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The current study aimed to determine the prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in ABO blood groups and assess the relationship between the prevalence of T. gondii and blood groups. A literature search was carried out for epidemiological studies that were published through December 2022. A random effects model was used to determine the OR and the pooled prevalence with a 95% CI. The estimated pooled prevalences of T. gondii infection in the A, B, AB and O blood groups were 38% (95% CI 27 to 48%), 38% (95% CI 29 to 47%), 36% (95% CI 26 to 45%) and 36% (95% CI 27 to 45%), respectively. Also, the pooled ORs of the relationship between the prevalence of T. gondii infection and the A, B, AB and O blood groups were 1.08 (95% CI 0.97 to 1.19), 1.10 (95% CI 0.95 to 1.28), 1.08 (95% CI 0.92 to 1.27) and 0.89 (95% CI 0.80 to 1.00), respectively. This meta-analysis did not show any relationship between the prevalence of T. gondii infection and ABO blood groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim This study aimed to investigate the clinical and laboratory characteristics of hydatid cyst disease in patients admitted to Imam Reza, Imam Hossein, and Bisotoon hospitals in Kermanshah City, Iran, from 2014 to 2018. Methods & Materials In this descriptive study, we studied and analyzed the medical records of 350 patients with hydatid cysts who were hospitalized and underwent surgical treatment in Kermanshah hospitals from 2014 to 2018. Also, the demographic characteristics of patients, including gender, age, occupation, place of residence, and affected organs, were extracted and recorded. Ethical Considerations The Ethics Committee of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences approved this study (Code: IR.KUMS.REC.1398.366). Results In total, 350 patients with a Mean±SD age of 43.2±19.7 in women and 43.3±20.7 in men were admitted with a diagnosis of hydatid cyst. The highest and lowest prevalence of hydatid cysts were in the age groups of 41-50 (16.5%) years and 1-10 (4.8%) years, respectively. The prevalence was 181 (51.7%) in women and 169 (48.2%) in men. The organs mostly infected with hydatid cysts were the liver, lung, and brain, with 241 cases (68.8%), 55 (15.7%), and 24 (6.8%), respectively. Conclusion This study shows that hydatid cyst disease is an important disease, especially in rural areas of Kermanshah Province, Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this review, we intend to provide a summary of the activities of researchers in the field of Toxoplasma gondii in Iran, during the past 70 years. Most studies have been limited to epidemiological studies (mostly using ELISA and IFA methods). Designing a standard and reliable method using the specific antigens of this parasite is essential. So far, studies in the field of drug effects have not been able to introduce an effective drug with few side effects. Various types of vaccines have been developed, such as recombinant and DNA vaccines. However, none of them had a good efficacy. The use of multi-epitope vaccines as potential vaccines against toxoplasmosis is recommended. At present, limited studies have been conducted on the patterns of transmission and genetic diversity of isolated isolates in Iran. Future research to determine the genotype of T. gondii could play an important role in the study of population structure, and biological characteristics of this parasite. It is hoped that the results of this study will help control, prevent, and reduce the burden of disease caused by this parasite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii), as an opportunistic neurotropic parasite of the Apicomplexa family, was firstly described in 1908. As attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common neuropsychiatric disorders in children and adolescents and often persists into adulthood, the purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to investigate the relationship between T. gondii infection and ADHD.The data were systematically collected from seven electronic databases up to May 1st 2019 with no language restriction. This study was registered at the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO; code: CRD42020149353). Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using a random effects model. Seven studies involving five cross-sectional and two case-control studies were included in this meta-analysis.Results indicated that there was a statistically non-significant association between exposure to T. gondii infection and increased risk of ADHD based on the detection of immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody (2.02 [95% CI: 0.97-4.20]; I2=58.7%). However, obtained results of Egger's tests for anti-T. gondii IgG antibody showed publication bias (P=0.014).Sensitivity analysis revealed stable results for the association between anti-T. gondii IgG antibody with ADHD.Given the small number of studies in this field and the obtained results, it cannot be conclusively stated that T. gondii is a risk factor for ADHD.It is important to have reliable information about the relationship between T. gondii and ADHD around the world; as it may lead to better insight to elucidate the possible association of toxoplasmosis and the pathogenesis of ADHD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The oocysts of the Toxoplasmatinae subfamily (Neospora caninum, Hammondia hammondi and H. heydorni, and Besnoitia besnoiti) are morphologically similar to Toxoplasma gondii, and indistinguishable from each other. This study investigated the prevalence of the Toxoplasmatinae subfamily in dog and cat fecal samples using a nested polymerase chain reaction method.Methods: Overall, 200 fecal samples from domestic dogs (n=120) and cats (n=80) were collected from 15 farms in northern Iran. The samples were homogenized in 2.5% potassium dichromate solution and subsequently concentrated with sucrose solution. DNA was extracted from samples using a genomic DNA kit. Specific primers and the 18S rDNA gene were used to screen and detect all Toxoplasmatinae oocysts.Results: Overall, 2.5% (3 of 120) and 22.5% (18 of 80) of the fecal samples collected from dogs and cats were infected with Toxoplasmatinae. In dogs, 2 samples were positive for N. caninum and 1 sample was positive for T. gondii. In cats, all 18 positive samples belonged to T. gondii. No contamination with H. heydorni was observed in dog fecal samples or H. hammondi and B. besnoiti in cat fecal samples. A phylogenetic analysis revealed that the T. gondii (cat) and N. caninum (dog) found had similarities with parasites reported from other regions of the world.Conclusions: This is the first study to provide data on the epidemiology of Toxoplasmatinae oocysts in Iran. The findings suggest that public-health monitoring for the effective control of feces from cats and dogs and improved pet hygiene habits are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Toxoplasmosis is a cosmopolitan infectious disease in warm-blooded mammals that poses a serious worldwide threat due to the lack of effective medications and vaccines., Aims: The purpose of this study was to design a multi-epitope vaccine using several bioinfor-matics approaches against the antigens of Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii)., Methods: Three proteins of T. gondii, including ROP18, MIC4, and SAG1, were analyzed to predict the most dominant B- and T-cell epitopes. Finally, we designed a chimeric immunogen RMS (ROP18, MIC4, and SAG1) using some domains of ROP18 (N377-E546), MIC4 (D302-G471), and SAG1 (T130-L299) linked by rigid linker A (EAAAK) A. Physicochemical prop-erties, secondary and tertiary structures, antigenicity, and allergenicity of RMS were predicted utilizing immunoinformatic tools and servers., Results: RMS protein had 545 amino acids with a molecular weight (MW) of 58,833.46 Da and a theoretical isoelectric point (IP) of 6.47. The secondary structure of RMS protein con-tained 21.28% alpha-helix, 24.59% extended strand, and 54.13% random coil. In addition, eval-uation of antigenicity and allergenicity showed the protein to be an immunogen and non-aller-gen. The results of the Ramachandran plot indicated that 76.4%, 12.9%, and 10.7% of amino acid residues were incorporated in the favored, allowed, and outlier regions, respectively. ΔG of the best-predicted mRNA secondary structure was -593.80 kcal/mol, which indicated that a stable loop was not formed at the 5' end., Conclusion: Finally, the accuracy and precision of the in silico analysis must be confirmed by successful heterologous expression and experimental studies., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

Background: Few studies investigated the relationship between toxoplasmosis and sleep disorders. Sleep disorders can lead to suicidal behavior and traffic accidents. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to collect information and investigate the possible relationship between Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) and sleep disorders., Methods: To achieve the goal of the present study, five English databases (PubMed, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, Scopus, and ProQuest) were systematically searched for related studies from their inception until October 18, 2022. The obtained articles were screened based on the title, abstract and full text. Then, the quality of the papers investigating the relationship between toxoplasmosis and sleep disorders was evaluated, and finally, the data from the relevant studies were extracted in a Microsoft Excel data sheet., Results: Eight articles (4 case-control and 4 cross-sectional studies) were entered in this systematic review containing 926 patients with sleep disorders and 1877 people without sleep disorders in casecontrol studies, out of which 212 (22.89%) and 392 (20.88%) individuals were positive for anti-T. gondii IgG antibody using different serological methods. Also, 2885 people with sleep disorders were investigated for anti-T. gondii IgG antibody in cross-sectional studies, out of which 1559 (54.03%) cases were positive., Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that T. gondii infection may be a risk factor for sleep disorders. However, the number of related studies is small, and there are contradictions in the findings of these articles. Therefore, further studies are necessary to clarify the possible association between T. gondii infections and sleep disorders., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

Background: Soil-transmitted parasites (STPs) are significant intestinal parasites that infect humans and animals and impose considerable burdens on human society and animal husbandry industries. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the prevalence of parasitic elements of soil samples collected from the north of Iran., Methods: A total of 256 soil samples were collected from public parks, public places, vegetable gardens, sand heaps, and shadow areas near houses in the north of Iran and examined using the sucrose flotation method., Results: Out of 256 examined samples, 131 (51.2%) showed parasitic contamination, including larvae (43%), oocysts (14.1%), and different eggs (6.6%). According to the results, the most and least common parasites observed in the samples were larvae (43%), as well as Toxascaris leonina, and Trichuris trichiura (0.4%), respectively. Moreover, the most and least contaminated locations were sand heaps (62.5%) and shadow areas near houses (45.6%), respectively. Regarding cities, Behshahr (68.3%) and Sari (67.5%) had the highest contaminated soil samples, whereas Chalus (37.5%) showed the lowest contamination. On the other hand, rural samples showed more contamination compared to urban areas (P< 0.05)., Conclusion: The findings of the present study indicate that the overall prevalence of STPs in examined areas and highly contaminated soil samples can be considered as a potential source of human contamination particularly tourists with STPs., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

Background: Acanthamoebiasis treatment is a major and challenging problem due to the presence of resistant cyst form. Many herbal extracts and their derivatives have been used against trophozoites and cysts of Acanthamoeba, but no effective therapeutic agent has yet been discovered. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the effect of Rumex obtusifolius (R. obtusifolius) extracts against a clinical strain of Acanthamoeba genotype T4 in vitro., Methods: In this experimental study, after genotyping the clinical isolate, the hydroalcohlic extracts of R. obtusifolius seeds and leaves were prepared. Different concentrations (1.25, 2.5, 5 and 10 mg/ml) of extracts were tested in triplicate (24, 48 and 72h) on trophozoites and cysts of Acanthamoeba. The mortality of the parasite was assessed by trypan blue vital staining and flow cytometry analysis., Results: Results showed that the extract of R. obtusifolius leaves at the concentration of 10 mg/ml killed 100% of trophozoites and cysts after 72 h. However, the seed extract of R. obtusifolius had weak inhibitory effects on trophozoites and cysts of Acanthamoeba. In the presence of 10 mg/ml of hydroalcoholic seed extract of R.obtusifolius in culture medium after 72 h, 28.6% of trophozoites and 0% of cysts of Acanthamoeba were killed. After analysis by flow cytometry, seeds and leaves extract indicated apoptosis effect. Seed and leaf extracts caused 2.6% and 0.4% percent apoptosis., Conclusion: These extracts are not promising candidates for further medicine development on acanthamoebiasis. Nonetheless, further research is necessary to clarify the effects of effective fractions of seed and leaf extracts of R. obtusifolius and their mechanisms of action., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)