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Multiple sclerosis (MS) is commonest demyelinating disease among young adults. It demonstrates neurological dysfunctions in females more than males. Gonadal hormones have essential roles in maturation and differentiation of neurons and glial cells in both genders. The role of some gonadal female hormones such as progesterone has been well characterized on demyelination and remyelination in animal models. The role of androgens on neural system development and myelin maturation were identified. We previously observed that castration decreases the brain resistance against demyelinating insults and also reduces the subsequent repair. As the optic nerves and chiasm demyelination shows the hallmark characteristic in MS, inducing demyelination in optic apparatus, we have tried to find whether the effects of elimination of male gonadal hormones using gonadectomy could show the same, more or less changes in patterns of demyelination and repair comparing demyelinated females? Thus, to evaluate these alternations castrated male and female rats were compared by using visual evoked potentials and histological assessments on 2,7,14, and 28 days post lysolecithine (LPC) injection. Interestingly, we observed demyelination was started 2 day post lesion (dpl), reached to a maximum level at 7 and 14 dpl and then it partially but significantly reversed on 28 dpl. Demyelination and subsequent repair processes in both gonadectomized and female groups were shown almost the same patterns temporarily and in quality. Elimination of gonadal androgens could cause the male animals to undergone the same shape of de/remyelination compared female ones. In conclusion, differences between male and female demyelination and remyelination are substantially depending on male gonadal androgens. This work could be useful for understanding of the effects of sex hormones on demyelinating diseases and could offer fundamental information for repairing therapies in Multiple Sclerosis.

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Samples of leaf, twig and fruit from ‘Mexican’ lime (Citrus aurantifolia) and grapefruit (Citrus paradisi) with symptoms of bacterial canker were collected from different provinces throughout Iran during spring and summers of 2010 and 2011. Yellow, gram-negative colonies were isolated from infected tissue samples. Results of pathogenicity assays indicated that some isolates incited tissue hyperplasia, hypertrophy and raised callus-like lesions typical of canker in hosts while other isolates stimulated flat necrotic and water-soaked lesions on leaves. Candidate samples of each group were identified according to morphological and physiological characteristics. Detections were also made using specific primers and partial sequencing of 16SrDNA for Pantoea group and gyrB for Xanthomonas group. Results showed that one group was characterized as the typical Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri strain while the other group containing most of the isolates was identified as Pantoea agglomerans. Samplings done frequently in different seasons revealed the presence of high populations of P. agglomerans with bacterial canker, especially in warmer and drier regions. These bacteria were able to incite canker-like symptoms on grapefruit seedlings and could be reisolated after two months.

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The affecting behaviors of employees in an organization environment are to be realizable and visible. Such behaviors influence decisions and organizational outcomes and employees’ career in the organization. One of the most important issues related to personnel’s career in the organization is different influential actions which are done to achieve different goals.  Due to the significance of career, present study was carried out to investigate the impact of impression management tactics on the employees’ career. This study is an applied and descriptive survey. In terms of data collection procedure, the present study was correlational and based on structural equation modeling. The data were collected through a validated instrument consisting of 28 items measured on a five point Likert scale. In the analytic model of the study, impression management tactics was independent variable, carrier was the dependent variable, and gender, age, education, and working experience were moderator variables. Results of the study showed that the impression management tactics have significant positive impact on the employees’ career.      

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Aims: In imbalanced conditions, Candida species colonization as a normal microflora of human skin and some mucosal surfaces is replaced by invasive forms (budding yeast cells, pseudohyphae, and true hyphae). This study aimed to investigate the frequency of Candida species and candidiasis with emphasis on the presence and propensity of different Candida species for pseudohyphae and true hyphae formation  in clinical samples taken from various clinical forms of candidiasis.
Materials & Methods: In this cross-sectional study (2018 to 2019), sampling was done from 492  patients suspected to candidiasis, referred to the Medical Mycology Laboratory. Employing direct microscopy and culturing methods, the Candida species were identified using morphological and biochemical characteristics and also PCR-RFLP and DNA sequencing.
Findings: From a total of 96 candidiasis patients, 44.9% were identified with superficial-cutaneous and 55.1% with visceral candidiasis. The most clinical strains were isolated from fingernail scrapings (33.2%), followed by bronchoalveolar lavage samples (17%). The mycelium was found in 55.2% of the cases, and the highest frequency was related to the nail specimens (34%, p <.05). C. albicans was the predominant species forming mycelium (69.8%), followed by C. tropicalis, but no mycelium was found in C. guilliermondii cases. Mycelium formation was observed more in patients with an underlying disease such as AIDS and organ transplantation (p <.05).
Conclusion: Non-albicans Candida species have also the propensity to induce an invasive form of mycelial in the skin and to increase internal organs temperature, exacerbating clinical symptoms. This finding is important for choosing proper antifungal treatments and should be taken into account by clinicians.

 

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One of the challenges in non-destructive testing schemes using the ultrasound pulse-echo technique is to identify those defects whose sizes are less than or equal to the detection resolution that is dependent on the width of the ultrasound pulse. Existing methods also require a reference specimen of the same defective material, which may not be available in some cases. We present a new method for detecting and identifying such defects. In the proposed approach, each layer of the test specimen is modeled as a linear time invariant (LTI) filter, and therefore, each defect is characterized by its corresponding impulse response. We use a combination of time gating and system identification techniques to detect and identify the defects, and as such, do not require a reference specimen. To demonstrate the performance of the proposed approach, we tested metallic blocks in which specific defects were impregnated. Results show that the proposed method can detect such defects, does not depend on the test set-up (including the ultrasound transducer), does not require a reference specimen, and is capable of detecting several defects situated in different depth on top of each other

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High processing loads, need for complicated and frequent updating, and high false alarm are some of the challenges in designing anomaly detection and misuse detection systems. We propose a new network-based intrusion detection system (IDS) that resolves such shortcomings. Our scheme fuses anomaly detection and misuse detection systems, which has not been utilized so far in existing systems. In doing so, we have employed a mix of modified back-propagation (BP) and self-organizing map (SOM) neural networks that perform pattern recognition and classification in an effective and efficient manner. Results indicate that the performance of our proposed IDS is significantly improved as compared to the existing systems.

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Talent management is defined as a system for identifying, hiring, training, promoting and retaining talented people in order to optimize organizational capacity to achieve business outcomes. This study tends to achieve a theory in the field of talent management for better understanding of this phenomenon. Research has been performed in the aviation industry of Islamic Republic of Iran in a combinatorial mode. Theoretical sampling in quality study performed using snowball method while random sampling opted for quantitative study. Community of 13 and 212 personnel have been participated in quality and quantity study respectively. The validity and reliability of research tools were desirable. Measures to keep talented employees have been achieved using data-driven approach. The results showed that the quality of talent-driven architecture plays the key role in the paradigmatic model. The conceptual model using questionnaires data in the quality phase and statistical techniques, descriptive, analytical, PLS and structural equation modeling were analyzed. Finally, the research results presented with regard to the interpretation of the combined methods

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Purpose: Evaluation of humoral and cellular immune responses of naturally infected dogs against type I (rCPB) (Recombinant cycsteine proteinase B), and II (rCPA) (Recombinant cycsteine proteinase A) recombinant cysteine proteinases and C-terminal extension (CTE) of Leishmania infantum (L. infantum). Materials and Methods: In this study, fourteen infected dogs (7 with symptoms, 7 asymptomatics) from an endemic area and three uninfected dogs from a nonendemic region were selected and their humoral and cellular responses against type I and II recombinant cysteine proteinases, C-terminal extension (CTE) and F/T of Leishmania infantum were evaluated using the ELISA and lymphocyte proliferation assay, respectively. The level of specific IgG isotypes (IgG1 and IgG2) and lymphocyte proliferative response against rCPA, rCPB, CTE and Freezed/Thawed lysate (F/T) of L. infantum were examined. Results and Discussion: The results showed that in both of the symptomatic and asymptomatic dogs there is a high lymphoproliferative response to F/T antigens and moderate responses were observed when rCPs (Recombinant cycsteine proteinase) (rCPA and rCPB) and CTE were used. The level of antibody (total IgG, IgG1 and IgG2) recognition toward rCPA was low in the both groups of the dogs. In contrast, the CTE stimulates similarly as the CPB both of the humoral and cellular responses of all the infected animals and the level of total IgG and IgG2 isotypes against these antigens compared to the IgG1 was higher in the asymptomatic dogs. Since, the CTE is the terminal fragment of the CPB, it seems that the immunogenicity of the CPB is dependent on the CTE. Conclusion: The results of our investigation indicates that the CPB and CTE stimulate both humoral and cellular immune responses of L. infantum infected dogs, wherase the CPA is a weaker immunogen.

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Based on the early theories of the foreign direct investment (FDI), trade and FDI are substitutes while the new international trade theories emphasize the complementary relationship between trade and FDI. This introduces new aspects to model fundamental concepts such as increasing returns to scale, product differentiation, and technology differences among countries. This paper is an empirical study of the interaction between trade and FDI using data on inward FDI to the ECO and D8 countries. To end this, we use instrumental variable and generalized two-stage least squares (G2SLS) techniques for panel data models. The results show that there is a complementary relationship between trade and FDI. Moreover, GDP, exchange rate, population, inflation, and some convergences variables have significantly influence on trade and FDI.

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Aims: Most parts of the pastoralist's livelihood depend on income from livestock in the rangelands, but drought in rangelands has negative impacts on the ecosystem, cycle of nomadic pastoralists, livestock production, and their family's living. Recognizing the signs of drought effects in the nomadic environment can play a significant role in rangeland management. The present study was conducted to identify and investigate drought signs in Gonbad-e Kavous County, Golestan Province, Iran.
Materials & Methods: The study's statistical population consisted of 183 nomadic pastoralists in 10 customary systems, 100 of them were sampled and classified by random method. The data gathering tool was a researcher-made questionnaire. Drought signs were investigated in three dimensions: vegetation, soil, livestock, and herd. In order to ensure the validity of the questionnaire, the views of the experts of the Natural Resources Bureau and Cronbach's alpha method were used for more reliability with an average of 0.717.
Findings: The results showed that nomadic pastoralists assessed three factors forage quality degradation, increasing bare land, and livestock production as the most important indicators of drought effects in pastureland. Findings indicate a positive and significant relationship between the pastoralist's viewpoints about the signs of drought effect in the pasture with the variable of the people who depend on them. The results showed a significant difference between respondents' views on gender and education level in the context of drought effects.

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Background: The use of plant extracts or their compounds as antimicrobial agents for oral infections worldwide represents that herbal medicines could be used as an effective alternative method in oral health care. This study aimed to evaluate the antifungal and antibacterial effects of five traditional medicinal plant extracts on standard and clinical strains of bacteria and fungi causing dental caries.
Materials & Methods: Aqueous and methanolic extracts of Zataria multiflora, Lawsonia alba, Zizyphus spina-christi, Myrtus communis, and Citrus aurantium were prepared using maceration method. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum microbicidal concentration (MMC) of the prepared extracts were evaluated against bacterial (Streptococcus sanguinis and S. mutans) and fungal (Candida albicans, C. krusei, and C. tropicalis) isolates using broth microdilution method.  
Findings: Aqueous extracts of the studied plants showed no antimicrobial effects on the studied microorganisms, except M. communis and C. aurantium. The results indicated the antimicrobial potency of the methanolic extract of M. communis (MIC range =2 to 64 µg/mL) against all the studied microorganisms, followed by Z. multiflora (MIC range = 512-2048 µg/mL), L. alba (MIC range = 1024-2048 µg/mL), C. aurantium (MIC range = 1024-4096 µg/mL), and Z. spina-christi (MIC range=2048- ˃4096 μg/mL).  Also, the lowest MMCs against the studied strains were related to the methanolic extract of M. communis (MMC range = 16-512 µg/mL).
Conclusion: The results showed remarkable antimicrobial effects of M. communis extract, which could be a suitable alternative to chemical mouthwashes to prevent and control oral infections. 

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Aims: This study aimed to assess the impact of Benson's Relaxation Technique on psychological distress and sleep quality among older people during COVID 19 pandemic.
Methods: A quasi-experimental research design was used. To achieve the aim of this study, 95 elders were recruited randomly as follows; 50 from the Geriatric social club in Zagazig City, 20 from El-Resala geriatric house in Zagazig City, and 25 from geriatric home in Met Ghamr City. Three tools were utilized for data collection, namely, the Interview questionnaire sheet, Depression Anxiety Stress Scales for measuring depression, anxiety as well as stress, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index for measuring sleep quality. By SPSS 20.0 and using Wilcoxon signed-rank test, Chi-square test, and Spearman correlation coefficient all data were analyzed.
Findings: More than three-quarters of the participants had chronic diseases. The majority had unsatisfactory knowledge about Benson's Relaxation Technique during the pre-intervention phase. Two-thirds of elders had severe depression levels; slightly less than two-thirds had severe anxiety, and about three-quarters had severe stress in the pre-intervention phase with a statistically significant reduction post-intervention phase. The majority had poor sleep quality (97.9%) in the pre-intervention phase, which decreased in the post-intervention phase to 50.5%.
Conclusion: This study concluded that Benson's Relaxation Technique has a great effect on psychological distress and sleep quality of elderly people. Gero-psychiatric nurses should encourage elderly people to apply BRT to the enhancement of their psychological well-being.
 

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Background: Methicillin-resistant staphylococci (MRS) are regarded as a global public health threat. Physicians are restricted in their treatment options due to resistance to aminoglycosides and tetracycline derivatives. This study investigated aminoglycoside and tetracycline derivative resistance among Staphylococcus isolates in Shiraz, southwestern Iran.
Materials & Methods: Totally, 113 staphylococcal isolates were recovered from different clinical samples in Nemazee Teaching Hospital from October 2019 to January 2020. Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method was performed to assess the antimicrobial susceptibility of the isolates against aminoglycoside and tetracycline antibiotics. Aminoglycoside-modifying enzymes (AMEs) and tet genes were investigated among staphylococci isolates using polymerase chain reactions (PCR).
Findings: MRS prevalence among Staphylococcus isolates was 61% (69 of 113). The majority of MRS isolates were obtained from blood (39.1%; 27 of 69) and urine (17.4%; 12 of 69). The highest prevalence of MRS isolates was among emergency room patients (34.8%; 24 of 69). The highest resistance of MRS isolates was against tobramycin (59.4%; 41 of 69) and tetracycline (55.1%; 38 of 69). The prevalence of tetM and aac (6')-Ie-aph (2'') genes was significantly higher among MRS compared with methicillin-sensitive staphylococci (MSS) (87.5% vs 12.5% and 95.6% vs 6.4%, respectively) (p= .001).
Conclusion: The prevalence of MRS isolates, including methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative staphylococci (MRCoNS), was remarkable in Shiraz as the center of medical services in the southwest of Iran. Furthermore, these MRS isolates were highly resistant to aminoglycosides and tetracyclines. Therefore, antimicrobial stewardship is necessary to address health conditions.

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We compare performance of adaptive schemes which are based on radial-basis functions and Kalman filters for fast extraction of auditory evoked potentials. Moreover, we propose a new method based on evoked potential modeling in the Kalman filter framework, which can improve the accuracy compared to the existing methods. Simulation results show that adaptive schemes and the Kalman method are not significantly different in reducing the number of trials needed for accurate extract on of auditory evoked potentials, and that the proposed method significantly improves the extraction accuracy of the evoked potentials even when the number of trials is small.

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Background: The present investigation aimed to survey the in-vitro inhibitory effects of nitroglycerin against Candida albicans, Trichophyton rubrum, and Aspergillus flavus.
Materials & Methods: In the current investigation, 99 fungal isolates were gathered from patients referred to the Medical Mycology Laboratory of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. The disk diffusion method was done based on Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) M44-S2 guidelines. Also, the microdilution method was performed base on CLSI guidelines for filamentous fungi (document M38-A2) and yeasts (document M27-A3).
Findings: In the disk diffusion method, all isolates of C. albicans (n=33, 100%) and A. flavus (n=33, 100%) showed sensitivity to nitroglycerin, whereas all isolates of T. rubrum (n=33, 100%) showed resistance to nitroglycerin. On the other hand, in the microdilution method, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of nitroglycerin against C. albicans and A. flavus isolates was 0.5 mg/mL, whereas the MIC of nitroglycerin against T. rubrum was 0.12 mg/mL.
The results showed that the MIC of nitroglycerin against dermatophytes was about one-quarter of its MIC against C. albicans and A. flavus, and this difference was statistically significant (p< .05).
Conclusion: Considering the potential and efficacy of nitroglycerin against yeasts and filamentous fungi (saprophytes and dermatophytes), complementary in-vivo and in-vitro studies should be done.

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Objective: DNA vaccines have been widely used to develop immunity against various pathogens including parasites and viruses. The potential of DNA vaccine to induce an effective immune response is related to the expression levels of the encoded protein in eukaryotic cells. Therefore, optimization of plasmid DNA delivery system is a major concern in protein expression in order to make an efficient DNA vaccination. Non-viral vectors such as polymers and cationic peptides have been recently known as efficient gene delivery systems into eukaryotic cells. In this study, transfection efficiency of HPV16E7 gene was evaluated by two non-viral delivery systems in vitro. Materials and Methods: DNA construct encoding HPV16E7 (pEGFP-E7) was prepared in large scale with high purity. Then, two delivery systems including polymer PEI 25 kDa and polymer-peptide hybrid as PEI600-Tat conjugate were used to compare their efficiency for HPV16E7 DNA transfection in vitro. Results: Our data demonstrated that both delivery systems including PEI 25 kDa and PEI600-Tat are efficient tools for E7 gene transfection. Although the level of transfected COS-7 cells is higher using PEI 25 kDa in comparison with PEI600-Tat. Conclusion: Our study indicated that PEI potency for E7 gene transfection was higher than PEI600-Tat in vitro, but its toxicity was obstacle in vivo. Therefore, with regard to low toxicity of PEI600-Tat delivery system and its potent plasmid DNA delivery, it is critical issue to study its potency as new delivery system in vivo.

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The yield and quality features of raisin are affected by various factors especially har-vest date and dipping solutions. Combinations of different harvest date (four harvest dates) and post harvest alkaline emulsion (three alkaline solutions) were tested in Vitis vi-nifera L. cv ‘Paycamy’ green raisin production in Kashmar, Khorasan Province of Iran. Such raisin quantitative and qualitative characteristics as: yield, drying ratio (fresh: rai-sin yield), raisin wastes, sugar content, price, color, homogeneity of color, raisin size, alka-line solution residues and surface texture of raisin (shrinkage) were assessed. Harvest date results showed that grape °Brix and raisin sugar content increased from 15.5 to 21 and 53% to 62% respectively. In addition, fourth harvest yield increased raisin yield up to 30% as compared to the first harvest. The amount of wastes resulted from decayed berry in the fourth harvest was higher than those for the other harvest dates, but such qualita-tive traits as color, size and texture softness improved through further fruit ripening. In-teraction effect of alkaline solution and harvest date on price and raisin size (number of raisins per 100 g) were significant (P< 0.01). Alkaline solution affected raisin waste, the differences among post harvest treatments being significant. The color of raisin was not affected by alkaline solution but it was steadily improved with each succeeding harvest date.

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Two pot experiments were performed in the wire greenhouse of the National Research Centre, Dokki, Giza, Egypt during two successive winter seasons of 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 to study the allelopathic efficiency of Anethum graveolens seed powder (AGSP) in comparison to the herbicidal effect of glyphosate treatment (0.375 ml/l) in controlling the parasitic weed broomrape infected faba bean as well as their effect on growth and yield of the crop. Treatments were applied by incorporating different AGSP concentrations (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 g/kg soil) into the soil. Broomrape seeds were obtained from the Weed Control Section, Ministry of Agriculture, Giza, Egypt. All pots, except healthy control, were infected with broomrape seeds (0.2 g/pot) at 5 cm depth from the soil surface. All AGSP concentrations used and herbicide treatment decreased all broomrape parameters i.e. number, fresh and dry weight of tubercles/pot  at 90 days after sowing (DAS) and at harvest as well as tubercles length at harvest only. The best treatments for controlling broomrape were recorded with 40 and 35 g/kg soil AGSP concentrations compared to the herbicide glyphosate treatment at harvest. AGSP treatments at 35 and 30 g/kg soil concentrations achieved the maximum significant increases, exceeding their corresponding healthy control and glyphosate treatment. Therefore, the allelopathic effect of AGSP due to the presence of allelochemicals, mainly phenolic compounds and flavonoid contents, could play an essential role as a natural selective bioherbicide in controlling parasitic weed broomrape infesting faba bean plant and increasing the plant growth and yield.

 

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The objective of this study was to determine the inbreeding depression on growth traits in Moghani sheep. Pedigree information of 8836 animals collected during the years of 1987 to 2006 by Moghani Breed Center in Jafar Abad Moghan, were used for analysis. The base population year was 1988. Analysis of the records was performed by ASReml software. Inbreeding depression was estimated as the regression of performance on the individual inbreeding coefficients via fitting an animal model. The mean inbreeding for all animals, females and males, were 0.500, 0.515 and 0.484 %, respectively. Totally, 24.22 % of all the animals were inbred. The mean of inbreeding for inbreed animals was 2.062 %. The rate of increased inbreeding per year for all animals was 0.05%. The inbreeding depression for body weight traits at birth, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months of age was , respectively, -0.007, - 0.291, - 0.026, -0.018 and -0.041 kg, per 1% increase in individual coefficient.