Association between Endothelial Selectin (E-selectin) gene polymorphisms and E-selectin level with visceral leishmaniais, in an ARMS-PCR based study

Background: In the visceral leishmaniasis (VL), parasites reside in reticuluendothelial system, mainly in macrophages. Endothelial Selectin (E-selectin) might play an important role in leukocyte-endothelium interactions and inflammatory cell recruitment. The aim of this study was determining E-selectin level and its polymorphism in three groups, patients, seropositive and healthy individuals. Methods: Serum soluble E-selectin levels as well as 2 polymorphisms of E-selectin (Ser128Arg and Leu554Phe) were measured in a cohort of patients with documented VL (n=64), a healthy control group (n=74) and a seropositive for VL but without any symptoms (n=81). Circulation concentration of E-selectin levels was measured by ELIS. The amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS)-PCR procedure was used for detecting polymorphisms. Results: The mean of E-selectin levels significantly differed between three groups (P<0.026), and were increased in patients in comparison with other groups. Difference was more considerable between two groups of patients and healthy ones (patients 92.8 ng/ml; healthy individuals 71.9 ng/ml). Polymorphisms were associated with soluble E-selectin levels and altogether explained 14.4%, 7.2%, and 8.7% in patients, seropositive and seronegative healthy individuals, respectively. Distribution of polymorphisms of 128Ser/Arg and 554Leu/Phe among three groups was not different significantly; however, there was a considerable arrangement in distribution of Ser128Arg polymorphism and 128Arg allele in healthy group was more than two fold of patients (55% against 20%). Conclusion: The association between soluble E-selectin levels and visceral leishmaniasis suggests that this molecule might have significant role in the inflammatory process in VL. Moreover, frequency of 128Arg allele in healthy group was higher than patients

A bio-inspired computational language for kinesin nanomotor

Kinesin nanomotor is a tiny vehicle that transports molecular cargoes within the cells. Many kinesin nanomotors can attach to a single cargo and coordinate their behaviors to transport the cargo. This behavioral coordination of kinesin nanomotors can be defined through a communicational language that kinesin nanomotors follow to transport the cargo. This paper proposes a computational language for kinesin nanomotor which is inspired by the nanomotor's natural behavior. In this technique, we have used behavioral Deterministic Finite Automaton (DFA) model of kinesin nanomotor which indicated internal intelligent and autonomous decision-making process of the nanomotor in response to its cell. In addition, the behavioral responses of kinesin nanomotor to its cell, behavioral DFA model of the nanomotor, were mapped to a computational regular language for the nanomotor. The proposed computational language for kinesin nanomotor was acceptable by the behavioral DFA model and also in good agreement with the natural behavior of the nanomotor. The development of such computational languages among intelligent and autonomous nanoparticles in nature paves the way for constructing potential bio-inspired nanorobotic systems as well as designing of some computational languages for their controlling

Domestic dog ownership in Iran is a risk factor for human infection with Leishmania infantum.

One explanation proposed for the widespread failure to control zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis by culling infected domestic dogs is that wild canids or humans play significant roles in transmission. The aim of this study was to determine the importance of domestic dogs as the reservoir hosts of visceral leishmaniasis in northwest Iran. A random sample of 3,872 children and 199 dogs in 38 villages was surveyed by the direct agglutination test. Dog ownership details among these households were collected by questionnaire. Parasites isolated from 16 patients and 12 dogs were characterized as Leishmania infantum MON-1. Average seroprevalence in dogs (21.6%) was much higher than in children (7%). Child seropositivity increased significantly with village dog density in absolute terms (P < 0.001) and in relation to dog/human ratios (P = 0.028). Dog ownership within villages also was a significant risk factor for child seropositivity (P = 0.003)

Determinant factors affecting the web – based training acceptance by health students, applying UTAUT model

Abstract—Nowadays Web-based training (WBT) is the most advanced training methods. With the increasing use of modern methods of training in universities necessity of identification of the factors influencing the acceptance of web-based training becomes more obvious. This study examines the factors influencing the acceptance of web-based training by students. This study was cross-sectional survey and conducted from August to December 2016. As sample, 229 students of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences (TUOMS) were asked to participate in this study and fill the corresponding questionnaires. The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) was applied to investigate and explain the acceptance of E-learning. The data were analyzed by SPSS v.16. Findings revealed that the web- based training acceptance was directly influenced by performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitated condition, and attitude toward technology, self-efficacy, and anxiety. In contrast the impact of the social influences hadn’t been observed on behavior indentation. The findings indicated that UTAUT model explains about 58% of the variance for adoption of WBT. The study not only provides an indicator of students’ acceptance of E-learning, but also recognizes the important factors that would contribute to its successful use. The simulating or disappointing factors effecting use of the E-learning systems in university have been understood in a well-organized way according to the received results. Decision makers should apply these conclusions to improve strategies to align users’ expectations with use of technology use learning

KAtex antigen-detection test as a diagnostic tool for latent visceral leishmaniasis cases

Kala-azar is an infectious disease that mostly affects children under 5 years old, and, in untreated cases, is fatal. There are several routine serological tests employed to diagnose the disease, but thesetests have disadvantages. Parasitological diagnosis tools are accurate but invasive, while molecular tools are expensive and not commonly used. We report that the newly developed kAtex test is a rapid,non invasive and simple tool for the detection of visceral leishmaniasis (VL), capable of detecting and distinguishing between recovered, subclinical and latent cases. The study was carried out in endemicareas of Kalibar and Ahar districts, East Azerbaijan province, Northwest Iran. Urine and Sera samples were collected from 313 children under age 5 years old from the endemic area. Additionally, sera andurine of 18 confirmed VL patients were studied. Urine samples were tested by kAtex kit to detect VL antigen. All sera samples were also tested by other serological tests such as DAT, IFA, and ELISA (IgGand IgM). kAtex tests were positive for 10 out of 313 examined urine samples of children and 2 positive samples for ELISA-IgM, but were negative all for other serological tests. During clinical follow up of thekAtex positive individuals, three of them developed VL disease, with DAT titers for these individuals reaching 1/3200. The results show that kAtex is an effective screening test for latent infection of VL. Thetest discriminates between active disease, sub clinical and latent infections. Its results can complement DAT for the diagnosis of unconfirmed visceral leishmaniasis cases

Evaluation of Consumer Health Information Websites Based on International Guidelines

Background and Aim: Since health information websites in the Internet is almost the first and the most used source of information for public. It is therefore necessary to comprehensively evaluate websites which provide health information for the public. Objective: The research aimed to investigate the quality of Farsi health information websites comparing the international pairs provided with recognized quality standards including those from the Medical Library Association of America (MLA). Materials and Methods: Checklists of the British Medical Association (BMA), MLA, Health On the Net Foundation Code (HONcode) principles, and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (W3C) were use as the research tools. The sample of websites included the 10 top health websites in English rated by MLA and nine Iranian health information websites in Persian (Farsi). Results: Iranian websites did not obtain desirable scores against the quality standards of health information websites (BMA, HONcode, W3C, and MLA) in terms of scope, accuracy, and quality, authorship and authority, attribution and justifiability, bias -free observation, good design, code of conduct/standards. An analytical comparison of health information websites based on their ownership showed that the private sector organisation websites were better than the governmental Iranian websites in terms of observing the standards as well as comprehensiveness. Strengths of the Iranian websites included information privacy, transparency, consumer involvement, and ease of understanding. No considerable differences were observed between the private sector organisation and governmental websites on other criteria. Conclusions: Results of this research highlighted the need to determine standards and improve the quality control of public health information websites in Iran, by an organization or institute such as the Iranian Medical Library Association. These findings will create the basis of recommendations for developing a comprehensive, consistent, reliable, up-to-date, and high-quality website, which can account for the needs of health consumers. Provision of such a website will contribute to improvements in understanding of diseases, effective self-care and self-management and appropriate lifestyle advice. In turn, this may help to reduce unnecessary referrals to health centers, hospitalization and unnecessary taking of medicine, leading to better health outcomes for the population

An agent-based model of muscle contraction process as a bio-robotic process

This paper introduces a new computational methodology to model muscle contraction process as a bio-robotic process using agent technology. In this work, we have focused on muscle myosin nanomotor as the driven motor of muscles and introduced the nanomotor as a physical intelligent agent. Then, the mechanism of the nanomotor was specified using subsumption architecture of agent technology and modeled with the Finite State Machine (FSM) diagram of Unified Modeling Language (UML). The proposed agent-based FSM model of the mechanism of muscle myosin nanomotor illustrated the internal intelligent and autonomous decision-making process of the nanomotor as a robot mechanism. In order to verify the proposed agent-based FSM model of the mechanism of the nanomotor, we developed its mathematical definitions (its Deterministic Finite Automaton (DFA) and grammar) and compared them with the natural behavior of the nanomotor inside the muscle cells. The comparison results indicated that the mechanism of muscle myosin nanomotor could be defined as a robot mechanism with its inputs, internal decision-making process, and outputs. As muscle contraction process is a set of the mechanisms of muscle myosin nanomotors, our proposed agent-based model of the mechanism of the nanomotor can introduce muscle contraction process as a general bio-robotic process

A software agent model of muscle myosin nanomotor

The state-of-the-art in information and robotic systems deals with analyzing of natural systems at nanoscale to apply them for constructing potential bio-nanosystems. This paper employs agent technology and introduces a software agent model of muscle myosin nanomotor which illustrates a set of information processes which are running during the mechanism of the nanomotor. Muscle myosin, as a desired dynamic component of potential bio-nanorobotic systems, is the driven motor of muscle contractions. In this work, firstly, muscle myosin nanomotor was introduced as a physical intelligent agent. Then, we have designed the internal decision-making process of the nanomotor using subsumption architecture of agent technology. The agent-based architectural model of the nanomotor was proposed with mapping the subsumption rules of the nanomotor to its respective Deterministic Finite Automaton (DFA). The proposed agent-based architectural DFA model of muscle myosin nanomotor demonstrated that the nanomotor could receive inputs from its environment, analyze data, and generate outputs. Also, the proposed agent-based architectural DFA model of muscle myosin nanomotor was in good agreement with the behavior of the nanomotor inside the muscle cells. Finally, the proposed agent-based architectural DFA model was implemented as a software agent model of the nanomotor. The developed software agent model of muscle myosin nanomotor traced the real behavior of the nanomotor in nature