chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common respiratory disease with episodes of exacerbation. Variable factors including infectious pathogen can predispose for this exacerbation. The aim of this study is to evaluate the role of intestinal protozoa in COPD exacerbation. A total of 56 patients with COPD were included in this study. Patients were categorized into two groups based on the frequency of exacerbation during the last 6 months: those with ≤1 exacerbation (32 patients) and those with ≥2 exacerbations (24 patients). Stool specimens from each patient were collected two times (one week interval) examined for intestinal parasite. In univariate analysis, rural residence and parasitic infection were more common among patients with frequent exacerbation (45.83% and 33.33%, respectively) than patients with non-frequent exacerbation (18.75% and 9.38%, respectively) with significant differences. However, in multivariate analysis, only body mass index >25 kg/m2 (OR=4.59, 95%CI=1.18-17.86, P=0.028) and parasitic infection (OR=5.51, 95%CI=1.01-30.18, P=0.049) were independently associated with COPD exacerbation. These data indicate a significant association between frequent COPD exacerbation and infection with some intestinal protozoa. However, the cause-effect relationship is debatable.
Spin coating technique used to prepare ZnPc, CdS and ZnPc/CdS blend thin films, these films annealed at 423K for 1h, 2h and 3h. Optical behavior of these films were examined using UV-Vis. and PL. The absorption spectrum of ZnPc shows a decreasing in absorption with the increase of annealing time while CdS spectrum give a clearly absorption peak at~510 nm. Energy gap of ZnPc increases from 1.41 to 1.52 eV by increasing the annealing time. Eg of CdS decrease by increasing annealing time, from 2.3 eV to 2.2 eV. The intensities of the peaks obtained from PL spectra were strongly dependent on annealing time and confirmed the results obtained from UV-Vis. D.C. conductivity measurement showed that all the thin films have two differen
... Show MoreOriental wasps are scavengers, and they have also represented an enormous issue for beekeepers, they destroy beehives and reduce the flight of bees. In addition, the sting of hornets may cause medical problems, which differ according to the response of the individuals, including severe sensitivity, swelling, and slight pain. This study provides the first molecular phylogeny of the oriental wasp
In this paper, a Cholera epidemic model is proposed and studied analytically as well as numerically. It is assumed that the disease is transmitted by contact with Vibrio cholerae and infected person according to dose-response function. However, the saturated treatment function is used to describe the recovery process. Moreover, the vaccine against the disease is assumed to be utterly ineffective. The existence, uniqueness and boundedness of the solution of the proposed model are discussed. All possible equilibrium points and the basic reproduction number are determined. The local stability and persistence conditions are established. Lyapunov method and the second additive compound matrix are used to study the global stability of the system.
... Show MoreThe analysis of rigid pavements is a complex mission for many reasons. First, the loading conditions include the repetition of parts of the applied loads (cyclic loads), which produce fatigue in the pavement materials. Additionally, the climatic conditions reveal an important role in the performance of the pavement since the expansion or contraction induced by temperature differences may significantly change the supporting conditions of the pavement. There is an extra difficulty because the pavement structure is made of completely different materials, such as concrete, steel, and soil, with problems related to their interfaces like contact or friction. Because of the problem's difficulty, the finite element simulation is
... Show MoreA.C electrical conductivity and dielectric properties for poly
(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) /poly (ethylene oxide) (PEO) blends undoped
and doped with multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNTs) with
different concentrations (1, and 3 wt %) in the frequency range
(25x103 - 5x106 Hz) were investigated. Samples of (PVA/PEO)
blends undoped and doped with MWCNTs were prepared using
casting technique. The electrical conductivity measurements showed
that σA.C is frequency dependent and obey the relation σA.C =Aωs for
undoped and doped blends with 1% MWCNTs, while it is frequency
independent with increases of MWCNTs content to 3%. The
exponent s showed proceeding increase with the increase of PEO
ratio (≥50%) for undope
TiO2 thin films were deposited by reactive d.c magnetron sputtering method on a glass substrate with various ratio of gas flow (Oxygen /Argon) (50/50, 100/50 and 150/50) at substrate temperature 573K. It can be observe that the optical energy gap of TiO2 thin films dependent on the ratio of gas flow (oxygen/argon), it varies between (3.45eV-3.57eV) also it is seen that the optical constants (α, n, K, εr and εi ) has been varied with the change of the ratio of gas flow (Oxygen /Argon).