Association between a PD-1 gene polymorphism and antisperm antibody-related infertility in Iranian men.

Objective: Programmed cell death-1 (PD-1, Pdcd1), an immunoreceptor belonging to the CD28/CTLA-4 family negatively regulates antigen receptor signalling by recruiting protein tyrosine phosphatase, SHP-2 upon interacting with either of two ligands, PD-L1 or PD-L2. This study investigates PD-1 gene polymorphism in patients with antisperm antibody-related infertility

Methods: Genotyping was performed by polymerase chain reaction and restriction enzyme digestion (PCR-RFLP), this polymorphism was genotyped in 145 Iranian subjects (61 patients with antisperm antibody-related infertility and 84 healthy controls).

Results: Patients frequencies of the G/A genotype in comparison with healthy controls (38.

Cloning, expression, and purification of a synthetic human growth hormone in Escherichia coli using response surface methodology.

The aim of this study was to achieve high-level production of the human growth hormone (hGH) in the prokaryotic expression system. In this regard, we performed cloning, expression, and purification of a synthetic hGH gene in BL21 (DE3) strain of E. coli.

Nattokinase: production and application.

Nattokinase (NK, also known as subtilisin NAT) (EC 3.4.21.

Lumbar plexus block for management of hip surgeries.

Background: Lumbar plexus block (LPB) is one of the anesthetic options in the elderly patients undergoing hip surgeries. LPB could be safe because it targets somatic nerve in psoas region. Effectiveness of LPB is attributed to the sufficient analgesia provided intraoperatively as well as postoperatively.

Information-seeking behavior of cardiovascular disease patients in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences hospitals.

Background: Patients, as one of the most prominent groups requiring health-based information, encounter numerous problems in order to obtain these pieces of information and apply them. The aim of this study was to determine the information-seeking behavior of cardiovascular patients who were hospitalized in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences hospitals.

Materials And Methods: This is a survey research.

The effect of intravenous magnesium sulfate and lidocaine in hemodynamic responses to endotracheal intubation in elective coronary artery bypass grafting: a randomized controlled clinical trial.

Background: There have been many concerns about alteration in hemodynamic parameters within and shortly after endotracheal intubation (ETI) in patients scheduled for elective coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).

Objectives: We compared the attenuation effect of magnesium sulfate and lidocaine on hemodynamic responses after ETI, in patients undergoing CABG.

Patients And Methods: In this randomized controlled trial 150 patients undergoing elective CABG were enrolled.

UltiMatch-NL: a Web service matchmaker based on multiple semantic filters.

In this paper, a Semantic Web service matchmaker called UltiMatch-NL is presented. UltiMatch-NL applies two filters namely Signature-based and Description-based on different abstraction levels of a service profile to achieve more accurate results. More specifically, the proposed filters rely on semantic knowledge to extract the similarity between a given pair of service descriptions.

The probable role of cytomegalovirus in acute myocardial infarction.

Background: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the most common cause of death worldwide and many studies have been performed on reduction of its prevalence.

Objectives: This case control study was designed to investigate the presence of Cytomegaloviruses, Chlamydia pneumoniae and Helicobacter pylori in atherosclerotic plaques of cadaveric coronary endothelium of patients with and without acute myocardial infarction.

Patients And Methods: Sixty cadavers in two equal groups were analyzed.

The influence of combined genotypes of the HLADRB1*1501 and CD24 single nucleotide polymorphism on disease severity of Iranian multiple sclerosis patients.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. It is a clinically heterogeneous disorder especially in terms of disease severity. Current investigations suggest that genes and gene-gene interactions not only influence on susceptibility to MS but also affect the disease severity.

Protein encapsulated core-shell structured particles prepared by coaxial electrospraying: investigation on material and processing variables.

Biodegradable polymeric particles have been extensively investigated for controlled drug delivery of various therapeutic agents. 'Coaxial' electrospraying was successfully employed in this study, to fabricate core-shell PLGA particles containing bovine serum albumin (BSA) as the model protein, and the results were also compared to particles prepared by 'emulsion' electrospraying. Two different molecular weights of PLGA were employed to encapsulate the protein.

Dual addictions, parallel treatments: nicotine replacement therapy for patients receiving methadone treatment in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

This parallel, randomized, open-ended clinical trial tested the impact of nicotine replacement pharmacotherapy during the course of methadone treatment among opiate abusers. A total of 424 men entered the study at 4 drug treatment centres in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. The intervention group received a 6-week regimen of nicotine replacement pharmacotherapy at no charge.

Evaluation of sexual function, quality of life, and mental and physical health in pregnant women.

Objective: To evaluate sexual function and its relationship with quality of life, and mental and physical health in pregnant women.

Materials And Methods: Obtained results showed that 59 (39/3%) pregnant women were "very dissatisfied", 25 (16/7%) women were "moderately dissatisfied", 64 (42/7%) women were "both satisfied and unsatisfied", only 2 (1/3%) women were relatively satisfied, and no one was "very satisfied". There is a significantly negative weak correlation between female sexual function with anxiety and depression, while there is a significantly positive weak correlation between female sexual function with the general quality of life, psychological health and environment dimensions.

The involvement of the HLA-DQB1 alleles in the risk and the severity of Iranian coeliac disease patients.

Coeliac disease (CD) is a highly prevalent autoimmune disorder that is triggered by the ingestion of wheat gluten and related proteins in genetically susceptible individuals. The CD is associated with human leucocyte antigen (HLA) genes particularly with HLA-DQ alleles encoding HLA-DQ2 and DQ8 proteins. To define risk and severity alleles for CD, a total of 120 definite CD patients and 100 healthy controls were genotyped for HLA-DQB1 gene.

Anesthetic management for lower limb fracture in severe aortic valve stenosis and fat embolism: a case report and review of literature.

Introduction: Anesthesia in severe aortic stenosis, which describes a valve surface area less than 1 cm(2), can result in rapid clinical deterioration and patient mortality. These patients may require treatment for aortic stenosis before any surgical intervention. In suitable patients percutaneous balloon aortic valvutomy appears to carry lower risk, but in emergency situations, it is important to determine which kind of anesthesia technique has the lowest risk for these patients, without any cardiac intervention.

Marker-assisted selection for recognizing wheat mutant genotypes carrying HMW glutenin alleles related to baking quality.

Allelic diversity of HMW glutenin loci in several studies revealed that allelic combinations affect dough quality. Dx5 + Dy10 subunits are related to good baking quality and Dx2 + Dy12 are related to undesirable baking quality. One of the most regular methods to evaluate the baking quality is SDS-PAGE which is used to improve baking quality labs.

Bupivacaine-sufentanil versus bupivacaine-fentanyl in spinal anesthesia of patients undergoing lower extremity surgery.

Background: The addition of intrathecal opioids to local anesthetics seems to improve the quality of analgesia and prolong the duration of analgesia, when using a subarachnoid block in Iranian patients with their specific pain tolerance.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of adding fentanyl or sufentanil, to intrathecal bupivacaine, in terms of the onset and duration of; sensory block, motor block, hemodynamic effects and postoperative pain relief.

Patients And Methods: This randomized clinical trial included 90 patients who underwent orthopedic lower limb surgeries.

Preventive Effects of a Three-month Yoga Intervention on Endothelial Function in Patients with Migraine.

Background: Migraine is a neurovascular disorder and any interventions improving endothelial function may contribute to its treatment and prevention of vascular complications like ischemic stroke. Yoga has been shown to have several beneficial effects on cardiovascular systems. However, no randomized controlled studies to date have investigated its effects on endothelial function of migraineurs.

Human erythropoietin effect in postoperative visual loss following spine surgery: a case report.

Introduction: Postoperative visual loss (POVL) has become the focus of attention for anesthesiologists as a hallmark of perioperative management in spine surgery. A number of Intraoperative and postoperative factors has been documented but the exact etiology is still unclear. Nowadays, perioperative management and also complete curing of POLV is a big question of ophthalmologists and anesthesiologists.

Feature extraction using extrema sampling of discrete derivatives for spike sorting in implantable upper-limb neural prostheses.

Next generation neural interfaces for upper-limb (and other) prostheses aim to develop implantable interfaces for one or more nerves, each interface having many neural signal channels that work reliably in the stump without harming the nerves. To achieve real-time multi-channel processing it is important to integrate spike sorting on-chip to overcome limitations in transmission bandwidth. This requires computationally efficient algorithms for feature extraction and clustering suitable for low-power hardware implementation.

Seroprevalence of Bordetella pertussis antibody in pregnant women in Iran.

Background: The increasing incidence of pertussis among adolescents and adults in recent years is an alarming factor in transmission of the infection to non-immune infants and children. Vaccination of pregnant women, immediately after delivery and before being discharged from the hospital may help to protect mothers and their newborns against the disease. Decision making process, regarding maternal immunization, requires credible information and knowledge about seroepidemiology of the infection in pregnant women.

Trusted computing strengthens cloud authentication.

Cloud computing is a new generation of technology which is designed to provide the commercial necessities, solve the IT management issues, and run the appropriate applications. Another entry on the list of cloud functions which has been handled internally is Identity Access Management (IAM). Companies encounter IAM as security challenges while adopting more technologies became apparent.

Comparison between spinal and general anesthesia in percutaneous nephrolithotomy.

Background: Hemodynamic stability and blood loss reduction are subjects to further consideration in patients undergoing percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PNCL).

Objectives: This study compared the preference of spinal anaesthesia (SA) or general anaesthesia (GA) in respect to mentioned concerns.

Patients And Methods: In this randomized clinical trial, 59 patients who underwent PCNL divided into SA and GA groups.

Magnesium Can Decrease Postoperative Physiological Ileus and Postoperative Pain in Major non Laparoscopic Gastrointestinal Surgeries: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Magnesium is an antagonist of (N-methyl D-Aspartate) NMDA receptor and its related canals, and may affect perceived pain.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of intravenous magnesium on the hemodynamic parameters, analgesic consumption and ileus.

Patients And Methods: A randomized, double blind, placebo controlled study was performed.

Phenotypic and Genetic Characterization of Carbapenemase and ESBLs Producing Gram-negative Bacteria (GNB) Isolated from Patients with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) in Tehran Hospitals.

Background: Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is an autosomal recessive genetic disorder in white populations caused by mutation in a gene that encodes Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator (CFTR) protein. Since frequent respiratory tract infections are the major problem in patients with CF, obligation to identify the causative bacteria and determining their antibiotic resistance pattern is crucial. The purpose of this project was to detect Gram-negative bacteria (GNB) isolated from sputa of CF patients and to determine their antibiotic resistance pattern.

Phenotypic modulation of smooth muscle cells by chemical and mechanical cues of electrospun tecophilic/gelatin nanofibers.

The ability of mature smooth muscle cells (SMCs) to modulate their phenotype in response to environmental cues is a critical issue related to vascular diseases. A tissue engineered vascular graft shall promote the contractile phenotype of vascular SMCs. To this aim, Tecophilic/gelatin (TP/gel) was electrospun at different weight ratios of TP/gelatin (100:0, 70:30, 50:50, 30:70), leading to differences in biochemical and mechanical properties of the nanofibers which in turn influenced the phenotype of SMCs.