Sharif Digital Repository

In this study, a novel, simple and sensitive ratiometric fluorescence method is presented for the detection of very low quantities of the carbaryl in Iranian apple using cadmium telluride quantum dots (CdTe QDs) nanoprobe. The principle of the proposed strategy relies on the rapid hydrolysis of the carbaryl under an alkaline condition and production of the 1-naphthol with a blue emission at 470 nm. Besides, using the CdTe QDs with a yellow emission at 580 nm, as a reference, improves the visual tracking of carbaryl through changes in color tonality. The herein described methodology is applied for enzyme-free visual detection of carbaryl with satisfactory results in the presence of other... 

The solar humidification-dehumidification desalination system with a subsurface condenser is a promising renewable energy-based desalination system. This desalination system is particularly suitable for condensation irrigation in greenhouses, especially where conventional energy sources are limited. A computational model of the system comprising a horizontal solar film evaporator and a subsurface condenser is developed. A previously proposed hybrid analytical–numerical model for horizontal ground heat exchangers is modified for the subsurface condenser. An experimental setup of the subsurface condenser is also built and used to verify the developed model of the subsurface condenser. The... 

Nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) is an important regulator of immune responses and is involved in the pathoetiology of periodontitis. We have measured levels of four NF-κB-related genes, namely CEBPA, CEBPA-DT, FBXL19-AS and DILC in blood and tissue samples of patients with chronic periodontitis compared with controls. Expression of CEBPA-DT was significantly lower in blood of patients compared with controls (Ratio of mean expression (RME) = 0.13, P value = 0.01). This pattern was also seen among male subgroups (RME = 0.10, P value = 0.01). FBXL19-AS was down-regulated in venous blood of total patients compared with controls (RME = 0.03, P value < 0.001) and in patients of both sexes compared... 

Background: Hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) is an important protein in both diagnosis and prevention of hepatitis B infection. In the current study, a piezoelectric immunosensor based on antibody-antigen interaction was designed to detect HBsAg. A quartz crystal microbalance system was employed to detect antibody-antigen interaction. Methods: At first, an oscillator was designed to measure the resonant frequency affected by the reactants using IC 74LVC1GX04. Antibody against HBsAg was immobilized on 10 MHz AT-cut quartz crystal. The surface modifications were monitored by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and contact angle measurements. Different concentrations of antibody were used... 

Micro Arc Oxidation (MAO) process was utilized to fabricate nano bioceramic TiO 2-hydroxyapatite coatings on titanium substrates. Samples were produced in electrolytes contained 1 g/l β-glycerophosphate and 5, 10 and 15 g/l calcium acetate for 3, 6 and 10 min at 350 V. The techniques including XRD, XPS, SEM, FESEM and EDX were employed to study the effect of processing parameters. Hydroxyapatite, anatase, α-tri calcium phosphate and calcium titanate phases as well as 30-60 nm-size crystals were detected in the coating layer. It was also observed that the pore volume would increase by increasing the electrolyte concentration. The growth time was also found to influence the total pore volume.... 

Inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathies are a group of peripheral nerve system disorders in which immune reactions are dysregulated. Cytokines have noticeable roles in the regulation of these responses. We compared transcript levels of nine cytokine coding genes namely IL-1B, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-17A, IFN-G, TGF-B and TNF-A in the peripheral blood of patients with acute and chronic kinds of this condition (AIDP and CIDP) and healthy persons. Expression of IL-17A was significantly lower in female AIDP cases compared with female controls (Expression Ratio = 0.02, P value = 0.02). Expression of this cytokine was higher in female CIDP cases compared with female AIDP cases... 

Protein inhibitors of activated STAT (PIAS) are involved in the regulation of the JAK/STAT signaling pathway and have interactions with NF-κB, p73 and p53. These proteins regulate immune responses; therefore dysregulation in their expression leads to several immune-mediated disorders. In the present study, we examined expression of PIAS1-4 in peripheral blood of patients with acute/chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (AIDP/CIDP) compared with healthy subjects. We demonstrated down-regulation of all PIAS genes in both AIDP and CIDP cases compared with controls. Similarly, comparisons in gender-based groups revealed down-regulation of these gene0s in patients of each... 

The original version of this Article contained an error in the spelling of the author Mohammad Hossein Modarressi, which was incorrectly given as Mohammad‑Hossein Modarresi. The original Article has been corrected. © 2022, The Author(s)  

This study aims to identify genetic causes of familial female infertility characterized by embryonic developmental arrest (EDA) and repeated implantation failure (RIF) with oocyte donation IVF cycle. We used Whole-exome sequencing and Sanger validation to find causative genes in an Iranian consanguineous family that had 3 infertile daughters, 4 fertile daughters, and 2 fertile sons. All patients in this consanguineous family exhibited typical manifestations of unexplained RIF and EDA. Genetic analysis identified a homozygous missense variant (c.G1054C:p.G352R) in exon 13 of the TLE6 gene that cosegregated with the EDA phenotype in an autosomal recessive pattern. Other members of the family,... 

Periodontitis is a common oral disorder leading to tooth loss in both developed and developing regions of the world. This multifactorial condition is related to the abnormal activity of several molecular pathways, among them are oxytocin-related pathways. In this study, we enrolled 26 patients and 28 controls and assessed the expression of four oxytocin-related genes, namely, FOS, ITPR, RCAN1, and RGS2, in circulation and affected tissues of enrolled individuals using real-time PCR. Expression of FOS was downregulated in total periodontitis tissues compared with total control tissues [ratio of mean expression (RME) = 0.23, P-value = 0.03]. Expression of FOS was also lower in total blood... 

Micro arc oxidation technique, as a facile and efficient process, was employed to grow sulfur doped titania porous layers. This research sheds light on the photocatalytic performance of the micro arc oxidized S-TiO2 nano-porous layers fabricated under pulse current. Morphological and topographical studies, performed by SEM and AFM techniques, revealed that increasing the frequency and/or decreasing the duty cycle resulted in formation of finer pores and smoother surfaces. XRD and XPS results showed that the layers consisted of anatase and rutile phases whose fraction was observed to change depending on the synthesis conditions. The highest anatase relative content was obtained at the... 

V2O5-TiO2 nanostructured porous layers were grown through micro arc oxidation of titanium in vanadate containing electrolytes. This study sheds light on the effect of the electric current type on the photocatalytic performance of the layers. Surface morphology of the layers was investigated by SEM. The results revealed a porous structure with a pores size of 30-180 nm depending on the frequency and the duty cycle. A uniform porous structure was obtained under the pulse-DC regime. Topographical investigations revealed a rough surface which is favorable for catalytic applications. Our XRD and XPS results showed that the layers consisted of anatase, rutile, and vanadium oxide phases whose... 

Very recently, we fabricated (WO3)x-(TiO 2)1-x layers via micro-arc oxidation process under different applied voltages. Morphological and topographical studies, accomplished by SEM and AFM techniques, revealed that the pores size as well as the surface roughness increased with the voltage. Phase structure and chemical composition of the layers were also investigated by XRD and XPS and the results showed the grown layers consisted of titanium and tungsten oxides. It was found that WO3 dispersed in the TiO2 matrix and also doped into the TiO2 lattice. In addition, optical properties of the synthesized layers were studied employing a UV-vis spectrophotometer. Band gap energy of the layers was... 

The purposes of this paper are determination of the current density and safety factor profiles, J(r) and q(r), in IR-T1 tokamak. For these purposes, a diamagnetic loop with its compensation coil, and also an array of magnetic probes were designed, constructed, and installed on outer surface of the IR-T1 tokamak chamber, and then the poloidal beta and poloidal and radial magnetic fields measured. Moreover, a few approximate values of the internal inductance for the different possible profiles of the plasma current density are also calculated. From the results, current density and q-profiles obtained  

The S-shaped air intakes are very common shapes due to their ease in the engine-body integration or Radar Cross Section, RCS, specifications especially for fighter aircrafts. The numerical shape optimization of an S-shaped air intake using adjoint method is conducted. The flow of a specified air intake that uses S-duct M2129 is simulated using three dimensional (3D) numerical solution of Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes equation along with k-ω SST turbulence model. The main purpose of this optimization scheme is to maximize the total pressure recovery (TPR). Further, the scheme is developed in such a way that would be applicable in industry thru satisfying specified constraint requirements.... 

This paper develops a reliability-based model for distribution network expansion planning (DNEP) studies. It incorporates the effects of distribution line maintenance in the planning studies to be considered as an alternative for the installation of feeders. To that end, at first, some models are introduced to effectively estimate the effects of maintenance activities budget on distribution lines' failure and repair rates. Therefore, the reliability data of distribution lines are updated in the reliability evaluation studies of distribution networks. Then, these models are involved in the formulation of DNEP problem which is introduced as a multi-objective optimization model. The developed... 

In this paper we propose a neuro-fuzzy architecture for Web content taxonomy using hybrid of Adaptive Resonance Theory (ART) neural networks and fuzzy logic concept. The search engine called Kavosh1 is equipped with unsupervised neural networks for dynamic data clustering. This model was designed for retrieving images without metadata and in estimating resemblance of multimedia documents; however, in this work only text mining method is implemented. Results show noticeable average precision and recall over search results. © 2007 IEEE  

Migraine is a complex disabling condition which is associated with dysregulation of several pathways particularly those being associated with immune responses. In order to assess contribution of protein inhibitor of activated STAT (PIAS) in the pathogenesis of migraine, we quantified expression levels of PIAS1–PIAS4 genes in the circulation of patients with migraine compared with controls. Expression of PIAS1 was substantially lower in total migraineurs compared with controls (ratio of mean expressions (RME) = 0.18, SE = 0.29, P value < 0.001) and in both male and female migraineurs compared with sex-matched controls. Expression of PIAS2 was lower in migraineurs without aura compared with... 

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...