فهرست مطالب ahmad moradi

In recent years, coinciding with the advancements in the field of semiconductors and the increase in the power level of solid-state switches, various topologies of solid-state Marx generators and voltage multiplier circuits have been introduced. However, the biggest problem with solid-state pulse power generators, considering the voltage and current level of semiconductor switches, is the limited range of the generated pulses by this type of generator. In this paper, a new scheme is proposed for generating high voltage pulses with a very fast rise time, as a suitable alternative to the Marx generator. In this scheme, a combination of spark gap switch and diode-capacitor voltage multiplier circuit is used. The validity of the proposed scheme is also confirmed by simulation in the MATLAB SIMULINK environment.

In the event of a sudden short circuit damaging a large 500 kV transformer, it can greatly impact the safe operation of the power grid. The article discusses the calculation principle and evaluation method of the transformer's short circuit withstand ability. It also presents the design structure of a 400 MVA/500 kV short circuit autotransformer and assesses its ability to withstand short circuits under high voltage e- medium voltage (HV-MV) and medium voltage - low voltage (MV-LV) scenarios. The short-circuit characteristics are analyzed by comparing with typical 110 kV and 220 kV transformers, and a control strategy is proposed for the largest capacity short circuit prototype with a 400 MVA/500 kV autotransformer. Subsequently, a sudden short circuit test is conducted at a large current test center. The outcomes demonstrate that the large capacity autotransformer successfully passed the big current impulse under HV-MV and MV-LV short circuit conditions, marking a world-first achievement. All indicators are positive, confirming the validity of the strength check and the short circuit evaluation method. This also establishes the strong ability of the 500 kV autotransformer to withstand short circuits.

In contemporary power systems, it is imperative to utilize monitoring and diagnostic conditions to ensure the efficient and dependable operation of different high voltage equipment. Partial discharge measurement is considered a crucial method for assessing insulation health conditions compared to other monitoring techniques. By properly diagnosing, identifying, and interpreting the partial discharge signal, the advantages of investigating the partial discharge condition of high voltage equipment can be maximized. Online partial discharge monitoring, among both online and offline techniques, plays a significant role in the monitoring system by helping to minimize power system component failures. Therefore, a comprehensive analysis is essential to comprehend the advancements and patterns in theory and practice. Online partial discharge current monitoring techniques are vital for high voltage equipment in power systems. This study offers an extensive literature review of online partial current discharge monitoring techniques applied to various high voltage electrical components in power systems. Lastly, an intelligent technique that utilizes a wireless sensor board for partial discharge monitoring is presented. This intelligent framework for partial discharge monitoring can accurately estimate insulation loss in high voltage equipment and enhance the overall performance of power systems.

Surges caused by direct or indirect lightning strikes on distribution networks threaten network equipment and consumers. Several parameters affect the intensity of transient over-voltages caused by lightning (surge), and significant studies have been done in this field. However, the effect of some parameters on the surges in the low-voltage network has not been investigated. Among these cases, we can mention using self-supporting cable instead of open wire and the effect of neutrals distributed along the low-voltage feeder. Therefore, in this article, the role of the two mentioned factors on the intensity of transient over-voltages in the low-voltage distribution network is investigated.The presence of a surge protective device (SPD) in the secondary of the distribution transformer has a significant effect on the protection of the distribution transformer against direct and indirect lightning strikes to the low-voltage distribution network. But so far, some of the effects of this SPD on surges at the input of low-voltage consumers have not been investigated. Therefore, in this article, the positive and negative role of the SPD installed in the distribution substation on the consumers is investigated. Based on the investigations, it is determined that the SPD installed at the substation has a positive or negative effect on which subscribers and under what conditions. Based on the studies, it was concluded that the presence of SPD at the distribution substation reduces the intensity of the surge for some subscribers and increases the intensity of the surge for others.

Slow- Learner students are often placed in the gap between normal and special education and are forgotten, while examining the psychological characteristicsthem is essential. The current research was conducted with the aim of measuring the effect of social adequacy program on emotional intelligence, self-expression and self-efficacy of Slow-learners. The research method was a semi-experimental pre-test-post-test type. The statistical population included all late-learning male students of ninth grade in Ahvaz city in the academic year of 2022-2023. 50 of these students were selected by systematic random sampling and randomly replaced in two experimental and control groups. The experimental group underwent the intervention of the social adequacy program for 10 sessions. To measure emotional intelligence, Golman's emotional intelligence test (1998) with a reliability of 0.852, to measure from the self-expression questionnaire of Gamberil, Riechi's self-expression questionnaire (1975) with a reliability of 0.88, and to evaluate self-efficacy from the Scherer, Maddox's general self-efficacy questionnaire (1982) was used with a reliability of 0.79. The result of the multivariate covariance analysis test showed that the emotional intelligence of the research groups did not differ significantly from each other in the post-test. self-expression and self-efficacy of the experimental group increased compared to the control group after the intervention, and the two groups had a statistically significant difference (p≤0.05). As a result, the social adequacy training program can be used as an intervention method to improve self-efficacy and increase the self-expression of late learners so that they can appear in the society as independent and efficient citizens.

Spinal anesthesia is one of the most common and safest methods of anesthesia. However, a challenge for patients who are candidates for spinal anesthesia is the pain caused by inserting the spinal needle. It seems possible to reduce needle pain with local pressure, based on the gate control theory in spinal anesthesia.

This clinical trial aims to evaluate the effect of applying local pressure on the intensity of pain caused by needles during spinal anesthesia.

In this study, 120 adult patients aged 18 - 50 who were scheduled for elective surgery under spinal anesthesia and had an American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) I-III were randomly assigned to the control and intervention groups. In the intervention group, just before inserting the spinal needle, a local pressure of about 5 kg using the thumb was applied to the skin at the needle insertion point for 15 seconds. The control group received routine anesthesia. The severity of needle pain was compared between the two groups using the verbal rating scale (VRS) tool.

The incidence of mild pain in the intervention and control groups was 78.7% and 60%, respectively. Also, the control group experienced higher levels of moderate and severe pain compared to the intervention group. In addition, patients in the control group had a higher chance (odds ratio (OR): 3.4, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.5 - 7.8, P = 0.039) of experiencing moderate to severe pain compared to the intervention group. Pain intensity was significantly lower in patients with a spinal anesthesia history (P = 0.028).

Our findings showed that applying local pressure on the skin before inserting a spinal needle can effectively reduce pain during spinal anesthesia. However, further studies with a larger sample size are necessary to confirm the effects of applying local pressure to reduce needle pain during spinal anesthesia.

The possible effects on risky driving of young drivers such as age and gender cannot be changed, however, to know the interventions to reduce risky driving behaviors, young drivers, examining psychological variables can be helpful. Coping appraisal and threat appraisal variables from protection motivation theory can help to understand young drivers' decision-making for risky driving behavior.

This research consists of two parts. The first part was to investigate the psychometric properties of risk perception scale in young drivers based on the theory of protection motivation. For instrument validity, content validity with the opinion of 11 experts, face validity, construct validity (confirmatory factor analysis) and convergent validity were used, and its reliability was checked by internal consistency method (Cronbach's alpha). And the second part was conducted in the form of route analysis to investigate the decision-making model of young drivers to carry out risky driving behavior. The present sample consisted of 350 young drivers of Ahvaz city, who were selected by available and voluntary sampling method. Subjects responded to driving risk perception questionnaires based on protection motivation for 5 fatal factors, driving risk perception and risky driving behavior. The current questionnaire contains 30 items, which include two subscales: confrontational assessment and threat assessment.

After going through the validity and reliability stages of the questionnaire, from the initial 30 questions, 3 questions were removed in the form and content validity check stages, and finally 27 questions remained. Examining the results of construct validity using confirmatory factor analysis showed (RMSEA=0.07) and χ2/df=2.76 (p<0.001). The reliability of the instrument was obtained using internal consistency (0.92-0.95). In the second part of the research, using path analysis, the relationship between coping evaluation variables and threat evaluation with risky driving behavior of young drivers was modeled with the mediation of perceived risk in two models of inconsistent and protective decision making. Both maladaptive and protective models showed a good fit with the data (RMSEA=0.04 and RMSEA=0.06). The threat assessment model was able to explain about 50% of the variance of perceived risk and the general model about 30% of the variance of risky driving behavior. In addition, in this model, the path between perceived severity and perceived risk had the highest relationship value (β=0.56). In the second model, i.e. protective path, coping evaluation explained 14% of the variance of perceived risk and the overall model explained 34% of the variance of risky driving behaviors. Also, in the protective pathway model, the relationship between response costs and perceived risk was the highest (β=-0.55). An interesting result in this study was the mediation of perceived risk between reward and response costs with risky driving behavior.

the scale of risk perception in young drivers based on the theory of protection motivation as a reliable and valid tool can be used together with other psychological investigations and high-risk behaviors of drivers and our insight about the influencing factors on how young drivers make decisions to design interventions in to improve their driving safety. Also, examining the relationships between variables in the form of path analysis helps us understand the factors that encourage young drivers to engage in risky driving behaviors (threat-inconsistent path) and why young novice drivers may decide not to engage in risky driving (protective path) it helps.

Distributed generation resources are used to upgrade older power systems to  more efficient systems. Although distributed generation resources have numerous benefits, they can cause protection problems due to multiple configurations. Fault current limiters (FCLs) are used to reduce short circuit current in the network. A change in short-circuit current can cause a change in the protection system settings. In this paper, using the genetic algorithm, the optimal size and location of distributed generation in the power network with the presence of FCL and without it according to the protection settings of the system have been studied. The results of this study were performed on the 33-bus IEEE network.

Test anxiety is one of the most interesting variables that affect all academic matters. The purpose of this research is to investigate the causal relationship model between the components of emotional self-efficacy and exam anxiety with the mediation of positive and negative affect among the students of Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz and compare the model. There were two groups of boys and girls. The statistical population of all undergraduate students was studying in 2019-1400, and 300 students (190 girls and 110 boys) were selected as a sample from among them using a multi-stage random method. The tools used in this research were emotional self-efficacy (ESES) of Beverly et al. (2008), Test Anxiety questionnaire (FTA) of Friedman and Bandaz-Jacob (1997) and Positive-negative affect Scale of (PANAS) Watson et al. 1998). The evaluation of the proposed model was done using structural equation modeling. The results showed that emotional self-efficacy has a negative correlation with test anxiety and negative affect, but the correlation of emotional self-efficacy with negative affect was not significant. Also, the correlation of test anxiety with positive affect and dimensions of emotional self-efficacy (recognition, understanding, regulation and facilitation) was positive and significant. Indirect results showed that emotional self-efficacy is significant to test anxiety through positive and negative affect in the entire sample (boys and girls). But the indirect relationship of emotional self-efficacy with test anxiety through negative affect in male students was not significant. Also, the results of the analysis of the multi-group model showed that despite the fact that the path graphs of girls and boys are the same, there is a significant difference between the two groups in terms of path coefficients.

One of the problems raised in software defined networks is to determine the number and installation location of controllers so that the cost of implementation reduced and survivability of the network against link or node failure increased. Current investigation in SDN imposes full mesh topology in order to connect controllers. This approach while incurring a huge installation cost, dose not carefully incorporate network survivability requirements. In this paper, we improve an existing integer programming approach to a novel model so as to effectively address user defined survivability requirements. Computational results reported also reveals that our models could be solved by state-of-the-art MIP solvers like CPLEX within a reasonable time limit.

Cataracts are the leading diseases that cause blindness. Cataracts can be treated with surgery. Pain, itching, burning, and a foreign body sensation in the eye are common ocular complaints of patients in recovery. In this study, we compared the effect of Ketorolac eye drops and naphazoline antazoline eye drops on reducing complaints of surgery.

This randomized clinical trial study was performed from February 2016 to March 2017 on patients who were candidates for cataract surgery at Feyz University Hospital in Isfahan, Iran.  In this study, 54 patients were enrolled in two groups receiving Ketorolac eye drops and naphazoline antazoline (NA) eye drops. After the operation, patients' ocular complaints such as burning, itching, pain, and severity were evaluated every 15 minutes in recovery and every half hour in the ward until discharge from the hospital.

In this study, 54 patients in two groups of 27 were studied. In the post-anesthesia care unit, the burning sensation in the naphazoline-antazoline group was significantly lower than in the ketorolac group (P=0.02). Patients in the NA group had less foreign body sensation in the eye in recovery (P=0.97) and the ward (P<0.001) than in the ketorolac group. Mean Pain intensity in the recovery unit (P=0.39) and ward unit in the ketorolac group were less than NA (P<0.001). In the recovery unit in the NA group, the eye-burning sensation was significantly lower than in the ketorolac group. The foreign body sensation in the NA group was less than the ketorolac group but there was no significant difference between the two groups. In the NA group, itching of the eyes was less than in the ketorolac group.

It can be concluded that ketorolac drops have been more effective in reducing post-operative eye pain than NA and NA drops have been more effective in reducing burning, itching and foreign body sensation in the eyes than Ketorolac.

COVID-19 is a deadly disease and treatment personnel have an important role in the care and control of this disease. The prerequisite for this care is infection control measures with good knowledge and practice in this field. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the knowledge and practice of medical personnel in military clinics in Abadan in 2020.

In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 50 treatment personnel (nurse, operating room) participated in the census by informed consent. The data collection tool in this field was a self-made questionnaire of knowledge and practice of preventive behaviors. Scores are divided into three levels: good (above 24), medium (13-14), weak (below 13). Validity and reliability of this questionnaire have also been done. Data were analyzed using statistical tests and SPSS-22 software.

The results showed that the mean of knowledge of participants was 7.98 ± 1.13 and the level of performance of preventive behaviors was 56.88 ± 13.71; the level of knowledge of 34 people (68%) and the level of performance of 29 people (58%) among the participating personnel were reported as good and there was no statistically significant relationship between the two variables (P> 0.05).

The present study showed that medical Personnel military have a high level of knowledge and practice of preventive behaviors of COVID-19, however, interventions and training programs are necessary for health care workers.

The purpose of this study was to test and compare the causal relationship of appreciation with perceived well-being in school by mediating the psychological needs and social behavior of students. The statistical population of this study was all girls and boys from the first to third year high schools of Ahwaz in the academic year 1396-1397. From this community, 350 people were selected by multistage random sampling method. Finally, 350 questionnaires were completed in full. The present study was a correlational structural equation model. The researchers were asked to research tools including the GQ-6 questionnaire (McQueen et al., 2002), perceived well-being at school (BASWBSS), Tian et al. (2015), the questionnaire Carrier's Basic Psychological Needs (2012) and Social Behavior Questionnaire (SBI) Zhang et al. (2004). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and SPSS software version 22 and AMOS-20. The results of the study showed that there was a significant direct correlation with competence, affilability, social behavior and perceived well-being (p = 0.001). Also, the results of bootstrap analysis to investigate indirect hypotheses showed that mediator variables, basic psychological needs, and The social behavior was mediated between appreciation and perceived well-being.

Software defined network is a new computer network architecture who separates controller and data layer in network devices such as switches and routers. Separation of the control plane and the data plane has many benefits, such as more programmability of the control plane, the possibility of network virtualization, reduction of operating costs, greater independence of network equipment manufacturers, and so on. By the emerge of software defined networks, a class of location problems, called controller placement problem, has attracted much more research attention. The task in the problem is to simultaneously find optimal number and location of controllers satisfying a set of routing and capacity constraints. In this paper, we suggest an effective solution method based on dynamic switches allocation. We, then compare our method to an existing standard mathematical programming solver on an extensive set of problem instances. It turns out that our suggested method is computationally much more effective and efficient over small to large instances.

Nowadays, nurturing creativity and play is one of the essential axes of educational systems for proper decision making and problem solving. But the key question is, is there a difference between the effectiveness of creativity training and how to play on problem solving skills in preschool children?

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of creativity training on problem solving skills and comparison with play style in preschool children in Fars province.

This study was a quasi-experimental with pre-test and post-test design with control group. The population of the study was all children of preschool centers in Kamfirouz city in the academic year 96-97. Sixty individuals were randomly selected by multistage cluster sampling and were randomly assigned into two experimental and control groups (each group 15). Tools include: Problem Solving Problem Test, London Shalis Tower Test (1982), Creativity Training Program (Ganji, Nyusha & Hedayati, 2012). Data analysis was performed using covariance analysis test.

Creativity training and play had an effect on problem solving skills (P<0/001). There was no difference between the effect of two training methods on problem solving skills (P<0/001).

Creativity and play education can be used to improve problem solving skills in preschool children.

The purpose of this article is to troubleshoot and detection a partial discharge in cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) cable by combining two very-high-frequency (VHF) and acoustic emission (AE) sensors, which is a novel approach to troubleshooting. The small size of these signals is the main problem in partial discharge (PD) measurements, which might cause the signal mix completely with noise and make troubleshooting difficult. Hence, attention has been paid to high bandwidth to eliminate disturbing noise. In this paper, Rogowski's coil is designed as a kind of VHF sensor for troubleshooting purposes. Then, it simulates and examines the characteristics of the partial discharge in the power cables that have been occurred due to the existence of a cavity. In the end, in order to prove the efficiency of the intended method, the actual partial discharge test was performed using the VHF and AE sensors. The combination of two VHF and AE sensors is capable of eliminating electrical interference and electromagnetic noise in the test site, as well as identifying different types of discharge, and providing a model for troubleshooting partial discharges in online and offline tests. In addition, due to the simple design and installation of the sensor in the equipment and have not to need to cut off equipment from the network, this method is economically very cost effective.

An imposter phenomenon is about people who have very high scientific and artistic abilities and abilities, but do not internalize these beliefs and achievements. The purpose of this study was to investigate and compare the causal relationship between masculinity and femininity gender roles and family flexibility with self-centered self-mediating self-denial mediation in girls and boys in Shahid Chamran University of Ahwaz. The statistical population of all undergraduate students was studying in the academic year 1396-1397. Of these, 200 (120 boys and 80 girls) were selected by multi-stage random sampling. The instruments used in this study included the Rice and colleagues shortness form (SCS) questionnaire (2011), Bami's gender role-related questionnaire (BSRI), the Clancy's CIPS (1985) scale and Shakeri family's resilience scale (1382). Results indicated that the relationship between gender roles of masculinity and femininity and family flexibility and Imposter by Self-compassion is mediated. The results of the group specificity of structural relations showed that the relationships between gender roles of masculinity and femininity, family flexibility, Imposter and Self-compassion were equivalent for both groups. All of the regression weights in the global model and for each of the two groups (girl and boy), were statistically significant and model' predictors accounted for 18 percent of the variance in Imposter. The results showed that female students showed gender role of femininity and higher scores in dementia and lower levels of self-incapacitation than men. But men were associated with male gender roles and high levels of Self-compassion and lower scores in imposter.

 In this study, the energy analysis of an air-cooled photovoltaic-thermal (PV/T) equipped with fins was investigated. A PV panel with the same characteristics without cooling fluid was used to compare the results as the control system. A fan with air flow rate of 0.033 kg s-1 was used to create forced convection flow. In the lower part of the air channel, a plate with trapezoid fins was mounted to create turbulent flow in the air channel to increase the heat transfer coefficient between the plate and air fluid. Six temperature sensors LM35 were used to record air temperature and a computer program in MATLAB was developed to compute the theoretical performance. The results showed that the use of air flow reduces the temperature of solar cells and thus increases the PV/T output voltage by about 9% over all hours of the experiment compared to the control system (PV). The theoretical and experimental thermal efficiency of the PV/T was calculated as 0.51 and 0.47, respectively. Also, the average difference between theoretical and experimental temperature was about 8%. The maximum difference between air outlet temperature and ambient temperature in measured and predicted were 7.06 and 10.25, respectively, and the minimum differences were 1.40 and 2.97, respectively.

In this paper, a heuristic solution approach to the single source capacitated facility location problem is considered. As a first step, a local search method is designed to perform quick simple moves in the solution structure. Then, the greedy manner of the local search is combined by Simulated Annealing meta-heuristic. Such a careful combination would allow escaping local optima with the aim of more diversified search capabilities. The method, then makes use of acceleration mechanisms to enhance search process. Here, we combine the algorithm with two different acceleration mechanisms namely consecrating mechanism and parallelizing mechanism. Such a combination will define two different versions of the mentioned search strategy based on simulated annealing meta-heuristic. Computational results obtained over the existing standard benchmark instances, not only demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method over the best existing ones, but also announce the method as an effective practical tool to tackle the problem.

Labor pain has some adverse effects, which can be significantly reduced after delivery without pain. In the present study, we assumed that the elimination of labor pain effectively leads to favorable pregnancy outcome in women with kidney transplantation. Among the kidney recipients in Ekbatan and Shahid Beheshti hospitals in Hamadan, whose kidney transplantation was carried out from 1994 to 2016, 17 women were selected, aged 17-35, who decided to get pregnant at least one year after surgery. 7 cases were cesarean delivery and other painless deliveries. None of the people who had painless labor had history of abortion or the risk of it. Either of them was exposed to pregnancy toxicity. Administration of immunosuppressive drugs did not increase during this period. All patients had normal bleeding during labor. There were no abnormalities in the newborns. Weight gain in infants with an average of 5300 grams was significant. During one year of follow up, none of the expected complications including increased serum creatinine, urinary tract infection, or high blood pressure occured, and the survival of the kidney transplant was similar to that of other non-pregnant participants. In general, all participants were reluctant to give birth. Relaxation delivery is based on epidural anesthesia, like delivery in non-transplanted individuals.

While routing in multi-hop packet radio networks (static Ad-hoc wireless networks), it is crucial to minimize power consumption since nodes are powered by batteries of limited capacity and it is expensive to recharge the device. This paper studies the problem of broadcast routing in radio networks. Given a network with an identified source node, any broadcast routing is considered as a directed tree rooted at the source node and spans all nodes. Since the problem is known to be NP-Hard, we try to tackle it heuristically. First we propose an efficient Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) based algorithm with a proper coding schema. Then we present the second algorithm which combines the global search of the first algorithm with a local search strategy based on noising methods. Comprehensive experimental study is devoted to compare the behavior of the algorithms and to show its priority over the best known previous esults.

Diagnostic value of multi-slice computed tomography (MSCT) for detecting in-stent restenosis in comparison with conventional coronary angiography remained uncertain. The present study aimed to determine the value of MSCT for detecting in-stent restenosis.

This historical cohort study was included 226 patients with the history of percutaneous coronary intervention from 2000 to 2014 that referred to MSCT Unit at Alzahra Heart Center in Isfahan. The subjects were followed-up by telephone with regard to performing coronary angiography up to 3 months after MSCT and their status about cardiac events.

Among all participants, 63 stents (27.9%) underwent coronary angiography up to 3 months afte r MSCT that 2 stents in left circumfl ex artery (LCX) assessment, 2 in left anterior descending (LAD) assessments and none in right coronary artery (RCA) assessment were uninterpretable. Sensitivity, specifi city, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and accuracy of MSCT was 92.9%, 66.6%. 92.9%, 66.6%, and 88.2%, respectively for detection of occlusion in LCX stents, 100%, 100%, 100%, 100%, and 100%, respectively for detection of occlusion in LAD stents, and 80.0%, 0.0%, 80.0%, 0.0%, and 66.7%, respectively for detection of occlusion in RCA stents. Overall, MSCT had sensitivity of 93.8%, specifi city of 70.0%, PPV of 93.8%, NPV of 70.0%, and accuracy 89.7% for detection of coronary stent restenosis.

MSCT has high diagnostic value for detecting in-stent restenosis. Diagnostic accuracy of MSCT for detecting stent restenosis is considerably different between the coronary arteries with the highest diagnostic values for LAD and the lowest diagnostic values for RCA.

The increasing prevalence rate has made diabetes a world epidemic. Considering diabetes complications and associated effects on patients’ quality of life, this interventional study was performed to promote the life quality using education based on the Precede model in the rural areas of Andimeshk. This experimental study was conducted on 120 patients with type II diabetes who were randomly allocated to the experimental and control groups. The data were collected using two questionnaires including the Precede model framework and Short Form health survey (SF-36). The precede model-based intervention composed of six educational sessions (60 to 90 minutes a session). The patients were followed up for three months post-intervention and examined for glycated hemoglobin (Hemoglobin A1c or HbAlc). After educational intervention, the mean score of quality of life had a significant increase in the experimental group compared with the control group.The mean scores of Precede model constructs inpatients of the experimental group increased significantly after the intervention compared with the before intervention. Moreover, the mean score of HbA1c improved significantly in the experimental group compared to the control group. The present study indicated that the educational intervention program based on the Precede model has a positive effect on quality of life among diabetic patients.

The present study aimed to clinically examine the effects of platelet‑rich plasma (PRP) on improvement of plantar fasciitis and its related manifestations. Patients and

This single‑blind randomized controlled trial was performed on 32 consecutive patients with the final diagnosis of plantar fasciitis that were randomly assigned to the case group (that received PRP, n = 16) and the control group (that received corticosteroid as methylprednisolone 1 ml plus lidocaine 1 ml, n = 16). The endpoints in the present study were changes in the visual analog scale score and the modified Roles and Maudsley score (RMS) from baseline, 1‑month, 3 months, and 6 months follow‑up. Plantar fascia was also assessed by B‑mode sonography before and also 3 months after primary assessment.

Regarding the pain severity, the PRP group had significantly higher mean pain score at 3 time points of before injection, as well as 1 and 3 months after PRP use when compared to the corticosteroid group (P < 0.05); however, the control group experienced significantly higher pain severity than the PRP group at 6 months after interventions. Also, RMS was lower in PRP group than in corticosteroid group at baseline as well as at 1 and 3 months after injections (P < 0.05). In sonography assessment, no difference was revealed.

Administration of PRP leads to significant improvement in pain severity and physical limitation in patients with plantar fasciitis. This healing effect may be begun at least 3 months after injection.

Using probiotics can control pathogens by a variety of mechanisms. Probiotics can promote growth performance and have, therefore, become increasingly important in the aquaculture industry. Convict Cichlid belongs to the family of Cichlidae and is known for its rapid development in laboratory conditions and is suitable for behavioral examinations. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of Saccharomyces cerevisiae on growth performance, survival rate and body composition of Convict Cichlids (Amatitlania nigrofasciata). One hundred sixty eight Convict Cichlids (mean weight: 2.1 ± 0.12 g and mean length: 2.2 ± 0.05 cm) were fed by commercial diets with different concentrations of S. cerevisiae (0, 0.5%, 1%, 2%). At the end of the experiment, survival rate and growth indices were measured. Based on the results, growth performance significantly increased with probiotic, S. cerevisiae, specially, at the 2% probiotic level of concentration. In the present study, the best FCR (feed conversion rate), SGR (specific growth rate), CF (condition factor) and BWG (body weight gain) values were observed in a 2% concentration of S. cerevisiae. The results suggest that this yeast could improve feed utilization in this fish species.