Association of Fibroblast Growth Factor (Fgf-21) as a Screening Biomarker for Chronic Progressive External Ophthalmoplesia

Purpose: To investigate whether or not fibroblast growth factor (FGF-21) can be used as a screening biomarker in chronic progressive external ophthalmoplesia (CPEO) patients.Methods: FGF-21 concentration was measured in the serum of 24 patients with CEPO phenotype and 24 control samples by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and determined the deletion of mitochondrial genome by multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR).Results: FGF-21 concentration in 50 % of CPEO patients showed notable differences from that in control subjects. FGF-21 concentration ratio in patient group, 2 disorder control groups (mitochondrial and non-mitochondrial) and normal group, respectively, was 294.87 } 42.10 (p < 0.0001), 761.78} 75.07 (p < 0.0001), 124.26 } 12.27 (p = 0.1203), 69.27 } 10.09 (p = 0.2195). A statistically significant inverse correlation between FGF-21 concentration and age onset was found, with a significant difference (p < 0.05) in the age group . 19 years (mean FGF-21  concentration, 460.36 pg/mL) and for the age group . 51years (mean concentration FGF-21, 57.87 pg/mL. Surprisingly, there was no significant difference between FGF-21 concentration and age in the mid-age group (20 . 50 years) .Conclusion: These findings indicate that FGF-21 concentration significantly increases in CPEO patients like in other mitochondrial disorders and this factor can be used as a biomarker in primary diagnosis of mitochondrial disorders. In this regard, FGF-21 assay is only valid in teenagers and the >50 years age group who show acute symptoms.Keywords: Chronic progressive external ophthalmoplesia, Fibroblast growth factor-21, Mitochondrial disorders, Ophthalmoplesia, Biomarke

The effect of MDMA and pentoxifylline drug on bad/bcl-xl gene dosage expression changes on rat liver

        MDMA generally known as ecstasy, have deleterious effects on the serotonergic neurotransmitter system. Recent findings suggest that the liver and brain are major target organs of MDMA-related toxicities. Although most research is being dynamically performed on brain, however, the molecular mechanisms by which MDMA elicits adverse effects in both organs are poorly undrestood.The present study was performed to obtain evidence for molecular mechanism of apoptosis involved in MDMA-induced hepatotoxicity in rat liver after MDMAadministration. Moreover, the antagonistic effect of pentoxifylline was assessed on hepatotoxicity after MDMA administration. In this experimental study, sample size and power in each group were calculated as 10 rats with 95% confidence level and 5% confidence interval. In the study, four experimental groups were selected including Control Normal, MDMA, MDMA+PTX and PTX+MDMA. MDMA was dissolved in PBS and intraperitoneally injected three doses of 7.5mg/kg with two hours gap between doses. Pentoxyfilline also was injected as 100mg/kg, simultaneously with third dose of MDMA. After treatment, total RNA was isolated from liver tissue (5mg). Absorbance at 260nm, 280nm and 230nm were measured and immediately reverse transcription was performed. Included target genes were BAD and BCL-XL as pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptotic gene, respectively. After set up and validation, Real-Time PCR were performed and obtaining data were statistically analyzed to determine significantly differences between groups. Using Real-Time quantitative PCR results, BCL-XL gene expression ratio significantly increased in MDMA+PTX group. Moreover, BAD gene expression ratio increased and up-regulated in PTX+MDMA group (P-value <0.001).Our study focused on molecular mechanism of MDMA in programmed cell death using gene expression quantification of a pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptoic gene in MDMA-induced hepatotoxocity. The results shown MDMA prompted apoptosis in liver and pentoxifylline protects hepatotoxicity after and befor taking MDMA.

The global burden of adolescent and young adult cancer in 2019 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background In estimating the global burden of cancer, adolescents and young adults with cancer are often overlooked, despite being a distinct subgroup with unique epidemiology, clinical care needs, and societal impact. Comprehensive estimates of the global cancer burden in adolescents and young adults (aged 15-39 years) are lacking. To address this gap, we analysed results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019, with a focus on the outcome of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), to inform global cancer control measures in adolescents and young adults. Methods Using the GBD 2019 methodology, international mortality data were collected from vital registration systems, verbal autopsies, and population-based cancer registry inputs modelled with mortality-to-incidence ratios (MIRs). Incidence was computed with mortality estimates and corresponding MIRs. Prevalence estimates were calculated using modelled survival and multiplied by disability weights to obtain years lived with disability (YLDs). Years of life lost (YLLs) were calculated as age-specific cancer deaths multiplied by the standard life expectancy at the age of death. The main outcome was DALYs (the sum of YLLs and YLDs). Estimates were presented globally and by Socio-demographic Index (SDI) quintiles (countries ranked and divided into five equal SDI groups), and all estimates were presented with corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs). For this analysis, we used the age range of 15-39 years to define adolescents and young adults. Findings There were 1.19 million (95% UI 1.11-1.28) incident cancer cases and 396 000 (370 000-425 000) deaths due to cancer among people aged 15-39 years worldwide in 2019. The highest age-standardised incidence rates occurred in high SDI (59.6 [54.5-65.7] per 100 000 person-years) and high-middle SDI countries (53.2 [48.8-57.9] per 100 000 person-years), while the highest age-standardised mortality rates were in low-middle SDI (14.2 [12.9-15.6] per 100 000 person-years) and middle SDI (13.6 [12.6-14.8] per 100 000 person-years) countries. In 2019, adolescent and young adult cancers contributed 23.5 million (21.9-25.2) DALYs to the global burden of disease, of which 2.7% (1.9-3.6) came from YLDs and 97.3% (96.4-98.1) from YLLs. Cancer was the fourth leading cause of death and tenth leading cause of DALYs in adolescents and young adults globally. Interpretation Adolescent and young adult cancers contributed substantially to the overall adolescent and young adult disease burden globally in 2019. These results provide new insights into the distribution and magnitude of the adolescent and young adult cancer burden around the world. With notable differences observed across SDI settings, these estimates can inform global and country-level cancer control efforts. Copyright (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer reviewe

Effects of different cooking methods and temperatures on residual nitrite content in sausage

Background: Presence of nitrites in meat products is important because they combine with secondary amines and produce nitrosamine carcinogen. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the effects of different cooking methods and temperatures on residual nitrite content in sausage. Methods: This experimental study was conducted in the Food and Drug Laboratory of Qazvin University of Medical Sciences in 2014. Sausage samples containing 90% meat that were produced under identical conditions in a factory in Qazvin were transferred to the laboratory under suitable conditions and their residual nitrite contents were measured. The residual nitrite content was remeasured three times after using different cooking methods (frying, grilling, and cooking in microwave oven) at different temperatures and durations in 39 experiments. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA. Findings: Before cooking, the residual nitrite content was 33.57 mg/kg in the sausage samples and reached to 26.46 mg/kg after frying at 120º C for 5 minutes. Mean residual nitrite content was significantly different at other temperatures and cooking durations. The mean residual nitrite content reached to 1.42 and 0 after frying at 220º C for 5 and 10 minutes, respectively. Conclusion: With regards to the results, the greater the temperature and the duration of cooking, the more the reduction in residual nitrite content of the final product. Keywords: Nitrites, Meat Products, Temperatur

Effect of plant density on growth indices of four grain sorghum cultivars

To study the effect of plant density on growth indices of four grain sorghum cultivars an experiment was conducted as factorial based on Compelete Randomized Block Design with 3 replications at Experimental Field of Birjand Azad University in 2003 growing season. In this study 4 grain sorghum cultivars including Sepideh , Saravan local , Payam and Kimia and 3 plant densities 100000 , 180000 and 260000 plant/ha were investigated. The results showed superiority of Saravan local compare to other cultivars because of having maximum total dry matter, leaf area index, crop growth rate, relative growth rate, and net assimilation rate. The highest amount of leaf area ratio and specific leaf area were in Kimia and Payam cultivars, respectively. All of the above mentioned growth parameters were increased by increasing population denseity with exception of relative growth rate and net assimilation rate. From the obtained results Saravan local cultivar in density of 260000 plant /ha had the highest grain yield. The maximum relative growth rate and net assimilation rate were obtained in lowest density

A comprehensive in silico analysis for identification of therapeutic epitopes in HPV16, 18, 31 and 45 oncoproteins.

Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are a group of circular double-stranded DNA viruses, showing severe tropism to mucosal tissues. A subset of HPVs, especially HPV16 and 18, are the primary etiological cause for several epithelial cell malignancies, causing about 5.2% of all cancers worldwide. Due to the high prevalence and mortality, HPV-associated cancers have remained as a significant health problem in human society, making an urgent need to develop an effective therapeutic vaccine against them. Achieving this goal is primarily dependent on the identification of efficient tumor-associated epitopes, inducing a robust cell-mediated immune response. Previous information has shown that E5, E6, and E7 early proteins are responsible for the induction and maintenance of HPV-associated cancers. Therefore, the prediction of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I T cell epitopes of HPV16, 18, 31 and 45 oncoproteins was targeted in this study. For this purpose, a two-step plan was designed to identify the most probable CD8+ T cell epitopes. In the first step, MHC-I and II binding, MHC-I processing, MHC-I population coverage and MHC-I immunogenicity prediction analyses, and in the second step, MHC-I and II protein-peptide docking, epitope conservation, and cross-reactivity with host antigens' analyses were carried out successively by different tools. Finally, we introduced five probable CD8+ T cell epitopes for each oncoprotein of the HPV genotypes (60 epitopes in total), which obtained better scores by an integrated approach. These predicted epitopes are valuable candidates for in vitro or in vivo therapeutic vaccine studies against the HPV-associated cancers. Additionally, this two-step plan that each step includes several analyses to find appropriate epitopes provides a rational basis for DNA- or peptide-based vaccine development

The effect of plant density on yield, yield components and protein content in four grain sorghum varieties

In order to study the effects of plant density on yield, yield components protein in four grain sorghum varieties an experiment was conducted as factorial based on compeletely randomized block design with three replications in Research Field of Birjand Azad University at year 2003. In this study four varieties including “ Sepideh, Saravan local, Payam and Kimia ,, and 3 plant densities 100000 , 180000 and 260000 plant / ha were investigated. The results indicated that varieties were significantly different for grain yield, protein yield, biological yield, number of seeds per panicle, 1000 kernel weight, harvest index and protein percentage. The highest grain yield, protein yield, biological yield, number of seeds per panicle and 1000 kernel weight were observed in Saravan local and the highest harvest index was belong to Sepideh and the highest protein percentage was in Kimia. Characteristics such as grain yield, protein yield, biological yield and number of seeds per panicle were affected by density. By increaseing of plant density grian yield, protein yield, biological yield increased but seed number per panicle decreased 1000 kernel weigth, harvest index and protein percentage did not affect by density. Also interaction between variety and density was significant on seed number per panicle. According to the results of this experiment, Saravan in 260000 plant / ha density is recommended for maximum grain yield and protein yield

Effect of Protein Malnutrition on Efferent Projections of Amygdala to the Hippocampus

ABSTRACTIntroduction: Previous investigations have shown that protein malnutrition can alters the structure and function of some areas of hippocampal formation. We investigated the effect of protein malnutrition on amygdaloid projections to the CA1 hippocampal area. In this study we investigated level and pattern of distribution of efferent projections from amygdala to hippocampus in the rat by Horseradish Peroxidas (HRP) neural tract tracing in 2 groups Control group fed with regular diet (% 18 proteins)and case group fed with low protein diet (%8). We used SPSS 11.0 (T test & mann-withney) Software for data analysis.Methods: Following injection of HRP to CA1 region of hippocampus in the control group Rats, Labelled neurons showed more density in the Basolateral, Cortical and Medial nuclear Groups. Having done the analysis and examining the relations between the case data and those of the control groups, we found that number of labelled neurons in the Basolateral, Cortical & medial nuclei were decreased in the case group(p<0.05). Our findings showed that different nuclei of amygdala (Basolateral, Cortical and Medial) send projections to CA1 region of hippocampus Among, them basolateral nuclei group send the most projections . Discussion: This results may be caused by decrease of activity of neural cells after protein malnutrition, that can results in impairment in growth and development of nervous system. Also it is possible that axoplasmic transfer rate maybe decreased in this condition