Seroprevalence of toxoplasmosis among individuals with intellectual disability in Hormozgan Province, southern Iran.

BACKGROUND: People with mental defects are more likely to get the infection due to their low levels of health care and personal hygiene. The current study aimed to determine the seroprevalence of Toxoplasma infection among individuals with intellectual disabilities in Hormozgan province, southern Iran. METHODS: The study population was 117 individuals with intellectual disabilities. Venous blood (3 mL) was taken from each subject. A commercial ELISA kit was used to determine anti-Toxoplasma IgG antibodies. RESULTS: Of 117 recruited subjects, 55 (47.0%) were men and 62 (53.0%) were women. The mean age of participants was 27.6 (±12.31) years. Out of 117 studied subjects, 76 had severe and 41 had profound intellectual disabilities. Anti-Toxoplasma IgG antibodies were detected in the sera of 35 out of 117 (29.9%) individuals. Seropositivity to toxoplasmosis was significantly higher in severe than in individuals with profound intellectual disabilities (P < 0.05). There was no statistically significant association between Toxoplasma infection and age, sex and duration of residency in the rehabilitation centre. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study indicate that the prevalence of Toxoplasma in people with intellectual disabilities is not much different from other groups of the community.

Electric-Field Control of a Single-Atom Polar Bond.

We expose the polar covalent bond between a single Au atom terminating the apex of an atomic force microscope tip and a C atom of graphene on SiC(0001) to an external electric field. For one field orientation, the Au─C bond is strong enough to sustain the mechanical load of partially detached graphene, while for the opposite orientation, the bond breaks easily. Calculations based on density-functional theory and nonequilibrium Green's function methods support the experimental observations by unveiling bond forces that reflect the polar character of the bond. Field-induced charge transfer between the atomic orbitals modifies the polarity of the different electronegative reaction partners and the Au─C bond strength.

The effects of vitamin D supplementation on muscle strength and mobility in postmenopausal women: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.

BACKGROUND: The results obtained from previous trials regarding the effects of vitamin D supplementation on muscle strength and mobility in postmenopausal women have been inconsistent. This systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) aimed to investigate the effect of vitamin D supplementation on muscle strength and mobility in postmenopausal women. METHODS: A comprehensive search on EMBASE, PubMed, MEDLINE and SCOPUS was performed to identify relevant articles published up to 28 March 2019. RCTs published in English measuring the effect of all forms and doses of vitamin D supplementation with or without calcium on muscle strength and mobility outcomes in postmenopausal women were included. RESULTS: In total, 29 eligible studies were included in the systematic review. The pooled findings using a random effects model showed that vitamin D supplementation insignificantly increased hand grip strength (HGS) as the measurement of muscle strength (MD = 0.656; 95% confidence interval = -0.037 to 1.350, P = 0.06). However, it did not affect timed-up-and-go (TUG) as the measurement of mobility (MD = 0.118; 95% confidence interval = -0.655 to 0.892, P = 0.76). The subgroup analyses showed that vitamin D supplementation improved HGS with respect to dosages >1000 IU day-1 (P = 0.016), a treatment duration of 3 months (P Ë‚ 0.001) and subjects with baseline vitamin D <30 ng mL-1 (P = 0.033). CONCLUSIONS: The present review demonstrates that vitamin D supplementation resulted in small but nonsignificant improvements in muscle strength compared to control in postmenopausal women. No significant effect was observed in mobility after vitamin D administration.

Efficacy of sulfasalazine in the treatment of generalized lichen planus: randomized double-blinded clinical trial on 52 patients.

BACKGROUND: Oral sulfasalazine has been reported to be effective in patients with idiopathic cutaneous lichen planus (LP). OBJECTIVES: Our purpose was to evaluate the efficacy of this drug in the treatment of generalized cutaneous lichen planus (GLP). In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of the anti-inflammatory drug sulfasalazine for the treatment of GLP. METHODS: A total of 52 patients with GLP presenting at the outpatient clinic were enrolled in this double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, prospective study. Of these patients, 44 completed the period of study. The patients were randomly divided into two groups. One group received placebo and the other was given sulfasalazine maximum 2.5 g/day. The patients were evaluated at the third and sixth weeks of treatment for improvement rate and occurrence of complications. RESULTS: After 6 weeks of treatment, the rate of cutaneous lesions improvement was 9.6% (two patients) in the placebo group and 82.6% (19 patients) in the sulfasalazine group. The improvement rate of pruritus was 14.3% in the placebo group and 91.3% in the sulfasalazine group. Side-effects which were mild and tolerable were detected in 30.7% of patients, but three patients left the study because of side effects. Most of the reported side-effects included gastrointestinal upset and headache. CONCLUSIONS: Statistically, sulfasalazine was more effective than placebo in reducing cutaneous lesions and improving pruritus after 6 weeks of treatment. According to our study, sulfasalazine is a relatively safe and effective treatment option and may be an alternative therapy for the treatment of generalized lichen planus.

Chronic zosteriform cutaneous leishmaniasis.

Cutaneous leishmanasis (CL) may present with unusual clinical variants such as acute paronychial, annular, palmoplantar, zosteriform, erysipeloid, and sporotrichoid. The zosteriform variant has rarely been reported. Unusual lesions may be morphologically attributed to an altered host response or owing to an atypical strain of parasites in these lesions. We report a patient with CL in a multidermatomal pattern on the back and buttock of a man in Khozestan province in the south of Iran. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of multidermatomal zosteriform CL. It was resistant to conventional treatment but responded well to a combination of meglumine antimoniate, allopurinol, and cryotherapy.