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The effects of dietary selenium supplementation on inflammatory markers among patients with metabolic diseases: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
No full textPurpose: Selenium (Se) is a trace element having significant effects on human metabolism. Recent studies suggest that Se supplementation have a pivotal effect on the inflammatory markers. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the effect of Se supplementation on plasma inflammatory markers including C-reactive protein (CRP) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and nitric oxide (NO) as a stress oxidative index, among patients with metabolic diseases. Methods: To assess the effects of Se on the inflammatory markers, following the PRISMA-P guidelines, we systematically searched ISI/WOS, PubMed/MEDLINE, and Scopus for studies that assessed the effect of Se supplementation on the inflammatory markers. Data extraction was performed by two independent investigators. Using the random effects or fixed-effects model depending on the results of heterogeneity tests was used to estimate the pooled standardized mean difference (SMD). Heterogeneity between studies was assessed using Cochran's Q test and I2 index. Results: The initial search revealed 3,320 papers. After screening process and considering inclusion criteria, 7 publications were eligible for inclusion in the meta-analysis. The meta-analysis results showed that Se supplementation did not significantly affect CRP and hs-CRP concentrations (mean difference (MD) = -0.15; 95 CI: -0.55- 0.23; P = 0.43). Subgroup analysis of CRP type showed that Se supplementation significantly decreased hs-CRP level (pooled SMD = -0.44; 95 CI: -0.67�0.21). Moreover, no significant change was observed in NO level by continuing to take Se supplementation, (pooled SMD: 0.003, 95CI: -0.26, 0.26). Conclusions: This study revealed that Se supplementation would have desirable effects on cardio-metabolic indicators through affecting the levels of inflammatory markers. Given the importance of concerns, more attention should be given to more prospective studies with longer follow-up. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Toll-like receptor signaling pathways: Novel therapeutic targets for cerebrovascular disorders
Full text linkToll-like receptors (TLRs), a class of pattern recognition proteins, play an integral role in the modulation of systemic inflammatory responses. Cerebrovascular diseases (CVDs) are a group of pathological conditions that temporarily or permanently affect the brain tissue mostly via the decrease of oxygen and glucose supply. TLRs have a critical role in the activation of inflammatory cascades following hypoxic-ischemic events and subsequently contribute to neuroprotective or det-rimental effects of CVD-induced neuroinflammation. The TLR signaling pathway and downstream cascades trigger immune responses via the production and release of various inflammatory media-tors. The present review describes the modulatory role of the TLR signaling pathway in the inflammatory responses developed following various CVDs and discusses the potential benefits of the modulation of different TLRs in the improvement of functional outcomes after brain ischemia. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland
Ethical challenges of saving extremely premature infants using a grounded theory: Iranian neonatologists� perception
No full textBackground: Extremely premature infants are at greater risks of cognitive, behavioral, growth, and developmental problems, compared to the term infants. In addition to physical problems, these infants also incur a lot of emotional costs, stress, and financial burden to the family. This study aimed to explore ethical challenges and factors affecting decisions about initiation, sustain, and termination of the life of extremely premature infants that neonatologists face every day in the clinics. Methods: The present qualitative study was conducted based on a grounded theory. The participants were 21 practitioners who were interviewed after giving consent and being briefed about the study. All interviews were recorded, transcribed, and then analyzed in this study. The data were then analyzed using Strauss-Corbin (1998) method in three phases of open, axial, and selective coding. Results: During analysis, 1420 initial (open) codes, 19 subcategories, and two specific categories were obtained to explain the ethical challenges of decision-making on the sustaining or terminating the life of extremely premature infants. These categories included 1) Independent decision-making of physicians, followed by two subcategories of "professional decision-making based on knowledge and clinical experience" and "uncertainty about the consequences of consulting with parents", and 2) Improper conditions and facilities, followed by three subcategories of "lack of local scientific resources on medical ethics", "inefficient neonatal intensive care units", and "lack of efficient rules and guidelines". According to the obtained results, factors leading to ethical challenges included the lack of ethical and legal guidelines tailored to clinical conditions, lack of local scientific documentation in accordance with clinical conditions and health facilities available in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), conflicts between the current law on life preservation and moral guidelines, and lack of facilities, manpower, and equipment in the NICU. Conclusion: A physician�s decision is based on personal scientific and clinical experiences according to the conditions of the wards. © 2021 Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved
Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles improve the vitrification of mouse immature oocytes and modulate the pluripotent genes expression in derived pronuclear-stage embryos
No full textThe vitrification of Germinal Vesicle (immature) oocytes is beneficial for preservation of fertility in cases involving reproductive problems. The use of nanoparticles (NP(s)) as vitrification aid is a novel approach towards improving vitrification efficiency. The efficacy of use of iron oxide (Fe3O4) nanoparticles as vitrification aid is reported in this paper. Immature oocytes from NMRI mice were collected and divided into non-vitrified (nVit), Vitrified (Vit) and Vitrified + NP (Vit+NP) groups. In the Vit+NP group, solutions containing Fe3O4 nanoparticles at three different concentrations (0.004, 0.008 and 0.016 w/v) were separately added to the vitrification solution and their effects on the vitrification of the oocytes were compared. The concentration that was found to be best performing (0.004 w/v) was used in vitrification studies in subsequent experiments. Mitochondrial function, apoptosis incidence, ultrastructure alteration, nuclear maturity, embryo formation and genes expression (Nanog, Oct4, Cdx2, and Sox2) were evaluated in response to the addition of the nanoparticle solution during vitrification. Nuclear maturity of oocyte and embryo formation increased significantly (P � 0.05) in the vitrified + NP group. Expression of Sox2 also increased significantly in both vitrified and vitrified + NP groups. While there was a significant increase in Oct4 expression in the vitrified group as compared to control, there was no significant difference between vitrified and Vit+NP groups. The expression of Cdx2 decreased significantly (P � 0.05) in the Vit+NP group. From these observations, Fe3O4 nanoparticles could protect immature oocytes from cryodamages, positively affect vitrification and modulate the pluripotency of derived pronuclear-stage embryos. © 2021 Elsevier Inc
MiR-330-3p and miR-485-5p as biomarkers for glioblastoma: An integrated bioinformatics and experimental study
No full textGlioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) is the most common, invasive, and malignant primary brain tumor with a poor prognosis and a median survival of 12�15 months. This study tried to identify the most significant miRNA biomarkers in both tissue and serum samples of GBM. GSE25632 was employed from gene expression omnibus and using WGCNA package, association of miRNA networks and clinical data was explored and brown and green modules identified as the most relevant modules. Independently, Limma package was utilized to identify differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs) in GSE25632 by cutoff logFC > 2 and P.value < 0.05. By merging the results of Limma and WGCNA, the miRNAs that were in brown and green modules and had mentioned cutoff were selected as hub miRNAs. Performing enrichment analysis, Pathways in cancer, Prostate cancer, Glioma, p53 signaling pathway, and Focal adhesion were identified as the most important signaling pathways. Based on miRNA- target genes, has-mir-330�3p and has-mir-485�5p were identified as core miRNAs. The expression level of core miRNAs was validated by GSE90604, GSE42657, and GSE93850. We evaluated the expression level of common target genes of two detected core genes based on GSE77043, GSE42656, GSE22891, GSE15824, and GSE122498. The ability of detected miRNAs to discriminate GBM from healthy controls was assessed by area under the curve (AUC) using the ROC curve analysis. Based on TCGA database, we tested the prognostic significance of miRNAs using overall survival analysis. We evaluated the expression level of the miRNAs in tissue of 83 GBM patients and also non-tumoral adjacent (as control) tissues. We used serum samples of 34 GBM patients to evaluate the expression levels of the hub miRNAs compare to the controls. Our results showed that has-mir-330�3p and has-mir-485�5p could be potential biomarkers in GBM. © 2021 Elsevier Lt
High expression of tumor susceptibility gene 101 (TSG101) is associated with more aggressive behavior in colorectal carcinoma
No full textIntroduction: Identification of genetic determinants such as exosomal content that drives progression and metastasis of colorectal cancer (CRC) has received considerable attention. The present study aims to identify a suitable biomarker in CRC tissues and exosomes based on bioinformatics data to evaluate its expression patterns in CRC tissues as well as its clinicopathological significance. Materials and methods: Protein�protein interaction (PPI) network and enrichment analysis were applied to identify up-regulated genes that contributed in CRC exosomes to select the marker. The expression patterns and clinical significance of selected exosomal marker were evaluated in tissue microarrays (TMAs) of 445 CRC tumors and 39 adjacent normal tissues using immunohistochemistry method. Results: Based on bioinformatics data, TSG101 gene was prominent amongst the tumor tissues and exosomes. Expression of TSG101 was significantly up-regulated in tumor cells compared to adjacent normal tissues (p-value = 0.04). Moreover, higher expressions of TSG101 (cytoplasmic and nuclear) were significantly associated with tumor differentiation (p-value = 0.042) and distant metastasis (p-value = 0.027). A significant association was found in the cytoplasmic expression of TSG101 between well and moderate tumor differentiation (p-value = 0.005) as well as moderate and poor differentiation (p-value = 0.050). Conclusion: These findings indicate that the exploration of crosstalk between exosome content and CRC may be valuable for the development of novel exosomal biomarkers. Increased expression of TSG101, as a promising exosome marker, is more associated with more aggressive tumor behaviors, metastasis, and progression of CRC, which paves the way for therapeutic strategies and CRC management. However, further investigations are warranted to clarify the molecular mechanisms of TSG101 in CRC. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH, DE part of Springer Nature
Effect of spirulina and chlorella alone and combined on the healing process of diabetic wounds: an experimental model of diabetic rats
No full textBackground: Using chemical agents to cure diabetes mellitus and its complications may be accompanied by complications. New natural agents, such as spirulina and chlorella, could be used as alternative choices in this case. Methods: 65 male Wistar rats were allocated to 5 groups: A (healthy control), B (diabetic rats with a normal diet), C (diabetic rats supplemented with 50 g/kg/day spirulina), D (diabetic rats supplemented with 50 g/kg/day chlorella) and E (diabetic rats supplemented with 25 g/kg/day chlorella and 25 g/kg/day spirulina). After 21 days, wounds were inflicted on the back of rats. Assessment of blood sugar (BS), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), granulation tissue formation, vascularization, epithelialization, and percentage of wound healing were determined along with macroscopic examinations. Results: The microscopic changes at days 3, 7, 14, and 21 showed significant evidence of improved angiogenesis, epithelial proliferation, and granulation tissue formation in the spirulina and chlorella treated rats compared with the controls (p�0.05). Both spirulina and chlorella treatments of diabetic rats resulted in a significant reduction in BS and weight (p�0.05), but VEGF and hs-CRP levels did not significantly change (p > 0.05). Percentage of wound healing was 100 on day 21 in all groups, except the control group B (97.8 ± 1.15). Conclusions: The results of this study showed that supplementation with spirulina and chlorella alone and combined could improve wound healing indices in diabetic rats and could therefore be recommended for the management of diabetic ulcer. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Incidence and Risk Factors of Colorectal Cancer in the Iranian Population: a Systematic Review
No full textPurpose: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common cancers in the world. The aim of this study was to investigate its incidence and risk factors in the Iranian population. Methods: A literature search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, SID, and Magiran from inception until 2019. Studies that reported the incidence rate and risk factors of colorectal cancer were included in this review. Results: Twenty-one articles that reported the incidence rate and 13 that reported the risk factors were included. The incidence rate was different according to the population type, gender, age, and study year in different regions. The main risk factors for colorectal cancer were high consumption of red meat and fried food and low intake of fruits and vegetables, diabetes, a positive family history, and obesity. Conclusion: The incidence of CRC has a marked variation in different parts of Iran, and various risk factors are associated with colorectal cancer. According to incidence rate and various risk factors, precise planning is needed to control colorectal cancer in the future. © 2021, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature
Effect of extra virgin olive oil consumption on glycemic control: A systematic review and meta-analysis
No full textAims: Several health benefits are contributed to extra virgin olive oil (EVOO). The polyphenol fraction of EVOO may be responsible for its cardioprotective impacts. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to investigate the effect of EVOO intake on glycemic parameters. Electronic literature searched through 1 September 2020 across MEDLINE/PubMed, Web of Science, and SCOPUS databases to find all clinical trials that reported the effect of EVOO intake on glycemic parameters FBS(fasting blood glucose), insulin, HOMA-IR (Homeostatic Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance) and HbA1c (glycated hemoglobin A1c) vs. control. Data synthesis: We pooled standardized mean differences (SMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) from randomized clinical trials (RCTs) using random-effects models. Heterogeneity was assessed by Cochran Q-statistic and quantified (I2). We found 13 related trials comprising a total of 633 subjects. In pooled analysis, EVOO intake had no effect on FBS (SMD: �0.07; 95% CI: �0.20, 0.07; I2 = 0.0%), insulin (SMD: �0.32; 95% CI: �0.70, 0.06; I2 = 38.0%), and HOMA-IR (SMD: �0.32; 95% CI: �0.75, 0.10; I2 = 51.0%). However, a decreasing trend was observed in these effects. Subgroup analysis based on age, health status, dose, and EVOO intake duration also did not significantly change results. Conclusion: Although EVOO seems a promising hypoglycemic effects, we did not find any significant evidence that EVOO consumption impacts glucose homeostasis. Furthermore, well-designed RCTs with longer durations are still needed to evaluate the EVOO's efficacy on glycemic parameters. © 2021 The Italian Diabetes Society, the Italian Society for the Study of Atherosclerosis, the Italian Society of Human Nutrition and the Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II Universit
Removal behavior of gaseous furfural using a biofilter packed with perlite, ripe compost, and oak woodchips
No full textFurfural is a toxic compound that is widely used in various industries. Prolonged inhalation exposure to this pollutant, especially at workplaces, can induce detrimental health effects. Therefore it is important to remove it from the environment. The present study aimed to investigate furfural removal from polluted air streams using a biofilter system. In this regard, a 4-section biofilter packed with perlite, ripe compost, and oak woodchips was operated for a 108 day-period under different operating conditions. The effects of pH (natural and acidic), inlet concentration (18.8�81.6 mg m�3), the height of biofilter layers (4 sections), and empty bed residence times (EBRTs) of 120, 70, and 30 s on removal efficiency (RE) of the biofilter were evaluated. All sampling and measurements were performed according to standard methods. The RE values under neutral and acidic conditions were 80 and 65 , respectively. At furfural inlet concentrations in the ranges of 18.8�21.3, 35.25�42.7, and 78.4�81.6 mg m�3, the RE values were 81, 68, and 57 , respectively. Also, the RE values at EBRTs of 120, 70, and 30 s were 83, 73, and 61 , respectively. About half of the total RE was related to the first section of the biofilter, where the number of bacterial (6.2 log10 CFU g-1) and fungal (5.8 log10 CFU g-1) were higher than the other sections. Due to the high RE (72 ) and low pressure drop (below 43 Pa m-1) of the biofilter, it can be concluded that biofiltration is a suitable process to remove furfural from the air. © 2020 Institution of Chemical Engineer