Morphological comparison of western and eastern populations of Caspian kutum, Rutilus kutum (Kamensky, 1901) (Cyprinidae) in the southern Caspian Sea

This study aimed to investigate morphological differences of western and eastern populations of Caspian kutum Rutilus kutum in the southern Caspian Sea and its providing length-weight relationships and condition factor (CF). A 13-landmark based morphometric truss network system was used to investigate the hypothesis of population fragmentation of western and eastern populations of this species. The studied populations were differentmorphologically based on pre anal, body height, distance from pectoral fin to ventral fin, distance from pectoral fin to anal fin, caudal peduncle length, head length, pre orbital, pre ventral, and dorsal length. The results also revealed a negative allometry (b<3) of length-weight relationships for both sexes. Maximum condition factors was found in March. The results suggest distinct stocks in the western and eastern of Caspian Sea for fisheries management

History of treated pulmonary tuberculosis will also be an underlying symptom of opportunistic aspergillosis by Aspergillus flavus: A case report

AbstractIntroductionAspergillus species as cosmopolitan fungi with remarkable virulence factors were found to be agents of pulmonary aspergillosis in patients with impaired immunity. The formed cavity of some previously treated lung diseases, such as tuberculosis, sarcoidosis and pneumoconiosis, is usually predisposed to the development of aspergillosis.Pulmonary aspergillosis (PA) is an uncommon disease which is characterized by hemoptysis, malaise, fever, cough, weight loss and nonspecific radiographic manifestations, including an oval or round mass with a radiolucent halo or crescent of air, a focal consolidation, and cavitary lesions.Case presentationThis study presents the case of a 54-year-old woman with dyspnea alongside a history of treated pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) by ATT 2years ago. X-ray confirmed the presence of a rounded mass in a surrounding cavity in the lung. Tracheobronchial and chest CT images of the patient showed cavities with tuberculous nodules. Clinical symptoms of the patient were fever, malaise, anorexia, weight loss, chest pain, cough and dark mucus sputum. Aspergillus sp. was detected primarily as branching hyaline hyphae in direct examination of the sputum by calcofluor-white staining. The sample was positive with culture as well. Aspergillus flavus was identified in culture and confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing of the ITS region of rDNA and β-tubulin of fungus. The patient signed an agreement for reporting her case as a medical document in journals or in conferences.ConclusionThe importance of tuberculosis (TB) in the development of aspergillosis, even after treatment, has been highlighted by multiple studies. Microbiological and molecular evaluation are needed to detect PA quickly and accurately. The WHO reported about 8.8million new cases of TB in 2010. Therefore, it is essential to focus more on monitoring of diagnosis and treatment of PA

The effect of involved Aspergillus species on galactomannan in bronchoalveolar lavage of patients with invasive aspergillosis

PURPOSE: The detection of galactomannan (GM) in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid is an important surrogate marker for the early diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring of invasive aspergillosis (IA), regardless of the involved species of Aspergillus. Here, we utilized the Platelia Aspergillus GM enzyme immunoassay (Bio-Rad) to evaluate the GM index in BAL fluid samples from patients with proven, probable or putative IA due to Aspergillusflavus versus Aspergillusfumigatus. METHODOLOGY: In a prospective study between 2009 and 2015, 116 BAL samples were collected from suspected IA patients referred to two university hospitals in Tehran, Iran. KEY FINDINGS: According to European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer and Mycoses Study Group and Blot criteria, 35 patients were classified as IA patients, of which 33 cases tested positive for GM above 0.5 and, among these patients, 22 had a GM index >/=1. Twenty-eight were culture positive for A. flavus and seven for A. fumigatus. The GM index for A. flavus cases was between 0.5-6.5 and those of A. fumigatus ranged from 1 to 6.5. The sensitivity and specificity of a GM index >/=0.5 in cases with A. flavus were 86 and 88 % and for A. fumigatus patients were 100 and 73 %, respectively. CONCLUSION: Overall, the mean GM index in patients with A. fumigatus (3.1) was significantly higher than those of A. flavus (1.6; P-value=0.031) and the sensitivity of GM lower for A. flavus when compared to A. fumigatus. This finding has implications for diagnosis in hospitals and countries with a high proportion of A. flavus infections

Large Scale Linear Programming in the Windows and Linux computer operating systems

In this study, calculations necessary to solve the large scale linear programming problems in two operating systems, Linux and Windows 7 (Win), are compared using two different methods. Relying on the interior-point methods, linear-programming interior point solvers (LIPSOL) software was used for the first method and relying on an augmented Lagrangian method-based algorithm, the second method used the generalized derivative. The performed calculations for various problems show the produced random in the Linux operating system (OS) andWin OS indicate the efficiency of the performed calculations in the Linux OS in terms of the accuracy and using of the optimum memory

The effect of Zataria multiflora and carvacrol on wheezing, FEV1 and plasma levels of nitrite in asthmatic patients

Objective: The preventive effect of Zataria multiflora in animal models of asthma has been reported. In the present study, its effect on wheezing, forced expiratory volume in 1 second, and plasma nitrite (NO2-) in asthmatic patients was studied. Materials and Methods: In this study, forty asthmatic patients including 15 males and 25 females (aged 45.8±6.21 years) were randomly allocated in four groups including placebo group (P), and three treatment groups which received two doses of Z. multiflora (groups Z low and Z high that received 5 and 10 mg/kg/day, respectively) and carvacrol (group C treated with 1.2 mg/kg/day). All patients were treated for two months in a double-blind manner. At three time points (before starting the treatment (pretreatment), and one and two month after treatment), wheezing during day and exercise, forced expiratory volume in 1 second and NO2- were measured. Results: Day wheeze and exercise wheeze were significantly reduced in treated groups with carvacrol and both doses of Z. multiflora compared to pretreatment (p1% was significantly increased in treated groups with carvacrol and both doses of Z. multiflora (p2- was also significantly decreased in Z high and carvacrol groups after two months of treatment (p Conclusion: Z. multiflora and its constituent, carvacrol, improved FEV1% while reduced wheezing and plasma level of NO2- in asthmatic patients. Therefore, a possible therapeutic potential for this plant and its constituent, carvacrol could be suggested to be used against asthma

Impact of rapid urbanization on the surface water's quality: a long-term environmental and physicochemical investigation of Tajan river, Iran (2007-2017)

Sustainable development of our society requires protection and monitoring of aquatic environments, as they are the pivotal water resources and niche for wildlife animals. In this research, physicochemical parameters of Tajan river's water were determined and compared with standards to assess the rural and human activity impact on water quality. First, monitoring and analyzing the water quality of the river were performed for 11&nbsp;years (from 2007 to 2017). Based on calculated water quality index (WQI) values, Tajan river's water quality falls into four categories: good water with WQI less than 30 at upstream and middle of the river, poor water, and very poor to even unsuitable water (WQI ranges from 86 to 134) at the more urbanized locations. The high values of WQI are due to an elevated concentration of sulfate, nitrate, total dissolved solids (TDS), and chloride substances. The source of contaminations, according to the geochemistry of the area and having more than 90% growth rate in the population near to the most polluted location, is probably anthropogenic activities. Then, the long-term experimental data set has been utilized for developing a statistical model to be used for prediction of water quality with a few chemical analyses, generating a rapid and low-cost water quality evaluation for this river. The model was developed based on the stepwise multiple linear regression (MLR) approach and confirmed the experimental observation data of the most defective elements on WQI were respectively SO4, NO3, TDS, Cl, pH, and EC. This study presents a long-term evaluation of changes in surface water quality at a region with a recent rapid urban and civil development providing a suitable case to understand better human-water relations

A Molecular Epidemiological Survey of Clinically Important Dermatophytes in Iran Based on Specific RFLP Profiles of Beta-tubulin Gene

Background: Surveillance of dermatophytosis is essential to determine the likely changes in etiological trends and distribution profile of this infection. In this study beta tubulin gene (BT2), was used as the first time in a PCR-RFLP format to clarify the distribution of dermatophytosis agents in some parts of Iran.Methods: A total of 603 clinical isolates was obtained from 500 patients in Tehran, Isfahan, Mazandaran and Guilan provinces. The isolates were identified using macro/micro-morphological criteria and electrophoretic patterns of PCR amplicons of BT2after digestion with each of the restriction enzymes FatI, HpyCH4V, MwoI and Alw21I.Results: Among the patients, 59.2% were male and 40.8% female. The most prevalent clinical form was tinea pedis (42.4%), followed by tinea cruris (24.2%), tinea unguium (12.3%), tinea corporis (10.8%), tinea faciei (4%), tinea manuum (3.14%), tinea capitis (3%) and tinea barbae (0.16%), respectively. Trichophyton interdigitale ranked the first, followed by T. rubrum, Epidermophyton floccosum, Microsporum canis, T. tonsurans, T. erinacei and T. violaceum (each 0.49%) and the less frequent species were T. schoenleinii, M. gypseum and T. anamorph of Arthroderma benhamiae (each 0.16%). A case of scalp infection by E. floccosum was an exceptional event in the study. No case of T. verrucosum was found.Conclusion: Trichophyton species and E. floccosum are yet the predominant agents of infection in Iran, while Microsporum species are decreasing. T. interdigitale and Tinea pedis remain as the most causal agent and clinical form of dermatophytosis, respectively. It seems that BT2 can be a useful genetic marker for epidemiological survey of common pathogenic dermatophytes

Molecular Design, Expression and Evaluation of PASylated Human Recombinant Erythropoietin with Enhanced Functional Properties

Erythropoietin (EPO) is the principal hormone which, has somewhat short half-life involved in the differentiation and regulation of circulating red blood cells. The present study was carried out to evaluate the capability of a polyethylene glycol mimetic technology as a biological alternative to improve pharmaceutical properties of human recombinant EPO. In silico models of EPO fused to 200 amino acids of proline, alanine, and serine (PAS) were initially generated and assessed by molecular dynamic (MD) simulation. The fluctuations of the modeled structure reached a plateau after 6000 ps of MD simulation. The Phi and psi analysis showed \u3e99.2% of residues were located in the allowed regions. An expression vector consisting of EPO cDNA tagged to PAS coding sequences was synthesized and expressed in CHO-K1 Cells. The produced PASylated molecule was purified and characterized by standard analytical methods. The molecular weight of fusion protein was expanded to 70 kDa using sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis method. Analytical size exclusion chromatography revealed an approximately sevenfold increase in apparent size of produced protein. Although the in vitro potency of the fusion protein was significantly reduced (1.26 ± 0.05 vs. 0.24 ± 0.03 ng/ml) but, the in vivo activity was considerably increased up to 1.58 × 105 IU/ml in normocythemic mice assay. Pharmacokinetic animal studies revealed strongly 15.6-fold plasma half-life extension for the PASylated EPO (83.16 ± 13.28 h) in comparison to epoetin α (8.5 ± 2.4 h) and darbepoetin α (25.3 ± 2.2h)

Comparison of Two Different Induction Doses of Atracurium in Myasthenia Gravis in Patients Undergoing Thymectomy

Introduction:yasthenia gravis is an autoimmune disorder resulting from a decreased number of active acetylcholine receptors at the neuromuscular junction. Thymectomy is one of its current treatments. Due to sensitivity of myasthenic patients to non-depolarizing muscle relaxants and also the interaction of this medication with anti-cholinestrase drugs, determining the dosage of non-depolarizing muscle relaxants for induction of anesthesia is one of the hurdles in thymectomy. Materials and Methods :20  myasthenic  patients undergoing  transsternal thymectomy were enrolled into the study.They were divided into two groups randomly, and received either 0.25 mg/kg or 0.50 mg/kg of atracurium to facilitate tracheal intubation. Neuromuscular blockade was measured using train of four (TOF) mode of neuromuscular stimulator 15 minutes after administration of atracurium and then each 5 minutes till entered the recovery phase. The time between injection of atracurium and the recovery phase was compared between the two groups. Results:The two groups were similar with respect to age and gender. The time from the onset of myasthenia gravis to surgery, dosage and duration of pyridostegmine used preoperatively were not significantly different between the two groups.The time from administration of atracurium to recovery phase was not significant between the two groups (P=0.24). Conclusion:There was no difference between two different doses of atracurium regarding entering the recovery phase, and as the effects of non-depolarizing muscle relaxants are unpredictable in myasthenic patients, we recommend the lower dose to prevent profound skeletal muscle weakness and postoperative complication