First Serological & Molecular Study of Coxiella burnetii in Stray, Domestic Cats, and Their Owners in Iran

PubMed: 32823157Coxiella burnetii, the agent of Q fever, is recognized as a worldwide zoonosis a wide host and potentially complex reservoir systems. Infected ruminants are the main source of infection for humans, but cats also represent a potential source of infection. The prevalence of C burnetii in cats in Iran is unknown and the risks of transmission to humans are undetermined. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of C burnetii in domestic cats and their owners. An Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used for detection of anti-C burnetii antibodies in both cats and humans. Cats serum samples and humans serum samples (n = 85) were tested with indirect ELISA. C burnetii was diagnosed using real time- polymerase chain reaction. Antibodies were detected in 19 sera of 85 (22.35%) samples in stray cats, 9 sera of 78 (11.53%) samples of domestic cats and 4 sera of 78 (5.12%) samples of their owners. This first study of C burnetii prevalence in cats in Iran has indicated that positive samples can be found throughout the country and these results confirm that Iranian cats have been exposed to C burnetii. Moreover, this study demonstrates that cat owners, breeders and veterinary personnel might be at higher risk of exposure of C burnetii. © 2020 Elsevier Inc.Islamic Azad University, IAUAll authors declare no support from any organizations for the submitted work. All the experiments were approved by Institutional Research Ethics Committee of Islamic Azad University, Tabriz Branch under IR.IAU.TABRIZ.REC.1395.057 approval ID

Comparison between cerebrospinal fluid and serum levels of myelin-associated glycoprotein, total antioxidant capacity, and 8-hydroxy-2?-deoxyguanosine in patients with multiple sclerosis

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by demyelinated lesions in the brain, the spinal cord, and the optic nerve. It is one of the most common neurological disorders. In this study, serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of total antioxidant capacity (TAC), myelin-associated glycoprotein (MAG), and 8-hydroxy-2?-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) were investigated to determine their effects on MS. Materials and method: In this study, 25 serum and cerebrospinal samples from MS patients as a case group and 40 serum and CSF samples from healthy participants as a control group were collected and analyzed. Concentrations of TAC, MAG, and 8-OhdG were determined in the samples using a dedicated kit and relayed using the ELISA device. Results: The mean serum antibody levels of MAG and TAC were higher in the case group than the control group, although the difference in the MAG level was not significant (P > 0.05). However, the mean serum level of ?8 OHdG was lower in the case group than the control group. Moreover, the mean levels of the evaluated biomarkers in the CSF samples were higher in the case group than in the control group. Still, the difference was only significant in terms of TAC levels (P < 0.05). Receiver operating characteristics curve analysis showed that the area under the curve was 0.71 and 0.69 for 8-OhdG and TAC serum levels, respectively, and 0.73 for both TAC and CSF levels, which was not significantly different from that in other biomarkers. Conclusion: Elevated TAC levels in serum and CSF samples and 8-OhdG in serum samples may be associated with MS pathogenesis. However, further investigation is needed to consider these cases as a follow-up to the therapeutic goals or treatment process. © 2020 Elsevier B.V

Force characterization and analysis of thin film actuators for untethered microdevices

In recent years, untethered microdevices have drawn significant attention due to their small size, weight and their ability to exert forces without the need for wires or tethers. Such microdevices are relevant to implantable biomedical devices, miniature robotics, minimally invasive surgery, and microelectromechanical systems. While devices using these actuators have been widely utilized in pick-and-place and biopsy applications, the forces exerted by these actuators have yet to be characterized and analyzed. Lack of precise force measurements and validated models impedes the clinical applicability and safety of such thin film microsurgical devices. Furthermore, present-day design of thin film microdevices for targeted applications requires an iterative trial-and-error process. In order to address these issues, we present a novel technique to measure the force output of thin film microactuators. Also, we develop and fabricate three designs of residual stress microactuators and use them to validate this technique, and establish a relationship between performance and design parameters. In particular, we find an inverse dependence of the thickness of the actuator and its force output, with 70 nm, 115 nm and 200 nm actuators exerting 7.8 μN, 4.7 μN, and 2.7 μN, respectively. Besides these findings, we anticipate that this microsystem measurement approach could be used for force measurements on alternate microactuators including shape memory, piezo and electromagnetic actuators