Investigation of phenotypic and molecular diversity of Descurainia sophia (L.) Webb ex Prantl and Sisymbrium irio (L.)

Descurainia sophia and Sisymbrium irio, both from Brassicaceae family have potential medicinal effects. Seeds are consumed widely across Iran in sweet drinks. To determine the morphological and molecular diversity, 55 genotypes from these two genera were studied. All 11 ISSR primers detected polymorphism and generated 274 polymorphic loci. The average values of Polymorphism Information Content (PIC), Marker Index (MI) and Resolving Power (Rp) for ISSR primers were 0.278, 6.899 and 11.57, respectively. The AMOVA analysis revealed a high genetic variation (58%) within each genus. The UPGMA clustering based on molecular analysis separated all 55 genotypes into two main groups, correlating with division of plants into two genera. Moreover,  seven morphological traits were evaluated   to distinguish all 55 genotypes. Among them, rosette figure showed the most significant differentiation between two genera. The highest correlation was observed between two traits of seed color and seed weight at 0.758. The dendrogram obtained from the morphological traits corresponded with the UPGMA clustering. The chemical composition of essential oils of D. sophia and S. irio were identified via gas chromatography mass spectrum (GC-MS). Although GC-MS analysis detected β-pinene as the dominant component in both plants but different compounds were also detected. The present investigation clearly indicates that these morphological traits alone or combined with molecular analysis using 11 ISSR markers is considered as the true reflection of two genera partitioning, and hence the eligibility of both molecular and morphological criterion are proved. These findings could be used for future breeding programs in fields of seed production and medicinal extracts

The effect of eucalyptus vapor on cough after coronary artery bypass surgery

Cough is postoperative complication following endotracheal intubation as well as inflammation of the pharynx, larynx and trachea. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of eucalyptus vapor on cough after tracheal extubation in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). In this randomized controlled trial, 100 patients undergoing CABG were randomly divided into two groups by accessible sampling. Before the intervention and after tracheal extubation, demographic and clinical data, as well as data on cough by a scoring system were collected from interventional and control groups. The patients in the interventional group after tracheal extubation were exposed to eucalyptus vapor for about 10 min. This treatment was performed at 1 and 12 h after extubation. The severity of cough was recorded in both interventional and control groups at 0, 1, 6, 12 and 24 h after extubation. The present study showed that the severity of cough after extubation in the patients undergoing CABG in the interventional group had no significant difference at the times of immediate to 24 hours after extubation. Risk of cough had respectively 9.5% increase in the control group as compared to the interventional group

The global burden of cancer attributable to risk factors, 2010-19 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background Understanding the magnitude of cancer burden attributable to potentially modifiable risk factors is crucial for development of effective prevention and mitigation strategies. We analysed results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 to inform cancer control planning efforts globally. Methods The GBD 2019 comparative risk assessment framework was used to estimate cancer burden attributable to behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risk factors. A total of 82 risk-outcome pairs were included on the basis of the World Cancer Research Fund criteria. Estimated cancer deaths and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) in 2019 and change in these measures between 2010 and 2019 are presented. Findings Globally, in 2019, the risk factors included in this analysis accounted for 4.45 million (95% uncertainty interval 4.01-4.94) deaths and 105 million (95.0-116) DALYs for both sexes combined, representing 44.4% (41.3-48.4) of all cancer deaths and 42.0% (39.1-45.6) of all DALYs. There were 2.88 million (2.60-3.18) risk-attributable cancer deaths in males (50.6% [47.8-54.1] of all male cancer deaths) and 1.58 million (1.36-1.84) risk-attributable cancer deaths in females (36.3% [32.5-41.3] of all female cancer deaths). The leading risk factors at the most detailed level globally for risk-attributable cancer deaths and DALYs in 2019 for both sexes combined were smoking, followed by alcohol use and high BMI. Risk-attributable cancer burden varied by world region and Socio-demographic Index (SDI), with smoking, unsafe sex, and alcohol use being the three leading risk factors for risk-attributable cancer DALYs in low SDI locations in 2019, whereas DALYs in high SDI locations mirrored the top three global risk factor rankings. From 2010 to 2019, global risk-attributable cancer deaths increased by 20.4% (12.6-28.4) and DALYs by 16.8% (8.8-25.0), with the greatest percentage increase in metabolic risks (34.7% [27.9-42.8] and 33.3% [25.8-42.0]). Interpretation The leading risk factors contributing to global cancer burden in 2019 were behavioural, whereas metabolic risk factors saw the largest increases between 2010 and 2019. Reducing exposure to these modifiable risk factors would decrease cancer mortality and DALY rates worldwide, and policies should be tailored appropriately to local cancer risk factor burden. Copyright (C) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.Peer reviewe

Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BACKGROUND Regular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations. METHODS The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model-a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates-with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality-which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds. FINDINGS The leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2-100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1-290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1-211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4-48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3-37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7-9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles. INTERPRETATION Long-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere. FUNDING Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

The Survey of Concept and Necessity of Syndicated Loans in Iran’s Legal System

Banks play an important role as an intermediary in the financial system between the lenders and applicants of financial sources. They absorb the financial sources of customers and present them to applicants. Their financial relations are arranged on the basis of the credit rating of their applicants. The financing restrictions and complexity of banks relations and inherent risk of financing have made the banks to design a model to fund their financial sources and distribute their various risks. One of these models is financing by using syndicated loans. Since most of the big projects need a high amount of financial sources, the use and significance of syndicated loans is increasing. In this paper, we tried to examine the concept and structure of syndicated loans by using an analytical and descriptive model which explains the necessity of using this method in the legal and economic system of Iran. We concluded that the main reasons given for non-use of this method are the lack of adequate legislations in this field and the absence of information transparency in the contractual structure of such credits as well as the legal rules governing relations between syndicate members

Biotechnological advances in Lilium

Modern powerful techniques in plant biotechnology have been developed in lilies (Lilium spp., Liliaceae) to propagate, improve and make new phenotypes. Reliable in vitro culture methods are available to multiply lilies rapidly and shorten breeding programs. Lilium is also an ideal model plant to study in vitro pollination and embryo rescue methods. Although lilies are recalcitrant to genetic manipulation, superior genotypes are developed with improved flower colour and form, disease resistance and year round forcing ability. Different DNA molecular markers have been developed for rapid indirect selection, genetic diversity evaluation, mutation detection and construction of Lilium linkage map. Some disease resistance-QTLs are already mapped on the Lilium linkage map. This review presents latest information on in vitro propagation, genetic engineering and molecular advances made in lily.</p

The Study of the Effectiveness of Olanzapine as a Maintenance Treatment in Opioid Dependents, a Randomized Clinical Trial

Introduction: In this research, researchers want to study the effectiveness of Olanzapine on reduction of substance abuse relapse among people who are dependent to opioid material, merely. Method: A randomized clinical trial was designed. The population was opioid dependence subjects (only men) that were diagnosed based on DSM-IV TR criteria, and referred to national center of addiction studies clinic. Detoxification was done by using of Clonidine, Clonazepam, Disiklomin, and NSAIDS within7 through 10 days. In second stage, the Patients who were referred to the clinic those men who had satisfied criterions selected. Demographic forms, testimonial certificate, Addiction Severity Index, Beck Depression Questionnaire, Zung Self report anxiety test administered among selected sample. Sample divided to two groups (placebo and Olanzapine) the research last for 8 weeks. Results: the results showed that addiction severity reduced in both groups, but there was not significant difference in reduction of addiction severity between two groups. There was significant difference in depression and anxiety among mean scores of base line and follow up in both groups but there was not significant difference between two groups in follow up measures. Conclusion: Altogether, the results did not confirm the effectiveness of Olanzapine on maintenance treatment of opioid dependence