Typical and extreme weather datasets for studying the resilience of buildings to climate change and heatwaves.

We present unprecedented datasets of current and future projected weather files for building simulations in 15 major cities distributed across 10 climate zones worldwide. The datasets include ambient air temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, direct and diffuse solar irradiance, and wind speed at hourly resolution, which are essential climate elements needed to undertake building simulations. The datasets contain typical and extreme weather years in the EnergyPlus weather file (EPW) format and multiyear projections in comma-separated value (CSV) format for three periods: historical (2001-2020), future mid-term (2041-2060), and future long-term (2081-2100). The datasets were generated from projections of one regional climate model, which were bias-corrected using multiyear observational data for each city. The methodology used makes the datasets among the first to incorporate complex changes in the future climate for the frequency, duration, and magnitude of extreme temperatures. These datasets, created within the IEA EBC Annex 80 "Resilient Cooling for Buildings", are ready to be used for different types of building adaptation and resilience studies to climate change and heatwaves.

Association of Complications During and After Carotid Body Tumor Resection with Tumor Size and Distance to the Base of Skull.

BACKGROUND: Depending on the size and location of the tumor, carotid body tumor (CBT) resection can come with various complications, mostly intraoperative bleeding, and cranial nerve injuries. In the present study, we aim to evaluate 2 fairly new variables, tumor volume, and distance to the base of the skull (DTBOS), with operative complications of CBT resection. METHODS: Patients who underwent CBT surgery in Namazi hospital from 2015 to 2019 were studied using standard databases. Tumor characteristics and DTBOS were measured via computed tomography or Magnetic resonance imaging. Outcomes, including intraoperative bleeding and cranial nerve injuries, along with perioperative data were collected. RESULTS: A total of 42 cases of CBT were evaluated with an average age of 53.21 ± 12.8 and mostly female (85.7%). Based on Shamblin scoring, 2 (4.8%) were classified as group I, 25 (59.5%) as group II, and 15 (35.7%) as group III. The amount of bleeding significantly increased with an increase in the Shamblin scores (P = 0.031; median: I: 45 cc; II: 250 cc, III: 400 cc). Also, there was a significant positive correlation between the size of the tumor and the estimated amount of bleeding (correlation coefficient = 0.660; P < 0.001), and also a significant reverse correlation with between bleeding and DTBOS (correlation coefficient = -0.345; P = 0.025). During the follow-up of the patients, 6 (14.3%) had abnormalities in their neurological evaluation. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed the size of tumor cutoff level 32.7 cm3 (3.2 cm radius) to be most predictive of postoperative neurological complication with an area under the curve = 0.83, sensitivity = 83.3%, specificity = 80.6%, a negative predictive value = 96.7%, and positive predictive value of 41.7%, and an accuracy of 81.0%. Furthermore, based on the predictive power of the models in our study, we demonstrated that a combination model including the tumor size, DTBOS, along with the Shamblin score had the most predictive power for neurological complications. CONCLUSIONS: By evaluating CBT size and DTBOS, paired with the use of the Shamblin classification, a better, more insightful understanding of possible risks and complications of CBT resection can be obtained, leading to deserved levels of patient care.

LCZ method is more effective than traditional LUCC method in interpreting the relationship between urban landscape and atmospheric particles.

Landscape classification methods significantly impact the exploration of the mechanism of the relationship between landscapes and atmospheric particulate matter. This study compared the local climate zones (LCZs) and traditional land use/cover change (LUCC) landscape classification methods in explaining spatial differences in concentrations of atmospheric particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) and explored the mechanisms involved in how landscape elements affect atmospheric particulate matter. This was done by establishing a PM2.5 and PM10 land use regression (LUR) model of LCZ and LUCC landscapes under low, typical, and high particle concentration gradients in urban and suburban areas. The results show that under an LCZ classification system, the number of patches in the urban area of Shanghai was 548 times higher than that of a LUCC system. Moreover, LCZs were successfully established for LUR models in 12 scenarios, while only five models were established for LUCC, all of which were suburban models. The R2 of the LUR model based on the LCZ landscape and atmospheric particulate matter was mostly higher than that of the LUCC. For unnatural landscapes, the LUCC demonstrated that an urbanized environment positively affects the concentration of atmospheric particles. However, the LCZ analysis found that areas with high-density buildings have a positive effect on atmospheric particles, while most areas with low-density buildings significantly reduced the number of atmospheric particles present. Generally, compared with the traditional LUCC landscape classification method, LCZ integrates Shanghai's physical structure and classifies the urban landscape more accurately, which is closely related to the urban atmospheric particulate matter, especially in the urban area. Because the low-density building area has the same effect on the particulate matter as the natural landscape, the use of low-density buildings is recommended when planning new towns.

The necessity of confirmatory testing in serodiagnosis of toxoplasmosis in iran.

BACKGROUND: Toxoplasma specific IgM antibodies; the common serologic marker in diagnosis of acute toxoplasmosis has its own limitations. Confirmatory testing with other markers, introduced as a complementary tool in distinguish acute and chronic infections is unusual in Iran. In the present study, we investigated the correlation between the results of IgM ELISA, IgA ELISA, and IgG avidity tests in the diagnosis of toxoplasmosis to demonstrate the necessity of confirmatory testing in serodiagnosis of infection in the country. METHODS: A total of 107 positive Toxoplasma IgG and IgM sera were obtained from patients referred to private laboratories and stored at -20 °C for futures use. Serologic tests were set up in duplicate to analyze the serum levels of IgG, IgM, IgA, and IgG avidity antibodies using commercial ELISA kits. The results were presented as semi quantitative for IgG, IgM and IgA ELISA, and Relative Avidity Index in percentage for IgG avidity test. Pearson's correlation coefficient (rp) was applied to analyze the data. RESULTS: Of 107 serum samples, T. gondii specific IgM and IgA antibodies were positive in 67.3% and 53.3%, respectively. Besides, 29.9% of the sera displayed low avidity for IgG antibodies. The rp was - 0.572 (P<0.01) between the IgG avidity and IgM ELISA, - 0.364 between the IgG avidity and IgA ELISA (P<0.01), and 0.564 between the IgM and IgA ELISA (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: The study strongly highlights the necessity of confirmatory testing in differential diagnosis of acute and chronic toxoplasmosis in Iran.

Suppression of nitric oxide production in activated murine peritoneal macrophages in vitro and ex vivo by Scrophularia striata ethanolic extract.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Scrophularia striata (Scrophulariaceae), a traditional Iranian medicine, has been used for the treatment of allergy, rheumatics and chronic inflammatory disorders. AIM OF THE STUDY: In the present study, we investigated the in vitro and ex vivo suppressive effects of Scrophularia striata ethanolic extract on nitric oxide production in mouse peritoneal macrophages. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Peritoneal macrophages were harvested by lavaging with ice cold phosphate buffer saline. Macrophages obtained from mice not treated were cultured with 10 microg/mL lipopolysaccaride (LPS), 20 U/mL interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), and various concentrations of Scrophularia striata extract for the in vitro experiments and those obtained from mice treated with different doses of the extract for 7 days were cultured with 10 microg/mL LPS, 20 U/mL IFN-gamma for the in vivo experiments. Nitrit levels were measured by using the diazotization method based on the Griess reaction, which is an indirect assay for NO production. RESULTS: In vitro exposure of mouse peritoneal macrophages with various concentrations of Scrophularia striata extract (10, 50 and 100 microg/mL) significantly suppressed NO production in a dose-dependent manner. In vivo administration of Scrophularia striata extract (50 and 100 mg/kg) to Balb/c mice inhibited LPS and IFN-gamma induced production of NO in the isolated mouse peritoneal macrophages ex vivo in a dose-dependent manner. Exposure to Scrophularia striata extract had no effect on cell viability. CONCLUSION: The results of the study demonstrated that the Scrophularia striata extract inhibit NO production in activated murine macrophages and we suggest that Scrophularia striata may be used in treating the inflammatory diseases.

The Effect of Recombinant Tissue Plasminogen Activator (r-tPA) on Quantitation of Neutralising Anti-Streptokinase Antibodies.

The measurement of anti-streptokinase antibodies can distinguish the patients who may benefit from streptokinase and those who should be treated with some other thrombolytic regimen. Neutralising titration test is a commonly used classical assay for measuring anti-streptokinase antibodies and in this assay the ability of anti-streptokinase antibodies in patients' sera in preventing the lytic effect of streptokinase is assessd. As we showed previously the presence of r-tPA in the serum may interefere with the neutralising titration test, we investigated this interference in vitro. The level of neutralising anti-streptokinase antibodies in a serum sample with known levels of the antibodies were measured in absence and presence of increasing amount of r-tPA including therapeutic values. Increasing amount of r-tPA in vitro induced a sudden reduction in the measurable titre of anti-streptokinase antibody levels in a serum with elevated levels of anti-streptokinase antibodies. This effect of r-tPA, which is through activation of plasminogen has not been reported previously. We suggest this assay is unsuitable for clinical diagnosis of anti-streptokinase antibodies.