Alpha thalassemia (a-thal) is relatively common worldwide. Most carriers are defective in either one or two alpha globin genes out of four functional ones, with deletions being more common than point mutations. The hematologic features are very important for the selection of the appropriate molecular tests while determining the genotype. The aim of this study was to compare hematologic features of patients with various types of a globin mutations. Hematological indices including red blood cells (RBC), hemoglobin concentration (Hb), mean cell volume (MCV), mean cell hemoglobin (MCH), Mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and percentage of Hemoglobin (HBA1, HBA2 and HBF) of seven-hundred and twenty two patients presenting ten different a-thal genotypes were considered. All patients showed reduced MCV and/or MCH values. Moreover, MCV and MCH were lower in patients with two functional alpha globin genes in comparison to patients with one mutated alpha globin gene (P value<0.001). In conclusion, MCV and MCH values can be helpful for the selection of the appropriate molecular tests to determine the genotype of alpha thalassemia carriers.

Background: With respect to the importance of hepatitis A in patients with chronic liver disease, current study was conducted with the aim of determining the prevalence of previous hepatitis A infection in hepatitis B virus carriers with different stages of liver disease. Materials and Methods: This was a cross sectional study. 283 HBsAg positive subjects (including 118 inactive carriers, 144 patients with chronic active hepatitis and 21 cirrhotic subjects) were selected from Tehran Hepatitis Center within 3 months period in 2004. All subjects were assessed for Anti HAV Ab, demographic data, risk factors of blood borne disease, place of birth, place of living, history of jaundice, history of hepatitis patients, ALT, AST, Platelet, Stage, Grade and Score.Results: From all subjects, 224 patients (79.2%) were affected with HAV. 89 inactive carriers (75.4%), 115 patients with chronic active hepatitis (79.9%) and 20 cirrhotic patients (95.2%) were Anti HAV Ab positive. 47 patients under 30 year (65.3%), 123 those between 30 and 49 years (80.4%) and 54 over 50 years old subjects (93.1%) were positive for HAV infection (p=0.000).Conclusions: Our results indicated that 80% of patients with hepatitis B have previous infection with hepatitis A and 20% of them are susceptible to it. The frequency of infection rises with increasing age. Because of increased fatality of this infection in higher ages, vaccination against hepatitis A in this population is recommended.

A major requirement in utilizing elemental sulfur to lower soil pH is the presence and activity of sulfur oxidizing bacteria (especially the Thiobacilli) in the soils. The beneficial effects of sulfur application along with Thiobacillus bacteria for soil reclamation and improvement of soil nutrient availability have been demonstrated in various fields as well as in greenhouse studies. In all such investigations, either pure cultures of Thiobacillus suspension or Thiobacillus bearing soils were utilized as inoculants, neither of which is applicable on large scale. On the other hand, the acid produced as a result of the oxidation of the sulfur material during the growth cycle or long-term maintenance phase of Thiobacillus would cause limitation on their growth and sharp declines in their population densities. The present research was aimed at the development of a carrier, suitable for a long-term maintenance of Thiobacillus bacteria as well as a source of inoculants to be used in the greenhouse and field experiments. Several easily available, inexpensive materials that are capable of sustaining the Thiobacilli were selected and some of their physical and chemical properties were measured. Then, these materials were mixed in different ratios and 6 carriers were selected. After sterilizing them, 100 ml Thiobacilli suspension was added to the carriers. The surviving abilities of the bacteria in various carriers were tested using a completely randomized split-split-plot design with 12 treatments, 8 sampling times, and 3 replications. Colony count and pH measurements were made by taking samples at 0, 14, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180 days intervals after the start of the experiment. The effect of all treatments on the carrier pH and bacterial population measured at constant time intervals during a 6-month period for different materials showed significant differences (1% level). At these time intervals, the pH values were higher at 4 oC than at 25 oC, but bacterial population were higher at 25 oC then at 4 oC. Carrier 3 contained the highest number of bacteria at 25oC while at 4oC it did not significantly differ from carriers 2, 4, and 5 in this respect. Carrier 3 maintained a large population of bacteria for a longer period of time, and, in contrast to the other carriers, it contained a larger population during the 6-month trial at 25oC than at 4oC. Therefore, it was selected as the superior carrier. Carrier 6 showed the lowest numbers of bacteria at both temperatures and, consequently had the lowest rank.

Introduction: new nano-carrier platforms based on natural biological building blocks offer great promises in revolutionizing medicine.Materials and methods: The usage of specific protein cage structures such as virus-like particles (VLPs) for drug packaging and targeted delivery has attracted much attention.Results: versatile chemical and genetic modifications on the outer surfaces and inner cavities of VLPs facilitate the preparation of new materials requirements for drug delivery.Discussion: A full evaluation on the toxicity, biodistribution and immunology of these materials are envisaged to boost their application potentials.Results: VLPs can easily offer the requirements that are needed for a drug delivery, such as biocompatibility, solubility in water, and high uptake efficiency.

In general, the liability of carriers towards the cargo owner arises out of an undue carriage of goods. Nevertheless, the carrier might be obliged to perform the customs formalities of the cargo and the liability arising out of that. This has been hardly considered by the authors in the field of transportation regulations. This article tries to answer the question that whether the carrier has any obligation for performance of customs formalities in case of no specification in the contract; if the answer is true, what are the conditions for this kind of carrier liability, so that whether it is covered by the international carriage conventions or it is subject to particular regulations out of the conventions. Finally, this aspect of carrier’ s liability has been analyzed in the international conventions for carriage of goods and the Iranian Customs Act as well.

In recent years, dendrimers as a new class of polymeric materials have attracted lots of attention due to their unique properties, especially as drug delivery systems. In this process, dendrimers can deliver medicine directly to the affected part of the patient's body. Dendrimers can be defined as macromolecular structures with several advantages, which may undergo changes depending on the chemical nature of the drug to be delivered. Dendrimers can be defined as macromolecular structures with several advantages that depending on the chemical nature of the drug to be delivered, they may change. The reason for the high attention paid to dendrimers in drug delivery is that they have properties such as uniform size, water solubility, modifiable surface performance, high degree of branching, being multivalent, well-defined molecular weight, and available internal cavities. In addition, the high level of control over dendritic architecture distinguishes them as ideal carriers. Also, the use of dendrimers in biomedicine has attracted the attention of many scientists. Biomedicine is one of the main fields of study of dendrimers due to their capacity to improve solubility, uptake, bioavailability and targeted distribution, and their value in diagnosis and treatment. In the last decade, anti-neoplastic research on dendrimers has been widely developed and several types of poly amidoamine (PAMAM) and poly propylene imine (PPI) dendrimer complexes with doxorubicin, paclitaxel, cisplatin, melphalan, and methotrexate have been improved compared to the drug molecule alone.