---

Objective: In peripheral blood polymorphonuclear and mononuclear cells Nitric Oxide (NO) could be synthesized by an enzyme called inducible NO synthase (iNOS). iNOS gene (NOS2A) is located on chromosome 17 at position 17q11.2-q12. NO is released during inflammatory responses. In the present studies the frequency of NOS2A gene polymorphisms and their effects on NO production were investigated in the Peripheral Blood polymorphonuclear and mononuclear cells of normal individuals. Materials and Methods: In this study the frequency of NOS2A gene polymorphisms at positions -1659 C/T and +150 C/T of 232 normal subjects were investigated using PCR-Allele specific and PCR-RFLP methods, respectively. To study the effect of -1659 C/T and +150 C/T polymorphisms on NO production, polymorphonuclear and mononuclear cells of peripheral blood of 92 normal subjects were isolated and then stimulated by E.coli culture supernatants (ATCC 25922) for induction of iNOS enzyme and NO production. After 24h, the level of NO production in the culture supernatant were measured by Griess reaction. Polymorphisms as mentioned above were also studied in these normal cases. Results: The results showed no significant difference in the level of NO production of various genotypes in the polymorphonuclear and mononuclear cells of peripheral blood of normal subjects. Conclusion: Our results indicated no significant correlation between NOS2A genotypes and NO production. No significant difference was observed between Gambia and China normal population and normal subjects of this study in NOS2A -1659 C/T and +150 C/T polymorphisms. In Iran these differences are due to the genetic and ethnic differences among the studied populations, which indicates the importance of NOS2A polymorphism in the NO production, suggesting further studies in other ethnic groups.

---

---

Objective: Astrocytes are the most abundant glial cell type. They may promote or inhibit CNS inflammation depending on which cytokines are secreted. Astrocytes also have immune roles. IL-19, IL-20, and IL-24 activate a heterodimer receptor composed of the IL-20R1 α-chain and the IL-20R2 β-chain. It has long been considered that signaling by these receptor complexes affects immunological reactions, however the biological functions of IL-20R1 and IL-20R2 in the brain remain unclear. As the first step to address the role of these cytokine receptors in the brain, in this study we have researched the expressions of IL-20R1 and IL-20R2 in C57BL/6 mice astrocytes. Methods: We examined expressions of IL-20R1 and IL-20R2 proteins in mice astroglial cells and in the 1321N1 astrocytoma cell line in response to MOG, LPS and GM-CSF by flow cytometry. The effect of LPS on mRNA expression of IL-20R1 and IL-20R2 was investigated by RT-PCR. Results: We provide, for the first time, evidence that astrocytes expressed IL-20R1 and IL-20R2 mRNA not only in response to LPS stimulation but also in unstimulated astrocytes. We did not observe the expressions of IL-20R1 and IL-20R2 proteins in mice astroglial cells and the 1321N1 astrocytoma cell line. Conclusions: IL-20R1 and IL-20R2 mRNA are constitutively expressed in astrocytes. Because the majority of neuropathological processes involve astrocytes and inflammatory cytokines, the results of this study, which are reported for the first time, have important implications for future research.

---

One of the interesting and practical problems in thermo-fluid sciences is referred to finding the shape of a boundary on which a specific distribution of pressure, temperature or heat flux is known. Because solving such problems using experimental, semi-experimental and analytical methods is time-consuming or even impossible in some practical situations, myriad numerical methods have been introduced to solve surface shape design (SSD) problems. In all the numerical algorithms, an initial guess is modified through a numerical process until the desirable distribution of the target variable is achieved. All the numerical algorithms use three computational tools, i.e. grid generator, flow solver and shape updater to solve an SSD problem. In most of numerical algorithms, not only the three mentioned tools work separately but the shape updater is also not derived from the governing equations. In this article, to solve SSD problems containing convection heat transfer, a new shape design algorithm called direct design method is presented in which grid generator, flow solver and shape updater work simultaneously and also the shape updater is directly derived from the governing equations. Some SSD problems containing convection heat transfer in which instead of the boundary shape the distribution of the heat flux is known are solved using the proposed algorithm. The obtained results show the capability of the method in solving SSD problems containing internal convection heat transfer.

---

The aim of this study was to identify the lactic acid of the dominant bacteria in pickled garlic, using initial biochemical tests and PCR technique and to investigate their potential probiotic potential. For this purpose, to determine the probiotic potential of these isolates, some confirmatory tests including resistance to acid, resistance to simulated gastric conditions, resistance to bile salts, activity against pathogenic bacteria, susceptibility to some common antibiotics and hemolytic activity of isolates were performed. Based on BLAST results, five isolates of Lactobacillus plantarum, two isolates as Pediococcus ethanolidurans and one isolate as Lactobacillus brevis were identified. The lactic acid bacteria isolated in this study had the ability to survive at pH 2.5, grow in medium containing 0.3% bile salt, were sensitive to antibiotics and lacked hemolytic activity and therefore have probiotic properties. Supernatant of isolates of this study in high concentrations had the ability to inhibit growth of pathogenic bacteria and the lethal activity against them. Finally, the isolates of this study can be added to other products in the future as a strain with probiotic potential.