Exosomal lncRNAs in gastrointestinal cancer

Gastrointestinal cancer (GIC) remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Unfortunately, these cancers are diagnosed in advanced metastatic stages due to lack of reliable biomarkers that are sufficiently specific and sensitive in early disease. There has been growing evidence that circulating exosomes can be used to diagnose cancer non-invasively with limited risks and side effects. Furthermore, exosomal long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as a new class of promising biomarkers in cancer. This review provides an overview of the extraction and detection of exosomal lncRNAs with a focus on their potential role in GI

The Use of Cluster Analysis by Partitioning around Medoids (PAM) to Examine the Heterogeneity of Patients with Low Back Pain within Subgroups of The Treatment Based Classification System

Background: Current evidence in low back pain (LBP) focuses on population av-erages and traditional multivariate analyses to find the significant difference between variables. Such a focus actively obscured the heterogeneity and increased errors. Cluster analysis (CA) addresses the mentioned shortcomings by calculating the degree of similarity among the relevant variables of the different objects. Objective: This study aims to evaluate the agreement between the treatment-based classification (TBC) system and the equivalent 3 cluster typology created by partitioning around medoids (PAM) analysis. Material and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a convenient sample of 90 patients with low back pain (50 males and 40 females) aged 20 to 65 years was included in the study. The patients were selected based on the 21 criteria of 2007 TBC system. An equivalent 3 cluster typology (C3) was applied using PAM method. Co-hen’s Kappa was run to determine if there was agreement between the TBC system and the equivalent C3 typology. Results: PAM analysis revealed the evidence of clustering for a C3 cluster ty-pology with average Silhouette widths of 0.12. Cohen’s Kappa revealed fair agreement between the TBC system and C3 cluster typology (Percent of agreement 61%, Kappa=0.36, P<0.001). Selected criteria by PAM analysis were different with original TBC system. Conclusion: Higher probability of chance agreement was observed between two classification methods. Significant inhomogeneity was observed in subgroups of the 2007 TBC system

Prevalence of psychological disorders among health workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Repeated contact with patients with COVID-19 and working in quarantine conditions has made health workers vulnerable to psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal of the present systematic review and meta-analysis was to examine the prevalence of the various psychological distresses among health workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, EMBASE, and Cochrane databases were searched for access to papers examining psychological distress among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Risk of bias was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). Heterogeneity among the studies was examined using the Cochran's Q test; because heterogeneity was significant, the random effects model was used to examine the prevalence of psychological distress. Results: Overall, 12 studies with a total sample size of 5265 were eligible and included in the analysis. Prevalence rates of depression, anxiety, and PTSD were 20 (95 CI: 14-27), 23 (95 CI: 18-27), and 8 (95 CI: 6-9), respectively. The highest prevalence rates of depression and anxiety were related to the SDS and the GAD-7, respectively, and the lowest prevalence rates of the two aforementioned variables were related to the DASS-21. Conclusions: The high prevalence of psychological distress among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 epidemic can have negative effects on their health and the quality of services provided. Therefore, training coping strategies for psychological distress in this pandemic seems necessary

Investigating the Relationship between Exposure to Cadmium and the Risk of Pancreatic Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Exposure to cadmium is associated with the occurrence of pancreatic cancer. In a situation where the results of previous studies are not consistent, this study, using a systematic review and meta-analysis method investigated the relationship between exposure to cadmium and the risk of pancreatic cancer in order to provide an appropriate conclusion in this regard. Methods: By searching the ISI web of science, Cochrane, Science Direct, Scopus, PubMed and Google Scholar databases and using the keywords (Cadmium, Pancreatic Cancer) and their synonyms, 391 articles were retrieved and considering the inclusion and exclusion criteria, finally 8 articles were included in the present study. Data analysis was done using Stata 15 software. The significance level was considered 0.05. Findings: In this systematic review and meta-analysis study, it was observed that compared to the group without exposure/exposure to the lowest dose of cadmium, the risk of pancreatic cancer in people exposed/exposure to the highest dose of cadmium is equal to 1.62 (95 CI: 1.18-2.21; P ≤ 0.001), this relationship was statistically significant. According to the results of Egger's test (P = 0.100) and Begg's test (P = 0.076); in this study, publication bias was not observed. Conclusion: According to the results of this Review research, exposure to cadmium leads to a 62 increase in the risk of developing pancreatic cancer. Therefore, it can be said that exposure to cadmium is a risk factor for developing pancreatic cancer and health policies should be aimed at reducing exposure to Cadmium goes forward

The important role of miR-770 as a novel potential diagnostic and therapeutic target for human cancer and other diseases

MicroRNA-770 (miR-770) is an RNA gene, located on chromosome 14q32.2. It has important effects on the pathobiology of cancers and other human diseases. It is known to be a tumor suppressor in breast cancer, ovarian cancer, gastric cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, prostate cancer, and glioblastoma. In colorectal adenocarcinoma and oral squamous cell carcinoma, miR-770 is regarded as an oncogenic miRNA. In several disorders, miR-770 dysregulation has been recognized as a potential biomarker for disease diagnosis and prognosis. Dysregulation of miR-770 has also been demonstrated in non-malignant human disorders, including Alzheimer's disease, dilated cardiomyopathy, diabetic nephropathy, Hirschsprung's disease, osteoarthritis, silicosis, and type 2 diabetes mellitus. In the current review, we have obtained the miR-770 target genes, ontology, and related pathways. We have also provided a comprehensive review of miR-770 in both malignant and non-malignant disorders and explained its possible therapeutic implications

Differentiation of human primary testicular cells in the presence of SCF using the organoid culture system

Purpose: Development of organoids using human primary testicular cells has remained a challenge due to the complexity of the mammalian testicular cytoarchitecture and culture methods. In this study, we generated testicular organoids derived from human primary testicular cells. Then, we evaluated the effect of stem cell factor (SCF) on cell differentiation and apoptosis in the testicular organoid model. Methods: The testicular cells were harvested from the three brain-dead donors. Human spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) were characterized using immunocytochemistry (ICC), RT-PCR and flow cytometry. Testicular organoids were generated from primary testicular cells by hanging drop culture method and were cultured in three groups: control group, experimental group 1 (treated FSH and retinoic acid (RA)), and experimental group 2 (treated FSH, RA and SCF), for five weeks. We assessed the expression of SCP3 (Synaptonemal Complex Protein 3) as a meiotic gene, PRM2 (Protamine 2) as a post-meiotic marker and apoptotic genes of Bax (BCL2-Associated X Protein) and Bcl-2 (B-cell lymphoma 2), respectively by using RT-qPCR. In addition, we identified the expression of PRM2 by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Results: Relative expression of SCP3, PRM2 and Bcl-2 were highest in group 2 after five weeks of culture. In contrast, BAX expression level was lower in experimental group 2 in comparison with other groups. IHC analyses indicated the highest expression of PRM2 as a postmeiotic marker in group 2 in comparison to 2D culture and control groups but not find significant differences between experimental group 1 and experimental group 2 groups. Morphological evaluations revealed that organoids are compact spherical structures and in the peripheral region composed of uncharacterized elongated fibroblast-like cells. Conclusion: Our findings revealed that the testicular organoid culture system promote the spermatogonial stem cell (SSC) differentiation, especially in presence of SCF. Developed organoids are capable of recapitulating many important properties of a stem cell niche

The Effect of Folic Acid-Targeted Nanocarriers in Ultrasound Imaging-guided Sonodynamic Therapy of Human Cervical Carcinoma (HeLa): in vitro Study

Introduction: Theranostic nanocarriers can be used simultaneously for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. In this study, the effect of dotarem-and doxorubicin-loaded nanodroplet as a theranostic agent for ultrasound-guided and-controlled release drug delivery on HeLa cervical cancer cells was investigated. Materials and Methods: Folic acid-targeted nanodroplets consisting of dotarm (Gd-DOTA) and doxorubicin (DOX) with alginate shells were synthesized and characterized. In this study, HeLa and L929 cell lines were used as cancer and normal cells, respectively. Intracellular uptake of nanocarriers was evaluated using Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES). Doxorubicin release in response to ultrasound exposure and its effect on cancer treatment were investigated. Ultrasound imaging was performed to assess the ultrasound signal enhancement by nanodroplets. Results: The characterization results confirmed the successful synthesis of nanodroplets with desirable physicochemical properties. Cytotoxicity test showed that the synthesized nanodroplets had high biocompatibility for normal cells and induced more death in cancer cells (75.3 vs 62.1). This effect was enhanced under ultrasound exposure (51). The ICP-OES test showed that the uptake of Gd/DOX-loaded nanodroplets for sonicated cancer cells was approximately 1.5 times higher than that for non-sonicated cells after 12 h. The results showed that the ultrasound exposure significantly increased the doxorubicin release from nanodroplets (77.5 vs 2.1). Also, ultrasound imaging showed that perfluorohexane nanodroplets could enhance ultrasound signal intensity. Conclusion: According to the results, doxorubicin-and dotarem-loaded nanodroplets with proper diagnostic and therapeutic properties can be promising theranostic agents in ultrasound-guided and controlled drug delivery for sonodynamic therapy of cancer

The relationship between ultra processed food consumption and premature coronary artery disease: Iran premature coronary artery disease study (IPAD)

Background: Ultra-processed foods (UPF) consumption may affect the risk of PCAD through affecting cardio metabolic risk factors. This study aimed to evaluate the association between UPFs consumption and premature coronary artery disease (PCAD). Methods: A case–control study was conducted on 2,354 Iranian adults (≥ 19 years). Dietary intake was assessed using a validated 110-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and foods were classified based on the NOVA system, which groups all foods according to the nature, extent and purposes of the industrial processes they undergo. PCAD was defined as having an stenosis of at least single coronary artery equal and above 75% or left main coronary of equal or more than 50% in women less than 70 and men less than 60 years, determined by angiography. The odds of PCAD across the tertiles of UPFs consumption were assessed by binary logistic regression. Results: After adjustment for potential confounders, participants in the top tertile of UPFs were twice as likely to have PCAD compared with those in the bottom tertile (OR: 2.52; 95% CI: 1.97–3.23). Moreover, those in the highest tertile of the UPFs consumption had more than two times higher risk for having severe PCAD than those in the first tertile (OR: 2.64; 95% CI: 2.16–3.22). In addition, there was a significant upward trend in PCAD risk and PCAD severity as tertiles increased (P-trend < 0.001 for all models). Conclusion: Higher consumption of UPFs was related to increased risk of PCAD and higher chance of having severe PCAD in Iranian adults. Although, future cohort studies are needed to confirm the results of this study, these findings indicated the necessity of reducing UPFs intak

Which are best for successful aging prediction? Bagging, boosting, or simple machine learning algorithms?

Background: The worldwide society is currently facing an epidemiological shift due to the significant improvement in life expectancy and increase in the elderly population. This shift requires the public and scientific community to highlight successful aging (SA), as an indicator representing the quality of elderly people’s health. SA is a subjective, complex, and multidimensional concept; thus, its meaning or measuring is a difficult task. This study seeks to identify the most affecting factors on SA and fed them as input variables for constructing predictive models using machine learning (ML) algorithms. Methods: Data from 1465 adults aged ≥ 60 years who were referred to health centers in Abadan city (Iran) between 2021 and 2022 were collected by interview. First, binary logistic regression (BLR) was used to identify the main factors influencing SA. Second, eight ML algorithms, including adaptive boosting (AdaBoost), bootstrap aggregating (Bagging), eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XG-Boost), random forest (RF), J-48, multilayered perceptron (MLP), Naïve Bayes (NB), and support vector machine (SVM), were trained to predict SA. Finally, their performance was evaluated using metrics derived from the confusion matrix to determine the best model. Results: The experimental results showed that 44 factors had a meaningful relationship with SA as the output class. In total, the RF algorithm with sensitivity = 0.95 ± 0.01, specificity = 0.94 ± 0.01, accuracy = 0.94 ± 0.005, and F-score = 0.94 ± 0.003 yielded the best performance for predicting SA. Conclusions: Compared to other selected ML methods, the effectiveness of the RF as a bagging algorithm in predicting SA was significantly better. Our developed prediction models can provide, gerontologists, geriatric nursing, healthcare administrators, and policymakers with a reliable and responsive tool to improve elderly outcomes

Nano-immunotherapy: overcoming delivery challenge of immune checkpoint therapy

Immune checkpoint (ICP) molecules expressed on tumor cells can suppress immune responses against tumors. ICP therapy promotes anti-tumor immune responses by targeting inhibitory and stimulatory pathways of immune cells like T cells and dendritic cells (DC). The investigation into the combination therapies through novel immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) has been limited due to immune-related adverse events (irAEs), low response rate, and lack of optimal strategy for combinatorial cancer immunotherapy (IMT). Nanoparticles (NPs) have emerged as powerful tools to promote multidisciplinary cooperation. The feasibility and efficacy of targeted delivery of ICIs using NPs overcome the primary barrier, improve therapeutic efficacy, and provide a rationale for more clinical investigations. Likewise, NPs can conjugate or encapsulate ICIs, including antibodies, RNAs, and small molecule inhibitors. Therefore, combining the drug delivery system (DDS) with ICP therapy could provide a profitable immunotherapeutic strategy for cancer treatment. This article reviews the significant NPs with controlled DDS using current data from clinical and pre-clinical trials on mono- and combination IMT to overcome ICP therapeutic limitations