Decision-Making Process in Patients with Thoracolumbar and Lumbar Burst Fractures with Thoracolumbar Injury Severity and Classification Score Less than Four

Shirzad Azhari,Parisa Azimi,Sohrab Shahzadi,Hassan Reza Mohammadi,Hamid Reza Khayat Kashani 대한척추외과학회 2016 Asian Spine Journal Vol.10 No.1

Study Design: Cross-sectional. Purpose: To develop a strategy to determine a sound method for decision-making based on postoperative clinical outcome satisfaction. Overview of Literature: The ideal management of thoracolumbar and lumbar burst fractures (TLBF) without neurological compromise remains controversial. Methods: This was a prospective study. Patients with thoracolumbar injury severity and classification score (TLICS) <4 were treated nonoperatively, with bed rest and bracing until the pain decreased sufficiently to allow mobilization. Surgery was undertaken in patients with intractable pain despite an appropriate nonoperative treatment (surgery group). The Oswestry disability index (ODI) measure was observed at baseline and at the last follow-up. Clinically success was defined at least a 30% improvement from the baseline ODI scores in both the conservative and surgery groups. All case records were assessed for gender, age, residual canal and angulations at the site of the fracture in order to determine which patients benefited from surgery or conservative treatment and which did not. Results: In all 113 patients with T11–L5, TLBFs were treated. The patients’ mean age was 49.2 years. Patients successfully completed either nonoperative (n=99) or surgical (n=14) treatment based on ODI. Clinical examinations revealed that all of the patients had intact neurology. The mean follow-up period was 29.5 months. There was a significant difference between the two groups based on age and residual canal. The mean ODI score significantly improved for both groups (p <0.01). According to the findings, a decision matrix was proposed. Conclusions: The findings confirm that TLICS <4, age, and residual canal can be used to guide the treatment of TLBF in conservative decision-making.

Surgical Outcomes and Correlation of the Copenhagen Neck Functional Disability Scale and Modified Japanese Orthopedic Association Assessment Scales in Patients with Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy

Shirzad Azhari,Parisa Azimi,Sohrab Shazadi,Hamid Khayat Kashany,Hossein Nayeb Aghaei,Hassan Reza Mohammadi 대한척추외과학회 2016 Asian Spine Journal Vol.10 No.3

Study Design: Cross-sectional. Purpose: Clinical outcome study comparing the Copenhagen Neck Functional Disability Scale (CNFDS) and modified Japanese orthopedic association (mJOA) assessment scales in patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM). Overview of Literature: Comparison of instruments that measure patient-reported outcomes is needed. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis was conducted. Ninety five patients with CSM were entered into the study and completed the CNFDS and the mJOA preoperatively and postoperatively. Correlation between the CNFDS and the mJOA was evaluated preoperatively and at the end of follow-up. Responsiveness to change of CNFDS and mJOA was also assessed. Clinical outcomes were also measured with the recovery rate of mJOA score at end of follow-up. Results: The mean age of patients was 58.2 (standard deviation, SD=8.7) years. Mean follow-up was 2.1 years (range, 1 to 4 years). The mJOA correlated strongly with the CNFDS score preoperatively and postoperatively (r =–0.81 and –0.82, respectively; p <0.001). The CNFDS and the mJOA were able to detect changes after the surgery (p <0.001). The mean mJOA recovery rate was 51.8% (SD=13.1%). Conclusions: Surgery for the treatment of patients with CSM is an efficacious procedure. CNFDS and mJOA scores have a strong correlation in measuring disability among CSM patients.

Antagonistic Potential of Fluorescent Pseudomonads and Control of Crown and Root Rot of Cucumber Caused by Phythophtora drechsleri

Shirzad, Akbar,Fallahzadeh-Mamaghani, Vahid,Pazhouhandeh, Maghsoud The Korean Society of Plant Pathology 2012 Plant Pathology Journal Vol.28 No.1

In this study, 200 isolates of fluorescent pseudomonads were isolated from different fields of East and West Azarbaijan and Ardebil provinces of Iran. These bacterial isolates were screened on the basis of a dual culture assay, the presence of known antibiotic genes, and their ability to successfully colonize roots and to promote plant growth. Twelve isolates exhibited 30% or more inhibition of mycelia growth of $P.$ $drechsleri$. Genes encoding production of the antibiotics 2,4-diacetylphloroglucinol, phenazine-1-carboxylic acid, and pyoluteorin were detected in some strains but none of the strains possessed the coding gene for production of antibiotic pyrrolnitrin. In an $in$ $vitro$ test for root colonization, the population density on roots of plants treated with most of the above strains was more than 6 $\log_{10}$ CFU $g^{-1}$ roots, with a maximum of 7.99 $\log_{10}$ CFU $g^{-1}$ roots for strain 58A. Most of the strains promoted significant plant growth in comparison to non-treated controls. In green house studies, the percentage of healthy plants in pots treated with strains 58A and 8B was 90.8% and 88.7%, respectively. The difference between these treatments and treatment with the fungicide metalaxyl was not significant.

Comparative removal of two textile dyes from aqueous solution by adsorption onto marine-source waste shell : Kinetic and isotherm studies

Mehdi Shirzad-Siboni,Alireza Khataee,주상우,Fatemeh Vafaei 한국화학공학회 2014 Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering Vol.31 No.8

Scallop shell was used as a low-cost adsorbent for removal of two anionic textile dyes, Reactive Blue 19(RB19) and Acid Cyanine 5 R (AC5R), from aqueous solutions. The adsorbent was characterized using inductivelycoupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FT-IR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The dye removal efficiency of scallop shell was determinedas function of contact time, solution pH, initial dye concentration and adsorbent dosage. With increasing dye concentration,the adsorption of both dyes decreased, while it increased with increasing adsorbent dosage. Optimum removalof RB19 and AC5R was achieved at pH=6. Adsorption equilibrium data were well described by the Freundlich model. The maximum dye adsorption capacity of scallop shell as estimated from the Langmuir isotherm was 12.36 and 12.47mg/g for RB19 and AC5R, respectively. The adsorption kinetic data showed excellent correlation with the pseudosecond-order model. It was concluded that scallop shell has a remarkable potential for the sorption of RB19 and AC5Rand can be used for treatment of the dye contaminated wastewater.

Correlation Between Antioxidant Activity of Garlic Extracts and WEHI-164 Fibrosarcoma Tumor Growth in BALB/c Mice

Hedayatollah Shirzad,Fatemeh Taji,Mahmoud Rafieian-Kopaei 한국식품영양과학회 2011 Journal of medicinal food Vol.14 No.9

The biological activities of garlic may be affected by different processing methods. This study, therefore, aimed to evaluate potential anticancer effects of different type of processed garlic extracts on WEHI-164 tumor cells in inbred BALB/c mice and correlate the tumor growth rates with some garlic constituents. In a preclinical trial 60 BALB/c mice were injected with WEHI-164 tumor cells and divided into six groups of 10 animals. Group 1 mice received 200 μL of saline, and groups 2–6 were injected intraperitoneally with fresh, microwaved, 3-month-old, leaves, and boiled garlic extracts, respectively, at 20 mg/kg/0.2 mL. Three weeks following tumor inoculation, the mean tumor size in garlic extract-treated groups was reduced with significant reductions observed in the fresh and microwaved extract groups compared with the control group (P<.05). The antioxidant capacity and the amounts of allicin, flavonoids, and phenolic compounds in differentially processed garlic were evaluated and correlated with their anticancer activities. There was a linear correlation between the amounts of allicin, flavonoids, or phenolic components derived from fresh, microwaved, 3-month-old, leaves, and boiled garlic and cancer growth prevention. In conclusion, garlic has anticancer activity against WEHI-164 tumor cells, and processing such as heating reduces its effect dramatically. The anticancer activities of different kinds of garlic are related to the level of allicin, flavonoids, and phenolic components. Therefore, fresh garlic has the highest content of bioactive components and the greatest anticancer efficacy.

A Comparison between Performance of Support Vector Regression and Artificial Neural Network in Prediction of Pipe Burst Rate in Water Distribution Networks

Akbar Shirzad,Massoud Tabesh,Raziyeh Farmani 대한토목학회 2014 KSCE JOURNAL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING Vol.18 No.4

One of the main reasons for rehabilitation of Water Distribution Networks (WDNs) is pipe failure. To evaluate the mechanicalreliability of a water distribution system, it is imperative that a relationship between pipe bursts and the effective parameters of thesystem is established. In recent years artificial intelligence techniques have been introduced as an effective method for prediction ofpipe bursts. This paper compares the performance of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Support Vector Regression (SVR) inpredicting the Pipe Burst Rate (PBR) in water distribution networks. In addition, the impact of hydraulic pressure on accuracy of thedata-driven pipe burst prediction model is studied, where average and maximum hydraulic pressure values are considered as inputvariables of the model. The data used for the analyses are from two real case studies in Iran. From the obtained results in both casestudies it can be concluded that ANN is better (universal) predictor than SVR, but cannot be easily used for generalization purposessince it is not consistent with the physical behavior observed. Thus, for water distribution system management purposes SVR can bepreferred over ANN. Also it can be said that use of average hydraulic pressure as an input variable results in improving theperformance of the model and the accuracy of predictions.

Removal of acid blue 113 and reactive black 5 dye from aqueous solutions by activated red mud

Mehdi Shirzad-Siboni,양재규,Seyed-Javad Jafari,Omid Giahi,김임순,이승목 한국공업화학회 2014 Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Vol.20 No.4

Removal of acid blue 113 (AB113) and reactive black 5 (RB5) dyes from aqueous solutions by activated red mud was investigated at different reaction parameters. Activated red mud has higher removal efficiency for AB113 than that for RB5. This can be explained by a greater molecular size of RB5 than that of AB113 and by different binding affinity with the surface of the activated red mud. Equilibrium data was fitted well with Freundlich isotherm and the kinetic data followed a pseudo second-order model. Maximum adsorption capacity was 83.33 mg/g and 35.58 mg/g at pH 3 for AB113 and RB5, respectively.

Kinetics and equilibrium studies of removal of an azo dye from aqueous solution by adsorption onto scallop

Mehdi Shirzad-Siboni,주상우,Alireza Khataee 한국공업화학회 2014 Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Vol.20 No.2

In the present work removal of an azo dye (Reactive Black 5) was investigated from aqueous solution byadsorption onto scallop as a low-cost and widely available adsorbent. The effect of various operationalparameters, such as contact time, pH, initial dye concentration and adsorbent dosage on the removalefficiency of dye was studied. Removal efficiency declined with the increase in solution pH and initial dyeconcentration but with the decrease in adsorbent dosage. Experimental equilibrium and kinetics datawere fitted by Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms and pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-orderkinetic models, respectively.

Application of Ni-doped ZnO rods for the degradation of an azo dye from aqueous solutions

Mehdi Shirzad-Siboni,Mitra Gholami,Jae-Kyu Yang 한국화학공학회 2016 Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering Vol.33 No.3

Ni-doped ZnO rods were applied as a photocatalyst for the degradation of an azo dye (Reactive Black 5). Effects of solution pH, catalyst dosage, initial RB5 concentration, H2O2 concentration, different purging gases, and type of organic compounds on the removal efficiency of RB5 were studied. Ni-doped ZnO rods were synthesized by co-precipitation method. Neutral pH was selected as an optimal pH condition due to a photo-corrosion of ZnO in acidic and basic conditions. Photocatalytic degradation efficiency of RB5 was increased as the catalyst dosage increased up to 1 g/ L, while it was decreased by increasing initial RB5 concentration. Pseudo-first-order rate constant (kobs) decreased from 0.122 to 0.0051 min−1 and electrical energy per order (EEo) increased from 39.34 to 941.18 (kWh/m3) by increasing RB5 concentration from 5 to 100mg/L, respectively. Photocatalytic degradation efficiency of RB5 increased by increasing H2O2 concentration, but this trend was not observed above 10 mM. Photocatalytic degradation efficiency of RB5 increased in the presence of folic acid and citric acid while interference was observed in the presence of humic acid, EDTA, oxalic acid, and phenol. Photocatalytic activity was maintained even after five successive cycles.

Removal of Phenol from Aqueous Solutions by Activated Red Mud

Mehdi Shirzad Siboni,Seyed Javad Jafari,Mehrdad Farrokhi,Jae Kyu Yang 대한환경공학회 2013 Environmental Engineering Research Vol.18 No.4

In this work, removal of phenol from aqueous solutions by activated red mud was investigated. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy was used to observe the morphology and surface components of activated red mud, respectively. The effects of various parameters on the removal efficiency were studied, such as contact time, pH, initial phenol concentration, and adsorbent dosage. The removal percentage of phenol was initially increased, as the solution pH increased from 3 to 7, and then decreased above neutral pH. The removal percentage of phenol was decreased by increasing the initial phenol concentrations. Adsorption results show that equilibrium data follow the Freundlich isotherm, and kinetic data was well described by a pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Experimental results show that the activated red mud can be used to treat aqueous solutions containing phenol, as a low cost adsorbent with high efficiency.