Background: Strongyloides stercoralis is a common parasitic nematode in Iran, especially in north of the country. The early diagnosis and treatment of S. stercoralis is crucial to prevent complicated cases of strongyloidiasis. The value of the preference of agar plate culture, in detection of S. stercoralis compared to formalin ether concentration method, reported in different studies in the world is variable from 1.6 to 6 times. Therefore, the current study was performed to evaluate the efficacy of agar plate on some isolates from north of Iran.Methods: Nine hundred stool samples were randomly collected from rural areas of Mazandaran Province, northern Iran. All samples were examined by agar plate culture, formalin ether concentration and direct smear.Results: Agar plate was 2 times superior to formalin ether; however, it showed some false negative results, too. The direct method could only detect cases of hyperinfection strongyloidosis.Conclusion: On the whole, combination of agar plate culture and formalin ether concentration is recommended to obtain higher efficacy.

Background: Human infection with Strongyloides stercoralis and hookworm parasites is usually under reported due to less sensitive diagnostic methods. Agar plate culture (APC) is the most sensitive technique for parasites having larval stage. However, using APC in routine diagnosis is uncommon. This study aimed to determine the detection rate and sensitivity of APC in comparison with formal ether concentration technique (FECT) and spontaneous tube sedimentation techniques (STSTs) for S. stercoralis and hookworm larvae. Methods: Stool samples collected from 844 schoolchildren in Amhara Regional State, northwestern Ethiopia in 2019, transported to nearby health institutions and processed by APC, FECT and STSTs. The prevalence of S. stercoralis and hookworm was computed by descriptive statistics and Chi-square. The diagnostic agreement among the three techniques was evaluated using Kappa value. Results: The overall prevalence of S. stercoralis and hookworm infections by combining the three methods was 13. 2% (111/844) and 33. 8% (277/844), respectively. Using APC alone, the prevalence of S. stercoralis and hookworm were found to be 10. 9% (92/844) and 24. 5% (207/844), respectively. Agar plate culture was 5. 4 and 2. 7 times respectively more sensitive than FECT and STST, with slight and fair agreement in the detection of S. stercoralis. Hookworm diagnostic agreement was moderate between APC and FECT, and APC and STST. The Kappa value between STST and FECT diagnostic methods was substantial. Conclusion: APC has a better detection rate of S stercoralis and hookworm larvae. Therefore, APC can be used as an alternative routine diagnostic method to S. stercoralis and hookworm co-endemic countries.

Introduction: Trichostrongyliasis is a zoonotic disease caused by Trichostrongylus species. This nematode is common among domestic and wild herbivores which can also infect human. Low rate infections may be missed during laboratory diagnosis. Nutrient agar plate culture is efficient for the diagnosis of strongyloidiasis, but it has not been evaluated for diagnosis of trichostrongyliasis.Objective: This study was undertaken to compare the efficacy of agar plate culture and formalin-ether concentration methods in laboratory diagnosis of human trichostrongyliasis.Materials and Methods: During 2013-2014, a total of 970 fresh stool samples were collected from Giulan, Mazandaran and Khouzestan Provinces, and also from patients referred to Helminthological Laboratory of School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences. All samples were examined for infectivity with Trichostrongylus by nutrient agar plate culture and formalin ether concentration methods.Results: Considering parasitological results as gold standard, agar plate culture could detect 45 true positive Trichostrongylus infected cases. The sensitivity and specificity of agar plate culture and formalin ether concentration were 88.23% and 62.75%; and 98.12% and 100%, respectively.Conclusions: Agar plate culture can be used to detect Trichostrongylus larvae. Its sensitivity is higher than formalin-ether method, but its specificity is lower.

Background and Aims: Microorganisms within biofilms,, formed on medical devices in the body are highly resistant to antimicrobial compounds and host responses and play a major role in nosocomial infections, especially urinary tract infections (UTIs). Uropathogenic Escherichia coli(UPEC) causes 50% of the hospital-acquired urinary tract infections and is capable to form biofilm in the bladder epithelium which plays an important role in its pathogenesis The identification of biofilm producing UPEC strains by routine laboratory methods is important for the better understanding of the pathogenesis of this bacterium in UTIs.Materials and Methods: A total of 100 UPEC strains were collected from patients with UTIs in a hospital in Tehran in 2016 and diagnosed by biochemical tests and the ability of biofilm formation was determined by Tissue Culture Plate (TCP), tube method (TM) and Congo red agar (CRA) methods. Sensitivity and specificity of methods were determined.Results: In tube method, 23% of the isolates formed strong and 59% formed weak biofilm. In Tissue Culture Plate method 40%, 22% and 28% of isolates formed strong, moderate and weak biofilm respectively and 10% were biofilm negative. According to the Congo red agar method only 4% of the isolates formed strong biofilm, 65% and 31% respectively had a weak biofilm and no biofilm. The sensitivity and specificity of Congo red agar and Tube methods were 39.1%, 50.9% and their features were 78.3%, 79.7% respectively.Conclusions: The results showed that Tissue Culture Plate method is important for the determination of UPEC biofilm formation. Tube method and Congo red agar are not reliable methods for this purpose.

Control and eradication of the brucellosis is loosed on vaccination of susceptible animals by Rev 1 vaccine. Production of this Vaccine is done by brucella agar culture media that is imported. Recently, the price of the medium has increased because of economic sanctions. Therefore, regarding the production of glycerol dextrose agar in Iran and its record in international sources, this study was done for possible replacement with this medium. So, 10 batches of vaccine were produced using this medium and they were compared with the vaccines produced by brucella agar with the same master seed. The number of live bacteria in 1 ml of bulk product was counted by counting the number of colony forming unit (CFU). In addition, other quality tests like morphology of colony or determination of the percentage of rough organisms, safety and efficacy test were done on each batch. The results indicated the mean numbers of live bacteria in 1 ml of bulk products was134.37×109 and 118.55×109 (CFU) and the percentage of rough colonies was %0.75 and %1.281 for Vaccines produced by brucella agar and glycerol dextrose agar respectively. There was not any difference in other quality tests includes safety and efficacy and all quality parameters remained within the standard ranges. Thus regarding the suitable results, this new culture medium can be used for Rev1 vaccine production.

The polite listener In England stares at the speaker attentively and blinks his eyes occasionally as a sign of interest. That eye-blink says nothing to Americans, who expect the listener to nod or to murmur something such as "mm - hmm”. And in some parts of  Far East, it is impolite to look at the other person at all during conversation.It is often argued that, in teaching foreign languages, culture and language are interwoven in a way that it is not possible to present language without its culture. However, until a new method of teaching language, called communicative approach, which is sociolinguistically oriented, had not come into existence, this belief was not used to be observed in textbooks and language classes. This method intends to create situations in the classroom in which foreign language can be used as naturally and authentically as the native speakers of target language use it for communicative purposes.The problem of teaching culture, nevertheless, does not end here. Nowadays, foreign languages are taught with different and varied objectives. Is it necessary for all foreign language learners to get familiar with the culture of foreign language they are supposed to learn? As Schumann (1984) claims, is it true that second language learning is impossible, unless one gives up his/her own native culture and adopts the culture of foreign language community? What are some relevant issues regarding teaching English in Iran? These are actually some basic questions raised in this article. Whereas definite answers are not necessarily provided in this paper, some areas of research related to culture, and teaching foreign language are put forward.