HIV Prevalence and Related Behaviors Among People Who Inject Drugs in Iran from 2010 to 2020

AIDS and Behavior - Injection drug use has been the leading route of HIV transmission in Iran. We assessed HIV prevalence, risk behaviors, and uptake of prevention services among people who inject...     

Ultrasonographic findings of experimental glaucoma in rabbits

Ocular ultrasonography is a valid and non-invasive diagnostic method used to evaluate ocular and retrobulbar structures, especially when opacity of the anterior segments precludes ophthalmic examination of deeper structures of the eye or when exophthalmos is present. This study describes the B-mode ultrasonographic findings of the globe in 10 rabbits with experimental glaucoma. Ultrasonography of the eyes, using Titan TM machine and 7 MHz linear array transducer, was performed transpalpebrally. Ocular ultrasonographic findings revealed two cases of increased corneal thickness, seven cases of change in the anterior chamber depth, one case of increased echogenicity in the anterior chamber, three cases of retinal detachment, one case of increased iris and ciliary body thickness and six cases of change in axial globe length. Increased echogenicity of the capsule, cortex and nucleus was found in two cases. Six cases showed change in lens diameter. Increased echogenicity and altered lens diameter are typical of cataract. Two cases of point-like lesions, mass and/or linear echodensities in mild extent were observed within the vitreous representing haemorrhage, vitreous degeneration or detachment. The B-mode ultrasonographic imaging technique has become an essential diagnostic tool in most ocular disease. This method provides additional information allowing the clinician to offer more accurate diagnosis, treatment and prognosis in glaucoma.     

Trend in dental research output in Iran over a period of 20 years (1990–2009)

Introduction: The number of scientific papers is a conventional metric for the measurement of a country’s research performance in a particular area. Objective: To evaluate the trend in Iranian publications of dental research results in peer-reviewed international scientific journals over the period 1999–2009, using national and international databases, and to compare the results with other countries. Methods: The search process was performed by two independent persons in PubMed and Iranian Medline (IranMedex). Data extraction included the year of publication, total number of dental papers in each year, total number of Iranian dental papers in each year and number of papers with a high level of evidence; these were compared with those in other Asian countries. Results: The total number of dental articles indexed in PubMed during the studied period was 207,689, with 671 being written by researchers who stated their affiliation as Iran. Although the proportion of Iranian dental articles to all published dental articles was 0.01% in 1990, this increased to 1.4% in 2009. Of all clinical trials indexed in PubMed from 1990 to 2009, only 0.62% had an author from Iran. The collaboration rate of authors ranged between 1 and 10. Turkey and Iran had a larger number of dental research publications compared with other Asian countries assessed in this study. Conclusion: During the last two decades, there has been a considerable increase in the number of dental papers by Iranian researchers indexed in the PubMed database.Key words: Dental, research, Iran     

Chemometric Models for Quantification of Carbamazepine Anhydrous and Dihydrate Forms in the Formulation

Carbamazepine (CBZ) exists in anhydrous and dihydrate forms. These forms differ in their solubility, dissolution rate, and subsequently in their oral bioavailability. The objective of this study is to develop multivariate chemometric models for estimation of the low level of carbamazepine dihydrate (CBZ-DH) in the CBZ formulations containing excipients of the commercial formulation. The selected excipients were mixed in proportions to make sample matrices ranging from 0% to 50% CBZ-DH. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), near infrared (NIR), and hyperspectral imaging data were mathematically pretreated before the development of partial least square and principal component analysis regression models. The developed partial least squares regression and principal component analysis models demonstrated predictability of CBZ and CBZ-DH by multiple scattering correction and standard normal variate processing methods. Among the spectroscopic techniques used the model performance parameters such as root-mean-square error, standard error, and bias were found to be low for NIR compared to FTIR. The treated data have shown better model fitting than without treatment, which was demonstrated by correlation coefficient of 0.9778, 0.9824, and 0.9852 for FTIR, NIR, and hyperspectral imaging, respectively. Furthermore, the predicted values were found to be very close to the selected low level of independent samples having 5% CBZ-DH in tablet formulation.     

Resting energy expenditure: a better marker than BMI for BMD in African-American women

PURPOSE: African-American women tend to be more overweight and to have lower resting energy expenditures (REE) compared with Caucasian women. Weight is associated with bone mineral density (BMD), but the relation between BMD and REE has not been reported. METHODS: Four hundred postmenopausal African-American women aged 45-87 (yr) from San Diego, CA participated in this community-based cross-sectional study. Body composition (fat mass, lean body mass), bone mineral content (BMC) and BMD of the lumbar spine, hip (femoral neck, greater trochanter, intertrochanter), and total body were measured using dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA). REE was calculated using the Harris-Benedict equation; grip strength was measured by isometric dynamometry. RESULTS: REE (r range: 0.32-0.79) showed the strongest correlation with spine, total hip, and total body BMC and BMD. In stepwise multiple linear regressions adjusted for age and grip strength, REE explained 15% of the variance in spine BMD, 33% of the variance in total hip, and 32% of the total body BMD variance. REE explained 63% of the total body BMC variance. When body weight replaced REE in the models, weight became the strongest covariate of BMC and BMD but explained 1% less of the variance in spine BMD, 5% less of the variance in total hip BMD, 4% less of the variance in total body BMD, and 3% less of the variances in spine, total hip, and total body BMC than did REE. CONCLUSION: In this cohort of African-American women, weight explained less of the BMC and BMD variance than REE. Poor energy economy may contribute to being overweight and may explain the lower rates of osteoporosis observed in African-American women.