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Criminalization of sexual relations outside the institution of marriage in Iran fosters – among other means – concealment as one of the safest methods to undermine social and legal impediments. In a context where any alternative practices of sexualities are subject to persecution, sexual concealments are applied as tactics for survival. The female body in such a normative-laden society is conditioned by its “openness” which makes it a subject of honor for family and kin and core for the management of desire and regulating the intimate for the theocratic state. Based on life stories of young women who have had pre-marital sexual relations in Tehran, this article addresses sexual concealment as the main method used by those women. Findings of the study suggest a three-fold model of concealment practiced in various social settings. Body concealment which was encouraged by the families and authorities to reduce the visibility of the female body during adolescence, engenders other types of concealment. Lesbian-like practices were utilized by women in homosocial settings to undermine the heteronormative social structure. Concealment of sexual orientations, desires and practices was applied to “keep the order of things in place” and to undermine the repressive policies and practices based on the socio-religious normative.

Background:Treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is occasionally highly resistant to pentavalent antimonials, the gold standard in pharmacotherapy of CL. Since there is no effective vaccine, the discovery of natural antileishmanial products as complementary therapeutic agents could be used to improve the current regimens.Objective:In this study in vitro and in vivo antileishmanial activities of osthole, a natural coumarin known to possess antibacterial and parasiticidal activities are evaluated.Materials and Methods:Leishmania major infected J774.A1 macrophages were treated with increasing concentrations of osthole. CL lesions of BALB/c mice were treated topically with 0.2% osthole.Results:Osthole exhibited dose-dependent leishmanicidal activity against intracellular amastigotes with IC50 value of 14.95 μg/ml. Treatment of CL lesions in BALB/c mice with osthole significantly declined lesion progression compared to untreated mice (P < 0.05), however did not result in recovery.Conclusion:Osthole demonstrated remarkable leishmanicidal activity in vitro. Higher concentrations of osthole may demonstrate the therapeutic property in vivo.SUMMARY In vitro and in vivo antileishmanial activities of osthole, a pernylated coumarin extracted from Prangos asperula Boiss., are studied against Leishmania major.

SummaryEchinococosis is a zoonotic disease caused by the larval stages of Echinococcus spp. that occurs in most parts of the world. Herein, we aimed to evaluate the genotypes of isolated hydatid cysts from slaughtered animals in Shush county, southwestern Iran. Totally, 96 hydatid cysts were collected, including 11 buffaloes, 13 cattle, 12 goat and 60 sheep. The PCR was done by a primer pair (BDI and 4s) to amplify ITS1 fragment. Four restriction endonucleases including AluI, HpaII, RsaI, and TaqI were used for RFLP products and enzymatic reactions were electrophoresed. Finally, twenty PCR products were sent for sequencing and phylogenetic tree was drawn with MEGA6. Molecular identification of 96 hydatid cysts demonstrated a distinctive 1000 bp fragment in all samples from four animal hosts. RFLP analysis showed similar digestion patterns in all samples. AluI digestion yielded 800 bp and 200 bp fragments, HpaII digestion made 700 bp and 300 bp fragments and RsaI digestion entailed 655 and 345segments. Moreover, TaqI rendered no digestion pattern on rDNA-ITS1 region. Additionally, E. granulosus sensu stricto (G1-3 complex) was the prevailing genotype in all livestock samples, according to PCR-RFLP and sequencing analyses.

Background: Blastocystis is one of the most common anaerobic protozoa found in the intestinal tract of humans and various animals, with a worldwide distribution. The parasite has been linked to the pathogenesis of the irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), previously. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of Blastocystis in IBS patients compared to healthy individuals. Methods: The collected feces from 152 patients with Gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms, and 130 healthy volunteers from Ahvaz, southwest Iran, were examined using the direct saline smear, Lugol's iodine staining, and inoculated in a Jones' medium for Blastocystis detection. The DNA was extracted from all culture-positive samples, and then the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed by the SSU-rDNA gene. Results: Blastocystis was identified in 18 (6.4%) samples, including two (1.3%) of the IBS patients and 16 (12.3%) of the control group by microscopy. Stool culture was positive in 15 with IBS, one without IBS, and 40 control samples. From these, the expected 600 bp fragments of the SSU-rDNA gene were identified in 15 (27.3%) cases and 40 (72.7%) controls. Subtypes (STs) 1, 2, and 3 were identified from the 54 successfully sequenced samples. Subtype 3 was the most common ST with the frequency of 46.3%, followed by ST2, 37% and ST1, 16.7% in the case and control groups. The highest frequency of Blastocystis STs (27.8%) was identified in the age group of 31-40 years and the lowest was found in the age groups of under 10 years and over 81 years. Conclusions:The findings of the current study showed that Blastocystis was more common in the control group compared to the IBS patients. Therefore, our findings highlight the contrast between Blastocystis infection and GI disorders. Furthermore, these results support the hypothesis that Blastocystis could be a GI health marker.

While European education systems fundamentally rest on a rather monolithic world-view, some of them are explicitly oriented towards Christianity and others are comparatively secular. Apart from this, they differ in the way that they offer opportunities for Muslim minorities to enjoy a modern and competitive as well as religious-moral education. Principally, there are three approaches. The first allows private Muslim schools which are neither subsidized nor controlled or regulated by the state. Other countries require Muslim schools to apply for approval, and such schools are then subsidized and regulated; but they do not have to teach a national curriculum. In a third group of countries, only schools that teach the national curriculum are permitted, and they are subsidized and controlled by the state. In the latter case, because Islamic matters are not taught in these schools, many Muslim parents send their children to non-formal Qur'anic schools in the evening or during weekends. This study examines some typical arrangements in a number of countries.Zusammenfassung -BILDUNG IN EUROPA UND DIE FORDERUNG VON MUSLIMEN NACH WETTBEWERBSFÄ HIGER UND MORALISCHER BIL-DUNG -Wa¨hrend europa¨ische Bildungssysteme grundsa¨tzlich auf einer eher monolithischen Weltsicht beruhen, sind manche von ihnen ausdru¨cklich auf das Christentum ausgerichtet, andere hingegen vergleichsweise weltlich. Davon abgesehen unterscheiden sie sich in der Art und Weise, in welcher sie muslimischen Minderheiten Gelegenheiten bieten, eine ebenso moderne und wettbewerbsfa¨hige wie religio¨s-moralische Bildung zu genießen. Prinzipiell gibt es drei Zuga¨nge. Der erste erlaubt private muslimische Schulen, welche vom Staat weder subventioniert noch kontrolliert oder reguliert werden. Andere La¨nder verlangen von muslimischen Schulen, dass sie eine Zulassung beantragen, und solche Schulen werden dann subventioniert und reguliert; sie sind jedoch nicht angehalten, einen nationalen Lehrplan zu vermitteln. In einer dritten Gruppe von La¨ndern werden nur Schulen zugelassen, welche den nationalen Lehrplan vermitteln, und diese sind vom Staat subventioniert sowie kontrolliert. Weil in diesen Schulen islamische Lehrinhalte nicht vermittelt werden, schicken viele muslimische Eltern im letzten Fall ihre Kinder auf inoffizielle Koranschulen, die am Abend oder an Wochenenden stattfinden. Diese Studie untersucht einige typische Anordnungen in einer Anzahl von La¨ndern. Re´sume´-L'É DUCATION EN EUROPE ET LES EXIGENCES MUSULMANESEN É DUCATION MORALE ET COMPÉ TITIVE -Alors que les syste`mes d'e´ducation europe´ens restent ancre´s dans une vision du monde plutoˆt monolithique, certains d'entre eux s'orientent explicitement vers le christianisme, et d'autres sont en comparaison se´culaires. À part cela, ils diffe`rent sur la fac¸on dont ils offrent des opportunite´s aux minorite´s musulmanes de jouir d'une e´ducation aussi bien moderne et compe´titive que religieuse et morale. Il existe principalement trois approches. La premie`re autorise des e´coles prive´es musulmanes q...

Congenital isolated pleural effusion is a rare cause of respiratory distress in neonates. It is usually chylous. We report a rare case of nonchylous congenital idiopathic pleural effusion.

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