Comparison of pregabalin with doxepin in the management of uremic pruritus: a randomized single blind clinical trial

Introduction: Pruritus is one of the frustrating skin manifestations of advanced renal failure. Many options have been used for the management of uremic pruritus (UP) such as pregabalin. There are some studies that reported beneficial effects of pregabalin in reducing UP; however, most of them did not have a comparator arm. Therefore, we designed this study to compare antipruritic effects of pregabalin with doxepin in the management of pruritus in hemodialysis patients. Methods: Seventy‐two patients suffering from UP were randomly assigned to receive pregabalin (50 mg every other day) or doxepin (10 mg per day) for 4 weeks. Severity of pruritus and its effect on quality of life were assessed by visual analog scale (VAS), 5‐D itch scale and dermatology life quality index (DLQI) at baseline and after 1 week, 2 weeks and 4 weeks of the treatment. Findings: Mean scores of the VAS decreased from 7.5± 1.4 and 7.1 ± 1.3 at baseline to 2.1 ± 2.6 and 4.2 ± 2.6 at the end of the study (P < 0.001) in the pregabalin and doxepin groups, respectively. Similarly, pregabalin significantly reduced mean scores of the 5‐D itch scale and the DLQI compared to doxepin. The most reported side effect in each group was somnolence which occurred in similar rates in the both groups. Discussion: Pregabalin was more effective than doxepin in reducing the severity of uremic pruritus and improving the quality of life of patients in this study, so we suggest that clinician can consider pregabalin prior to using antihistamine drugs in the management of severe itch in hemodialysis patients.     

Domain wall contributions to the properties of piezoelectric thin films

In bulk ferroelectric ceramics, extrinsic contributions associated with motion of domain walls and phase boundaries are a significant component of the measured dielectric and piezoelectric response. In thin films, the small grain sizes, substantial residual stresses, and the high concentration of point and line defects change the relative mobility of these boundaries. One of the consequences of this is that thin films typically act as hard piezoelectrics. This paper reviews the literature in this field, emphasizing the difference between the nonlinearities observed in the dielectric and piezoelectric properties of films. The effect of ac field excitation levels, dc bias fields, temperature, and applied mechanical stress are discussed.     

Using the mixture design approach to predict the rheological properties of low-calorie dairy desserts containing gum tragacanth exuded by three Iranian Astragalus species

Food Science and Biotechnology - In this study, the flow behavior and creep parameters of saffron desserts containing gum tragacanth combinations of three species were modeled by the mixture design...     

Gender differences in life events prior to onset of major depressive disorder: The moderating effect of age.

Theoretical models attempting to explain why approximately twice as many women as men suffer from depression often involve the role of stressful life events. However, detailed empirical evidence regarding gender differences in rates of life events that precede onset of depression is lacking, due in part to the common use of checklist assessments of stress that have been shown to possess poor validity. The present study reports on a combined sample of 375 individuals drawn from 4 studies in which all participants were diagnosed with major depressive disorder and assessed with the Life Events and Difficulties Schedule (Bifulco et al., 1989), a state-of-the-art contextual interview and life stress rating system. Women reported significantly more severe and nonsevere, independent and dependent, and other-focused and subject-focused life events prior to onset of depression than did men. Further, these relations were significantly moderated by age, such that gender differences in rates of most types of events were found primarily in young adulthood. These results are discussed in term of their implications for understanding the etiological role of stressful life events in depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A review on aluminothermic reaction of Al/ZnO system

Aluminothermic reaction between aluminum and a metallic oxide is worth noting, because it is applicable in some applications such as in-situ aluminum/alumina composites synthesis, welding, etc. All the metallic oxides with Gibbs free energy of formation higher than Al₂O₃ can be used as the reactant oxide. Among them, the aluminothermic reaction between Al and ZnO is thermodynamically possible, because its free energy change is negative, even at room temperature. Depending on the processing method, part of the reduced Zn can be vaporized during the procedure, while the rest remains in the Al matrix. This paper attempts to review the published research works on Al/ZnO aluminothermic reaction by different processing routes giving an overview of the reactions in the liquid and solid state processes. Highlighting the technical barriers against the aluminothermic reaction propagation in Al/ZnO system, discussing the effects of different approaches on the ignition temperature as well as demonstrating how the reaction is kinetically possible even at ambient temperature are the main aspects of the present review paper. Moreover, the mechanism of the reaction and microstructural properties of the products are discussed in details. It was shown that aluminothermic reaction in the liquid state processes might be hindered kinetically due to poor wettability between aluminum and zinc oxide particles. Moreover, the results revealed that the combined mechanical and thermal treatments and mechanochemical methods facilitate the aluminothermic reaction compared to exothermic dispersion (XD). Changing the diffusion mode from bulk diffusion to grain boundary diffusion was considered as the main reason.     

Optimization of conditions for single-step purification of recombinant hepatitis B surface antigen produced in Pichia pastoris using ion exchange chromatography

ABSTRACT

The adsorption and release of rHBsAg extracted from the final dosage form on various ion exchange resins and under different pH conditions were investigated after its peptide map and isoelectric point (PI) determination. Efficient antigen adsorption to the anion exchange resins occurred when the pH value of the protein buffer was adjusted to 5.0. In purification of rHBsAg derived from the yeast crude extract using Q Sepharose FF column, with adjusting the pH value of the crude extract to 5.0 (i.e., near to the target protein PI) and using 2M NaCl, rHBsAg with high purity (up to >95%) was obtained.

Abbreviations: rHBsAg, recombinant hepatitis B surface antigen; Alhydrogel, aluminum hydroxide; IEF, isoelectric focusing; PI, isoelectric point; SDS-PAGE, sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis; RP-HPLC, reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography; SE-HPLC, size-exclusion high-performance liquid chromatography; PBS, phosphate-buffered saline     

Nanotechnology in automotive industry: research strategy and trends for the future-small objects, big impacts

The goal of this paper is to emphasize and present briefly the nanotechnology science and its potential impact on the automotive industry in order to improve the production of recent models with an optimization of the safety performance and a reduction in the environmental impacts. Nanomaterials can be applied in car bodies as light weight constructions without compromising the stiffness and crashwortiness, which means less material and less fuel consumption. This paper outlines the progress of nanotechnology applications into the safety features of more recent vehicle models and fuel efficiency, but also emphasis the importance of sustainable development on the application of these technologies and life cycle analysis of the considered materials, in order to meet the society trends and customers demands to improve ecology, safety and comfort.     

In situ impact testing of a light-rail ballasted track with tyre-derived aggregate subballast layer

In this study, the dynamic behaviour of ballasted track with and without tyre-derived aggregate (TDA) as subballast layer was assessed using impulse–response (IR) test. For this purpose, a prototype of a ballasted track was established and many IR tests were carried out. The obtained results were represented in three different kinds of velocity–time, velocity–distance and velocity–frequency curves. Processing of the obtained results revealed that TDA efficiency in terms of vibration reduction was in the range of 17–46 dB when the impact was applied to the ballast and it was in the ranges of 6–32 dB and 6–47 dB while impact locations were on the sleeper and rail, respectively. Overall, it was proven that TDA with the particle size of 5–50 mm and thickness of 200 mm reduced by 6–47 dB in vertical vibrations with the dominant frequency range of 32–63 Hz.