Stream water quality in the western regions of Iran

Stream water quality of a part of the four western mountainous regions of Iran: Lorastan, Kordestan, Hamadan and Kearmanshah, with a total area of 101.102´103 km2 was investigated. The chemistry ofmajor elements such as Ca, K, Na, Mg, Cl, HCO3, SO4 and alkalinity from hydrological basins of the regions was examined based upon samples from the relatively important basins. The difference inthese chemical elements of streams was verified on a region-by-region basis. Temporal changes of water quality in the stream water were examined using a seasonal classification of data. The resultsshowed that the dissolved load of about 70% of all water samples (at all basins during all seasons) was less than 500 mg/l. The same result can be concluded for seasonal variability of EC for the entire area. Itwas less than 0.550 ds/m for 68% of samples. The pH variation was from 5.5 to 9 with an average of 8.2. The highest and lowest values are from autumn and summer samples, respectively. In summer, thesodium adsorption ratio (SAR) value was maximal, and the agricultural activities cause an increasing on its normal (average annual) rate in the rivers. The results also indicated a very good relationship between the total anions and total cations, during all of seasons. There were no significant relationships between the area of the basin and the chemical element concentrations. These results have been used for the water resources management of the mountainous regions of Iran and themodelling of water quality predication

Motor Responses and Weight Gaining in Neonates through Use of Two Methods of Earmuff and Receiving Silence in NICU

Background and Aims. With technological advances in NICUs the survival rate of preterm infants has been increased. Because NICU environment is a potent source of stress for infants, its modification is an essential measure to decrease infants’ morbidity. The purposes of this study were to compare the effects of wearing earmuff and provision silence for infants on their motor responses and gaining weight. Methods. In a randomized clinical trial 96 preterm infants were enrolled. Their motor responses were evaluated for two consecutive days in the morning and afternoon shifts, in the groups of earmuff and silence, and at similar time points in the control group. Also their weight was measured at days 1 and 10. Results. In the two intervention groups, means of motor responses in infants were significantly less than in the control group, and weight gain of infants was more than the control group. However weight gain was more pronounced in the earmuff group. Conclusion. Both interventions led to decreasing number of motor responses and improvement of weight gain pattern, but these effects were more pronounced in earmuff group; thus because implementation of silence in NICUs has many barriers, it is suggested to use earmuff for preterm infants in these units. This trial obtained IRCT registration number IRCT2012092010812N2

The effect of the eye movement desensitization and reprocessing intervention on anxiety and depression among patients undergoing hemodialysis: A randomized controlled trial

Author's accepted version (postprint).This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Wiley in Perspectives in psychiatric care on 29/04/2019.Available online: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ppc.12389acceptedVersio

CAR-NK Cell: A New Paradigm in Tumor Immunotherapy

The tumor microenvironment (TME) is greatly multifaceted and immune escape is an imperative attribute of tumors fostering tumor progression and metastasis. Based on reports, the restricted achievement attained by T cell immunotherapy reflects the prominence of emerging other innovative immunotherapeutics, in particular, natural killer (NK) cells-based treatments. Human NK cells act as the foremost innate immune effector cells against tumors and are vastly heterogeneous in the TME. Currently, there exists a rapidly evolving interest in the progress of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-engineered NK cells for tumor immunotherapy. CAR-NK cells superiorities over CAR-T cells in terms of better safety (e.g., absence or minimal cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), engaging various mechanisms for stimulating cytotoxic function, and high feasibility for ‘off-the-shelf’ manufacturing. These effector cells could be modified to target various antigens, improve proliferation and persistence in vivo, upturn infiltration into tumors, and defeat resistant TME, which in turn, result in a desired anti-tumor response. More importantly, CAR-NK cells represent antigen receptors against tumor-associated antigens (TAAs), thereby redirecting the effector NK cells and supporting tumor-related immunosurveillance. In the current review, we focus on recent progress in the therapeutic competence of CAR-NK cells in solid tumors and offer a concise summary of the present hurdles affecting therapeutic outcomes of CAR-NK cell-based tumor immunotherapies

Strongly increasing heat extremes in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in the 21st century

The ensemble results of CMIP5 climate models that applied the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios have been used to investigate climate change and temperature extremes in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Uncertainty evaluation of climate projections indicates good model agreement for temperature but much less for precipitation. Results imply that climate warming in the MENA is strongest in summer while elsewhere it is typically stronger in winter. The summertime warming extends the thermal low at the surface from South Asia across the Middle East over North Africa, as the hot desert climate intensifies and becomes more extreme. Observations and model calculations of the recent past consistently show increasing heat extremes, which are projected to accelerate in future. The number of warm days and nights may increase sharply. On average in the MENA, the maximum temperature during the hottest days in the recent past was about 43 A degrees C, which could increase to about 46 A degrees C by the middle of the century and reach almost 50 A degrees C by the end of the century, the latter according to the RCP8.5 (business-as-usual) scenario. This will have important consequences for human health and society

Rôle des échanges nappes-fossés dans le fonctionnement hydrologique d'un bassin versant en milieu méditerranéen cultivé

*INRA UMR Science du Sol de Montpellier Diffusion du document : INRA UMR Science du Sol de Montpellier Diplôme : Dr. Ing

A comparison between the effects of environmental and behavioral interventions on sleep cycle of preterm infants in nicu

Background: Due to the importance of sleep in brain development of infants, this study was designed to compare the effects of environmental and behavioral Interventions on sleep cycle of pretenn infants in NICU. Methods: In this prospective crossover clinical trial, 40 preterm infants with fetal age of 32 to 36 weeks hospitalized in NICU were selected. Infants were randomly divided into the two groups of environmental-behavioral intervention and behavioral-environmental intervention, based on the order of the performed interventions. The study included three courses of control, first intervention and second intervention each held for 2 hours. Sleep states were assessed by Prechtl sleeping and waking assessment tool. Results: Mean of quiet sleep time in three different courses showed significant differences and in behavioral intervention course was more in comparison to the two other courses (p<0.05). Mean of active sleep time in the behavioral course was significantly less than that in other courses. But, there was no significant difference between the control and environmental Conclusion: Both behavioral and environmental interventions can increase total time of sleep and quiet sleep but behavioral intervention has more effect on quiet sleep. Therefore, infants sleep in NICU can be improved by behavioral interventions. © 2019, Kerman University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

The effects of wastewater reuse on potato growth properties under greenhouse lysimeteric condition

In this study, raw and treated wastewaters were reused for potato cultivation in order to verify the effect of wastewater on crop yield, crop’s heavy metals’ concentration as well as some major traits of potato. To this regard, a completely randomized test was designed with five water treatments and three replications. The watering were as follows: raw wastewater (T1), treated wastewater (T2), a combination of 50 % raw wastewater and 50 % fresh water (T3), a combination of 50 % treated wastewater and 50 % fresh water (T4), and fresh water (T5). The experiments were run during October 2009–June 2010 in the greenhouse of Bu-Ali Sina University. The results show that the effects of treatments were significant on the length and number of stems per plant (p < 0.05). The number of nodes and weight of tubers, crop yield and heavy metal (cadmium, nickel and lead) concentration in shoots and tubers were also significant (p < 0.01). The results indicated that the highest length of stem (55.44 cm) was obtained in T2 which had no significant differences from that of T1. The maximum and minimum tuber weights and crop yield were obtained in T1 and T5, respectively. Based on crop yield rate, the watering ranked as follows: T1 > T3 > T2 > T4 > T5. The maximum and minimum heavy metal values were observed in T1 and T5, respectively. Based on the cadmium, nickel and lead accumulations in shoots and tubers (except cadmium in shoots), the watering treatments ranked as: T1 > T3 > T2 > T4 > T5

Improving daily rainfall extremes simulation using the generalized Pareto distribution: a case study in Western Iran

Prediction of the occurrence or non-occurrence of daily rainfall plays a significant role in agricultural planning and water resource management projects. In this study, gamma distribution function (GDF), kernel, and exponential (EXP) distributions were coupled (piecewise) with a generalized Pareto distribution. Thus, the gamma-generalized Pareto (GGP), kernel-generalized Pareto (KGP), and exponential-generalized Pareto (EGP) models were used. The aim of the present study was to introduce new methods to modify the simulated generation of extreme rainfall amounts of rainy seasons based on the preserved spatial correlation. The best approach was identified using the normalized root mean square error (NRMSE) criterion. For this purpose, the 30-yr daily rainfall datasets of 21 synoptic weather stations located in different climates of West Iran were analyzed. The first, second, and third-order Markov chain (MC) models were used to describe rainfall time series frequencies. The best MC model order was detected using the Akaike information criterion and Bayesian information criterion. Based on the best identified MC model order, the best piecewise distribution models, and the Wilks approach, rainfall events were modeled with regard to the spatial correlation among the study stations. The performance of the Wilks approach was verified using the coefficient of determination. The daily rainfall simulation resulted in a good agreement between the observed and the generated rainfall data. Hence, the proposed approach is capable of helping water resource managers in different contexts of agricultural planning.</jats:p