The effect of Occupational Satisfaction in Mobarakeh Steel Company Employees

Today's human resources play an important role in achievement of society's affair and there is a closely relationship between socio - economical improvements and occupational satisfaction. Occupational satisfaction refers to positive feelings and views people who have to their occupation. This study was undertaken to investigate the impact of occupational satisfaction in Steel Mobarake employees. Statistical society of this cross-sectional study consisted of 6500 employees in Steel MobarakeCo. The study was carried out using online questionnaire. Data analyzed by SPSS software. Findings showed that almost in all scales of occupational satisfaction in comparison with 2010 was observed a striking increase. This study shows that there is a negative relationship between occupational satisfaction and employees' educational degrees as well. Since employees' satisfaction plays an important role in their effectiveness in society and workplace, it is important to consider their willing, because there is a closely relationship between motivation and occupational satisfaction. Palahang H, Soltani I, Nikfarjam M, Sharifi A. The effect of Occupational Satisfaction in Mobarakeh Steel Company Employees. Life Sci J 2012;9(4):5553-5557] (ISSN: 1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite.com. 82

Antileishmanial and cytotoxic effects of essential oil and methanolic extract of Myrtus communis L.

Abstract: Plants used for traditional medicine contain a wide range of substances that can be used to treat various diseases such as infectious diseases. The present study was designed to evaluate the antileishmanial effects of the essential oil and methanolic extract of Myrtus communis against Leishmania tropica on an in vitro model. Antileishmanial effects of essential oil and methanolic extract of M. communis on promastigote forms and their cytotoxic activities against J774 cells were evaluated using MTT assay for 72 hr. In addition, their leishmanicidal activity against amastigote forms was determined in a macrophage model, for 72 hr. Findings showed that the main components of essential oil were α-pinene (24.7%), 1,8-cineole (19.6%), and linalool (12.6%). Findings demonstrated that M. communis, particularly its essential oil, significantly (P<0.05) inhibited the growth rate of promastigote and amastigote forms of L. tropica based on a dose-dependent response. The IC50 values for essential oil and methanolic extract was 8.4 and 28.9 µg/ml against promastigotes, respectively. These values were 11.6 and 40.8 µg/ml against amastigote forms, respectively. Glucantime as control drug also revealed IC50 values of 88.3 and 44.6 µg/ml for promastigotes and amastigotes of L. tropica, respectively. The in vitro assay demonstrated no significant cytotoxicity in J774 cells. However, essential oil indicated a more cytotoxic effect as compared with the methanolic extract of M. communis. The findings of the present study demonstrated that M. communis might be a natural source for production of a new leishmanicidal agent

A Prospective Cohort Study of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Risk and Opium Addiction in South Eastern Iran

Opium addiction and cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) are endemic in different parts of Iran, particularly in Bam, where a massive earthquake occurred. This study was designed to compare the incidence rate and severity of CL cases among opium addicted and non-addicted individuals in south-eastern Iran. This study was carried out as a prospective cohort by active house-to-house visits of 1,481 habitants in Bam. CL cases were confirmed by smear and identification of Leishmania species was performed using nested-PCR. The data was analyzed by x2 and t-tests, using SPSS software and also KaplanMeier survival curve and long-rank test in Stata 11.2 and P,0.05 was considered as significant. A total of 904 individuals consisting of 226 opium addicted and 678 non-addicted individuals were followed-up for a period of seven years. The two cohorts were similar in terms of age, sex and place of residency. A similar pattern of incidence was observed among the two cohort groups. In contrast, the severity of CL in terms of the number, duration and the size of the lesions in opium addicted individuals was significantly (P,0.001) higher than non-opium addicted individuals. In conclusion, the present findings indicate that there is no relationship between the incidence of CL and opium addiction

Leishmania major: Genetic Profiles of the Parasites Isolated from Chabahar, Southeastern Iran by PPIP-PCR

Background: Leishmaniasis is important vector-borne parasitic disease worldwide, caused by the genus Leishmania. The objective of the current study was to identify genetic polymorphism in L. major, one of the species causing cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL), isolated from southeastern Iran, using Permissively Primed Intergenic Polymorphic- Polymerase Chain Reaction (PPIP-PCR) method. Methods: Overall, 340 patients with suspected CL were examined. They referred to the Central Laboratory in Chabahar, Iran during Apr 2013 to Feb 2014. Microscopic examination of Giemsa-stained slides from lesions as well as aspirates cultured in Novy- Mac Neal-Nicolle (NNN) Media was employed in order to diagnose CL in these patients. Our analyses detected 86 suspected subjects as having CL from which 35 isolates were cultured successfully. PPIP-PCR method was performed on extracted genomic DNA from selected isolates in order to determine the genetic polymorphism among L. major isolates. Results: The electrophoresis patterns demonstrated two genetic profiles including A or A1 patterns between all samples tested. Frequency of A and A1 sub-types were 33 (94.3%) and two (5.7%), respectively. Conclusion: Both host and parasite factors may contribute to the clinical profile of human leishmaniasis in the endemic foci of the disease. Here we showed that genetic variations pertaining to the Leishmania parasites might determine, in part, the clinical outcomes of human leishmaniasis

In vitro and in vivo antileishmanial activities of Pistacia vera essential oil

This study aims to evaluate the in vitro and in vivo antileishmanial activities of Pistacia vera essential oil and compare their efficacy with a reference drug, meglumine antimoniate (Glucantime®). This essential oil (0–100 µg/mL) was evaluated in vitro against the intracellular amastigote forms of Leishmania tropica (MHOM/IR/2002/Mash2) and then tested on cutaneous leishmaniasis of male BALB/c mice by Leishmania major (MRHO/IR/75/ ER). In the in vitro assay, it could be observed that P. vera essential oil significantly (p < 0.05) inhibited the growth rate of amastigote forms (IC50 of 21.3 ± 2.1 µg/mL) in a dose-dependent response compared with the control drug. Meglumine antimoniate also demonstrated antileishmanial effects with an IC50 value of 44.6 ± 2.5 µg/mL for this clinical stage. In the in vivo assay, the results indicated that 30 mg/mL of the essential oil had potent suppression effects on cutaneous leishmaniasis in BALB/c mice (87.5% recovery), while 10 and 20 mg/mL of the essential oil represented the suppression effects as weak to intermediate. The mean diameter of the lesions decreased about 0.11 and 0.27 cm after the treatment of the subgroups with the essential oil concentrations of 10 and 20 mg/mL, respectively. In contrast, in the subgroup treated with the essential oil concentration of 30 mg/mL, the mean diameter of the lesions decreased about 0.56 cm. In the control subgroups, the mean diameter of the lesions increased to 1.01 cm. The main components of P. vera essential oil were limonene (26.21%), α-pinene (18.07%), and α-thujene (9.31%). It was also found that P. vera essential oil had no significant cytotoxic effect on J774 cells. The present study found that P. vera essential oil showed considerable in vitro and in vivo effectiveness against L. tropica and L. major compared to the reference drug. These findings also provided the scientific evidence that natural plants could be used in traditional medicine for the prevention and treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis

Evaluation of a Possible Synergistic Effect of Meglumine Antimoniate with Paromomycin, Miltefosine or Allopurinol on in Vitro Susceptibility of Leishmania tropica Resistant Isolate

Background: Pentavalent antimonials are still the first choice treatment for leishmaniasis, but with low efficacy and resistance is emerging. In the present study, the effect of meglumine antimoniate (MA, Glucantime) combined with paromomycin, miltefosine or allopurinol on in vitro susceptibility of Leishmania tropica resistant isolate was evaluated. Method: The drugs were obtained from commercial sources and diluents of each drug in medium were prepared on the day of experiment. J774 A.1 murine macrophage cell lines were attached to the cultured on slide and incubated at 37 0C with 5% CO2 for 24 h. Then the stationary phase promastigotes were added to the cells and after 4 hrs of incubation different concentrations of MA, paromomycin, miltefosine or allopurinol were added and incubated for an additional of 72 h. Then the slides were dried and fixed with methanol, stained by Giemsa and studied under a light microscope. Drug activity was evaluated by assessing the macrophage infection rate and the number of amastigotes per infected macrophage was done by examining 100 macrophages. The experiment was done in triplicates. Result: Various concentrations of MA along with paromomycin, miltefosine or allopurinol significantly inhibited (P<0.01) the proliferation of L. tropica amastigote stage in the macrophage cell line as compared with MA alone or positive control. Conclusion: Combination of Glucantime with paromomycin, miltefosine or allopurinol showed a synergistic effect on the clinical isolate of L. tropica in vitro. Use of combination therapy is a new hope and a logical basis for therapy of the patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis. Further investigations are needed to evaluate the therapeutic effects of these drugs on the CL patients

Changes in the pattern of opium addiction in Bam after the earthquake

Introduction: Opium abuse is a serious public health threat of various magnitudes in Iran and neighboring countries. We conducted this study to explore the rate and intensity of opium addiction in Bam before the earthquake in comparison to the data collected after the earthquake.Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the city of Bam in 2010. We used cluster random sampling method to collect data. This was done through house-to-house visits by a team of trained indigenous health personnel and informants. The status of addiction was achieved through case informants and confirmed by an experienced physician.Results: Opium addiction was significantly higher in men aged more than 50 (46%), illiterates (29.8%), labors/farmers (51.3%), private (50.7%) and jobless (21.6%) participants. Majority of the addicts (17.1%) were from the suburban areas (17.1%) as compared with those in urban areas (13.6%, P Conclusion: It seems that earthquake is a major traumatic risk factor for such an epidemic condition compared to the previous state of opium addiction. The present findings could be used for future prophylactic measures and therapeutic control strategies. These findings can be applied in clinical practice for active detection of opioid cases and subsequent treatment

A survey of reservoir hosts in two foci of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Kerman province, southeast of Iran

In the Old World, cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is zoonoses and natural vertebrate hosts of CL parasites are mammals. This study was carried out on natural infection rates of Leishmania parasites in reservoir hosts in one new focus of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL) and in suspected reservoir in an old focus of ACL in Iran. The sampling of rodents using Sherman traps was carried out and PCR technique was used for detection and identification of Leishmania species in Bahreman district, Kerman province, southeast of Iran. In addition, the smears were taken from suspicious lesions in stray dogs in the city of Kerman, the center of Kerman province. Simultaneously, pieces of lesion (1 9 191 cm) were taken for further histopathological examination. Overall, 25 rodents were collected and identified, including Meriones libycus and Rhombomys opimus. Amastigotes were observed in 33 % of the R. opimus by microscopic examination and indentified as Leishmania major by PCR technique. Four suspicious dogs out of 391 stray dogs showed no Leishmania species. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first isolation and identification of L. major from R. opimus in Kerman province, where ZCL has been present in recent years. Therefore, R. opimus is considered as the main animal reservoir host in Bahreman ZCL focus. In ACL focus such as the city of Kerman, dogs had no role in CL infection as reservoir host

Evaluation of antileishmanial activity and cytotoxicity of the extracts of Berberis vulgaris and Nigella sativa against Leishmania tropica

Background & objectives: Leishmaniasis is a major public health problem, and the alarming spread of parasite resistance underlines the importance of discovering new therapeutic products. The present study aims to investigate the in vitro antileishmanial activity and cytotoxicity of the ethanolic extract of Berberis vulgaris fruits and chloroform extract of Nigella sativa seeds against Leishmania tropica. Methods: In this study, antileishmanial activity of B. vulgaris and N. sativa extracts on promastigote and amastigote stages of L. tropica in comparison to meglumine antimoniate (MA) was evaluated, using MTT assay and macrophage model, respectively. MTT test was also used to assess the cytotoxicity of extracts on murine macrophages. The significance of differences was determined by analysis of variances (ANOVA) and student’s t-test using SPSS software. Results: The results showed that ethanolic extract of B. vulgaris (IC50 4.83 μg/ml) and chloroform extract of N. sativa (IC50 7.83 μg/ml) significantly reduced the viability of promastigotes of L. tropica in comparison to MA (IC50 11.26 μg/ml). Furthermore, extracts of B. vulgaris (IC50 24.03 μg/ml) and N. sativa (IC50 30.21 μg/ml) significantly decreased the growth rate of amastigotes in each macrophage as compared with positive control (p <0.05). Our findings also revealed that extracts of B. vulgaris and N. sativa had no significant cytotoxicity against murine macrophages. Conclusion: The B. vulgaris and N. sativa extracts exhibited an effective leishmanicidal activity against L. tropica on in vitro model. Further, works are required to evaluate the exact effect of these extracts on Leishmania species using a clinical setting

Protulišmanijski učinak iscrpka biljke Peganum harmala na in vitro rast promastigota Leishmania major u odnosu na trovalentne pripravke antimona

Parasites of the genus Leishmania are transmitted by sandflies that ingest the parasite in the amastigote stage resident within macrophages, then inoculate the promastigote stage into other hosts. Peganum harmala, or Syrian Rue, has pharmacologically active compounds including several alkaloids with antiprotozoal properties, which are found especially in the seeds and the roots. In this research, Leishmania major were cultured in vitro, then by using a MTT assay, the biological activity of P. harmala extract in comparison to potassium antimonyl tartrate [Sb(III)] on L. major promastigotes was assessed. P. harmala extract and Sb(III) solutions for biological testing were prepared in PBS at 5000-20000 μg/mL and 62.5-500 μg/mL, respectively. All experiments were repeated at least three times in duplicate. For P. harmala extract and Sb(III), the concentration-response curve was plotted, from which IC50 values were determined. Both P. harmala extract and Sb(III) inhibited the growth of promastigote forms of L. major in vitro after 72 h. of incubation and had an IC50 of 1832.65 ± 89.72 μg/ mL and 17.87 ± 2.05 μg/mL, respectively. Statistical analysis of the results (optical density and inhibitory percentage) of the different concentrations of P. harmala extract and Sb(III) showed that there was no significant difference between P. harmala extract and Sb(III) (P>0.05) but with a concentration increase of P. Harmala extract or Sb(III), optical density decreased significantly, while inhibitory percentage increased. The different concentrations resulted in different optical densities or inhibitory percentages (P<0.05) so that P. Harmala extract is effective against L. major in vitro.Parazite roda Leishmania prenose papatači preko makrofaga zaraženih amastigotima, a nakon razvoja nastale promastigote prenose na druge domaćine. Biljka Peganum harmala ili sirijska rutvica posjeduje farmakološki aktivne sastojke uključujući nekoliko alkaloida s protuprotozojskom učinkovitošću, koji se osobito nalaze u sjemenkama i korijenu biljke. Za potrebe ovog istraživanja, protozoon Leishmania major uzgojen je in vitro. Učinak iscrpka biljke P. harmala na promastigote L. major u odnosu na kalijev antimoniltartarat [Sb(III)] određen je MTT metodom. Iscrpak P. harmala bio je pripravljen u PBS-u u koncentraciji od 5.000-20.000 μg/mL. Antimonski pripravak bio je pripravljen u PBS-u u koncentraciji od 62,5-500 μg/mL. Svaki pokus in vitro bio je ponovljen najmanje tri puta. Dobiveni rezultati prikazani su krivuljom učinkovitosti kojom su određene vrijednosti inhibitorne koncentracije (IC50). Oba su pripravka kočila rast promastigota in vitro nakon 72 sata. Vrijednost IC50 za iscrpak P. harmala iznosila je 1832,65 ± 89,72 μg/mL. Vrijednost IC50 za antimonski pripravak iznosila je 17,87 ± 2,05 μg/mL. Statističkom obradom rezultata (optička gustoća i postotak inhibicije) dobivenim inkubiranjem protozoa u različitim koncentracijama pripravaka nisu utvrđene značajne razlike (P>0,05). Više koncentracije iscrpka P. harmala imale su za posljedicu značajno smanjenje optičke gustoće te istovremeno povećanje postotka inhibicije. S obzirom da su različite koncentracije rezultirale različitom optičkom gustoćom ili postotkom inhibicije (P<0,05) zaključuje se da iscrpak P. harmala djeluje in vitro na vrstu L. major