Epidemiological and Clinical Characteristics of Scorpion Stings in Ahwaz, Southwest Iran (2006-2010)

Background: Scorpion sting is a health problem in the world including tropical regions of Iran as in rural region of Khuzestan province. Therefore appropriate diagnosis and treatment has a special aspect. The aim of present study was to evaluation of demographic status and clinical aspect of scorpion sting patient due to better prevention and treatment and diagnosis.Methods: This survey done by analyzing medical records of patients suffered from scorpion sting, hospitalize in Razi hospital in Khuzestan province (southwest of Iran) among 2006-2010. Patient information have been extracted and inserted in the inquiry form and data were analyzed by SPSS software.Results: In the present study 1922 patients have been studied. Proportion of females stung by scorpion to male was 1.29 to 1. Place of sting were mostly trunk (693 cases =36.05%) and remains were on other part of body. About 419 persons (21.8 %) have come to hospital about 6-24 hours after being stung and 708 people (36.83 %) came there in less than 6 hours. Most sting (41.2 %) were at night time and other were at daylight. 1308 persons were stung by an unknown black and yellow scorpion and 614 cases (31.94%) by scorpion known as Hemiscorpius lepturus. 708 persons of patients (39.83%) have been suffered from hemoglobinoria , 709 persons (39.88%) were suffered from coagulation dysfunction. Totally 508 persons of patients (26.43%) received blood products. 36 of patients were died, of which 24 cases (1.24%) were female and 12 patients (0.62%) were male. most of patients (1842 cases  95.83%) were hospitalized 1-2 days.Conclusion: In this survey, Patients at the emergency units showed signs of local and systemic effects, 36 patients were died. We propose that public awareness and physician readiness combined with the availability of effective antivenom has potential value in reducing complications and lethality in scorpion envenomation

Decolorization of Reactive Black-5 High Concentration by Vermicompost Microflora and Detoxification of By-Products by UV-C/H2O2 Post-Treatment

The presence of synthetic dyes in textile wastewater is a problematic issue for environmentalist. Nowadays, dye removal is practiced via different methods. Among all these methods, biodecolorization is an ideal technique. The present research apples vermicompost microflora to remove reactive black-C, pH = 7, and under anaerobic condition. At 36h, removal efficiencies of 94.79%, 94.06%, and 93.6% are obtained for concentrations of 800, 850, and 950 mg/L, respectively. It has also been observed that when the initial concentration rises to 1400 mg/L, the efficiency drops to 51.57% at 36h. Also, methyl red, methyl orange, eriochrome black-t, and acid blue-113 could be decolorized by the isolated bacterial strain with an efficiency of 94.29%, 92.10%, 90.83%, and 88.95%, respectively. Phytotoxicity Test shows that the parent form of reactive black-5 has not been toxic for the seeds (100% germination for Triticum aestivum and 90% for Maize). When reactive black-5 is treated with isolated bacterial strain under anaerobic condition, none of the seeds remain germinated which might be due to the possible formation of toxic aromatic amines intermediates. Therefore, ultraviolet C + 100 mM H2O2 has been used as the post-treatment process for detoxifying of by-products. After the integrated treatment of synthetic wastewater, containing RB-5, complete germination (100%) of Triticum aestivum and Maize is observed. In the post-treatment process, due to the generation and activation of hydroxyl radicals, the toxic aromatic amines compounds convert to the less toxic compounds. Keywords:azo dyes; anaerobic removal; integrated treatment; phytotoxicity; hydroxyl radical

Fibroblast cell-based therapy prevents induction of alopecia areata in an experimental model

YesAlopecia areata (AA) is an autoimmune hair loss disease with infiltration of proinflammatory cells into hair follicles. Current therapeutic regimens are unsatisfactory mainly because of the potential for side effects and/or limited efficacy. Here we report that cultured, transduced fibroblasts, which express the immunomodulatory molecule indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO), can be applied to prevent hair loss in an experimental AA model. A single intraperitoneal (IP) injection of IDO-expressing primary dermal fibroblasts was given to C3H/HeJ mice at the time of AA induction. While 60–70% of mice that received either control fibroblasts or vehicle injections developed extensive AA, none of the IDO-expressing fibroblast-treated mice showed new hair loss up to 20 weeks post injection. IDO cell therapy significantly reduced infiltration of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells into hair follicles and resulted in decreased expression of TNF-α, IFN-γ and IL-17 in the skin. Skin draining lymph nodes of IDO fibroblast-treated mice were significantly smaller, with more CD4+ CD25+ FoxP3+ regulatory T cells and fewer Th17 cells than those of control fibroblast and vehicle-injected mice. These findings indicate that IP injected IDO-expressing dermal fibroblasts can control inflammation and thereby prevent AA hair loss.Canadian Institutes of Health Researches (Funding Reference Number: 134214 and 136945)

Comparison between the Effects of Hydroalcoholic Extract of Dill and Statins on Lipid Profile

Abstract: Background and Aims: A transient increase of blood concentration of lipids after meal is able to increase the risk of atherogenesis. This study aimed to determine the effects of Anethum graveolens L. (dill) consumption on atherosclerosis and hepatic risk factors. Methods: In an experimental study, 32 male New Zealand rabbits were randomly allocated to four groups to receive normal diet, a diet containing 1% cholesterol, a diet containing 1% cholesterol plus 200 mg/kg dill powder, and a diet containing 10 mg/kg lovastatin. Risk factors of atherosclerosis including glucose, total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), apolipoprotein B (ApoB), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), nitrite, nitrate, fibrinogen, and factor VII were measured and compared between different groups. Results: Consumption of dill caused a significant reduction in glucose compared to the hypercholesterolemic diet group. Dill powder significantly decreased LDL-C, TC, AST, ALT, and fibrinogen. No significant differences were found between dill group and hypercholesterolemic diet group in ApoB, factor VII, nitrite, and nitrate. Conclusion: According to our findings, postprandial consumption of dill may have beneficial effects on atherosclerosis and hepatic risk factors. Keywords: Anethum graveolens, Atherosclerosis, Dill, Lipid profil

Exosome-mediated delivery of functionally active miRNA-142-3p inhibitor reduces tumorigenicity of breast cancer in vitro and in vivo

Zahra Naseri,1 Reza Kazemi Oskuee,2 Mahmoud Reza Jaafari,3,4 Mehdi Forouzandeh Moghadam5 1Department of Medical Biotechnology, School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran; 2Neurogenic Inflammation Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran; 3Biotechnology Research Center, Pharmaceutical Technology Institute, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran; 4Department of Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology, School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran; 5Department of Medical Biotechnology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran Background: Exosomes, widely recognized natural nanovesicles, represent one of the recently discovered modes of intercellular communication due to their ability to transmit crucial cellular information that can be engineered to have robust delivery and targeting capacity. MiR-142-3p, one of the upregulated microRNAs (miRNAs) in many types of breast cancer, activates the canonical Wnt signaling pathway and transactivates the miR-150 expression, and results in the hyperproliferation of cancer cells in vitro and mammary glands in vivo.Materials and methods: In this study, we exploited the exosomes isolated from bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs-Exo) to deliver LNA (locked nucleic acid)-modified anti-miR-142-3p oligonucleotides to suppress the expression level of miR-142-3p and miR-150 in 4T1 and TUBO breast cancer cell lines.Results: The in vitro results showed that the MSCs-Exo can efficiently deliver anti-miR-142-3p to reduce the miR-142-3p and miR-150 levels and increase the transcription of the regulatory target genes, APC and P2X7R. We also evaluated in vivo distribution of the MSCs-Exo in tumor-bearing mice. The in vivo result indicated that MSCs-Exo can penetrate the tumor site and are suitable nanovehicles to deliver the inhibitory oligonucleotides into the tumor tissues to downregulate the expression levels of miR-142-3p and miR-150.Conclusion: We showed that MSCs-derived exosomes could be used as a feasible nanovehicle to deliver drug molecules like LNA-anti-miR-142-3p in both in vitro and in vivo studies. Keywords: MSCs-derived exosomes, tumor tropism, Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway, breast cancer, LNA-antimiR-142-3p&nbsp

Evaluation of Bacterial Profile and Drug Resistance Patterns of Blood Culture Isolates in Amir Al-Momenin Hospital of Gerash, Iran

Introduction: Bacterial bloodstream diseases cause important public health problems and are considered as significant issues in morbidity and mortality in patients who are hospitalized. This study aimed to investigate the frequency of bacterial isolates from suspected septicemia and subsequent drug resistance patterns in affiliated patients to the Amir Al-Momenin Hospital of Gerash, Fars, Iran. Materials and Methods: In this hospital-based cross-sectional study, 2485 blood samples were examined in the Bacteriology Laboratory of Amir AlMomenin Hospital of Gerash, during 2018-2019. Then, drug susceptibility tests were done for positive blood cultures. All specimens were cultivated in MacConkey agar, Blood Agar, and chocolate agar mediums. A total of 120 positive samples were obtained, and biochemical tests were used to classify bacteria to species levels. After identification, a drug susceptibility test was carried out on the Mueller-Hinton agar via 16 antibiotics based on the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines. Results: Of the 2485 blood culture results, 120 (4.82) were determined as positive. The blood culture examination revealed the most common isolated as Staphylococcus epidermidis (45, n=54 cases), Acinetobacter baumannii (10.83, n=13 cases), Escherichia coli (10, n=12 cases), Klebsiella pneumoniae (5.83, n=7 cases), respectively. Additionally, among all the antibiotics tested, the highest percentage of resistance was related to cefoxitin in 48 cases (40), cephalexin in 47 (39.1), clindamycin in 47 (39.1), and erythromycin in 42 (35). Conclusions: Results revealed that most of the bacterial isolates had a high rate of resistance to the most commonly used antibiotics. Therefore, continuous antibiotic resistance pattern evaluation in different areas is necessary

Simultaneous decolorization/degradation of AB-113 and chromium(VI) removal by a salt-tolerant Klebsiella sp. AB-PR and detoxification of biotransformed-metabolites

Textile wastewater contains dyes, heavy metals, and salts. In this study, a salt-tolerant decolorizing strain was isolated from vermicompost and identified as Klebsiella sp. strain AB-PR by 16S ribosomal RNA gene analysis. Klebsiella sp. strain AB-PR was presented to simultaneously remove high concentrations of diazo dye and hexavalent chromium under saline conditions for the first time. Maximum decolorization of 95.50% was observed for 800 mg/L of Acid Blue-113 at pH 7 and temperature 35 °C with 5% inoculum size under static conditions. Also, decolorization efficiencies for 13 and 8 g/L of glucose and yeast extract as optimum carbon and nitrogen sources were 94.52 and 94.70%, respectively. Klebsiella sp. strain AB-PR could tolerate 50 g/L of NaCl and decolorize 94.18% of Acid Blue-113. The maximum decolorization and removal efficiencies for 800 mg/L of Acid Blue-113 and 30 mg/L of hexavalent chromium with 50 g/L of NaCl were 90.98 and 89.42%, respectively. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy studies showed that Acid Blue-113 was cleaved to the aromatic amines metabolites with lower molecular weight. The phyto-toxicity study exhibited that Acid Blue-113 was not toxic for Triticum aestivum and Maize. But after biological treatment, the toxicity was increased, and the seeds could not germinate. Therefore, ultraviolet-C/H2O2 was applied for the detoxification of biotransformed metabolites. After application of ultraviolet-C/H2O2, toxic aromatic metabolites were converted to nontoxic and linear organic products, and the seeds were germinated completely. Thus, the combined application of biological–chemical treatment is effective in the detoxification of textile wastewater