مجله دانشکده پزشکی اصفهان
پیاپی 737 (هفته اول آذر 1402)

Staphylococcus aureus is one of the leading causes of nosocomial infections, therefore, it is necessary to develop a suitable vaccine candidate to prevent infections caused by this bacterium. Autolysin protein as a virulence factor plays an important role in bacterial division. Monophosphoryl lipid A (MPLA) as a Toll-like receptor 4 agonist is currently used as an adjuvant. In this study, autolysin protein along with MPLA was investigated as a vaccine candidate.

Recombinant autolysin was expressed with IPTG and purified by Ni-NTA affinity chromatography. To increase the immunogenicity of vaccine candidates, Monophosphoryl lipid A (biologic and synthetic) was formulated in combination with Alum in four groups of Balb/c mice. Animals were injected subcutaneously three times at intervals of two weeks. Total IgG and IgG1, IgG2a isotype antibodies were measured in sera by indirect ELISA technique. Then, experimental mice were challenged with a sub-lethal dose of Staphylococcus Strain (5×108 CFU) and following that, the number of bacteria from internal organs was assessed. Also, the survival rate was monitored daily for 30 days.

Total IgG, IgG1, and IgG2a isotype antibody levels were significantly improved in vaccinated groups in comparison to the control group. Bacterial burden in the internal organ (Liver, spleen, and kidney), and animal mortality of the vaccinated group especially r-Autolysin+Alum+MPLA Synthetic and r-Autolysin+Alum+MPLA biologic were decreased in comparison to the control group.

We concluded that synthetic MPLA is a reliable candidate for immune response improvement against Staphylococcal infection.

Evaluation of Health-Related Quality of Life (HR-QoL) in Survivors of Acute Ischemic Stroke Treated with Tissue Plasminogen Activator (tPA) is the main objective of this study.

This cross-sectional study was performed to evaluate the HR-QoL of survivors of acute ischemic stroke who underwent thrombolytic treatment in Al-Zahra Hospital Isfahan in 2017. SS-QoL questionnaire was used to assess HR-QoL. Patients' hospital records were reviewed and demographic information and stroke were extracted. The relationship between the SS-QoL overall score and its sub-scores with contextual variables was analyzed.

A total of 59 patients were included in the study, of which (40.7%) 21 were female. The mean age of onset of stroke was 65.39 ± 11.85 years and the mean age of stroke and tPA was 0.46 ± 0.29 years. Blood pressure (49.2%) was the most common underlying disease. The majority of strokes in the left hemisphere (42.4%) were moderate (69.5%) and thrombotic (49.2%). The overall score of SS-QoL in (80.3%) of 49 patients was more than 147, indicating appropriate HR-QoL. There was no significant relationship between SS-QoL overall score with age, sex, type and, severity of stroke and time interval to tPA.

More than 80% of patients had a good quality of life. The underlying variables had no significant effect on patients' HR-QoL.

Fertility behaviors are one of the worrisome issues in countries with below-replacement fertility rates. In addition to the socioeconomic dimensions affecting fertility rate reduction, the relationship of other components such as religion has also been considered. However, its association with reproductive behavior has not been clearly defined yet. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the association of religious beliefs with reproductive behaviors in reproductive-aged women.

In this systematic review, databases, and search engines including Web of Science (WoS), PubMed, Scopus, SID, Magiran, and Google Scholar were searched spanning from 2008 to 2023. The review has been limited to Persian and English published articles. The Persian and English keywords consisted of religion, belief, women, reproductive behaviors, and fertility. STROBE statement was selected for the quality assessment.

27 studies matched the inclusion criteria. All the included studies indicated the association of religious beliefs with one or more components related to fertility behaviors. For instance, religious beliefs were directly associated with responsibility, use of preventive methods, unwanted pregnancy, sexual awareness, tendency to fertility, attitude towards the desired number of children, and egg donation methods. Also, Islamic attitudes have a protective role against inappropriate reproductive health behaviors for Muslims.

The results showed that fertility behaviors are directly related to religious beliefs. Religiosity is one of the factors that can have a positive role in people's attitudes toward fertility behavior, which can increase the population trend in different ethnicities. Therefore, the component of religion should be considered in fertility policies. However, more studies with larger sample sizes need to be conducted in this field.