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Skin is among the first and most heavily damaged organs upon sulphur mustard (SM) exposure. Pruritus is the most common chronic skin complication of SM, which adversely affects the quality of life (QoL). However, current therapies for the management of SM-induced pruritus are very limited and associated with side effects. The present trial investigated the efficacy of curcumin in the alleviation of SM-induced chronic pruritic symptoms. A total of ninety-six male Iranian veterans (age 37-59 years) were randomised to receive either curcumin (1 g/d, n 46) or placebo (n 50) for 4 weeks. Serum concentrations of substance P and activities of antioxidant enzymes were measured at baseline and at the end of the trial. Assessment of pruritus severity was performed using the pruritus score, visual analogue scale (VAS) and scoring atopic dermatitis (SCORAD) index. QoL was evaluated using the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) questionnaire. Serum concentrations of substance P (P,0·001) as well as activities of superoxide dismutase (P ¼ 0·02), glutathione peroxidase (P ¼ 0·006) and catalase (P,0·001) were significantly reduced in the curcumin group, while no significant change was observed in the placebo group. Curcumin supplementation was also associated with significant reductions in measures of pruritus severity including the pruritus score (P, 0·001), VAS score (P,0·001), overall (P, 0·001) and objective SCORAD (P ¼ 0·009), and DLQI's first question (P,0·001). None of these measures was significantly changed in the placebo group. As for the QoL, although DLQI scores decreased in both groups (P,0·001 and P ¼ 0·003 in the curcumin and placebo groups, respectively), the magnitude of reduction was significantly greater in the curcumin group (P, 0·001). In conclusion, curcumin may be regarded as a natural, safe, widely available and inexpensive treatment for the management of SM-induced chronic pruritus.

Electronic textiles and functional fabrics are among the key constituents envisioned for wearable electronics applications. For e‐textiles, the challenge is to process materials of desired electronic properties such as piezoelectricity into fibers to be integrated as wefts or wraps in the fabrics. Nylons, first introduced in the 1940s for stockings, are among the most widely used synthetic fibers in textiles. However, realization of nylon‐based e‐textiles has remained elusive due to the difficulty of achieving the piezoelectric phase in the nylon fibers. Here, piezoelectric nylon‐11 fibers are demonstrated and it is shown that the resulting fibers are viable for applications in energy harvesting from low frequency mechanical vibrations and in motion sensors. A simulation study is presented that elucidates on the sensitivity of the nylon‐11 fibers toward external mechanical stimuli. Moreover, a strategy is proposed and validated to significantly boost the electrical performance of the fibers. Since a large fraction of the textile industry is based on nylon fibers, the demonstration of piezoelectric nylon fibers will be a major step toward realization of electronic textiles for applications in apparels, health monitoring, sportswear, and portable energy generation.

Febrile convulsion is the most common disorder in childhood with good prognosis. There are different hypotheses about neurotransmitters and trace element changes in biological fluids which can have a role in pathogenesis of febrile convulsion. In this study, serum selenium, zinc, and copper were measured by atomic absorption spectrometry in the children with febrile convulsion (n = 30) and in the control group (n = 30). The age and sex of the subjects were registered. Selenium and zinc were found to be significantly lower in febrile convulsion cases than in the control group (p < 0.0001 and p < 0.0001, respectively). There was no significant difference in the value of copper between the two groups (p = 0.16). While selenium and zinc levels were 44.92 +/- 10.93 microg/l and 66.13 +/- 18.97 microg/dl in febrile convulsion, they were found to be 62.98 +/- 9.80 microg/l and 107.87 +/- 28.79 microg/dl in healthy children. Meanwhile, copper levels were 146.40 +/- 23.51 microg/dl in the patients and 137.63 +/- 24.19 microg/dl in the control group, respectively. This study shows that selenium and zinc play an important role in the pathogenesis of febrile convulsion.

Hierarchically porous piezoelectric polymer nanofibers are prepared through precise control over the thermodynamics and kinetics of liquid–liquid phase separation of nonsolvent (water) in poly(vinylidene fluoride‐trifluoroethylene) (P(VDF‐TrFE)) solution. Hierarchy is achieved by fabricating fibers with pores only on the surface of the fiber, or pores only inside the fiber with a closed surface, or pores that are homogeneously distributed in both the volume and surface of the nanofiber. For the fabrication of hierarchically porous nanofibers, guidelines are formulated. A detailed experimental and simulation study of the influence of different porosities on the electrical output of piezoelectric nanogenerators is presented. It is shown that bulk porosity significantly increases the power output of the comprising nanogenerator, whereas surface porosity deteriorates electrical performance. Finite element method simulations attribute the better performance to increased volumetric strain in bulk porous nanofibers.

Background Breast cancer is the 5th leading cause of cancer death in Iranian women. This study analyzed 3010 women with breast cancer that had been referred to a cancer research center in Tehran between 1998 and 2014. Methods In this retrospective study, we analyzed 3010 breast cancer cases with 32 clinical and paraclinical attributes. We checked the data quality rigorously and removed any invalid values or records. The method was data mining (problem definition, data preparation, data exploration, modeling, evaluation, and deployment). However, only the descriptive analyses' results of the variables are presented in this article. To our knowledge, this is the most comprehensive study on breast cancer status in Iran. Results A typical Iranian breast cancer patient has been a 40–50-year-old married woman with two children, who has a high school diploma and no history of abortion, smoking, or diabetes. Most patients were estrogen and progesterone receptor positive, human epidermal growth factor (HER) negative, and P53 negative. Most cases were detected in stage 2 with intermediate grade. Conclusion This study revealed original findings which can be used in national policymaking to find the best early detection method and improve the care quality and breast cancer prevention in Iran.

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The seamless integration of electronics with biology requires new bio-inspired approaches that, analogously to nature, rely on the presence of electrolytes for signal multiplexing. On the contrary, conventional multiplexing schemes mostly rely on electronic carriers and require peripheral circuitry for their implementation, which imposes severe limitations toward their adoption in bio-applications. Here, a bio-inspired iontronic multiplexer based on spatiotemporal dynamics of organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs), with an electrolyte as the shared medium of communication, is shown. The iontronic system discriminates locally random-access events with no need of peripheral circuitry or address assignment, thus deceasing significantly the integration complexity. The form factors of OECTs that allow for intimate biointerfacing as well as the electrochemical nature of the communication medium, open new avenues for unconventional multiplexing in the emerging fields of bioelectronics, wearables, and neuromorphic computing or sensing.