Haemolymph Components of Infected & None Infected Lymnaea snails with Xiphidiocercariae

Background: In this study the haemolymph components of infected and none infected Lymnaea gedrosiana with xiphidiocercaria larvae was compared.Methods: Five hundred Fifty Lymnaea snails were collected from Ilam and Mazandaran prov­inces, Iran, during 2008-2009. The snails were transported to the lab at Tehran University of Medi­cal Sciences and their cercarial sheddings were studied. Haemolmyphs of snails were ex­tracted and cells were counted using haemocytometer and cell-surface carbohydrate were recog­nized by conjugated lectin (Lentil). Haemolymph protein concentrations were measured by Brad­ford protein assay method and soluble protein compositions were determined on sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrilamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE).Result: From the 550 examined Lymnaea snails for cercariae, 27 snails were infected with xiphidiocer­cariae. Mean of haemolymph cells (haemocyte) number were obtained 93480±2.43 (cells/ml) for none infected snails (25 snail) and 124560±2800 (cells/ml) for infected snails (25 snail). Mannose carbohydrate was recognized on haemocyte of none infected and infected snails. Mean of protein concentration of haemolymph plasma was obtained as 1354 ± 160 μg/ml (1.4 mg/ml) for none infected snails (25 snails) and 1802±138 μg/ml (1.8 mg/ml) for infected snail (25 snails). Comparing to none infected snails, the SDS-PAGE results of haemolymph plasma of infected snails, showed an extra protein band (70 kDa). The results showed a significant differ­ence between the amounts and the kinds of proteins in haemolymph of infected and none infected snails.Conclusion: This information might be useful to understand of parasite detection, adhesion, engulf­ment and antigen agglutination by snail

Health-related quality of life and medication adherence in elderly patients with epilepsy

© 2019 Polish Neurological Society. Objective. Considering the high prevalence of epilepsy in the elderly and the importance of maximising their quality of life (QoL), this study aimed to investigate the relationship between medication adherence and QoL, and the mediating effects of medication adherence on the association between serum antiepileptic drug (AED) level and seizure severity with QoL in elderly epileptics. Methods. In a longitudinal study, 766 elderly patients with epilepsy who were prescribed a minimum of one antiepileptic drug were selected by convenience sampling method. A Medication Adherence Report Scale (MARS-5) questionnaire was completed at the baseline. Seizure severity and QoL were assessed after six months using the Liverpool Seizure Severity Scale (LSSS) and the QoL in Epilepsy (QOLIE-31) questionnaires respectively. Serum level of AED was also measured at six-month follow-up. Results. Medication adherence was significantly correlated with both seizure severity (β = -0.33, p < 0.0001) and serum AED level (β = 0.29, p < 0.0001) after adjusting for demographic and clinical characteristics. Neither QoL nor its sub-classes were correlated with seizure severity. In addition, a significant correlation was not observed between serum AED level and QoL. However, medication adherence was significantly correlated with QoL (β = 0.30, p < 0.0001). The mediating effects of medication adherence on the association between serum AED level (Z = 3.39, p < 0.001) and seizure severity (Z = -3.47, p < 0.001) with QoL were supported by the Sobel test. Conclusion. This study demonstrates that medication adherence has a beneficial impact on QoL in elderly epileptics. Therefore, adherence to treatment should be monitored to improve their QoL

Reliability and validity of the persian version of compulsive eating scale (CES) in overweight or obese women and its relationship with some body composition and dietary intake variables

Objective: Compulsive or binge eating is a kind of disturbed eating behavior, which is mostly observed among dieting women, and is integrated with appetite disorder, and uncontrolled eating of plenty of junk food. The Compulsive Eating Scale (CES) created first by Kagan & Squires in 1984, is an eight-item self-reporting instrument that is made to measure the severity of binge eating disorder. The aim of this study was to provide the reliability and validity of the Persian version of Compulsive Eating Scale (CES) among overweight and obese women in Iran. Method: One hundred and twenty six (N = 126) overweight and obese women consented to participate in this study. We estimated the anthropometric indices, including body weight, height, waist and hip circumferences, a total body fat percentage, and visceral fat level with body analyzer all in standard situations. Then, the participants completed the CES. Next, to assess concurrent validity, Beck Depression Inventory, Spielberger anxiety scale, appetite visual analogue rating scale, Food Craving questionnaire, Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-R18, and Restraint eating visual analogue rating scale were performed simultaneously. To assess test-retest reliability, CES was repeated for all the participants two weeks later. Moreover, we reported the internal consistency and factor analysis of this questionnaire. Furthermore, we estimated the concurrent correlation of CES with logically relevant questionnaires and body composition and anthropometric indices. Results: Based on the reliability analysis and factor analysis of the principal component by Varimax rotation, we extracted two factors: eating because of negative feelings, and overeating. Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) of the CES was 0.85 (Cronbach alpha of the factors was 0.85, and 0.74, respectively). The test-retest correlation of the CES was 0.89. Also, the split-half reliability of the questionnaire was established with the correlation coefficient between Sets I and II. The correlation was 0.85. Conclusion: This study provides preliminary support for the reliability and validity of the Persian version of the CES. This instrument would be helpful in measuring the clinical practice and research studies of obesity, appetite and eating disorders reliably and validly

Molecular detection of TEM broad spectrum β-lactamase in clinical isolates of Escherichia coli

Resistance to β-lactam antibiotics, along with clinical isolates, frequently results to production of β- lactamase enzymes. In recent years, the production of extended spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) among clinical isolates, especially Escherichia coli has greatly increased. On the other hand, β lactamase genes have several subfamilies, and designing universal primers could be valuable to detect all of them. The beta lactamase enzyme producing E. coli, resistant to β-lactam antibiotics, created many problems for the patients. The TEM gene is responsible for β-lactamase resistance. The purpose of this study was to find out the percentage of E. coli strains that carry TEM in genes. In total, 500 clinical samples were collected from different Hospitals in Tehran. All the samples were isolated on EMB and MacConkey agar and incubated at 37°C for 24 h. The identification was carried out by conventional biochemical tests. Out of the 500 samples, 200 were identified as E. coli. The TEM gene was determined by PCR method on the isolates, which were already identified as Phenotypic by disk diffusion agar and combined disk. Out of the 200 isolated E. coli strains, 128 (64%) were producing ESBls. The PCR results show that 74 isolates of E. coli (57.8%) had the TEM gene. Our findings show that the majority of the ESBL positive clinical isolates of E. coli carried the TEM gene.Key words: Escherichia coli, β-lactamase enzymes, TEM-type extended spectrum beta-lactamases

Seroepidemiological Study of Human Hydatidosis in Meshkinshahr District, Ardabil Province, Iran

Background: The aim of this study was to conduct a sero-epidemiological survey in Meshkinshahr, Arda­bil Province, northwestern Iran to detect the rate of hydatidosis in the city and nearby villages. Literature shows that no such study has been conducted so far.Methods: Overall, 670 serum samples were collected from 194 males and 476 females from patients re­ferred to different health centers of the region. All patients filled out a questionnaire and an informed con­sent. Sera were analyzed using indirect-ELISA test. Ten μg /ml antigens (Antigen B derived from hydatid cyst fluid), serum dilutions of 1:500 and conjugate anti-human coombs with 1:10000 dilutions were util­ized to perform the test. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS software ver. 11.5. Results: The seroprevalence of human hydatidosis was 1.79% by ELISA test in the region. This rate for fe­males was 1.68% and males 2.6%, respectively. There was no significant difference as regards all fac­tors studied and the seropositivity. According to job, farmers and ranchmen had the highest rate of infec­tion as 3.17%. The sero-prevalence of infection was 2.6%% in illiterate people which showed the highest rate. As regards residency, urban life showed no significant difference with rural life (1.1% vs. 2.58%). Age group of 69-90 yr old, with 4.62% as prevalence had the highest rate of positivity.Conclusion: Obtained sero-prevalence of hydatidosis shows more or less a resemblance to other cities of Iran, although due to the specific condition of the city we expected more rate of sero-positivity

Single left coronary artery with origin of right coronary artery from left circumflex: a case report

which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background: A 40-years-old female presented with intermittent chest pain and dyspnea on exertion. Case Presentation: Electrocardiography showed sinus rhythm with ST-depression in inferior and lateral leads. Subsequent exercise treadmill testing revealed significant ST-depression in V4–V5 and V6 leads. Coronary angiography later showed a single left coronary artery with right coronary artery arising from left circumflex artery, a rare anomaly of coronary arteries. No atheromatous lesion was seen during angiography. Conclusion: The dignosis of this anomaly is importsnt because the symptoms cannot be differentiated from atherosclerotic coronary artery disease. Case presentation A 40-years-old female was admitted to the hospital with intermittent substernal chest pain and dyspnea. She visited our outpatient clinic because of exacerbation o

International Consensus on Differential Diagnosis and Management of Patients With Danon Disease: JACC State-of-the-Art Review

Danon disease is a rare X-linked autophagic vacuolar cardioskeletal myopathy associated with severe heart failure that can be accompanied with extracardiac neurologic, skeletal, and ophthalmologic manifestations. It is caused by loss of function variants in the LAMP2 gene and is among the most severe and penetrant of the genetic cardiomyopathies. Most patients with Danon disease will experience symptomatic heart failure. Male individuals generally present earlier than women and die of either heart failure or arrhythmia or receive a heart transplant by the third decade of life. Herein, the authors review the differential diagnosis of Danon disease, diagnostic criteria, natural history, management recommendations, and recent advances in treatment of this increasingly recognized and extremely morbid cardiomyopathy

AI reflections in 2020

We invited authors of selected Comments and Perspectives published in Nature Machine Intelligence in the latter half of 2019 and first half of 2020 to describe how their topic has developed, what their thoughts are about the challenges of 2020, and what they look forward to in 2021.Postprint (author's final draft