Sistema de túneles del jerbo iraní (Alloctaga firouzi Womochel, 1978)

Iranian jerboa was recorded as a new species for Iran near village of Shah-Reza, Isfahan province. It is considered as a data deficient species according to IUCN criteria. Since, No data have been yet reported, on the relationship between architecture of burrows and the social organization of this species, this study aimed to identify the burrow systems of the species. We excavated 15 burrows of Iranian jerboa in the type locality of the species. The burrow system of Iranian jerboa is composed of three types including: temporary, summer and winter burrows. The length of tunnels were significantly different (P=0.00) in winter burrows. General burrow described for Small Five-toed jerboa Allactaga elater was similar with these burrows except having reproduction burrow. Results show that depth of nest chamber in third type of burrow was deeper than in temporary and summer (P=0.00, P=0.003 respectively).El jerbo iraní fue registrado como nueva especie para Irán cerca del poblado de ShahRezam, provincia Isfahan, y de acuerdo con los criterios de la IUCN esta información es considerada como deficiente. Desde su descripción, ningún dato ha sido publicado sobre interrelaciones entre la arquitectura de sus túneles y la organización social de la especie. El presente estudio identifica el sistema de túneles de esta especie. El sistema de túneles del jerbo iraní está compuesto de tres tipos de túneles: temporal, de verano y de invierno. El análisis ANOVA mostró que la longitud media de los túneles es más grande en el invierno (P = 0.00). En general, los túneles descritos para el pequeño jerbo de cinco dedos Alloctaga elater fue parecido con los túneles de A. firouzi, excepto túnel de reproducción. Los resultados muestran que la profundidad de la cámara nido en el tercer tipo de túnel fue más profunda que los túneles temporal y de verano (P = 0.00, P =.003, respectivamente)

Chronic treatment with the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, L-NAME, attenuates estradiol-mediated improvement of learning and memory in ovariectomized rats

INTRODUCTION: The role of ovarian hormones and nitric oxide in learning and memory has been widely investigated. OBJECTIVE: The present study was carried out to evaluate the effect of the nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitor, N (G)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), on the ability of estradiol to improve learning in OVX rats using the Morris water maze. METHODS: Forty rats were divided into five groups: (1) ovariectomized (OVX), (2) ovariectomized-estradiol (OVX-Est), (3) ovariectomized-L-NAME 10 (OVX-LN 10), (4) ovariectomized-L-NAME 50 (OVX-LN 50) and (5) ovariectomized-estradiol-L-NAME 50 (OVX-Est-LN 50). The animals in the OVX-Est group were treated with a weekly injection of estradiol valerate (2 mg/kg; i.m.). The OVX-LN 10 and OVX-LN 50 groups were treated with daily injections of 10 and 50 mg/kg L-NAME (i.p.), respectively. The animals in the OVX-Est-LN 50 group received a weekly injection of estradiol valerate and a daily injection of 50 mg/kg L-NAME. After 8 weeks, all animals were tested in the Morris water maze. RESULTS: The animals in the OVX-Est group had a significantly lower latency in the maze than the OVX group (p<0.001). There was no significant difference in latency between the OVX-LN 10 and OVX-LN 50 groups in comparison with the OVX group. The latency in the OVX-Est-LN 50 group was significantly higher than that in the OVX-Est group (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: These results show that L-NAME treatment attenuated estradiol-mediated enhancement of spatial learning and memory in OVX rats, but it had no significant effect in OVX rats without estrogen, suggesting an interaction of nitric oxide and estradiol in these specific brain functions

Designing the Commercialization Model of University Library Services in Kermanshah (Case of Study: Information Databases, Educational Workshops, Abstracting and Indexing Services)

Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to investigate the attitudes of librarians about the degree of compliance of the integrated management system in the libraries of Shahid Chamran University and Ahvaz Jondishapur University of Medical Sciences with the Semantic Web Methodology: The present study is applied in terms of purpose and has been done by survey method and with a descriptive approach. The statistical population of the study consists of all librarians of the libraries of Shahid Chamran University and Ahvaz Jondishapur University of Medical Sciences this study a researcher-made checklist was used to collect data. The SPSS software was used to analyze the data. Findings: Findings showed that the level of knowledge of librarians about the semantic web in general and by components was limited. The results also showed that in the opinion of librarians in the study community, the comprehensive software available in the librarians of two universities has limited compatibility with the semantic web. The results showed that there is no significant relationship between demographic variables and librarians familiarity with the semantic web. Conclusion: The general results of the research showed that from the point of view of librarians the degree of adaptation of the comprehensive software available in the studied libraries to the semantic web has been limited. librarians also have limited knowledge of the semantic web and need to be trained in this area

MyoRing Implantation with and without Corneal Collagen Crosslinking for the Management of Keratoconus

Purpose: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of femtosecond laser-assisted MyoRing implantation with concurrent corneal collagen crosslinking (CXL) compared to MyoRing alone for the treatment of progressive keratoconus. Methods: A total of 60 patients were enrolled in this randomized controlled trial. The patients were randomly allocated into two groups. In the first group, MyoRing was implanted, while in the second, it was inserted in the corneal stroma using the same technique, along with simultaneous CXL. Visual, refractive, topographic, and abberometric outcomes were measured preoperatively and at every postoperative visit. Results: Data of 47 patients were available at the end of the study; 28 in the MyoRing group and 19 in the MyoRing + CXL group. The mean uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA) improved from 0.79 ± 0.39 logMAR to 0.52 ± 0.31 logMAR (P &lt; 0.05) in the MyoRing + CXL group and from 0.65 ± 0.38 logMAR to 0.62 ± 0.23 logMAR (P = 0.70) in the MyoRing group. CDVA changed from 0.33 ± 0.19 logMAR to 0.25 ± 0.16 logMAR (P = 0.10) in the MyoRing + CXL group and 0.32 ± 0.22 logMAR to 0.33 ± 0.17 logMAR (P &gt; 0.5) in the MyoRing group. The mean keratometry (Km) decreased from 47.5 ± 2.7 D to 43.8 ± 3.2 D (P &lt; 0.001) in the MyoRing group and 49.3 ± 3.4 D to 45.1 ± 3.0 D (P &lt; 0.001) in the MyoRing + CXL group. Besides, horizontal coma was significantly lower in the MyoRing + CXL group (P = 0.022). Conclusion: MyoRing insertion combined with CXL is a safe and effective method for the treatment of keratoconus. The visual and topographic outcomes were comparable to that for MyoRing insertion after 10 months; however, horizontal coma was significantly lower in the MyoRing + CXL group

Spatial distribution of multiple sclerosis disease

زمینه و هدف: مالتیپل اسکلروزیس (MS) یک بیماری نورولوژیکی مزمن سیستم اعصاب مرکزی می باشد که بوسیله التهاب، تخریب میلین و آسیب اکسونی مشخص می شود. هدف از این تحقیق تعیین کلی شیوع مکانی-فضایی این بیماری در استان چهار محال و بختیاری می باشد. روش بررسی: در این مطالعه توصیفی و تحلیلی 479 مورد بیمار که بین سال های 1371 تا پایان سال 1390 بر اساس فاکتورهای تشخیصی MC Donald WI به طور قطعی در گروه تشخیصی بیماری قرار گرفته بودند وارد مطالعه و اطلاعات سن، جنس، سال تشخیص بیماری و آدرس آن ها از پرونده بیماران استخراج گردید. پس از جمع آوری اطلاعات بیماری و داده های مکانی، شروع به ساختن نقشه توزیع جغرافیایی بیماری نموده و با محاسبه شیوع و استاندارد کردن بیماری بر حسب جمعیت، نقشه شیوع بیماری در شهرستان ها و بخش های استان تهیه شد. نقشه سازی در محیط نرم افزار Arc GIS صورت گرفت. برای نقشه سازی شیوع بیماری از روشquantitie (مقادیر موجود) استفاده گردید. یافته ها: شهرستان شهرکرد با 7/59 بیشترین و شهرستان کوهرنگ با 1 کمترین تعداد بیماری را داشتند. در بخش های بازفت، میانکوه و منج هیچگونه مورد بیماری وجود نداشت. توزیع بیماری بیشتر در سمت شرق و شمال شرق استان بود. میزان شیوع در شهرستان شهرکرد 95/87 و در لردگان 84/11 در هر صدهزار نفر بود که بیشترین و کمترین میزان شیوع را به خود اختصاص داده اند. نتیجه گیری: توزیع و شیوع بیشتر بیماری در نیمه شرقی استان می تواند به دلیل شهرهای بزرگی همچون شهرکرد، بروجن و فرخشهر باشد، لذا به نظر می رسد MS یک بیماری است که بیشتر در مناطق شهری شیوع پیدا می کند، همچنین در این مطالعه با توجه به شیوع پایین تر بیماری در مناطق سردسیر، لازم است در مطالعات بعدی علاوه بر وجود جمعیت، عوامل محیطی مکانی نیز بررسی گردن

The Effect of Intrathecal Administration of Muscimol on Modulation of Neuropathic Pain Symptoms Resulting from Spinal Cord Injury; an Experimental Study

Introduction: Neuropathic pain can be very difficult to treat and it is one of the important medical challenging about pain treatments. Muscimol as a new agonist of gamma-Aminobutyric acid receptor type A (GABAA) have been introduced for pain management. Thus, the present study was performed to evaluate the pain alleviating effect of intrathecal injection of different doses of muscimol as GABAA receptor agonist in spinal cord injury (SCI) model of neuropathic pain. Methods: In the present experimental study male Wistar rats were treated by muscimol 0.01, 0.1 or 1 µg/10ul, intrathecally (i.t.) three weeks after induction of spinal cord injury using compression injury model. Neuropathic pain symptoms were assessed at before treatment, 15 minutes, one hour and three hours after muscimol administration. The time of peak effect and optimum dosage was assessed by repeated measures analysis of variance and analysis of covariance, respectively. Results: Muscimol with the dose of 0.01 µg in 15 minutes caused to improve the thermal hyperalgesia (df: 24, 5; F= 6.6; p&lt;0.001), mechanical hyperalgesia (df: 24, 5; F= 7.8; p&lt;0.001), cold allodynia (df: 24, 5; F= 6.96; p&lt;0.001), and mechanical allodynia (df: 24, 5; F= 15.7; p&lt;0.001). The effect of doses of 0.1 µg and 1 µg were also significant. In addition, the efficacy of different doses of muscimol didn't have difference on thermal hyperalgesia (df: 24, 5; F= 1.52; p= 0.24), mechanical hyperalgesia (df: 24, 5; F= 0.3; p= -0.75), cold allodynia (df: 24, 5; F= 0.8; p= -0.56), and mechanical allodynia (df: 24, 5; F= 1.75; p= 0.86). Conclusion: The finding of the present study revealed that using muscimol with doses of 0.01µg, 0.1µg, and 1 µg reduces the symptoms of neuropathic pain. Also the effect of GABAA agonist is short term and its effectiveness gradually decreases by time

Evaluation of preparedness of healthcare student volunteers against Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in Makkah, Saudi Arabia : a cross-sectional study

Aim: To assess the knowledge and attitude of senior medical, dental, nursing and pharmacy students toward Middle East respiratory syndrome-corona virus (MERS-CoV) in Saudi Arabia. Subjects and methods: A cross-sectional survey using a 21-item questionnaire was conducted for a 3-month period from November 2015–January 2016 in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire was designed to evaluate students’ understanding and perception of MERS-CoV. An ANOVA test was used to determine the association of study discipline and academic year with the student knowledge score on MERS. Results: A total of 364 students were assessed during the study. The majority (62%) of the participants were in the 20–22-year age group. More than half (53%) were pharmacy students followed by (22%) medical students. More than two thirds (71%) of the participants were aware that MERS is caused by the coronavirus. More than half (59%) of the participants believed that MERS can be transmitted through direct or indirect contact with infected camels. A statistically significant association was reported between the study discipline and mean knowledge score (p < 0.0001) with medical students achieving an overall better knowledge score compared with students from other study disciplines. Conclusion: Overall, students had good knowledge about MERS epidemiology, transmission and the recommended protective measures. However, students expressed their reluctance to work in healthcare facilities with inadequate MERS infection control isolation policies

Effect of Topical Application of the Cream Containing Magnesium 2% on Treatment of Diaper Dermatitis and Diaper Rash in Children A Clinical Trial Study

Introduction: Diaper dermatitis is referred to the inflammation in outer layers of the skin in the perineal area, lower abdomen, and inner thighs. The lesions are maculopapular and usually itchy, which could cause bacterial or candida infection, and predispose the infants to penis or vaginal and urinary infection and lead to discomfort, irritability, and restlessness. The drugs which have been so far administered for this disease (topical steroids) cause special complications for the sensitive skin in this area. Magnesium (Mg) is known for its anti-inflammatory and wound-healing properties. Aim: The aim of the present study was to study the effect of the cream containing Mg 2% on treatment of diaper dermatitis and diaper rash in children. Materials and Methods: In this clinical trial study, 64 children aged less than two years old with diaper dermatitis referring Paediatric Ward of Hajar Hospital were randomly assigned to two groups of 32. Group one was treated with the combined cream Mg 2% and Calendula and group two with Calendula cream alone. The duration of recovery was compared between the two groups. Results: The duration of recovery was significantly lower in the intervention group than the control group (p-value<0.001), but there was no significant difference in the lesions size and diapers' number between the two groups. Conclusion: Based on the finding of this study, Mg is effective on treatment of diaper dermatitis and could be used for treating diaper dermatitis and other types of dermatitis