Epidemiological study on sand flies in an endemic focus of cutaneous leishmaniasis, Bushehr city, southwestern Iran

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is the most important health problem in the city of Bushehr, southwestern Iran. The objective of the study was to determine some ecological aspects of sand flies in the city during 2010-2011. Sand flies were collected monthly from outdoors and indoors by sticky traps at four selected districts of the city. They were also dissected and examined by nested-PCR for identification of the parasite during August-September of 2011. A total of 1234 adult sand flies were collected and 6 species including 3 of Genus Phlebotomus and 3 of Genus Sergentomyia were identified. Four species including P. papatasi (3.98%), P. sergenti (1.14%), S. tiberiadis (87.18%), and S. baghdadis (7.7%) were found indoors. Six species including P. papatasi (3.47%), P. sergenti (3.17%), P. alexandri (0.1%), S. tiberiadis (77.74%), S. baghdadis (15.41%), and one female of S. clydei (0.11%) were collected from outdoors. Sand flies started to appear from March and disappear at the end of January. There was only one peak in the density curve in July. The study revealed that S. tiberiadis and S. baghdadis could enter indoors which 89 and 81.8% of them were found blood-fed, respectively. Moreover, P. papatasi, S. tiberiadis, and S. baghdadis were active indoors and outdoors in most months of the year. Nested-PCR of P. papatasi females was positive against kinetoplast DNA of L. major and L. turanica and also mixed natural infections were found by L. gerbilli and L. turanica. Moreover, mixed infections by L. major and L. turanica were observed in this species. Sergentomyia clydei and S. tiberiadis were found to be negative to any DNA of Leishmania species. Phlebotomus sergenti females were found infected with DNA of L. turanica and this is the first report of natural infection and detection of the parasite from this sand fly species in worldwide

A survey of reservoir hosts in two foci of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Kerman province, southeast of Iran

In the Old World, cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is zoonoses and natural vertebrate hosts of CL parasites are mammals. This study was carried out on natural infection rates of Leishmania parasites in reservoir hosts in one new focus of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL) and in suspected reservoir in an old focus of ACL in Iran. The sampling of rodents using Sherman traps was carried out and PCR technique was used for detection and identification of Leishmania species in Bahreman district, Kerman province, southeast of Iran. In addition, the smears were taken from suspicious lesions in stray dogs in the city of Kerman, the center of Kerman province. Simultaneously, pieces of lesion (1 9 191 cm) were taken for further histopathological examination. Overall, 25 rodents were collected and identified, including Meriones libycus and Rhombomys opimus. Amastigotes were observed in 33 % of the R. opimus by microscopic examination and indentified as Leishmania major by PCR technique. Four suspicious dogs out of 391 stray dogs showed no Leishmania species. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first isolation and identification of L. major from R. opimus in Kerman province, where ZCL has been present in recent years. Therefore, R. opimus is considered as the main animal reservoir host in Bahreman ZCL focus. In ACL focus such as the city of Kerman, dogs had no role in CL infection as reservoir host

The Impact of Electronic Advertising on the Cereal Importers' Decision to Buy

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of electronic advertising on the cereal importers' decision to buy. The present research is a causal descriptive-survey study and an applied study regarding the purpose. The statistical population of the present study is comprised of cereals importers in the first six months of the year 2016, which consist of 202 companies. Sample size was obtained through Cochran formula as 132, and then the questionnaire is distributed through random and classical sampling. The data was collected using two questionnaires: the pre-designed questionnaires was for evaluating electronic advertisement including 4 components and 20 questions, and a researcher-made questionnaire based on Philip Cutler's purchase decision theory to assess purchasing decision and consisted of 4 components, with 47 items. Both of the questionnaires were based on the five-degree Likert spectrum and their reliability was measured using the Cronbach's Alpha coefficient. The data collected through the questionnaire was entered into the spss19 software system. For the inferential statistics of variables to statistically analyze the data, different statistical tests including Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and Pearson correlation test and linear regression were used. The results of the research indicated that electronic advertising has a positive and significant effect on the decision making of cereal importers' purchase. Also, the dimensions of electronic advertising including banner, e-mail, web site, and search engines have a positive and significant effect on shoppers' e-shopping decision. Keywords: electronic advertising, banner, e-mail, web site, search engine

Controlling surface statistical properties using bias voltage: Atomic force microscopy and stochastic analysis

The effect of bias voltages on the statistical properties of rough surfaces has been studied using atomic force microscopy technique and its stochastic analysis. We have characterized the complexity of the height fluctuation of a rough surface by the stochastic parameters such as roughness exponent, level crossing, and drift and diffusion coefficients as a function of the applied bias voltage. It is shown that these statistical as well as microstructural parameters can also explain the macroscopic property of a surface. Furthermore, the tip convolution effect on the stochastic parameters has been examined.Comment: 8 pages, 11 figures

The Voltage–gated Proton Channel, Hv1, Enhances Brain Damage from Ischemic Stroke

Phagocytic cell NADPH oxidase (NOX) generates reactive oxygen species (ROS) as part of innate immunity. Unfortunately, ischemia can also induce this pathway and inflict damage on native cells. Here we show that NOX–mediated damage can be inhibited by suppression of the voltage-gated proton channel, Hv1. Hv1 is required for full NOX activity since it compensates for loss of NOX–exported charge. We show that Hv1 is required for NOX–dependent ROS generation in brain microglia in situ and in vivo. Mouse and human brain microglia, but not neurons or astrocytes, express large Hv1-mediated currents. Mice lacking Hv1 were protected from NOX–mediated neuronal death and brain damage 24 hours after stroke. These results demonstrate that Hv1–dependent ROS production is responsible for a significant fraction of brain damage at early time points after ischemic stroke and provide a rationale for Hv1 as a therapeutic target for the treatment of ischemic stroke

System design and simulation of a robot manipulator using force/position control

This report covers the system studies of a robot manipulator which uses both position and force feedback information in its control loops. Several manipulator configurations were studied to determine the design of the robot arm. The objective was to select a practical arm configuration that could follow any trajectory with minimum control effort while maintaining minimum compliance and position error. A SCARA (Selective Compliance Arm for Robotic Assembly) type robot with three degrees of freedom, powered with rare-earth D.C. motors, was selected. The kinematics of the robot was studied in detail to identify the relationship between the joint and the cartesian coordinates. The manipulator dynamics was then analyzed to determine the necessary forces and moments required to cause motion of the robot and to understand the nonlinearities and coupling effects of the three links of the arm. The major portion of this project was allocated to the development of the algorithm required to control the robot and to cancel out the nonlinearities and coupling effects. Several control methods were reviewed and the computed-torque method was selected. A PID type of controller was used to control the arm. Computer simulation was employed to optimize the control parameters and to look at the system outputs due to step, ramp, and sinosoidal inputs. The system response from tracking a desired trajectory was also analyzed. A hybrid control scheme which uses position and force feedback information to follow an undefined trajectory was proposed.California State University, Northridge. Department of Engineering.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 92-93