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Augmenting Peripheral Nerve Regeneration Using Hair Follicle Stem Cells in Rats
Full text linkntroduction: Cell therapy is the most advanced treatment of peripheral nerve injury. This study aimed to determine the effects of transplantation of hair follicle stem cells on the regeneration of the sciatic nerve injury in rats.
Methods: The bulge region of the rat whisker were isolated and cultured. Morphological and biological features of the cultured bulge cells were observed by light microscopy and immunocytochemistry methods. Percentages of CD34, K15, and nestin cell markers expression were demonstrated by flow cytometry. Rats were randomly divided into 3 groups of injury, epineurium, and epineurium with cells in which rat Hair Follicular Stem Cells (rHFSCs) were injected into the site of the nerve cut. HFSCs were labeled with Bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU), and double-labeling immunofluorescence was performed to study the survival and differentiation of the grafted cells. After 8 weeks, electrophysiological, histological, and immunocytochemical analysis assessments were performed.
Results: Rat hair follicle stem cells are suitable for cell culture, proliferation, and differentiation. The results suggest that transplantation of rat hair follicle stem cells can regenerate sciatic nerve injury; moreover, electrophysiology and histology examinations show that sciatic nerve repair was more effective in the epineurium with cell group than in the other experimental group (P<0.05).
Conclusion: The achieved results propose that hair follicle stem cells improve axonal growth and functional recovery after peripheral nerve injury.
Keywords: Peripheral nerve regeneration, Rat hair follicle stem cell, Sciatic nerv
Induced overexpression of MARCH-1 in human macrophages altered to M2 phenotype for suppressing inflammation process
Full text linkObjective(s): The M1 macrophage is characterized by enhanced pro-inflammatory cytokines production, whereas macrophage (M2) has anti-inflammatory features. Macrophage polarization as a therapeutic target for controlling immune responses could be performed by gene transduction to control the regulation of exaggerated innate/adaptive immune responses.
Materials and Methods: Macrophages were prepared from THP-1 cell line and human monocytes that were transduced with (Membrane-Associated RING-CH-type finger) MARCH-1 viral lentivector produced in HEK-293T cells. RT-PCR and Western blotting confirmed MARCH-1 gene transduction. Cytokine production, CD markers assay, macrophage phagocytosis potential activity and mixed leukocyte reaction (MLR) with CFSE were performed for M1/M2 plasticity.
Results: The mean fluorescent intensity of HLA-DR and CD64 expression reduced in MARCH-1+ transduced macrophage population. However, CD206 and CD163 expression increased in these macrophages. The concentrations of IL-6, TNF-α and iNOS were decreased in MARCH-1 transduced cells, and TGF-β production showed an augmentation in concentration. Western blotting and real-time PCR measurement confirmed that the expression levels of MARCH-1 protein and arginase-1 enzyme were increased in transduced macrophages.
Conclusion: The anti-inflammatory features of MARCH-1 revealed the reduced levels of pro-inflammatory factors and maintained M2 phenotype characterized by high levels of scavenger receptors. Therefore, targeting MARCH-1 in monocytes/macrophages could represent a new autologous cell-based therapies strategy for inflammatory conditions
Opium use and risk of bladder cancer: a multi-centre case-referent study in Iran
Full text linkBackground
Bladder cancer (BC) is the 10th most common type of cancer worldwide and the fourth most common type of cancer in Iran. Opium use is considered as one of the risk factors for BC. We aim to assess the association between various parameters of opium use, which in Iran is mainly ingested or smoked in various forms, and the risk of BC.
Method
In this multi-centre case-referent study in Iran, 717 BC cases and 3477 referents were recruited to the study from May 2017 until July 2020. Detailed histories of opium use (duration, amount, frequency) and potential confounders were collected by trained interviewers. Multivariable unconditional logistic regression models were used to measure adjusted odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). The ORs were adjusted for age, gender, place of residence and pack-years of cigarette smoking.
Results
Regular opium consumption was associated with an increased risk of BC (OR 3.5, 95% CI: 2.8, 4.3) compared with subjects who never used opium. Compared with continuous users, the risk decreased to one-third for those who stopped opium more than 10 years ago. The adjusted OR for those who used both crude opium (teriak) and opium juice was 7.4 (95% CI: 4.1, 13.3). There was a joint effect of opium and tobacco (OR for users of both opium and tobacco 7.7, 95% CI: 6.0, 9.7).
Conclusions
Regular opium use is associated with an approximately 4-fold risk for BC. The OR decreases along with the increasing time since stopping opium use
Evaluation of the Expression of miR-486-3p, miR-548-3p, miR-561-5p and miR-509-5p in Tumor Biopsies of Patients with Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Full text linkBackground and objective: Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the most common head and neck malignancy. Expression patterns of microRNAs (miRNAs) can direct us in identifying valuable biomarkers for the prognosis of different neoplasms. Inappropriate regulation of miRNAs during physiological procedures can result in malignancies including OSCC. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the expression of miR-486-3p, miR-561-5p, miR-548-3p, and miR-509-5p in tissue biopsy samples with and without OSCC. Materials and methods: This case-control study was conducted on 17 healthy and 17 OSCC tissue biopsy samples. The expression of miRNAs was assessed using quantitative real-time PCR (q-RT-PCR) after RNA extraction from normal and cancer tissues and cDNA synthesis. Results: The means of miRNA-486-3p, miR-561-5p, and miR-548-3p expression were significantly different between OSCC and control groups (p < 0.001), but there was no significant difference in means of miR-509-5p expression between OSCC and control groups (p = 0.179). Conclusions: The findings of this study revealed that the expression of miR-486-3p and miR-561-5p was significantly lower in cancer samples compared to normal tissue samples. On the other hand, miR-548-3p expression increased in the OSCC group compared to the control group
Evaluation of HIV-Related Cardiomyopathy in HIV-Positive Patients in Bushehr, Iran
Full text linkObjectives
In 2020, according to the UNAIDS (Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS), more than 37 million people lived with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection worldwide. The disease is known to affect several organs, and one of the most affected organs is the heart. Cardiac diseases are highly prevalent among HIV-infected individuals, and recent findings suggest that this could be due to the damage caused by the virus. HIV patients are subject to advanced immunosuppression, which may lead to cardiac muscle damage and, in turn, cardiomyopathy. We aimed to study the incidence of HIV-related cardiomyopathy
Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy Using 177Lu-DOTATATE in Advanced Neuroendocrine Tumors (NETs) in a Limited-Resource Environment
Full text linkBackground This study was conducted to evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) using 177Lu-DOTA0-Tyr3-octreotate (DOTATATE) in patients with neuroendocrine tumors (NETs).
Methods Sixteen patients with pathologically verified NETs including eight females and eight males were enrolled in this study. Before PRRT, the patients underwent 68Ga-DOTATATE positron emission tomography/computed tomography or 99mTc-octreotide scintigraphy for evaluation of somatostatin receptor expression. Response to treatment was assessed according to the Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumors (RECIST) classified as complete response (CR), partial response (PR), stable disease (SD), and progressive disease (PD). In addition, for evaluation of toxicity, monthly blood analysis was performed including hematology, renal function (creatinine) test, and liver function test. The Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) status performance was applied to estimate the patients' general condition in a scale of 0 (fully active) to 5 (dead). In addition, overall survival (OS) was calculated as the time interval from the start of PRRT to death from any reason.
Results Sixteen patients including eight females and eight males with a median age of 60.5 years (range: 24–74) were enrolled in this study. The patients underwent PRRT with a median cycle of 3.5 (range: 1–7) and a median dose of 20.35 (range: 7.4–49.95 GBq). At the end of data collection, PR, CR, SD, and PD were seen in 11, 2, 1, and 2 patients according to the RECIST, respectively. Three patients expired during or after the PRRT period. The median ECOG and Karnofsky Performance Scale was 1.5 and 75 before PRRT, which improved significantly to 1 and 80 after PRRT, respectively (p < 0.05). According to the Kaplan–Meier test, the median OS was 23 months (95% confidence interval: 7.90–38.09). According to the National Cancer Institute's Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, three patients showed grade I and three patients showed grade II leucopenia. Furthermore, three and seven patients had grade II and grade I anemia, respectively.
Conclusion Since PRRT using 177Lu-DOTATATE has a favorable response rate and few adverse effects and improves the quality of life in NETs, it can be used as an effective therapeutic option, especially in nonoperative, metastatic, and progressive NETs
Artificial intelligence-based PET image acquisition and reconstruction
No full textThis review aims to investigate the available evidence of PET image reconstruction using conventional and AI-based approaches.
Materials and methods
The electronic literature search was conducted in the PubMed and Scopus database for English articles published up to November 30, 2021.
Results
Positron emission tomography (PET) is a nuclear imaging modality that uses radioactive material to measure metabolic activity. An influencing and important factor for PET images is the image reconstruction algorithm. Image reconstruction approaches use the raw data to produce an accurate and meaningful activity distribution. In recent years, many efforts have been done to produce high-quality PET images by using analytical reconstruction algorithms, the combination of computed tomography (CT) or multimodal Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and AI-based architecture. In this paper, we first review the conventional and AI-based PET image reconstruction approaches. Next, some criteria for assessment of the quality of PET images are introduced. Finally, different AI-based PET image reconstruction approaches are compared.
Conclusion
If the training dataset is too small or not representative, the resulting model will be compromised. Based on the obtained results of research about PET image reconstruction, using big and more representative datasets, the AI-based approaches can go beyond conventional PET image reconstruction algorithms. But the main problem of AI-based algorithms is that clinical validation and adoption of these tools face many challenges. Also, the acquisition of a task-based dataset can be promising for improving the performance of AI-based PET image reconstruction
Molecular evaluation of hepatitis B virus infection and predominant mutations of pre-core, basal core promoter and S regions in an Iranian population with type 2 diabetes mellitus: a case–control study
Full text linkThis study was designed to evaluate the prevalence, genotypic patterns, and predominant mutations of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection among diabetic patients.
Methods
Serum samples were obtained from 733 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and 782 non-diabetic controls. The presence of HBsAg and HBcAb was determined by ELISA. Nested PCR, targeting S and pre-core regions of the HBV genome, followed by sequencing was carried out to determine HBV genotypes and predominant mutations in the S, basal core promoter (BCP), and pre-core regions of the HBV genome.
Results
Of 733 diabetic patients, 94 cases (12.82%) were positive for HBcAb, 28 cases (3.82%) were positive for HBsAg, and 19 cases (2.59%) had HBV-DNA with genotype D, sub-genotype D1/D3 and subtype ayw2. An occult HBV infection was found in one of the HBV DNA-positive samples, which was positive for HBcAb but negative for HBsAg. P120T/G145R, G1896A/G1899A, and A1762T/G1764T were the most frequent point substitution mutations detected in the S, pre-core, and BCP regions of the HBV genome, respectively. P120T and G145R mutations were associated with low levels or undetectable levels of HBsAg in serum. Therefore, routine tests based on HBsAg detection cannot detect HBsAg-negative infected patients.
Conclusions
Relatively high prevalence of HBV infection was found in diabetic patients, while all of the HBV-infected patients were unaware of their infection. Therefore, screening for HBV infection should be included in the management program of diabetes for timely diagnosis and treatment of infected but asymptomatic patients
The potential of marine-based gold nanomaterials in cancer therapy: a mini-review
No full textCancer is still one of the most common causes of death today despite advances in its detection and treatment. The present article reviews the application of marine-based gold nanoparticles in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The main data were collected from original research articles on the application of different marine-based gold nanoparticles in detecting and imaging cancer cells as well as in drug delivery systems and treatment of cancer. The results show the excellent anticancer potential of both gold nanoparticles and natural marine products. The most studied marine-based gold nanomaterial was chitosan-based ones, in which the role of chitosan is a stabilizer not an anticancer agent. Despite the excellent anticancer potential of different marine natural products, limited studies have been conducted using gold nanoparticles in their composition in cancer therapy. Moreover, most of these studies are related to their application as a drug delivery system not an anticancer drug. Although there are serious challenges in the application of nanoparticles in medicine, marine-based gold nanomaterials may promise an interesting novel strategy in the oncology field
Date seed activated carbon decorated with CaO and Fe3O4 nanoparticles as a reusable sorbent for removal of formaldehyde
No full textActivated carbon (AC) was produced from date seeds by a calcination process at 700 °C for 2 h and then its surface was improved with CaO and magnetic nanoparticles. AC/CaO/Fe3O4 nanocomposite was then employed to remove formaldehyde ions from aqueous media. The structural characteristics of the materials were completely studied through FT-IR, XRD, SEM, EDX, Map, VSM, BET and TEM analyses. The results showed that the nanocomposite has a mesoporous structure (average pore diameter∼13 nm) with great sorption capability. Also, the utmost removal efficiency of formaldehyde using AC, AC/Fe3O4, CaO/Fe3O4 and AC/Fe3O4/CaO nanocomposite was 94.73, 95.67, 95.14 and 98.22%, respectively, indicating that the removal efficiency increases by improving the surface properties of the AC. Moreover, the uptake of formaldehyde using AC/Fe3O4/CaO nanocomposite follows the Freundlich isotherm and pseudo-2nd-order kinetic models. Furthermore, the highest sorption capacity of AC, AC/Fe3O4, CaO/Fe3O4 and AC/Fe3O4/CaO nanocomposite using the Langmuir model was obtained 19.86, 24.21, 21.28 and 24.01 mg/g, respectively. The thermodynamic study showed that formaldehyde sorption using all four adsorbents is exothermic and spontaneous. The reusability of the adsorbents was also evaluated after ten reuse cycles and the outcomes indicated that these four adsorbents have significant reusability. Moreover, the impact of interfering ions (e.g., carbonate, sulfate, phosphate, nitrate and chloride) showed that all of these compounds, except nitrate, had little competition with formaldehyde ions for adsorption on the nanocomposite surface