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Assessment of embryo quality in order to choose the embryos that most likely result in pregnancy is the critical goal in assisted reproductive technologies (ART). The current trend in human in vitro fertilization/embryo transfer (IVF/ET) protocols is to decrease the rate of multiple pregnancies after multiple embryo transfer with maintaining the pregnancy rate at admissible levels (according to laboratory standards). Assessment of morphological feathers as a reliable non-invasive method that provides valuable information in prediction of IVF/intra cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) outcome has been frequently proposed in recent years. This article describes the current status of morphological embryo evaluation at different pre-implantation stages.

Eccrine Porocarcinoma is a rare, slow growing malignant tumor of eccrine sweat gland. The most common site of this tumor is lower extremity. It is characterized histologically by anaplastic cells with eccrine ductal structures which may be adjacent to a benign eccrine poroma. We present here a case of Eccrine Porocarcinoma in lower extremity, with a brief review of the literature.

Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is an autoimmune disease characterized by presence of bullous eruption on the trunk and extremities especially flexural aspects of the limbs. This disease usually occurs in the elderly. The initial presentation of BP is variable. An urticarial or erythematous rash may precede the appearance of the blister formation and can be associated with itch or pruritus. We presented 87 year old bedridden man diagnosed with BP who initially presented with erythema gyratum repens like eruption before blister formation. This case report discusses the presentation of figurate erythema in non-bullous phase of BP for clinicians.

Gorlin syndrome is a rare autosomal dominant disorder which characterize by multi-organ abnormities such as odontogenic keratocysts in the jaw, skeletal abnormities and multiple basal cell carcinoma etc. We report a case of this syndrome in a young man with palmar pits, multiple facial BCC, clacifications of the falx cerebri and bifid rib.

Extramammary Paget’s disease is an uncommon intraepithelial adenocarcinoma in genital and perianal regions. Genital wart is the most common sexually transmitted disease caused by human papilloma viruses and vulval lichen sclerosus is chronic pruritic dermatitis in genital area which could be able to change to invasive squamous cell carcinoma. We report a patient who had simultaneous lichen sclerosus, genital wart and extramammary Paget’s disease of the vulva. We could not find any significant association between them in literature.

Pemphigus vulgaris is a chronic autoimmune disease and glucocorticoids are one of the main treatments. Our study investigates the prevalence and associated factors of glucocorticoid-induced diabetes mellitus in these patients under different glucocorticoid regimens. 36 patients with first diagnosed Pemphigus vulgaris based on pathological and direct immunofluorescence findings who had received different glucocorticoid regimens (1-2 mg/kg oral or 1-2 mg/kg oral with 1g methylprednisolone pulse daily for 3 consecutive days with or without azathioprine) were evaluated during 2014-2016. Our study found that 22.2% of patients had impaired fasting glucose and incidence of corticosteroid-induced diabetes mellitus was 22.2% with no difference between oral and pulse therapy of corticosteroid. The first day after pulse therapy 19 patients of 21 had post bolus hyperglycemia that 36% of them became diabetic after 8 weeks. None of the variables, including age, BMI, HbA1c, LDL, HDL, TG, cholesterol, family history and blood pressure were associated with diabetes. Pretreatment FBS was the factor that would increase the likelihood of glucocorticoid-induced diabetes mellitus, 42.2% of patients with pretreatment FBS 100-126 developed diabetes in comparison with 17.2% in normal pretreatment FBS. Although the group who received azathioprine was associated with increased incidence of diabetes, the overall corticosteroid dose in this group was significantly higher than the other group (P=0.012), and controversy with other studies could be because of difference in corticosteroid dosage and small number of patients. The incidence of diabetes was not different between the group with glucocorticoid pulses and oral prednisolone without pulse therapy. Higher pretreatment FBS can be related to increased incidence of diabetes, but results from this study due to small number of patients are preliminary and multicenter studies are needed.

Background: Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDSs) include a diverse group of clonal bone marrow disorders characterized by ineffective hematopoiesis and pancytopenia.It was found that down regulation of APAF1, a putative tumor suppressor gene (TSG),leads to resistance to chemotherapy and disease development in some cancers. In this study, we investigated the relation of APAF1 methylation status with its expression and clinicopathological factors in myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) patients. Materials and Methods: Methylation Sensitive-High Resolution Melting Curve Analysis (MS-HRM) was employed in studying the methylation of CpG islands in the APAF1promoter region in MDS. Gene expression was analyzed by using real time RT-PCR. Results: 42.6% of patient samples were methylated in promoter region of APAF1 analyzed, while methylation of the genewas not seen in controls (P

Background & Objectives: Listeria bacterium resists to the sludge digestion conditions and Listeria monocytogenes is the most important of them. Sludge produced in the north Isfahan wastewater treatment plant is stabilized by anaerobic digesters and is used for fertilizing agricultural lands after drying in the sludge drying beds. Based on the importance of the subject, the objective of this study was evaluation of sludge processing units efficiency, particularly anaerobic sludge digestion for reduction or removal of Listeria. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, samples were collected weekly from sludge processing units 13 times in north Isfahan wastewater treatment plant according to standard methods over three months. Listeria bacteria were enumerated and isolated by triple-tube fermentation method and U.S Department of Agriculture method respectively. Isolated Listeria were confirmed by phenotypic method and then bacterial species were diagnosed differentially by biochemical carbohydrate fermentation and CAMP test. Results: Contamination of raw, stabilized and dried sludge at least to one of L. Monocytogenes, L. Innocua and L. Seeligeri species was 100, 92.3 and 53.8 percent respectively. Anaerobic sludge digesters efficiency to remove L. Monocytogenes, L. Innocua and L. Seeligeri species was determined 64.7, 39.72, and 100 percent while the efficiency of drying sludge beds for L. monocytogenes and L.innocua species removal was 73.4 and 96.68 percent respectively. Conclusion: Listeria monocytogenes is more resistant than other identified species against the sludge processing conditions. Thus, the use of sludge as fertilizer can cause the spread of this bacterium in the environment and agricultural products pollution.

Objective(s): Recently, applications of MnO2 nanoparticles and microparticles in industry, pharmacology, and medicine have considerably expanded. Mn distribution and clearance from brain and spinal cord tissue compared with muscle tissue of rats after single subcutaneous injection of nanoparticles and microparticle of MnO2 . Pain sensory threshold of rat was evaluated as neurologic consequence of the particles on CNS activity of rats. Materials and Methods: Rats divided to control and two experimental groups. Each experimental group received a single subcutaneous injection of MnO2 nano- and microparticles, respectively. Acute pain thresholds of rats were evaluated by tail immersion method and its weight gain was recorded during these weeks. Samples taken from brain, spinal cord and muscle tissues of rats, once every 2 week for 8 weeks. The tissue Mn level was measured by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry method. Results: Both particles size passed from blood barriers. Unlike brain tissue, manganese completely cleared from spinal tissue after 8 weeks in both groups. Clearance of Mn from muscle tissue is not complete in both of the groups. Weight gain of rats in both groups was slower than control rats. In microparticle group, rats showed progressive analgesia (p

Background: Quality of life (QOL) is increasingly recognized as an important outcome measure in dermatology. Psoriasis has a great impact on QOL of patients, and has a strong effect on social relations, psychological status, and daily activities. This study describe and compare the impact of different grades of severity of psoriasis on QOL of patients in north of Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 55 patients diagnosed with psoriasis and 55 healthy controls. The patients were selected by consecutive sampling from April to December 2006. The controls were recruited by simple random sampling among patient escorts. After obtaining written informed consent, all the members were included into the study. The Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) standard questionnaire was used to determine the severity of the disease. In addition, the short-form-36 questionnaire, which is validated for use in Iran, was employed. The gathered data were analyzed using the Stata (V 8.0, SE) (Copyright 1984-2003, Stata Corporation, 4905 Lakeway Drive Special Edition, College Station, Texas 77845 USA) and analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) test. Results: Overall, The mean PASI scores was 5.4 ± 6.7, total QOL scores had a significant difference between patients and controls (61.1 ± 17.0 vs. 71.9 ± 22.4) (P < 0.05), especially in three domains: Role-physical (58.5 ± 23.3 vs. 70.8 ± 26.2), general health (43.8 ± 21.6 vs. 61.5 ± 27.3), and social functioning (62.7 ± 26.7 vs. 79.5 ± 27.5) (P < 0.01). Physical activities were affected in >50% of the cases. This figure significantly increased with the increasing severity of psoriasis. In addition, social relationships were disrupted in more than half of the patients, but with no significant difference between different grades of severity (P > 0.05). There is no significant difference between adjusted score of multiple domains of QOL in psoriatic patients according to PASI levels (ANCOVA, P > 0.05). Conclusions: The physicians′ awareness of the importance of patients′ QOL in both physical and emotional aspects could improve and enhance the psychological evaluation of the psoriatic patient, which will promote his/her positive outcome. And, PASI score can′t to predict the QOL really.

Background: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a heterogeneous clonal disorder characterized by immature myeloid cell proliferation and bone marrow failure. Various genetic and epigenetic factors have been found to be influential in such patients. Methylation silencing of APAF-1, a putative tumor suppressor gene (TSG), has been found in several human malignancies. In this study, we explored the association of APAF-1 methylation status with AML patients. Subjects and Methods: We studied the methylation status of APAF-1 gene in 101 AML patients and 50 healthy subjects as controls. Genomic DNA was extracted from leukocytes in peripheral blood or bone marrow and the methylation status of APAF-1 gene promoter was detectedusing methylation-specific PCR (MSP) method with specific methylated and unmethylated primers. Gene expression was analyzed using real time RT-PCR. Results: The prevalence of methylated (MM) and hemi-methylated (MU) CpG dinucleotides within the APAF-1 gene promoter of AML patients was 12 (11.9%) and 45 (44.6%), respectively, while no methylation was detected in the control samples (p < 0.001). Our results showed a higher frequency of methylated APAF1 in FLT3-ITD mutated cases(p=0.04). APAF1 mRNA expression was significantly lower in methylated cases compared with normal cases. Conclusion: The present study indicated the increased frequency of hypermethylation of APAF-1 gene promoter in AML patients. APAF-1 aberrant CpG island methylation was associated with transcriptional downregulation in AML patients. Therefore, promoter methylation of APAF-1 gene could be considered as an epigenetic factor that contributes to the development of AML.

Listeria and in particular Listeria monocytogenes is considered a ubiquitous foodborne pathogen which can lead listeriosis in human and animals. Listeriosis can be serious and may cause meningitis, septicemia and abortion in pregnant women. Although wastewater or sludge may contaminate foods of plant origin, there are no data on occurrence of Listeria spp. in wastewater and sludge in Iran. The purpose of current investigation was to study the occurrence of Listeria spp. in various samples of wastewater and sludge in Isfahan North wastewater treatment plant. Influent, effluent, raw sludge and dried sludge samples were collected from Isfahan North municipal wastewater treatment plant. L. monocytogenes were enumerated by a three–tube most probable number (MPN) assay using enrichment Fraser broth. A total of 65 various samples from five step in 13 visits were collected. The presence of Listeria spp. also was determined using USDA procedure. Then, phenotypically identified L. monocytogenes were further confirmed by Polymerase Chain Reaction amplification. L. monocytogenes isolated from 76.9%, 38.5%, 84.6%, 69.2% and 46.2% of influent, effluent, raw sludge, stabilized sludge and dried sludge respectively. The efficiency of wastewater treatment processes, digester tank and drying bed in removal L. monocytogenes were 69.6%, 64.7% and 73.4% respectively. All phenotypically identified L. monocytogenes were further confirmed by Polymerase Chain Reaction. The results of present study have shown that Listeriaspp. and L. monocytogenes in particular, were present in wastewater treatment plant effluents and sludge at high level. The bacteria may spread on agriculture land and contaminate foods of plant origin. This may cause a risk of spreading disease to human and animals.

Introduction: This study intends to determine the relationship between loneliness and internet addiction in students of Hamadan University of medical sciences in 2013.Material and Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive-analytic study, students of Hamadan University of medical sciences were research population that sample involved 130 people which have been selected through random sampling. To gather the data, Loneliness Scale and Internet Addiction Questionnaire was used as well as demographic variables questionnaire. To analyze the data SPSS was used.Results: The findings revealed the characteristics of the research population as follows: high internet addiction and relatively loneliness. Results showed significant relationship between the internet addiction and age, term and level of education, also factors such as marital status, gender and occupation have no significant relation with internet addiction. Analysis indicated there were no statistically significant differences between loneliness and age, term, level of education, marital status, gender and occupation.Discussion: Due to the relatively high rate of Internet addiction in the study population, the findings will be reported to relevant managers and officials, to be considered in planning future.

Starch a biopolymer, possesses many unique characteristics features accompanied with some shortcoming simultaneously. Some synthetic compounds are of great help to these demerits of starch and so by an addition of all these alternatively may acquire the tailor made features of starch-based compounds. By combining the individual advantages of starch and some other compounds and elements, starch-based biodegradable polymers were prepared for potential applications in biomedical and environmental fields. In this research, the structural analysis and characterization studies of starch glutaraldehyde polycondensed polymer were undertaken, and then the formation of polymer metal complexes with transition metal in coordinated form are carried out. FT-IR spectroscopy and 1H NMR and 13C NMR spectroscopy were used to analyze the functionality of the synthesized compound. CHN of the synthesized compound was supported by FT-IR and NMR which again proved helpful for structural analysis. Electronic spectroscopy confirmed the geometry of the synthesized compounds. Thermal studies were carried out by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Besides this the biodegradable studies were carried out by ASTM standards of biodegradable materials by CO2 evolution in respirometric titration method. All the polymers showed good thermal strength and reduced biodegradation on attachment of transition metals, Mn(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II).

A biodegradable polymer was synthesized by the modification reaction of polymeric starch with thiourea which is further modified by transition metals, Mn(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II). All the polymeric compounds were characterized by (FT-IR) spectroscopy, 1H NMR spectroscopy, 13C NMR spectroscopy, UV–visible spectra, magnetic moment measurements, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and antibacterial activities. Polymer complexes of Mn(II), Co(II) and Ni(II) show octahedral geometry, while polymer complexes of Cu(II) and Zn(II) show square planar and tetrahedral geometry, respectively. The TGA revealed that all the polymer metal complexes are more thermally stable than their parental ligand. In addition, biodegradable studies of all the polymeric compounds were also carried out through ASTM-D-5338-93 standards of biodegradable polymers by CO2 evolution method which says that coordination decreases biodegradability. The antibacterial activity was screened with the agar well diffusion method against some selected microorganisms. Among all the complexes, the antibacterial activity of the Cu(II) polymer–metal complex showed the highest zone of inhibition because of its higher stability constant.

Background: Otalgia and Bell’s palsy are rare manifestations of metastasis and the most common presentation of an inflammatory process in the temporal bone. Case presentation: This article explains a 34-year-old woman with breast cancer who presented with cranial nerve palsy symptoms. The 7th and 8th cranial nerves were involved in the metastatic phase and then hoarseness was added to her symptoms. Brain MRI showed a petrous lesion in the temporal bone due to metastasis, which was the first clue to cancer. Her metastatic workup showed multiple bone lesions. On chest CT scan, multiple lung lesions were noted. Also, a breast mass was discovered on her chest CT scan. On breast examination an irregular mass fixed to the pectoralis muscle was found. Pathologic evaluation of samples obtained through ultrasound-guided core needle biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of invasive ductal carcinoma. Conclusion: Temporal bone metastases are rare and may be asymptomatic, or with mild symptoms mimicking mastoid infections. Physicians should consider metastatic cancer on the list of differential diagnoses in patients presenting with prolonged otologic symptoms or facial nerve disorders.

Background: There is a lack of studies regarding the effects of ultrasound (US) and replication of its exposure on pre-implantation events in mammals. Thus, this study assesses the reproductive performance of mouse oocytes that have been obtained from ovaries irradiated with US waves versus non-irradiated ovaries. Also comparision of their parthenogenesis, ovulation, fertilization, and pre-implantation development rates. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, we divided extracted ovaries into three experimental groups that received the same dosage, but different replicates of radiation for each group. Results were compared with the control and sham groups. Continuous wave (CW) US, at a spatial average intensity of 355 mW/cm2 and a frequency of 3.28 MHz, was administered for 5 minutes to the ovaries at an interval between pregnant mare serum gonadotropin (PMSG) and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) injections. Statistical analysis was performed using the ANOVA test and the level of significance was determined to be 0.05. Results: Data collection was based on microscopic visualization. According to the obtained results, metaphase II (MII) oocyte numbers and the percentage of blastocysts significantly reduced in the USexposed groups versus the unexposed groups. Fertilization rate was comparable between groups while parthenogenesis was significantly higher in the US-exposed groups compared to the unexposed groups. Conclusion: Structural damage to cells, intracellular organelles and proteins, as well as changes in signaling pathways induced by US may be reasons for some of the observed adverse effects in groups that have received more US exposure.

Objective: Germline mutations in breast cancer susceptibility genes, breast cancer susceptibilitygene 1 (BRCA1) and breast cancer susceptibility gene1 (BRCA2) are responsiblefor a substantial proportion of high-risk breast and breast/ovarian cancer in families.Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate BRCA1/2 mutations in five high riskIranian families.Materials and Methods: Of the 20 breast/ovarian cancer families counselled in our center,five were selected for BRCA1/2 mutation screening according to our minimal criteria.The complete coding sequences in addition to each intron/exon boundary of the BRCA1/2genes were screened by direct sequencing.Results: Fourteen missense substitutions were identified, which were: Gly1140Ser, Gly1738Glu,Glu1735Glu, leu871pro, Ser1613Gly, ser1040Asn, Glu1038Gly, Leu771Leuand Ser1436Ser in BRCA1; and Gln373His, Glu1391Gly, Leu1521Leu, Val2171Val andGlu1035Glu in BRCA2. In addition, the splice site mutations (IVS7+83(-TT) and so IVS8-70(-CATT) were observed in two families. Three mutations were novel (Gly1140Ser inBRCA1 and Glu1391Gly, Gln373His in BRCA2).The missense substitutions Glu1038Proand Gly1140Ser were found in a large series of patients and in five controls.Conclusion: The missense substitution Gly1738Glu in BRCA1 is pathogenic. In addition,these results showed that the probability genotype at the BRCA1 locus defined by allelesLeu871Pro, GLu1038Gly, Ser1613Gly, Gly1140Ser has an effect pathogenic. In anotherfamily sَeveral missense substitutions in BRCA1 gene such as Glu1038Gly, Gly 1140Serwere found as well as Glu1391Gly and Gln373His in BRCA2. The pathogenic effect yethas to be verified by more comprehensive populations studies.These results support this thinking that screening for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations mayhave the strongest impact on health-care when targeted to high-risk populations.

Objective: Artificial stimulation of mouse oocyte, in the absence of sperm contribution,can induce its parthenogenic activation of oocyte. Ultrasound is one of the newest methodsfor artificial activation of mammal oocytes, and its successful utilization in pig oocyteactivation has been recently reported. Our objective was to assess the effect of ultrasoundon mouse oocyte activation.Materials and Methods: Our groups included1 control group, 3 experimental groups consistingof 1, 2 and 3 repetitions of ultrasound exposure, and 3 sham groups handled similarto experimental groups but ultrasound system was off during treatments.In experimental groups, adult female NMRI mice at the interval between pregnant mareserum gonadotropin (PMSG) and human corionic gonadotropin (hCG) injections, wereexposed to continuous ultrasound with 3.28 MHz frequency and peak intensity (Ipk) = 355mW/cm2.Sixteen hours after injection of hCG, the mice were euthanized and their oocytes werecollected; thereafter, parthenogenic oocytes were counted.Results: Data analysis using the ANOVA test shows a significant increase in the number ofparthenogenic oocytes in mice with 3 overall exposures to ovarian ultrasound (p

Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigation of personality disorders and personality traits in men who have gender identity disorder (GID). Identification of personality disorders can be useful for enhancement of the quality of help to the patients. Materials & Methods: This analytical and cross-sectional study was a comparative and case – control research. 40 men with gender identity disorder were selected by convenient sampling from individuals who have been referred to Tehran Navab Safavi welfare center. Also, 40 available individuals who have no any diagnostic criteria about gender identity disorder in DSM-IV-TR and worked in Islamic Azad University (Tehran Sciences and Researches Unit) were selected as control group and matched with patients. Personality disorders and those frequencies were evaluated with Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-II (MCMI-II). Data were analyzed using by Chi-square and Independent T tests. Results: The results showed that gender identity disorder patients get higher scores as compared to control group in scales “Dependent” (P=0/038), “Histrionic” (P

BACKGROUND: This study compared the triage of Iran-Iraq war-injured troops within the first two years of the war with that after the first two years. METHODS: This was a retrospective study, which compared the triage of the admissions for abdominal injuries during the first two years of the Iran-Iraq War with that in the next 6 years. Out of nearly 50,000 cases, 1,176 ones were randomly selected and their triage information was recorded and analyzed. RESULTS: About 12.5% of patients were operated on within less than 8 hours during the first two years. From 1982 towards the end of the conflict (1988), the patients were treated within progressively shorter periods of sustaining injury; 68.8% were operated on within less than 4 hours of injury. The mean delay between injury and treatment in the first two years of war was 12 hours while it was 5 hours between 1982 and 1988. The difference was significant (P CONCLUSIONS: Patient triage was conducted differently at various stages of conflict. Better patient triage after 1982, may have been due to improved care and more specialized triage of injured troops. Key words: Iran-Iraq war, abdominal injuries, triage.

Introduction & Objective: Post operation pain is one of the most common compliant in every surgery. The objective of this study was to determine whether the prophylactic use of rectal sodium diclofenac produces effective analgesia after cesarean section. Materials & Methods: This randomized single blind controlled trial was carried out in Hamadan Fatemieh Hospital. The study period was from ِAugust 2000 to May 2001. Eighty patients undergoing both emergency and elective cesarean section were studied. They had uncomplicated operations that prolonged less than 90 minutes. They were divided in two groups the test group (40 patients) received 100 mg rectal diclofenac immediately before cesarean section followed by 50 mg at 6 hours after surgery. The second forty patients as control group received 50 mg pethidine during recovery but they did not receive any diclofenac suppositories. Results: The results indicated that the severity of pain according to visual analogue scale (VAS) in the study group was not significantly lower than those of control group at recovery, 6 and 12 after surgery but the received analgesic in the study group was dramatically less than control group (P

Objective: The most commonly used instrument for the research and treatment of excessive internet use is Young’s Internet Addiction Test (IAT). While the IAT has been translated to several languages (including Persian) and has demonstrated good psychometric properties across several independent studies, there is still a room for alternative assessment instruments. This study reports a validation of the Persian version of the Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire (PIUQ). Method: A sample (n = 296) from Kerman, Iran was administered the translated Persian version of the PIUQ as well as the Persian version of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Loneliness scale, Satisfaction With Life scale, and questions related to use of technology and the internet. Results: Analyses using confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses demonstrated that the Persian version of the PIUQ had good internal reliability and concurrent validity (with loneliness and satisfaction with life), but they also had an alternative factor structure that did not support the original factor structure. Conclusion: The Persian version of the PIUQ produced adequate psychometric properties (internal reliability and concurrent validity), but care should be taken in the interpretation of the factor structure.

The main objective was to find association between basal cortisol and neighborhood-level stress. Systematic searches, including electronic and hand searches, were conducted. The most recent date of the search was July 26, 2013. Primary observational studies included if they considered stress related outcomes in the neighborhood context. Using the EndNote X7 advanced search option; the authors examined the abstracts and titles of the 18,092 articles to exclude obviously irrelevant studies, gray literature, discussion papers, reviews and, studies with no complete data. Two authors independently extracted data from the original reports into pre-designed data extraction forms based on the Data Extraction Template of the Cochrane Consumer and Communication Review Group (CCCRG). Ten studies with a total of 2,134 participants were synthesized and analyzed. Two studies out of ten received expanded meta-analysis. The overall effect size (95% CI) for cortisol level for residents in neighborhoods with lower stress compared to inhabitants from higher was 0.12 (0.01, 0.23). This review is demonstrating a link between psychosocial or physical stress and cortisol obtained from saliva. However, living in high disorder neighborhoods results in higher level of cortisol. This represents a biological indicator of psychosocial/physical stress exposure (i.e., neighborhood disorder) that reflects variances in stress exposure levels.

Mutations in the ALS2 gene cause three distinct disorders: infantile ascending hereditary spastic paraplegia, juvenile primary lateral sclerosis, and autosomal recessive juvenile amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. We present a review of the literature and the case of a 16-year-old boy who is, to the best of our knowledge, the first Portuguese case with infantile ascending hereditary spastic paraplegia. Clinical investigations included sequencing analysis of the ALS2 gene, which revealed a heterozygous mutation in exon 5 (c.1425_1428del p.G477Afs*19) and a heterozygous and previously unreported variant in exon 3 (c.145G>A p.G49R). We also examined 42 reported cases on the clinical characteristics and neurophysiological and imaging studies of patients with known ALS2 gene mutations sourced from PubMed. This showed that an overlap of phenotypic manifestations can exist in patients with infantile ascending hereditary spastic paraplegia, juvenile primary lateral sclerosis, and juvenile amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Background: now the vast majority of breast tumors are treated using Breast conservation therapy (BCT) method, including lumpectomy and radiotherapy. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of intraoperative frozen section in patients undergoing breast conservation surgery. Methods: Totally 237 women who included in the category for breast conservative or oncoplastic surgery and post-operative radiotherapy (Early breast cancer Stage I,II and Stage IIIA after neoadjuvant chemotherapy and down staging) were enrolled in this prospective study from March 2009 to June 2011. Results: In frozen section, totally 88 margins (6.1%) in 60 patients (25%) was positive (1-5 positive margins/ patients) that all of these patients were re-excised. In precise pathologic view the margins in 7 patients (2.9%) was positive that comprised 4% of all margins, furthermore the results showed closed margin in 4 patients. false negative in our study occurred in 0.8% of patients and in 0.1% of margins (sensitivity 100% and specifity 99.2%). Conclusion: we designated intraoperative margin assessment by frozen section as an effective method in decreasing the rate of additional operations for margin control. Additionally, adequate margin width is accessible during same operation.

1,3-Diazabicyclo[3.1.0]hex-3-ene systems represent a very interesting class of organic materials, possessing unique photochromic properties in the solid state. It has been demonstrated that these compounds form deeply colored, fairly stable materials under UV radiation. Here, for the first time we report synthesis of several 1,3-diazabicyclo[3.1.0]hex-3-enes with premade substituted quinoline and benzo[h]quinoline rings.

A starch-urea-based biodegradable coordination polymer modified by transition metal Mn(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), and Zn(II) was prepared by polycondensation of starch and urea. All the synthesized polymeric compounds were characterized by Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), H-NMR spectroscopy, C-NMR spectroscopy, UV-visible spectra, magnetic moment measurements, differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The results of electronic spectra and magnetic moment measurements indicate that Mn(II), Co(II), and Ni(II) complexes show octahedral geometry, while Cu(II) and Zn(II) complexes show square planar and tetrahedral geometry, respectively. The thermogravimetric analysis revealed that all the polymeric metal complexes are more thermally stable than the parental ligand. In addition, biodegradable studies of all the polymeric compounds were also carried out through ASTM standards of biodegradable polymers by CO2 evolution method.

Aims: The aim of present study was determination of occurrence of Listeria Listeria spp. in various point of a municipal wastewater treatment plant. Materials and Methods: The samples were collected of influent, effluent, raw sludge, stabilized sludge and dried sludge from north wastewater treatment plant Isfahan, Iran. The presence of Listeria spp. was determined using USDA procedure and enumerated by a three-tube most probable number assay using Fraser enrichment broth. Then, biochemically identified Listeria monocytogenes was further confirmed by PCR amplification. Results: L. monocytogenes, L. innocua and L. seeligeri were isolated from 76.9%, 23.1% and 23.1% of influent, 38.5%, 46.2% and 7.7% of effluent, 84.6%, 69.2% and 46.2% of raw sludge, 69.2%, 76.9% and 0% of stabilized sludge and 46.2%, 7.7% and 0% of dried sludge samples, respectively. The efficiency of wastewater treatment processes, digester tank and drying bed in removal of L. monocytogenes were 69.6%, 64.7% and 73.4%, respectively. All phenotypically identified L. monocytogenes were further confirmed by PCR method. Conclusion: Application of sewage sludge in agricultural farms as fertilizer may result in bacteria spreading in agriculture fields and contaminated foods with plant origin. This may cause a risk of spreading disease to human and animals. Using parameters such as BOD 5 is not sufficient standard for the elimination of pathogenic microorganisms.

Abstract Background RNA interference (RNAi) is a homology-dependant gene silencing mechanism and has been widely used to engineer resistance in plants against RNA viruses. However, its usefulness in delivering resistance against plant DNA viruses belonging to family Geminiviridae is still being debated. Although the RNAi approach has been shown, using a transient assay, to be useful in countering monocotyledonous plant-infecting geminiviruses of the genus Mastrevirus, it has yet to be investigated as a means of delivering resistance to dicot-infecting mastreviruses. Chickpea chlorotic dwarf Pakistan virus (CpCDPKV) is a legume-infecting mastrevirus that affects chickpea and other leguminous crops in Pakistan. Results Here a hairpin (hp)RNAi construct containing sequences encompassing part of replication-associated protein gene, intergenic region and part of the movement protein gene of CpCDPKV under the control of the Cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter has been produced and stably transformed into Nicotiana benthamiana. Plants harboring the hairpin construct were challenged with CpCDPKV. All non-transgenic N. benthamiana plants developed symptoms of CpCDPKV infection within two weeks post-inoculation. In contrast, none of the inoculated transgenic plants showed symptoms of infection and no viral DNA could be detected by Southern hybridization. A real-time quantitative PCR analysis identified very low-level accumulation of viral DNA in the inoculated transgenic plants. Conclusions The results presented show that the RNAi-based resistance strategy is useful in protecting plants from a dicot-infecting mastrevirus. The very low levels of virus detected in plant tissue of transgenic plants distal to the inoculation site suggest that virus movement and/or viral replication was impaired leading to plants that showed no discernible signs of virus infection.

The electrical noise characteristics of ionic current through organic and synthetic nanopores have been investigated. Comparison to proteinaceous alpha-Hemolysin pores reveals two dominant noise sources in silicon nitride nanometre-scale pores: a high-frequency noise associated with the capacitance of the silicon support chip (dielectric noise), and a low-frequency current fluctuation with 1/f?characteristics (flicker noise). We present a technique for reducing the dielectric noise by curing polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) on the nanopore support chip. This greatly improves the performance of solid-state nanopore devices, yielding an unprecedented signal-to-noise ratio when observing dsDNA translocation events and ssDNA probe capture for force spectroscopy applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infertility is a reproductive health problem in the male or female reproductive system. Traditional assisted reproductive technology (ART) has been unable to solve various cases of infertility for years. Clinical researchers have sought to treat infertility using new methods that are more effective and noninvasive than the old methods. Recently, Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and MSCs-derived Exosomes (MSC-Exos) via paracrine activity play an important role in treating various causes of infertility and improving pregnancy outcomes. In this review, we focus on the roles of MSCs and MSC-Exos cell therapy in female infertility in the different types of female reproductive disorders., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval: N.A. Consent to participate: N.A. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

Objectives: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by demyelination and neurodegeneration, leading to various physical, cognitive, and emotional challenges. Dual-task (DT) training, involving performing mental and physical tasks simultaneously, addresses the complex interaction between motor and cognitive functions., Purpose: Given the extensive physical, cognitive, and mood-related issues in this population, this study aimed to examine the effects of combined aerobic-cognitive training (Brythonic) and aerobic training on brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), DT performance, and mood state in MS patients., Methods: Thirty patients (22 women and 8 men) with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) and an expanded disability status scale (EDSS) score below four were randomly assigned to three groups: aerobic-cognitive training (Brythonic), aerobic training, and control. The training groups participated in 10 weeks of home-based online training, with two sessions per week. Each session included a 10-minute warmup, 15 to 35 minutes of exercise, and a 5-minute cool-down. The Brythonic group performed aerobic movements while reciting motivational words, forming a complete positive sentence over ten weeks. The aerobic group performed the same movements without cognitive tasks. Serum BDNF levels, DT performance, and profile of mood states (POMS) were measured before and after the 10-week training period. A two-way ANOVA with repeated measures was used to analyze differences between and within groups, with a significance level of P ≤ 0.05., Results: BDNF levels significantly increased in the Brythonic group (P=0.048) and significantly decreased in the control group compared to baseline. In the DT test, the Brythonic group showed significant improvements in the number of correct answers and DT values compared to the aerobic and control groups. The Brythonic group also had a significantly reduced response time compared to the control group. Additionally, selective speed significantly increased in both training groups. In the POMS test, the Brythonic group showed significant improvements in all items except depression compared to the control group. Within the Brythonic group, all items significantly improved from baseline., Conclusion: This study demonstrated that combining motivational words with aerobic movements significantly impacts BDNF levels, DT performance, and mood states. Adding mental exertion to physical activity appears beneficial for patients with MS. Future studies should re-examine these findings with a larger patient cohort., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest 'None'., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

During visual search, we quickly learn to attend to an object's likely location. Research has shown that this process can be guided by learning target locations based on consistent spatial contextual associations or other statistical regularities. Here, we tested how different types of associations guide learning and the utilisation of established memories for different purposes. Participants learned contextual associations or rule-like statistical regularities that predicted target locations within different scenes. The consequences of this learning for subsequent performance were then evaluated on attention-orienting and memory-recall tasks. Participants demonstrated facilitated attention-orienting and recall performance based on both contextual associations and statistical regularities. Contextual associations facilitated attention orienting with a different time course compared to statistical regularities. Benefits to memory-recall performance depended on the alignment between the learned association or regularity and the recall demands. The distinct patterns of behavioural facilitation by contextual associations and statistical regularities show how different forms of long-term memory may influence neural information processing through different modulatory mechanisms., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Sefranek et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

To explore the frequency and predictive factors of erectile dysfunction diagnosis after colorectal cancer surgery. The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare database was used to identify a national sample of men undergoing surgery for colorectal cancer from 2004 to 2015. Men aged > 65 years with any index surgery within 1 year of diagnosis of colorectal cancer were included. Men with a history of prior erectile dysfunction, metastatic cancer, or genitourinary cancer prior to their index procedure were excluded. The primary outcome was a new diagnosis of erectile dysfunction within 2 years of the index procedure. A total of 28,248 men aged > 65 years who underwent colorectal cancer surgery were identified. The rates of erectile dysfunction diagnosis 2 years after surgery were 3.6% for hemicolectomy, 5.3% for low anterior resection, and 6.4% for abdominoperineal resection. On multivariable analysis, low anterior resection (HR: 1.27, 95%CI 1.08 to 1.51, p < 0.01) and abdominoperineal resection (HR: 1.49, 95%CI 1.14 - 1.93, p < 0.01) were independently associated with increased risk of erectile dysfunction compared to hemicolectomy. Minimally invasive surgery was independently associated with an increased risk of erectile dysfunction compared to open surgery (HR: 1.44, 95% CI 1.25-1.65, p < 0.001). Compared to hemicolectomy, men treated with low anterior resection and abdominoperineal resection have a higher risk of being diagnosed with erectile dysfunction within 2 years of treatment. The absolute rate of erectile dysfunction diagnosis was low compared to rates reported in prior controlled trials, suggesting that patients are underdiagnosed in real-world settings., Competing Interests: Declarations. Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest: None. Research involving human/animal subjects: All data was collected from the SEER-Medicare healthcare database. No individual patient information was collected. Informed consent: No informed consent as publicly available data was utilized., (© 2024. Italian Society of Surgery (SIC).)

Purpose: We aimed to examine the importance of an lncRNA, namely LINC00852, in the pathogenesis of breast cancer., Materials and Methods: In the current study, we used several online tools to examine the importance of LINC00852 in breast cancer. Then, we examined these findings in 50 pairs of breast cancer tissues and adjacent non-cancerous ones. We also re-evaluated the data of miR-145-5p signature from our recent study., Results: While in silico tools revealed down-regulation of LINC00852 in breast cancer samples, expression assays showed significant up-regulation of this lncRNAs in breast cancer samples compared with matching control samples from Iranian patients. miR-145-5p was under-expressed in breast cancer samples compared with non-cancerous samples. LINC00852 could separate breast cancer tissues from adjacent non-malignant tissues with an AUC value of 0.7218 (P value < 0.001)., Conclusion: The current study potentiates LINC00852/miR-145-5p axis as a possible contributor to the pathogenesis of breast cancer., Competing Interests: Declarations Ethics approval and consent to Participant All procedures were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent forms were obtained from all study participants. The study protocol was approved by the ethical committee of Tehran University of Medical Sciences (IR.TUMS.MEDICINE.REC.1401.272). Consent of publication Not applicable. Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Cutaneous leishmaniasis is one of the few infectious diseases whose global prevalence is on the rise. Iran ranks among the eight most affected countries in the world. Iranian military personnel are often sent to endemic areas for cutaneous leishmaniasis without prior immunity, and they have fewer health facilities in military centers than the general population. This study aims to comprehensively investigate the situation of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Iranian military personnel across all units from 2018 to 2022 and predict the disease trend using time series analysis up to the end of 2025., Methods: We analyzed data from the Iranian Ministry of Health to perform spatiotemporal and descriptive analyses based on patient frequency. Variables examined included age distribution, cutaneous leishmaniasis types (zoonotic or anthroponotic), month of healthcare facility visits, and lesion locations. This study employed the ARIMA model (p = 2, d = 0, q = 1)(P = 3, D = 0, Q = 0), for time series analysis and forecasting the disease trend up to 36 months after 2022., Results: Over five years, 2,894 patients were reported. The Esfahan, Khuzestan, and Ilam provinces had the highest average patient counts, with hot spots primarily found in central, south, southwestern, and western Iran. Although the total number of patients with zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis was almost equal to anthroponotic cutaneous leishmaniasis, in high-risk provinces such as Esfahan, Khuzestan, and Ilam, the confirmed cases of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis were much more than anthroponotic cutaneous leishmaniasis. patient numbers peak in October and November. Demographic analysis revealed that younger patients outnumbered older patients. Lesion locations were frequent on the forelimbs and lower limbs. The time series analysis for 36 months after 2022 indicated the seasonal pattern of the disease and predicted an upward trend after 2022., Conclusion: While overall cases have declined, provinces such as Esfahan exhibit an upward trend. The expansion of hotspots from the west and southwestern to the center and south of Iran, coupled with an increasing trend in time series analysis, suggests the potential emergence of new foci and a rise in patient numbers in the future. In provinces with high disease prevalence, preventive measures should be prioritized, particularly in Ilam, Khuzestan, and Esfahan., Competing Interests: Declarations Ethical approval and consent to participate The ethics committee approved the study of AJA University of Medical Sciences protocol Number: IR.AJAUMS.REC.1402.216. All methods were performed according to the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki, and relevant guidelines and regulations were followed in all protocols. The authors have completely observed ethical issues (Including plagiarism, informed consent, misconduct, data fabrication and falsification, double publication or submission, redundancy, etc.). Consent to participate declaration not applicable. Consent for publication Not applicable. Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Intravaginal rings (IVRs) are long-acting drug device systems designed for controlled drug release in the vagina. Commercially available IVRs employ a one-size-fits-all development approach, where all patients receive the same drug in similar doses and frequencies, allowing no space for dosage individualization for specific patients' needs. To allow flexibility for dosage individualization, this study explores the impact of infill-density on critical characteristics of personalized IVRs, manufactured using droplet deposition modeling three-dimensional (3D) printing technology. The model drug was dispersed on the surface of thermoplastic polyurethane pellets using an oil coating method. IVR infill-density ranged from 60 to 100 %. The compatibility of the drug and matrix was assessed using thermal and spectroscopic analyses. The IVRs were evaluated for weight, porosity, surface morphology, mechanical properties, and in vitro drug release. The results demonstrated high dimensional accuracy and uniformity of 3D-printed IVRs, indicating the robustness of the printing process. Increasing infill-density resulted in greater weight, storage modulus, Young's modulus, Shore hardness, and compression strength, while reducing the porosity of IVRs. All IVRs showed a controlled drug release pattern when tested under accelerated conditions of temperature for 25 days. Notably, greater infill-densities were associated with a decrease in the percentage of drug released. Overall, the study demonstrated that infill-density was an important parameter for personalizing the critical characteristics of the 3D-printed IVRs to fit individual patient needs., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Substance use refers to the consumption of drugs that have varying degrees of impact on a persons' physical, mental and emotional well-being. While the adverse health effects of drugs have been extensively documented, further research is needed to understand their impact on fertility. Studies have indicated that substance use affects both the male and female reproductive systems. As substance use is more prevalent among young adults compared with the elderly, it appears that individuals of reproductive age are particularly vulnerable to the reproductive impairments associated with substance use. Although numerous studies have reported detrimental effects of substance use on pregnant women and their foetus during the post-implantation stages, there are limited studies on critical pre-implantation period and gamete stages. In this narrative review, we aimed to focus on the most significant evidence regarding the impact of substances on gametes and pre-implantation embryos.

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a disease associated with inflammation and the follicular fluid of this patient contains proinflammatory cytokines. Abdominal obesity (AO) is also linked to increased levels of proinflammatory cytokines. This study investigated the induction of inflammation and decidualization of in vitro cultured endometrial stromal cells (ESCs) obtained from women with a normal uterus using the follicular fluid of PCOS and non-PCOS patients with or without abdominal obesity., Methods and Results: Forty patients under 35 years old, referred to the Royan Institute, were divided into four groups: PCOS with AO, PCOS without AO, non-PCOS with AO, and non-PCOS without AO. Follicular fluid samples were added to the culture medium of ESCs for each group. The rate of decidualization was measured by examining decidual markers. The study also investigated morphological changes in uterine endometrial cells, cell migration rates, and gene expression across all groups. We found that the non-PCOS group without AO had the highest decidualization potential and the highest expression of decidualization markers (P ≤ 0.05). Groups with an inflammatory phenotype of PCOS or abdominal obesity showed the highest expression of decidual pathway markers. The expression levels of inflammatory and proliferative markers in the PCOS group with AO were significantly higher than in the other groups (P ≤ 0.05)., Conclusions: The inflammatory profile present in the follicular fluid may trigger the decidualization process. Consequently, in the future, follicular fluid could be utilized as a natural supplement with human cells to promote decidualization and enhance endometrial receptivity in assisted reproductive technology., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

Competing Interests: Declaration of interests Thirteen of the authors (ZA, S-CH, LJ, AM, CO, MO, JP, YP-S, DS, LB-V, MRo, MW, and HW) were compensated for their time while drafting and developing the Lancet Countdown's report. LC was supported by a grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health. CD received funding from the European Research Council (FLORA, grant number 101039402). RD was supported by a grant from the High Tide Foundation and subcontracts on funds from the Wellcome Trust and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. GG-S received funding from the UK National Institute for Health and Care Research for the Global Health Research Group on Diet and Activity (NIHR133205, with sub-award contract number G109900-SJ1/171 with the University of Cambridge). SHG's research was supported by the National Research Foundation, Prime Minister's Office, Singapore, under its Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise programme (grant number NRF2019-THE001-0006). JJH was supported by two grants from the Wellcome Trust and a grant from the US National Science Foundation. RH, RK, and MSo acknowledge funding from Academy of Finland projects HEATCOST (grant 334798) and VFSP-WASE (grant 359421), together with EU Horizon projects FirEUrisk (grant number 101003890) and EXHAUSTION (grant number 820655). OJ was supported by grants from the National Health Medical Research Council (Heat and Health: building resilience to extreme heat in a warming world, GNT1147789); Wellcome Trust (Heat stress in ready-made garment factories in Bangladesh and the Heat inform pregnant study); and Resilience New South Wales (A new heat stress scale for general public); holds a patent for the Environmental Measurement Unit; and has received consulting fees from the National Institutes of Health. HM received funding from the Oak Foundation to support work on climate change through RealZero, is partly funded by the National Institute for Health Research's Comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre at University College London Hospitals, and received fees from Bayer Pharmaceuticals and Chiesl for sustainability consulting. JM-U was supported by grants PID2021-127107NB-I00 from Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Spain) and 2021 SGR 00526 from Generalitat de Catalunya (Spain). JRo's work is supported by the Alexander von Humboldt foundation. RL, JRo, and MRo were supported by Horizon Europe through the IDAlert project (101057554) and UK Research and Innovation (reference number 10056533). RNS reports a contract with Massachusetts General Hospital. MSo and AU were supported by the Finnish Foreign Ministry project IBA-ILMA (grant number VN/13798/2023). MSp was supported by funding from the Wellcome Trust, through Our Planet Our Health (Livestock, Environment and People, award number 205212/Z/16/Z) and a Wellcome Career Development Award (Towards the full cost of diets, award number 225318/Z/22/Z). JDSh was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Commonwealth Fund, and the Emergency Care Research Institute and has received consulting fees from the Institute for Healthcare Research. JT was supported by the Research Council of Finland (T-Winning Spaces 2035 project), the UK Medical Research Council (PICNIC project), and the Finnish Ministry of the Environment (SEASON project). JB is employed as a consultant by the Global Climate and Health Alliance. ML received consulting fees from YarCom for advisory services and was supported by general use gifts awarded to the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, USA. JMil acknowledges consulting fees from the C40 Climate Leadership Group. CZ-C received a consultancy from the University of Alberta and was supported by contracts with her university (Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia), University of Leeds, WHO, and the Wellcome Trust; she was also supported by a letter of agreement between her university and the Food and Agriculture Organization's Indigenous Peoples Unit. MD was supported by the Wellcome Trust via the Complex Urban Systems for Sustainability and Health project (grants 205207/Z/16/Z and 209387/Z/17/Z). IH, S-CH, MRo, CT, and RL were supported by the Horizon Europe CATALYSE project (CATALYSE grant number 101057131, HORIZON-HLTH-2021-ENVHLTH-02, with UK Research and Innovation reference number 10041512). The work of YH, YL, DT, and QZ was supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Earth Action programme (grant number 80NSSC21K0507). AJP was supported by the Bezos Earth Fund and the Schmidt Family Foundation. ER and SD were supported by a Process-based models for climate impact attribution across sectors (PROCLIAS) grant (COST Action PROCLIAS grant CA19139), funded by European Cooperation in Science and Technology. All other authors declare no competing interests.

Objectives: Breast cancer (BC) stands as the second-leading cause of female-specific cancer-related fatalities globally, necessitating comprehensive research to address its critical aspects. This study aimed to explore the time intervals between surgery and disease recurrence in BC patients and their survival utilizing various parametric and semi-parametric models., Methods: After the examination of data collected from 2010 to 2021 at a BC Center in Tehran, Iran, 171 cases met the criteria for analysis out of 2246 datasets. Model fitting, was assessed through the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), and indicated the logistic distribution as the most fit one among concurrent and independent variable models., Results: The Cox proportional hazard regression model consistently demonstrated superior fitting, characterized by the lowest AIC values. The average age at diagnosis was 50.39 years, with a standard deviation of 11.13. Typical survival time was estimated 53.44 months, falling within a confidence interval of 51.41-55.48 months at a 95% confidence level. The 1-year survival rate was determined at 0.92 (95% CI: 0.89-0.94). Notably, patient age while cancer diagnosis, progesterone receptor (PR), tumor grade, and tumor stage were found to be statistically significant ( P  < .05) risk factors for prediction of BC recurrence after surgery in Iran by Cox model., Conclusions: Our findings underscore the importance of further exploration and consideration of the identified risk factors in BC research and treatment strategies., Competing Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (© The Author(s) 2024.)

Background: Large language model (LLM) chatbots, a form of artificial intelligence (AI) that excels at prompt-based interactions and mimics human conversation, have emerged as a tool for providing patients with information about urologic conditions. We aimed to examine the quality of information related to benign prostatic hyperplasia surgery from four chatbots and how they would respond to sample patient messages., Methods: We identified the top three queries in Google Trends related to "treatment for enlarged prostate." These were entered into ChatGPT (OpenAI), Bard (Google), Bing AI (Microsoft), and Doximity GPT (Doximity), both unprompted and prompted for specific criteria (optimized). The chatbot-provided answers to each query were evaluated for overall quality by three urologists using the DISCERN instrument. Readability was measured with the built-in Flesch-Kincaid reading level tool in Microsoft Word. To assess the ability of chatbots to answer patient questions, we prompted the chatbots with a clinical scenario related to holmium laser enucleation of the prostate, followed by 10 questions that the National Institutes of Health recommends patients ask before surgery. Accuracy and completeness of responses were graded with Likert scales., Results: Without prompting, the quality of information was moderate across all chatbots but improved significantly with prompting (mean [SD], 3.3 [1.2] vs. 4.4 [0.7] out of 5; p < 0.001). When answering simulated patient messages, the chatbots were accurate (mean [SD], 5.6 [0.4] out of 6) and complete (mean [SD], 2.8 [0.3] out of 3). Additionally, 98% (39/40) had a median score of 5 or higher for accuracy, which corresponds to "nearly all correct." The readability was poor, with a mean (SD) Flesch-Kincaid reading level grade of 12.1 (1.3) (unprompted)., Conclusions: LLM chatbots hold promise for patient education, but their effectiveness is limited by the need for careful prompting from the user and by responding at a reading level higher than that of most Americans (grade 8). Educating patients and physicians on optimal LLM interaction is crucial to unlock the full potential of chatbots., (© 2024 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

This work investigates the use of Aspergillus brasiliensis, this particular species of Aspergillus, as a biosorbent for the first time. It is employed to biosorption Zn(II), Cd(II), and Pb(II) and combines the biosorption experiments with electrochemical measurements for in situ analysis. For the experiments, a batch system was employed with the dead biomass. In order to determine the biosorption capacity, the impact of several operational parameters was examined, including pH, temperature, agitation speed, contact time, and initial metal concentration, and the optimum values were 5, 30 °C, 150 rpm, 2 h, and 150 ppm, respectively. Using 0.2 g biomass in 100 mL solution, the maximal uptake of Zn(II), Cd(II), and Pb(II) at ideal conditions was determined to be 33.67, 24.51, and 36.76, respectively. The Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm model was studied for the biosorption process. An electrochemical sensor using nanomaterials is designed and constructed to monitor the concentration of these metals. The silver nanoparticles functionalized with thiosemicarbazide and 6-mercaptohexanoic acid (mercaptohexanoylhydrazinecarbothioamide-coated silver nanoparticles, MHHC-AgNPs) linked to the carboxylated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were utilized for glassy carbon electrode modification (MHHC-AgNPs/MWCNTs/GCE). The concentration range of Zn(II) is 0.7-173 µg/L, Cd(II) is 1.18-293 µg/L, and Pb(II) is 2.17-540 µg/L. The detection limits for Zn(II), Cd(II), and Pb(II) are 0.036 µg/L, 0.15 µg/L, and 0.16 µg/L, respectively. Under optimized conditions, these results were obtained using the differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry method (DPASV). The successful detection of Zn(II), Cd(II), and Pb(II) was achieved by effectively preventing interference from other common ions. It was effectively employed for measuring ions in industrial wastewater, and the results obtained aligned with those acquired from an atomic absorption spectrometer (AAS). Thus, Aspergillus brasiliensis species, along with this electrochemical sensor, can be used to remediate and monitor environmental pollution, Zn(II), Cd(II), and Pb(II), successfully., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

As of December 2020, around 200 vaccine candidates for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) are being developed. COVID-19 vaccines have been created on a number of platforms and are still being developed. Nucleic acid (DNA, RNA) vaccines, viral vector vaccines, inactivated vaccines, protein subunit vaccines, and live attenuated vaccines are among the COVID-19 vaccine modalities. At this time, at least 52 candidate vaccines are being studied. Spike protein is the primary protein that COVID-19 vaccines are targeting. Therefore, it is critical to determine whether immunizations provide complete or fractional protection, whether this varies with age, whether vaccinated people are protected from reoccurring diseases, and whether they need booster shots if they've already been inoculated. Despite the enormous achievement of bringing several vaccine candidates to market in less than a year, acquiring herd immunity at the national level and much more so at the global level remains a major challenge. Therefore, we gathered information on the mechanism of action of presently available COVID-19 vaccines in this review and essential data on the vaccines' advantages and downsides and their future possibilities., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Mohammadi, Ghasemi, Manouchehrian, Zafarmand, Akbari and Boroumand.)