Objeetive:To investigate the effect of Iranian honey,cinnamon and their combination against Streptococcus mutans bacteria.Methods:Nine experimental solutions were examined in this study,including two types of honey (pasteurized and sterilized),two types of cinnamon extract (dissolved in distilled water or dimethyl sulfoxide) and five different mixtures of cinnamon in honey (prepared by admixing 1％-5％ w/w of cinnamon extract into 99％-95％ w/w of honey,respectively).Meanwhile,each of mentioned agent was considered as the first solution while it was diluted into seven serially two-fold dilutions (from 1∶2 to 1∶128 v/v).Therefore,eight diffcrent concentrations of each agent were tested.The antibacterial tests were performed through blood agar well diffusion method,and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined.Ultimately,the data were subjected to statistical analysis incorporating Two-way ANOVA and Bonferroni post hoc tests (α =0.01).Results:The highest zone of inhibition was recorded for the mixtures of honey and cinnamon while all the subgroups containing 95％-99％ v/v of honey were in the same range (P ＜ 0.01).The MIC for both honey solutions were obtained as 500 mg/mL whereas it was 50 mg/mL for both cinnamon solutions.Moreover,the MIC related to all honey/cinnamon mixtures were 200 mg/mL.Conclusions:A profound synergistic effect of honey and cinnamon was observed against Streptococcus mutans while there was no significant difference among extracts containing 99％-95％ v/v of honey admixing with 1％-5％ v/v of cinnamon,respectively.

BACKGROUND: The current study assessed a recently developed resuscitation protocol for bleeding trauma patients called the Targeted Transfusion Protocol (TTP) and compared its results with those of the standard Massive Transfusion Protocol (MTP). METHODS: Per capita utilization of blood products such as packed red blood cells (RBCs), fresh frozen plasma (FFP), and platelet concentrates was compared along with mortality rates during two 6-month periods, one in 2011 (when the standard MTP was followed) and another in 2014 (when the TTP was used). In the TTP, patients were categorized into three groups based on the presence of head injuries, long bone fractures, or penetrating injuries involving the trunk, extremities, or neck who were resuscitated according to separate algorithms. All cases had experienced motor vehicle accidents and had injury severity scores over 16. RESULTS: No statistically significant differences were observed between the study groups at hospital admission. Per capita utilization of RBC (4.76 ± 0.92 vs. 3.37 ± 0.55; P = 0.037), FFP (3.71 ± 1.00 vs. 2.40 ± 0.52; P = 0.025), and platelet concentrate (1.18 ± 0.30 vs. 0.55 ± 0.18; P = 0.006) blood products were significantly lower in the TTP epoch. Mortality rates were similar between the two study periods (P = 0.74). CONCLUSIONS: Introduction of the TTP reduced the requirements for RBCs, FFP, and platelet concentrates in severely injured trauma patients.
Blood Platelets ; Craniocerebral Trauma ; Erythrocytes ; Extremities ; Fractures, Bone ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Injury Severity Score ; Mortality ; Motor Vehicles ; Neck ; Plasma ; Resuscitation ; Wounds and Injuries

PURPOSE: Acute appendicitis (AA) is one of the most common causes of an acute abdomen. The accuracies of the Alvarado and the acute inflammatory response (AIR) scores in the diagnosis of appendicitis is very low in Asian populations, so a new scoring system, the Raja Isteri Pengiran Anak Saleha Appendicitis (RIPASA) system, was designed recently. We applied and compared the Alvarado, AIR, and RIPASA scores in the diagnoses of appendicitis in the Iranian population. METHODS: We prospectively compared the RIPASA, Alvarado, and AIR systems by applying them to 100 patients. All the scores were calculated for patients who presented with right quadrant pain. Appendectomies were performed; then, the postoperative pathology reports were correlated with the scores. Scores of 8, 7, and 5 or more are optimal cutoffs for the RIPASA, Alvarado, and AIR scoring systems, respectively. The sensitivities, specificities, positive predictive values, negative predictive values (NPVs), positive and negative likelihood ratios (LRs) for the 3 systems were determined. RESULTS: The sensitivity and the specificity of the RIPASA score were 93.18% and 91.67%, respectively. The sensitivities of the Alvarado and the AIR scores were both 78.41%. The specificities of the Alvarado and the AIR scores were 100% and 91.67%, respectively. The RIPASA score correctly classified 93% of all patients confirmed with histological AA compared with 78.41% for the Alvarado and the AIR scores. CONCLUSION: The RIPASA scoring system had more sensitivity, better NPV, a positive LR, and a less negative LR for the Iranian population whereas the Alvarado scoring system was more specific.
Abdomen, Acute ; Appendectomy ; Appendicitis* ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Pathology ; Prospective Studies ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Skates (Fish)*

OBJECTIVES: The association between the spread of infectious diseases and climate parameters has been widely studied in recent decades. In this paper, we formulate, exploit, and compare three variations of the susceptible-infected-recovered (SIR) model incorporating climate data. The SIR model is a well-studied model to investigate the dynamics of influenza viruses; however, the improved versions of the classic model have been developed by introducing external factors into the model. METHODS: The modification models are derived by multiplying a linear combination of three complementary factors, namely, temperature (T), precipitation (P), and humidity (H) by the transmission rate. The performance of these proposed models is evaluated against the standard model for two outbreak seasons. RESULTS: The values of the root-mean-square error (RMSE) and the Akaike information criterion (AIC) improved as they declined from 8.76 to 7.05 and from 98.12 to 93.01 for season 2013/14, respectively. Similarly, for season 2014/15, the RMSE and AIC decreased from 8.10 to 6.45 and from 117.73 to 107.91, respectively. The estimated values of R(t) in the framework of the standard and modified SIR models are also compared. CONCLUSIONS: Through simulations, we determined that among the studied environmental factors, precipitation showed the strongest correlation with the transmission dynamics of influenza. Moreover, the SIR+P+T model is the most efficient for simulating the behavioral dynamics of influenza in the area of interest.
Basic Reproduction Number ; Climate ; Communicable Diseases ; Epidemiology ; Humidity ; Influenza, Human* ; Iran* ; Least-Squares Analysis ; Orthomyxoviridae ; Seasons

Objective To investigate the effect of Iranian honey, cinnamon and their combination against Streptococcus mutans bacteria. Methods Nine experimental solutions were examined in this study, including two types of honey (pasteurized and sterilized), two types of cinnamon extract (dissolved in distilled water or dimethyl sulfoxide) and five different mixtures of cinnamon in honey (prepared by admixing 1%–5% w/w of cinnamon extract into 99%–95% w/w of honey, respectively). Meanwhile, each of mentioned agent was considered as the first solution while it was diluted into seven serially two-fold dilutions (from 1:2 to 1:128 v/v). Therefore, eight different concentrations of each agent were tested. The antibacterial tests were performed through blood agar well diffusion method, and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined. Ultimately, the data were subjected to statistical analysis incorporating Two-way ANOVA and Bonferroni post hoc tests (α = 0.01). Results The highest zone of inhibition was recorded for the mixtures of honey and cinnamon while all the subgroups containing 95%–99% v/v of honey were in the same range (P < 0.01). The MIC for both honey solutions were obtained as 500 mg/mL whereas it was 50 mg/mL for both cinnamon solutions. Moreover, the MIC related to all honey/cinnamon mixtures were 200 mg/mL. Conclusions A profound synergistic effect of honey and cinnamon was observed against Streptococcus mutans while there was no significant difference among extracts containing 99%–95% v/v of honey admixing with 1%–5% v/v of cinnamon, respectively.