Improving First Case Operating Room Efficiency.

INTRODUCTION: Improving transition to the operating room (OR) can enhance healthcare efficiency. Our aim was to determine whether adopting a communication board (CB) for first case surgical patients reduced delays to OR. METHODS: A retrospective observational study was conducted from April to October 2021. We calculated differences in surgical daycare (SDC) departure time before and after implementation of the CB, differences in departure whether the CB was used or not, delay in variability between surgical specialties, and overall adoption of the CB. RESULTS: After CB adoption, 13% of first cases left SDC by predefined target times. The mean delay in transfer was 18:51 minutes. When the CB was used, cases were on average 10:43 late, compared with 26:00 when it was not used. Otolaryngology had the shortest delays while plastic surgery had the longest. Reasons for delays included staffing delays, holds, and pending laboratory results. CONCLUSIONS: Introducing a CB significantly reduced delays in transferring first case surgical patients from SDC to the OR.

Both melatonin and meloxicam improved sleep and pain in females with primary dysmenorrhea-results from a double-blind cross-over intervention pilot study.

Up to 25% of ovulating women suffer from primary dysmenorrhea, a condition associated with pain and transient-reduced quality of life, along with greater irritability and impaired sleep. In the present study, we asked whether and if so to what extent melatonin and meloxicam can improve subjective and objective sleep and reduce pain among women with primary dysmenorrhea (PD). To this end, we conducted a double-blind cross-over clinical trial lasting for three menstrual cycles. A total of 14 women (mean age M = 27.5 years) with primary dysmenorrhea took part in the study. At baseline, that is, during the first menstruation, they completed a visual analogue scale to rate pain; sleep continuity was assessed via actigraphs, and overall sleep quality was assessed with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Next, participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions, either melatonin during the second, and meloxicam during the third menstruation, or meloxicam during the second, and melatonin during the third menstruation. Neither participants nor investigators were aware of participants' study assignment. During the second and third menstruations, the assessments described above were repeated. At baseline, sleep assessed both objectively and subjectively was impaired, and pain was high. Subjective sleep improved and pain decreased during the second and third menstruations irrespective of whether melatonin or meloxicam was administered first or second. Likewise, objective sleep efficiency increased and objective sleep latency shortened. The efficacy of melatonin was superior to that of meloxicam. The present pattern of results suggests that both melatonin and meloxicam are suitable to treat pain and PD-related sleep complaints among women with primary dysmenorrhea.

Effect of nitrogen sources on gene expression of Stevia rebaudiana (Bertoni) under in vitro conditions.

Stevia rebaudiana (Bertoni) is a non-caloric sweetener belonging to Asteraceae family. Stevia compounds such as steviol glycosides (SGs) are 200 times sweeter than sugar. Stevioside and rebaudioside A are the two major steviol glycosides. Nitrogen is an essential element for plant growth and development. In this study the effects of nitrogen influenced by different concentrations of NH4NO3 (0, 825 and 1650 mg/l) and KNO3 (0, 950 and 1900 mg/l) is examined in MS medium. To analysis the UGT74G1 and UGT76G1 genes expression, involved in the synthesis of SGs, RT-qPCR technique was performed. Data showed that there were significant differences between all media. The shoot length, seedlings dry weight and leaf fresh weight of stevia increased with applying NH4NO3 along with KNO3. The highest expression of UGT74G1 gene, was observed in plantlets grown on MS medium with 0 mg/l NH4NO3 and 950 mg/l KNO3 (1.291 total lab unit) but the highest expression of UGT76G1 gene, was observed in plantlets grown on MS medium added by 1650 mg/l NH4NO3 +950 mg/l KNO3 (1.08 total lab unit). Moreover, the lowest value of UGT74G1 gene expression were revealed in MS medium added by 1650 mg/l NH4NO3 +0 mg/l KNO3 (0.80 total lab unit) and the lowest values of UGT76G1 gene expression seen in MS medium with 0 mg/l NH4NO3 +950 mg/l KNO3 (0.85 total lab unit) concentrations. The results of this study could be valuable in stevia breeding programs through glycosides biosynthesis pathways.

Quaternary ammonium salt containing soybean oil: an efficient nanosize gene delivery carrier for halophile green microalgal transformation.

Dunaliella salina, a halophile green microalga, is considered a robust photobioreactor and a remarkable cost beneficial system for the production of therapeutic recombinant proteins. In this study, with low overall cost, a proper cationic lipid was synthesized from renewable soybean oil as an efficient gene delivery carrier for D. salina cells to create appropriate protein-producing transformed cell lines. To obtain an effective carrier, quaternary ammonium salt containing soybean oil (QASSO) was synthesized through the ring opening reaction of the epoxy groups of epoxidized soybean oil with diethylamine. QASSO was characterized using nuclear magnetic resonance and Fourier-transform infrared instruments. QASSO was used to prepare nanolipoplex construct using plasmid DNA molecules containing green fluorescent protein (GFP) as reporter gene. These nanolipoplexes (QASSO-pGFP, N/P=3) and QASSO had diameter of 63.62 and 110.63 nm, and zeta potential of -68.89 and 48.25 mV at pH 7.0, respectively. Results indicated the GFP gene expression and cytoplasmic accumulation of GFP protein in the transformants after incubation under desirable conditions for 48 h and 1 week. The transformation efficiency was quantitatively assayed by flow cytometry, which yielded transformations of 58.87% and 48.34% for QASSO and 38.32% and a negligible percentage for Polyfect® after 48 h and 1 week incubation, respectively.

The potential of transgenic green microalgae; a robust photobioreactor to produce recombinant therapeutic proteins.

Microalgae have been used in food, cosmetic, and biofuel industries as a natural source of lipids, vitamins, pigments and antioxidants for a long time. Green microalgae, as potent photobioreactors, can be considered as an economical expression system to produce recombinant therapeutical proteins at large-scale due to low cost of production and scaling-up capitalization owning to the inexpensive medium requirement, fast growth rate, and the ease of manipulation. These microalgae possess all benefit eukaryotic expression systems including the ability of post-translational modifications required for proper folding and stability of active proteins. Among the many items regarded as recombinant protein production, this review compares the different expression systems with green microalgae like Dunaliella by viewing the nuclear/chloroplast transformation challenges/benefits, related selection markers/reporter genes, and crucial factors/strategies affecting the increase of foreign protein expression in microalgae transformants. Some important factors were discussed regarding the increase of protein yielding in microalgae transformants including: transformation-associated genotypic modifications, endogenous regulatory factors, promoters, codon optimization, enhancer elements, and milking of recombinant protein.

Health Emergency Mass Notification: Lessons Learnt from the H1N1 Pandemic in Tehran.

BACKGROUND: Timely notification is of great importance in health emergencies. So identifying the most important sources of information used by people in emergencies seems necessary. The objective of this study was to assess peoples' level of awareness concerning the symptoms, routes of transmission, prevention, and treatment of H1N1 at the time of the pandemic and also to identify their most important source of information. METHODS: Two telephone surveys were performed at the beginning of levels five and six of the pandemic at a four-month interval on two populations. Using a questionnaire, random phone numbers were called and 662 and 701 individuals from Tehran were surveyed at the two phases, respectively. RESULTS: Peoples' level of awareness concerning the disease, symptoms, its routes of transmission, prevention, and treatment of H1N1 had increased in the second phase of the study. At the same time, people were less afraid of the disease in the second phase. The most important sources of information used were TV, newspapers, and radio, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Mass media including TV and newspapers were recognized as the most important sources of information used by the people in emergencies. It seems that designing educational programs and synchronizing the media's policies with health authorities can help fight future health emergencies and prevent delays in notifying people.

Applications of diatoms as potential microalgae in nanobiotechnology.

INTRODUCTION: Diatoms are single cell eukaryotic microalgae, which present in nearly every water habitat make them ideal tools for a wide range of applications such as oil explora-tion, forensic examination, environmental indication, biosilica pattern generation, toxicity testing and eutrophication of aqueous ecosystems. METHODS: Essential information on diatoms were reviewed and discussed towards impacts of diatoms on biosynthesis and bioremediation. RESULTS: In this review, we present the recent progress in this century on the application of diatoms in waste degradation, synthesis of biomaterial, biomineraliza-tion, toxicity and toxic effects of mineral elements evaluations. CONCLUSION: Diatoms can be considered as metal toxicity bioindicators and they can be applied for biomineralization, synthesis of biomaterials, and degradation of wastes.