Mother-infant attachment behaviors and related psychological factors in covid-19 pandemic: a review study

Introduction: Covid-19 epidemic and the fear of its infection in infants as a global threat is a challenge for mother-infant attachment behaviors. Methods: The present study was a review study conducted based on the information collected from searches in SID, PubMed, Science Direct, Elsevier, Scopus databases and Google Scholar search engine using the conjunctions of “AND” and “OR” between the keywords. The articles were searched using systematic search with the keywords of attachment behaviors, mother-infant bonding, maternal attachment, Covid-19, and neonates, with all possible combination of important words from December 2019 to April 2021. The initial search for relevant sources related to mother-infant attachment and Covid-19 led to 65 articles. Then, by applying the time filter, this number was reduced to 31 articles. In the final stage, by excluding duplicate articles and examining the relationship of articles with the subject of study, 7 articles were selected as relevant and final sources. Results: The results of reviewing of the studies showed low to moderate level of mother-infant attachment behaviors during Covid-19 crisis. Mothers with lower levels of attachment to their infants were more likely to experience depression, anxiety, and peritraumatic distress. Women who gave birth during quarantine had lower levels of attachment to their infants compared to other women. Conclusion: Covid 19 epidemic caused a high prevalence and a wide range of psychological disorders and a reduction in the level of attachment in mothers of infants under 12 months. Providing timely psychological support is essential to improve the level of attachment of mothers to their infants

Investigation of the presence of G354A (Cys87Tyr) mutation in osteoprotegerin gene in women with osteoporosis in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province

Background and aims: Osteoprotegerin (OPG) is a competitive inhibitor of the differentiation and activity of osteoclasts, which inhibits the final stages of osteoclast formation and induces its apoptosis. In addition, OPG is considered as one of the most important candidate genes in the pathogenesis of bone diseases such as osteoporosis and idiopathic hyperphosphatasia. The G354A (Cys87Tyr) mutation in the OPG gene leads to idiopathic hyperphosphatasia. This mutation is probably related to osteoporosis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the presence of G354A (Cys87Tyr) in women with osteoporosis in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province. Methods: In this descriptive-analytical study, the bone mineral density (BMD) of the femoral neck and lumbar spine of women referring to Shahrekord bone densitometry centers was measured by the X-ray absorptiometry technique in 2013-2014. Based on T-scores, people with osteoporosis were identified and 70 patients were enrolled in the study after receiving their consent. Finally, DNA was extracted from blood samples, amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique, and sequenced by DNA sequencing method. Results: After DNA extraction from the blood, the quality and quantity were determined by gel electrophoresis and spectrophotometry, respectively. Then, the gene was amplified by the PCR method and the product was detected by gel electrophoresis, followed by sequencing the samples to investigate the presence of the mutation. Eventually, genotypes associated with Cys87Tyr mutation were not observed in the studied population. Conclusion: In the present study, the G354A (Cys87Tyr) mutation associated with idiopathic hyperphosphatasia was not found in women with osteoporosis. Keywords: G354A mutation, OPG gene, Osteoporosi

Determination of Methadone and Tramadol in Vitreous Humor Specimens Using Dispersive LiquidLiquidMicroextractionandUltraHighPerformance Liquid Chromatography

Background: Drug abuse is spreading rapidly all over the world. Methadone and tramadol are among not only the most abused opioids but also important from the forensic point of view. Therefore, we need to devise a simple and sensitive method for the sample preparation and identification of abused drugs in postmortem specimens.Methods: A simple and rapid Dispersive Liquid-Liquid Microextraction (DLLME) technique coupled with Ultrahigh Performance Liquid Chromatography (UHPLC) was developed for the extraction and analysis of methadone and tramadol from postmortem vitreous humor samples. Different parameters affecting the extraction recovery, such as the type and volume of extraction and dispersion solvents, pH value, sensitivity, and specificity, were optimized and studied. Results: Under optimized conditions, the recovery ranges were 82.3%-89.6% and 85.4%-87.1% for methadone and tramadol, respectively. The linear range was 25-100 ng/mL for both methadone and tramadol with a correlation coefficient (R2) of more than 0.98. Limit of Detection (LoD) and Limit of Quantification (LoQ) were 3 and 8 ng/mL for methadone and 6 and 16 ng/mL for tramadol. The accuracy level of the methods for methadone and tramadol detection were 99.4%-100% and 99.7%-99.9%, respectively. The method was specific enough for the qualitative and quantitative determination of methadone and tramadol.Conclusion: The obtained results showed that DLLME combined with UHPLC is a fast and straightforward method for determining methadone and tramadol in postmortem vitreous humor specimens

Alginate Core-Shell Scaffolds for CAR T cell Manufacturing

Cancer patients with advanced-stage disease develop resistance to traditional therapies such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy, leading to the necessity of a novel technology that is both specific and efficient to the patient’s cancer. Genetically engineered T cell receptors can recognize and bind to antigens expressed on tumor cells and kill them. As a result, T cell immunotherapies have been established as a new strategic cancer therapy. The promising success of T cell immunotherapies for treatment of cancer and other diseases demonstrate the need for scalable manufacturing processes for product commercialization. Unlike traditional chemotherapies, cell-based immunotherapies are composed of living entities, and hence they are different in their development, properties and regulatory pathways in comparison to traditional drugs, which are simple chemicals. Current T cell manufacturing techniques are complicated processes that do not account for the complexity of the lymph nodes, where T cells expand rapidly in response to disease. Consequently, it is difficult to produce enough cells for quality control assays and meet the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) guidelines. Thus, we hypothesize that creating a novel microenvironment that can mimic the lymph nodes will enhance expansion of T cells and allow this promising treatment to reach more patients in the clinic. To do so, we proposed using alginate which has been widely used for cell encapsulation. We prepared and optimized alginate core-shell scaffolds to provide an environment for close cell-cell contact and communication as well as protect T cells against stress for CAR T cell signaling and expansion. After expansion, the scaffolds were dissolved through both enzymatic and physical dissociation. This method will eventually allow the modified T cells to be placed in a bioreactor, allowing this technique to be commercialized by companies in the cell manufacturing industry.Undergraduat

NLP Methods in Host-based Intrusion Detection Systems: A Systematic Review and Future Directions

Host based Intrusion Detection System (HIDS) is an effective last line of defense for defending against cyber security attacks after perimeter defenses (e.g., Network based Intrusion Detection System and Firewall) have failed or been bypassed. HIDS is widely adopted in the industry as HIDS is ranked among the top two most used security tools by Security Operation Centers (SOC) of organizations. Although effective and efficient HIDS is highly desirable for industrial organizations, the evolution of increasingly complex attack patterns causes several challenges resulting in performance degradation of HIDS (e.g., high false alert rate creating alert fatigue for SOC staff). Since Natural Language Processing (NLP) methods are better suited for identifying complex attack patterns, an increasing number of HIDS are leveraging the advances in NLP that have shown effective and efficient performance in precisely detecting low footprint, zero day attacks and predicting the next steps of attackers. This active research trend of using NLP in HIDS demands a synthesized and comprehensive body of knowledge of NLP based HIDS. Thus, we conducted a systematic review of the literature on the end to end pipeline of the use of NLP in HIDS development. For the end to end NLP based HIDS development pipeline, we identify, taxonomically categorize and systematically compare the state of the art of NLP methods usage in HIDS, attacks detected by these NLP methods, datasets and evaluation metrics which are used to evaluate the NLP based HIDS. We highlight the relevant prevalent practices, considerations, advantages and limitations to support the HIDS developers. We also outline the future research directions for the NLP based HIDS development

Anti-inflammatory Activities of Nannorrhops ritchieana (Griff.) Aitch Inflorescence Extract in an Animal Model

Materials and Methods: The carrageenan-induced paw edema method was used to evaluate the acute anti-inflammatory effects of the NRE extract (50,100, and 200mg/kg, i.p.). The postive and negative control groups received mefenamic acid and normal saline, respectively. Then, the rats’ paw tissues were removed and collected for studying tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) level. In addition, the cotton pellet-induced granuloma method was utilized to assess the chronic anti-inflammatory effects of the extract (100 and 200 mg/kg daily for 8 days, i.p.). The postive and negative control groups received indomethacin and saline, respectively. On the last day of the cotton pellet test, the rat’s serum was collected for interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) determination. Results: In the carrageenan test, the extract significantly reduced the paw edema compared to that of the control (p<0.05). The anti-inflammatory activity (100 and 200 mg/kg) of the extract was similar to that of the mefenamic acid group (P<0.05). TNF-α levels demonstrated significant anti-inflammatory effects just at the dose of 200 mg/kg. In granuloma induced by cotton pellets, NRE was also effective based on the granuloma formation and the transudate amount. The anti-inflammatory activity of the inflorescence extract was found to be the same as the indomethacin group, whereas IL-1β did not represent significant changes