Study on moving direction and survival index of Persian sturgeon (Acipenser persicus) fingerlings using mark-recapture method in Caspian Sea (Guilan province coasts)

To study moving direction and survival index of Persian sturgeon fingerlings, a total of 390200 individuals of the fish in three weight classes: less than 3g, 3 to 5g and 6 to10g were marked by coded wire tags (CWT) during 2003 to 2008. In 2003, 101500 of these individuals were marked in Shahid Beheshti, Shahid Rajaee and Shahid Marjani Sturgeon Rearing Centers, in north of Iran and then released in Sephidrud, Tajan and Gorganrud rivers. During 2004 to 2008, 288700 pieces were marked by Shahid Beheshti Rearing Centers and released in Sephidrud River. Catch and detection of fingerlings carried out by gill net prepared from nylon with mesh sizes 22, 26, 33 (2 filaments for each mesh) and one 40mm mesh size. Totally, 175 meters of net was used to study fishes in waters under 10m depth in Guilan province. In all, 2827 pieces of this fish were caught of which 40 had CWT and these belonged to weight classes 6-10g (22 pieces), 3-5g (17 pieces) and under 3g (one piece). Results on release and catch of the fingerlings for Sephirud River showed that more than 70% of fingerlings moved to eastern parts of the estuary and eastern coasts of Guilan province (stations like 12 Bahman, Dastak and Chaboksar). Of the fingerlings released in Gorganrud and Tajan rivers, only one piece was caught in Chaboksar and another in Lisar after 15 months. Hence, we postulated that the fingerlings released in Mazandaran and Golestan provices migrated to Guilan province coasts. Statistical analysis of the survival index in different weight classes indicated that the class 6-10g had higher survival rate, twice than class 3-5g and 20 times more than that of the class under 3g. Considering these results, probably the higher weight at release time can be effective in increasing the survival rate of the Persian sturgeon fingerlings

Fast and scalable inference of multi-sample cancer lineages.

Somatic variants can be used as lineage markers for the phylogenetic reconstruction of cancer evolution. Since somatic phylogenetics is complicated by sample heterogeneity, novel specialized tree-building methods are required for cancer phylogeny reconstruction. We present LICHeE (Lineage Inference for Cancer Heterogeneity and Evolution), a novel method that automates the phylogenetic inference of cancer progression from multiple somatic samples. LICHeE uses variant allele frequencies of somatic single nucleotide variants obtained by deep sequencing to reconstruct multi-sample cell lineage trees and infer the subclonal composition of the samples. LICHeE is open source and available at http://viq854.github.io/lichee

Methyl Mercury Induced Changes in the Serum Proteins of Bluegills – Lepomis Macrochirus (Teleostei)

Author Institution: Department of Biological Sciences, Kent State UniversityThere were qualitative and quantitative changes in the serum proteins of bluegills, Lepomis macrochirus, exposed to 8.728 X 10~4 ppb (W/V) of methyl mercury (MeHg) for 24, 48, and 72 hr. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) of serum proteins revealed significant changes in the qualitative and quantitative profiles at 24 and 48 hr. However, at 72 hr a trend to return to control levels was noted. The data suggest that at the dose tested, MeHg produced repairable lesions in certain tissues or organs of bluegills

Identifying factors affecting destination choice of medical tourists: a systematic review of literature

Objective: Overseas travels in which improved health is the main component, “medical tourism”, has emerged as a new source of competitive advantage all over the world. The present study seeks to identify the factors that affect destination choice of medical tourists.Methods: We systematically searched relevant databases including Pub Med, Embase, Science Direct, Web of Science and Medline databases using terms “medical tourism” OR “health tourism”.Studies were identified and screened in accordance with the preferred Reporting Items for Systematic and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) published in English or Farsi, determining factors that develop  country’s ability to become a preferred destination for outbound patients seeking healthcare services in foreign countries.Results: The search retrieved (1374) citation of which 18 studies were eligible.Across the eligible articles, 13 overarching themes including 75 that encourage medical tourists to choose a specific destination sub-themesemerged.Conclusions: Results of this study offer evidence for a comprehensive approach to strategic outreach and market expansion for medical tourism decision makers for attracting more medical tourists to their countries.Keywords: Medical tourism, health tourism, attractive factors, destination choic

Structural characterization and electrochemical behavior of transition metal carbonates

III Encuentro sobre Nanociencia y Nanotecnología de Investigadores y Tecnólogos Andaluce

Prevalence of chronic kidney disease and its associated risk factors: The first report from Iran using both microalbuminuria and urine sediment

Background: The incidence of major risk factors of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in the world is on the rise, and it is expected that this incidence and prevalence, particularly in developing countries, will continue to increase. Using data on urinary sediment and microalbuminuria, we aimed to estimate the prevalence of CKD in northeast Iran. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, the prevalence of CKD in a sample of 1557 regionally representative people, aged � 18 years, was analyzed. CKD was determined based on glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and microalbuminuria. Life style data, urine and blood samples were collected. Urine samples without any proteinuria in the initial dipstick test were checked for qualitative microalbuminuria. If the latter was positive, quantitative microalbuminuria was evaluated. Results: 1557 subjects with a mean age of 56.76 ± 12.04 years were enrolled in this study. Based on the modifcation of diet in renal disease (MDRD) equation, 137 subjects (8.89%) were categorized as CKD stages III-V. Based on urine abnormalities, the prevalence of combined CKD stages I and II was 10.63%, and based on macro- and microalbuminuria it was 14.53%. The prevalence of CKD was significantly associated with sex, age, marital status, education, diabetes mellitus (DM), hypertension (HTN), ischemic heart disease (IHD), waist to hip ratio, myocardial infarction (MI), and cerebrovascular accident (CVA). Conclusion: CKD and its main risk factors are common and represent a definite health threat in this region of Iran. Using and standardizing less expensive screening tests in low resource countries could be a good alternative that may improve the outcome through early detection of CKD

Immunological and histopathological changes in Penaeus semisulcatus challenged with Vibrio harveyi

Two-hundred and sixty five green tiger shrimp juveniles (Penaeus semisulcatus) with the average weight of 7-12g were collected from Helleh farms in Bushehr province and transported to Iran Shrimp Research Center of Bushehr in October, 2009. The juveniles were acclimated for two weeks. The experiment was designed in three treatments (named 3, 4 and 5) and two controls (named 1 and 2) in triplicate with 15 shrimp in each repetition prepared of glass aquarium. All the treatments and repetitions were exposed to Vibrio harveyi (NCBI: GU974342.1). The concentrations of the treatments were 10^8,10^6 and 10^4 CFU ml^-1 in individual containers dedicated for each mentioned treatment (3, 4 and 5, respectively). The controls prepared with no any bacteria and fully filled with chlorinated and UV treated sea water were named 1 and 2 respectively. The hemolymph were withdrawn from abdominal segments of samples for measuring THC and TPC evaluation at designed hours (2, 6, 12, 24, 48, 96, 144, 192 and 240). The shrimp samples were also fixed in Davidson fixative for histopathological studies. The results showed that the difference of THC value between controls and group 3 during 12 till 96 hours of experiment was significant (P 0.05) between group 5 and control groups of THC. The data showed that differences of TPC value between control groups during 24 to 96 hours were significant (P< 0.05), whereas the differences between controls with groups 4 and 5 during 48 to 144 hours and 192 hours, were significant (P< 0.05) respectively. TPC and THC were observed with an increase in the concentration of bacteria and passing the time as inverse bell shape procedure. In histopathology, gills showed melanization and color changed to brown and black. The hepatopancreas cells revealed necrosis and vacuolization of B, E, R and F cells. The bolitas ball and bacterial colonization was observed in the intestine. Our results showed that Vibrio harveyi with 10^8 and 10^6 cell/ml decreased immunity factors such as THC and TPC. The histopathological changes increased with increasing the concentration of bacterial level. This finding can be used for assessing the health of shrimp culture and prevention of vibriosis

Molecular study of PKD1 &amp; PKD2 genes by linkage analysis and determining the genotype/phenotype correlations in several Iranian families with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease

Background: Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is an inherited disorder with genetic heterogeneity. Up to three loci are involved in this disease, PKD1 on chromosome 16p 13.3, PKD2 on 4q21, and a third locus of unknown location. Methods: Here we report the first molecular genetic study of ADPKD and the existence of locus heterogeneity for ADPKD in the Iranian population by performing linkage analysis on 15 affected families. Results: Eleven families showed linkage to PKD1 and two families showed linkage to PKD2. In two families, PKD1 markers are common in all affected members but PKD2 markers were not informative. Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate significant locus heterogeneity in autosomal dominant PKD in Iran. Analysis of clinical data confirms a milder ADPKD phenotype for PKD2 families. Our results showed relatively high heterozygosity rates and PIC values for some markers, while the most informative markers were KG8 and 16AC2.5 for PKD1 gene and AFM224x6 for PKD2 gene