One of the major aspects of intercultural communication competence is intercultural sensitivity which is gaining increasing attention in different disciplines. Intercultural sensitivity is important because it reduces cultural barriers between people interacting from different cultures. This paper focuses on the importance of intercultural sensitivity and shares the results of a comparative study on the intercultural sensitivity among two countries of Iran and China.  For this purpose, 40 Iranian and 40 Chinese male and female undergraduate Business English students completed the intercultural sensitivity questionnaire comprising five factors with 24 items developed by Chen and Starosta (2000). The results showed that in all five dimensions of the intercultural sensitivity including “Interaction Engagement”, “Respect for Cultural Differences”, “Interaction Confidence”, “Interaction Enjoyment”, and “Interaction Attentiveness”, Iranian participants had greater scores compared to Chinese participants. For both countries by increasing the age, the scores of all five dimensions of intercultural sensitivity increased too. Also, the results indicated that both Iranian and Chinese male participants had greater level of intercultural sensitivity in dimensions of “Interaction Engagement”, “Respect for Cultural Differences”, and “”Interaction Confidence” compared to female ones. However, gender did not have any impact on two intercultural sensitivity dimensions of “Interaction Enjoyment” and “Interaction Attentiveness”.

Purpose This study aimed to determine the possible association between Toxoplasma gondii infection and COVID-19 outcomes among 133 patients with an RT-PCR-positive test for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), hospitalized at Imam Khomeini Hospital, Sari, Mazandaran Province, northern Iran, during August to November 2020. Methods A questionnaire was used to collect baseline data from the patients who were registered to the Iranian National Registry Center for Toxoplasmosis (INRCT). Also, blood samples were taken from each patient for detecting anti- T. gondii antibodies and T. gondii DNA using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and conventional-PCR methods, respectively. Variables related to the COVID-19 severity and outcomes were indicated based on multiple multinomial logistic regression models. Results Of 133 patients enrolled in the INRCT with COVID-19 through RT-PCR, 50 (37.59%), 52 (39.1%), and 31 (23%) suffered from mild, moderate, and severe COVID-19, respectively. 57.1% of the patients who died had severe COVID-19, while among those with other outcomes, only 18.60% had severe COVID-19 ( P < 0.05). Anti- T. gondii IgG was detected in 109/133 (81.95%) patients, which was not statistically significant ( P > 0.05). Among those with negative and positive anti- T. gondii IgG, 2 (8.30%) and 29 (26.60%) had severe COVID-19, respectively ( P > 0.05). T. gondii DNA and anti- T. gondii IgM were not found in any of the patients. Moreover, all deaths occurred in those with moderate or severe COVID-19 and a positive anti- T. gondii IgG. Conclusion To our knowledge, this is the first registry-based study concerning T. gondii infection among patients with COVID-19. Our data show the high rate of latent T. gondii infection among COVID-19 with different severity. However, there is no significant relationship between latent T. gondii infection and COVID-19 severity and outcomes. Thus, conducting multicenter studies in different geographic regions of the world could offer a better understanding of this relationship.

This study subjected the Intercultural Sensitivity scale consisting of 24 items to Rasch analysis in a sample of 200 participants. The scale was translated into Persian and administered to graduate and undergraduate university students. Analysis of data showed that there were no misfitting items. Furthermore, no item manifested gender differential item functioning (DIF). All the thresholds were ordered and respondents could distinguish well between categories of the scale. The results of principal component analysis (PCA) of standardized residuals revealed that there were two contrasts with eigenvalues above two.  Deleting positively and negatively loading items separately did not improve model fit. Thus, the content of items was investigated and it became clear that most of the positively loading items covered those items which have negative content and conversely, negatively loading items encompassed the items which have positive content. This brings about two psychometric dimensions in this scale. 1) Wording of the items revealed that the existence of items with negative wording in the scale results in statistical artifacts, and 2) The secondary dimension here could be interpreted to be an artifact of the wording. It was concluded that the scale is unidimensional and enjoys acceptable psychometric properties.

Purpose -T he objective of this study was to determine the chemical composition of saffron's pollen. Design/methodology/approach -A30 kg sample of saffron ( Crocus sativus L.) was collected at the end of November from afarm in avillage in the suburb of Gonabad, in Khorasan Razavi, in Iran. Then the pollens were separated from the flowers and stored at 2 158 Ci na irtight containers until the analyze. The proximate composition of the pollen was determined by using standard methods of food analysis. The samples of ash were used for the subsequent determination of potassium, magnesium, sodium, calcium, zinc, iron, copper and manganese by using atomic absorption. Findings -R esults showed the chemical composition as follows: moisture (12.50 percent), ash (9.5 percent), crude fiber (7.4 percent), crude fat (5.8 percent), crude protein (23.6 percent) and total carbohydrate (20 percent). Saffron's pollen is ag ood source of minerals such as potassium (57,460 ppm), magnesium (3,357.5 ppm), sodium (1,100 ppm), calcium (600 ppm), zinc (100.75 ppm), iron (194 ppm), copper (53.2 ppm) and manganese (48.5 ppm). Originality/value -T he composition and nutritional value of saffron's pollen had not been determined before.