The effects of high-intensity interval training on the expression of interleukin-10 and STAT3 genes in the intestinal tissue of rats affected by hepatic steatosis

Hepatic steatosis is increasingly being recognized as an important pathological feature of disease that commonly reported in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. This study aimed to investigate the effects of High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) on the expression of interleukin-10 and Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) genes in intestinal tissue in an animal model of fatty liver. In this experimental study, 24 rats (weighing 200-250 gr) were selected and randomly divided into 3 groups including healthy control, fatty liver, and fatty liver + HIIT, groups. In order to induce fatty liver, oral tetracycline 140 mg/kg/day in 2 mL of water in form of a solution was given to the rats by gavage for 7 days. HIIT exercise program performed on treadmill five sessions per week for 5 weeks. Data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA and Tukey post hoc tests. P<0.05 was considered significant. The results showed that IL10 gene expression in HIIT groups was significantly lower than in the fatty liver group (p<0.0001). Also, the expression of the STAT3 gene in intestinal tissue was significantly upper in HIIT groups than that in the fatty liver group (p<0.0001). Regulation of IL-10 and STAT3 gene expression in fatty liver-induced adipose tissue can be modulated by HIIT exercise. Therefore, intense interval training can be considered as a non-pharmacological strategy in the treatment of fatty liver

Response of liver antioxidant defense system to acute and chronic physical and psychological stresses in male rats

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of acute and chronic physical and psychological stressors on the induction of oxidative stress in male rat liver. Male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 3 groups as following: control, physical and psychological stress groups. Stress was induced by communication box for one (acute), fifteen and thirty (chronic) days. Once stressor periods ended, rats were anesthetized and their liver dissected out for later assessments. Exposure to physical stress enhanced liver superoxide dismutase (SOD) (19.44 %) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) (21.84 %) activities and decreased glutathione (GSH) (30.03 %) level on the 1st day (p<0.05). SOD (24.13 and 18.43 %) and GST (27.77 and 21.27 %) activities were significantly increased, while catalase activity (29.74 and 24.41 %) and GSH level (35.05 and 31.05 %) were decreased in psychological stress group after 1 and 15 days (p<0.01 and p<0.05) compared to the 1st day value in control group, respectively. Psychological stress induced an increase in liver malondialdehyde (MDA) (46 %) and plasma corticosterone (36 %) levels on the 1st day (p<0.05). However, all parameters returned to their basal value after 30 days of stress. The results suggest that exposure to acute physical and psychological stressors induce the production of reactive oxygen species and oxidative stress in rat liver due to GSH depletion and the decreased catalase activity. The elevation of lipid peroxidation and corticosterone level in acute psychological stress may lead to more profound oxidative damage than acute physical stress. Moreover, cell protection in hepatic tissue of chronically stressed rats is indicative of possible late adaptation of the animals to stress

A potential protective mechanism of high-intensity interval training against tetracycline-induced hepatic steatosis and testicular apoptosis in male Wistar rat: A crosstalk between the liver and testis

The presence of tetracycline in animal products has toxic and destructive effects on body tissues. In this study we investigate the potential protective mechanism of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) against tetracycline-induced hepatic steatosis (HS) and testicular apoptosis in male Wistar rat. In this study, forty-eight male Wistar rats (8-week, 220±10 gram) were randomly divaded into six groups of primary control (pre week one), primary HS (tetracycline-induced HS), secondary control (after week five), secondary HS, (5) HIIT, and HS+HIIT (after week five). Tetracycline was administered to rats 140 mg / kg for 7 days by gavage. HIIT was performed on rodent treadmill 5 days/week for 5 weeks.  Oral exposure of tetracycline for 7 days caused severe testis damage as indicated by significant alterations in histomorphological, apoptosis, increase Bax, P53 and decease Bcl2 (gene and protein, p=0.001) compared to primary control. But the changes of PARP1 were not significant (p>0.05). However, HIIT and HS+HIIT groups significantly increased spermatogonium counts, spermatocyte cell counts & spermatid cell counts (p=0.001 for all) in line with Bcl-2 and PARP1 (gene and protein, p=0.001) and decreasing apoptotic cells, Bax and p53 compared with secondary HS group (p=0.001). This research provides the first evidence that the beneficial anti-apoptosis effects of HIIT on testis of rats poisoned with tetracycline. This beneficial effect of HIIT on hepatic steatosis and testicular damage and toxicity due to tetracycline might be mediated by inhibiting P53-induced BAX upregulation and preventing apoptosis-mediated degradation of PARP-1

Toll-like receptor 4 activation in skeletal muscle of diet-induced obese rats

Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is found in the membrane of skeletal muscle cells. A variety of factors can activate TLR4. It has been shown that TLR4 expression reduce after aerobic training, but more studies considering the influences of different types of training on TLR4 expression are necessary. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of 8 weeks of aerobic training on muscle TLR4 Expression in rats. Twenty Male Wistar rats (200±20 g) divided into four groups: control, training, high fat diet (HFD) and HFD+exerise. High fat diet was made by adding 10% animal oil, 2% cholesterol and 0.5% colic acid to standard rodent chow. Training group performed a swimming training protocol (1 h/day, and 5 days/week for 8 weeks). Forty eight hours after the final session of training, the rats were sacrificed and their gastrocnemius muscle was removed for determination of TLR4 expression. Training significantly decreased TLR4 messenger RNA and protein expression (p<0.05). Levels of TLR4 expression in the HFD group was significantly (p<0.05) higher tahn control ones. Our result displayed that training in rats induceed a critical suppression in the TLR4 signaling in muscle. These data give noticeable progress in our knowledge of the events that link physical training to an improvement in inflammation

Is exercise a medicine or a vaccine adjuvant? A Look at Obesity and Covid-19

Dear Editor-in-ChiefIn recent years, exercise has been called an ‘amazing’ medicine and a ‘miracle’ cure. Scientific research shows that regular exercise is effective in preventing and treating many common diseases, including type 2 diabetes, dementia, depression, heart disease, some cancers, and other common diseases (Fang et al., 2022). In fact, exercise in a specific dose and formula is prescribed for each patient who is diagnosed with the disease. The prescription should be very clear in terms of modality, intensity, frequency, and duration.In this regard, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) has launched the "Exercise is Medicine" project to recognize the myriad health benefits of exercise. These include reducing the incidence of a number of different cancers, lowering the risk of excessive weight gain (along with related health problems as well as diabetes), and improving cardiovascular health (as well as reducing the risk of high blood pressure in addition to heart stroke) (Ghardashi-Afousi et al., 2018).The acute effect of exercise has been shown to lead to a transient decrease in triglyceride levels, an increase in HDL cholesterol levels, a decrease in blood pressure, a decrease in insulin resistance, and an improvement in glucose control. Regular exercise increases blood flow and oxygen to the brain which improves memory and mental function. It also increases the production of a number of hormones that stimulate the growth of brain cells (Ueno-Pardi et al., 2022).In addition, some literature describes exercise even better than medicine. For example, a review of more than 300 randomized controlled trials found that exercise was as effective as drugs at risk for heart disease and diabetes, and more effective than post-stroke rehabilitation drugs (Naci & Ioannidis, 2013).It has previously been suggested that vaccinating children with exercise can control the obesity epidemic in them. Recently, in the coronavirus outbreak, exercise has been referred to as a vaccine or vaccine adjuvant (Naci & Ioannidis, 2013). A recent study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM) suggests that routine activities may protect people with COVID-19 from serious illness.Evidence suggests that exercise and obesity are involved in the pathogenesis of COVID-19 disease and vaccine efficacy. Regular exercise has been shown to exert immune regulatory effects, control viral gateway, modulate inflammation, stimulate NO production pathways, and control oxidative stress. Adaptation to ordinary exercise seems to affect immune function, particularly innate and adaptive immunity, and ameliorate humoral immunity with enhanced vaccination responses. Exercise may at least partially reduce the detrimental effect of SARS-CoV-2 binding to the ECA2 receptor. Exercise training can activate anti-inflammatory signaling pathways (Shirvani & Rostamkhani, 2020). Today, COVID-19 vaccination has shown that individuals who exercise continuously and regularly may develop higher antibody titers to the SARS-CoV-2 strain contained in the vaccine compared to individuals who do not exercise (Hallam et al., 2022).On the other hand, understanding how obesity and adiposity affect immunity and more specifically the production and function of antibodies is of great importance (Malavazos et al., 2020). Numerous studies have shown the effect of obesity on antibody properties. For example, adaptive immune responses to influenza virus are impaired during obesity, innate and adaptive immune responses to influenza are delayed in obese patients, and obesity was suggested to decline influenza antibody titers following influenza vaccination and reduce vaccine efficacy with poor vaccine immunization. In the same manner, lower COVID-19 mRNA vaccine-induced antibody titers have been related to central obesity and severe acute respiratory syndrome (Ghanemi et al., 2021).     In general, recent research on the Covid-19 epidemic has shown that exercise is not only a wonderful medicine in the prevention and treatment of many diseases, but also regular exercise can act as an adjunct vaccine. Therefore, prescribing exercise will always help promote community health and is completely in line with the P4 medicine approach (predictive, preventative, personalized, and participatory)

Influence of high intensity interval training on adipose tissue PAI-2 and MMP-2 mRNAs expression in rat with high-fat diet-induced metabolic syndrome

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of high intensity interval training on adipose tissue PAI-2 and MMP-2 mRNAs expression in rat with high-fat diet-induced metabolic syndrome. In this experimental study, 32 male Wistar rats (120 to 130 g) were selected and after 12 weeks of high-fat diet and modeling of metabolic syndrome were randomly divided into 4 groups: control, metabolic syndrome (Mets), high intensity interval training (HIIT) and Mets + HIIT. The HIIT program included 5 to 10 intense running on the treadmill with an intensity of 80 to 95% of the maximum speed and in slow running with a speed of 55% of the maximum speed with a zero slope of the treadmill for 8 weeks. Data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results of one-way analysis of variance showed that there was a difference between the mean expression of MMP-2 and PAI-2 mRNA in adipose tissue of male rats with metabolic syndrome in different groups (P = 0.001). However, HIIT improve this gene after Mets in adipose tissue (p<0.05). It seems that HIIT program improve metabolic syndrome with controlling PAI-2 mRNA and have an anti-inflammatory effect in adipose tissue. However, it need to more studies especially on human sample

High intensity interval exercise alters muscle IL-18, FNDC5, and hepatic MMPs in animal model of steatosis: Evidence of skeletal muscle—liver crosstalk

Steatosis is a common disease worldwide. High intensity interval training (HIIT) may ameliorate steatosis, possibly through interactions between skeletal muscle and liver; however, mechanistic pathways are poorly understood. We aimed to determine potential mechanisms involved in skeletal muscle-liver crosstalk by measuring the gene expression of skeletal muscle interlukin-18 (IL-18) and fibronectin type III domain-containing protein 5 (FNDC5) and hepatic matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2) and 9 (MMP-9). Thirty-two adult male Wistar rats were randomly divided into four group including normal control (C), high intensity interval training (HIIT), hepatic steatosis+ HIIT (HS+HIIT) and sedentary hepatic steatosis (SHS). HIIT was performed 5 days per week for 5 weeks. Tetracycline (140 mg/kg) was administered by gavage for 7 days to induce NAFLD. We found that HIIT and HS+HIIT increased skeletal muscle expression of FNDC5 relative to SHS group but the increase was attenuated in HS+HIIT. SHS increased muscle IL-18 expression relative to HIIT, HS+HIIT, and C. Expression of hepatic MMP-2 and MMP-9 increased significantly in SHS in comparison with C. There was a significant increase in MMP-9 in HIIT compared with C. Moreover, hepatic MMP-9 expression decreased in both HIIT and SHS+HIIT relative to SHS. MMP-2 decreased significantly in HIIT compared with SHS. Furthermore, muscle IL-18 gene expression was significantly associated with gene expression of hepatic MMP-2 and MMP-9. We conclude that HIIT-induced alteration of skeletal muscle-derived myokines may alter the gene expression of hepatic matrix metalloproteinases, collagenases involved in pathogenesis of liver diseases. Furthermore, steatosis may possibly influence myokine profiles in skeletal muscle. Accordingly, skeletal muscle-liver crosstalk is possibly targeted by HIIT and steatosis in terms of therapeutic approach

Effect of continuous aerobic training and high-intensity interval training on some anthropometric indicators of overweight and obese military personnel

Overweight and obesity are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, hypertension and type 2 diabetes. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of two continuous aerobic training and high-intensity interval training on body weight, body mass index, waist to hip ratio, and body fat percentage in overweight and obese military people. In this quasi-experimental study, 30 overweight or obese military personnel stationed in a military center were divided into two equal groups of 15 subjects within continuous aerobic training group and high-intensity interval training group. The training protocol consisted of six weeks of continuous aerobic training and high intensity interval training performed every week for three sessions and each session for 60 minutes with equal intensity. The research variables included body weight, body mass index, waist to hip ratio and body fat percentage, which were measured in the same and standard conditions in two stages of pre-test and post-test. After 6 weeks of intervention, high-intensity interval training group showed a significant reduction in body mass index, waist-hip ratio and body fat percentage compared to the continuous aerobic training group(P<0.05). However, there was no significant change in the body weight of the subjects (P<0.05). The results of this study showed that the high-intensity interval training protocol had a greater effect on the body composition parameters of the subjects compared to the continuing aerobic exercise protocol, so it could be included in the training program for overweight or obese military persons

The Relationship between Temporomandibular Disorders (TMDs) and Overall Denture Conditions in Complete Denture Wearers

Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is any relationship between the condition of complete dentures and TMDs. Methods: The sample consisted of 61 consecutive patients (35 females and 26 males) who were admitted to the Department of Prosthodontics of Mashhad Faculty of Dentistry for fabrication of new complete dentures.  The age range of the participants was between 32 and 80 years, with the mean age of 57.05±10.26 years. The patients were examined by two prosthodontists. Using a questionnaire, the first prosthodontist asked the patients about their habits and history of trauma to the temporomandibular joints (TMJs). She then examined the participants for signs and symptoms of temporomandibular disorders (TMDs).  The second prosthodontist examined each participant's existing denture and checked its fit, stability, retention, occlusion, and centric relation, and recorded how long it had been in service. The examination was double blind. The data were recorded in examination sheets. Results: The relationship between TMDs and denture fit, stability, retention, centric relation and occlusion was analyzed using Fisher’s Exact Test. No significant relationship was found between denture characteristics and TMDs in complete denture wearers (P-value>0.05). Conclusion: Complete denture characteristics did not play a role in the development of TMDs in edentulous patients

Effectiveness of the PLISSIT-based Counseling on sexual function of women

AbstractBackground and aim:Sexual dysfunction is common among women. It affects on all aspects ofwomen's life. Majority of these problems can be treated in early stages with counseling and a fewnumbers of them need to be treated by specialists. The aim of this study was to assess theeffectiveness of PLISSIT-based counseling model on sexual function of women.Methods:This was a randomized clinical trial study. It was conducted in an urban health center inZanjan. Eighty women who were married in the previous 5 years, and had sexual problems,randomly assigned to control and experimental groups. The experimental group receivedconsultation based on PLISSIT model (Permission-limited Information-Specific Suggestion-Intensive Therapy) by a trained midwife and the control group received routine sexual consultation.Demographic and obstetric information were gathered through standard questionnaire. FSFI(Female Sexual Function Index) questionnaire were used for assessing sexual function. Data werecollected from participants at three points: before consultation, 2weeks and 4weeks afterconsultation. Mann-Whitney, T-tests and x2 used for data analysis.Results:Mean scores of sexual function were 25.3 before consultation, 28.8 two weeks after and29.4 four weeks after consultation in experimental group. These differences were statisticallysignificant (p&lt;0.001 and p&lt;0.001 respectively). In control group, mean scores of sexual functionwere 24.48, 24.44, 23.74 before, 2 weeks, 4 weeks after consultation respectively. These differenceswere not statistically significant (p=0.946 and p=0.375). There was no significant difference inmean score of sexual function between control and experimental groups before intervention(p=0.408). However 2 weeks and 4 weeks after the consultation this difference was significant(p&lt;0.001 and p&lt;0.001 respectively).Conclusion:Based on the result of this study, we can claim that sexual problem in womendecreased by using the PLISSIT model. 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