of the prepared nanobiocomposite. All components of this nanobiocomposite have good dispersion in water due to the presence of hydrophilic groups such as NH2, OH, and COOH, which is one of the effective factors in increasing the efficiency of hyperthermia cancer therapy. The structural analyzes of the hybrid nanobiocomposite were determined by FT-IR, XRD, EDX, FE-SEM, TGA and VSM. Biological studies such as MTT and hemolysis testing proved that it is hemocompatible and non-toxic for healthy cells. Furthermore, it can cause the death of cancer cells to some extent (20.23%). The ability of the nanobiocomposites in hyperthermia cancer therapy was evaluated. Also, the results showed that it can be introduced as an excellent candidate for hyperthermia cancer therapy

Effects of Industry 4.0 on the Labor Markets of Iran and Japan

Industry 4.0 is the essence of the fourth Industrial revolution and is happening right now in manufacturing by using cyber-physical systems (CPS) to reach high levels of automation. Industry 4.0 is especially beneficial in highly developed countries in terms of competitive advantage, but causes unemployment because of high levels of automation. The aim of this paper is to find out if the impact of adopting Industry 4.0 on the labor markets of Iran and Japan would be the same, and to make analysis to find out whether this change is possible for Iran and Japan with their current infrastructures, economy, and policies. With the present situation of Iran in science, technology, and economy, it will be years before Iran could, or better say should, implement Industry 4.0. Japan is able to adopt Industry 4.0 much earlier than Iran and with less challenges ahead; this does not mean that the Japanese labor market would not be affected by this change but it means that those effects would not cause as many difficulties as they would for Iran

Menstrual disturbances in women with congenital heart diseases

Background: Women with congenital heart disease (CHD) may experience menstrual disturbances secondary to hemodynamic instability during the mensturation phase. Objectives: We investigated the menstrual bleeding pattern and its relationship with certain clinical findings in adult women with CHD. Patients and Methods: Clinical data and menstrual bleeding pattern of adult women >15 years old who were referred to adult CHD clinic between March and September 2014 were recorded. Patients with syndromic congenital anomalies were excluded. Results: Data of 304 women (151 and 153 with simple and complex CHD groups, respectively) were recorded. Their mean (SD) age was 25.2 (1) years (range, 15-46 years). The median (IQR) age at menarche was 13 (12-14.25) years. Menarche was later in patients with CHD than in the normal population. Furthermore, the simple group showed earlier menarche than the complex group. The most common menstrual abnormality was menorrhagia in both groups (14.5% and 20.5% in the simple and complex groups, respectively). The incidence of menstrual abnormality was higher, though not significantly, in the complex group (40% vs. 25% in the simple group; P = 0.2). Menorrhagia was associated with the severity of oxygen desaturation (P= 0.007). Conclusions: Menstrual abnormalities are common in women with CHD, and therefore this group of patients should be aware of the menstrual function and its abnormalities

Neck Circumference as a Useful Marker for Screening Overweight and Obesity in Children and Adolescents

Objectives: Overweight and obesity at an early age are an important criterion for predicting chronic diseases. Each anthropometric method available to assess obesity has its limitations. Recently, one of the indices proposed to better detect this complication is neck circumference (NC). The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between NC, and body mass index (BMI), and to find a cutoff NC size to identify children with a high BMI. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we enrolled 864 students aged 6–17 years from the schools in Ahvaz, Iran. Measurements, including height, weight, neck, mid-arm, and waist circumference (WC), and clinical information were collected by trained physicians. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was calculated between NC and other obesity indices, and receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to determine the best cutoff value of NC in predicting high BMI. Results: NC in both genders was significantly correlated with BMI, WC, and mid-arm circumference. The best cutoff value of NC to identify boys with a high BMI was 27.5–38.3 cm, and for girls was 26.7–33.4 cm. Conclusions: NC is significantly correlated with overweight and obesity. It can be used with great reliability to screen overweight and obesity in children, and to identify those with a high BMI

Sensitivity, Specificity and Accuracy of Color Doppler Ultrasonography for Diagnosis of Retinal Detachment

Purpose: This study evaluated the sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy of Color Doppler Ultrasonography (CDUS) in patients with suspected retinal detachment (RD) who underwent surgery. Methods: In this prospective, observational clinical study, 65 eyes of 65 consecutive patients with suspected RD with opaque media were included. Following a standardized protocol, CDUS of the retina of the affected eye was performed. The sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy of CDUS were determined and compared to the findings during surgery. Results: The mean age of patients (18 men and 47 women) was 52.36 years (range: 8–77 years). The sensitivity, specificity, and overall accuracy of ocular CDUS were 91.3%, 88.1%, and 89.2%, respectively. The false-negative rate (negative CDUS images but presence of RD at operation) was 3.1% (2/65) and the false-positive rate (positive CDUS images but absence of RD at operation) was 7.7% (5/65). Conclusion: CDUS of the retina could be considered as a promising tool in the diagnosis of RD in patients with opaque media