The Mortality Rate in Children Aged 1-59 Months in Affiliated Healthcare Centers of Babol University of Medical Sciences Based on ICD10

Background and Objective: The mortality in children aged 1-59 months is one of the important indicators in assessing the general health status of a community. The death control system for children aged 1-59 months is used to record and review this indicator in Iran. This study was performed to investigate the mortality rate in children aged 1-59 months in affiliated healthcare centers of Babol University of Medical Sciences based on ICD10. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, all cases of death in children aged 1-59 months registered in affiliated healthcare centers of Babol University of Medical Sciences in 2009-2020 were collected by referring to the reports recorded in the death control system for children aged 1-59 months. Then, information about the cause of death and the trends of mortality during the years 2009-2020 were reviewed. Findings: Out of a total of 303 cases of death in children aged 1-59 months, 179 cases (59.07%) were boys, the mean age of children was 13.08±15.12 months and with 175 cases (57.75%), the highest mortality rate was related to urban areas. The general trend of mortality was declining; from 41 cases in 2009 to 14 cases in 2020 (p≤0.001). Congenital and chromosomal abnormalities in 100 cases (34%), endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases in 56 cases (18.48%), nervous system diseases in 23 cases (7.59%) and cancers in 22 cases (7.26%) were respectively the most common causes of death. Conclusion: The results show a declining trend in the mortality of children aged 1-59 months

A protective cocktail vaccine against murine cutaneous leishmaniasis with DNA encoding cysteine proteinases of Leishmania major.

The protection elicited by the intramuscular injection of two plasmid DNAs encoding Leishmania major cysteine proteinase type I (CPb) and type II (CPa) was evaluated in a murine model of experimental cutaneous leishmaniasis. BALB/c mice were immunized either separately or with a cocktail of the two plasmids expressing CPa or CPb. It was only when the cpa and cpb genes were co-injected that long lasting protection against parasite challenge was achieved. Similar protection was also observed when animals were first immunized with cpa/cpb DNA followed by recombinant CPa/CPb boost. Analysis of the immune response showed that protected animals developed a specific Th1 immune response, which was associated with an increase of IFN-gamma production. This is the first report demonstrating that co-injection of two genes expressing different antigens induces a long lasting protective response, whereas the separate injection of cysteine proteases genes is not protective

Fabrication of anthropomorphic phantoms for use in total body irradiations studies

Purpose: The aim of this study was to produce a low-cost anatomical model of adult male including lower limbs to evaluate the three-dimensional dose distribution for dosimetry measurements, especially in total body irradiation (TBI) and total skin electron therapy (TSET).Materials and methods: Computed tomography (CT) scan images of the atomic energy organisation RANDO phantom and lower limb CT scan images of 20 healthy persons were averaged. Selections of different body tissues substitute materials and phantom validation were performed according to previous studies worked on construction of radiation therapy phantoms.Results: The dosimetry aspect of the selected substitute materials from all considered methods showed that they were in good agreement with real human tissue, especially bone, with a percentage error of 0·5#x00025;. The results show that the electron densities obtained from the linear attenuation coefficient (reDLAC) for the tissue equivalent material used in the phantom is a better option for validation.Conclusions: This validated phantom has numerous advantages over the origin type of RANDO phantom. Therefore, using it in TBI and TSET dosimetry is recommendable. © 2019 Cambridge University Press

Humoral and cellular immune responses against Type I cysteine proteinase of Leishmania infantum are higher in asymptomatic than symptomatic dogs selected from a naturally infected population.

Canids are natural reservoirs of Leishmania infantum and have been promoted as experimental hosts to decipher the pathogenesis of human visceral leishmaniasis (VL). In this study, the presence of IgG antibodies as well as the presence of mononuclear leukocytes reactive to different cysteine proteinases (CPs) were examined in 13 L. infantum-infected dogs (six with symptoms, seven asymptomatic). Cysteine proteinases which belong to papain-like enzymes known as clan CA are the most studied CPs of parasite protozoa. These molecules are expressed by the intracellular stages of the parasite and could be immunogenic. We studied Type II CP (CPA) and Type I CP (CPB) with its long C-terminal extension (CTE) which could be highly immunogenic. We showed that the level of antibodies reactive to rCPA is low in both symptomatic and asymptomatic dogs. In contrast, when CPB and CTE were used as antigens, the level of total IgG (with IgG2 superior to IgG1) reached higher values in asymptomatic dogs than in dogs with VL. While the peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) reactivity was significant when cultured in the presence of freezed/thawed (F/T) lysate, it remained low in presence of CP although always higher for PBMC recovered from asymptomatic dogs. We showed the importance of CPB and CTE in particular as a target of immune response and their potential use for serodiagnosis in asymptomatic dogs