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Abstract Background Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women worldwide, and it is associated with significant number of metabolic and reproductive risk factors. Despite the overlap between hormonal and metabolic factors involved in the development of PCOS and many known risk factors for breast cancer, the relationship between PCOS and breast cancer, the most common type of cancer among women, remains unknown. This study was conducted with the aim of determining the relationship between breast cancer and clinical symptoms of PCOS. Methods This case-control study was conducted on 285 women with breast cancer and 285 healthy women referred to three centers in Tehran in 2023. Both the case and control groups were matched in terms of age and body mass index. The data collection tool in this study was a researcher-made data registration form, that was completed in person by qualified individuals. A history of PCOS was identified according to the Rotterdam criteria. Women aged 15–49 years who were able to read and write were included in the study. The case group had a history of breast cancer, while the control group did not. Participants who did not consent to having their data use in the analysis were excluded. Data was analyzed using an independent t-test, a chi-square test and a logistic regression model. Results The mean age of the participants in the case group was 43.05 ± 4.92 years and that of the control group was 42.78 ± 5.06 years. The two groups showed a statistically significant difference in terms of PCOS history (p

Abstract Background Pregnancy is a critical time for women, making them more susceptible to infectious diseases like COVID-19. This study aims to determine the immunogenicity of COVID-19 in pregnant women who have been infected compared to those who have received the inactive COVID-19 vaccine. Materials and methods In this retrospective cohort study, pregnant women who received the inactivated COVID-19 vaccine (Sinopharm) and those with a history of COVID-19 infection during pregnancy were studied. Participants who had experienced stillbirth, received different COVID-19 vaccines, or had intrauterine fetal death were excluded from the study. Overall, the study included 140 participants. The participants were divided into two groups of 70 participants - pregnant women who received the Sinopharm vaccine and pregnant women who had COVID-19 infection during pregnancy. Before delivery, blood samples were collected from all mothers to evaluate the maternal immunoglobulin G (IgG) level. Blood samples were also taken from the baby’s umbilical cord during delivery to measure the newborn’s IgG level. Additionally, blood samples were collected from babies whose mothers showed signs of acute infection to measure their IgM levels and evaluate vertical transmission. Findings The study found a significant relationship between the mean level of maternal IgG and umbilical cord IgG within the groups (P

Abstract Background Type 2 diabetes is associated with increased inflammation and a risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD). This study aimed to assess the impact of exercise with ursolic acid (UA) on some protein levels in the brains of aged male Wistar rats with diet-induced Type 2. We investigated the effects of exercise with UA on protein levels in rats with type 2 diabetes. The rats were divided into seven groups and underwent different exercise or UA protocols. Results The results showed that type 2 diabetes led to increased levels of tau, IL-1β, TNF-α, and c-Jun, and decreased levels of IRS2 protein. Endurance training improved tau, Jun, and IRS2 levels. UA reduced increased levels of tau, IL-1β, TNF-α, and c-Jun, and increased IRS2 levels. Combining the supplement with training led to further improvements. Conclusions These findings suggest that combining training and UA partially reversed the inflammation in the Type 2 diabetes model. However, further research is needed to understand how UA consumption with or without training protocols can reduce the risk of AD in type 2 diabetes.

Abstract Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a particularly lethal breast cancer (BC) subtype driven by cancer stem cells (CSCs) and an immunosuppressive microenvironment. Our study reveals that nucleus accumbens associated protein 1 (NAC1), a member of the BTB/POZ gene family, plays a crucial role in TNBC by maintaining tumor stemness and influencing myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs). High NAC1 expression correlates with worse TNBC prognosis. NAC1 knockdown reduced CSC markers and tumor cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Additionally, NAC1 affects oncogenic pathways such as the CD44-JAK1-STAT3 axis and immunosuppressive signals (TGFβ, IL-6). Intriguingly, the impact of NAC1 on tumor growth varies with the host immune status, showing diminished tumorigenicity in natural killer (NK) cell-competent mice but increased tumorigenicity in NK cell-deficient ones. This highlights the important role of the host immune system in TNBC progression. In addition, high NAC1 level in MDSCs also supports TNBC stemness. Together, this study implies NAC1 as a promising therapeutic target able to simultaneously eradicate CSCs and mitigate immune evasion.

The aim of the present study was to compare the social support in parents of children with neurodevelopmental disorders. The sample consisted of 166 parents of children with neurodevelopmental disorders in Isfahan, Iran. Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Survey (MOS-SSS, Sherbourne and Stewart 1991) was used for measuring the availability of social support. The collected data were analyzed using two-way analysis of variance and multivariate analysis of variance. The results showed that there was no significant difference in social support scores between parents of children with neurodevelopmental disorders based on the type of child disorder and the gender of the parents (p > 0.05). The results also showed that there was no significant difference in the subscale of emotional/informational support, tangible support, and affectionate support between parents of children with neurodevelopmental disorders (p > 0.05) but in the one subscale (i.e. social interaction) parents of children with intellectual disability was significantly higher than parents of children with autism spectrum disorder and parents of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Moreover, The results showed that there was no significant difference in subscales of social support between parents of children with neurodevelopmental disorders based on the gender of the parents (p > 0.05). Therefore, according to the research findings, the design and implementation of support and educational programs for parents of children with neurodevelopmental disorders, especially in parents of children with ASD and ADHD, and to increase social interactions are essential and should be a priority in the programs of organizations providing psychological services.

Abstract Background Self-management is the key to control breast cancer related lymphedema (BCRL). This study aimed to develop a mobile application with nurse support for lymphedema self-management and evaluate its usability from the patients’ points of view. Methods This applied developmental study was conducted on 87 women in a lymphedema clinic, Shiraz, Iran, May-November 2023. The study included three phases: development, distribution of the application and usability evaluation. In the development phase, the researchers developed application using the Java programming language. In distribution phase, the application was installed on the participants’ phones. For usability evaluation, 87 patients completed the user satisfaction questionnaire after three months access to the application. Data was analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistics using SPSS software 22. P-value less than 0.05 was considered significant. Results We designed a self-management application specific to BCRL that included ten unique modules mainly related to patient education, interaction with peers and nurse, self-management support, and settings. The application mean usability score was 7.72 ± 1.08. The usability dimensions of “screen” (8.06 ± 1.02) and “terminology and systems information” (7.29 ± 1.62) received the highest and lowest mean scores, respectively. Conclusion The application has new features to meet more patients’ needs compared to what other existing lymphedema self-management applications already have addressed. The findings showed that the participants rated the application usability at the “good” level that is similar to some previous studies. Considering the unique nature of the application and its favorable usability, we recommend its use for BCRL self-management.

Background: Colorectal cancer ranks as the third most prevalent cancer type globally. In addition to surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy, being the foremost efficacious and all-encompassing treatment modalities for cancer, pelvic chemoradiotherapy is known to precipitate adverse effects, notably intestinal inflammation. This study delves into assessing the impact of curcumin on the prophylaxis and amelioration of chemoradiotherapy-induced enterocolitis in colorectal cancer patients. Method: This randomized study encompassed 44 colorectal cancer patients undergoing standard pelvic chemoradiotherapy, allocated to either curcumin treatment (22 patients) or placebo (22 patients) groups. Patients were administered oral curcumin capsules at a daily dosage of 500 mg commencing one week before baseline and extending throughout the standard treatment regimen, adhering to the same schedule. Subsequently, patients were subjected to biweekly evaluations encompassing demographics, clinical characteristics, and manifestations of enterocolitis, with statistical analysis employing Mann-Whitney and chi-square tests. A significance threshold of P < 0.05 was employed in the study for statistical significance. Results: The incidence of complications exhibited no statistically significant disparity between the two cohorts across diverse disease stages. Furthermore, there were no discernible discrepancies in the manifestation of varying grades of intestinal complications between the curcumin-treated and placebo groups. Predominantly, both groups experienced the most pronounced side-effects during the initial two weeks of treatment. Additionally, there was no statistically significant distinction in the prevalence of adverse drug reactions between the two groups, with figures standing at 31% versus 40% (P = 0.17). Conclusion: Even though 500 mg/day of curcumin over a six-week duration did not engender a statistically significant reduction in the adverse effects of chemoradiotherapy, it was well-tolerated and deemed safe in this patient cohort.

We develop a three-part approach to Verb Sense Disambiguation (VSD) in German. After considering a set of lexical resources and corpora, we arrive at a statistically motivated selection of a subset of verbs and their senses from GermaNet. This sub-inventory is then used to disambiguate the occurrences of the corresponding verbs in a corpus resulting from the union of TüBa-D/Z, Salsa, and E-VALBU. The corpus annotated in this way is called TGVCorp. It is used in the third part of the paper for training a classifier for VSD and for its comparative evaluation with a state-of-the-art approach in this research area, namely EWISER. Our simple classifier outperforms the transformer-based approach on the same data in both accuracy and speed in German but not in English and we discuss possible reasons.

Abstract Background Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is associated to sleep duration. It is crucial to identify factors that disrupt sleep regulation. The study aimed to assess the indirect effect of risk factors related to MetS severity through sleep duration by utilizing a structural equation model (SEM). Methods The study involving 3,935 adults from the baseline data of the Ravansar Non-Communicable Disease (RaNCD) cohort study. MetS severity scores were the outcome variables. SEM was employed to explore the relationships, utilizing IBM SPSS and AMOS version 23. Results The mean MetS severity score was higher in women compared to men (0.25 vs. 0.16, P = 0.003). In men, socioeconomic status (SES) has a positive direct effect (β = 0.048) and a negative indirect effect (β=-0.006) on MetS severity. Increased physical activity is directly (β=-0.036) and indirectly (β=-0.093) associated with reducing MetS severity. Nap duration is directly linked to an increase (β = 0.072) but has an indirect effect (β=-0.008) in decreasing MetS severity. In women, SES has a direct (β=-0.020) and indirect (β=-0.001) inverse relationship with MetS severity. Increased physical activity is directly (β=-0.048) and indirectly (β=-0.036) associated with decreasing MetS severity in women. Nap duration is directly associated with an increase in MetS severity (β=-0.018) but indirectly contributes to its reduction (β=-0.002). Sleep duration not only directly affects MetS severity but is also influenced by age, SES, physical activity, obesity and nap duration. Conclusion Physical activity, SES, and nap duration directly and indirectly effect the MetS severity. Sleep duration was recognized as a mediating variable that supports the indirect effects.

Abstract Background One of the most important population challenges during the last three decades has been the significant decrease in the fertility rate worldwide. Since the validity and reliability of the Male and Female Fertility Knowledge Inventories (MFKI and FFKI) have not been determined in Iran, we conducted this study to assess psychometric characteristics of the MFKI and FFKI in couples in Tabriz and Urmia, Iran. Methods This was a cross-sectional study, as the first part (quantitative phase) of a sequential explanatory mixed-method study. The current study was done on 1200 participants (600 women with their husbands) living in the northwestern region of Iran, between January 2023 and September 2023. The psychometric properties of the Persian version of the tool (MFKI and FFKI) were performed in 5 stages, including translation process, content validity, face validity, construct validity and reliability assesment. Results In this study, the CVI, CVR, and impact scores of the MFKI tool were equal to 0.90, 0.88, 3.26 and CVI, CVR, and Impact scores of the FFKI tool were respectively equal to 0.95, 0.91 and 3.59, that it indicated a satisfactory level of content and face validity. Then, to check the construct validity, the results of the exploratory factor analysis of the MFKI tool on 13 items led to the identification of 3 factors, including Environment and reproductive health (ERH), Lifestyle factors (LSF) and Sperm quality (SQ), which explained 66% of the cumulative variance. The results of the exploratory factor analysis of the FFKI tool on 15 items led to the identification of 4 factors, including Reproductive health (RH), Lifestyle factors (LSF), Chance of conception (CHC) and Ovarian reserve and preservation (ORP), which explained 68% of the cumulative variance. Conclusions The findings of this study indicated that the Persian version of MFKI and FFKI has acceptable psychometric properties to measure the awareness of Iranian couples regarding fertility, which can be used as a screening tool for fertility knowledge by health care professionals and also as a reliable tool in research.

Abstract Monitoring methane emissions is crucial in mitigating climate change as it has a relatively short atmospheric lifetime of about 12 years and a significant radiative forcing impact. To measure the impact of methane-controlling policies and techniques, a deep understanding of methane emissions is of great importance. Remote sensing offers scalable approaches for monitoring methane emissions at various scales, from point-source high-resolution monitoring to regional and global estimates. The TROPOMI satellite instrument provides daily XCH4 data globally, offering the opportunity to monitor methane at a moderate spatial resolution with an acceptable level of sensitivity. To infer emissions from TROPOMI data, we used the prior emission estimates from global and national inventories and the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model to simulate atmospheric methane along with actual observations of TROPOMI. In this study, methane emissions from Toronto, Montreal, New York, Los Angeles, Houston, and Mexico City have been estimated using the analytical solution of Bayesian inversion using the cloud-based Integrated Methane Inversion (IMI) framework. Using the result from ensemble inversions, and city boundaries, the average total emissions were as follows: Toronto 230.52 Gg a−1, Montreal 111.54 Gg a−1, New York 144.38 Gg a−1, Los Angeles 207.03 Gg a−1, Houston 650.16 Gg a−1, and Mexico City 280.81 Gg a−1. The resulting gridded scale factors ranged from 0.22 to 6.2, implying methane prior emission underestimations in most of these cities. As such, this study underscores the key role of remote sensing in accurately assessing urban methane emissions, informing essential climate mitigation efforts.

Background: Treatment response in High-grade Glioma (HGG) patients changes based on their genetic and biological characteristics. MiRNAs, as important regulators of drug and radiation resistance, and the Apparent Diffusion Coefficients (ADC) value of tumor can be used as a prognostic predictor for glioma.Objective: This study aimed to identify some of the pre-treatment individual patient features for predicting the treatment response in HGG patients.Material and Methods: In this prospective study, 18 HGG patients, who were candidated for chemo-radiation treatment, participated after informed consent of the patients. The investigated features were the expression level of miR-222 and miR-205 in plasma, the ADC value of tumor, Body Mass Index (BMI), and age. Treatment response was assessed, and Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) regression was used to obtain a model to predict the treatment response. Mann-Whitney U test was also applied to select the variables with a significant relationship with patients’ treatment response.Results: The LASSO coefficients for miR-205, miR-222, tumor’s mean ADC value, BMI, and age were 3.611, -1.683, 2.468, -0.184, and -0.024, respectively. Mann-Whitney U test results showed miR-205 and tumor’s mean ADC significantly related to treatment response (P-value˂0.05). Conclusion: The miR-205 expression level of the patient in plasma and tumor’s mean ADC value has the potential for prognostic predictors in HGG.

Objective: To assess the performance of the current foundation models in histopathology. Patients and Methods: The assessment involves a comprehensive evaluation of some foundation models, such as the CLIP derivatives, namely PLIP and BiomedCLIP, which were fine-tuned on data scraped from the internet. The comparison is performed against simpler and nonfoundational histology models that are trained on well-curated data, eg, the cancer genome atlas. All models are evaluated on 8 datasets, 4 of which are internal histology datasets collected and curated at Mayo Clinic, and 4 well-known public datasets: PANDA, BRACS, CAMELYON16, and DigestPath. Evaluation metrics include accuracy and macro-averaged F1 score, using a majority vote among top-k (eg, MV@5) at the whole slide image/patch levels. Moreover, all models are evaluated in classification settings. This detailed analysis allows for a deep understanding of each model’s performance across various datasets. Results: In various evaluation tasks, domain-specific (and nonfoundational) models like DinoSSLPath and KimiaNet outperform general-purpose foundation models. The DinoSSLPath excels in whole slide image-level retrieval for internal colorectal cancer and liver datasets with MV@5 macro-averaged F1 scores of 63% and 74%, respectively. The KimiaNet leads in breast and skin cancer tasks with respective Top-1 and MV@5 scores of 56% and 70%, respectively and scores 75% on the public CAMELYON16 dataset. Similar trends are observed in patch-level metrics, highlighting the advantage of using specialized datasets like the cancer genome atlas for histopathological analysis. Conclusion: To enable effective vision-language foundation models in biomedicine, high-quality, multi-modal medical datasets are essential. These datasets serve as the substrate for training models capable of translating research into clinical practice. Of importance, the alignment (correspondence) between textual and visual data—often diagnostic—is critical and requires validation by domain experts. Thus, advancing foundation models in this field necessitates collaborative efforts in data curation and validation.

Prompt detection of renal involvement through evaluation of microalbuminuria can both reduce mortality in diabetic patients and significantly reduce the cost of managing these patients. To this end, Micral test strips have been used as a screeing tool in this group of patients though not yet in our country. The present study aimed to evaluate this test and to abtain a simpler and less expensive method of screening for microlbuminuria. In this study, 200 type 1 and type 2 diabetic patients referred to the Endocrine & Metabolims Research Center of the Tehran university of medical Sciences were evaluated for microabluminuria. Entry criteria consisted of a history of recognized diabetes longer than or equal to 5 years. Exclusion criteria included development of urinary tract infection, pyrexia, and a history of uncontrolled hypertension. Every patient first completed a data questionnaire and then provided a first-void urine sample, which was tested for microalbuminuria with a urinary protein test strip (an Iranian-made Uri-Yab and a German-made BM-test-GP strip) and the sulphasalicylic acid chemical method. Negative samples were tested further using Micral test strips (based on gold-lable immunochromatograpy) and the microalbumin measurement kit manufactured by Dako. Germany (based on turbidometry using a Hitachi autoanalyser). 126 women and 74 men were recruited into the study. The average age of the sample was 40.7 years (range=16 to 63 years); 17 patients had IDDM and 173, NIDDM. Average duration of recognized diabetes was 8.75 years. Based on results obtained using chemical analysis and foreign-made tests strips, 46 patients (23%) had macroalbuminuria, though the detection rate using Iranian-made test strips was 18 percent (36 patients). A further 16.2 percent of patients had microalbuminuria, with an average urinary albumin excertion of 28.7 mg per liter. Compared with colorimetric methos, the Micral test yieled a sensitivity of 93% and a specificity of 87 percenct. Furthermore, the negative predictive value of the Micral test was 0.92, compared with a figure of 0.94 for a combination of the sulphasalicylic acid method and the BM-Test-GP strips. The results we obtained for the Micral test as a screening tool concurs with the results of numerous other studies. Diurnal variations in albumin excretion dicatate the performance of screening tests on three different occasions at specified regular intervals. Given the relatively high cost of Micral strips, it seems that a simpler and less expensive method should be devised for our country. We observed a higher negative predictive value for the combined suluphasalicylic+BM-Test-GP method than for the Micral strips. The cost of the latter combination comes to 2,000 Rials (@0.25 USS) , which is easily affordable for most patients; the methodology falls comfortably within the experits of medical diagnostic laboratories in Iran. More detailed studies, using 24-

Objectives: In Iran’s accreditation program, the patient safety dimension is one of the main dimensions, holding the highest weight among the accreditation criteria. The purpose of this study was to identify the patient safety culture (PSC) in a tertiary referral hospital. Methods: The current study was conducted between March and April 2021 in a tertiary hospital in Iran. The sample size was 628 participants, selected through simple random sampling. The hospital survey on patient safety culture (HSOPSC) was used to assess provider and staff perceptions about patient safety issues, medical errors, and event reporting. The survey included 32 items that measure 10 dimensions of PSC. Normality tests, along with non-parametric Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests, were used to examine the relationship between PSC and demographic variables using SPSS 22 software. Results: Based on current findings, among the 10 dimensions of PSC, teamwork and organizational learning-continuous improvement received the highest scores (83% positive response), which were higher than these variables in the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) data. Conversely, staffing and work pace, as well as hospital management support for patient safety, received the lowest positive scores (43% and 55% positive response, respectively), which were lower than these variables in the AHRQ data. There was a significant positive relationship between dimensions of PSC and older age, female gender, staff with longer working experience, and longer work hours per week (P < 0.05). Conclusions: The majority of our participants felt that patient safety needs to be enhanced. Based on the findings of this study, it is recommended to emphasize the dimensions of “staffing and work pace” and “hospital management support for patient safety” more in the accreditation criteria to strengthen these dimensions in hospitals. Additionally, we have introduced a comprehensive guide for using an international tool to measure PSC, which hospitals can use to succeed in annual accreditation.

The use of nanotechnology can reduce the challenges facing the use of herbal compounds in the fight against infectious agents. The aim of the present research is to produce nano niosomes containing Bunium persicum essential oil with high efficiency in the temperature and acidity of the living environment of Trichomonas vaginalis parasite and to investigate its toxicity on this parasite. First, Essential oil compounds were identified using GC-Mass. Then six niosomal formulations were made using Tween 40, 60, and 80 and cholesterol by thin film method. Three formulations that have more suitable particle size, zeta potential, and essential oil release and encapsulation efficiency were selected by MTT method to investigate the toxicity on HFF (Human foreskin fibroblasts) cell line. The formulation with lower toxicity was optimized using DSPE-mPEG(2000) polymer. Encapsulation efficiency, particle size, zeta potential, release of essential oil (in temperature and acidity similar to Trichomonas vaginalis living environment), particle morphology and toxicity of optimal formulation (on HFF and Trichomonas vaginalis) were investigated. At the end, the stability of the optimized nanoparticles was studied for 120 days. 12 chemical compounds including γ-Terpinene, Cuminic aldehyde and Para-cymene were identified Bunium persicum essential oil. The optimized formulation has a particle size of 159.73 nm, a zeta potential of −25.1 mV and an encapsulation efficiency of 63.11 %, which has a slow and continuous release at the similar temperature and acidity as Trichomonas vaginalis. Niosomal nanoparticles have a spherical shape and a smooth surface and have little toxicity on the HFF cell line. Also, the toxicity of nano niosomes containing essential oil on Trichomonas vaginalis is higher than free essential oil in all concentrations. The optimized niosomal nanoparticles have good stability because their physicochemical properties have changed very little during 120 days. In conclusion optimized Niosomal formulation containing Bunium persicum essential oil compared to free essential oil can have a higher efficiency to deal with Trichomonas parasite in laboratory conditions.

Escherichia coli is one of the most important pathogens causing bloodstream infections (BSIs) throughout the world. We sought to characterize the phylogroup classification, major human sequence types (STs), antimicrobial resistance, presence of selected antimicrobial resistance and virulence genes, and genetic diversity of E. coli isolated from patients with BSIs at the University Hospital in Iran. A total of 100 E. coli bloodstream isolates were collected between December 2020 and June 2022. This study used PCR to investigate phylogenetic groups (A, B1, B2, C, D, E, and F), four major STs (ST69, ST73, ST95, and ST131), antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), virulence-associated genes (VAGs), and pathogenicity islands (PAIs). Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was done by disk diffusion method. Genetic diversity was analyzed by repetitive element sequence-based PCR (REP-PCR). The phylogenetic group B2 (32%) predominated, followed by phylogenetic group E (25%). ST131 (28%) was the most prevalent ST and the majority of these isolates (89.3%) were of serotype O25b. Most of E. coli isolates (75%) were categorized as multidrug resistant (MDR) with high rates of resistance (>55%) to ampicillin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, ciprofloxacin, cefazolin, and ceftriaxone. The most frequent ARGs were blaTEM (66%), sul1 (57%), and sul2 (51%). The most prevalent VAGs and PAIs were fimH (type 1 fimbriae adhesin; 85%), aer (iucC) (aerobactin; 79%), traT (serum resistance; 77%), iutA (aerobactin siderophore receptor; 69%), and PAI IV536 (75%), respectively. The highest rate of ARGs and VAGs was observed in the ST131 isolates. REP-PCR analysis showed high diversity among the studied isolates. The high prevalence of MDR septicemic E. coli with different types of ARGs, VAGs and genotypes is an extremely worrisome sign of BSIs treatment and poses a major threat for hospitalized patients. Active surveillance, stringent prescribing policies, increasing the awareness of ARGs among clinicians and re-defining the infection control measures are essential to curb the dissemination of these strains.

An increasing availability of remote sensing data in the era of geo big-data makes producing well-represented, reliable training data to be more challenging and requires an excessive amount of human labor. In addition, the rapid increase in graphics processing unit processing power has enabled the development of advanced deep learning algorithms, which achieve impressive results in the field of satellite image processing. However, they require a huge and comprehensive training dataset to avoid overfitting problems and to represent a generalizable model. Thus, moving toward the development of nonsupervised deep learning (NSDL) models in different remote sensing applications is an inevitable need. To provide an initial response to that need, this article performs a comprehensive review and systematic meta-analysis of recently published research articles focusing on the applications of NSDL for remote sensing data processing. In order to identify future research directions and formulate recommendations, we extract trends and highlight interesting approaches from this large body of literature. Consequently, current challenges, prospects, and recommendations are also discussed to uncover the trend. According to the results, there is a sharp increasing trend in the applicability of NSDL methods during these few years particularly, with the advent of new deep architectures, such as adversarial, graph, and transformer models. As a result, this review article discusses different remote sensing data processing applications and challenges that can be addressed using NSDL approaches.

Background and purpose: An increase in the production of free radicals is observed after intense exercise and poor diet. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of 8 weeks of resistance training and consumption of flaxseed oil on some antioxidant biomarkers, catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD), in women with type 2 diabetes. Materials and methods: The study was conducted as a clinical trial with 60 women aged 50 to 65 years with type 2 diabetes and comprised four groups: supplement (n=15), exercise (n=15), supplement + exercise (n=15), and control (n=15). The intervention group performed exercise at 40% of 1-RMthree times a week for 8 weeks. The supplement users also took two capsules of 200 mg flaxseed oil daily. To measure the CAT and SOD indicators, 5 cc were taken from the brachial vein in two phases, before and after the test. To analyze the data, a dependent t-test and a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were performed in SPSS version 25 software at a significance level of 0.05. Results: According to the results, a significant increase in CAT variables was observed after 8 weeks of intervention in the resistance training group (P= 0.04), the flaxseed oil group (P= 0.00), and the resistance training and flaxseed oil group (P= 0.02). However, no significant difference was found in the control group (P= 0.32). In addition, a significant increase in the SOD variable was observed in the resistance training group (P= 0.03), the flaxseed oil group (P= 0.00), and the resistance training + flaxseed oil group (P= 0.00); while no significant difference was observed in the control group (P= 0.67). Furthermore, the highest increase in SOD and CAT variables was observed in the flaxseed oil consumption group. Conclusion: It appears that the consumption of flaxseed oil, moderate-intensity resistance exercise, and the simultaneous use of both have positive effects on increasing the capacity of the antioxidant agents SOD and CAT. (Clinical Trials Registry Number: IRCT20221120056548N3)

Background: The goal of this study was to assess the impact of deep local hyperthermia on oxygen (O2) saturation and infected volumes of lungs on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cancer patients. Materials and Methods: Fifty patients who suffered from COVID-19 (according to their computed tomography (CT) images and laboratory findings) were included in this study. The mentioned patients were divided into two groups (I and II) with thirty-five participants. The infected volumes and COVID-19 infectious locations were diagnosed using their CT images, and deep local hyperthermia was performed for group II. After three consequent days, the SPO2, D-dimer, and infected volumes of lung parenchyma of both groups were compared to each other. Results: For group II, the mean ± SD (standard deviation) of O2 pressure saturation (SPO2) before/after hyperthermia was 85 ± 0.0/91.3 ± 0.5, respectively, while for group I, the mean ± SD of SPO2 before/after 3 days was 85 ± 0.0/88 ± 0.2, respectively. For infected volumes of lungs before/after hyperthermia in group II, the mean ± SD was 31.36 ± 3.13/4 ± 1.53, respectively. Nonetheless, the infected volumes of lungs for group I were 34.21 ± 3.41/10 ± 2.12 before/after three days. For group II, the amount of D-dimer before/after hyperthermia was 3200 ± 106/510 ± 121, respectively. However, for group I, it was 3100/740 before/after the consequent three days, respectively. Conclusion: Deep local lung hyperthermia for COVID-19 cancer patients is suggested, as a result of its positive impacts on SPO2 improvement and also D-dimer serum level, C-reactive protein, and Lactate dehydrogenaze reduction for the mentioned patients.

Cognitive Diagnostic Models are a class of multidimensional categorical latent trait models which provide diagnostic information by reporting examinees' mastery profiles on a set of predefined skills. CDMs provide fine grained information concerning examinees' strengths and weaknesses in the subskills and subprocesses which constitute a larger domain of knowledge. Such detailed information helps in classroom teaching, designing remedial courses, and material development. In this study, we analysed a high stakes English as a foreign language reading comprehension test using GDINA model. The skill profiles of the test takers, the class probabilities, attribute mastery probabilities, attribute difficulties, and model data fit at test and item level were examined. Implications of the study for reading comprehension research and CDM applications are discussed.

Abstract Background: There are 2 measures of anogenital distance (AGD) in men and women. AGD has been used as an indicator of fetal androgen dysfunction and an adverse outcome in adulthood. Some studies have shown the association of AGD as a predictor in the diagnosis and prognosis of diseases and disorders. Objective: To systematically summarize the latest evidence for presenting AGD as a new approach for prognosis and early diagnosis of diseases. Materials and Methods: A systematic review of the available literature was performed using Medline via PubMed, Scopus, and ISI Web of Knowledge up to July 2021, using search terms “anogenital distance" OR “anogenital index" OR “ano genital distance" OR “ano genital index". Language restrictions were not imposed. Results: After reviewing the retrieved articles, 47 unique studies were included in this systematic review. Different outcomes, including endometriosis, prostate cancer, polycystic ovary syndrome, pelvic organ prolapse, hypospadias, cryptorchidism, fertility and semen parameters, maternal and birth development, and ovarian and gynecological-related disorders, have been studied in the included evidence. A negative association was observed between AGD and endometriosis and hypospadias and a positive association between AGD and prostate cancer, polycystic ovary syndrome, male fetal gender, and fertility parameters. Conclusion: Using quantitative indicators such as AGD may be a useful clinical tool for the diagnosis of diseases. Although many studies have shown an association between AGD and diseases, some factors, including different measurement methods, different measurement tools, age, and different definitions of AGD, can be involved in the variation of AGD.Key words: Genitalia, Prognosis, Early diagnosis, Reproductive health.

Necrotic enteritis, caused by avian-specific NetB toxin-producing strains of Clostridium perfringens type A, has gained worldwide concerns due to increased production losses and mortality in broilers, increased veterinarian costs, and the chance of getting contamination in products for human consumption. Prevention strategies include supplementing diet or drinking water with conventional therapeutic antibiotic growth promoters and anti-coccidial drugs.. There are various strategies to prevent the disease, including antibiotic growth promoters. Antibiotic growth promoters are antimicrobial agent that used for control of diseases such as necrotic enteritis. Other factor for prevention, anti-coccidial drugs that are taken orally. However, vaccination against toxin-producing C. perfringens type A via nano, toxoid, genetically modified, or other clostridial vaccines is a effective preventive against necrotic enteritis. This comprehensive review describes the recent advances in the development of NetB vaccines, other strategies to enhance immunization, their delivery systems in poultry against necrotic enteritis, and their pathogenesis. This review also exlains future immunization strategies like breeder hen vaccination, in ovo vaccination, and live (attenuated) vectors to be used in feed additives and other predisposing factors applicable in the field. All the vaccines discussed in the manuscript have shown their effectiveness against necrotic enteritis in poultry.