Sharif Digital Repository

Background: The prevalence of obesity has risen enormously over the past few decad-es. Both food intake (Appetite) and energy expenditure can influence body weight. Acylated ghrelin enhances appetite, and its plasma level is suppressed by growth horm-one. The present study, examines the effects of an intermittent exercise with progress-ive intensities on acylated ghrelin, appetite, and growth hormone in inactive male students with two levels of obesity. Methods: Eleven inactive males were allocated into two groups on the basis of their body mass index (BMI). Six subjects in group one, BMI= 31.18±0.92 kg/m2, and five subjects in group two, BMI= 36.94±2.25 kg/m2, ran on the treadmill with... 

Background: Lumbosacral orthosis (LSO) is commonly used for the treatment of back pain. The clinical and mechanical effectiveness of this device has been repeatedly investigated in several studies; however, its sensorimotor effectiveness has been rarely considered. Regarding this, the aim of the current study was to investigate the effect of a non-extensible LSO on postural stability (as a construct of sensorimotor function) in patients with nonspecific chronic low back pain (LBP). Methods: This preliminary study was conducted on 17 patients with nonspecific chronic LBP using a single-group quasi-experimental design. Postural stability was measured while the participants were placed in a... 

The social impact of robotics applied to domains such as education, religion, nursing, and therapy across the world depends on the level of technology as well as the culture in which it is used. By studying how robots are used in Iran, a technologically-savvy country with a long history and a rich culture, we explore their possible impact on interrelated areas of religious and ethical features in education in an Islamic society. To accomplish this task, a preliminary exploratory study was conducted using two social robots as teaching assistants in Islamic religion classes for 42 elementary students. More than 90% of the participants in the study absolutely preferred the robot-assisted... 

Deception is mentioned as an expression or action which hides the truth and deception detection as a concept to uncover the truth. In this research, a connectivity analysis of Electro Encephalography study is presented regarding cognitive processes of an instructed liar/truth-teller about identity during an interview. In this survey, connectivity analysis is applied because it can provide unique information about brain activity patterns of lying and interaction among brain regions. The novelty of this paper lies in applying an open-ended questions interview protocol during EEG recording. We recruited 40 healthy participants to record EEG signal during the interview. For each subject,... 

In this paper, the relation between gain and resolution of an ideal analog optical differentiator in two different cases and their fundamental limits are investigated. Based on this relation, a figure of merit for comparison of the designed differentiators in recent papers is proposed. The differentiators are optimized using this figure of merit, and they are compared with each other to determine the best one. Also, a new differentiator is presented based on the dielectric slab waveguide in which the trade-off between its gain and resolution is easily controllable, and its best operating point is determined. © 2020 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing... 

Diurnal volume changes is one of the main factors influencing socket fit in trans-tibial prosthesis and causing pressure problem issues. Embedded bladder liners have been recently a potential approach to deal with this problem. The aim of this technical note was to introduce a new transtibial silicone liner designed based on hybrid socket theory. To make expandability in the liner, an integrated wax structure was constructed over the selected areas of the positive model and then removed after lamination process. In addition, a mechanical system with manual control was designed to fit the liner with the residual limb volume by pumping the water in or out of the liner through connec-tive... 

Background: The seminal plasma is an excellent source for noninvasive detection of spermatogenesis. The seminal plasma of normospermic and azoospermic men has been analyzed for detection of spermatogenesis. Methods: Optical spectroscopy (Attenuated Total Reflectance-Infrared spectroscopy (ATR-IR) and Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) has been used to analyze the seminal plasma and the metabolome of seminal plasma for detection of spermatogenesis. Results The seminal plasma of normospermic and azoospermic men has been analyzed by ATR-IR. The results show that there is a pattern variation in the azoospermic men compared to normospermic men. However, the seminal plasma is too... 

It is estimated that 20% of couples are infertile, and half of these infertility cases are linked to men. One of conditions that can affect male fertility is asthenozoospermia. We applied Raman spectroscopy to the analysis of the metabolome of the human seminal plasma, and used chemometrics on the patterns of Raman spectra obtained. Significant changes were observed in the metabolome of the human seminal plasma of asthenozoospermic patients  

Background: Patients who have shoulder pain usually have compensatory or contributory deviation of shoulder motion during arm elevation. In the traditional scapulohumeral rhythm, the share of the acromioclavicular (AC) and the sternoclavicular (SC) joint movements and also the role of AC internal rotation angle are unknown. Objectives: The main purpose of this study was to measure and compare the segmentary scapulohumeral rhythm (SSHR) during scapular arm elevation at a steady rotational speed in athletes with and without impingement syndrome. Patients and Methods: Using a speedometer, the maximum speed of arm elevation was measured in 21 men in each of the involved and uninvolved groups.... 

Aim: This study evaluated serum levels of zinc in patient with CD compare to healthy subjects. Background: Celiac disease (CD) is characterized by small intestinal malabsorption of nutrients as a consequence of ingestion of wheat gluten. Zinc is an essential trace element that it has vital biological functions. Patients and methods: Sera of 30 celiac cases and 30 healthy normal cohorts as control group were obtained. Atomic absorption spectrophotometer was employed for estimating serum zinc level. Results: Zinc concentrations in patients diagnosed with CD were significantly lower than healthy subjects (75.97±12 compared with 92.83±18, P-value < 0.0001). Conclusion: The result of this study... 

Introduction: Therapeutic exercises are regarded as one of most important therapeutic interventions for patients with chronic low back pain. Stabilization exercises are among the most practical ones for these patients. Effects of these exercises on psychological factors associated with pain and consequential functional disabilities are still remained unknown. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of stabilization exercises on fear of pain, movement and disability in patients with low back pain. Materials and Methods: Twenty one patients with recurrent non-specific low back pain (14 in experimental, 7 in control group) were participated in this study. The scores for fear of pain,... 

Several methods have been proposed to construct Statistical Shape Model (SSM) to aim image analysis using computer in field Computer Aided Diagnosis (CAD), Computer Assisted Surgery (CAS), and other medical applications by providing a prior knowledge. The major challenge for liver shape model is a high variation in geometry such as size, shape and volume between livers. In this paper, we have presented a new technique for the automatic Multi-Scale Statistical Shape Model (MS-SSM) of three-dimensional (3-D) liver from volumetric segmented images data. The procedure included both building of Spherical Harmonics shape description and the Wavelet transform. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was... 

Normal human breathing exhibits complex variability in both respiratory rhythm and volume. Analyzing such nonlinear fluctuations may provide clinically relevant information in patients with complex illnesses such as asthma. We compared the cycle-by-cycle fluctuations of inter-breath interval (IBI) and lung volume (LV) among healthy volunteers and patients with various types of asthma. Continuous respiratory datasets were collected from forty agematched men including 10 healthy volunteers, 10 patients with controlled atopic asthma, 10 patients with uncontrolled atopic asthma, and 10 patients with uncontrolled non-atopic asthma during 60 min spontaneous breathing. Complexity of breathing... 

Background and Objective: Changes in the cervical spine curvature leads to increased shear force and compression stress on cervical spine and axial loading in different cervical segments. The objective of this study was to compare the general and segmental curvature in the upper and lower cervical spine of women with postural neck pain and Forward Head Posture (FHP), women without neck pain but with FHP and healthy women. Material and Methods: 45 women were divided into three groups: 15 women with postural neck pain and FHP, 15 women without neck pain but with FHP and 15 healthy women. Photography was used to assess neck posture while cervical spine curvature was measured using fluoroscopy... 

Background: Muscle synergy is the leading hypothesis on how the central nervous system coordinates limb functions. Cerebral palsy (CP) patients utilize fewer synergies, and are believed to have a simpler neuromuscular control. This study was undertaken to determine whether consistent muscle synergies are recruited during ambulation in cerebral palsy crouch gait and how the muscles contribute to such synergies. Methods: Ten ambulatory CP patients were recruited. All walked with crouch gait. sEMG data were collected from 14 lower limb muscles during gait analysis. Non-negative matrix factorization method was utilized to extract muscle synergies. Results and significance: A total of five... 

Ankle-foot orthoses (AFOs) have been described to have positive effects on the gait biomechanics in stroke patients. The plantarflexion resistance of an AFO is considered important for hemiplegic patients, but the evidence is still limited. The purpose of this case series was to design and evaluate the immediate effect of an articulated AFO on kinematics and kinetics of lower-limb joints in stroke patients. The articulated AFO with the adjustment of plantarflexion resistance was designed. The spring generates a plantarflexion resistance of the ankle joint at initial stance phase. The efficacy of orthosis was evaluated on two stroke patients in 2 conditions: without an AFO and with the AFO.... 

Iran is the fourth refugee-hosting country and Afghanistan is the second refugee-source country in the world. This research is qualitative and conducted with content analysis method. Twenty-seven individuals participated in the study. They were recruited from two midterm residential drug treatment centers in Tehran. Afghan refugees who use drugs felt and experienced stigma in five areas: family, friends, workplace, neighborhood, and treatment center. The consequences include frequent treatment failure, family relationship disruption, superficial conformity with the host society, and self-stigma. It is necessary to design interventions to reduce stigma and discrimination attached to refugees.... 

We describe a method for analyzing the stochasticity in non-stationary data for the beat-to-beat fluctuations in the heart rates of healthy subjects, as well as those with congestive heart failure. The method analyzes the return time series of the data as a Markov process, and computes the Markov time scale, i.e., the time scale over which the data are a Markov process. We also construct an effective stochastic continuum equation for the return series. We show that the drift and diffusion coefficients, as well as the amplitude of the return time series for healthy subjects are distinct from those with CHF. Thus, the method may potentially provide a diagnostic tool for distinguishing healthy... 

In this study, multivariate classification techniques combined with proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1HNMR) spectroscopy is proposed to identify breast cancer biomarkers that can precisely distinguish between healthy control and breast cancer (BC) patients. In this regard, first optimizing the metabolite extraction procedure was performed using Box-Behnken design (BBD). Then, data-driven soft independent modeling of class analogy (DD-SIMCA) model and partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) were successfully utilized for separating healthy from BC patient's classes. On this matter, both DD-SIMCA and PLS-DA models could successfully distinguish the healthy class from the BC...