The serological study of cystic echinococcosis and assessment of surgical cases during 5 years (2007- 2011) in Khorram Abad, Iran

Background: Echinococcus granulosus is a cestode whose larval stage causes cystic echinococcosis in wild animals, livestock, and human.Objective: The aim of this study is to highlight the seroepidemiology of E. granulosus infection and surgical cases in the general population of Khorram Abad district, southwest of Iran.Materials and Methods: Anti.E. granulosus antibodies were tested in 617 inhabitants in Khorram Abad by enzyme.linked immunoassay and antigen B. The surgical cases of cystic echinococcosis were investigated in Shohaday.e.Ashayer Hospital of Khorram Abad (as a referral center) from 2007 to 2011.Results: In total, 95 (15.4%) of the 617 participants (mean age 39.6 } 17.6 years) had anti.E. granulosus antibodies. Prevalence of infection was more in males (60%) than females (40%), and showed statistical significance (P < 0.001). High.titer antibodies were most prevalent among the subjects aged 20-29 years. There was significant association between the presence of Echinococcus antibodies and the sector of residence, education of volunteers, and occupation (P < 0.05). According to hospital records, 58 cystic echinococcosis cases were referred to the hospital during the 5 years. Among the cases, 28 (48.3%) were men and 30 (51.7%) were women. They were between 4 and 74 years of age (36.6 } 18.9 years). The liver was the organ where most of the hydatid cysts (51.7%) were located, followed by lungs (20.7%).Conclusion: This is the first report of the seroprevalence and contributing factors for E. granulosus infection in the general population in Khorram Abad. The findings confirm the importance of diagnosing human cystic echinococcosis in these regions, given the prevalence rates of surgical cases during the last 5 years, and need further evaluation of the risk factors present.Key words: Cystic echinococcosis, hospitals records, hydatidosis, seroepidemiolog

Atmospheric pressure leaching of nickel from a low-grade nickel-bearing ore

This study focused on the extraction of nickel from a low-grade lateritic ore. The characterization of representative samples was done by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and microscopic mineralogical studies. Nickel was uniformly distributed in iron (hydr)oxide minerals. The pre-concentration of nickel was attempted by magnetic separation, but was unsuccessful. The effect of the type of lixiviant, acid concentration, S/L ratio, time, and temperature were investigated in the atmospheric leaching process. Based on the experimental data, optimum conditions for the maximum recovery of nickel were determined under the following conditions: 5 M H2SO4, 25% (w/v), 90 ºC, and two hours. Pre-calcination, for increasing nickel extraction by converting goethite to hematite, was carried out on raw ores at different times (30-180 minutes) and temperatures (180-540 ºC). Recovery was found increasing from 69 to 95% under the same conditions. Kinetic studies were conducted by fitting the data with Shrinking Core (SC) models. The study determined, from the estimate of activation energy, that the rate of reaction controlled by chemical reaction

The susceptibility to diabetic retinopathy in type 2 diabetic patients of Iran is not affected by the M55V polymorphism of SUMO4

Introduction: Recent reports showed that the small ubiquitin-like modifier 4 (SUMO4) M55V polymorphism is affected development of type 2 diabetes and its complications such as diabetic nephropathy and retinopathy in some populations. In this regard we intend to investigate the impact of M55V polymorphism of SUMO4 on susceptibility to diabetic retinopathy in the type 2 diabetic patients of Iran. Methods: In current study, the control group had included 100 individuals of type 2 diabetic patients of Iran who have not retinopathy, while the patient group had included 100 individuals of type 2 diabetic patients of Iran suffering from retinopathy. We have matched all the confounding factors between patients and controls. The genotyping method was PCR-RFLP to trace a prevalent single nucleotide polymorphism at codon 55 encoding a substitution of methionine to valine (M55V) specified in the SUMO4 gene. Results: Genotype frequency of AA, AG, and GG of SUMO4 were obtained respectively 52, 30, and 18 in the patient group and 44, 36, and 20 in the control group. The frequencies of alleles A and G of SUMO4 were 67 and 33 in the patients with type 2 diabetes having retinopathy and 62 and 38 in the patients with type 2 diabetes without retinopathy. There genotypic and allelic frequencies of SUMO4 were not significantly (p>0.05) different between the patient and the control groups. Conclusions: The findings of the present study showed no correlation between M55V polymorphism of SUMO4 gene and diabetic retinopathy in type 2 diabetes patients of Iran. However, we emphasize that further studies is necessary to clarify the exact role of M55V polymorphism of SUMO4 in diabetic retinopathy in patients with type 2 diabetes

The composition and stability of the vaginal microbiota of normal pregnant women is different from that of non-pregnant women

Abstract Background This study was undertaken to characterize the vaginal microbiota throughout normal human pregnancy using sequence-based techniques. We compared the vaginal microbial composition of non-pregnant patients with a group of pregnant women who delivered at term. Results A retrospective case–control longitudinal study was designed and included non-pregnant women (n = 32) and pregnant women who delivered at term (38 to 42 weeks) without complications (n = 22). Serial samples of vaginal fluid were collected from both non-pregnant and pregnant patients. A 16S rRNA gene sequence-based survey was conducted using pyrosequencing to characterize the structure and stability of the vaginal microbiota. Linear mixed effects models and generalized estimating equations were used to identify the phylotypes whose relative abundance was different between the two study groups. The vaginal microbiota of normal pregnant women was different from that of non-pregnant women (higher abundance of Lactobacillus vaginalis, L. crispatus, L. gasseri and L. jensenii and lower abundance of 22 other phylotypes in pregnant women). Bacterial community state type (CST) IV-B or CST IV-A characterized by high relative abundance of species of genus Atopobium as well as the presence of Prevotella, Sneathia, Gardnerella, Ruminococcaceae, Parvimonas, Mobiluncus and other taxa previously shown to be associated with bacterial vaginosis were less frequent in normal pregnancy. The stability of the vaginal microbiota of pregnant women was higher than that of non-pregnant women; however, during normal pregnancy, bacterial communities shift almost exclusively from one CST dominated by Lactobacillus spp. to another CST dominated by Lactobacillus spp. Conclusion We report the first longitudinal study of the vaginal microbiota in normal pregnancy. Differences in the composition and stability of the microbial community between pregnant and non-pregnant women were observed. Lactobacillus spp. were the predominant members of the microbial community in normal pregnancy. These results can serve as the basis to study the relationship between the vaginal microbiome and adverse pregnancy outcomes