139 research outputs found
Middle East crisis from death of the gen. Qassem Soleimani to the shooting down of the Ukrainian plane
No full textThis article presents the events that took place in the Middle East in January 2020, which more or less directly resulted from the American assassination of General Qassem Soleimani and the downing of a Ukrainian airline plane by the Iranian armed forces in a maximally synthetic way. The article presents a number of comments by journalists dealing with the subject, as well as statements by politicians and scientific experts, which, according to the author, are able to paint a picture of past events on many different levels
A three-dimensional inverse finite-element method applied to experimental eddy-current imaging data.
No full textEddy-current techniques can be used to create electrical conductivity mapping of an object. The eddy-current imaging system in this paper is a magnetic induction tomography (MIT) system. MIT images the electrical conductivity of the target based on impedance measurements from pairs of excitation and detection coils. The inverse problem here is ill-posed and nonlinear. Current state-of-the-art image reconstruction methods in MIT are generally based on linear algorithms. In this paper, a regularized Gauss-Newton scheme has been implemented based on an edge finite-element forward solver and an efficient formula for the Jacobian matrix. Applications of Tikhonov and total variation regularization have been studied. Results are presented from experimental data collected from a newly developed MIT system. The paper also presents further progress in using an MIT system for molten metal flow visualization in continuous casting by applying the proposed algorithm in a real experiment in a continuous casting pilot plant of Corus RD&T, Teesside Technology Centre
ADRS due to COVID-19 in midterm pregnancy: successful management with plasma transfusion and corticosteroids
No full textBACKGROUND: Management of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in pregnant women infected with new severe acute respiratory syndrome Corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV(2)) is a challenging clinical task. CASE: A 30- year-old woman (gravid 3, parity 2) presented at her 21 and 2/7 weeks gestation (pre pregnancy BMI: 36.1 kg/m(2)), with ARDS caused by SARS-CoV(2) infection. She received lopinavir/ritonavir and azithromycin as well as early methyl prednisolone therapy. Given the persistent hypoxemia despite oxygen therapy via non rebreather face mask (FiO(2):80), convalescent plasma transfusion was administered that led to a mild clinical improvement as well as decrease in inflammatory markers. Growth of her fetus assessed by obstetric sonography was normal during hospital stay. CONCLUSION: Judicious corticosteroid therapy along with convalescent plasma transfusion to suppress viremia and cytokine storm can lead to favorable outcome in the pregnant women with ARDS caused by SARS-CoV(2) infection without superimposed bacterial infection
Enhancing IVF Success Rates: The Impact of Telemedicine and AI
No full textThis is an Editorial and does not have an abstract. Please download the PDF or view the article in HTML
Self-management education for hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia as major risk factors for cardiovascular disease: Insights from stakeholders' experiences and expectations
No full textSoleimani N, Ebrahimi F, Mirzaei M. Self-management education for hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia as major risk factors for cardiovascular disease: Insights from stakeholders' experiences and expectations. PLoS ONE . 2024;19(9): e0310961.BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of premature death, with hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia as major risk factors. Effective self-management (SM) is crucial for controlling these conditions and improving quality of life. This study examines stakeholders' experiences and expectations of SM education to enhance program development.; METHODS: This study employed a qualitative grounded theory approach to explore the perspectives of three stakeholder groups: 19 patients with hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and dyslipidemia, 11 primary healthcare providers, and five provincial health policymakers and managers. Data were collected via semi-structured patient interviews and focus group discussions(FGDs) with health professionals. Coding and analysis were conducted separately using Corbin and Strauss principles with ATLAS. ti version 9.0 software.; RESULTS: Most patients were women (68%) aged 50-60 years (37%), with education levels from illiterate to master's degree; 32% had completed primary school. Most were housewives (52%), and 12 had multiple chronic diseases. Healthcare providers included six community health workers and five primary care physicians, with average experience of 12 and 19 years, respectively. Health policymakers and managers averaged 25 years of experience. Patient interviews and FGDs resulted in 12 and 13 subthemes, respectively, with five subthemes common to both sources. These subthemes were grouped into broader main themes, including "effective content design," "effective presentation and delivery," "characteristics and conditions of involved parties," and "educational needs," collectively reflect the central concept of "effective self-management education".; CONCLUSION: Although the core concept and its main themes were evident and consistent across stakeholder groups, significant variations in subthemes from each stakeholder emerged. This underscores the importance of considering diverse viewpoints and highlights that, while overarching concepts may seem uniform, exploring the details of stakeholder perspectives is crucial for understanding their nuanced opinions. Effective education should integrate these insights, focusing on tailored communication, interactivity, and active monitoring. Copyright: © 2024 Soleimani et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
Pulmonary thromboembolism with multiple right heart mural thrombus in a patient with COVID-19
No full textHypercoagulation state during COVID-19 disease has been confirmed recently. Herein we present a 40-year-old hypertensive otherwise healthy male who was admitted with complaints of myalgia, low grade fever, dry cough, leg swelling, and exacerbating dyspnea in the last two weeks with history of recent recovery from COVID-19 in his wife. At presentation, he was afebrile with stable vital signs (blood pressure: 114/81 mmHg, respiratory rate: 16/minute, heart rate: 75 bpm) despite hypoxemia (SPaO2 of 74% on room air, 94% on nasal O2 therapy). Coarse crackles in the lung fields, symmetric pitting leg edema and elevated jugular venous pressure were noticed in clinical exam with low voltage QRS, extreme right axis deviation and negative T waves in the precordial leads in electrocardiogram (Fig. 1a). Chest CT scan demonstrated pericardial and pleural effusions, filling defects in right atrium (RA) and right ventricle (RV) cavities, peripheral based ground glass opacities (compatible with COVID involvement), wedge-shaped pulmonary infarct and pulmonary arterial branch thrombosis (Fig. 1b, supplementary video1). No deep vein thrombosis was found. Transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography showed preserved left ventricular systolic function, flattened interventricular septum, moderate right atrium (RA) and right ventricular (RV) enlargement and dysfunction, plethoric inferior vena cava with two large mural thrombi (4 cm × 2.5 cm) in RA appendage and RV apex (Fig. 1c, d, supplementary videos 2, 3)
Comments on "Evaluation of Interleukin-21, 23 and 27 mRNA Expression and Protein Level in Liver Transplant Patients"
No full textI read with great interest a recent article by Afshari
et al entitled “Evaluation of Interleukin-21, 23 and 27
mRNA Expression and Protein Level in Liver
Transplant Patients”.1 In this study, Afshari and her
colleagues have been studied the expression of three
cytokines including IL-21, IL-23 and IL-27 at mRNA
transcription and protein levels in order to investigation
the role of these cytokines in liver transplantation
rejects. They evaluated the expression of these
cytokines after 1st, 4th and 7th day of posttransplantation in 51 patients with acute rejection and
54 patients with non-acute rejection. Because they
assessed the gene expression of interleukin-21, 23 and
27 in the same subjects in three time intervals posttransplantation in each group, so their measurements
are completely dependent. As stated in the statistical
analysis section and shown in the figure 1 of the article,
the authors used k independent (Kruskal-Wallis H test)
and Mann-Whitney tests to compare the mean level of
cytokine gene expression between three time-points of
measurement. Kruskal-Wallis H test is used to
determine statistically significant differences between
two or more independent groups on a continuous
variable with non-parametric distribution.2 So, after
investigation the normality of numerical data, the
Corresponding Author: Mohammad Soleimani, MD:
School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences,
Isfahan, Iran. Tel: (+98 912) 0045 810, E-mail:
[email protected]
authors must use repeated measures analysis of
variance (ANOVA) or Friedman test to compare the
means of interleukin-21, 23 and 27 gene expression
between three time-points of measurement (i.e., 1, 4
and 7 days after liver transplantation).
As another comment, the authors did not compare
and show the mean protein level of interleukin-21, 23
and 27 between three time intervals after liver
transplantation in each group like is shown in figure 1
of the article about interleukin-21, 23 and 27 gene
expressions.
Taken to gather, analysis of differences of
interleukin-21, 23 and 27 gene and protein expressions
between three time points after liver transplantation
with repeated measures ANOVA or Friedman test is
strongly suggest to improve the results of this valuable
study
Severe COVID-19 in a Postpartum Woman: A Three-Month Challenge with Convalescent Plasma and Corticosteroid
No full textIntroduction: Management of seriously ill patients infected with new corona virus (SARS-CoV-2) is challenging especially in pregnancy and postpartum state. Case presentation: A 39- year-old primigravid critically ill woman with acute respiratory distress (ARDS) due to confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection underwent urgent cesarean delivery (a healthy neonate) at 33 weeks and 5/7 of pregnancy. She received treatments including hydroxychloroquine, antivirals and broad-spectrum antibiotics while she was intubated for mechanical ventilation. In spite of all treatments, she developed a critical course after the mild primary clinical improvement. Convalescent plasma transfusion as a rescue treatment was performed and led to an improvement in her general condition and delayed gradual recovery in respiratory function after two months. Conclusion: The promising role of early treatment with convalescent plasma transfusion in seriously ill pregnant women infected with SARS-CoV-2, needs to be elucidated by further randomized studies. 
Evaluation of miR-34a Effect on CCND1 mRNA Level and Sensitization of Breast Cancer Cell Lines to Paclitaxel
No full text- …
