Human adenoviruses role in ophthalmic pterygium formation

Background: Ophthalmic pterygium is a common benign lesion of unknown origin and the pathogenesis might be vision-threatening. This problem is often associated with exposure to solar light. Recent evidence suggests that potentially oncogenic viruses such as human papillomavirus and Epstein-Barr virus may be involved in the pathogenesis of pterygia. Expression of specific adenovirus genes such as E1A and E1B, which potentially have many functions, may contribute to their oncogenic activity as well as relevance to cellular immortalization. Objectives: For the first time, we aimed to investigate involvement of adenoviruses in pterygium formation. Patients and Methods: Fifty tissue specimens of pterygium from patients undergoing pterygium surgery (as cases), 50 conjunctival swab samples from the same patients and 10 conjunctival biopsy specimens from individuals without pterygium such as patients undergoing cataract surgery (as controls) were analyzed for evidence of adenovirus infection with polymerase chain reaction using specific primers chosen from the moderately conserved region of the hexon gene. Furthermore, ß-globin primers were used to access the quality of extracted DNA. Data was analyzed using SPSS (version 16) software. Results: Of 50 patients, 20 were men and 30 women with mean age of 61.1 ± 16.9 years ranged between 22 and 85 years. All samples of pterygia had positive results for adenoviruses DNA with polymerase chain reaction, but none of the negative control groups displayed adenoviruses. The pterygium group and the control groups were ß-globin positive. Direct sequencing of PCR products confirmed Adenovirus infection. Conclusions: Adenoviruses might act as a possible cause of pterygium formation and other factors could play a synergistic role in the development. However, further larger studies are required to confirm this hypothesis. © 2015, Kowsar Medical Publishing Company. All rights reserved

Fisheries management of the green tiger prawn (Penaeus semisulcatus, De Haan,1844) in Bushehr waters, Persian Gulf

Stock assessment and the opening and closure seasons of the green tiger prawn were surveyed in Bushehr waters from July 2004 to September 2006. The study area encompassed Motaf area (27 degree 30' N" and 51 degree 30' E) to Daylam waters (30 degree 00' N and 50 degree 00' E) the northern part of the Iranian waters of the Persian Gulf. Assessment was conducted using 45 stations on 15 transect in water depths less than 10m, 10-20m and 20-30m. Sampling was done by bottom trawl net. Results showed that the shortest mean length of the prawn were 11.3, 11.8 and 11.9cm in the years 2004, 2005 and 2006, respectively. Also, the maximum catch per unit effort for the prawns in these years was foun d to be 10.8, 14.7 and 9.7kg per hour. At the opening of fishing season in the years 2004, 2005 and 2006, the CPUE of the prawn fishing launches were 100, 150 and 120kg per day. Based on length frequency of the green tiger prawn, the opening times of prawn fishing was proposed to be 22, 11 and 20, August of years 2004 , 2005 and 2006, respectively. Also, the closure times were derived from the shrimp commercial catch data and defined to be 25, 27 and 28 of September in 2004, 2005 and 2006, respectively. Investigation of the shrimp stock density in Bushehr waters shows that the green tiger prawns enter the fisheries areas from the southeastern parts of Bushehr waters. The Motaf, Nakhilou, Ras-e-khan and Mond River are the areas that green tiger prawn schools are first emerged in the Bushehr province waters

Herpes Simplex virus meningitis in children in South East of Caspian Sea, Iran

Background: Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is a member of Herpesviridae and a leading cause of human viral diseases. Meningitis occurs as a complication of HSV-1 or HSV-2 primary infection. Objectives: We aimed to evaluate HSV meningitis in children in Gorgan province, Iran. Patients and Methods: Forty-five cerebrospinal fluid samples were taken from children referred with meningitis symptoms. Samples with negative bacterial culture results were tested for viral, biochemical and cytological assays. DNA extraction and PCR were performed. Results: HSV-1 detected in 4 (8.8%) samples without any HSV-2 infections. Cases with positive results had fever and CSF pleocytosis. Vomiting, headache and higher count of WBC were observed in 3, 2 and 3 cases respectively. The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) glucose and protein levels were normal and 3 cases showed positive C-reactive protein (CRP) results. Also erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) was higher than normal in all positive cases. Conclusions: Distribution of HSV types in children with meningitis in our area predominantly was type 1 compared with type 2, which has been reported more in other area. © 2014, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences; Published by Kowsar Corp

Mutations in pre-core and basal-core promoter regions of hepatitis B virus in chronic HBV patients from Golestan, Iran

Objective(s): It has been reported that the mutation of the pre-core (PC) and basal-core promoter (BCP) may play an important role in the development of HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In this study the PC and BCP mutations were investigated in chronic HBV patients. Materials and Methods: In this study, 120 chronic HBV patients from Golestan, Northeast of Iran who were not vaccinated against HBV, were recruited from the year 2008 to 2012. HBV-DNA extraction from plasma and PCR were performed and positive PCR products were subjected to automated sequencing. Results: One hundred out of 120 (83.3%) patients were HBeAg negative. Comparison of our nucleotide sequences with reference sequence showed high rate mutation in BCP and PC region (96.66%). Frame shift mutation was found in 78 (65%) of patients in BCP region, among them 8 (6.6%) patients showed mutation in PC region. Conclusion: Our results demonstrated high rate of mutations in BCP and PC regions among HBV chronic patients in Northeast of Iran

A Comparison of Dysphonia Severity Index in Female Teachers With and Without Voice Complaints in Elementary Schools of Tehran, Iran

Background: Teachers are the greatest group of professional voice users. Prolonged, continuous speaking in a loud voice at school may entail a bad vocal health. It seems that their occupational circumstances make them more likely to develop voice disorders in comparison with other groups. Objectives: The purposes of this study are 1) to compare teachers with and without voice complaint on the Dysphonia Severity Index and 2) to compare component measures that establish Dysphonia Severity Index. Materials and Methods: This study included 40 female teachers with voice complaint and 40 female teachers without voice complaint between the ages of 30 and 50 years who were teaching in elementary schools of Tehran city. Simple non-random sampling was done for selected teachers in two groups. The examinees were asked to produce the vowel /a/ three times for calculating any variables, then measures of maximum phonation time, jitter, highest phonational frequency, and lowest intensity were obtained for each subject with Praat and Phonetogram softwares and incorporated into multivariate Dysphonia Severity Index formula. Kolmogoro- Smirnov one sample test and independent sample T-Test was used, the significance level was set at P < 0.05. Results: Results indicate that female teachers without voice complaint have significantly higher Dysphonia Severity Index scores than female teachers with voice complaint (mean Dysphonia Severity Index: 3.58 vs. 1.05, respectively), also significant differences are observed between groups of with and without complaint for four of components of the DSI (F0 high, I low, jitter and maximum phonation time) (P value = 0.001). Conclusions: The findings of this study indicate that there is a significant difference in Vocal Quality between teachers with and without voice complaint. This finding may indicate teachers with voice complaint have worse vocal quality that means they are at risk for voice problems. This information may be very important for voice professionals and, speech and language pathology to advice teachers with voice complaint and manage to advocate "good vocal health”

The comparison of attentional control deficits in the three group of normal, with social anxiety disorder and with comorbidity (social anxiety disorder and depression) students of Lorestan University

Background and aims: One of the mechanisms that thought to underlie social anxiety disorder is dysfunction in attentional control. The current study was designed to compare attentional control deficits in the three group: normal, with social anxiety disorder and with comorbidity (social anxiety disorder and depression) students. Methods: The design of present study was causal-comparative. Statistical population of this study contained all normal female students, with social anxiety disorder, and with comorbidity of social anxiety disorder and depression in Lorestan University in academic years 2015-2016. With a single-stage cluster sampling method, 534 students completed the social anxiety and depression questionnaires. Then, according to the cutoff point of questionnaires, students were qualified enter the stage of clinical interview. Finally, 90 students, 30 students were selected in each group, and then performed color-word Stroop test. The results were analyzed with SPSS software, MANOVA and Tukey post hoc test. Results: Results showed that between social anxiety disorder and normal groups was not significant difference in the attentional control (P<0.07), but group with comorbidity of social anxiety disorder and depression significantly have a poorer performance in the attentional control task rather than Social anxiety disorder and normal groups (P<0.001). Conclusion: People with Social anxiety disorder only when showed attentional control deficiencies, they suffering from current comorbid depression. These finding revealed in addition to helping in identifying the underlying mechanisms involved in this disorder, importance therapy attention to attentional control deficiencies when person suffering from comorbidity of social anxiety and depression

Mutations in the S gene region of hepatitis B virus genotype D in Golestan Province-Iran

Mutations of HBsAg especially within the "a" determinant could alter the antigenicity of the protein causing failure of HBsAg neutralization and escaping from the host's immune system, resulting in active viral replication and liver disease. This project aimed to investigate mutation in the S gene region of HBV infected patients in Golestan Province-Iran. HBV-DNA extractions from plasma and PCR of 100 patients were performed. Direct sequencing and alignment of S gene were applied using reference sequence from Gene Bank database. All isolates were belonged to genotype D, subgenotype D1, subtype ayw2. Overall 92 point mutations occurred. Of them, 40 (43.47%) were missense and 52 (56.52%) were silent. Mutations were detected in 95 cases (95%). Five of 40 mutations (12.5%) occurred in "a" determinant and 13 (32.5%), 17 (42.5%), and 2 (5%) were seen in antigenic epitope regions of B cell, CD4⁺ and CTL, respectively. Frame shift mutations were seen in 22 cases (22%). 14% of mutations occurred at Major Hydrophilic Region(MHR) area which P120T/S and R122K/T substitutions were the most frequent ones (4%). Mutation in G145R of the S gene was observed in one case. A large number of MHR mutants are in association with failure of HBsAg detection, vaccine, and immunotherapy escape. This study showed "a" determinant S gene mutations in HBV infected people with HBsAg positivity in Golestan Province-Iran. The rate of mutation in our study was 95%. Collectively, the results of this project exhibited that most of mutations were clustered in CD4⁺ antigenic epitopes. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2012

Electromagnetic emission of white dwarf binary mergers

It has been recently proposed that the ejected matter from white dwarf (WD) binary mergers can produce transient, optical and infrared emission similar to the "kilonovae" of neutron star (NS) binary mergers. To confirm this we calculate the electromagnetic emission from WD-WD mergers and compare with kilonova observations. We simulate WD-WD mergers leading to a massive, fast rotating, highly magnetized WD with an adapted version of the smoothed-particle-hydrodynamics (SPH) code Phantom. We thus obtain initial conditions for the ejecta such as escape velocity, mass and initial position and distribution. The subsequent thermal and dynamical evolution of the ejecta is obtained by integrating the energy-conservation equation accounting for expansion cooling and a heating source given by the fallback accretion onto the newly-formed WD and its magneto-dipole radiation. We show that magnetospheric processes in the merger can lead to a prompt, short gamma-ray emission of up to $\approx 10^{46}$ erg in a timescale of $0.1$-$1$ s. The bulk of the ejecta initially expands non-relativistically with velocity $0.01 c$ and then it accelerates to $0.1 c$ due to the injection of fallback accretion energy. The ejecta become transparent at optical wavelengths around $\sim 7$ days post-merger with a luminosity $10^{41}$-$10^{42}$ erg s$^{-1}$. The X-ray emission from the fallback accretion becomes visible around $\sim 150$-$200$ day post-merger with a luminosity of $10^{39}$ erg s$^{-1}$. We also predict the post-merger time at which the central WD should appear as a pulsar depending on the value of the magnetic field and rotation period.Comment: 12 pages, Accepted for publication in JCA

Culture of Chinese carps using anaerobic fermented cow manure (Slurry) and comparison of survival and growth factors versus traditional culture

The objective of this project is to compare growth and survival rate in Chinese carps reared under traditional culture conditions versus those reared in ponds treated with slurry (anaerobic fermented of cow manure). This experiment was conducted using two treatments one treatment using slurry and the other using cow manure plus chemical fertilizer as the control with three replicates for each. Chinese carp were stocked at the density of 2375 individuals/ha ( Silver carp 60%, Bighead 15%, common carp 17% and grass carp 8%). In this investigation common carp and grass carp were fed with formulated diets and fresh grass, respectively. The survival rate in the slurry treatment was higher than that in traditional treatment. Survival rates were 98, 100, 84 and 52 percent for silver carp, bighead, common carp and grass carp, respectively in the slurry treated ponds and 96.0, 98.3, 82.8 and 20.0% percent in the control ponds. The results showed that survival rate and yields were higher in the slurry treated ponds than that in the control. The increasing percent of yield were 13.5, 2.6, 18.4 and 85.3 in silver carp, bighead, common carp and grass carp, respectively. The survival rate for grass carp was two times higher in the slurry treatment than control. Zooplankton abundance in slurry ponds was higher than that in control, but blue-green algae density in slurry treated ponds was less than (over 50%). In general the results indicate that slurry with higher nutritional content is more effective on the survival and growth rate of fishes and also is more efficient in the proliferation of plankton in particular zooplankton. Slurry also reduces the use of chemical fertilizers

First record of Limnodrilus claparedeianus ratzel, 1868 (Annelida: Oligochaeta: tubificidae) from Anzali wetland, Guilan Province, Iran

Oligochaeta worms are important organisms in aquatic ecosystem. Their omnipresence makes them as an indicator of environmental changes and health of aquatic ecosystem. The members of the family Tubificidae and in particular, genus Limnodrilus are considered as the most tolerant oligochaets to aquatic pollution. Therefore identification and biological characteristics of this taxon are of great help to evaluate the ecosystem of water bodies. Limnodrilus claparedeianus were collected from Anzali Wetland with a grab of 0.04 m2 capacity at 13 stations from August 2012 through June 2013. Penis sheath was one of the main characteristics to identify them. Results showed their maximum and the minimum density in spring (601.27 ± 466.8346 Ind.m-2) and in autumn (156.12 ± 136.3 Ind.m-2) respectively which was significantly different (P<0.05). Comparative spatial distribution of L. claparedeianus among 13 stations revealed significant differences in the west stations (P<0.05). According to the results, correlation analysis did not exhibit any relation between abundance of L. claparedeianus and total organic matter, abundance of the species and percentage of silt in substrate sediment