Aim\nTo compare the choroidal thickness of newly diagnosed MS patients without ocular pathologies to normal population using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT).\n\nMethods\n50 Multiple Sclerosis patients without any history of ocular involvement or treatment were included in study group. The control group consisted of age and gender matched healthy individuals. Choroidal thickness measurements were performed using a high-speed and high-resolution SD-OCT device. Statistical analysis was performed using the statistical package SPSS v21.0 (SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL, USA).\n\nResults\nIn the study group, 50 eyes of 50 participants were investigated. The mean age of the participants was 26.5.3±5.0. The mean choroidal thickness at the fovea of the study and the control groups were 326± 98? and 317±81? respectively. When compared there was no significant difference between groups (p=0.08). Although the CT of MS patients were thinner than control group at temporal 1000?m and 1500?m (301± 94? and 297± 86? respectively); the difference was not statistically significant in these areas either (p=0.59 and p=0.53 respectively).\n\n\nConclusions\nIn this study we did not found any significant difference between CT of MS patients and healthy individuals. This may be due to the early stages of the disease and the relatively young age of our study group. This study could be accepted as a preliminary report, for a comparison between patients with different stages of the disease would give more precise data.

Introduction: Totally implantable venous access devices have great importance in the management of patients with oncologic patients who are submitted to prolonged intravenous treatments. The aim this retrospective study was to investigate early and late complications due to percutaneous insertion and use of these access devices.\nMaterials and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 331 totally implantable venous access device procedures in 324 patients between 2010 and 2014. All catheters placed in the operating theatre under local anesthesia. We evaluated early and late complications and their managements were recorded.\nResults: 213 male and 111 female patients were enrolled in the study. The mean age of the patients was 48.7±17.9 (16 to 77) years. 289 of devices were implanted from right side and the remaining 42 from the left side. We observed 86 early and 16 late complications during the study period. All implantation procedure was technically successful and no patient had died due to catheter insertion or any complication.\nConclusion: Results of our study demonstrate that totally implantable venous access devices are safe procedures. Most of the early complications are related with implantation technique and late complications are related with either material fatigue or inelaborate usage of the catheters.

The root, stem and leaf anatomy of 4 taxa of Scutellaria L. albida (S. albida subsp. albida, S. albida subsp. velenovskyi, S. albida subsp. colchica, and S. albida subsp. condensata) were studied in order to understand the usefulness of these characteristics for systematic purposes. The roots displays a typical stele structure in all studied taxa. But their number of pith rays are different in each taxa. The stems of S. albida taxa have square like transection, collateral vascular bundles, parenchymatous pith and show 1-2 layered epidermis coated with thick cuticle. S. albida subsp. condensata has papillate epicuticular wax on its stem cuticula layer. In all taxa are observed angular collenchyma, cambium forming phloem outward and xylem inward. The leaves are hypostomatic, have single rowed epidermis coated with thick cuticle and show dorsiventral mesophyll in all studied taxa. S. albida subsp. velenovskyi has echinate epicuticular wax on its leaf cuticula layer. The midrib shows one collateral bundles in all taxa but the shape of median veins of the leaf blade show variety in each taxa. Some anatomical characters such as the number of pith rays of roots, the number of palisade parenchyma layer, plant cuticles covered by wax, the shape of median veins of the leaf blade and stomatal index provide information of taxonomical significance for these taxa.

The main purpose of this research is to study the impact of integrity on organizational agility components. For this, 84 employees of Fars Research Science University were selected through random sampling technique in a quantitative study. Data collection tool was an integration measurement questionnaire by Cotlin and Ablino and standard agility questionnaire by Sharifi and Zhang. Collected data was analyzed by Warp PLS software package and structural equation modeling. The findings indicate that integration impacts on four agility components including quickness, competency, responsiveness and flexibility.

In this study, DNA was extracted from Artemisia vulgaris leaves collected from Ordu Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. DNeasy Plant Mini Kit (Qiagen) and Mini-Prep Method as described by Haymes (1996) with a few modification were performed for DNA isolation. The quality and purity of Artemisia vulgaris DNA were assessed with PCR amplification, gel electrophoresis and spectrometric analysis. The average amount of DNA obtained DNesy Plant Mini Kit protocol and Mini Prep Protocol was roughly 0.6 to 0.9 µg/µl and 1.2 to 1.9 µg/µl in each of 20mg leaf tissue, respectively.\nTwenty mg starting plant material was ground in different ways to obtain high quality DNA and to avoid DNA degradation for both methods. Five and three different ways for disruption of starting plant material were used in DNeasy Plant Mini Kit and Mini-Prep Method, respectively. PCR amplification with genomic DNA extracted by TissueLyser in liquid nitrogen out of DNAs obtained from 5 different conditions with DNesy Plant Mini Kit illustrated the better bands than others for ITS (Internal Transcribed Spacers) primers. In addition, PCR amplification with DNA extracted by using liquid nitrogen and RNAse enzyme out of DNAs obtained from 3 different conditions with Mini Prep Protocol gave highly strong bands for ITS primers. Compared to both protocols, Mini-Prep Method was more rapid, cost effective and higher quality DNA in agarose gel electrophoresis for Artemisia vulgaris.

Bacground: Bacteremia is among the infections with a severe course and a cause of high mortality and morbidity rate. The present study was conducted with the aim to characterize the microorganisms isolated from blood cultures obtained in the Internal Intensive Care Unit, to investigate patterns of blood culture collection and their effects on patient results. Method: BACTEC 9240 was used to process the samples. Various factors which could potentially affect the results were evaluated along with simultaneous analysis of samples. Result: For the study, 337 blood cultures obtained from 180 patients were evaluated. Of these samples, 155 (45.9%) showed no growth, 180 (53.4%) were positive for microbial growth and 2 (0.6%) were false positives. Among the samples showing growth, 99 (29.4%) were true positive and 56 (16.6%) were considered as contamination. Of the microorganisms that grew, Gram-positive bacteria were isolated from 54 (54%) and Gram-negative bacteria from 20 (20%), and yeast from 26 (26%). In this study that investigated patterns of blood culture collection, blood samples were not collected from the patients in sets (aerobic+anaerobic) and all samples were obtained through venous catheter. It was found to initiation of incubation in the device had a significant effect on the results and the rate of contamination was significantly low in those samples processed within 2 hours after collection, and also true positive rate was significantly high. Conclusions: Studies that focus on determining the current status in hospitals would be beneficial to increase the sensitivity of blood culture testing which is considered to be the gold standard for the diagnosis of bacteremia.

Abstract\n Organic fertilizers are in important interest of scientists because of improvement of soil physical properties, soil sustainable fertility and safe crop production. In order to study the effect of organic fertilizers on soil aggregates size distribution, an experiment was conducted at Islamic Azad university of Shirvan, Iran, in 37° 26’ 20” latitude, 57° 57’ 13” longitude during 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 growing season. The experiment treatments included vermicompost, solid waste compost, cow manure and nitrogen chemical fertilizer. The fertilizers applied in two dates of Feb 20 and April 21 in both years. The experiment was split plot based on randomized complete block design with three replications. Results showed that In dry sieving cow manure showed more aggregates greater than 0.5mm and lower aggregates smaller than 0.5 mm compared with all other treatments. Solid waste compost in dry sieving showed higher aggregates of greater than 0.2mm and lower aggregates smaller than 0.2 mm compared with other treatments. In wet sieving cow manure with no significant difference with solid waste compost showed higher aggregates greater than 0.2mm and lower amount of aggregates smaller than 0.2mm. Vermicomost did not show positive effect on soil aggregation in both dry and wet sieving condition. According to results of this experiment cow manure and solid waste compost in both dry sieving and wet sieving condition produced higher greater water stable aggregates and lower small aggregates that indicated soil in these treatments can resist against wind and water erosion.

BACKGROUND:TAP block is an alternative regional anesthetic method used in infants and children that achieve analgesia after abdominal surgery which blocking sensory nerves by local anesthetic application to TAP located in the abdominal wall.\nOBJECTIVES:We studied 43 ASA I-II pediatric patients undergoing inguinal hernia repair, in a prospective, randomized, double blind clinical trial. The purpose of this study was to evaluate postoperative pain, agitation and recovery scores of Ultrasound guided TAP block compared with caudal block. \nPATIENTS AND METHODS:Patients were randomized, to undergo caudal block (n=22) and TAP block (n= 21). Anesthesia was induced with i.v. 5 mg/kg thiopental, 1 mcg/kg fentanyl and 1-8 % sevoflurane. O2/NO2 mixture, sevoflurane and in case of need 0.5 mcg/kg fentanyl was used in maintenance.Blocks was performed all patients, undergoing caudal block and TAP block, after LMA insertion in the appropriate position.Bupivacaine solution 0.25%, 0.5ml/kg, was injected in both groups.After the surgical procedure, and recuperation from anesthesia, patients were transferred to PACU. Patients were observed for 60 minutes in PACU, also 24 hours in associated clinic. Patients were evaluated postoperatively with PACU agitation scale, objective pain scale, FLACC pain scale, modified Aldrete recovery scale, the presence of nausea-vomiting, total paracetamol and morphine consumption.\nRESULTS:There was no difference between two groups with all study parameters.\nCONCLUSION:We conclude that Ultrasound guided TAP block is safe and effective alternative as a part of a multimodal analgesic regimen to caudal block for postoperative pain, agitation and recovery scores in pediatric patients.

AIM: This study aims at evaluating the views of the adult male population in Turkey concerning the use of drugs (Phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors) and herbal products to increase sexual performance, and assessing the use and outcomes of these medications within the study site.\nMETHODS: This non-interventional, observational, sectional site study was conducted in 2012. Participants were randomly selected from 19 provinces of Turkey according to Eurostat and Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics (NUTS) Level-2 by a proportional sampling method according to postal code lists. Men aged 18 years or older were included in this study as representatives of the male Turkish population. Of these 410 men using at least one Erectile dysfunction (ED) product within the last year were interviewed face-to-face.\nRESULTS: 98% of Participants did not have ED. The rate of drug use for “increasing sexual performance” without reporting erection problems was 63%. Among this group of drugs, the moderate to high satisfaction rate observed for sildenafil and herbal products were 85%, 63% respectively. Women’s awareness of their partners’ drugs use was low at 25%. Satisfaction among women aware of their partners’ drug use was 63%. \nCONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of drug use, including PDE-5 inhibitors or herbal products, is high among Turkish men who often do not inform their partners about their drug use. Given the high rate of satisfaction in cases where partners are informed, we believe that the positive psychosocial effects of these medications on partners could contribute to treatment planning.

The study which adopted a descriptive survey research design, investigated depression among first year undergraduates in South East Nigeria: Etiology and remediation. The population for the study comprised all first year undergraduates in Universities South East Nigeria. A sample of 600 respondents was purposively drawn from three universities for the study. Three research questions guided the study. The instrument used for data collection was questionnaire developed by the researchers. The instrument was face validated and the reliability was established using Cronbach Alpha method in estimating the internal consistency of the instrument and a reliability coefficient of 0.86 was obtained. Mean and standard deviation were used for data analysis. Results showed that symptoms of depression manifested by first year undergraduates include difficulty in adapting to a disturbing circumstance, feeling of tiredness and sadness among others. The causes of depression among first year undergraduate students include; drug abuse, chronic domestic violence, academic stress and sexual abuse among others. The study also revealed that remedy for depression among first year undergraduate students include: school-based programmes for the prevention of drug abuse, exercise programmes, programmes on depression to enhance cognitive problem solving and learning of social skills for the students It was recommended among others that counselling services should be provided for the first year undergraduate students to minimize the incidence of depression.

ABSTRACT\nThis paper assessed the extent of successes achieved in the HIV/AIDS Education/prevention strategies provided by government at various levels in Nigeria, especially in Nsukka urban area for adolescents and teenagers in secondary schools, tertiary institutions and the general public. The design adopted was the descriptive survey research involving two types of instruments for data collection. The first one is a questionnaire on HIV/AIDS Education/Prevention strategies adopted by government and other non governmental organizations. The other is an check list which sought some vital information from the director of the medical laboratory department of the selected hospital in Nsukka on HIV/AIDS infection by gender and age range of those screened for the disease from 2012-2015. A sample of 400 respondents composed of 100 undergraduates of the University of Nigeria Nsukka, 100 Federal College of Education students, 100 secondary school students and 100 adolescent apprentices in markets. These are samples representing those that usually go for HIV/AIDS screening tests in the selected hospital in the study area and whose age ranges between 18-30 years. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics like means standard deviations and percentages while the chi-square goodness of fit-test was used in testing the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance.

The article reports on research to develop a model to measure employee engagement. In addition to presenting the developed model, the article also addresses a higher order objective, namely the validity of the model. The research employed exploratory factor analysis in addition to validity measures to achieve these objectives. A total of 300 questionnaires with a five-point Likert scale were administered independently to the respondents for completion. Some 260 questionnaires were received back of which 18 were unusable due to incompleteness, and a further non-response of 22 questionnaires resulted in an effective response rate of 86.6%. The factor analysis identified seven factors after eliminating criteria due to low factor loadings and strong cross-loadings, while explaining 69% of the variance. The validity measures were also successful and the model to measure employee engagement within an organisation showed strong validity in addition to excellent reliability (exceeding a Cronbach alpha of 0.9). The research is of value to now empower managers who can measure engagement in their organisations, while academia could also benefit from the strong academic foundation of the model.

Workload and resource management are two essential functions in distributed computing systems software infrastructure at service level to improve performance of global system. Many of researchers presented different load balancing algorithms in heterogeneous systems to improve the mean response time or global throughput of these software environments.\nIn our paper, we study analysis of threshold based centralized load balancing algorithm and modified it by using shortest job first scheduling method with priority to avoid starvation in heterogeneous distributed systems. We study the behavior our system with this method and compare between our results and other existing methods, then present analysis of time complexity of the algorithm.

Introduction: The effects of infancy period TV exposure on ADHD are not well understood. Television by itself can be an overstimulating for children due to the fact that it includes varying images, scenes and different voices. In this study, we aimed to determine the age of onset of TV viewing and to investigate the association between them. \nMaterial and methods: One hundred and ten children with the diagnosis of ADHD according to the DSM-4 criteria as a case group and 145 healthy children from the well-child outpatient clinic as a control group were enrolled the study. The data were gathered by face-to-face questionnaire method from parents. In the first part of questionnaire demographic data were obtained. In the second part data about the TV viewing of the children were questioned. SPSS version 19 was used to analyse the data. \nResults: The median age of the children was 120 months. There was no difference in terms of sex between groups. All parents answered the question “Does your child watch TV?” as “yes”. The rate of television viewing in the enrolled children was 100%. The age of onset of TV viewing was 18,4±17,4 months in ADHD group and 12,6±11,4 months in control group (p=0,025). \nConclusion: The age of onset of TV viewing was significantly late in ADHD group. We believe that this difference in these children was due to the fact that they can not focus their attention on a particular situation. In conclusion, the results of this study suggest that there was not a significant relationship between early television exposure and ADHD.