The Modulatory Effects of Aqueous Extract of the Plant Biebersteinia Multifida on the Gastric Acid Level and Intestinal Cytokines in Ulcerative Colitis Model

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Inflammatory bowel disease is a chronic disease of the gastrointestinal tract with unknown etiology, which includes crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis (UC). Because an effective treatment has not been found so far, the present study was designed to investigate the effects of aqueous extracts of Biebersteinia multifida plant on inflammatory changes of the colon following acetic acid- induced ulcerative colitis in male rats. METHODS: In this experimental study, 32 male wistar rats weighing 200-250 g were used in vivo. Animals were randomly assigned into four groups (each group consisting of 8 rats): 1- Intact; 2- Acetic acid-induced ulcerative colitis; 3- Biebersteinia multifida aqueous extract (200 mg /Kg); 4- Sulfasalazine treatment group (500 Mg /kg). In each group, the amount of gastric acid and intestinal TNF-α and IL-10 cytokines were measured at 8 days after of ulcerative colitis induction. FINDINGS: The concentration of gastric acid in the induction group of colitis was 2/4533 ± 0.95 mEq / 15 min, which in the treatment group with Biebersteinia multifida extract decreased the level of gastric acid to 0.4400 ± 0.17 (p = 0.000). Also, TNF-α changes in the colitis and extract group were 279.68±42.71 and 160.35±28.79, respectively, which was significant (p=0.000). The concentration of IL-10 in the colitis group was 349.75±31.89, which increased to 353.75±66.46 after injection of the extract (p=0.015). CONCLUSION: The results showed that aqueous extract of Biebersteinia multifida in a dose of 200 mg / kg has an effect on colon inflammation and it can be improved

Species differentiation in annual Persicaria based on different markers

Persicaria with 70–100 species in the world is distributed in temperate regions of both hemispheres. It has 11 species in Iran growing in moist areas and margins of rivers. Through hybridisation, plasticity and existence of overlapping habitats, species identification shows difficulty. In this study, we aimed to investigate karyotype characters and morphological features, evaluate genetic variability within and among species studied and examine species relationship using ISSR data. Nine annual taxa of Persicaria were gathered from different localities in Iran and used for studies. Our studies showed that combination of karyological, morphological and molecular data can delimit species studied. Based on karyological results, three chromosome counts (P. hydropiper (2n = 2x = 20), P. maculosa (2n = 2x = 22), P. orientalis (2n = 2x = 22)) were the first reports for the Flora of Iran. Analyses of morphological characters showed diagnostic features among taxa. STRUCTURE and AMOVA analyses showed high intraspecific genetic diversity. Our results suggested that phenotypic plasticity and hybridisation may cause genetic diversity within Persicaria species

Species delimitation in Geranium sect. Batrachioidea: morphological and molecular

Geranium subg. Robertium (Geraniaceae) comprises eight sections, of which sect. Batrachioidea contains four species centred in Eurasia, Mediterranean region and the Himalaya Mountains. Three species of Geranium pusillum, G. molle and G. pyrenaicum occur in Iran show some degree of morphological overlaps that make the species delimitation difficult. Moreover, hybrids are known to be formed between these species elsewhere. Till present time, there has been no detailed information available on molecular phylogeny and genetic structure of these species in the country. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim to investigate species delimitation by both morphological and molecular data and to reveal genetic diversity and population structure in these three Geranium species. For this study, 216 randomly collected plants from 30 geographical populations in three Geranium species were used. We encountered extensive within species genetic and morphological diversity. ISSR molecular markers could not delimit the studied species. STRUCTURE analysis revealed the occurrence gene flow between these species. The Mantel test showed no correlation between genetic distance and geographical distance of the populations studied. Statistical analysis showed no significant difference between ITS and rbcL sequences and phylogenetic tree was constructed based on combined data set which separated outgroups from the studied species. Genetic affinity of the studied species has been discussed

Species relationship and population structure analysis in Geranium subg. Robertium with the use of ISSR molecular markers

Species delimitation is essential since species is regarded as the basic unit of analysis in nearly all biological disciplines, such as ecology, biogeography, conservation biology, and macroevolution. The genus Geranium (Geraniaceae) comprises about 350 species distributed throughout most parts of the world. The subg. Robertium comprises 30 species which are arranged in 8 sections. This subgenus is represented in Iran by 10 species. These species are grouped into 5 sections. In spite vast distribution of many Geranium species that grow in Iran, there are not any available report on their genetic diversity, mode of divergence and patterns of dispersal. Therefore molecular (ISSR markers) and morphological studies of 147 accessions from 10 species of Geranium (subg. Robertium), that were collected from different habitats in Iran were performed. The aims of the present study are: 1) to find the diagnostic value of ISSR markers in delimitation of Geranium species, 2) to find the genetic structure of these taxa in Iran, and 3) to investigate the species inter-relationship. The present study revealed that combination of morphological and ISSR data can delimit the species. AMOVA and STRUCTURE analysis revealed that the species of subg. Robertium are genetically differentiated but have some degree of shared common alleles

Exploring the features of mobile phone application of anatomy in basic medical sciences: A qualitative study

Background: The importance of mobile phones has become one of the new research topics in health professions education due to the ease of access and flexibility. Although novel approaches to health professions education recommend the use of educational technologies, such as mobile applications, a limited number of studies have been conducted with regard to learning anatomy through mobile applications. Considering the increasing needs of medical students for mobile technology to meet their educational needs, wants and desires, we decided to explore the features of an anatomy mobile application. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted in two stages of holding focus groups, and an expert panel session. Students of basic Medical sciences, and faculty members of anatomy at Iran University of Medical Sciences formed the research participants. Semi-structured interviews and note-taking were used to collect the data. Moreover, Brown and Clark methods were used for thematic analysis. Finally, four criteria presented by Lincoln and Guba for qualitative studies were used to ensure the credibility, confirmability, trustworthiness and transferability of the data. Results: Based on the data analysis, 37 codes that could be used to design anatomy mobile content for medical students were extracted. These features were categorized into eight main themes of "visual richness", "scientific comprehensiveness", "auditory richness", "affordability", "user-friendliness", "self-assessment", "interactive content"and "user support". Conclusion: This study explored the features of an anatomy application that can be used by educational app developers. Anatomy departments at Medical Universities, policymakers, and curriculum planners in the field of medical education can also adopt the findings of the present study. © 2020 The Author(s)

Accuracy of endoscopic ultrasonography for determination of tumor invasion depth in gastric cancer

Background: Gastric cancer (GC) is one the common lethal cancers in Iran. Detection of GC in the early stages would assesses to improve the survival of patients. In this study, we attempt to evaluate the accuracy of EUS in detection depth of invasion of GC among Iranian Patients. Materials and Methods: This study is a retrospective study of patients with pathologically confirmed GC. They underwent EUS before initiating the treatment. The accuracy of EUS and agreement between the two methods was evaluated by comparing pre treatment EUS finding with post operative histopathological results. Results: The overall accuracy of EUS for T and N staging was 67.9 and 75.47, respectively. Underestimation and overestimation was seen in 22 (14.2) and 40 (25.6) respectively. The EUS was more accurate in large tumors and the tumors located in the middle and lower parts of the stomach. The EUS was more sensitive in T3 staging. The values of weighted Kappa from the T and N staging were 0.53 and 0.66, respectively. Conclusions: EUS is a useful modality for evaluating the depth of invasion of GC. The accuracy of EUS was higher if the tumor was located in the lower parts of the stomach and the size of the tumor was more than 3 cm. Therefore, judgments made upon other criteria evaluated in this study need to be reconsidered

Salivary nitric oxide levels in adults with different DMFT scores in a selected iranian population: a cross-sectional study

Objectives: Due to the emphasis on the protective and antimicrobial role of Nitric Oxide against gas-trointestinal diseases, investigating its relationship with dental caries is a right topic. Therefore, this research has investigated the amount of saliva Nitric Oxide in different volumes of DMFT indicator in adults. Material and Methods: In this descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study, 80 participants (20-35 years old), without a history of systemic disease and drug use participated as research sam-ples, (53.8% of the participants in the study were women). Participants were selected from patients who had visited dental Department. The participants were divided in four groups based on DMFT (DMFT=0, 1≤DMFT≤3, 3<10, DMFT≥10). Non-stimulating saliva was collected from all participants between 9-11 am in a calibrated tube. Saliva Nitric Oxide was measured using a Nitrous Oxide test, based on the Griess reaction. We used a correlation test to analyze quantitative variables, and t-test or ANOVA for qualitative and quantitative variables. Results: A significant relationship between DMFT and age was identified. At different levels of DMFT, significant relationship between DMFT and sex was not found. In different groups of DMFT, no significant relationship between Nitric Oxide and DMFT exist. Conclusion: The level of Nitric Oxide saliva was not affected by the amount of DMFT

Magnetic-field measurement and analysis for the Muon g − 2 Experiment at Fermilab

The Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL) Muon g - 2 Experiment has measured the anomalous precession frequency a_{μ}(g_{μ} - 2)/2 of the muon to a combined precision of 0.46 parts per million with data collected during its first physics run in 2018. This paper documents the measurement of the magnetic field in the muon storage ring. The magnetic field is monitored by systems and calibrated in terms of the equivalent proton spin precession frequency in a spherical water sample at 34.7C. The measured field is weighted by the muon distribution resulting in \tilde{ω}'_{p}, the denominator in the ratio \tilde{ω}_{a}/\tilde{ω}'_{p} that together with known fundamental constants yields aμ. The reported uncertainty on \tilde{ω}'_{p} for the Run-1 data set is 114 ppb consisting of uncertainty contributions from frequency extraction, calibration, mapping, tracking, and averaging of 56 ppb, and contributions from fast transient fields of 99 ppb

Beam dynamics corrections to the Run-1 measurement of the muon anomalous magnetic moment at Fermilab

This paper presents the beam dynamics systematic corrections and their uncertainties for the Run-1 dataset of the Fermilab Muon g-2 Experiment. Two corrections to the measured muon precession frequency ωam are associated with well-known effects owing to the use of electrostatic quadrupole (ESQ) vertical focusing in the storage ring. An average vertically oriented motional magnetic field is felt by relativistic muons passing transversely through the radial electric field components created by the ESQ system. The correction depends on the stored momentum distribution and the tunes of the ring, which has relatively weak vertical focusing. Vertical betatron motions imply that the muons do not orbit the ring in a plane exactly orthogonal to the vertical magnetic field direction. A correction is necessary to account for an average pitch angle associated with their trajectories. A third small correction is necessary, because muons that escape the ring during the storage time are slightly biased in initial spin phase compared to the parent distribution. Finally, because two high-voltage resistors in the ESQ network had longer than designed RC time constants, the vertical and horizontal centroids and envelopes of the stored muon beam drifted slightly, but coherently, during each storage ring fill. This led to the discovery of an important phase-acceptance relationship that requires a correction. The sum of the corrections to ω_{a}^{m} is 0.50±0.09 ppm; the uncertainty is small compared to the 0.43 ppm statistical precision of ω_{a}^{m}

Exome sequencing utility in defining the genetic landscape of hearing loss and novel-gene discovery in Iran

Hearing loss (HL) is one of the most common sensory defects affecting more than 466 million individuals worldwide. It is clinically and genetically heterogeneous with over 120 genes causing non-syndromic HL identified to date. Here, we performed exome sequencing (ES) on a cohort of Iranian families with no disease-causing variants in known deafness-associated genes after screening with a targeted gene panel. We identified likely causal variants in 20 out of 71 families screened. Fifteen families segregated variants in known deafness-associated genes. Eight families segregated variants in novel candidate genes for HL: DBH, TOP3A, COX18, USP31, TCF19, SCP2, TENM1, and CARMIL1. In the three of these families, intrafamilial locus heterogeneity was observed with variants in both known and novel candidate genes. In aggregate, we were able to identify the underlying genetic cause of HL in nearly 30 of our study cohort using ES. This study corroborates the observation that high-throughput DNA sequencing in populations with high rates of consanguineous marriages represents a more appropriate strategy to elucidate the genetic etiology of heterogeneous conditions such as HL. © 2021 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Lt