Search

Background: Mycosis fungoides (MF) typically presents as erythematous scaly patches or plaques that may progress to cutaneous tumors. Although MF may be presented like other dermatoses, initial presentation as psoriasiform plaques simulating psoriasis is rare. Differentiating MF from psoriasis is important because systemic therapies used for psoriasis can worsen MF. We describe a case of psoriasiform MF and we also review the clinicopathological features of similar cases in the literature.Case: A 46-year-old woman was referred to our clinic with a history of psoriasiform plaques for 13 years. She had multiple, generalized, indurated plaques with thick psoriasiform scales that were unresponsive to topical treatments. The histopathology showed marked psoriasiform epidermal hyperplasia with epidermotropic atypical lymphocytes compatible with MF. Immunohistochemical (IHC) staining showed that atypical lymphocytes were positive for CD3, CD4, CD8, and CD5. Of note, upper dermal and intraepidermal large atypical lymphocytes were CD30 positive. The review of similar psoriasiform MF cases revealed that they had all been treated as psoriasis for many years and finally diagnosed as MF especially after deterioration induced by immunosuppressive therapies.Conclusions: In presumed cases of psoriasis that are unresponsive to treatment, progressive, or ulcerative, biopsy should be considered to rule out MF, particularly before starting a potent immunosuppressive agent.

Abstract Background Aging and obesity are the two major global health concerns. Sarcopenia, an age-linked disease, wherein a progressive loss of muscle volume, muscle strength, and physical activity occurs. In this study we evaluated the association of TP53 rs1625895 polymorphism with the susceptibility to sarcopenic obesity in Iranian old-age subjects. Methods Total of 176 old individuals (45 sarcopenic and 131 healthy) were recruited in this research and genotyped by PCR–RFLP. BMI, Skeletal Muscle Mass Index, body composition, Handgrip Strength, Gait Speed (GS), and biochemical parameters were measured. Chi-square test was done for genotypes and alleles frequency. Linear regression was applied to find the correlation between TP53 rs1625895 polymorphism, and biochemical and anthropometric parameters. The correlation between TP53 rs1625895 and the risk of sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity was investigated by logistic regression. Results G allele was significantly higher in sarcopenic obesity group [P = 0.037, OR (CI 95%) = 1.9 (1.03–3.5)] compared to A allele. BMI (P = 0.049) and LDL (P = 0.04) were significantly differed between genotypes when GG was compared to AA/AG genotype. The results revealed when GG genotype compared to AA/AG genotype in adjusted model for age, the risk of sarcopenic obesity [P value = 0.011, OR (CI 95%); 2.72 (1.25–5.91)] increased. Similarly, GG/AG genotype increased the risk of sarcopenic obesity [P value = 0.028, OR (CI 95%); 2.43 (1.10–5.36)] in adjusted model for age compared to AA genotype. Conclusions We suggested that TP53 rs1625895 polymorphism may increase the risk of sarcopenic obesity in Iranian population.

Objective: In recent years, growing rural communities have been affected by urbanism processes in various areas of their lives. Undoubtedly, locating villages around urban areas are influenced by the intensity of their urbanism processes. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to assess the situation of urbanism in the villages surrounding Darab city. Methods: This research is a descriptive-analytical method that documentary method is used to study the history and explanation of the problem and a survey method for collecting information related to urbanism in the surrounding villages. In this regard, according to the number of 3719 households in the villages surveyed, using the Cochran formula and correction, 318 households were calculated as sample size. Sample households were selected to complete the questionnaires by simple random sampling. Data analysis was performed using descriptive, inferential statistics and Vikor model with Excel, SPSS and ArcGIS software. Results:Results of the research confirm that there is a significant difference between the level of urbanism variables with 99% confidence, and the component related to the status of constructions has the highest level of urbanism. Also, the results of Kruskal-Wallis test confirm that there is a significant difference between the studied villages at 1% error level. Based on the results of the ranking of the model used, the Tanghe-Katuyeh village was evaluated in the highest and Akbarabad village was evaluated in the lowest level of urbanization status. Conclusion: Therefore, urbanism was different among the studied villages and its rate in each village has a significant correlation with two variables of distance to the city and the population of each village.

This study aimed to promote an efficient and reliable collection of deformation data for earthen slopes by comparing the Total Station (TS), Distributed Strain Sensing (DSS), and Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS)-based deformation measurement methods. The TS-based method was a two-person task with a longstanding “tried and true” reputation, and it provided acceptable results. However, it included a major portion of manual work in the field, potentially consuming extended time to obtain high-resolution data. The DSS-based method was a fiber optic cable-based one-person work, and it showed substantially faster and easier measurement. This method possessed the capability of collecting unattended measurements. The method also required anchor posts to measure deformation in segmented sections; some anchor posts became loose from shrinkage cracks and resulted in invalid measurements, particularly for soils of high plasticity. The UAS-based method was an aerial photogrammetric method. It provided an extremely high-resolution deformation profile but required a manual survey for an elevation check at reference points, although the surveying took a short amount of time by utilizing a Global Navigational Satellite Survey (GNSS) technique. This method required one operator and an assistant. From a comparison of the characteristics of the three different methods, it was found that each technique has its pros and cons, and the combination of different methods may greatly enhance the accuracy and convenience of the measurement.

Background & Objective: Predicting the transformation of dysplastic or congenital nevi into malignant lesions results in a significant increase in the survival of patients. Some specific gene mutations have been reported to be very helpful in this regard. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of BRAF V600E mutation in dysplastic and congenital nevi.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on patients with congenital (n=30) or dysplastic (n=30) nevi. For genomic analysis, the BRAF gene mutation (V600E) was evaluated using the real-time polymerase chain reaction.Results: The prevalence of BRAF gene (V600E) mutation was found as 1 case (3.3%) in congenital and 8 cases (26.7%) in dysplastic nevi indicating the higher prevalence of this mutation in patients with dysplastic nevi (p =0.026). Moreover, in the dysplastic nevi group, the presence of BRAF gene mutation (V600E) showed a significant relationship with the severity of dysplasia as the mutation rate was 25% in mild cases, in comparison with 54.5% in moderate dysplasia cases (p =0.009).Conclusion: According to the results, 3.3% of the patients with congenital nevi and 26.7% of the subjects with dysplastic nevi were positive for BRAF V600E mutation. Furthermore, the severity of dysplasia could have a positive relationship with the presence of the mutation.

One of the developments that was made in the French Civil Code in 2016 as a result of obligation rights' reform was the prediction of independent models to cession commitments and expression of the criteria governing them including the explanation of the status of accessories and guarantees of the original obligation in case of cession to third parties. However, this subject has many ambiguities in Iranian law and there are no explicit and definite articles about it. The Iranian Civil Code with adaptation of former French Civil Code, mentions the methods of Cession of Commitment, but contrary to French law, do not specify their effects and rulings, including the status of Accessory Contracts. The descriptive-analytic study of the subject in the legal systems of France and Iran demonstrates that the new French law of obligations is very similar to the Iranian legal system in this regard and in both legal systems, by ceding the positive aspect of the obligation (cession of the claim), its accessory contracts are also ceded, but the cession of the negative aspect of the obligation (cession of the debt) causes the termination of its accessory obligations.

The purpose of this study is to develop a conceptual model and classify the antecedents and consequences of the green supply chain in the parts industry. The study method is qualitative content analysis and the main tool for data collection is semi-structured interviews. Data analysis was performed using a combination of directional and summary content analysis techniques. The identified factors include 29 open codes that were inserted in the form of seven main categories and at the end, using Max Kyoda software, classification and conceptual model were drawn. Reliability using kappa coefficient was equal to 0.960, which is at the level of excellent agreement. The results show that the 7 components identified in the antecedents and consequences of the green supply chain in the component manufacturing industry include; Supplier and green purchase, green design and packaging, green production, green distribution and marketing, environmental management, education and research, reverse logistics. The components of education and research and reverse logistics have emerged as new components in this research. Today, in a competitive environment, global organizations have realized that improving environmental performance can set them apart from their competitors

Background: Vitamin B12 plays an important role in many metabolic pathways, obesity, and insulin resistance and the elderly as a high-risk group are prone to its deficiency. In this regard, this study investigated the relationship between serum vitamin B12 and glycemic indices, dietary components and body mass index (BMI) in elderly population.Methods: In a cross-sectional study, ninety elderly aged 65 years and older from an senior center were enrolled. After completing the demographic questionnaire and assessing BMI, 5 mL blood sample was provided to measure serum vitamin B12, insulin and blood glucose levels. On the other hand, the vitamin B12 content of the diet was extracted from thefood frequency questionnaire (FFQ).Results: About 58% of the elderly had serum vitamin B12 levels below normal. There was a significant correlation between low vitamin B12 levels, body weight and BMI. Furthermore, the relationship between low serum vitamin B12 level and fasting blood glucose level was also significant (p

Abstract EN is a hamartomatous proliferation of keratinocytes. The most common dermoscopic feature of EN is large brown circles in the absence of pigment network which is similar in different histopathological variants including epidermolytic hyperkeratotic.

Background: Lichen planopilaris (LPP) is a relatively uncommon inflammatory skin condition that causes permanent hair loss. Irreversible hair loss can have a significant psychosocial and psychological impact on patients’ lives. Limited studies have assessed the psychological status of patients suffering from LPP, and to our knowledge, none have evaluated patients with LPP as a separate group in this regard. Objective: This study aimed to assess the quality of life (QoL) and general health of patients with LPP using the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) questionnaire and General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28), respectively. Methods: Our study employed a cross-sectional design. In total, 41 patients with LPP attending the follow-up skin clinic at the Razi Hospital in Tehran, Iran were asked to complete the DLQI and GHQ-28. Furthermore, selected demographic information was obtained from patients to evaluate their association with general health and QoL. Results: Forty-one patients (14 men and 27 women) with a mean age of 44.02 ± 10.8 years completed both questionnaires. QoL was affected moderately to extremely in 70.7% of patients. Also, 26 patients (63.4%) were at risk for psychological disorders. Lower QoL was reported by patients age

Abstract River systems originating from the Upper Indus Basin (UIB) are dominated by runoff from snow and glacier melt and summer monsoonal rainfall. These water resources are highly stressed as huge populations of people living in this region depend on them, including for agriculture, domestic use, and energy production. Projections suggest that the UIB region will be affected by considerable (yet poorly quantified) changes to the seasonality and composition of runoff in the future, which are likely to have considerable impacts on these supplies. Given how directly and indirectly communities and ecosystems are dependent on these resources and the growing pressure on them due to ever‐increasing demands, the impacts of climate change pose considerable adaptation challenges. The strong linkages between hydroclimate, cryosphere, water resources, and human activities within the UIB suggest that a multi‐ and inter‐disciplinary research approach integrating the social and natural/environmental sciences is critical for successful adaptation to ongoing and future hydrological and climate change. Here we use a horizon scanning technique to identify the Top 100 questions related to the most pressing knowledge gaps and research priorities in social and natural sciences on climate change and water in the UIB. These questions are on the margins of current thinking and investigation and are clustered into 14 themes, covering three overarching topics of “governance, policy, and sustainable solutions”, “socioeconomic processes and livelihoods”, and “integrated Earth System processes”. Raising awareness of these cutting‐edge knowledge gaps and opportunities will hopefully encourage researchers, funding bodies, practitioners, and policy makers to address them.

Background:. In autoimmune bullous diseases (AIBDs), autoantibodies loosen molecular adhesions in the skin and/or mucosa and lead to blisters and erosions. Immunosuppressive drugs reduce mortality of the AIBD; therefore, patients will have to live longer with comorbidities. Objective:. This study aims to determine the quality of life of AIBD patients undergoing systemic treatment while investigating the survey’s relationship with various factors. Methods:. In this 2-step cross-sectional study, we initially included 53 consecutive pemphigus patients to investigate reliability and validity of the Persian version of Treatment of Autoimmune Bullous Disease Quality of Life (TABQOL) questionnaire. Then, we conducted the study on 119 AIBD patients, currently under treatment at an AIBD clinic in Iran. Results:. The mean TABQOL score for our patients was 13.87 ± 7.51. The highest TABQOL was for epidermolysis bullosa acquisita (24 ± 8.485) followed by pemphigus foliaceus (20.5 ± 14.181) and the lowest for pemphigus vulgaris (13.24 ± 6.54). There was no significant difference between patients’ TABQOL scores and their gender, history of rituximab injection, and disease severity scores. We only found a positive correlation between TABQOL and prednisolone dose. Conclusion:. Treatments of AIBD considerably impact the quality of life of patients and an impairment in quality of life is correlated to higher doses of prednisolone.

Abstract Background The development of effective nutritional supports for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) is still challenging. This study was conducted to investigate the efficacy of daily consumption of fortified whey on inflammation, muscle mass, functionality, and quality of life in patients with moderate-to-severe COPD. Methods A single-blind, randomized trial study was performed on patients with COPD (n = 46). Participants in the intervention group (n = 23) daily received 250 ml of whey beverage fortified with magnesium and vitamin C for 8 weeks. Any changes in inflammatory cytokines (including interleukin- 6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor (TNFα)) were the primary outcomes and the secondary outcomes were fat-free mass, handgrip strength, malnutrition, glutathione and malondialdehyde serum concentrations, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Body composition and muscle strength were measured by Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) and hydraulic hand dynamometer, respectively. Fat-free mass index (FFMI) was also calculated. Results At the end of the study, 44 patients were analyzed. There were significant decreases in IL-6 concentrations in the intervention group compared to the control group. Also, FFMI, body protein, and handgrip strength increased significantly in the intervention group with significant changes between two groups. Moreover, improvement in health-related quality of life was observed in the intervention group compared to the control group. There were no significant changes in other study variables. Conclusions This novel nutritional intervention decreased inflammatory cytokines levels, improved indices of skeletal muscle mass and muscle strength, and ultimately, increased HRQoL in patients with moderate-to-severe COPD. Thus, it is suggested to do further studies to assess the effects of nutrition intervention on COPD progression. Trial registration IR.SUMS.REC.1396.85 ( https://www.irct.ir/ ).

Background: Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is an autoimmune subepidermal blistering disease associated with immune response against BP-180 and BP-230. Peripheral blood eosinophilia and dermal infiltration of eosinophils are common findings in BP. Objective: The aim of our study was to demonstrate a statistical correlation between dermal and peripheral blood eosinophilia, anti BP-180, and anti BP-230 IgG and clinical severity of BP. Methods: A total of 27 patients with newly diagnosed BP were included. Severity of disease was assessed according to the bullous pemphigoid disease activity index (BPDAI). Anti-BP-180 and anti-BP-230 titers, peripheral blood eosinophilia, and dermal eosinophil infiltration and tissue inflammation severity were assessed for each patient. Results: A significant correlation was found between the serum levels of anti-BP-180 and anti-BP-230, and dermal eosinophilia and tissue inflammation severity with objective and subjective BPDAI scores. In addition, there was a significant correlation between the percentage of peripheral blood eosinophils and subjective BPDAI scores and urticarial/eczematous lesions. Moreover, the mucosal component did not show any correlation with autoantibody levels and inflammation severities. Conclusion: Anti-BP-180 and anti-BP-230 levels, tissue inflammation severity, and dermal eosinophilia had a strong and significant correlation with BP severity. In addition, percentage of peripheral blood eosinophilia showed a correlation with subjective BPDAI scores.

The demand for long-term continuous care has led healthcare experts to focus on development challenges. On-chip energy consumption as a key challenge can be addressed by data reduction techniques. In this paper, the pseudo periodic nature of ElectroCardioGram(ECG) signals has been used to completely remove redundancy from frames. Compressing aligned QRS complexes by Compressed Sensing (CS), result in highly redundant measurement vectors. By removing this redundancy, a high cluster of near zero samples is gained. The efficiency of the proposed algorithm is assessed using the standard MIT-BIH database. The results indicate that by aligning ECG frames, the proposed technique can achieve superior reconstruction quality compared to state-of-the-art techniques for all compression ratios. This study proves that by aligning ECG frames with a 0.05% unaligned frame rate(R-peak detection error), more compression could be gained for PRD > 5% when 5-bit non-uniform quantizer is used. Furthermore, analysis done on power consumption of the proposed technique, indicates that a very good recovery performance can be gained by only consuming 4.9μW more energy per frame compared to traditional CS.

Differentiating between shockable and non-shockable Electrocardiogram (ECG) signals would increase the success of resuscitation by the Automated External Defibrillators (AED). In this study, a Deep Neural Network (DNN) algorithm is used to distinguish 1.4-second segment shockable signals from non-shockable signals promptly. The proposed technique is frequency-independent and is trained with signals from diverse patients extracted from MIT-BIH, MIT-BIH Malignant Ventricular Ectopy Database (VFDB), and a database for ventricular tachyarrhythmia signals from Creighton University (CUDB) resulting, in an accuracy of 99.1%. Finally, the raspberry pi minicomputer is used to load the optimized version of the model on it. Testing the implemented model on the processor by unseen ECG signals resulted in an average latency of 0.845 seconds meeting the IEC 60601-2-4 requirements. According to the evaluated results, the proposed technique could be used by AED's.

The X-ray pulsar 1A 0535+262 exhibited a giant outburst in 2020, offering us a unique opportunity for X-ray polarimetry of an accreting pulsar in the supercritical state. Measurement with PolarLight yielded a nondetection in 3–8 keV; the 99% upper limit of the polarization fraction (PF) is found to be 0.34 averaged over spin phases, or 0.51 based on the rotating vector model. No useful constraint can be placed with phase-resolved polarimetry. These upper limits are lower than a previous theoretical prediction of 0.6–0.8, but consistent with those found in other accreting pulsars, like Her X-1, Cen X-3, 4U 1626−67, and GRO J1008−57, which were in the subcritical state, or at least not confidently in the supercritical state, during the polarization measurements. Our results suggest that the relatively low PF seen in accreting pulsars cannot be attributed to the source not being in the supercritical state, but could be a general feature.

In the future, sensors mounted on uncrewed aerial systems (UASs) will play a critical role in increasing both the speed and safety of structural inspections. Environmental and safety concerns make structural inspections and maintenance challenging when conducted using traditional methods, especially for large structures. The methods developed and tested in the laboratory need to be tested in the field on real-size structures to identify their potential for full implementation. This paper presents results from a full-scale field implementation of a novel sensor equipped with UAS to measure non-contact transverse displacement from a pedestrian bridge. To this end, the authors modified and upgraded a low-cost system that previously showed promise in laboratory and small-scale outdoor settings so that it could be tested on an in-service bridge. The upgraded UAS system uses a commodity drone platform, low-cost sensors including a laser range-finder, and a computer vision-based algorithm with the aim of measuring bridge displacements under load indicative of structural problems. The aim of this research is to alleviate the costs and challenges associated with sensor attachment in bridge inspections and deliver the first prototype of a UAS-based non-contact out-of-plane displacement measurement. This work helps to define the capabilities and limitations of the proposed low-cost system in obtaining non-contact transverse displacement in outdoor experiments.

Access to safe and sustainable water is one of the most urgent needs of citizens in all societies, particularly large cities and metropolises, and any disruption to the functioning of water infrastructure in cities, poses immediate and serious threat to citizens' security and can become a national security issue. Terrorist acts can take many different forms and means. One of the most dangerous types of terrorism is "bioterrorism" and the use of toxic and biological substances to contaminate water supply facilities, such as water resources, treatment plants and distribution networks, which can adversely affect the health and well-being of the community and make a crisis.The results show that bioterrorism can contaminate various elements of urban water infrastructure in the supply, treatment, and transmission through lethal and pathogenic bacteria and toxins, such as anthrax, cholera, typhoid, botulinum, etc. The vulnerability and likelihood of bioterrorism attacks in each element of the water resources infrastructure were also evaluated and it was determined that there was a difference between the vulnerability. The results show the likelihood of bioterrorism attacks in different parts of the urban water infrastructure. Thus, based on the "vulnerability", among different sections of the water infrastructure, the "distribution network" of urban water is at a greater risk and based on the "likelihood of threat" the "water supply" is at a great risk.