Histopathologic Findings of Olfactory Mucosa in COVID-19 Patients

Background: Olfactory manifestations are common findings during the course of COVID-19, while exact physiopathology is not known Aim: We review histological changes of the nasal olfactory mucosa in COVID-19 non-survivors who died in the ICU. Methods: Sampling was done within 1 hour of death under direct vision. Specimens were taken medial to the middle turbinate in the cribriform area and embedded in paraffin blocks and stained by haematoxylin and eosin. Results: The most frequent histologic finding was the infiltration of inflammatory cells mostly comprised of lymphocytes. Inflammatory infiltration of mucosa was seen in all 11 patients with ulceration in 9 cases and neuritis in 3 cases.  Conclusion: Inflammatory infiltration of olfactory mucosa may be associated with smell manifestations. Further histological studies will clarify the role of the nasal mucosa in the physiopathology of COVID-19 especially olfactory involvement

Chemical Constituents of Donkey Dung (Anbarnasara): Questioning the Recent Claims Concerning Therapeutic Effects

Background: Various animal excrements have been used as a medicine for the treatment of different diseases in the past. Today, people still use some of these excrements, especially female donkey dung (Anbarnasara,) by smelling the smoke of burnt dung for some ailments like sinusitis and bronchitis. Recently, some studies have focused on the therapeutic activities of Anbarnasara but no one has studied the active ingredients of it.Objective: The aim of this study was to identify the chemical constituents and antibacterial activities of Anbarnasara and its smoke.Materials and Methods: Female donkey dungs were collected from Shahreza in May 2017. The substance was burnt and the smoke was led to a beaker of methanol by a distillation apparatus. Then, the methanolic extract was dried via a rotary evaporator. Antibacterial activity of the smoke and also the total methanolic extract of Anbarnasara were tested on Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli via well diffusion method. Chemical constituents were analyzed through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS) .Results: The results showed that Anbarnasara and its smoke have a very weak antibacterial activity. Regarding chemical constituents, both total methanolic extract and smoke extract predominantly contained toluene, xylene, and dibutyl phthalate.Conclusion: Previous studies showed xylene as one of the major components of the smoke of Anbarnasara. These articles also reported the presence of some plant-based compounds such as glyoxal, syringol, and limonene in the smoke. The presence of these compounds is probably due to the donkeys’ diet. In our study, the presence of dibutyl phthalate, an industrial plasticizer, among the components is probably due to environmental factors. These evidences suggested that Anbarnasara is under the influence of environmental factors like vegetation and pollutions and therefore, should be used as a medicine with caution. Recent claims regarding the antibacterial, cytotoxic, and wound healing activities of Anbarnasara should be considered independent of these environmental factors

A machine learning based exploration of COVID-19 mortality risk

Early prediction of patient mortality risks during a pandemic can decrease mortality by assuring efficient resource allocation and treatment planning. This study aimed to develop and compare prognosis prediction machine learning models based on invasive laboratory and noninvasive clinical and demographic data from patients’ day of admission. Three Support Vector Machine (SVM) models were developed and compared using invasive, noninvasive, and both groups. The results suggested that non-invasive features could provide mortality predictions that are similar to the invasive and roughly on par with the joint model. Feature inspection results from SVM-RFE and sparsity analysis displayed that, compared with the invasive model, the non-invasive model can provide better performances with a fewer number of features, pointing to the presence of high predictive information contents in several non-invasive features, including SPO2, age, and cardiovascular disorders. Furthermore, while the invasive model was able to provide better mortality predictions for the imminent future, non-invasive features displayed better performance for more distant expiration intervals. Early mortality prediction using non-invasive models can give us insights as to where and with whom to intervene. Combined with novel technologies, such as wireless wearable devices, these models can create powerful frameworks for various medical assignments and patient triage

Lessons learned from the study of masturbation and its comorbidity with psychiatric disorders in children: The first analytic study

Background: The main source of information about children's masturbation is more on the basis of case reports. Due to the lack of consistent and accurate information. Objective: This study aimed to determine prevalence and underlying factors of masturbation and its comorbidity with psychiatric disorders in children. Methods: In this descriptive-analytical study, among the children referred to the Pediatrics Clinic of Psychiatric Ward, Golestan Hospital, Ahvaz, Southwest Iran, 98 children were selected by convenience sampling in 2014. Disorders were diagnosed by clinical interview based on the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Psychiatric Disorders (DSM-IV) and the Child Symptom Inventory-4 (CSI-4). We also used a questionnaire, containing demographic information about the patient and their family and also other data. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square test with SPSS software version 16. Results: Of the children who participated in this study (most of whom were boys), 31.6% suffered from masturbation. The phobias (p=0.002), separation anxiety disorder (p=0.044), generalized anxiety disorder (p=0.037), motor tics (p=0.033), stress disorder (p=0.005), oppositional defiant disorder (p=0.044), thumb sucking (p=0.000) and conduct disorder (p=0.001) were associated with masturbation. Conclusion: Masturbation was common in children referred to psychiatric clinic, and may be more associated with oppositional defiant disorder, or conduct disorder, some anxiety disorders, motor tics and other stereotypical behavior. Authors recommended more probing for psychiatric disorders in children with unusual sexual behavior

Gelasia attariana E. Hatami, Mirtadz. & Ebrahimi 2023, sp. nov.

Gelasia attariana E. Hatami, Mirtadz. & Ebrahimi, sp. nov. (Figs. 1A, B, C, D, E & 2). Type:— IRAN. Azerbaijan, southeast of Jolfa, Qeshlaq village, near the waterfall, 38°46.924′ N, 45°47.486′ E, 1940 m a.s.l., 8 Jul 2013, Mirtadzadini 2294 (holotype MIR!; isotypes MIR!, TUH!). Diagnosis:— Gelasia attariana is similar to G. cinerea and G. wendelboi in its caulescent perennial life form, lanceolate entire leaves with 3–7 parallel veins, tomentose indumentum of phyllaries and glabrous achenes without carpopodium. However, it differs from G. cinerea in its sparse (vs. tomentose) indumentum of stems and leaves, green (vs. greengrey) color of leaves, acuminate (vs. acute) leaf apex, narrowly (vs. broadly) campanulate shape of capitula and longer plant height and higher length/width ratio of leaves as compared to G. cinerea. Please see Table 1 for diagnostic morphological characters between G. attariana, G. cinerea and G. wendelboi. . Description:—Caulescent perennial herb. Rootstock thick, cylindrical, vertical. Root collar without or with few remnants of leaf sheaths. Stems 45–55(–60) cm, numerous, branched from the base, erect or ascending, sparsely pubescent, sulcate, leafy up to inflorescence. Leaves entire, sparsely pubescent, linear to lanceolate, reduced toward stem apex, 10–14 times as long as broad, green or yellow-green, five-nerved, upper stem leaves (6–) 8–10 cm long, lower stem leaves (12–)14–18(–22) cm long. Capitula narrowly campanulate. Phyllaries lanceolate, acute, tomentose, with membranous margin, 14–16 mm long at flowering (Fig. 1C), 21–24 mm long at fruiting (Fig. 1D). Ligules yellow. Achenes 10–12 mm long, glabrous, non-stipitate, conspicuously ribbed, smooth along ribs, cream or pale brown. Pappus 14–15 mm long, pale yellow, bristles plumose below, scabrid above (Fig. 1E). Phenology:—Flowering late June–early July, fruiting July. Etymology:—The new species name is dedicated to the eminent Iranian botanist, Dr. Farideh Attar, who conducted valuable researches on Asteraceae in Iran. Distribution and habitat:—Based on our findings, G. attariana was found only in its type locality, NW Iran (Fig. 3). This new species is an Irano-Turanian element, growing on rocky slopes in the subalpine zone, at elevations of 1900–1980 m a.s.l. (Figs. 1A, B). Phylogenetic and taxonomic remarks:—In this study, molecular phylogenetic analysis included representatives of all major lineages of subtribe Scorzonerinae as recognized in recent molecular phylogenetic studies (Zaika et al. 2020, Hatami et al. 2022). In total, nrITS sequences of 32 species of Scorzonerinae were included in our analysis as ingroup, of which eight sequences were newly generated, one was from the new species and the others belonged to seven Gelasia species (G. cinerea, G. latifolia, G. persica, G. ramosissima, G. subaphylla, G. wendelboi and G. xylobasis) which are morphologically similar to the new species (Appendix 1, Fig. 4). The aligned DNA matrix comprised of 32 sequences and 749 characters including 55 coded indels, 274 parsimony informative sites and 142 parsimony uninformative sites. Maximum parsimony analysis resulted in 20 most parsimonious trees with a length of 1171, a consistency index of 0.548 and a retention index of 0.690. The majority-rule consensus tree from the Bayesian analysis along with the posterior probabilities (PP) as well as jack-knife support (JK) from MP analysis and bootstrap values (BS) from ML analysis are represented in Fig. 4. The results obtained from our molecular analysis (Fig. 4) demonstrated that the new species (Gelasia attariana SC 37) falls into the strongly supported clade containing members of Gelasia (1 PP, 100 JK, 100 BS). The tree topology is in agreement with our morphological investigations that confirmed the treatment of the new species as a member of Gelasia. Within the Gelasia clade, the new species, G. attariana, was highly supported as sister to the subclade comprising a polytomy of G. cinerea, G. wendelboi, G. persica (Boissier & Buhse 1860: 139) Hatami et al. (2022: 20) and G. xylobasis (Rechinger 1977: 66) Hatami et al. (2022: 20) (1 PP, 97 JK, 99 BS). Therefore, our molecular analysis demonstrated the close relationship of G. attariana with the latter four species and confirmed that G. attariana can be recognized as a species distinct from its close relatives. Consistently, our morphological investigations revealed that G. attariana shares some morphological characters, such as lanceolate entire leaves with 3–7 parallel veins, tomentose indumentum of phyllaries and glabrous achenes without carpopodium, with G. cinerea, G. persica, G. wendelboi and G. xylobasis, members of the subclade that was resolved as sister to G. attariana in our molecular analysis. However, G. attariana is distinguishable from G. cinerea and G. wendelboi by plant height, stem and leaves indumentum type, leaves color, apex of leaves, length/width ratio of leaves, capitula shape and achene and pappus length (Table 1). In comparisons between G. attariana, G. persica and G. xylobasis, it was revealed that the differences in plant height, stem and leaves indumentum type, length/width ratio of leaves and length of achene and pappus are more obvious, since G. persica and G. xylobasis are characterized by a shorter plant height (8–15 cm), tomentose indumentum of stems and leaves, lower length/width ratio of leaves (2–5(–7) times as long as broad), and shorter length of achenes (6–9 cm) and pappus (8–12 cm). Through our morphological examinations of herbarium specimens, we noticed that a population of G. latifolia (Fischer & Meyer 1835: 30) Zaika et al. (2020: 75) (≡ Scorzonera latifolia Fischer & Meyer) collected from NW of Iran (Iran, Azerbaijan, east of Khoi, Seied Tadzadin mountain, 6 Jul 2013, Mirtadzadini 2293, MIR!) was morphologically similar to G. attariana in some vegetative characters including plant height (50–55 cm), shape and length of leaves (linear-lanceolate, 10–16 cm), length/width ratio of leaves (11–14 times as long as broad), and stem and leaves indumentum type (sparsely pubescent). Nevertheless, these two species can be easily distinguished from each other by the presence of densely lanate hairs on achenes of G. latifolia versus glabrous achenes in G. attariana. Besides the above-mentioned species, G. ketzkhovelii (Sosn. ex Grossheim 1934: 240) Zaika et al. (2020: 75) (≡ Scorzonera ketzkhovelii Sosn. ex Grossheim) from the Caucasus and Turkey was recognized as morphologically similar to G. attariana by its caulescent perennial life form, entire leaves with 3–7 parallel veins and glabrous achenes without carpopodium. However, they are different from each other since G. ketzkhovelii is characterized by the velutinous indumentum of stems and leaves, ovate-lanceolate leaves, and glabrous phyllaries compared to the sparse indumentum of stems and leaves, linear-lanceolate leaves and tomentose indumentum of phyllaries in G. attariana.Published as part of Ebrahimi, Atefeh, Hatami, Elham, Safavi, Seyed Reza & Mirtadzadini, Mansour, 2023, Gelasia attariana (Scorzonerinae, Cichorieae, Asteraceae), a new species from NW of Iran, inferred from morphological and molecular data, pp. 165-174 in Phytotaxa 597 (2) on pages 167-170, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.597.2.6, http://zenodo.org/record/792935