The role of graphene oxide interlayer on corrosion barrier and bioactive properties of electrophoretically deposited ZrO2-10 at. % SiO2 composite coating on 316 L stainless steel.

In order to overcome the poor adhesion of zirconia-silica coating electrophoretically deposited on 316 L stainless steel, graphene oxide (GO) was used as an interlayer. The effect of this interlayer on morphological, microstructural, corrosion performance and bioactivity behavior of ZrO2-10 at. % SiO2 coating was studied. The zirconia-silica coating with the GO interlayer revealed a higher barrier performance as a more compact and a greater adhesive layer to the substrate was created. Indeed, the GO interlayer led to an improvement in apatite formation on zirconia-silica coating surface probably due to create higher roughness. Briefly, the GO interlayer was effective on enhancement of electrochemical performance and biological property of zirconia-silica composite coating, making it a suitable candidate for biomaterials applications.

Assessing selection signatures within and between selected lines of dual-purpose black and white and German Holstein cattle.

The aim of this study was to detect selection signatures considering cows from the German Holstein (GH) and the local dual-purpose black and white (DSN) population, as well as from generated sub-populations. The 4654 GH and 261 DSN cows were genotyped with the BovineSNP50 Genotyping BeadChip. The geographical herd location was used as an environmental descriptor to create the East-DSN and West-DSN sub-populations. In addition, two further sub-populations of GH cows were generated, using the extreme values for solutions of residual effects of cows for the claw disorder dermatitis digitalis. These groups represented the most susceptible and most resistant cows. We used cross-population extended haplotype homozygosity methodology (XP-EHH) to identify the most recent selection signatures. Furthermore, we calculated Wright's fixation index (FST ). Chromosomal segments for the top 0.1 percentile of negative or positive XP-EHH scores were studied in detail. For gene annotations, we used the Ensembl database and we considered a window of 250 kbp downstream and upstream of each core SNP corresponding to peaks of XP-EHH. In addition, functional interactions among potential candidate genes were inferred via gene network analyses. The most outstanding XP-EHH score was on chromosome 12 (at 77.34 Mb) for DSN and on chromosome 20 (at 36.29-38.42 Mb) for GH. Selection signature locations harbored QTL for several economically important milk and meat quality traits, reflecting the different breeding goals for GH and DSN. The average FST value between GH and DSN was quite low (0.068), indicating shared founders. For group stratifications according to cow health, several identified potential candidate genes influence disease resistance, especially to dermatitis digitalis.

Evaluation of the antimicrobial efficacy of two combinations of drugs on bacteria taken from infected primary teeth (in vitro).

PURPOSE: Using a combination of metronidazole, ciprofloxacin and minocycline (3Mix) for root canal disinfection of primary teeth is a well-known technique known as the lesion sterilisation and tissue repair therapy. Minocycline has the potential to cause discoloration in treated teeth and the permanent successors. This study aimed to assess the efficacy of a new combination of antibacterial drugs, in which minocycline is replaced with clindamycin. METHODS: Thirty hopeless primary teeth according to our inclusion criteria were extracted and enrolled. The experiment was conducted in two parts: aerobic and anaerobic, and the efficacy of the two drug combinations, namely the 3Mix and the other mix (metronidazole, ciprofloxacin and clindamycin), for elimination of bacteria isolated from the primary teeth was evaluated and compared. Data were analysed using SPSS 21 via descriptive statistics and Friedman and Wilcoxon tests. Level of significance was considered at 0.05. RESULTS: Except for minocycline, none of the other antibiotics in the studied concentrations (25, 50 and 100 µg/mL) were able to eliminate all the bacteria. Clindamycin alone was weaker than minocycline, but its combination with metronidazole and ciprofloxacin had the same potency with no significant difference. CONCLUSIONS: Replacement of minocycline with clindamycin in the 3Mix composition is practical and can be generalised to clinical studies and ultimately to the clinical setting.

Treatment of normal hydrocarbons contaminated water by combined microalgae - Photocatalytic nanoparticles system.

Two species of microalgae (Chlorella vulgaris and Dunaliella tertiolecta) as the biological agents along with ZnO nanoparticles as the photocatalyst were used to investigate the hydrocarbon removal efficiency from oily water samples. Firstly, the toxicities of the photocatalyst, normal paraffine hydrocarbons and their combination towards the microalgae were evaluated in terms of cell growth and chlorophyll content. The capability of algae to absorb the nanoparticles in the aqueous phase was confirmed by FT-IR spectroscopy. Then, the hydrocarbon removal efficiencies of the algae, photocatalyst and the combined photocatalyst-algae system were studied by measuring the residual hydrocarbon content of the samples. Results indicated that despite of the growth inhibitory effects of n-alkanes and nanoparticles on the examined algae, both of them could survive in the system. Dunaliella tertiolecta was more affected by normal paraffins while Chlorella vulgaris was more sensitive to ZnO nanoparticles. Both of the studied species were capable of hydrocarbon removal and the efficiency of Chlorella vulgaris was superior. The combination of algae and nanoparticles was also proved to have a synergistic effect on degradation of the hydrocarbon content of the medium. The obtained removal efficiencies for initial hydrocarbon concentrations of 0.05%, 0.1% and 0.5% (v/v) were 100%, 78% and 42% for Dunaliella tertiolecta-ZnO and 100%, 93% and 88% for Chlorella vulgaris- ZnO system, respectively. It can be concluded that the examined microalgae-nanoparticle system can be considered as a final polishing step in hydrocarbons removal from oily waters.

Classification of Death Rate due to Women's Cancers in Different Countries.

BACKGROUND: The two most frequently diagnosed cancers among women worldwide are breast and cervical cancers. The objective of the present study was to classify the different countries based on the death rates from sex specific cancers. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, we used dataset regarding death rate from breast, cervical, uterine, and ovarian cancers in 190 countries worldwide reported by World Health Organization. Normal mixture models were fitted with different numbers of components to these data. The model's parameters estimated using the EM algorithm. Then, appropriate number of components was determined and was selected the best-fit model using the BIC criteria. Next, model-based clustering was used to allocate the world countries into different clusters based on the distribution of women's cancers. The MIXMOD program using MATLAB software was used for data analysis. RESULTS: The best model selected with four components. Then, countries were allocated into four clusters including 43 (23%) in the first cluster, 28 (14%) in the second cluster, 75 (39%) in the third cluster, and 44 (24%) in the fourth cluster. Most countries in South America were to the first cluster. In addition, most countries in Africa, Central, and Southeast Asia were located to the third cluster. Furthermore, the fourth cluster consisted of Pacific continent, North America and European countries. CONCLUSION: Considering the benefits of clustering based on normal mixture models, it seems that can be applied this method in wide variety of medical and public heath contexts.

Polymorphisms in the ovine myostatin gene are associated with birth weight but not with weight gain in Iranian Makoei sheep.

Myostatin, a transforming growth factor-beta superfamily member, has been well documented as a negative regulator of muscle growth and development. Myostatin, which has 376 amino acids, is synthesized as a precursor protein. Polymorphism of the myostatin gene in Makoei sheep was investigated by PCR and single-strand conformation polymorphism technique (SSCP). Genomic DNA of 92 sheep was isolated from whole blood. A 417-bp myostatin intron I segment was amplified by standard PCR, using locus-specific primers. Four SSCP patterns, representing four different genotypes, were identified. The frequencies of the genotypes were 0.413, 0.293, 0.130, and 0.163 for AD, AC, AE, and BC, respectively. Allele frequencies were 0.4185, 0.0815, 0.2283, 0.2065, and 0.0652 for A, B, C, D, and E, respectively. Observed heterozygosity was 0.7192. There was significant deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium for this locus. Analysis of myostatin gene sequences revealed heterozygous SNPs, which were in agreement with results obtained in the SSCP analysis. We concluded that SSCP analysis is a quick, sensitive and reliable technique for determination of DNA polymorphisms. The effect of these genotypes on some traits was investigated, and the AD genotype was found to be associated with birth weight. No phenotypic associations were detected with the other genotypes. No associations of myostatin variants with weight gain were detected. We conclude that polymorphism in the ovine myostatin gene is associated with birth weight, but not with weight gain in Iranian Makoei sheep.

An innovative rapid response radiotherapy program to reduce waiting time for palliative radiotherapy.

BACKGROUND: Waiting for radiation therapy (RT) in Ontario has been a major problem for the past decade. In 1996, the Toronto-Sunnybrook Regional Cancer Centre (TSRCC) initiated a Rapid Response Radiotherapy Program (RRRP) to provide timely palliative RT for symptom relief of patients with terminal cancer. PURPOSE: This study reviews the clinical activity of the RRRP over the past 8 years to evaluate if we are meeting the objectives of the program. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From the TSRCC oncology patient information system (OPIS) database, we retrieved the number of patients referred to the RRRP, their demographics, diagnosis and treatment for the calendar years 1996 to 2003 inclusive. We calculated the time interval between referral to consultation, consultation to simulation and the percentage of cases who started RT on their initial consultation for all new cases referred to the RRRP. RESULTS: From 1996 to 2003, the number of cases seen in consultation increased from just over 200 cases annually in the first 2 years to about 500 cases per year in the last 4 years, for a total of 3,290. There were 1,792 (54%) men and 1,498 (46%) women; median age was 69 years (range, 21-95 years). Breast, lung, genitourinary and gastrointestinal primaries accounted for over 80% of all referrals. The majority was referred for palliative treatment of symptomatic bone (70%) or brain (14%) metastases. The dose fractionation for bone metastases was a single 8-Gy fraction in 45%, 20 Gy in five fractions in 42%, 30 Gy in ten fractions in 4% and other dose fractionations in 9%. Nearly 90% were seen within 2 weeks of referral (38% within 1 week). Eighty-five percent were simulated on the day of their initial consultation. Sixty percent started their RT treatment on the day of their consultation visit. The overall median interval from referral to treatment was 8 days. CONCLUSION: Over the past 8 years, the annual number of new cases referred to the RRRP has doubled. The overall median interval from referral to consultation was 8 days. Sixty percent were simulated, planned and started treatment on the day of their initial consultation. We therefore are meeting our goal of providing rapid access to palliative RT for symptomatic cancer patients.

The do-not-resuscitate order: incidence of documentation in the medical records of cancer patients referred for palliative radiotherapy.

Patients with symptomatic metastases referred for outpatient palliative radiotherapy for symptom control at the Rapid Response Radiotherapy Program (RRRP) and the Bone Metastases Clinic (BMC) at the Toronto-Sunnybrook Regional Cancer Centre have a limited life expectancy. Relevant medical information is missing from the files of many referred patients when they arrive at the clinics, potentially causing delayed treatment and ambiguity in the best management of their needs in situations of worsening condition. Clear documentation of the do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order is imperative to avoid panic and the taking of unnecessarily aggressive measures in situations in which cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) has no benefit or is not desired. Here, we report the current practices of CPR code status documentation for patients referred to the RRRP and the BMC for out-patient palliative radiotherapy.We reviewed referral notes and accompanying medical records for 209 consecutive patients seen in the RRRP and the bmc during May-August 2004 for documentation of CPR-related advance directives. Patient demographics and cancer history were also recorded.Only 13 (6.2%) of the 209 patients had any documented reference to CPR code status. Of these 13 patients, 8 were DNR-coded, and 5 were full code. As compared with patients having no documented cpr code status, patients with documented status were significantly older (median age: 77 years; p = 0.0347), had poorer performance status (median Karnofsky performance status score: 40; p = 0.0001), and were more likely to be referred hospital inpatients (69%, p = 0.0004).Only a small proportion of symptomatic advanced cancer patients had any documentation of CPR code status upon referral for outpatient palliative radiotherapy. In future, our clinics plan to request information about CPR code status on our referral form.