Children struggle beyond preschool-age in a continuous version of the ambiguous figures task

Children until the age of five are only able to reverse an ambiguous figure when they are informed about the second interpretation. In two experiments, we examined whether children’s difficulties would extend to a continuous version of the ambiguous figures task. Children (Experiment 1: 66 3- to 5-year olds; Experiment 2: 54 4- to 9-year olds) and adult controls saw line drawings of animals gradually morph—through well-known ambiguous figures—into other animals. Results show a relatively late developing ability to recognize the target animal, with difficulties extending beyond preschool-age. This delay can neither be explained with improvements in theory of mind, inhibitory control, nor individual differences in eye movements. Even the best achieving children only started to approach adult level performance at the age of 9, suggesting a fundamentally different processing style in children and adults

A comprehensive review of therapeutic options for COVID-19

Introduction: COVID-19 is a disease that is induced by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS). Its viral infection is spread swiftly around the world and causes many restrictions, health problems, and expensive treatment costs worldwide. Due to its high prevalence and mortality rate, there is a global challenge to find an effective therapeutic protocol for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. No one could disclaim the immediate need for a standardized protocol for COVID-19 treatment.Methods: Aiming to prepare a comprehensive review of introducing appropriate remedial options for COVID-19, a wide range of investigation on relevant articles established in the English language published through different publications such as PubMed, Medline, Embase, Science Direct, Scopus, and COVID-Evidence . all researchers and clinicians should try to make more precise knowledge about the viral behavior and treatment of COVID-19 to find an effective vaccine to prevent and treatment of this virus. The main objective of the present study is to review and investigate the available evidence for achieving a more precise preventive and treatment protocol to deal with COVID-19.Findings: many available drugs have been reviewed that include Azithromycin, Lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r), Remdesivir, Corticosteroids, Chloroquine, Hydroxychloroquine, Hydroxychloroquine sulfate, Immunoglobulin, Ivermectin, Ribavirin, Favipiravir, Interferon. On the other hand, it is recommended to conduct precise clinical trials on current antimicrobial and antiviral agents that are administered for a long time to find an expeditious and effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although disappointing, it should be noted that there is no effective drug regimen or vaccine against the novel coronavirus. In this regard, using other available antiviral drugs for the treatment of COVID-19 may be effective to some extent. In this study, by investigating some available antimicrobial medicines that may diminish COVID-19 infection, we are trying to introduce a general protocol for controlling this disease. Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 2022; 36(4):000-00

Modelling of infiltration using artificial intelligence techniques in semi-arid Iran

Infiltration plays a fundamental role in streamflow, groundwater recharge, subsurface flow, and surface and subsurface water quality and quantity. In this study, adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), support vector machine (SVM) and random forest (RF) models were used to determine cumulative infiltration and infiltration rate in arid areas in Iran. The input data were sand, clay, silt, density of soil and soil moisture, while the output data were cumulative infiltration and infiltration rate, the latter measured using a double-ring infiltrometer at 16 locations. The results show that SVM with radial basis kernel function better estimated cumulative infiltration (RMSE = 0.2791 cm) compared to the other models. Also, SVM with M4 radial basis kernel function better estimated the infiltration rate (RMSE = 0.0633 cm/h) than the ANFIS and RF models. Thus, SVM was found to be the most suitable model for modelling infiltration in the study area. © 2019, © 2019 IAHS

Molecular evaluation of colistin-resistant gene expression changes in Acinetobacter baumannii with real-time polymerase chain reaction

Shahriar Sepahvand,1 Mohammad Ali Davarpanah,2 Amir Roudgari,3 Abbas Bahador,4 Vajihe Karbasizade,5 Zahra Kargar Jahromi6 1Department of Microbiology, Falavarjan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran; 2Shiraz HIV/AIDS Research Center, Institute of Health, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran; 3Shiraz Trauma Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran; 4Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 5Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran; 6Zoonoses Research Center, Jahrom University of Medical Sciences, Jahrom, Iran Background: Acinetobacter baumannii is an important human pathogen which has recently gained increased attention due to the occurrence of drug-resistant nosocomial infections in patients suffering from immune system disorders, and those in hospital intensive care units. The aim of this research was to identify and isolate A. baumannii strains resistant to colistin, determine antibiotic resistance pattern of this bacteria, investigate the presence of colistin-resistant genes, and finally assess the effect of expression changes in pmrA and pmrB genes resistant to A. baumannii against colistin via real-time polymerase chain reaction.Methods: The samples were initially purified and isolated using biochemical tests and Microgen kit. Later, the resistance pattern evaluation of validated samples to different antibiotics and colistin was carried out using two methods viz., disc diffusion and E-test. This was followed by the assessment of genes resistant to colistin via polymerase chain reaction besides gene expression changes via real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results: The results of this study indicated that eleven strains of A. baumannii isolated from Shahid Rajaee Trauma Hospital were resistant to colistin. However, in the resistance pattern evaluation of A. baumannii isolated from Ali Asghar Hospital, all the strains were sensitive to colistin. In the evaluation of genes resistant to pmrA and pmrB, most of the strains resistant to colistin were carriers of these genes. Besides, in the expression assessment of these genes, it was demonstrated that expression of pmrA in the strains resistant to colistin significantly increased in relation to sensitive strains, but the expression of pmrB increased at a lower rate in the strains resistant to colistin as compared to the sensitive strains. Conclusion: Thus, it can be safely mentioned that increased expression of pmrA was due to the resistance of A. baumannii to colistin. Keywords: Acinetobacter baumannii, colistin, real-time PCR, gene expression, PC