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Background: Palliative research studies seem to be limited and disperse in Iran. The present study was therefore conducted to review and categorize the Palliative Care (PC) studies performed in Iran in terms of the research type, the type/focus of PC, the measured outcomes in interventional palliative studies and their related results, the disease type, and their geographical distribution. Materials and Methods: This narrative review was conducted in 2021 in which both Iranian and international databases including PubMed, Scopus, Web of science, CINAHL, ProQuest, Magiran, SID, Noormags, ISC were searched. The inclusion criteria were original articles conducted in Iran and results published in Persian or English journals ab initio in which PC was assessed as a variable (dependent or independent) or the main concept. Results: A total of 1096 articles were identified from which only 44 articles were reviewed. The research studies were mainly focused on cancer and majority conducted in Tehran. Majority of studies were quantitative-interventional leading to a variety of positive changes in dependent variables, including reduce in pain severity, change in life pattern, a good response to therapy, increase life expectancy, improve in dysphagia, improve quality of life, reduce patients' metastasis, and increase in nurses' self-efficacy. Conclusions: The PC studies distributed across different fields and cities in Iran resulted to a number of positive outcomes for patients. More focused and robust research studies with different patients need to be conducted in this emerging field in Iran.

Genetically encoded voltage indicators (GEVIs) based on microbial rhodopsins utilize the voltage-sensitive fluorescence of all- trans retinal (ATR), while in electrochromic FRET (eFRET) sensors, donor fluorescence drops when the rhodopsin acts as depolarization-sensitive acceptor. In recent years, such tools have become widely used in mammalian cells but are less commonly used in invertebrate systems, mostly due to low fluorescence yields. We systematically assessed Arch(D95N), Archon, QuasAr, and the eFRET sensors MacQ-mCitrine and QuasAr-mOrange, in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans . ATR-bearing rhodopsins reported on voltage changes in body wall muscles (BWMs), in the pharynx, the feeding organ [where Arch(D95N) showed approximately 128% ΔF/F increase per 100 mV], and in neurons, integrating circuit activity. ATR fluorescence is very dim, yet, using the retinal analog dimethylaminoretinal, it was boosted 250-fold. eFRET sensors provided sensitivities of 45 to 78% ΔF/F per 100 mV, induced by BWM action potentials, and in pharyngeal muscle, measured in simultaneous optical and sharp electrode recordings, MacQ-mCitrine showed approximately 20% ΔF/F per 100 mV. All sensors reported differences in muscle depolarization induced by a voltage-gated Ca 2+ -channel mutant. Optogenetically evoked de- or hyperpolarization of motor neurons increased or eliminated action potential activity and caused a rise or drop in BWM sensor fluorescence. Finally, we analyzed voltage dynamics across the entire pharynx, showing uniform depolarization but compartmentalized repolarization of anterior and posterior parts. Our work establishes all-optical, noninvasive electrophysiology in live, intact C. elegans .

Background: Today’s healthcare organizations are challenged by pressures to meet growing population demands and enhance community health through improving service quality. Quality function deployment is one of the widely-used customerdriven approaches for health services development. In the current study, quality function deployment is used to improve the quality of chemotherapy unit services. Methods: First, we identified chemotherapy outpatient unit patients as chemotherapy unit customers. Then, the Delphi technique and component factor analysis with orthogonal rotation was employed to determine their expectations. Thereafter, data envelopment analysis was performed to specify user priorities. We determined the relationships between patients’ expectations and service elements through expert group consensus using the Delphi method and the relationships between service elements by Pearson correlation. Finally, simple and compound priorities of the service elements were derived by matrix calculation. Results: Chemotherapy unit patients had four main expectations: access, suitable hotel services, satisfactory and effective relationships, and clinical services. The chemotherapy unit has six key service elements of equipment, materials, human resources, physical space, basic facilities, and communication and training. There were four-level relationships between the patients’ expectations and service elements, with mostly significant correlations between service elements. According to the findings, the functional group of basic facilities was the most critical factor, followed by materials. Conclusion: The findings of the current study can be a general guideline as well as a scientific, structured framework for chemotherapy unit decision makers in order to improve chemotherapy unit services.

Background: Leishmaniasis is a parasitic infectious disease caused by a protozoan parasite from trypanosomatidae family with a wide spectrum in tropical and subtropical areas. The purpose of the study was to characterize various species of Leishmania isolates from Isfahan, Iran with negative direct smears. Methods: This study used culture methods and PCR-RFLP to detect cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in patients who referred to the Center for Research in Skin Disease and Leishmaniasis, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan Iran, with negative direct smears. Samples taken from the lesions of patients were cultured on NNN and RPMI1640 mediums. Out of 100 smear negative samples, 50 turned positive for leishmania promastigotes whose DNA was extracted. The amplified ITS1 region of DNA was then analyzed through PCR-RFLP. After digesting the isolates by HaeIII enzyme, the species were determined according to standard strains. Findings: Among 50 isolates from Isfahan region, 46 isolates were identified as L. major and 4 as L. tropica. Conclusion: The present research showed that PCR-RFLP is an accurate method for specifying agent species of CL. It was also found that L. major and L. tropica were the main two species responsible for various kinds of skin involvement in the region.

International audience; The Yafteh cave in Iran has an intact Aurignacian sequence over 2m deep. First explored by Frank Hole and Kent Flannery in the 1960s, its strata and assemblage are here re-evaluated at first hand by a new international team. The authors show that the assemblage is genuine Aurignacian and dates back to about 35.5K uncal BP. They propose it as emerging locally and even as providing a culture of origin for modern humans in West Asia and Europe.

International audience

Following the tragic events of 11 September 2001, the relationship between religion and democracy has emerged as one of the most important and vexing questions of our age, particularly as it relates to Muslim societies. Most of the theoretical debate surrounding this relationship involves a discussion of Arab and Islamic political culture, secularism, and the problems of separating mosque and state in Muslim political theory. A critical prerequisite for democratic development is the transformation of religion. This conclusion is implicit in the writings of one of the early theoreticians of democracy, Alexis de Tocqueville. What lessons can democratic activists in the Muslim world learn from his observations of the early American republic?