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Abstract Skin microvasculature is vital for human cardiovascular health and thermoregulation, but its imaging and analysis presents significant challenges. Statistical methods such as speckle decorrelation in optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) often require multiple co-located B-scans, leading to lengthy acquisitions prone to motion artefacts. Deep learning has shown promise in enhancing accuracy and reducing measurement time by leveraging local information. However, both statistical and deep learning methods typically focus solely on processing individual 2D B-scans, neglecting contextual information from neighbouring B-scans. This limitation compromises spatial context and disregards the 3D features within tissue, potentially affecting OCTA image accuracy. In this study, we propose a novel approach utilising 3D convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to address this limitation. By considering the 3D spatial context, these 3D CNNs mitigate information loss, preserving fine details and boundaries in OCTA images. Our method reduces the required number of B-scans while enhancing accuracy, thereby increasing clinical applicability. This advancement holds promise for improving clinical practices and understanding skin microvascular dynamics crucial for cardiovascular health and thermoregulation.

Abstract Atherosclerosis is the build-up of fatty plaques within blood vessel walls, which can occlude the vessels and cause strokes or heart attacks. It gives rise to both structural and biomolecular changes in the vessel walls. Current single-modality imaging techniques each measure one of these two aspects but fail to provide insight into the combined changes. To address this, our team has developed a dual-modality imaging system which combines optical coherence tomography (OCT) and fluorescence imaging that is optimized for a porphyrin lipid nanoparticle that emits fluorescence and targets atherosclerotic plaques. Atherosclerosis-prone apolipoprotein (Apo)e -/- mice were fed a high cholesterol diet to promote plaque development in descending thoracic aortas. Following infusion of porphyrin lipid nanoparticles in atherosclerotic mice, the fiber-optic probe was inserted into the aorta for imaging, and we were able to robustly detect a porphyrin lipid-specific fluorescence signal that was not present in saline-infused control mice. We observed that the nanoparticle fluorescence colocalized in areas of CD68+ macrophages. These results demonstrate that our system can detect the fluorescence from nanoparticles, providing complementary biological information to the structural information obtained from simultaneously acquired OCT.

Introduction: Obesity is a major risk factor for inflammation and cardiovascular diseases. We tried to assess whether 12 weeks of aerobic exercises affect serum resistin level and lipid profile in overweight females or not. Methods: For this purpose, 32 non-trained adult females with the mean age of 38 ± 7 years old and body mass index (BMI) of 32 ± 3 kg/m2 were randomly assigned to aerobic exercise (n=16) and control (n=16) groups. Twelve weeks of aerobic exercise program including 3 sessions weekly at 60-75% of maximum heart rate was considered. Fasting serum resistin level, lipid profile (total cholesterol [TC], low-density lipoprotein [LDL] and high-density lipoprotein [HDL] cholesterol, and triglyceride [TG]), and anthropometric indexes were measured and compared between the two groups before and after training. Results: Serum resistin, lipid profile markers, and anthropometrical indexes were not significantly different at baseline between the two groups (P>0.05). TG, TC, LDL, and serum resistin did not change significantly after the intervention in the exercise group (P>0.05). However, a significant increase in HDL (exercise: 46.3 ± 9.6 vs. 51.4 ± 8.5, P=0.011; control: 45.8 ± 7.9 vs. 46.8 ± 6.9 P=0.326) and a significant decrease in LDL/HDL ratio (exercise: 2.94 ± 0.12 vs. 2.47 ± 0.19, P=0.019; control: 3.14 ± 0.23 vs. 3.18 ± 0.63, P=0.265) were observed after the intervention. Other variables in the control group remained unchanged. Conclusion: Aerobic exercises had no impacts on the inflammatory profile but could improve lipid profile with an emphasis on HDL in adult obese women.

Background and Objective: Creatine is one of the most important and commonly used supplements athletes, although the molecular mechanisms of creatine and its side effects are less understood. The high level of the ceratin kinase enzyme and lactate dehydrogenase enzymes are considered to be a sign of cell damage. This study was done to determine the effect of creatine monohydrate supplementation on creatine kinase (CK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) enzymes following a severe muscle contraction in female athletes. Methods: In this double-blind clinical trial study, 30 female athletes were randomly divided into intervention (creatine supplementation 0.3 grams per body weight for 4 times duing 7 days and control (placebo, starch powder) groups. Blood sample was collected before supplementation (pre-test) and 24 hours after Cunningham exercise test (post-test) to measuring CK and LDH in each subject. Results: After intervention, the level of CK (323±63 IU/L) and LDH (119±13 IU/L) in intervention group had no significant difference in compared to control group (CK: 328±44 IU/L and LDH: 122±14 IU/L). Conclusion: The usage of a 7-day course of creatine supplement did not significantly change the CK and LDH levels following a severe muscle contraction in female athletes.

BackgroundAbout 26% of the world's population may have latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI). Health care workers are a high-risk category because of their professional exposure.MethodsThis cross-sectional study assessed the LTBI burden among health care workers in Afghanistan, a high-TB-burden country. We selected health facilities using a systematic sampling technique and invited all workers at the targeted health facilities to participate. Participants were interviewed about sociodemographic and exposure variables and received tuberculin skin tests for LTBI.ResultsOf the 4,648 health care workers invited to participate, 3,686 had tuberculin skin tests. The prevalence of LTBI was found to be 47.2% (1,738 workers). Multivariate analysis showed that a body mass index of ≥ 30 and marriage were associated with an increased risk of LTBI. Underweight (body mass index of ≤ 18 and below) and normal body mass index had no association with increased risk of LTBI.ConclusionLTBI is high among health care workers in Afghanistan. We recommend instituting infection control measures in health facilities and screening workers for timely TB diagnosis.

Manipulation at the atomic scale comes with a trade-off between simplicity and thermal stability. Here, Achal et al. demonstrate improved automated hydrogen lithography and repassivation, enabling error-corrected atomic writing of large-scale structures/memories that are stable at room temperature.

Snow is a form of precipitation that plays a key role in runoff generation at mountain climate watersheds. Because of a time delay between the snowfall and its melting process, the generated runoff has a differnet behavior than other form runoff generations. DarbandSamalghan is one of the important mountain climate watersheds in North Khorsan province that its snowmelt runoff has a significant influence in the watershed streamflow. In this study a snowmelt runoff model (WinSRM) applied for runoff simulation during the two water year 2010-11 as calibration and 2011-12 for validation by using the MODIS satellite data. The model can estimate the snowmelt runoff using metorogical, hydrological and physical characterstics of the watershed as well as provinding the output simulations in diffrenet form of charts and values. The results showed a good agreement between the simulated and observed streamflow data. The determination coefficient and difference volume were 0.88 and -3.3 % for the first year, and 0.72 and 0.3 for the next year of simulation respectively. Finally, results of this study indicated the high capability of the WinSRM model and this model can be applied for the other watersheds in the region.

In this study, the behavior of Gavoshan dam was evaluated during construction and the first impounding. A two-dimensional (2D) numerical analysis was conducted based on a finite difference method on the largest cross-section of the dam using the results of instrument measurements and back analysis. These evaluations will be completed in the case that back analysis is carried out in order to control the degree of the accuracy and the level of confidence of the measured behavior since each of the measurements could be controlled by comparing it to the result obtained from the numerical model. Following that, by comparing the results of the numerical analysis with the measured values, it is indicated that there is a proper consistency between these two values. Moreover, it was observed that the dam performance was suitable regarding the induced pore water pressure, the pore water pressure ratio ru, settlement, induced stresses, arching degree, and hydraulic fracturing probability during the construction and initial impounding periods. The results demonstrated that the maximum settlement of the core was 238 cm at the end of construction. In the following 6 years after construction (initial impounding and exploitation period), the accumulative settlement of the dam was 270 cm. It is clear that 88% of the total settlement of the dam took place during dam construction. The reason is that the clay core was smashed in the wet side, i.e. the optimum moisture content. Whereas the average curving ratio was 0.64 during dam construction; at the end of the initial impounding, the maximum amount of curving ratio in the upstream was 0.81, and the minimum (critical) amount in the downstream was 0.52. It was also concluded that this dam is safe in comparison with the behaviors of other similar dams in the world.

Introduction: The interactions between biomacromolecules such as serum albumin (SA) and various drugs have attracted increasing research attention in recent years. However, the study of SA with those drugs that have relatively high hydrophilicity and a lower affinity for SA could be a challenging issue. At the present study, the interaction of bovine SA (BSA) with neomycin as a hydrophilic drug has been investigated using surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and molecular docking methods. Methods: BSA was immobilized on the carboxymethyl dextran hydrogel sensor chip after activation of carboxylic groups through NHS/EDC and, then, the neomycin interaction with BSA at different concentrations (1-128 µM) was investigated. Results: Dose-response sensorgrams of BSA upon increasing concentration of neomycin has been shown through SPR analysis. The small KD value (4.96 e-7 at 40°C) demonstrated high affinity of neomycin to BSA. Thermodynamic parameters were calculated through van’t Hoff equation at 4 different temperatures. The results showed that neomycin interacts with BSA via Van der Waals interactions and hydrogen bonds and increase of KD with temperature rising indicated that the binding process was entropy driven. Molecular docking study confirmed that hydrogen bond was the major intermolecular force stabilizing neomycin-BSA complex. Conclusion: The attained results showed that neomycin molecules can efficiently distribute within the body after interaction with BSA in spite of having hydrophilic properties. Besides, SPR can be considered as a useful instrument for study of the interaction of hydrophilic drugs with SA.

Background. Fatigue has an undesirable effect on the continued exercise performance and decreases athlete's activity. Fast lactic acid disposed is high of importance for athletes. Objectives. Therefore, the present article determines the effects of the different frequencies of whole-body vibration after a strenuous activity on blood lactic acid. Methods. 60 athletes were chosen from selected athletes of provincial championship through bruce test. The athletes randomly were divided into four groups of 15 participating in the initial recovery scheme after strenuous exercise (Cunningham test). The first group did initial passive/ inactive recovery that the subjects sat on a chair after exercise and the second to fourth did initial 15 minutes active retrieval on the vibration platform at different rate /with different speed. Their blood lactic acid was checked in three phases by manual lactometer (before activity, immediately after the activity, 15 minutes recovery period the initial situation). Results. The result of this research indicated that the average level of lactic acid immediately after activity to before activity among 4 groups was significantly different (P=0.006). decrease in lactic acid 15 minutes after the initial state recovery to immediately after that, was significant in all groups (p

Introduction: Depression and anxiety are the most common psychiatric disorders. In this account, the aim of this study was to investigate the comparison of aerobic and anaerobic exercise effect on depression and anxiety in students. Materials and Methods: In this study, 120 male students were randomly divided into 3 groups of 40, including the first group to do 3 aerobic exercise sessions of 60 minutes per week for 8 weeks. The second group was trained in anaerobic exercise, whereas the third one as the control group of non-exercising subjects gets involved in no intervention/interference. Afterwards, the groups were checked in the terms of anxiety and depression by STAL and Beak depression inventory. Results: The results showed that mean changes before and after the intervention in depression with exercise 7.23 ± 8.81, 5.89 ± 7.75 in anaerobic training group and the control group 1.23 ± 4.73 which the difference was significant (p=0.001). So that, the aerobic group (p=0.001) and also in anaerobic (p=0.012) more than the control group, but the difference was not significant in aerobic and anaerobic groups (p=0.725) .The mean change in anxiety before and after the intervention in the aerobic exercise 8.45 ± 8.81, 8.05± 8.07 in anaerobic training group and the control group was 2.15 ± 8.32 which is a significant difference and it was (p=0.600). The amount of anxiety in the group with aerobic exercise (003/0 = p) and the anaerobic group (006/0 = p) was significantly more than the control group, but the amount decreased in both groups with aerobic exercise and aerobic (975/0 = p) were not significantly different. Conclusion: Overall, study findings indicate that aerobic exercise and anaerobic exercise for eight weeks resulted in a significant reduction in depression and anxiety, and the most significant differences were observed in training method. So, aerobic and anaerobic exercises are recommended to reduce the depression and anxiety.

Background. The evidence indicates that physical activity increases memory and ability to learn in human and animal. That is to say, the brain remarkably responds to exercise. Objectives. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect and comparison of anaerobic and aerobic exercise on memory. Methods. In this study, ninety male students were randomly divided into three equal groups with 30 members. The first group did 3 aerobic exercise sessions (with using treadmill) of 60 minutes per week for 8 weeks. The second group were trained in anaerobic exercise (with treadmill), whereas the third one, the control group of non-exercising subjects, get involved in no intervention/interference. Afterwards, all of ninety students were asked to The IQ TEST lab to carry out a memory experiment both in the beginning and the end of programmed in order to evaluate their memory in the terms of Wechsler Test/ on the basis of Wechsler Test. Results. The result of this study showed the memory change from Wechsler fragment tests/subtests before and after invention to the group with aerobic training (15.50 ± 5.41), with anaerobic training (17.00 ±4.89) and in the control group (2.13 ±1.96).The difference was significant (p

Introduction: Type 2 diabetes is a multifactorial disease, but recently it has been found that increased expression of MTNR1B gene is associated with of the risk of type 2 diabetes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of 12 weeks of resistance training on MTNR1B gene expression in the pancreas and glucose and insulin levels in male Wistar rats with type 2 diabetes. Materials and Methods: This study was a fundamental and experimental approach. In this study 30 male Wistar rats weighing 220±20 g, were used. Rats were kept under the standard conditions of temperature of 22 °±2 C and humidity of 45% and consecutive 12-hour periods of light and darkness. Rats were divided into three groups: Control group, diabetic group, and diabetic plus resistant training group. Diabetes was induced by disolving nicotinamide and STZ in the drinking water. Resistance training was conducted for 12 weeks, 5 days a week in a 3 course with 6 repetitions. All rats were sacrificed 48 hours after the last training session. Results: A significant reduction in fasting glucose levels was observed in the diabetic resistant training group than the diabetic group (P

Probing individual impurities will become increasingly important as devices shrink towards the nanoscale. Here Rashidi et al., introduce a method based on time-resolved scanning tunnelling spectroscopy of surface dangling bonds to investigate the dynamics of individual dopants in silicon.

Oneof the natural disasters that annually causes a lot of damage to people andsociety, is flood.Timely flood warning system to ensure that finalbeneficiaries forecasting system, an appropriate warning is received at theappropriate time and the appropriate response to protect and minimize thedamage done to their finances.In this regard, Gharanghoochay river catchment,causing massive floods in Mianeh city has been selected to implement a floodwarning system. In this paper, hydrological modeling for the basin usingHEC-HMS software was obtained and for the entire sub- basin, Muskingum dynamicsequations have been used. The flood located in east Azerbaijan province, floods2004.06.03 calibrate the model rainfall - runoff flood warning was used.Continuity check with showers and amount of time before the alarm warningsignal for each station was calculated. After pre-determined according toabundance of caution showers Hashtrood station, flood warning systems forflooding areas within the mat-o-flood plan has been designed to suit thethreshold. Under-taking damage riverbank villages and history of naturaldisasters in the region and assess the damages incurred to the Mianeh city,emergency action guidelines was prepared.

Since the behavior of earth dams is unreliable in different stages of construction, impounding, and exploitation, this matter is an unavoidable and essential issue with regard to the serious dangers caused by the failure of these important structures. It is crucial to evaluate the behavior of dams and examine the consistency between the carried out analyses and the behavioral parameters under different conditions in the lifespan of dams due to the uncertainty of the principles and hypotheses which have been adopted to analyze these structures. This objective will be accomplished through the help of correct numerical analyses. A series of hypotheses are adopted to simplify the parametric analyses before starting these analyses. The aim of this research is to develop and discuss these hypotheses. And so, the number of elements and their effects on the results of analyses were examined through the consolidation of unsaturated soil method, the compressible fluid method, correlated analysis, and uncorrelated analysis. It became clear after the numerical analyses that correlated analysis is a more precise method in comparison with the uncorrelated analysis method. However, this method is not economical when it comes to high dams and the replacement method is the uncorrelated analysis. Furthermore, the displacements are not that sensitive to the bulk modulus of water while the maximum settlement of the dam transfers from the middle of the dam’s core to a location higher than that the core as the bulk modulus of water increases. However, pore water pressure is very sensitive to the bulk modulus of water.

Introduction: A number of assays have so far been exploited for detection of cancer biomarkers in various malignancies. However, the expression of cancer biomarker(s) appears to be extremely low, therefore accurate detection demands sensitive optical imaging probes. While optical detection using conventional fluorophores often fail due to photobleaching problems, quantum dots (QDs) offer stable optical imaging in vitro and in vivo. Methods: In this review, we briefly overview the impacts of QDs in biology and its applications in bioimaging of malignancies. We will also delineate the existing obstacles for early detection of cancer and the intensifying use of QDs in advancement of diagnostic devices. Results: Of the QDs, unlike the II-VI type QDs (e.g., cadmium (Cd), selenium (Se) or tellurium (Te)) that possess inherent cytotoxicity, the I-III-VI 2 type QDs (e.g., AgInS2, CuInS2, ZnS-AgInS2) appear to be less toxic bioimaging agents with better control of band-gap energies. As highly-sensitive bioimaging probes, advanced hybrid QDs (e.g., QD-QD, fluorochrome-QD conjugates used for sensing through fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), quenching, and barcoding techniques) have also been harnessed for the detection of biomarkers and the monitoring of delivery of drugs/genes to the target sites. Antibody-QD (Ab-QD) and aptamer-QD (Ap-QD) bioconjugates, once target the relevant biomarker, can provide highly stable photoluminescence (PL) at the target sites. In addition to their potential as nanobiosensors, the bioconjugates of QDs with homing devices have successfully been used for the development of smart nanosystems (NSs) providing targeted bioimaging and photodynamic therapy (PDT). Conclusion: Having possessed great deal of photonic characteristics, QDs can be used for development of seamless multifunctional nanomedicines, theranostics and nanobiosensors.

Today, on the contrary of the last ten decades, the necessity of teaching hygienic issues, and caring the children’s health, is pretty obvious. Avicenna (10 AC), the famous Iranian physician and philosopher, scrutinized the health and hygiene with a deep insight to the matter. He considered the wellness not only as the recovery from the disease, but emphasized the maintenance of health by suggesting special points and instructions. In Islamic education, paying attention to cleanliness, health and physical strength is very important and considered as the intermediate goals for the achievement of “pure life”, which is the ultimate goal. Avicenna paid special attention to physical purity, health and wellness, and devoted the major parts of his book to them. The present article analyzes the Avicenna’s educational opinions, specially his viewpoints regarding hygiene and health in three stages of childhood, teenage years, and youth.

Introduction: One important factor of fatigue occurrence among athletes, following heavy sportactivities, especially sports activities with short time and the maximum speed and intensity, is theaccumulation of lactic acid in blood. The need for athletes to achieve natural conditions and to prepare forthe next activities, methods of disposal lactic acid are very important. The purpose of this study was tostudy the effects of passive and active recovery with a severity of 55, 60 and 65 percent of maximumheart rate, on levels of blood lactic acid.Material and Methods: This semi-experimental study was carried by 60 male athletes' students whowere divided randomly to four groups. The first group included 15 subjects of group programs forpassive recovery and the second, third and fourth groups off the state quarter program for active recoverywith highly active 55, 60 and 65 percent of maximum heart rate, respectively. Groups acting Cunninghamtest began to test blood lactic acid in four stages (before the activity, immediately after the activity, 5 and20 minute period recovery). The measurement was done by a hand lacto – meter.Results: The mean amount of blood lactic acid during resting time in four groups and also immediatelyafter the activity was not significant, but 5 minutes after recovery as well as 20 minutes after recoverydifference between groups was significant (P