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Efficient bandwidth utilisation is significant in new communication systems where secondary users can be used besides primary users considering interference issues and idle state of primary users. Using secondary users as relays to transmit their own signals in addition to the primary signals can be applied for more reliability of the system where opportunistic relay selection can significantly enhance the performance of the system. The best-condition secondary user is selected as the optimum relay for retransmission of primary/secondary signal. Outage probability is analysed in this paper based on decode and forward technique in secondary users while the closed-form statement for outage probability is provided and verified by numerical evaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roselle is an important medicinal and industrial plant of the family of Malvaceae, and is planted in vast areas of Sistan and Baluchestan. In a laboratory study, the effect of varying temperatures on seed germination of Hibiscus sabdariffa was investigated and minimum, optimum and maximum temperatures for its germination were determined in a completely randomized design with four replications. For this purpose, temperatures 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 and 50°C were considered in each treatment. Cardinal temperatures for germination were determined consistent with three models (i.e., Intersected-lines Model, Five-Parameters Beta Model and Quadratic Polynomial Model). The traits measured were germination percentage, the speed of germination and mean germination time. The temperature effect on all the measured traits was significant. The results of the regression analysis showed that the best model in terms of cardinal point of this plant is the Five-Parameters Beta Model. Given the results of this model, the minimum and the optimal temperatures for the germination of Roselle are 4.04°C, and 29.83° C, respectively.

BACKGROUND: Numerous studies have investigated the effect of lavender and damask rose aromatherapy on sleep quality. There is, however, little research to compare the impact of them over each other. The aim of current study was to compare the effect of aromatherapy with lavender and damask rose on sleep quality in patients after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery in Guilan Province, Iran, in 2017-2018.METHODS: In this randomized clinical trial (RCT) study, 97 patients undergoing CABG were randomly assigned to intervention or control groups. In the intervention groups, the patients were asked by the researcher to inhale the lavender or damask rose randomly every night for 5 consecutive nights at 22:00. The control group received routine nursing care in compliance with the hospital procedure. Data were obtained by demographic-clinical and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) questionnaires. To analyze the data, chi-square test, t-test, Kruskal-Wallis test, and Wilcoxon test were used.RESULTS: During the 5-night intervention period, despite a relative improvement of sleep quality in intervention groups compared to the control group, none of the two aromatherapies had a statistically significant effect on any of delayed sleep (P = 0.514), sleep duration (P = 0.839), sleep efficiency (P = 0.067), sleep disturbances (P = 0.061), and daily functional disorders (P = 0.114) except for subjective sleep quality (P = 0.016) and use of sleep medications (P = 0.031).CONCLUSION: Using both aromatherapies with lavender and damask rose indicated positive effects on sleep quality of the CABG patients, but we could not find a superiority over each other.

Phytomedicine has been used by humans since ancient times to treat a variety of diseases. However, herbal medicines face significant challenges, including poor water and lipid solubility and instability, which lead to low bioavailability and insufficient therapeutic efficacy. Recently, it has been shown that nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems are appropriate to overcome the above-mentioned limitations. The present review study first discusses herbal medicines and the challenges involved in the formulation of these drugs. The different types of nano-based drug delivery systems used in herbal delivery and their potential to improve therapeutic efficacy are summarized, and common techniques for preparing nanocarriers used in herbal drug delivery are also discussed. Finally, a list of nanophyto medicines that have entered clinical trials since 2010, as well as those that the FDA has approved, is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims Teamwork is a necessity for triage in war by healthcare science students and providers. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of online micro-learning interdisciplinary education about war victim triage on the knowledge and practice of healthcare science students. Materials & Methods This quasi-experimental study was conducted in 2021 with a single-group pretest-posttest design. Participants were 80 male medical, nursing, and medical emergency students of Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences who were selected purposively and randomly allocated to 10 interdisciplinary WhatsApp groups. The study's intervention was online microlearning video-based education about war victim triage provided through the ten WhatsApp groups. Participants' knowledge and practice respecting war victim triage were assessed before, immediately after, and one month after the intervention using a knowledge questionnaire and six scenarios about war victim triage practice, respectively. The SPSS 22 software was used to analyze the data through the repeated measures analysis of variance. Findings The repeated measures analysis of variance showed significant differences in the mean scores of knowledge and practice respecting war victim triage across the three measurement time points. Conclusion Web-based OMIDE improves healthcare science students' knowledge and practice respecting war victim triage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to develop and validate an educational program designed to reduce self-injurious behavior (SIB) among adolescents. This program was developed based on the real-life experiences of adolescents who engage in self-harming behaviors. Employing a qualitative research approach, specifically the phenomenological method, the study encompassed all adolescents displaying self-harming behaviors in Shiraz city. The sampling process was deliberate, with the sample size determined by reaching a point of theoretical saturation. Ultimately, the perspectives of 15 adolescents (comprising 8 girls and 7 boys) were actively incorporated into the development of this educational and therapeutic package. This process involved the formulation of a model based on their lived experiences, which consisted of three core themes and 13 sub-themes. The end result was an educational -therapeutic package specifically designed to mitigate self-harming behaviors. The content validity of this educational-therapeutic package was assessed and confirmed using the content validity (Lawshe method). Importantly, this package holds significant potential for use in implementing educational and therapeutic interventions aimed at addressing self-harming behaviors among adolescents. These interventions can be effectively delivered within the context of schools, counseling centers, and educational institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global outbreak of COVID-19 as a pandemic disease posed one of the most critical conditions for the healthcare system. This study aimed to provide a comprehensive potential transfection of COVID-19 disease to humans from pets. This study is a systematic review of the latest data on COVID-19 in the animal community (wildlife, pets, and farm) from June 2017 to May 2022. Published studies in various databases including Google scholar, PubMed, Scopus, ISI web of knowledge, and Embase were searched. Searching, data gathering, and analysis were accomplished by two reviewers separately and conflicts between them were resolved by a third expert reviewer. In the initial research, 83 articles were found for full-text evaluation, after the reviewers' assessment, 32 articles were included. Finally, the organisms studied in the mentioned research were classified into two parts: laboratory and non-laboratory research. The first group of laboratory animals includes rats, hamsters, guinea pigs, rhesus monkeys, macaques, and pigs. In the second group, non-laboratory patients, less than 100 dogs and cats, 6 cases of large cats, 2 cases of snakes (reptiles), and 12 cases of mink and bats were included. In dogs and cats, the symptoms are more in the form of upper respiratory tract infections, while in herbivores, these symptoms are more in the form of enteritis and diarrhea, and gastrointestinal symptoms. Infection of dogs and cats is mostly accompanied by coughing and sneezing, while there are no reports of herbivores. Animal studies suggested that other animals can be hosted with COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Two simple, precise and accurate multivariate calibration methods, partial least square (PLS) and principal component regression (PCR) have been applied for the simultaneous determination and dissolution profile evaluation of atorvastatin (ATV) and ezetimibe (EZT) in their binary mixtures and commercial tablets. Due to the closely overlapping spectral bands of the mentioned drugs, simultaneous determination without previous separation is not possible by conventional spectrophotometric methods. In the proposed methods (PLS and PCR) determination of chemicals was performed by the use of a full-spectrum multivariate calibration method. Methods: The experimental calibration matrix was designed orthogonally with 16 samples composed of different mixtures of both compounds in related mediums. The simultaneous determination of ATV and EZT was accomplished in mixtures through recording the absorption spectra within a range of 210 to 300 nm. Results: The concentration of ATV and EZT were considered in the linear range, between 8 to 14 µg.ml-1. The specificity of the methods was evaluated by analyzing laboratory prepared mixtures of the mentioned drugs in specific proportions. Conclusion: The applied methods were successfully employed in simultaneous spectrophotometric determination and dissolution profile evaluation of ATV and EZT in their prepared mixtures and pharmaceutical formulation.

Low solubility and dissolution rate are the primary challenges in the drug development which substantially impact the oral absorption and bioavailability of drugs. Due to the poor water solubility, Albendazole (ABZ) is poorly absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract and shows low oral bioavailability (5%) which is a major disadvantage for the systemic use of ABZ. To improve the solubility and dissolution rate of ABZ, different classes of hydrophilic excipients such as sugars (lactose, sucrose, and glucose), polyols (mannitol and sorbitol), ionic surfactant (sodium lauryl sulfate) and non-ionic surfactant (Cremophor A25) were co-spray dried with ABZ. The crystallinity changes in the processed drug were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry and X-Ray diffraction methods were used to interpret the enhanced solubility and dissolution rate of the drug. Results showed that the solubility and dissolution rate of ABZ were increased 1.8-2.6 folds and 3-25 folds, respectively. Unexpectedly, SLS decreased the solubility index of drug powder even lower than the unprocessed drug which was attributed to drug-SLS ionic interaction as depicted from Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. It was concluded that by applying the facile, one-step, industrially scalable technique and the use of small amounts of excipient (only 4% of the formulation), a great improvement (21 folds) in dissolution rate of ABZ was achieved. This finding may be used in the pharmaceutical industries for the formulation of therapeutically efficient dosage forms of class II and IV drugs classified in biopharmaceutical classification system.

Background and aims: X-band microwave with 8-12.5 frequency range has various applications such as air control traffic, navy communication and etc. Uncontrolled exposure with microwave can lead to adverse effect on workers. Application of the shielding is superior control for prevention of microwave exposure.The aim of this study is production a new electromagnetic shielding for exposure control of X-band frequency by nano nickel oxide and epoxy resin. Method: Nanocomposites prepared by epoxy resin and nano nickel oxide (7wt %) with 2, 4 and 6 mm thicknesses. Nanoparticles characterized by XRD and FESEM. Shielding effectiveness measured with vector network analyzer. Results: The Average of shielding effectiveness for three thicknesses were 2.68, 5.09 and 5.35 dB respectively that were equivalent to 45.98, 69.01 and 70.87 attenuation percentage. Maximum attenuation (8.96 dB or 87.29 attenuation percentage) obtained by the nanocomposite with 6mm thickness at 8.51 GHz frequency. The Average of shielding effectiveness increased with increasing the thickness. Conclusion: these nanocomposites could be used as appropriate shielding for exposure control of X-band frequency in workplace .Both Epoxy and nanocomposite with 6mm thicknesses are useful in specific frequency such as 8.52 and 8.51 GHz. However, According to economical and technical issues, nanocomposite with 4mm thickness is appropriate shield in this study. In according to required attenuation and economical benefit, attenuation matrix can be used for selecting the appropriate electromagnetic shield. Keyword: electromagnetic shielding, microwave, nanocomposite, nickel oxide, epoxy, radiation