Fish tank granuloma: An emerging skin disease in Iran mimicking Cutaneous Leishmaniasis.

OBJECTIVE: Mycobacterium marinum causes a rare cutaneous disease known as fish tank granuloma (FTG). The disease manifestations resemble those associated with Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL). The aim of this study was to determine whether FTG was the cause of cutaneous lesions in patients who were referred to the Parasitology laboratory of Imam Reza Hospital in Mashhad to be investigated for CL. MATERIALS/METHODS: One hundered patients, clinically diagnosed with CL between April 2014 and March 2015, were included in this study. Ziehl-Neelsen staining was performed to identify acid-fast Mycobacterium in addition to bacterial cultures using Löwenstein-Jensen medium. Skin lesion samples were also collected and kept on DNA banking cards for PCR testing. RESULTS: Twenty-nine of the 100 individuals with skin lesions, and therefore suspected of suffering from CL, tested positive for Mycobacterium marinum by PCR. Of these, 21 (72.4%) were male and 8(27.6%) were female. In 97% of these cases the lesions were located on hands and fingers. These patients had a history of manipulating fish and had been in contact with aquarium water. A sporotrichoid appearance was observed in 58.6% of the patients with mycobacterial lesions; 67% of patients had multiple head appearance. CONCLUSION: Patients suspected to have CL and who test negative for CL could be affected by FTG. Therefore, after obtaining an accurate case history, molecular diagnosis is recommended for cases that give a negative result by conventional methods.Internal fundin

A two-stages mathematical model for a Covid-19 vaccination fuzzy scheme and resource allocation in hub locations considering transmission risk and environment factor

Tackling with Covid-19 dilemma of vaccine distribution needed a stack of analysis and examination. This paper develops a generalizable framework for designing a hub vaccination dispensing network to achieve expand the Covid-19 vaccination coverage for public. Designing a hub location routing network for vaccine distribution is the main concern for this research. The proposed model hinges on maximum coverage and patients’ safety by considering high-priority population alongside the cost reduction in an uncertain environment. The hub location model enhances the accessibility of the vaccines to various communities and helps to overcome the challenges. The results of this model were examined through both numerical and case studies in the north of Tehran to demonstrate its application. Furthermore, in order to reduce the costs of vaccine imports, vaccine entry routing can be developed from border and air points to the country in order to be able to perform vaccination in the fastest time and lowest cost in the future. The results concede that increasing the number of outreach dispensing locations per hub dispensing location will not necessarily result in increased coverage

Natural Occurrence of Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus in Iranian Cucurbit Crops

The main areas for field-grown vegetable production in Iran were surveyed during the years of 2012–2014 to determine the occurrence of begomoviruses infecting these crops. A total of 787 leaf samples were collected from vegetables and some other host plants showing virus-like symptoms and tested by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using polyclonal antibodies produced against Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV). According to the ELISA results, 81 samples (10.3%) positively reacted with the virus antibodies. Begomovirus infections were confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using previously described TYLCV-specific primer pair TYLCV-Sar/TYLCV-Isr or universal primer pair Begomo-F/Begomo-R. The PCR tests using the primer pair TYLCV-Sar/TYLCV-Isr resulted in the amplification of the expected fragments of ca. 0.67-kb in size for ELISA-positive samples tested from alfalfa, pepper, spinach and tomato plants, confirming the presence of TYLCV. For one melon sample, having a week reaction in ELISA and no reaction in PCR using TYLCV-specific primers, the PCR reaction using the primer pair Begomo-F/Begomo-R resulted in the amplification fragments of the expected size of ca. 2.8 kb. The nucleotide sequences of the DNA amplicons derived from the isolate, Kz-Me198, were determined and compared with other sequences available in GenBank. BLASTN analysis confirmed the begomovirus infection of the sample and showed 99% identities with Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus (ToLCNDV); phylogenetic analysis supported the results of the database searches. This study reports the natural occurrence of TYLCV in different hosts in Iran. Our results also reveal the emergence of ToLCNDV in Iranian cucurbit crops

A comparative study of g-quadruplex unfolding and DNA reeling activities of human RECQ5 helicase

RECQ5 is one of five members of the RecQ family of helicases in humans, which include RECQ1, Bloom (BLM), Werner (WRN), RECQ4, and RECQ5. Both WRN and BLM have been shown to resolve G-quadruplex (GQ) structures. Deficiencies in unfolding GQ are known to result in DNA breaks and genomic instability, which are prominent in Werner and Bloom syndromes. RECQ5 is significant in suppressing sister chromatid exchanges during homologous recombination but its GQ unfolding activity are not known. We performed single-molecule studies under different salt (50-150 mM KCl or NaCl) and ATP concentrations on different GQ constructs including human telomeric GQ (with different overhangs and polarities) and GQ formed by thrombin-binding aptamer to investigate this activity. These studies demonstrated a RECQ5-mediated GQ unfolding activity that was an order of magnitude weaker than BLM and WRN. On the other hand, BLM and RECQ5 demonstrated similar single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) reeling activities that were not coupled to GQ unfolding. These results demonstrate overlap in function between these RecQ helicases; however, the relatively weak GQ destabilization activity of RECQ5 compared to BLM and WRN suggests that RECQ5 is not primarily associated with GQ destabilization, but could substitute for the more efficient helicases under conditions where their activity is compromised. In addition, these results implicate a more general role for helicase-promoted ssDNA reeling activity such as removal of proteins at the replication fork, whereas the association of ssDNA reeling with GQ destabilization is more helicase-specific

A single molecule investigation of i-motif stability, folding intermediates, and potential as in-situ pH sensor

https://kent-islandora.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/node/17531/87532-thumbnail.jpgWe present a collection of single molecule work on the i-motif structure formed by the human telomeric sequence. Even though it was largely ignored in earlier years of its discovery due to its modest stability and requirement for low pH levels (pH &lt; 6.5), the i-motif has been attracting more attention recently as both a physiologically relevant structure and as a potent pH sensor. In this manuscript, we establish single molecule Förster resonance energy transfer (smFRET) as a tool to study the i-motif over a broad pH and ionic conditions. We demonstrate pH and salt dependence of i-motif formation under steady state conditions and illustrate the intermediate states visited during i-motif folding in real time at the single molecule level. We also show the prominence of intermediate folding states and reversible folding/unfolding transitions. We present an example of using the i-motif as an in-situ pH sensor and use this sensor to establish the time scale for the pH drop in a commonly used oxygen scavenging system.</p

Clinical and genomic evaluations of a persistent fatal SARS-CoV-2 infection in a goods syndrome patient: a case report

Abstract The coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) resulted from an infection by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) which is the main cause of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in global population from 2019 on. It may contribute to higher rate of death among the patients with immunodeficiency based on recent reports. In addition, Good syndrome (GS) as a result of thymoma removal might cause in some long-lasting microbial infections. We described clinical aspects and viral mutations on a case of GS suffering from COVID-19. A 46-year-old man with fever, common respiratory disease symptoms and positive COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, with the history of thymoma removal surgery was admitted to Masih Daneshvari Hospital, Tehran, Iran. Lung radiographs and oxygen saturation measurement disclosed considerable implication resulted in application of several anti-microbial medication. The delta variant (B.1.617.2 (21 J Clade)) was the strain isolated from the patient by sequencing methods done by the COVID-19 National Reference Laboratory (CNRL), Pasteur Institute of Iran, while the dominant strain circulated mostly among population was Omicron (B.1.1.529) at the time of sampling. Unfortunately, the patient had passed away a month later by sudden respiratory failure progressed in refractory septic shock. Despite the fact that opportunistic infections may lead the GS patients to a major health problematic condition, unusual persistent of infections such as non-dominant variant of SARS-Cov-2 could be observed through the disease timeline. Therefore, a fully screening of thymoma plus intra-host evolution monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 is highly recommended in immunocompromised patients

Fish tank granuloma: An emerging skin disease in Iran mimicking Cutaneous Leishmaniasis.

ObjectiveMycobacterium marinum causes a rare cutaneous disease known as fish tank granuloma (FTG). The disease manifestations resemble those associated with Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL). The aim of this study was to determine whether FTG was the cause of cutaneous lesions in patients who were referred to the Parasitology laboratory of Imam Reza Hospital in Mashhad to be investigated for CL.Materials/methodsOne hundered patients, clinically diagnosed with CL between April 2014 and March 2015, were included in this study. Ziehl-Neelsen staining was performed to identify acid-fast Mycobacterium in addition to bacterial cultures using Löwenstein-Jensen medium. Skin lesion samples were also collected and kept on DNA banking cards for PCR testing.ResultsTwenty-nine of the 100 individuals with skin lesions, and therefore suspected of suffering from CL, tested positive for Mycobacterium marinum by PCR. Of these, 21 (72.4%) were male and 8(27.6%) were female. In 97% of these cases the lesions were located on hands and fingers. These patients had a history of manipulating fish and had been in contact with aquarium water. A sporotrichoid appearance was observed in 58.6% of the patients with mycobacterial lesions; 67% of patients had multiple head appearance.ConclusionPatients suspected to have CL and who test negative for CL could be affected by FTG. Therefore, after obtaining an accurate case history, molecular diagnosis is recommended for cases that give a negative result by conventional methods