Thrombin Activatable Fibrinolysis inhibitor Thr 325 Ile polymorphism in fetuses with factor XIII deficient family history and Intracranial hemorrhage

Background: Factor XIII Deficiency (FXIIID) is an inherited rare bleeding disorder with some life threatening clinical manifestation including Intracranial Haemorrhage (ICH). Among all polymorphisms found in FXIIID, Thrombin Activatable Fibrinolysis Inhibitor (TAFI) Thr325Ile gene polymorphism increases probability of ICH about 20 fold in patients with FXIII .So, in this study we aimed to evaluate TAFI Thr 325 Ile polymorphism in Chorionic villus samples (CVS) of fetuses with positive family history of FXIIID and ICH.Materials and Methods: This study was performed on chorionic villus of pregnant mothers ´ with positive history of FXIIID accompanied with ICH in first-degree relatives of their fetus. All parents of the fetuses were completed consent form for doing Prenatal diagnosis (PND). Chorionic villus DNA was extracted from each sample using the DNA extraction kit and PCR-RFLP was performed for TAFI Thr 325Ile polymorphism in Exon 4 of FXIII A gene.Results: All of 8 fetuses had positive family history of FXIIID. Seven out of eight fetuses (87.5%) had a family member with CNS bleeding due to FXIIID. Four fetuses had history of death due to FXIIID. There were 5 case (62.5%) that were homozygote for TAFI Thr 325 Ile, one (12.5%) was heterozygote and two (25%) were non mutant. Conclusion: Detection of TAFI Thr 325 Ile polymorphism by PND program in fetuses with positive family history of ICH is seems necessary and it will help to fill many gaps in preventing life threatening features of FXIIID in newborn at the time of delivery by prophilaxy receiving and precautionary measures

Investigating the Relationship between the Cultural System of Society and Presence of Citizens in Urban Space (Case study: Pedestrian Path on Farrokhi Street of Yazd, Iran)

Culture and cultural values ​​are a community, the identity and spirit of a city. Culture as a decisive factor in behavior is always in the realm of society, because it is shown in a set of beliefs, traditions, and behavioral patterns. Planning for the development of hiking culture is not an issue that will soon come to an end, but any decision taken in this matter will be tangible in the next 10 years. In this paper, the cultural criteria of the community have been studied. A questionnaire was used to collect the research data. The questionnaire items were based on the criteria of the cultural system. The research community in this research was 239,000 people. The sample size was selected randomly and using Cochran model 383 people were selected to complete the questionnaire. The SPSS software was used to study the relationship between society culture and the presence of citizens in pedestrian path. The results showed that there is a significant relationship between these two variables of culture and the presence of citizens

Association between Maternal Anaemia and Postpartum Depression in an Urban Sample of Pregnant Women in Iran

The aim of this prospective study was to determine the relationship between anaemia during pregnancy and postpartum depression. Two hundred eighty-one non-anaemic mothers with singleton and low-risk pregnancy and no history of antidepressant-use were studied. Demographic and reproductive data at week 20 were obtained. Mothers were followed up and haemoglobin (Hb) was checked at delivery. Iranian version of Edinburgh Postpartum Depression Scale (EPDS) was completed 4-6 weeks after delivery. Mean age of the mothers was 26.6\ub14 years. The prevalence of postpartum depression according to EPDS was 5.5%. Binary logistic regression analysis showed that Hb <11 g/dL at delivery would increase the chance of postpartum depression (OR 4.64; 95% CI 1.33-16.08). The results show that diagnosis and treatment of physiologic factors, especially anaemia, would reduce the risk of postpartum depression

Serum Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) levels in patients with alpha thalassemia

 Background: Alpha-thalassemia syndrome includes a group of hereditary anemia in which expression of alpha globin chains is decreased or absent. Impaired RBC in patients with thalassemia causes vessel involvement and endothelial cell vessel disturbance. Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) is the most important regulator for endothelial cell proliferation. So, the aim of this study is to compare the serum VEGF levels in patients with alpha thalassemia and normal control group.Materials and Methods: This case-control study was conducted on 17 patients with alpha thalassemia and 40 healthy people. Serum VEGF levels were measured by enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA) kit. Then statistical analysis of results were performed using SPSS 16, value of P <0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: Mean serum VEGF levels in case and control groups were 2294.19±1552.39 and 598.09±988.17pg/ml, respectively. Serum VEGF levels were higher in patients with alpha thalassemia (P <0.01). There was no significant correlation between serum VEGF levels and Hemoglobin. (P= 0.73).Conclusion: Our study revealed that patients with alpha thalassemia have elevated levels of serum VEGF than normal control group. Further studies with larger sample size are recommended to confirm these observations

Protective Effect of Fish Oil Supplementation on DNA Damage Induced by Cigarette Smoking

The study examined the influence of fish oil (FO) supplementation on serum 8-hydroxy-2\u2019-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) levels as indicated by DNA damage markers and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) among male cigarette smokers. This double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized study was conducted among healthy cigarette smokers (n=40) who were part of a larger prospective cohort study. Twenty smokers were randomly selected to receive FO for 3 months (1 g/day), and another 20 smokers received a placebo for 3 months; 8-OHdG and TAC levels were measured in blood samples before and after the intervention. Serum 8-OHdG significantly decreased (p=0.001) and TAC increased (p<0.001) after 3 months of treatment with FO. Between baseline and endline, the difference in 8-OHdG significantly correlated with the difference in TAC among smokers who received FO (r=-0.540, p=0.014). The study provides evidence that FO supplementation can modify decreased antioxidants and increased oxidative DNA damage in cigarette smokers

Associations of Environmental Factors and Prevalence of Vitamin D Deficiency in Iran

Introduction: Vitamin D deficiency is a major health problem, which is unexpectedly prevalent in Iran. The ultraviolet (UV) rays of the sun are considered to be the foremost source of vitamin D in humans. In contrast, several environmental factors could decrease UV transmission to the earth, thereby reducing vitamin D absorption. Considering that the key role of environmental factors in vitamin deficiency has been neglected, the present study aimed to investigate the associations between environmental factors (e.g., geographical and air pollution parameters) with the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in Iran. Methods: The duration of the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency were extracted from the previous studies conducted in different cities in Iran, where vitamin D deficiency was reported. Afterwards, the environmental factors that were reported to affect sunlight transmission through the atmosphere were collected based on the place and time of vitamin D deficiency as mentioned in the reviewed studies via different geographic databases. The associations between the environmental factors and prevalence of vitamin D deficiency were determined. In total, 35 studies were reviewed completely. Results: The results indicated significant correlations between the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and some environmental factors (e.g., cloudy and clear days). However, no significant association was observed between vitamin D deficiency and other environmental factors, such as geographical parameters (e.g., sunshine, longitude, latitude, elevation, humidity, and temperature) and air pollution (e.g., number of days with dust and visibility of ≤2 km). Conclusion: According to the results, there were significant associations between the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency andenvironmental factors, such as cloudy and clear days. Therefore, adequate exposure to sunlight for the absorption of vitamin D is strongly recommended

Levels of Blood Biomarkers among Patients with Myocardial Infarction in Comparison to Control Group

BACKGROUND: Myocardial infarction (MI) as a term for a heart attack happens due to reduced blood flow to heart myocardium and lack of oxygen supply caused by plaques inthe interior walls of coronary arteries. With respect to the importance of MI etiology, we aimed to study the relationship of MI and blood examination variables.METHODS: This study was conducted in Mazandaran Heart Center as a hospital-based case-control Comprising 894 participants including 465 cases and 429 controls, individually matched by sex and age. Considered blood markers were analyzed using routine laboratory methods and equipment.RESULTS: Of all participants, 64.3% of the cases and 51.0% of the controls were males with a mean age of 61.2 (±13.8) in cases and 62.4 (±14.) in controls. We could not find any differences between cases and controls for total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and alkaline-phosphatase (ALP) (P>0.05). However, levels of creatine-kinase-muscle/brain (CK-MB) (P<0.0001), fasting-blood-sugar (FBS) (P<0.0001), aspartateaminotransferase (AST) (P<0.0001), alanine-transferase (ALT) (P<0.0001) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) (P=0.001) were significantly higher in cases compared to the controls (P<0.05). Multivariable analyses revealed that the risk of MI was associated with high levels of AST (adjusted OR=24.3, 95%CI=3.5±165.6, P=0.001) and LDL (adjusted OR=7.4, 95%CI=1.0±51.8, P=0.001).CONCLUSION: Our investigation indicated that the levels of CK-MB, FBS, AST, ALT and ESR were significantly higher in patients with MI. Besides, our findings showed that the risk of MI in cases with high levels of AST and LDL was about 24 and 7 times more than the control group respectively

Nanocomposite scaffolds for accelerating chronic wound healing by enhancing angiogenesis

Skin is the body�s first barrier against external pathogens that maintains the homeostasis of the body. Any serious damage to the skin could have an impact on human health and quality of life. Tissue engineering aims to improve the quality of damaged tissue regeneration. One of the most effective treatments for skin tissue regeneration is to improve angiogenesis during the healing period. Over the last decade, there has been an impressive growth of new potential applications for nanobiomaterials in tissue engineering. Various approaches have been developed to improve the rate and quality of the healing process using angiogenic nanomaterials. In this review, we focused on molecular mechanisms and key factors in angiogenesis, the role of nanobiomaterials in angiogenesis, and scaffold-based tissue engineering approaches for accelerated wound healing based on improved angiogenesis.Figure not available: see fulltext

Nanocomposite scaffolds for accelerating chronic wound healing by enhancing angiogenesis

Skin is the body�s first barrier against external pathogens that maintains the homeostasis of the body. Any serious damage to the skin could have an impact on human health and quality of life. Tissue engineering aims to improve the quality of damaged tissue regeneration. One of the most effective treatments for skin tissue regeneration is to improve angiogenesis during the healing period. Over the last decade, there has been an impressive growth of new potential applications for nanobiomaterials in tissue engineering. Various approaches have been developed to improve the rate and quality of the healing process using angiogenic nanomaterials. In this review, we focused on molecular mechanisms and key factors in angiogenesis, the role of nanobiomaterials in angiogenesis, and scaffold-based tissue engineering approaches for accelerated wound healing based on improved angiogenesis.Figure not available: see fulltext