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Various considerations on design of plastic injection moulded parts were applied in initial stage to prevent any defects of end products. Therefore, the objective of this project is to design the plastic injection moulded part by taking consideration on several factors such as draft angle, corner radius and location of gate. In this project, flat plastic part, ring plastic part, core inserts for flat and ring plastic part were designed using SolidWorks software. The plastic part was drawn in sketching mode then the 3D modeling of solid part was generated using various commands. Considerations of plastic part such as draft angle and corner radius with location of gate was considered in the design stage. Finally, it was successfully designed the two plastic parts with their respectively insert by using SolidWorks software. The flat plastic part and ring plastic part were designed for the purpose for future researches for study the weld lines, meld lines, air trapped and geometrical size of the product. Thus, by designing the flat plastic part and ring plastic part having core insert on each part, the completed mould design of two plate mould can be considered. This is because, plastic injection parts are needed to be designed properly in order to neglect any defect when the mould was made.

Aim The purpose of this study was to assess satisfaction level and related factors among patients who had an anesthesia during endoscopic procedures; and also validate a questionnaire for evaluating satisfaction with anesthesia. Background The level of patient satisfaction with GI endoscopic procedure is an important criterion to indicate the level of expertise in endoscopy. Patients and methods We performed a prospective descriptive study at Resalat Hospital, Tehran, Iran. Three hundred seventy nine elective patients undergoing anesthesia for GI endoscopy procedure in 2010 were recruited. A 20-item questionnaire was used to evaluate the satisfaction with the anesthesia. The questionnaire was answered within 72 hours after the procedure. The satisfaction was graded into four major groups: anesthesia delivery, procedural recall, side effects and global satisfaction. Results The level of satisfaction with anesthesia and its related factors were determined. The mean score of satisfaction with anesthesia delivery, procedural recall, side effects, global satisfaction, and total satisfaction (question 1-16) were 6.15 ± 1.23, 5.65± 1.48, 5.24± 1.16, 5.01± 1.29, and 5.46± 1.14, respectively. There was a significant difference in patients’ satisfaction level between different jobs (p=0.02) as well as different levels of education (p=0.01). Conclusion Higher educational level was accompanied with greater satisfaction. The highest satisfaction score was seen among retired patients and the lowest level was found in housekeepers.

We describe the specific identification of Leishmania species in Iran using PCR DNA amplification of kDNA. For this purpose, we designed a pair of primers--upstream 5' TCGCAGAACGCCCCTACC 3' and downstream 5'-AGGGGTTGGTGTAAAATAGGC 3'--specific for conserved sequences of kDNA of Leishmania. Using this primer, we identified 3 different amplified fragments from the kDNA of the WHO reference Leishmania species. Two bands at 620 and 850 bp were identified for L. major (MRHO/IR/64/Nadim-1 strain) and only 1 band at 620 bp was identified for L. major (P strain). Therefore, we could differentiate 2 Leishmania species. Also, 1 band at 830 bp was identified for L. tropica (MHOM/Sudan/58/OD strain). We determined the sequence analysis of 2 DNA bands (620 and 850 bp) obtained from kDNA of L. major (MRHO/IR/64/Nadim-1). A total of 157 bp from the 5' site and 234 bp from the 3' site were sequenced and showed about 28% homology between 620 and 850 bp fragments. This technique could amplify as little as 1 fg of DNA and was used to differentiate kDNA samples isolated from Iranian patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis. These data indicate that the primer used for PCR amplification of kDNA is specific and can be used for diagnostic and epidemiological purposes.

A variety of recombinant protein expression systems have been developed for heterologous genes in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic systems such as bacteria, yeast, mammals, insects, transgenic animals and transgenic plants. Also, it has been reported that Leishmania tarentolae, a trypanosomatid protozoan parasite of the white-spotted wall gecko (Tarentola annularis), has the capability of expressing heterologous genes. Trypanosomatidae are rich in glycoproteins, which can account for more than 10% of total protein. The oligosaccharide structures of their glycoproteins are similar to those of mammals with N-linked galactose, and sialic acid residues. For a variety of reasons, including the glycosylation patterns and the secondary structures of some of these proteins, synthesis in eukaryotic system is highly preferable. In addition, formation of native disulfide bonds in complex eukaryotic proteins is tremendously important. In the present study, we tried to express the tPA (tissue plasminogen activator) gene in L. tarentolae. This protein is a thrombolytic agent with 527 amino acid residues. tPA possesses serine-protease activity, with 35 cysteine residues that participate in the formation of 17 disulfide bonds. We have used an expression cassette, including the alpha intergenic regions of Leishmania major and two sites at the 3'- and 5'-ends, for homologous recombination in L. tarentolae, in addition to antibiotic-resistant genes. Southern-blot analysis showed that the human tPA gene had been inserted into the genome of the parasite. The expression of the tPA at the mRNA and protein levels was confirmed. It was shown that the expressed tPA in this system was 70 i.u. (international units)/ml of culture media, which is much higher than levels reported previously in other systems.

Urban infrastructure provides foundations for modern civil community and enhances quality of life. Coordination between different urban infrastructure agencies plays a pivotal role in the success of provision of these critical facilities. In turn, identifying and managing interdependency between different urban infrastructures is a key issue in establishing robust coordination in the process of the provision of urban infrastructure. To this end, the present paper, by reviewing the pertinent literature and investigating the current coordination context of urban infrastructure provision in Iran, provides a conceptual framework for identifying the roots of coordination challenges in this salient domain of urban knowledge. The interdependency between urban infrastructure and complexity of the urban infrastructure provision, two significant features of urban infrastructure provision, are two highlighted points in the framework.

Sodium stearoyl-2-lactylate (SSL), diacetyl tartaric acid esters of monoglyceride (DATEM), glycerol monostearate (GMS), and distilled glycerol monostearate (DGMS) surfactant gels were made with water and varying shortening contents. The effect of these gels on dough rheological characteristics and quality of bread was investigated. Overall, the surfactant gels improved the farinograph and extensograph characteristics of wheat flour, but the improvement reduced to some extent with the presence of shortening in the gels. Alveograph data indicated that dough properties improved with the addition of surfactant gels. Shortening in gels showed varying influence on the dough alveograph properties of wheat flour. The results indicated that the surfactant gels changed the rapid visco analyzer characteristics of wheat flour, and the presence of shortening in gels further altered the characteristics. All surfactant gels improved the volume, specific volume, texture, and overall quality scores of bread, but the improvement varied for different surfactants. By increasing the addition of shortening in gels, though the quality characteristics further improved, the response to surfactants reduced by increasing shortening content.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is one of the main etiological agents of acute and chronic liver disease that is still a major public health problem in the world. Numerous HBV isolates have grouped into eight genotypes, A to H, based on the complete genome sequence. To date, no study has been carried out on the complete HBV genome sequence in Iran. The objective of this study was to investigate the complete genome sequence organization and phylogenetic analysis of the five HBV strains, which obtained from Iranian chronic infected patients. Results showed that Iranian strains were closely related to each other, with 97–100% nucleotide similarity. Phylogenetic analysis based on the complete genome sequences and the precore/core gene sequences revealed that all strains were of genotype D, sub-genotype D1 with bootstrap value 100 and 99%, respectively. The S gene encoded Arg122, Pro127, and Lys160 corresponding to subtype ayw2. Iranian HBV isolates had closely related with Turkish HBV strains. All strains had a nucleotide length of 3,182 base pair (bp) except IR-P4 strain, with a 3,185 bp in length and with a unique Phe89 insertion in the X gene. The intragenotypic divergence of the complete genome sequence of Iranian strains was 1.8% and the intergenotypic in genotype D was 3.8% and with the other genotypes was 7.9–15.4%. In conclusion, this study revealed that the HBV genotype D, sub-genotype D1, subtype ayw2 dominates in the Iranian infected patients. A single Phe89 insertion in the X gene of the one Iranian strain with an unforeseen length of 3185 bp was identified. J. Med. Virol. 76:318–326, 2005. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is one of the major causative agents of acute and chronic liver disease worldwide and is believed to be responsible for a million deaths annually. Eight genotypes of HBV, A to H, have been described on the basis of similarity of the complete genomes sequence. Although, it is reported that the predominant HBV genotype in the Mediterranean area and the middle east is genotype D, there are no reports on HBV genotypes prevalent in Iran. In this study, the C and S regions of HBV from 26 chronic hepatitis B Iranian patients were amplified and sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that all Iranian HBV isolates sequences were classified into genotype D with bootstrap values of 100%, 73%, and 100% (1,000 replicates each) for S, C, and preS2 regions, respectively. The mean percent intra-distance of S and C regions were 0.8% and 2.3%, respectively. The mean percent inter-distance of S and C regions between Iranians and genotype D isolates were 1.7% and 3.0%, respectively, and the range of mean percent nucleotide distance of S and C regions between Iranians and the other reference isolates were 7.9%–17.5% and 4.8%–14.7%, respectively. Thirteen out of 23 HBV C region sequences showed nucleotide “A” at position 1896 (precore mutant) in C region. Nucleotide 1858 showed presence of “T” in all isolates. No insertion or deletion was found in both regions. SimPlot and BootScanning analyses did not show any recombination between Iranian isolates and other genotypes in both regions. J. Med. Virol. 75:227–234, 2005. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

The optimization of surface integrity in drilling process using response surface method (RSM) is presented. This paper investigates the effects of drilling parameter such as spindle speed, feed rate and drill diameter on the surface roughness and surface texture of drilled hole by applying RSM. There are three factors (spindle speed, feed rate and drill diameter) under investigation, therefore, by applying RSM there will be 20 experimental observations. The minimum surface roughness measured for the hole was 1.06 μm at combination of 2000 rpm spindle speed, 78 mm/min feed rate and 2.5 mm drill diameter. While the maximum surface roughness of 2.59 μm was measured at the combination of 250 rpm spindle speed, 153 mm/min feed rate and 3.5 mm drill diameter. One factor plot analysis found that the most significant parameter was spindle speed followed by drill diameter and feed rate. Thus, surface roughness decreased when increasing the spindle speed, feed rate and drill diameter. There were interactions between all the parameter of spindle speed, feed rate and drill diameter in drilling process under investigation.

Bakground: Aspergillus fumigatus is an airborne opportunistic fungal pathogen that can cause fatal infections in immunocompromised patients. Although the current anti-fungal therapies are relatively efficient, some issues such as drug toxicity, drug interactions, and the emergence of drug-resistant fungi have promoted the intense research toward finding the novel drug targets. Methods: In search of new antifungal drug targets, we have used a bioinformatics approach to identify novel drug targets. We compared the whole proteome of this organism with yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to come up with 153 specific proteins. Further screening of these proteins revealed 50 potential molecular targets in A. fumigatus. Amongst them, RNA-binding protein (RBP) was selected for further examination. The aspergillus fumigatus RBP (AfuRBP), as a peptidylprolyl isomerase, was evaluated by homology modeling and bioinformatics tools. RBP-deficient mutant strains of A. fumigatus were generated and characterized. Furthermore, the susceptibility of these strains to known peptidylprolyl isomerase inhibitors was assessed. Results: AfuRBP-deficient mutants demonstrated a normal growth phenotype. MIC assay results using inhibitors of peptidylprolyl isomerase confirmed a higher sensitivity of these mutants compared to the wild type. Conclusion: Our bioinformatics approach revealed a number of fungal-specific proteins that may be considered as new targets for drug discovery purposes. Peptidylprolyl isomerase, as a possible drug target, was evaluated against two potential inhibitors, and the promising results were investigated mechanistically. Future studies would confirm the impact of such target on the antifungal discovery investigations

International audience; BACKGROUND: Infectious Bursal Disease Virus (IBDV) causes a highly immunosuppressive disease in chickens and is a pathogen of major economic importance to the poultry industry worldwide. The VP2 protein is the major host-protective immunogen of IBDV and has been considered as a potential subunit vaccine against the disease. VP2 coding sequence was cloned in an inducible fungal vector and the protein was expressed in Aspergillus niger (A. niger). METHODS: Aiming at a high level of expression, a multicopy AMA1-pyrG-based episomal construct driven by a strong inducible promoter, glaA, was prepared and used in transformation of A. niger pyrG-protoplasts. SDS-PAGE and western blot analysis was carried out to confirm the expression of the protein. RESULTS: A number of pyrG (+) positive transformants were isolated and the presence of expression cassette was confirmed. Western blot analysis of one of these recombinant strains using monospecific anti-VP2 antibodies demonstrated the successful expression of the protein. The recombinant protein was also detected by serum obtained from immunized chicken. CONCLUSION: In the present study, we have generated a recombinant A. niger strain expressing VP2 protein intracellulary. This recombinant strain of A. niger may have potential applications in oral vaccination against IBDV in poultry industry.

Urate oxidase is an important enzyme with therapeutic and diagnostic applications. Rasburicase is a recombinant urate oxidase enzyme approved by FDA to use in the treatment of hyperuricemia conditions. Various hosts such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Hansenula polymorpha and Escherichia coli have been used to express the enzyme. Today, Pichia pastoris is considered as an important host for heterologous protein expression since it has beneficial characteristics such as strong promoters, simple scale up, post translational modifications, high cell density cultivation and simple genetic manipulation. In this study, Aspergillus flavus urate oxidase gene was cloned in pPICZαA expression vector and expressed in P. pastoris. The recombinant urate oxidase was expressed in secretory form and was confirmed through RT-PCR, SDS-PAGE analysis and western blotting. The enzyme activity was determined using a colorimetric assay. A production yield of 0.43 U/ml of culture supernatant was obtained.