Congenital factor X deficiency: spectrum of bleeding symptoms in 32 Iranian patients

The spectrum of the clinical manifestations of congenital factor X deficiency was studied in 32 Iranian patients. The most frequent symptom was epistaxis, which occurred in 72% of patients, with all degrees of deficiency. Other mucosal haemorrhages (e.g. haematuria, gastrointestinal bleeding) were less frequent and occurred mainly in patients with unmeasurable factor X. Menorrhagia occurred in half of the women of reproductive age. Soft tissue bleeding occurred in two-thirds of the patients; spontaneous haematomas and haemarthroses led to severe arthropathy in five patients. Bleeding from the umbilical stump was an unexpected finding in nine patients. This study demonstrated that the bleeding tendency of factor X deficiency is severe and correlates with factor levels.     

Factor V (Arg 506-->Gln) mutation in young survivors of myocardial infarction

Many young patients with venous thromboembolic disease are partially resistant to the anticoagulant action of activated protein C as a result of factor V (Arg 506 --> Gln) mutation. The frequency of this mutation in young patients with arterial thrombotic diseases, such as myocardial infarction, is less well established. We studied 100 young patients with myocardial infarction and 100 age- and sex-matched controls. One patient (1%; 95% CL 0.05-6.2) and two controls (2%; 95% CL 0.3-7.7) were heterozygotes for the mutation; there was no homozygote in either group. Hence, premature myocardial infarction is not associated with heterozygosity for factor V (Arg 506 --> Gln) mutation.     

Improving image inpainting quality by a new SVD-based decomposition

Multimedia Tools and Applications - In this paper, we present a new algorithm for image inpainting using structure and texture information. Our image decomposition to texture and structure is...     

Illuminant metamerism potentiality of metameric pairs

Indices for describing the degree of metamerism are based on either the deviation of the spectra of a metameric pair or the colour difference of the pair under test conditions. The magnitude of illuminant metamerism is commonly evaluated by measuring the colour difference under the test illuminant. The calculated colour differences absolutely vary with the selected test illuminants, so the measured (special) index of metamerism could be considered as a test‐illuminant‐dependent value. The spectral‐based indices of metamerism act as a single‐number value, but most of them are criticised for their poor correlation with visual assessment. In this paper, a general metric is developed for evaluating the upper limit of the degree of illuminant metamerism. The suggested approach combines the advantages of general and special indices, avoiding their drawbacks at the same time. The performance of the formula is analysed in a number of numerical experiments, as well as by practical testing.     

Location-aware hazardous litter management for smart emergency governance in urban eco-cyber-physical systems

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Smart city management is facing a new challenge from littered face masks during COVID-19 pandemic. Addressing the issues of detection and collection of this...     

Perceived demands and musculoskeletal symptoms among employees of an Iranian petrochemical industry

As a part of a comprehensive ergonomics program, this study was conducted among employees of an Iranian petrochemical industry to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms and to examine the relationship between perceived demands and reported symptoms. In this cross-sectional study, 928 randomly selected employees, corresponding to nearly 40% of all employees participated. Nordic Musculoskeletal Disorder Questionnaire and Job Content Questionnaire were used as collecting data tools. The results showed that 73% of the study population had experienced some form of symptoms from the musculoskeletal system during the last 12 months. Knees and lower back symptoms were the most prevalent problem among the employees studied. The results revealed that perceived physical demands were significantly associated with musculoskeletal symptoms (OR ranged from 1.45 to 2.33). Among the perceived physical demands, awkward working postures were most frequently associated with reported musculoskeletal symptoms. Association was also found between perceived psychological demands and reported symptoms. Conflicting demands, waiting on work from other people or departments, interruption that other make, working very fast and time pressure were psychological factors retained in the regression models with OR ≥ 1.49. Based on the findings, it could be concluded that any interventional program for preventing or reducing musculoskeletal symptoms among the petrochemical employees studied had to focus on reducing physical demands, particularly awkward working postures as well as psychological aspect of working environment.

Relevance to industry

In petrochemical industry where employees are involved in both static and dynamic activities, determination of musculoskeletal symptoms contributing factors can be considered as a basis for planning and implementing interventional ergonomics program for preventing musculoskeletal symptoms and improving working conditions.     

Influence of temperature on the performance of gamma densitometer

The temperature plays an important role in performance of the gamma densitometer system and can lead to inaccurate results. In order to investigate the effects of temperature, we used our gamma densitometer that is composed of NaI(Tl) crystal, photomultiplier tube (PMT), high voltage (HV) power supply, single channel analyzer (SCA) and ¹³⁷Cs source. In this paper, we consider the effect of temperature on crystal-PMT, SCA, HV power supply separately and on performance of gamma densitometer itself. Then acquired data were corrected to compensate the temperature effects by proposed method which improves system accuracy up to three times.     

Study of the slow-fast preamplifier input parameter’s effects on output image for LYSO scintillator with PS-PMT based animal PET

We developed a small animal positron emission tomography with four detector heads, each one composed of 2 × 2 cm² of pixilated LYSO matrix of 10 × 10 crystals, 2 × 2 mm wide and 10 mm deep coupled to position sensitive photomultiplier (PS-PMT, Hamamatsu R8900U-00-C12). Anger-type logic discretized positioning circuit (DPC) multiplexed readout connected to PMT of each head. The fast-slow preamplifier is used in the fabricated animal PET. We showed that the input capacitance of the preamplifier (the capacitance in the output node of the resistive network) has a direct effect on output image. Image broadening, peak to valley ratio and the geometry distortion of crystal illustration are studied for different input capacitance of preamplifier. The input capacitance of 1 nF resulted in the best image by keeping all the parameters at the proper level with no geometry distortion at the edge of the image.     

An Optimal Experimental-Monte Carlo Combined Model for Analyzing of the Cement Raw by Prompt Gamma Neutron Activation

Cement raw materials consist of some minerals that their amount affects the final cement properties. A continuous controlling system to check the constitutive elements is inevitable for cement industries. Prompt Gamma-Ray Neutron Activation Analyze is an applicable technique used to analyze the minerals percent online. Cement raw materials consist of some minerals that their amount affects the final cement properties. In this paper, an optimal experimental-Monte Carlo model is proposed to extract the amount of components in the test samples. Using this procedure, the percentage of the constitutive elements in the cement raw can be determined more easily and precisely. The acquired results from analysis of the cement samples using the proposed method revealed a good agreement with the results of X-ray fluorescence analysis.