مهرداد محمدی

This study aimed to investigate the nutritional effects of phytosomal green tea on growth performance, lipid parameters, immune responses, antioxidant status, ileum bacterial population, and gamma interferon gene expression in compared to green tea extract. 375 male broiler chickens (ROSS 308)were randomly assigned to 5 treatments, with 5 replications and 15 chickens per cage. Treatments included 1- basal diet (negative control), 2- basal diet + 0.10 g/kg avilamycin, 3- basal diet + 0.60 g/kg salinomycin, 4- basal diet + 400 ml/kg green tea extract and 5-basal diet + 300 ml/kg green tea phytosome. Experimental treatments did not affect growth and carcass performance (P>0.05). Malondialdehyde, triglycerides, low density lipoprotein cholesterol in plasma affected by phytosomal extract decreased compared to control (P<0.05). Antibody levels against red blood cells, immunoglobulin G and immunoglobulin M increased in chickens fed phytosome supplement in comparison to the form of green tea extract at 28 days (P<0.05). The use of green tea extract reduced the population of Escherichia coli in comparison to avilamycin and increased the population of lactobacilli cmpared to salinomycin (P<0.05). The expression of interferon gamma gene in the spleen of chickens that received the phytosomal green tea extract was higher compared to the consumption of green tea extract (P<0.05). Conclusion is that, green tea extract -phospholipid complexes showed the same efficiency compared to green tea extract on the evaluated parameters and can be considered as an alternative in order to reduce the consumption of plant extracts in poultry nutrition.

The use of medicinal plants and their derivatives can stimulate feed consumption, increase daily weight, feed conversion ratio, increase shelf life, improve the health and function of the digestive system. It seems that the use of an optimal mixture of several medicinal plants in the diet has positive effects on performance and carcass quality of broiler chickens in comparison to each one. Nowadays, with the popularization of ready-made feed in raising broiler chickens, many breeders tend to add food additives in drinking water. Therefore, it is a question that adding these compounds in feed or drinking water makes a difference. Three commercial plant additives that are used today are Coxan, O.X. Plant, and Entex. Coxan contains oregano (with the active ingredient of menthol) and garlic (with the active ingredients of allin and allicin), O.X. Plant contains savory (with the active ingredients of carvacrol and thymol), thyme (with the active ingredients of thymol and carvacrol) and red pepper oleoresin (with the active ingredient of capsaicin), Entex contains cinnamon (with the active ingredient of cinnamaldehyde), and garlic and eucalyptus (with the active ingredient of cineol). The aim of this research was to compare the effects of using these commercial plant additives (in water and feed) on growth performance, intestinal microflora and morphology and immune response of broilers.
A total of 336 Ross 308 broilers were examined in a completely randomized design with seven treatments, four replications, and 12 chickens per replication. Experimental treatments included: control (without phytogenic in feed or water), Coxan in feed (300 mg/kg) and in water (200 mL/1000 L), O.X. Plant in feed (200 mg/kg) and in water (135 mL/1000 L) and Entex in feed (500 mg/kg) and water (350 mL/1000 L). Daily weight gain, daily feed intake, daily water intake and feed conversion ratio were measured. At 42 days of age, two birds were selected from each experimental unit and after slaughter, the length of the intestinal components was measured separately (duodenum, jejunum, and ileum). To determine the microbial population, samples were taken from the ileum of chickens. EMB culture medium was used to determine Escherichia coli population and MRS culture medium was used for Lactobacillus bacteria. To check the humoral immune response, 0.1 mL of 25% sheep red blood cell solution in PBS was injected into the breast muscle of chickens on the 12th and 29th days of rearing. Blood was taken from the chickens on the 28th, 35th and 42nd days of breeding and the levels of Anti-SRBC, and immunoglobulins G and M were calculated. Antibody titer against Newcastle disease was measured by HI method.
The effect of additives in water and feed on average daily feed consumption, daily weight gain, feed conversion ratio and daily water consumption was not significant in the whole period. Since the amount of water consumed by the chickens did not change, it can be concluded that the additives added to the water in the examined amounts do not have a spicy or unpleasant taste that would cause the birds to refuse to drink water. The relative length of duodenum, jejunum, cecum and colon was not affected by experimental treatments. However, the relative length of the ileum was lower in the chickens that received Entex in the feed compared to the control group. No significant difference was observed in the relative length of different parts of the intestine in the treatments that received herbal additives either in feed or water. The relative length of duodenum, jejunum, cecum, and colon, villus length, villus area, crypt depth, thickness of lamina propria, thickness of muscular layer, and thickness of advantis layer were not affected by experimental treatments. The chickens that consumed 500 mg/kg of Entex herbal additive of feed had a lower villus width in the ileum region compared to the control group chickens. The population of Escherichia coli bacteria in the ileum of chickens that had received the addition of O.X. Plant and Entex in the feed decreased compared to the control group. The population of Escherichia coli bacteria in the Entex treatment in the feed was also reduced compared to the Coxan treatment in the feed. The population of Lactobacillus bacteria in the ileum of chickens that received Coxan in water, O.X. Plant in feed and water, and Entex in feed increased compared to the control group. There was no significant difference in the population of Escherichia coli and Lactobacillus bacteria in the treatments that received herbal additives either in feed or in water. The use of plant essential oils in poultry feed, while improving the microbial population by increasing the number of lactobacilli, by improving the morphological characteristics of the intestine, probably improves the ability of digestion and absorption in the digestive system and improves the growth efficiency of broiler chickens. Antibody levels against SRBC were higher at 28, 35, and 42 days in all chickens consuming herbal additives in water. The performance of animals is significantly influenced by the state of health and safety of the animal. A weak or stressed immune system causes weight loss when dealing with infectious diseases, so the use of immune system stimulating substances can increase performance by improving the immune status. In raising poultry, it is important to strengthen the immune system to prevent the occurrence of diseases.
The results of this research showed that the commercial plant additives of Coxan, O.X. Plant, and Entex had no significant effect on growth performance, relative length and intestinal morphology. The population of opportunistic bacteria Escherichia coli was significantly reduced compared to the control group with the addition of O.X. Plant and Entex in the diet. In general, it can be concluded that adding tested herbal additives not only did not have a negative effect on the drinking water consumption of broiler chickens, but also using them in water improved the immune responses of broilers more than adding them in feed. A total of 336 Ross 308 broilers were examined in a completely randomized design with 7 treatments, 4 replications, and 12 chickens per replication. Experimental treatments included: control (without phytogenic in feed or water), Coxan in feed (300 mg/kg) and in water (200 mL/1000 L), O.X. Plant in feed (200 mg/kg) and in water (135 mL/1000 L) and Entex in feed (500 mg/kg) and water (350 mL/1000 L). Daily weight gain, daily feed intake, daily water intake and feed conversion ratio were measured. At 42 days of age, 2 birds were selected from each experimental unit and after slaughter, the length of the intestinal components was measured separately (duodenum, jejunum, ileum). In order to determine the microbial population, samples were taken from the ileum of chickens. EMB culture medium was used to determine Escherichia coli population and MRS culture medium was used for Lactobacillus bacteria. To check the humoral immune response, 0.1 ml of 25% sheep red blood cell solution in PBS was injected into the breast muscle of chickens on the 12th and 29th days of rearing. Blood was taken from the chickens on the 28th, 35th and 42nd days of breeding and the levels of Anti-SRBC, immunoglobulin G and M were calculated. Antibody titer against Newcastle disease was measured by HI method. The effect of additives in water and feed on average daily feed consumption, daily weight gain, feed conversion ratio and daily water consumption was not significant in the whole period. Since the amount of water consumed by the chickens did not change, it can be concluded that the additives added to the water in the examined amounts do not have a spicy or unpleasant taste that would cause the birds to refuse to drink water. The relative length of duodenum, jejunum, cecum and colon was not affected by experimental treatments. However, the relative length of the ileum was lower in the chickens that received Entex in the feed compared to the control group. No significant difference was observed in the relative length of different parts of the intestine in the treatments that received herbal additives either in feed or water. The relative length of duodenum, jejunum, cecum, and colon, villus length, villus area, crypt depth, thickness of lamina propria, thickness of muscular layer, thickness of advantis layer were not affected by the experimental treatments. The chickens that consumed 500 mg/kg of Entex herbal additive of feed had a lower villus width in the ileum region compared to the control group chickens. The population of Escherichia coli bacteria in the ileum of chickens that had received the addition of O.X. Plant and Entex in the feed decreased compared to the control group. The population of Escherichia coli bacteria in the Entex treatment in the feed was also reduced compared to the Coxan treatment in the feed. The population of Lactobacillus bacteria in the ileum of chickens that received Coxan in water, O.X. Plant in feed and water and Entex in feed increased compared to the control group. There was no significant difference in the population of Escherichia coli and Lactobacillus bacteria in the treatments that received herbal additives either in feed or in water. The use of plant essential oils in poultry feed, while improving the microbial population by increasing the number of lactobacilli, by improving the morphological characteristics of the intestine, probably improves the ability of digestion and absorption in the digestive system and improves the growth efficiency of broiler chickens. Antibody levels against SRBC were higher at 28, 35 and 42 days in all chickens consuming herbal additives in water. The performance of animals is significantly influenced by the state of health and safety of the animal. A weak or stressed immune system causes weight loss when dealing with infectious diseases, so the use of immune system stimulating substances can increase performance by improving the immune status. In raising poultry, it is important to strengthen the immune system to prevent the occurrence of diseases. The results of this research showed that the commercial plant additives Coxan, O.X. Plant and Entex had no significant effect on growth performance, relative length and intestinal morphology. The population of opportunistic bacteria Escherichia coli was significantly reduced compared to the control group with the addition of O.X. Plant and Entex in the diet. In general, it can be concluded that adding tested herbal additives not only does not have a negative effect on the drinking water consumption of broiler chickens, but using them in water improves the immune responses of broilers more than adding them in feed.

Despite numerous laws and regulations related to access to information and transparency, there are many problems in their implementation. The purpose of this study was to investigate and analyze the challenges facing laws and documents related to transparency in the health system of Iran.

Documents, laws and regulations related to issues of access to information, transparency, and disclosure of information from various fields were collected and analyzed using the READ approach. After systematic naming of documents and laws, their information was entered in a table, after which different parts of each document were carefully analyzed and compared.

There are numerous documents, laws and regulations on the issue of access to information and transparency, but the lack of enforcement for these laws and regulations has caused inefficiency. Some of these documents, laws and guidelines are in conflict with each other and some have shortcomings. Often, there is a long time gap between the drafting of the bill, the approval of the law and enforcement of executive instructions. Sometimes, unawarness of the method of identifying and separating privacy information and personal information causes problems in implementation.

Attention to enforcement while developing transparency and access to information is a fundamental necessity, in order to prevent introduction of a multitude of ineffective laws. Drafting of laws and regulations in terms of form and content should be in such a way that the possibility of misunderstanding and violation of them is minimized. Approval of bills and executive regulations must be achieved at the appointed time, so that the laws are implemented at the right time and have the required effectiveness

Qorb (Closeness or Proximity) in the Sufi dictionary is a mystical state and means obedience that brings the obeyer close to the obeyed. The authors of this study intend to investigate the opinions of Ibn Arabi and Izz al-Din Kashani about mystical closeness, the type of perception, innovation, and commonalities and differences of these two Sufi thinkers using a descriptive-analytical method based on library documents. Based on the results of the research, they consider Qorb-e Nawafel (recommendation) to be superior to Qorb-e Farayez (obligation) and link the reason of superiority to divine love. True Qorb in the view of the two is not reaching God and observing him; rather, in Kashani's opinion, this type of closeness is connected to a special passion, in ascending levels, which is continuous and permanent. In Ibn Arabi's view, mystics are constantly observing proximity, and this observation is nothing but the manifestation of God. Both of them believe that God-given knowledge is special for close people. It is one of the requirements to reach real closeness. Both believe that God-given knowledge is reserved for mystics who are close to God. By linking mystical closeness to the two categories of ‘spiritual gathering’ and ‘internal dispersion’, Kashani believes that in complete closeness, the seeker's soul in the place of gathering, despite the attribute of humility in its servitude, also has the attribute of perfection and ascension to high levels. However, by distinguishing this type of interpretation, Ibn Arabi believes that some great Sufis, because of their belief in closeness in the position of spiritual gathering and distance in the position of separation, have included the knowledge of distance in the matter of closeness. Kashani calls the manifestation in the non-material as distant manifestation, and the manifestation in material as close manifestation. Both thinkers believe that getting close to God depends on research and science in the position of servitude or worship.

The effect of chick initial body weight and dietary nutrients density on growth performance and immune response were investigated using 360 Ross 308 one-day-old straight run chicks (mixed sex) in a completely randomized design with 2×3 factorial arrangement of treatments, four replicates and 15 birds per replicate. The initial body weight of chicks was grouped as 42±1 g (standard weight); 38±1 g (light weight; 10% under standard weight); 46±1 g (heavy weight; 10% over standard weight) while the nutrients density of the diet was either 5% lower than the nutritional recommendation of Ross 308 (typical commercial diet in Iran), or as recommended by Ross 308 manual (high-density diet). Chickens fed the high-density diet had higher daily weight gain and lower conversion ratio than chickens fed the typical diets (P<0.05). The effect of dietary density and initial body weight of chicks on carcass components and weight of internal organs were not significant except for heart. Broilers fed the high-density diet and heavy weight had higher antibody titers to sheep red blood cell (P<0.05). Light chicks fed the high-density diets had greater total anti sheep red blood cell and immunoglobulin G titers than light chicks fed the typical diets (P<0.05). Results indicate that feeding light chicks with high-density diets increases their growth rate compared to the chicks with standard or heavy weights. Moreover, feeding diets with a high density of nutrients to light chicks can improve immune responses.

Due to the good solubility of vitamin D in oils, oil products can be addressed as one of the most suitable fortification vehicle. However, sustainability and loss of vitamin D during food storage is one the major concerns for the food policymakers and producers. Therefore, the objectives of this study was to fortify and compare the stability of vitamin D3 in sunflower oil and oleogel based on rice bran wax and sorbitan monostearate, during heating and storage.

Oleogels (based on rice bran wax/sorbitan monostearate/sunflower oil) and sunflower oil fortified by vitamin D3, then stabilities of  them was compaired, under two various conditions; including heating at 110 °C for 60 min and storage for 60 days at 25 °C.

Vitamin D3 in sunflower oil and oleogel samples decreased 29.5 and 24.6%, respectively. Thus, the rate of vitamin D3 lost was less in oleogel sample. Moreover, results showed that storage conditions did not degrade vitamin D3 in the samples.

The optimal stability of vitamin D3 in the two samples during heating and storage conditions and oleogel samples showed greater abilities to preserve vitamin D3.

The occurrence of faults, and consequently the loss of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) may create catastrophic outcomes to their owners. Identification of these faults and their classification provide useful information result in the detection of system bottlenecks in the design process. This paper examines the basic faults of AUVs, and studies the failure probability of their components and subsystems. The paper is then builds up the fault tree model of the AUV from its identified faults and structural Topology to highlight its critical paths, critical sub-systems, components importance, and cut-set importance values. The reliability of the AUV is then calculated from its fault tree model in the absence/presence of uncertainty associated with the failure probability of basic events. Fuzzy approach is used for handling the uncertainties. The sensitivity of the vehicle failure to the variation of the failure probability of system components is also calculated by using an innovative way. By the aid of the results of paper, the AUV reliability can be assessed at any arbitrary time frame, the appropriate preventive and predictive maintenance time be determined and by recognition of the AUV failure path, make the system more fault tolerant.

Fermented Saccharomyces cerevisiae are used as a new additive in animals (Heidarieh et al., 2013). These products contain nucleic acids, chitin, beta-glucan and mannoligosaccharides. Researchers reported that feeding by Saccharomyces cerevisiae improves, improves growth performance in broilers (Baurhoo et al., 2006). Consumption of fermented Saccharomyces cerevisiae in rainbow trout, increased feed uptake and improved feed conversion ratio (Heidarieh et al., 2013). Due to the aforementioned effects of fermented Saccharomyces cerevisiae and insufficient reports on its use in broilers, the aim of this study was to investigate its effect on growth performance and immune responses.

An experiment was conducted as a completely randomized design using 240 day-old chicks (mixed sex) with four treatments, five replicates, and 12 chicks in each replicate from 1 to 42 days of age. Experimental treatments were included: (1) control group (basal diet without any feed additive), (2) basal diet+ 0.1 percent fermented Saccharomyces cerevisiae (3) basal diet + 0.3 percent fermented Saccharomyces cerevisiae and (4) basal diet + 0.5 percent fermented Saccharomyces cerevisiae.Chicks in each replicate were weighed weekly and feed intake was determined at the end of each week. From these data, average daily weight gain, average daily feed intake and feed conversion ratio were calculated. On day 42 of experiment, two birds (one male and one female) from each replicate were selected, weighed, then slaughtered and carcass yield and carcass components including breast, thighs, wings, abdominal fat, thymus and bursa of Fabricius were weighed using a digital scale and their relative weights to body weight were calculated.In order to assess the systemic antibody response, chicks were immunized by intramuscular injection of 0.1 mL of 25 % sheep red blood cell (SRBC) in PBS on days 8 and 22. Blood samples were collected from two birds of each replicate via the wing vein and serum antibody levels produced in response to SRBC were measured on days 21, 28, 35 and 42 (Salehimanesh et al., 2015). Skin response to intradermal injection of Phytohemagglutinin-P (PHA-P) was measured on day 16 during 24 and 48 h after injection (Grasman, 2010). Data were analyzed using the GLM procedure of SAS (SAS Institute, 2001) in a completely randomized design and means were compared using Tukey’s multiple range test at P<0.05.

The results indicated that treatments had no significant effect on daily feed intake (P>0.05) but daily weight gain and feed conversion ratio improved in all groups receiving fermented Saccharomyces cerevisiae (P<0.05). The beneficial effects of Saccharomyces boulardii and Bacillus cereus (Gil et al., 2005) and prebiotic (Fermacto) (Rodrigues et al., 2005) on broiler performance have been identified. It was reported that the use of probiotics (Primalac and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens) did not effect on daily feed intake (Yakhkeshi et al., 2012). In contrast, the use of lactobacillus reduced the daily feed intake of broilers (Murry et al., 2006). The difference can be due to the type and dose of the probiotic. By examining the effects of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Bacillus subtilis on broiler performance, it was found that the probiotics increase growth performance, feed intake, and feed conversion ratio (Chen et al., 2009). It was reported that the use of 1.5 and 2% Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Sc47) in the diet of broiler chickens increased daily weight gain (Ghasemi et al., 2006). It was reported that addition of probiotic (containing Bacillus subtilis) in broiler chickens, improved the feed conversion ratio from 21 to 42 days of age (Fritts and Waldroup, 2003). In a study performed on broiler chickens fed mannanoligosaccharide (isolated from the cell wall of Saccharomyces cerevisiae), it was found that the feed conversion ratio was significantly reduced compared to chickens fed a mixture of probiotics and organic acids (Derebasi and Demir, 2004). Saccharomyces cerevisiae improves feed intake by stimulating beneficial microbes in the digestive tract (Kocher et al., 2004).The results indicated that treatments did not affected on carcass efficiency, breast, thigh and wing (P<0.05). All amounts of fermented Saccharomyces cerevisiae increased bursa of Fabricius and thymus weight ratio (P<0.05). Consumption of 0.1 and 0.3% fermented Saccharomyces cerevisiae reduced abdominal fat weight ratio (P<0.05). Feeding broilers with three diets, including probiotics of Primalac, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Aspergillus oryzae under heat stress, indicated that the weight of carcasses decreased, which could be due to their lack of effect under stress condition (Yaghoobfar et al., 2009). Researches indicated that consumption of lactobacillus reduces abdominal fat in broilers (Kalavathy et al., 2003). A study on the effect of probiotic (Lactobacillus) and synbiotic (Biomin) indicated that the spleen and thymus weight in the chicks consumed probiotic increased at 35 days compared to the group consumed synbiotic , but the weight of the bursa of Fabricius was not changed. According to the results of this study probiotics can affect the organs of the immune system, but their effect can vary, depending on the bacterial strain and the age of the bird (Awad et al., 2009). Non-significant changes for total anti-SRBC, IgG and IgM were observed on day 21 (P>0.05). Administration of 0.3% fermented Saccharomyces cerevisiae increased the total anti-SRBC and IgM on day 28 (P<0.05). Treatments increased total anti-SRBC, 0.3 and 0.5% fermented Saccharomyces cerevisiae increased IgG and 0.1 and 0.3%, increased IgM on day 35 (P<0.05). Total anti-SRBC was increased by 0.3 and 0.5% fermented Saccharomyces cerevisiae and IgG was increased by 0.5% on day 42 (P<0.05). Researchers reported that addition of prebiotics, probiotics or a mixture of these two additives increases the titers of immunoglobulins, which may indicate favorable effects of these additives on immunity of chickens (Ebrahimi et al., 2014). Kabir et al. (2004) reported that the use of Protexin had a positive effect on the immune response of poultry to the SRBC antigen. They generally suggest that the improvement of the immune system under the influence of probiotics is accomplished by increasing general antibodies, increasing macrophage activity, and increasing the production of local antibodies at the mucosal surface of tissues such as the intestinal wall. It was reported that the use of synbiotic Biomin (Hasanpour et al., 2013) and synbiotic Protexin + TechnoMos (Ghahri et al., 2013) increased humoral immune responses. In contrast, it was reported that the use of probiotic BioPlus, prebiotic Biomass and their composition had no effect on serum IgG concentration in broiler chickens (Midilli et al., 2008), the differences between the researchers' findings could be related to the probiotic, prebiotic and synbiotic dose used, the animal species and population studied (age and weight) and microorganism strains. Cellular immunity in response to PHA-p injection was not affected by treatment groups (P>0.05). Diets containing lactobacillus have been shown to improve T lymphocyte function in newly hatched chickens and pullets (Dunham et al., 1993). It was reported that probiotic (Protexin) improved cellular immune function, as well as concomitant use of probiotic and formic acid did not have a synergistic effect on poultry cellular immune system (Mirbabai et al., 2012).

It was concluded that consumption of 0.3% fermented Saccharomyces cerevisiae in broiler diets improved growth performance and humoral immune response.

Improper eating habits have led to non-communicable diseases. Decrease of fat and sugar consumptions is a way to combat these diseases. The aims of this study were to investigate quantities of sugar and fat in industrial milk ice-creams produced and distributed in urban area of Tehran and compare the values with those of the product labels and relevant national standards.

This study was a descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study. In this study, community and research environment of the factories producing various types of milk ice-creams and centers for the supply, distribution and sale of various types of milk ice-creams in Islamshahr, Shahryar and southern Tehran, Iran, were investigated. In total, 100 samples of milk ice-creams produced by dairy factories and supplied by centers under the supervision of Tehran University of Medical Sciences were randomly collected. Then, the ice-cream sugar and fat quantities were respectively assessed using Lane Eynon and Gerber methods and values were compared with those of Iranian national standards, product labels and Executive Instruction of the Food and Drug Administration of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Iran.

The average quantity of total sugar showed compliance with the national standard of Iran (p < 0.001). Results showed that the average total sugar on ice-cream labels of supply level and total sugar after the test were significantly different (p < 0.001). Results of the fat content showed that 100% of the milk ice-cream samples offered in stores and 92.7% of the factory samples included orange-color spectra. The average total fat on the labels of milk ice-creams from factories (13.99 g ±6.48) and total fat after testing (13 g ±5.25) were in accordance with the instructions of the Food and Drug Administration (p = 0.083). The mean fat contents of milk ice-creams offered in stores (9.25 g ±4.56) and total fat after testing (7.57 g ±2.42) showed statistically significant differences (p = 0.008).

Results of this study demonstrated that most of the milk ice-creams produced by the factories under the supervision of the university and those produced by other factories were in accordance with the framework of the Food and Drug Administration to decrease total sugar and fat contents by 10%.

In recent years, infections caused by gram-negative organisms that produce carbapenemase enzymes (CPO) have become one of the global health challenges and concerns. Rapid and accurate identification of gram-negative organisms that produce the carbapenemase enzyme can be effective in controlling infectious diseases and their timely treatment. Over the years, an increasing number of phenotypic methods have been developed to rapidly detect the activity of gram-negative carbapenemases. However, there is no single phenotypic method that has 100% sensitivity and specificity and contains all the characteristics of an ideal test for the detection of carbapenemase enzymes. The choice of an appropriate methodological approach depends on various factors such as epidemiological status, laboratory resources, and the availability of other confirmatory tests. According to what has been studied in this research, there are user-friendly, cost-effective, accurate, and applicable tests in clinical microbiology laboratories. In this review study, various phenotypic methods have been evaluated for detecting carbapenemase activity in gram-negative bacteria.

Bolt connections often loosen under environmental loading conditions and system vibrations, which can lead to disaster risks during its operation. In this study, the behavior of nonlinear vibrations of an aluminum single-lap joint has been studied analytically and experimentally. Accordingly, considering the effects of nonlinear behavior at the bole joint, a nonlinear two-degree of freedom model for this type of connection is proposed. Then, in order to determine the unknown parameters of the proposed model, the vibrational and dynamic properties of this structure have been estimated using experimental modal analysis and model updating method. Finally, the effect of amplitude of the excitation force and the preload force of the bolts on the dynamic behavior of these systems has been studied analytically. Examination of amplitude-frequency curves shows that reducing the preload force of the bolts reduces the natural frequency and also distorts the amplitude-frequency curve to the left side, which indicates the softening nonlinear behavior of the system with decreasing applied bolt preload force. In addition, the comparison of the theoretical and experimental natural frequencies shows that the proposed model predicts the vibrational characteristics of these systems with a good accuracy and using the proposed model can study the dynamic behavior of these systems for different parameters.

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of diabetes mellitus on Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) serum levels among diabetic males without urinary tract complaints.

This is a case-control study conducted on 75 diabetic cases and 75 age-matched non-diabetic ones in 2016-17. Patientschr('39') demographics including age, duration of diabetes mellitus, presence of diabetic nephropathy, serum PSA (total and free) were recorded and cases were compared with controls.

Diabetic patients and controls were not statistically different regarding their age (P=0.61). Level of total and free PSA and their ratio were significantly less in diabetic group (P<0.001). Pearson coefficient correlation test showed no statistical association between duration of diabetes mellitus with PSA indices (P>0.05). There was significant association between HbA1C with total and free PSA and their ratio. Insulin therapy was in association with total and free PSA and their ratio (P<0.05) but oral remedies were not (P>0.05).

Diabetic persons have lower levels of all PSA indices. Findings of this study showed inverse statistical association of HbA1C with PSA indices while no association was found with duration of diabetes. PSA indices were significantly lower among patients under insulin therapy but no difference was found considering routine oral therapies.

One of the activities of developing countries to build their economic infrastructures is the implementation of infrastructure projects that annually take up a large part of the country's budget and therefore, planning principles about these projects is essential in order to extract the lowest cost-to-productivity ratio from it. Every year, a large part of the country's credits and financial resources are spent on investing in large construction and infrastructure projects. The most important indicator of success of these projects, in addition to achieving the desired goals and being cost-effective, is its completion in the anticipated time. The purpose of this paper is to identify the key factors of cost increase in tehran municipality construction projects using failure scenario analysis (FMEA) and determine their risk and weighting and ranking using fuzzy AHP model. The results of this study show that the factors that were effective in increasing the costs of construction projects are: rising costs due to inflation in the country, inappropriate performance of the contractor, the problem of expertise of consulting and supervisor engineers and lack of adequate study at the beginning of the project, lack of efficient manpower, instability of workshop management from the start of the project, lack of a strong project control system, lack of proper project management system, lack of work commitment among project staff, wrong estimation of costs. At the beginning of the project, which uses FMEA analysis, the highest risk is related to the cost-raising index due to the inflations in the country and using the project management system is the most important indicator of the lack of a suitable project management system.

Evaluation of project management maturity will bring several advantages to project-based organizations. The main output is evaluation of the degree of maturity and excellence of the project management system in the organization and the possibility of planning for improvement with the aim of creating competitive advantage in domestic and international markets. The aim of this paper is to identify different models of project management maturity and select the optimal model using fuzzy network analysis process technique and identify project management maturity indicators and ranking indicators in Tehran municipality construction projects. The population and statistical sample of this study consisted of 20 senior municipal managers and academic professors. First, models and indicators of project management maturity assessment were identified from the literature of the subject and the background of the research and then the conceptual model was identified using experts' opinions. Then, using paired comparison questionnaires, dimensions and indicators were weighted and project management maturity models were ranked. The OPM3 model among the maturity models obtained the most suitable model among the project maturity measurement models in Tehran Municipality. The results of this study can provide a comprehensive view to senior managers and experts of Tehran Municipality and construction companies in recognizing the indicators and determining the importance of these indicators and selecting the optimal maturity measurement model of project management.

Streptococcus pneumoniae is one of the main etiologies of meningitis, pneumonia, sinusitis, and middle ear infection associated with significant morbidity and mortality. This report aims to review and report the serotype distribution and antimicrobial resistance patterns and determine the frequency of S. pneumoniae in Iran.

A systematic literature review of the literature published from January 1990 to August 2020 was performed to identify articles that have been published in Google Scholar, Scopus, PubMed, SID, IranMedex, and Magiran databases that describe the serotype distribution, antimicrobial resistance patterns and frequency of S. pneumoniae in Iran. The search terms were "Streptococcus pneumoniae, Antibiotic resistance, Serotyping, Systematic review, and Iran". The exclusion criteria were review articles or case reports, reports only emphasizing on serogroups rather than serotypes, and having isolates fewer than 10.

Of 56 reports, 33 publications that met our inclusion criteria were selected for data extraction and analysis. The frequency of S. pneumoniae in patients and carriers was estimated at 1.5% and 20%, respectively. Highest levels of resistance were against co-trimoxazole followed by penicillin, and erythromycin. The most common serotypes were 23F followed by 19F, 6A/B, 19A, and 18C.

Based on the results of this study, the inappropriate use of antibiotics and the subsequent spread of resistant pneumococcal isolates in our country is worrisome.

In this research, an effective formulation based on the method of fundamental solutions is presented for analyzing the two- and three-dimensional transient heat conduction problems including moving point heat sources. This is a new formulation and has not been presented yet. The path of motion and the intensity of the moving point heat source are arbitrary functions of time and the number of moving point heat sources is unlimited. Solution of the problem is considered as a linear combination of time-dependent fundamental solutions and a particular solution involving the effect of the moving point heat source. The particular solution is presented as a time and space-dependent integral and is obtained without using any internal cells or points and without any time transformation. Numerical examples show the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed method in comparison with the finite element method. In the finite element modeling of the moving point heat source, it is necessary to use a fine mesh in the path of the moving point heat source that increases the cost of the preprocessing step. Compared to the finite element method, the proposed method is very simple and gives very good results even with a small number of source points. For example, in the second solved example, the average relative difference percentage between the results of the proposed method with 218 source points and the finite element method with 7268 nodes is 0.65%.

The objective of this study is the investigation of factors affecting Ecological Footprint and testing Pollution Haven and Environmental Kuznets’ Curve hypotheses.

In this study, after introducing ecological footprint as an indicator of natural resources degradation, factors affecting it is investigated in the form of natural resources degradation model for the period 1965-2011 using Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model; and Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) and Pollution Haven hypotheses were tested. In this study, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), free trade index, urbanization, human development index, development of financial markets index were used as factors affecting the ecological footprint.

Results show that per capita GDP, free trade, development of financial markets and urbanization have positive and significant impacts in long and short term periods, but human development has negative and significant impact on ecological footprint. These results confirmed Pollution Haven hypothesis; but the EKC hypothesis is not confirmed and the relationship between income and ecological footprint is in the form of N. The coefficient of Error Correction is negative and significant which represent the long run equilibrium. The coefficient is -0.99 meaning that ecological footprint corrects its previous period disequilibrium at a speed of 99% annually to reach at the steady state.

According to the results of this study, economic growth in Iran leads to more natural resources degradation. Therefore, governments should pay special attention to development programs in order to be sustainable.

Acinetobacter baumannii has emerged as an opportunistic nosocomial pathogen that causes ventilator-associated pneumonia, bacteraemia, endocarditis, wound infections, meningitis and urinary tract infections in patients with serious underlying disease and immunocompromised patients, and in those undergoing prolonged hospitalization and surgical procedures involving long-term antimicrobial therapy. The majority of nosocomial A. baumannii isolates are resistant to different classes of antibiotic including cephalosporin's, penicillin's, carbapenem's, fluoroquinolones and aminoglycosides. Multidrug-resistant (MDR) A. baumannii isolates are a serious problem in healthcare settings worldwide, especially in Europe, Asia, Latin America and other areas. The majority of MDR strains have been isolated from adults attending intensive healthcare units and are associated with increased patient mortality and persistence of isolates in the hospital environment. Horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes is thought to play a major role in the emergence and development of MDR strains. Treatment of infections caused by highly resistant isolates, especially MDR, XDR (extensively drug resistant) and PDR (pan drug resistant), can be difficult. Currently, beta-lactams are used as a selective drug in the treatment of multi-drug resistant Acinetobacter spp., although resistance to these agents is increasing. Metalo-beta-lactamases have different types that are often plasmid and among them blaVIM and blaNDM are the most prominent. The aim of this study was to evaluate the drug resistance and the frequency of blaVIM and blaNDM genes in isolated isolates from Isfahan and Shahrekord cities by molecular methods.

This cross-sectional study was performed on 500 clinical specimens including blood, ulcer, urine and respiratory tract collected from 3 hospitals in Isfahan (Alzahra and Kashani) and Shahrekord (Kashani) during one year from April 2018 to April 2019. After assembling samples, biochemical methods of Acinetobacter spp were identified. Susceptibility of isolates to the following antibiotics was examined using the disk diffusion method according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines. Multidrug resistance (MDR) was defined as resistance to at least one agent in three or more antimicrobial categories. The antimicrobial susceptibility test of the isolated organisms was completed by the disc diffusion method using the Kirby–Bauer technique. According to the recommendation of CLSI, all tests were performed on Mueller Hinton agar. The surface was lightly and uniformly inoculated by a cotton swab. Prior to inoculation, the swab stick was dipped into a bacterial suspension having visually equivalent turbidity to 0.5 McFarland standards. The swab stick was then taken out and squeezed on the wall of the test tube to discard extra suspension. Inoculated plates were incubated at 35°C for 24 h. On the next day, plates were read by taking measurements of zone of inhibition. Finally, DNA extraction from overnight cultures of A. baumannii isolates was performed according to the protocol provided with the QIAGEN DNA Mini kit (QIAGEN Inc., Valencia, CA). PCR primers were used to determine the frequency of blaVIM and blaNDM genes. The data were analyzed with SPSS version 17.0 software (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL). A chi-square test was used to determine the statistical significance of the data. A p<0.05 was considered significant.

Antibiotic resistance in 100 isolates of A. baumannii was related to antibiotics: Cefimoimide (97%), Ceftriaxone (95%), Amikacin (95%), Imipenem (76%), Piperacillin-tazobactam (70%), Meropenem (69%), Gentamicin (63%), Tobramycin (56%), Tetracycline (51%), and Ampicillin-Sulbactam (49%) and lowest resistance to Poly-Mixin B were obtained. The PCR results showed 17 and 20%, of strains carrying blaVIM and blaNDM genes, respectively. The prevalence rate of blaNDM in this study was 20%, which is contrary to studies conducted by Tognim et al. In 2011 (55%) which show that the prevalence rate of blaNDM has been decreasing over time. This decrease can be seen in the prevalence of blaVIM.

Increase in the incidence of A. baumannii in hospital points to the need to design protective programs such as controlling infections in the intensive care unit. Also, using molecular methods, these bacteria can be identified and their antibiotic resistance characteristics are determined and appropriate antibiotics are prescribed.

The agricultural sector is considered as one of the most important sectors of the economy for food security. Resources in the agricultural sector are limited. Therefore, the emphasis is on the efficient use of these resources. Sustainable agriculture is aimed at achieving maximum technical efficiency due to lack of agricultural resources. In this study, technical efficiency of wheat production in Urmia County was estimated using DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) and Randomized Frontier Function (SFA) methods. Data and information was obtained by collecting questionnaires from 105 wheat producers in the county of Urmia in 2018. The results show that average technical efficiency with DEA and SFA method was 75% and 51%, respectively; therefore, without using more inputs and increasing costs, the amount of produced product Increased by 25 and 49 percent. Improving the technical efficiency of producers to achieve sustainable agriculture will be one of the optimal ways to increase production.

This research was conducted to evaluate the effects of different levels of nucleotide supplementation on growth performance and immune responses of broiler chickens. An experiment was conducted as a completely randomized design using 300 day-old male chicks, were divided into five treatments with five replicates and 12 chicks in each replicate. The treatments consisted of the basal diet without additives (control), the basal ration + 500 g/ton of probiotic CloSTAT, basal diet + 400, 500 and 600 g/ton enriched nucleotide supplement, respectively. Daily feed intake, daily body weight gain and feed conversion ratio were measured at the end of each period. Humoral and cellular immunities were evaluated by intramuscular injection of sheep red blood cell (SRBC) and intradermal injection of phytohemagglutinin-P (PHA-P) in wing, respectively. The results indicated that all levels of the nucleotide reduced the daily feed intake (89.7, 83.3 and 79.4 vs. 98.2 g, respectively) and improved feed conversion ratio (1.67, 1.62 and 1.62 vs. 1.93, respectively; P<0.05).  On day 28, probiotic CloSTAT and 400 and 500 g/ton of nucleotide had higher levels of total anti-SRBC (5.20, 6.60 and 6.90 vs. 3.20) and IgM (2.60, 3.20 and 2.20 vs. 0.90; P<0.05). On day 35, the treatments of 400 and 500 g/ton nucleotide have higher total anti-SRBC (6.60 and 6.10 vs. 3.80 and 4.50), IgG (3.50 and 3.30 vs. 2.10 and 2.50) and IgM (3.10 and 2.80 vs. 1.70 and 2.00) than the control group and probiotic CloSTAT (P<0.05).  Cell immunity in response to PHA-P injection was not affected by treatment groups (P>0.05). It is concluded that consumption of 400 and 500 g/ton enriched nucleotide supplement in the diet has beneficial effects on performance and immune responses of broiler chicks.