Sharif Digital Repository

Cardiovascular diseases are one of the major causes of death in the world; atherosclerosis being one aspect. Carotid bifurcation is one of the sites that are vulnerable to this disease. Wall Shear Stress (WSS) is known to be responsible for the process of atherogenesis. In this study, we have simulated the blood flow for Newtonian and non-Newtonian, steady and unsteady, flow conditions in three idealistic and five realistic geometries. A risk factor has been presented based on the results of wall shear stress and, then, a relation was found between geometrical features and the wall shear stress risk factor. Our main conclusions are: 1) The non-Newtonian behavior of blood elevates the value... 

Cancer is one of the most significant causes of death in the world. It has been shown that the role of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the early detection of cancer is crucial. Since the number of these cancerous cells in blood is very rare, the inertial microfluidic devices are one of the best candidates for the isolation of CTCs because they result in a high throughput process. Consequently, they can process a large volume of blood in a short time. Despite extensive computational and experimental studies on inertial microfluidic platforms, the impact of the curvature has not been thoroughly investigated during separation. In this paper, the feasibility of isolation of CTCs for... 

Background: Transport-related injuries (TIs) are a substantial public health concern for all regions of the world. The present study quantified the burden of TIs and deaths in the Eastern Mediterranean region (EMR) in 2017 by sex and age. Methods: TIs and deaths were estimated by age, sex, country, and year using Cause of Death Ensemble modelling (CODEm) and DisMod-MR 2.1. Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), which quantify the total burden of years lost due to premature death or disability, were also estimated per 100 000 population. All estimates were reported along with their corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs). Results: In 2017, there were 5.5 million (UI 4.9-6.2)... 

Snakebite envenoming is an important cause of preventable death. The World Health Organization (WHO) set a goal to halve snakebite mortality by 2030. We used verbal autopsy and vital registration data to model the proportion of venomous animal deaths due to snakes by location, age, year, and sex, and applied these proportions to venomous animal contact mortality estimates from the Global Burden of Disease 2019 study. In 2019, 63,400 people (95% uncertainty interval 38,900–78,600) died globally from snakebites, which was equal to an age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR) of 0.8 deaths (0.5–1.0) per 100,000 and represents a 36% (2–49) decrease in ASMR since 1990. India had the greatest number... 

Heart attack is one of the most common causes of death in the world. Coronary artery disease is the most recognized cause of heart attack whose onset and progression have been attributed to low-density lipoprotein (LDL) passing through the wall of the artery. In this paper, hemodynamic variables as well as the concentration of LDL through the coronary porous artery at the Left Anterior Descending coronary artery (LAD), and its first diagonal branch (D1) under the heart motion investigated using computational simulation. The geometry that has been studied in this paper is the first bifurcation of Left Anterior Descending (LAD) that has been placed on a perimeter of hypothetical sphere... 

Importance: Cancer and other noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are now widely recognized as a threat to global development. The latest United Nations high-level meeting on NCDs reaffirmed this observation and also highlighted the slow progress in meeting the 2011 Political Declaration on the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases and the third Sustainable Development Goal. Lack of situational analyses, priority setting, and budgeting have been identified as major obstacles in achieving these goals. All of these have in common that they require information on the local cancer epidemiology. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study is uniquely poised to provide these crucial data.... 

Background: The burden of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is rising globally, with substantial variation in levels and trends of disease in different countries and regions. Understanding these geographical differences is crucial for formulating effective strategies for preventing and treating IBD. We report the prevalence, mortality, and overall burden of IBD in 195 countries and territories between 1990 and 2017, based on data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2017. Methods: We modelled mortality due to IBD using a standard Cause of Death Ensemble model including data mainly from vital registrations. To estimate the non-fatal burden, we used data... 

Prostate cancer (PCa), the second most malignant neoplasm in men, is also the fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men globally. Unfortunately, this malignancy remains largely asymptomatic until late-stage emergence when treatment is limited due to the lack of effective metastatic PCa therapeutics. Due to these limitations, early PCa detection through prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening has become increasingly important, resulting in a more than 50% decrease in mortality. Conventional assays for PSA detection, such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), are labor intensive, relatively expensive, operator-dependent and do not provide adequate sensitivity.... 

Background: Combating viral hepatitis is part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and WHO has put forth hepatitis B elimination targets in its Global Health Sector Strategy on Viral Hepatitis (WHO-GHSS) and Interim Guidance for Country Validation of Viral Hepatitis Elimination (WHO Interim Guidance). We estimated the global, regional, and national prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV), as well as mortality and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) due to HBV, as part of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019. This included estimates for 194 WHO member states, for which we compared our estimates to WHO elimination targets. Methods: The primary... 

Cardiovascular disease is one of the most rampant causes of death around the world and was deemed as a major illness in Middle and Old ages. Coronary artery disease, in particular, is a widespread cardiovascular malady entailing high mortality rates. Angiography is, more often than not, regarded as the best method for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease; on the other hand, it is associated with high costs and major side effects. Much research has, therefore, been conducted using machine learning and data mining so as to seek alternative modalities. Accordingly, we herein propose a highly accurate hybrid method for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease. As a matter of fact, the... 

Background: Stomach cancer is a major health problem in many countries. Understanding the current burden of stomach cancer and the differential trends across various locations is essential for formulating effective preventive strategies. We report on the incidence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) due to stomach cancer in 195 countries and territories from 21 regions between 1990 and 2017. Methods: Estimates from GBD 2017 were used to analyse the incidence, mortality, and DALYs due to stomach cancer at the global, regional, and national levels. The rates were standardised to the GBD world population and reported per 100 000 population as age-standardised incidence rates,... 

Cancer has long been a leading cause of death. The primary tumor, however, is not the main cause of death in more than 90% of cases. It is the complex process of metastasis that makes cancer deadly. The invasion metastasis cascade is the multi-step biological process of cancer cell dissemination to distant organ sites and adaptation to the new microenvironment site. Unraveling the metastasis process can provide great insight into cancer death prevention or even treatment. Microfluidics is a promising platform, that provides a wide range of applications in metastasis-related investigations. Cell culture microfluidic technologies for in vitro modeling of cancer tissues with fluid flow and the...