Cystic Echinococcosis of Camels: 12S rRNA Gene Variation Revealed Changing Pattern of Genetic Diversity Within Echinococcus granulosus sensu lato in the Middle East and North/Sub-Saharan Africa.

Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is one of the most widespread zoonotic diseases, with considerable public health and economic importance. Camels play a significant role in transmission cycle of Echinococcus granulosus especially, in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The present study aimed to identify the genetic variation and haplotype distribution of camel isolates of E. granulosus sensu lato using all existing E. granulosus mitochondrial DNA data from camels in different parts of the world. Sequence data from 1,144 camel isolates of E. granulosus s.l. available in the NCBI GenBank including 57 camel hydatid cysts collected in central Iran were used to analyze the nature of genetic variation within the camel isolates of E. granulosus s.l. in MENA region. Fifty-seven camel isolates were also PCR-sequenced on mitochondrial 12S rRNA gene. Haplotype network analysis revealed seven different haplotypes clustered into four major groups. E. intermedius G6 was identified as the most commonly represented genotype in camels followed by G1. Mitochondrial 12S rRNA gene sequence analysis on 57 camel isolates identified three different genotypes, including E. intermedius/G6 (35/57, 61.4%), E. granulosus sensu stricto/G1-G3 (21/57, 36.8%) as well as one isolate identified as E. ortleppi/G5 (1/57, 1.8%). The number of base substitutions per site over 420 positions of partial 12S rRNA gene sequences were shown as 0.000 and 0.004 for E. intermedius (G6) corresponding to the Middle East and sub-Saharan isolates, respectively. Camel isolates of E. granulosus in the MENA region present moderate genetic diversity (Hd = 0.5540-0.6050). The Middle East isolates demonstrated a more diverse population than the North/sub-Saharan isolates, where six out of seven 12S rRNA haplotypes were identified in the former region. E. intermedius (G6 genotype) was shown to be the most common species in the world camel population. In conclusion, camels showed to be an important intermediate host species in the MENA region with different patterns of genetic variation between the Middle East and Africa.

The Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse Questionnaire (CECA).

BACKGROUND: The present study aimed to determine the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Childhood Experience of Care and Abuse Questionnaire (CECA.Q), a tool based on a retrospective interview with the child. MATERIALS AND METHODS: To this aim, 251 adolescents from four regions of Tehran megacity completed the questionnaire. The reliability of the questionnaire was examined, along with the face and content validity. In addition, the construct validity was evaluated by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). RESULTS: EFA and CFA supported a 4-factor solution including mother's role scale items, father's role scale items, maternal behavior scale items, and paternal behavior scale items. The total variance extracted in EFA ranged from 33.9 to 60.7. The internal consistency for mother's role, father's role, maternal behavior, and paternal behavior was 0.61, 0.65, 0.86, and 0.9 respectively. Thus, the questionnaire had a suitable fit, as well as reasonable reliability and validity. CONCLUSION: The Persian version of the CECA.Q had adequate reliability and validity as a self-report measurement for childhood experience of care and abuse.

Experimental and field investigation of non-biting flies as potential mechanical vectors of Echinococcus granulosus eggs.

Synanthropic fly species can be potential mechanical vectors of many infectious agents. The potential of the flies to carry Echinococcus granulosus eggs is not fully documented. The purpose of the present study was to determine the possible role of non-biting flies to carry taeniid eggs. A total of 210 flies were collected from seven selected sites in areas of Kerman city, southeastern Iran from November 2016 to May 2017. Adult flies were live-caught using sweeping nets. Flies were placed individually in small glass bottles and transported to the laboratory. All the flies were killed by deep freezing and then identified to the species level using both morphological and molecular methods. The flies were homogenized in test tubes and genomic DNA was extracted and amplified by PCR. PCR protocols were used both to identify the live-caught flies to the species level, and for the detection of E. granulosus. The laboratory reared second generation flies were experimentally exposed to dog feces manually spiked by Echinococcus eggs. Two runs of experiments with 1-3 h of exposure were designed. For each experiment 20 flies were selected from the stock colony and were starved for three days. After each experiment, the flies were frozen for further molecular studies. The dominant fly species were Musca domestica and Lucilia sericata. No eggs were found on the body surface and/or guts of live-caught flies. After the first hour of exposure, 60%, of the flies of both species were found to harbor Echinococcus eggs. However, in the case of L. sericata 50% of the flies harbored Echinococcus eggs after 3 h of exposure. Results of the present study indicate the probable role of synanthropic flies in harboring Echinococcus eggs and mechanical transmission of cystic echinococcosis. When the helminth eggs are susceptible to desiccation grooming flies can remove many of eggs from exterior surfaces of them. Despite this result the role of synanthropic flies in the transmission of certain helminthiases should not be discounted because of their vagility and feeding mechanisms.

Disrupted small-world brain network in children with Down Syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: To explore how the global organization or topology of the functional brain connectivity (FBC) is affected in Down Syndrome (DS). METHODS: As the brain is a highly complex network including numerous nonlinearly interacted neuronal areas, the FBCs of typically developing (TD) children and DS patients were computed using a nonlinear synchronization method. Then the differences in global organization of the obtained FBCs of the two groups were analyzed, in all electroencephalogram (EEG) frequency bands, in the framework of Small-Worldness Network (a network with optimum balance between segregation and integration of information). RESULTS: The topology of the functional connectivity of DS patients is disrupted in the whole brain in alpha and theta bands, and especially in the left intra-hemispheric brain networks in upper alpha band. CONCLUSIONS: The global organization of the DS brain does not resemble a Small-World network, but it works as a random network. SIGNIFICANCE: It is the first study on global organization of the FBC in DS.

Linear and nonlinear analysis of brain dynamics in children with cerebral palsy.

This study was carried out to determine linear and nonlinear changes of brain dynamics and their relationships with the motor dysfunctions in CP children. For this purpose power of EEG frequency bands (as a linear analysis) and EEG fractality (as a nonlinear analysis) were computed in eyes-closed resting state and statistically compared between 26 CP and 26 normal children. Based on these characteristics accuracy of the classification between the two groups was obtained by enhanced probabilistic neural network (EPNN). Severity of gross motor and manual disabilities was determined by standard systems and the relation between the deficient brain dynamics and severity of the motor dysfunctions was obtained by Pearson's correlation coefficient. A definitely higher delta and lower theta and alpha powers, and higher EEG complexity in CP patients. As such a high accuracy of 94.8% in distinguishing the two groups was obtained. Moreover significant positive correlations were found between beta power and severity of manual disabilities and gross motor dysfunctions in the boys with CP. It is concluded that the obtained brain dynamics' characteristics are useful in diagnosis of CP. Furthermore severity of the motor dysfunctions in boys with CP could be evaluated by the beta activity.

Down syndrome's brain dynamics: analysis of fractality in resting state.

To the best knowledge of the authors there is no study on nonlinear brain dynamics of down syndrome (DS) patients, whereas brain is a highly complex and nonlinear system. In this study, fractal dimension of EEG, as a key characteristic of brain dynamics, showing irregularity and complexity of brain dynamics, was used for evaluation of the dynamical changes in the DS brain. The results showed higher fractality of the DS brain in almost all regions compared to the normal brain, which indicates less centrality and higher irregular or random functioning of the DS brain regions. Also, laterality analysis of the frontal lobe showed that the normal brain had a right frontal laterality of complexity whereas the DS brain had an inverse pattern (left frontal laterality). Furthermore, the high accuracy of 95.8 % obtained by enhanced probabilistic neural network classifier showed the potential of nonlinear dynamic analysis of the brain for diagnosis of DS patients. Moreover, the results showed that the higher EEG fractality in DS is associated with the higher fractality in the low frequencies (delta and theta), in broad regions of the brain, and the high frequencies (beta and gamma), majorly in the frontal regions.

A novel nonsense mutation in TUSC3 is responsible for non-syndromic autosomal recessive mental retardation in a consanguineous Iranian family.

The genetic basis of autosomal recessive mental retardation (ARMR) is extremely heterogeneous, and there is reason to suspect that the number of underlying gene defects may well go beyond 1,000. To date, however, only less than 10 genes have been implicated in non-specific/non-syndromic ARMR (NS-ARMR). As part of an ongoing systematic study aiming to identify further ARMR genes, we investigated a consanguineous family with three patients with NS-ARMR. By linkage analysis and subsequent mutation screening we identified a novel nonsense mutation (c.163C > T [p.Q55X]) in the second exon of the TUSC3 gene. This is the third MR causing defect in TUSC3 to be described and the second independent mutation in this gene in a cohort of more than 200 ARMR families from the Iranian population. This argues for a more prominent role of TUSC3 in the etiology of this genetically heterogeneous disorder as compared to most of the other so far identified ARMR genes.

A survey of the tardive dyskinesia induced by antipsychotic drugs in patients with schizophrenia.

OBJECTIVE: Tardive Dyskinesia (TD), is one of the important problems of the patients with schizophrenia. The emergence of these side effects depends on so many factors such as the patients' age and the duration of antipsychotic treatment. By discovering new drugs (Atypical), there has been an outstanding decrease in the emergence of these side effects. The present study investigates the symptoms of TD in the Patients with schizophrenia who were under treatments for more than 6 months. METHOD: The sample of this study was 200 Patients with schizophrenia of four wards in Razi hospital (two acute and two chronic wards) who were hospitalized in the winter of 2006 and were qualified for this study. The subjects were 101 males and 99 females who were younger than 60 and had received antipsychotic drugs for at least 6 months. After psychiatric interview and filling the demographic questionnaire by the patients, the required information about the drugs and the intensity of the symptoms was acquired. Then clinical and physical examinations of tardive dyskinesia were done. Next, the tardive dyskinesia disorders' check list (AIMS) was used. Findings of this cross-sectional, descriptive study were analyzed by SPSS. RESULTS: There was a high ratio of 95% between TD and the age factor (P=0.05). There was no relationship between symptoms frequency and duration of treatment (P=0.68). Facial muscles and oral zones were mostly involved in T.D disorder (72%). CONCLUSION: No significant difference was observed between nine fold symptoms of T.D in patients who were using traditional drugs and those who were using the new ones (typical and atypical). Findings showed that in the intensity of the symptoms, gender does not play a major role.

Perinatal and neonatal risk factors for neurodevelopmental outcome in infants in Karaj.

BACKGROUND: Although it is well-known that the incidence of developmental delay in high-risk infants is higher than in low-risk ones, little is known about the risk factors among Iranian infants. The objective of this study was to determine the various pre-, peri-, and neonatal factors in developmental delay in participants and to compare the incidence of each factor with that of the normal population. METHODS: The Infant Neurological International Battery developmental assessment was employed as the diagnostic tool by a team of experts. Neurological examinations were performed and a questionnaire was completed as well. The subjects consisted of 6,150 infants divided into two groups respectively, with normal and abnormal scores for the evaluation over a period of 12 months in city of Karaj (Tehran Province). RESULTS: The mean age of the participants was 39 weeks. Factors associated with a significant increased risk of developmental delay in the studied population included postneonatal seizures (OR=5.54, 95%CI: 3.1 - 9.6), neonatal seizures (OR=4.37, 95%CI: 1.7 - 10.8), preterm delivery (OR=2.52, 95%CI: 1.3 - 4.7), and type II pneumonia (OR=2.39, 95%CI: 1.4 - 3.8). CONCLUSION: To increase the survival rate of neonates and effectiveness of early intervention, the above-mentioned risk factors could be considered as valuable clues. Routine neurodevelopmental screening for neonates and infants for early detection of neurodevelopmental delays is highly recommended. If economic limitations prevent mass-screening of neonates, at least high-risk infants should be routinely re-evaluated.