mehrzad saraei

The liver flukes of the Fasciola species and Dicrocoelium spp. are recognised as parasites of domestic and wild herbivores. Both species of F. hepatica and F. gigantica as well as D. dendriticum are distributed in Iran. The present study aimed to identify Fasciola spp. and Dicrocoelium spp. using mitochondrial Cox1 (cytochrome c oxidase I) gene by HRM method.

Totally, thirty infected liver specimens were collected from the sheep (n:23) and cattle (n:7) at the abattoirs of Qazvin Province, northwest Iran in 2022. DNA extraction and PCR amplification of Cox1 gene were conducted by HRM technique. DnaSP v.5.0 was used for compression of diversity indices of ribosomal 28S rDNA and mitochondrial Cox1 markers of Dicrocoelium spp. The taxonomic status of Dicrocoelium spp. was performed by sequencing and phylogenetic analysis.

Overall, 26 and 4 isolates were identified as F. hepatica and F. gigantica, respectively. D. dendriticum was the sole infecting species of Dicrocoelium revealed by HRM analysis. Genomic analysis showed a moderate (28S rDNA genes: 0.600±0.215) to high (Cox1: 0.733±0.155) haplotype diversity for D. dendriticum.

The parasite-dependent mitochondrial gene (Cox1) could identify a higher genetic diversity of D. dendriticum compared to nuclear 28S rDNA gene. HRM technique in the present study found to be a reliable technique for identification and genetic diversity of liver flukes but more comprehensive and in-depth studies in different parts of the country are needed.

Clinical education plays a major role in shaping the professional abilities of learners. In order to achieve the desired clinical education, it is necessary to perform continuous evaluation and monitoring. In this study, the views of medical students of Qazvin University of Medical Sciences (QUMS) regarding the educational atmosphere of the medical school in 2019-2020 were evaluated.
The present study is a descriptive epidemiological study and medical students of QUMS in 4 levels of basic sciences, physiopathology, stager, and intern participated in this survey. The instrument used was the DREEM questionnaire based on a five-point Likert scale that contains 50 questions with a total score of 200. The collected data were analyzed in SPSS 25 using T-test and ANOVA.
The total mean score of the educational space of 168 students surveyed was 96.02±22.68, which was in a semi-optimal condition. There was no significant difference in the score of general space and the score of subgroups governing educational environments by gender (P>0.05). But the mean score of physiopathology students' perceptions, of learning (p=0.001) teaching (p=0.002) educational atmosphere (p=0.005), and academic self-perceptions (p=0.015) were significantly higher from other levels of learners. The lowest score belongs to the internship level (student’s perceptions of learning, teaching, and social self-perceptions).
This study showed that the educational atmosphere at QUMS is in a partially favorable condition and interns have a more negative understanding of the learning environment and professors, hence needs further investigation.
 
Perceptions of medical students in different phases about educational environment: Qazvin University of Medical Sciences
The researchers showed that the educational atmosphere is one of the important components in students' learning (El Mahai Moeed-2013). The educational atmosphere is more related to how the curriculum is implemented, the teachers' attitude towards learning, the behavioral and organizational culture of the educational institution, and the student's view of the learning environment (Atapatu, Kumari et al. 2016). An appropriate educational environment creates opportunities for effective learning (Ikeda, Kubta et al. 2019). The DREEM model has been proposed to measure the educational atmosphere (Bakhshi Aliabad et al. 2019) is designed independently of cultural contexts and provides a comparison between different courses (Farough, Rahman et al. 2018). This study was conducted on the medical students of Qazvin University of Medical Sciences (QUMS) using the DREEM questionnaire. The results of this study can help teachers and managers enhance the learning experiences of medical students (Whittle, SR 2018).
This cross-sectional study was conducted on 168 medical students in QUMS in 2019-2020 after being approved by the Ethics Committee of QUMS (ethics code IR.QUMS.REC.1397.414). Sampling was based on the census. The DREEM questionnaire was used. Students at the end of the semester of internship, physiopathology, and basic sciences were questioned. This questionnaire contains demographic information and 50 questions in five areas of learning, teachers, students' academic self-perception, educational atmosphere, and student's social self-perception.
Questionnaire scoring is based on a five-item Likert scale. The items are scored as follows: (4) strongly agree, (3) agree, (2) unsure, (1) disagree and (0) strongly disagree. However, 9 items out of the total of 50 items are negative expressions and their scores were calculated in reverse. The overall score is classified into four categories: unfavorable (0 to 50), relatively favorable (51 to 100), favorable (101 to 150) and completely favorable (151 to 200). The statistical tests used include analysis of variance and t-test. Also, the standardized score of 100 was also calculated. The data were analyzed using SPSS v25. Ethical considerations such as completing the informed consent form, voluntary participation, explaining the research objectives, and ensuring the confidentiality of information were observed.
The mean DREEM score was calculated as 96.02±22.68, which is in a relatively favorable range. Based on the standardized score of the five areas, the highest score was related to their academic self-perception (54.56). The educational atmosphere with 49.64 and the learning environment with 36.95 has the lowest grade.
There was no difference between the mean DREEM score of the two genders in total and the 5 sub-areas of educational environments.
The mean scores of physiopathology students in the learning environment (p=0.001), teachers (p=0.002), and their academic self-perception (p=0.015) and educational atmosphere (p=0.005) were significantly higher than the students of other levels (table 3). From the students' point of view, the course of physiopathology is practical, and the course of basic sciences is impractical. Also, this desirable result is most likely due to the appropriate timing of this course. In QUMS, the course of physiopathology has been offered in an integrated form, but in the apprenticeship period, the theory classrooms are not coordinated with the schedule of the related clinical departments.
The lowest score belongs to the internship level (learning environment, teachers, and social self-perception). This result is similar to Peretti et al.'s study (Pai, Menzes et al. 2014). High work pressure, resident-oriented training in some clinical departments (Ikeda, Kubta et al. 2019), the inappropriate feedback especially in the morning report of some educational groups causes interns to feel that their personality is not respected. In fact, the clinical environment is not suitable for effective learning unless it is well-planned and organized (Demirren, Peleglu et al. 2008). Students' perception of clinical teachers can indicate that these teachers still do not use comprehensive methods. Internship students have the most negative impression of teachers. Active participation of students, accountability, effective supervision, and giving positive feedback are vital (Khorsandi and Khosravi 2002). The lowest score in the subcategory of students' understanding of social self-perception was related to internship level due to stresses related to bedside activities and worries about the future of employment. It seems that there is no good support system for stressed learners.
One of the limitations of this study was regarding physiopathology students. The collection of information for this group coincided with COVID-19 restrictions, and as a result, the questionnaire was completed online. Also, due to the cross-sectional nature of the study, generalization of the results should be done with caution.
The result of the study showed that the educational atmosphere is partially favorable. Among possible changes that may be useful are periodic surveys of students and accurate evaluation of their results, holding workshops on medical ethics and how to provide correct educational feedback to students for teachers, careful monitoring of teachers students' feedback, and creating support systems for students. Also, hidden curriculum effects may be important in explaining the relatively low DREEM scores of internship students. It is necessary to continuously monitor the learning environment. It is also recommended to use student-centered learning-teaching methods, more interaction between students and teachers, and psychological support for students in order to reduce their anxiety and stress and improve their social self-perception.

The present study was designed to determine the prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii seronegative pregnant women, estimate the frequency of fetuses at risk of congenital toxoplasmosis in the study area, and also to investigate the awareness of the studied mothers about T. gondii disease. A total of 740 pregnant women referred to two health centers in Qazvin province were surveyed voluntarily for anti-T. gondii IgG and IgM antibodies by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). IgG avidity test was used as a confirmatory test for samples showing positive or borderline results for IgM antibodies. Data on socioeconomic, demographic, and knowledge of participants about toxoplasmosis were collected using questionnaires and through face-to-face interviews. Multivariable logistic regression modeling was used to identify the potential predictor variables for T. gondii infection.  Overall, 21.2% (157/740) and 0.27% (2/740) of pregnant women were positive for T. gondii IgG and IgM antibodies, respectively. Only 1.7% (13/740) of expectant mothers had prior information on toxoplasmosis. Among socioeconomic and demographic variables, contact with soil was the merely cause of a significant association with T. gondii infection. Other variables including age, occupation, education level, residential area, source of drinking water, abortion history, number of childbirth, consumption of raw/undercooked meat, having home cat and and consumption of raw vegetables failed to establish significant associations.  Our results clarified that the prevalence of T. gondii has remarkably reduced in the study area. This finding indicates a low risk of congenital toxoplasmosis in this region.

Free-living amoebae (FLA) such as Acanthamoeba spp., are considered as opportunistic and pathogenic protozoans.  Acanthamoeba granulomatous encephalitis (AGE) is a serious threat for immunodeficient patients and Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK) for contact lens users. We aimed to identify the presence of free living amoebae in nasal swabs of patients and contact lens users in Qazvin, Iran.

During 2019, 251 nasal and oral swabs (including the pharynx and mouth) were collected from patients with diabetes, AIDS and those under periodic dialysis in Qazvin, Iran. In addition, 27 soft contact lenses were collected from the participants. Following DNA extraction, PCR and sequencing were conducted to identify the genotypes of the amoeba. Phylogenetic analysis of the identified sequences was performed using MEGA 7 software.

A strain of Acanthamoeba belonging to the T3 genotype was isolated from hemodialysis patients. Two specimens of Acanthamoeba with T3 genotype were isolated from keratitis patients.

The clinicians should pay attention to the possible complication of this organism because this amoeba is potentially pathogenic for immunocompromised patients. Since the amoeba is present in environmental resources, the use of contact lenses should be accompanied by considering proper hygiene.

Free-living amoeba (FLA) are widely distributed in different environmental sources. The most genera of the amoeba are Acanthamoeba, Naegleria and Vermamoeba. The most common consequences of the infections in immune-deficient and immunocompetent persons are amoebic encephalitis and keratitis. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of Acanthamoeba spp. and Naegleria spp., isolated from the main agricultural water canal in Qazvin.

Totally, 120 water specimens were collected and later the specimens were cultured and cloned to identify positive samples. PCR amplification and sequencing were carried out to identify the isolated species as well as the genotypes of amoeba.

According to morphological surveys, 41.7% (50/120) of water specimens were positive for FLA. Molecular analysis revealed that 68.6% and 31.4% of Acanthamoeba specimens were identified as T3 and T4 genotypes, respectively. Also, two species of Naegleria named as N. lovaniensis (57.1%) and Naegleria spp. (42.8%) were identified. The results of pathogenicity assays demonstrated that 38.5% of T3 and 61.5% of T4 genotypes of Acanthamoeba were highly pathogenic parasites.

The water flowing in the agricultural canal of the area is contaminated with potential pathogenic FLA, therefore, it is recommended that more attention to be paid towards proper treatment of water sources to prevent possible risk of the disease.

Ziziphora tenuior is considered as an appropriate protoscolicidal agent yet the mechanism of such effect is not known so far. The aim of this study was to evaluate the apoptotic effect of Z. tenuior extract on protoscolices of hydatid cyst.

Protoscolices were collected aseptically and the Bradford test was employed to determine the number required for the experiments. Various concentrations of Z. tenuior extract (5, 50, and 100 mg/mL) was incubated with hydatid cyst protoscolices at 37 oC and 5% Co2 for 4 h. The apoptotic effect of Z. tenuior extract on hydatid cyst protoscolices and the evaluation of caspases 3, 8, and 9 activities were ditermined using ELISA-based commercial diagnostic kits.

In the present study, 50 and 100 mg/mL of Z. tenuior extract produced apoptosis in the protoscolices of hydatid cyst significantly (p<0.05). Also, the activity of caspase 3 at 50 and 100 mg/mL significantly increased by 29.99% and 36.01%, respectively (p<0.05). Similarly, caspase 9 also demonstrated a significant increased activity up to 15.23%, and 45.31% at the same concentrations used for caspase 3, respectively (p<0.05).

Our findings in this study indicated that, Z. tenuior extract can induce apoptotic cell death on hydatid cyst protoscolices by increasing the activity of caspases 3 and 9 via the internal apoptotic pathway.

Intestinal parasitic infections (IPIs) are among the most important etiologies of gastrointestinal disorders in developing countries. The present study was performed to determine the prevalence of IPIs in rural inhabitants of Fouman, northern Iran.

Overall, 31 villages were randomly selected during 2015-2016. Stool samples were collected from 1500 inhabitants aged 2-87. The samples were examined by direct wet smear, formalin ethyl-acetate concentration and agar plate culture. Trichrome staining and modified acid-fast staining were used as confirmatory tests for intestinal amoeba and flagellates and cryptosporidium spp., respectively. Data were analyzed with Chi-Square and Fisher exact tests using SPSS.

8.06% of participants were positive for at least one intestinal parasite. The prevalence of mixed parasitic infections was 0.87%. The most prevalent IPIs were caused by Trichostrongylus spp. (3.13%), followed by Strongyloides stercoralis (1.5%), Giardia lamblia (1.3%), and Entamoeba coli (1.0%), Blastocystis hominis (0.86%), E. histolytica/dispar (0.53%), Endolimax nana (0.26%), Iodamoeba butschlii (0.13%), Trichuris trichiura (0.07%), Enterobius vermicularis (0.07%), Hook worm (0.07%) and E. hartmani (0.07%). Statistically, the prevalence of IPIs showed significant differences regarding the age groups, education status, occupation (P<0.001), and the habit of eating raw vegetables (P<0.007), whereas, the differences were insignificant with regard to sex (P=0.924) and water supply (P=0.088).

The prevalence of IPIs, especially soil-transmitted helminthes (STHs) has sharply decreased in northern Iran. Excluding Trichostrongylus spp. and S. stercoralis, other intestinal parasites only produce a marginal and unnoticeable health problem in this area, today.

We aimed to investigate the genotypes of Giardia intestinalis among the food handlers in Qazvin, Iran.

Overall, 1530 stool specimens were collected from the food handlers who visited Shahid Bolandian Health Center, Qazvin, Iran during 2016. Specimens were evaluated by microscopic and concentration methods. Twenty specimens with appropriate number of giardia cysts were selected followed by DNA extraction. Determination of giardia genotypes was achieved through PCR and sequencing the glutamate dehydrogenase gene. The phylogenetic tree was drawn using the MEGA7 software. Finally, the data were analyzed statistically with a P-value<0.05 was considered as significant.

Twenty stool samples (1.3%) were positive for Giardia cyst. All positive specimens were obtained from male participants with abdominal cramp being their most common symptoms. The mean age for infected individuals was 32 yr. Molecular characterization was successfully performed for 17 isolates and two genotypes A (AII, 65%) and B (BIII, 35%) were identified.

The most prevalent giardia genotypes among the food handlers in Qazvin were A (AII) and B (BIII) genotypes with A (AII) genotype as the dominant one in the region. Considering the direct association between the food handlers and public health as well as the impact of geographical and host conditions on dispersion and pathogenicity of various genotypes and their zoonotic aspects, further investigations are necessary.

Intestinal parasites are one of the health challenges in developing countries. Decreasing the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections (IPIs) is one of the main aims of health services in these countries. This study was designed to determine the current status of IPIs in rural residents of Takestan a town located in North West of Iran.

A total of 2280 rural residents of Takestan were randomly selected. Data were collected through questionnaire by interviews and laboratory findings obtained by microscopic examination of stool sample including wet smear and formalin ethyl-acetate concentration. A P <0.05 was considered significant, statistically.

In total, 8.7% (199/2280) of participants were positive for at least one intestinal parasite. The prevalence of polyparasitism was 0.7% in study population. Hymenolepis nana was the only helminthic infection which was detected (1/2280). Blastocystis, Entamoeba coli, and Giardia lamblia were the most common IPIs with prevalence of 3.6%, 2.9%, and 1.6%, respectively. Statistically, the prevalence of IPIs showed significant differences among villages (P<0.01) and age groups (P<0.001), and also habit of eating raw vegetables (P<0.005), whereas, the difference was insignificant in terms of sex, education level, and occupation.

The prevalence of IPIs in rural residents of the study area is considerably low and this reduction was very impressive about helminthic infections.

We report a human case of Hymenolepis diminuta infection in Guilan Province, northern part of Iran in 2017. The patient was a 15-month-old boy with gastrointestinal symptoms. In stool examination, eggs of H. diminuta was found based on morphological characteristic. The infant was successfully treated with a single oral dose of praziquantel, and then completely recovered. For the first time, we report human infection with this species in north of Iran.

Trichostrongylus spp. are common parasites of herbivorous animals and trichostrongyliasis is an important zoonotic disease in Iran, especially in northern Iran. Routine laboratory methods for diagnosis of these infections are direct smear and formalin-ethyl acetate techniques. There is no enough evidence about the sensitivity of nutrient agar plate culture for detection of Trichostrongylus spp infections. The objective of this study was to compare the nutrient agar plate culture and the formalin-ethyl acetate sedimentation techniques for laboratory diagnosis of human trichostrongyliasis in an endemic area of northern Iran. A total of 1553 fresh stool samples were collected from residents of 31 villages within the Fouman district in Guilan province during 2015–2016. All samples were examined using nutrient agar plate culture and formalin- ethyl acetate concentration techniques for detection of Trichostrongylus spp. infections. Overall, 71 cases were diagnosed with Trichostrongylus spp. by at least one of the methods. Considering parasitological results as the diagnostic gold standard, the sensitivity and specificity of nutrient agar plate culture were 90.1% and 100%, respectively. Also, the sensitivity and specificity of the formalin ethyl acetate concentration method were 95.8% and 100%, respectively. According to the results of this study, the formalin ethyl acetate method is more sensitive than nutrient agar plate culture in the diagnosis of human trichostrongyliasis, especially in humid climate regions such as North of Iran.

Hookworm infection is one of the important Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) in the world. It was previously more prevalent in the northern and southern parts of Iran with a prevalence rate higher than 40% in some endemic regions; nevertheless, the infection rate has decreased to less than 1%. This study aimed to determine prevalence and molecular aspects of hookworm infections in rural inhabitants of Fouman County, Guilan Province, northern Iran
This cross-sectional study was performed in 31 villages of Fouman district in Guilan Province, northern Iran during 2015-2016. Stool samples were collected from 1500 rural inhabitants and examined by formalin ethyl-acetate concentration as well as agar plate culture techniques. After treatment with albendazole, adult hookworms were isolated. FollowingDNA extraction,PCR amplification of ITS2-rDNA region was performed and the product was sequenced, followed by genetic variation analysis.
Of 1500 samples, one case was morphologically diagnosed as N. americanus. In addition, molecular characterization verified the presence of N. americanus, showing more than 95% similarity with sequences of N. americanus present in GenBank. The patient showed no clinical symptoms and a mild hypereosinophilia was the only laboratory finding observed.
A reduced prevalence of human hookworms was demonstrated within Guilan Province located in north of Iran. The N. americanus originated from Guilan had a high homology with the isolates found in Japan, Laos, Malaysia, and Australia.

Toxoplasma gondii is the most common parasite causing latent cerebral infections in human. It has been shown that some anti-psychotic drugs are able to inhibit the proliferation of the parasite in in vitro study. There is very limited data regarding the inhibitory effect of anti-psychotics on Toxoplasma in in vivo. In this study, we evaluated anti-Toxoplasma activity of fluphenazine and thioridazine drugs on T. gondii in mice.
Mice were divided into six groups: Control, sesame as vehicle, thioridazine 10 mg/kg, thioridazine 20 mg/kg, fluphenazine 0.06 mg/kg and fluphenazine 0.6 mg/kg. They were inoculated intraperitoneally with brain suspension containing tissue cysts of T. gondii Tehran strain. Two months after inoculation, the number of cysts in crushed smears of mice brain were counted microscopically and considered as an indicator of anti-Toxoplasma activity. This work has conducted in Qazvin, central Iran, 2014.
Our study showed that fluphenazine and thioridazine could not significantly inhibit the brain cystogenesis of T. gondii in mice. However, the number of brain cysts was less at higher dose compared to lower doses for both drugs.
Further studies need to clear the mechanism of different structure of anti-psychotic drugs on activity of Toxoplasma.

Hydatidosis is one of the most important zoonotic diseases and surgery is still the main treatment for this problem. One of the side effects of hydatid cyst surgery is recurrence, thus, searching and assessment of some new agents such as medicinal plant extracts are very important. In the present study, the scolicidal effect of ethanolic extract of Ziziphora tenuior L. (Z. tenuior) was investigated.
Protoscolices were aseptically collected from sheep livers containing hydatid cyst and used in the experiments. Z. tenuior extract was used at concentration of 3-100 mg/ml for 10-60 min. Viability of protoscolices was determined by 0.1% eosin staining.
Based on our results, Z. tenuior extract at concentration of 10 mg/ml killed all protoscolices after 20 min. However, this medicinal plant at concentration of 25 mg/ml destroyed all protoscolices in a shorter exposure time (10 min). Therefore, the scolicidal activity of the extract at 10 and 25 mg/ml concentrations was considerably effective in lower concentrations and shorter exposure times.
The findings of this study showed that the ethanolic extract of Z. tenuior produces high scolicidal activity; it may be used as an appropriate and effective scolicidal agent in hydatidosis surgery. This is the first report on the protoscolicidal activity of Z. tenuior.

Leishmaniasis is an important public health disease in many developing countries as well in Iran. The main objective of this study was to investigate on leishmania infection of wild caught sand flies in an endemic focus of disease in Esfarayen district, north east of Iran. Sand flies were collected by sticky papers and mounted in a drop of Puri’s medium for species identification. Polymerase chain reaction techniques of kDNA, ITS1-rDNA, followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism were used for identification of DNA of Leishmania parasites within infected sand flies. Among the collected female sand flies, two species of Phlebotomus papatasi and Phlebotomus salehi were found naturally infected with Leishmania major. Furthermore, mixed infection of Leishmania turanica and L. major was observed in one specimen of P. papatasi. Sequence analysis revealed two parasite ITS1 haplotypes including three L. major with accession numbers: KJ425408, KJ425407, KM056403 and one L. turanica. (KJ425406). The haplotype of L. major was identical (100%) to several L. major sequences deposited in GenBank, including isolates from Iran, (Gen Bank accession nos.AY573187, KC505421, KJ194178) and Uzbekistan (Accession no.FN677357). To our knowledge, this is the first detection of L. major within wild caught P. salehi in north- east of Iran.

There are supportive evidences about the possible role of latent Toxoplasma. gondii infections on the behavior and neurologic functions, such as increased dopamine levels in the brain. The aim of this study was to examine anti-toxoplasma activity of aripiprazole that is an atypical anti-psychotic drug in mice. Mice were randomly divided into four groups, including; control, vehicle, aripiprazole 10 mg/kg, and aripiprazole 20 mg/kg. The mice were inoculated intraperitoneally with mice brain suspension containing tissue cysts. At the end of second month, the number of cysts was counted in smears prepared from brain homogenate by optical microscope. There was no significant difference between mean logarithms of brain cyst numbers of aripiprazole groups compared with control. Results indicate that in aripiprazole groups, the brain cystogenesis was not decrease. Further study needs to investigate the role of anti-psychotic drugs on T. gondii.

Toxoplasma specific IgM antibodies; the common serologic marker in diagnosis of acute toxoplasmosis has its own limitations. Confirmatory testing with other markers, introduced as a complementary tool in distinguish acute and chronic infections is unusual in Iran. In the present study, we investigated the correla­tion between the results of IgM ELISA, IgA ELISA, and IgG avidity tests in the diagnosis of toxoplasmosis to demonstrate the necessity of confirmatory testing in serodiagnosis of infection in the country. A total of 107 positive Toxoplasma IgG and IgM sera were obtained from patients referred to private laboratories and stored at -20 ºC for futures use. Sero­logic tests were set up in duplicate to analyze the serum levels of IgG, IgM, IgA, and IgG avidity antibodies using commercial ELISA kits. The results were pre­sented as semi quantitative for IgG, IgM and IgA ELISA, and Relative Avidity In­dex in percentage for IgG avidity test. Pearson’s correlation coefficient (rp) was applied to analyze the data. Of 107 serum samples, T. gondii specific IgM and IgA antibodies were positive in 67.3% and 53.3%, respectively. Besides, 29.9% of the sera displayed low avidity for IgG antibodies. The rp was - 0.572 (P<0.01) between the IgG avidity and IgM ELISA, - 0.364 between the IgG avidity and IgA ELISA (P<0.01), and 0.564 between the IgM and IgA ELISA (P<0.01). The study strongly highlights the necessity of confirmatory testing in differential diagnosis of acute and chronic toxoplasmosis in Iran.

Background and Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic protozoan disease producing severe complications in congenital and immunocompromised cases. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ËLÏSÂ) is the most common laboratory method for serodiagnosis of toxoplasmosis. Çommercial kits have no unique procedure for standardization and this may influence the consistency of the results. The present study was designed to determine the reproducibility of results obtained by ËLÏSÂ in different laboratories using similar commercial kits. Âlso، the results obtained from different commercial kits were compared. Three Toxoplasma gondii ÏgG-ËLÏSÂ kits from different commercial companies were used and the results reported by three different university laboratories evaluated. Ëighty one serum samples from patients referred to a private laboratory for serologic determination of toxoplasmosis were examined. The results of the tests were reported as qualitative values (positive، negative، borderline)، and the agreement rates determined using the Kappa coefficient. Çomparing three different kits، the results of 76 serum samples were similar and the Kappa coefficients calculated at 0. 85، 0. 90، and 0. 97. When comparing different laboratories، the results of 80 serum samples among three laboratories were similar and the Kappa coefficients calculated at 0. 97-1. Çonclusion: Based on the results of the present study، it could be concluded that the ËLÏSÂ test for detection of antibodies to T. gondii has the potential to produce consistent results in different laboratories while using different kits.

With reference to the hypothesis of association between central nervous system infections and schizophrenia, in this study the relationship between Toxoplasma gondii infections and schizophrenia was studied.

In this case-control study, the serums of 104 inpatient schizophrenic patients admitted to 22 Bahman Hospital in Qazvin, Iran and 114 matched control subjects were examined. IgG and IgM specific antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii were detected using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Data were analyzed using c2 test, t-test and Fisher exact test.

55.3% of the cases and 50.9% of the controls were seropositive for IgG specific antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii and the differences were not statistically significant. The proportion of seropositive subjects was significantly lower in the first-episode patients (33.3%) than those in the next episodes (59.8%) (P<0.05). Moreover, 14.6% of the cases and 20% of the controls were seropositive for IgM specific antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii. However, the differences were not statistically significant.

An epidemiological association between Toxoplasma gondii infections and schizophrenia was not observed.