Seroprevalence and trends of transfusion transmissible infections among retrospective blood donors in Western Azerbaijan Regional Blood Transfusion Center,Iran: A ten-years evaluation

Transfusion transmissible infections (TTIs) have been a public health challenge for the accessibility, quality and safety of blood transfusion. The present study aimed to consider the prevalence and the trends of hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and syphilis across the ten years among retrospective blood donors. A retrospective investigation of blood donors’ data covering the period from 22 May 2009 to 22 May 2019 was done. Data was accumulated and analyzed from Blood Transfusion Center records, pertaining to all donors who were screened for various TTIs using respective immunological techniques. Out of the 682,171 screened donors in the 2009–2019 study period, 2470 (0.36 %) were infected with at least one infectious agent. The overall prevalence of HBV, HCV, HTLV-1, HIV and syphilis were 1700 (0.25 %), 184 (0.027 %), 335 (0.05 %), 4 (0.0.05 %) and 247 (0.036 %), respectively. The study showed male dominated donor pool (96.79 %) with higher prevalence (0.34 %) of TTIs compared to female donors (0.02 %) with 3.21 % population. Despite the low prevalence of TTIs in our study, HBV, HCV, syphilis and HIV have remained a big threat to safe blood transfusion in Iran. Strict adherence to selection criteria, algorithm of donor screening, use of highly sensitive and specific methods for detection of TTIs, regular consultation and health education programs, prevention and sanitization strategies to reduce the risk of TTIs are recommended to reduce the risk of TTIs and ensure the safety of blood transfusion for recipient.     

Graphene Synthesis Techniques and Environmental Applications

Graphene is fundamentally a two-dimensional material with extraordinary optical, thermal, mechanical, and electrical characteristics. It has a versatile surface chemistry and large surface area. It is a carbon nanomaterial, which comprises sp² hybridized carbon atoms placed in a hexagonal lattice with one-atom thickness, giving it a two-dimensional structure. A large number of synthesis techniques including epitaxial growth, liquid phase exfoliation, electrochemical exfoliation, mechanical exfoliation, and chemical vapor deposition are used for the synthesis of graphene. Graphene prepared using different techniques can have a number of benefits and deficiencies depending on its application. This study provides a summary of graphene preparation techniques and critically assesses the use of graphene, its derivates, and composites in environmental applications. These applications include the use of graphene as membrane material for the detoxication and purification of water, active material for gas sensing, heavy metal ions detection, and CO₂ conversion. Furthermore, a trend analysis of both synthesis techniques and environmental applications of graphene has been performed by extracting and analyzing Scopus data from the past ten years. Finally, conclusions and outlook are provided to address the residual challenges related to the synthesis of the material and its use for environmental applications.     

Assessing Consumer Willingness to Pay for Nutritional Information Using a Dietary App

A healthy society is the foundation of development in every country, and one way to achieve a healthy society is to promote healthy nutrition. An unbalanced diet is one of the leading causes of noncommunicable diseases globally. If food was correctly selected and correctly consumed, both the problems of overeating and lack of nutrition could be largely solved while also decreasing public health costs. Interventions such as presenting necessary information and warning labels would help consumers make better food choices. Hence, providing nutritional information to consumers becomes essential. The present study investigates the importance of nutrition information labels on consumers’ preferences by estimating their willingness to pay for features and information provided by a dietary software program (app). An application can easily display the information to the consumers and help them make informed food choices. A discrete choice experiment investigated consumers’ preferences and willingness to pay to receive nutritional information. Mixed multinomial logit and latent class analysis were applied. The results showed the existence of heterogeneity in consumer preferences for different nutritional information provided by the application. Consumers are willing to pay more for salt and fat alerts. The results of this study allow for the analysis of consumers’ interest in nutritional information. Such results are essential for the industry for future investments in similar applications that potentially could help consumers make better informed choices.     

Anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties of Heracleum persicum essential oil and hydroalcoholic extract in animal models

Ethnopharmacological relevance

Fruits of Heracleum persicum (Apiaceae) are used as pain killer in Iranian folkloric medicine.

Aims of study

To evaluate the anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects of the hydroalcoholic extract and essential oil of the plant fruits and analyzing the essential oil.

Materials and methods

Essential oil and hydroalcoholic extracts of the fruits were prepared according to standard methods and the components of essential oil were identified using GC–MS method. The acetic acid-induced writhing response and formalin test were used in male mice to assess analgesic activity. For evaluation of anti-inflammatory effect, carrageenan-induced rat paw edema was used.

Results

Hexyl butyrate (56.5%), octyl acetate (16.5%), hexyl 2-methylbutanoate (5.2%) and hexyl isobutyrate (3.4%) were identified as the major constituents of the oil. Oral or intraperitoneal administration of Heracleum persicum essential oil (HPEO) at doses of 50–200 mg/kg and Heracleum persicum hydroalcoholic extract (HPHE) at doses of 250 and 500 mg/kg significantly reduced acetic acid-induced abdominal constrictions. HPEO and HPHE also significantly attenuated the pain response of the second phase of formalin test.In carrageenan test HPEO at doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg and HPHE at a dose of 400 mg/kg induced a significant reduction of paw edema.

Conclusions

These results clearly show the analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of the plant essential oil and hydroalcoholic extract. Further studies are needed to clarify the mechanism of action and the components responsible for these pharmacological effects.     

A Review of: “The Statistical Analysis of Recurrent Events,by R. J. Cook and J. F. Lawless”

In a classical drop-loser (or drop-arm) design, patients are randomized into all arms (doses) and at the interim analysis, inferior arms are dropped. Therefore, compared to the traditional dose-finding design, this adaptive design can reduce the sample size by not carrying over all doses to the end of the trial or dropping the losers earlier. However, all the doses have to be explored. For unimodal (including linear or umbrella) response curves, we proposed an effective dose-finding design that allows adding arms at the interim analysis. The trial design starts with two arms, depending on the response of the two arms and the unimodality assumption; we can decide which new arms to be added. This design does not require exploring all arms (doses) to find the best responsive dose; therefore, it can further reduce the sample size from the drop-loser design by as much as 10–20%.     

Challenges and opportunities of utilizing municipal solid waste as alternative building materials for sustainable development goals: A review

Strict environmental concern, depletion, and price hike of building construction materials are driving scientific studies for the search of alternative materials for building construction. To this end sustainable building materials could be a fruitful solution. This review aims to discern the environmental efficacy of solid waste management (SWM) and its relationship with four stimuli i.e., economic structure, regulatory structure, science, and time. The study also highlights the investigation of governance network to figure out the regulatory structure and governance of waste management. Extensive details on solid waste with their sources, recycling potential and their current utilization for substantial development are outlined. A throughout of the production process, properties, advantages, disadvantages, and the global economy of building material developed through recycling of solid waste are discussed. This article also deals with the sustainability, social, and environmental impact of green building materials. The study identifies the future direction for the effective utilization of solid waste for developing building materials. Further, the scope of the present also focusses on the concept of circular economy for developing construction materials through recycling of solid waste, which provides an easy reference for solid waste processing towards sustainability.     

Congenital aortocaval fistula between right aortic sinus of Valsalva and superior vena cava: A rare case report

Thoracic aortocaval fistula is a very rare cause of left to right shunt. Drainage of fistula into the superior vena cava (SVC) is very uncommon. Clinical symptoms depend on the size of the shunt. We report a rare case of an asymptomatic 27‐year‐old woman with congenital aortocaval fistula to the SVC with a small amount of left to right shunt that was considered for serial medical follow‐up.