Toll-Like Receptor 4 in Ventilator-Induced Lung Injuries

Toll like receptors (TLRs) recognize pathogens and generate an immediate defense response by inducing the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, which rapidly destroy or limit the pathogens. In their bridging role, TLR downstream signals link innate and adaptive immunity, particularly by mediating DC maturation and activation of pathogen specific T lymphocytes. These pathways lead to the activation of professional APCs, which is followed by enhanced expression of surface molecules, MHC and co-stimulatory molecules [CD40, CD80, CD86 and CD70].TLRs are expressed in a variety of cell types, mostly within the immune system where they have been linked to different cellular activation states, immune defense, maintenance of homeostasis, and various diseases. TLRs and related immunological pathways are being extensively studied for research, diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Most mammalian species have between ten and fifteen types of TLRs. Ten functional TLRs (TLR1-10) have been identified in human.

Investigating Economic Effects of Oil Export Reduction: A Financial Computable General Equilibrium Approach

In this paper, using a static Financial Computable General Equilibrium (FCGE) model we investigate the effects of oil export decline on GDP, private consumption, investment, government expenditure and production of different sectors in Iran's economy. We consider zero profit conditions, market clearance, income balances, flexibility of government expenditures, imperfect mobility of labor across sectors, imperfect substitution of domestic and foreign goods, firms and households maximization based on CES functional forms. We calibrate our model based on Iran's Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) provided by central bank, which presents economic transactions data of 47 activities, 112 goods and services, 7 financial assets and 5 institutions. Our simulations shows that 50 percent reduction in oil export results 6.22, 4.9 and 13.63 percent reduction respectively in the level of GDP, private consumption and government expenditure, while in this scenario non-oil export shows 18.49 percent expansion. We also provide sensitivity analysis to support our findings

Dexmedetomidine Mechanism of Action: an update

Dexmedetomidine (PRECEDEX) is an imidazole derivative that is a highly selective a2 receptor agonist. Activation of the a2 adrenergic receptors by dexmedetomidine leads to both sedation and analgesia; with negligible respiratory and cardiovascular side effects. The drug is likely to be increasingly used for sedation and as an anesthetic adjunct

Distinct neurocomputational mechanisms support informational and socially normative conformity

A change of mind in response to social influence could be driven by informational conformity to increase accuracy, or by normative conformity to comply with social norms such as reciprocity. Disentangling the behavioural, cognitive, and neurobiological underpinnings of informational and normative conformity have proven elusive. Here, participants underwent fMRI while performing a perceptual task that involved both advice-taking and advice-giving to human and computer partners. The concurrent inclusion of 2 different social roles and 2 different social partners revealed distinct behavioural and neural markers for informational and normative conformity. Dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) BOLD response tracked informational conformity towards both human and computer but tracked normative conformity only when interacting with humans. A network of brain areas (dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and temporoparietal junction (TPJ)) that tracked normative conformity increased their functional coupling with the dACC when interacting with humans. These findings enable differentiating the neural mechanisms by which different types of conformity shape social changes of mind

Effect of pulmonary rehabilitation program on patients admitted to ICU:a comparative cross sectional study

Generally ICU patients are in critical status and need long stay in ICU. Pulmonary rehabilitation program (PRP) is considered as an important tool to improve outcome and shorten the length of stay in ICU. The aim of this study was to investigate whether PRP can affect outcome and duration of hospitalization in ICU patients. This study was performed in medical ICU of Labafi Nejad hospital, Tehran, Iran during 2012 and 2013. All of patients who had more than one day stay in ICU were included in the study. They underwent PRP. We compared length of stay, mortality rate and number of hospitalized patients within 2 years in patients with PRP and patients without PRP. In 2012, 155 patients and in 2013, 173 patients were admitted in ICU.  Admission period was 15 ± 2.7 and 11 ± 2.1 days, respectively (p< 0.001). Pulmonary physiotherapy showed no effect on patients’ outcome in which during 2012, 94 patients were discharged and 61 patients were died and in 2013, 98 patients were discharged and 64 patients were died (p=0.9). Our study shows that PRP can shorten hospitalization time which can indirectly decrease hospitalization costs but there is no effect on overall survival.

Antigen-Based Diagnosis of Human Giardiasis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: We aimed to present a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies that used antigen-based assays for the diagnosis of human giardiasis. Methods: All the related published literature cited within PubMed, ISI web of science, Google Scholar, Embase, and Scopus, were searched up to December 2021. The search terms, both as MeSH terms and text words, were “Giardia”, “Giardia lamblia”, “Giardia intestinalis", "giardiasis", combined with "diagnosis", "antigen detection", serodiagnosis, or serological diagnosis.  The required data was extracted from the papers. Pooled estimates of sensitivity and specificity were obtained and forest plots and summary receiver operating characteristics (SROC) plots were used to calculate sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV).  Results: The search of databases found 1683 papers, of which 46 articles fulfilled our eligibility criteria. The sensitivity of antigen-based methods for the diagnosis of human giardiasis ranged from 45% (95% CI: 31-59%) to 100% (95% CI: 100-100%) and the pooled estimate of sensitivity was 92% (95% CI: 90-93%). The pooled estimated specificity was 97% (95% CI: 96-98%), ranged from 81% (95% CI: 68-89%) to 100% (95% CI: 98-100%). The summary estimate of PPV and NPV were 92 % (95% CI: 90-93%) and 97% (95% CI: 96-98%) respectively. Comparing the performance of the antigen detection assays by region revealed a significant difference in the assay's performances in different regions of the world. Conclusion: The antigen-based detection methods have acceptable and satisfactory performance in the diagnosis of human giardiasis.  The task ahead is to identify more specific target antigens and design simpler, cheaper, and more sensitive methods for the diagnosis of this common worldwide-distributed parasitic infection

The Possible Impact of Problem-solving Method of Instruction on Exceptional Students’ Creativity

The current study aimed at investigating the possible impact of the problem-solving method of instruction on the exceptional students’ creativity. A sample of 50 male exceptional (Mild intellectual disability) students studying in the third grade of junior high school was chosen and divided into two equal groups. Both groups filled out the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) in pre- and post-test stages. They also completed the Raven Standard Progressive Matrices (RSPM) as a covariate variable. The results of covariance analysis revealed that the mean value for creativity score was higher for the students provided with the problem-solving method of instruction than that of their counterparts provided with the traditional method of instruction while the effect of intelligence was controlled. The scores obtained for the factors including fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration also increased through problem-solving method of instruction

Comparison of different strategies in parathyroid scintigraphy imaging [abstract]

To retrospectively compare the various scintigraphic methods to discover the most accurate protocol for preoperative localization of single-gland disease, medical records of 710 patients, diagnosed with primary were reviewed. 293 patients had complete preoperative parathyroid scintigraphy with subsequent surgical resection of a single abnormal gland. Parathyroid scintigraphy at our institution utilizes 99mTc sestamibi (MIBI) and 123I, and consists of early and delayed pinhole MIBI images of the neck, including MIBI-123I subtraction imaging, as well as MIBI single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) of the neck and chest. Four experienced nuclear medicine physicians, without knowledge of clinical or laboratory results or final diagnosis, reviewed seven different imaging variations in separate sessions. The imaging variations were early MIBI only (EARLY), delayed MIBI only (DELAYED), comparison of early and delayed MIBI (E-D), subtraction (SUB), all planar (PLANAR), SPECT only (SPECT), and all images (ALL)

Prevalence of Cryptosporidium and risk factors related to cryptosporidiosis in hospitalized children under 5 years of age due to diarrhea (Shahrekord-2005)

& Objective: Cryptosporidium is a cosmopolitan protozoan parasite which is recently known as one of the main causes of diarrhea in children and immunocompromised cases. Majority of studies on this parasite in the last 3 decades focusing on immunocompromised cases has been reported from developed countries and no comprehensive study has evaluated the prevalence and risk factors related to cryptosporidiosis in Iran. This study aimed at investigating the prevalence of Cryptosporidium and risk factors related to ..

Comparison of different strategies in parathyroid scintigraphy imaging in the setting of multi-gland hyperparathyroidism [abstract]

Medical records of 140 patients, diagnosed with multigland primary, secondary or tertiary hyperparathyroidism were reviewed. Of those, 56 patients had complete preoperative parathyroid scintigraphy with subsequent surgical resection of abnormal glands. Parathyroid scintigraphy at our institution utilizes 99mTc sestamibi (MIBI) and 123I, and consists of early and delayed pinhole MIBI images of the neck, MIBI-123I subtraction imaging, and MIBI single photon computed tomography (SPECT). Four experienced nuclear medicine physician, without knowledge of clinical or laboratory results or final diagnosis, reviewed seven different imaging variations in separate sessions. The imaging variations were early MIBI only (EARLY), delayed MIBI only (DELAYED), comparison of early and delayed MIBI (E-D), subtraction (SUB), all planar (PLANAR), SPECT only (SPECT), and all images (ALL). The location of the abnormal parathyroid glands was recorded and compared with the embryologic designation of the abnormal glands assigned at the time of surgery