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Hesam Hasanpour,1 Ramak Ghavamizadeh Meibodi,1 Keivan Navi,1 Jamal Shams,2 Sareh Asadi,3 Abolhassan Ahmadiani4 1Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran; 2Behavioral Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 3Neurobiology Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 4Neuroscience Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Background: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a debilitating psychiatric disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts or repetitive behaviors. Clinicians use serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs) for OCD treatment, but 40%–60% of the patients do not respond to them adequately. Here, we described an association rule mining approach for treatment response prediction using an Iranian OCD data set.Patients and methods: Three hundred and thirty OCD patients fulfilling DSM-5 criteria were initially included, but 151 subjects completed their pharmacotherapy which was defined as 12-week treatment with fluvoxamine (150–300mg). Treatment response was considered as>35% reduction in the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) score. Apriori algorithm was applied to the OCD data set for extraction of the association rules predicting response to fluvoxamine pharmacotherapy in OCD patients. We considered the association of each attribute with treatment response using interestingness measures and found important attributes that associated with treatment response.Results: Results showed that low obsession and compulsion severities, family history of mental illness, illness duration less than 5 years, being married, and female were the most associated variables with responsiveness to fluvoxamine pharmacotherapy. Meanwhile, if an OCD patient reported a family history of mental illness and his/her illness duration was less than 5years, he/she responded to 12-week fluvoxamine pharmacotherapy with the probability of 91%. We also found useful and applicable rules for resistant and refractory patients.Conclusion: This is the first study where association rule mining approach was used to extract predicting rules for treatment response in OCD. Application of this method in personalized medicine may help clinicians in taking the right therapeutic decision. Keywords: data mining, apriori algorithm, family history, refractory patients

Sanaz Jafarpour Azami,1,* Aref Teimouri,1,2,* Hossein Keshavarz,1 Amir Amani,3,4 Fariba Esmaeili,3 Hamid Hasanpour,1,5 Samira Elikaee,1 Hamid Salehiniya,6 Saeedeh Shojaee1 1Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 2Students Scientific Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 3Department of Medical Nanotechnology, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 4Natural Products and Medicinal Plants Research Center, North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences, Bojnurd, Iran; 5Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Ilam University of Medical Sciences, Ilam, Iran; 6Department of Public Health, School of Health, Zabol University of Medical Sciences, Zabol, Iran *These authors contributed equally to this work Background: The aim of this study was to prepare curcumin nanoemulsion (CR-NE) to solve the problems associated with poor water solubility and low bioavailability of CR and to test its efficiency in the treatment of acute and chronic toxoplasmosis in mouse models. Materials and methods: CR-NE 1% was prepared using spontaneous emulsification by soybean as oil phase; a mixture of Tween 80 and Tween 85 as surfactant; ethanol as cosurfactant and distilled water. Particle size and zeta potential of NE were assessed using Nano-ZS90 dynamic light scattering. Stability testing of NE was assessed after storage for 2 months at room temperature. In vivo experiments were carried out using 50 BALB/c mice inoculated with virulent RH strain (type I) and 50 BALB/c mice inoculated with avirulent Tehran strain (type II) of Toxoplasma gondii and treated with CR-NE (1% w/v), CR suspension (CR-S, 1% w/v), and NE without CR (NE-no CR). Results: The mean particle size and zeta potential of CR-NE included 215.66±16.8 nm and-29.46±2.65 mV, respectively, and were stable in particle size after a three freeze–thaw cycle. In acute phase experiment, the survival time of mice infected with RH strain of T. gondii and treated with CR-NE extended from 8 to 10 days postinoculation. The differences were statistically significant between the survival time of mice in CR-NE-treated group compared with negative control group (P

Hesam Hasanpour,1 Ramak Ghavamizadeh Meibodi,1 Keivan Navi,1 Sareh Asadi2 1Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran; 2Neuroscience Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Objective: About 30% of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) patients exhibit an inadequate response to pharmacotherapy. The detection of clinical variables associated with treatment response may result in achievement of remission in shorter period, preventing illness development and reducing socioeconomic costs.Methods: In total, 330 subjects with OCD diagnosis underwent 12-week pharmacotherapy with fluvoxamine (150–300 mg). Treatment response was ≥25% reduction in Yale-Brown Obsessive–Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) score. In total, 36 clinical attributes of 151 subjects who had completed their treatment course were analyzed. Data mining algorithms included missing value handling, feature selection, and new analytical method based on ensemble classification. The results were compared with those of other traditional classification algorithms such as decision tree, support vector machines, k-nearest neighbor, and random forest.Results: Sexual and contamination obsessions are high-ranked predictors of resistance to fluvoxamine pharmacotherapy as well as high Y-BOCS obsessive score. Our results showed that the proposed analysis strategy has good ability to distinguish responder and nonresponder patients according to their clinical features with 86% accuracy, 79% sensitivity, and 89% specificity.Conclusion: This study proposed an analytical approach which is an accurate and a sensitive method for the analysis of high-dimensional medical data sets containing more number of missing values. The treatment of OCD could be improved by better understanding of the predictors of pharmacotherapy, which may lead to more effective treatment of patients with OCD. Keywords: obsessive–compulsive disorder, ensemble classification, treatment predictors, attribute bagging, fluvoxamine, contamination, sexual obsession

Background: Rodents are an important source of zoonotic diseases for human. The aim of this study was to determine the infectivity of rodents with intestinal helminths in North Khorasan Province, Iran. Methods: One hundred and thirteen rodents were collected using different collection methods such as kill and live traps, digging of their burrow, filling of their hiding places with water and hand net during 2011-2013. Their alimentary canals were removed in the laboratory and helminths were determined in the department of parasitology, Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Results: Thirteen species of helminths parasites were found in 13 species of rodents, including Aspiculuris tetraptera, Hymenolepis diminuta, Nippostrongylus brasiliensis, Protospirura Seurat, Rictolaria ratti, Skrjabinitaenia lobata, Streptopharagus kuntzi, Syphacia obvelata, Taenia taeniaeformis, Trichuris muris, Cysticercus fasciolaris, Acanthocephal. spp and Trichuris spp. Some of them were reported for the first time in new host in Iran. S. obvelata and A. tetraptera were the most frequent parasites and P. Seurat, R. ratti and C. fasciolaris were found only in one rodent. Conclusion: This is the first study to investigate the intestinal parasites in rodents in this area. Among different species identified, some of helminths were reported in new host.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: In digital panoramic images, amalgam filled teeth may be observed with a radiolucent band called mach band (a visual illusion) which can be confused with secondary caries. The purpose of present study is performance evaluation of three versions of software designed for identification of mach band effect and caries.METHODS: In this study, 40 digital panoramic images with 233 class I and II amalgam filled posterior teeth were selected. Three observers evaluated these teeth and agreed about the presence or absence of caries and mach band in them. All the cases were evaluated in three versions (A, B, C) of the softwareFINDINGS: On the basis of agreement of 3 observers, 178 teeth had mach band, 23 teeth had caries and 32 teeth was normal. Sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio and negative likelihood ratio in version A for mach band detection was 94%, 11%, 1.05, 0.57 and for version B was 79%, 47%, 1.50, 0.44 and for version C was 82%, 47%, 1.56, 0.38 respectively and in detection of caries for version A was 13%, 96%, 3.42, 0.90 and for version B was 57%, 93%, 7.91, 0.47 and for version C was 70%, 91%, 7.69, 0.33. So, version C was better than others in both detection of mach band and caries. CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicate that this software can help users in detection of caries and mach band.

During a long term of road survey for detection of the zoonotic helminthes in carnivores, a male Vulpes vulpes was naturally found infected by Dioctophyme renale in Caspian Sea littoral in Iran. Since the parasite transmission usually occurs through consumption of fish and other accidental food items, investigation of the worm amongst fish-eating animals in the areas with potential circulation of the helminth life cycle, has been regarded as a public health importance so far. Concerning the rout of parasite transmission to humans, different epidemiological aspects should be studied in the country. Present paper describes a destructive lesion of the kidney in the fox due to D. renale after almost a decade of monitoring for the parasite reservoirs in the region.

Background: Hymenolepis diminuta is a cestod of rodents and rarely infects humans. Infection in humans is via ingestion of infected insects. This study was aimed to detect H. diminuta cysticercoids in red flour beetles, Tribolium castaneum, and cockroaches originated from different regions of Iran. Methods: The red flour beetles and cockroaches were collected from local bakeries in five cities including Tehran, Ahvaz, Kazerun, and Sabzevar during 2010–2011. Some beetles and cockroaches were colonized in insectary and adults from F1 generation were fed on H. diminuta eggs. Both laboratory-infected and field-collected samples were dissected and examined for cysticercoids. Detection of H. diminuta DNA in T. castaneum beetles was performed by targeting a partial sequence of Ribosomal gene. Results: Except the beetles from Ahvaz, all specimens were negative for cysticercoid by microscopy. Of the four dissected beetles from Ahvaz, one harbored 12 cysticercoids. Also, 110 (52%) of laboratory-infected beetles showed infection with an average of 12–14 larvae. None of the cockroaches was infected. Two beetles from Ahvaz, including the remainder of the microscopic positive specimen, yielded the expected amplicon in PCR assay. The H. diminuta DNA sequences generated in this study were identical and matched 97–100% with similar sequences from GenBank database. Conclusion: Lack of infection in the majority of beetles may reflect a low rat infestation rate in those areas, alternatively, the examined specimens might not have been the representative samples of the T. castaneum populations.