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In the light of the recent evidence, neurological manifestations have been reported in patients infected with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). To shed light on a clear-cut explanation of neurological complications followed by SARS-CoV-2, a systematic analysis was reviewed. To this point, general medical databases, such as PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar from January 1, 2020, to September 20, 2020, were systematically searched to find related published articles. Through the search strategy, 93 studies for qualitative synthesis were included. Finally, the available data of 8,753 hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) showed that the most prevalent Central Nervous System (CNS) manifestations of COVID-19 were headache (1137 cases, 18%) and dizziness (142 cases, 2%). On the other hand, some peripheral nervous system (PNS) symptoms were muscle pain (3300 cases, 53%), hypogeusia (646 cases, 11%), anosmia (545 cases, 9%), and hyposmia (379 cases, 6%). Furthermore, a small proportion of patients had ageusia (74 cases, 1%), cerebrovascular disorders (66 cases, 0.75%), and impaired consciousness (21 cases, 0.2%). Besides, some neurological features, such as encephalitis, neuralgia, ataxia, Guillain- Barre syndrome, miller fisher syndrome, intracerebral hemorrhage, polyneuritis cranialis, and dystonic posture were reported in the literature as case reports and case series. Conclusion: Taken together, data from our systematic analysis indicated that neurological manifestations in both CNS and PNS were reported in COVID-19 patients. Further observational research in this field with more participants are needed to detect the specific risk concerning neurological complications in COVID-19 infection.

Background: To examine the dose effects of caffeine ingestion on autonomic reactivation following anaerobic exercise. Methods: Recreationally active males (N=20; 24±2y) participated in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study where participants ingested: (1) Control (CON; no supplement), (2) a non-caffeinated placebo (PLA), (3) 3-mg∙kg-1 of caffeine (CAF3) or (4) 6-mg∙kg-1 of caffeine (CAF6) prior to a Wingate testing. Parasympathetic (lnRMSSD, primary outcome) and global HRV (lnSDNN, secondary outcome) were assessed at rest (i.e., pre-ingestion), 45-min post-ingestion, and 5-min and 35-min post-exercise recovery. We used a GLM to assess mean (95% CI) changes from pre-ingestion baseline.Results: Overall, we observed a significant trend for lnRMSSD and lnSDNN (both, p=0.001, ηp2=0.745). Forty-five minutes after treatment ingestion, we observed a significant increase in lnRMSSD for CAF3 (0.15ms, 95%CI, 0.07,0.24) and CAF6 (0.16ms, 95%CI, 0.06,0.25), both being significant (both, pall, pConclusion: Caffeine ingestion increases resting cardiac autonomic modulation and accelerates post-exercise autonomic recovery after a bout of anaerobic exercise test in recreationally active young men. However, no differences between caffeine doses on cardiac autonomic reactivity were observed.

Despite to its importance for retaining biodiversity and human health, urban wetlands have received much less attention than other wetland types in northern Iran. This study deals with the floristic characteristics of one of the largest urban wetlands in Central Mazandaran, Roshanabad wetland in Babol. All vascular plants were collected during two growing seasons of 2014 and 2015 and water sampling was performed seasonally (autumn 2014 to summer 2015). We encountered 102 plant species belonging to 80 genera and 39 families. The largest families in the studied area were Poaceae with (11.7%) followed by Cyperaceae and Asteraceae (9.8%) and Fabaceae and Polygonaceae (5.9%). Genera represented by the greatest number of species were Cyperus (7 sp.), Polygonum (4 sp.), Ranunculus (3 sp.) and Typha (3 sp.). Classification based on life form, indicated that the therophytes (47%) comprised the largest proportion of the plants in the studied area. From chorological point of view, the largest proportion of the flora belonged to the pluriregional elements (62.3%). Various habitats of the wetland are discussed. Moreover, 63 genera of fresh water algae, belonging to eight phyla were identified in the study area. Cholorophyta with 28 genera was the most abundant phylum followed by Bacillariophyta (19 genera), Cyanophyta (6 genera), Euglenophyta (4 genera), Chrysophyta, Dinophyta (2 genera), and Charophyta, Xanthophyta (each with one genus). Moreover, a comparison between the data as well as ratios of species/genera and genera/families collected from this wetland and from the other wetlands in north Iran has been provided. Roshanabad wetland had fewer aquatic species compared to some other wetlands in north of Iran, because of anthropogenic effects such as penetration of agricultural and urban sewage which has large quantities of nitrate and phosphate, and distribution of exotic aquatic plant, Azolla filiculoides. Moreover, Palmer Index of pollution shows that the wetland has high ratio of pollution in all seasons. This urban wetland site may be considered as a pilot site for the interaction of human effects and biodiversity pool. This is among the first attempts for restoration of such an important and sensitive ecosystem in north of Iran.

Background: Allergic rhinitis is a common disease which is present in 20% of general population. Major symptoms include sneezing, rhinorrhea, nasal congestion, and nasal pruritus. It seems that tricyclic antidepressants blocking histamine receptors may be used as an effective treatment in allergic rhinitis. Materials and Methods: In this clinical trial study, 84 patients with allergic rhinitis entered the study and randomly divided into two groups. Patients of 1st group received cetirizine and 2nd group received doxepin for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks patients were evaluated about sneezing, rhinorrhea, nasal congestion, and nasal pruritus. Results: The results of our study showed that clinical score of patients after 2 weeks was not different in both groups (p=0.261). The only symptom that was affected by the kind of treatment and was significantly different between groups was sneezing (p=0.005). Conclusion: It seems that there is not much difference in using cetirizine and doxepin in treatment of seasonal allergic rhinitis sympotoms. It is recommended that future studies use TCAs with more potent blocking anti-histamine receptors feature and on more samples.

Background: The effectiveness of a theory-based educational intervention on intension for sexual abstinence among female university students was evaluated. Materials and Methods: Female students were recruited from humanity sciences department through cluster sampling. Educational intervention was applied for four 90-min sessions and by application of cognitive theories during 4 weeks. Results: One hundred and nine female students with mean age of 20.74 ± 1.57 years took part in the study. Despite the similarity of two groups of intervention (n = 53) and control (n = 59) at baseline, there were significant differences between the two groups in mean scores of the variables, knowledge (4.62 ± 1.38 vs. 3.53 ± 1.61), perceived susceptibility (14.05 ± 1.51 vs. 12.37 ± 2.11), and perceived benefits (28.41 ± 2.14 vs. 27.51 ± 3.05), at follow-up time after 3 months (P < 0.05). Additionally, these variables were observed with improvement over 3 months in the intervention group (P < 0.05). However, this study showed no significant effect on the behavior intention and self-efficacy. Conclusion: This study showed that educational intervention could improve knowledge, perceived benefits, and self-efficacy of the female students regarding HIV/AIDS.

Background: Assessing growth is a useful tool for defining health and nutritional status of children. The objective of this study was to construct growth reference curves of Iranian infants and children (0-6 years old) and compare them with previous and international references. Methods: Weight, height or length of 2107 Iranian infants and children aged 0-6 years old were measured using a cross-sectional survey in Tehran in 2010. Standard smooth reference curves for Iranian population were constructed and compared to multinational World Health Organization 2006 reference standards as well as a previous study from two decades ago. Results: Growth index references for Iranian girls are increased in compare to data from two decades ago and are approximately close to the international references. In boys; however, the increment was considerably large as it passed the international references. Not only the values for indexes was changed during two decades, but also the age at adiposity rebound came near the age of 3, which is an important risk factor for later obesity. Conclusions: During two decades, growth indexes of Iranian children raised noticeable. Risk factors for later obesity are now apparent and demand immediate policy formulations. In addition, reference curves presented in this paper can be used as a diagnostic tool for monitoring growth of Iranian children.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a serious public health concern throughout the world. Despite its public health prominence, however, how surveillance systems for hepatitis C should be designed is still a challenging issue especially in developing countries such as Iran. Establishing a surveillance system needs an ongoing process of case investigation, data collection, analysis of data and also dissemination of data to public health professionals and health care providers. This review article tries to provide the best recommendations for planning and implantation a surveillance system for HCV infection.

Objectives: Medical education and training can directly contribute to the development of psychological distress in medical students. This can lead to catastrophic consequences such as impaired academic performance, impaired competency, medical errors and attrition from medical school. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of psychological morbidity among Iranian medical students. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. Samples of medical students in different levels of training (basic science, clinical clerkship, internship, and residency stage) were entered into the study. The 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) was used to measure psychological morbidity. Both univariate and multivariate analyses were used to report on findings. Results: In all, 220 medical students were invited to take part in the study. Of these, 192 students agreed to fill in the questionnaire. The mean age of respondents was 25.4 (SD = 5.2) and 53% were female. Overall 49.5% of the students scored above the threshold on the GHQ-12 (score > 3.5). The results obtained from logistic regression analysis indicated that female gender and level of training were the most significant contributing factors to increased psychological distress [OR for female gender = 2.99; OR for the basic science group = 6.73]. Conclusions: Psychological distress appears to be common in medical students and significantly varies by gender and level of training. The psychological well-being of medical students needs to be more carefully addressed, and closer attention to eliminating the risk factors is critical to prevent consequent adverse outcomes.

Background: Neisseria meninigitidis is one of the most frequently encountered microorganisms associated with central nervous system infections. The aim of this study was to evaluate a PCR-based assay for specific and rapid detection of N. meninigitidis in CSF specimens. Methods: Since April 2002 to July 2006, 130 CSF specimens were collected from patients suspected of having bacterial meningitis. Bacterial isolation and identification was carried out according to the standard bacteriological methods. The PCR was used to amplify a 101bp fragment of capsular transport gene A (ctrA) of N. meningitidis. Results: PCR yielded an amplified product with the expected size of 101 base pair fragment. Sensitivity test proved 500 ng of N. meningitidis DNA as the final detection limit and specificity test revealed no cross-reaction for a wide range of res­pira­tory pathogenic organisms. Conclusion: The PCR assay was more sensitive than the bacterial culturing. It might be possible to apply this procedure for rapid diagnosis of meningococci in clinical samples.

Background: Dermal- respiratory reactions to latex glove is a common problem and sometimes life threatening. Among health care workers, dental working personnel have extensive use of latex gloves. A few numbers of researches have been done in Iran about prevalence of these reactions but there is no comprehensive study for dental workers. The purpose of this study was to evaluate reactions to latex gloves amongst dental workers in military dental health centers.Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive survey, dental workers with a minimum of three months length of employment and most often use of latex gloves were asked to fill standard questionnaire (derived from South Carolina Medical University) regarding latex related clinical manifestation and personal medical history and predisposing factors Data analysis was done by χ2 and Student's t test.Results: In our study 330 personnel were assessed. The mean age and length of employment was 31.6 and 8 years respectively. The most occupation was dentistry. A total of 232 subjects (70.3%) reported latex gloves-allergic symptoms. 72 (21.8%) of persons have history of atopy and food allergy was seen in 114 (34.5%). 63 (19.1%) of subjects reported history of hand dermatitis. All of these predisposing factors had positive regression with dermal and respiratory reactions.Conclusion: In this survey the prevalence of allergic reactions was higher than similar studies which may be due to type of gloves, lack of preemployment assessments and other factors. Use of diagnostic methods such as serologic measures, SPT and pulmonary function testing (such as spirogram) could be considered as tools for confirmatory and differential diagnosis and important complementary for these studies. Because of relationship between allergic reactions to latex gloves and some medical histories, it seems to be necessary for preemployment evaluation and periodic health surveillance of dental workers.

We provide evidence that the Unc-51-like kinase 1 (ULK1) is activated during engagement of the type I interferon (IFN) receptor (IFNR). Our studies demonstrate that the function of ULK1 is required for gene transcription mediated via IFN-stimulated response elements (ISRE) and IFNγ activation site (GAS) elements and controls expression of key IFN-stimulated genes (ISGs). We identify ULK1 as an upstream regulator of p38α mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and establish that the regulatory effects of ULK1 on ISG expression are mediated possibly by engagement of the p38 MAPK pathway. Importantly, we demonstrate that ULK1 is essential for antiproliferative responses and type I IFN-induced antineoplastic effects against malignant erythroid precursors from patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms. Together, these data reveal a role for ULK1 as a key mediator of type I IFNR-generated signals that control gene transcription and induction of antineoplastic responses.

Background and Objectives: Synthetic dyes are recalcitrant to degradation and toxic to different organisms. Decolorization of textile wastewaters is one of the major concerns since last decades. Physical-chemical treatments are very expensive and frequently producing large amounts of toxic wastes. Biological treatments can be more convenient. In the present study, an attempt has been made for decolorization of azo dyes using microbial process. Material and Methods: Screening of microorganisms capable of azo dye decolorization was performed from activated sludge. The decolorization of various dyes (Reactive Black 5, Reactive Orange 16, Reactive Red 198, Direct Blue 71, Direct Yellow 12 and Direct Black 22) was determined by measuring the absorbance of culture supernatant at their λmax. Culture supernatants were also analyzed for UV-Vis absorption between 200-800 nm. The effect of aeration, temperature, different concentrations of glucose and NaCl was studied with an aim to determine the optimal conditions required for maximum decolorization. Results: The yeast (strain JKS4) which had high ability to decolorize different azo dyes was isolated. Under aerobic condition, the yeast strain showed 85.7% of decolorization at 200 mg/l Reactive Black 5 (as a model azo dye), 1% (w/v) glucose concentration and 35°C after 24 h. All the examined dyes were extensively decolorized (53.35-97.9%) after 24 h. With elongated incubation period, complete decolorization was observed in presence of all dyes. From the physiological properties and phylogenetic analysis based on the 26S rDNA sequences, strain JKS4 was classified into Candida palmioleophila. Conclusions: Because of high decolorizing activity against various azo dyes commonly used in the textile industries, it is proposed that the isolated yeast may have a practical application in the biotransformation of various dye effluents.

The Genomics Research Group (GRG) presentation is intended to describe the current activities of the group in applying the latest tools and technologies for transcriptome analysis to determine the advantages and disadvantages of each of the platforms. We will present three ongoing projects. In the first project, we specifically evaluated microarrays, QPCR and Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) platforms for examining the sensitivity and specificity of microRNA detection using synthetic miRNA standards. In a second study, we used total RNA from Atlantic oyster samples to analyze the transcriptome and study the effect of oil spill and hypoxia as secondary stressor using next generation sequencing. Furthermore, we are now in the process of assembling the Atlantic oyster genome in collaboration with the Genomics Bioinformatics Research Group (GBIRG). We will also present our new project, which will involve the comparison of gene expression profiles of individual SUM149PT cells treated with the histone deacetylase inhibitor TSA vs. untreated controls. The goals of this project are to demonstrate RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) methods for profiling the ultra-low amounts of RNA present in individual cells, and to demonstrate the use of the Fluidigm system for cell capture and RNA amplification in C1 Single-Cell Auto Prep Integrated Fluidic Circuits (IFCs). In this session, we will discuss the technical challenges and the results obtained and expected from each of these projects.

There are many plants which have the ability to accumulate large amounts of heavy metals and one of them is the aquatic fern, Azolla filiculoides. Toxic metals constitute a serious health risk because they accumulate in soils, water and organisms. One of the methods for removing these pollutants from water and soil is the use of plants. The aim of this study was to test the ability of A. filiculoides to adsorb Ni from polluted waters. The maximum uptake of nickel ions by the collected A. filiculoides biomass under the optimal conditions was approximately 45.32 mg/g dry Azolla. Desorption experiments indicated that EDTA was an efficient desorbent for recovery from nickel ions.Key words: Nickel, Azolla filiculoides, wastewater, biosorption.

MS (Murashige and Skoog) media supplemented with benzylaminopurine (BAP) showed that the number of bud formation in shoot cultures of Musa acuminata cv.Berangan during the initiation stage increased proportionately with the concentrations used (11, 22 and 33 μM). However, the highest concentration of BAP (33 μM) simultaneously increased the formation of abnormal shoots. After the first apical bud appeared, explants were transferred to MS medium with lower concentrations of BAP either with or without indole acetic acid (IAA). Proliferation media supplemented with IAA showed enhanced shoot multiplication and elongation but did not help to reduce the abnormality index that occurred.Key words: micropropagation, adventitious buds, banana, Musa acuminata

Multiple recent publications on RNA-Seq have demonstrated the power of next generation sequencing technologies in whole transcriptome analysis. The vendor specific protocols used for RNA library construction typically require at least 100ng of total RNA. However, under certain conditions such as single cells, stem cells, difficult to isolate cell types, or fractionated cancer cells, only a small amount of material is available. In these cases, effective transcriptome profiling requires amplification of subnanogram amounts of RNA. Several RNA amplification kits are available for amplification prior to library construction and next generation sequencing but these kits have not been comprehensively field evaluated for accuracy and performance of RNA-Seq for picogram amounts of RNA.