An evaluation of rural development planning in Iran after the Revolution 1979

PhD ThesisWith the industrial revolution and huge emigration from villages to cities in developed countries, and later on with the changing balance between the Urban and Rural residents in third world countries, because of the poverty and lack of basic services in rural areas, rural development has become a major problem in the world, especially in third world countries. Iran, as one of such countries, has been faced with this problem, and some reforms for changing the situation and providing more acceptable living conditions for the rural people have been established and implemented. After the Revolution in 1979, the Islamic Government has its roots in the poor people who supported the Revolution in different stages so the effective factors for such improvements in rural condition are included in the revolutionary Constitution and later on in the National Development Programmes. The statements in the Constitution Law and the establishment of two independent agencies, Bonyad-e-Maskan & Jahad-e-Sazandegi, to deal with rural problems, have resulted in the start of Rural Development Planning activities. The national aims developed by the policymaker for development in rural areas in this regard are to: "Create necessary social, cultural and economic conditions necessary for development, and providing necessary possibilities and physical improvements and necessary facilities for improving housing and other environmental basic public services." With this overall policy, development activity has started with the aim of improvement in the standard of life for rural areas. Up to 1997, about 1000 plans have been prepared and 370 have been implemented. This research is looking to investigate the implemented cases, to evaluate the degree of success or failure and to make conclusions and recommendations. With this aim, the research includes a literature review, in the context of development planning, specifically Rural Development Planning, and then an investigation of Iranian Constitutional Law, the National Programmes, the agencies and Iranian planning organisation to be able to make an evaluation framework and design a process for case studies and data collection, in a qualitative approach to the research. With 59 cases which had passed their first five years period of planning, 13 cases have been chosen, of which five have been studied in detail, each with an individual field study report, leading to specific and general conclusions, which are divided into two parts. Firstly from the literature review, which draws the main points to establish the desired achievements for successful development planning in rural areas. Secondly the conclusions apply to all parts of the rural development process in Iran, from policy making to implementation and with recommendations for the overall process in principle and in detail and relating to the agencies and resources involved. The main results from the case studies have identified gaps and weaknesses in the process and therefore have lead to recommendations as to how the process would be more successful. It shows that the rural development planning, as part of the national development programme, needs: i) To have more accurate regional plans in advance in order to define the main potentials in each region, and to provide guidelines appropriate to each, ii) To ensure the correct designation of the villages which are to be planned; iii) To encourage the appointed consultants to follow best practice for plan-preparation; iv) To provide the necessary administrative organisation, with the powers and resources to be able to carry out the process; and v) To improve implementation

Genetic variation of D9S1837 Marker located at TMC1 gene in Iranian population

زمینه و هدف: جهش‌های ژن TMC1 یکی از فراوان‌ترین دلایل ناشنوایی غیرسندرومی اتوزومی مغلوب در جمعیت‌های مختلف می‌باشد. با توجه به اندازه بزرگ این ژن و جهش‌های زیاد شناخته شده در آن، استفاده از مارکرهای چند شکل جهت تشخیص ناقلین و تشخیص پیش از تولد پیشنهاد می‌شود. در مطالعه حاضر، اطلاع‌دهندگی مارکر D9S1837 با توالی‌های تکراری CA، در پنج قوم مختلف جمعیت ایرانی مورد بررسی قرار گرفت. روش بررسی: در این مطالعه توصیفی- تحلیلی، جایگاه ژنی D9S1837 واقع در ژن TMC1 توسط واکنش زنجیره‌ای پلی‌مرازی (PCR) و سپس الکتروفورز ژل پلی‌اکریل‌آمید (PAGE) و در نهایت الکتروفورز فلورسنت موئینه تعیین ژنوتیپ گردید. فرکانس آللی، درجه‌ی هتروزیگوسیتی و نتایج حاصل از ژنوتیپ‌های 165 فرد سالم غیرخویشاوند توسط نرم‌افزار‌های GeneMarker HID ،Microsatellite Tools و GenePop محاسبه شد. یافته ها: نتایج حاصل از برنامه GenePop، 11 آلل در جمعیت ایرانی را نشان می‌دهد که بیشترین فراوانی مربوط به آلل 239 جفت باز با فراوانی 36/0 می‌باشد. هتروزیگوسیتی مارکر در همه‌ی اقوام بالای 70 می‌باشد که از میان آن ها قوم عرب وآذری بالاترین هتروزیگوسیتی به میزان 8/84 را در میان اقوام مختلف و کل جمعیت ایرانی را دارا می‌باشند. در نهایت مقدار ظرفیت اطلاعاتی چند شکلی (PIC) محاسبه شده گویای اطلاع‌دهندگی شدید مارکر D9S1837 در اقوام مورد بررسی جمعیت ایرانی می‌باشد. نتیجه گیری: بر اساس نتایج حاصل از این مطالعه، مارکر D9S1837 را می‌توان به عنوان یک ابزار بسیار اطلاع‌دهنده به منظور تشخیص مولکولی و تشخیص پیش از تولد مرتبط با ناشنوایی غیرسندرومی اتوزومی مغلوب وابسته به ژن TMC1 به روش آنالیز پیوستگی در جمعیت ایرانی معرفی نمود

Investigation of D7S496 marker characteristics in five Iranian ethnic groups for linkage analysis of autosomal recessive non syndromic hearing loss

Background and aims: The most important currently identifiable genetic cause of autosomal recessive non syndromic hearing loss (ARNSHL) after GJB2 mutations are the SLC26A4 gene mutations. In this investigation, the characteristics and informativeness of D7S496 CA repeat STR marker in SLC26A4 gene region was examined in five ethnic groups of the Iranian population. Methods: The locus were genotyped in 165 individuals of five different ethnic groups including Fars, Azari, Turkmen, Gilaki and Arabs using PCR followed by PAGE and fluorescent capillary electrophoresis. In this study, the results were analyzed by GeneMarker HID Human STR Identity software, GenePop program and Microsatellite Tools software. Results: Analysis of the allelic frequency revealed the presence of 10 alleles for D7S496 marker in the Iranian population, which allele 137bp at the D7S496 locus with 41.52% allele frequency was the most frequent. The observed heterozygosity of all ethnic groups was approximately above 70%, which Turkmen ethnic had the highest heterozygosity among all. Finally, analysis of PIC value represents D7S496 marker as a highly informative marker in Iranian population (PIC value above 0.7). Conclusion: Our data introduce D7S496 as a highly informative marker in diagnosis of SLC26A4 based ARNSHL by Linkage analysis

Genotyping Data and Novel Haplotype Diversity of STR Markers in the SLC26A4 Gene Region in Five Ethnic Groups of the Iranian Population

Background and Aims: SLC26A4 gene mutations are the second currently identifiable genetic cause of autosomal recessive nonsyndromic hearing loss after GJB2 mutations. Because of the extensive size of the SLC26A4 gene and the variety of mutations, indirect diagnosis using linkage analysis has been suggested. Therefore, in this investigation three potential short tandem repeat (STR) markers related to this region including D7S2420, D7S496, and D7S2459 were selected for further analysis. Methods: The characteristics and haplotype frequency of the markers were examined for the first time in five ethnic groups of the Iranian population including Fars, Azari, Turkmen, Gilaki, and Arab using the polymerase chain reaction followed by fluorescent capillary electrophoresis. Results were analyzed by GeneMarker HID Human STR Identity, GenePop, Microsatellite tools, PowerMarker 3.25, and Arlequin 3.5 software. Results: Analysis of the allelic frequency revealed the presence of 11, 10, and 8 alleles for D7S2420, D7S496, and D7S2459 markers, respectively, in the Iranian population. The detailed analysis of each ethnic group was reported. Calculated polymorphism information content values were above 0.7 in the Iranian population. Pairwise linkage disequilibrium (LD) revealed a significant LD in pairing markers of D7S2420-D7S496 and in D7S496-D7S2459. Estimation of the haplotype frequency showed the presence of 20, 13, 15, 15, and 20 informative haplotypes in Fars, Azari, Turkmen, Gilaki, and Arabian ethnics, respectively. Conclusion: Together, the investigated markers could be suggested as powerful tools for linkage analysis of SLC26A4 gene mutations in the Iranian population

Improved efficacy of a dendritic cell-based vaccine against a murine model of colon cancer: The helper protein effect

Purpose Targeted immunotherapy using dendritic cells (DCs) has been employed in numerous investigations aiming at combating neoplasms. We previously showed that copulsing of an antigen with a helper protein could considerably enhance antigen presenting capacity of ex vivo-generated DCs. In this study, we attempted to administer an effective treatment in a murine model of colon cancer with DCs pulsed with the mixture of a tumor-specific gp70-derived peptide (AH1) and a helper protein, ovalbumin (OVA). Materials and Methods First, the presence of gp70 in CT26 tumor cells and tumor tissues was verified using immunofluorescence and Western blot analyses. Next, DCs were purified from normal mice, loaded ex vivowith AH1 and OVA (DC-Pep-OVA), and injected into tumor-bearing mice. Tumor volume, in vitro antigen (Ag)-specific proliferation of splenic cells, and survival rate were measured to determine the efficacy of DC-Pep-OVA. As the control groups, tumor-bearing mice were vaccinated with DC-Pep, unpulsed DC, and DCs loaded with a mixture of OVA and an irrelevant peptide (P15), or were not vaccinated at all. Results DC-Pep-OVA showed superior efficacy over other groups, as indicated by smaller tumor volume, higher Ag-specific proliferation rate of splenic cells, and prolonged survival. Conclusion Overall, in the present study we showed for the first time that DCs copulsed with AH1 (tumor Ag) and OVA (helper molecule) could be considered as potentially robust weapons for use in future antitumor immunotherapies. © 2015 by the Korean Cancer Association

FISH Analysis for del6q21 and del17p13 in B-cell Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia in Iranians

Background: B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) is the most common leukemia in the Western world. Major progress has been made in assessing typical chromosomal abnormalities and recognition of the correlation of these chromosomal abnormalities with laboratory features and clinical course of the disease. The most frequent genomic changes are deletions at 13q14, 11q22-23 and 17p13 and trisomy of chromosome 12. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency of chromosomal aberrations in B-CLL patients' peripheral blood and/or bone marrow using a molecular cytogenetic method, interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (I-FISH) and to evaluate the correlation between these genomic changes and clinical findings. Patients and Methods: I-FISH analyses were performed on bone marrow and blood samples of 66 B-CLL patients. Results: Deletion of 17p13 was found in 11 (16.6%) and deletion 6q21 was present in 5 (7.5%). Statistical analyses were performed to investigate the correlation of these molecular-cytogenetic findings with family history, Rai staging and CD38 marker. No clear differences in distribution was noted for del17p13 and del6q21 among patients with and without family history, and no direct correlation was noted between these genomic changes and CD38 marker, but the correlation of del17p13 and Rai stage was significant. There was a high frequency of Rai stage II within del17p13 patients. Conclusions: It was demonstrated that the presence of del6q21 in B-CLL patients indicates poor prognosis and on the contrary, presence of del17p13 points at the good prognostic value of the disease

Down Presymptomatic View of Dementia Characteristics

Down syndrome (DS) is caused by complete or segmental chromosome 21 trisomy that results in neurodegeneration and progressive intellectual disability. Abnormal function in the prefrontal cortex, cerebellum, and hippocampus are the main reasons for cognitive deficits in DS that result in impaired cognitive function, delayed speech and language, learning and memory disability, and behavioral and emotional disorders. There is no specific treatment for DS, and our understanding of the mechanisms of the disorder is incomplete and causes to hamper the development of effective therapies regarding the development of neuropathology and memory loss in DS. Here, we review the literature on cognitive functioning, unique characteristics, environmental considerations, and recent findings on Alzheimer’s disease in DS

The Therapeutic Effect of Endoscopic Tumor Resection on Acromegalic Cardiomegaly in Patients With Pituitary Adenoma

Background: Acromegaly defines as chronic elevations of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and growth hormone (GH), which results in enlargement of organs and soft tissues. Cardiovascular complications of acromegaly such as cardiomegaly, hypertension contributing to a high risk of cardiovascular events. This study aimed to identify the determinants of the prevalence of cardiomegaly as cardiovascular comorbidity of acromegaly and the potential effect of the curative intervention.Methods: A total of 160 patients with acromegaly due to pituitary adenoma participated in this study. Acromegaly diagnosed was based on clinical manifestations, age-adjusted plasma IGF-I, and elevated plasma GH levels, not suppressible during an oral glucose tolerance test (75 g). Electrocardiogram and chest X-ray obtained in all patients. Treatment approaches included transsphenoidal surgery and hormonal evaluation performed before and six months after surgery.Results: The GH serum level was elevated in all patients before surgery, with a mean of 33.7 ng/mL that reached 5.7 ng/mL after surgery. Mean IGF-1 was 794.1 ng/mL that reached 395.6 ng/mL postoperatively. The prevalence of cardiomegaly was 15% that improved in 5% of patients after trans sphenoidal surgery.Conclusion: Appropriate surgical intervention in acromegaly that complicated by cardiomegaly may result in significant improvement of the cardiac structure

Origin of englacial stratigraphy at three deep ice core sites of the Greenland Ice Sheet by synthetic radar modelling

During the past 20 years, multi-channel radar emerged as a key tool for deciphering an ice sheet's internal architecture. To assign ages to radar reflections and connect them over large areas in the ice sheet, the layer genesis has to be understood on a microphysical scale. Synthetic radar trace modelling based on the dielectric profile of ice cores allows for the assignation of observed physical properties’ variations on the decimetre scale to radar reflectors extending from the coring site to a regional or even whole-ice-sheet scale. In this paper we rely on the available dielectric profiling data of the northern Greenland deep ice cores: NGRIP, NEEM and EGRIP. The three records are well suited for assigning an age model to the stratigraphic radar-mapped layers, and linking up the reflector properties to observations in the cores. Our modelling results show that the internal reflections are mainly due to conductivity changes. Furthermore, we deduce fabric characteristics at the EGRIP drill site from two-way-travel-time differences of along and across-flow polarized radarwave reflections of selected horizons (below 980 m). These indicate in deeper parts of the ice column an across-flow concentrated c-axis fabric