Serum lipid profiles in acute myocardial infarction patients in Gorgan

Acute myocardial infarction is one of the important reasons of death and unhealthiness in the world. The present study was undertaken to investigate the changes in serum lipids and lipoproteins in patients with acute myocardial infarction. This study was performed in the Biochemistry and Metabolic Disorder Research Center of Gorgan, Golestan province (South East of Caspian Sea), Iran in 2011.The levels of lipid profile were significantly changed in the acute myocardial infarction patients. acute myocardial infarction patients had significantly higher levels of total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, VLDL-cholesterol, TG, LDLcholesterol /HDL-cholesterol, total cholesterol /HDL-cholesterol, LDH, CPK and CPK-MB and lower level of HDL-cholesterol, as compared to the control subjects. We found a significant association of lipid profiles with acute myocardial infarction. Changing of dietary and social activity habits of people in this area can help to prevent future atherogenic damaging in AMI patients. Copyright © 2012, Scientific Publisher of India

Improved Irritative Voiding Symptoms 3 Years after Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy for Prostate Cancer

Background: Irritative voiding symptoms are common in elderly men and following prostate radiotherapy. The impact of hypofractionated treatment on irritative voiding symptoms has not been determined. This study sought to evaluate urgency, frequency and nocturia following SBRT for prostate cancer. Methods: Patients treated with SBRT monotherapy for localized prostate cancer from August 2007 to July 2011 at Georgetown University Hospital were included in this study. Treatment was delivered using the CyberKnife® with doses of 35 Gy-36.25 Gy in 5 fractions. Patient-reported urinary symptoms were assessed using the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) before treatment and at 1, 3, 6, 9, 12 months post-treatment and every 6 months thereafter.Results: 204 patients at a median age of 69 years received SBRT with a median follow-up of 4.8 years. Prior to treatment, 50.0% of patients reported moderate to severe lower urinary track symptoms and 17.7% felt that urinary frequency was a moderate to big problem. The mean prostate volume was 39 cc and 8% had prior procedures for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). A mean baseline IPSS-irritative score of 4.8 significantly increased to 6.5 at 1 month (p 8) at baseline, the mean IPSS-I decreased from a baseline score of 6.8 to 4.9 at three years post-SBRT. This decrease was both statistically (p < 0.0001) and clinically significant (MID = 1.45). Only 14.6% of patients felt that urinary frequency was a moderate to big problem at three years post-SBRT (p = 0.23).Conclusions: Treatment of prostate cance

Rare Collision Risk Estimation of Autonomous Vehicles with Multi-Agent Situation Awareness

This paper offers a formal framework for the rare collision risk estimation of autonomous vehicles (AVs) with multi-agent situation awareness, affected by different sources of noise in a complex dynamic environment. In our proposed setting, the situation awareness is considered for one of the ego vehicles by aggregating a range of diverse information gathered from other vehicles into a vector. We model AVs equipped with the situation awareness as general stochastic hybrid systems (GSHS) and assess the probability of collision in a lane-change scenario where two self-driving vehicles simultaneously intend to switch lanes into a shared one, while utilizing the time-to-collision measure for decision-making as required. Due to the substantial data requirements of simulation-based methods for the rare collision risk estimation, we leverage a multi-level importance splitting technique, known as interacting particle system-based estimation with fixed assignment splitting (IPS-FAS). This approach allows us to estimate the probability of a rare event by employing a group of interacting particles. Specifically, each particle embodies a system trajectory and engages with others through resampling and branching, focusing computational resources on trajectories with the highest probability of encountering the rare event. The effectiveness of our proposed approach is demonstrated through an extensive simulation of a lane-change scenario

A study on the antitumoral and differentiation effects of peganum harmala derivatives in combination with ATRA on leukaemic cells

Plant derived agents may exert a new approach to the treatment of leukaemia. The present study was an evaluation of proliferation, cytotoxicity and differentiation of harmine and harmaline on HL60 cells, alone or in combination with ATRA and G-CSF. Counting of cells, viability, MTT assay, morphology, NBT reduction and flow cytometry analysis were performed using CD11b and CD 14 monoclonal antibodies. The data showed that harmine and harmaline reduced proliferation in dose and time dependent manner. Optimal antiproliferative concentration of these agents was chosen. However, both agents in higher doses were cytotoxic. Combination of ATRA, G-CSF and each agent alone, particularly harmaline in optimal dose, resulted in partially additive decrease in cell proliferation. Cells treated with both harmaline and ATRA demonstrated some morphological changes and NBT positivity, but the extent of changes observed following treatment with harmaline was less than ATRA. Flow cytometric analysis showed that ATRA induced a neutrophilic differentiation, while harmaline led to a predominantly monocytic differentiation. Combination of harmine and harmaline with ATRA and G-CSF did not change the extent of differentiation, and the cells differentiated into the neutrophilic lineage. This shows that the direction of differentiation is dominantly determined by ATRA. These preliminary data implies a new approach in treatment of leukemia

The Correlation between Coach-Athlete Relationship and Motivation among Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Shah Alam Athletes

Link to publisher's homepage at http://www.mohejournal.com/index.php/moheThe purpose of this study was to determine the correlation between coach-athlete relationship and motivation among UiTM Shah Alam athletes. The participants in this study consisted of 260 athletes (130 male and 130 female) participating in different individual and team sports. The coach-athlete relationship was measured by using Coach-Athlete Relationship Questionnaire (CART-Q) meanwhile The Sport Motivation Scale-II (SMS-II) was used to measure the athletes’ motivation level. Pearson correlation test shows moderate linear correlation between coach-athlete relationship and motivation (r = .32, p = .00). Thus, this finding revealed that athletes who have a good quality of relationship with their coaches tend to be more motivated due to the power of coaches that can influence the athletes’ psychological well-being and physical performance

The Founder Effect? -FXIII Deficiency in Southeast Iran: A Molecular Study Report

Background: Congenital factor XIII (FXIII) deficiency is an extremely rare bleeding disorder (RBD) with different clinical coagulation disorders and great impacts on the perioperative patient outcome. Its prevalence in Southeast Iran is approximately 4,000 times higher than the worldwide prevalence, with Trp187Arg (c.559T&gt; C as the only causative mutation of FXIIID there. We investigated the founder effect of rs1742924, rs4960181, rs3778360 and rs4142290 using haplotype analysis to define the genetic phenomenon in this geographic region. Materials and Methods: In a case-control study, 10 patients with FXIIID and 10 healthy individuals were assessed. Initially, Trp187Arg (c.559T&gt; C) mutation was assessed in all study populations using a PCR-RFLP technique, then haplotype analysis was performed by assessing rs1742924, rs4960181, rs3778360 and rs4142290 polymorphisms. Data were analyzed using a two-proportion z-test. Results: All patients were homozygote for Trp187Arg (c.559T&gt;C), and this mutation was not observed in any form of homozygote or heterozygote in the control group. Polymorphisms in rs1742924, rs4960181, and rs377836 were homozygote (TT, GG, GG, respectively) and T, G, and G alleles distribution in cases and controls with significant difference (P&lt;0.001, P&lt;0.001, and P=0.01 respectively). Rs4142290 polymorphism showed no significant difference between patients and controls (P=0.3). Two types of haplotypes were observed in the case group, and haplotype number 1* was observed among 90% of them, while not observed in the control group. Conclusion: It seems that founder effectors of haplotype number *1 have more antiquity versus other haplotypes, and probably founder effect is responsible for this high prevalence of FXIIID in the southeast of Iran

Comparative Seismic Analysis of Irregular Shaped Multi Storied Structure With and Without Infill

When a particular structure subjected to seismic forces, it experiences lots of effect and changes in the structure due to its plan irregularity and vertical irregularity, width to height ratio, located at which seismic zone, and so many. In this article we are focusing on the plan irregularity of structure with and without the contribution of infill. An actual fifteenth storey residential apartment type structure has been taken for our study which was initially L-shaped in plan. Further regular shape and T-shape structure is modelled with same area of actual plan and checked the effect of irregularity on the seismic performance of structure with and without the contribution of infill. The properties of infill are taken as the property of brick infill and the infill is assigned diagonally to the frame. The Linear direct integration time history analysis, imperial valley ground motions is used and analysis is performed to calculated the required aspects of structures and this dynamic analysis  is performed by using programming software SAP 2000 and Etabs 16

In vitro effects of laser beam on antifungal activity of crude chloroform extract produce from leaves of concarups spp

The current study aimed to evaluate the effects of laser irradiation on the antifungal activity of the crude chloroform extract which was produced from leaves of Conocarpus species by which DMSO concentration (50 mg / ml) of this extract was exposed to laser radiation and other concentration was not exposed. Both concentrations were tested against the growth of Cryptococcus neoformans, Microsporum canis, Trichophyton mentagrophytes, and Rhodotorula mucilaginosa. Results showed that C. neoformans was sensitive only laser- exposed chloroform extract. While, the growth of other fungal species was unaffected either from non-laser - exposed chloroform extract or laser-exposed one. GC-MS analysis resulted in a content of the laser exposed crude chloroform extract form ⁅pyrazolo [1,5-a]pyrimidine-3-carbonitrile,2-methylthio-7-(2-pyridyl), ⁅benzaldehyde,2,4-bis(trimethylsil oxy),⁅3-hydroxymandelic acid, ethyl ester, di-TMS, and ⁅ pyrimidine-4,6(3H,5H)-dione, 2-butylthio-⁆ while non-laser exposed extract had ⁅ carbamic acid, methyl-, phenyl ester ⁆, ⁅ acetic acid, phenyl ester ⁆, ⁅ phenol ⁆, ⁅ pentadecanoic acid, methyl ester ⁆, ⁅ hexadecanoic acid, methyl ester ⁆, ⁅ methyl 8-methyl-nonanoate ⁆, ⁅ phytol, acetate ⁆, ⁅3,7,11,15-tetramethyl-2-hexadecen-1-ol ⁆, ⁅ citronellyl isobutyrate ⁆, ⁅ 5H-2a,4a,7a-triaza-7b-phosphacyclopent[cd]indene-7b-thione, 1,2,3,4,6,7-hexahydro-⁆, ⁅ olean-12-en-28-oic acid, 3-oxo-, methyl ester ⁆, ⁅4-amino-5,7-dichlorobenzofurazan ⁆, ⁅ phenol, 2,4-dichloro-6-nitro ⁆, ⁅ ⁆, ⁅ cyclobarbital ⁆, ⁅ benzo[h]quinoline, 2,4-dimethyl- ⁆, ⁅ pyrido[2,3-d]pyrimidine, 4-phenyl-⁆, ⁅ 1H-indole, 5-methyl-2-phenyl-⁆, and ⁅ carbonic acid, butyl octadecyl ester ⁆

Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene polymorphisms and risk of myeloid leukemia

Objective: 5,10-Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) involved in folate metabolism has an important role in a cell because folate availability is critical for DNA integrity. This research aims to evaluate, in a case-controlled study, if the polymorphisms in MTHFR gene contribute to altering susceptibility to leukemias of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Materials and Methods: Thirty-eight CML patients and 106 AML patients were diagnosed based on detection of BCR-ABL fusion gene by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunophenotyping by flow cytometry. A control group containing 97 healthy, age- and sex-matched individuals participated in this study. Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase C677T and A1298C polymorphisms in the patient and control groups were evaluated by using the polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technique. We assessed the relationship between the MTHFR genotype and the risk of hematologic malignancies by calculating the odds ratio (OR) with a 95 confidence interval (CI) using conditional logistic regression. Results: The frequencies of CT and TT genotypes (of 677 allele) and AC and CC genotypes (of 1298 allele) among AML patients did not show a statistically significant difference when compared with those of the controls. Also, among CML patients, the frequencies of above stated genotypes did not show statistically significant differences compared with those of the controls. Conclusions: The data indicate that because of no statistical difference in the frequencies of MTHFR gene polymorphisms (C677T and A1298C) in the patient and control groups, these polymorphisms do not contribute to an inherited genetic susceptibility of AML and CML

A study of the oxidation-induced conformational and functional changes in neuroserpin

Background: Neuroserpin, a member of the Serine Proteinase Inhibitor (Serpin) superfamily, is known to be a neuroprotective factor in the focal ischemic stroke followed by reducing the microglial activation. Neuroserpin is a protein rich of methionine residues that can scavenge the free radical species which may increase its neuroprotective effect. On the other hand, the oxidative modifications of the amino acid residues in neuroserpin may lead to changes in its conformation and function. In this study, it was investigated the changes in the conformation and the function of the oxidized neuroserpin. Methods: Neuroserpin expressed in E. coli, BL21 or M15 harboring plasmid pQE81L containing neuroserpin cDNA. Expressed neuroserpin was purified by resin sulfopropyl A50 precharged with 0.1 M NiSO4 under denaturing condition. Neuroserpin was oxidized under oxidative stress condition in the presence of different concentration of hydrogen peroxide. The oxidation of neuroserpin was conveniently detected by a carbonyl content assay using 2, 4 dinitrophenylhydrazine. Changes in tertiary structure of neuroserpin were monitored by spectrofluorimeter to study the alteration of intrinsic fluorescence and also fluorescence of 8-anilinonaphthalin-1 sulfonic acid (ANS) in native and oxidized form of neuroserpin. Results: Total expressed neuroserpin was estimated 4-5 mg/lit in 2XYT culture media. SDS-PAGE analysis of purified neuroserpin showed a single band which reflects the efficiency of the resin SP A50 for purification of the proteins containing 6xHis tag. Carbonyl content of oxidized and native neuroserpin was estimated 12.3 ± 0.3 and 0.45 ± 0.05, respectively. The inhibitory activity of oxidized neuroserpin decreased up to 40-60 as compared with native form of neuroserpin. Intrinsic fluorescence and also the emission of ANS bind to the hydrophobic region of the protein altered from 380 to 85 and in the case of ANS from 105 to 150 in oxidized and native form of neuroserpin, respectively. Conclusion: The decreased intrinsic fluorescence intensity, an enhancement in the fluorescence of ANS, and loss of the inhibitory activity up to 40-60 in neuroserpin, all suggested a conformational modification in the protein under the oxidative stress condition. Remaining the inhibitory activity of neuroserpin reflects that the protein tolerates the oxidative stress condition effectively