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Background: A connection has been established between ocular structural changes and various neurodegenerative diseases. Several studies utilizing optical coherence tomography (OCT) have detected signs of ocular structural alterations among individuals with Huntington's disease (HD). The inconsistent results reported in the literature regarding alterations in the retina and choroid encouraged us to conduct this systematic review and meta-analysis to accumulate the findings., Methods: A systematic search was carried out in three electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, Scopus) to find studies reporting OCT measurements in HD cases compared with healthy controls (HC). A fixed-effects or random-effects meta-analysis was conducted according to the detected heterogeneity level. Furthermore, subgroup and sensitivity analyses, meta-regression, and quality assessment were performed., Results: Eleven studies were included in the systematic review and 9 studies with a total population of 452 participants (241 cases, and 211 HC) underwent meta-analysis. Results of the analysis denoted that subfoveal choroid had a significantly reduced thickness in HD eyes compared to HC (p < 0.0001). Moreover, our analysis indicated that HD cases had a significantly thinner average (p = 0.0130) and temporal peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) (p = 0.0012) than HC. However, subjects with pre-HD had insignificant differences in average (p = 0.44) and temporal pRNFL thickness (p = 0.33) with the HC group., Conclusion: Results of the current systematic review and meta-analysis revealed the significant thinning of average and temporal pRNFL and subfoveal choroid in HD compared to HC. However, OCT currently might be considered insensitive to be applied in the pre-HD population at least until further longitudinal investigations considering variables such as the duration between OCT measurement and disease onset validating OCT as a routine diagnostic tool in HD clinics., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Impaired immune response in multiple myeloma renders the patients vulnerable to infections, such as COVID-19, and may cause worse response to vaccines. Researchers should analyze this issue to enable the planning for special preventive measures, such as increased booster doses. Therefore, this meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the response and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines in patients with multiple myeloma., Methods: This meta-analysis followed PRISMA 2020 guidelines, conducting a comprehensive database search using specified keywords. Study selection involved a two-phase title/abstract and full-text screening process. Data extraction was performed by two researchers, and statistical analysis involved meta-analysis, subgroup analysis based on vaccine dosage and study time, random effects meta-regression, and heterogeneity testing using the Q test., Results: The meta-analysis revealed that patients with multiple myeloma (MM) had a lower likelihood of developing detectable antibodies after COVID-19 vaccination compared to healthy controls (Log odds ratio with 95% CI: -3.34 [-4.08, -2.60]). The analysis of antibody response after different doses showed consistent lower seropositivity in MM patients (after first dose: -2.09, [-3.49, -0.69], second: -3.80, 95%CI [-4.71, -3.01], a booster dose: -3.03, [-5.91, -0.15]). However, there was no significant difference in the mean level of anti-S antibodies between MM patients and controls (Cohen's d -0.72, [-1.86, 0.43]). Evaluation of T-cell responses indicated diminished T-cell-mediated immunity in MM patients compared to controls. Seven studies reported clinical response, with breakthrough infections observed in vaccinated MM patients., Conclusions: These findings highlight the impaired humoral and cellular immune responses in MM patients after COVID-19 vaccination, suggesting the need for further investigation and potential interventions., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The intrinsic mechanisms that regulate neurotoxic versus neuroprotective astrocyte phenotypes and their effects on central nervous system degeneration and repair remain poorly understood. Here we show that injured white matter astrocytes differentiate into two distinct C3-positive and C3-negative reactive populations, previously simplified as neurotoxic (A1) and neuroprotective (A2) 1,2 , which can be further subdivided into unique subpopulations defined by proliferation and differential gene expression signatures. We find the balance of neurotoxic versus neuroprotective astrocytes is regulated by discrete pools of compartmented cyclic adenosine monophosphate derived from soluble adenylyl cyclase and show that proliferating neuroprotective astrocytes inhibit microglial activation and downstream neurotoxic astrocyte differentiation to promote retinal ganglion cell survival. Finally, we report a new, therapeutically tractable viral vector to specifically target optic nerve head astrocytes and show that raising nuclear or depleting cytoplasmic cyclic AMP in reactive astrocytes inhibits deleterious microglial or macrophage cell activation and promotes retinal ganglion cell survival after optic nerve injury. Thus, soluble adenylyl cyclase and compartmented, nuclear- and cytoplasmic-localized cyclic adenosine monophosphate in reactive astrocytes act as a molecular switch for neuroprotective astrocyte reactivity that can be targeted to inhibit microglial activation and neurotoxic astrocyte differentiation to therapeutic effect. These data expand on and define new reactive astrocyte subtypes and represent a step towards the development of gliotherapeutics for the treatment of glaucoma and other optic neuropathies., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)

Background: Although several studies have shown that the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown has had negative impacts on mental health and eating behaviors among the general population and athletes, few studies have examined the long-term effects on elite and sub-elite athletes. The present study aimed to investigate the long-term impact of COVID-19 lockdown on mental health and eating behaviors in elite versus sub-elite athletes two years into the pandemic. A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted between March and April 2022, involving athletes from 14 countries, using a convenient non-probabilistic and snowball sampling method. A total of 1420 athletes (24.5 ± 7.9 years old, 569 elites, 35% women, and 851 sub-elites, 45% women) completed an online survey-based questionnaire. The questionnaire included a sociodemographic survey, information about the COVID-19 pandemic, the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 Items (DASS-21) for mental health assessment, and the Rapid Eating Assessment for Participants (REAP-S) for assessing eating behavior., Results: The results showed that compared to sub-elite athletes, elite athletes had lower scores on the DASS-21 (p = .001) and its subscales of depression (p = .003), anxiety (p = .007), and stress (p < .001), as well as a lower REAP-S score indicating lower diet quality (p = .013)., Conclusion: In conclusion, two years into the pandemic, elite athletes were likelier to have better mental health profiles than sub-elite athletes but surprisingly had lower diet quality., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: Although the gastrointestinal tract is one of the most common sites for extranodal lymphoma, gastrointestinal lymphoma is a rare disease that is almost exclusively non-Hodgkin lymphoma., Case Presentation: We present a rare condition of Hodgkin lymphoma relapse after 12 years as isolated gastric involvement caused massive gastrointestinal bleeding in a 34-year-old Iranian woman. According to the result of the upper endoscopy, laparotomy was performed, and a large mass in the upper part of the fundus, alongside the esophagogastric junction, was seen, so gastrectomy was performed., Conclusion: All symptoms and paraclinical findings for gastrointestinal Hodgkin lymphoma are nonspecific. Therefore, the preoperative diagnosis is challenging. It seems that surgery is a suitable diagnostic and therapeutic method in this field., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

The assembly of the amyloid- β peptide (A β ) into toxic oligomers and fibrils is associated with Alzheimer's disease and dementia. Therefore, disrupting amyloid assembly by direct targeting of the A β monomeric form with small molecules or antibodies is a promising therapeutic strategy. However, given the dynamic nature of A β , standard computational tools cannot be easily applied for high-throughput structure-based virtual screening in drug discovery projects. In the current study, we propose a computational pipeline-in the framework of the ensemble docking strategy-to identify catechins' binding sites in monomeric A β 42 . It is shown that both hydrophobic aromatic interactions and hydrogen bonding are crucial for the binding of catechins to A β 42 . Additionally, it has been found that all the studied ligands, especially EGCG , can act as potent inhibitors against amyloid aggregation by blocking the central hydrophobic region of A β . Our findings are evaluated and confirmed with multi-microsecond MD simulations. Finally, it is suggested that our proposed pipeline, with low computational cost in comparison with MD simulations, is a suitable approach for the virtual screening of ligand libraries against A β .

Objectives: Recent investigations indicate that canine periodontal ligament-derived stem cells (cPDLSCs) may reveal a reliable strategy for repair of periodontal tissues via cell-based tissue engineering approaches . Due to limited research, t his study aimed to demonstrate the phenotypic characterization of cPDLSc in comparison with canine bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (cBMSCs) in vitro., Methods: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were obtained from PDL and BM of five male adult Mongrel dogs. In vitro isolation and expansion as well as biologic characterization including colony unit formation (CFU), osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation, flow cytometric analysis of CD34 and CD44, and RT-PCR of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), osteocalcin (OCN), periostin (POSTN) and S100A4 were performed. Furthermore, electron microscopy analysis was done to complement the comparative research., Results: CFU assay revealed that colonies of cPDLSCs presented 70% confluency with a more finite lifespan than BM-MSCs, showing a significant increase in cPDLSCs. Both types of MSCs showed osteogenic and adipogenic phenotypic characterized with clusters of mineralized depositions and lipid vacuoles, respectively. Both types of MSCs expressed CD44 with limited expression of CD34. RT-PCR of cPDLSCs revealed that expression of ALP, POSTN, OCN and S100A4 genes were significantly higher than those of BMSCs. In addition, comparison of SEM and revealed that cPDLSCs expressed more extracellular collagen fibers., Conclusions: The current study indicated that cPDLSCs show potency as a novel cellular therapy for periodontal regeneration a large animal model., Competing Interests: Authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2023 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Craniofacial Research Foundation.)

Analytical models and the prediction of accidents and their consequences are important tools for preventing accidents in the industry. Therefore, the present study was conducted to review process accident consequence modeling in Iran (2006-2022), helping improve incident modeling, and creating a context for preventing these accidents. In this study, the articles of 5 international Embase Medline/PubMed databases, ProQuest, Scopus, Google Scholar, and Web of Science, and four Iranian databases SID, MagIran, IranMedex, and IranDoc were examined using the PRISMA checklist. After reviewing the studies, 40 articles were included in the final analysis. The results showed that 25 studies used PHAST software, 11 studies used ALOHA software and 4 studies used ALOHA and PHAST software together. The highest number of studies was conducted in Imam Khomeini Port and Asaluyeh city, respectively. In addition, the number of studies published in Persian was more than in other studies. There was no similar agreement between the results of the two software in providing correct results at low concentrations. PHAST software also provided more accurate results than ALOHA over longer distances in stable and relatively stable weather conditions. The study and identification of hazards and scenarios in the studies that used PHAST software were more, more accurate and more coherent than in the studies that used ALOHA software. It is suggested that in future studies the same scenario can be compared with PHAST, ALOHA, and newer modeling software such as Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS)., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Background: Academic burnout has adverse effects on residents' professional behavior as well as personal aspects of their lives and can ultimately affect their performance in the workplace. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of burnout among surgical residents in Imam Khomeini hospital and the relationship between factors such as sex, marital status, living place, specialized field, and anxiety with burnout., Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study in 2021. A validated version of the Maslach burnout inventory for students (MBI-SS), the Beck Anxiety Inventory, and a questionnaire on contributing factors were used. Statistical analysis for the prevalence of burnout and comparison between scores of groups were performed., Results: Of 130 surgical residents who answered the survey, 26% met the criteria for burnout. There was a significantly higher prevalence of burnout among PGY1 residents. Of these residents, 85.4% and 62.3% had high scores on emotional exhaustion and cynicism, respectively. We observed an association between different surgical disciplines and anxiety with burnout., Conclusions: The prevalence of burnout among surgical residents was notable and higher than expected. There was a reliable association between anxiety and burnout. A longitudinal study on a group of students with a consideration of associated factors is suggested., (© 2022. The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Société Internationale de Chirurgie.)

Background: increased pressure on healthcare systems and possible risk of nosocomial COVID-19 infection during pandemic urged many guidelines to severely restrict the number of operations. The aim of this study was to investigate the risk of COVID-19 infection and its complications in patients undergoing urgent or elective operations.Methods: a prospective observational cohort study was conducted in a tertiary surgical center and all patients with no preoperative history of COVID-19 undergoing elective or emergent surgeries were included in this investigation. chest computed tomography (CT) scan or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test were performed on patients before and after surgery., Results: 183 patients who underwent an operation were enrolled in this study. In postoperative follow-up, 12 patients were positive for COVID-19 infection as identified by RT-PCR and non-contrasted chest CT scans. Regrettably, 2 individuals passed with one of these individuals dying as a direct result of COVID-19 infection. All the 12 cases of post-operative COVID-19 patients underwent elective surgeries., Conclusion: the gathered results indicate a need for the re-evaluation of the risks of operation during the COVID-19 pandemic. If operations are performed while observing protective and preventative protocols, the risk of post-operative nosocomial COVID-19 is significantly reduced. Hence, the consequences imposed on patients by the delay or cancellation of operations (most notably in cancer cases) may outweigh the risk of post-operative COVID-19 infections., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflict of interest., (© 2022 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of IJS Publishing Group Ltd.)

Background: Since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, medical education has been a concerning issue, especially in surgical fields. Due to the postponement of many elective surgeries and even alternations in the pattern of emergent surgeries, concerns have been raised about whether residents of surgical disciplines are experienced enough after graduation or not. We aimed to describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on surgical residency training in different fields., Materials and Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study with a 20-item questionnaire on residents of surgical disciplines from three different educational hospitals of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran in 2020. In addition, we reviewed the current literature regarding the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on surgical education worldwide., Results: Our survey, with a response rate of 56.8% demonstrated significant reduction in the time spent in elective surgeries, surgical clinics and even in emergent surgeries for residents. Besides, it has reported that significant time has been spent in COVID 19 wards which resulted in decreased satisfaction of educational activities., Conclusions: The impacts of COVID 19 pandemic on surgical education are significant and inevitable. Thus, we must integrate novel educational methods in surgical curriculum to optimize training and minimize the adverse effects of the pandemic on surgical education., (© 2022 The Authors.)

Background: Acute mesenteric ischemia is known as a life threatening condition. Re-establishment of blood flow in this condition can lead to mesenteric ischemia reperfusion (MIR) injury which is accompanied by inflammatory response. Still, clear blueprint of inflammatory mechanism underlying MIR injury has not been provided. Interestingly, Albendazole has exhibited notable effects on inflammation and cytokine production. In this study, we aimed to evaluate outcomes of MIR injury following pretreatment with Albendazole with respect to assessment of mesenteric inflammation and ischemia threshold., Methods: Male rats were randomly divided into sham operated, vehicle treated, Albendazole 100 mg/kg and Albendazole 200 mg/kg groups. MIR injury was induced by occlusion of superior mesenteric artery for 30 min followed by 120 min of reperfusion. Samples were utilized for assessment of epithelial survival and villous height. Immunohistochemistry study revealed intestinal expression of TNF-α and HIF-1-α. Gene expression of NF-κB/TLR4/TNF-α/IL-6 was measured using RTPCR. Also protein levels of inflammatory cytokines in serum and intestine were assessed by ELISA method., Results: Histopathological study demonstrated that pretreatment with Albendazole could ameliorate decline in villous height and epithelial survival following MIR injury. Also, systemic inflammation was suppressed after administration of Albendazole. Analysis of possible participating inflammatory pathway could demonstrate that intestinal expression of NF-κB/TLR4/TNF-α/IL-6 is significantly attenuated in treated groups. Eventually, IHC study illustrated concordant decline in mesenteric expression of HIF-1-α/TNF-α., Conclusion: Single dose pretreatment with Albendazole could ameliorate inflammatory response and enhance ischemia threshold following induction of MIR injury. More studies would clarify existing causality in this phenomenon., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest statement Authors have no conflict of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic has overwhelmed many healthcare systems. Seasonality is a feature of several infectious diseases. Studies regarding the association of seasonal variations and COVID-19 have shown controversial results. Therefore, we aimed to compare COVID-19 characteristics and survival outcomes between the fourth and fifth waves in Iran, which corresponded to spring and summer, respectively., Methods: This is a retrospective study on the fourth and fifth COVID-19 waves in Iran. One hundred patients from the fourth and 90 patients from the fifth wave were included. Data from the baseline and demographic characteristics, clinical, radiological, and laboratory findings, and hospital outcomes were compared between the fourth and fifth COVID-19 waves in hospitalized patients in Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex, Tehran, Iran., Results: The fifth wave patients were more likely to present with gastrointestinal symptoms than the patients from the fourth wave. Moreover, patients in the fifth wave had lower arterial oxygen saturation on admission (88% vs. 90%; P = 0.026), lower levels of WBCs (neutrophils and lymphocytes) (6300.00 vs. 8000.00; P = 0.004), and higher percentages of pulmonary involvement in the chest CT scans (50% vs. 40%; P < 0.001). Furthermore, these patients had longer hospital stays than their fourth-wave counterparts (7.00 vs. 5.00; P < 0.001)., Conclusions: Our study indicated that patients in the summer COVID-19 wave were more likely to present with gastrointestinal symptoms. They also experienced a more severe disease in terms of peripheral capillary oxygen saturation, percentages of pulmonary involvement in CT scans, and length of hospital stay., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Kasra Karvandian et al.)

The COVID-19 data analysis is essential for policymakers to analyze the outbreak and manage the containment. Many approaches based on traditional time series clustering and forecasting methods, such as hierarchical clustering and exponential smoothing, have been proposed to cluster and forecast the COVID-19 data. However, most of these methods do not scale up with the high volume of cases. Moreover, the interactive nature of the application demands further critically complex yet compelling clustering and forecasting techniques. In this paper, we propose a web-based interactive tool to cluster and forecast the available data of Taiwan COVID-19 confirmed infection cases. We apply the Model-based (MOB) tree and domain-relevant attributes to cluster the dataset and display forecasting results using the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) method. In this OLS model, we apply a model produced by the MOB tree to forecast all series in each cluster. Our user-friendly parametric forecasting method is computationally cheap. A web app based on R's Shiny App makes it easier for practitioners to find clustering and forecasting results while choosing different parameters such as domain-relevant attributes. These results could help in determining the spread pattern and be utilized by medical researchers., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Fowl adenoviruses cause three economically important diseases in broiler chicken flocks: hepatitis-hydropericardium syndrome (HHS), inclusion body hepatitis (IBH), and adenoviral gizzard erosion. IBH has not been considered a serious threat in northeast Iran since the last decade, because no major effect on flock performance has been noticed along with a low mortality rate. During this period, all the sporadic IBH outbreaks have also been investigated for HHS without finding any confirmed case. In March 2021, a 15-day-old commercial broiler flock in northeast Iran showed a 50% mortality rate, and birds underwent postmortem examination, histopathology, molecular testing, and phylogenetic analysis for possible disease agents. Typical gross lesions of HHS were observed postmortem that included hydropericardium with an unusual accumulation of jelly-like and straw-colored fluid in the pericardial sac (without right ventricular failure); petechial or ecchymotic hemorrhages on the myocardium, myocardial valves, and endocardium; and discolored and mottled liver along with small white foci and petechial or ecchymotic hemorrhages. Histopathologic analysis showed necrosis of hepatocytes and basophilic inclusion bodies in the livers. The molecular tests performed for detection of fowl adenovirus (FAdV), H5 avian influenza virus, Newcastle disease virus, avian infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), H9N2, chicken infectious anemia virus (CIAV), infectious bursal disease (IBD) virus, Marek's disease virus, Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale , Mycoplasma gallisepticum , and Mycoplasma synoviae turned out positive for FAdV, CIAV, IBD vaccine virus, and IBV serotypes 793B and variant I. The phylogenetic tree based on the hexon gene loop 1 demonstrated a FAdV serotype 4 (FAdV-4) that was identical to Pakistani isolate PARC-1/98. Because it was the first detection of a FAdV-4 in Iran, the stamping out program was applied immediately on the basis of HHS gross lesions and positive PCR reaction on pericardial jelly-like fluid. It seems that this eradication strategy was successful because no outbreaks were noticed for 2 mo after the initial outbreak. It was concluded that the use of gross pathologic baselines, quick diagnosis of disease, and close collaboration between governmental and private sectors were the critical factors that helped locally control the first occurrence of HHS in Iran.

In addition to the fifty years since the test-and-slaughter program began in Iran and despite a significant reduction in the disease prevalence, positive tuberculosis cases are still being isolated from livestock farms across the country. Tests with 100% sensitivity and specificity are essential features for bovine tuberculosis diagnosis. The relationship between real-time PCR and immunohistochemistry (IHC) as two essential laboratory methods in the diagnosis of bacterial infections were aimed to evaluate single intradermal comparative tuberculin test (SICTT) results. One hundred thirty-eight cows in two groups were examined: Reactors (108 cows) and clean (as a control group; 30 cows). In the reactor group, 58(54.00%) cows were Mycobacterium bovis positive, 46(43.00%) were Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) positive, and 11(10.00%) were Mycobacterium tuberculosis positive. 32(55.00%) cows were co-infected with M. bovis and MAP and 5(4.55%) cows were co-infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis and MAP in this group. Of 50 M. bovis negative cows of reactor group were 14(28.00%) MAP positive and 36(72.00%) negative, as well. Concurrent infection with all was observed in one reactor case. Comparing IHC and real-time PCR for the detection of bovine tuberculosis and Johne's disease showed very good agreement (Kappa values 0.81 - 1.00). The results also provided further confirmation on IHC and real-time PCR as a sensitive and reliable diagnostic screening approach for detection of bovine tuberculosis. The use of one laboratory method to detect bovine tuberculosis is not sufficient alone., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2022 Urmia University. All rights reserved.)

An attractive drug target to combat COVID-19 is the main protease (M pro ) because of its key role in the viral life cycle by processing the polyproteins translated from the viral RNA. Studying the crystal structures of the protease is important to enhance our understanding of its mechanism of action at the atomic-level resolution, and consequently may provide crucial structural insights for structure-based drug discovery. In the current study, we report a comparative structural analysis of the M pro substrate binding site for both apo and holo forms to identify key interacting residues and conserved water molecules during the ligand-binding process. It is shown that in addition to the catalytic dyad residues (His41 and Cys145), the oxyanion hole residues (Asn142-Ser144) and residues His164-Glu166 form essential parts of the substrate-binding pocket of the protease in the binding process. Furthermore, we address the issue of the substrate-binding pocket flexibility and show that two adjacent loops in the M pro structures (residues Thr45-Met49 and Arg188-Ala191) with high flexibility can regulate the binding cavity' accessibility for different ligand sizes. Moreover, we discuss in detail the various structural and functional roles of several important conserved and mobile water molecules within and around the binding site in the proper enzymatic function of M pro . We also present a new docking protocol in the framework of the ensemble docking strategy. The performance of the docking protocol has been evaluated in predicting ligand binding pose and affinity ranking for two popular docking programs; AutoDock4 and AutoDock Vina. Our docking results suggest that the top-ranked poses of the most populated clusters obtained by AutoDock Vina are the most important representative docking runs that show a very good performance in estimating experimental binding poses and affinity ranking., (© 2022 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Introduction and Importance: Enteric fistulas commonly arise from inflammatory, infectious, or neoplastic processes. Colosplenic fistulas are rare with only several reported worldwide., Case Presentation: Herein, we present a case of colosplenic fistula in a 39-year-old gentleman with past history of rectal cancer previously in remission. He was admitted with severe abdominal pain and hemodynamic instability due to septic shock. The erect chest x-ray revealed pneumoperitoneum under the diaphragm., Clinical Discussion: Laparotomy was performed and ileum perforation was managed by resection and anastomosis. The post-op recovery was complicated by a febrile episode. To locate the source of infection a contrasted abdominal computed tomography was ordered, confirming the presence of a splenic abscess, suggestive of colosplenic fistula. We proceeded with laparotomy for drainage of the abscess, with splenectomy and splenic flexure resections. He was discharged 40 days post-op at a pre-morbid state., Conclusion: Due to the high prevalence of colon cancer worldwide, novel complications such as the one reported here, are important to be reflected on. We hope this case can exemplify the significance of higher index of suspicion in at risk patient groups by the surgical teams and appropriate training on acute management of this rare complication., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Background: Rectus sheath hematoma is a rare self-limited presentation that has become a concern in hospitalized COVID-19 patients receiving anticoagulant therapies., Method: A retrospective multicentric study was conducted in referral hospitals affiliated with the Tehran University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran, between June and August 2021. Patients with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 that were complicated with rectus sheath hematoma during hospitalization were included. Median (lower quartile to upper quartile) was used to report the distribution of the results., Result: This study was conducted on nine patients with confirmed COVID-19 pneumonia, including eight females and one male. The severity of viral pneumonia was above average in eight patients. The median age and median body mass index were 65 (55.5 to 78) years and 29.38 (23.97 to 31.71) kg/m 2 . The duration of anticoagulant therapy was 10 (6 to 14) days, and the median length of hospital stay was 20 (10 to 23.5) days. Rectus sheath hematoma occurred after a median reduction of 4 (2.7 to 6.6) units in blood hemoglobin. Although 66.7% received ICU care and all of them were under full observation in well-equipped hospitals, the mortality rate was 55.6%., Conclusion: In summary, increased levels of inflammatory markers such as lactic acid dehydrogenase along with an abrupt decrease in blood hemoglobin in COVID-19 patients should be considered as predisposing factors for rectus sheath hematoma, especially in patients with moderate to severe COVID-19 pneumonia under anticoagulant therapy. This complication had been considered a self-limited condition; however, it seems to be fatal in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. Further studies in larger sample sizes should be conducted to find out suitable management for this complication., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Hossein Zabihi Mahmoudabadi et al.)

Despite considerable advances obtained by applying machine learning approaches in protein-ligand affinity predictions, the incorporation of receptor flexibility has remained an important bottleneck. While ensemble docking has been used widely as a solution to this problem, the optimum choice of receptor conformations is still an open question considering the issues related to the computational cost and false positive pose predictions. Here, a combination of ensemble learning and ensemble docking is suggested to rank different conformations of the target protein in light of their importance for the final accuracy of the model. Available X-ray structures of cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2) in complex with different ligands are used as an initial receptor ensemble, and its redundancy is removed through a graph-based redundancy removal, which is shown to be more efficient and less subjective than clustering-based representative selection methods. A set of ligands with available experimental affinity are docked to this nonredundant receptor ensemble, and the energetic features of the best scored poses are used in an ensemble learning procedure based on the random forest method. The importance of receptors is obtained through feature selection measures, and it is shown that a few of the most important conformations are sufficient to reach 1 kcal/mol accuracy in affinity prediction with considerable improvement of the early enrichment power of the models compared to the different ensemble docking without learning strategies. A clear strategy has been provided in which machine learning selects the most important experimental conformers of the receptor among a large set of protein-ligand complexes while simultaneously maintaining the final accuracy of affinity predictions at the highest level possible for available data. Our results could be informative for future attempts to design receptor-specific docking-rescoring strategies., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background: This study was designed to assess the clinical judgment of medical students in surgery clinical decision-making by a standard examination after lecture-based learning (LBL) or problem-based learning (PBL)., Materials and Methods: A prospective randomized trial study on 175 medical students whom were randomly allocated to three groups was performed during November 2017 and January 2018. LBL group ( n = 103), PBL group led by an attending ( n = 39), and PBL group ( n = 33) led by an intern. Chi-squared test and independent student t -test were used to compare between the two groups. All the analyses were performed by the two-sided method using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software (SPSS version 22; SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA), and a P < 0.05 set as statistically significant., Results: The students in the PBL group scored significantly higher on the posttraining multiple-choice examination, compared to the LBL group ( P = 0.048). However, there was no significant difference between the PBL group led by an attending and the PBL group led by an intern ( P = 0.892)., Conclusion: We concluded that PBL remarkably increased the students' scores in the problem-solving examination, as compared to the conventional method. We found no significant differences in PBL facilitated by an attending or an intern., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2021 Journal of Education and Health Promotion.)

Introduction: Chronic, large, and old incisional hernias often lead to surgical complications and major hindrances during emergent laparotomies. The most challenging stages of the laparotomy in such cases occur during opening and fascial closure., Case Presentation: This article explains the novel surgical technique employed for the complex abdominal closure upon concluding an emergent laparotomy on a 68-year-old female patient. This innovative technique is appropriate for patients with contaminated abdominal cavities and scant fascia who require abdominal operations in cases where biological mesh is not available or is not a viable option., Conclusion: This surgical technique can help surgeons restrict abdominal contents and organs (particularly the bowel loops) and prevent migration out of the abdominal cavity during the early post-operative stages, hence, reducing post-surgical complications. The discussed surgical technique ensures that the abdominal fascia defect is limited using skin flaps. This defect later develops into a small hernia sac within a few weeks. Patients then need to have a secondary delayed elective operation on this significantly smaller sized hernia for repair using synthetic mesh., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis causes Johne's disease in cattle and other ruminants. It is one of the most widespread in terms of prevalence and one of the most important diseases in the livestock industry in terms of economic importance. In the latent form of the disease, animals can act as carriers. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate avian tuberculin in a single intradermal comparative tuberculin test (SICTT), histopathology, immunohistochemistry, and molecular methods for diagnosis of infected cows with the latent form of the disease. Twenty-three asymptomatic cows and without post-mortem signs of the disease were selected using the single intradermal comparative tuberculin test and were tested. In this study, avian tuberculin in SICTT was able to in diagnosing the latent form of the disease. The results confirm immunohistochemistry and real-time PCR as a sensitive and reliable diagnostic complementary approach for detecting latent forms of Paratuberculosis., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Acetylcholinesterase (AChE), with a rigid structure and buried active site at the end of a deep narrow gorge, is interesting enough to solve the paradox between high catalytic activity and unavailability of the active site in treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this way, the blind docking process is performed on an ensemble of AChE structures created with molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to survey the whole space of AChE to find multiple access pathways to the active site and ranking them based on their affinity scores. Our results show that there are other allosteric binding sites in the protein structure whose inhibition, can affect protein function by disrupting the release of the Acetylcholine (AC) degradation products. In this study, inhibitory activities of Hybride14 and two natural compounds (Papaverine and Palmatine) were evaluated for all possible allosteric sites via docking method. The results confirmed the non-competitive inhibition mechanism. The best binding mode for these inhibitors and efficacy of hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interactions on inhibitory activities of ligands were also disclosed. Furthermore, our studies provide significant molecular insight for AChE inhibition that could aid in the development of new drugs for AD's treatment., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Utilising epidural analgesia (EA) during major abdominal surgery in combination with general anaesthetic, is a proven approach to decrease anaesthetic requirement in patients with severe comorbidities, enhance recovery and improve pain management., Case Presentation: Herein we report a case of an 81-years-old female with bilateral lower limb sensory loss, saddle paraesthesia, paraplegia, and incontinence following a thoracic epidural catheterisation required for low anterior resection of rectal adenocarcinoma. The complication was reported by the patient on the third day of post-op., Clinical Discussion: The magnetic resonance imaging results revealed an extradural extramedullary hyperintense haematoma in the spinal cord at T12-L2 vertebral level. The neurological deficit was addressed urgently with laminectomy; and following implementation of intensive inpatient physiotherapy and rehabilitation regiment the patient restored mild motor function., Conclusion: We believe the culprit of the acute focal neurology deficits in this patient could be due to the epidural catheterisation and the post-op local anaesthetic injections. From this case, we anecdotally recommend performing thoracolumbar MRI as part of pre-op workup in patients with long standing back issues or claudication, considering x-ray guided catheterisation in higher risk patients for epidural hematoma, and early and repeated neurological examination and rapid investigation for any mild neurological deficits., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Phospholipase D (PLD) (EC 3.1.4.4) plays important roles in plants growth, development, and response to environmental stresses. Tea plant ( Camellia sinensis ) is the most important non-alcoholic beverage in the world with health benefits, but tea production decreases in response to environmental stresses such as cold and drought. Therefore, a genome-wide analysis of the C. sinensis PLD gene family ( CsPLDs ) was carried out. In the current study, identification, evolutionary relationship, duplication, selection pressure, gene structure, promoter analysis, transcript-targeted miRNA, and simple sequence repeat markers prediction, RNA-seq data analysis, and three-dimensional structure of the CsPLDs have been investigated using bioinformatics tools. 15 PLDs were identified from the tea genome which belongs to five groups, including CsPLDα, CsPLDβ, CsPLDδ, CsPLDε, and CsPLDζ. Both segmental and tandem duplications have occurred in the CsPLD gene family. Ka/Ks ratio for the most duplicated pair genes was less than 1 which implies negative selection to conserve their function during the tea evolution. 68 cis-elements have been found in CsPLDs indicating the contribution of these genes in response to environmental stresses. Likewise, 72 SSR loci and 96 miRNA molecules in 14 and 15 CsPLDs have been detected. According to RNA-seq data, the highest expression in all tissues under various abiotic stresses was related to CsPLDα1. Besides, a three-dimensional structure of the CsPLDα1 was evaluated to better understand its biological activity. This research provides comprehensive information that could be useful in future studies to develop stress-tolerant tea., Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12298-021-01007-0., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare no conflict of interest, and the manuscript has been approved by all authors for publication., (© Prof. H.S. Srivastava Foundation for Science and Society 2021.)

Background: Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting (PONV) is a multifactorial surgical complication with an unclear underlying cause. Anesthetic methods, patients' characteristics and the type of surgery are considered as factors affecting PONV. This study was designed to compare the effect of inhalational and intravenous anesthesia in abdominal surgery on the incidence and severity of PONV., Methods: A single-blinded prospective randomized clinical trial on 105 patients aged 18-65 years was carried out. Patients were divided in two groups of Total Intravenous Anesthesia (TIVA) and Inhalational anesthesia. The incidence and severity of PONV were examined at 0, 2, 6, 12, and 24hours after the surgery. The use of a rescue antiemetic was also evaluated., Results: Fifty point nine percent of the patients in the inhalation group and 17.3% of the patients in the intravenous group developed PONV (p <0.001). The incidence of vomiting was reported in 11.3% of the Inhalational group and 3.8% of the TIVA group (p=0.15), and 24.5% of patients in the Inhalation group and 9.6% of patients in the intravenous group needed an antiemetic medication (p=0.043)., Conclusion: The incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting and the need for administration of an antiemetic rescue drug, and the severity of nausea in patients were significantly lower in the TIVA group., (Copyright © 2020. Publicado por Elsevier Editora Ltda.)

In diseases such as glaucoma, the failure of retinal ganglion cell (RGC) neurons to survive or regenerate their optic nerve axons underlies partial and, in some cases, complete vision loss. Optic nerve crush (ONC) serves as a useful model not only of traumatic optic neuropathy but also of glaucomatous injury, as it similarly induces RGC cell death and degeneration. Intravitreal injection of adeno-associated virus serotype 2 (AAV2) has been shown to specifically and efficiently transduce RGCs in vivo and has thus been proposed as an effective means of gene delivery for the treatment of glaucoma. Indeed, we and others routinely use AAV2 to study the mechanisms that promote neuroprotection and axon regeneration in RGCs following ONC. Herein, we describe a step-by-step protocol to assay RGC survival and regeneration in mice following AAV2-mediated transduction and ONC injury including 1) intravitreal injection of AAV2 viral vectors, 2) optic nerve crush, 3) cholera-toxin B (CTB) labeling of regenerating axons, 4) optic nerve clearing, 5) flat mount retina immunostaining, and 6) quantification of RGC survival and regeneration. In addition to providing all the materials and procedural details necessary to execute this protocol, we highlight its advantages over other similar published approaches and include useful tips to ensure its faithful reproduction in any modern laboratory., Competing Interests: Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests.

Appropriate regeneration of periodontal tissues is the primary purpose of periodontal disease treatment. The present study assessed the impact of three key regenerative elements-platelet-rich plasma (PRP), canine bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (cBM-MSCs), and fibrin glue-on periodontal regeneration. In each of the study's five dogs, Class II furcation defects were established on the buccal surface of five teeth. One tooth (five total) from each dog was placed into one of five groups: (1) PRP + fibrin glue, (2) PRP + fibrin glue + cBM-MSCs, (3) fibrin glue, (4) cBM-MSCs + fibrin glue, and (5) control (no treatment). Histologic and histometric evaluations were performed to assess the formation of new bone, cementum, and the periodontal ligament. Different types of new bone and cementum, the maximum thickness of new cementum and the periodontal ligament (PDL), the vitality of bone, and the presence of inflammation or foreign-body reactions were also elucidated. The histologic and histometric evaluations revealed substantial differences in all groups between the observed maximum thickness of newly formed cementum and PDL. The percentage of bone and cement formation drastically increased with the combined presence of stem cells, fibrin glue, and PRP. The results showed that the inherent regenerative capacity of periodontal tissues can be sufficient if their latent self-repair mechanisms are stimulated.

Purpose: Adult central nervous system (CNS) neurons are unable to regenerate their axons after injury. Krüppel-like transcription factor (KLF) family members regulate intrinsic axon growth ability in vitro and in vivo, but mechanisms downstream of these transcription factors are not known., Methods: Purified retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) were transduced to express exogenous KLF9, KLF16, KLF7, or KLF11; microarray analysis was used to identify downstream genes, which were screened for effects on axon growth. Dual-specificity phosphatase 14 (Dusp14) was further studied using genetic (siRNA, shRNA) and pharmacologic (PTP inhibitor IV) manipulation to assess effects on neurite length in vitro and survival and regeneration in vivo after optic nerve crush in rats and mice., Results: By screening genes regulated by KLFs in RGCs, we identified Dusp14 as a critical gene target limiting axon growth and regeneration downstream of KLF9's ability to suppress axon growth in RGCs. The KLF9-Dusp14 pathway inhibited activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases normally critical to neurotrophic signaling of RGC survival and axon elongation. Decreasing Dusp14 expression or disrupting its function in RGCs increased axon growth in vitro and promoted survival and optic nerve regeneration after optic nerve injury in vivo., Conclusions: These results link intrinsic and extrinsic regulators of axon growth and suggest modulation of the KLF9-Dusp14 pathway as a potential approach to improve regeneration in the adult CNS after injury.

Neurons in the adult mammalian CNS decrease in intrinsic axon growth capacity during development in concert with changes in Krüppel-like transcription factors (KLFs). KLFs regulate axon growth in CNS neurons including retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). Here, we found that knock-down of KLF9, an axon growth suppressor that is normally upregulated 250-fold in RGC development, promotes long-distance optic nerve regeneration in adult rats of both sexes. We identified a novel binding partner, MAPK10/JNK3 kinase, and found that JNK3 (c-Jun N-terminal kinase 3) is critical for KLF9's axon-growth-suppressive activity. Interfering with a JNK3-binding domain or mutating two newly discovered serine phosphorylation acceptor sites, Ser106 and Ser110, effectively abolished KLF9's neurite growth suppression in vitro and promoted axon regeneration in vivo These findings demonstrate a novel, physiologic role for the interaction of KLF9 and JNK3 in regenerative failure in the optic nerve and suggest new therapeutic strategies to promote axon regeneration in the adult CNS. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Injured CNS nerves fail to regenerate spontaneously. Promoting intrinsic axon growth capacity has been a major challenge in the field. Here, we demonstrate that knocking down Krüppel-like transcription factor 9 (KLF9) via shRNA promotes long-distance axon regeneration after optic nerve injury and uncover a novel and important KLF9-JNK3 interaction that contributes to axon growth suppression in vitro and regenerative failure in vivo These studies suggest potential therapeutic approaches to promote axon regeneration in injury and other degenerative diseases in the adult CNS., (Copyright © 2017 the authors 0270-6474/17/379632-13$15.00/0.)

Despite many advances in the treatment of breast cancer, it is still the second most common cause of death in women in the United States. It has been shown that inflammation plays a major role in the treatment of these cancers and inflammatory factors enhance tumor growth, invasion, metastasis, and vascularization. In this study, we would like to analyze peripheral blood neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in breast cancer patients and its correlation with disease staging. This cross-sectional analytic study was conducted in Imam Hospital, affiliated with Tehran University of Medical Sciences; a total of 195 female patients with breast cancer met the inclusion criteria. All of the patients had a complete blood count with leukocyte differential performed before chemotherapy. Medical records including pathology reports were also available. Data for all patients were collected prior to any surgical intervention. Exclusion criteria included clinical evidence of active infection, presence of hematological disorders, acute as well as chronic inflammatory or autoimmune diseases, or prior steroid therapy. Higher platelet count was significantly associated with the higher stage. The stage was not associated with the hemoglobin level. There was no association between the tumor size and age of patients with NLR. There was a significant relationship between NLR and IDC. There was a significant relationship between IDC and NLRs of less than 8.1 and greater than 3.3. There was a significant relationship between NLR and vascular invasion. There was no association between NLR and estrogen receptor and HER2. There was no significant relationship between the PLR and the cancer stage. In this study, NLR showed a significant relation with the disease staging. As the NLR increases the stage increases as well. Therefore, this ratio may be helpful in the preoperative evaluation of patients with breast cancer.

Background: Driver fatigue is one of the major implications in transportation safety and accounted for up to 40% of road accidents. This study aimed to analyze the EEG alpha power changes in partially sleep-deprived drivers while performing a simulated driving task., Methods: Twelve healthy male car drivers participated in an overnight study. Continuous EEG and EOG records were taken during driving on a virtual reality simulator on a monotonous road. Simultaneously, video recordings from the driver face and behavior were performed in lateral and front views and rated by two trained observers. Moreover, the subjective self-assessment of fatigue was implemented in every 10-min interval during the driving using Fatigue Visual Analog Scale (F-VAS). Power spectrum density and fast Fourier transform (FFT) were used to determine the absolute and relative alpha powers in the initial and final 10 minutes of driving., Results: The findings showed a significant increase in the absolute alpha power (P = 0.006) as well as F-VAS scores during the final section of driving (P = 0.001). Meanwhile, video ratings were consistent with subjective self-assessment of fatigue., Conclusion: The increase in alpha power in the final section of driving indicates the decrease in the level of alertness and attention and the onset of fatigue, which was consistent with F-VAS and video ratings. The study suggested that variations in alpha power could be a good indicator for driver mental fatigue, but for using as a countermeasure device needed further investigations.

Background: Driver fatigue as a leading cause of death in the transportation industry can impair the driving performance in long-distance driving task. Studies on the links of driver subjective fatigue and the bus lateral position are still an exploratory issue that requires further investigation. This study aimed to determine the correlation between the driver subjective fatigue and the bus lateral position in a driving simulator., Methods: This descriptive-analytical research was conducted on 30 professional male bus drivers participated in a two-hour driving session. The driver subjective fatigue was assessed by the Fatigue Visual Analogue Scale (F-VAS) at 10-min intervals. Simultaneously, the performance measures of lane drifting as the mean and standard deviation of the bus lateral position (SDLP) were calculated during the simulated driving task. Descriptive statistics and the Spearman correlation coefficient were used to describe and analyze the data., Results: Fatigue levels had an increasing trend as the time-on-task of driving increased. Time-on-task of driving had the greatest effect on the fatigue self-evaluation (r = 0.605, p < 0.0001). The results showed a significant correlation between fatigue self-evaluation and bus lateral position (r = 0.567, p < 0.0001)., Conclusion: As the time of driving increased, driving performance was affected adversely, as shown by the increase in the SDLP. Even so, the effect of individual differences on driving performance should not be overlooked. This work concludes that predicting the state of a driver fatigue based on the group mean data has some complications for any application.

Bisphosphonates are important therapeutic agents in bone-related diseases and exhibit complex H-bonding networks. To assess the role of H-bonds in biophosphonate stability, a full conformational search was performed for methylenebisphosphonate (MBP) and 1-hydroxyethylidene-1,1-diphosphonate (HEDP) using the MP2 method in conjunction with the continuum solvation model. The most stable structures and their equilibrium populations were analyzed at two protonation states via assignment of H-bonding motifs to each conformer. Geometrical and topological approaches for the identification and characterization of H-bonds were compared with each other, and some of the important correlations between H-bond features were described over the entire conformational space of a hydroxy-bisphosphonate moiety. The topologically derived H-bond energy obtained from the local density of potential energy at bond critical points shows consistent correlations with other measures such as H-bond frequency shift. An inverse power form without an intercept predicts topological H-bond energies from hydrogen-acceptor distances with an RMS error of less than 1 kcal mol(-1). The consistency of this measure was further checked by building a model that reasonably reproduces the relative stabilities of different conformers from their hydrogen-acceptor distances. In all systems, the predictions of this model are improved by the consideration of weak H-bonds that have no bond critical point.

Our newly discovered metalloprotease, designated as ALP NS12 was selected using gelatin agar plates with incubation at 100 °C. Subcloning of the fragments in to pUC118 to make E. coli HB101 (pPEMP01NS) with following two-step chromatography using diethylaminoethyl sepharose (DEAE-sepharose) and Sephadex G-100 columns to purify 97-kDa expressed enzyme was performed. Although activity of immobilized ALP NS12 on glass surface was established at temperatures between 70 and 120 °C and pH ranges 4.0-13.0, the optimum temperature and pH were achieved at 100 °C and 11.0, respectively. Enhancement of enzyme activity was obtained in the presence of 5 mM MnCl2 (91 %), CaCl2 (357 %), FeCl2 (175 %), MgCl2 (94 %), ZnCl2 (412 %), NiCl (86 %), NaCl (239 %), and Na-sulfate (81 %) while inhibition was observed with EDTA (5 mM), PMSF (3 mM), urea (8 M), and SDS (1 %) at 65, 37, 33, and 42 %, respectively. Consequently, the enzyme was well analyzed using crystallography and protein modeling. ALP NS12 can be applied in industrial processes at extreme temperatures and under highly basic conditions, chelators, and detergents.

Background: Oral mucositis is a debilitating side effect of cancer treatment for which there is not much successful treatments at yet. We evaluated the effectiveness of topical morphine compared with a routine mouthwash in managing cancer treatment-induced mucositis., Materials and Methods: Thirty head and neck cancer patients with severe mucositis (World Health Organization Grade III or IV) were randomized into the morphine and magic mouthwash groups. Patients received morphine sulfate 2% or magic solution (contained magnesium aluminum hydroxide, viscous lidocaine, and diphenhydramine), 10 ml for every 3 h, six times a day, for 6 days. Both groups received same dietary and oral hygiene instructions and care. Mucositis was graded at baseline and every 3 days after treatment. Patients' satisfaction and drug effect maintenance were also evaluated., Results: Twenty-eight patients (mean age of 49.5 ± 13.2 years, 63.3% female) completed the trial; 15 in the morphine group and 13 in the magic group. There was a decrease in mucositis severity in both of the morphine (P < 0.001) and magic (P = 0.049) groups. However, at the 6(th) day, more reduction was observed in mucositis severity in the morphine compared with magic group (P = 0.045). Drug effect maintenance was similar between the two groups, but patients in the morphine group were more satisfied by their treatments than those in the magic group (P = 0.008)., Conclusions: Topical morphine is more effective and more satisfactory to patients than the magic mouthwash in reducing severity of cancer treatment-induced oral mucositis. More studies with larger sample size and longer follow-up are required in this regard.

Background: To compare efficacy of simvastatin with GnRHa (Decapeptyl 3.75 mg) on endometriosis-related pains following surgery for endometriosis., Material/methods: Sixty women with pelvic endometriosis, after laparoscopic diagnosis and conservative laparoscopic surgery, were treated with either simvastatin (n=30) for 16 weeks or Decapeptyl (n=30) every 4 weeks for 4 doses., Results: Using VAS, the score of dyspareunia, dysmenorrhea, and pelvic pain 6 months after laparoscopic surgery declined significantly in both groups (p=0.001), but the difference between results of the 2 groups was not significant (p>0.05)., Conclusions: Both treatment modalities showed comparable effectiveness in the treatment of pains related to endometriosis.

Purpose: Due to increasing usage of chemicals in various industries, occupational exposure of women with these materials is unavoidable. Nowadays, some studies indicate adverse effects of exposure to these chemicals, especially organic solvents on the reproductive system of females. This study aimed to assess the relationship between spontaneous abortion and occupational exposure to organic solvents mixture in pharmaceutical industry., Methods: This study was carried out in a pharmaceutical factory located in the suburb of Tehran in 2010. During the study, married women who were working in the factory laboratory units and had exposure to mixed organic solvents were compared with married women who were working in the packing units of the factory without occupational exposure to organic solvents in terms of spontaneous abortion frequency and duration of pregnancy using statistical methods., Results: In this study, the frequency of spontaneous abortion in employees with and without exposure to organic solvents mixture was 10.7 and 2.9% respectively. This study showed that even after adjustment for confounding factors, there was a significant correlation between spontaneous abortion and occupational exposure to organic solvents mixture and this correlation increased with increasing levels of exposure to organic solvents. Also, a significant correlation was observed between occupational exposure to mixed organic solvents and waiting time to become pregnant (TTP). Furthermore, this study showed that even after adjustment for confounding variables, shift workers were significantly more affected by spontaneous abortion compared to daytime workers (P < 0.001). Also, in our study, synergistic effect between shift working and occupational exposure to organic solvents mixture on spontaneous abortion was seen., Conclusions: According to the results of this study, since there is probability of spontaneous abortion resulting from occupational exposure to various chemicals including organic solvents, recommendation to review the status of occupational exposure of workers can be helpful in improving fertility consultations and reproductive health.

Background: An enchondroma is a benign and a well-differentiated chondrosarcoma is an invasive chondroid tumor with high recurrence potential. In spite of biologic differences, these two tumors have very similar histopathologic appearance. It has been shown that the biologic nature of the connective tissue around benign and malignant tumors varies in the number of mast cells. The aim of this study was to study the histopathologic distinction of enchondroma and well-differentiated chondrosarcoma using the density of the mast cells in fibrotic capsule., Methods: Twelve enchondroma and 15 well-differentiated chondrosarcoma were collected from Pathology department of Cancer Institute and Central Pathology department of Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran. 3 micron paraffin embedded tissue sections were stained by toluidine blue for mast cells counting. Mast cells were counted in fibrous capsule of all cases. Mast cells counts were accomplished in 10 high power fields. The average number of mast cells in 10HPF was determined as an index for each lesion. Mann-Whitney U test was used for statistical analysis., Results: Mean index in enchondroma and well-differentiated chondrosarcoma groups were 0.1±0.12 and 0.31±0.33 respectively, showing a significant difference between number of mast cells in the fibrotic capsule in these two lesions (p = 0.028). Comparison of the corresponding points in ROC curve, showed a cut-off point = 0.15, with positive predictive value of 61%, negative predictive value 71%, specificity of 33.3% and sensitivity of 66.7%, (p = 0.025)., Conclusion: Average density of the mast cells in the surrounding fibrotic capsules of enchondroma and well-differentiated chondrosarcoma along with other criterions, could be a beneficial factor for histologically differentiation between these two lesions.

Background and Aims: Well-differentiated chondrosarcoma and enchondroma are similar in histopathologic aspects; therefore, special methods should be used to make a distinction between these benign and malignant tumors. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a histopathologic method in the long-term follow-up for differentiating these lesions., Materials and Methods: The medical records of patients with histopathologic diagnosis of chondrosarcoma and en-chondroma were retrieved from the Institute of Cancer, Department of Pathology from 1981 to 2007 in this retrospective study. A total of 14 patients with chondrosarcoma and 7 patients with enchondroma were included. Tumor lobulation pat-tern and fibrous tissue around the lesions were used for histopathologic differentiation between well-differentiated chon-drosarcoma and enchondroma. Method accuracy was evaluated by tumor recurrence in the long-term follow-up., Results: In the well-differentiated chondrosarcoma group, the follow-up period was 97 months. All the patients (100%) experienced recurrence. In the enchondroma group, the follow-up period was 129 months. There was no recurrence in this group., Conclusion: Lobulation pattern and fibrous tissue formation around the tumor can be an effective and helpful indicator for histopathologic differentiation between enchondroma and well-differentiated chondrosarcoma.

Based on definition of angular central moments, a quantitative measure is proposed for comparative assessment of the anisotropy of different intermolecular potential energy surfaces at different intermolecular distances. Angular spreadness, skewness and peakedness are three features of anisotropy that are used here to describe the distribution of values of interaction energy around its isotropic component. In agreement with qualitative interpretations, the proposed measure exhibits a sharp change in the R-dependent pattern of anisotropy at an intermediate distance where the repulsive forces on the average overcome the attractive ones. The R-dependence of anisotropy of available N(2)-N(2) potentials is examined in comparison with bare ab initio data and considerable discrepancies are found at distances shorter than the onset of repulsion. It is shown that the full experimentally derived potentials with simplified functional forms do not reproduce the correct anisotropy of interaction energy., (This journal is © the Owner Societies 2011)

Salivary glands tumors consist a major part of human tumors which their differentiation and treatment are very different. In addition to clinical experiments, biopsy is helpful method to obtain an accurate diagnosis. The biopsy of oral lesions is provided in different ways and one of them is Fine Needle Aspiration (FNA) which is a non-invasive, easy, quick and low cost experiment. The aim of this study was to define the accuracy of FNA in identifying major salivary glands tumors. The study was descriptive, retrospective. The medical records of Department of Pathology, Amir Alam Hospital were reviewed from 1994-2004. Data including age, gender, lesion site and FNA reports of all cases were registered. Histopathologic results of FNA samples and surgical gross reports were matched. Descriptive data was used for registered data analyzing. The SPSS 11.5 software was used for statistical analysis. From 656 specimen of FNA, there were 235 cases with both results of FNA and excisional biopsy. About 55 cases in gross experiment had not been shown tumor like lesion and 11 cases in FNA had not a definite diagnosis because of non sufficient of specimen; all these cases were rejected from study. Next study was for other 169 specimen. Considering negative for benign and positive for malignant, 37, 104, 10 and 18 cases were true positive, true negative, false positive and false negative, respectively. Sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were obtained about 67, 91 and 83%, respectively. Positive Predictive Value (PPV) and Negative Predictive Value (NPV) also were computed 78 and 85%, respectively. FNA is a safe, useful and quick method for identifying tumors of major salivary glands.

The intermolecular potential energy surface (PES) of the Cl2 dimer is calculated at the MP2/aTZ + b level of ab initio theory. A quantitative measure is proposed for comparison of the anisotropy of PESs of different systems at different intermolecular distances. A high degree of anisotropy at short and intermediate distances results in the failure of fitting strategies that are based on the angular expansion of the potential energy. To tackle this problem, a step-by-step fitting strategy is designed for analytical representation of the PES. The global minimum energy configuration of the dimer is found to be a distorted L-shape structure with a well depth of around 615 cm(-1). The PES is finally scaled to minimize deviations between calculated and experimental second virial coefficients.