Risk factors for Ahmed Glaucoma Valve (AGV) Failure in Glaucoma Patients

Background: To investigate the Risk factors for AGV ( Ahmed glaucoma valve) failure. Material and Methods: A retrospective review was conducted on the medical records of patients with varying causes of glaucoma who had undergone AGV implantation. The primary measure of success was the cumulative achievement of an intraocular pressure (IOP) between 5 and 21 mmHg, with a 20 % reduction from baseline, with or without medication to lower IOP. The secondary measures of success were the IOP levels and the number of medications used for glaucoma treatment. Results: The study enrolled a total of 120 participants, with an average age of 48.9 ± 19.6 years and an average follow-up period of 4.5 ± 1.4 years. The mean survival duration was 5.3 ± 0.5 years in patients with high pressure (HP), which was significantly shorter than the 6.4 ± 0.2 years in those without HP. The likelihood of surgical failure increased with higher baseline IOP, with an odds ratio of 1.07 (95 % confidence interval: 1.02-1.12). In a logistic regression model, neovascular glaucoma was the only factor significantly associated with the occurrence of HP, with an odds ratio of 3.14 (95 % confidence interval: 1.2-8.1). Conclusion :Neovascular glaucoma and a Higher Baseline IOP are risk factors for AGV failure

The Prediction of the Risk of Financial Bankruptcy Using Hybrid Model in Tehran Stock Exchange

Predicting the risk of financial bankruptcy is one of the most important issues in the field of companies’ financial decision. Accordingly, a variety of models that each is different in terms of predictor variables and techniques has been introduced so far. The use of the combination of accounting and market-driven variables in the model as input will have definitely a direct impact on the results and accuracy of forecasts. In this study, the prediction was accomplished by using a hybrid model (the use of accounting and market-driven variables) and neural networks technique of multi-layer perceptron model (MLP). The sample of research consists of 90 accepted companies in Tehran Stock Exchange (31 bankrupted companies in accordance with article Iran’s 141 trade laws and 59 non-bankrupted companies) during 2007-2014 period. The research results show that the hybrid model (combination of accounting and market-driven variables) using neural network technique has higher accuracy than each of the two accounting models and market-driven model in predicting the risk of financial bankruptcy. Likewise, the market-driven model is more accurate than accounting model

Evaluation of N-Nitrosamine Formation in Routine Potato Cooking

Background: Nitrosamine is amongst carcinogen chemical compounds, which can enter the human body through consumption of food. Potatoes are a root vegetable consumed by many people around the world, however their potential for nitrosamine formation during cooking processes needs to be considered for public health matters. Objectives: In this study we evaluated the effect of conventional potato cooking method on N-nitrosamine compound formation. Materials and Methods: The amounts of four nitrosamines, namely N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA), N-nitrosopiperidine (NPIP) and N-nitrosopyrrolidine (NPYR) were determined in four different potato-baking methods. Sixty potato samples were randomly collected from Hamadan city. Fried potato samples were roasted at 180°C and boiled potato samples were scalded at 120°C. Nitrosamine levels were measured using gas chromatography coupled with electronic ionization detector (GC-EID), and spectrophotometry was used for measuring nitrite. Results: Fried samples that were measured by the gas chromatography method had the highest average levels of nitrosamine compounds; NDMA, 5.09 ng kg-1, and NDEA, 8.66 ng kg-1. Low levels of nitrosamine compounds were associated with raw potatoes, in which no nitrosamine compound was detected. Based on the analysis of the potato samples by spectrophotometry, the highest levels of nitrite was found in raw potatoes with a mean of 2.43 mg kg-1 and the lowest levels of nitrite were detected in boiled potatoes with an average of 1.172 mg kg-1. Conclusions: Nitrosamine was formed with conventional potato baking methods with the most nitrosamine formation found on the surface fried samples. Nitrites amount in baked potatoes decreased. Generally, the amount of nitrosamine in baked potato samples was lower than acceptable limits. Keywords: Nitrosamines; Nitrites; Gas Chromatograph

The effect of physiologic dose of intravenous hydrocortisone in patients with refractory septic shock: a randomized control trial

Objective: Septic shock is a response to infection and tissue hypoperfusion which does not respond to fluid therapy and eventually leads to organ dysfunction. Aggressive treatment of a broad-spectrum antimicrobial and supportive measures are the cornerstones of successful treatment. In addition to the main treatment, there are adjunctive therapies. Steroids are one of the treatments which have been studied in the management of refractory septic shock. Despite numerous studies on the role of steroids in the mortality of severe sepsis and septic shock, still lots of controversies exist. These conflicts are often about the steroid dose and duration of administration. Methods: This was a prospective, randomized-controlled, two-group assignment study. Patients referred to Imam Reza (AS) hospital in Mashhad who had refractory septic shock criteria were randomly divided into two groups: 80 patients were included in each group. After obtaining the baseline cortisol level and cosyntropin test, one group was treated with intravenous hydrocortisone, and the other group was treated with placebo. The response to hydrocortisone, the return of shock duration, and mortality at 28 days were investigated. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 16. For the normally distributed variables, a t test was used for comparisons. Concerning qualitative variables, the chisquare test or Fisher exact test were applied accordingly. Results: The return of shock duration and mortality in intervention group patients was more than control group, but it was not statistically significant. Conclusion: Despite numerous studies in this field, there are various outcomes (mortality rate, rate of return of shock, time of return of shock). These differences can be attributed to high degree of heterogeneity. Perhaps considering the underlying disease and more differentiation could change the return of shock and mortality rate. Keywords: Hydrocortisone, Septic shock, Adrenal insufficiency, Cortiso

Antimicrobial Photodynamic Therapy: An Effective Alternative Approach to Control Bacterial Infections

Introduction: The purpose of this review was to evaluate the available literature for in vitro and in vivo effectiveness of antimicrobial Photodynamic therapy (aPDT) in the field of bacteriology.Methods: A review of the relevant articles carried out in PubMed and Scopus to determine the efficiency of aPDT used in the reduction of microbial infection. Thirty-one relevant documents retrieved from PubMed, Scopus by inserting “antimicrobial photodynamic therapy” and “bacterial infection” and “photodynamic therapy” keywords.Results: According to different results, aPDT can be used as an adjuvant for the treatment of infectious diseases. The use of photosensitizer methylene blue, toluidine blue O (TBO), indocyanine green with light diode laser centered at (630±10 nm) and (650±10 nm) wavelengths have been shown to have significant results for the treatment of infectious diseases and bactericidal propertiesConclusion: These findings suggest that, aPDT can be an efficient method in the treatment of localized and superficial infections

Comparison of physical and hydrodynamic properties of two Iranian commercial pomegranates

The aim of this study was to determine and compare several physical and hydrodynamic properties of two commercial pomegranate cultivars in Iran (Poost sefid and Malas-Yazd).  Values of geometric diameter (74.61-82.45 mm), volume (176-503 mm3), true density (970.25-1,028.30 kg/m3) and packing coefficient (0.48-0.55) showed statistically significant difference at the 1% level.  Besides, projected area and face surface area of cv. Poost sefid were 15 and 18 percent more than cv. Malas-Yazd, respectively (P0.05), respectively.  Further, buoyancy force levels of cv. Poost sefid (3.25 N) and cv. Malas-Yazd (2.41 N) had statistically significant difference at the level 5%.  The rupture force values of Iranian pomegranate varieties had significant differences at Y and Z-axes loading (

LXMERT Model Compression for Visual Question Answering

Large-scale pretrained models such as LXMERT are becoming popular for learning cross-modal representations on text-image pairs for vision-language tasks. According to the lottery ticket hypothesis, NLP and computer vision models contain smaller subnetworks capable of being trained in isolation to full performance. In this paper, we combine these observations to evaluate whether such trainable subnetworks exist in LXMERT when fine-tuned on the VQA task. In addition, we perform a model size cost-benefit analysis by investigating how much pruning can be done without significant loss in accuracy. Our experiment results demonstrate that LXMERT can be effectively pruned by 40%-60% in size with 3% loss in accuracy.Comment: To appear in The Fourth Annual West Coast NLP (WeCNLP) Summi

The Efficacy of the Ketogenic Diet in Improving Seizures and EEG Findings in Patients with Refractory Infantile Spasms

Abstract ObjectivesInfantile spasm is an epileptic disorder of early childhood and infancy and is characterized by cluster epileptic spasms and abnormal EEG findings. Developmental delay is prevalent. Some studies haveindicated the significant effect of the Ketogenic Diet (KD) on intractable spasms in children who are unresponsive to first-line treatments. It has been used successfully as a first-line treatment withfewer side effects than ACTH.Materials & MethodsThis was an interventional study in which the effectiveness of KD over a six-month period was evaluated in patients with infantile spasms. Those who fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were willing touse the diet received free cans of the 4:1 ketogenic formula. The diet was prescribed based on the Johns Hopkins protocol in the outpatient setting. All patients used a full formula diet for one month. After a month, the patients were examined by a neurologist and a dietitian, and an EEG was obtained to compare pre- and post-KD findings. In order to compare pre- and post-KD seizures, the maximum number of seizures was multiplied by the longest duration of seizures ResultsTen patients were assessed for one month. Using the KD led to significant changes in seizures/clusters and EEG findings. Nine parents reported improvement in their children’s social interactionsafter using the KD. ConclusionBased on the findings of this study, the KD can control seizures in patients suffering from infantile spasms by reducing seizure frequency & duration and improving EEG finding

Evaluation of Beclin1 Effect on Apoptosis in Mouse Infected with Street Rabies Virus

Background: Apoptosis is a programmed cell death in which certain cellular components are packed into small membrane vacuoles by immune cells. Different strains of rabies virus (RABV) have their own biological features, but their effects on apoptosis have been little known. The aim of current research was to evaluate Beclin 1 effect on apoptosis in the mouse infected with the street rabies virus. Materials and Methods: Exogenous Beclin1 overexpressed by the pIRES2-EGFP-Beclin1 vector in the cortex of NMRI mice. To evaluate the apoptosis, TUNEL assay was done on brain tissues of the rabid mice. Results: TUNEL assay data showed that small apoptotic cells were seen in the four groups that received the vector alone or with the SRABV, but no significant changes were observed. There are no signs of apoptosis in mouse normal brain cells. Conclusion: It was previously proven that overexpression of exogenous Beclin1 could induce autophagy but this study showed that overexpression of Beclin 1 does not cause apoptosis in rabies-infected cells

Awareness and Attitudes toward the Safety of Motorcyclists: A Training Approach, 2016

Introduction: Due to the high level of vulnerability, motorcyclists are considered a priority for research and intervention. Therefore, this study aimed to improve the society’s awareness and attitudes toward motorcycle traffic safety. Method: This study involved a randomized clinical trial conducted in 2016 among trauma patients and their caregivers in Shahid Rajaee hospital, Shiraz. Block randomization was used to divided the patients into study and control groups. Data collection was done using a researcher-made questionnaire called “Awareness & Attitude associated with Motorcycle Traffic Safety”; the questionnaire was found reliable with a Cronbach’s alpha of 78%. We made use of a pairwise T-test to make our intergroup comparisons; in cases of non-normal data, a non-parametric alternative was employed. The one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) wasused to study the inter-variable relationships. Results: Participants included 276 patients, 138 in each group. Generally, 72.7% of the population consisted of males and the rest were females. The participants had a mean age of 31.38±10.46 years. Our pairwise T-test in the case group revealed a significant difference in attitudes and awareness of the subjects before and after the intervention (P<0.001). The oneway ANOVA indicated the influence of marital status on the level of awareness after training. Furthermore, training had the highest impact on the age-group of 47-62 years old. Conclusion: Training would lead to increased awareness and improved attitudes in society toward motorcycle traffic safety, and would indirectly be an effective step toward improvement of traffic culture and reduction of road traffic accidents (RTA)