Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is now of global concern due to its rapid dissemination across the globe. The rapid spread of this viral infection, along with many of its unknown aspects, has posed new challenges to the health care systems. The main challenging effects of COVID-19 are rapid dissemination through close contact and varying clinical severity among different individuals. Furthermore, the medical staff in endemic areas are becoming exhausted and deal with a considerable level of job burnout, which can negatively affect their medical decision making. Also, due to the variable pulmonary manifestations of COVID-19, some physicians may misdiagnose patients. To overcome these issues, we proposed a web-based software to aid physicians in detecting possible COVID-19 cases through online consultation with different specialists and educate the not-well experienced physicians. Our results demonstrated that this software could improve the diagnostic rate for not-well experienced physicians.

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BackgroundHepatitis E Virus (HEV) infection is a significant public health concern and responsible for large outbreaks of acute hepatitis in poor sanitary and living conditions.ObjectivesTo investigate the impact of population movements on virus spreading, a large-scale population-based survey was performed in a pilgrimage- tourism area, the great Mashhad, capital city of Khorasan province.Patients and MethodsA cross-sectional study was carried out among 1582 randomly selected individuals from general population of Mashhad, north east of Iran, between May to September 2009. Serum samples were tested for total anti-HEV antibody using a specific enzyme linked immunoassay (ELISA) kit.ResultsThe prevalence of HEV infection was 14.2% (225/1582) with a maximum of 25.5 % (14/55) in densely populated areas. The highest prevalence was observed in visitant areas (≥ 20%) near the holly shrine with crowded hotels and inns. The differences between these areas and other districts were statistically significant (P < 0.001). The findings indicated that 13.2% (95/718) of males and 15.0% (130/864) of females were HEV positive; this difference is not significant. Seroprevalence increases with age rising , from 12.8% in subjects less than five years to 28.6% in individuals with more than 65 years old. Although, there were no meaningful differences between HEV seropositivity and socio-economic status, Illiterate individuals were significantly at higher risk for infection than educated persons (P < 0.001).ConclusionsThese findings demonstrated that, high prevalence of HEV is related to populated district, which can reach to the highest rate in hotels and inns close to visitants. Traditional sanitation and water supplying systems are the second important factor for the virus transmission. Therefore, it can be concluded that such areas need efficient surveillance systems to prevent the spreading of infectious diseases.

Human amniotic membrane (HAM) has been widely used as a natural scaffold in tissue engineering due to many of its unique biological properties such as providing growth factors, cytokines and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases. This study aimed at finding the most suitable and supportive layer of HAM as a delivery system for autologous or allogeneic cell transplantation. Three different layers of HAM were examined including basement membrane, epithelial and stromal layers. In order to prepare the basement membrane, de-epithelialization was performed using 0.5 M NaOH and its efficiency was investigated by histological stainings, DNA quantification, biomechanical testing and electron microscopy. Adipose-derived stromal cells (ASCs) and a human immortalized keratinocyte cell line (HaCaT) were seeded on the three different layers of HAM and cultured for 3 weeks. The potential of the three different layers of HAM to support the attachment and viability of cells were then monitored by histology, electron microscopy and (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Moreover, mechanical strengths of the basement membrane were assessed before and after cell culture. The results indicated that the integrity of extra cellular matrix (ECM) components was preserved after de-epithelialization and resulted in producing an intact basement amniotic membrane (BAM). Moreover, all three layers of HAM could support the attachment and proliferation of cells with no visible cytotoxic effects. However, the growth and viability of both cell types on the BAM were significantly higher than the other two layers. We conclude that growth stimulating effectors of BAM and its increased mechanical strength after culturing of ASCs, besides lack of immunogenicity make it an ideal model for delivering allogeneic cells and tissue engineering applications.

Background: Hepatitis A Virus (HAV) is the most common cause of acute viral hepatitis worldwide, mostly in developing countries.Objectives: This population-based survey was performed to investigate HAV seroprevalence in Mashhad, northeast of Iran. Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed on 1563 randomly selected individuals from general population of Mashhad, Iran, between May to September 2009. Serum samples were tested for total anti-HAV antibody using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit. Data was analyzed using SPSS ver. 18.0 by Chi-square and student t tests. Results: Seroprevalence of HAV infection was 69.6% (95% CI: 67.3-71.9%) with no difference between males and females. Anti-HAV seropositivity increased with rising age from 9.4% in subjects younger than five years to 100.0% in individuals older than 65 years old (P < 0.001). Conclusions: As it was previously reported by the World Health Organization (WHO) on HAV infection in the country, this study revealed a high prevalence of HAV infection in Mashhad city, Northeastern Iran.