SYNTHESIS OF LIF:MG,TI NANOPARTICLES BY CO-PRECIPITATION METHOD AND EVALUATION OF INCREASING THE 5A/5 RATIO IN ALPHA AND GAMMA RADIATION.

The peak 5 in LiF: Mg, Ti includes sub-peaks 5a and 5b, which occur at the temperatures lower and higher than that of peak 5, respectively. Peak 5a in LiF:Mg,Ti occurs due to the localized recombination of trapping/luminescence center (TC/LC), in which the electron is released from the electron trap by obtaining energy from heat and recombines through the tunneling phenomenon with a hole located in the adjacent luminescence center at a distance of 3 nm. Concerning the standard TLD tablets, which are composed of micron-sized particles, the peak 5a either does not occur or appears with very low intensity, which is insignificant in terms of dosimetry. Thus, the present study focuses on synthesizing thermoluminescent nanoparticles by co-precipitation method in several stages by citing models based on the maintenance of linear behavior of thermoluminescence nanopowders up to high doses and its relationship with localized electron-hole recombination. In addition, by changing the concentration of ingredients, altering the temperature of the reaction medium and presence or absence of surfactant, nanoparticles with suitable geometric shapes were achieved. The synthesized nanopowders were irradiated with different doses of alpha and gamma, and after analyzing the glow curves, the increase in peak 5a/5 was reported as the main factor in nanodosimetry. Based on the results, the LiF: Mg, Ti thermoluminescence nanopowders can increase the 5a/5 ratio and can be used as a convenient, inexpensive and practical tool to estimate the amount of energy deposited by the beams in nanoscale.

Effects of oral N-acetyl cysteine on pain and plasma biochemical parameters in fibrocystic breast disorder: A randomized controlled trial.

Background: Fibrocystic change is the most common benign lesion in breasts of a woman in her reproductive age. It is an outcome of estrogen excess due to sex hormone imbalance. Cyclical pain as the most common symptom worsens life quality, compels patient to seek health care support continuously, and imposes large amounts of expense to both patient and health system. Current study aims to evaluate effects of N-acetyl cysteine on decreasing pain and changes in plasma biochemistry. Method: A total of 64 eligible women participated in this double-blinded randomized controlled trial. They were between 18 and 40 years. Participants were randomly allocated into oral N-acetyl cysteine and placebo receivers. Intervention and follow-up lasted for, respectively, a 12-week drugs-on and 12-month drugs-off period. Visual analog scaling was applied to measure severity of pain. Peripheral venous plasma was extracted and compared for inflammatory parameters including high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, total antioxidant capacity, malondialdehyde, total plasma glutathione, lipid profile, and fasting blood sugar. Results: Oral N-acetyl cysteine significantly decreased feeling of cyclical mastalgia (P < .01) after 12 weeks of consumption. In addition to lowering of plasma level of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (P = .008), total plasma glutathione significantly increased (P = .02) among N-acetyl cysteine receivers. No change in lipid profile and insulin sensitivity was seen. Conclusion: N-Acetyl cysteine could mitigate cyclical mastalgia. Inflammation as a considered reason for cyclical mastalgia also was halted by N-acetyl cysteine consumption.

Cruroplasty added to laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy; does it decrease postoperative incidence of de-novo acid reflux?: A randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy(LSG) is the most popular bariatric surgery worldwide. Postoperative de-novo acid reflux is one of the major common complications of the procedure. Different additive anti-reflux surgical techniques have been tried to decrease the complication although no favorable outcome is obtained. This study was conducted to evaluate effects of concurrent cruroplasty during LSG on postoperative de-novo acid reflux incidence rate. METHODS: In current participant-blinded randomised controlled trial total of 80 subjects who were candidate for LSG were enrolled from the September 2018 to the December 2019. Following matching patients by gender and age, simple randomization method was held to allocate participants to LSG alone and LSG + cruroplasty groups with equal 40 members in each. Demographic data, length of hospital stay, and operation time was registered. Presence of acid reflux was looked by using gastroesophageal reflux disease-health related quality of life(GERD-HRQL) questionnaire prior and 6 months after surgery in follow-up visit. RESULTS: Finally 12/28 and 14/26 male/females with 38.5 ± 10.7 and 39.7 ± 8.2 years of age were recruited in LSG alone and LSG + cruroplasty, respectively.(p > 0.05) The length of operative time was significantly shorter in LSG alone(p < 0.01) although no obvious difference was existed in length of hospital stay between groups.(p = 0.7) Postoperative de-novo acid reflux also was not considerably lesser after cruroplasty compared with controls.(p = 0.1) The GERD-HRQL scores were not remarkable between subjects of study groups.(p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Equipping LSG with concurrent cruroplasty to diminish postoperative de-novo gastroesophageal acid reflux is not effective and not recommended in absence of other indications.

Bioinspired pressure-sensitive adhesive: evaluation of the effect of dopamine methacrylamide comonomer as a general property modifier using molecular dynamics simulation.

The use of catechol-containing comonomers as a general property enhancer to achieve unique properties has received particular attention for designing bioinspired polymeric materials. In this study, molecular dynamics simulation was used to investigate the role of dopamine methacrylamide (DMA) and N-phenethyl methacrylamide (PMA) comonomers in chain conformation and their effects on the mechanical properties and adhesion of poly(n-butyl acrylate-co-acrylic acid) copolymer. Addition of 4% by weight of DMA comonomer in the terpolymer structure reduces the gyration radius of the poly(n-butyl acrylate-co-acrylic acid) copolymer. This reduction is due to the formation of intramolecular hydrogen bond interactions. A further increase in the DMA up to 12.2% by weight increases the radius of gyration by 5%. The effect of PMA on the gyration radius of the poly(n-butyl acrylate-co-acrylic acid) copolymer is more extensive, compared to DMA. While DMA enhances both van der Waals and electrostatic components of the cohesive energy density through increasing π-π interactions and hydrogen bond formations, PMA only improves the van der Waals component. Assessment of mechanical properties revealed that the addition of DMA comonomer resulted in a transition from brittle to tough behavior in poly(n-butyl acrylate-co-acrylic acid) pressure-sensitive adhesive. Ductility index improvement by DMA is higher than that by PMA. DMA comonomers accumulate on the silica surface resulting in the terpolymer chains approaching the dry silica surface from the hydroxyl groups of the catechol. Accumulation of DMA only enhances the cohesive energy and does not improve the adhesive energy.