Volume 10, Issue 3 (Summer 2024)
Abstract
Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune inflammatory disease of the central nervous system. Toxoplasma gondii infection is one of the risk factors of MS. Knowing the correlation between T. gondii infection and MS could lead to a better understanding of the disease incidence. This study aimed to assess the correlation between T. gondii infection and the disease incidence in infected individuals.
Materials & Methods: Serum samples of 38 MS patients referring to the neurology clinic of Ghaem hospital in Mashhad in 2019 were analyzed by Pishtazteb commercial kit for anti-T. gondii IgG and IgM antibodies using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The obtained data were analyzed with SPSS software Version 20.
Findings: Among the 79 tested individuals, 22 were positive, and 57 were negative for anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies. Among the negative cases, 29 (50.9%) had MS, and 28 (49.1%) were controls. Among the positive cases, nine (40.9%) patients had MS, and the remaining 13 (59.1%) were controls. The frequency of IgG antibody in the case and control groups was not significantly different (p= .427). Anti-T. gondii IgM antibody was negative in all samples. There was no significant difference between the types of MS regarding the frequency of anti-T. gondii antibodies (p= .402).
Conclusion: No significant difference was found in the frequency of anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies between the two groups. However, further studies with larger sample sizes are recommended to gain a better understanding of the relationship between anti-T. gondii IgG antibody positivity and MS incidence
Volume 20, Issue 3 (10-2020)
Abstract
The utilization of concrete Incorporating with fibers is one of the proper issues of construction industry in last years. The main focus of this research to design a high performance self-compacted fiber reinforced concrete (SCFRC) by using an evolutionary algorithm, which is implemented in MATLAB. Crow Search Algorithm (CSA) and Genetic Algorithm (GA) are statistical ways which are developed by optimization based meta-heuristic solutions. A total of 67 concrete mixtures were considered by varying the levels of key factors affecting concrete strength of concrete, namely, water content (137.2-195 kg/m3), cement content (325.5-520 kg/m3), coarse aggregate content (722-920 kg/m3), fine aggregate content (804.9-960 kg/m3), nano silica content (0-49.6 kg/m3),percentage of volumetric of fibers (0-0.9 %), lime stone powder content (0-288.9 kg/m3) and superplasticizer content (1.75-10.5 kg/m3) were developed to design optimized mixture proportions. The objective function called maximizing concrete strength was formulated as an optimization problem on the basis of Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) method. The constrains including ratio of mixture proportions and absolute volume of mixture design were utilized to obtain an optimal-strength and cost-effective design. The concrete technological constraints were identified as the factors of experimental design for concrete production. The evolutionary implementation of results reached incorporating mixture proportions having strengths in range of 30 - 88.7 MPa. Five numerical examples for optimum mixture design of SCFRC were considered to evaluate the capability and efficiency of CSA and GA algorithm. These results were compared and concluded that CSA (3.38-14.49 % of mean error) performed better than GA (7.95-15.52 % of mean error) for this application. Also, the proposed evolutionary CSA and GA algorithms are found to be reliable and robustness tools to solve and optimize engineering and concrete technological problem.
Volume 21, Issue 2 (3-2019)
Abstract
The bioactive compounds of barberry such as water-soluble vitamins are used in medical and food industries. In this study, the effect of different extraction conditions and various process conditions were studied on water-soluble vitamins profile. The extraction conditions included varieties (species) are of fruits (B. integerrima: A, B. vulgaris: P), solvents (Water: W, Ethanol: E), light (Presence: L, Absence: T), pH (3 and 1.5), and temperature (25 and 50ºC). The process conditions included heating (95 and 80°C), chilling (ref 1, 2 months), freezing (con), microwave (mic) and gamma irradiation (γ at doses of 0.5, 1, 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10 kGy). The highest and lowest amounts of water-soluble vitamins in various extracts of different extraction conditions were respectively as follows: vitamin C in AWL1.550 (highest) and PEL350 (lowest); B5 in PWL1.550 and AEL1.525, AWL1.550; B6 in AWT350, and AEL1.550; B1 in PET350 and PET1.550; folic acid in AET350 and PWT350; biotin in AEL350 and AEL1.550; B2 in AET350 and PWL350 extracts. The highest and lowest amounts of water-soluble vitamins in various process conditions were respectively as follows: vitamin C (Acon 460 (highest), Aref1 146.87 (lowest), Pcon 242.96 (highest), Pmic 21.52 (lowest)), B5 (Aγ0.5 2919.18, A95 1312.42, Pγ10 3110.88, Pref2 1051.52), B6 (Acon 36.30, Aγ7.5 21.04, Pγ10 12.70, P95 8.73), B1 (Acon 2113.00, Aref2 965.09, Pcon 2298.15, Pγ10 217.76), folic acid (Aγ0.5 1700.38, Aγ10 947.11, Pcon 104.78, Pγ10 in B. vulgaris after processing was not found), biotin (Amic 2267.58, Aγ10 1404.63, Pcon 324.72, Pγ2.5 118.33), and B2 (Aγ0.5 586.43, Aγ10 274.34, Pcon 297.19, Pγ10 6.79).
