Quercetin and cancer: New insights into its therapeutic effects on ovarian cancer cells

Ovarian cancer is known as a serious malignancy that affects women's reproductive tract and can considerably threat their health. A wide range of molecular mechanisms and genetic modifications have been involved in ovarian cancer pathogenesis making it difficult to develop effective therapeutic platforms. Hence, discovery and developing new therapeutic approaches are required. Medicinal plants, as a new source of drugs, could potentially be used alone or in combination with other medicines in the treatment of various cancers such as ovarian cancer. Among various natural compounds, quercetin has shown great anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties. In vitro and in vivo experiments have revealed that quercetin possesses a cytotoxic impact on ovarian cancer cells. Despite obtaining good results both in vitro and in vivo, few clinical studies have assessed the anti-cancer effects of quercetin particularly in the ovarian cancer. Therefore, it seems that further clinical studies may introduce quercetin as therapeutic agent alone or in combination with other chemotherapy drugs to the clinical setting. Here, we not only summarize the anti-cancer effects of quercetin but also highlight the therapeutic effects of quercetin in the ovarian cancer. © 2020 The Author(s)

Rationalising the role of Keratin 9 as a biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease

Keratin 9 was recently identified as an important component of a biomarker panel which demonstrated a high diagnostic accuracy (87%) for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Understanding how a protein which is predominantly expressed in palmoplantar epidermis is implicated in AD may shed new light on the mechanisms underlying the disease. Here we use immunoassays to examine blood plasma expression patterns of Keratin 9 and its relationship to other AD-associated proteins. We correlate this with the use of an in silico analysis tool VisANT to elucidate possible pathways through which the involvement of Keratin 9 may take place. We identify possible links with Dickkopf-1, a negative regulator of the wnt pathway, and propose that the abnormal expression of Keratin 9 in AD blood and cerebrospinal fluid may be a result of blood brain barrier dysregulation and disruption of the ubiquitin proteasome system. Our findings suggest that dysregulated Keratin 9 expression is a consequence of AD pathology but, as it interacts with a broad range of proteins, it may have other, as yet uncharacterized, downstream effects which could contribute to AD onset and progression

Genetic diversity of Persian ecotypes of Indian walnut (Aeluropus littoralis (Gouan) Pari.) by AFLP and ISSR markers

Indian walnut Aeluropus littoralis (Gouan) Pari, well known for its salt tolerance and forage quality, is a perennial monocot grass from Chlorideae tribe that shows a high potential to become an important genetic model. Although, Aeluropus germplasm is very rich in Iran; but is still unexplored. In this study, 20 ecotypes of A. littoralis were gathered from different geographic zones and a set 16 primers (ISSRs-AFLPs combined) was used for genetic diversity evaluation. A total of 635 fragments and 594 polymorphic fragments were produced (93.5%) and modest levels of genetic similarity were found (ranging from 0.38 to 0.71) among ecotypes. The results showed an equal competition between the two markers on polymorphism detection, so both molecular techniques were able to distinguish the A. littoralis ecotypes. Furthermore, Dendrogram based on both the Bayesian and PCoA analysis showed a clear discrimination and significant variation among ecotypes; however, molecular clustering indicated a weak concordance with geographical grouping. The amount of molecular diversity revealed by molecular markers for A. littoralis in this study can be exploited for pasture conservation programs and new forage crop development

Pollen morphology of Amygdalus L. [Rosaceae] in Iran

Pollen grain of 16 species and three hybrids of the genus Amygdalus L., representing two subgenera and two sections distributed in Iran were examined by light and scanning electron microscopy. All pollen grains are tricolporate. The shape of grains varies from subprolate through prolate. Regarding outline, in polar view, pollen grains are triangular-circular and in equatorial view, elliptic. Regarding sculpturing of exine, the frequent type like many members of family Rosaceae is striate with or without perforations that can be subdivided into three subtypes: type I (A-B), type II (A-B) and type V. In three species, A. trichamygdalus, A. spinosissima and A. orientalis, exine sculpture type is completely different. In the first species is rugulate, in the second species is reticulate and in A. orientalis, it is gemmate-perforate. Ornamentation of ridges (muri) in the striate sculpture is parallel to ectocolpus. Number of perforations in tectum, diameter of them, striae intervals and the thickness of ridges varies among studied taxa. The striae have different depth and slope. Results showed that among pollen grain characters, shape is useful character solely for separating of taxonomic ranks in Iranian Amygdalus specially in subgeneric or section level

Determining the Relationship between Dental Caries and Periodontal Disease on the Panoramic Radiographies

Introduction: Dental caries and periodontal disease are probably the most common oral chronic diseases in worldwide, and their prevalence is progressively increasing from day to day. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the relationship between caries and periodontal disease. Methods: In this cross sectional study, 237 panoramic radiographies of patients aged 10 to 65 years (110males and 127 females) were selected utilizing convenience sampling. In order to measure the variables, a graduate caliper with 0/2 mm accuracy and Negatoscope with optimum light were used. Moreover, in order to diagnose the caries and minimize the errors, “calibration” method was selected. Results: There was no significant relationship between crown caries and mean of alveolar bone loss. (p=0/19). As the age increased in patients, the mean of alveolar bone loss also increased and a significant association was detected between the severity of caries, alveolar bone loss and male gender. Conclusion: Generally, no relationship was observed between dental caries and periodontal disease in this study

Evaluation of P21 waf expression and CDKN1A exon 2 mutation in salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma

Objective: The P21waf is a tumor-suppressor protein encoded by CDKN1A gene. In this study, we evaluated P21waf expression and CDKN1A exon 2 mutation and their relationships with clinicopathological parameters and cancer development in salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC). Patients and Methods: Forty paraffin blocks from patients with salivary ACC were collected. Immunohistochemical staining was performed using P21 antibody. Genomic DNAs were extracted from the deparaffinized sections of the embedded tissue. Exon 2 of CDKN1A gene was amplified by PCR and the PCR products were sequenced. Spearman’s correlation coefficient, Fisher’s exact test, and Kruskal-Wallis test were used for data analysis. Results: A significant inverse correlation was observed between P21 expression and histologic grade (p=0.033, r=-0.338). The correlation of tumor size with recurrence (p=0.048) and tumor stage (p=0.046) was also evidenced. No mutation was detected in the exon 2 of CDKN1A gene. Conclusions: Regarding the association of P21 expression and histologic grade as a major prognostic indicator of ACC, P21 may be a useful prognostic indicator in ACC. On the other hand, CDKN1A exon 2 mutation seems inapplicable as a risk factor for ACC development

Grain Yield Stability of Bread Wheat Cultivars under Irrigation in Cold and Temperate Climatic Conditions of Iran

In order to study yield stability of bread wheat cultivars including Alvand, Alamout, Zarrin, Navid, Azar 2, Sabalan, Omid and Bezostiya under irrigation an experiment was conducted in RCBD for three cropping seasons (2007-2010) at six locations. Simple and combined analysis of variances for three years, each location and also combined analysis of variances for 3 years and 6 locations were implemented. Lin and Binns parameter, environmental coefficient of variations and rank method were used for determination of stable cultivars. Results of combined ANOVA (three years x six locations) showed that interaction effect of year x location x genotype was significant. The highest grain yield belonged to the Alvand cultivar  with 3.74 tha -1. Results of stability analysis with Lin and Binns method also showed that Zarrin cultivar had the lowest within location variance for grain yield and lowest environmental coefficient of variations was belonged to cultivars Zarrin and Sabalan. The results of rank method showed that cultivars Alvand and Sabalan had the lowest rankingand cultivars Sabalan and Bezostiya had the lowest SDR among the experimental cultivars. It can be concluded that Zarrin and Sabalan cultivars had the highest yield stability and thus it can be recommended for locations in which it was studied