Ocular Dirofilariasis, a Case Report

Accidental infection with animal filarial worms in humans is a dilemma for clinicians and parasitologists throughout the world. To date a variety of such rare parasitoses have been reported mostly in tropics and subtropics. Human dirofilariasis is among those unusual zoonotic infections that occasionally have been observed in the eye and in subcutaneous areas exhibiting with nodule formation. Filarial worms are transmitted to humans through invertebrate biological vectors such as certain species of mosquitoes. The present report describes a peculiar case of ocular dirofilariasis in a 49-year-old man resident in Iran

Establishment of Hymenolepis diminuta Life Cycle to Provide Parasite Mass Production

Background: The main object of this experimental work was to practise laboratory production both adult and the larval stage of Hymenolepis diminuta with conventional modification to make further studies easier.Materials & Method: Adults H. diminuta were collected from urban rats in Tehran, Iran. The beetles became infected using blended gravid segments with flour as bait. Cysticercoids have been saved after precise dissection of invertebrate hosts. The exposure of infected beetles to labora­tory rats was performed to establish the life cycle. Result: Out of 57 collected rats, three rats were infected with H. diminuta. Almost all exposed beetles found infected with the larval stage of parasite. About one-month later H. diminuta eggs were seen in stool examination of laboratory rats.Conclusion: Rare human occurrence of H. diminuta along with light level of clinical manifesta­tion of this parasite, underestimate the concerns toward its public health importance. Nowadays, various field of studies, such as biochemistry with special focuses on the capability of H. di­minuta tegument absorption have performed apart from parasitological views alone. In the pre­sent study, establishment of this parasite life cycle has practically provided the access of adult and cysticercoid stages of the tapeworm in further researches

Microstructural evolution in solution heat treatment of gas- atomised Al alloy (7075) powder for cold spray

Cold gas dynamic spray is being explored as a repair technique for high-value metallic components, given its potential to produce pore and oxide-free deposits of between several micrometers and several millimeters thick with good levels of adhesion and mechanical strength. However, feedstock powders for cold spray experience rapid solidification if manufactured by gas atomization and hence can exhibit non-equilibrium microstructures and localized segregation of alloying elements. Here, we used sealed quartz tube solution heat treatment of a precipitation hardenable 7075 aluminum alloy feedstock to yield a consistent and homogeneous powder phase composition and microstructure prior to cold spraying, aiming for a more controllable heat treatment response of the cold spray deposits. It was shown that the dendritic microstructure and solute segregation in the gas-atomized powders were altered, such that the heat-treated powder exhibits a homogeneous distribution of solute atoms. Micro-indentation testing revealed that the heat-treated powder exhibited a mean hardness decrease of nearly 25% compared to the as received powder. Deformation of the powder particles was enhanced by heat treatment, resulting in an improved coating with higher thickness (* 300 lm compared to * 40 um for untreated feedstock). Improved particle–substrate bonding was evidenced by formation of jets at the particle boundaries

Seroepidemiological Study of Human Hydatidosis in Meshkinshahr District, Ardabil Province, Iran

Background: The aim of this study was to conduct a sero-epidemiological survey in Meshkinshahr, Arda­bil Province, northwestern Iran to detect the rate of hydatidosis in the city and nearby villages. Literature shows that no such study has been conducted so far.Methods: Overall, 670 serum samples were collected from 194 males and 476 females from patients re­ferred to different health centers of the region. All patients filled out a questionnaire and an informed con­sent. Sera were analyzed using indirect-ELISA test. Ten μg /ml antigens (Antigen B derived from hydatid cyst fluid), serum dilutions of 1:500 and conjugate anti-human coombs with 1:10000 dilutions were util­ized to perform the test. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS software ver. 11.5. Results: The seroprevalence of human hydatidosis was 1.79% by ELISA test in the region. This rate for fe­males was 1.68% and males 2.6%, respectively. There was no significant difference as regards all fac­tors studied and the seropositivity. According to job, farmers and ranchmen had the highest rate of infec­tion as 3.17%. The sero-prevalence of infection was 2.6%% in illiterate people which showed the highest rate. As regards residency, urban life showed no significant difference with rural life (1.1% vs. 2.58%). Age group of 69-90 yr old, with 4.62% as prevalence had the highest rate of positivity.Conclusion: Obtained sero-prevalence of hydatidosis shows more or less a resemblance to other cities of Iran, although due to the specific condition of the city we expected more rate of sero-positivity

Heat treatment of cold-sprayed C355 Al for repair: microstructure and mechanical properties

Cold gas dynamic spraying of commercially pure aluminum is widely used for dimensional repair in the aerospace sector as it is capable of producing oxide-free deposits of hundreds of micrometer thickness with strong bonding to the substrate, based on adhesive pull-off tests, and often with enhanced hardness compared to the powder prior to spraying. There is significant interest in extending this application to structural, load-bearing repairs. Particularly, in the case of high-strength aluminum alloys, cold spray deposits can exhibit high levels of porosity and microcracks, leading to mechanical properties that are inadequate for most load-bearing applications. Here, heat treatment was investigated as a potential means of improving the properties of cold-sprayed coatings from Al alloy C355. Coatings produced with process conditions of 500 °C and 60 bar were heat-treated at 175, 200, 225, 250 °C for 4 h in air, and the evolution of the microstructure and microhardness was analyzed. Heat treatment at 225 and 250 °C revealed a decreased porosity (~ 0.14% and 0.02%, respectively) with the former yielding slightly reduced hardness (105 versus 130 HV0.05 as-sprayed). Compressive residual stress levels were approximately halved at all depths into the coating after heat treatment, and tensile testing showed an improvement in ductility

Development and Evaluation of a New Lateral Flow Immunoassay for Serodiagnosis of Human Fasciolosis

Fasciolosis is an important plant-borne trematode zoonosis. This disease is of both clinical and veterinary relevance and, according to the WHO, is considered a re-emerging disease that is spreading around the world. Fasciolosis has a serious impact on health because of the large size of the parasite and the effects of the parasite in down-regulating the host immune response. Human fasciolosis can be distinguished by an acute phase, in which the parasite migrates through different tissues, and a chronic phase in which it invades the bile ducts. Here we describe the development of a rapid, simple and inexpensive immunochromatographic diagnostic method, based on the use of a recombinant cathepsin L1 protein, which performs better than other more complex indirect methods, providing similar specificity and higher sensitivity. The simplicity of the method represents a great advantage for the intervention systems applied in different endemic areas by WHO, such as passive case finding (e.g. Vietnam) and selective treatment (e.g. Egypt). Because of its characteristics, the system can be applied to both phases of the disease, and in holo, meso and hyperendemic areas where point-of-care testing is required

"Parasitic Contamination of Vegetables from Farms and Markets in Tehran"

Because of endemic parasitological infectious diseases in Iran and contaminated vegetables, as one of the most important ways of contamination, carried out a parasitical study on 263 vegetable samples from 44 farms in the suburbs of Tehran city, and also 166 vegetables samples from 20 green grocery markets in the same city. From 263 samples of farms 147 cases (65%) of contamination were recorded, of which 43 cases (16/5%) of human pathogenic parasites were isolated. In this study various techniques were used such as: Baermann funnel, centrifuging of plants and soil, temporal precipitation procedure and so on. Ova and parasites such as Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, Trichostrongylus sp. Toxocara sp. Larvae of Nematodes, protozoa cysts like Amoeba sp. Giardia lamblia and some flagellatae were seen. The highest percent of contamination was detected in leek and parsley and the lowest one was detected in tarragon. The results show that vegetables could be a potential source of parasitic infection

Assessing the Effect of Highly Cited Papers on the Impact Factor of Journals in the Field of Public Health

Background: The aim of this study was to appraisal the effect of highly cited papers in the field of public health and find out whether the unusual citations affect the ranking order of the journals in this field or not. A total number of 142 journals titles were listed in Journal Citation Report (ISI Thomson) in the field of "Public, Environmental & Occupational Health". All but one of them had published papers at least for a year from 2009 to 2010. Journal title, number of citations and publication year of 45685 papers were collected from ISI web of knowledge database at December 25, 2011. About half of the papers (23226) had no citations and 89.4% (40835) had less than 6 citations. We concluded that the ranking of journals in the field of public health is not affected by the individual papers with unusual number of citations