Identifying and Validating Components of Decision-Making of the Secondary School Pricniplals in Iranian Eeducation System

The aim of this study was to identify the dimensions and components of administrators decision making in educational organization. This research method was a mixed exploratory research. The statistical population in the qualitative section included all school principals in Tehran and expert principals of educational system and the sampling method was purposeful and theoretical. In quantitative part, the statistical population was all school principals in Tehran, which according to Cochran's formula, the number of sample members was 249. Data collection tool in the qualitative part of the interview was semi-structured and retesting and reliability between the two coders were used to check the validity and reliability of the interviews and coding, and they are approved as 0.75 and 0.77 respectively. The collection tool in the quantitative part was a researcher-made questionnaire that its validity was checked and confirmed by content validity method and confirmatory factor analysis. The reliability of the instrument was evaluated and confirmed using Cronbach's alpha method, and it was approved as 0.625. Grounded theory approach was used to analyze the data in the qualitative part. One-sample t-test, Pearson correlation coefficient and confirmatory factor analysis were used to analyze the quantitative part. The findings showed: 1- Dimensions of decision making were classified into eight categories: knowledge, experience and expertise, ethical, psychological, social, human, technical and economic. 2- There was a significant correlation between the dimensions and components. 3- Knowledge dimension and psychological dimension had the highest and lowest mean, respectively

Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) regions: A powerful tool for analysis of the diversity of wheat genotypes

137-143Wheat is a widely cultivated crop and it is one of the major food sources worldwide. Among the various tools used to study diversity of wheat species, the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) assessment emerges to be the more appropriate approach. In the present study, we evaluated 15 genotypes of Iranian wheat cultivars (wild, native, and breed) using ITS gene sequences. Similarity matrices and dendrogram of phylogenic relationship were constructed using Mega ver6 software. We report the major nucleotide changes in the same position between diploid and hexaploid species. dN/dS ratio for diploid, tetraploid, and hexaploid species indicated a pure selection in the examined gene, with no key changes in the genes, and 91% ITS diversity within individual wheat was evident. The results suggest that as evolution moves forward, nucleotide changes are reduced so that only a few changes in nucleotides occur. ITS marker can distinguish different wheat genotypes at the genomic level and thus prove to be the most appropriate assessment tool for analyzing inter and intra-species relationships

Spermatozoa, acts as an external cue and alters the cargo and production of the extracellular vesicles derived from oviductal epithelial cells in vitro.

The oviduct provides optimum physiological and biochemical milieu essential for successful fertilization, early embryo development and facilitates functional maturation of spermatozoa. A study has revealed that spermatozoa alters the gene expression in bovine oviductal epithelial cells (BOECs) remotely via bio-active particles, thus acting as a cue to the oviduct prior to their arrival. However, very little attention has been paid to the question of whether spermatozoa could alter the cargo of extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from BOECs. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the alterations in small non-coding RNAs in EVs cargo derived from BOECs when incubated with spermatozoa in contact and non-contact co-culture models. After 4 h of incubation the EVs were isolated from the conditioned media, followed by small non-coding sequencing of the BOEC derived EVs. Our results revealed that EVs from both co-culture models contained distinct cargo in form of miRNA, fragmented mRNA versus control. The pathway enrichment analysis revealed that EV miRNA from direct co-culture were involved in the biological processes associated with phagocytosis, macroautophagy, placenta development, cellular responses to TNF and FGF. The mRNA fragments also varied within the different groups and mapped to the exonic regions of the transcriptome providing vital insights regarding the changes in cellular transcriptome on the arrival of spermatozoa. The findings of this study suggest that spermatozoa, in contact as well as remotely, alter the EV cargo of female reproductive tract epithelial cells which might be playing an essential role in pre and post-fertilization events

Spermatozoa induce transcriptomic alterations in bovine oviductal epithelial cells prior to initial contact

The capability of spermatozoa to directly influence maternal gene expression is already established. Indeed, some of the changes induced by spermatozoa may have a direct functional importance in the pre-conceptional period. Although the mechanisms underlying these sperm-maternal interactions are not well characterized, it is possible that they could involve ligands that are released from the spermatozoa. This study therefore aimed to test whether physical contact between bovine spermatozoa and bovine oviductal epithelial cells (BOECs) is a prerequisite for spermatozoa-induced gene expression changes. We used two co-culture models: a contact co-culture model in which spermatozoa interact directly with BOECs, and a non-contact co-culture model in which an insert with the pore size of 0.4 μm was placed between spermatozoa and BOECs. Messenger RNA sequencing analysis of BOECs by RNA-seq revealed ten differentially expressed genes in contact system and 108 differentially expressed genes in the non-contact system after 10 h of co-culture. Retinol metabolism pathway and ovarian steroidogenesis pathway were significantly enriched in the non-contact co-culture system. Q-PCR analysis revealed that transcriptional responses can be rapid, with increased expression of four genes (DHRS3, CYP1B1, PTGS2, and ATF3) detectable within just 90 min of co-incubation, but with expression levels highly dependent on the type of co-culture system. The findings from our study demonstrate that direct contact with spermatozoa is not necessary to induce changes in gene expression of oviductal epithelial cells, suggesting that spermatozoa may be able to signal to maternal tissues in advance of their arrival

Characterization of extracellular vesicles labelled with a lipophilic dye using fluorescence nanoparticle tracking analysis

Research on extracellular vesicles (EVs) has intensified over the past decade, including fluorescent membrane labeling of EVs. An optimal fluorescent method requires the size of EVs to be preserved after labeling. Lipophilic fluorescent dyes, such as CellMask™ Green (CMG), have been widely used for this purpose. Here, we investigated conditions affecting the optimum CMG labeling of EVs derived from human choriocarcinoma cells (JAr) and different biological fluids using fluorescence NTA (fl-NTA). The effect of CMG labeling on the size, concentration and zeta potential (ZP) on JAr EVs purified with different methods were measured along with biological fluid-derived EVs. With the increase of CMG dye concentration, a significant decrease in the mean size of fluorescent nanoparticles (fl-NPs) was observed. The ZP of fl-NPs originating from JAr cells with the lowest and highest dye concentrations showed a significant shift towards more and less negative ZP values, respectively. Differences in the concentration of fl-NPs were observed for JAr EVs purified using size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) alone and SEC in combination with tangential flow filtration. The proportion of CMG labeling of NPs varied across different biological sources. CMG labeling may be a reliable technique for the detection of EVs using fl-NTA

Spermatozoa, acts as an external cue and alters the cargo and production of the extracellular vesicles derived from oviductal epithelial cells in vitro

The oviduct provides optimum physiological and biochemical milieu essential for successful fertilization, early embryo development and facilitates functional maturation of spermatozoa. A study has revealed that spermatozoa alters the gene expression in bovine oviductal epithelial cells (BOECs) remotely via bio-active particles, thus acting as a cue to the oviduct prior to their arrival. However, very little attention has been paid to the question of whether spermatozoa could alter the cargo of extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from BOECs. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the alterations in small non-coding RNAs in EVs cargo derived from BOECs when incubated with spermatozoa in contact and non-contact co-culture models. After 4 h of incubation the EVs were isolated from the conditioned media, followed by small non-coding sequencing of the BOEC derived EVs. Our results revealed that EVs from both co-culture models contained distinct cargo in form of miRNA, fragmented mRNA versus control. The pathway enrichment analysis revealed that EV miRNA from direct co-culture were involved in the biological processes associated with phagocytosis, macroautophagy, placenta development, cellular responses to TNF and FGF. The mRNA fragments also varied within the different groups and mapped to the exonic regions of the transcriptome providing vital insights regarding the changes in cellular transcriptome on the arrival of spermatozoa. The findings of this study suggest that spermatozoa, in contact as well as remotely, alter the EV cargo of female reproductive tract epithelial cells which might be playing an essential role in pre and post-fertilization events

Bovine follicular fluid derived extracellular vesicles modulate the viability, capacitation and acrosome reaction of bull spermatozoa

While follicular fluid (FF) is known to enhance the functional properties of spermatozoa, the role of FF-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) in this respect is unknown. We hypothesized that bovine FF EVs convey signals to spermatozoa supporting sperm viability, inducing sperm capacitation and acrosome reaction. In this study, the effects of bovine FF EVs on sperm functions are evaluated. Irrespective of the size of the follicles which FF EVs had originated from, they were capable of supporting sperm viability, inducing capacitation and acrosome reaction. These effects were specific to the source of bovine FF EVs, as human-cell-line-derived or porcine FF EVs did not affect spermatozoa viability or induced capacitation and acrosome reaction. A minimum of 5 × 105 EVs/mL was adequate to maintain sperm viability and induce capacitation and acrosome reaction in spermatozoa. Interestingly, with FF EV trypsin treatment, FF EVs lost their ability to support sperm functions. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that bovine FF EVs can support spermatozoa function and may contribute to a favorable periconceptional microenvironment. This is an important aspect of the interactions between different sexes at the earliest stages of reproduction and helps to understand molecular mechanisms modulating processes such as sperm competition and female cryptic choice

Cellular, extracellular and extracellular vesicular miRNA profiles of pre-ovulatory follicles indicate signaling disturbances in polycystic ovaries

Cell-free RNAs have the potential to act as a means of gene expression regulation between cells and are therefore used as diagnostic markers describing the state of tissue environment. The origin and functions of such RNAs in human ovarian follicle, the environment of oocyte maturation, are unclear. The current study investigates the difference in the microRNA profiles of fertile women and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) patients in three compartments from the same preovulatory follicle: mural granulosa cells (MGC), cell-free follicular fluid (FF), and extracellular vesicles (EV) of the FF by small RNA sequencing. In silico analysis was used for the prediction and over-representation of targeted pathways for the detected microRNAs. PCOS follicles were distinguished from normal tissue by the differential expression of 30 microRNAs in MGC and 10 microRNAs in FF (FDR < 0.1) that commonly regulate cytokine signaling pathways. The concentration of EV-s was higher in the FF of PCOS patients (p = 0.04) containing eight differentially expressed microRNAs (p < 0.05). In addition, we present the microRNA profiles of MGC, FF, and EV in the fertile follicle and demonstrate that microRNAs loaded into EVs target mRNAs of distinct signaling pathways in comparison to microRNAs in FF. To conclude, the three follicular compartments play distinct roles in the signaling disturbances associated with PCOS

Measuring performance on the Healthcare Access and Quality Index for 195 countries and territories and selected subnational locations: A systematic analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016

Background A key component of achieving universal health coverage is ensuring that all populations have access to quality health care. Examining where gains have occurred or progress has faltered across and within countries is crucial to guiding decisions and strategies for future improvement. We used the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2016 (GBD 2016) to assess personal health-care access and quality with the Healthcare Access and Quality (HAQ) Index for 195 countries and territories, as well as subnational locations in seven countries, from 1990 to 2016. Methods Drawing from established methods and updated estimates from GBD 2016, we used 32 causes from which death should not occur in the presence of effective care to approximate personal health-care access and quality by location and over time. To better isolate potential effects of personal health-care access and quality from underlying risk factor patterns, we risk-standardised cause-specific deaths due to non-cancers by location-year, replacing the local joint exposure of environmental and behavioural risks with the global level of exposure. Supported by the expansion of cancer registry data in GBD 2016, we used mortality-to-incidence ratios for cancers instead of risk-standardised death rates to provide a stronger signal of the effects of personal health care and access on cancer survival. We transformed each cause to a scale of 0–100, with 0 as the first percentile (worst) observed between 1990 and 2016, and 100 as the 99th percentile (best); we set these thresholds at the country level, and then applied them to subnational locations. We applied a principal components analysis to construct the HAQ Index using all scaled cause values, providing an overall score of 0–100 of personal health-care access and quality by location over time. We then compared HAQ Index levels and trends by quintiles on the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a summary measure of overall development. As derived from the broader GBD study and other data sources, we examined relationships between national HAQ Index scores and potential correlates of performance, such as total health spending per capita. Findings In 2016, HAQ Index performance spanned from a high of 97·1 (95% UI 95·8–98·1) in Iceland, followed by 96·6 (94·9–97·9) in Norway and 96·1 (94·5–97·3) in the Netherlands, to values as low as 18·6 (13·1–24·4) in the Central African Republic, 19·0 (14·3–23·7) in Somalia, and 23·4 (20·2–26·8) in Guinea-Bissau. The pace of progress achieved between 1990 and 2016 varied, with markedly faster improvements occurring between 2000 and 2016 for many countries in sub-Saharan Africa and southeast Asia, whereas several countries in Latin America and elsewhere saw progress stagnate after experiencing considerable advances in the HAQ Index between 1990 and 2000. Striking subnational disparities emerged in personal health-care access and quality, with China and India having particularly large gaps between locations with the highest and lowest scores in 2016. In China, performance ranged from 91·5 (89·1–93·6) in Beijing to 48·0 (43·4–53·2) in Tibet (a 43·5-point difference), while India saw a 30·8-point disparity, from 64·8 (59·6–68·8) in Goa to 34·0 (30·3–38·1) in Assam. Japan recorded the smallest range in subnational HAQ performance in 2016 (a 4·8-point difference), whereas differences between subnational locations with the highest and lowest HAQ Index values were more than two times as high for the USA and three times as high for England. State-level gaps in the HAQ Index in Mexico somewhat narrowed from 1990 to 2016 (from a 20·9-point to 17·0-point difference), whereas in Brazil, disparities slightly increased across states during this time (a 17·2-point to 20·4-point difference). Performance on the HAQ Index showed strong linkages to overall development, with high and high-middle SDI countries generally having higher scores and faster gains for non-communicable diseases. Nonetheless, countries across the development spectrum saw substantial gains in some key health service areas from 2000 to 2016, most notably vaccine-preventable diseases. Overall, national performance on the HAQ Index was positively associated with higher levels of total health spending per capita, as well as health systems inputs, but these relationships were quite heterogeneous, particularly among low-to-middle SDI countries. Interpretation GBD 2016 provides a more detailed understanding of past success and current challenges in improving personal health-care access and quality worldwide. Despite substantial gains since 2000, many low-SDI and middle- SDI countries face considerable challenges unless heightened policy action and investments focus on advancing access to and quality of health care across key health services, especially non-communicable diseases. Stagnating or minimal improvements experienced by several low-middle to high-middle SDI countries could reflect the complexities of re-orienting both primary and secondary health-care services beyond the more limited foci of the Millennium Development Goals. Alongside initiatives to strengthen public health programmes, the pursuit of universal health coverage hinges upon improving both access and quality worldwide, and thus requires adopting a more comprehensive view—and subsequent provision—of quality health care for all populations.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio