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Nooshin Ghavidel,1 Fariba Khodagholi,1 Abolhassan Ahmadiani,1 Reza Khosrowabadi,2 Sareh Asadi,3 Jamal Shams4 1Neuroscience Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 2Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran; 3NeuroBiology Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 4Behavioral Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IranCorrespondence: Sareh AsadiNeuroBiology Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Evin, Daneshjoo Blvd, P.O. Box 19615-1178, Tehran, IranTel + 98-21-22429768Fax + 98-21- 22432047Email s.asadi@sbmu.ac.ir Jamal ShamsBehavioral Research Center, Imam Hossain Educational Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Madani Ave, P.O. Box 1617763141, Tehran, IranTel/Fax + 98-21-77553074Email J_shams@sbmu.ac.irIntroduction: Studies have been reported that frequent use of methamphetamine (MA) is associated with brain function impairment, mood disorders and excessive free radical production accompanied by the decreased level of the antioxidant response elements, but no study investigated their correlations simultaneously. In the current study, the correlation of brain function, depression and anxiety levels, and the serum levels of PON1 (an antioxidant) in MA-dependent patients were investigated.Methods: Nineteen active MA abusers and 18 control subjects performed color-word Stroop task during fMRI and the state of their depression, anxiety, and stress were measured by the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 Items (DASS-21) questionnaire. Their blood samples were collected to measure the level of PON1 by the human enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit and its correlation with the measured variables was studied.Results: Analysis of fMRI findings showed frontocingulate dysfunction in Stroop effect condition, including left anterior cingulate cortex, paracingulate gyrus, superior frontal gyrus, and frontal pole in MA-dependent patients, which was associated with a higher level of depression and decreased level of serum PON1 in these patients.Discussion: The results of the current study showed that MA-dependency is associated with frontocingulate dysfunction, decreased serum PON1 concentration, and increased depression/anxiety, which is worth to be more studied to elucidate their roles in the pathophysiology of MA addiction.Keywords: anxiety, depression, fMRI, PON1, Stroop task

Monireh Azizi,1 Naser Abbasi,2,3 Mojtaba Mohamadpour,4 Salar Bakhtiyari,5 Sirous Asadi,4 Ehsan Shirzadpour,5 Ali Aidy,2 Mahmoud Mohamadpour,5 Mansour Amraei2,6 1Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Ilam University of Medical Sciences, Ilam, Iran; 2Biotechnology and Medicinal Plants Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Ilam University of Medical Sciences, Ilam, Iran; 3Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Ilam University of Medical Sciences, Ilam, Iran; 4Student Research Committee, Faculty of Medicine, Ilam University of Medical Sciences, Ilam, Iran; 5Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Ilam University of Medical Sciences, Ilam, Iran; 6Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Ilam University of Medical Sciences, Ilam, IranCorrespondence: Mansour AmraeiDepartment of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Ilam University of Medical Sciences, Banganjab Street, PO Box 6939177143, Ilam, IranTel +98 843 223 5724Fax +98 843 222 7136Email amraei.mansour@yahoo.comBackground: Studies have shown that consumption of high levels of alcohol causes many negative effects on the liver and kidneys where antioxidant ingredients can be a proper solution to reducing the resulting damages. So, the present study investigated the effect of hydroalcoholic extract of Crocus sativus L. (saffron) petal with antioxidant properties on the changes in inflammatory and enzymatic indices resulting from alcohol use in the male rats’ kidney and liver.Materials and methods: After preparing the extract, LD50 was determined and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was employed to specify the type and the rate of the active ingredients of the extract. Then, 36 male Wistar rats were randomly assigned into six groups (n=6). The first group was only administered with normal saline and the second group only received ethyl alcohol 6 mL/kg/day·BW. The third and the fourth groups received ethyl alcohol 6 mL/kg/day·BW plus 167.5 and 335 mg/kg/day·BW saffron petal extract for 8 weeks. The fifth and the sixth groups received ethyl alcohol 6 mL/kg/day·BW for the first 8 weeks and were subsequently gavage fed on saffron extract for 167.5 and 335 mg/kg/day·BW, respectively, during the next 8 weeks. In the beginning and after the termination of the treatment, blood samples were collected from all rats.Results: The LD50 of the extract was about 670 mg/kg. The HPLC results indicated that the extract contains important antioxidant ingredients. At the end of the study, the serum concentration of the inflammatory indices, renal enzymes, and hepatic enzymes experienced a significant reduction in all of the intervened groups compared to the negative control group (minimum significant difference: P

Fatemeh S Rasouli,1 S Farhad Masoudi,1 Somayeh Asadi21Department of Physics, K.N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran; 2Department of Mechanical Engineering, Politecnico Di Milano, Milan, ItalyPurpose: To investigate the effect of precise modeling for Monte Carlo simulations of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) dose-enhanced radiotherapy, two models characterized by their distribution of GNPs in a simulated macroscopic cubic tumor were introduced. The motivation was the widely documented tendency of GNPs to localize around the cell nucleus.Methods: The introduced models composed of 2.7×107 ellipsoid cells, each of them containing a centrally located nucleus as the target for dose evaluation. In the first model, the spheres of GNP are homogeneously distributed in the whole tumor volume, and in the latter, GNPs are localized in the cytoplasms surrounded the nuclei.Results: The results achieved through applying Monte Carlo radiation transports using the Mont Carlo N-Particle eXtended code (MCNPX) show an underestimation of nuclear dose enhancement caused by homogeneous model compared with that of heterogeneous distribution. By investigating various quantities, it was found that subcellular location of GNPs strongly governs the sensitivity of dose enhancement to the number and concentration of GNPs targeted in the tumor. Other obvious differences are revealed by studying the dose enhancement curves in depth of the tumor. While the heterogeneous model predicts an approximately constant dose enhancement in depth for primary photon energies of 50 keV and more, the homogeneous model estimates an energy-dependent increase of about 11 to 30%.Conclusion: It can be concluded that defining a model in accordance with the experimental observations can effectively account for accurate prediction of macroscopic dose enhancement in the target of interest.Keywords: gold nanoparticles, dose-enhanced radiotherapy, cell model, tumor, Monte Carlo simulation

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

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

Arschang Valipour,1 Sherwin Asadi,1 Christophe Pison,2 Marie Jondot,2 Romain Kessler,3 Khaled Benneddif,3 Gaetan Deslee,4 Margaux Verdier,4 Dirk-Jan Slebos,5 Martin Mayse6 1Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Ludwig-Boltzmann-Institute for COPD and Respiratory Epidemiology, Otto-Wagner-Spital, Vienna, Austria; 2CHU Grenoble Alpes, Clinique Universitaire de Pneumologie, Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France; 3Service de Pneumologie, Nouvel Hôpital Civil, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France; 4CHU de Reims, Hôpital Maison Blanche, Service de Pneumologie, INSERM UMRS903, Reims, France; 5Department of Pulmonary Diseases, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands; 6Nuvaira, Inc., Minneapolis, MN, USA Background: Targeted lung denervation (TLD) is a novel bronchoscopic therapy for COPD which ablates parasympathetic pulmonary nerves running along the outside of the two main bronchi with the intent of inducing permanent bronchodilation. The goal of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and long-term safety of bilateral TLD during a single procedure. Patients and methods: This prospective, multicenter study evaluated 15 patients with moderate-to-severe COPD (forced expiratory volume in 1 s [FEV1] 30%–60%) who underwent bilateral TLD treatment following baseline assessment without bronchodilators. The primary safety end point was freedom from documented and sustained worsening of COPD directly attributable to TLD up to 1 year. Secondary end points included technical feasibility, change in pulmonary function tests, exercise capacity, and health-related quality of life. Follow-up continued up to 3 years for subjects who reconsented for longer-term follow-up. Results: A total of 15 patients (47% male, age 63.2±4.0 years) underwent TLD with a total procedure time of 89±16 min, and the total fluoroscopy time was 2.5±2.7 min. Primary safety end point of freedom from worsening of COPD was 100%. There were no procedural complications reported. Results of lung function analysis and exercise capacity demonstrated similar beneficial effects of TLD without bronchodilators, when compared with long-acting anticholinergic therapy at 30 days, 180 days, 365 days, 2 years, and 3 years post-TLD. Five of the 12 serious adverse events that were reported through 3 years of follow-up were respiratory related with no events being related to TLD therapy. Conclusion: TLD delivered to both lungs in a single procedure is feasible and safe with few respiratory-related adverse events through 3 years. Keywords: COPD, bronchoscopy, radiofrequency ablation, denervation, device

Marzie Sina,1 Abolhassan Ahmadiani,1 Sareh Asadi,2 Jamal Shams3 1Neuroscience Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 2NeuroBiology Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 3Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Introduction: Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is a debilitating psychiatric disorder causing intrusive thoughts or repetitive behaviors. Serotonin reuptake inhibitors are used for OCD treatment, but 40%–60% of patients do not respond to them adequately. In this study, the associations of serotonin receptor 2a polymorphisms rs6311 and rs6313 with OCD, its familial form and fluvoxamine treatment response in Iranian population were investigated. Patients and methods: Association analyses were conducted in 293 OCD cases fulfilling the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)-IV-TR and 245 controls. Pharmacotherapy was defined as 12 weeks of treatment with fluvoxamine (150–300 mg). Treatment response was considered as >25% reduction in Yale–Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale score. Genotyping was performed by means of PCR-RFLP. Results: The results showed no association of rs6311 or rs6313 with OCD, but their haplotypes had different distribution patterns in cases and controls. Moreover, rs6313 was associated with the familial form of OCD in females significantly (P=0.005) under the recessive genetic model. Moreover, rs6311–rs6313 haplotypes were associated with fluvoxamine treatment response in OCD patients with more AC and less AT in responders. Conclusion: HTR2A haplotypes are associated with OCD and its treatment response with a fluvoxamine in Iranian patients. Furthermore, the observed association of rs6313 with the familial form of OCD in females suggests different genetic background of OCD familial and non-familial forms, which needs further investigation. Keywords: family history, fluvoxamine, treatment response, rs6311, rs6313

Mozhgan Rezaei Kanavi,1 Somayeh Asadi,1,2 Hamid Ahmadieh2 1Ocular Tissue Engineering Research Center, 2Ophthalmic Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IranStudies on combined radiotherapy and nanoparticles (NPs) have shown that a greater therapeutic ratio can be achieved using gold nanoparticles (GNPs) as radiosensitizing agents within the tumor.1 Recent Monte Carlo studies demonstrated that GNPs enhance the absorbed dose by choroidal melanoma during brachytherapy with sources such as 103Pd and 125I.2 Given that the energy range of these sources is low, NPs with high atomic number can be suitable to yield a higher absorbed dose when used alongside the mentioned sources.3 Although it has been a long time since the merit and priority of using NPs in treating cancer by low-energy sources has been studied, regarding eye cancers a major concern has been the way these NPs would be spread in the ocular tissues. A principal question is the form and method by which the NPs disperse within the intraocular tumor after intralesional injection. Will the NPs be also absorbed by the nearby healthy tissues?

In this paper we generalize an infeasible interior-point method for linear optimization to horizontal linear complementarity problem (HLCP). This algorithm starts from strictly feasible iterates on the central path of a perturbed problem that is produced by suitable perturbation in HLCP problem. Then, we use so-called feasibility steps that serves to generate strictly feasible iterates for the next perturbed problem. After accomplishing a few centering steps for the new perturbed problem, we obtain strictly feasible iterates close enough to the central path of the new perturbed problem. The complexity of the algorithm coincides with the best known iteration complexity for infeasible interior-point methods.

Kanavi MR, Asadi S, Ahmadieh H. Ex vivo distribution of gold nanoparticles in choroidal melanoma. International Journal of Nanomedicine. 2017;12:8527–8529.Affiliation 1 should have been presented as:Ocular Tissue Engineering Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, IranRead the original article.

Background: Inappropriate use of antimicrobial agents is one of the most important factors in inducing resistance and prolonged hospitalization as well as increase in patient mortality rate. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate aminoglycosides (AGs) usage pattern at intensive care units (ICUs) of Nemazee hospital Shiraz, Iran. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the usage pattern of AGs was evaluated during 32 months. Guidelines for AGs usage were approved by the drug and therapeutic committee of the hospital, and criteria were developed to assess 11 parameters involving AGs therapy, such as proper indication for the use of the drug, dosage and duration of therapy. Clinical parameters, such as microbial culture and sensitivity, serum creatinine (SCr) and creatinine clearance, and white blood cell count were evaluated. Results: Ninety-five patients were recruited, 50 male and 45 females. In most patients (64%) the origin of infection was hospital and only in 36% of them, community was the source. Ventilator associated pneumonia (27%), central nervous system (25%) and urinary tract infection (10%) were the most important indications for AGs prescription. Scores of AGs usage at Nemazee hospital was calculated as 5.9 out of 11, which meant that in only 54% of cases AGs prescription was based on guideline proposed by the Department of Clinical Pharmacy of Nemazee Hospital. Conclusions: Non-adherence to the guidelines occurred frequently in the ICUs of Nemazee hospital. Prescription of loading dose, and AGs level measurement were not done and evaluating microbiological data was often neglected. Incorporating pharmacists in the health care team and holding training programs for physicians and nurses with the goal of raising awareness about the proposed guideline.

We present ultraviolet (UV) observations of six nearby Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope, three of which were also observed in the near-IR (NIR) with Wide-Field Camera 3. UV observations with the Swift satellite, as well as ground-based optical and NIR data provide complementary information. The combined data set covers the wavelength range 0.2-2 μm. By also including archival data of SN 2014J, we analyse a sample spanning observed colour excesses up to E(B - V) = 1.4 mag. We study the wavelength-dependent extinction of each individual SN and find a diversity of reddening laws when characterized by the total-to-selective extinction RV. In particular, we note that for the two SNe with E(B - V) ≳ 1 mag, for which the colour excess is dominated by dust extinction, we find RV = 1.4 ± 0.1 and RV = 2.8 ± 0.1. Adding UV photometry reduces the uncertainty of fitted RV by ~50 per cent allowing us to also measure RV of individual low-extinction objects which point to a similar diversity, currently not accounted for in the analyses when SNe Ia are used for studying the expansion history of the Universe.