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Computing time and memory requirements increase with single-step methods to estimate genomic breeding values when the number of genotyped animals increases. Computational costs can be reduced by omitting genotypes of animals without phenotype and progeny, often the candidate animals for selection. Indirect prediction of a candidate animal GEBV can be based on the animal’s genotype and SNP marker solutions (DGV). Alternatively, the sum of DGV and residual polygenic (RPG) effect can be computed, denoted GRV (Genomic and Residual polygenic Value). We applied indirect genomic prediction for a 6 trait calving difficulty evaluation. There were 1.50 million genotyped animals of which 36% were considered candidate animals. Based on our results, DGV showed high accuracy but also bias due to omitting the RPG effect. The GRV prediction had high accuracy and low bias. Computing time was reduced by 33%.

Histiocytosis is a condition resulting from the abnormal proliferation of dentritic cells of the mononuclear phagocytic system. Previously classified as Langerhans cell histiocytosis and non-Langerhans cell histiocytosis, and recently into 5 categories (L, C, R, M and H), it can be localized to an organ or have a systemic manifestation, affecting most commonly the bone, skin and lymph nodes. Gastrointestinal involvement is extremely rare especially for the non-Langerhans group. We report a rare case of a non-Langerhans cell histiocytosis affecting the rectum, manifesting as a large, nodular, ulcerated, continuous lesion found during a colonoscopy, in an elderly man with initial presentation of rectorrhagia and abdominal pain. The importance of this case report is to highlight the manifestations of digestive involvement by a non-Langerhans histiocytosis, in addition to the characteristic features of histiocytosis on trans-rectal endoscopic ultrasound.

Background and Purpose: Stroke is reported as a consequence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in several reports. However, data are sparse regarding the details of these patients in a multinational and large scale. Methods: We conducted a multinational observational study on features of consecutive acute ischemic stroke, intracranial hemorrhage, and cerebral venous or sinus thrombosis among SARS-CoV-2-infected patients. We further investigated the risk of large vessel occlusion, stroke severity as measured by the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, and stroke subtype as measured by the TOAST (Trial of ORG 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment) criteria among patients with acute ischemic stroke. In addition, we explored the neuroimaging findings, features of patients who were asymptomatic for SARS-CoV-2 infection at stroke onset, and the impact of geographic regions and countries' health expenditure on outcomes. Results: Among the 136 tertiary centers of 32 countries who participated in this study, 71 centers from 17 countries had at least 1 eligible stroke patient. Of 432 patients included, 323 (74.8%) had acute ischemic stroke, 91 (21.1%) intracranial hemorrhage, and 18 (4.2%) cerebral venous or sinus thrombosis. A total of 183 (42.4%) patients were women, 104 (24.1%) patients were

Background. SARS-CoV-2 infected patients are suggested to have a higher incidence of thrombotic events such as acute ischemic strokes (AIS). This study aimed at exploring vascular comorbidity patterns among SARS-CoV-2 infected patients with subsequent stroke. We also investi-gated whether the comorbidities and their frequencies under each subclass of TOAST criteria were similar to the AIS population studies prior to the pandemic. Methods. This is a report from the Multinational COVID-19 Stroke Study Group. We present an original dataset of SASR-CoV-2 infected patients who had a subsequent stroke recorded through our multicenter prospective study. In addi-tion, we built a dataset of previously reported patients by conducting a systematic literature review. We demonstrated distinct subgroups by clinical risk scoring models and unsupervised machine learning algorithms, including hierarchical K-Means (ML-K) and Spectral clustering (ML-S). Results. This study included 323 AIS patients from 71 centers in 17 countries from the original dataset and 145 patients reported in the literature. The unsupervised clustering methods suggest a distinct cohort of patients (ML-K: 36% and ML-S: 42%) with no or few comorbidities. These patients were more than 6 years younger than other subgroups and more likely were men (ML-K: 59% and ML-S: 60%). The majority of patients in this subgroup suffered from an embolic-appearing stroke on imaging (ML-K: 83% and ML-S: 85%) and had about 50% risk of large vessel occlusions (ML-K: 50% and ML-S: 53%). In addition, there were two cohorts of patients with large-artery atherosclerosis (ML-K: 30% and ML-S: 43% of patients) and cardioembolic strokes (ML-K: 34% and ML-S: 15%) with consistent comorbidity and imaging patterns. Binominal logistic regression demonstrated that ischemic heart disease (odds ratio (OR), 4.9; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.6–14.7), atrial fibrillation (OR, 14.0; 95% CI, 4.8–40.8), and active neoplasm (OR, 7.1; 95% CI, 1.4–36.2) were associated with cardioembolic stroke. Conclusions. Although a cohort of young and healthy men with cardioembolic and large vessel occlusions can be distinguished using both clinical sub-grouping and unsupervised clustering, stroke in other patients may be explained based on the existing comorbidities. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Background: SARS-CoV-2 induced coagulopathy can lead to thrombotic complications such as stroke. Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) is a less common type of stroke which might be triggered by COVID-19. We present a series of CVST cases with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: In a multinational retrospective study, we collected all cases of CVST in SARS-CoV-2 infected patients admitted to nine tertiary stroke centers from the beginning of the pandemic to June 30th, 2020. We compared the demographics, clinical and radiological characteristics, risk factors, and outcome of these patients with a control group of non-SARS-CoV-2 infected CVST patients in the same seasonal period of the years 2012–2016 from the country where the majority of cases were recruited. Results: A total of 13 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria (62% women, mean age 50.9 ± 11.2 years). Six patients were discharged with good outcomes (mRS ≤ 2) and three patients died in hospital. Compared to the control group, the SARS-CoV-2 infected patients were significantly older (50.9 versus 36.7 years, p < 0.001), had a lower rate of identified CVST risk factors (23.1% versus 84.2%, p < 0.001), had more frequent cortical vein involvement (38.5% versus 10.5%, p: 0.025), and a non-significant higher rate of in-hospital mortality (23.1% versus 5.3%, p: 0.073). Conclusion: CVST should be considered as potential comorbidity in SARS-CoV-2 infected patients presenting with neurological symptoms. Our data suggest that compared to non-SARS-CoV-2 infected patients, CVST occurs in older patients, with lower rates of known CVST risk factors and might lead to a poorer outcome in the SARS-CoV-2 infected group. © 2020

Background: There is an increased attention to stroke following SARS-CoV-2. The goal of this study was to better depict the short-term risk of stroke and its associated factors among SARS-CoV-2 hospitalized patients. Methods: This multicentre, multinational observational study includes hospitalized SARS-CoV-2 patients from North and South America (United States, Canada, and Brazil), Europe (Greece, Italy, Finland, and Turkey), Asia (Lebanon, Iran, and India), and Oceania (New Zealand). The outcome was the risk of subsequent stroke. Centres were included by non-probability sampling. The counts and clinical characteristics including laboratory findings and imaging of the patients with and without a subsequent stroke were recorded according to a predefined protocol. Quality, risk of bias, and heterogeneity assessments were conducted according to ROBINS-E and Cochrane Q-test. The risk of subsequent stroke was estimated through meta-analyses with random effect models. Bivariate logistic regression was used to determine the parameters with predictive outcome value. The study was reported according to the STROBE, MOOSE, and EQUATOR guidelines. Findings: We received data from 26,175 hospitalized SARS-CoV-2 patients from 99 tertiary centres in 65 regions of 11 countries until May 1st, 2020. A total of 17,799 patients were included in meta-analyses. Among them, 156(0.9%) patients had a stroke—123(79%) ischaemic stroke, 27(17%) intracerebral/subarachnoid hemorrhage, and 6(4%) cerebral sinus thrombosis. Subsequent stroke risks calculated with meta-analyses, under low to moderate heterogeneity, were 0.5% among all centres in all countries, and 0.7% among countries with higher health expenditures. The need for mechanical ventilation (OR: 1.9, 95% CI:1.1–3.5, p = 0.03) and the presence of ischaemic heart disease (OR: 2.5, 95% CI:1.4–4.7, p = 0.006) were predictive of stroke. Interpretation: The results of this multi-national study on hospitalized patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection indicated an overall stroke risk of 0.5%(pooled risk: 0.9%). The need for mechanical ventilation and the history of ischaemic heart disease are the independent predictors of stroke among SARS-CoV-2 patients. Funding: None. © 2020 The Authors

Anzali Wetland as a listed habitat in Montreux Record, was investigated for the mammal fauna during Jan. 2015 - Jan. 2016. About 165 km of water bodies and 200 km around Anzali Wetland were patrolled, respectively. By applying different methods, such as direct observation, different signs recording, using different sampling traps, nets and camera traps, twenty mammal species were identified from 5 orders and 13 families. While Wild boar, Golden Jackal and Common otter were widely distributed, Common badger, Asiatic wildcat and Jungle cat were observed in some parts of this wetland. Six rodent species were recognized in different parts of the wetland. Among four identified bat species, Nathusius’s pipistrelle has been reported only from this region in Iran. The most commonly recorded bat species was the Soprano pipistrelle, a species hereto recorded only from two Iranian localities. Two recognized species from order Eulipotyphla; Caspian shrew and a mysterious mole are important due to their narrow geographical distribution range as well as their taxonomic situation. Although there was no quantitative or qualitative data from the past, our results show that the situation of many mammal species are not suitable, and some of them are being increasingly threatened.

Different species of gazelles are among the most endangered mammals on the Asian steppes and occur in the central, southern and northwestern regions of Iran. The previous conservation efforts in this region have been incomplete due to confusion about the phylogenetic relationship among various populations. So that, different conservation programs such as ex-situ breeding and transfer of captive stocks to potential conservation units encountered the fundamental difficulties. This paper provides a phylogenetic study based on the analysis of Cytochrome b gene of mitochondrial DNA sequences in a number of individuals collected from the four wild island gazelles population (Kish, Kharg, Hormoz and Hengam) in the south of Iran which are applicable in phylogenetic studies and species identification for conservation. After comparing the obtained and retrieved sequences of Genbank in MEGA5 Software and then tracing a related phylogenetic tree, we found two different species in four islands. Therefore, from phylogenetic point of view, Kharg and Kish Islands’ populations belong to Iranian gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa) and Hengam and Hormoz Islands’ populations are Jebeer or Indian gazelle (Gazella bennettii). Thus, for these two different species, separate conservation programs should be taken to manage populations of these regions and to prevent the exchange gazelles between these Islands.

Microstructural features such as pores, secondary phases and inclusions can significantly alter the electrical response of ceramics. Here we present a morphological finite element approach to better understand the effect of such microstructural defects on the behaviour of electroceramics. We generate irregular three-dimensional geometric models with realistic features and controllable parameters providing a method of characterising their morphology using sphericity, signifying irregularity, and projected area. The inclusion models are solved for their electrical response for changes in the material properties, making the feature either insulating or conductive in relation to the surrounding material. The electric field distribution analysis indicates the irregularity has a significant effect on the electric response, increasing the field concentration up to 12 times more than the applied field. Plotting the electric field distribution using a Weibull cumulative Probability Distribution Function we have also estimated the breakdown strength of the material. This shows that a material's breakdown strength can be reduced to 55% for an 87.5% dense sample if the inclusion is insulative and has a low sphericity or high projected area. This can be further reduced to only 40% if the feature is more conductive than the ceramic.

Background: Integral membrane proteins involve in a variety of valuable cellular processes including signal transduction, transport and cell-to-cell communication. Thus, due to their importance, are targeted to treatment of diseases or disorders. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to obtain adequate membrane proteins. A variety of expression systems have been used to overexpress these proteins but mammalian cells can produce membrane proteins structurally close to natural form of them and are favourable for this purpose. TOSO/FAIM3 (Fas Apoptosis Inhibitory Molecule), highly conserved membrane protein, playing important role in cell survival, immune surveillance, and homeostasis and in this study was overexpressed on HEK-293T membrane. Methods: Eukaryotic expression vector pEZ-M67-TOSO was transformed into Escherichia coli top 10F’ strain to multiply. Then, the plasmid was extracted and digested with restriction enzyme Eco31I to make a linear plasmid. Subsequently, HEK-293T cells were transfected with linear plasmid and treated with hygromycin to select TOSO expressing stable cells. After three weeks, resistant colons were expanded, Chromosomal DNA and total RNA were extracted and the presence of TOSO-cDNA in HEK-293T genome and the expression level of TOSO were evaluated using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Real-time PCR methods, respectively. Findings: The integration of TOSO expressing cassette in HEK-293T genome was confirmed. HEK-293 cells expressed 1700 mRNA TOSO molecule/cell which was in the range of protein with abundant expression. Conclusion: Mammalian cells represent membrane proteins in desirable form versus other expression systems. For this reason, we used HEK293T cells to overexpress transmembrane TOSO protein. In this investigation, we successfully constructed the HEK293 cell line with stable TOSO overexpression, which will facilitate further researches to characterize biophysical and biochemical structure and function of TOSO and pharmaceutical biological researches about it.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The prevalence of stroke in premenopausal women is lower than men. In fact, estrogen is known as a potent neuroprotective agent in cerebral ischemia before menopause. Phytoestrogens are considered to be less risky than chemical estrogens. In this study, considering the phytoestrogenic properties of Vitex agnus custus, the effects of the ethanolic extract of this plant on stroke outcomes in a model of middle cerebral artery occlusion were investigated in ovariectomized mice. METHODS: In this experimental study, 32 mice, weighing 25-35 g, were randomly divided into 4 groups (8 mice per group): 1) sham group, 2) control group (ovariectomized, treated with 1 ml/kg saline for one month, followed by stroke induction), 3) Vitex group (ovariectomized, treated with 80 mg/kg of Vitex extracts in 1 mL saline every day for a month), and 4) estrogen group (ovariectomized, treated with 40 μg/kg of estradiol valerate in 1 mL saline every day for a month). After one month, stroke was induced in ovariectomized mice by cauterizing the middle cerebral artery. Infarct volume and neurological disorders were evaluated one week after stroke induction. FINDINGS:A week after stroke induction, infarct volume in the control, estrogen, and Vitex groups was 11.98±2.33, 3.41±1.01, and 5±1.10, respectively.Vitex extracts and estrogen could decrease infarct volume, compared to the control group (p