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Statement of the Problem: Early detection of caries and the extent of carious lesions for appropriate treatment planning are very important and lead to introduction of new diagnostic tools.Purpose: This study aimed to compare the diagnostic accuracy of VistaCam IX Proxi and bitewing radiography for detection of posterior interproximal caries.Materials and Method: This in vitro study was performed on 40 extracted posterior teeth without cavitated carious lesions. Bitewing radiographs were obtained, infrared (IR) examination was performed, and the teeth were sectioned for histopathological analysis under a stereomicroscope as the gold standard for detection of caries and determination of the extent of carious lesions. Data were analyzed with Cohen’s kappa statistic, and Wilcoxon rank sum test.Results: The specificity of VistaCam IX Proxi and bitewing radiography was 71.4% and 87.7%, respectively. Their sensitivity was 100% and 40% for enamel caries, 72.8% and 54.5% for external half dentin caries, and 82.3% and 58.8% for internal half dentin caries, respectively (p= 0.048).Conclusion: Bitewing radiography had a higher specificity and lower rate of false positive results. However, VistaCam IX Proxi had higher sensitivity for caries detection with lower rate of false negative results. Considering the higher sensitivity and significantly lower frequency of false negative results by VistaCam IX Proxi, it may be reliably used for caries detection specially enamel caries, and can serve as an adjunct to bitewing radiography.

The present paper deals with the status of trade in Khorasan and Transoxania in the Timurid period, which is one of the elements that make up the Timurid economy. In this paper, based on the data in the sources and with a descriptive-analytical approach, the regional trade situation has been examined from the advent of Timor to the end of the Boeera rule. The article puts forward the fundamental question of how the business situation in Khorasan and Transoxania was during the Timurid era. In this paper, it has been shown that attention to the trade category in the view of Amiran Teimouri, the geographic location of these two important regions, commodity diversity and the growth of several major cities in these areas are a series of factors affecting the prosperity of trade in Khorasan and Transoxania. The trade of these areas, with the support of these factors and the exposure to economic policies of the emirs of Timurid, has a dynamic business. Therefore, with relative prosperity in the components of the regional trade in the Timurid period, we face.

In this paper, a new relationship is presented for determining the ultimate flexural load of reinforced concrete beams strengthened with CFRP laminates. An artificial neural network with a suitable performance was used to estimate this equation. First, a collection of laboratory results including 83 data was collected from valid references. This database was then divided into three groups of 51, 16, and 16, which were used to train, validation, and test the proposed equation, respectively. The final model had eleven inputs including concrete compressive strength, width of beam, effective depth, area of tension reinforcement, area of compression reinforcement, yield strength of steel, modulus of elasticity of steel, modulus of elasticity of CFRP sheet, width of CFRP sheet, total thickness of CFRP sheets and, length of CFRP sheet, which were applied to the network to determine the ultimate flexural load as the output of the model. The obtained results from the proposed relationship showed that it was able to use as a predictive equation for the considered target.

Application of group method of data handling (GMDH) to predict the capacity of reinforced concrete beams strengthened with CFRP laminate has been investigated in this paper. The proposed model considers nine parameters including concrete compressive strength, width of beam, effective depth, area of tension reinforcement, area of compression reinforcement, yield strength of steel, modulus of elasticity of steel, width of CFRP sheet, length of CFRP sheet. There are fourteen second order polynomials in three middle layers and an output layer. The coefficients of these polynomials are determined based on a collection of experimental laboratory tests, which were collected from the literature. In addition, 66 datasets were used to estimate unknown coefficients of the polynomials. To validate the model, 17 datasets were considered from the collected database. The results of the proposed GMDH showed that it can use as a predictive model for determining the ultimate flexural capacity of reinforced concrete beams strengthened with CFRP laminates.

The aim of this paper is a determination of the shear strength of fiber reinforced polymer reinforced concrete flexural members without stirrups. For this purpose, a neural network approach was used. The weights and biases of the considered network determined based on best values which were optimized from the particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO). For training the model, a collection of 108 datasets which was published in literature was applied. Six inputs including the compressive strength of concrete, flexural FRP reinforcement ratio, modulus of elasticity for FRP, shear span-to-depth ratio, member web width and adequate member depth used for creating the model while the shear strength considered as the output. The best structure for the network was obtained by a network with one hidden layer and ten nodes. The results indicated that artificial neural networks based on particle swarm optimization algorithm could be able to predict the strength of the considered RC elements.

Statement of the Problem: Early detection of caries and the extent of carious lesions for appropriate treatment planning are very important and lead to introduction of new diagnostic tools. Purpose: This study aimed to compare the diagnostic accuracy of VistaCam IX Proxi and bitewing radiography for detection of posterior interproximal caries. Materials and Method: This in vitro study was performed on 40 extracted posterior teeth without cavitated carious lesions. Bitewing radiographs were obtained, infrared (IR) examination was performed, and the teeth were sectioned for histopathological analysis under a stereomicroscope as the gold standard for detection of caries and determination of the extent of carious lesions. Data were analyzed with Cohen’s kappa statistic, and Wilcoxon rank sum test. Results: The specificity of VistaCam IX Proxi and bitewing radiography was 71.4% and 87.7%, respectively. Their sensitivity was 100% and 40% for enamel caries, 72.8% and 54.5% for external half dentin caries, and 82.3% and 58.8% for internal half dentin caries, respectively (p= 0.048). Conclusion: Bitewing radiography had a higher specificity and lower rate of false positive results. However, VistaCam IX Proxi had higher sensitivity for caries detection with lower rate of false negative results. Considering the higher sensitivity and significantly lower frequency of false negative results by VistaCam IX Proxi, it may be reliably used for caries detection specially enamel caries, and can serve as an adjunct to bitewing radiography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Shift work can be associated with decreasing performance, changing eating habits, getting into conditions such as fatigue and insomnia, developing individual and social life disorders and health problems. This study is aimed to investigate the prevalence of shift work disorders among nurses working in Ilam’s teaching hospitals in order to provide solutions for dealing with these disorders. Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive – analytical study in which 84 nurses of Ilam’s teaching hospitals had been chosen by simple random sampling. The data had been collected by “Survey of Shift Worker” (SOS) questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS (version 18) and descriptive statistics and Chi-2 test. Results: Results indicated that shift work disorders are prevalence among nurses. Emotional and Mental problems (96.4%), Social Life (84.5%), digestive problems (81%) have the highest prevalence rate respectively. Nurses who volunteered to work shifts have more job satisfaction than the ones who were obliged to do that (P

Surimi is a high quality myofibrillar protein concentrate that is obtained from cheap and underutilized fish species. In this research, surimi burger was prepared from Sarm (Scomberiodes commersonnianus) surimi (60%) and other ingredients. Some quality attributes of surimi burger were investigated during 3 months of frozen storage at -20°C. Fat value was determined in fresh raw surimi and surimi burger. Physical properties such as color stability (L, a and b values) and textural hardness before and after cooking were determined for surimi burgers during frozen storage at -20°C. Results showed that the hardness of surimi burgers and cooked samples were 768gf and 204gf, respectively at-the beginning of storage, and it was increased at the end of storage (921gf for surimi burger and 462gf for the cooked sample). Hardness showed significant difference through storage (P0.05).

Introduction: Epidermodysplasia verruciformis(EV) is a very rare, chronic and inherited disorder characterized by widespread and persistent HPV infection. EV Patients present with widespread, discrete or confluent lesions that clinically indistinguishable from plane warts , scaly hyper or hypopigmented macules closely resemble pityriasis versicolor, and thicker plaques may resemble seborrbeic keratosis. Susceptibility to the virus is inherited, usually autosomal recessive. The disease usually manifests in childhood and continue throughout the life. The most important complication is cutaneous changes of dysplasia and malignancy. Case Report: We report a 19 years old boy with clinical and histopathological findings compatible with EV and cutaneous changes of dysplasia and malignancy. Conclusion: We concluded that in patients with combination of plane warts, pityriasis versicolor-like lesions and reddish plaques, it may be considered EV, and it is recommended to evaluate cutaneous changes of dysplasia and malignancy.

‏ In this research the effects of two common cooking processes of foods, namely, autoclave and extrusion cooking on the molecular and physicochemical properties of wheat starch were investigated. The results showed that the solubility of the autoclaved samples increased with increasing the temperature while their relative viscosity decreased. These findings indicated that the molecular degradation of starch could occur during autoclave cooking. Moreover, constant sedimentation coefficient (s-value) of amylose and decreasing the s-value of amylopectin with increasing the temperature further confirmed degradation of amylopectin in particular. The results of the extruded samples showed that reduction in water content may increase the shear and pressure produced during extrusion cooking, which in turn could cause several changes in starch properties including degradation of starch granules, formation of amylose-lipid complex and degradation of amylopectin (as determined by reduction of the s-values). Also, reduction in water content could increase the puffiness of the final products and reduce the cold-water and final viscosities of the extruded samples. These observations may indicate the importance of the molecular studies of starch for better interpretation of physical changes of the final products.

Application of ultrasound process is growing in food industry for different purposes including homogenization, extraction, blanching and removal of microorganisms, etc. On the other hand, starch is a natural polymer which exists in many foods or added into the food as an additive. Therefore, determination of the effects of ultrasound on starch characteristics can be useful in interpretation of the properties of starch-containing products. The main aim of this study was to determine the physicochemical changes of wheat starch treated by ultrasound waves. Therefore, an ultrasound probe device was used which ran at 20 kHz, 100 W and 22°C. Starch suspension in distilled water (30% w/w) was prepared and treated with ultrasound for 5, 10, 15 and 20 min. The results showed that increases in processing duration led to increases in water solubility of starch, water absorption and gel clarity (as determined by spectrophotometry). Starch intrinsic viscosity as measured using an Ostwald U-tube showed lower intrinsic viscosity with increases in ultrasound time. Gel strength of the samples as determined using a texture analyzer was reduced by longer processing time. The scanning electron microscopy revealed that increasing the duration time of the ultrasound treatment could produce some cracks and spots on the surface of the granules. In total, it was concluded that the ultrasound treatment resulted in some changes from the starch granular scale to molecular levels. Some of the starch molecules were degraded upon ultrasound processing. Such changes may be observed for the starch-containing foods treated with ultrasound and they are enhanced with increases in ultrasound time intervals.

Objectives Considering the significance of early detection of caries and determining the extent of carious lesions for appropriate treatment planning, as well as introduction of new diagnostic tools, this study aimed to compare VistaCam iX (850 nm infrared), and DIAGNOdent (655 nm) for detection of proximal caries in posterior teeth. Methods This in vitro study was performed on 40 extracted sound posterior teeth. VistaCam and DIAGNOdent examinations were performed. The teeth were sectioned for histopathological examination under a stereomicroscope to determine the presence/absence of caries and extent of carious lesion, if any (to serve as the gold-standard). Data were analyzed with the Cohen’s kappa statistic, and Wilcoxon Rank Sum test. Results The specificity of VistaCam iX and DIAGNOdent was 71.4% and 42.8%, respectively. Their sensitivity was 100% and 40% for enamel caries, and 92.8% and 53.5% for dentin caries, respectively (P=0.048). The specificity and sensitivity of DIAGNOdent were higher, and it had lower rate of false positive and false negative results. Conclusion Considering the higher sensitivity and significantly lower rate of false negative results of VistaCam iX for detection of proximal caries, it may be recommended as an efficient tool for caries detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives To evaluate barriers for production of scientific dental articles by Iranian dental faculty members. Methods An anonymous self-administered questionnaire distributed among faculty members of all dental schools in Iran during June-December 2010. The respondents rated their level of agreement with eleven sentences regarding what they perceive as barriers on scientific dental article production based on a 5-point Likert scale. The data were analyzed using Chi-square test. Results Totally, 330 faculty members completed the questionnaires; >50% were men, and >40 year-olds. About threefourth of the respondents were assistant professor. More than 80% of the respondents reported to have at least one published Persian article and >50% at least one published English article; older faculty members more than younger, and associate professors more than other academic ranks (p<0.01). "No access to an English editing center", "insufficient skill for scientific writing in English", "inappropriate condition for writing in dental school", and "time limit due to high load of clinical work in dental school" were top four rated perceived barriers. Conclusion The concerns of faculty members for the production of scientific dental documents must be considered. Provision of proper time and condition for writing in the dental school, enhancement of their capacity for scientific writing and establishment of an English editing center in each university may facilitate scientific article production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the sucrose replacement by different concentrations as well as a combination of isomalt, maltodextrin, and stevia was approached to produce sugar-free biscuits. Some parameters of produced sugar-free biscuits such as dough rheology, texture, color, volume and density after baking under controlled conditions were investigated using instrumentally and sensory evaluation. The increment in the concentration of incorporated isomalt resulted in harder texture as well as lower volume. Prepared biscuits with 6% isomalt, 2.5% maltodextrin, and 0.06% stevia were reported as darker, and 3% isomalt, 2.5% maltodextrin, and 0.07% stevia were noted as lighter among the investigated samples. Incorporation of 6% isomalt, 2.5% maltodextrin, and 0.06% stevia resulted in the biscuits more comparable to elaborate one with sucrose, and with the highest acceptance level in sensory evaluations. However, the lowest level of quality biscuits was obtained using 0.06% stevia solely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to investigate the possibility of reducing energy content in emulsion type sausages by replacing fat with inulin. In the manufactured product, the fat content was reduced to 6%-18% and replaced by inulin and water. The quality of the resulting product was determined by chemical and texture profile analyses (TPA), color measurement and sensory evaluation. The results showed that replacing fat with inulin led to a significant energy content reduction of up to 64% (with 6% inulin and 12% water). In addition, color measurement, sensory evaluation and TPA were comparable to the traditional product in the inulin treated samples. The overall acceptability of all experimental groups was adequate; therefore, inulin is suggested as a good replacement for fat in emulsion type sausages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seeds of Moringa peregrina (Forssk.) Fiori. (Moringaceae) is widely used in south east of Iran for gastrointestinal disorders. However, so far there is no pharmacological evidence for antispasmodic activity of this plant extract. Therefore, the aim of this research was to investigate antispasmodic activity of M. peregrina on rat isolated ileum contraction. Hydroalcoholic extract was obtained by percolation method from seeds and leaves of M. peregrina collected from Baluchestan province of Iran. A portion of isolated rat ileum was suspended under 1 g tension in Tyrode's solution at 37 ?C and gassed with O2. Effects of seeds and leaves extracts of M. peregrina were studied on ileum contractions induced by KCl (80 mM), acetylcholine (ACh, 250 µM) and electrical field stimulation (EFS). The seed extract of M. peregrina concentration dependently inhibited the response to KCl (IC50=87 ± 18 μg/ml), ACh (IC50=118 ± 18 μg/ml) and EFS (IC50=230 ± 51 μg/ml). The extract of M. peregrina leaves also had inhibitory effect of ileum contraction induced by KCl (IC50=439 ± 108 μg/ml), ACh (IC50=365 ± 61 μg/ml) or EFS (IC50=314 ± 92 μg/ml). From these experiments it was concluded that M. peregrina extract mainly had an inhibitory effect on ileum contractions but the seed extract was more potent than the leave extract in inhibiting KCl and ACh contractile responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iran is one of the most important fig producer countries around the world. Intermediate moisture fig is a processed product. One problem about intermediate moisture fig is that the color will be changed and transmute to brown during storage after processing. The purpose of this research was to study soaking temperature and time effects and to evaluate the effects of calcium chloride, cysteine, sodium metabisulphite and citric acid in various concentrations on prevention of semi-moisture fig browning at room temperature. Chemical compounds (protein, total sugar, fat, fiber and moisture) of fig samples were determined. In order to prepare product five different periods of time(3, 6, 9, 12, 15 min) and five different degrees of temperature (20, 40, 60, 80, 100°C) based on central composite rotational design were used. Samples were kept in room temperature for 2 weeks to evaluate the effects of soaking parameters on color and texture of product. After that moisture, color and texture of samples were determined. First different solution of calcium chloride (0.6, 1, 1.5, 2% w/w), citric acid (0.5, 1, 2, 3%w/w), cysteine (0.05, 0.07, 0.2, 0.5%w/w) and sodium metabisulphite (500, 800, 1000 and 1200 ppm ) were prepared. Dried figs were dipped in prepared solutions and water was used to evaluate control samples to optimize the time and temperature, then color of the samples were measured in specific period of time during four months. Results showed that temperature of 60°C and 3min interval provided 20% moisture in the product which assessed as the best moisture content for preserving color and texture. The most desirable L value was obtained using citric acid (1, 2, 3%w/w) and Calcium chloride (1.5%w/w). However sodium metabisulphite and cysteine in concentration of 0.07%, 0.05%, 0.2% showed significant difference with control, the results were not satisfactory. Results showed that using suitable temperature in rehydration of fig to inactivate poly phenol oxidase and chemical treatments to postpone and reduce the browning reaction rate were effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]