● Viruses seem to be common causes of ischemic stroke. Moreover, the association of other microbial categories, such as bacteria, parasites, and fungi, with stroke was reported.
Plain Language Summary 
By promoting atherosclerosis, inflammation, and local thrombosis, common bacterial and viral infections between the categories of microorganisms may increase susceptibility to stroke. In this regard, among the supposed risk factors for stroke, infectious agents are considered. Overall, our data add to the growing body of evidence linking different microorganism categories, particularly viruses to stroke. In the other hand, considering the adverse role of the microorganisms is necessary to implement some preventive measures for stroke treatment.

● Using a PD compensator and an adaptive PID for controlling the mechanical motor alongside a PD controller for FES control gave rise to adequate knee joint tracking control.
● The adopted decision-making approach for activating the FES controller could yield postponing the muscle fatigue as much as possible.
● The controller performance was not degraded owing to changing the knee reference trajectory.
Plain Language Summary 
Neural system injuries due to accidents or disorders often inflict untreatable disability on the afflicted patients. This could significantly affect patients’ quality of life. Rehabilitation techniques could be a practical approach for restoring daily activities for such patients. One well-known technology is applying exoskeleton systems wearable robots that can provide the required joint torques needed for human movement. In this manner, the exoskeletons are used to rehabilitate people who have a disability in a specific part of their body. Another well-known tool for rehabilitation is technologies that work based on Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES). The FES-based devices deliver the electrical pulses to the involved muscle nerves to restore movement. Considering the strengths and shortcomings of exoskeletons and functional electrical stimulation, it seems that combining these two technologies can cover up the defects related to each of them. Thus, in this research work, a new combination strategy has been proposed. The ability of the proposed approach for controlling the knee joint movement has been evaluated through simulation studies on the muscle-joint model. The results of the carried-out evaluations prove the promising performance of the proposed strategy.

● 6-OHDA-induced Parkinsonism is associated with an increase in testosterone and prolactin.
● Testosterone levels increased six weeks after 6-OHDA only in severe parkinsonian rats.
● Prolactin increased in the third week after 6-OHDA but returned to normal in the sixth week. 
● Prolactin increased in both mild and severe parkinsonian rats.
● Serum prolactin level can predict PD before its clinical signs are revealed.
Plain Language Summary 
Parkinson's Disease (PD) is the most common movement disorder and represents the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's disease. PD affects 1–2 per 1000 of the population at any time. Its prevalence is increasing with age and affects 1% of the people above 60 years. The leading cause of PD is the death of neurons called dopaminergic neurons in the brain stem. Clinical diagnostic of PD relies on motor symptoms of tremor, rigidity, and bradykinesia. However, these signs appear when many dopaminergic neurons are already destroyed, and the disease is in advanced stages. Thus, nonmotor symptoms which frequently precede the onset of motor symptoms, have gained increasing attention. In this regard, biomarkers have more chance. A biomarker is an indicator of a particular disease that can be used to evaluate its progress. Identifying specific biomarkers for neurodegenerative disorders is one of the main goals of the current clinical research. Usually, researchers estimate the change in blood parameters to find a biomarker for a specific disease. In the past decades, researchers have developed PD in rats. Through a certain surgery, a neurotoxin called 6-hydroxydopamine is injected into a particular site in the brain. This toxin gradually destroys dopaminergic neurons in the brain stem and thereby generates PD in rats. Because PD is an age-related disease and blood levels of sex hormones change with age, we assessed changes in blood levels of two sex hormones of testosterone and prolactin in rats with PD. Our findings show that PD development in rats is associated with an increase in serum levels of testosterone and prolactin. An increase in prolactin occurred earlier and was observed in rats with less dopaminergic neuronal loss. Therefore, prolactin level probably can predict PD before its clinical signs have appeared. 

● Several computer-aided systems are suggested for diagnosing depression.
● EEG may be used as an objective analysis tool for identifying depression.
● Denoising system proposed in this study results in better classification of depressed and healthy individuals.
Plain Language Summary 
Depression is a major global burden. For years, EEG-based computer-aided systems were a powerful tool for detecting neurological disorders. However, advanced healthcare facilities based on EEG for identifying depression in the early stage are required to avoid a severe and irreversible state. Thus, preprocessing is an exclusively required step in EEG signal analysis. EEG is sensitive to certain irrelevant sources as well as artifacts, like EOG and EMG. Denoising describes the procedure of removing noise present in the signal. At first, a linear digital filter-based reduction of superimposed noise on the tracings of the EEG was proposed. Then, the efficiency of the regression analysis was demonstrated for single trials of ERP signals and the average potentials. Denoising system proposed in this study results in better classification of depressed and healthy individuals and the results can be further analyzed using other approaches.

● The ACL-P possesses a medium level of item difficulty for the study participants with aphasia, based on floor and ceiling analysis. Thus, items are not too difficult that no patient can accomplish the tasks nor too easy that all patients can complete them.
● The ACL-P can differentiate between normal controls and individuals with aphasia who participated in the study based on discriminant validity results.
● The language part of the ACL-P has an adequate internal consistency; however, the cognition part of the test has weak internal consistency because it consists of different cognitive domains.
● The test has adequate reliability in both language and cognition parts when administered at different times on the same subjects.
Plain Language Summary 
In this study, an aphasia test called Aphasia Check List was translated from German into Persian and then administered on a sample of normal and people with aphasia to determine its psychometric properties. This test covers both language and cognition skills using different types of verbal and non-verbal stimuli at different levels of difficulty in a fast and convenient way. The comprehensiveness of this test and its convenient scoring system led the researchers to conduct this study. The main result of the study was that the translated version of the test, like its original version, has adequate discriminant validity, test-retest reliability, and internal consistency. 

● Adjuvant treatment with celecoxib can improve the obsession symptoms of OCD. 
● Adjuvant treatment with celecoxib can improve the compulsion symptoms of OCD. 
● Adjuvant treatment with celecoxib can be safe and with no significant side effects.
Plain Language Summary 
 Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is more complicated by neurological diseases. Several reports showed potential role of inflammation in this psychiatric condition .the current study aims to evaluate the effects of celecoxib as an anti-inflammatory drug .the results showed the clinical effect of celecoxib, is significant in the treatment and can improve the obsession and compulsion symptoms of OCD.

● Depression and anxiety are the most common psychiatric disorders. 
● Long exposure to environmental stressors may increase the risk of psychiatric conditions.
● Oxidative stress damage is a major contributor to noise stress-induced anxiety and depression.
● Our findings revealed that administrating NAC would reduce the adverse effects of noise on the brain.
Plain Language Summary 
Depression and anxiety are the most common psychiatric disorders, which occur in industrial societies. It severely affects individuals’ lives. NAC is a mucolytic compound with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. We investigated the potential therapeutic effects of NAC on chronic noise-induced depression- and anxiety-like behaviors. Oxidative stress damage is a major contributor to noise stress-induced anxiety and depression. Therefore, therapeutic strategies enhancing the enzymatic antioxidant activities. Our findings revealed that administrating NAC would reduce the adverse effects of noise on the brain and would exert anti-depressant and anxiolytic effects.

● Hesperidin accelerates the BDNF-TrkB signaling pathway.
● Improved BDNF-TrkB signaling pathway can ameliorate neurodegenerative diseases.
● Hesperidin suppresses oxidative stress parameters in the fetal cerebral cortex of the UPI rat model.
● Hesperidin is effective in reducing cerebral cortex damage with its antioxidant role.
● Hesperidin can be effective in reducing UPI-induced cerebral cortex damage. 
Plain Language Summary 
The abnormal fetal growth etiology and its mechanism, i.e., Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR), remain unclear. IUGR produces significant neurodevelopmental deficits affecting the IUGR offspring’s cerebral cortex. Furthermore, compounds, including Hesperidin (Hes) (of different antimicrobial & antioxidant properties) might present neuroprotective effects. In this study, initially, the UPI model was created by bilateral uterine vessel ligation, then the study rats were given oral Hes. Hes caused uterine and embryo weight gain in the UPI model. Analyzing antioxidant parameters suggested that the Catalase (CAT) activity and Total Antioxidant Capacity (TAC) increased, and Malondialdehyde (MDA) decreased after Hes administration in the fetal cerebral cortex. BDNF plays a crucial role in brain development, including neural migration, neurogenesis, and synapse formation in the antenatal and postnatal. Hesperidin also increased BDNF and its receptor, TrkB, in the UPI model. In general, the collected results indicated that Hes could effectively reduce the IUGR-induced cerebral cortex damage. Additionally, Hes may provide the beneficial therapeutic potential to inhibit and treat the neurodegenerative disorders associated with intrauterine growth restriction.

● Differentiation of bone marrow stromal stem cells into Neurosphere.
● Migration of BMSC derived Neurosphere into the neurosensory retina.
● Survival, migration, and integration of BMSC derived Neurosphere in Subretinal space.
Plain Language Summary 
Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is a common condition leading to blindness. Different types of stem cells are used to replace lost cells during this disease. Among them, neural lineages stem cells are the most convenient cells because of their origin. These cells turn to retinal pigment epithelium and neurosensory retina as in embryological time. It seems that transplantation of neurosphere, a neural linage stem cell, could be a promising procedure to study the restoration mechanism in AMD.

● Multiple sclerosis is considered chronic inflammation of the Central Nervous System (CNS) and autoimmune disease.
● TH17 cell has been involved in the pathogenesis of MS in various ways. HIF-1α and RORC are required for the natural differentiation of TH17 and are essential transcription factors for the evolution of TH17 cells.
● The results showed that EGCG significantly decreased RORC2 gene expression. However, EGCG did not influence the level of HIF-1α. Our present data has led us to conclude that EGCG could be considered as an anti-inflammatory agent may serve as an achievable therapeutic agent for MS.
● The effect of this extract on reducing the expression of RORC gene expression can be due to decreased phosphorylation of smad2 and Stat3 and downregulation of c-Rel, p65/RelA, NF-AT, BATF, IRF4, which binds to the promoter.
Plain Language Summary 
Multiple sclerosis has been defined as chronic inflammation of the central nervous system (CNS) and autoimmune disease that is the most common neurodegenerative disorder in adults. More than 2 million people worldwide suffer from MS. MS is most widely considered to be mediated by activation of myelin-specific cells called TH1 and TH17 that cross the BBB (blood-brain barrier) and initiate a chronic inflammatory response. Two proteins called HIF-1α and RORγt are essential transcription factors for the evolution of TH17 cells. On the other hand, Green tea is one of the most common beverages around the world, made from Camellia sinensis leaves, and believing that it has beneficial effects on the health and wellness of the disease. EGCG is the most biologically active ingredient in green tea and is responsible for many of the pharmacological effects of this tea.The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of EGCG on the expression of RORC2 and HIF-1α protein levels in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of MS patients. The results showed that EGCG significantly decreased RORC2 gene expression. However, EGCG did not influence the level of HIF-1α. Our present data has led us to conclude that EGCG could be considered as an anti-inflammatory agent may serve as an achievable therapeutic agent for MS.

● Ankle taping for stroke improved Biodex measures of static and dynamic balance. 
● Effect of ankle taping was largest on static balance in individuals with stroke. 
● Berg Balance Scale and Functional Reach improved in both groups. 
Plain Language Summary 
This study includes people who experience ankle weakness due to a stroke six months before the survey. Ankle weakness can cause problems with balance on stable and unstable surfaces. The purpose of the study was to see if using an elastic, sticky tape at the ankle can improve balance for people with stroke on both stable and unstable surfaces. We asked 12 people with stroke to try out the video at their ankles for three weeks continuously while getting physical therapy three times a week. We compared their balance with 12 other people who received physical therapy but did not get the tape. We measured proportion on stable and unstable surfaces with Biodex – a machine for testing balance, and two standard clinic tests. We found that the taping group improved in the Biodex regular surface test in the front-and-back direction and Biodex unstable surface test in the side-to-side direction, compared to the group without taping. A large effect size was seen for balance on stable surfaces with taping. Both groups improved in the standard clinical tests of balance. The results can guide physical therapy for people with stroke. The study supports taping the ankle for a short duration of 3 weeks combined with physical therapy over physical therapy alone. A future study is needed to confirm these findings with a larger number of people that are randomly assigned to the two groups.

● We observed only modest improvements in the patients’ cognitive functioning after short-course Cognitive Remediation. 
● Psychiatrists should consider this intervention in planning a comprehensive rehabilitation program.
● The authors suggest conducting a Persian version of the Cogpack software for the Iranian population.
Plain Language Summary 
Schizophrenia is a chronic mental illness with various presentations. Cognitive deficit is one of the core features that can affect patients' performance and quality of life. Despite the growth of knowledge, there is no established medication to improve cognitive performance in schizophrenia. Recently, Cognitive Remediation Therapy (CRT) has been used to improve cognitive functioning in these patients. Most of the previous studies had evaluated a long rehabilitation program. Due to limited resources in our country, this study aimed to assess the effects of a short and easy to implement computer-based cognitive remediation on cognitive performance in these patients. Sixty-two patients enrolled in Roozbeh Hospital (Tehran City, Iran); were randomized to either receive a CRT program added to the standard pharmacological treatment (n=31) or the standard treatment alone (n=31). The cognitive remediation program consisted of 10 sessions provided 2-3 times a week applying the Cogpack software. The cognitive performance was assessed before and after the intervention using the respective tests of the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB). We observed modest improvements in some aspects of visual memory, not directly trainer-dependent. Therefore, the results of this study should be interpreted with caution. Although this is a limitation, it is an advantage too. Providing services by different trainers is similar to the provision of services in the community. We observed only modest improvements in the patients' cognitive functioning after this treatment. The authors believe that this intervention should be integrated into a comprehensive rehabilitation program for these patients. Employing well-trained and motivated therapists and planning regular supervision sessions, using interesting visual tasks, holding more rehabilitation sessions in prolonged duration, and providing this intervention in the early phase of the illness is recommended. The authors also suggest conducting a Persian version of the Cogpack software for the Iranian population.

● A novel mutation (c. 1026G>A) in the SLC16A2 gene causes AHDS.
● The mutation causes no change in amino acid sequence and it only affects splicing.
● Patients with this mutation manifest normal levels of T3, T4, and TSH.
Plain Language Summary 
Allan-Herndon-Dudley Syndrome (AHDS) is a rare intellectual disability condition with neuromuscular involvement. Altered thyroid function tests are significant milestones in AHDS diagnosis. However, due to phenotypic variations in the levels of thyroid hormones in AHDS patients, we believe that the disorder is often underdiagnosed. Here, we reported a 3.5-year-old boy with an AHDS diagnosis and healthy thyroid hormones. The DNA sequencing analysis showed that the mutation causes no immediate change in amino acid sequence; however, it affects protein splicing. To the best of our knowledge, there are only three similar reports in the literature reporting AHDS diagnosis and normal levels of thyroid hormones. We conclude that the altered levels of thyroid hormones are notable but not necessary markers for diagnosing AHDS. The candidate diagnosis of AHDS should be considered in patients with X-linked recessive intellectual disability syndrome with neuromuscular involvements irrespective of levels of thyroid hormones; otherwise, it could lead to the under-diagnosis of the disorder.