جایی که نتیجه رقابت علمی و تخصصی دانشگاهها به نمایش گذاشته می شود
Iranian University Reference & Ranking
Introduction: Emergency care is usually conducted within limited time and with limited resources. During emergency care processes, data quality issues should be taken into account. The aim of this study was to assess the quality of emergency care data from the perspectives of different data stakeholders. Method: This survey study was conducted in 2017. In this research, the viewpoints of three groups of data stakeholders, including data producers, data collectors, and data consumers, were collected regarding data quality in emergency care services. Data were collected by using a standard information quality assessment questionnaire. Results: The mean values for each dimension of data quality were as follows: sound data (6.23), dependable data (6.28), useful data (6.30), and usable data (6.35), with 0 being the lowest possible score and 10 being the highest. The role gap analysis suggested a clear gap between data producers and data customers at the university level. Conclusion: Overall, data quality in emergency medical services was not at a high level. Although data quality was improving, the levels of data completeness, compatibility, and usability were low. To improve the usability of emergency medical service data, more attention should be paid to the dimensions of accuracy, completeness, and consistency of data sources.
New magnetically recoverable solid acid catalysts for acid-catalyzed reactions were designed via the surface chemical functionalization of silica-coated magnetite nanoparticles (SCMNPs) with sulfonic acid groups. First, the SCMNPs were covalently functionalized with 3-aminopropyl groups to achieve Amp-SCMNPs. Then, reaction of the Amp-SCMNPs with 1,4-butane sultone followed by acidification with phosphotungstic acid (HPW) or diluted sulfuric acid produced magnetically recoverable solid acid catalysts, HPW-ampsul-SCMNPs and H-ampsul-SCMNPs, respectively. Both catalysts were characterized by various physicochemical analyses such as Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and inductively coupled plasma-optical emission (ICP-OES) spectroscopies, vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) analyses. Finally, the catalytic activities of the prepared catalysts were examined in the esterification of acetic acid with butanol and acetalization of benzaldehyde with ethylene glycol. Excellent catalytic efficiencies were obtained in both cases. The catalysts were consecutively recovered and reused five times without significant loss of their activities.
Reproductive toxicity of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on spermatozoa is well established.The aim of the present study was to show the potential benefits of alpha lipoic acid (ALA) as a strong antioxidant in alleviating the reproductive toxicity of LPS.Sperm cells and cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) were collected from healthy NMRI mice (body weights ranged from 25 to 35 g, 100 females and 200 males). Sperm cells were treated with varying doses of ALA (0.01, 0.02, and 0.04 mm) and 0.01 μg/mL of LPS for 4 h. The quality of spermatozoa (ROS production, DNA fragmentation, and spontaneous acrosome reaction), sperm fertilizability, and the consequent developmental competence of oocytes inseminated with ALA/LPS-treated spermatozoa were recorded.The results showed that 0.04 mm of ALA abrogated LPS-reduced sperm motility, viability, ROS production, spontaneous acrosome reaction, fertilizability, and developmental competence. In addition, 0.04 mm ALA significantly reverted the negative effects of LPS on inner cell mass (ICM) cell counts, total cell number (TCM), and ratio between ICM and TCM.Our data showed that ALA significantly could abrogate the negative effects of LPS on sperm quality and oocyte developmental competence. Therefore, ALA had the capacity for protecting sperm cells from LPS-induced damage and ensured fertilization and developmental competency.These in vitro findings suggested a therapeutic role for ALA in reducing the negative effects of LPS on spermatozoa and early embryonic development.
Set of unique sequences in bacterial genomes, responsible for protecting bacteria against bacteriophages, have been recently used for genetic manipulation of specific points in the genome. These system comprises of one RNA component and one enzyme component, known as CRISPR and Cas9, respectively. The present review focuses on the applications of the CRISPR/Cas9 technology in the development of cellular and animal models of human disease.Making a desired genetic alteration depend on the design of RNA molecules that guide endonucleases to a favorable genomic location. With the discovery of the CRISPR/Cas9 technology, scientists are able to achieve higher levels of accuracy as it possesses advantages over the alternative methods for editing genome including simple design, high targeting efficiency and the ability to create simultaneous alterations in multiple sequences. These peruse the researchers to apply this technology for creating cellular and animal models of human diseases by knock-in, knock-out and Indel mutation strategies such as Huntington, Cardiovascular disorders, and cancers.Optimized CRISPR/Cas9 technology will facilitate access to valuable novel cellular and animal genetic models with applications in development of innovative drug discovery and gene therapy.
Recent studies demonstrated that a combination of the gut microbiome has the vital effect on the efficacy of anticancer immune therapies. Regulatory effects of microbiota have been shown in different types of cancer therapies such as chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Immune-checkpoint-blocked therapies are the recent efficient cancer immunotherapy strategies. The target of immune-checkpoint blocking is cytotoxic T lymphocyte protein-4 (CTLA-4) or blockade of programmed death-1 (PD-1) protein and its ligand programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) that they have been considered as cancer immunotherapy in recent years. In the latest studies, it have been demonstrated that several gut bacteria such as Akkermansia muciniphila, Bifidobacterium spp., Faecalibacterium spp., and Bacteroides fragilis have the regulatory effects on PD-1, PD-L1, and CTLA-4 blocked anticancer therapy outcome.
Road Traffic Accidents (RTA) are a major worldwide public health problem. The aim of this study was to use the growth mixture model for clustering countries on the basis of the mortality rate patterns of RTAs from 2007 to 2013. We obtained the data on RTA death rates from World Health Organization reports and Human Development Index (HDI) of United Nations Development Programme reports for the years 2007, 2010 and 2013. Simple Latent Growth Models (LGM) in 181 countries were applied to estimate overall RTA mortality rate growth trajectories and the latent growth mixture modeling utilized to cluster them. According to non-linear LGM, the overall mortality rate of RTAs showed a decrease from 2007 to 2010 followed by an increase from 2010 to 2013. The HDI covariate had a significant negative and positive effect on intercept and slope of the LGM, respectively. The extracted mixture model appeared to have seven classes with different trends in RTA mortality rates. The worldwide countries were clustered into seven classes. Further studies on each of the seven classes are suggested to provide recommendations for reducing the mortality rate of the RTAs. Additionally, increasing HDI in some countries could have a significant effect on reducing the RTA death rates.
A total of 161 Streptococcus pneumoniae were collected between 2013 and 2015 in Tehran, Iran. The strains were tested for antimicrobial susceptibility and minimum inhibitory concentrations, serotyped, and genotyped by multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) were also typed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (PBP-RFLP). Out of 161 strains, 32 isolates (20%) were highly resistant to penicillin. The most frequent serotypes among the penicillin-nonsusceptible S. pneumoniae (PNSP) were 14 (24%), 23F (18%), and 19F (17%). RFLP of pbp2b, pbp2x, and pbp1a genes revealed 8, 6, and 7 different patterns, respectively. Analysis of 93 PNSP isolates displayed 80 PFGE types with 8 common types constituting 21 (23%) isolates. The remaining 72 isolates (77%) were single types. MLST indicated a high degree of genetic diversity among the 93 PNSP with 36 different sequence types. Six internationally known penicillin resistant clones were identified in our isolates among which Spain
Colorectal cancer is one of the major causes of death worldwide. Many studies have been done on the biology of its formation as well as its treatment in recent years. One of the factors involved in the formation or treatment of this malignancy can be attributed to the microbial flora in the intestine.This study investigate the potential preventive effect of Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus plantarum in patients with polyps or colorectal cancer (CRC).A total of 77 samples were selected in the form of three groups including individuals suffering from CRC, polyps and healthy subjects. Genomic DNA of fecal specimens and standard strains were extracted and amplified employing primers targeting of the 16S rRNA gene for initial detection. Absolute Real Time PCR quantification was used to determine the copy of the bacterial expression per gram of feces.No significant difference were observed between age and gender in the mentioned groups (P=0.06). The average copy number of Lactobacillus acidophilus shows Significant difference between the healthy group and those with polyps (P<0.0001), the healthy group and those with colorectal cancer (P<0.0001), as well as those with polyps and the colorectal cancer patients (P<0.0001).These results may indicate that taking Lactobacillus acidophilus in people with a family history of CRC and people with polyps may be a way of preventing, treating or reducing the severity of CRC.
Gastric adenocarcinoma is the fourth most common cause of cancer-associated death worldwide.We evaluated the immunological status of patients with gastric cancer before surgery and circulating cytokines as potential diagnostic biomarkers for gastric cancer.We included 90 healthy controls and 95 patients with distal Gastric adenocarcinoma in Mazandaran, Sari, Iran. We measured serum IL-2, IL-10 and IL-12 Levels by a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using the IBL international GMBH kit.The serum IL-10 levels in the patients with Gastric adenocarcinoma were significantly higher than those of the healthy controls (P=0.02). There were no significant differences in serum IL-2 and IL-12 levels between patients with gastric cancer and healthy controls.Increased levels of IL-10 might be useful as diagnostic biomarkers for Gastric adenocarcinoma; however, this needs to be confirmed with larger number of patients and with control groups other than blood donors, properly age paired. These results suggest that positive expression of IL-10 may be useful as a molecular marker to distinguish stage of gastric cancers which can be more readily controlled.
Chitosan has a biocompatible, biodegradable and nontoxic nature. The effectiveness of nano-chitosan films in the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis has been confirmed previously in susceptible laboratory animals.The aim of this study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of a chitosan-based biocompatible dressing in patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis who were either nonresponsive to or had medical contraindications for conventional treatments.A total of 10 eligible patients were included in this single arm, single center study. The sterile chitosan film was immersed in saline serum and was cautiously extended over the wound to avoid air occlusion. Sterile Vaseline gauze was then applied and the film was kept on the wound site for 7 days and was repeated every week until the healing was completed. Complete clinical response was defined as complete re-epithelialization of the skin lesion as well as microscopic negative results for amastigote forms of Leishmania sp.All patients showed either significant (30%) or complete (70%) improvement after 8 weeks of therapy and at 16 weeks post treatment all cases were completely cured. It was well tolerated and there were no product-related adverse events such as allergic reaction or infection. Moreover, no recurrences were observed in any patients after 6 months follow-up.The lack of a control group, relatively small sample size and failure to evaluate the histological and molecular effects of chitosan were the limitations of this study.Our findings confirmed that chitosan can be safely and effectively used for the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis. We were unable to find any previous clinical study in evaluating the efficacy of chitosan for cutaneous leishmaniasis on human subjects. Further studies are recommended to design a randomized, double-blinded clinical trial with more volunteers who infected with different species of Leishmania and various clinical forms of cutaneous leishmaniasis.
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a prevalent metabolic disorder that is associated with development of some complications in male reproductive system including testicular damage, sexual dysfunction, abnormal spermatogenesis, and infertility. Diosgenin is a natural steroidal saponin with anti-diabetic, anti-oxidative, and anti-inflammatory effects. This research study was undertaken to explore the protective effect of diosgenin against diabetes-induced testicular damage in the rat. Ten days following streptozotocin (STZ; i.p.), diosgenin was daily administered for 6 weeks (p.o.). Diosgenin administration to diabetic rats significantly improved body weight and lowered serum glucose. In addition, diosgenin-treated diabetic group had a significantly lower level of malondialdehyde (MDA), protein carbonyl, greater level of glutathione (GSH), and higher activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) in addition to testicular improvement of ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP). Furthermore, diosgenin significantly improved serum insulin and testosterone level and alleviated testicular markers of inflammation including tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) and interleukin 6 (IL-6) in diabetic rats. Moreover, apoptotic markers including caspase 3 activity, Annexin V, and DNA fragmentation decreased, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) accentuated, and myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity as a biomarker of neutrophil infiltration decreased in diosgenin-treated diabetic group. Additionally, diosgenin was capable to improve sperm count, motility, and viability in addition to prevention of damage to seminiferous tubules in diabetic animals. Collectively, diosgenin ameliorates testicular damage in DM, at least via partial suppression of apoptosis, oxidative stress, inflammation, and neutrophil infiltration and also via partial restoration of mitochondrial integrity.
Nanomechanical characteristics of end grafted polymer brushes were studied by AFM based, colloidal probe nanoindentation measurements. A high-density polymer brush of poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA) was precisely prepared on the surface of a flexible poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) substrate oxidized in ultraviolet/ozone (UVO). Exposure times less than 10min resulted in laterally homogeneous oxidized surfaces, characterized by a SiO
Gp41 and its conserved hydrophobic groove on the NHR region is one of the attractive targets in the design of HIV-1 entry inhibitory agents. This hydrophobic pocket is very critical for the progression of HIV and host cell fusion. In this study different ligand-based (structure similarity search) and structure-based (molecular docking and molecular dynamic simulation) methods were performed in a virtual screening procedure to select the best compounds with the most probable HIV-1 gp41 inhibitory activities. In silico pharmacokinetics and ADMET (absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity) properties filtration also was considered to choose the compounds with best drug-like properties. The results of molecular docking and molecular dynamic simulations of the final selected compounds showed suitable stabilities of their complexes with gp41. The final selected hits could have better pharmacokinetics properties than the template compound, theaflavin digallate (TF
The aim of current study is to synthesis novel visible driven photocatalysts (L-Histidine (C, N) codoped-TiO
The present study aimed to examine the effects of adding different concentrations of resveratrol during in vitro culture (IVC) alone and during both in vitro maturation (IVM) and IVC on ovine blastocyst yield and quality. Therefore, this study was conducted in two separate experiments. The first experiment was carried out to test the effect of different concentrations of resveratrol (0, 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 2.0, and 5.0 μM) in the IVC medium on cleavage, morula, developmental potential of blastocyst, and total cell number (TCN) of the embryos. Addition of 0.25 and 0.5 μM of resveratrol during IVC significantly enhanced morula and blastocyst rates as compared with other groups (P < 0.05). Also, supplementation of the IVC medium with 0.5 μM of resveratrol had beneficial effects on trophectoderm cells (TE), inner cell mass (ICM), and TCN of blastocysts. In the second experiment, the same concentrations of resveratrol (0, 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 2.0, and 5.0 μM) were applied during IVM and IVC. Therefore, oocytes were matured in vitro in the presence of different concentrations of resveratrol for 22-24 h. After in vitro fertilization, presumptive zygotes were cultured in media containing 0, 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 2.0, and 5.0 μM of resveratrol for 8 d. No significant difference was found in the percentage of oocytes developed to MII (0, 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, and 2.0 μM of resveratrol), but the percentage of oocytes developed to MII were significantly lower in 5.0 μM of resveratrol in comparison with other groups. Addition of 0.5 μM of resveratrol to the maturation and culture media significantly increased morula and blastocyst rates compared with other groups (P < 0.05). However, a too high concentration of resveratrol (5.0 μM) during IVM and IVC decreased cleavage, morula, and blastocyst rates compared with low concentrations (P < 0.05). Treatment with 0.5/0.5 μM of resveratrol during IVM/IVC significantly improved the TE, ICM, and TCN of blastocysts. In conclusion, sequential treatment with 0.5 μM of resveratrol during IVM and IVC and during IVC alone improved the developmental competence of oocytes, which was reflected in higher blastocyst rates and TCN of blastocysts.
The public health importance of myiasis [infestation with dipterous (fly) larvae] remains unknown. This disease is spread worldwide in animals and humans, but baseline data on its prevalence are limited. In particular, knowledge on human urogenital myiasis (UGM) is scattered. As such, a systematic search was undertaken of five English and five Persian databases for publications describing UGM cases in English or Persian published between 1975 and 2017. In total, 45 papers reporting 59 UGM cases from various regions of the world are included in this review. All included papers were from the English databases. The age of patients ranged from 5 to 89 years, and the mean age was 40.6 years. Thirty-six of the patients were female and 19 were male. The highest number of cases (n = 12) was reported from Brazil. The most common genera causing UGM were Psychoda spp. (23.7%) and Cochliomyia spp. (11.8%). The vagina was the most commonly reported anatomical location of UGM for women, and the urogenital tract was the most commonly reported location for men. Thirteen cases were reported from rural areas and eight cases from urban areas; the location of other cases was not specified. The incidence of UGM is likely to be substantially underestimated when evaluated based on published case reports. Epidemiological studies, such as questionnaires to medical doctors, could help to gather the necessary baseline data on the occurrence of UGM.
Environmental distresses occurring during the sensitive periods of early life may exacerbate the vulnerability to develop physical and mental diseases in old age. Studies have shown the impact of prenatal stress (PS) on the endocrine development and reprogramming of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis functions in association with cognitive development and susceptibility to neuropsychiatric diseases. Long-term exposure to glucocorticoids can damage the brain and intensify the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD)-like neuropathological changes, especially in females. There is, however, less information as to the link between PS and the risk of developing AD pathology throughout the lifespan. In the present study, male and female APP
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are recognized as one of the most common infectious diseases in the world that can be divided to different types. Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) strains are the most prevalent causative agent of UTIs that applied different virulence factors such as fimbriae, capsule, iron scavenger receptors, flagella, toxins, and lipopolysaccharide for their pathogenicity in the urinary tract. Despite the high pathogenicity of UPEC strains, host utilizes different immune systems such as innate and adaptive immunity for eradication of them from the urinary tract. The routine therapy of UTIs is based on the use of antibiotics such as β-lactams, trimethoprim, nitrofurantoin and quinolones in many countries. Unfortunately, the widespread and misuse of these antibiotics resulted in the increasing rate of resistance to them in the societies. Increasing antibiotic resistance and their side effects on human body show the need to develop alternative strategies such as vaccine against UTIs. Developing a vaccine against UTI pathogens will have an important role in reduction the mortality rate as well as reducing economic costs. Different vaccines based on the whole cells (killed or live-attenuated vaccines) and antigens (subunits, toxins and conjugatedvaccines) have been evaluated against UTIs pathogens. Furthermore, other therapeutic strategies such as the use of probiotics and antimicrobial peptides are considered against UTIs. Despite the extensive efforts, limited success has been achieved and more studies are needed to reach an alternative of antibiotics for treatment of UTIs.
پایگاه مرجع دانشگاههای ایران، به معرفی، دسته بندی و رتبه بندی دانشگاهها و مراکز پژوهشی کشور می پردازد. در این پایگاه اطلاعات پایه و اولیه هر مرکز دانشگاهی جمع آوری و ارائه شده است و می توانید اطلاعات پایه هر دانشگاه را مشاهده نمایید.
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