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Epidemiological characteristics of patients with COVID-19 in Southwest of Iran from February 19 to June 20, 2020
No full textBackground:COVID-19 spread rapidly throughout the world and affected many people. The purpose of this study was to investigate the epidemiological characteristics of patients with COVID-19 in southwest of Iran from February 19 to June 20, 2020. Methods: In this retrospective study, the epidemiological characteristics of 7313 patients with COVID-19 in southwest of Iran were analyzed and reported from February 19, 2020, to the end of Jun,2020. Data were extracted from electronic records in hospitals. Sex ratio and mortality rate of the disease were calculated.A multiple logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the factors affecting mortality.Results: From all patients studied, 3920 (53 5) were men and 2066 (28.24) were in the age 30 to 40 years age group. The case fatality rate of the disease based on the total number of patients (hospitalized and nonhospitalized) was 4.84. The highest mortality rate was seen in patients with various cancers and in those aged over 80 years. The most common symptoms in patients were fever and cough, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases. Logistic regression results also showed that the chances of death in the 70-60 and 80-70 years age group were 5.94 (OR, 5.94; 95 CI, 2.14-16.43) and 8.63 (OR, 8.63, 95 CI, 3.09-24.14) compared to 10-20 years age group. Conclusion: These results indicate the need to increase primary care, provide the necessary equipment to treat patients, and more importantly, early identification of patients and treatment for them © 2021, Medical Journal of the Islamic Republic of Iran. All Rights Reserved
Mothers view about oral health status, oral hygiene behaviors, and dental services utilization of their children with hearing impairment attending special schools
No full textAim: Parents are the principal decision-makers regarding their child's health. Awareness of mothers� view about their children's health, particularly with special health care needs (SHCN) (include hearing impaired children), is essential for health care providers. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess the mothers view about oral health status, oral hygiene practices, and dental services utilization of their children with hearing impairment attending special schools. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between May and September 2020 among mothers of students with hearing impairment attending special schools. Also, the telephone structured interview was used to gathering mothers view. Results: 57.4 of the mothers rated their children's oral health status as excellent or good, 27.9 as moderate, and 14.7 as poor. About half of the mothers (49.2) stated that their children used toothbrushes once daily, and 15 use dental floss. Also, 54 of the children visited the dentist before this survey's conduct. Conclusion: The findings of the present study suggest that children with hearing impairment can also have good oral health status and behaviors. These results may be attributed to the fact that the study sample was taken from two special schools. Also, only the mothers� perception assessment of students� oral health status was done. Further studies are required to increase the strength of evidence. © 2021 Special Care Dentistry Association and Wiley Periodicals LL
Primary care physician payment mechanisms toward universal health coverage: A study of Iran and selected countries
No full textBackground and aim: Primary care physician (PCP) payment mechanisms can be important tools for addressing issues of access, quality, and equity in health care. The purpose of the present study is to compare the PCP payment mechanisms of Iran, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, England, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Turkey, and Thailand. Methods: This is a descriptive-comparative study comparing the PCP payment mechanisms of Iran and selected countries in 2020. Data for each country are collected from reliable databases and are tabulated to compare their payment models. Framework analysis is used for data analysis. Results: The results are provided in terms of PCP payment mechanisms, adjusting factor for capitation, reasons for fee-for-service payment, the role of pay-for-performance (PFP) programme, domain and indicators, and reasons for developing PFP in each country. Conclusion: The majority of the countries with high UHC service coverage index have applied a mix of PCP payment mechanisms, most of which include capitation and PFP. Moreover, adjusting capitation by factors such as age, sex, and health status will lead to provision of better services to high-risk populations. In recent years, PFP has been paid to Iranian PCPs in addition to salary. Given the various existing models for primary health care in Iran and the increasing burden of chronic diseases, a more appropriate combination of payment mechanisms that create more incentives to provide active and high-quality care should be developed. Also, when developing payment mechanisms, the required infrastructure such as electronic health record should be considered. © 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
The role of single-domain antibodies (or nanobodies) in SARS-CoV-2 neutralization
No full textThe severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV-2), a newly emerging of coronavirus, continues to infect humans in the absence of a viable treatment. Neutralizing antibodies that disrupt the interaction of RBD and ACE2 has been under the spotlight as a way of developing the COVID-19 treatment. Some animals, such as llamas, manufacture heavy-chain antibodies that have a single variable domain (VHH) instead of two variable domains (VH/VL) as opposed to typical antibodies. Nanobodies are antigen-specific, single-domain, changeable segments of camelid heavy chain-only antibodies that are recombinantly produced. These types of antibodies exhibit a wide range of strong physical and chemical properties, like high solubility, and stability. The VHH's high-affinity attachment to the receptor-binding domain (RBD) allowed the neutralization of SARS-CoV-2. To tackle COVID-19, some nanobodies are being developed against SARS-CoV-2, some of which have been recently included in clinical trials. Nanobody therapy may be useful in managing the COVID-19 pandemic as a potent and low-cost treatment. This paper describes the application of nanobodies as a new class of recombinant antibodies in COVID-19 treatment. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V
Development of a high-performance PVA/DOPA bone adhesive incorporated with bioactive glass and hydroxyapatite particles for highly comminuted bone fractures
No full textBone adhesives, a new promising sort of clinical treatment for bone fractures, despite all the advantages, are concerned with cytotoxicity, mechanical strength, and fixation in the wet body environment. A procedure using Polyvinyl Alcohol and an excellent adhesion agent, Dihydroxyphenylalanine incorporated with hydroxyapatite and bioactive glass particles designed to meet a bone adhesive�s requirements. Improved wet adhesion strength, 20.5 MPa tensile strength for highly comminuted bone fractures, 99.97 cell viability alongside resistance against both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, and controllable biodegradation indicated that the synthesized bone adhesive is of great potential for highly comminuted bone fractures. © 2021 Taylor & Francis
Contribution of miRNAs in the Pathogenesis of Breast Cancer
No full textBreast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among females. Gene expression profiling methods have shown the deregulation of several genes in breast cancer samples and have confirmed the heterogeneous nature of breast cancer at the genomic level. microRNAs (miRNAs) are among the recently appreciated contributors in breast carcinogenic processes. These small-sized transcripts have been shown to partake in breast carcinogenesis through modulation of apoptosis, autophagy, and epithelial�mesenchymal transition. Moreover, they can confer resistance to chemotherapy. Based on the contribution of miRNAs in almost all fundamental aspects of breast carcinogenesis, therapeutic intervention with their expression might affect the course of this disorder. Moreover, the presence of miRNAs in the peripheral blood of patients potentiates these transcripts as tools for non-invasive diagnosis of breast cancer. © Copyright © 2021 Ghafouri-Fard, Khanbabapour Sasi, Abak, Shoorei, Khoshkar and Taheri
Improved antibacterial activity of sulfasalazine loaded fullerene derivative: computational and experimental studies
No full textRecently, nanomaterials have found application in the biomedical field by providing new and efficient techniques in imaging, drug delivery, diagnosis and many other areas. The present study is a significant contribution in which a well-known zero-dimensional carbon nanomaterial, fullerene, has been explored as an efficient drug carrier. Specifically, water insoluble fullerene has been made water soluble through chemical functionalization using hydrogen peroxide to form polyhydroxylated fullerene, which is referred to as fullerenol. A well-known antibacterial drug, sulfasalazine (SSZ), has been loaded on to the surface of this fullerenol. The success of functionalization and drug loading has been confirmed by thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Raman analysis. Moreover, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) imaging and elemental analysis have also been performed to evaluate the particle size and composition before and after drug loading. In addition, the effect of incorporating the nanomaterial has also been studied by comparing the antibacterial activity of drug loaded fullerenol with pure SSZ towards a number of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria by determining the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC). The remarkable performance of SSZ loaded fullerenol show them as an efficient and promising nano drug-carrier. © 2021 Elsevier B.V
Effects of celecoxib adjunct to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors on obsessive-compulsive disorder
No full textIntroduction: Inflammatory processes in the brain play an important role in the etiopathogenesis of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Cyclooxygenase inhibitors, such as celecoxib reduce the production of proinflammatory cytokines. This double-blind study aimed to investigate the effects of adding celecoxib to Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs)on treating OCD. Methods: Sixty patients who met the diagnosis criteria for OCD based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders -Fourth Edition- Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR) were recruited in the present study. Two psychiatrists independently confirmed the diagnosis by performing structured interviews. The study participants included 23 patients who received SSRIs and celecoxib (400 mg twice daily) and 22 patients in the control group that received SSRIs and placebo. Moreover, at baseline, in weeks 4, 8, and 12, the explored patients were assessed by a psychiatrist using the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BCOS). Results: A significant difference was observed in the change of scores on the Y-BOCS in week 12, compared with the onset of the study between the study groups (t= -8.976, df=38, P=0.001). There was a significant difference between the study groups in obsession (F= 49.19, df= 1, P�0.001), compulsion (F= 13.78, df= 1, P= 0.001), and OCD (F= 57.25, df= 1, P�0.001), i.e., higher in the celecoxib group. Conclusion: This study showed that adjuvant treatment with celecoxib can further improve the symptoms of OCD in individuals receiving SSRIs. © 2021 Iran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved
Molecular identification of Echinococcus granulosus sensu lato by mitochondrial COX1 and SSU-rDNA markers in dogs in the west of Iran
No full textEchinococcus granulosus sensu lato (E. granulosus s. l.) is important in terms of the medical and veterinary sciences, especially in the tropical and subtropical regions. Stray and domestic dogs are the most important definitive hosts for this parasite. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of E. granulosus s. l. among stray and domestic dogs using copro-nested PCR method in the west of Iran. Accordingly, 605 faecal samples of domestic (n = 424) and stray (n = 181) dogs were collected from Kermanshah (n = 301) and Lorestan (n = 304) Provinces, in the west of Iran. Initially, the samples were concentrated using formalin-ether method and the precipitates were collected for further examination using copro-PCR method using COX1 and SSU-rDNA markers in order to detect taeniid parasites and E. granulosus s. l., respectively. Totally, taeniid parasites were observed in 38 (6.28) samples, of which 21 (3.47) samples in domestic dogs and 17 (2.8) samples in stray dogs were detected. Moreover, of 38 taeniid positive samples, 21 (3.47) samples were positive for E. granulosus s. l that 13 (2.14) samples in domestic dogs and 8 (1.32) samples in stray dogs were detected. In conclusion, the findings of the current study specified that the overall prevalence of echinococcosis was low (3.47) in domestic and stray dogs in the examined areas. Since western Iran is one of the areas with high potential for transmission of E. granulosus s. l., regular monitoring of the prevalence of this disease in both the final hosts and the intermediate hosts is important at regular intervals. © 202
Efficient co-cultivation of human fibroblast cells (HFCs) and adipose-derived stem cells (ADSs) on gelatin/PLCL nanofiber
No full textIn this study, we investigated whether the nanofibers produced by natural-synthetic polymers can probably promote the proliferation of co-cultured adipose-derived stem cells/human fibroblast cells (ADSs/HFCs) and synthesis of collagen. Nanofiber was fabricated by blending gelatin and poly (L-lactide co-ϵ-caprolactone) (PLCL) polymer nanofiber (Gel/PLCL). Cell morphology and the interaction between cells and Gel/PLCL nanofiber were evaluated by FESEM and fluorescent microscopy. MTS assay and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction were applied to assess the proliferation of co-cultured ADSs/ HFCs and the collagen type I and III synthesis, respectively. The concentrations of two cytokines including fibroblast growth factor-basic and transforming growth factor-β1 were also measured in culture medium of co-cultured ADSs/HDCs using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay assay. Actually, nanofibers exhibited proper structural properties in terms of stability in cell proliferation and toxicity analysis processes. Gel/PLCL nanofiber promoted the growth and the adhesion of HFCs. Our results showed in contact co-culture of ADSs/HFCs on the Gel/PLCL nanofiber increased cellular adhesion and proliferation synergistically compared to non-coated plate. Also, synthesis of collagen and cytokines secretion of co-cultured ADSs/HFCs on Gel/PLCL scaffolds is significantly higher than non-coated plates. To conclude, the results suggest that Gel/PLCL nanofiber can imitate physiological characteristics in vivo and enhance the efficacy of co-cultured ADSs/HFCs in wound healing process. © The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2019