Survey on Epidemiological Status and Incidence Rate of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Abadan County, Khuzestan Province, Southwestern Iran

Cutaneous Lieshmaniasis (CL) has been considered as a large hygienic challenge, and the epidemiological studies have been useful in controlling this problem, and also taking prevention stages. Khuzestan Province is one of the common foci of the wet or rural zoonotic CL in Iran. Due to the lack of data about the epidemiology and prevalence of CL in Abadan County (30 degrees 16'N 48 degrees 34'E), this study was conducted in this area within 2011-2015. This descriptive-analytical study was based on 179 cases of CL submitted to the medical and health centers of Abadan County (30 degrees 42'02''N 49 degrees 49'53''E) during the past years. The study was done by extracting the demographic and epidemiologic data from a standard information questionnaire as well as analyzing the study data via SPSS software with chi-square and T tests. Demographic information-epidemiologic features, such as the number and location of lesions on the body, job, month, season, age, gender was collected. The patients were diagnosed by direct microscopic examination of the samples and clinical information. All ethical issues were also addressed. The average incidence rate was reported to be 0,15 / 1000 person. The results revealed that the number of the infected cases in Abadan was 179 people during the study. The most frequent age group was 21-30 years old (24.6). Meanwhile, about 54.7 of CL patients were male and 45.3 were female. Housekeepers had the highest incidence (29.1) of CL. The analysis of the lesions on the different parts of the body showed that 24.3 of the lesions occurred on the hand, 20.1 on the foot, 14.5 on the hand as well foot, and 11.7 on the face. The maximum number of CL cases was reported in the autumn with 34.1. Most of the cases were seen in October (14.5) and November (12.3). About 59.2 of the patients had one ulcer. The findings showed an increasing and decreasing trend of the incidence and prevalence rate of CL over the period study in this area. Also, CL has been remaining a health threat in the future. Therefore, it is recommended that the regional authorities pay more attention to control the spread of the disease

Spectral, Spatial, and Time properties of the hydrogen nebula around exoplanet HD209458b

All far ultraviolet observations of HD209458 tend to support a scenario in which the inflated hydrogen atmosphere of its planetary companion strongly absorbs the stellar \lya flux during transit. However, it was not clear how the transit absorption depends on the selected wavelength range in the stellar line profile, nor how the atomic hydrogen cloud was distributed spatially around HD209458b. Here we report a sensitivity study of observed time and spectral variations of the stellar flux. In particular, the sensitivity of the absorption depth during transit to the assumed spectral range in the stellar line profile is shown to be very weak, leading to a transit depth in the range $(8.4-8.9)$ for all possible wavelength ranges, and thereby confirming our initially-reported absorption rate. Taking the ratio of the line profile during transit to the unperturbed line profile, we also show that the spectral signature of the absorption by the exoplanetary hydrogen nebula is symmetric and typical of a Lorentzian, optically thick medium. Our results question the adequacy of models that require a huge absorption and/or a strong asymmetry between the blue and red side of the absorption line during transit as no such features could be detected in the HST FUV absorption profile. Finally, we show that standard atmospheric models of HD209458b provide a good fit to the observed absorption profile during transit. Other hybrid models assuming a standard model with a thin layer of superthermal hydrogen on top remain possible.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journa

A computational drug repositioning method applied to rare diseases : adrenocortical carcinoma

Rare or orphan diseases affect only small populations, thereby limiting the economic incentive for the drug development process, often resulting in a lack of progress towards treatment. Drug repositioning is a promising approach in these cases, due to its low cost. In this approach, one attempts to identify new purposes for existing drugs that have already been developed and approved for use. By applying the process of drug repositioning to identify novel treatments for rare diseases, we can overcome the lack of economic incentives and make concrete progress towards new therapies. Adrenocortical Carcinoma (ACC) is a rare disease with no practical and definitive therapeutic approach. We apply Heter-LP, a new method of drug repositioning, to suggest novel therapeutic avenues for ACC. Our analysis identifies innovative putative drug-disease, drug-target, and disease-target relationships for ACC, which include Cosyntropin (drug) and DHCR7, IGF1R, MC1R, MAP3K3, TOP2A (protein targets). When results are analyzed using all available information, a number of novel predicted associations related to ACC appear to be valid according to current knowledge. We expect the predicted relations will be useful for drug repositioning in ACC since the resulting ranked lists of drugs and protein targets can be used to expedite the necessary clinical processes

Causative Constructions in Modern Persian

This article is a conceptual exploration of causative constructions in Modern Persian. Based on a typology of causative constructions proposed by Song (1996), Persian causatives are surveyed in both formal and functional terms. The data are then exploited in order to shed further light on the cognitive basis of causativity, and to recast Song's formulation of causative types in more solid cognitive terms drawn from Talmy's (1985, 1988, 2000) force-dynamic account of causation. A tentative account of the grammaticisation of factual/nonfactual causation in Persian concludes the discussion

Proliferationsinhibition und Induktion der Differenzierung bei Gliomzellinien durch das Zytokin "Oncostatin M" (OSM)

In dieser Arbeit wurde die Wirkung dreier neurotropher Zytokine aus der Interleukin-6-Familie (IL-6, LIF, OSM) auf anaplastische Gliomzellinien untersucht. Waehrend IL-6 und LIF kaum einen Effekt auf die Proliferationsrate und Morphologie der Zellen zeigten, konnten wir eine deutliche Suppression der Proliferation durch OSM bewirken, zudem aenderte sich die Morphologie dieser Tumorzellen signifikant, die Zellen zeigten eine Form, die mit zahlreichen langen und duennen Fortsaetzen an normale Astrozyten erinnerte. Darueber hinaus stieg die Zytoplasma-Kern-Relation mit steigender Groeße der Zellen an. Die inhibierende Wirkung von OSM war dosisabhaengig mit einer maximalen Inhibitionsdosis von 50ng/ml. Die DNA-Synthese-Hemmung durch OSM konnte durch Antikoerper aufgehoben werden, die gegen das Zytokin selbst oder gegen seine Rezeptorkomponente gp130 gerichtet waren

Action video game play and transfer of navigation and spatial cognition skills in adolescents who are blind

For individuals who are blind, navigating independently in an unfamiliar environment represents a considerable challenge. Inspired by the rising popularity of video games, we have developed a novel approach to train navigation and spatial cognition skills in adolescents who are blind. Audio-based Environment Simulator (AbES) is a software application that allows for the virtual exploration of an existing building set in an action video game metaphor. Using this ludic-based approach to learning, we investigated the ability and efficacy of adolescents with early onset blindness to acquire spatial information gained from the exploration of a target virtual indoor environment. Following game play, participants were assessed on their ability to transfer and mentally manipulate acquired spatial information on a set of navigation tasks carried out in the real environment. Success in transfer of navigation skill performance was markedly high suggesting that interacting with AbES leads to the generation of an accurate spatial mental representation. Furthermore, there was a positive correlation between success in game play and navigation task performance. The role of virtual environments and gaming in the development of mental spatial representations is also discussed. We conclude that this game based learning approach can facilitate the transfer of spatial knowledge and further, can be used by individuals who are blind for the purposes of navigation in real-world environments

Virtual environments for the transfer of navigation skills in the blind: a comparison of directed instruction vs. video game based learning approaches

For profoundly blind individuals, navigating in an unfamiliar building can represent a significant challenge. We investigated the use of an audio-based, virtual environment called Audio-based Environment Simulator (AbES) that can be explored for the purposes of learning the layout of an unfamiliar, complex indoor environment. Furthermore, we compared two modes of interaction with AbES. In one group, blind participants implicitly learned the layout of a target environment while playing an exploratory, goal-directed video game. By comparison, a second group was explicitly taught the same layout following a standard route and instructions provided by a sighted facilitator. As a control, a third group interacted with AbES while playing an exploratory, goal-directed video game however, the explored environment did not correspond to the target layout. Following interaction with AbES, a series of route navigation tasks were carried out in the virtual and physical building represented in the training environment to assess the transfer of acquired spatial information. We found that participants from both modes of interaction were able to transfer the spatial knowledge gained as indexed by their successful route navigation performance. This transfer was not apparent in the control participants. Most notably, the game-based learning strategy was also associated with enhanced performance when participants were required to find alternate routes and short cuts within the target building suggesting that a ludic-based training approach may provide for a more flexible mental representation of the environment. Furthermore, outcome comparisons between early and late blind individuals suggested that greater prior visual experience did not have a significant effect on overall navigation performance following training. Finally, performance did not appear to be associated with other factors of interest such as age, gender, and verbal memory recall. We conclude that the highly interactive and immersive exploration of the virtual environment greatly engages a blind user to develop skills akin to positive near transfer of learning. Learning through a game play strategy appears to confer certain behavioral advantages with respect to how spatial information is acquired and ultimately manipulated for navigation

Serum level of interleukin-6 in patients with oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma

Introduction: The clinical outcome of patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) located in the head and neck has remained poor despite ongoing advances in diagnosis and management. Interleukin-6(IL-6) is a multi-functional cytokine that plays an important role in the process of cell differentiation and is increased in several malignancies. The aim of this study was to investigate the serum levels of interleukin-6 in patients with oral tongue SCC. Materials and Methods: In a cross-sectional study, 17 patients with oral tongue SCC were compared with the same number of age- and gender-matched healthy subjects. Serum IL-6 level fluctuation was determined using an immunological technique, before detecting its possible association with the subjects' age, gender, drinking and smoking history, cancer site, and disease severity. Results: The intensity of serum IL-6 in patients with oral tongue SCC was statistically significantly higher than that in healthy subjects (P<0.001). Serum IL-6 level was independent of the patients' age, gender, smoking and drinking history as well as cancer stage. Conclusion: IL-6 is a valuable biomarker in the diagnosis of oral tongue SCC. Its high sensitivity makes prediction of this condition possible, while this biomarker can also be used to screen high-risk patients