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Esmat Rasouli,1 Narges Sadeghi,2 Abazar Parsi,1 Seyed Jalal Hashemi,1 Morteza Nayebi,1 Aliakbar Shayesteh1 1Alimentary Tract Research Center, Imam Khomeini Hospital Clinical Research Development Unit, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran; 2Nutrition and Metabolic Diseases Research Center, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, IranCorrespondence: Aliakbar ShayestehAlimentary Tract Research Center, Imam Khomeini Hospital Clinical Research Development Unit, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, IranTel +98 61133738255Email shayesteh.a@ajums.ac.irBackground and Aims: Previous studies have shown that vitamin D plays an important role in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). This study was designed to investigate the relationship between vitamin D levels and disease activity in IBD patients in Ahvaz, Iran.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on adult IBD patients referring to the outpatient clinic of gastroenterology at Imam Khomeini Hospital in Ahvaz city, in the southwest of Iran. Each patient’s disease activity defined according to Crohn’s disease activity index (CDAI) in Crohn’s disease (CD) and Truelove score in ulcerative colitis (UC) patients, serum 25[OH]D was measured using the radioimmunoassay method. Vitamin D deficiency was defined as concentration of < 20 nmol/L.Results: Studied subjects were 130 UC and 23 CD patients (62.1% females) with a mean age of 37.5 ± 12.35 years. Vitamin D deficiency was present in 99 (64.7%) IBD patients. Fifty-three patients (34.6%) had active disease who, compared with patients in remission, had more frequent low vitamin D levels (80 vs 56.7%, P = 0.017). In UC patients, disease activity was significantly associated with vitamin D deficiency (P = 0.035), but no such relationship was observed in CD patients (P = 0.74).Conclusion: Vitamin D deficiency was significantly associated with disease activity in IBD, especially in UC patients. Therefore, careful monitoring of vitamin D deficiency in these patients is highly recommended. Prospective cohort studies are also needed to determine the role of vitamin D deficiency and its treatment in the clinical course of IBD.Keywords: inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, vitamin D deficiency, disease activity, disease severity

Shrimps are one of the most important seafood sources for humans. Heavy metals accumulated in the body of shrimp can be transmitted to humans in the food chain. The present study was done in 2017 to compare the accumulation of heavy metals Copper (Cu), Iron (Fe), Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd), Tin (Sn), Arsenic (As) and Mercury (Hg) in edible tissue of Indian white shrimp in the fishing grounds of the Makoran coasts. For this purpose, 60 shrimps were harvested from Konarak, Beris and Pasabander. After biometry and preparation of samples and measurement of metals, the mean concentrations of Cu, Fe, Sn, Pb, Cd, As and Hg were 2.13 ± 0.28, 2.76±0.13, 1.77±0.30, 0.24±0.05, 0.03±0.001, 0.32±0.05,0.02±0.001 μg/g dry weight in muscle tissue of the shrimp. Comparing the stations showed that the Bris area had a significant difference except for mercury and iron in other metals (P

Atmospheric pressure plasmas in argon are of particular interest due to the production of highly excited and reactive species enabling numerous plasma-aided applications. In this contribution, we report on absolute optical emission and absorption spectroscopy of a radio frequency (RF) driven capacitively coupled argon glow discharge operated in a parallel-plate configuration. This enabled the study of all key parameters including electron density and temperature, gas temperature, and absolute densities of atoms in highly electronically excited states. Space and time-averaged electron density and temperature were determined from the measurement of the absolute intensity of the electron-atom bremsstrahlung in the visible range. Considering the non-Maxwellian electron energy distribution function, an electron temperature (T e ) of 2.1 eV and an electron density (n e ) of 1.1 × 10 19 m − 3 were obtained. The time-averaged and spatially resolved absolute densities of atoms in the metastable (1 s 5 and 1 s 3) and resonant (1 s 4 and 1 s 2) states of argon in the pure Ar and Ar/He mixture were obtained by broadband absorption spectroscopy. The 1 s 5 metastable atoms had the largest density near the sheath region with a maximum value of 8 × 10 17 m − 3 , while all other 1s states had densities of at most 2 × 10 17 m − 3 . The dominant production and loss mechanisms of these atoms were discussed, in particular, the role of radiation trapping. We conclude with comparison of the plasma properties of the argon RF glow discharges with the more common He equivalent and highlight their differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & Aim: Marital satisfaction depends on many factors and one of the most important factors is safe and pleasing sexual relationship. However, there is not sufficient information about these issues in Iran. Therefore the aim of this study was to determine the relationship between sexual and marital satisfaction. Material & Methods: It was a descriptive – correlational study. The sample includes 292 married males and females who had come to selected hospitals in west of Tehran to visit their reletives. The participants were recruited by convenient sampling. Data was collected by sexual satisfaction and marital satisfaction questionnaires and analyzed using SPSS-PC (ver. 14). Results: Marital satisfaction was significantly related to sexual satisfaction (p=0/00). Moreover, there was a significant relationship between sexual satisfaction and age difference (p=0/04), duration of marriage (p=0/05), and drug abuse of the participants (p=0/007). Among all variables which have been tested in this study, only age difference was shown to have a significant relationship with marital satisfaction (0/00). Conclusion: Regarding the relationship between sexual satisfaction and satisfaction with marital life, approaches to teaching young males and females and giving sexual consultation would help them enjoy a successful and satisfactionary marital life.

Background: The cause of osteoporosis is multifactorial and many dietary factors are important in the prevention of this disease. Antioxidants as free radical scavengers may influence osteoporosis by reducing the effects of oxidative stress that may be associated with bone loss. Vitamin E is an important antioxidant that protects polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in cell membranes from oxidation. There are only two studies regarding vitamin E plasma levels in subjects suffering from osteoporosis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between plasma vitamin E levels and bone mineral density (BMD) in Iranian patients. Methods: Subjects were consecutively recruited between May and September 2005 from among a total of approximately 1000 people referred for instrumental screening for osteoporosis to the Jami Clinic in Tehran. Inclusion criteria for the study group were: a femoral neck T-score of -1 or less, osteopenia, severe osteopenia and osteoporosis. A total of 137 subjects were enrolled. According to their femoral and spinal BMD scores, 54 persons were selected as a control group. The control group consisted of subjects with a femoral neck T-score and spine T-score of -1 or more. In selecting the case group, only the femoral BMD score was used. Plasma vitamin E was measured, after extraction with methanol, by HPLC with UV detection at 280 nm. Methanol, deionized water and butanol (90:4:6) was used as a mobile phase with a C8 column. The flow rate was 1.0 ml. min-1 and the acetate ester of vitamin E was used as an internal standard. Results: The results show no significant difference in plasma vitamin E between the control and case groups, however linear regression analysis does reveal a significant difference between the T-score and plasma vitamin E. Conclusion: Deceleration Femoral bone Density during osteoporosis will be Accelerated with Decrease of Vitamin E Antioxidant level.