Volume 5, Issue 3 (Summer 2019)
Abstract
Aims: Despite the vast global vaccination programs against the HBV infection, millions of people are chronic HBV carriers worldwide. The present study aimed to evaluate the distribution of different clinical forms of Hepatitis B infection among HBV infected patients to find the frequency of people at risk of developed liver diseases in Isfahan province.
Materials & Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 600 HBV infected patients admitted to Al-Zahra hospital in Isfahan from March 2017 to March 2018. Based on the virological markers, HBV infection in participants was categorized into four clinical forms including post-infection immunity, acute hepatitis, asymptomatic carrier state, and chronic active hepatitis. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were used for screening HBsAg, anti-HBs, anti-HBc, HBeAg, anti-HBe, and viral DNA in serum samples.
Findings: In this study, 308 (51.3%) females and 292 (47.7%) males with HBV infection and the mean age of 39 years were participated, of whom 189 (31.5%), 172 (28.7%), 138 (23%), and 101 (16.8%) participants were found to be in the post-infection immunity, acute hepatitis, asymptomatic carrier state (inactive carrier), and chronic active hepatitis forms of HBV infection, respectively.
Conclusion: The results of this study highlighted the high prevalence of asymptomatic carrier and chronic active hepatitis forms of HBV infection in 20-40 year old patients. Extensive measurements are needed to determine the prevalence of these two mentioned forms of HBV infection in all provinces of Iran in order to control the economic and life burden of disease in people not covered by the infant vaccination programs in Iran.
Volume 18, Issue 2 (4-2018)
Abstract
Free convection heat transfer of a non-Newtonian thickening power law fluid in a closed asymmetrical enclosure with fixed aspect ratio was investigated in this study. Many of the previous studies, addressed the case with symmetrical heat transfer enclosure and for a given inclination. The governing equations were established by the finite volume method and solved by the SIMPLEC algorithm. In order to evaluate the code, its results were compared to those of other papers in the field of Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids. The impact of the enclosure inclination and the Rayleigh number on the heat transfer and the flow field were investigated. It was found that for Rayleigh numbers smaller than , inclination has little impact on heat transfer, while at Rayleigh numbers larger than , the lowest heat transfer was observed at an angle of . Moreover, the results pertaining to Newtonian and non-Newtonian thickening fluids were compared. The results show that heat transfer by thickening non-Newtonian fluids, in addition to other parameters, depends on the parameter (n) and in the case of the angle of inclination , the heat transfer of Newtonian and non-Newtonian thickening fluids is equal. Considering the non-Newtonian behavior of the fluid and nondimensionalization of the problem, a new dimensionless number known as the extended Prandtl number 〖(Pr〗^*) appeared in the equations that depends on fluids characteristics, flow geometry, and the power law exponent . Its optimal value was observed at 〖(Pr〗^*=0.07) where heat transfer from the enclosure was at maximum.
