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It has long been held as scientific fact that soon after birth, cardiomyocytes cease dividing, thus explaining the limited restoration of cardiac function after a heart attack. Recent demonstrations of cardiac myocyte differentiation observed in vitro or after in vivo transplantation of adult stem cells from blood, fat, skeletal muscle, or heart have challenged this view. Analysis of these studies has been complicated by the large disparity in the magnitude of effects seen by different groups and obscured by the recently appreciated process of in vivo stem-cell fusion. We now show a novel population of nonsatellite cells in adult murine skeletal muscle that progress under standard primary cell-culture conditions to autonomously beating cardiomyocytes. Their differentiation into beating cardiomyocytes is characterized here by video microscopy, confocal-detected calcium transients, electron microscopy, immunofluorescent cardiac-specific markers, and single-cell patch recordings of cardiac action potentials. Within 2 d after tail-vein injection of these marked cells into a mouse model of acute infarction, the marked cells are visible in the heart. By 6 d they begin to differentiate without fusing to recipient cardiac cells. Three months later, the tagged cells are visible as striated heart muscle restricted to the region of the cardiac infarct.

Intensive care units cater to patients with severe or life-threatening illnesses and are very expensive: Any recommendation to reduce the number of avoidable laboratory tests can help lower costs. Laboratory test results are widely used in clinical and public health settings, and the accuracy, reliability, and timeliness of reported test results define the laboratory's quality. The laboratory results must be as accurate as possible, all aspects of the laboratory operations must be reliable, and reporting must be timely in order to be useful in a clinical or public health setting. Avoidable repeat requesting of tests can compensate laboratory workload. We assumed to evaluate how many requests and how much cost reduction could have been saved if red color bedside reminders were seated and patients’ beds had been enforced in intensive care units. Firstly, we extracted the frequency of requests and the cost of laboratory tests such as complete blood count, serum electrolytes, urea nitrogen, creatinine, and blood glucose concentration, prothrombin time, and international normalized ratio for 3 months. Reminders were integrated in the red card format (20 x 30 cm) at the intensive care units over 3 months. A 3-month pre-installation and post installation study was carried out to determine frequency of requests and the cost of laboratory tests. Overall reminder installation immediately and significantly decreased Average frequency and cost of laboratory test such as complete blood counting, serum glucose, urea, creatinine, serum electrolytes and calcium tests, as well as prothrombin time and international normalized ratio (p<0/05). Intervention such as reminders installation strategies, may improve the efficient use of laboratory tests. Our study suggests that bedside reminder installation is a simple tool that is used for reducing the number of request tests and costs at intensive care units. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2007.05.005 Byline: F. Hosseinibalam, S. Hassanzadeh, A. Kiasatpour Keywords: Thermal expansion; Persian Gulf; Seasonal cycle and circulation Abstract: In an attempt to understand the causes of the sea-level seasonal cycle in the Persian Gulf, we investigated the relationships of sea-level data from 11 stations with atmospheric pressure and thermosteric level. Sea level is significantly correlated among all stations. The mean trend in sea level for the Persian Gulf is about 2.34mm/year. The thermosteric sea-level variability is estimated from temperature profiles at one-degree grid points. Contour maps of thermosteric level show that the height due to thermal expansion is high in summer and autumn, and low during winter and spring. The monthly mean thermostric height ranges from +2.2cm in July to -2.1cm in February. The major change in sea level due to the thermosteric level seems to be associated with the large change of the thermohaline circulation in the Persian Gulf. The maximum expansion occurs in summer, and the maximum contraction occurs in winter. Results of the regression analysis demonstrate that from 62% to 90.2% of the variance in the seasonal cycle is due to atmospheric pressure. The inclusion of the thermosteric sea level as a secondary forcing in the regression model improves the variance explained to 78.1-90.7%. The remaining change should be due to the halosteric effect and upwelling. Tide-gauge stations located at the Gulf's head show high correlation with Ekman vertical velocity. There are two distinct tide gauge stations in the Persian Gulf. One is found in the first cyclonic gyre and the other in the second gyre. The inclusion of Ekman upwelling to the model, improves significantly the variations explained as well, from 82.3% to 91.9%. Author Affiliation: Physics Department, University of Isfahan, Isfahan 81746, Iran Article History: Received 19 July 2006; Revised 4 May 2007; Accepted 9 May 2007

Background and Objectives: In recent years, an increase in the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has made it to be one of the significant neurodevelopmental disorders, and well-timed diagnosis for effective intervention has always been emphasized. Using the tools with desirable psychometric features for the considered population is one of the diagnostic ways of the disorder. The goal of the study was to specify sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 3rd version of GARS-3 edition (Gilliam autism rating scale- 3) in Persian. Materials and Methods: This descriptive research is of authentication type. The statistical sample was selected from four provinces in 2019- 2020 and included 3- 22 year-old people; out of which 117 were autistic, 55 deaf, 94 mental retarded, and 52 normal. The data was collected from the sample group and GARS (2013) questionnaire then was analyzed by descriptive indexes. Results: The results indicated that for both 4 and 6-point scales in accuracy index, the maximum amount for the autistic and normal groups was 0.93, and the minimum amount for the autistic and mental retarded ones was 0.76. In specificity index, the maximum amount for the autistic and normal groups was 0.90, and the minimum amount for the autistic and mental retarded ones was 0.52, and finally for sensitivity index the amount was 0.95. Conclusion: With regard to the achieved results of 3 significant psychometric scopes, using this type of screening tool to diagnose ASD in Iranian kids is advised. Although using other psychometric findings is also emphasized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presence of common zoonosis diseases caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) and nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), such as Johne's and Crohn's diseases, poses a public health threat and economic losses to Iranian livestock. Therefore, the early detection of mycobacteria is of paramount importance. In this regard, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is a new, simple to use, rapid, and useful diagnostic tool. This study was performed to evaluate different crude antigens obtained from Mycobacterium species using an indirect ELISA test to identify the mycobacterial infection in infected livestock. Five different strains of Mycobacteria including M. tuberculosis, M. phlei, M. bovis, M. avium subspecies paratuberculosis, and M. bovis AN5 were cultured. The crude antigens in the samples were precipitated with trichloroacetic acid 4%. The sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of crude antigens isolated from different Mycobacterium species was reported. The total level of protein was determined by the Lowry protein assay. After the crude antigen preparation, the ELISA test was performed and the results were compared with the purified protein derivative skin test. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software version 25. All five strains were detected in more than 92% of healthy animals. The highest sensitivity of ELISA tests was in M. bovis AN5 antigen which was greater than 83%. The highest diagnostic specificity and efficiency of assays were in M. avium subspecies paratuberculosis which was 95.83% and over 83%, respectively. Regarding the results, M. avium subspecies paratuberculosis and M. bovis AN5 antigens were promising candidates for the design of diagnostic ELISA due to their sensitivity, specificity, and efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sea level analysis along the Northern Coast of the Oman Sea was investigated on the basis of tide gauge measurements. Meteorological parameters, along with monsoon and NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation) indices were used to study the response of sea level to local and global forcing. The relation between sea level and forces were examined. Low correlation coefficient (-0.35) between sea level and atmospheric pressure at Chabahar indicated that the response to atmospheric pressure was not an inverse barometric. The nature of local inverse barometric effects were examined through a series of statistical models. Analysis between sea level and atmospheric pressure reveals a significant coherence, which meant that along the Northern Coast of Oman Sea, mean sea level responded to atmospheric pressure as an inverse barometer. It can be noticed that the difference between atmospheric pressure and mean sea level was due to alongshore wind stress forcing and was consistent with that expected from Ekman dynamics. The four EOF modes capture 87.16% for the x-component and 94.70% for the y-component of the total variance and were statistically significant. Linear regression and ARIMA model forecasts were fitted to sea level and compared to the actual data. Even though both models gave similar results, the ARIMA model performed considerably better. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]