In-vitro application of pentoxifylline preserved ultrastructure of spermatozoa after vitrification in asthenozoospermic patients

Abstract PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of in vitro application of pentoxifylline (PX) on sperm parameters and ultrastructure after vitrification in asthenozoospermic patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 30 asthenozoospermic semen samples (aged 25-45 years) were divided into four groups before vitrification, after vitrification, control (without PX) and experimental (with PX). In experimental group, each sample was exposed for 30 min to 3.6mmol/l PX and the control group without any treatment apposing in 370C for 30 min. After incubation, the samples were washed and analyzed again. Vitrification was done according to straw method. Eosin-nigrosin and Papanicolaou staining were applied for assessment of sperm viability and morphology, respectively. The samples without PX and post treatment with PX were assessed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). RESULTS: A significant decrease in sperm motility (P ≤ .001), morphology (11.47 ± 2.9 versus 6.73 ± 2.01) and viability (73.37 ± 6.26 versus 54.67 ± 6.73) was observed post vitrification, but sperm motility (19.85 ± 4.75 versus 32.07 ± 5.58, P ≤ .001) was increased significantly following application of PX. This drug had no significant (P >.05) detrimental neither negative effect on ultrastructure acrosome, plasma membrane and coiled tail statues of spermatozoa. CONCLUSION: Vitrification had detrimental effects on sperm parameters, but PX reversed detrimental effects on sperm motility. However, PX had no alteration on ultrastructure morphology of human spermatozoa after vitrification

Enterococcus faecium from meat, chicken and cheese

Background: Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) are important nosocomial pathogens and food chain has been considered as an assumed source for dissemination of VRE to human. Objectives: The presence of VRE isolates from food samples and typing of these isolates with Phene plate, a biochemical fingerprinting method, were investigated. Materials and Methods: Thirty samples of meat, chicken and cheese were analyzed for VRE during 2010. Antibiotic susceptibility tests and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) were also examined. VRE isolates were typed with the Phene plate system (PhPlate), a biochemical fingerprinting method. Results: A total of 70 VRE isolates were obtained and identified as Enterococcus faecium by species-specific PCR. All the isolates carried vanA, while none of them harbored vanB. The VRE isolates included 35, 27, and 8 isolates from meat, chicken and cheese, respectively. Typing with the PhPlate revealed a diversity index of 0.78 for E. faecium, containing 10 common and four single types. The results of antibiotic susceptibility and MIC tests showed an increased resistance to ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, ampicillin and gentamicin, to which, 100, 100, 100, and 95 of VRE isolates were resistant, respectively. Only 5 of the isolates were resistant to chloramphenicol and the MIC of the isolates for vancomycin and teicoplanin was � 256 μg/mL and for gentamicin-resistant isolates it was 1024 μg/mL. Conventional and molecular identification tests exhibited that all the isolates were E. faecium carrying vanA. None of the isolates harbored vanB. Conclusions: The results showed that enterococci are common contaminants in food. Indeed, this study indicates a high prevalence of multidrug-resistant enterococci in food of animal origin in Iran. Isolating some persisting enterococcal isolates revealed that continuous surveillance of antimicrobial resistance in enterococci from food is essential. © 2015, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences

Investigating the Underlying Psychiatric Disorders Leading to Suicide among Patients Hospitalized in Poisoning Center in Emam Reza Educational, Research and Treatment Center in Mashhad, 2015

Background: One of the most common causes of mortality in countries are drug induced suicide, the identification of underlying risk factors of which can play an important role in reducing its incidence as well as providing practical solutions.Methods: All poisoned patients referred to poisoning treatment center in Imam Reza hospital (MUMS) were studied in a descriptive cross-sectional study in 2015 and based on selection criteria and using a researcher- developed questionnaire. Moreover, results were analyzed using SPSS21 and Exactly Fisher test.Results: Among a total of 824 patients half of whom were men and the other half were women and with an average age of 27 years for men and 20 years for women, the most common underlying psychological factors in patients were holding under diploma, diploma, and above, impaired communication skills, depression, and Type B personality. Moreover, the most important types of impaired communication skills were poor stress and problem-solving management. Also, the drug-stimulant use was somehow associated with the same impaired inter-personal communications.Conclusion: Before providing the necessary and sufficient training to children who inevitably need time, chronological age, bitter and sweet experiences in their lives, it is essential to avoid entrusting heavy responsibilities on them

Cerebritis and Neutropenia in A Child with ana Negative Lupus

ObjectiveSystemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), an autoimmune systemic disease with unknown etiology, affects virtually every part of the body; involvement of the central nervous system (CNS) is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients and is the least understood aspect of the disease. neutropenia is very uncommon in childhood lupus. True negative anti nuclear antibody (ANA) tests in patients with lupus are now very rare. The patient reported here was a 12-year-old girl with ANA negative lupus cerebritis who presented with left hemiparesia after a generalized seizure, with neutropenia observed during its course

Características palinológicas de las subspecies de Linum mucronatum Bertol. con heterostilia

Linum mucronatum is a heterostylous species from sect. Syllinum with four subspecies in Iran. The present study examines palynological characteristics of the heterostylous subspecies of Linum mucronatum, pollen characters of brevistylous individuals (pins) as well as longistylous individuals (thrums) of these plants by scanning electron microscope and light microscope using the prolonged acetolysis procedure. Sixteen qualitative and quantitative characters were investigated. Pollen equatorial shapes varied between pin and thrum individuals of each subspecies with the exception of L. mucronatum subsp. assyriacum. Pollen sculptures varied between pin and thrum samples of each subspecies and were seen in the gemmate, clavate and baculate shapes. In addition, quantitative palynological characters differed between plants and ANOVA test showed significant variations for traits such as equatorial length, colpi width and apocolpium diameter. Hetrostylous individuals of each subspecies were separated from others in the UPGMA tree and also in the PCO and PCA plots. This study confirmed variations in pollen features between pin and thrum individuals of each subspecies.Linum mucronatum es una especie con heterostilia, que pertenece a la sección Syllinum del género Linum, y tiene cuatro subespecies en Irán. En el presente estudio se examinan las características palinológicas de las subespecies heterostilas de Linum mucronatum Bertol., así como los caracteres polínicos de individuos de los morfos brevistilo (pin) y longistilo (thrum) de estas plantas, mediante microscopía electrónica de scanning y microscopía óptica usando el método de acetolisis prolongada. Se estudiaron un total de 16 caracteres cualitativos y cuantitativos. La forma ecuatorial del polen varía entre los morfos pin y thrum en todas las subspecies, excepto en L. mucronatum subsp. assyriacum. La ornamentación también varía entre las muestras de morfos pin y thrum de cada subespecie, en los que se puede observar polen gemado, clavado y baculado. En algunos caracteres palinológicos cuantitativos, se encontraron también diferencias entre morfos y el test de ANOVA muestra que son significativas en cuanto a la longitud ecuatorial, la anchura de los colpos y el diámetro del apocolpio. Los individuos heterostilos de cada susbespecie aparecen separados en el árbol UPGMA y también en los gráficos de PCO y PCA. Este estudio confirma las diferencias en las características del polen entre individuos pin y thrum de cada una de las subespecies

Gene Diversity of Trichomonas vaginalis Isolates

Background: Trichomonas vaginalis is protozoan parasite responsible for trichomoniasis and is more common in high-risk behavior group such as prostitute individuals. Interest in trichomoni­asis is due to increase one's susceptibility to viruses such as herpes, human papillomavirus and HIV. The aim of this study was to find genotypic differences between the isolates.Methods: Forty isolates from prisoners' women in Tehran province were used in this study. The random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique was used to determine genetic differ­ences among isolates and was correlated with patient's records. By each primer the banding pat­tern size of each isolates was scored (bp), genetic differences were studied, and the genealogical tree was constructed by using NTSYS software program and UPGMA method.Results: The least number of bands were seen by using primer OPD8 and the most by using OPD3. Results showed no significant difference in isolates from different geographical areas in Iran. By using primer OPD1 specific amplified fragment with length 1300 base pair were found in only 8 isolates. All these isolates were belonged to addicted women; however, six belonged to asymptomatic patients and two to symptomatic ones.Conclusion: There was not much genetic diversity in T vaginalis isolates from three different geo­graphical areas

In vitro antifungal activity of various persian cultivars of Punica granatum L. Extracts against Candida species

Background: Resistance of Candida species to antifungal agents has potentially serious implications for management of infections. Candida species are now the fourth most common organisms isolated from hospitalized patients. Prevention and control of these infections will require new antimicrobial agents. Plant-derived antifungal agents have always been a source of novel therapeutics. Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the antifungal effect of pomegranate peel and pulp extracts against Candida species. Materials and Methods: Pomegranate pulp and peel were dried and powdered separately. The dried powders were extracted using a soxhlet extractor. The antifungal effect of pomegranate peel and pulp extracts were determined in vitro by using the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against five standard species, including Candida albicans (ATCC 10231), Candida parapsilosis (ATCC 22019), Candida tropicalis (ATCC 750), Candida glabrata (PTCC 5297) and Candida krusei (PTCC 5295). Results: Maximum inhibitions were attributed to peel extract of the pomegranate cultivar against Candida species. The greatest antifungal inhibition among the eight different cultivars was observed for sour malas, sour white peel and sour summer extracts respectively, against the five Candida strains. The antifungal activity of pulp extracts against Candida species was somewhat negative. Conclusions: Our work suggested that pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) peel has potential antifungal activity against Candidiasis, and it is an attractive option for the development of new management strategies for candidiasis. � 2015, School of Pharmacy, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences

The reproduction and population growth parameters of Anisopteromalus calandrae (Hym.: Pteromalidae), a parasitoid of Callosobruchus maculatus (Col.: Bruchidae)

The reproduction and population growth parameters of Anisopteromalus calandrae (Howard) on the 4th instar larvae of Callosobruchus maculatus (Fabricius) were investigated at temperature of 25 ± 1ï°C, 20 ± 5% R.H. and a photoperiod of 16: 8 (L: D) hours. Since the parasitoid eggs are laid inside the seeds where the host larvae live, egg hatch rate (hx) was assumed to be 1 (100%). As a result of this study, the gross and net fecundity and fertility rates were determined to be 306.51 and 236.25, respectively. The average number of eggs produced per female per day was obtained 11.48. The intrinsic and finite rates of increase on the 4th instar of C. maculatus were 0.163 and 1.18, respectively. The mean generation and doubling times were 35.30 and 4.24 days, correspondingly. The gross and net reproduction rates were 123.36 and 109.49 females/female/generation, respectively. The results of this study on the stable age distribution showed that 62.3 % and 37.7 % of the population belonged to immature stages and adults, respectively. The possible application of these results for biological control of C. maculatus is discussed

Serum hyaluronic acid and laminin as potential tumor markers for upper gastrointestinal cancers

Background: Early diagnosis of patients with upper gastrointestinal cancer is important because many cases are diagnosed in advanced stages and have poor prognosis. Several studies have reported increased serum levels of hyaluronic acid and laminin in various cancers and the correlation of the levels with poor prognosis. However, little data on the use of serum hyaluronic acid and laminin levels for early detection of esophageal and gastric cancers are available. Methods: We assessed serum hyaluronic acid and laminin levels using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 20 gastric cardia cancer, 23 gastric noncardia cancer and 20 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma incident cases and 25 controls in the Golestan Province, northern Iran, a high risk area for upper gastrointestinal cancers. Results: Mean serum hyaluronic acid and laminin concentrations in cancer cases were higher than in controls in crude analyses. Significant correlations were observed between hyaluronic acid levels and gastric noncardia cancer (Beta-coefficient = 0.390; P = 0.01) and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (Beta-coefficient = 0.332; P = 0.05) and between laminin levels and gastric cardia cancer (Beta-coefficient = 0.454; P = 0.003) in multivariate models. For esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, gastric cardia cancer, and gastric noncardia cancer, area under ROC curve (AUC) of hyaluronic acid was 0.708, 0.694, and 0.770, and of laminin was 0.706, 0.828, and 0.671. Conclusions: Our study suggests that hyaluronic acid and laminin may be used to identify potentially high-risk groups of upper gastrointestinal cancers for further diagnostic work-ups, particularly in high incidence areas. Nevertheless, further studies with larger sample size and tumor staging information are warranted to clarify the clinical significance of hyaluronic acid and laminin in those cancers. © 2011 European Federation of Internal Medicine