Sharif Digital Repository

Background and Purpose: Understanding the role and significance of trunk and upper extremity muscles in paraplegic gait can help in designing more effective assistive devices for these patients and also provides valuable information for improving muscle strengthening programs. Methods: In a patient with a spinal cord injury (SCI) who could walk independently (rating scale of ambulatory capacity, 9) with the aid of bilateral ankle-foot orthosis and a walker, the kinematics, kinetics and electromyographic (EMG) activities of 16 muscles from the trunk and upper and lower extremities were recorded during gait. The onset, cessation, and duration of the EMG signal were associated with the 4 phases... 

Mechanical ventilation (MV) can result in long-term brain impairments that are resistant to treatment. The mechanisms underlying MV-induced brain function impairment remain unclear. Since nasal airflow modulates brain activity, here we evaluated whether reinstating airflow during MV could influence the memory performance of rats after recovery. Rats were allocated into two study groups: one group received rhythmic air-puff into the nasal cavity during MV and a control group that underwent ventilation without air-puff. During MV, air-puffs induced time-locked event potentials in OB, mPFC and vHPC and significantly increased the oscillatory activity at the air-puff frequency. Furthermore, in... 

The 1991 NIOSH Lifting Equation (NLE) is widely used to assess the risk of injury to spine by providing estimates of the recommended weight limit (RWL) in hands. The present study uses the predictive equations developed based on a detailed trunk musculoskeletal biomechanical model to verify whether the RWL generates L5-S1 loads within the limits (e.g., 3400N for compression recommended by NIOSH and 1000N for shear recommended in some studies). Fifty lifting activities are simulated here to evaluate the RWL by the NLE and the L5-S1 loads by the predictive equations. In lifting activities involving moderate to large forward trunk flexion, the estimated RWL generates L5-S1 spine loads exceeding... 

Introduction: Paranormal beliefs are defined as the belief in extrasensory perception, precognition, witchcraft, and telekinesis, magical thinking, psychokinesis, superstitions. Previous studies corroborate that executive brain functions underpin paranormal beliefs. To test this hypotheses, neurophysiological studies of brain activity are required. Methods: A sample of 20 students (10 girls, Mean±SD age: 22.50±4.07 years) were included in the current study. The absolute power of resting-state electroencephalogram (EEG) was analyzed in intra-hemispheric and inter-hemispheric coherence with eyes open. The paranormal beliefs were determined based on the total score of the revised paranormal... 

Network tools have been extensively applied to study the properties of brain functional and anatomical networks. In this paper, resiliency of Caenorhabditis elegans cortical networks against cascaded failures is studied. To this end, directed network formed by chemical connections and undirected network formed by electrical couplings through gap junctions are considered. Furthermore, two types of C. elegans networks are studied: the whole cortical network of the hermaphrodite type and the network of the posterior cortex in male C. elegans. The results show that resiliency of hermaphrodite and male networks is different. The male cortical network of chemical synapses shows extensively weaker... 

Although the application of nonlinear tools including recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) has increasingly grown in the recent years especially in balance-disordered populations, there have been few studies which determine their measurement properties. Therefore, a methodological study was performed to estimate the intersession and intrasession reliability of some dynamic features provided by RQA for nonlinear analysis of center of pressure (COP) signals recorded during quiet standing in a sample of patients with musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) including low back pain (LBP), anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury and functional ankle instability (FAI). The subjects completed postural... 

STUDY DESIGN.: Cross-sectional validation study to investigate psychometric properties of adapted Persian version of the Scoliosis Research Society-22r (SRS-22r) questionnaire. OBJECTIVES.: To translate the SRS-22r into Persian and to evaluate the internal consistency, reliability, and validity of the Persian SRS-22r. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA.: The SRS-22r has not been translated and validated for Persian-speaking patients with idiopathic scoliosis. This was to provide a validated instrument to measure health-related quality of life in patients with idiopathic scoliosis in Iran. METHODS.: The translation and cultural adaptation of the original questionnaire were carried out in accordance... 

Objective: To translate the Foot and Ankle Ability Measure (FAAM) into Persian and to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Persian version of FAAM. Methods: 93 patients with a range of foot and ankle disorders, completed the Persian version of the FAAM and Short-Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36) in the test session. With an interval of 2-6 days, 60 patients filled out the FAAM in the retest session. The FAAM is composed of two subscales including activities of daily living (ADL) and SPORTS. Internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's alpha, test-retest reliability using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and standard error of measurement (s.e.m.), item internal consistency... 

A safe rehabilitation exercise for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries needs to be compatible with the normal knee arthrokinematics to avoid abnormal loading on the joint structures. The objective of this study was to measure the amount of the anterior tibial translation (ATT) of the ACL-deficient knees during selective open and closed kinetic chain exercises. The intact and injured knees of fourteen male subjects with unilateral ACL injury were imaged using uniplanar fluoroscopy, while the subjects performed forward lunge and unloaded/loaded open kinetic knee extension exercises. The ATTs were measured from fluoroscopic images, as the distance between the tibial and femoral reference... 

Breast and prostate cancers are common types of cancers with various strategies, such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, for their therapy. Since these methods have undesired side effects and poor target affinity, neoteric strategies—known as aptamer-based smart drug delivery systems (SDDSs)—have been developed in recent years to overcome the obstacles of current treatment, and investigated for a clinical trial. The high affinity and versatility of aptamers for binding to the corresponding targets make them highly noticeable agents in the drug delivery domains. In addition to their exceptional benefits, aptamers are able to overcome tumor resistance because of their high selectivity and low... 

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... 

Objective Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) are paroxysmal events that, in contrast to epileptic seizures, are related to psychological causes without the presence of epileptiform EEG changes. Recent models suggest a multifactorial basis for PNES. A potentially paramount, but currently poorly understood factor is the interplay between psychiatric features and a specific vulnerability of the brain leading to a clinical picture that resembles epilepsy. Hypothesising that functional cerebral network abnormalities may predispose to the clinical phenotype, the authors undertook a characterisation of the functional connectivity in PNES patients. Methods The authors analysed the whole-head... 

Abnormalities in the topology of brain networks may be an important feature and etiological factor for psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES). To explore this possibility, we applied a graph theoretical approach to functional networks based on resting state EEGs from 13 PNES patients and 13 age- and gender-matched controls. The networks were extracted from Laplacian-transformed time-series by a cross-correlation method. PNES patients showed close to normal local and global connectivity and small-world structure, estimated with clustering coefficient, modularity, global efficiency, and small-worldness metrics, respectively. Yet the number of PNES attacks per month correlated with a... 

Smoking is known as a major cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and hence immediate and effective interventions are required for its elimination. This study aimed to collect valid data with regard to cigarette smoking in adult population of north of Iran for policy making by a meta-analysis of the documents of national non-communicable disease risk factors surveillance system. We investigated relevant evidences by searching in published and non-electronic databases. Data were extracted based on variables such as year of the study, sex, age group and prevalence of smoking habit. Based on results of heterogeneity, we applied fixed or random effects model to estimate the... 

Response surface methodology is used to establish robust and user-friendly predictive equations that relate responses of a complex detailed trunk finite element biomechanical model to its input variables during sagittal symmetric static lifting activities. Four input variables (thorax flexion angle, lumbar/pelvis ratio, load magnitude, and load position) and four model responses (L4-L5 and L5-S1 disc compression and anterior-posterior shear forces) are considered. Full factorial design of experiments accounting for all combinations of input levels is employed. Quadratic predictive equations for the spinal loads at the L4-S1 disc mid-heights are obtained by regression analysis with adequate... 

In this study, optimized preparation, quality control, cell assessments and biostribution of 188Re-HYNIC-PSMA in normal rats and tumor bearing mice are studied. Optimized conditions for radiolabeling were evaluated and radiochemical purity (> 99%) was investigated using ITLC and HPLC methods. 188Re-HYNIC-PSMA was stable both in PBS (4 °C) and in human serum (37 °C) even after 48 h. The results showed the complex was cleared from the blood very fast via urinary track. This new radiolabeled compound has a high potential to be considered as an agent for the treatment of patients with PSMA expressing tumors however more biological studies are still needed. © 2022, Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest,... 

Recurrence quantification analysis (RQA), a nonlinear method of postural analysis, was used to explore the effects of dual-tasking on postural performance in people with nonspecific low back pain (LBP) compared with healthy participants. Postural performance was quantified by RQA % recurrence, % determinism, entropy and trend. People with nonspecific LBP (n = 22) and unimpaired individuals (n = 22) randomly performed quiet standing tasks with three levels of difficulty (rigid-surface eyes open, rigid-surface eyes closed and foam-surface eyes closed). These tasks were performed in isolation or concurrently with an easy or difficult cognitive task. Increasing postural difficulty was associated... 

Body weight is influenced by both food intake and energy expenditure. Acylated ghrelin enhances appetite, and its circulating level is suppressed by Growth Hormone. Data on the acylated ghrelin responses to exercise of different intensities in obese individuals are currently not available. This study examined the effects of an intermittent exercise protocol on acylated ghrelin levels and hunger ratings in obese people. Nine inactive male ran on the treadmill at 0900 with progressive intensities of 50, 60, 70, and 80% of VO2max for 10, 10, 5, and 2 min respectively. Blood samples were collected before the exercise at 0845 (-15 min as the resting values), after each workload (10, 23, 31, and... 

Lung cancer (LC) is the leading cause of cancer mortality so, the analysis of exhaled human breath has great significance for early non-invasive diagnosis. Poor selectivity and strong humidity are two bottlenecks for the application of gas sensors to exhaled breath analysis. The development of novel extractive phases for the analysis of exhaled breath by chromatography is therefore a lucrative object. Polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes (POSS) are among the 3D porous materials whose unique properties make them promising coatings for solid-phase microextraction (SPME). Selective enrichment of polar or nonpolar targets depends on the pore size and functional groups on the POSSs. Herein, we... 

Endothelial inflammation as a prominent precursor to atherosclerosis elicits a distinct pathological surface expression of particular vascular proteins. To exhibit a site-specific behaviour, micro- and nanoparticles, as carriers of therapeutics or imaging agents, can distinguish and use these proteins as targeted docking sites. Here, a computational patient-specific model capturing the exclusive luminal qualities has been developed to study the transport and adsorption of particles decorated with proper antibodies over an atherosclerotic plaque located in the LAD artery of the patient. Particles, in nano- and micron sizes, have been decorated with Sialyl Lewisx (sLex), P-selectin aptamer...