hossein ashrafi

Red blood cell (RBC) transfusion is necessary for the prevention and treatment of a variety of life-threatening injuries and diseases. However, viral contamination of these products is a great threat to recipients. Screening donors for GB virus C by nucleic acid testing is not routinely implemented worldwide. The aim of the present study was to evaluate prevalence of GBV-C RNA in whole blood/red cell components.
             

In this cross sectional pilot study, we collected 153 units of packed RBCs from blood banks of two public hospitals in Gorgan (northeast of Iran), between October and November 2014. The samples were screened for the presence of GBV-C RNA in plasma by nested RT-PCR using specific primers targeting highly conserved regions of 5' UTR of GBV-C. Data were analyzed using SPSS software (version 18).
             

Overall, 48 (31.37%) whole blood or red cell components were positive for GBV-C viremia. The GBV-C RNA was detected in 31/88 citrate phosphate dextrose-adenine 1 (CPDA1) RBC, 16/50 washed RBC and 1/13 reduced-leukocyte RBC. However, whole blood CPDA1 was negative for GBV-C viremia. Direct sequencing of PCR products confirmed GBV-C contamination.
             

Transmission of GBV-C infection was observed in blood products. Thus, efforts should be made to develop new strategies for assuring blood transfusion safety.
            

Suicide attempts have become a common phenomenon in recent years. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between quality of life and spiritual intelligence with suicidal thoughts in Sardasht soldiers. The study population was all soldiers in Sardasht city, including 246 people selected by the multi-stage cluster sampling method. Four battalions were included, and from each battalion, a group of soldiers was selected as the final sample of research. The World Health Organization's Quality of Life Questionnaire (1989), King's Spiritual Intelligence Questionnaire (2008) and Beck's Suicidal Thoughts Questionnaire were used. Quality of life and its components (physical and psychological health, social relationships and living environment) can predict suicidal thoughts of soldiers, and 19% of the variance of suicidal thoughts is explained by physical and psychological health, social relationships and living environment. There is an inverse relationship between quality of life relationship and suicidal thoughts. Spiritual intelligence and its components (transcendental self-awareness, spiritual experiences, patience, and forgiveness) have an inverse relationship with suicidal thoughts, and about 18% of the variance of suicidal thoughts may be explained by transcendental self-awareness, spiritual experiences, patience, and forgiveness. Improving quality of life and strengthening spiritual intelligence in soldiers can reduce the risk of suicide in this group.

ABSTRACT
            Pterygium is a common ocular surface lesion that manifest as wing-shaped, benign conjunctival growth, which can extend onto the corneal surface. Presence of some oncogenic viruses in pterygium and the neoplastic nature of the lesion led us to the postulated involvement of the viruses in the etiology of pterygia. The aim of this study was to evaluate prevalence and possible role of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) in the formation of pterygia.
            Fifty pterygium specimens and 10 normal conjunctival biopsy specimens (controls) were investigated by polymerase chain reaction using primers specific for the highly conserved regions of major capsid protein gene of HCMV. Data were analyzed using SPSS statistical software (IBM SPSS Statistics 18; IBM Corporation, USA) at significance level of 0.05.
            The HCMV DNA was detected in seven (14%) patients with pterygium but in none of the control subjects. All subjects were β-globin positive.
            Given the results, direct involvement of HCMV in the development of pterygium seems less probable, thus suggesting that other agents might be involved in the multistep process of the disease.
            Keywords: Human Cytomegalovirus, Pterygium, Polymerase Chain Reaction.

  Pterygium is a non-cancerous growth of conjunctival tissue that can extend onto the corneal surface. The presence of some oncogenic viruses in pterygium and the neoplastic nature of these lesions led us to the postulated involvement of the viruses in the etiology of pterygium. Given the association of human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) with ocular diseases, we aimed to investigate presence of this virus in pterygium.             Fifty tissue specimens were collected from patients with pterygium who underwent pterygium surgery between February 2013 and May 2015. The specimens were tested by real-time PCR using Maxima SYBR Green/ROX qPCR Master Mix (2X) kit. Demographic and clinical data were collected and analyzed using SPSS software (version 18).             Six (12 %) specimens were positive for HHV-6 DNA. There was no statistically significant correlation between pterygium and presence of HHV-6.             Based on the results, a direct association between HHV-6 and development of pterygium seems less probable, which suggests that other etiologic agents must be involved in the multistep process of the disease.             Keywords: Human Herpesvirus 6; pterygium; Real-time PCR.

Simulation of supersonic compressible gas flow has been investigated while exiting from 7.62 mm diameter tube in the axis-symmetric geometry. Density-based solver and adaptive dynamic mesh methods were applied based on static pressure gradient. Simulations have been carried out using inviscid and k-ɛ turbulence models. Time of first, second, and main flow shock waves and their progress were also investigated. Existing experimental Schlieren shadowgraphs were compared with density contours of simulations and static pressure results within the shock waves were also compared with the results of literature and good agreements have been achieved. After verification, simulation results have been applied in order to extract sound pressure level values using Ffowcs-Williams and Hawkins (FWH) model. Sound pressure receivers have been located in1, 2,6,10 and 15 m far from the sound source and sound pressure levels have been obtained and compared at the three different times. Results were in good agreement with test data of existing literature. Maximum sound pressure level was obtained in the time of 0.58 millisecond equaling 119 dB. Simulations results showed that changing viscous model from inviscid to k-ɛ turbulence model had an insignificant effect on the noise values.

Numerous geometrically simplified models may be found in the literature on simulation of the traumatic brain injuries due to the increased intracranial pressure induced by severe translational accelerations of the brain inside the cranium following the impact waves. While numerous researchers have utilized viscoelastic models, some have employed specific hyperelastic models for behavior analysis of the brain tissue. No research has been presented so far based on the more realistic visco-hyperelastic model.
In the present research, a realistic finite element model and four visco-hyperelastic constitutive models (viscoelastic models on the basis of the polynomial, Yeoh, Arruda-Boyce, and Ogden hyperelastic models) are employed to accomplish the outlined task. Therefore, the main motivation of the present research is checking the accuracy of the modeling procedure rather than presenting clinical results. In this regard, a realistic skull-brain model is constructed in CATIA computer code based on the magnetic resonance imaging scans and optimized in the HYPERMESH finite element software.
Influence of the contact and nonlinear characteristics of the brain tissue are considered in the simulation of the relative motions in LS-DYNA software to predict time histories of the acceleration and the coup and countercoup pressures by means of ANSYS finite element analysis software.
Comparing results of the four proposed visco-hyperelastic constitutive models with the available experimental reveals that employing Arruda–Boyce or Ogden-type viscoelastic models may lead to inaccurate or even erroneous results.

The Umayyads and the Abbasids (the first Era) made many attempts to gain legitimacy. To this end, the Umayyads tried to put forward some fundamentals such as their attribution to Quraysh, Uthman's vengeance, Omar’s and Uthman’s representativeness, and the party spirit of the Arabs. The Abbasids posed some other fundamentals such as their attribution to Quraysh, Hussein’s (AS) vengeance, Abu Hashim’s representativeness and inheritance. In this way, they tried to convince the majority of the society to accept their caliphates. However, despite all these measures that they made to legitimize their caliphates, since their caliphates were not based on the religious doctrines, they never gained legitimacy. The fundamentals posed by these two groups in acquiring legitimacy have similarities and differences, which are studied in full and in an integrated and comparative way in this research. This paper, by implementing a descriptive-analytical method, examines the legitimacy fundamentals of the Umayyad and the Abbasid governments and compares their fundamentals with each other.

Generally, 15-25% of general population experience urticaria during their life. The prevalence of chronic urticaria is about 0.1-0.3% in children and most often occurs between ages of 6-11 years. There are several causes for development of chronic urticaria. Known etiologies of chronic urticaria in children vary from 21% to 83%. Chronic urticaria caused by infections is more common in children than adults. Diagnosis of chronic urticaria is based on clinical history and physical examination and routine laboratory testing in the absence of a clinical history is rarely helpful. Similar to adults, antihistamines are the first line of treatment. Omalizumab as a biological engineering molecule is a recombinant humanized monoclonal antibody, which targets the CH3 domain of the ε chain of the free IgE. Omalizumab has been used in patients with H1-antihistamine-refractory chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU). Here in we made a review about possible mechanisms by which omalizumab may be effective in children above 12 years with chronic urticaria, and also focused on its therapeutic effects, onset criteria and possible side effects.

Viral hepatitis is a major health problem worldwide. Change in transmission patterns of hepatitis B makes it necessary to re-evaluate its prevalence and risk factors.. We aimed to determine the prevalence of HBV infection and its related risk factors in Amol city, Northern Iran..Patients and As a population based study, a cluster sampling approach was used and 6146 individuals from the general population of urban and rural areas of Amol, Iran, from both genders and different ages were enrolled. Inclusion criteria were willingness to participate in the study, being a lifelong resident in Amol city or its surrounding areas with Iranian nationality. Ten milliliters (10 mL) of blood was taken from each study subject and checked regarding hepatitis B markers including HbsAg, HBsAb and HBcAb using a third generation ELISA. The prevalence of HBV infections and its potential risk factors were recorded.. The prevalence of HBsAg, HBsAb and HBcAb were estimated as 0.9%, 30.7% and 10.5%, respectively. The mean age of all participants was 43.9 (95% CI: 43.4, 44.3) in females and 55.6 in (n = 3472) males. In our study, there was a significant association between family history of hepatitis, rural residency and presence of HBsAg. There was also a positive correlation between HBcAb and family history of hepatitis, history of other types of hepatic diseases, history of tattooing, traditional phlebotomy, male gender and age. In backward logistic regression, a significant association was found between history of hepatitis in first-degree family members (OR = 13.35; 95% CI: 6.26, 28.47) and place of residence (OR = 2.32; 95% CI: 1.27, 4.22) with presence of HBsAg. There was also a positive correlation between history of hepatitis among first-degree family members (OR = 2.49; 95% CI: 1.52, 4.08), history of tattooing (OR = 2.13; 95% CI: 1.33, 3.42), history of previous hepatitis (OR = 1.87; 95% CI: 1.06, 3.28), male sex (OR = 1.36; 95% CI: 1.12, 1.66) and age (OR = 1.03; 95% CI: 1.03, 1.04) with presence of HBcAb.. The prevalence of hepatitis B in Amol City and its surrounding areas was about one percent, a lower rate than other reports from Iran..

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory airway disorder and the most common chronic disease among children characterized by frequent and chronic cough, wheezing, and dyspnea. Asthma is defined as an inflammatory process in response to T- Helper 2 cells. Vitamin E as a Lipid soluble vitamin; containing 4 isomers α, β, γ, б, with α- tocopherol as the most important isomer is an important defensive agent against epithelial tissue damages caused by antioxidants in human. The results of animal studies showed vitamins C and E cause decreased and modulation of pulmonary responses to oxidant agents such as O3 or NO2. A few studies showed an association between reduced intake of vitamin E by mothers during pregnancy and wheezing in children aged 2 years old. Some studies showed significant declines in serum vitamin E level in asthmatic children compared to non-asthmatic. However, in another study no significant relationship was observed between serum level of vitamin E and risk of asthma. There are controversies on the effect of vitamin E in children with asthma. This study aimed to investigate the role of vitamin E in children with asthma.

The main purpose of the present research is to investigate the reactions of stock prices to good and bad news during economic expansions and recessions under different levels of uncertainty. The study period is between the years 1385 to 1390and the population of the study is 111 companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). We use Generalized Method of Moments and Partial Least Squares method to analyze the research variables. The results show that high or low uncertainty is not effective in the reaction of stock prices to bad news in time of prosperity. Also the results suggested that when good news arrives during recessions، higher uncertainty of investors leads to relatively smaller price increase and vice versa.

By increasing use of very small structures, thin films, functionally graded materials, nanocomposites, and heterogeneous surfaces in various engineering areas the conventional tensile and compression tests cannot be readily used for measurement of the viscoelastic relaxation modulus and creep compliance of such materials. Recent developments in the indentation contact analysis for viscoelastic bodies, an exact evaluation of relaxation and creep characteristics of viscoelastic solids has been prepared to use the nanoindentation. In this paper, after representing the measurement methods of elastic properties for the polymeric films and layers, a powerful mathematical approach, based on contact mechanics, was developed to describe viscoelastic characteristics directly by using the novel nanoindentation technique. Independently, a constant-rate displacement and a constant-rate loading histories were used to measure the creep compliance and relaxation modulus from nanoindentation tests, respectively. The viscoelastic moduli, using the viscoelastic contact theories, have been extracted to the nanoindentation load-displacement data. A generalized Maxwell model and a generalized Kelvin model were used to describe the creep and the relaxation constitutive behaviors of viscoelastic layers, respectively.

The tribological aspects of contact systems are greatly affected by the friction and contact pressure distribution throughout the surface of the contact interface. Generally the contact of deformable bodies is a nonlinear problem and for the viscoelastic bodies it has a time-dependent response, since their viscous characteristics depends on time. The introduction of friction with its irreversible characteristic in contact surface makes the contact problem more difficult. The objective of this study is to develop a general augmented Lagrangian finite element formulation associated with an incremental adaptive procedure which established for analysis of frictional contact problems in viscoelastic systems. The contact behavior has been studied through an improved augmented Lagrangian approach. A generalized Maxwell model has been used to model the viscoelastic constitutive equations in which bulk and shear relaxation functions are represented by the sum of a series of decaying exponential functions of time. Based on the principle of virtual work, an effective finite element formulation associated with an incremental relaxation procedure has been developed. As an application of formulation, the numerical example has been presented to evaluate the numerical approach.