Sharif Digital Repository

Sulfur mustard (SM) is a vesication chemical warfare agent for which there is currently no antidote. Despite years of research, there is no common consensus about the pathophysiological basis of chronic pulmonary disease caused by this chemical warfare agent. In this study, we combined chemometric techniques with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to explore the metabolic profile of sera from SM-exposed patients. A total of 29 serum samples obtained from 17 SM-injured patients, and 12 healthy controls were analyzed by Random Forest. Increased concentrations of seven amino acids, glycerol, dimethylamine, ketone bodies, lactate, acetate, citrulline and creatine together with the... 

Metabolomics is a powerful technique for determination of biomarkers. Here, we aimed to determine discriminatory metabolomic profiles in different stages of sulfur mustard-exposed patients (SMEPs). Materials and methods: Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy was used to analyze serum samples from 17 SMEPs (normal group patients) and 17 SMEPs (severe group patients). Multivariate statistical analysis using random forest (RF) was performed on a ‘training set’ (70% of the total sample) in order to produce a discriminatory model classifying two groups of patients, and the model tested in the remaining subjects. Results: A classification model was derived using data from the training set with... 

Sulfur mustard (SM) is a vesication chemical warfare agent for which there is currently no antidote. Despite years of research, there is no common consensus about the pathophysiological basis of chronic pulmonary disease caused by this chemical warfare agent. In this study, we combined chemometric techniques with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to explore the metabolic profile of sera from SM-exposed patients. A total of 29 serum samples obtained from 17 SM-injured patients, and 12 healthy controls were analyzed by Random Forest. Increased concentrations of seven amino acids, glycerol, dimethylamine, ketone bodies, lactate, acetate, citrulline and creatine together with the... 

Aim: The aim of this study is to look for the proper methods that would be a major step towards untreated CD diagnosis and seek the metabolic biomarkers causes of CD and compare them to control group. Background: Celiac disease (CD) is a common autoimmune disorder that is not easily diagnosed using the clinical tests. Patients and methods: Thirty cases and 30 controls were entered into this study. Metabolic profiling was obtained using proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1HNMR) to seek metabolites that are helpful for the detection of CD. Classification of CD and healthy subject was done using random forest (RF). Results: The obtained classification model showed an 89% correct... 

Sulfur Mustard (SM) is a potent alkylating agent and its effects on cells and tissues are varied and complex. Due to limitations in the diagnostics of sulfur mustard exposed individuals (SMEIs) by noninvasive approaches, there is a great necessity to develop novel techniques and biomarkers for this condition. We present here the first nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) metabolic profiling of serum from and healthy controls to identify novel biomarkers in blood serum for better diagnostics. Of note, SMEIs were exposed to SM 30 years ago and that differences between two groups could still be found. Pathways in which differences between SMEIs and... 

Background: Celiac disease (CD) is a disorder associated with body reaction to gluten. After the gluten intake, an immune reaction against the protein occurs and damages villi of small intestine in celiac patients gradually. Objectives: The OSC, a filtering method for minimization of inter- and intra-spectrom-eter variations that influence on data acquisition, was applied to biofluid NMR data of CD patients. Patients and Methods: In this study, metabolites of total 56 serum samples from 12 CD patients, 15 CD patients taking gluten-free diet (GFD), and 29 healthy cases were analyzed using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and associated theoretical analysis. Employ-ing ProMetab (version... 

The present study was designed to search for metabolic biomarkers and their correlation with serum zinc in Crohn's disease patients. Crohn's disease (CD) is a form of inflammatory bowel disease that may affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract and can be difficult to diagnose using the clinical tests. Thus, introduction of a novel diagnostic method would be a major step towards CD treatment.Proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy ( 1H NMR) was employed for metabolic profiling to find out which metabolites in the serum have meaningful significance in the diagnosis of CD. CD and healthy subjects were correctly classified using random forest methodology. The classification model for... 

Control of unstable non-minimum-phase delayed stochastic processes is a challenging problem. In this work based on the Diophantine equation and using pole-placement technique, a discrete control scheme for such processes has been proposed. Robust stability of the suggested control structure has been shown. Advantages of the proposed scheme over the existing algorithms have been shown through computer simulations. It has been shown that performance of the proposed scheme for handling model mismatch and colored noise is superior to the previous work proposed in the literature  

This article indicates the accurate method for load level calculation to solve the power flow problem when capacitor reactive power is involved. Using the correct method causes some changes in the results and conclusion stated in the discussed paper on optimal reconfiguration and capacitor placement in radial distribution systems  

Capacitor placement/setting is one of the main means for loss reduction and voltage profile improvement in distribution systems. If capacitor placement is meant, the objective function will be the cost of energy losses besides the capacitors costs in a specified period of time. Here, reconfiguration can be used as a strategy to reform the base configuration of the distribution network in order to place the capacitors more efficiently with lower costs. On the other hand, if capacitors are already available in a network, optimum capacitors setting and network reconfiguration should be performed for power loss minimization. In this paper both power loss minimization and capacitor placement cost... 

This paper reports on the diversity of languages displayed in the linguistic landscape of Julfa district, a largely Armenian dominated area, in the city of Isfahan in Iran. The data included a corpus of 323 photographs taken from the top-down and bottom-up signage in this quarter of the city. Ethnographic fieldwork was also conducted to reach a deeper understanding of the linguistic landscape in Julfa. The results of the analyses indicated that Julfa, as home to Armenians in diaspora and also a luxurious neighborhood frequented by more modern strata of the Isfahani society, is occupied more noticeably with Persian and English language and to a lesser extent with Armenian language. The... 

Objective: Crohn's disease (CD) is one the important illnesses can affect any part of the gastrointestinal tract. CD is not easily diagnosed using the clinical tests. Thus, the discovery of proper methods would be a major step towards CD diagnosis. The aim of this study was to seek the metabolic biomarkers causes of CD compare to control group. Materials and Methods: In present study, we employed metabolic profiling using proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1HNMR) to find metabolites in serum which are helpful for the diagnosis of CD. Classification of CD and healthy subject was done using classification and regression trees (CART). The metabolites that caused changes in people... 

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... 

Background: In recent years, Advanced Driving Assistance Systems (ADAS) have been significantly progressed, opening novel horizons in reducing traffic accidents. Driver gender can be an affecting factor in the utilization of these systems. The purpose of this study is to review articles examining the effect of gender on the use of ADAS technologies. Methods: This systematic review was conducted in Scopus, Science Direct and PubMed databases using defined key-words in 2018. The retrieved articles were managed and screened through PRISMA-P protocol using EndNote X7 software. The extracted variables were divided into three categories of reaction, behavior, and outcome and also the relevant... 

Structures of tapered geometry are customarily used in a variety of applications. The analysis of such structures is usually made through finite element method using traditional beam, shell or brick elements. In this paper, a new tapered superelement is presented that lends itself to modeling revolving geometries under lateral, axial and torsional loads. The presented tapered superelement has 16 nodes. The performance of this element under static and dynamic loading and in rotating condition is examined. It is shown that this element yields accurate results with higher computational efficiency compared to conventional elements. Furthermore, it is verified that a single tapered superelement... 

The hybrid rocket motor is a kind of chemical propulsion system that has been recently given serious attention by various industries and research centers. The relative simplicity, safety and low cost of this motor, in comparison with other chemical propulsion motors, are the most important reasons for such interest. Moreover, throttle-ability and thrust variability on demand are additional advantages of this type of motor. In this paper, the result of an internal ballistic simulation of hybrid rocket motor in a zero-dimensional form is presented. Further to validate the code, an experimental setup was designed and manufactured. The simulation results are compared with the experimental data... 

Hydroxyapatite (HA) is the most substantial mineral constituent of a bone which displays splendid biocompatibility and bioactivity properties. Nevertheless, its mechanical property is not utmost appropriate for a bone substitution. Therefore, a composite consist of HA and a biodegradable polymer is usually prepared to generate an apt bone scaffold. In the present work polycaprolactone (PCL) was employed as a matrix and hydroxyapatite nanorods were used as a reinforcement element of the composite. HA/PCL nanocomposites were synthesized by a new in-situ sol-gel process using low cost chemicals. Chemical and physical characteristics of the nanocomposite were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD),... 

Hydroxyapatite (HA) is the most substantial mineral constituent of a bone which has been extensively used in medicine as implantable materials, owing to its good biocompatibility, bioactivity high osteoconductive, and/or osteoinductive properties. Nevertheless, its mechanical property is not utmost appropriate for a bone substitution. Therefore, a composite consist of HA and a biodegradable polymer is usually prepared to generate an apt bone scaffold. In the present work polycaprolactone (PCL), a newly remarkable biocompatible and biodegradable polymer, was employed as a matrix and hydroxyapatite nanoparticles were used as a reinforcement element of the composite. HA/PCL nanocomposites were... 

Modeling passengers' itinerary choice behavior helps in understanding the increasingly competitive airline market and in predicting air travel demand. Recently, investigation of the variation in passengers' preferences with regard to factors influencing their choice through estimation of the mixed multinomial logit model has received attention. An extended form of the model identifies sources of heterogeneity and consequently makes the choice models less restrictive in considering both systematic and random preference variation across individuals. This research investigates the existence of significant interactions between passengers' preference heterogeneity around the mean of random... 

Oscillatory behavior and transfer properties of relay feedback systems with a linear plant including a fractional-order integrator are studied in this paper. An expression for system response in the time domain is obtained by means of short memory principle, Poincare return map, and Mittag-Leffler functions. On the basis of this expression, the frequency of self-excited oscillations is approximated. In addition, the locus of perturbed relay system (LPRS) is derived to analyze the input-output properties of the relay system. The presented analysis is supported by a numerical example. Copyright © 2017 by ASME