• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.1181-1184
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• 2015

Background: Accurate measurement of breast mass size is fundamental for treatment planning. We evaluated performance of BreastLight apparatus in detection breast of masses with this in mind. Materials and Methods: From July 2011 to September 2013, a total of 500 women referred to mammography unit in Yazd, Iran for screening were recruited to this study. Performance of BreastLight in detection breast masses regard their sizeing, measured with clinical breast examination (CBE), mammography and sonography, was assessed. Sonographic and mammography examinations were performed according to breast density among women in two groups of women younger (n=105) and older (n=395) than 30 years. Size correlations were performed using Spearman rho analysis. Differences between mass size as assessed with the different methods (mammography, sonography, and clinical examination) and the BreastLight detection were analyzed using $X^2$-trend test. Results: Performance of the BreastLight in detection of lesions smaller than or equal to 1 cm assessed by CBE, mammography and sonography was 4.4%,7.7% and 12.5% and for masses larger than 4 cm was 65%, 100% and 57.1%, respectively. The performance of BreastLight in detection was significantly increased with larger masses (p<0.001). Conclusions: We conclude that clinical measurement of breast cancer size is as accurate as that from mammography or ultrasound. Accuracy can be improved by the use of a simple formula of both clinical and mammographic measurements.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.17-24
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• 2018

Objective: To investigate sperm chromatin/DNA integrity, global DNA methylation, and DNMT mRNA transcription in men with oligoasthenoteratozoospermia (OAT) compared with normozoospermic men. Methods: Semen samples from 32 OAT patients who comprised the case group and 32 normozoospermic men who comprised the control group were isolated and purified using a standard gradient isolation procedure according to World Health Organization criteria. DNMT1, DNMT3A, and DNMT3B transcripts were then compared between groups using real-time quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. Global DNA methylation in sperm was determined by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Protamine deficiency and the proportion of apoptotic spermatozoa were evaluated using chromomycin A3 (CMA3), aniline blue (AB), and toluidine blue (TB) staining, as well as the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay. The p-values < 0.05 were considered to indicate statistical significance. Results: Significantly higher proportions of AB+, TB+, CMA3+, and TUNEL+ spermatozoa, as well as DNMT3A and DNMT3B transcription, were found in the OAT group. Positive correlations were detected between sperm parameters, DNA/chromatin damage, and DNMT3A and DNMT3B transcripts. Global DNA methylation was significantly higher in the OAT patients and had a significant correlation with abnormal results of all sperm chromatin integrity tests, but was not associated with DNMT1, DNMT3A, or DNMT3B expression. Conclusion: Oligoasthenoteratozoospermic men showed abnormal sperm parameters, abnormal chromatin/DNA integrity, and a higher global DNA methylation rate, as well as overexpression of DNMT mRNA.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.61-67
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• 2020

Objective: In this study, specimens from testicular biopsies of men with nonobstructive azoospermia (NOA) were used to investigate whether RNF8 gene could serve as a biomarker to predict the presence of sperm in these patients. Methods: Testicular biopsy specimens from 47 patients were classified according to the presence of sperm (positive vs. negative groups) and investigated for the expression of RNF8. The level of RNF8 gene expression in the testes was compared between these groups using reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. Results: The expression level of RNF8 was significantly higher in testicular samples from the positive group than in those from the negative group. Moreover, the area under the curve of RNF8 expression for the entire study population was 0.84, showing the discriminatory power of RNF8 expression in differentiating between the positive and negative groups of men with NOA. A receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that RNF8 expression had a sensitivity of 81% and a specificity of 84%, with a cutoff level of 1.76. Conclusion: This study points out a significant association between the expression of RNF8 and the presence of sperm in NOA patients, which suggests that quantified RNF8 expression in testicular biopsy samples may be a valuable biomarker for predicting the presence of spermatozoa in biopsy samples.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.155-160
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• 2015

Objectives: Achieving adequate anesthesia with inferior alveolar nerve blocks (IANB) is of great importance during dental procedures. The aim of the present study was to assess the success rate of two anesthetic agents (bupivacaine and lidocaine) for IANB when treating teeth with irreversible pulpitis. Materials and Methods: Sixty volunteer male and female patients who required root canal treatment of a mandibular molar due to caries participated in the present study. The inclusion criteria included prolonged pain to thermal stimulus but no spontaneous pain. The patients were randomly allocated to receive either 2% lidocaine with 1:80,000 epinephrine or 0.5% bupivacaine with 1:200,000 epinephrine as an IANB injection. The sensitivity of the teeth to a cold test as well as the amount of pain during access cavity preparation and root canal instrumentation were recorded. Results were statistically analyzed with the Chi-Square and Fischer's exact tests. Results: At the final step, fifty-nine patients were included in the study. The success rate for bupivacaine and lidocaine groups were 20.0% and 24.1%, respectively. There was no significant difference between the two groups at any stage of the treatment procedure. Conclusions: There was no difference in success rates of anesthesia when bupivacaine and lidocaine were used for IANB injections to treat mandibular molar teeth with irreversible pulpitis. Neither agent was able to completely anesthetize the teeth effectively. Therefore, practitioners should be prepared to administer supplemental anesthesia to overcome pain during root canal treatment.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.35-40
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• 2019

Objective: Adriamycin (ADR) is an important anti-cancer drug which can cause renal toxicity. Given the known anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects of Plantago major (P. major), the aim of this study was to determine the effects of hydroalcoholic extract of P. major on ADR- induced nephropathy in rats. Methods: Fifty male Wistar albino rats were randomly divided into 5 groups including: control, ADR (5 mg/kg), ADR + P. major (600 and 1200 mg/kg) and P. major (1200 mg/kg). The animals were treated with P. major extract for 5 consecutive weeks and ADR was intravenously injected on the 7th day of the study. Urine and serum samples were collected on days 0, 14, 21, 28, and 35 for the measurement of serum cholesterol and albumin levels and urine protein excretion rate. At the end of the study, the left kidneys were removed for apoptosis assessment. Results: Administration of ADR significantly decreased serum albumin level and increased serum cholesterol and urine protein excretion rate as well as, apoptotic cell numbers compared to the control group (P < 0.001) while had no effect on glomerular filtration rate (P > 0.05). Treatment with P. major, in both 600 and 1200 mg/kg doses, increased serum albumin level and decreased serum cholesterol concentration, urine protein excretion rate and as well as the number of apoptotic cell compared to the ADR group (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Our results showed that the P. major extract effectively protects against ADR- induced nephropathy by reducing kidney apoptosis and improving renal functioning in rats.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.81-90
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• 2019

The shear behavior of soil-concrete interface is mainly affected by the surface roughness of the two contact surfaces. The present research emphasizes on investigating the effect of roughness of soil-concrete interface on the interface shear behavior in two-layered laboratory testing samples. In these specially prepared samples, clay silt layer with density of $2027kg/m^3$ was selected to be in contact a concrete layer for simplifying the laboratory testing. The particle size testing and direct shear tests are performed to determine the appropriate particles sizes and their shear strength properties such as cohesion and friction angle. Then, the surface undulations in form of teeth are provided on the surfaces of both concrete and soil layers in different testing carried out on these mixed specimens. The soil-concrete samples are prepared in form of cubes of 10*10*30 cm. in dimension. The undulations (inter-surface roughness) are provided in form of one tooth or two teeth having angles $15^{\circ}$ and $30^{\circ}$, respectively. Several direct shear tests were carried out under four different normal loads of 80, 150, 300 and 500 KPa with a constant displacement rate of 0.02 mm/min. These testing results show that the shear failure mechanism is affected by the tooth number, the roughness angle and the applied normal stress on the sample. The teeth are sheared from the base under low normal load while the oblique cracks may lead to a failure under a higher normal load. As the number of teeth increase the shear strength of the sample also increases. When the tooth roughness angle increases a wider portion of the tooth base will be failed which means the shear strength of the sample is increased.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.54-60
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• 2019

Background: Increasing the establishment of integrated management systems (IMSs) is done with the purpose of leaving traditional management methods and replacing them with modern management methods. Thus, the present study sought to analyze the events and investigate the impact of IMS on health and safety performance indices in an Iranian combined cycle power plants. Methods: This case study was conducted in 2012 in all units of the Yazd Combined Cycle Power Plant on accident victims before and after the implementation of IMS. For data analysis and prediction of indices after the implementation of IMS, descriptive statistics and Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Chi-square, linear regression, and Cubic tests were conducted using SPSS software. Results: The number of people employed in the power plant in an 8-year period (2004-2011) was 1,189, and 287 cases of work-related accidents were recorded. The highest accident frequency rate and accident severity rate were in 2004 (32.65) and 2008 (209), respectively. Safe T-score reached to below -3 during 2010-2011. In addition, given the regression results, the relation between all predictor variables with outcomes was significant (p < 0.05), except for the variable $X^1$ belonging to the accident severity rate index. Conclusion: The implementation of safety programs especially that of IMS and its annual audits has had a significant impact on reducing accident indices and improving safety within the study period. Accordingly, health and safety management systems are appropriate tools for reducing accident rate, and the use of regression models and accident indices is also a suitable way for monitoring safety performance.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.479-493
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• 2019

In this paper, the interaction between notch and micro pore under uniaxial compression has been performed experimentally and numerically. Firstly calibration of PFC2D was performed using Brazilian tensile strength, uniaxial tensile strength and biaxial tensile strength. Secondly uniaxial compression test consisting internal notch and micro pore was performed experimentally and numerically. 9 models consisting notch and micro pore were built, experimentally and numerically. Dimension of these models are 10 cm*1 cm*5 cm. the length of joint is 2 cm. the angularities of joint are $30^{\circ}$, $45^{\circ}$ and $60^{\circ}$. For each joint angularity, micro pore was situated 2 cm above the lower tip of the joint, 2 cm above the middle of the joint and 2 cm above the upper of the joint, separately. Dimension of numerical models are 5.4 cm*10.8 cm. The size of the cracks was 2 cm and its orientation was $30^{\circ}$, $45^{\circ}$ and $60^{\circ}$. Diameter of pore was 1cm which situated at the upper of the notch i.e., 2 cm above the upper notch tip, 2 cm above the middle of the notch and 2 cm above the lower of the notch tip. The results show that failure pattern was affected by notch orientation and pore position while uniaxial compressive strength is affected by failure pattern.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.105-110
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• 2021

Objective: Uropathogenic Escherichia coli is known to cause urinary tract infections, and the endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide [LPS]) of this bacterium may cause deficiencies of sperm quality and morphology. In the present study, the effects of LPS on mouse sperm were studied, and the levels of interleukin (IL)-17A and possible changes in testis tissue were evaluated. Methods: LPS of uropathogenic E. coli was extracted using the methanol-chloroform method, followed confirmation using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide electrophoresis. Purified LPS (100 ㎍/kg) or phosphate-buffered saline was injected intraperitoneally into BALB/c mice for 7 days consecutively in the test and control groups, mice were sacrificed on days 3, 7, and 42 after the first injection. Blood was tested for levels of IL-17A using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. Testis tissue and sperm were collected from each mouse and were studied according to standard protocols. Results: The mean sperm count and motility significantly decreased (p=0.03) at 3, 7, and 42 days after the injections. The level of IL-17A in the test groups increased, but not significantly (p=0.8, p=0.11, and p=0.15, respectively). Microscopic studies showed no obvious changes in the morphology of the testis tissue; however, significant changes were observed in the cellular parenchyma on day 42. Conclusion: LPS can stimulate the immune system to produce proinflammatory cytokines, resulting in an immune response in the testis and ultimately leading to deficiency in sperm parameters and testis tissue damage. In addition, the presence of LPS could significantly impair sperm parameters, as shown by the finding of decreased motility.

• Advances in concrete construction
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.83-99
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• 2022

The two, NBD and SCB tests using gypsum circular discs each containing a single notch have been experimentally accomplished in a rock mechanics laboratory. These specimens have also been numerically modelled by a two-dimensional particle flow which is based on Discrete Element Method (DEM). Each testing specimen had a thickness of 5 cm with 10 cm in diameter. The specimens' lengths varied as 2, 3, and 4 cm; and the specimens' notch angles varied as 0°, 45° and 90°. Similar semi-circular gypsum specimens were also prepared each contained one edge notch with angles 0° or 45°. The uniaxial testing machine was used to perform the experimental tests for both NBD and SCB gypsum specimens. At the same time, the numerical simulation of these tests were performed by PFC2D. The experimental results showed that the failure mechanism of rocks is mainly affected by the orientations of joints with respect to the loading directions. The failure mechanism and fracturing patterns of the gypsum specimens are directly related to the final failure loading. It has been shown that the number of induced tensile cracks showing the specimens' tensile behavior, and increases by decreasing the length and angle of joints. It should be noted that the fracture toughness of rocks' specimens obtained by NBD tests was higher than that of the SCB tests. The fracture toughness of rocks usually increases with the increasing of joints' angles but increasing the joints' lengths do not change the fracture toughness. The numerical solutions and the experimental results for both NDB and SCB tests give nearly similar fracture patterns during the loading process.