BACKGROUND Human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) -associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) is a rare chronic neuroinflammatory disease. Since the disease course of HAM/TSP varies among patients, there is a dire need for biomarkers capable of predicting the rate of disease progression. However, there have been no studies to date that have compared the prognostic values o...

The rising prevalence of obesity and the vulnerability of the pediatric age group have highlighted the critical need for a careful consideration of effective, safe, remedial and preventive dietary interventions.  Amylose starch (RS2) from high-amylose maize (HAM) ferments in the gut and affects body weight.   One hundred and ten children, of 7-8 (n=91) or 13-14 (n=19) years of age scored the se...

BACKGROUND Patients with mixed anxiety-depressive disorder (MADD) suffer both anxiety and depression. Antidepressants, especially, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are among agents of choice for treating this condition. OBJECTIVES This study compared the efficacy of Cipram® with its generic, citalopram. PATIENTS AND METHODS Forty adult outpatients (between 18 to 55 years of age) with...

Human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-1) is an endemic virus in Iran and other regions that is associated with multiple diseases including adult T-cell leukemia/ lymphoma and a chronic debilitating neuroinflammatory disease, HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). HAM/TSP is seen in approximately 2% of HTLV-1-infected people with symptoms such as back pain, weakne...

Objectives: Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1–associated myelopathy (HAM) involves not only spinal cord but also the cerebral cortex and the white matter in histopathological analysis. In addition, a previous study found that T2 hyperintensities on brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in HAM patients were increased only in white matter. However, conventional neurophysiological examinatio...

One of the efficient and powerful schemes to solve linear and nonlinear equations is homotopy analysis method (HAM). In this work, we obtain the approximate solution of a system of partial differential equations (PDEs) by means of HAM. For this purpose, we develop the concept of HAM for a system of PDEs as a matrix form. Then, we prove the convergence theorem and apply the proposed method to fi...

HTLV-1 is the causative agent of a severe form of adult T cell leukemia/Lymphoma (ATL), and of a chronic progressive neuromyelopathy designated HTLV-1 associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). Two important HTLV-1-encoded proteins, Tax-1 and HBZ, play crucial roles in the generation and maintenance of the oncogenic process. Less information is instead available on the molecu...

Research here explored the use of controlled atmospheres (CA) for managing arthropod pests that infest dry-cured hams. Experiments were conducted with low oxygen (O₂) achieved with low pressure under a vacuum, high carbon dioxide (CO₂), and ozone (O₃). Results showed that both low O₂ and high CO₂ levels required exposures up to 144 h to kill 100% of all stages of red-legged ham beetle, Necrobia...

A high human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) proviral load is described in HTLV-1-associated diseases, especially HAM/TSP. However, the cut-off value to define high levels of HTLV-1 proviral load is not well established. 281 HTLV-1-infected patients from the HTLV reference center in Salvador, Brazil, were followed from 2005 to 2008. Patients were classified as asymptomatic, possible-,...

Human T-lymphotropic virus-type 1 (HTLV-1) is the etiologic agent of the neurologic disease HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). Tax viral protein plays a critical role in viral pathogenesis. Previous studies suggested that extracellular Tax might involve cytokine-like extracellular effects. We evaluated Tax secretion in 18 h-ex vivo peripheral blood mononuclear ...