Breastfeeding does not protect against the development of carditis in children with acute rheumatic fever.

INTRODUCTION: Acute rheumatic fever is an autoimmune disease that develops due to streptococcal infection. The positive effect of breastfeeding on the development of the child's immune system is well documented. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of breast milk intake period on the development of carditis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients (n: 182) who were diagnosed with acute rheumatic fever between 2010 and 2019 were enrolled in the study. The patients were divided into groups according to carditis development. The demographic, socio-economic, and breastfeeding data were compared between groups. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 10.5 ± 3.4, and 43.4 % (n: 79) of them were female. Independent predictors of the development of carditis in the first acute rheumatic fever episode were the number of children at home (OR: 1.773, CI 95%: 1.105, 2.845; p: 0.018) and breast milk intake less than 6 months (OR: 0.404, CI 95%: 0.174, 0.934; p: 0.034). Independent predictors of the development of carditis in any of the acute rheumatic fever episodes were the number of children at home (OR: 1.858, CI 95%: 1.100, 3.137; p: 0.021) and female gender (OR: 3.504, CI 95%: 1.227, 10.008; p: 0.019). The only independently predictor of the development of chorea during acute rheumatic fever was female gender (OR: 3.801, CI 95%: 1.463, 9.874; p: 0.006). CONCLUSION: Although the occurrence of carditis is less common during the first acute rheumatic fever attack in patients with breast milk intake less than six months, this advantage is lost in recurrent attacks. This study showed that breast milk does not have a negative effect on acute rheumatic fever carditis.

Multipurpose chemical liquid sensing applications by microwave approach.

In this work, a novel sensor based on printed circuit board (PCB) microstrip rectangular patch antenna is proposed to detect different ratios of ethanol alcohol in wines and isopropyl alcohol in disinfectants. The proposed sensor was designed by finite integration technique (FIT) based high-frequency electromagnetic solver (CST) and was fabricated by Proto Mat E33 machine. To implement the numerical investigations, dielectric properties of the samples were first measured by a dielectric probe kit then uploaded into the simulation program. Results showed a linear shifting in the resonant frequency of the sensor when the dielectric constant of the samples were changed due to different concentrations of ethanol alcohol and isopropyl alcohol. A good agreement was observed between the calculated and measured results, emphasizing the usability of dielectric behavior as an input sensing agent. It was concluded that the proposed sensor is viable for multipurpose chemical sensing applications.

Novel Metamaterials-Based Hypersensitized Liquid Sensor Integrating Omega-Shaped Resonator with Microstrip Transmission Line.

In this paper, a new metamaterials-based hypersensitized liquid sensor integrating omega-shaped resonator with microstrip transmission line is proposed. Microwave transmission responses to industrial energy-based liquids are investigated intensively from both numerical and experimental point of view. Simulation results concerning three-dimensional electromagnetic fields have shown that the transmission coefficient of the resonator could be monitored by the magnetic coupling between the transmission line and omega resonator. This sensor structure has been examined by methanol-water and ethanol-water mixtures. Moreover, the designed sensor is demonstrated to be very sensitive for identifying clean and waste transformer oils. A linear response characteristic of shifting the resonance frequency upon the increment of chemical contents/concentrations or changing the oil condition is observed. In addition to the high agreement of transmission coefficients (S21) between simulations and experiments, obvious resonant-frequency shift of transmission spectrum is recognized for typical pure chemical liquids (i.e., PEG 300, isopropyl alcohol, PEG1500, ammonia, and water), giving rise to identify the type and concentration of the chemical liquids. The novelty of the work is to utilize Q factor and minimum value of S21 as sensing agent in the proposed structure, which are seen to be well compatible at different frequencies ranging from 1-20 GHz. This metamaterial integrated transmission line-based sensor is considered to be promising candidate for precise detection of fluidics and for applications in the field of medicine and chemistry.