There is little information about the objectivity of posttraumatic growth experienced by cancer patients. So, the aim of present study was to investigate the viewpoints of family caregivers regarding ...posttraumatic growth in cancer patients.
This descriptive study was conducted in one referral medical center in East Azerbaijan Province in northwest of Iran. 120 primary family caregivers of cancer patients participated with a convenience sampling method. The Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI) and Perception about Prognosis Scale (PPS) were applied for data collection with analysis performed using SPSS statistical software.
Family caregivers believed that their patients had a good prognosis (score 3.95 from 5). The total score of PTGI was 60.7 (SD=18.8) that indicates a moderate level of growth as reported by family caregivers.
Family caregivers of cancer patients have incorrect viewpoints about the prognosis of their patients and reported moderate levels of growth. These findings showed that posttraumatic growth among cancer patients is an objective phenomenon.
Background: To determine the joint effect of complement component 3(C3 R102G) with CC-cytokine ligand2 (CCL2-2518) or complement factor H (CFH) Y402H polymorphisms on advanced age-related macular ...degeneration (AMD).
Methods: In this case-control study, 233 patients with advanced AMD and 159 unrelated healthy controls enrolled for evaluation. Selected polymorphisms were determined by polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism.
Results: A combination of AA CCL2 (rs1024611) and GG C3 (R102G) genotypes resulted in a super-additivity of the risks: OR = 10.13, 95% CI 1.04-98.49, p = 0.04, adjusted OR = 7.74, 95% CI 0.71-84.75, p < 0.1, adjusted synergy indices: relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI) = 1.38, the attributable proportion due to interaction (AP) = 24.7% and the synergy index (S) = 1.43. Combination of at-risk genotypes of CFH Y402H and C3 R102G resulted in a strong super-additive risk: adjusted OR = 22.65, 95% CI 2.32-220.91, p = 0.007, adjusted AP = 90.4% and the S = 12.86. Attributable proportion of risk owing to C3-CCL2 and C3-CFH interaction calculated at 25% and 90% for advanced AMD.
Conclusion: We have previously shown a strong association of C3 (R102G) and CFH Y402H with AMD whereas no association was found for CCL2-2518. This study enclosed strong synergistic association of risk genotypes of C3 and CFH Y402H with AMD. We also revealed synergistic influence of CCL2-2518 and the at-risk genotype of the C3 in AMD with an estimated AP = 50.9% (adjusted AP = 24.7%). Present findings show that CCL2-2518 polymorphism is not an innocent bystander in AMD susceptibility when combined with the at-risk genotype of C3 (R102G).
An LMS-Like Predictive Estimation for Fading MIMO Channels Seyfi, Mehdi; Biguesh, Mehrzad; Mohammadian, Roozbeh
2007 IEEE 18th International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications,
2007-Sept.
Conference Proceeding
The time varying channel between transmitter and receiver in wireless communications necessitates the receiver to be informed about the channel between the transmitter and the receiver periodically ...in the detection procedure. This paper introduces a geometrical model for channel matrix in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication system, where the channel is supposed to be fast fading.Then an auto regressive (AR) model is proposed for the channel matrix variations at each time instant, based on which an LMS-like procedure for tracking the channel is suggested to increase the time period required for channel training in order to increase the data transmission rate. The efficiency of the method for channel matrix estimation is studied through simulation.The results show satisfactory match between the true and the estimated channel.
Background: Age related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in the elderly population. Inflammatory mediators play an important role in AMD pathogenesis and ...immune-related gene polymorphisms are shown to increase the risk. Complement system is an important mediator of the immunity system and several genes encoding proteins involved in this system are associated with susceptibility to AMD. The central element of the complement cascade, C3 has been a plausible candidate since its cleavage product C3a was found in drusen. This study was planned to evaluate the association of C3-rs2230199 (R102G) variants with advanced type AMD in this cohort.
Materials and methods: In this case-control study, 494 participants consisting of 266 AMD patients (187 wet AMD and 79 advanced dry AMD) and 228 samples from unrelated healthy controls were enrolled for evaluation. Extracted-DNA samples were amplified to obtain fragments including the polymorphic region.
Results: The distribution of the R102G genotypes was significantly different in the AMD patients compared to controls (p = 0.001).The Odds Ratio compared to CC individuals was 1.69 (95% CI 1.15-2.49) for GC individuals and 6.48 (95% CI1.87-22.43) for GG individuals. The Odds Ratio compared to the C allele was 2.31 (95% CI 0.48-11) for the G allele. GG and GC genotypes and G allele were significantly associated with both types of advanced-AMD. Individuals carrying GG genotype have over a six-fold risk of developing AMD in comparison to those carrying the CC genotype in this cohort. Our meta-analysis pooled data showed that our homozygous individuals for GG have a higher risk of AMD compared to previous publications in different nations (p = 0.017).
Conclusions: Our study shows C3 to be a relatively strong susceptibility gene for advanced-type-AMD (exudative-and-geographic-atrophy) in an Iranian population.
Nursery establishment technology and seedling production has a key role in rice mechanization development in order to increasing efficiency and improve the performance rice yield in unit area. ...Technically, suitable and healthy seedling and correct application of transplanting machines are two important steps in mechanical cultivation of rice. Greenhouse experiment was conducted in a factorial randomized complete block design with three replications in Rice Research Institute in Mazandaran, during 2012. A local rice cultivar, Tarom, was used in the experiment. Factors involved in the experiment including different levels of soil pH and soil situation in respect of microbial infection have been set in 5 (4, 5,6,7 and 8) and 2 level (normal and sterlized soil), respectively. Seedlings boxes were irrigated by water with corresponding pH in during the experiment. Sampling of seedling was conducted three times during the growing season and plant height, root length, length of the first leaf, first leaf sheath length, length of the second leaf sheath, length of the second leaf, Length of the third leaf, the third leaf sheath length, leaf area index, crop growth rate (CGR), average leaf area index (LAI) and net assimilatory rate (NAR) were measured. Analysis of variance showed that the effect of pH treatments on plant height, length of the second leaf sheath, third leaf sheath length, dry weight of leaf sheaths, dry weight of seeds, chlorophyll meter readings, crop growth rate (CGR) and net assimilatory rate (NAR) was significant. Soil situation in respect of microbial infection were found statistically significant differences on plant height, sheath length of the third leaf, dry weight of leaf sheaths traits. Comparison of treatment means showed that pH 5 is desirable for the most traits of seedlings Key words: crop growth rate (CGR), net assimilatory rate (NAR), leaf area index (LAI), mechanized cultivation, rice seedlings, soil pH
