An agent-based DDM for high level architecture

The Data Distribution Management (DDM) service is one of the six services provided in the Runtime Infrastructure (RTI) of High Level Architecture (HLA). Its purpose is to perform data filtering and reduce irrelevant data communicated between federates. The two DDM schemes proposed for RTI, region based and grid based DDM, are oriented to send as little irrelevant data to subscribers as possible, but only manage to filter part of this information and some irrelevant data is still being communicated. Previously (G. Tan et al., 2000), we employed intelligent agents to perform data filtering in HLA, implemented an agent based DDM in RTI (ARTI) and compared it with the other two filtering mechanisms. The paper reports on additional experiments, results and analysis using two scenarios: the AWACS sensing aircraft simulation and the air traffic control simulation scenario. Experimental results show that compared with other mechanisms, the agent based approach communicates only relevant data and minimizes network communication, and is also comparable in terms of time efficiency. Some guidelines on when the agent based scheme can be used are also give

Herpes Simplex virus meningitis in children in South East of Caspian Sea, Iran

Background: Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is a member of Herpesviridae and a leading cause of human viral diseases. Meningitis occurs as a complication of HSV-1 or HSV-2 primary infection. Objectives: We aimed to evaluate HSV meningitis in children in Gorgan province, Iran. Patients and Methods: Forty-five cerebrospinal fluid samples were taken from children referred with meningitis symptoms. Samples with negative bacterial culture results were tested for viral, biochemical and cytological assays. DNA extraction and PCR were performed. Results: HSV-1 detected in 4 (8.8%) samples without any HSV-2 infections. Cases with positive results had fever and CSF pleocytosis. Vomiting, headache and higher count of WBC were observed in 3, 2 and 3 cases respectively. The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) glucose and protein levels were normal and 3 cases showed positive C-reactive protein (CRP) results. Also erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) was higher than normal in all positive cases. Conclusions: Distribution of HSV types in children with meningitis in our area predominantly was type 1 compared with type 2, which has been reported more in other area. © 2014, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences; Published by Kowsar Corp

Prevalence of human papillomavirus genotypes in women with normal and abnormal cervical cytology in Iran

Introduction: HPV infection has a prime etiologic role in development and progression of cervical cancer, one of the most frequent forms of cancer among women in developing countries. This study was designed to determine the most prevalent HPV genotypes in women with normal and abnormal cervical cytology in Iran. Materials and Methods: Samples from134 patients, including 127 who attended gynecology clinics and 7 with solid cervical tumors were used. All 127 patients underwent routine Pap tests for cytological evaluation and at the same visit a sample of cervical epithelial cells was obtained by scraping the cervix osteum. In each case HPV infection was primarily evaluated by PCR using GP 5/6 primers and then subtyping was performed in proved infected samples with specific primers for HPV 16, 18, 31, 33, 11 and 6. After cytological evaluation, 50 patients with abnormal Pap tests were categorized as the abnormal group and the remaining 77 patients as the normal group. Results: In the normal group, HPV infection was established in 10 cases (13% infection rate), while 30 HPV positive cases were discovered in the abnormal group (60% infected). The most prevalent genotypes among the infected samples were HPV 16 (76%), HPV18 (12.7%) and HPV11/6 (8.5%). Moreover, all 7 tumor samples were positive for HPV general primers of which, 5 samples were infected with HPV 16, two were co-infected with HPV16,18 and HPV16,31 genotypes and one was infected with HPV 18. Conclusions: Infection with HPV 16 was found to be significantly higher in abnormal group in comparison with normal group (42% vs. 11.6%, P value <0.005), likewise HPV18 genotypes were proved to be more prevalent in abnormal group (8% vs. 0%, P value <0.05). No significant relation between other HPV genotypes and pathologic cervical changes was obtained. According to our study high rates of infection with HPV genotypes in sexually active Iranian women makes molecular investigation for HPV16 and 18 very essential in clinical approaches to patients with proven dysplasia in their screening tests and also for those patients with borderline (i.e. ASCUS) or incongruous pathology reports. Larger studies are required to determine the most appropriate vaccine with highest protection in Iranian women

Quality of Working Life of Nurses and its Related Factors

Background: Nurses as the largest group of health care providers should enjoy a satisfactory quality of working life to be able to provide quality care to their patients. Therefore, attention should be paid to the nurses’ working life. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the quality of nurses' working life in Kashans' hospitals during 2012. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 200 nurses during 2012. The data-gathering instrument consisted of two parts. The first part consisted of questions on demographic information and the second part was the Walton’s quality of work life questionnaire. Data were analyzed using the SPSS software. For statistical analysis T test and one way ANOVA were used. Results: The results of the study showed that 60% of nurses reported that they had moderate level of quality of working life while 37.1% and 2% had undesirable and good quality of working life, respectively. Nurses with associate degrees reported a better quality of working life than others. A significant relationship was found between variables such as education level, work experience, and type of hospital with quality of working life score (P 0.05). Conclusions: Nurses' quality of work life was at the moderate level. As quality of work life has an important impact on attracting and retaining employees, it is necessary to pay more attention to the nurses’ quality of work life and its affecting factors

Existence of multiple nontrivial solutions for semilinear elliptic problems

AbstractThe aim of this paper is to prove the existence of multiple nontrivial solutions to a semilinear elliptic problem at resonance. The proofs used here are based on combining the Morse theory and the minimax methods

Antitumor effect of therapeutic HPV DNA vaccines with chitosan-based nanodelivery systems

Cervical cancer is the second-most-common cause of malignancies in women worldwide, and the oncogenic activity of the human papilloma virus types (HPV) E7 protein has a crucial role in anogenital tumors. In this study, we have designed a therapeutic vaccine based on chitosan nanodelivery systems to deliver HPV-16 E7 DNA vaccine, considered as a tumor specific antigen for immunotherapy of HPV-associated cervical cancer. We have developed a Nano-chitosan (NCS) as a carrier system for intramuscular administration using a recombinant DNA vaccine expressing HPV-16 E7 (NCS-DNA E7 vaccine). NCS were characterized in vitro for their gene transfection ability. Results: The transfection of CS-pEGFP NPs was efficient in CHO cells and the expression of green fluorescent proteins was well observed. In addition, NCS-DNA E7 vaccine induced the strongest E7-specific CD8+ T cell and interferon γ responses in C57BL/6 mice. Mice vaccinated with NCS-DNA E7 vaccine were able to generate potent protective and therapeutic antitumor effects against challenge with E7-expressing tumor cell line, TC-1. Conclusions: The strong therapeutic effect induced by the Chitosan-based nanodelivery suggest that nanoparticles may be an efficient carrier to improve the immunogenicity of DNA vaccination upon intramuscular administration and the platform could be further exploited as a potential cancer vaccine candidate in humans. © 2014 Tahamtan et al

Combining mammaglobin and carcinoembryonic mRNA markers for early detection of micrometastases from breast cancers - a molecular study of 59 patients

Introduction: As many as 30% of node-negative breast cancer patients relapse within five years, suggesting that current histological detection methods are inadequate for identifying metastatic disease. Detecting small number of cancer cells in the breast tissue or lymph node by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays using a combination of tissue and cancer specific markers might be very useful in the early detection or monitoring of the treatment. Mammaglobin is a member of the uteroglobin gene family and appears to be expressed only in breast tissue. Carcinoembryonic antigen has been the preferred molecular marker for detection of micro metastases in lymph nodes in almost all carcinomas. Materials and Methods: Samples were collected from randomly chosen breast cancer patients undergoing modified mastectomy or breast conserving surgery between September 2003 and July 2004. RT-PCR was applied to study the expression of MMG and CEA markers. Breast cancer micrometastases in axillary lymph nodes were also assessed. Results: The MMG marker was positive in 9/10 normal breast tissues, 3/ 3 breast fibroadenomas and 37/39 of breast carcinoma tissues, giving an overall sensitivity of 94%. The sensitivity was 80% for metastatic lymph node samples. On the other hand CEA showed 95% sensitivity for malignant breast tumors and 100% sensitivity for metastatic lymph nodes. Conclusions: RT-PCR using a combination of MMG and CEA markers is a powerful tool to complement current routine histopathology techniques for detection of breast cancer metastasis in axillary nodes

Cytotoxic activity of natural components soluble in methanol and diethyl ether of Dysidea pallescens from Hengam Island, Persian Gulf

Sponges are the most primitive of the multicellular, These organisms don’t have any mechanical defense system, so their early appearance in evolution has given them a lot of time for the development of advanced secondary metabolites as chemical defense system. Sponges have the potential to provide drugs from chemical components against diseases. In this investigation the sponge samples, which it is Dysidea pallescens, were collected at depth of 15- 20 meter, from locations on the coastline of Island Hengam in Persian Gulf of Iran. For identifying natural components, methanol and diethyl ether were used as extraction solvents, after removal of the solvents; the in vitro cytotoxic activity was identified. In vitro cytotoxicity screening, by XTT assay, against KB/ C152 and HUT-78/ C185 cell line, was conducted in this study in 1 - 500 µg/ml. IC50 for diethyl ether and methanol extract was 200 µg/ml in HUT-78, IC50 for diethyl ether extract was 325µg/ml and methanol extract 325µg/ml in KB

Effects of feeding pomegranate peel silage on feed intake and growth performance of Turkey bred sheep

The experiment was conducted to determine the effects of feeding pomegranate peel silage with beet top silage, wheat straw, alfalfa hay, barley, cotton seed cake and mineral plus on feed intake and growth performance of Turkey bred sheep in research farm of Agriculture Faculty, Kabul University. Twelve, two and half years old turkey bred sheep with (57.240 ± 5.28) kg average initial body weight were used in a completely randomized design (CRD). Animals were caged individually in 3 groups and 4 replications. Groups included in this experiment were, first group (Control) or T1 pomegranate peel silage (PPS) 0%, second group or T2 (5% PPS) or 106 g and third group or T3 (10% PPS) or 211 g. In addition, animals were fed with 633 g barley, 633 g alfalfa hay, 211 g cotton seed cake, 106 g beet top silage, 4 g mineral plus with the same amount and wheat straw for control group or T1, T2 and T3, 528 g, 422 g and 317 g in dry matter (DM) basis, respectively once in a day at around 8 am. According to statistical analysis, there was a highly significant difference between groups in feed intake and significant difference in growth performance of sheep. According to L.S.D test, it was shown that the second group (T2) was better in feed intake and growth performance compared to other groups. The FCR of T1, T2 and T3 were 12.43, 7.88 and 15.13, respectively and the FCE were 8.05, 12.69 and 6.61 in control group, T2 and T3, respectively. Results of this study suggest that feeding (5%) pomegranate peel silage with wheat straw, alfalfa hay, cotton seed cake, barley, beet top silage and mineral plus affects the feed intake and growth performance of Tukey sheep. Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. Tech. 10(2): 146-154, December 202