The morbidity of intestinal parasitic infections is greatest among children of school age and may have an adverse effect on growth. In the present, cross-sectional study, the association between previously undiagnosed intestinal parasitic infections and growth was assessed in 19,209 children attending elementary schools in Tehran. The physical growth of these children was investigated by recording body weights, heights and weight-for-age Z scores. Faecal samples were collected and each checked for intestinal parasites using four methods (the microscopical examination of a smear stained with Lugol's iodine, a smear prepared by formol-ether concentration, a wet smear in physiological normal saline, and a strip of adhesive tape that had been pressed against the subject's peri-anal region). The association between intestinal parasitic infection and growth was explored using multivariable models adjusted for the influence of age and polyparasitism. The prevalence of infection with any intestinal parasite was 18.4%. The prevalences of stunting (3.8% v. 2.8%), wasting (22.7% v. 20.4%) and the combination of stunting and wasting (3.7% v. 2.8%) were all significantly higher in the infected children than in the uninfected (P<0.01 for each). Although at least nine species of parasite were detected, only two, Giardia lamblia and Enterobius vermicularis, were each significantly associated with low height for age (stunting) and low weight for height (wasting). There were no such reductions with Ascaris lumbricodes, hookworm, Blastocystis hominis, Hymenolepis nana or Entamoeba coli infection. The data indicate fairly high prevalences of previously undiagnosed intestinal parasitic infections and highlight important interactions between nutrition and some of the parasites detected. School health programmes aimed at reducing the prevalences of parasitic infections (particularly giardiasis and enterobiasis) in schoolchildren, which may well have beneficial effects on growth and educational outcome, are clearly needed in Tehran.

The proportion of subjects who were carriers of Malassezia yeasts was significantly higher in the group with hair shedding, and our results therefore raise the possibility of a relationship between this unicellular organism and hair loss. Our study findings should be explored in a larger series of patients.

Introduction: Daily use of public restrooms may have a significant impact on spreading infectious diseases. Human society could be affected by spreading of transitional infectious diseases through feces, urinary tract infection and poor personal hygiene. According to the World Health Organization reports, plenty of people's developed diseases caused by contaminated public restrooms that may result in severe health problems. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 7,482 samples that were collected randomly in 6 months (spring and summer 2019) in different regions of Tehran. The Data were obtained by analyzing 804 restroom's indoor and outdoor handles, 1062 toilet faucet, 826 washbasin taps, 1,062 toilet hoses, 804 flush tank levers, 643 soap dispenser bottoms, 643 liquid soaps, 99 bar soaps, 169 toilet papers and paper towels, and 50 hand dryer machines. Samples which were tested, based on bacteriology standard methods. Result: 7,482 samples were gathered of which 6,678 contaminated cases (89.25%) were observed and 804 cases (10.75%) were found non-contaminated. Escherichia coli with 28.48% and Pseudomonas with 0.39% were the most and the least common bacteria, respectively, in this study. Conclusion: The required tests to identify the bacteria that cause contamination through the use of public restrooms have been done. It is essential to inform the public of the mentioned items and teach how to prevent infectious diseases.

Background: Gliomas possess low immunogenicity, which is an inevitable hinder in front of cancer immunotherapy. Different interferons (IFNs) may proceed apoptosis instead in p53-dependent or independent pathways. P53 induces the anti-inflammatory programmed cell death in cancer cells; on the other hand, IFN gamma (IFNγ) is a modulatory/pro-inflammatory cytokine. There are contradictory reports of whether this cytokine can possess an anti- or pro-cancerous impact on tumors. Hence, we aimed to investigate the possible cooperative apoptotic effect of the P53 and IFNγ over expressions on the U87 glioblastoma cell line. Materials and Methods: The P53 expressing vector was amplified by Escherichia coli BL21. This vector was confirmed by the aid of sequencing. At the next step, U87 cells were transfected using lipofectamine. Cells were treated with P53 vector and/or IFNγ. The type of cellular death investigated by flow cytometry and the expression level of cleaved caspase-3 protein was also precisely demonstrated by western blotting. Results: Sequencing results revealed that inserted P53 was identical with human P53. Western blot results revealed that both IFNγ and P53 overexpression could up-regulate cleaved caspase-3 protein expression in this cell line. Interestingly, flow cytometry data determined that concurrent treatment with P53 exogenous overexpression and IFNγ induces about 70% apoptosis in U87; more than the sum of cell death occurs after IFNγ or P53 overexpression alone (~18%+21%=39%). Conclusion: The present study results showed that p53-overexpression and IFNγ could ultimately induce up-regulation of the caspase-3 and ultimately significant apoptosis increasing in the U87 cell line. Although IFNγ is believed to be a pro-inflammatory cytokine and P53 is an anti-inflammatory agent, our results demonstrated that they could act synergistically to induce apoptosis in U87 cells. [GMJ.2021;10:e2270]