Peritonitis as the first presentation of systemic lupus erythematous: a case report

Background Systemic lupus erythematosus is an inflammatory disease affecting several organs. Serositis is one of the systemic lupus erythematosus presentations, but peritonitis is a relatively rare presentation. Particularly, it is extremely rare to observe peritonitis as the first presentation of systemic lupus erythematosus. Case presentation Here, we present a case of peritonitis without other symptoms of systemic lupus erythematosus, in a patient who was finally diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus. Our patient was a 27-year-old Persian/Caucasian male with fatigue, weakness, weight loss, abdominal distension, massive ascites, and normocytic hemolytic anemia. He did not mention any prior medical conditions and did not use any drugs. There were no signs of thyroid dysfunction, cardiac dysfunction, cancers, infectious diseases, hepatitis, kidney diseases, or other diseases. Low-gradient, high-protein ascites fluid, and positive antinuclear antibody and anti-double stranded DNA were in favor of systemic lupus erythematosus. Corticosteroid pulse therapy led to resolution of ascites, and the patient was discharged with prednisolone and hydroxychloroquine. Conclusion Peritonitis is a rare presentation of systemic lupus erythematosus, particularly as the first presentation and in the absence of other signs and symptoms; however, systemic lupus erythematosus should be considered as one the differential diagnoses for peritonitis when other etiologies have been ruled out.

A heart in a heart: a case report of spontaneous flail of bicuspid aortic valve

Background Aortic regurgitation is attributed to congenital and acquired abnormalities of the aortic valve or aortic valve supporting structures. The most common cause of aortic regurgitation is atherosclerotic degeneration of the valve, especially in the presence of a bicuspid aortic valve. Case summary A 25-year-old Persian man with no past medical history, developed dyspnea since 1 week before his first visit to the physician. He was an active person up to this time, and had no history of trauma or chest pain. Transthoracic echocardiography showed severe aortic regurgitation in the context of flail bicuspid aortic valve, with no evidence of endocarditis. Laboratory tests including blood cultures were negative for infection. The patient underwent aortic valve replacement and the diagnosis was confirmed at time of surgery. Conclusion This case represents noninfective and nontraumatic spontaneous flail of bicuspid aortic valve.

Parthian moγ and Middle Persian moγ/mow in Light of Earlier Eastern and Western Iranian Sources

The present article analyses the historical importance assumed by Parthian and Middle Persian moγ/mow (and related words) in the framework of the religious and administrative language of Late Antiquity despite its seemingly absolute absence in the Avestan Sprachgut. Although moγ should be reasonably considered as a word of (prominent) Western Iranian derivation, i.e. from Median and Old Persian magu-, the progressive phonetic evolution toward a spelling, such as that of early Parthian and Middle Persian *moγ(u)- created a fitting resonance with a rare Avestan word (in its turn probably nonexistent in the older strata of the language, if not even a Western loanword itself), specifically moγu-°, which is attested only in the Y.Av. compound moγu.tb̰ iš-. The rising weight assumed by the priestly college of the Magi in secular activities already during the Achaemenian period promoted the preservation of this title also after the diffusion of the Avestan liturgy in Western Iran. This development also ensured that the designation of *moγ(u)- became extended to the whole family of the Zoroastrian priests following the Avestan tradition.

Validity and Reliability of The Persian Version of The Short-Form Child Perceptions Questionnaire 11–14

BackgroundThe Child Perception questionnaire 11-14 (CPQ 11-14) is an efficient tool for assessment of oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL). This questionnaire has been shortened to 16 items (CPQ11–14 ISF-16) to facilitate its use. The purpose the present study was to translate CPQ11–14 ISF-16 in the Persian language, culturally adapt and initially validate among adolescent population.Material and methodThe questionnaire was translated to Persian, back-translated to English and underwent cultural adaptation and pretesting. It was then filled out by 318 young adults (175 grils and 143 boys) between 11 to 14 years in Shiraz, Iran. The Persian version of CPQ11–14 ISF-16 along with the Psychosocial Impact of Dental Aesthetics Questionnaire (PIDAQ) and two Suggested global questions were administered among participants to assess its Creition validity.ResultsFactor analysis extracted two domains and the factor loading of domains ranged from 0.423 to 0.837. Persian version of CPQ11–14 ISF-16 presented high internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.854); It showed excellent criterion validity with PIDAQ (rho= 0.731, p < 0.001). There was a statistically significant positive moderate correlation between CPQ11–14 ISF-16 and its factors 1 and 2 and two global questions (first global question: rho= 0.439, p < 0.001; second global question: rho= 0.457, p=0.035)ConclusionThe Persian version of CPQ11–14 ISF-16 has optimal validity and reliability in a general population of 11–14-year-old Persian children.

Ancestral Dravidian languages in Indus Civilization: ultraconserved Dravidian tooth-word reveals deep linguistic ancestry and supports genetics

Ever since the discovery of Indus valley civilization, scholars have debated the linguistic identities of its people. This study analyzes numerous archaeological, linguistic, archaeogenetic and historical evidences to claim that the words used for elephant (like, ‘pīri’, ‘pīru’) in Bronze Age Mesopotamia, the elephant-word used in the Hurrian part of an Amarna letter of ca. 1400 BC, and the ivory-word (‘pîruš’) recorded in certain sixth century BC Old Persian documents, were all originally borrowed from ‘pīlu’, a Proto-Dravidian elephant-word, which was prevalent in the Indus valley civilization, and was etymologically related to the Proto-Dravidian tooth-word ‘*pal’ and its alternate forms (‘*pīl’/‘*piḷ’/‘*pel’). This paper argues that there is sufficient morphophonemic evidence of an ancient Dravidian ‘*piḷ’/‘*pīl’-based root, which meant ‘splitting/crushing’, and was semantically related to the meanings ‘tooth/tusk’. This paper further observes that ‘pīlu’ is among the most ancient and common phytonyms of the toothbrush tree Salvadora persica, which is a characteristic flora of Indus valley, and whose roots and twigs have been widely used as toothbrush in IVC regions since antiquity. This study claims that this phytonym ‘pīlu’ had also originated from the same Proto-Dravidian tooth-word, and argues that since IVC people had named their toothbrush trees and tuskers (elephants) using a Proto-Dravidian tooth-word, and since these names were widely used across IVC regions, a significant population of Indus valley civilization must have used that Proto-Dravidian tooth-word in their daily communication. Since ‘tooth’ belongs to the core non-borrowable ultraconserved vocabulary of a speech community, its corollary is that a significant population of IVC spoke certain ancestral Dravidian languages. Important insights from recent archaeogenetic studies regarding possible migration of Proto-Dravidian speakers from Indus valley to South India also corroborate the findings of this paper.

Transformation of the State and Law in Iran after the Iranian Revolutionin 1979

With the overthrow of the regime of Reza Pahlavi in 1979, the Iranian revolution ended the existence of the 2,500-year-old Persian Empire and built the Islamic Republic of Iran on its foundations. The revolution was the product of three independent social structures that merged at one point. One was the structure of constitutionalism that grew out of a century-long struggle for democracy supported by modernists; the second was Islamism as a movement to set Sharia law as the primary law supported by rural elements in society in response to Western urban elites and accepted by merchants; and the third is the nationalist structure, driven by rage fueled by Iran's long subordination to European powers. The basic principle of the Islamic Republic of Iran, proclaimed by the new constitution from 1979, is the positioning of God as the supreme bearer of people's sovereignty and people who are only marginal representatives of his power on Earth. Ayatollah Homenini, the supreme leader of the Islamic Revolution and the Iranian state, in this regard created a thesis about the Islamic State as a political representation, created on the basis of the people's will, in order to enforce God's laws. In practice, such system meant setting up Sharia (religious) laws as the only source of law in regulating social, legal and other relations within the community. A dichotomy has been created in the management of the state, so there are two groups of authorities. The first, the conciliar, consists of the Supreme leader, the Council of Guardians (Shora-ye Negahban-e Qanun-e assassi), the Council of Experts (Majles-e Khobragan Rahbari) and the Judgment Council. The task of these councils is to oversee the activities of all levels of government in order to preserve the unity, sovereignty and integrity of the Iranian political system. The conciliar government supervises and advises the republican part of the government, ie. its legislative, executive and judicial aspects. In addition to conciliar government, there is a republican government that creates laws and political decisions in accordance with religious teachings and under the supervision of theocratic political institutions. All laws and court decisions must be based on the principles of the Qur'an, and their proper interpretation requires an understanding of religious principles. On the basis of the constitution, a special High Judicial Council was established, which amended the pre-revolutionary laws (criminal, commercial, civil and procedural), thus creating the so-called “Transitional law”. The biggest changes affected the area of criminal law, where the principle of talion revenge was introduced (“an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”) and the strict punishment of extramarital relations and same-sex relationships. In the domain of marital and family law, a man is given a number of rights, thus putting the woman, as a marital partner, in a more unequal position. Husbands were facilitated in divorce, temporary marriages with more than one woman were allowed, while on the other hand women were allowed the right to divorce only if it was explicitly allowed by her husband during the marriage. The revolution also introduced new sources in the regulation of legal relations. Thus, by an order of the Supreme Judicial Council of 23 August 1982, judges were ordered to use direct authoritative Islamic texts or sources on which to base their judgments in resolving disputes. Judges are required by this Order to address the Council of Guardians of the Constitution if they cannot determine with certainty whether a regulation is in accordance with Sharia law or not. If the judge does not know which law to apply, he must contact the Office of Ayatollah Khomeini for further instructions. In addition to the internal one, the revolution caused radical changes in the foreign policy field, positioning Iran as an important participant in numerous international processes at the regional and global level.

Contributions to a relative chronology of Persian

Old Persian shows a change of postconsonantal y, w to iy, uw, respectively. However, if one applies (pre-)Middle Persian sound changes to the Old Persian forms, the result is at variance with certain Middle Persian forms. If one were to assume a syncope reversing the Old Persian change of y, w to iy, uw, this would also affect old cases of iy, uw and likewise yield incorrect results for Middle Persian. The Old Persian change can thus not have operated in the prehistory of Middle Persian, and there is a dialectal difference between attested Old Persian and the later stages of the language, which is to be added to those already noted. The paper also discusses some sound changes that are connected to the Old Persian change in one way or the other. Cases in point are the processes called Epenthesis and Umlaut in previous scholarship, which this article suggests to interpret as occurring in different contexts and in different periods. The former is limited to Vry, which yields Vir and feeds into a monophthongisation that, as shown by some late Old Persian word forms, occurred within Achaemenid times, giving ēr and īr from ary and əry. Epenthesis did not occur in the prehistory of Parthian, whereas the monophthongisation did. The Appendix presents a tentative sequence of the processes discussed in this article, which is intended as a contribution to the relative chronology of Persian historical phonology.

The ‘Other’ gumēzišn. About the Final ‘Merger’ of Limited Time with Eternity

The Middle Persian (MP) verb gumēxtan, gumēz- [gwmyhtn', gymyc-], despite its Indo-Iranian and Indo-European origins, does not offer attestations in Avestan and Old Persian. This is a very peculiar fact, because in particular a nominal derivative of this verbal stem, gumēzišn [gwmyck'], became one of the most sensible technical terms adopted in the framework of the Mazdean cosmology and theology. We can briefly recall that the gumēzišn concerns the ‘state of mixture’, the mélange produced by the irruption of Ahreman in the primordial good creation of Ohrmazd, when he pierced the heavens and entered the world.