Background & Aims: Neisseria meningitidis is bacteria fastidious, and the main causes of meningitis and acute sepsis. Appropriate treatment depends on accurate and timely diagnosis. This study aimed to identify Neisseria meningitidis infection in samples of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in patients with suspected meningitis.Methods: In this study, 198 samples of cerebrospinal fluid of patients with suspected bacterial meningitis were assessed using real-time polymerase chain reaction (real-time PCR) targeted with specific primers prepared from meningococcal ctrA gene with the length of 110 bp. In addition, the data of patients and analysis of cerebrospinal fluid were collected.Results: The mean age of the studied patients was 32.1±25.3 year. Totally, the samples of 7 patients (3.5%) with the mean age of 44.0±28.2 years were positive for meningococcal infectioun with the mean protein and glucose levels of 39.86 and 41.86 mg/dl, respectively. In positive cases, the mean number of white blood cells was 5009 with the mean polymorphonuclear (PMN) value was 76.5%.Conclusion: In this study, most of the positive cases were middle-aged men with a higher incidence rate in the winter. It seems that the traditional methods of cultivation are not sensitive enough to detect this bacterium in cerebrospinal fluid. Alternatively, the molecular techniques such as real-time polymerase chain reaction seem to be accurate, sensitive and rapid for the detection of meningococcus in cerebrospinal fluid. The cytological and biochemical findings of cerebrospinal fluid can provide valuable clues in the diagnosis of bacterial meningitis.

In this work, the reaction rate of molybdenite powder is calculated and the effects of temperature on the reaction rate and reaction time are investigated. The particle temperature is obtained by solving the heat transfer equation, including convection, conduction, and radiation terms. The particle diameter is assumed to be 100 μm and the porosity is 50%. The results show that the particle temperature reaches the fluidized bed temperature in 365 seconds and the reaction time is around 5000 seconds. According to the results, during the time interval between 500 seconds and 1800 seconds, the temperature of the particles is higher than 600 °C, which causes sintering in the molybdenum trioxide. The fluidized bed temperature must be decreased, and the gas velocity must be increased to prevent sintering. The results are in good agreement with the experimental data. This article is part of a study on the design and construction of a fluidized bed furnace. For the first time in the country, a pilot-scale fluidized bed roaster has been built based on these results.

Background: Legionella pneumophila is considered as one of the most important etiologies of respiratory infection in immunocompromised patients, which causes high morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to evaluate the epidemiology of Legionella pneumophila in febrile neutropenic patients.Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 36 patients with neutropenia admitted to Seyedoshohada hospital, Isfahan, Iran, during 2014-2015. All patients underwent throat sampling with a sterile swab. All samples were analyzed via quantitative real-time multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) covering Legionella pneumophila. The prevalence of Legionella pneumophila in febrile neutropenic patients was then assessed.Findings: Mean age of the patients (including 22 men and 14 women) was 54.8±7.6 years. Most of the patients had acute myeloid leukemia (AML) (33.3%) and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) (19.4%). From 36 examined throat samples obtained from the patients with confirmed neutropenia, no positive result of Legionella pneumophila was detected via polymerase chain reaction.Conclusion: Our study does not support the hypothesis that Legionella pneumophila plays an important role in the development of neutropenic fever. Thus, more studies and using additional diagnostic methods to detect Legionella pneumophila in atypical pneumonia are recommended.

In order to study the relationship among reaction time, intelligence, and anxiety level, 36 female and 29 male university students from Isfahan University responded to the Reaction Time Test (Donders, 1968), the Cattell Anxiety scale, and the Raven's Progressive Matrices. Results showed negative significant correlations between Simple Reaction Time (SRT) and intelligence (P= 0.002, r = -0.373), and between intelligence, overt anxiety (P= 0.038, r = -0.257), and total anxiety (P= 0.022, r = -0.284). When testing the choice reaction time (CRT), the males significantly outperformed the females. However, there were no significant gender differences in intelligence and the anxiety level. Also, reaction time and the, level of anxiety were not significantly correlated.