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Background and purpose : Otomycosis(Otitis externa) is an acute, subacte or chronic fungal infection that has exogenous or endogenous origin. The present study was carried out to investigate the etiologic agents and determine risk factore and epidemiological aspects of otomycosis in north- West area of Iran.
Materials and methods : Clinical samples of suspected patients were studied in direct microscopy and cultured in specific medium for determining the causative fungi.
Results : 89 patients 64 male and 25 female were recruited and studies. The disease were more prevalent in 20- 40 years in both sexes.Identified etiologic agents with direct examination and culture of samples in numerous series were: Aspergillus niger(51 cases), A. terreus(9 cases), A. flavus(7 cases), A Fuminagatus(6 cases), Eurotium( prefect stage of A. glaucus)(2 cases), penicillium Sp.(2 cases), Candida albicans(8 cases), Epicoccum Sp.(1 case), Mucor Sp. (1 case), Rhizopus Sp.(1 case) and Microsporum canis(1 case).
Conclusion : Saprophytic moulds were the main etiologic agent of Otomycosis and Aspergillus niger was the prime causaltive agent. Infection in 20 –40 year age group was the most prevalent and Otomycosis among females was determined more than male. This report has provided useful information on the prevalence, causative agents and health implications of Otomycosis, as an infection grossly neglected in enviroment.

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Background and purpose: Âsthma is a chronic disease that is classified in two types, Âllergic and non-Âllergic. Ïn allergic type allergens such as fungi induce asthmatic reactions. Ünlike the most common allergens such as mite, pollen and chemicals, fungal spore, as an allergen is ubiquitous and present in different seasons. The aim of this study was the determine the incidence of ÏgË to common allergenic mold in asthmatic patients from Sari city.
Materials and methods : Â total of 84 asthmatic patients froms sari city were selected using sequenctial sampling method. Sera of all patients were tested for ÏgË total and specific ÏgË against Âspergillus niger, Çladosporium and Âlternaria alternate using GËNËSÏS and ÂlerÇHËK’S Âllernaria specific human ÏgË kit, respectively.
Results : 57.14% of the patients had total ÏgË of more than normal range. Prevalence of specific ÏgË for Âlternaria (20.4%) ranked the first, followed by Çladospronium (19.05%) and Âspergillus niger (1.10%). 10.71% of the patients had specific ÏgË to Âlternaria and Çladosporium, concurrently.
Çonclusion: The results of this study showed that in spite of high incidence of the total ÏgË and specific ÏgË against Âlternaria alternata and Çladosporium in the special age group, there was no significant relation with age and sex. Most of the patients with total ÏgË more than normal range, were positive for specific ÏgË to Âlternaria alternata and Çladosporium.

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Melanized fungi are frequently considered as ubiquitous saprobes commonly found on decomposing plant debris, dead plant material, rotten wood, or soil. Over 70 genera and 150 species of dematiaceous fungi have been implicated in human and animal diseases. The clinical syndromes caused by latter fungi are differentiated based on histologic criteria into phaeohyphomycetoma, chromoblastomycosis, and phaeohyphomycosis. Phaeohyphomycosis is a term generally reserved for the remainder of clinical disorder due to black yeast like fungi and relatives. The most important clinical melanized fungi are in the order of Chaetothyriales, e.g. Cladophialophora spp, Exophiala spp, and Rhinocladiella spp. Standard conventional diagnostic procedures are direct microscopy, histopathological staining to document tissue invasion, radiographic and computerized tomography (CT) findings. Recently, assays have focused on non-culture based methods, especially nucleic acid-based methods, such as PCR assays. Most of the invasive infections due to dematiaceous fungi are treated by triazole antifungals, e.g. voriconazole, itraconazole and posaconazole which demonstrated the highest in vitro activity against dematiaceous fungi.

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Background and purpose: Pentachlorophenol (PCP) is an organic compound categorized as priority pollutants with harmful effects on humans, animals and plants. Therefore, the removal of PCP from water and wastewater is of great importance. This study aimed at assessing the efficiency of Phanerochaete Chrysosporium fungus biomass in PCP absorption. Material and methods: In this experimental study Phanerochaete Chrysosporium strains were prepared from Persian Type Culture Collection of Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology (IROST). After activation, the strains were incubated in potato dextrose agar (PDA). The prepared Phanerochaete Chrysosporium biomass was modified by NaOH and then it was used for PCP absorption assay. The measurement of PCP was done by high-performance liquid chromatography. Results: We found that the biosorption efficiency of PCP increased with increase in the Phanerochaete Chrysosporium biomass loading. The pentachlorophenol biosorption percentage decreased when the initial pentachlorophenol concentration increased. Maximum biosorption of PCP was obtained at acidic pH. The experimental adsorption isotherm complies with Langmuir equation model (R2=0.992). The pHZPC for Phanerochaete Chrysosporium biomass was found to be 6.1. Characterization results from BET (Brunauer, Emmett and Teller) showed that BET surface area of the Phanerochaete Chrysosporium biomass was 1.275 m2g-1 and adsorption average pore diameter was 1.22 nm. Conclusion: The results showed biosorption by Phanerochaete Chrysosporium biomass as an effective method in removal of pentachlorophenol from aqueous solutions in low concentration and acidic pH.

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Background and purpose: Biological pollution in indoor air is mostly created through bacteria and fungi which are harmful to human health. In the present study we evaluated the fungal diversity of air and air-conditioning systems in different schools of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences.

Materials and methods: The samples were collected from some rooms in different schools of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences during spring and summer, 2014. The Quick Take 30 Pump-air sampler and carpet sterile fragments were applied for sampling of air and filter surfaces of air conditioners, respectively. The grown fungi were identified by routine mycological methods.

Results: Aspergillus was the most frequently species isolated from air samples (408 colonies, 28.26%) and surface samples (347 colonies, 24.89%). The highest fungal concentration level was reported from School of Medicine with Aspergillus (1152 CFU/m³). Among the Aspergillus species, A. niger (43.2%) and A. flavus (34.8%) were the most frequent species from the air and surface samples, respectively.

Conclusion: Both sampling methods showed that the School of Medicine had the highest level of fungal contamination over the study period. The high concentration levels of airborne fungi may increase the risk of respiratory diseases. Aspergillus which was commonly found in this study is one of the main mycotoxin producers in nature and is strongly associated with allergic respiratory disease, especially asthma.

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Background and purpose: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a group of environmental pollutants in soils and sediments that causes concern because of their toxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic effects. The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility of utilizing poultry manure as a co-substrate to enhance the bioremediation of phenanthrene and anthracene in contaminated soil.

Materials and methods: The soil samples were homogenized and filtered using a 2.0 mm sieve. The soil samples were added into nine aluminum buckets. Then, phenanthrene and anthracene solution were added into buckets. Finally the inoculum was mixed with buckets’ contents. The treatment was performed with or without poultry manure. In all treatments, tap water was added during the bioremediation to adjust the moisture content (15 - 20%) according to the recommended values for the bioremediation process. All of the bioremediation experiments were carried out in duplicate during 45 days of incubation.

Results: The biodegradation data of anthracene and phenanthrene indicates about 92.65% and 95.62% (samples without co-substrate), 96.07% and 95.91% (samples contain co- substrate) degradation at the concentration of 12.5 mg/kg. Also, the experimental data revealed that the PAHs removal percentage increases due to increase in incubation time. Moreover, the results of the changes COD showed that highest rate COD removal in sample containing co-substrate occurred.

Conclusion: According to this result, the presence of poultry manure as a co-substrate can enhance the anthracene and phenanthrene removal comparing to the control sample and the sample contain co-substrate.

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 Background and purpose: Bacterial and fungal bioaerosols play important roles in the atmosphere and have significant effects on human health. This study aimed at investigating the concentration of bioaerosols in ambient air in Shahrekord, Iran during two warm and cold seasons at three different points in 2019. Moreover, the effect of meteorological factors such as temperature, relative humidity, UV intensity, and wind speed and direction on bioaerosols were studied.
Materials and methods: In this descriptive-analytical study, sampling of bioaerosols was conducted using Andersen single-stage sampler at a flow rate of 28.3 L/min for 5 min on Sabrod dextrose agar (SDA) and Tryptic Soy agar (TSA) media for bacterial and fungal bioaerosols, respectively.
Results: The study showed that the concentration of fungal bioaerosols was higher than bacterial bioaerosols in warm and cold seasons. The predominant genera of bacteria in both seasons included Micrococcus luteus (21.35%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (12.68%), Bacillus subtilis (10.14%), and Staphylococcus aureus (9.93%). The predominant genus of fungi were Cladosporium (41%), Alternaria (16%), and Aspergillus (11%). Correlation analysis showed a significant positive correlation between the concentration of bioaerosols and wind direction and relative humidity and a significant negative correlation between temperature, wind speed and UV intensity in warm season.
Conclusion: The predominant species of bioaerosols identified in this study were opportunistic pathogens and allergens which can threaten public health. So, monitoring of the concentration of airborne bioaerosols in cities is a vital key to assess the health effects of ambient air pollution.

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In recent years, the incidence of infections caused by pathogenic fungi has increased globally, especially in immunocompromised patients, transplant patients, or patients undergoing chemotherapy in intensive care units. Due to the morbidity and rapid spread of infection to other organs, accurate, rapid diagnosis and treatment of fungal infections is essential. Molecular methods such as polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) have significant superiority in sensitivity and specificity compared to conventional methods. The aim of this study is to point out the limitations of common diagnostic methods and factors affecting the sensitivity and specificity of PCR-RFLP molecular diagnostic test.
This article is a review study for which subject-related academic papers (before 2023) were collected and studied by searching the keywords of pathogenic fungi, and RFLP molecular diagnostic methods; in Persian databases as well as Latin electronic databases including Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed .
Reviewing numerous articles showed that PCR-RFLP is a rapid, practical, and reliable method, which can be used in laboratories to determine the genotype of specific variants of fungal species isolated from clinical samples. However, there are several limitations for PCR-RFLP method demanding for more attention. The main limitations are the need for specific restriction enzymes and the difficulty of accurately determining single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in a specific diagnostic locus.