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This paper is concerned with the analysis of mixed data with ordinal and continuous outcomes with the possibility of non-ignorable missing outcomes. A copula-based regression model is proposed that accounts for associations between ordinal and continuous outcomes. Our approach entails specifying underlying latent variables for the mixed outcomes to indicate the latent mechanisms which generate the ordinal and continuous variables. Maximum likelihood estimation of our model parameters is implemented using standard software such as function nlminb in R. Results of simulations concern the relative biases of parameter estimates of joint and marginal models using data with non-ignorable outcomes. The proposed methodology is illustrated using a medical data obtained from an observational study on women with three correlated responses, an ordinal response of osteoporosis of the spine and two continuous responses of body mass index and waistline. The effect of the amount of total body calcium (Ca), job status (Job), type of dwelling (Ta) and age on all responses are investigated simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the present study was to compare the stabilizing effect of four disaccharides alone or in combination on the lactoperoxidase (LP) derived from bovine milk during lyophilization. Sucrose, lactose, maltose, and trehalose at different concentrations (5-500 mM) were used to compare their protective effects on LP activity. The activity of lyophilized and native LP enzyme was evaluated using the procedure of Schindler with slight modifications. The antibacterial activity of the lyophilized enzyme against Pseudomonas aeroginosa, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus was also investigated using the antimicrobial effectiveness test. Trehalose at concentration of 500 mM was the most effective cryoprotectant in protecting the enzyme activity. It preserved LP activity for 40 days, while the native enzyme lost its activity after 6 days. Combinations of disaccharides resulted in an increment in the stability of the enzyme, compared to the native enzyme. Combination of 200 mM trehalose and 200 mM sucrose were found most effective cryoprotectant in freeze-drying of LP. The lyophilized LP decreased the growth rate of Ps.aeroginosa, E.coli, and S.aureus between up to 30.8% in 106 cfu/ml and 53.3% in 105 cfu/ml. Antimicrobial efficacy of LP was more pronounced when 105 cfu/ml was used as compared to 106 cfu/ml. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Satisfaction has been a concept of high importance in today's health care services and is considered as one of the criteria in evaluating the quality of services. The present study has been conducted to evaluate the satisfaction level of patients with rural insurance in terms of the first and second levels of health services presentation in northern provinces of Iran. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the second half of the year (2012); 139 centers (25%) implementing rural insurance and family physician program were selected through systematic random sampling as the research samples and 6 out of 8 patients with insurance, who received required services after being referred to the second level by FPs, were evaluated. Data-collecting instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire, and the validity and reliability were confirmed. Data were analyzed by SPSS17 statistical software at the significance level of p<0.05. Results: From the 955 patients who received services after referral to the first and second levels, 752 patients (78.7%) were female. The mean age of patients was 40.2±15.6 years and the mean referral of patients during the 9 months of (2012) was found to b e 8±8.4 to home health and 6.4±6.6 to healthcare centers. Out of the 5 scores for level of patients satisfaction, 4.5±0.5, 4±0.7 and 4±0.8 were allocated to home health, healthcare centers, and second level hospitals and specialists, respectively. There was an inverse relationship between the overall satisfaction and education level and a direct relationship between satisfaction and age, number of referral to home health and healthcare centers (P<0.05). A significant difference was observed in the mean level of patients' satisfaction with second level hospitals and clinics in northern provinces of Iran (P<0.05). However, no significant difference was found in the patients' satisfaction level between home health and healthcare centers (P>0.05). Conclusion: The results showed a high level of satisfaction in patients with rural insurance. While maintaining and improving the existing condition, it is proposed that satisfaction levels of patients with other health insurances be compared and evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There are conflicting data about bone density alterations in type 2 diabetic patients. Regarding the role of adipokines in glucose metabolism, they may have metabolic effects on bone mineral density (BMD) changes. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between circulating visfatin, adiponectin and the visfatin genotype with BMD in type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Methods: Thirty-two patients with T2DM participated in this cross-sectional study. Laboratory measurements were included FBS, HbA1C, lipid Profile, fasting serum visfatin and adiponectin. Hip and spine BMD were measured using DEXA. Genotyping for visfatin gene SNP (rs2110385) was performed by using the PCR- RFLP method. Results: Genotype distributions of GG, GT and TT were 37.5%, 43.8% and 18.8%, respectively. Prevalence of osteoporosis in patients with GG genotype was 33.3%; whereas, not observed in other two genotypes. Hip BMD and Z-score were significantly lower in GG genotype. We found significant correlation between circulating visfatin and hip BMD (r=-0.31). Circulating adiponectin and visfatin levels had significant correlation with hip BMD independent of BMI and age. Conclusion: Our results suggest that adipokines may contribute to BMD changes in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients. Genotype variations may explain inconsistent BMD changes among these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Treatment of diabetes with oral antidiabetic agents is accompanied by considerable variability in pharmacokinetics and clinical efficacy. Genetic factors may contribute to individual differences in bioavailability, drug transport, metabolism and drug action. We investigated the role of visfatin gene polymorphism (rs2110385) on required dosage of oral antidiabetic agents in type2 diabetic patient. Methods: As a cross-sectional study, we recruited 94 patients with type 2 diabetes. Laboratory measurements were FBS, OGTT, HbA1C, fasting serum visfatin and Insulin. HOMA-IR and QUICKI indices were calculated. Genotyping for SNP was performed using the PCR-RFLP method. We recorded the amount of antidiabetic agents in the last 8 weeks before the survey according to drug dose (metformin 500mg and glibenclamide 5 mg). Results: We found no significant difference in FBS, G2h, HbA1C levels, Fasting insulin concentration, and HOMA and QUICKI indices between various genotypes. The required dose of glibenclamide for adjustment of glucose homeostasis was lower in genotype GG compared to others, but there was no difference in required dose of metformin between various genotypes. Conclusion: It seems that visfatin gene variation modifies the insulin secretion by glibenclamide treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultraviolet (UV) irradiation was used to induce mutagenesis in Aspergillus niger to provide a suitable mutant strain for overproduction of cellulase. Response surface methodology was successfully utilized to evaluate the effect of the mutation conditions, namely: UV exposure time (60–300 s) and distance of the strain from the UV source (0–20 cm) on created clear zone area around the strains. A maximum clear zone area (600.525±15.537 mm2) was obtained under the optimal mutation conditions of UV exposure time and distance of the 9 cm and 220 s. Rice and wheat straw were used as cellulosic substrates to produce cellulase by using the mutant strain through solid state fermentation. The results indicated that the total cellulase activity of the produced cellulase during 10 days of fermentation was 4.159 IU/ml, which was approximately twofold higher than that of the cellulase for the wild strain.

Razieh Taghizadeh,1 Zahra Taghipour,2 Akbar Karimi,1 Ali Shamsizadeh,3 Mohammad Mohsen Taghavi,2 Mahdi Shariati,2 Ahmad Shabanizadeh,2 Hamid Reza Jafari Naveh,2 Reza Bidaki,4 Fariba Aminzadeh51Department of Biology, Payame Noor University, Isfahan, Iran; 2Department of Anatomy, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran; 3Department of Physiology, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran; 4Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran; 5Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, IranObjective: Approximately 10% of pregnant women suffer from pregnancy-associated depression. Fluoxetine, as a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, is being employed as a therapy for depressive disorders. The present study aimed to determine the effects of fluoxetine on neonatal lung development.Methods: Thirty pregnant Wistar rats (weighing 200–250 g) were treated daily with 7 mg/kg fluoxetine from gestation day 0 to gestation day 21, via gavage. The control group received a similar volume of distilled water only. Following delivery, the newborns and their lungs were immediately weighed in both of the groups. The right lung was fixed for histological assessments while the left lung was used for evaluation of the expression of SPC and HoxB5 by the real-time polymerase chain reaction method.Results: Results have indicated that even though the body weight and the number of neonatal rats in both groups were the same, the lung weight of neonates exposed to fluoxetine was significantly different compared to the control group (P

It is believed that streams of a basin may contribute to stream-specific variation in allometry coefficients related to between-habitat differences. To test intra-basin variation of the allometry coefficients of Lenkorn Capoeta capoeta gracilis (Keyserling, 1861), a total of 1731 individuals were sampled in six streams of the Gorganroud basin (southeast Caspian Sea) between April and May 2008. Values of b ranged from 2.647 for males of Chelchai to 2.964 for females of Madarsou, indicating negative allometric growth for the fish in the basin. There were variations in the allometry coefficient among the considered groups, which can be interpreted as species’ response to different habitats. To the best knowledge of the authors, this study documents the comparative reference on variation of allometry coefficient of Capoeta capoeta gracilis in southeast Caspian streams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A subset S of vertices in a graph G is called a total irredundant set if, for each vertex v in G, v or one of its neighbors has no neighbor in S −{v}. The total irredundance number, ir(G), is the minimum cardinality of a maximal total irredundant set of G, while the upper total irredundance number, IR(G), is the maximum cardinality of a such set. In this paper we characterize all cubic graphs G with irt(G) = IRt(G) = 2

Resilience of transportation infrastructure, such as highway embankments, is critical to avoiding commuter delays and costly repairs. The majority of highway embankments in Louisiana and Texas are in marginal condition because the high-plasticity clays that are used during construction will moisten with time to significantly lower strengths. The ring shear tests demonstrate that the Gamez and Stark [1] empirical correlations are applicable to Texas and Louisiana soils. The soil water retention curves at each site were fitted to the Van Genuchten model [2]. For example, the air entry values vary from 0.013 to 0.053 kPa-1 in Louisiana and from 0.008 to 0.01 kPa-1 in Texas. The implications of this wide range of air entry values is that the matric suction pressure required to saturate and desaturate controls the pore-water pressure build-up during a rainfall event.

The influence of physicochemical properties of Haraz river on its zooplankton composition and abundance were investigated at three sites for one year between August 2009 and July 2010. The present study records for the first time the aspects of zooplankton diversity and composition in relation to the physicochemical environment of the Haraz river. Only three groups of zooplankton were found: Rotifera with eighteen genera; Cladocera with nine and Copepoda with six genera. Rotifera was the predominant group (64.89%), followed by Cladocera (19.62%) and Copepoda (15.32%). Upstream, the abundance was 805 individuals/m3, while it varied from 922 to 1126 ind/m3 downstream. Alkaline pH and nutrients were the main environmental factors which affected zooplankton abundance in the river. Site variation in dominance, diversity, evenness and richness were calculated. The study revealed that the presence of certain species, such as Lepadella sp., Mesocyclops sp., Polyarthra sp. and Brachionus sp. is considered to be a biological indicator for eutrophication. The calculated Jack1 values of sites 1 to 3 were 7.624, 16.426 and 19.221, respectively. The Shannon-Wiever species diversity index (H’) values were also different for all the three sites viz., site 1 (1.992), site 2 (1.21) and site 3 (2.48). Simpson’s dominance index (H) value was highest at site 1 (0.692), indicating maximum dominance, whereas at site 3 dominance was the lowest (0.227) and diversity was the highest. Overall, our results showed that changes in the water quality of the river Haraz have considerable effects on the composition of zooplankton assemblages that can potentially affect the functioning of these ecosystems.