Challenges toward Sustainability? Experiences and Approaches to Literary Tourism from Iran

Interdisciplinary narrative studies are of great importance in several disciplines, especially in the humanities and social sciences. Cultural tourism and its sub-disciplines, including the complex issue of ‘literary tourism’, is an interdisciplinary field of investigation, positioned in between geography and urban–rural studies. In Iran, this form of tourism has been neglected so far—with no distinction between urban and rural areas—despite a particularly rich literary heritage. The present study recognizes the challenge of literary tourism in Iran, delineating some possible actions to develop it as a future engine of economic growth, especially in rural districts. As a contribution to a refined comprehension of literary tourism development paths, a content analysis was run collecting views and textual data on literary tourism in Iran. The empirical results of this study indicate that the mentioned challenges can be classified into several main dimensions and a broader set of sub-themes. The possible actions responding to such challenges can be classified into more dimensions and a vast number of sub-themes. Actions reducing territorial disparities and fueling entrepreneurship in local communities are appropriate to stimulate the emergence (and, possibly, consolidation) of literary tourism districts in Iran, giving an original contribution to sustainable development especially—but not exclusively—in rural settlements

Spatial planning, urban governance and the economic context: The case of 'Mehr' housing plan, Iran

With the increasing concentration of population and economic activities in metropolitan regions, dwelling shortages and housing quality have become critical issues in urban management. Town plans considering social, economic, political, and cultural features of local communities have been developed with the aim of supporting housing, especially in emerging economies. In Iran, the 'Mehr Housing' Plan has been considered as one of the most relevant strategies for social housing since the 2000s. However, the acceptance of 'Mehr Housing' plans at the community scale has been rather low, reflecting the fact that it is a top-down, non-participatory policy. The present study investigates the most important factors affecting social acceptance of 'Mehr Housing' plans by interviewing 45 experts through a structured questionnaire that evaluated multiple analyses' dimensions of housing and urban planning in Iran. Results showed that six dimensions (physical, institutional-managerial, economic, socio-cultural, legal, and locational) had contributed to social dissatisfaction with 'Mehr Housing' local initiatives. In particular, socio-cultural and legal dimensions were demonstrated to have a large impact on local communities' dissatisfaction

A Student-Led Qualitative Study to Explore Dental Undergraduates' Understanding, Experiences, and Responses to Racism in a Dental School

Racism, Intersectionality, Schools, Students, Dental, Power, Professional, SexismRacism, Intersectionality, Schools, Students, Dental, Power, Professional, SexismRacism, Intersectionality, Schools, Students, Dental, Power, Professional, Sexis

RIT2 Polymorphisms: Is There a Differential Association?

Neurological disorders include a wide variety of mostly multifactorial diseases related to the development, survival, and function of the neuron cells. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been extensively studied in neurological disorders, and in a number of instances have been reproducibly linked to disease as risk factors. The RIT2 gene has been recently shown to be associated with a number of neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease (PD) and autism. In the study reported here, we investigated the association of the rs12456492 and rs16976358 SNPs of the RIT2 gene with PD, essential tremor (ET), autism, schizophrenia (SCZ), and bipolar disorder (BPD; total of 2290 patients), and 1000 controls, by using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. Significant association was observed between rs12456492 and two disorders, PD and ET, whereas rs16976358 was found to be associated with autism, SCZ, and BPD. Our findings are indicative of differential association between the RIT2 SNPs and different neurological disorders. © 2016, Springer Science+Business Media New York

A Clinical and Molecular Genetic Study of 50 Families with Autosomal Recessive Parkinsonism Revealed Known and Novel Gene Mutations

In this study, the role of known Parkinson�s disease (PD) genes was examined in families with autosomal recessive (AR) parkinsonism to assist with the differential diagnosis of PD. Some families without mutations in known genes were also subject to whole genome sequencing with the objective to identify novel parkinsonism-related genes. Families were selected from 4000 clinical files of patients with PD or parkinsonism. AR inheritance pattern, consanguinity, and a minimum of two affected individuals per family were used as inclusion criteria. For disease gene/mutation identification, multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification, quantitative PCR, linkage, and Sanger and whole genome sequencing assays were carried out. A total of 116 patients (50 families) were examined. Fifty-four patients (46.55; 22 families) were found to carry pathogenic mutations in known genes while a novel gene, not previously associated with parkinsonism, was found mutated in a single family (2 patients). Pathogenic mutations, including missense, nonsense, frameshift, and exon rearrangements, were found in Parkin, PINK1, DJ-1, SYNJ1, and VAC14 genes. In conclusion, variable phenotypic expressivity was seen across all families. © 2017, Springer Science+Business Media New York

A Clinical and Molecular Genetic Study of 50 Families with Autosomal Recessive Parkinsonism Revealed Known and Novel Gene Mutations

In this study, the role of known Parkinson�s disease (PD) genes was examined in families with autosomal recessive (AR) parkinsonism to assist with the differential diagnosis of PD. Some families without mutations in known genes were also subject to whole genome sequencing with the objective to identify novel parkinsonism-related genes. Families were selected from 4000 clinical files of patients with PD or parkinsonism. AR inheritance pattern, consanguinity, and a minimum of two affected individuals per family were used as inclusion criteria. For disease gene/mutation identification, multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification, quantitative PCR, linkage, and Sanger and whole genome sequencing assays were carried out. A total of 116 patients (50 families) were examined. Fifty-four patients (46.55; 22 families) were found to carry pathogenic mutations in known genes while a novel gene, not previously associated with parkinsonism, was found mutated in a single family (2 patients). Pathogenic mutations, including missense, nonsense, frameshift, and exon rearrangements, were found in Parkin, PINK1, DJ-1, SYNJ1, and VAC14 genes. In conclusion, variable phenotypic expressivity was seen across all families. © 2017, Springer Science+Business Media New York