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Background and purpose: Dyes are one of the most contaminants in textile industrial wastewater that are often carcinogenic, mutagenic and non-degradable. Therefore, their removal from effluents is very essential to avoid environmental consequences. The purpose of this study was to gain a better insight into the adsorption process and using an economic technology for dye waste water treatment. For these purposes activated carbon was used. Materials and methods: In this study, the adsorbent surface properties were evaluated using converted Fourierinfera red (FT-IR) test and scanning electronic microscope (SEM). In discontinuous station, adsorbent effectiveness for methylene blue dye removal was measured considering pH, reaction time, adsorbent dose, initial dye concentration and temperature. Finally, data was analyzed using seven kinetic and four isotherm models. Results: The highest removal efficiency of methylene blue was obtained at pH=6, reaction time=180 minutes, and adsorbent dose=2 gl-1. Removal efficiency of methylene blue in initial concentration (50 mg-1) was 91.08%. In this study the adsorption process followed the Langmuir isotherm (R2= 0.9971). Also, kinetic studies showed high correlation coefficient on pseudo-second order equation ((R2= 0.996). Conclusion: According to this study, activated carbon from Oak fruit bark could be used as an effective and economic adsorbent in wastewater treatments.

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Background and purpose: Iran is one of the endemic focuses of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in the world. The disease is commonly seen in some tropical regions of Kermanshah province (West of Iran). In this study, patients with CL were diagnosed and identified using RFLP-PCR and DNA sequencing.

Materials and methods: In this descriptive study all suspected cases of CL attended a clinic affiliated with Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences in 2015 were diagnosed by microscopic and molecular methods. The Leishmania species were identified by PCR-RFLP and genomic sequencing.

Results: There were 65 patients of whom 47 (72.3%) were detected as CL including 64.6% males and 35.4% females. Among the patients 49.2% were resided in Kermanshah, and 50.8% lived in other cities of the province. It was found that 47.7% of the patients had history of travel to other provinces in previous months. Leishman bodies were detected in 50.8% and 72.3% of the patients by microscopic observation and PCR technique, respectively. By RFLP-PCR, 14.9% and 84.1% of positive samples were identified as Leishmania tropica and Leishmania major, respectively. The PCR product sequences of 5 samples confirmed the results of PCR-RFLP in identification of the Leishmania species.

Conclusion: Leishmania major is the main cause of CL in Kermanshah province. PCR is believed to be more sensitive than microscopic method for detection of CL and RFLP-PCR is an appropriate technique for identification of Leishmania species.

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 Background and purpose: Appendicitis is the most common cause of acute abdominal pain requiring surgical intervention. Diagnostic tests with high accuracy could lead to immediate diagnosis and timely surgery could prevent further complications. This study was performed to assess the diagnostic value of serum fibrinogen level in diagnosis of acute appendicitis.
Materials and methods: This cross-sectional diagnostic study was performed in patients (n=165) attending the emergency department in Sari Imam Khomeini Hospital with an initial diagnosis of appendicitis and available histopathologic examination results in 2016-2017. Fibrinogen levels were measured before surgery. Student's t test, Mann-Whitney test, and Chi-square were used to examine the relationship between fibrinogen level, demographic and clinical variables, acute appendicitis, and complicated/uncomplicated appendicitis. ROC Curve test was also performed and indicators associated with diagnostic accuracy were calculated.
Results: The mean fibrinogen level in patients with normal appendices was 278.0±50.5, while it was 349.4 ± 68.7 in those with appendicitis (P<0.0001). The area under the curve was 0.794 (CI = 0.724-0.853). Moreover, at the optimal cut-point of fibrinogen level of 344 mg/dl, the sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value, and positive predictive value were 51.7%, 90.4%, 94.4%, and 37.6%, respectively. Positive and negative likelihood ratios were 5.43 and 0.53, respectively.
Conclusion: This study showed that measuring serum fibrinogen levels, as an acute phase reactant, is useful for diagnostic screening of acute appendicitis and for predicting complicated appendicitis.
 

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 Background and purpose: Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is the most common type of scoliosis and the most complex deformity of the spine and trunk with significant complications. In this systematic review, the effectiveness of core stability exercises (CSE) in improving this disorder is discussed.
Materials and methods: This review was carried out using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) checklist. Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis, Cobb angles, and core stability exercise were our search terms in PubMed, Scopus, MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, and Google Scholar. The search was limited to articles published in Persian and English between 2005 and 2022. Researches on AIS carried out in adolescents aged 10-18 were studied. In one of the groups, only CSE was done and the size of Cobb's angle (an indicator of the severity of scoliosis) was used as one of the dependent variables. The PEDro scale was used to evaluate the quality of articles in terms of risk of bias.
Results: In initial search, 268 articles were found. After removing irrelevant articles and those that did not met the study’s inclusion criteria and also qualitative evaluation of the remaining articles, seven articles with an average PEDro score of 6.2 (moderate quality), including 297 participants, were selected. A statistically significant decrease was reported in the Cobb angle in all articles, but only in four articles this decrease was clinically significant (greater than 5˚).
Conclusion: CSE are safe, easy and accessible that can be effective in improving AIS, but there is not sufficient evidence to support this hypothesis. Further high-quality studies are required to draw a definite conclusion and making clinical decisions.