Ali Yousefi

PD-1 Gene Polymorphisms in Iranian Patients With Colorectal Cancer

Objective: Programmed cell death protein 1 ( PD-1 ) gene encodes an inhibitory cell surface receptor involved in the regulation of T-cell function during immunity and tolerance. This study investigates PD-1 gene polymorphism in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods: Using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP), this polymorphism was genotyped in 190 Iranian subjects (80 patients with CRC and 110 healthy controls). Results: Comparing CRC patients with healthy controls, the frequencies of the G/A genotype (40.9% vs. 33.75%, OR=1.36, P =0.32) were not significantly different. However, G/G and A/A genotype frequencies between the CRC patients and healthy controls were significantly different ( P =0.015, P =0.0004, respectively). Also, allele frequencies of this polymorphism were significantly different ( P =0.0001) in CRC patients compared to healthy controls. Conclusion: These results suggest a correlation between PD-1 gene polymorphism and CRC susceptibility in our study group. * PD-1 : programmed cell death 1; CTLA-4 : cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated antigen; CRC : colorectal cancer; PD-L1 : programmed cell death 1 ligand; PDCD1 : programmed cell death 1; OR : odds ratio; CI : confidence interval ; PCR-RFLP : polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism; SNP : single nucleotide polymorphisms; HWE : Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium; SPSS : Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

Selecting Six Sigma projects: MCDM or DEA?

Purpose – Nowadays, most of the organizations have focused through the world on Six Sigma to reduce the costs, improve the productivity and enhance concerned individuals’ satisfaction, especially customers’ satisfaction. Annually, these organizations define and execute thousands of Six Sigma projects which involve a great deal of investments. But are all of these projects successful and do the organizations benefit from the above advantages? How can we reduce the risk of failure in Six Sigma projects? The first step to reduce the risk of failure in Six Sigma projects is selecting optimal ones which have the most profits and the least expected risks. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper, the effective criteria are recognized and defined in selecting Six Sigma projects. Then, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is used to rank the results. Then, a real example is resolved by two important techniques in decision-making process, that is the AHP and the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to a...

Leptopsylla taschenbergi taschenbergi (Siphonaptera: Leptopsyllidae), new flea from Iran

Abstract Objective To access the emerging ectoparasites associated with rodents of Razan plain, Iran. Methods Host ( Apodemus sylvaticus ) was collected by live trap in November 2011. The fleas isolated from infested specimen were cleared in 10% aqueous potassium hydroxide, dehydrated in ethanol, cleared in xylene, mounted in Canada balsam and identified using reliable keys. Results Eight fleas (3 males, 5 females) were collected from Apodemus sylvaticus in Razan plain, Western Iran. The fleas were identified as Leptopsylla taschenbergi taschenbergi . Conclusions Fleas are vectors of several important zoonoses for human and wide variety of disease agents for domestic animals. This is the first record of this species from Iran.

The survey of parasitic infections of wild pigeons (Columba livia) in Lahijan city, Guilan, Iran

Pigeons of the order Columbiformes especially wild pigeons (Columba livia), are of concern since they have a role in spreading some zoonoses to people as well as being a reservoir of many parasitic diseases for poultry.The aim of this investigation was to study on parasitic infections of Columba livia. This survey was conducted from 180 Columba livia in four parts of the Lahijan city, Northern area of Iran, between March 2015 and April 2016. From 180 pigeons, 43.33 and 36.66% were infected with nematodes and cestodes respectively whereas no trematodes were found. The helminths were Nematoda: Ascaridia columbae (50%), Capillaria obsignata (38.4%) Acuaria spiralis (7.6%), Cestoda: Raillietina magninumida (54.5%), Raillietina echinobothrida (45.4%), Raillietina tetragona (45.4%). Eight different species of ectoparasites included Pseudolynchia canariensis (73.3%), Columbicola columbae (88.3%), Dermanyssus gallinae (3.3%), Falculifer rostratus (31.6%), Menopon gallinae (6.6%), Goniodes sp. (53.3%), Menacanthus stramineus(41.6%), Megninia cubitalis (13.3%). Also, two species of protozoa were found: Haemoproteus columbae in 78.33% of blood samples and Trichomonas gallinae of 50% of crop smears. Our finding showed that incidence the rate of parasitic infections in Columba livia was high. It advises to more studies in this background.

Phylogenetic analysis of Anaplasma marginale and Anaplasma ovis isolated from small ruminant based on MSP4 gene in western regions of Iran

Anaplasma is a genus of rickettsiales bacteria which is considered as a member of the tick-borne diseases. Different species of this genus are transmitted by blood-sucking insects and arthropods and blood-contaminated instruments. The present study was carried out to determine the prevalence of Anaplasma ovis and Anaplasma marginale and to perform phylogenetic analysis in goat and sheep in East of Kermanshah provinces, western region of Iran. From April 2015 to May 2016, a total of 360 blood samples of small ruminants were collected. In the first step, DNA extraction and in the following nested PCR and the amplification of MSP4 gene were done and a total of 32.78% (118/360) of small ruminants were positive for Anaplasma species. The obtained nucleotide sequences were analyzed and phylogenetic tree was constructed. The similarity among the nucleotide sequences of A. ovis in this study was 100%, and for A. marginale, it showed 99% identity with the others. Statistical analysis by chi-square test did not show any significant relationship between the presence of Anaplasma species and statistical variables like age, tick infestation, sex, and location (p > 0.05). Therefore, further studies are required in different areas of Iran to ascertain our knowledge and to verify Anaplasma species isolates.

Optimizing the correction of MCQ test answer sheets using digital image processing

Today, multiple choice tests due to their benefits have become one of the most common methods to evaluate students learning. In order to correct their answer sheets by the machines, very expensive equipment is necessary. Despite high correction accuracy of this method, because of some limitations, its not suitable for public use such as schools. To overcome these limitations, attempts have been made to provide alternative correction system, but the main challenge in the machinery correction method and proposed alternative correction systems is that if the tester marks the option on the answer sheet incompletely, it will not be corrected properly. This recognition error affects on the correction accuracy. This article proposes an optimized correction method for correcting multiple choice test answer sheets using mathematical morphology, thresholding and neighborhood that with the increase of the recognition rate for incompletely marked options will improve overall correction accuracy.

EDSS: An extended deterministic scale-free small world network

One of the most important challenges in social network models is dissimilarity of proposed models with real networks. In this article we proposed a new small world model generator based on binary trees that simulate family and human ties. In reality family such as father, children, and grandchildren makes a path between grandfather and grandchildren. We used this property to adopt effective parameters of proposed model with real networks. Proposed model implemented in Gephi analysis and visualization software and as the result the generated graph is compared with some of the recent models.