Multiplex PCR assay for the simultaneous detection of bacterial pathogens in rainbow trout

Accurate, rapid, and specific methods are required to identify pathogens for controlling bacterial diseases in fish. Various microbiological and biochemical methods are used to isolate and identify pathogens, but they are not adequately efficient and/or accurate. For example, distinguishing between Streptococcus iniae and Lactococcus garvieae is difficult via microbiological tests. Moreover, these bacteria often cause concurrent infections. Therefore, early and accurate identification of bacterial pathogens in trout is of utmost importance to prevent possible damage. Because of this, the multiplex polymerase chain reaction (multiplex PCR) method was optimized for simultaneous identification of bacterial infections caused by Yersinia ruckeri, S. iniae, and L. garvieae, three harmful bacteria of great importance in aquaculture. Multiplex PCR reaction was optimized on control samples, and the sensitivity and specificity of the test were evaluated. Multiplex PCR reaction was then performed on DNA isolated from samples collected from fish-breeding farms and transported to the laboratory. Multiplex PCR was found to be an accurate and sensitive method to identify simultaneously different species of bacteria

Effect of Dipyridamole Injected for Myocardial Perfusion Imaging on Blood Glucose Concentration; A Preliminary Study

Introduction: Dipyridamole inhibits adenosine reuptake and increases cyclic Adenosine Monophosphate (cAMP) levels in platelets, erythrocytes and endothelial cells, all of which influence blood glucose. Acute hyperglycaemia reduces endothelium-dependent vasodilation and suppresses coronary microcirculation; which, in theory, can alter the outcome of a radionuclide scan. Aim: The present study was conducted with the aim to investigate the changes in blood glucose level of patients receiving dipyridamole for cardiac scan. Materials and Methods: A total of 293 patients (85 men and 208 women, age: 60.59±10.43 years) were included in the study. Fasting Blood Glucose (FBG) was measured before and 8 min after dipyridamole (0.568 mg/kg) injection during myocardial perfusion imaging. The data in different groups were analysed by paired t-test. R esults: There was not a significant difference between first (106.89 ± 19.21mg/dL) and second (107.98 ± 17.57 mg/dL) FBG measurements (p= 0.293). However, when the patients were grouped based on the quartiles of first measurement, there was an increase in FBG following dipyridamole injection in the first quartile (mean difference: 7.15±21.27 mg/dL, p<0.01); in contrast, FBG levels showed a significant decrease after dipyridamole administration in the 4th quartile (mean difference: -9.53±18.20 mg/dL, p<0.001). The differences in 2nd and 3rd quartiles were negligible. The patients were divided into normal, ischemic and fixed lesions based on the outcome of scans, then the possible correlation of dipyridamole-induced FBG alteration and scan results were investigated. There were no significant difference between the FBG values before and after dipyridamole injection and the final outcome of scan. C onclusion: The effects of dipyridamole on blood glucose highly depend on the initial blood glucose level

Scintigraphy with 99mTc(V)-DMSA in monitoring patients with inflammatory bowel disease

The clinical significance of pentavalent technetium-99m dimercaptosuccinic acid (99mTc(V)-DMSA) scintigraphy in diagnosing inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has not yet been fully elucidated. The aim of this prospective paper was to study the above. This study included 54 patients, 22 females and 32 males (mean age: 36.68±11.49; range: 18-63 years) with IBD who came to our clinics for follow-up and were examined clinically by colonoscopy and 99mTc(V)-DMSA scintigraphy. On the follow-up studies, five patients (9.25%) relapsed, and 49 (90.74%) remained at a steady condition. There was a good correlation between the scintigraphic results and the clinical and colonoscopy data of the patients (P&lt;0.05). In conclusion, our results indicated that 99mTc(V)DMSA scintigraphy can be complementary to colonoscopy for the diagnostic evaluation of IBD

A population-based algorithm for the railroad blocking problem

Railroad blocking problem (RBP) is one of the problems that need an important decision in freight railroads. The objective of solving this problem is to minimize the costs of delivering all commodities by deciding which inter-terminal blocks to build and by specifying the assignment of commodities to these blocks, while observing limits on the number and cumulative volume of the blocks assembled at each terminal. RBP is an NP-hard combinatorial optimization problem with billions of decision variables. To solve the real-life RBP, developing a metaheuristic algorithm is necessary. In this paper, for the first time, a new genetic algorithm-based solution method, which is a population-based algorithm, is proposed to solve the RBP. To evaluate the efficiency and the quality of solutions of the proposed algorithm, several simulated test problems are used. The quality and computational time of the generated solutions for the test problems with the proposed genetic algorithm are compared with the solutions of the CPLEX software. The results show high efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm

Assessment of the maximum uptake time of 99mTc-DMSA in renal scintigraphy in rat

Introduction: The optimal imaging time of a radionuclide scintigraphy is the time at which the organ of interest has the maximum uptake of the injected radionuclide. This study was performed to investigate the maximum uptake time of 99mTc-DMSA in rat renal scan. Methods: Renal scintigraphy was performed with 3 mCi of 99mTc-DMSA. Planar images were acquired every 20 minutes for 8 hours post-injection using a small-animal SPECT. Results: Activity and the count rate per pixel (CRPP) of the kidneys peaked 1 h post-injection, plateaued for about 1 h, and declined time-dependently. Kidney to background ratio (KBR) reached to 61.7% at 1 h after injection and remained almost constant afterwards. Conclusion: The kidneys had maximum emission and CRPP between 1 to 2 h after 99mTc-DMSA injection, whereas there was no significant difference between the KBRs after 1 h. Our results showed that image acquisition of 1-2 h post-injection is recommended for renal scintigraphy with DMSA in rat

Identification of a single nucleotide polymorphism of the pituitary-specific transcriptional factor 1 (Pit 1) gene and its association with body composition trait in Iranian commercial broiler line

Pit-1 is a pituitary-specific transcriptional factor that has been shown to play a critical role both in cell differentiation during organogenesis of the anterior pituitary and as a transcriptional activator for pituitary gene transcription. This study was designed to investigate the associations of Pit-1 gene polymorphism on chicken body growth and body composition traits. Genomic DNA was extracted from 120 chickens from Iranian commercial broiler line. Two polymorphisms of the Pit-1 gene were found with restriction fragment length polymorphisms. The association between these polymorphisms with chicken growth and body composition traits were analyzed using single marker analysis. Polymorphisms in Pit-1 gene were significantly (P&lt;0.1) associated with body growth and body composition traits. This study suggests that Pit-1 gene could be a candidate locus or linked to major gene(s) that affects growth and body composition traits in the chicken.Key words: Iranian broiler lines, growth and body composition traits, pituitary-specific transcription factor gene (Pit 1), polymorphism, polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP)

Copula Based Spatial Analysis of Drought Return Period in Southwest of Iran

In the past years, Khuzestan province which is located in the southwest of Iran has experienced severe droughts. Drought can be explained by its characteristics known as duration or severity. However, combination of the two features by probabilistic approach is appeared to be a well improved method to describe the phenomena. The aim of this study is to provide a more accurate statistical method of determining drought based on simultaneous analysis of two drought characteristics. Here, precipitation data from twenty stations were used to determine drought characteristics, by Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI). Joint probability function of two variables were built via copula functions. The drought return period was calculated in the form of two scenarios. The first scenario is, based on an assumption that drought is recognized by at least one of the two specific characteristics. Drought in the second scenario is distinguished by the two characteristics in a joint probabilistic form. According to research results, there was no significant difference between the north and south of Khuzestan in the study of single characteristics of drought. While analyzing two characteristics of the drought, the return period in the north was shorter than the south. The return period of droughts in the east was always shorter than in the west. The drought return period varies from 30 to 52 months and 50 to 87 months for the first and second scenarios, respectively

A new approach in compatibilization of the poly(lactic acid)/thermoplastic starch (PLA/TPS) blends

tIn this study, a new compatibilizer was synthesized to improve the compatibility of the poly(lacticacid)/thermoplastic starch blends. The compatibilizer was based on maleic anhydride grafted poly-ethylene glycol grafted starch (mPEG-g-St), and was characterized using Fourier transform infraredspectroscopy (FTIR), dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) and back titration techniques. Theresults indicated successful accomplishment of the designed reactions and formation of a starch coredstructure with many connections to m-PEG chains. To assess the performance of synthesized compati-bilizer, several PLA/TPS blends were prepared using an internal mixer. Consequently, their morphology,dynamic-mechanical behavior, crystallization and mechanical properties were studied. The compatibi-lizer enhanced interfacial adhesion, possibly due to interaction between free end carboxylic acid groupsof compatibilizer and active groups of TPS and PLA phases. In addition, biodegradability of the sampleswas evaluated by various methods consisting of weight loss, FTIR-ATR analysis and morphology. Theresults revealed no considerable effect of compatibilizer on biodegradability of samples

Effect of different concentrations of aqueous extract of ginger (Zingiber officinale) on performance and carcass characteristics of male broiler chickens in wheat-soybean meal based diets

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of using different concentrations of ginger extract (Zingiber officinale) on performance and carcass characteristics of male broiler chickens. Three hundred one-day-old commercial male broilers (Cobb-500) were randomly allocated in 20 floor pens (15 chicks each). Animals of each pen were supplemented with five different concentrations of ginger and the experiment was performed in quadruplicate. The broilers were fed a wheat-soybean meal based diet containing different concentrations of ginger extract (0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1%) supplemented to drinking water. Feed intake, body weight gain and feed conversion ratio were measured during 1 to 10, 11 to 21, 22 to 42 and 1 to 42 days of age. At 42 days of age, two birds from each pen were selected and after weighing and slaughtered were dissected manually. Carcass yield, liver, abdominal fat and gut weight is expressed as percentage of live body weight. The results showed that there is no significant difference in the feed intake, body weight gain and feed conversion ratio between the different treatments except the feed conversion ratio of the period 1 to 10 days of age (p<0.05). Also, different supplemented concentrations of ginger extract to drinking water of broilers influenced the carcass yield (p<0.05)