While statins target many of the pathways to neuroprogression in schizophrenia, the safety and efficacy of statins for treating schizophrenia has never been examined. This is an 8-week randomized double blind controlled clinical trial examining the efficacy and safety of adjunctive lovastatin (20 mg/day) treatment or placebo for people with schizophrenia. The baseline characteristics of the two groups were not different. Endpoint changes in Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) total and subscale scores did not differ between the two groups. However there was a significant difference between the doses of risperidone used in the two groups. The mean dose in the lovastatin and placebo groups were 4.8(1.8) and 3.4(1.4) mg/day, respectively (P<.03). No serious adverse events were reported. Slowness of movements, muscle rigidity, increased appetite, and decreased energy were the most common adverse effects, and these rates did not differ between the two groups. This study failed to demonstrate a benefit of lovastatin on symptoms of schizophrenia. This combination was well tolerated. However, a higher dosage of risperidone was used for treating the disorder in those taking concomitant lovastatin compared to placebo.

Abstract. Meglumine antimoniate (Glucantime) remains the therapeutic cornerstone of visceral leishmaniasis (VL). Twenty-one VL patients were treated with Glucantime, extending for 1 week after defervescence. For monitoring the response, Leishmania infantum kinetoplast DNA loads were evaluated using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay in the blood. The maximum duration of treatment was 14 days. The loads before treatment ranged from 8 to 1,300,000 parasites/mL (mean = 73,095 parasites/mL), and the mean values on days 3, 7, 14, 28, and 90 were 4,902, 506, 6.33, 0.26, and 0.14, respectively. The loads decline to 1 parasite/mL for 16 (76%) and 20 (95%) patients on days 14 and 28, respectively, and they decline for all patients by day 90. Results showed a dramatic decrease of the parasite loads, although complete clearance was not accomplished at the end of treatment. Only one relapse (4.5%) was observed. The parasite load can also serve as a dependable index for monitoring the response to Glucantime.

The use of edible films could be considered as a good alternative for application of antimicrobial and antioxidant agents in the food industry. In this study, the effect of Adiantum capillus-veneris extract, which has been incorporated into fresh-cut pear starch films, on the microbial growth and antioxidant status of fresh-cut pears was investigated. The films with various extract concentrations (0.0, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 % v/v) were evaluated regarding their thickness, moisture content, transparency, antibacterial and antioxidant activity. Moisture content and transparency properties of films have been affected significantly (P < 0.05) by all of the examined concentrations of the extracts; in addition, the extracts increased the antioxidant capacity of films which was prepared from starch. No significant differences (P < 0.05) were observed for the thickness among the films with different extract concentrations. The films with various extract concentrations showed inhibition zones against Escherichia coli O157 : H7, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus cereus. Fresh-cut pears were positively affected by the coating treatment, increasing their antioxidant status and decreasing bacterial and fungal contamination. These results demonstrated that the development of an edible film formulated with A. capillus-veneris extract can be applicable to preserve fresh-cut pear quality.

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) with a high prevalence is recognized as the fourth most common cause of cancer-related death globally. Over the past decade, there has been growing interest in the network of tumor cells, stromal cells, immune cells, blood vessel cells, and fibroblasts that comprise the tumor microenvironment (TME) to identify new therapeutic interventions.Methods: Databases, such as Google Scholar, PubMed, and Scopus, were searched to provide an overview of the recent research progress related to targeting the TME as a novel therapeutic approach.Results: Tumor microenvironment as a result of the cross talk between these cells may result in either advantages or disadvantages in tumor development and metastasis, affecting the signals and responses from the surrounding cells. Whilst chemotherapy has led to an improvement in CRC patients' survival, the metastatic aspect of the disease remains difficult to avoid. Conclusions:The present review emphasizes the structure and function of the TME, alterations in the TME, its role in the incidence and progression of CRC, the effects on tumor development and metastasis, and also the potential of its alterations as therapeutic targets. It should be noted that providing novel studies in this field of research might help us to achieve practical therapeutic strategies based on their interaction.

The infrastructure of most of the practical and construction activity in communities is based on correct understanding and proper use of spatial data in GIS 1 and SDI 2 . Optimal and efficient use of infrastructure systems of the spatial data by users, depends on how to search and access of user to proper and desired data among informative sources of various organizations. Search operation and access of users to various information of multiple sources located on Spatial Data Infrastructure Network is confusing and time-consuming due to diversity and relatively high volume of spatial information. Because there are numerous classes and subclasses of various complications on the pattern of SDI, unaware user to the pattern may be confused in select displaying the proper spatial layer. In optimum condition, the user should have access to the appropriate data type based on his status and task and environmental conditions. Making intelligent Graphical User Interface by inference based on task information user and his expertise, the appropriate information and consistent with conditions will be achieved. Selecting and displaying of spatial layers related to the technical-organizational approach of system user provides him special assistance both in terms of filtering the irrelevant data and speed of operation in access optimal information than non-selective displaying state. For this purpose, designing and employment context-aware techniques in servicing user interface of system based on recognition of the technical expertise of the user can be a good solution in data adaptive displaying and context-aware servicing to users.