COVID-19 and the Brain: A Psychological and Resting-state Functional Magnetic Resonance Imagin (fMRI) Study of the Whole-brain Functional Connectivity.

Introduction: Coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) spreads rapidly worldwide and causes severe acute respiratory syndrome. The current study aims to evaluate the relationship between the whole-brain functional connections in a resting state and cognitive impairments in patients with COVID-19 compared to the healthy control group.

Methods: Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) and Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) data were obtained from 29 patients of the acute stage of COVID-19 on the third day of admission and 20 healthy controls.

Investigation of morpho-physiolgical traits and gene expression in barley under nitrogen deficiency.

Nitrogen (N) is an essential element for plant growth, and its deficiency influences plants at several physiological and gene expression levels. Barley (Hordeum vulgare) is one of the most important food grains from the Poaceae family and one of the most important staple food crops. However, the seed yield is limited by a number of stresses, the most important of which is the insufficient use of N.

A Review on the Disruption of Novel Object Recognition Induced by Methamphetamine.

Background: Methamphetamine (MA), is a widely abused synthetic psychostimulant that leads to irreversible brain damage manifested as cognitive impairments in humans and animals. The novel object recognition (NOR) task is a commonly used behavioral assay for the investigation of non-spatial memory in rodents. This test is based on the natural tendency of rodents to spend more time exploring a novel object than a familiar one.

Confirmatory factor analysis and gender invariance of Persian version of the modified Yale food addiction scale (mPYFAS) 2.0: insight from a large scale Iranian sample.

Background: The Modified Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0 (mYFAS 2.0) was developed with the primary objective of evaluating food addiction (FA).

Is human cytomegalovirus a potential risk factor for mood disorders? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Mood disorders are among the common mental disorders worldwide. Because of the persistence of cytomegalovirus (CMV) in the body and nervous system, this virus can be activated when the immune system is weakened and continues to exert its destructive effects throughout life. This study aimed to investigate the seroprevalence and association of human cytomegalovirus with mood disorders.

Comparative analysis of physiological traits and gene expression patterns in nitrogen deficiency among barley cultivars.

Background: Nitrogen is one of the most important mineral nutrients for plants and is absorbed by the root system mainly in the inorganic form (NH and NO). Plants absorb nitrogen as a food source for growth, biomass production, and development. Nitrogen is mainly absorbed as nitrate, which is the most common source of nitrogen available to higher plants.

Selection of High-Yielding and Stable Genotypes of Barley for the Cold Climate in Iran.

The interaction between genotypes and environments plays an important role in selecting superior genotypes for target locations. The main objectives of the present study were to analyze the effect of the genotype-by-environment interaction (GEI) and identify superior, newly developed, and promising barley genotypes for cold regions in Iran. For these purposes, a set of genotypes obtained from breeding programs for cold climates in Iran, along with two reference genotypes, were investigated at eight research stations (Tabriz, Ardabil, Arak, Miandoab, Mashhad, Jolge Rokh, Karaj, and Hamadan) during two consecutive growing seasons (2019-2020 and 2020-2021).

Effects of diverse Types of Toxoplasma gondii on the outcome of Alzheimer's disease in the rat model.

Toxoplasma gondii has lifelong persistence in the brain and its cysts can affect gene expression and change diverse biological functions of neurons. Many studies indicated T. gondii infection as a risk factor for the development of behavioral changes and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), although the etiopathogenetic link between them has not been exactly elucidated.

Origin and genetic analysis of stem rust resistance in wheat line Tr129.

Wheat line Tr129 is resistant to stem rust, caused by Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (Pgt).

Migratory cycloisomerization of 1,3-dien-5-ynes conjugated with pseudopeptides in assembly of benzo[7]annulenes.

A novel domino cycloisomerization of 1,3-dien-5-ynes for the synthesis of 7-benzo[7]annulenes is reported. The noticeable feature of this domino reaction involves the assembly of the fused bicyclic motifs through a transamidation/5--trig cyclization/8π-electrocyclization sequence in a single step. Finally, mechanistic investigations were conducted experimentally and supported by DFT calculations.

Effects of clozapine and risperidone antipsychotic drugs on the expression of CACNA1C and behavioral changes in rat 'Ketamine model of schizophrenia.

Calcium Voltage-Gated Channel Subunit Alpha1 C (CACNA1C) is one of the most important genes associated with schizophrenia. In this study, 45 male Wistar rats were divided into 5 groups of saline, control, ketamine, clozapine, and risperidone. Animals in ketamine, risperidone, and clozapine groups received ketamine (30 mg/kg-i.

Association between Serum Levels of Interleukin-6 on Pain and Disability in Lumbar Disc Herniation Surgery.

Context: Many inflammatory cytokines are also elevated in degenerated or herniated intervertebral discs. Among biomarkers, interleukin-6 (IL-6) plays an essential role in the inflammatory process of disc herniation. Some studies have suggested that an increase in serum IL-6 levels occurs in sustained radicular pain.

Virulence factors and antimicrobial resistance in uropathogenic Escherichiacoli strains isolated from cystitis and pyelonephritis.

Background/aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of virulence genes as well as patterns of antibiotic resistance in cystitis and pyelonephritis uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) isolates.

Materials And Methods: Two hundred UPEC isolates were collected from hospitalized patients with pyelonephritis (n = 50) and cystitis (n = 150) in Shafa Hospital in Iran. Antimicrobial susceptibility and ESBL production were determined with confirmatory tests.

Effects of Maternal Deprivation on Anxiety, Depression, and Empathy in Male and Female Offspring of Wistar Rats in the Face of Novel Objects.

Background: Early life stress (ELS) models such as maternal deprivation (MD) are used to investigate behavioral changes in rodents under stressful situations. MD is a situation in which rat pups are separated from the dam; MD has different paradigms. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the effects of maternal deprivation on anxiety, depression, and empathy in adult Wistar rats.

Characterization of specific DNA markers at VRN-H1 and VRN-H2 loci for growth habit of barley genotypes.

Requirement of vernalization is an important factor which plays a crucial role in cereals to transit from vegetative to reproductive phase. There are three types of growth habit in barley: winter, spring and facultative types; in which spring type does not require vernalization but winter and facultative genotypes require full and partial vernalization, respectively. Combination of two loci, Vrn-h1 and Vrn-h2, regulates vernalization in barley genotypes.