Correlation between hepatitis B G1896A precore mutations and HBeAg in chronic HBV patients

Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is an important health concern worldwide, with critical outcomes. Hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) negative chronic hepatitis B is frequently caused by a mutation (G1896A) in the hepatitis B virus (HBV) precore (PC) reading frame, which creates a stop codon, causing premature termination of the HBe protein. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the G1896A PC mutation and its effect on HBeAg detection in chronic HBV patients. Patients and Methods: In this study, 120 chronic HBV patients neither vaccinated or who had benefited from immunoglobulin therapy, were recruited. The HBV-DNA was extracted from plasma and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed. Positive PCR products were subjected to automated sequencing. The HBV serological markers hepatitis B s antigen (HBsAg), HBeAg were tested. Results: One hundred out of 120 (83.3%) patients were HBeAg negative and 100% were HBsAg positive. The comparison of nucleotide sequences with the reference sequence (Accession number: AB033559) in HBeAg negative patients showed that there was a high rate of mutations in G1896A (93.18%). Conclusions: This study indicates that the rate of G1896A mutation at the PC region among HBeAg negative patients, in the Golestan province of Iran, was similar to the average rate encountered in other parts of Iran. The PC stop codon mutation was detected in 93.18% of HBeAg negative patients. Further studies with larger sample sizes are required to elucidate the exact role of these mutations in the clinical course of chronic HBV infection. © 2015, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences

The effect of 12 weeks regular physical activity and vitamin E in the treatment of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis: A pilot study

Background: Despite the prevalence of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) and Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH), there was no treatment has been proven to be effective in these common diseases. Although many studies have shown that lifestyle modifications such as increasing physical activities and exercise could be effective in the treatment of these common diseases, the optimal strategy was still not determined. According to the beneficial effects of antioxidant agents in the treatment of NASH, vitamin E has been used for this purpose by some clinicians. We designed this study for assessing beneficial effects of regular physical activity on the biochemical and imaging responses in patients with NASH and comparing this with vitamin E as an accepted treatment for NASH. Materials and Methods: This study was Randomized and single-blind clinical trials were carried out in Gonbad-e Kavus through which a total of 30 consecutive patients with the ultra sonographic diagnosis of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)were enrolled and randomized to one of the three groups: Vitamin E 800 mg/day, regular physical activity, or both. Results: In all treatment groups improvement in liver transaminases level, serum lipids and ultrasonographic grading of fatty liver occurred after three months of treatment. When these decrement was compared between the treatment groups, there was no statistically significant difference in the value of improvement between the three groups (ANOVA: p>0.5). I.e. all three interventions improved the biochemical and ultrasonographic finding of fatty liver in the same way. Both groups with regular exercise had significant mean weight loss in comparison with the vitamin E group (a mean decrease of 3.0 kg in exercise group, 5.8 kg in subjects on regular exercise plus vitamin E and 0.2 kg in vitamin E group, ANOVA: p=0.04). Conclusion: There were no significant differences between exercise and vitamin E alone or in combination regarding the reduction in the level of liver enzymes and sonographic evidences of fatty liver although both resulted in significant improvements in biochemical endpoints. This implies that physical activity could be considered as effective as vitamin E in the improvement of biochemical and ultrasonographic presentations of NASH and the addition of Vitamin E does not offer any benefits. According to the findings of this pilot study a full-powered study with a control group should be designed. © 2015, Iranian Association of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. All rights reserved

The effect of 12 weeks regular physical activity and vitamin E in the treatment of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis: A pilot study

Background: Despite the prevalence of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) and Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH), there was no treatment has been proven to be effective in these common diseases. Although many studies have shown that lifestyle modifications such as increasing physical activities and exercise could be effective in the treatment of these common diseases, the optimal strategy was still not determined. According to the beneficial effects of antioxidant agents in the treatment of NASH, vitamin E has been used for this purpose by some clinicians. We designed this study for assessing beneficial effects of regular physical activity on the biochemical and imaging responses in patients with NASH and comparing this with vitamin E as an accepted treatment for NASH. Materials and Methods: This study was Randomized and single-blind clinical trials were carried out in Gonbad-e Kavus through which a total of 30 consecutive patients with the ultra sonographic diagnosis of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)were enrolled and randomized to one of the three groups: Vitamin E 800 mg/day, regular physical activity, or both. Results: In all treatment groups improvement in liver transaminases level, serum lipids and ultrasonographic grading of fatty liver occurred after three months of treatment. When these decrement was compared between the treatment groups, there was no statistically significant difference in the value of improvement between the three groups (ANOVA: p>0.5). I.e. all three interventions improved the biochemical and ultrasonographic finding of fatty liver in the same way. Both groups with regular exercise had significant mean weight loss in comparison with the vitamin E group (a mean decrease of 3.0 kg in exercise group, 5.8 kg in subjects on regular exercise plus vitamin E and 0.2 kg in vitamin E group, ANOVA: p=0.04). Conclusion: There were no significant differences between exercise and vitamin E alone or in combination regarding the reduction in the level of liver enzymes and sonographic evidences of fatty liver although both resulted in significant improvements in biochemical endpoints. This implies that physical activity could be considered as effective as vitamin E in the improvement of biochemical and ultrasonographic presentations of NASH and the addition of Vitamin E does not offer any benefits. According to the findings of this pilot study a full-powered study with a control group should be designed. © 2015, Iranian Association of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. All rights reserved

HgO/I2 as an Efficient Reagent for the Oxidative Aromatization of Hantzsch 1-NH, 4-Dihydropyridines under Mild and Heterogeneous Conditions

A variety of Hantzsch 1-NH, 4-dihydropyridines were efficiently aromatized to the corresponding pyridine derivatives by treatment with HgO/I2 reagent in dichloromethane under mild and  heterogeneous conditions in good to excellent yields at room temperature. The products were separated by simple filtration and evaporation of the solvent.KEYWORDS: HgO/I2, Hantzsch 1,4-dihydropyridine, aromatization, heterogeneous

Silica-Supported Yttrium Nitrate Hexahydrate as a Heterogeneous Catalyst for the Synthesis of 2-Amino-4H-Chromenes in Water

Silica-supported yttrium nitrate hexahydrate (Y(NO3)3.6H2O/SiO2) has been found to be an efficient and reusable catalyst for the synthesis of 2-amino-4H-chromenes via a one-pot aqueous three-component reaction between arylaldehydes, malononitrile and â-naphthol in high yields. This method has many appealing attributes such as excellent yields, short reactions time, reusability of the catalyst and simple work-up procedure.KEYWORDS: Silica-supported yttrium nitrate hexahydrate, 2-amino-4H-chromene, malononitrile, arylaldehyde, β-naphthol

A Facile and Practical p-Toluenesulfonic Acid Catalyzed Route to Dicoumarols Containing an Aroyl group

New and known dicoumarols may be efficiently synthesized employing p-toluenesulfonic acid (p-TSA) as a solid acid catalyst from the reaction of 4-hydroxycoumarin with aryl glyoxal in water. This method offers direct access to structurally diverse coumarin derivatives in moderate to good yields (up to 65%). A total of five new compounds were synthesized.KEYWORDS Dicoumarol, p-toluenesulfonic acid, aryl glyoxal, 4-hydroxycoumarin.PDF and Supp files attache

Investigation on proximate composition, fatty acid profile and sensory evaluation of Nile (Oreochromis niloticus) and Hybrid Red Tilapia fillet farmed in brackish ground water of Bafgh, Yzad

The aim of this study was to determine proximate compositions and sensory evaluation of tilapia meat. For this purpose, farmed Nile tilapia and Red tilapia were collected from the Inland Saline Waters Aquaculture Research Center located in Bafgh, Yazd. Fish were transported to Aquatic Fish Processing Research Center. Fatty acid composition, protein, fat, moisture, ash and sensory evaluation in fish meat were analyzed. Results showed that the tilapia meat had 1.30–1.68% fat, 18.70-19.26 protein, 78-79% moisture and 1.34-1.8% ash. Twenty seven fatty acids were identified in the tilapia meat. Saturated fatty acids were found between 24.84–27.12%, mono-unsaturated fatty acids 36.14-39% and poly unsaturated fatty acids 32.38-38.12%. Amount of Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) was calculated between 0.50-0.63% and between 6.12-6.19%, respectively. Results of sensory evaluation showed highest score for sensory evaluation parameters (color, odor, texture, test and flavors)

Interacting entropy-corrected new agegraphic dark energy in Brans-Dicke cosmology

Motivated by a recent work of one of us [1], we extend it by using quantum (or entropy) corrected new agegraphic dark energy in the Brans-Dicke cosmology. The correction terms are motivated from the loop quantum gravity which is one of the competitive theories of quantum gravity. Taking the non-flat background spacetime along with the conformal age of the universe as the length scale, we derive the dynamical equation of state of dark energy and the deceleration parameter. An important consequence of this study is the phantom divide scenario with entropy-corrected new agegraphic dark energy. Moreover, we assume a system of dark matter, radiation and dark energy, while the later interacts only with dark matter. We obtain some essential expressions related with dark energy dynamics. The cosmic coincidence problem is also resolved in our model.Comment: 16 pages, no figure, accepted for publication in Gen. Relativ. Gra

Reconstructing interacting new agegraphic polytropic gas model in non-flat FRW universe

We study the correspondence between the interacting new agegraphic dark energy and the polytropic gas model of dark energy in the non-flat FRW universe. This correspondence allows to reconstruct the potential and the dynamics for the scalar field of the polytropic model, which describe accelerated expansion of the universe.Comment: 9 page