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Statement of Problem: Acid producing bacteria including Streptococcus mutans and lactobacilli cause tooth demineralization and lead to tooth decay. Also, oral colonization of the species of Candida has been reported in many studies that are resistant to antifungal agents. Objectives: In this study, antibacterial and antifungal effects of nano-CuO were studied against some oral bacteria and yeast fungi. Materials and Methods: The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) for oral bacterial and fungal test strains were determined in 96-well microtiter plate technique. The agar diffusion test (ADT) was employed to assess the antifungal properties of nystatin. Results: The MIC50 value of CuO NPs was determined at the range of 1–10 µg/ml for S. mutans, < 1 µg/ml for L. acidophilus, and 10 µg/ml for L. casei. Higher concentrations of CuO NPs (100-1000 µg/ml) were effective on the bacterial cell growth, resulting in 100% reduction in the optical density in TSB medium. The cells of Candida albicans, C. krusei and C. glabrata were treated with CuO NPs and the results showed a decrease in fungal growth at a concentration of 1-1000 µg/ml in TSB medium. The MIC50 value of CuO NPs was determined 1000 µg/ml for three species of Candida. The diameter of growth inhibition zones of 1100 µg/ml nystatin was obtained 15-21 mm for clinical isolates of three species of Candida. Conclusions: With respect to the potential bactericidal activity of CuO NPs on various cariogenic bacteria examined in this study, these NPs could be introduce as a candidate control agent for preventing dental caries or dental infections. In our study, on the other hand, Nano copper oxide had a weak effect on the candida species.

(Ti0.5V0.5)3AlC2 is prepared via ball-milling Ti, V, Al, and C precursor powders with mole ratio of 1.5 : 1.5 :1.1 : 1.9 followed by sintering the obtained fine powder at 1400°C for 20 min under argon atmosphere. The morphology and structure of products are characterized by using XRD and SEM techniques. Then Al is chemically etched from synthesized (Ti0.5V0.5)3AlC2 by immersing in 40% HF solution at room temperature for 20 h. The resulting suspension is centrifuged to separate the powder and washed severely with distilled water. Resulting (Ti0.5V0.5)3C2 is used as a new modifier for preparation of carbon paste electrode. Modified electrode based on (Ti0.5V0.5)3C2 shows a good performance for measurement of propranolol concentration in pharmaceutical formulation. The detection limit and the relative standard deviation for n = 5 are 0.16 μmol/L and 4%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction:Gamete and embryo donation is a method for treatments of couples who are not able in producing healthy embryos. Beside permission or prohibition, this method has legal effects and consequences which contemporary fuqaha disagree with. Gamete and embryo donation, and also their conditions and consequences are significant issues which have been considered in the laws by legislators and assets of laws have been passed for them in advanced countries. Laws in Iran encounter challenges and need to be amended. The contemporary Foqaha disagree with legitimation of this issue. The act considering how to donate embryo to infertile couples was approved by the Iranian parliament on July 20, 2003 and caused changes in this field. Although the already mentioned law is a major step in comparison with the law of the modern countries especially France's law, it is very incomplete and is silent in most of the disputable cases. There aren't any procedures in this law and regulations especially in the case of gamete and embryo donation. Materials and Methods:The present study is review study and is collected by seeking in valid scientific resources. Results:In case of embryo donation, the act passed in 2003 contains regulations about the condition of applicants and donors in addition to conditions and formalities of donation and embryo transfer; however, it is imperfect. For instance, in France's law the reproduction or pregnancy for another which is the typical surrogacy is clearly prohibited while there isn't any text about this subject in Iran. Iranian law remains silent about the gamete donation by third person for reproduction and it needs to be amended and the contemporary fuqaha disagree with legitimating of this issue. France's law in case of child's relation arising from embryo transfer gives the right to the recipient family and they have considered effects of legal relation for them. However, Iran's law only discusses the obligations of recipient of embryo (with regard to keeping, maintenance, alimony and respect) and they consider them as the obligation of parents. Therefore, Iranian laws do not accept full integration of embryo recipients and inheritance among them. They remain silent about custody and prohibition of marriage (privacy). However, Iranian laws in comparison to French laws have numerous shortcomings and failure and it needs juridical and legal reformation to solve these problems. Conclusion:Iranian laws are inadequate and incomplete considering gamete and embryo donation and need to be amended. Furthermore, contemporary fuqaha have different opinions for legitimating this subject, Therefore it is necessary to adhere to religious beliefs and cultural interests of society by taking measures in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding sleep stages is crucial for diagnosing sleep disorders, developing treatments, and studying sleep's impact on overall health. With the growing availability of affordable brain monitoring devices, the volume of collected brain data has increased significantly. However, analyzing these data, particularly when using the gold standard multi-lead electroencephalogram (EEG), remains resource-intensive and time-consuming. To address this challenge, automated brain monitoring has emerged as a crucial solution for cost-effective and efficient EEG data analysis. A critical component of sleep analysis is detecting transitions between wakefulness and sleep states. These transitions offer valuable insights into sleep quality and quantity, essential for diagnosing sleep disorders, designing effective interventions, enhancing overall health and well-being, and studying sleep's effects on cognitive function, mood, and physical performance. This study presents a novel EEG feature extraction pipeline for the accurate classification of various wake and sleep stages. We propose a noise-robust model-based Kalman filtering (KF) approach to track changes in a time-varying auto-regressive model (TVAR) applied to EEG data during different wake and sleep stages. Our approach involves extracting features, including instantaneous frequency and instantaneous power from EEG, and implementing a two-step classifier for sleep staging. The first step classifies data into wake, REM, and non-REM categories, while the second step further classifies non-REM data into N1, N2, and N3 stages. Evaluation on the extended Sleep-EDF dataset (Sleep-EDFx), with 153 EEG recordings from 78 subjects, demonstrated compelling results with classifiers including Logistic Regression, Support Vector Machines, Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), and Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LGBM). The best performance was achieved with the LGBM and XGBoost classifiers, yielding an overall accuracy of over 77%, a macro-averaged F1 score of 0.69, and a Cohen's kappa of 0.68, highlighting the efficacy of the proposed method with a remarkably compact and interpretable feature set.

Objective: The current study aimed to comprehensively evaluate the potential effects of mulberry consumption on cardiometabolic risk factors in adults., Methods: Relevant articles published up to January 2021 were systematically retrieved from SCOPUS, PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Web of Science databases. We included all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the impact of mulberry consumption on various cardiometabolic risk factors., Results: The quantitative meta-analysis of 12 eligible RCTs demonstrated a significant reducing effect of mulberry consumption on haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) (weighted mean difference [WMD]: -0. 55, 95% CI: -1.08, -0.02, p = 0.044), serum total cholesterol (TC) (WMD: -13.13 mg/dl, 95% CI: -19.06, -7.20, p < 0.001), low-density lipoprotein levels (LDL-C) (WMD: -8.84 mg/dl, 95% CI: -13.26, -4.42, p < 0.001), triglycerides (TG) (WMD: -19.67 mg/dl, 95% CI: -30.13, -9.22, p < 0.001) and C-reactive protein (CRP) (WMD: -1.60, mg/L, 95% CI: -3.07, -0.12, p = 0.034). Also, >300 mg daily intake of mulberry exhibited a favourable effect on serum high-density lipoprotein levels (HDL-C). However, there were no significant differences between mulberry intervention and control groups for other factors., Conclusion: The current systematic review and meta-analysis revealed that incorporating mulberry into the diet may favourably affect several cardiometabolic risk factors., (© 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objectives: The impression-taking technique is one of the most critical factors that not only prevents the shrinkage caused by polymerization but also enhances the accuracy of implant impressions. Also, choosing the right time of taking impressions after splinting implants is one of the important criteria that affects the impression-taking technique. Accordingly, the present study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of different splint methods for implant impressions made at different times., Methods: In this in vitro study, a two-piece metallic index was prepared, and the patient's jaw was simulated by placing self-cured acrylic resin in the lower part of the index. Then, two holes were made in the acrylic resin at a specific distance from each other, and the analogs were placed in these holes. Splinting of impression copings was carried out with autopolymerized acrylic resin (GC Pattern resin LS, GC America Inc., USA), and an open tray impression approach was performed. Thirty-six casts in three groups ( n  = 12) were fabricated from the acrylic model. After scanning the casts, the impression accuracy was compared between the three study groups by measuring the distance between the outer portions of the scan bodies screw-retained on implant analogs inside the cast using the Exocad software (2015.07 version). Group 1: splinting impression copings with autopolymerized acrylic resin and impression making immediately after the setting time (4 minutes); group 2: splinting and impression procedure after 17 minutes with splint sectioning and reconnection; group 3: splinting and impression procedure after 24 hours with splint sectioning and reconnection. The data were analyzed using SPSS 17 using the Kruskal-Wallis test., Results: The mean distance measured in group 1 was 19.14 ± 0.029 mm, which was significantly lower than the main model. The distances were 19.15 ± 0.039 and 19.159 ± 0.33 mm in groups 2 and 3, respectively. These two groups were not significantly different from the main model. Moreover, the mean distance measured in the three impression techniques was similar., Conclusions: There was no significant difference in the measurements between group 2, group 3, and the main model. Therefore, dentists can make an impression after 17 minutes to reduce chair time., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Mehrdad Nateghi et al.)

The determination of morphine concentration in the blood and urine is necessary for patients and recruitment purposes. Herein, a magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer for selective and efficient extraction of morphine from biological samples was synthesized by using a core-shell method. Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles were coated with SiO 2 -NH 2 . The molecularly imprinted polymer was coated on the Fe 3 O 4 /SiO 2 -NH 2 surface by the copolymerization of methacrylic acid and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate in the presence of morphine as the template molecule. The morphological and magnetic properties of the polymer were investigated. Field-emission scanning electron microscopy indicated that the prepared magnetic polymer is almost uniform. The saturation magnetization values of Fe 3 O 4 nanoparticles, Fe 3 O 4 /SiO 2 -NH 2 , and the magnetic polymer were 48.41, 31.69, and 13.02 emu/g, respectively, indicating that all the particles are superparamagnetic. Kinetics of the adsorption of morphine on magnetic polymer were well described by second-order kinetic and adsorption processes and well fitted by the Langmuir adsorption isotherm, in which the maximum adsorption capacity was calculated as 28.40 mg/g. The recoveries from plasma and urine samples were in the range of 84.9-105.5 and 94.9-102.8%, respectively. By using the magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer, morphine can selectively, reliably, and in low concentration be determined in biological samples with high-performance liquid chromatography and UV detection., (© 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

To design a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) for naltrexone, calculations were performed using Gaussian 03 software, and the interaction energy (ΔE) of template-monomer complexes was estimated using the density functional theory method with the B3LYP function and 6-311G (d) basis set. The effect of different solvents in the polymerization process was studied using the polarizable continuum model. It was shown that five molecules of methacrylic acid gave the largest ΔE with tetrahydrofuran as the polymerization solvent. Effective factors of the removal efficiency of naltrexone by the MIP were selected using a central composite design, and thereafter, the optimization of significant factors was performed by response surface methodology. The results predicted through these models showed good agreement with experimental values. The adsorption amount, selectivity distribution coefficient, and selectivity coefficient were found to be 11.60 mg/g, 35.31, and 2.27, respectively. Experiments of naltrexone adsorption onto the MIP were in accordance with the first-order and Langmuir-Freundlich adsorption models. By applying the data to the Scatchard equation, the KD and Qmax were determined as 526.31 mg/L and 19.47 mg/g, respectively.

Objective: Brucellosis is a prevalent disorder in children of developing countries. The aim of this study is to describe the epidemiology and long term prognosis of Brucellosis in Khorasan, Iran., Methods: This is a descriptive cross sectional study (from November 2003 up to February 2006), the subjects of which are composed of 82 patients (from Imam Reza hospital, Mashhad, and Health Center of Kashmar). In this study the diagnosis of Brucellosis is based on serology accompanied with clinical signs and symptoms. Our strategy for duration of treatment was to treat all patients for at least 6 weeks. We followed the patients by phone and if necessary by visiting., Findings: During 38 months we had 82 children with Brucellosis. The mean age was 8.02 y, and 40% of them were girls (M/F=1.21). Summer with 45.9% of the cases was the peak season. History of consuming raw dairy products, close contact with farm animals, living in village and Brucellosis in family was found in 91.6%, 76%, 70.24% and 41.1% of the cases respectively. The presenting symptom in 79.7% of the cases was joint pain, 72.9% had history of fever during the course of the disease. Arthritis, splenomegaly and lymphadenopathy were found in 60.97%, 16.9%, 7.5%, of patients respectively. The therapeutic regimen of 48.7% of our patients was Co-trimoxazole and rifampin. We followed 74% of the patients for at least 3 years which showed the relapse rate of 6.5%. There was a case of reinfection, a patient with residual sequel and one death related to Brucellosis in our case series., Conclusion: Brucellosis is still a common disease in our children and at least a risk factor for it can be found in the history of almost all cases of pediatric Brucellosis. With at least six weeks treatment with two antibiotics and with close follow up, we can decrease the relapse rate in pediatric Brucellosis to zero, even without repeating the serology during or after treatment.