Sharif Digital Repository

Cardiovascular disease is one of the most rampant causes of death around the world and was deemed as a major illness in Middle and Old ages. Coronary artery disease, in particular, is a widespread cardiovascular malady entailing high mortality rates. Angiography is, more often than not, regarded as the best method for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease; on the other hand, it is associated with high costs and major side effects. Much research has, therefore, been conducted using machine learning and data mining so as to seek alternative modalities. Accordingly, we herein propose a highly accurate hybrid method for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease. As a matter of fact, the... 

Among High Level Natural Radiation Areas (HLNRAs) all over the world, the northern coastal city of Ramsar has been considered enormously important. Many studies have measured environmental radioactivity in Ramsar, however, no survey has been undertaken to measure concentrations in the diets of residents. This study determined the 226Ra activity concentration in the daily diet of people of Ramsar. The samples were chosen from both normal and high level natural radiation areas and based on the daily consumption patterns of residents. About 150 different samples, which all are local and have the highest consumption, were collected during the four seasons. In these samples, after washing and... 

Systemic inflammation biomarkers have been associated with risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. We aimed to clarify associations of acute exposure to particulate matter (PM10(PM < 10 μm), PM2.5-10(PM 2.5–10 μm), PM2.5(PM < 2.5 μm), PM1-2.5(PM 1–2.5 μm), and PM1 (PM < 1 μm)) with systemic inflammation using panels of elderly subjects and healthy young adults. We followed a panel of 44 nonsmoking elderly subjects living in a retirement home and a panel of 40 healthy young adults living in a school dormitory in Tehran city, Iran from May 2012 to May 2013. Blood biomarkers were measured one every 7–8 weeks and included white blood cells (WBC), high sensitive C-reactive protein... 

Human parvovirus B19 (B19) is a small, non-enveloped virus and belongs to Parvoviridae family. B19 persists in many tissues such as thyroid tissue and even thyroid cancer. The main aim of this study was to determine the presence of B19, its association with increased inflammation in thyroid tissue, and thus its possible role in thyroid cancer progression. Studies have shown that virus replication in non-permissive tissue leads to overexpression of non-structural protein and results in upregulation of proinflammatory cytokines such as interleukin 6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha. A total of 36 paraffin-embedded thyroid specimens and serum were collected from patients and 12 samples were used... 

Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between microRNAs and viral and immunological markers in HIV-1 infection. Materials & methods: The expression level of miRNAs was evaluated in 60 HIV-1 patients and 20 healthy controls using real-time PCR assays. Results: The results showed that among all miRNAs, miR-29 and miR-150 were significantly downregulated in HIV-1 patients compared with healthy controls, while miR-155 and miR-223 were significantly upregulated compared with healthy controls (p < 0.001 for all comparisons). Conclusion: The mentioned miRNAs seem to influence the clinical progression of HIV-1 infection in naive patients. Moreover, determining the profiles of... 

The oxidation-reduction (redox)–responsive micelle system is based on a diselenide-containing triblock copolymer, poly(ε-caprolactone)-bis(diselenide-methoxy poly(ethylene glycol)/poly(ethylene glycol)-folate) [PCL-(SeSe-mPEG/PEG-FA)2]. This has helped in the development of tumor-targeted delivery for hydrophobic anticancer drugs. The diselenide bond, as a redox-sensitive linkage, was designed in such a manner that it is located at the hydrophilic–hydrophobic hinge to allow complete collapse of the micelle and thus efficient drug release in redox environments. The amphiphilic block copolymers self-assembled into micelles at concentrations higher than the critical micelle concentration (CMC)... 

Background: Functional knee braces are extensively used for partially and completely torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) patients and those who have undergone ACL graft reconstruction, in order to support the healing ACL, improve the joint's functional stability, and restore the normal joint kinematics. Research question: Does wearing braces alter the arthrokinematics of the ACL deficient knees during lung exercise? Methods: For ten male unilateral ACL deficient subjects, 3D knee models were reconstructed from CT images, acquired in rest position. Sagittal plane fluoroscopy was then performed throughout a complete cycle of lunge in braced and non-braced conditions. The 3D kinematics of the... 

Objective(s): This study aims to evaluate combined proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) spectroscopy and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) metabolic profiling approaches, for discriminating between mustard airway diseases (MADs) and healthy controls and for providing biochemical information on this disease. Materials and Methods: In the present study, analysis of serum samples collected from 17 MAD subjects and 12 healthy controls was performed using NMR. Of these subjects, 14 (8 patients and 6 controls) were analyzed by GC-MS. Then, their spectral profiles were subjected to principal component analysis (PCA) and orthogonal partial least squares regression discriminant... 

Objective(s): Multiple sclerosis (MS) is considered as a chronic type of an inflammatory disease characterized by loss of myelin of CNS. Recent evidence indicates that Interleukin 17 (IL-17)-producing T helper cells (Th17 cells) population are increased and regulatory T cells (Treg cells) are decreased in MS. Despite extensive research in understanding the mechanism of Th17 and Treg differentiation, the role of microRNAs in MS is not completely understood. Thereby, as a step closer, we analyzed the expression profile of miR-9-5p and miR-106a-5p, and protein level of retinoic acid receptor (RAR)-related orphan receptor C (RORC; Th17 master transcription factor) as direct target of miR-106a-5p... 

The main scope of this study is to analyse muscle-driven forward dynamics simulation of stair locomotion to understand the functional differences of individual muscles during the movement. A static optimization was employed to minimize a performance criterion based on the muscle energy consumption to resolve muscle redundancy during forward dynamics simulation. The proposed method was employed to simulate a musculoskeletal system with ten degrees of freedom in the sagittal plane and containing 18 Hill-type musculotendon actuators per leg. Simulation results illustrated that simulated joint kinematics closely tracked experimental quantities with root-mean-squared errors less than 1°. In... 

Background. The Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales 2 (AIMS2) has not been translated and validated for Persian-speaking patients with osteoarthritis of the knee. This was to provide a validated instrument to measure functional disability and health-related quality of life in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee in Iran. The aim of this study was to culturally adapt and validate the AIMS2 for Persian-speaking patients with osteoarthritis of the knee in Iran. Methods. A consecutive sample of patients with knee osteoarthritis were asked to complete the AIMS2, the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) and four visual analog scales for pain, joint stiffness, patient's and physician's global... 

Background: Data about the global, regional, and country-specific variations in the levels and trends of colorectal cancer are required to understand the impact of this disease and the trends in its burden to help policy makers allocate resources. Here we provide a status report on the incidence, mortality, and disability caused by colorectal cancer in 195 countries and territories between 1990 and 2017. Methods: Vital registration, sample vital registration, verbal autopsy, and cancer registry data were used to generate incidence, death, and disability-adjusted life-year (DALY) estimates of colorectal cancer at the global, regional, and national levels. We also determined the association... 

There is limited evidence for short-term association between mortality and ambient air pollution in the Middle East and no study has evaluated exposure windows of about a month prior to death. We investigated all-cause non-accidental daily mortality and its association with fine particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and the Air Quality Index (AQI) from March 2011 through March 2014 in the megacity of Tehran, Iran. Generalized additive quasi-Poisson models were used within a distributed lag linear modeling framework to estimate the cumulative effects of PM2.5, NO2, and the AQI up to a lag of 45 days. We further conducted multi-pollutant models and also stratified the analyses by... 

Background: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most abundant chronic liver disorder, because racial and ethnic differences may influence prevalence and severity of NAFLD. Objectives: This metabolomic study was conducted to identify the metabolic biomarkers and determine the mechanism of progress of NAFLD in Iranian patients. Methods: Serum samples were collected from 75 participants (37 healthy controls and 38 patients with NAFLD) after an overnight fast. The metabolome of all samples were determined by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and were compared by multivariate statistical analysis. Results: Totally, 19 metabolomic biomarkers were identified by NMR. Compared to healthy... 

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) includes different neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by deficits in social communication, and restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests or activities. Based on the importance of early diagnosis for effective therapeutic intervention, several strategies have been employed for detection of the disorder. The artificial neural network (ANN) as a type of machine learning method is a common strategy. In the current study, we extracted genomic data for 487 ASD patients and 455 healthy individuals. All individuals were genotyped in certain single-nucleotide polymorphisms within retinoic acid-related orphan receptor alpha (RORA), gamma-aminobutyric... 

In this study, a method was described for the extraction of three antibiotic residues from cow milk samples using a graphene oxide–starch–based nanocomposite. The prepared nanocomposites were employed as an extractive phase for micro-solid phase extraction of antibiotics from cow milk samples. The extracted antibiotics, i.e. amoxicillin, ampicillin and cloxacillin, were subsequently analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography–ultraviolet detection (HPLC–UV). Important variables associated with the extraction and desorption efficiency were optimized. High extraction efficiencies for the selected antibiotics were conveniently achieved using the starch–based nanocomposite as the... 

Introduction: Some tinnitus subjects habituate to their tinnitus but some others do not and complain of its annoyance tremendously. Normal sensory memory and change detection processes are needed for detecting the tinnitus signal as a prediction error and habituation to tinnitus. The purpose of this study was to compare auditory mismatch negativity as the index of sensory memory and change detection among the studied groups to search for the factors involving in the perception of tinnitus and preventing habituation in decompensated tinnitus subjects. Methods: Electroencephalography was recorded from scalp electrodes in compensated tinnitus, decompensated tinnitus, and no tinnitus control... 

The joint analysis of multiple data sets to extract their interdependency information has wide applications in biomedical and health informatics. In this paper, we propose an algorithm to extract joint and individual sources of multisubject data sets by using a deflation-based procedure, which is referred to as joint/individual thin independent component analysis (JI-ThICA). The proposed algorithm is based on two cost functions utilizing higher order cumulants to extract joint and individual sources. Joint sources are discriminated by fusing signals of all subjects, whereas individual sources are extracted separately for each subject. Furthermore, JI-ThICA algorithm estimates the number of... 

Background: Stomach cancer is a major health problem in many countries. Understanding the current burden of stomach cancer and the differential trends across various locations is essential for formulating effective preventive strategies. We report on the incidence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) due to stomach cancer in 195 countries and territories from 21 regions between 1990 and 2017. Methods: Estimates from GBD 2017 were used to analyse the incidence, mortality, and DALYs due to stomach cancer at the global, regional, and national levels. The rates were standardised to the GBD world population and reported per 100 000 population as age-standardised incidence rates,... 

Background: Unique properties of graphene and its derivatives make them attractive in the field of nanomedicine. However, the mass application of graphene might lead to side effects, which has not been properly addressed in previous studies, especially with regard to its effect on the cell cycle. Methods: The effect of two concentrations (100 and 200 μg/mL) of nano-and microsized graphene oxide (nGO and mGO) on apoptosis, cell cycle, and ROS generation was studied. The effect of both sizes on viability and genotoxicity of the embryonic fibroblast cell cycle was evaluated. MTT and flow cytometry were applied to evaluate the effects of graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets on viability of cells....