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Hypothyroidism has been associated with cognitive decline. Considering the role that has been suggested for folic acid (FA) in cognitive performance, the present study was designed to investigate the effects of FA against hypothyroidism-induced cognitive impairment, oxidative damage and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity alterations in propylthiouracil (PTU)-induced hypothyroid rats.In this study, PTU (0.05% in drinking water) and FA (5, 10, and 15 mg/kg, oral gavage) were administered to the rats for a period of 7 weeks. Then, behavioral performance was tested using Morris water maze (MWM) and passive avoidance (PA) tasks. Finally, oxidative stress indicators and AChE activity were assayed in the brain tissues.The impairing effect of hypothyroidism on cognitive performance was markedly alleviated by FA especially at the higher doses. In the MWM test, FA reduced escape latency and travelled distance, compared to the non-treated hypothyroid group. In the PA test, the latency to enter the dark chamber was signi cantly enhanced by FA as compared to the non-treated hypothyroid group (p < 0.05-p < 0.001).Besides, FA attenuated AChE activity and malondialdehyde level but increased superoxidase dismutase enzyme activity and total thiol content (p < 0.05-p < 0.001).In conclusion, FA could improve learning and memory ability in hypothyroid rats. The observed protective effects may be mediated through regulation of oxidative stress and AChE activity.

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Objective In March 2020, Iran tackled the first national wave of COVID-19 that was particularly felt in Mashhad, Iran’s second-most populous city. Accordingly, we performed a spatio-temporal study in this city to investigate the epidemiological aspects of the disease in an urban area and now wish to release a comprehensive dataset resulting from this study. Data description These data include two data files and a help file. Data file 1: “COVID-19_Patients_Data” contains the patient sex and age + time from symptoms onset to hospital admission; hospitalization time; co-morbidities; manifest symptoms; exposure up to 14 days before admission; disease severity; diagnosis (with or without RT-PCR assay); and outcome (recovery vs. death). The data covers 4000 COVID-19 patients diagnosed between 14 Feb 2020 and 11 May 2020 in Khorasan-Razavi Province. Data file 2: “COVID-19_Spatiotemporal_Data” is a digital map of census tract divisions of Mashhad, the capital of the province, and their population by gender along with the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths including the calculated rates per 100,000 persons. This dataset can be a valuable resource for epidemiologists and health policymakers to identify potential risk factors, control and prevent pandemics, and optimally allocate health resources.