The Relationship between Zinc Deficiency and Febrile Convulsion in Isfahan,Iran

Objective  Febrile convulsion (FC) is a common cause of seizure in young children, with an excellent prognosis. In addition to genetic predisposition and infections,FCs are generally thought to be induced by metabolic and elemental changes during fever such as Zinc (Zn) deficiency. Regarding the high prevalence of febrile convulsions and the role of Zn deficiency, we investigated the role of Zn in FC patients in Isfahan, Iran.  Materials and Methods  In a controlled cross sectional study, 90 patients aged 9 months to 5 years were studied in a period of 12 months. They were assigned to three groups. Thirty patients were included in the Febrile Seizure group, thirty febrile children without convulsion or previous history of convulsion were included in the febrile group and thirty afebrile healthy ones were enrolled as controls. Venous blood was obtained and Zn concentration in serum was measured using Graphite Furnance Atomic Absorbance Spectrophotometering (GF-AAS).  Results  Patients and the control groups had no difference in either mean age or sex distribution. No significant relationship was observed between serum Zn level and age or sex among patients in the FC group and two other control groups.   Conclusion  Our findings showed that Zinc level was significantly lower in the febrile seizure group compared to two other groups. We tried to categorize various conditions in a more practical form. Also, Zinc is in close relationship with socioeconomic level of the individuals which was well considered in the current survey.  Keywords: Zinc; Zinc deficiency; Febrile Convulsion

Iron limitation enhances acyl homoserine lactone (AHL) production and biofilm formation in clinical isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii

Acinetobacter baumannii is an important source of infections in intensive care units (ICUs) of our hospitals in Kerman, Iran and the most frequently isolated strains produce biofilm. There is a little information about role of iron (Fe) levels on acyl homoserine lactone (AHL) production and biofilm formation in this microorganism. In the present study, we investigated the influence of iron-III limitation on AHL, siderophore, catechol and virulence factors in the biofilm forming clinical strains of A. baumannii. A total of 65 non-duplicated multidrug resistance (MDR) strains of A. baumannii were isolated from patients in ICUs of 2 hospitals in Kerman, Iran. Antibiotic susceptibility, siderophore and other iron chelators, hemolysis, cell twitching motility, capsule, gelatinase and DNase were studied. Presence of quorum sensing, LuxI and LuxR genes was detected by multiplex-PCR. AHL activity quantified by colorimetric method and the functional groups were determined by Fourier Transform Infra-Red Spectroscopy (FT-IR). Biofilm formation was detected by microtiter plate technique. All of the isolates were resistant to third generation of cephalosporins, ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, tetracycline, whereas, 78% and 81% were resistant to amikacin and carbapenems, respectively. The siderophore activity was highest at 20 mM Fe3C (70%); however, it decreased to 45% as concentration of Fe3C increased to 80 mM. Furthermore, screening of the isolates for LuxI and LuxR genes showed that presence of both genes required in the isolates with high AHL activity. FT-IR analysis indicated CDO bond of the lactone ring and primary amides. Significantly, a higher amount of AHL (70%) was detected in the presence of low concentration of iron-III (20 mM); as iron concentration increased to 80 mM, the AHL activity was reduced to 40% (P � 0.05). All the isolates exhibited twitching motility and had a capsule. No any gelatinase or DNase activity was detected. Quantification of the biofilm formation introduced 23 isolates with efficient attachment to microplate wells and strong biofilm. We found that both the AHL production and biofilm formation were regulated by iron concentration in a dose dependent manner. These findings provide evidence that iron limitation plays an important regulatory role in AHL and siderophore production resulting in strong or weak biofilm, thereby helping the organism to persist in less available micronutrient environment

Molecular Analysis and Expression of bap Gene in Biofilm-Forming Multi-Drug-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii

Background: Acinetobacter baumanniiis commonly resistant to nearly all antibiotics due to presence of antibiotic resistance genes and biofilm formation. In this study we determined the presence of certain antibiotic-resistance genes associated with biofilm production and the influence of low iron concentration on expression of the biofilmassociated protein gene (bap) in development of biofilm among multi-drug-resistant A. baumannii (MDRAB). Methods: Sixty-five MDRAB isolates from clinical samples were collected. Molecular typing was carried out by random amplified polymorphism DNA polymerase chain reaction (RAPD-PCR). Biofilm formation was assayed by the microtiter method. Results: The sequence of bap was determined and deposited in the GenBank database (accession no. KR080550.1). Expression of bap in the presence of low iron was analyzed by relative quantitative real time PCR (rqRT-PCR). Nearly half of the isolates belonged to RAPD-types A and B remaining were either small clusters or singleton. The results of biofilm formation revealed that 23 (35.4%), 18 (27.7%), 13 (20%), and 11 (16.9%) of the isolates had strong, moderate, weak, and no biofilm activities, respectively. ompA and csuE genes were detected in all, while bap and blaPER-1 were detected in 43 (66%) and 42 (64%) of the isolates that showed strong and moderate biofilm activities (p ≤ 0.05), respectively. Analysis ofbapexpression by rqRT-PCR revealed five isolates with fourfold bap overexpression in the presence of low iron concentration (20 µM). Conclusion: The results suggest thatbapoverexpression may influence biofilm formation in presence of low iron concentration

Content Validity of Tavana: a Test for Evaluation of Auditory Skills of 3-4 Year-Old Hearing-Impaired Persian Children

Background and Aim: Evaluation of hearing-impaired children's auditory skills by a valid test is very important before starting auditory training. There are many different tests available for languages other than Persian, and some limited Persian tests for children above 5 year of age as well. Accordingly considering the importance of early intervention, we aimed to design a test for evaluating auditory skills of 3-4 year-old hearing-impaired Persian (Farsi) children, which is not available to date.Methods: The study method was test (scale) construction. The test named Tavana includes four subtests: detection, discrimination, identification and sentence comprehension. For determining content validity of the test, the vocabulary of 3-4 year-old normal-hearing and hearing-impaired children and also the comments of seven specialists were applied. We classified 10,10,8 and 6 sub skills for 1st to 4th subtests, respectively.Results: The content validity of Tavana test's subskills were 100%, 83%, 96% and 95%, respectively (mean=94%). Mean time for test performance was 82 minutes.Conclusion: Content validity of Tavana test was 94% which was statistically valid compared to Modarres test (97%) and Mazaheryazdi test (88%)

‎راهکارهای اصلاح مکالمه در کودکان طبیعی3 تا 5 ساله شهر اصفهان

چکیده مقدمه: مهارت‎هاي اصلاح مكالمه، يكي از مهم‎ترين مهارت‎هاي كاربرد شناختي زبان و از دسته مهارت‎هاي مكالمه‎اي مي‎باشد. اهميت اين مهارت‎ها به وي‍ژه در مورد كودكان دچار نقايص زباني از قبيل كودكان كم شنوا يا دچار نقص ويژه زبان كه نياز به اصلاح نقايص ارتباطي دارند، به شدت احساس مي‎شود. اطلاعات آسيب شناسان گفتار و زبان در زمينه چنين مهارتي و شكل طبيعي استفاده از راه‎كارهاي اصلاح مكالمه (تكرار، بازگويي، افزايش و اصلاح سرنخي) بسيار محدود و مبتني بر حدس و گمان مي‎باشد. اين پژوهش به معرفي و مقايسه اين راه‎كارها در كودكان طبيعي 3، 4 و 5 ساله پرداخت. مواد و روش‌ها: در اين پژوهش توصيفي- تحليلي و مقطعي، كاربرد انواع راه‎كارهاي اصلاح مكالمه در 72 نمونه از كودكان دختر و پسر فارسي زبان شهر اصفهان، در سه گروه سني 3، 4 و 5 ساله به كمك دو كتابچه تصويري و ايجاد موقعيت درخواست توضيح، مورد بررسي قرار گرفت. یافته‌ها: راه‎كارهاي بازگويي، اصلاح سرنخي و پاسخ‎هاي نامناسب با سن ارتباط معني‎داري داشتند، ولي در مورد راه‎كارهاي تكرار و افزايش، چنين ارتباط آماري به اثبات نرسيد. در مورد جنس نيز تنها راه‎كار بازگويي در پسران، كاربرد بيشتري نسبت به دختران داشت. بحث: تكرار در هر مقطع سني پركاربردترين راه‎كار بود. استفاده از راه‎كار بازگويي در سنين پايين‎تر، شايع‎تر و با افزايش سن كاهش یافت. استفاده از راه‎كار اصلاح سرنخي نيز با افزايش سن بيشتر شد. اين نتايج با نتايج پژوهش‎هاي خارج از كشور هم‎خواني داشت. کلید واژه‌ها: كاربردشناسي زبان، اصلاح مكالمه، نقص ارتباطي

Infection Rate of Cryptosporidium parvum among Diarrheic Children in Isfahan

Objective: Cryptosporidiosis is an important enteric parasitic infection among infants and children in developing countries with significant morbidity and mortality especially among immuno-suppressed individuals. The aim of the present study was to estimate the prevalence of enteric cryptosporidiosis in children presenting with diarrhea in Isfahan. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from August 2007 to June 2008 in three university hospitals in Isfahan. Children aged 1 month to 10 years presenting with acute or persistent diarrhea were selected consecutively. The oocyst of C. parvum was investigated in stool specimens using a modified acid-fast staining method. Findings: During the study period, 606 children (mean age 42.4±30.0 months, 58.1% female) were recruited. Acute and persistent diarrhea was present in 422 (69.6%) and 184 (30.4%) of the children, respectively. Twenty eight (4.6%) specimens were oocyst positive. The prevalence of Cryptosporidium infection was significantly higher in children with persistent diarrhea compared to children with acute diarrhea (12.5% vs 1.2%; P<0.001). Most of the infected children were under 5 years of age (89.2%), however, the age difference between infected and non-infected children was not statistically significant. Also, there was no significant difference between infected and non-infected children in gender. Conclusion: The prevalence of Cryptosporidiosis in children presenting with persistent diarrhea is considerable and we suggest routine stool examination for Cryptosporidium in this group of children

A case report of novel mutation in PRF1 gene, which causes familial autosomal recessive hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis

Abstract Background Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a life-threatening immunodeficiency and multi-organ disease that affects people of all ages and ethnic groups. Common symptoms and signs of this disease are high fever, hepatosplenomegaly, and cytopenias. Familial form of HLH disease, which is an autosomal recessive hematological disorder is due to disease-causing mutations in several genes essential for NK and T-cell granule-mediated cytotoxic function. For an effective cytotoxic response from cytotoxic T lymphocyte or NK cell encountering an infected cell or tumor cell, different processes are required, including trafficking, docking, priming, membrane fusion, and entry of cytotoxic granules into the target cell leading to apoptosis. Therefore, genes involved in these steps play important roles in the pathogenesis of HLH disease which include PRF1, UNC13D (MUNC13-4), STX11, and STXBP2 (MUNC18-2). Case presentation Here, we report a novel missense mutation in an 8-year-old boy suffered from hepatosplenomegaly, hepatitis, epilepsy and pancytopenia. The patient was born to a first-cousin parents with no previous documented disease in his parents. To identify mutated gene in the proband, Whole Exome Sequencing (WES) utilizing next generation sequencing was used on an Illumina HiSeq 2000 platform on DNA sample from the patient. Results showed a novel deleterious homozygous missense mutation in PRF1 gene (NM_001083116: exon3: c. 1120 T > G, p.W374G) in the patient and then using Sanger sequencing it was confirmed in the proband and his parents. Since his parents were heterozygous for the identified mutation, autosomal recessive pattern of inheritance was confirmed in the family. Conclusions Our study identified a rare new pathogenic missense mutation in PRF1 gene in patient with HLH disease and it is the first report of mutation in PRF1 in Iranian patients with this disease

Effects of 2.45 GHz Non-Ionizing Radiation on Anxiety-Like Behavior, Gene Expression, and Corticosterone Level in Male Rats: Long-term Radiation Exposure Modifies Memory and Anxiety Behavior in Rats

The effects of short-term and long-term exposures to 2.45 GHz radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation (RF-EMR) on anxiety-like behavior, corticosterone level, and gene expression were investigated. The animals have been classified into eight groups, sham groups and, exposed groups for short-term and long-term exposure to the same dose of RF-EMR for one hour daily. The Wi-Fi equipment in the sham control group was not turned on during the experiment. The goal of this study was to explore the effect of electromagnetic fields of 2.45 GHz on clinical signs such as bodyweight and anxiety-like behavior, including the elevated plus maze test and open-field test, and also on messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of Bax (Bcl2-associated x) and Bcl-2 (B-cell lymphoma 2) genes on the cognitive memory functions in an animal model of rats. Both genes were further confirmed by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The semi-quantitative PCR method of electromagnetic fields in the 2.45 GHz range impacted the expression of Bax and Bcl-2 genes in the rat's memory. The present study exhibited that short-term radiation could decrease the percentage of entry into the open arm and the percentage of time spent, while there were no substantial impacts on the long-term radiation effect. Our data support the hypothesis that short-term exposure worked as a systemic stressor, raising plasma corticosterone and changing glucocorticoid receptor expression in the hippocampus. Additional research on this specific frequency and amount of radiation is required to discover strategies for protecting the nervous system from the detrimental effects of RF-EMR radiation

Differential Expression of Human Homeodomain TGIFLX in Brain Tumor Cell Lines

Glioblastoma is the most common and the most lethal primary brain cancer. This malignancy is highly locally invasive, rarely metastatic and resistant to current therapies. Little is known about the distinct molecular biology of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) in terms of initiation and progression. So far, several molecular mechanisms have been suggested to implicate in GBM development. Homeodomain (HD) transcription factors play central roles in the expression of genomic information in all known eukaryotes. The TGIFX homeobox gene was originally discovered in human adult testes. Our previous study showed implications of TGIFLX in prostate cancer and azoospermia, although the molecular mechanism by which TGIFLX acts is unknown. Moreover, studies reported that HD proteins are involved in normal and abnormal brain developments. We examined the expression pattern of TGIFLX in different human brain tumor cell lines including U87MG, A172, Daoy and 1321N1. Interestingly, real time RT-PCR and western blot analysis revealed a high level of TGIFLX expression in A172 cells but not in the other cell lines. We subsequently cloned the entire coding sequence of TGIFLX gene into the pEGFP-N1 vector, eukaryotic expression vector encoding eGFP, and transfected into the U-87 MG cell line. The TGIFLX-GFP expression was confirmed by real time RT-PCR and UV-microscopic analysis. Upon transfection into U87 cells, fusion protein TGIFLX-GFP was found to locate mainly in the nucleus. This is the first report to determine the nuclear localization of TGIFLX and evaluation of its expression level between different brain tumor cell lines. Our data also suggest that TGIFLX gene dysregulation could be involved in the pathogenesis of some human brain tumors

Association of Food Allergies, Cow’s Milk Allergy, and Asthma With Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease

There are controversies on the association of childhood allergic diseases with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). The aim of this study was to examine the association between food allergy, cow’s milk allergy (CMA), and asthma with pediatric IBD in Iranian population. This case-control study was conducted on 200 individuals less than 18-year-old (100 with IBD and 100 as control group). Medical records, clinical presentation, and laboratory and para-clinical findings related to food allergy, CMA, and asthma were reviewed for all participants in both groups and were recorded. Among 100 children with IBD, 40 had Crohn's disease, and 60 had ulcerative colitis. The frequency of food allergy, cow's milk allergy, and asthma in children with IBD was significantly higher than the control group (P<0.001). Asthma in children with Crohn's disease was significantly more prevalent than children with ulcerative colitis (P=0.008). Food allergy (OR: 22.1, 95% CI: 5.1-95.05, P<0.001), CMA (OR: 15, 95% CI: 3-67, P<0.001), and asthma (OR: 10, 95% CI: 3-37.05, P<0.001) were significantly associated with increased risk of IBD in children. Food allergy, CMA in infancy and asthma are more prevalent in children with different subtypes of IBD. The diagnosis of these risk factors is associated with increased risk of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis