An in vitro evaluation of antibacterial effect of silver nanoparticles on Staphylococcus aureus isolated from bovine subclinical mastitis

Bovine mastitis is the most costly disease affecting dairy cows and milk production. As Staphylococcus aureus is considered as a major pathogen due to its prevalence in dairy herds, contagious nature of infection, economic impact of treatment and control and its resistance to antimicrobial agents is a well-documented challenge in dairy cows. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate and determine the antibacterial activity of silver nanoparticles against S. aureus isolated from subclinical mastitis cows. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) distribution of the silver nanoparticles tested for S. aureus field isolates were determined by a broth dilution method. The results show MIC values ranging from 1.25 to 10 μg/ml. The MIC values that inhibited 50 and 90% of the population of the isolates tested of silver nanoparticles were 5 and 10 μg/ml for S. aureus, respectively. In addition, the results of this study demonstrated that the mean time of the antimicrobial action of silver nanoparticles against S. aureus is 7 min. This in vitro result clearly indicates that the silver nanoparticle might have a good activity against S. aureus with mastitis origin.Key words: Bovine mastitis, silver nanoparticles, Staphylococcus aureus

A new look into the impacts of dust radiative effects on the energetics of tropical easterly waves

Saharan dust aerosols are often embedded in tropical easterly waves, also known as African easterly waves, and are transported thousands of kilometers across the tropical Atlantic Ocean, reaching the Caribbean Sea, Amazon Basin, and eastern USA. However, due to the complex climate dynamics of west Africa and the eastern tropical Atlantic Ocean, there is still a lack of understanding of how dust particles may influence the development of African easterly waves, which are coupled to deep convective systems over the tropical Atlantic Ocean and in some cases may seed the growth of tropical cyclones. Here we used 22 years of daily satellite observations and reanalysis data to explore the relationships between dust in the Saharan air layer and the development of African easterly waves. Our findings show that dust aerosols not merely are transported by the African easterly jet and the African easterly waves system across the tropical Atlantic Ocean, but also contribute to the changes in the eddy energetics of the African easterly waves. The efficiency of the dust radiative effect in the atmosphere is estimated to be a warming of approximately 20 W m−2 over the ocean and 35 W m−2 over land. This diabatic heating of dust aerosols in the Saharan air layer acts as an additional energy source to increase the growth of the waves. The enhanced diabatic heating of dust leads to an increase in meridional temperature gradients in the baroclinic zone, where eddies extract available potential energy from the mean flow and convert it to eddy kinetic energy. This suggests that diabatic heating of dust aerosols can increase the eddy kinetic energy of the African easterly waves and enhance the baroclinicity of the region. Our findings also show that dust outbreaks over the tropical Atlantic Ocean precede the development of baroclinic waves downstream of the African easterly jet, which suggests that the dust radiative effect has the capability to trigger the generation of the zonal and meridional transient eddies in the system comprising the African easterly jet and African easterly waves.</p

Simple and Safe Packing Method for High-Grade Liver Injuries

Background: Injury to the liver is a commonly encountered problem in trauma cases and is a frequent cause of morbidity and mortality. Because gauze packing is easy to use and has the potential for rapid hemorrhage control, it is the most commonly used method for patients with severe liver injuries, particularly those with coagulopathy. Objectives: In this study, OpSite sheets were used to make three-layer packs for decreasing the complication associated with removing gauze packing. Patients and Methods: Twenty male patients with grade IV or V liver injuries that required laparotomy were enrolled in the study. Ten patients were treated using conventional packing, while the other 10 were treated using the three-layer pack. In the case group, the liver was mobilized as much as possible. The three-layer pack was then placed at the site of liver damage and extended onto the liver surface, and the other pads were placed on top of this pad. After 72 h, reoperation was performed, the packs were removed, and the packs causing injury were recorded. Additionally, if rebleeding due to the adhesive bands of the pack was observed, the blood was suctioned and bleeding volume was measured. Data were analyzed using the Mann–Whitney test. Results: Patients in the case and control groups were similar in age and admission vital signs. During the second operation, the bleeding volumes measured in the case and control groups were 66 ± 27.01 mL and 152 ± 85.4 mL, respectively. There was some pad-induced damage after the removal of the pad in the control group. Conclusions: Our study has provided a simple and safe packing method for high-grade liver injuries

Medical data processing and analysis for remote health and activities monitoring

Recent developments in sensor technology, wearable computing, Internet of Things (IoT), and wireless communication have given rise to research in ubiquitous healthcare and remote monitoring of human\u2019s health and activities. Health monitoring systems involve processing and analysis of data retrieved from smartphones, smart watches, smart bracelets, as well as various sensors and wearable devices. Such systems enable continuous monitoring of patients psychological and health conditions by sensing and transmitting measurements such as heart rate, electrocardiogram, body temperature, respiratory rate, chest sounds, or blood pressure. Pervasive healthcare, as a relevant application domain in this context, aims at revolutionizing the delivery of medical services through a medical assistive environment and facilitates the independent living of patients. In this chapter, we discuss (1) data collection, fusion, ownership and privacy issues; (2) models, technologies and solutions for medical data processing and analysis; (3) big medical data analytics for remote health monitoring; (4) research challenges and opportunities in medical data analytics; (5) examples of case studies and practical solutions

Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection among cystic fibrosis and ICU patients in the referral Children Medical Hospital in Tehran, Iran

Introduction. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the important causes of hospital-acquired infections in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and considered as a major determinant of morbidity and mortality in patients affected by cystic fibrosis (CF). The aim of this study was to investigate clonal diversity among randomly picked P. aeruginosa isolates of CF and the other hospitalized patients in ICU. Methods. Cultivation, identification, and antimicrobial suscep- tibility testing of P. aeruginosa isolates were performed using standard techniques. The genetic similarity of the strains was investigated by amplification of the Enterobacterial Repetitive Intergenic Consensus-polymerase chain reaction (ERIC-PCR) sequence. Results and discussion. Among 49 isolates, sixteen were isolated from 11 patients affected by CF and 33 came from an epidemiologi- cal investigation of 25 P. aeruginosa infected patients of ICU. Five clusters were generated for all isolates analyzed through ERIC-PCR genotyping. Two major clusters (B and C) were discovered in P. aer- uginosa isolates of ICU and CF patients during the whole period of this study. Fifteen unique antibiogram patterns obtained from all iso- lates and multi-resistant P. aeruginosa (MRPA) were identified in 23 isolates (47%). MRPA isolates were detected in all clusters (except A) while pan-resistant isolates were recovered only in cluster C. The high prevalence of related or identical isolates in CF and non-CF patients can be due to transmission of particular domi- nant clones in ICU ward. Therefore, enhanced infection-control may become necessary to prevent further spread of clonal strains

Study on physico-chemical characteristics of Azad dam reservoir (Sanandaj) in order to fisheries activities

Dam reservoirs have important rules in aquaculture and fish farming in many countries. In this regard, water samples of Azad Dam reservoir (Sanandaj) were collected at five stations from July 2015 to June 2016. Then, the results of 18 physico-chemical parameters were compared with the aquaculture standards and thresholds. Results showed that thermocline and oxycline was started from June and they vanished in December. Maximum level of thermal and oxygen stratified were registered during August and June, respectively. Mean of the most physico-chemical parameters were significantly different between surface and bottom layers (T-Test, p<0.05). Mean of temperature, dissolved oxygen, total alkalinity, total hardness, pH, total suspended solid, total dissolved solid and nutrients were in range of standard threshold of different countries. As a result, based on physico-chemical parameters and with proper management decision, the dam reservoir could be considering suitable for standard pattern of aquaculture activities

EFFECT OF KEYFRAMES EXTRACTION FROM THERMAL INFRARED VIDEO STREAM TO GENERATE DENSE POINT CLOUD OF THE BUILDING'S FACADE

Keyframes extraction is required and effective for the 3D reconstruction of objects from a thermal video sequence to increase geometric accuracy, reduce the volume of aerial triangulation calculations, and generate the dense point cloud. The primary goal and focus of this paper are to assess the effect of keyframes extraction from the thermal infrared video sequence on the geometric accuracy of the dense point cloud generated. The method of keyframes extraction of thermal infrared video presented in this paper consists of three basic steps. (A) The ability to identify and remove blur frames from non-blur frames in a sequence of recorded frames. (B) The ability to apply the standard baseline condition between sequence frames to establish the overlap condition and prevent the creation of degeneracy conditions. (C) Evaluating degeneracy conditions and keyframes extraction using Geometric Robust Information Criteria (GRIC). The performance evaluation criteria for keyframes extraction in the generation of the thermal infrared dense point cloud in this paper are to assess the increase in density of the generated three-dimensional point cloud and reduce reprojection error. Based on the results and assessments presented in this paper, using keyframes increases the density of the thermal infrared dense point cloud by about 0.03% to 0.10% of points per square meter. It reduces the reprojection error by about 0.005% of pixels (2 times)

Protein interaction network of Arabidopsis thaliana female gametophyte development identifies novel proteins and relations

Although the female gametophyte in angiosperms consists of just seven cells, it has a complex biological network. In this study, female gametophyte microarray data from Arabidopsis thaliana were integrated into the Arabidopsis interactome database to generate a putative interaction map of the female gametophyte development including proteome map based on biological processes and molecular functions of proteins. Biological and functional groups as well as topological characteristics of the network were investigated by analyzing phytohormones, plant defense, cell death, transporters, regulatory factors, and hydrolases. This approach led to the prediction of critical members and bottlenecks of the network. Seventy-four and 24 upregulated genes as well as 171 and 3 downregulated genes were identified in subtracted networks based on biological processes and molecular function respectively, including novel genes such as the pathogenesis-related protein 4, ER type Ca2+ ATPase 3, dihydroflavonol reductase, and ATP disulfate isomerase. Biologically important relationships between genes, critical nodes, and new essential proteins such as AT1G26830, AT5G20850, CYP74A, AT1G42396, PR4 and MEA were found in the interactome’s network. The positions of novel genes, both upregulated and downregulated, and their relationships with biological pathways, in particular phytohormones, were highlighted in this study.Batool Hosseinpour, Vahid HajiHoseini, Rafieh Kashfi, Esmaeil Ebrahimie and Farhid Hemmatzade

Intensive care unit, cardiac care unit, and emergency department nurses' perceptions of medical device-related pressure injuries: a cross-sectional study

Background Nurses' perception of medical device-related pressure injuries (MDRPIs) may affect their performance, but there is a lack of studies in this area. Purpose The current study aimed to examine intensive care unit (ICU), cardiac care unit (CCU) and emergency department nurses' perception of proper prevention of MDRPIs and care for individuals with such injuries. Methods This descriptive study was conducted in 4 general hospitals in Iran in 2021. All nurses (N = 310) working in ICUs, CCUs and emergency departments of these facilities were invited to complete a researcher-made demographic checklist and an 11-item questionnaire to assess attitudes toward MDRPIs. The questionnaire item responses were scored from 1 (strongly agree) to 5 (strongly disagree) with the total score for the 11 items ranging from 11 to 55. A score of 11 to 25 was categorized as indicating a negative attitude toward proper prevention of MDRPIs and care for such patients; a score of 26 to 40 indicated a neutral attitude, and a score >40 indicated a positive attitude. Results A total of 260 nurses fulfilled the data collection tool. The response rate was 83.8%. The mean total score of attitude toward MDRPIs was 41.7. No significant relationship was observed between the total score of nurses' attitudes and their demographic variables. Of the 260 participants, 159 stated they had not received any trainings on MDRPIs at nursing schools during their education, 212 stated they had not participated in any scientific workshops on MDRPIs, and 167 described their knowledge about the prevention and care of MDRPIs as insufficient. Conclusion Among ICU, CCU, and emergency nurses in Iran, most had a positive attitude toward the prevention and care of MDRPIs, but steps should be taken to offer more opportunities for nurses to increase their knowledge in this area