Comparison of FAIM3 gene expression between new cases of ALL and relapsed ALL

Background: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is one of the major lymphoid malignancies and the most common hematologic malignancy in children. ALL is characterized by the presence of malignant lymphoblasts in the blood so that immature lymphocytes cannot become mature and thus do not have an adult cell function. Although it is not unusual in adults, it usually affects children. Most children with this disease are recovered from therapeutic protocols. But the relapse is common after recovery or during the treatment. Various factors are supposed to contribute to the relapse of the disease. One of these factors that is likely to be effective in the recurrence of ALL is the FAIM3 protein (an FCuR), or the Fas inhibitory molecule-3 (FAIM3). The aim of this study was to investigate FAIM3 (TOSO) as a new prognostic factor in ALL. Materials and methods: In this study, 19 patients with newly diagnosed and 17 patients with relapsed ALL were included.  FAIM3 gene expression was measured with the qRT-PCR method. Results:  The expression level of FAIM3 in relapsed patients was 5.44 folds higher than newly diagnosed ALL patients. Conclusion: Prognosis of ALL is usually well-proven in children and can be cured. However, recurrence of the disease is common. At the molecular level, there are several factors that are referred to as the "factor involved in the relapse" of the disease. These factors increase the survival of the leukemic cells. According to the results of the present study, gene expression level of FAIM3 as an anti-apoptotic factor has increased in relapsed ALL lymphoblasts, compared with new diagnosed patients. Therefore, FAIM3 can be considered as a contributing factor in the relapse of the disease

Determination of serum vitamin D3 levels in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Background: Regarding the role of vitamin D3 as a steroid hormone in regulating the metabolism of minerals and bone homeostasis, its antitumor role has been confirmed in epidemiologic and empirical studies. Accordingly, this investigation conducted on acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients to understand whether vitamin D3 has role in increasing the risk of getting ALL or not.Materials and Methods:In this study, 40 patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia were included after confirmation of cytological tests in Hamedan, Qazvin and Tehran. Moreover, 40 healthy persons without any hematologic diseases in both themselves and their immediate relatives were selected. The level of vitamin D3 in blood serum of patients and control group was measured with Chemiluminscence method.Results:Ninety percent of the subjects in the experimental group and 75% of the control group suffered from severe vitamin D3 deficiency. 10% of the experimental group and 20% of the control group had a mild to moderate vitamin D3 deficiency and range from 10 - 19 ng / ml. Among ALL patients, none of them had the desired level (20- 50 ng / ml) of vitamin D3, while two persons in the control group had a desirable level of vitamin D3 with a range of 20- 50 ng / ml. It is found that there is a significant difference between mean of vitamin D3 level in acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients and healthy control group (p <0.05).Conclusion:It seems that there is a correlation between the incidence of ALL and serum vitamin D3 level. However, additional studies are needed to understand more about the mechanisms of this.

Local Residents’ Preferences for Second Home Tourism Development Policies: A Choice Experiment nalysis

This paper is concerned with the preferences of the rural residents living in areas subject to rapid second home tourism development in Iran. Since second home development could have positive and negative social, cultural, economical and environmental impacts for local residents, planning policies should take into consideration public opinions and preferences for future planning and developments. Using a choice experiment method, we attempt to estimate the values that the rural households in Tehran province would place on different impacts of second home development policies.second home, tourism, choice experiment method, Tehran

A Cross-disciplinary Study of Hedging Expressions in English Articles of Iranian Writers

Research on the use of hedging strategies as one of the key issues of rhetorical organization of academic texts has gained growing attention during the past few decades. The present study aimed to explore the frequency and form of hedging expressions in the abstracts of Iranian writers’ English research articles where findings and claims were more explicitly projected. To this end, a random sample of 200 abstracts (50 each) was drawn equally from the four subfields of chemistry and mathematics, and philosophy and English randomly selected from the two academic fields of Soft Sciences and Hard Sciences respectively as suggested in Biglan’s (1973) typology of academic disciplines. The tally and analysis of the tokens of the hedge expressions indicated that the abstracts from the soft sciences differed from those from the hard sciences in terms of both frequency and form. The results revealed that the writers from the soft sciences tended to employ more hedge expressions than hard sciences writers. More specifically, whereas soft sciences writers utilized more modals, verbs, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs, their counterparts opted for more conditional expressions. Moreover, epistemic and cognition verbs were found to be the most frequently used hedging expressions in both sciences. This study discusses the research and pedagogical implications of the findings in the context of Iranian academia

Chronology of the Events of the Samarqand “Observatory and School” Based on some Old Persian Texts: a Revision

In the 9th century c. A.H/15 c. A.D Ulugh Beg, the son of Shāhrukh, became the ruler of Samarqand and invited a group of astronomers and mathematicians to Samarqand to establish a school (madrasa) and observatory there. During the last century some historians of science dealt with the details of the events which occurred in that scientific circle and tried to identify the dates of the events concerning this circle.It seems that some of these events have been neglected, or incorrectly dated by them. It mainly goes back to two reasons. The first one was the differences in citations between historical sources and the second one was the way in which the dates can be interpreted.The present article follows three main aims. First of all, it provides a time table of the known events related to the scientific circle and observatory. Secondly it deals with the dated events in various historical Persian texts, based on possible different translations and interpretations. Thirdly we will discuss the possible different dates given by some researchers on these events and will distinguish those which may be more authentic. It is noteworthy to say that the Persian texts concerning the Samarqand School and Observatory are translated into English in this article for the first time

Spatiotemporal Changes of Lagged Compound Dry and Wet Spells in the Northwest North America Under Climate Change

Recently, an upsurge in the occurrence of hydroclimatic extremes and their temporal swings is observed in several regions around the world. Such transitions to the contrasting extremes such as the drought to flood in California (2016 – 17) has raised concerns about the increasing variability and rapid transitions between hydrological extremes and their associated compounding economic and environmental impacts. The intensification of the global hydrological cycle associated with climate change can further alter the drivers of such extremes and their interactions. Therefore, it is important to understand the characteristics of consecutive flood and drought events, including their spatiotemporal frequency and intensity in a changing climate. In this study, wet-dry swings are investigated based on precipitation and streamflow data in the Northwest North America. To this end, wet and dry conditions, as drivers of hydrologic floods and droughts, are investigated using the Standardised Precipitation Index for multiple accumulation periods (1, 3, and 6-months), calculated based on the downscaled and statistically bias corrected simulations of six Global Climate Models from the 5th phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project with two medium and high emission scenarios for 1.5°C-4 °C global warming levels. Further, we use the Variable Infiltration Capacity hydrologic model simulated streamflow to show the hydrological response of the study area to the lagged compound floods and droughts under global warming. We identify future hotspots for the lagged compound hydroclimatic events. Our findings assert the necessity of integrating mitigation measures targeting such events into Disaster Risk Reduction strategies at the identified hotspots

Teacher Perfectionism and Iranian English Language Learners’ Motivation and Achievement

Educational psychology has recently reflected a policy shift from focusing on “what goes wrong” in schools, including psychological, physical, and educational disabilities, to recognizing and promoting strengths and positive aspects of students and their environments. Within this scope, some lines of research have examined the extent to which setting personal high standards influences such positive outcomes as educational achievement and high level of motivation. The present study was motivated by the concern that Iranian English language teachers' setting high standards, i.e. perfectionism, may predict English language learners’ motivation and language achievement. Through cluster random sampling, a total of 30 English language teachers with more than one year of experience and 300 elementary English language learners were selected from English Language Institutes in Fars province, Iran. Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism scale and Motivations Underlying English Language Learning questionnaire were used to measure teachers' perfectionism and learners’ language learning motivation, respectively. The learners' final scores in the English courses were collected as a measure of their language learning achievement. The result of simple regression analysis revealed that the teachers' perfectionism did not predict English language learners’ motivation and language achievement. In other words, Iranian English language teachers' perfectionism did not account for any variance in these two variables of interest. Keywords: Perfectionism, Motivation, Language Learning Achievemen

The Impact of Gender, Nativeness, and Subject Matter on the English as a Second Language University Students’ Perception of Instructor Credibility and Engagement: A Qualitative Study

In instructional contexts, instructor credibility or ethos is deemed to play a paramount role in teacher–student interaction and relationships. Much effort has been devoted to instructor credibility conceptualization, measurement, and its association with other instructional variables of interest in dominantly quantitative inquiries. However, little research has been undertaken in second-language education in which communication is both a means and an end. This qualitative research set out to explore the perception of the students of instructor credibility in the context of higher English education and how gender, nativeness, and subject matter might impact their perceptions. It also aimed to study how instructor credibility could, in turn, influence the engagement and success of the students. Thirteen senior students of English as a foreign language from a university in Iran participated in this study. They were given a scenario about their prospective professors for two courses of “Research Methodology” and “Essay Writing.” The professors included four native English- and Persian-speaking male and female PhD holders. The participants were, then, interviewed about their perceptions of instructor credibility, their choices of instructors, and how they would affect their engagement. The data were recorded, transcribed, and recursively analyzed using an inductive thematic analysis. While instructor credibility is commonly characterized as a three-dimensional construct, involving competence, character, and caring, the data analysis generated a new component of performance concerned with the effectiveness of classroom knowledge presentation and activity organization. Caring also emerged as a constituent of a more inclusive component of rapport. Interestingly, albeit they viewed native English professors as generally more competent due to their nativeness, they perceived non-native professors as more credible for both courses, mainly because of their rapport building and familiarity with the needs and challenges of the students. Most of the participants also viewed male professors as more competent and communicative for both courses. The participants also tended to argue that perceived instructor credibility would encourage them to put in more effort in their academic undertakings and to engage in class activities. This would ultimately enhance their academic achievements and success. The paper discusses the findings and implications for second-language instructor credibility conceptualization and practice

The effect of cell derived microparticles in transfusion medicine and adaptive immune system

This article reviews will focus on the concept and formation of micro particles (MPs) in circulation and their role in transfusion medicine and immune system. MPs are cell membrane derived vesicles which express markers of their parent cells and are found in circulation at low levels. Exact functions of MPs are unclear. In here, Physiological almost all types of circulating MPs including platelets MPs (PMPs), leukocytes MPs (LMPs), red blood cells MPs (RMPs) and endothelial cells MPs (EMPs) have been discussed. Furthermore, MPs present in plasma and blood products and their levels increase during storage. Thus, it can be stated that MPs are likely to cause transfusion reactions, particularly thrombotic complications and Transfusion-Related Acute Lung Injury (TRALI). Also, it is shown that the MPs may affect the immune system. However, to prove these, more and extensive studies both in vivo and in vitro need to be done