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A compelling body of evidence suggests that EFL students have problem with logical connectors' appropriate use in writing. This study explored Iranian EFL students' adversative connectors use in their essay writing course. To this end, a Learner Corpus of 60393 words consisting of 156 essays was compiled. LOCNESS was chosen as the criterion corpus. AntConc, a freeware concordance program, was used to analyze the data. The findings revealed that, in general, learners underused adversative connectors; both native and non-native students used "but" the most; "on the other hand," and "while" were overused and "despite," "yet," and "instead" were underused by the learners suggesting that the top five most overused adversative connectors make up around 72% of learners' adversative connector use indicating that learners tend to use the same adversative connectors at the cost of underusing the other ones. Analysis of concordance line also illustrated that the learners tended to misuse the subordinating conjunction whereas and though in the initial position. It seems that learners need to be taught how to distinguish between different types of adversative connectors and how to use a wider variety of adversative connectors to reach a better coherence and cohesion in their writings.

Aim: This study aimed to investigate the frequency and molecular epidemiology of class A ESBLs producing Enteroinvasive Escherichia coli (EIEC) isolates among patients with diarrhea. Background: Antibiotic resistance is widespread among diarrheagenic Escherichia coli (DEC) in developing countries. Information regarding Extended-Spectrum P-Lactamases (ESBLs) in diarrheagenic pathogens should be considered in clinical management when an optimal treatment is required. Methods: A total of 581 stool samples were collected from patients with diarrhea in Ahvaz, Iran. PCR was used for the presence of the ipaH gene to confirm EIEC strains. The antibiotic resistance pattern of all EIEC isolates was determined by the disk diffusion method. EIEC isolates were screened for class A P-lactamase genes. Genotyping of harboring P-lactamase genes was performed by Multi-Locus VNTR Analysis (MLVA). Results: Among 13 EIEC isolates, 9 isolates (69.2%) were found ESBL positive by double-disk synergy test (DDST) and PCR. Furthermore, blaCTX-M-15 and blaCTX-M-1 genes were detected in 77.8% (n=7) and 44.5% (n=4) of the blaCTX-M-1 group. On the other hand, the blaTEM-1 gene was detected in 66.6% (n=6). None of the isolates had blaSHV-1, blaKPC, or blaGES genes. Six MLVA genotypes were identified. Conclusion: The current study revealed that the presence of ESBLs genes mediates the resistance of EIEC isolates to the majority of antibiotics in this region. The presence of ESBLs genes in different MLVA types showed that one specific clone was not responsible for spreading the EIEC isolates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Ecotypes selection is necessary for cultivation of Milk thistle. • Optimum temperature for germination of all Milk thistle ecotypes were estimated at 20 °C. • The ecotypes adopted from where the climate is drier, soil pH and EC are higher, tolerance to osmotic and salinity was higher. • The highest sensitivity to osmotic and salinity stresses was observed in ecotypes adopted from where soil pH and EC are low. • Ghamsar-Barzak ecotype could be used for drought and salinity resistant breeding. Milk thistle (Silybum marianum) is a valuable medicinal plant and is spread in different habitats over several areas in Iran. However, no information exists about seed germination and its tolerance to osmotic and salinity stresses of Iranian populations. Therefore, seed germination and seedling responses to osmotic and salinity stresses were determined in six Milk thistle populations originated from different native habitats. The populations were collected from six protected areas in Iran. Hence, two laboratory experiments were arranged separately as a completely randomized factorial design to investigate the effect of osmotic and salinity stresses. In the 1 st and 2nd experiment, seeds of six Milk thistle populations were subjected to five osmotic stress levels (0, -0.3, -0.6, -0.9, and -1.2 MPa) and five salinity stress levels (0, 3, 6, 9, and 12 dS m−1), respectively. Ghamsar-Barzak ecotype which, has been harvested from a dry climate with the lowest mean annual precipitation and Golestan National Park ecotype which has been harvested from a Mediterranean climate with the highest mean annual precipitation among the protected areas had the highest and lowest tolerance to osmotic, respectively. Generally, biochemical traits including MDA, Proline, DPPH-Scavenging (%), Soluble carbohydrate, and Total phenol were improved by increasing in osmotic severity in all ecotypes. The response to salinity was higher than osmotic in all ecotypes. However, Ghamsar-Barzak ecotype showed more salinity tolerance compared to other ecotypes. Under salinity conditions, MDA, proline, DPPH-Scavenging (%), soluble carbohydrate, and total phenol increased more compared to the control treatment. The highest tolerance to salinity and osmotic stresses was observed in Ghamsar-Barzak ecotype that obtained its seed was from a dry climate with the lowest mean annual precipitation and soil pH and EC are high. Hence, the results of this study demonstrated that habitat-correlated variation in Milk thistle seed response to osmotic and salinity stresses. It seems that Ghamsar-Barzak ecotype could be a proper genetic source for gene transfer aimed at breeding for higher tolerance cultivars against osmotic and salinity stresses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To identify factors associated with post-recurrence survival (PRS), we examined our institutional recurrence patterns following definitive resection for rectal cancer. We reviewed all patients with rectal cancer diagnosed at three hospitals in the east of Iran from 2011 to 2020. The optimal cut-off value was determined by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis to determine early recurrence. The effect of recurrence time was evaluated on PRS. 326 eligible patients with a mean ± SD age of 56 ± 12.8 years were included in this study. In a median (IQR: Inter-quartile range) follow-up time of 76 (62.2) months, 106 (32.5%) patients experienced at least any recurrence (locoregional or distant metastasis) following primary resection. The median (IQR) time from initial surgery to recurrence was 29.5 (31.2) months. Based on ROC analysis, early recurrence was specified at ≤ 29 months. However, for the patients who experienced only locoregional recurrence, 33 months was the cut-off to define early recurrence. Recurrence time and recurrence management were both significant variables on PRS. Moreover, TNM staging was significantly associated with early recurrence (P = 0.003). In this research, recurrence time, recurrence management and TNM staging were found to be correlated with PRS., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Purpose: To assess the surgical outcomes and peri- and postoperative complications following percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) in high- and low-risk patients according to the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score., Materials and Methods: We reviewed the patient records of 2,281 cases older than 18 years who had undergone PCNL in the 3 previous years. The patients were divided into two groups: a low-risk group (ASA score 1, 2: 1,922 cases) and a high-risk group (ASA score 3, 4: 359 cases)., Results: Analysis of the location and size of the stone, number and type of access, surgical approach, post-PCNL serum hemoglobin and decrease in glomerular filtration rate revealed no significant difference between the two groups. The stone-free rate was similar in both groups and the hospital stay in the high-risk patients was significantly greater than in the low-risk cases. 95% of low-risk and 91% of high-risk cases had surgical complications compatible with grade ≤II (Clavien system) and overall distribution of different grades of surgical complications was similar between the two groups (p = 0.177)., Conclusion: Success rate and surgical complications of PCNL in high-risk patients were comparable to low-risk patients. It seems that PCNL may be a safe and effective procedure even in high-risk patients., (Copyright © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel.)