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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Candida albicans infection is a problem of growing clinical importance, particularly in immunocompromised populations. This study aimed to investigate the inhibitory effect of carvacrol on the hyphae formation and expression of C. albicans HWP1. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was done over a 6-month period in 2016-2017. Vaginal, mouth and skin surface swabs were obtained from immunocompromised patients. Colonizing clinical isolates of C. albicans were identified and drug susceptible isolates detected using WHONET software. The susceptibility test for carvacrol (range 6.25–300 μg/ml) were carried out with a broth microdilution according to the CLSI guidelines against drug susceptible C. albicans. The time kill assay of carvacrol (range 2 × MIC to ¼ × MIC) was determined. Hyphae inhibition was evaluated by light microscopy. We determined the expression levels of HWP1 implicated in hyphae formation of C. albicans ATCC 14053 cells by quantitative RT-PCR. FINDINGS: Ten colonizing clinical isolates of drug susceptible C. albicans were identified. Carvacrol was inhibited the growth of all drugs susceptible isolates of C. albicans (MIC range, 25-200 µg/ml). Time kill curve assay demonstrated that carvacrol could significantly inhibit the growth of C. albicans (p≤0.05). Carvacrol efficiently prevented hyphae formation in drug susceptible C. albicans. The expression levels of HWP1 gene were down-regulated by 1.82- and 1.62-fold at concentrations of 2 × MIC and 1×MIC of carvacrol, respectively. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that carvacrol could provide an improved and safe clinical approach in treating Candida infections by prevention of hyphae formation.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Health promoting lifestyle is any kind of action that is taken to maintain the health of the individual. Healthy lifestyle plays an important role in improving the maternal-fetal outcomes. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of training pregnant women and their husbands on health promoting lifestyle. METHODS: This clinical trial was conducted among 189 pregnant women in the city of Bukan, Iran. Participants were categorized into three groups: the recipients of the training along with their husbands (the first intervention group), the recipients of the training without their husbands (the second group of intervention) and the routine care recipients (control group). Four sessions of group training were held for mothers of both interventional groups and one group training session was held for the mothers of the first intervention group regarding sleep health, nutrition, physical activity, self-image and sexual issues. Health promoting lifestyle questionnaire (score range: 52 - 208) was completed and assessed before the intervention, eight weeks after the intervention and six weeks after delivery. FINDINGS: There was no statistically significant difference between the groups before the intervention in terms of the total score of health promoting lifestyle. Eight weeks after the intervention, the mean score of health promoting lifestyle was 162.2±2.5 in the first group, 153.6±2.5 in the second group and 133.4±2.4 in the control group, which was significantly higher in both intervention groups compared to the control group (p

Background: Syndrome of transient bone marrow suppression may result from various extra-hematological diseases, such as immunological deregulations, and viral infectious diseases secondarily affecting the function of hematopoietic stem cells. Objective: To evaluate the pathogenic role of herpes viruses and their contraction with IL10 cytokine gene polymorphism, which can impair hematopoiesis in patients with transient bone marrow suppression. Methods: In a cross-sectional study 30 patients who admitted to Namazi Hospital, affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, with transient bone marrow suppression were recruited. Diagnosis of the transient bone marrow suppression was made by expert hematologists. A control group consisting of 100 healthy unrelated individuals was also included. One EDTA-treated blood sample was collected from each studied patients and plasma was isolated. The molecular prevalence of cytomegalovirus and HHV8 evaluated was evaluated using real-time and nested PCR protocols, respectively. The SNPs of the IL10 (rs 1800896-1082G/A) cytokine gene was evaluated by PCR-RFLP method. Results: Cytomegalovirus and HHV8 infections were found in 2 and 3 of studied patients with transient bone marrow suppression. Significant higher frequency of IL10 G allele and GG genotype were found in HHV8-infected patients comparing to uninfected ones. Higher frequencies of A allele and AG and AA genotypes of IL10 were found in cytomegalovirus-uninfected patients comparing to infected ones, respectively. The significant higher frequencies of IL10 AA and AG genotypes were found in controls compared to bone marrow suppressed patients. Conclusion: IL10 genetic polymorphism might have determinative role in resistance to the cytomegalovirus, especially HHV8 infections, in patients with bone marrow suppression. Focus in new interaction between HHV8 infection and IL10 genetics in bone marrow suppressed patients should be completed by the analysis of the anti-herpes virus immunity in future studies.

Abstract Background & aim: Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common endocrine disorders which affect 5-7 % of women in their reproductive age. Heracleum persicum (Golpar) contains compounds with anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antimitosis properties. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic effect of ethanol extracts of Heracleum persicum fruit on polycystic ovary syndrome in rats. Methods: In the present experimental study, thirty rats (200±20gr), were injected with 2 ml of estradiol valerate subcutaneously and six other rats were considered as the control group (intact). Sixty days after injection, the rats were divided into control, sham and experimental groups. The experimental group was treated with 200, 400 and 800 mg/kg BW of of Golpar extract interaperitoneally for ten days. The serum levels of LH, FSH, estradiol and testosterone were measured by ELISA and each serum were analyzed using ANOVA. Results: A significant decrease was seen in serum levels of LH (P< 0.05), estradiol (p< 0.01) and testosterone (p< 0.01) in three experimental groups compared with the control group. Whereas, a significant increase in the mean FSH (p< 0.05) concentrations was observed in the groups receiving high dose. Conclusions: Due to the decreasing effect of Heracleum persicum (Golpar) extract on LH, estradiol and testosterone levels and increasing in FSH level in PCOS rat, it seemed that the Golpar had a therapeutic effect on patients with this disease.

We have calculated the fission barrier height for 16O+208Pb, 16O+209Bi, 16O+232Th, 16O+238U and 16O+248Cm systems in energy range between 90 MeV to 215 MeV. This method is based on the experimental data for angular anisotropies of fission fragments. In present work, we have used the transition state model (STM) for two different cases: the first case is without neutron emission correction and the second case is with neutron emission correction. In this paper, we have predicted the fission barrier for the two super heavy nuclei that were not reported previously with experimental methods.

The present article formally studies the propagation of optical pulses in a nonlinear medium governed by the nonlinear Kodama equation. For this purpose, the Lie symmetries group is first adopted for similarity reduction and constructing some exact solutions of the governing equation. After deriving the dynamical system of the nonlinear Kodama equation, its bifurcation analysis is accomplished using the idea of the planar dynamical system. Through perturbing the resultant dynamical system using a trigonometric function, chaotic characteristics of the governing model are analyzed by serving several two- and three-dimensional phase portraits. A sensitivity analysis of the dynamical system is performed using the Runge–Kutta method to ensure that small changes in initial conditions have little impact on solution stability. Finally, using the technique of the planar dynamical system, a number of Jacobi elliptic function solutions (in special cases, bright and dark solitons) are constructed for the nonlinear Kodama equation. It has been shown that bright and dark solitons can be controlled for their width and height effectively by the achievements of the current paper.

Background and Objectives: Virtual Reality (VR) technology is an effective tool to teach various well-known skills and concepts. Teaching and integrating the traffic culture by using modern approaches is an essential fact to control and decrease the damages and costs caused by driving problems. In the past few years, the element of virtual instructor has been added to the intelligent tutoring system to increase the interactivity and learning effectiveness of the learners. Teaching via an instructor or the so-called ‘video modeling’ which is part of multimedia teaching content is referred to as the teaching samples in which an instructor explains how to do something. Examining the effects of using an intelligent virtual instructor in educational multimedia content is one of the special fields of research in education and learning to which enough attention has not been paid . On the other hand, in recent years, using technology and modern approaches in the field of traffic educating has become very popular and various countries have made considerable investments in this area. Based on this issue, in this paper, with the development and testing of a simulator game of teaching traffic rules (traffic-sim) the effect of the presence of an intelligent virtual instructor on the improvement of the users’ learning efficiency as well as enhancing their sense of presence were studied. The goal of this study is determining the effect of the presence of the intelligent virtual instructors in teaching the traffic rules to the learners. We also aim to investigate to what extent the presence of the intelligent virtual instructors can enhance learning ability and the sense of presence in the learning scenarios. Methods: For this aim, to provide the educational content in a game, the ‘traffic-sim’ simulator was designed and implemented in two versions including with a virtual intelligent instructor (instructor-based) and without a virtual intelligent instructor (visual-text).Using a comprehensive user study, we evaluated and compared the sense of presence and performance of players in the instructor-based mode and without the virtual instructor mode. In order to test the objective variables, the statistical population of 20 students from Tabriz Islamic Art University was selected and assigned randomly to either control or experimental groups. The experimental and the control group were respectively trained using the instructor-based simulator and the visual-text-based simulator. Participants were asked to play the simulator while learning the traffic rules. To analyze the effect of the presence of virtual instructor on two variables, namely learning and sense of presence, the data regarding the number of the rules violated during playing the game and the results of the sense of presence questionnaire were used both for the experimental and the control groups, respectively. Findings:The analyses in two levels of descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation) and inferential statistics (independent t-test) confirm that the use of intelligent virtual instructor improves the users’ learning (M=5.00, SD=3.00, t(18) =0.043, p < 0.05) and enhances the sense of the presence in the participants (M=114, SD=6.00, t(18) =0.023, p < 0.05). Conclusion: In the present study, ‘traffic-sim’ simulator was designed and developed to teach the traffic rules. as a serious game to train individuals by scenarios related to the real-world traffic rules. We tested the impacts of intelligent virtual instructor attendance on enhancing users’ learning and their sense of presence. The results of data analysis showed that the presence of the virtual instructor can enhance the participants’ sense of presence while enhancing the efficiency of the process of learning traffic rules. Our findings reveal that the learners would try to choose safer strategies and improve their performance after they have made a mistake . Moreover, the presence of the virtual instructor would lead to social interactions between the user and the virtual instructor that can result in increasing the learners’ sense of presence. Based on the findings of the previous researchers and the present study, it can be concluded that the intervention of a virtual teaching factor can have a positive effect on learning as well as the sense of the learners’ presence in the process of driving traffic simulation. Therefore, virtual instructors can be used to improve the learning process in educational subjects. ===================================================================================== COPYRIGHTS ©2021 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, as long as the original authors and source are cited. No permission is required from the authors or the publishers. =====================================================================================

In the present study, the feasibility of planting ash (Fraxinus excelsior L.) and spruce (Picea abies L.) tree species was investigated for rehabilitation of the Toroq Watershed in the northeast of Iran. The estimated land suitability indices ranged from 23.95 to 71.05, and 22.47 to 69.38 for ash and spruce plantations by parametric approach, categorized into moderately suitable (S2) in the east to not suitable (N) in the middle and western parts of the study area. The values of land indices by the AHP approach varied between 35.45 to 94.09 and 34.67 to 83.98 for ash and spruce plantations ranging from highly suitable (S1) in the east to moderately suitable (S2) in the middle and scattered parts in the east and not suitable (N) in the north and southwest of the basin. The results showed that the most important limitations were climate, elevation, soil depth, and soil texture. The regression coefficient (R2) of land suitability indices between parametric and AHP approaches for the two spices was 0.894 and 0.866 respectively. The results of the two models revealed that the moderately suitable class S2 is dominant for ash and spruce plantations in the eastern parts of the basin, while the middle and western parts of the basin were not suitable for plantation of the trees. The findings of this study may help land-use planners to rehabilitate the watershed by expanding forest plantation which ecologically tolerates extreme conditions of the region.

Plant Genetic Resources (PGRs) are one of the most valuable natural resources of anycountry. Biotechnology through genetic engineering of plants and the creation of new plantvarieties can increase the value of these resources. Different technical and legalmechanisms such as ex situ/in situ collection of PGRs, and Intellectual Property Rights(IPRs) indicate also an international institutional effort for sustainable use of biodiversity.Investigating international developments in the fields of exploitation and conservation ofPGRs is therefore essential. The main purpose of this manuscript is to explore criteria thatinternational legal instruments use for creating an appropriate interaction betweenconservation and exploitation of PGRs. These instruments have been especially developedin the two systems of international environmental law and intellectual property rights.Based on a descriptive analysis method, this research attempted to examine the provisionsof these two legal instruments. Research findings indicate that intellectual property rightsencourages the creation and development of green technologies, especially agrobiotechnology and protects Traditional Knowledge (TK) associated with PGRs as anappropriate tool for the sustainable exploitation of PGRs when implemented in aresponsible manner. International environmental law paves also the way for biodiversityconservation through creation of binding and non-binding obligations for preservinggenetic diversity on the planet. Sustainable conservation of PGRs requires an appropriateinteraction between the two legal systems.

Abstract Background Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrinopathy affecting women. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of Stachys sylvatica hydroalcoholic extract on biochemical and histological parameters in a rat model of polycystic ovary syndrome. Thirty adult female Wistar rats with an average weight of 180 g were divided into five groups of six rats. Animals were divided into groups of control, PCOS (intramuscular injection of 2 mg estradiol valerate, Aburaihan Co., Iran/rat, once), and treated with hydroalcoholic extract of Stachys sylvatica. After 60 days of PCOS induction, 100, 250, and 500 mg/kg BW Stachys sylvatica hydroalcoholic extract were injected intraperitoneally. The control group was just injected with olive oil as a solvent. After 10 days of treatment, animals were weighed and then sacrificed and blood samples were taken from their heart for hormonal studies. Ovaries of all groups were cut for histological studies and fixed in formaldehyde, and 7-μm sections were prepared by microtome and stained using hematoxylin–eosin. The data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA and Tukey-Kramer post hoc test with the SPSS software. The significant level was p

Introduction: Because of the fairly simple equations for accurate flow measurement and controlling the water level, weir and gate method is more useful than the separate weir, gate and partial flume methods. Since the flowing water in the channel always contains sediment particles and floating debris, they are deposited at the gate inlets and behind the weirs which reduces the size of the channel in the structure range and which reduces some problems such as neighboring land flooding due to overflow of water from the channel banks, threatening the structure stability and reducing the measurement accuracy. Using a combination of weir- gate model, in comparison with other conventional devices, will make it possible to get the actual conditions closer two main hypotheses derived from the relations and accurately measure the discharge coefficient. In this model, the deposited materials are easily passed through the gates and the suspended debris are easily passed over the weirs. One of the combined weir- gate structures is semi cylindrical weir- gate structure. Regarding about the form of the combined weir- gate structures, it has some advantages , including simple design, sediments and floating material flow, high flow discharge coefficient compared with other replaceable structures and its being economic. Semi Cylindrical gate turning around center Axis, for reason of rotation the center becomes Conversion to wire, wire gate with opening with different height. Materials and Methods: The experiments were conducted in a rectangular flume with the length of 8 m, width of 0.282 m and height of 0.3 m in Soil Conservation and Watershed Management Research Institute. In this research, PVC pipes were used as semi cylindrical gate structures. The experiments were conducted for three diameters 70, 120 and 160 mm with height of the opening between zeros until radius, angles zero, 30, 45, 60 and 90 degree and differently discharging. Experiments were performed at a discharge limit of 2-27 l/s. In order to decrease turbulence of the flow, the gate was installed at the end 4 m of the flume. The ratio of cylindrical structure diameter to channel width (D/B) was in the range of 0.25 to 0.57 and the Froude number was in the range of 0.08 to 0.55. Results and Discussion: Coefficient discharge of semi cylindrical structure and then dimensionless parameters of [H/P], [a/H], [ /H] and [Fr] against the discharge coefficient in the studied gate opening between zero until radius were investigated. According to result with decrease dimensionless parameter of a/H, discharge coefficient increased, So that the maximum Coefficient discharge rate of angle 90 degrees and minimum angle 0 degrees. Also in a constant of a/H for the curvature of the downstream and upstream, with increasing the diameter of semi cylinder, discharge coefficient remains and has no change, shows that changes in diameter of semi cylinder have no significant impact on discharge coefficient. With increasing H/P for both curves upstream and the downstream, discharge coefficient increased. Also in a constant of H/P for the curvature of the downstream and upstream, with increasing the diameter of semi cylinder, discharge coefficient remains. With constant of angles with increasing Freud for all angles, both the curvature of the downstream and upstream, /H decreased. Also in a constant of Freud and angles, with increasing the diameter of semi cylinder, /H remains. According to the result, discharge coefficient of semi cylindrical gates varies, in Experimental limit, from 0.45 to 1.45 which is more than that of sluice gates reported by the USBR. One of the reasons, this is ascribed to this is the difference between the amount of entrance, head loss in this structure, because when the flow approaches cylindrical gate, due to curvedness of the wall upstream, a gradual gathering of flow lines gives the aerodynamic method to entrance section, thus decreasing resistance against the flow and entrance head loss and increasing discharge coefficient. However, in sluice gates the vertical wall in entrance section is conducive to fast gathering of flow line, thereby increasing resistance against flow, increasing entrance head loss, and decreasing discharge coefficient relative to a semi cylindrical method. Conclusion: The results showed that increasing Froude coefficient and decreasing the a/H (ratio of gate opening to upstream water depth) dimensionless parameter decrease, respectively increase the discharge coefficient and decrease head loss in all aspects of structural alignment. Within addition by increasing the H/P dimensionless parameter (ratio of upstream water depth to structure diameter) discharge coefficient increased. Results showed that the maximum and minimum values of discharge coefficient are related respectively to 90 degree and 0 degree angle.

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to compare MORT and Tripod Beta methods, using a hierarchical model, in order to choose the best technique to analyze an event in an organization. .Material and Method: In this study, a critical event was selected and the causes of the event were identified, employing MORT and Tripod Beta capabilities. Following the identification of the event causes, the aforementioned techniques were weighted and compared considering selected criteria and AHP hierarchical method. .Result: Relative weights of the selected criteria were calculated. The ability to identify the event causes with the weight of 0.315 had the greatest weight. The event analysis cost (0.24), required time to analyze the event (0.146), technical experts (0.125), training for implementation (0.24), and availability of the analytical software (0.07) had obtained the subsequent weights, respectively. .Conclusion: Analytic hierarchy process is an efficient and practical method to prioritize the choices considering the study objectives and criteria. As scientific method, Analytic hierarchy process helps the experts in decision-making. Considering the selected criteria, findings in this study showed that Tripod Beta technique (with a weight of 0.563) is superior to MORT technique (with a weight of 0.437).

We demonstrate a stable, tunable dual-wavelength (DW) generated by launching an in-house built supercontinuum (SC) into an add-drop microring resonator (MRR). The MRR is fabricated from a silicon–nitrogen–oxygen substrate. The frequency comb of the filtered SC is obtained with an experimental free spectral range (FSR) from 0.39 to 0.46 nm corresponding to 48.7–57 GHz within the wavelength range 1520–1660 nm. The stability of a generated DW within the ranges 1561.16 and 1561.57 nm over 120 min is examined, where high, stable DW with a very low power fluctuation is achieved. This work has demonstrated the use of waveguide based MRR in the fiber laser system, and a remarkable flat and low power fluctuations frequency comb is achieved using the in-house built SC source and MRR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In areas with high rainfall distribution, proper irrigation management, including complementary irrigation, is one of the effective strategies to increase crop production. In order to investigate the effect of supplementary irrigation in different growth stages on the yield and water productivity of Autumn rapeseed, an experiment in the form of a complete randomized block design with five irrigation management treatments including rainfed (I1), single irrigation at flowering stage (I2), single Irrigation at pod filling stage (I3), two irrigation at pod filling stage and flowering (I4), three irrigation at flowering, and pod filling and grain Filling stages (I5) was carried out at Lorestan University Research Field. Results showed that there was a significant difference between the effects of different irrigation treatments at 1% level. The lowest grain yield, biological yield and oil yield were obtained in I1 treatment with 44.62%, 50.95% and 53.58% decrease, as compared to I5 treatment. The results also showed that by applying irrigation at pod filling stage, grain yield and oil yield were increased by 13.22% and 20.23%, as compared to I1 treatment. The highest total productivity for the grain yield and oil yield was obtained in I5 treatment with 0.252 and 0.073 kg / m3. In general, due to the fact that drought stress in rapeseed calving stages reduces yield, the higher the number of irrigations in rapeseed calving stages, the more the yield.

The ion exchange creates the optical buried waveguides, whereas it is the method that the glass doping occurs with the condition of existence of the mobile metal ions. The most common ion used is silver (Ag+) due to its broad variation in the refractive index. The proposed application presented in this work is to use the microring resonator (MRR) system based on the buried waveguides simulated by the ion exchange method. The passive MRRs are realized as the multi-wavelength transceiver, applicable in optical technologies such as the optical sensing, Terahertz (THz) communication and optical switching. The cross-sectional view of the simulated buried optical waveguide for the Ag+ concentrations of 0.8 mol/m3 is presented. The fundamental mode propagation is simulated using the time-domain traveling wave method, where the simulation of the optical power flow density and the electric field distributions of the buried waveguides were performed. The two coupled MRRs are used to generate tunable dual-wavelength with spacing in the range of Terahertz (THz). As results, the dual wavelengths in the range between 0.25 and 0.96 THz were generated at the throughput and drop port of the MRRs system. Keywords: Waveguides, Ring resonator, Coupled ring resonators, Ion exchange

فناوری اطلاعات در کنار مهندسی ژنتیک و دانش هوا فضا، یکی از سه شاخه پیشرو و آینده ساز دانش و تمدن بشر به شمار می آید. تغییر رویکرد از فناروی مولد به فناوری اطلاعاتی و کاربردهای ناشی از آن بسترهای تحقق الگوی جدیدی از جامعه موسوم به جامعه اطلاعاتی را فراهم آورده است. یکی از تغییرات این الگوی جدید تغییر در شکل و نحوه انتقال منابع در عرصه بانکداری است بگونه ای که مفاهیم جدیدی چون بانکداری الکترونیکی، پول الکترونیکی و انتقال الکترونیکی را مطرح نموده است. با توجه به اهمیت بحث کیفیت خدمات و همچنین رویکرد مشتری گرایی و مشتری محوری که در سال های اخیر بیشتر مورد توجه قرار گرفته است پژوهش حاضر به بررسی رابطه بین کیفیت خدمات بانکداری الکترونیک و رضایتمندی مشتریان بانکهای شهرستان زاهدان پرداخته است. با توجه به ماهیت موضوع از روش تحقیق توصیفی از نوع همبستگی و برای جمع آوری داده ها و اطلاعات از پرسشنامه استفاده شده است. جامعه مورد بررسی مشتریان بانکهای شهرستان زاهدان هستند که با روش نمونه گیری تصادفی ساده مورد مطالعه قرار گرفته اند. در این تحقیق از آزمون خی دو یک بعدی استفاده و تمامی محاسبات به وسیله نرم افزار SPSS انجام گرفته است. نتایج این تحقیق نشان می دهد که بین ابعاد کیفیت و رضایتمندی مشتریان رابطه معنی داری وجود دارد.

Background: Menthol, a natural quorum sensing molecule, is derived from the Mentha species. Combating pathogenicity by inactivating quorum sensing is an emerging approach. Therefore, our objective was to investigate anti-quorum sensing and anti-biofilm potentials of menthol in Candida albicans and Candida glabrata., Methods: The antifungal properties of menthol were evaluated using a broth microdilution assay and a time-kill assay, and its effects on quorum sensing-mediated virulence factors, cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), and biofilm formation were tested by evaluating TUP1 expression levels in both C. albicans and C. glabrata., Results: Quorum sensing-mediated virulence factors and biofilm formation were inhibited by menthol in both C. albicans and C. glabrata. Furthermore, coinciding with elevated ROS levels, mRNAs of the quorum sensing-related gene TUP1 were upregulated in both C. albicans and C. glabrata., Conclusions: This study highlights the anti-quorum sensing potential of menthol through the inhibition of quorum sensing-mediated virulence factors, ROS generation, and biofilm development by targeting TUP1, which could have potential in the treatment of Candida infections., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

Hypomyelinating leukodystrophy-17 is a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by autosomal recessive mutations in the AIMP2 gene, resulting in a lack of myelin deposition during brain development, leading to variable neurological symptoms. Research on brain function in these disorders is challenging due to the lack of access to brain tissue. To overcome this problem, researchers have utilized different cell and animal models. The CRISPR-Cas9 system is considered the most optimal and effective method for genetic modification and developing cell models. We studied the efficacy of the CRISPR-Cas9 technology in inducing mutations in the AIMP2 gene in HEK293 cell lines. The study involved transfecting HEK293 cells with recombinant PX458 plasmids targeting spCas-9 and AIMP2 sgRNA. The cells were evaluated using fluorescent microscopy and enriched using serial dilution. The CRISPR/Cas9 plasmids were validated through PCR and Sanger sequencing. After serial dilution, AS-PCR, Sanger sequencing, and TIDE program analysis showed the construct successfully induces an indel mutation in HEK cells. Our findings demonstrated the great efficacy of the CRISPR system and produced a construct for inducing mutations in the AIMP2 gene, which can be utilized to edit the AIMP2 gene in nerve cells and create a cellular model of the HLD17 disease., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Background: Schistosoma mansoni infection poses a substantial public health challenge globally, and the World Health Organization (WHO) aims for the elimination of schistosomiasis by 2030. This study aimed to assess the current prevalence of human S. mansoni infection in endemic regions worldwide between 2010 and 2024., Methods: We conducted a comprehensive search in PubMed/Medline and Scopus databases as well as other public sources from 1 January 2010 to 15 July 2024. Population-based studies reporting the prevalence of S. mansoni infection were eligible. We undertook a random-effects meta-analysis to estimate pooled prevalences with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) in WHO-defined regions and assessed potential risk factors associated with S. mansoni infection. The protocol for this study was registered on PROSPERO (CRD42023438455)., Findings: We identified a total of 542 eligible studies involving 1,163,866 individuals who had been tested for S. mansoni infection in 38 countries. The overall, pooled global prevalence of S. mansoni infection in endemic region was 14.8% (95% CI, 13.5%-16.1%). The pooled prevalences (95% CI) in specific regions were: 15.3% (13.9-16.8%) in sub-Saharan Africa, 12.4% (8.9-16.4%) in South America and 9.5% (5.4-14.6%) in the Eastern Mediterranean region. There was a 52.6% decrease in prevalence of S. mansoni infection and a 37% decrease in high-intensity infection for studies conducted between 2010 and 2014 compared to those conducted between 2020 and 2023. The present analysis revealed that factors including male gender, bathing or swimming in natural water bodies, crossing rivers or lakes, and engaging in water irrigation activities such as fishing, working in rice paddies or maintaining irrigation canals were significantly associated with S. mansoni infection., Interpretation: The findings of this investigation revealed that, despite a decline in prevalence and high-intensity infection, 7-12% of people in endemic regions, notably in sub-Saharan Africa, remained affected by schistosomiasis mansoni between 2020 and 2024. This study provides data of relevance to policymakers to support efforts to eliminate this disease., Funding: This study received no funding., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interest., (© 2024 The Author(s).)

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the association between variants in the interleukin (IL)-1 gene cluster and susceptibility to keratoconus (KC) in an Iranian population., Methods: In the case group, there were 188 KC patients diagnosed by clinical findings and corneal tomography. The control group included all 205 healthy controls with no personal or family history of eye-related, metabolic, or immune system-related disease. Using the standard salting out extraction procedure, genomic DNA was isolated from peripheral blood leukocytes. The genotypes were determined by applying agarose gel electrophoresis for the IL-1RN 86 bp VNTR and polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) for rs16944 and rs1143634., Results: The results showed a significant association between the IL-1β rs1143634 (rs1143634 T allele, P = 0.008) and IL-1RN 86 bp VNTR polymorphisms (LL and LS genotype, P = 0.048 and 0.012 respectively) and susceptibility to KC in the Iranian population. The genotype distributions of rs1143634 (P = 0.004) and rs2234663 (P = 0.042) significantly differed between case and control groups, with certain genotypes demonstrating a protective effect against KC. Logistic regression analysis revealed a protective effect of the IL-1RN L allele [odds ratio (OR) = 0.367, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.240-0.562; P = 0.000] and certain haplotypes (OR = 0.628, 95% CI: 0.447-0.884; P = 0.007) against KC. However, no significant association was found for the IL-1β rs16944 polymorphism., Conclusion: This study provides evidence for an association between variants in the IL-1 gene cluster and susceptibility to KC in an Iranian population. Further research on larger and more diverse populations is warranted to validate these findings and explore the underlying mechanisms involved., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Objectives: To study the impact of social determinants of health (SDoH) on pediatric extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) outcomes., Design, Setting, and Patients: Retrospective study of children (< 18 yr) supported on ECMO (October 1, 2015 to March 1, 2021) using Pediatric Health Information System (44 U.S. children's hospitals). Patients were divided into five diagnostic categories: neonatal cardiac, pediatric cardiac, neonatal respiratory, pediatric respiratory, and sepsis. SDoH included the Child Opportunity Index (COI; higher indicates social advantage), race, ethnicity, payer, and U.S. region. Children without COI were excluded. Diagnostic category-specific clinical variables related to baseline health and illness severity were collected., Interventions: None., Measurements and Main Results: Children supported on ECMO experienced a 33% in-hospital mortality (2863/8710). Overall, children with lower COI, "other" race, Hispanic ethnicity, public insurance and from South or West regions had greater mortality. Associations between SDoH and ECMO outcomes differed between diagnostic cohorts. Bivariate analyses found that only pediatric cardiac patients had an association between COI or race and mortality. Multivariable logistic regression analyses examined relationships between SDoH, clinical variables and mortality within diagnostic categories. Pediatric cardiac patients had 5% increased odds of death (95% CI, 1.01-1.09) for every 10-point decrement in COI, while Hispanic ethnicity was associated with higher survival (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.72 [0.57-0.89]). Children with heart disease from the highest COI quintile had less cardiac-surgical complexity and earlier cannulation. Independent associations with mortality were observed in sepsis for Black race (aOR 1.62 [1.06-2.47]) and other payer in pediatric respiratory patients (aOR 1.94 [1.23-3.06])., Conclusions: SDoH are statistically associated with pediatric ECMO outcomes; however, associations differ between diagnostic categories. Influence of COI was observed only in cardiac patients while payer, race, and ethnicity results varied. Further research should investigate differences between diagnostic cohorts and age groups to understand drivers of inequitable outcomes., Competing Interests: Dr. Newburger’s institution received funding from Pfizer, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Daiichi-Sankyo; she received funding from Bristol Myers Squibb, Novartis, and UpToDate; she disclosed that she is on the Steering Committee for ENOBLATE trial. Dr. Thiagarajan’s institution received funding from the U.S. Department of Defense Clinical Trial (award W81XWH2210301); he received funding from the Society of Critical Care Medicine and Extracorporeal Life Support Organization. Dr. Moynihan received funding from Edwards Life Sciences. The remaining authors have disclosed that they do not have any potential conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 by the Society of Critical Care Medicine and Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)