Biomarkers for Evaluation of Prostate Cancer Prognosis

Esfahani, Maryam,Ataei, Negar,Panjehpour, Mojtaba Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2015 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.16 No.7

Prostate cancer, with a lifetime prevalence of one in six men, is the second cause of malignancy-related death and the most prevalent cancer in men in many countries. Nowadays, prostate cancer diagnosis is often based on the use of biomarkers, especially prostate-specific antigen (PSA) which can result in enhanced detection at earlier stage and decreasing in the number of metastatic patients. However, because of the low specificity of PSA, unnecessary biopsies and mistaken diagnoses frequently occur. Prostate cancer has various features so prognosis following diagnosis is greatly variable. There is a requirement for new prognostic biomarkers, particularly to differentiate between inactive and aggressive forms of disease, to improve clinical management of prostate cancer. Research continues into finding additional markers that may allow this goal to be attained. We here selected a group of candidate biomarkers including PSA, PSA velocity, percentage free PSA, $TGF{\beta}1$, AMACR, chromogranin A, IL-6, IGFBPs, PSCA, biomarkers related to cell cycle regulation, apoptosis, PTEN, androgen receptor, cellular adhesion and angiogenesis, and also prognostic biomarkers with Genomic tests for discussion. This provides an outline of biomarkers that are presently of prognostic interest in prostate cancer investigation.

Efficient thermal desalination technologies with renewable energy systems: A state-of-the-art review

Esfahani, I. J.,Rashidi, J.,Ifaei, P.,Yoo, C. Springer Science + Business Media 2016 Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering Vol.33 No.2

<P>Due to the current fossil fuel crisis and associated adverse environmental impacts, renewable energy sources (RES) have drawn interest as alternatives to fossil fuels for powering water desalination systems. Over the last few decades the utility of renewable energy sources such as solar, geothermal, and wind to run desalination processes has been explored. However, the expansion of these technologies to larger scales is hampered by techno-economic and thermo-economic challenges. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art in the field of renewable energy-powered thermal desalination systems (RE-PTD) to compare their productivity and efficiency through thermodynamic, economic, and environmental analyses. We performed a comparative study using published data to classify RE-PTD systems technologies on the basis of the energy collection systems that they use. Among RE-PTD systems, solar energy powered-thermal desalination systems demonstrate high thermo-environ-economic efficiency to produce fresh water to meet various scales of demand.</P>

A Cost Approach for Optimization of a Combined Power and Thermal Desalination System through Exergy and Environmental Analysis

Esfahani, I. Janghorban,Kim, J. T.,Yoo, C. K. American Chemical Society 2013 INDUSTRIAL & ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY RESEARCH - Vol.52 No.32

<P>In this Article, a systematic approach of cost analysis and optimization for combining the multieffect thermal vapor compression (METVC) desalination system with the gas turbine power plant (GT) was proposed on the basis of thermodynamic, economic, and environmental attributes. The total annual cost (TAC) of the combined system, including annual capital and operating costs, was modified to define an efficient cost objective function by adding the exergy destruction cost as a lost opportunity cost, and environmental emissions cost as a damage cost of the system to the operating cost. A parametric analysis was conducted to evaluate the effects of the key thermodynamic parameters for combining the GT and METVC systems, including the gas turbine inlet temperature (TIT), the HRSG outlet temperature (HOT), and the temperature difference between the effects of the METVC system (Δ<I>T</I><SUB>METVC</SUB>) on the modified total annual cost (MTAC). The parameter optimization was achieved using a genetic algorithm (GA) to find the optimal key thermodynamic parameters with minimization of the MTAC of the combined system. In addition, the methodology was applied to optimize the combining of a METVC desalination system with a GT power plant located in Mahshar, Iran. The optimization results indicated that the METVC systems with less than five effects cannot be combined with the current GT power plant because the combined systems cannot produce the power and fresh water requirements. Among the combined systems with more than four effects in the METVC system, the combined system with five effects in the METVC system was selected as the best system, which can produce 28 543 m<SUP>3</SUP>/day fresh water and 127 MW power, respectively, and reduce the NO<SUB><I>x</I></SUB> emission by 3.6% as compared to the current power plant.</P><P><A href='http://pubs.acs.org/doi/suppl/10.1021/ie401068c'>ACS Electronic Supporting Info</A></P>

Evaluation of Coloring Potential of Dietzia natronolimnaea Biomass as Source of Canthaxanthin for Egg Yolk Pigmentation

Esfahani-Mashhour, M.,Moravej, H.,Mehrabani-Yeganeh, H.,Razavi, S.H. Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2009 Animal Bioscience Vol.22 No.2

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of different levels of extracted pigment from Dietzia natronolimnaea biomass as a source of canthaxanthin in comparison with synthetic canthaxanthin on egg yolk pigmentation. The experiment used a completely randomized design (CRD). A total of 63 laying hens, 68 weeks old, were used and the birds were allotted to 7 dietary treatments with each treatment replicated three times with three hens per replicate. Treatments consisted of 3 levels of synthetic canthaxanthin (4, 8 and 16 ppm), 3 levels of extracted pigment from D. natronolimnaea biomass (4, 8 and 16 ppm) and control. Changes in yolk color were determined in 2 eggs taken at random, during the four week experimental period from each replicate. Supplementation of extracted pigment from D. natronolimnaea biomass had a significant effect on the color of egg yolks (p<0.05). Yolk color score of the control group was 6.83 in BASF color fan and the yolk color score of different extracted pigment levels was 11.00, 12.50 and 14.50, respectively. The yolk colors of different levels of synthetic canthaxanthin were 12.00, 14.00 and 15.00, respectively. The effect of pigment supplementation on egg yolk color was better explained by polynomial response curves. The $R_{2}$ indicated that for 3 supplementation levels of each pigment studied, over 90% of the color variation could be explained by the pigment concentration. The egg yolk color after 15 and 30 days of storage was not significantly different, but boiling reduced egg yolk color significantly (p<0.05).

The Effects of Resveratrol on Silica-Induced Lung Oxidative Stress and Inflammation in Rat

Esfahani Maryam,Rahbar Amir Hossein,Asl Sara Soleimani,Bashirian Saed,Mir Moeini Effat Sadat,Mehri Fereshteh 한국산업안전보건공단 산업안전보건연구원 2023 Safety and health at work Vol.14 No.1

Background: Chronic exposure to silica is related with the provocation of an inflammatory response and oxidative stress mechanism. Vitamin D has multiple benefits in biological activities particularly respiratory system disease. Method: In this research, 20 male Wistar rats were randomly allocated into four groups (5 rats /group) as follow:Group1 received saline as (negative control) group. The group 2 received a single IT instillation of silica (positive control) group; the group 3was co-administratedwith single ITsilica and Vitamin D (20mg/kg/day) daily for a period of 90 days. The rats of group 4 received Vitamin D daily for a period of 90 days. Results: Silica significantly increased serum and lung total Oxidant Status (TOS). Meanwhile, silica reduced serum and lung total antioxidant capacity (TAC), GSH and tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-a). Vitamin D treatment meaningfully reversed oxidative stress, antioxidants status and inflammatory response. Also, Vitamin D improved histopathological changes caused by silica. Conclusion: These findings indicate that Vitamin D exerts protective effects against silica-induced lung injury. It seems that Vitamin D has potential use as a therapeutic object for silica induced lung injure.

Purification of Metallurgical Silicon Using Iron as Impurity Getter, Part II: Extent of Silicon Purification

Shaghayegh Esfahani,Mansoor Barati 대한금속·재료학회 2011 METALS AND MATERIALS International Vol.17 No.6

Purification of metallurgical grade silicon (MG–Si), using iron as the impurity getter has been investigated. The technique involves growing Si dendrites from an alloy of MG–Si with iron, followed by their separation using a gravity based technique and acid leaching. The effects of cooling rate of the alloy and the subsequent quenching temperature on the segregation of the impurities were studied. It was found that slow cooling of the alloy below the eutectic temperature causes an increase in the Si impurity concentration due to diffusion of the impurities from the alloy to the Si. Quenching the alloy from temperatures above the eutectic eliminated this effect, increasing the purity of the Si product. A significant reduction in the concentration of the major impurities was achieved, making the Si product a suitable feedstock for solar grade silicon generation. The concentrations, in ppmw, of some elements in the Si product are Al: 10, B: 2, Mn: 3, Ni: 3, Cr: 1, Fe: 1,P: 29. Other impurities including V, Ba, Li, Be, and Mg were all below 0.5 ppmw.

Purification of Metallurgical Silicon using Iron as an Impurity Getter Part I: Growth and Separation of Si

Shaghayegh Esfahani,Mansoor Barati 대한금속·재료학회 2011 METALS AND MATERIALS International Vol.17 No.5

The purification of metallurgical grade silicon (MG-Si) using a combination of solvent refining and physical separation is studied. MG-Si was alloyed with iron and solidified under different cooling rates in order to grow pure Si dendrites from the alloy. The Si dendrites were then separated using a gravity-based method. The separation method relies on the significantly different densities of Si and FeSi_2, and it uses a heavy liquid with specific gravity between the two phases to float the light Si particles to the surface of the liquid,while the heavy iron silicide sinks. The effects of the particle size and cooling rate on the yield and separation efficiency of the Si phase were investigated by quantifying the fraction of Si in the sinks and floats. The results demonstrate that the crushing size of the particles prior to separation should be approximately the same as the width of the dendrites in order to maximize the separation efficiency while simultaneously lowering the grinding cost.

An Efficient and Clean One-Pot Synthesis of 3,4-Dihydropyrimidine-2-(1H)-ones Catalyzed by SrCl₂.6H₂O-HCl in Solvent or Solvent-Free Conditions

Nasr-Esfahani, Masoud,Khosropour, Ahmad Reza Korean Chemical Society 2005 Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society Vol.26 No.9

A highly efficient combined multi-effect evaporation-absorption heat pump and vapor-compression refrigeration part 2: Thermoeconomic and flexibility analysis

Janghorban Esfahani, I.,Yoo, C. Pergamon Press 2014 ENERGY Vol.75 No.-

This paper continues Part 1 of our study and develops a thermoeconomic model of the system with low and high pressure compressors. The thermoeconomic model was used to assess the unit cost of the fresh water and cooling and to evaluate the flexibility of the system for fuel allocation from different electricity and heat energy sources. A parametric analysis was carried out to investigate the effects of the RR (refrigerant flow-rate ratio) from the high pressure compressor to the low pressure compressor of the VCR (vapor compression refrigeration) system, the price of steam, and the price of electricity on the product cost rate and the exergy efficiency of the system. The results showed that the system with two compressors had high flexibility to allocate the different energy sources when the availability of the sources was limited for a given value of fresh water and cooling production.

MORSE INEQUALITIES FOR MANIFOLDS WITH BOUNDARY

Mostafa Esfahani Zadeh 대한수학회 2010 대한수학회지 Vol.47 No.1

The aim of this paper is to provide a proof for a version of the Morse inequalities for manifolds with boundary. Our main results are certainly known to the experts on Morse theory, nevertheless it seems necessary to write down a complete proof for it. Our proof is analytic and is based on the J. Roe account of Witten’s approach to Morse Theory.