The effect of climate variability on wheat in Iran

In this study, we investigated the impact of temperature variability on wheat phenology in Iran. Temperature is the most appropriate climate variable affecting wheat production wheat in cultivation under irrigation in Iran. To that aim, an effective and potentially scalable statistical downscaling method is developed for temperature and growing degree days (GDD) of wheat. Statistical downscaling quantitatively establishes statistical links between the large-scale reanalysis or climate model and regional climate data. GDD is the atmospheric energy that a plant utilizes to grow over the phenological phases until the harvesting stage. The GDD values are calculated during the growth period from the phenological dates and the daily mean temperature data of observations and reanalysis. The underlying database in downscaling comprises the ERA-40 reanalysis for the global scale and observations of local daily temperature and annual GDD of wheat at 16 synoptic stations for the period 1961-2001 for the regional scale. For the quantitative analysis of the statistical downscaling, we used the linear regression model (LR) and multiple regression model (MR). The LR is implemented using the ERA-40 fingerprints (FP) of local variability by squared correlation coefficients between the variable at ERA-40 grid points and each station. The MR technique is performed to relate the large-scale information at the neighboring grid points to the stations data. Extending the usual downscaling, we implement a weather generator (WG) providing realizations of the local temperatures and GDD by adding Gaussian random noise with expectation zero and the variance between the downscaled values and the observations. ERA-40 reanalysis well represents the local daily temperature and the annual GDD. From the analysis of 2m temperature, FPs are more localized in warm seasons than cold seasons. FP statistical downscaling seems to perform best for annual GDD and it is particularly beneficial for the annual GDD. Whereas, the MR calculated robust results for daily mean temperature time series. The quality of the WGs is assessed along with verification score such as the continuous ranked probability score, CRPS. The local temperature time series through WGs are more realistic and well represented than the deterministic downscaling. As a next step, the probabilistic wheat model is developed. It represents the probabilistic relations between the phenological and climate parameters. The basic idea of the model is to interpret a survival function which is based on the normal distribution, on a time scale which is defined by lifetime or growth duration for wheat. The probabilistic phenological model is adjusted by the survival analysis (SA) considering the risk in interpreting the maturity time of wheat. SA is a statistical method to study the occurrence and timing of event which here is the ripening time of wheat from the random variable of ripening dates. In summary, we believe that the probabilistic phenological model have the potential to reduce the vulnerability of agricultural production system and can increase the food security in the region

A comparative study of luteal estradiol pre-treatment in GnRH antagonist protocols and in micro dose flare protocols for poor-responding patients

Purpose This study aims to verify if luteal estradiol pretreatment improves IVF/ICSI outcomes in a GnRH antagonist protocol as compared with a micro dose GnRH agonist protocol in poor-responding patients. Methods A total of 116 IVF/ICSI cycles were included in this prospective randomized single blind clinical trial. The selected women were randomly assigned to receive an estradiol pre-treatment in a GnRH antagonist protocol (daily oral Estradiol Valerate 4 mg preceding the IVF cycle from the 21st day until the first day of the next cycle) or in oral contraceptive pill micro dose GnRH agonist protocol. Results The patients in the luteal estradiol protocol required more days of stimulation (10.9 ± 1.6 vs. 10.2 ± 1.8) and a greater gonadotropin requirement (3,247.8 ± 634.6 vs. 2,994.8 ± 611 IU), yet similar numbers of oocytes were retrieved and fertilized. There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of the implantation rates (9.8 vs. 7.9 %) and the clinical pregnancy rates per transfer (16.3 vs. 15.6 %). Conclusion This study demonstrates that the use of estradiol during a preceding luteal phase in a GnRH antagonist protocol can provide similar IVF outcomes when compared to a micro dose GnRH agonist protoco

Identifying External Cross-references using Natural Language Processing (NLP)

[Context and motivation] Software engineers build systems that need to be compliant with relevant regulations. These regulations are stated in authoritative documents from which regulatory requirements need to be elicited. Project contract contains cross-references to these regulatory requirements in external documents. [Problem] Exploring and identifying the regulatory requirements in voluminous textual data is enormously time consuming, and hence costly, and error-prone in sizable software projects. [Principal idea and novelty] We use Natural Language Processing (NLP), Pattern Recognition and Web Scrapping techniques for automatically extracting external cross-references from contractual requirements and prepare a map for representing related external cross-references to each contractual requirement. This map is also automatically extended to the world-wide web using previously identified references that are not located in local resources. The novel aspects in our approach involve: (i) a taxonomy of semantic cues for identifying cross-references, (ii) a taxonomy of grammatical structures for supporting various combinations of word roles in a sentence, (iii) APA standards for validating cross-references, and (iv) third party access for unavailable resources. [Research Contribution] The key research contribution is a tool implementing the mentioned techniques for identifying cross-references in contractual documents and related regulatory documents and the web. The tool produces high-level and detailed views of cross-references amongst documents that can be used by various stakeholders for project management, requirements elicitation, testing, and other purposes. We anticipate that this would save an enormous amount of time and effort needed to do this task manually in contractual projects. [Conclusion] The output cross-references produced by the tool suggests a precision of 99%, and recall of 87% from contractual requirements. Further work is identified

The efficacy of recombinant versus urinary HCG in ART outcome

Background: Human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) has been used as a replacement for the mid-cycle luteinizing hormone (LH) surge for several years. The recent arrival of recombinant DNA technology has made recombinant HCG (rHCG) accessible. Objective: To assess efficacy of rHCG compared to urinary HCG (uHCG) for triggering of ovulation and induction of final oocyte maturation in assisted reproductive cycles. Materials and Methods: 200 patients who were candidate for ICSI were randomly divided in two groups. In group I (rHCG), patients received 250μg of rHCG for final oocyte maturation, and in group II (uHCG) the patients received 10000 IU of uHCG. Measured outcomes were number of retrieved oocyte and mature oocyte, maturation rate of oocyte, fertilization rate and clinical pregnancy rate. Results: The rates of oocyte maturity were similar in both groups. Fertilization rate was similar in two groups (58.58% in rHCG group versus 60.58% in uHCG group p=0.666). The clinical pregnancy rate per cycle was similar in both group 34.0% in rHCG group versus 39% in uHCG group (p=0.310). Conclusion: We demonstrated that rHCG is as effective as uHCG, when it is used for final oocyte maturation in ICSI cycles. The numbers of retrieved oocyte and maturation rates were similar in both groups; also fertilization and clinical pregnancy rates were similar

CXC Ligand 5 cytokine serum level in women with polycystic ovary syndrome and normal body mass index: A case-control study

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disease and associated with insulin resistance. CXC Ligand 5 (CXCL5) is a new cytokine which is secreted from white adipose tissue during obesity and by blocking insulin signaling pathway inhibits the activity of insulin and promotes insulin resistance. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess serum level of CXCL5 in PCOS women with normal body mass index. Materials and Methods: In this case-control study, 30 PCOS women with normal body mass index as the case group and 30 non-PCOS women as the controls were enrolled. Serum levels of CXCL5, insulin and other hormones factors related with PCOS were measured by ELISA method, also the biochemical parameters were measured by autoanalyzer. Results: Significant increases in serum insulin concentration, homeostasis model assessments of insulin resistance, luteinizing hormone, luteinizing hormone/folliclestimulating hormone, fasting blood sugar, testosterone, and prolactin were observed in the case group compared to the controls. were in the serum level of CXCL5, cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, high-density lipoproteincholesterol, dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate, creatinine, and homeostasis model assessment of beta cell function between these two groups. Conclusion: In this study, no significant change was observed in serum concentrations of CXCL5 in PCOS women with normal BMI

Comparison the Effect of Letrozole Versus Medroxy Progesterone Acetate on Premenopausal Patients With Endometrial Hyperplasia: An Randomized clinical trial

Objective: The assessing the effect of letrozole and medroxyprogesterone acetate on women with simple endometrial hyperplasia without atypia in reproductive age. Material and Methods: Eighty patients of Abolfazle clinic in Bushehr with abnormal uterine bleeding and simple endometrial hyperplasia enrolled in this study. The patients were randomized in 2 groups: group A included 40 patients who received 10 mg medroxyprogesterone acetate for 10 days in each month during 3 months and group B included 40 patient that received 2.5 mg letrozole for 3 months. Serial transvaginal sonography and estradiol were checked basically and repeated after 3 months of treatment. Main outcome measures were endometrial thickness and estradiol level in serum. Results: In 2 groups A & B, there were no significant differences in the base variables. The level of estradiol in groups A and B before treatment was similar in the 2 groups. Endometrial thickness in groups A and B was not statistically significant. The difference between these 2 groups from the endometrial thickness reduction viewpoint, is not significant (P value = 0.445). The level of decline estradiol in serum in the groups A&B was significant, Conclusion: Letrozole is an acceptable drug for treatment of simple endometrial hyperplasia especially in the patients who did not tolerate medroxyprogesterone

A study on the cultural challenges facing Iranian organizations

One of the Iran’s most important issues in recent years has been management, which developments and shortcomings were pointed out by the compassionate and hardworking authorities in their speeches and public/private meetings. Undoubtedly, each country’s development and improvement majorly owes to the success gained by its management. In fact, it owes to what management pays attention to and gives rewards for it. The strongest cultural index is often organizational. There is a positive correlation between desired values of organizational culture and employees’ behavior. Therefore, governmental organizations can promote their employers performance by promoting organizational culture components such as impulsiveness and competition spirit, maturity, encourage employers to be creative, risk takers, and organizing employees’ activities around group working. This is a descriptive-analytic study which examines organizational culture and management challenges. The result of the study revealed that organizational culture examination acts as a data gathering tool and enable managers to 1) compare and contrast effective groups and departments, 2) prioritize issues and 3) identify employers’ perceptions and expectations in order to overcome challenges and gaps in the current situation. So, desired organizational culture has a significant impact of institutionalizing cooperative management system in organizations. Present study examines basic Iranian organization managers’ damages and challenges. It also, provides strategies to confront these. At the end, some suggestions are given to support organization culture and remove management challenges

Dosage Optimization for Letrozole Treatment in Clomiphene-Resistant Patients with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: A Prospective Interventional Study

Objective. Dose adjustment for induction of ovulation is one of the most important problem. Methods. In a prospective interventional study, 44 clomiphene-resistant infertile patients (113 cycles) were selected from the Abolfazl Infertility Clinic of Bushehr University of Medical Sciences. Letrozole was given orally in a dose of 2.5 mg, 5 mg, and 7.5 mg, respectively. If the patient displayed no response, the dosage was increased. Results. In this patients ovulation occurred in 50 cycles (44.24%), clinical pregnancy rate according to number of cycles was 23.89% (27 of 113 cycles) and according to the number of patients was 61.36% (27 of 44 patients). In the 2.5, 5, and 7.5 groups, follicles occurred in 22.9%, 42.1%, and 85.18% of cycles, and pregnancy rate was 14.58%, 28.94% and, 33.33%, respectively. Conclusions. It is better to administer Letrozole at a lower dosage to prevent complications and increase the dose based on sonographic results antral follicular count, anti-Müllerian hormone, LH/FSH, and estradiol

A study on the cultural challenges facing Iranian organizations

One of the Iran’s most important issues in recent years has been management, which developments and shortcomings were pointed out by the compassionate and hardworking authorities in their speeches and public/private meetings. Undoubtedly, each country’s development and improvement majorly owes to the success gained by its management. In fact, it owes to what management pays attention to and gives rewards for it. The strongest cultural index is often organizational. There is a positive correlation between desired values of organizational culture and employees’ behavior. Therefore, governmental organizations can promote their employers performance by promoting organizational culture components such as impulsiveness and competition spirit, maturity, encourage employers to be creative, risk takers, and organizing employees’ activities around group working. This is a descriptive-analytic study which examines organizational culture and management challenges. The result of the study revealed that organizational culture examination acts as a data gathering tool and enable managers to 1) compare and contrast effective groups and departments, 2) prioritize issues and 3) identify employers’ perceptions and expectations in order to overcome challenges and gaps in the current situation. So, desired organizational culture has a significant impact of institutionalizing cooperative management system in organizations. Present study examines basic Iranian organization managers’ damages and challenges. It also, provides strategies to confront these. At the end, some suggestions are given to support organization culture and remove management challenges

Comparison of 1 versus 3 Days Post-operative Catheterization after Anterior Colporrhaphy

With attention to the fact that after anterior colporrhaphy surgery and stitches on vaginal mucus, inserting urinary catheter is requested, according to scientific references and in order to prevent from urinary retention, it has been said that the catheter should be inserted for 3 days. But inserting the catheter leads to infections of bladder and pain. So, in the present study, we compared the removal of the catheter 24 hours versus 72 hours after the surgery, considering urinary infections, urinary retention, patient’s ease and hospitalization. Within two groups of 70 patients, which has been assimilated based on basic factors (devided into two groups accidently with excel table) urinary catheter fixed for 1 and 3 days. After that, patients were compared considering urinary retention, urinary infections and the rate of patient satisfaction. Urinary retention was 28.6% in the test group and 22.9% in a controlling group which was not statistically meaningful (P=0.78). Urinary infections were 22.9% in the test group and 34.3% in the controlling group (P=0.42) and the rate of patient’ssatisfactions was 57.1% in the test group and 40% in controlling group (P=0.23). The hospitalization period in the test group and in the control group was 2.91±0.61 and 3.94± 0.59 days respectively with a significant difference (P=0.001). The results showed that short time catheterization is more satisfactory in comparison long catheterizations