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Objective Infertility had an increasing trend between couples in Iran. Several factors such as lifestyle, physical activity, unhealthy dietary habits and stress are associated with production of ROS in seminal fluid. The aim of this study was to identify the role of dietary antioxidants and vitamins intake on semen quality parameters, among Iranian infertile men. Methods This cross-sectional study was performed on 400 newly diagnosed infertile men in Yazd Reproductive sciences Institute from July 2019 to December 2019. The presence of infertility was confirmed by an expert andrologist, based on WHO criteria. Dietary antioxidants and vitamins intake were assessed using a 168 items semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Results We found an association between semen volume and Alpha Carotene dietary intake, total motility and Beta Cryptoxanthin dietary intake, and sperm count with riboflavin intake (P = 0.03). Conclusions We concluded that dietary intake of Alpha Carotene, Beta Cryptoxanthin, and Riboflavin are related to sperm count, semen volume and total motility in Iranian infertile men, respectively. Our data suggest that that adhering to a diet that is rich in sources of antioxidant and vitamin can have a positive effect on men’s sexual health. However, more research is needed to confirm these relations and provide the evidence needed to exert these findings into clinical practice.

Nowadays, opinion texts are quickly published on websites and social networks by various users in the form of short texts and also in high volumes and various fields. Because these texts reflect the opinions of many users, their processing and analysis, such as clustering, can be very useful in a variety of applications including politics, industry, commerce, and economics. High dimensions of the text representation decrease efficiency of clustering, and an effective solution for this challenge is reducing dimensions of texts. Manifold learning is a powerful tool for nonlinear dimension reduction of high-dimensional data. Therefore, in this paper, for increasing efficiency of opinion texts clustering, by manifold learning, dimensions of the represented opinion texts are reduced based on sentiment and semantics, and their intrinsic dimensions are extracted. Then, the clustering algorithm is applied to dimension-reduced opinion texts. The proposed approach helps us to cluster opinion texts with simultaneous consideration of sentiment and semantics, which has received very little attention in the previous works. This type of clustering helps users of opinion texts to obtain more useful information from texts and also provides more accurate summaries in applications, such as the summarization of opinion texts. Experimental results on three datasets show better performance of the proposed approach on opinion texts in terms of important measures for evaluating clustering efficiency. An improvement of about 9% is observed in terms of accuracy on the third dataset and clustering based on sentiment and semantics.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most important gynecological disorders of women in the age of reproduction. Different hormonal and inflammatory cross-talks may play in the appearance of its eventual complications as a leading cause of infertility. Excessive production of reactive oxygen species over the power of the antioxidant system as oxidative stress is known to contribute to a variety of diseases like PCOS. Thus, the utilization of antioxidants can be efficient in preventing or assistant in treating these diseases. In this review, we describe the clinical trial studies that have examined the efficiency of antioxidant strategies against PCOS and the possible underlying mechanisms. The investigations presented here lead us to consider that targeting oxidative stress pathways is probably a powerful promising therapeutic approach towards PCOS. There is preparatory evidence of the effectiveness of antioxidant interventions in ameliorating some of the PCOS complications, including metabolic and hormonal disorders. Due to limited data and relatively few clinical trials, many of these interventions need further investigation before they can be considered effective agents for routine clinical use.

Background: Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting (PONV) is a common complication associated with the use of anesthesia. Several antiemetics are used to reduce the incidence and severity of PONV. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of dexamethasone and ondansetron to treat PONV in patients undergoing cesarean section (c-section) under spinal anesthesia. Methods: This double-blind clinical trial study was performed on patients who were referred to Haji Karim Asali Hospital of Khorramabad for elective cesarean section in 2016-17. Upon meeting the inclusion criteria, patients were allotted into two groups (n=60). Group A received 8mg of dexamethasone and group B received 4mg of ondansetron after spinal anesthesia. The Visual Analog Scale (VAS) questionnaire and Depression-Anxiety-Stress Scale (DASS) questionnaire were used for the analysis. Patients with mild to moderate stress, anxiety, and depression were included in the study. Data were analyzed using SPSS 16 software. Results: There was no difference in the demographic data of the two groups. The mean severity of nausea in group A was significantly higher than in group B. The odd ration of PONV was 20.67, which was found to be statistically significant, p = 0.018. Concerning the type of delivery with the frequency of nausea, the results showed that the frequency of nausea in group A was 3.24 times higher than group B, however, this difference was not statistically significant, p = 0.106. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, ondansetron had a significant effect on the alleviation of postoperative nausea and vomiting, as compared to dexamethasone in C-section surgical candidates.

When users on social media share content without considering its veracity, they may unwittingly be spreading misinformation. In this work, we investigate the design of lightweight interventions that nudge users to assess the accuracy of information as they share it. Such assessment may deter users from posting misinformation in the first place, and their assessments may also provide useful guidance to friends aiming to assess those posts themselves. In support of lightweight assessment, we first develop a taxonomy of the reasons why people believe a news claim is or is not true; this taxonomy yields a checklist that can be used at posting time. We conduct evaluations to demonstrate that the checklist is an accurate and comprehensive encapsulation of people's free-response rationales. In a second experiment, we study the effects of three behavioral nudges -- 1) checkboxes indicating whether headings are accurate, 2) tagging reasons (from our taxonomy) that a post is accurate via a checklist and 3) providing free-text rationales for why a headline is or is not accurate -- on people's intention of sharing the headline on social media. From an experiment with 1668 participants, we find that both providing accuracy assessment and rationale reduce the sharing of false content. They also reduce the sharing of true content, but to a lesser degree that yields an overall decrease in the fraction of shared content that is false. Our findings have implications for designing social media and news sharing platforms that draw from richer signals of content credibility contributed by users. In addition, our validated taxonomy can be used by platforms and researchers as a way to gather rationales in an easier fashion than free-response., Comment: In CSCW'21

The landfill has the potential impacts of environmental pollution if not properly selected, which can be irreparable because the environment and health components are human and other creatures. The ultimate goal Locating the most appropriate place to achieve the fewest adverse effects to the environment and natural resources and economically the most cost and engineering perspective to have the best features. This study aims to locate a place for a landfill in the city of Razan. The ARC GIS 9.3 software and the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) are used. The data layers such as elevation, slope, aspect, soil, climate, and vegetation were determined and collected. Then by using the analytical hierarchy process (AHP), weight parameters were given. Then parameters were standard in the GIS environment. The layers obtained the value by multiplying the analytic hierarchy process and data layers together with (WLC) method, and this is the final layer that can be extracted. The final plan was presented to construct a landfill.

Background and objectives: Docetaxel is a chemotherapeutic agent commonly used for treatment of many cancers, including esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Docetaxel induces G2/M phase cell cycle arrest and ultimately cell death. In this study, we aimed to assess the effects of docetaxel on YM1 cells considering exposure time and dose. Methods: After calculating the doubling time of YM1 cells, the anti-proliferative effect of different concentrations of docetaxel () [A1] after 24, 48 and 72 hours was assessed by the standard colorimetric assay. In addition, the effect of docetaxel on cell cycle was evaluated by flow cytometry. Results: The results showed that docetaxel toxicity was not significant until 24 hours at the tested concentrations (P>0.05). In addition, the effect of docetaxel on the cells was time-dependent at all tested concentrations. Overall, the duration of exposure to docetaxel had more significant role in docetaxel toxicity in YM1 cells compared to concentration. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the cytotoxicity of docetaxel on YM1 cells is time-dependent. [A1]Please write the concentrations

Social media is an inseparable part of our daily life where we post and share photos and media related to our life and in some cases we intend to share them between specific people. This intended and cherry picked sharing of media needs a better solution rather than simply picking users. Some social media platforms do not restrict other users from sharing timeline posts of others; meaning, one can simply forward a post from another person to a third one and no data preservation has been applied. In most cases we do not intend to secure the whole media and only important parts of it are intended to be secured. In this work we propose a novel method based on YoloV3 object detection and chaotic image encryption to overcome the issue of user intended data preservation in social media platforms. Our proposed method is capable of both automatic image encryption on full or user selected regions. Statistical and cryptographic analysis show superiority of our method compared to other state-of-the-art methods while it keeps the speed as high as possible for online and realtime use cases.

Background: The acceptance rate of electronic health recording systems has increased significantly, so that development of this technology in the medical sector has caused a huge change in the health care system. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of investment in health information technology on financial performance with the mediating role of business process in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad hospitals in Iran. Methods: This applied and descriptive-causal study was conducted with an analytical approach. According to Morgan Table, the sample size was estimated as 341 individuals. The research instrument was a 31-item standard questionnaire validated using face validity, convergent reliability, divergent reliability, Cronbachchr('39')s alpha reliability, and compound reliability. To analyze the data, descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling were applied by Smart PLS and SPSS 20 software. Results: In this study, 9 research hypotheses were confirmed by path analysis and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Based on the findings, investing in health information technology whit significance amounts of 3.647 and path coefficient of 0.237 had a significant effect on financial performance. The overall business process (0.477) plays a mediating role in the path between these 2 variables. The research model had a suitable fit. Conclusion: Health information technology can increase the safety and efficiency of information, improve public health, ensure the privacy of the patients, and increase the assetschr('39') efficiency by reducing costs.

Rumor is a collective attempt to interpret a vague but attractive situation by using the power of words. In social networks, false-rumors may have significantly different contextual characteristics from true-rumors at lexical, syntactic, semantic levels. Therefore, this study presents the BERT-SAWS semi-supervised learning model for early verification of Persian rumor by investigating content-based and context features at three views: Contextual Word Embeddings (CWE), speech act, and Writing Style (WS). This model is built by loading pre-trained Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) as an unsupervised language representation, fine-tuning it using a small Persian rumor dataset, and combining with a supervised learning model to provide an enriched text representation of the content of the rumor. This text representation enables the model to have a better comprehending of the rumor language to verify rumors better than baseline models for two reasons: (i) early rumor verification by focusing on content-based and context-based features of the source rumor. (ii) overcoming the problem of the shortcoming of the dataset in deep neural networks by loading pre-trained BERT, fine-tuning it using the Persian rumor dataset, and combining with speech act and WS-based features. The empirical results of applying the model on Twitter and Telegram datasets demonstrated that BERT-SAWS can enhance the performance of the classifier from 2% to 18%. It indicates that speech act and WS alongside semantic contextual vectors are helpful features in the rumor verification task.

Different factors influence the development‎ and control of ageing. It is well known that progressive telomere shorting is one of the molecular mechanisms underlying ageing. The shelterin complex consists of six telomere-specific proteins which are involved in the protection of chromosome ends. More particularly, this vital complex protects the telomeres from degradation, prevents from activation of unwanted repair systems, regulates the activity of telomerase, and has a crucial role in cellular senescent and ageing-related pathologies. This review explores the organization and function of telomeric DNA along with the mechanism of telomeres during ageing, followed by a discussion of the critical role of shelterin components and their changes during ageing.

High energy electromagnetic radiation or heavy charged particles are extensively used for medical treatment of certain cancers. Precise prediction or measurements of energy deposition of any types of radiation on tissue is critical in radiation therapy. In this research, the sensitivity of optical fiber dosimeters specifically doped with phosphor (P), Germanium (Ge) and Erbium (Er) are analyzed using Co-60 source at 169 cGy/min. The sensors are calibrated and the values of radiation induced attenuation (RIA) are evaluated at different temperatures. Nondestructive method of laser bleaching is shown superior to thermal bleaching for sensor recovery. The error in P- doped and Er- doped fiber sensors are estimated to be 6 and 4%, respectively. The fastest recovery is assigned to Er- doped fiber. The results show that Er- doped optical fiber sensor can perform ultrahigh sensitive low dosimetry of gamma- ray for medical application. The results of the present work can provide implications for further enhancement of radiation sensing for real- time dosimetry.

Acrylamide concentration in food products collected from the Tehran market was investigated by the aid of a dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) system coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Also, the dietary exposure distribution and related potential risk for acrylamide ingestion were estimated by the Monte Carlo simulation (MCS). The highest and lowest mean concentration of acrylamide was detected in coffee and roasted nuts samples as 549 and 133 μg/kg, respectively. The mean acrylamide dietary exposure values for children (3–10 years), adolescents (11–17 years), adults (18–60 years), and seniors (61–96 years) were estimated to be 1.81, 1.02, 0.61, and 0.53 μg/kg body weight (BW)/day, respectively. In all age groups, except children, the estimated exposure in men and boys was higher than that in women and girls. Bread, despite containing low acrylamide content groups (157 μg/kg while compared with other, except roasted nuts), showed with the highest contribution rate in all age groups due to its high consumption rate. The estimated incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) for all age groups was noted as greater than 10−4 indicating serious risk to the population. Moreover, the margin of exposure (MOE) values based on carcinogenicity showed health concern to all age groups (

The technical capacity to predict the erosion process is instrumental for the optimization of the runner designs and operation strategies of hydroelectric plants. A multiscale model of erosion recently formulated by the authors and validated on a laboratory-scale jet impingement case is used to study the erosion of a prototype-scale Pelton runner. The model is shown to provide physically-sound descriptions of the sediment impact condition distributions on the bucket surface; furthermore, the erosion distribution obtained is explained in terms of these underlying impact condition distributions. The model predictions for the erosion depth distribution on the bucket surface are validated with the corresponding experimental data, resulting in an average error of 35 % for eight point-wise comparisons, 14 % for line-averaged values along four transversal sections, and 4 % for the surface-averaged erosion depth, directly linked to the total eroded mass. A careful error propagation analysis of the comparison between simulation and field data yields an uncertainty of ± 22 % . Based on these considerations, the modeling error is estimated to be 26 ± 22 % . The results obtained, namely quantitative predictions of the erosion of industrial-scale hydraulic machines, have no precedent in the literature; they demonstrate the accuracy and transferability of the multiscale model of erosion and suggest an improvement over the state-of-the-art computational fluid dynamics models based on empirical erosion correlations.

Background: The present work aimed to evaluate the chemical composition of Curcuma zadoaria essential oil and to investigate its efficacy and safety against hydatid cyst protoscoleces. Methods: Collected protoscoleces from liver fertile hydatid cysts of infected sheep were exposed to different concentrations of the essential oil (75, 150, 300 μl/mL) for 5-30 min in vitro and ex vivo. Then, by using the eosin exclusion assay, the viability of protoscoleces was studied. In the next step, 24 male NMRI mice were examined to assess the toxicity of C. zadoaria essential oil by measuring the biochemical and hematological parameters. Results: Based on the obtained results, the LD50 value of intraperitoneal injection of the C. zadoaria essential oil was 1.76 mL/kg of body weight and the maximum non-fatal dose was 0.96 mL/kg of body weight. C. zadoaria essential oil had a strong proto scolicidal activity in vitro so that at the 300 and 150 μl/ml entirely eliminates the parasite after 5 and 10 minutes; whereas, weak proto scolicidal activity was observed at lower doses. Ex vivo assay, no similar effect with in vitro was observed, therefore, more time is required to show a potent proto scolicidal activity. C. zadoaria essential oil at the concentrations of 300 and 150 μl/mL after an exposure time of 7 and 12 min, killed 100% of protoscoleces within the hydatid cyst, respectively. After intraperitoneal injection of the C. zadoaria essential oil for 2 weeks, no significant difference (p > 0.05) was observed in the clinical chemistry and hematologic parameters at the doses of 0.15, 0.3, 0.6 mL/kg. Conclusion: The obtained results in vitro and ex vivo exhibited that C. zadoaria essential oil had a favorable proto scolicidal activity on hydatid cyst protoscoleces. However, more supplementary works are required to verify these findings by assessing clinical subjects.

Background In this investigation, the in vivo efficacy and safety of biogenic selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) are assessed against acute toxoplasmosis caused by Toxoplasma gondii (Sarcocystidae) in the mice. Methods Male NMRI mice were orally treated with normal saline (control group) and SeNPs at the doses of 5 and 10 mg/kg once a day for 14 days. On the 15th day, the mice were infected with 104 tachyzoites of T. gondii RH strain by the intraperitoneal route. The mortality rate and parasite load were determined in the infected mice. The mRNA levels of IFN-γ, IL10, IL12, and inducible nitric oxide synthase were also examined in the infected mice by quantitative real-time PCR. Results The rate of mortality in the infected mice receiving SeNPs at the doses of 5 and 10 mg/kg compared with the mice in the control group was 100% on the 9 and 10 days after the administration. The mean number of tachyzoites in the infected mice receiving SeNPs was significantly lower than that in the control group. No significant difference (p > 0.05) was found in the biochemical parameters between the mice treated with SeNPs and the mice in the control group. The results revealed that mRNA levels significantly improved in the infected mice treated with SeNPs compared with those in the control group. Conclusion Findings of the present investigation showed the considerable efficacy of SeNPs with no important toxicity for curing acute toxoplasmosis in the mice model. However, further studies are needed to clarify the accurate anti-Toxoplasma mechanisms of SeNPs., Highlights • We evaluated the efficacy of Biogenic Selenium Nanoparticles (SeNPs) against acute toxoplasmosis. • Mice were orally treated with SeNPs at the doses of 5 and 10 mg/kg once a day for 14 days. • The average number of tachyzoites and mortality rate was significantly lower in treated mice. • No significant difference (p > 0.05) observed in the biochemical parameters between the mice treated. • The mRNA levels of meaningfully improved in infected mice treated with SeNPs.

A new multiple-input/multiple-output (MIMO) antenna design is introduced for future smartphones. The proposed design contains four pairs of double-fed circular-ring resonators located at different edges of the smartphone printed circuit board (PCB) with an FR-4 substrate and a dimension of 75 × 150 mm 2 . The antenna elements are fed by 50-Ohm microstrip-lines and provide polarisation and radiation pattern diversity function due to the orthogonal placement of their feed lines. By inserting a rectangular slot under each microstrip feed-line, the mutual coupling characteristic of the antenna ports is reduced. A good frequency bandwidth ( S 11 ≤ - 10 dB) of 3.3-3.9 GHz has been obtained for the smartphone antenna array. Nevertheless, for S 11 ≤ - 6 dB, this value is 3.1-4.3 GHz. More than 3 dB realised gain and 80% total efficiency are achieved for the single-element radiator. The design provides not only sufficient radiation coverage supporting different sides of the mainboard but also the polarisation diversity. In addition, sufficient properties are obtained in the vicinity of human-hand/human-head. The proposed MIMO antenna design is also capable to generate dual- or multi-band function. Moreover, a new and compact phased array millimeter-wave (mm-wave) antenna design with end-fire radiation beams is introduced which can be easily integrated into smartphones.

Background:The advent of resistance-associated mutations in HIV-1 is a barrier to the success of the ARTs.Objective:In this study, the abundance of HIV-1 infection in Iranian children, and also detection of the TDR in naïve HIV-1 infected pediatric (under 12 years old) were evaluated.Materials:From June 2014 to January 2019, a total of 544 consecutive treatment-naïve HIV-1- infected individuals enrolled in this study. After RNA extraction, amplification, and sequencing of the HIV-1 pol gene, the DRM and phylogenetic analysis were successfully performed on the plasma specimens of the ART-naïve HIV-1-infected-children under 12 years old. The DRMs were recognized using the Stanford HIV Drug Resistance Database.Results:Out of the 544 evaluated treatment-naïve HIV-1-infected individuals, 15 (2.8%) cases were children under 12 years old. The phylogenetic analyses of the amplified region of pol gene indicated that all of the 15 HIV-1-infected pediatric patients were infected by CRF35_AD, and a total of 13.3% (2/15) of these children were infected with HIV-1 variants with SDRMs (one child harbored two related SDRMs [D67N, V179F], and another child had three related SDRMs [M184V, T215F, and K103N]), according to the last algorithm of the WHO. No PIs-related SDRMs were observed in HIV-1-infected children.Conclusion:The current study demonstrated that a total of 13.3% of treatment-naïve HIV-1-infected Iranian pediatrics (under 12 years old) were infected with HIV-1 variants with SDRMs. Therefore, it seems that screening to recognize resistance-associated mutations before the initiation of ARTs among Iranian children is essential for favorable medication efficacy and dependable prognosis.

In this manuscript, a high-performance beam-steerable phased array antenna is introduced for fifth-generation (5G) mobile handsets. The configuration of the design is arranged by employing eight dielectric-insensitive L-ring/slot-loop radiators in a linear form on the top edge of the handset mainboard. The beam-steerable array design exhibits high radiation performances even though it is implemented on a lossy FR-4 material. The proposed design exhibits an impedance bandwidth of 18-20 GHz with the center frequency of 19 GHz. It provides satisfactory characteristics such as wide beam-steering, high gain and efficiency characteristics indicating its promising potential for beam-steerable 5G smartphones. The characteristics of the antenna array are insensitive for different types of dielectrics. Furthermore, the designed antenna array offers quite good radiation behavior in the presence of hand phantom.

Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) is a deployment to IP and TCP also playing a crucial role in the congestion control of the Data Center Networks (DCNs). Most DCNs use a single queue scenario in each switch port. However, in the production of DCNs, the industry trend is moving towards one farther queue per port. Therefore, Multi-Service Multi-Queue Data Centers (MQ-ECN) have been proposed to ignite this service; afterward, DemePro improved the MQ-ECN. Yet, the fact that overhead and imprecise measurement are non-negligible for both models should be borne in mind. Also, MQ-ECN works for a round base scheduler while the overflow problem could be contributed by DemePro. Moreover, ECN was designed for single queue scenarios and having MQ-ECN is harmful at least for scheduling of flows. To solve the problem, we could take advantage of the lack of MQ-ECN and propose a machine-learning based dynamic threshold control scheme for ECN marking in DCN, which we named it DC-ECN (Data Center-Explicit Congestion Notification)–a first systematic solution to the problems which have already been mentioned earlier. The main point of DC-ECN is a separation of the mice and elephant flows in dual couple queues using machine learning. Then, to locate them into the requested queue with demand ECN marking threshold independently to achieve low latency and high throughput. Also, by dynamically increase and decrease the ECN marking threshold in elephant buffer, DC-ECN will never mark mice flows and succeed to absorb micro-burst mice traffic to have lowest latency without having sacrifice the throughput. Our mathematical analysis and simulation demonstrate that a steady state behavior of DC-ECN achieves 21.8% and 16.5% less flow completion time compared with MQ-ECN and DemoPro, respectively.

In this paper, an eight-port antenna array operating in the 2.6 GHz band (2550–2650 MHz) for a multi-input multi-output (MIMO) mobile terminal is presented. The configuration of the design is composed of four pairs of low-profile dual-polarized slot antennas that are symmetrically placed at the corners of a mobile-phone mainboard. Each antenna pair consists of miniaturized petal-shaped slot resonators fed by two independent microstrip-feeding lines, thus facilitating radiation pattern and polarization diversity: when acting together, they facilitate multi-channel MIMO operation. The design offers good isolation, dualpolarization and full radiation coverage in a smartphone sized package. A lowcost FR-4 dielectric (ε = 4.4, δ = 0.02, and h = 0.8 mm) with a dimension of 75 × 150 mm2 is used as the PCB substrate. The characteristics of the smartphone antenna are examined using both simulations and measurements.

Introduction: Tenofovir is a common therapy in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patients. Objective: This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of nephropathy and proximal tubule disorder in HIV patients under tenofovir therapy. Patients and Methods: In this study, 160 HIV patients under tenofovir therapy were enrolled and the prevalence of nephropathy and proximal tubule disorder was determined and compared. Results: We found, the proximal tubule involvement in 25%, 6.8%, 2.2% and 0% in first year, 2–5 years , 6–10 years and 11–18 years of disease involvement respectively, (P = 0.02). The mean glomerular filtration rate (GFR) diminution was 2.15%, 10.53%, 12.6% and 17.79%, in the first, 2–5, 6–10, and 11–18 years, respectively, again showing a significant difference between years (P = 0.02). Proteinuria was seen in 13.1% of patients. Conclusion: We concluded that GFR diminution and proximal tubule involvement are common and important to be managed in HIV-positive patients under tenofovir therapy, and discontinuation of drug has no positive effect on GFR.

Aim The Self-evaluation of Negative Symptoms (SNS) has been developed to allow schizophrenia patients to evaluate themselves in five dimensions of negative symptoms. The present study aimed to examine psychometric properties of the Persian version of SNS. Methods A group of 50 patients with schizophrenia and a group of 50 healthy controls received the Persian-SNS. Severity of negative symptoms were evaluated by the Scale for Assessment of Negative symptoms (SANS) and the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). Results The results showed that the Cronbach’s alpha for the Persian SNS was 0.95. The Persian-SNS and its subscales showed significant positive correlations with the total SANS score and SANS subscales as well as BPRS negative subscale, thus confirming the validity of the scale. Finally, the Persian-SNS showed the ability to discriminate patients with schizophrenia from healthy controls. Conclusion The acceptable properties of the Persian version of SNS demonstrated that it is a practical tool for screening negative symptoms in Persian-speaking schizophrenia patients.

Objectives The current randomized controlled trial (RCT) will be conducted to assess the effect of green tea intake on disease symptoms and laboratory parameters including C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and complete blood count (CBC) in patients with mild-to-moderate Covid-19 infection. Trial design Randomized, double-blinded, parallel (1:1 ratio) clinical trial exploratory study Participants We will recruit patients with COVID-19 infection admitted to Yasuj Shahid Jalil Hospital in Yasuj City, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province, Iran. Participants’ inclusion criteria are as follows: Inclusion Criteria Patients aged ≥18 years COVID-19 diagnosis according to real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) Exclusion Criteria Pregnancy or lactation Disseminated intravascular coagulation or any other types of coagulopathy Severe congestive kidney failure Having a history of participating in a clinical trial during the last 30 days Intervention and comparator Intervention: Two capsules containing 450 mg green tea extract along with routine treatment for COVID-19 patients in the intervention group. Two capsules containing placebo plus routine treatment for patients with COVID-19 infection. Capsules will be taken twice a day, after lunch and dinner, for 14 days. Main outcomes Changes in disease symptoms and laboratory parameters including CRP, ESR, and CBC after 14 days of the intervention compared to control group. Randomisation Eligible patients will be randomly assigned into the intervention or control group in a 1:1 ratio. Randomization will be performed based on 8 permuted blocks with block sizes of 10, and patients in the intervention and control groups will be matched according to sex and age categories. Randomization will be done using computer-generated random numbers (Randomization.com) Blinding (masking) The appearance of placebo and green tea capsules will be similar in terms of shape and color, and they will be packed in the same bags that will be prepared by the company. Also, the researcher and all participants will not be aware of the divisions until the end of the study. Numbers to be randomised (sample size) The total sample was determined based on CRP MCID in which high CRP levels were considered >2.6 mg/L. Accordingly, a total sample size of 37 patients for each intervention group was required. Trial Status The protocol is Version 1.0, on June 5, 2021. Recruitment will start on July 11, 2021, which is anticipated to be completed by September 21, 2021. Trial registration IRCT20150711023153N3 (https://www.irct.ir/trial/55948) retrospectively registered on June 4, 2021 Full protocol The full protocol is attached as an additional file, accessible from the Trials website (Additional file 1). In the interest in expediting dissemination of this material, the familiar formatting was eliminated; this Letter serves as a summary of the key elements of the full protocol.

The diffraction behavior of a polymer network liquid crystal (PNLC) was studied in in-plane switching (IPS) test cells and compared to the behavior seen in a neat liquid crystal. Due to the presence of polymer, the diffraction behavior was varied drastically: PNLCS are composites, which possess a specific domain size. The size of such polymer-induced domains was investigated with polarized optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. PNLCs are capable to result continuous optical phase modulation. It was found that electrical addressing with non-homogenous electric fields can be useful to vary the phase modulation profile as compared to a neat LC. The diffraction patterns seen in a nematic LC where influenced by the applied addressing voltage and showed some limited tunability already. However, in the PNLC, the diffraction patterns were drastically varied as compared to a neat nematic LC. These gratings showed responses localized to the electrodes, had higher tuneability and could also be useful t...

The possibility of changing the intracranial vasculature computed tomography (CT) attenuation under the influence of variable factors is a long-held unestablished belief. The purpose of this study is to evaluate factors affecting dural sinus density in non-contrast computed tomography of the brain. Patients presented with acute neurologic symptoms to the emergency department were candidates to be enrolled in this study. A region of interest (ROI) measuring 1–2-mm2 recorder (base on sinus size) used to measure the attenuation of each sinus in Hounsfield Unit (HU) and then mean density calculated. CBC, BUN and Cr were extracted from patients’ records. Chi-square test, correlation analyze, independent sample unpaired student t-test and one-way ANOVA test and Multivariate logistic regression were used. Positive significant correlation (0.48) was found between the hematocrit level (HCT) and average attenuation in the four sinus segments (P value

Objectives: Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are allotropes of carbon with a length-to-diameter ratio greater than 106 with the potential uses as medical diagnostic or therapeutic agents. In vitro studies have revealed that gadolinium (Gd) nanoparticle-catalyzed single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) possess superparamagnetic properties, which enable them to be used as contrast agents in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Our study synthesized Gd-CNT for use as MRI contrast agents. Methods: To reduce the toxicity and solubility of CNTs, it was functionalized, and after loading with Gd was coated with polyethylene glycols (PEG). We then synthesized different concentrations of Gdn3+@CNTs-PEG and Gadovist® to be evaluated as MRI contrast agents. Results: The analysis showed that the Gd concentration in Gadovist® was 12.18% higher than synthesized Gdn3+@CNTs-PEG, but the mean signal intensity of the Gdn3+@CNTs-PEG was approximately 3.3% times higher than Gadovist®. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that synthesized Gdn3+@CNTs-PEG has the potential to be used as an MRI contrast agent in vitro, but in vivo assessment is necessary to determine the bio-distribution, kinetic, and signal enhancement characteristics.

This study characterises the mechanical, rheological, induced heating, and induced healing behaviour of asphalt concrete containing steel wool fibers (SWFs) as the conductive constituent. Induced h...

Hydatid disease (HD), also known as echinococcal disease or echinococcosis, is a worldwide zoonosis with a wide geographic distribution. It can be found in almost all parts of the body and usually remains silent for a long period of time. Clinical history can be varied based on the location, size, host immune response, and complications. The most common imaging modalities used for diagnosis and further evaluations of HD are ultrasound, computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Although conventional radiography may be the first used tool, rarely can lead to a definite judgment. Clinical indications and cyst location may alter the choice of imaging. MRI and CT would be useful when the involved area is inaccessible for ultrasound or surgical treatment is required. CT is particularly valuable for osseous organ involvements and the presence of calcifications in the cyst and also demonstrates the size, number, and local complications. MRI can differentiate HD from neoplasms in cases with an unusual appearance on imaging. Moreover, it is preferable in biliary or neural involvements. Besides, more detailed images of MRI and CT could help to resolve the diagnostic uncertainty. Imaging is the main stem for HD diagnosis. Brain, orbit, muscle, bone, and vascular structures are less commonly involved areas. Familiarity with typical clinical presentation, CT scan and MR imaging findings of HD in this sites facilitate the radiologic diagnosis and guiding appropriate treatment., Hydatid cyst; Computed tomography; Magnetic resonance imaging

This study aims to examine the influence of untreated coal waste (UCW) and treated coal waste (TCW) as supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) on the environmental, mechanical, durability, and microstructural characteristics of mortar mixes. UCW preparation procedure consists of sequential steps of crushing and grinding. Afterward, UCW is thermally activated through incinerating at 750°C to be promoted to TCW. Experimental work includes mixing mortar mixtures by partially replacing cement with the coal waste binders (UCW and TCW) at different incorporation levels of 4, 8, 12, and 16% of cement weight. Toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) test was applied to investigate the environmental impacts of coal wastes. TCLP test results pointed out that heavy metals including Manganese, Cadmium, Lead, and Chromium could successfully entrap in the cement matrix. The compressive and flexural strengths as mechanical characteristics of mortar mixtures were determined at 3, 7, 28, 90, and 180 curing days. Moreover, the mortar specimens were immersed in 3% sulfuric acid (H2SO4) for 60 and 150 days. Durability results showed that the H2SO4 attack resistance of binary cement mortars containing 4% coal waste binders was better than the plain mortar. Based on the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images, ettringite was found as the main hydration product of binary cement after 28 days; however, the existence of calcium silicate hydrate (CSH) and calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) in the cement matrix of mixes after 90 days explains the more compact microstructure attained by using coal waste as cement replacement materials compared to control mixtures.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

In recent years, the number of people who use mobile devices for business and organizational purposes has increased. This phenomenon is now known as “bring your own device” (BYOD), and it is rapidly entering the health industry, which makes clear the necessity of studying its various dimensions for its implementation and application. Recently, the use of mobile devices is increasing due to the social tendencies of people. Rapid changes in modern gadgets and smartphones have also encouraged organizations to use their mobile devices in the workplace for business purposes, creating related opportunities and challenges. These cases have made the expansion of BYOD inevitable so that the only way to control BYOD’s threats is to accept its process and finally formulate related strategies and policies before using it.

Background: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a common neurotic disorder, In 2018 Application of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for treating obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (28), since 2020 different methods has been tested, this study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of adjunctive low frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in refractory to treatment patients suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) Methods: This clinical trial was performed on 30 patients with OCD referred from the psychiatry clinic of 22 Bahman Hospital in Qazvin province from 2018 to 2020. Patients were randomly assigned to two groups. Intervention group received rTMS treatment at 1 Hz for 20 min (1200 (pulses / day) over the left DLPFC region as adjunctive to their medical treatment for 3 times a week and for 5 weeks while the control group received only sham condition in addition to their medical treatment. All the patients filled out the Yale Brown Questionnaire (YBOCS) Before the study, after sessions 5 and 10 during treatment, at the end of the treatment and 3 to 6 months after the treatment. The results were compared between the two groups using SPSS software version 16.Results: The mean score of post-intervention Yale Brown score was significantly lower in the intervention group. (P Conclusion: adjunctive low frequency (1 Hz)rtms over the left DLPFC can be effective in reducing Yale Brown score in refractory to treatment patients suffering from OCD after 15 sessions. Gender, treatment sessions, usage of antipsychotic agents as adjuvant with standard treatment regiments, and marital status were identified as predictors for response to adjunctive rTMS therapy.

CO2 storage in saline aquifers and depleted oil and gas reservoirs is a promising solution to help mitigating CO2 emissions and tackling global warming. However, storage security and CO2 leakage over a long period remain as a major concern. Cement degradation after CO2 injection, especially in poorly cemented wells, can provide pathways for CO2 leakage to groundwater and the atmosphere. Therefore, to assess the potential risks of CO2 leakage, it is critical to understand the interactions between the major components of a storage system including CO2, brine, wellbore cement, and caprock/reservoir rocks. In this work, we performed a series of experiments simulating deep wellbore environments to investigate the chemical, physical, and mechanical alterations in cement and rock as a result of being exposed to CO2-rich brine. X-ray micro-computer tomography (µCT), petrophysical evaluation and geomechanical testing were conducted before and after experiments. It was observed that dissolution and precipitation of some minerals started from early stage of exposure and continued as time passed, and, as a result, cement and cement-caprock interface were affected. The high-permeable hairline cracks in the cement were filled due to mineral precipitation and reduced the composite permeability significantly. This phenomenon may help mitigate against CO2 leakage at conditions similar to those used in this work.

Introduction: The unpredictable challenges and conditions of COVID-19 can cause mental health problems. In such a situation, one of the most important psychological problems is the fear and anxiety of death. Death anxiety can affect the quality of patient care services and the job satisfaction and mental health of nurses. Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study in which 110 nurses working in the intensive care units of hospitals affiliated to the Tehran University of Medical Sciences were selected by the convenience sampling method from April to September 2016. The data collection tools used in the study include a demographic questionnaire and a Templer death-anxiety questionnaire. Findings: The results showed that the level of death anxiety in nurses working at COVID-19 intensive care units is associated with age, working hours per week, childbearing, several patients needing end-of-life care, cases of direct participation in resuscitation operations, cases of patient death observations, and satisfaction with personal protective equipment (P < o.o5). Conclusion: Increasing the nurses' awareness of the critical situations of COVID-19, management measures, improving the working environment, social support, and increasing personal protective equipment seem to be the effective factors in protecting the intensive care unit nurses against COVID-19 and reducing death anxiety.

Background: Obesity is one of the health issues all over the world. Patients always demand convenient and fast methods for weight reduction. Hand-made herbal drugs are advertised by herbal practitioners to gain this goal. Unscrupulous manufacturers produce herbal products that are adulterated with hidden legal or illegal drugs to lose weight in a shorter period of time. Objectives: The main purpose of the present study was to analyze hand-made herbal slimming drugs to detect undeclared active pharmaceutical ingredients. Methods: Forty hand-made herbal products sold as weight loss aid were prepared from 270 herb shops in Gilan province, Iran, in a six-month period. All samples were analyzed using UHPLC and GC/MS instrumentations. Results: The results showed that 25% of collected herbal preparations contained caffeine. Moreover, an unlabeled herbal tablet contained metformin. Conclusions: Herbal slimming products in Gilan province were not adulterated as much as herbal drugs collected from other provinces in Iran. However, adulteration practices may endanger the health or safety of consumers.

Background The COVID-19 is a novel condition affecting all the world, so every manifestation of disease should be reported. Neurologic manifestations of the disease are increasingly identified and this will help clinician to improve their diagnostic and therapeutic skills in dealing with COVID-19 patients. Case In this article we report a 41-year-old male that developed ascending paresthesia and paralysis following infection with SARS-CoV-2 virus. Electrodiagnostic evaluation in patient revealed demyelinating type polyneuropathy and patient diagnosed as Guillain-Barré syndrome (AIDP type) and treated with IVIG which resulted in favorable response. Conclusions Considering this report and other reports that are mentioned in our short review, there is probably causal relationship between COVID-19 and development of Guillain-Barré syndrome., Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image, Highlights • The COVID-19 affects both peripheral and central nervous system • Probably there is causal relationship between Guillain-Barré syndrome and SARS-CoV-2 infection • Both demyelinating and axonal type Guillain-Barré syndrome can occur in association with SARS-CoV-2 infection

Understanding transport phenomena and governing mechanisms of different physical and chemical processes in porous media has been a critical research area for decades. Correlating fluid flow behaviour at the micro-scale with macro-scale parameters, such as relative permeability and capillary pressure, is key to understanding the processes governing subsurface systems, and this in turn allows us to improve the accuracy of modelling and simulations of transport phenomena at a large scale. Over the last two decades, there have been significant developments in our understanding of pore-scale processes and modelling of complex underground systems. Microfluidic devices (micromodels) and imaging techniques, as facilitators to link experimental observations to simulation, have greatly contributed to these achievements. Although several reviews exist covering separately advances in one of these two areas, we present here a detailed review integrating recent advances and applications in both micromodels and imaging techniques. This includes a comprehensive analysis of critical aspects of fabrication techniques of micromodels, and the most recent advances such as embedding fibre optic sensors in micromodels for research applications. To complete the analysis of visualization techniques, we have thoroughly reviewed the most applicable imaging techniques in the area of geoscience and geo-energy. Moreover, the integration of microfluidic devices and imaging techniques was highlighted as appropriate. In this review, we focus particularly on four prominent yet very wide application areas, namely “fluid flow in porous media”, “flow in heterogeneous rocks and fractures”, “reactive transport, solute and colloid transport”, and finally “porous media characterization”. In summary, this review provides an in-depth analysis of micromodels and imaging techniques that can help to guide future research in the in-situ visualization of fluid flow in porous media.

Personalized document recommendation systems aim to provide users with a quick shortcut to the documents they may want to access next, usually with an explanation about why the document is recommended. Previous work explored various methods for better recommendations and better explanations in different domains. However, there are few efforts that closely study how users react to the recommended items in a document recommendation scenario. We conducted a large-scale log study of users’ interaction behavior with the explainable recommendation on one of the largest cloud document platforms office.com. Our analysis reveals a number of factors, including display position, file type, authorship, recency of last access, and most importantly, the recommendation explanations, that are associated with whether users will recognize or open the recommended documents. Moreover, we specifically focus on explanations and conduct an online experiment to investigate the influence of different explanations on user behavior. Our analysis indicates that the recommendations help users access their documents significantly faster, but sometimes users miss a recommendation and resort to other more complicated methods to open the documents. Our results suggest opportunities to improve explanations and more generally the design of systems that provide and explain recommendations for documents.

Recommender systems are commonly used in entertainment, news, e-commerce, and social media. Document recommendation is a new and under-explored application area, in which both re-finding and discovery of documents need to be supported. In this paper we provide an initial exploration of users' experience with recommended documents, with a focus on how prior interactions influence recognition and interest. Through a field study of more than 100 users, we investigate the effects of past interactions with recommended documents on users' recognition of, prior intent to open, and interest in the documents. We examined different presentations of interaction history, and the recency and richness of prior interaction. We found that presentation only influenced recognition time. Our findings also indicate that people are more likely to recognize documents they had accessed recently and to do so more quickly. Similarly, documents that people had interacted with more deeply were also more frequently and quickly recognized. However, people were more interested in older documents or those with which they had less involved interactions. This finding suggests that in addition to helping users quickly access documents they intend to re-find, document recommendation can add value in helping users discover other documents. Our results offer implications for designing document recommendation systems that help users fulfil different needs.

A multi-band antenna array is proposed for 5G massive MIMO systems. The presented antenna not only exhibits multi-band operation but also generates the polarization diversity characteristic which makes it suitable for multi-mode operation. Its configuration contains eight modified planar-inverted F antenna (PIFA) elements located at different corners of the smartphone mainboard. For ease integration and design facilitation, the antenna elements and ground plane are etched on the same layer. For S11≤ -10 dB, PIFA elements of the MIMO design operate at the frequency ranges of 2.5-2.7 GHz, 3.4-3.8 GHz, and 5.6-6 GHz covering the LTE 2600, 42/43, and 47 operation bands. Due to the placement of the antenna elements, the proposed design can support both vertical and horizontal polarizations. Fundamental characteristics of the proposed design are investigated. It offers good S-parameters, acceptable isolation, dual-polarized radiation coverage, and sufficient efficiency. In addition, the calculated TARC and ECC results of modified PIFAs are low over the operation bands.

Introduction: Various operational research (OR) techniques have been used in different areas of healthcare. One of the areas in which OR techniques can be effective is the medical records department (MRD). The aim of this study is to review the applications of OR in the management of MRD and its related processes. Methods: This is a review article. In order to collect data, English-language studies published between 2000 and 2018, related to the use of OR techniques in MRD, in the Medline, Science Direct, ProQuest and Web of science databases were investigated. From 1165 retrieved studies, 19 articles met the inclusion criteria and were included in the final review. Results: The results showed that different OR techniques such as linear programming, integer programming, simulation, hierarchical analysis process, etc. have been used in various aspects of the MRD and its ongoing processes such as improving efficiency, workload management, resource allocation, optimal scheduling of staff work hours, patient scheduling, patient admission and discharge. Conclusion: It can be concluded that if the managers and experts of MRD and health information management become familiar with the principles and techniques of OR and become aware of the importance of these techniques in improving efficiency of MRD, there is a hope that in the future these techniques will find their true place in MRD and ultimately enhance the quality of services provided to patients.

Due to the fast development of wireless communication technology, reconfigurable antennas with multimode and cognitive radio operation in modern wireless applications with a high-data rate have drawn very close attention from researchers. Reconfigurable antennas can provide various functions in operating frequency, beam pattern, polarization, etc. The dynamic tuning can be achieved by manipulating a certain switching mechanism through controlling electronic, mechanical, physical or optical switches. Among them, electronic switches are the most popular in constituting reconfigurable antennas due to their efficiency, reliability and ease of integrating with microwave circuitry. In this paper, we review different implementation techniques for reconfigurable antennas. Different types of effective implementation techniques have been investigated to be used in various wireless communication systems such as satellite, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), mobile terminals and cognitive radio communications. Characteristics and fundamental properties of the reconfigurable antennas are investigated.

In this research work, a planar crossed exponentially tapered slot antenna with a multi-resonance function is introduced. The presented antenna design is ascertained on a low-cost Rogers 5870 dielectric with a circular schematic. The antenna is designed to support several frequency spectrums of the current and future wireless communications. The configuration of the design contains a pair of crossed exponentially tapered slots intersected by a star-shaped slot in the back layer and a bowtie-shaped radiation stub with a discrete feeding point extended among the stub parts. The crossed exponential slots exhibit a wide impedance, and the star slot generates an extra resonance at the upper frequencies. For S11 ≤ -6, the antenna provides a wide operation band of 1.7 to 5.9 GHz supporting several frequency bands of 3G, 4G, and 5G communication. The fundamental characteristics of the proposed slot radiator are studied, and good performances have been achieved.

This paper introduces a new simple-structured dual circularly polarized (CP) antenna design for fifth-generation (5G) front end systems. The antenna configuration consists of a crescentshaped slot radiator fed by a pair of rectangular 50-Ohm microstrip lines. The antenna is designed on an FR-4 dielectric substrate with an overall size of 48 × 48 × 1.6 mm3 to operate at 3.5 GHz, a 5G candidate band. A wide dual CP characteristic supporting both left-hand circular polarization (LHCP) and right-hand circular polarization (RHCP) is achieved in the frequency of 3–4.2 GHz. In addition, the mutual coupling (S21) between two ports of the proposed antenna is better than 15 dB. A prototype sample of the proposed design is fabricated and measured to validate the design concept. The antenna offers sufficient efficiency, gain level, and axial ratio bandwidth which make it suitable for different 5G front end applications such as cognitive radio, base station, satellite communications, imaging, and radar systems.

Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) as a main part of the Internet congestion control was originally designed with a single queue in mind. But, nowadays data centers industry trends to have multiple queues per-port in its switches. This type of mismatch can affect the scheduling schemes and hence leads to remarkable performance degradation in multi-queue switches. For instance, when some of the queue buffers of the switch exceed the considered thresholds, all the packets belonging to the same shared port could get ECN mark. To cope with this challenge, we propose Priority-ECN, a first systematic solution to this problem. The first intuition of Priority-ECN lies in the fact that if any packet gets marked, it should be prioritized to pass a route quicker than the others to notify the condition of the network in an early stage. This presents a full view of instantaneous demand from all senders. The second intuition is that if any packet gets marked in the queue buffer, Priority-ECN will not consider them in the marking decision again in the output port buffer. The third intuition is to reach the goal of high throughput without sacrificing the latency. So, we use an approach similar to Cut Payload (CP), which drops the payloads of packets, rather than the metadata, when a queue reaches the threshold. We do so through dual couple buffer in output port and catch the advantage of CP to implement an efficient scheme to obtains near optimal flow completion times across different flow sizes with very low latency.

Objective Development of antimicrobial resistance during monotherapy of complicated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia is problematic due to cross-resistance between vancomycin (VAN) and daptomycin, the only approved agents for this condition. Our objective was to demonstrate that development of resistance under conditions of suboptimal VAN (200 mg q 12 h) exposure in S. aureus can be attenuated by addition of cefazolin (CFZ). Methods Two strains of S. aureus, 1 methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) (RN9120) and 1 methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) (JH1), were evaluated. The organisms were exposed to subtherapeutic VAN concentrations in a 1-compartment pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic model combined with recycling in the presence and absence of CFZ. Changes in MIC to glyco/lipopeptides and β-lactams along with susceptibility to human cathelicidin LL-37 killing were studied. Population analysis profiles (PAPs) were performed to detect changes in VAN heteroresistance. Results VAN MIC of both organisms increased from 1 to 4 mg/L within 144 h under subtherapeutic VAN exposure. Increase in VAN MIC was associated with increased glyco/lipopeptides MICs. Additionally, increased survival in LL-37 killing assays from 40% to >90% accompanied the increase in VAN MIC. Addition of CFZ prevented the emergence of VAN-intermediate S. aureus. PAPs demonstrated an attenuation of VAN area under the curve shift (reduced organism selection with higher MICs values) when suboptimal VAN exposure was accompanied with CFZ compared to VAN alone (MSSA 17.81 versus 36.027, MRSA −0.35 versus 17.92, respectively). Given the emerging data on the clinical benefits of β-lactam adjunctive therapy in refractory MRSA bacteremia, additional studies on a larger collection of clinical isolates are needed to establish the utility of VAN plus CFZ for treatment of MRSA bacteremia.

This research investigates the crack healing ability of activated carbon (AC) modified asphalt concrete through microwave radiation. As a binder-based conductive additive, AC is expected to increase the electro-magnetic radiation absorption of asphalt binder. To verify this issue, neat and modified binders with different contents of AC were exposed to microwave radiation. It was found that the temperature of AC modified binder increased considerably after microwave heating compared to that of the neat binder. This observation can be regarded as a driving force to use AC in asphalt for the healing purposes. Moreover, statistical analysis of testing results showed that the AC modification did not have any detrimental effect on the asphalt performance. For further evaluation of the healing ability of AC modified asphalt, cycles of breaking and healing were applied to a number of semicircular bending (SCB) and indirect tensile (IDT) testing samples. Notch length, damage level (number of breaking-healing cycle), and aggregate source were found to have significant effects on the induced healing efficiency. The obtained results confirmed that AC is a potentially viable and robust binder-based conductive component for induced heating and healing of asphalt concrete.

This study focused on induced heating and healing of asphalt concrete. Carbon black (CB) was added to asphalt binder as a conductive component to increase the electro-magnetic sensitivity of the asphalt concrete and to accelerate the heating and healing rate of this material. Samples were fabricated using siliceous and limestone aggregate types. Then, semicircular bending (SCB), indirect tensile (IDT), and uniaxial compressive tests were conducted in order to study the mechanical properties of the CB modified asphalt concrete. In addition, a healing index (H.I) was introduced to evaluate the performance of the CB modified asphalt concrete under repeated breaking-healing cycles. Experimental results indicate that the CB considerably enhanced the mechanical strength of asphalt concrete. At the first breaking- healing cycle the CB could properly heat and heal the asphalt concrete such that the H.I was up to 70 and 60 percent at low and intermediate temperatures, respectively. Also, as the breaking-healing cycles increased, the H.I decreased. An empirical-mechanical model was then proposed to clarify the influences of the damage level and effective healed length on the induced healing index. It was concluded that the healing index of the asphalt concrete depends on modes of the mechanical testing, crack length, damage level, and temperature.