Evaluation of Impact of Smart Schools on Academic Achievement of High School's Student in Lorestan Province

Abstract: In developed countries, there is a developing global movement for change in the educational structure, the transformation of societies from traditional societies to knowledge-based societies result in the emergence of the use of the new communication environment. Smart school can be considered a learning atmosphere that will make it possible to realize a knowledge-based society. This study examined the impact of smart schools on academic achievement in Lorestan province. The population of this study is comprised of all high school students in Lorestan. The study sample consisted of 208 students that 99 people of them were smart schools' students and 109 people of them were traditional school students. The research tool in the study was the questionnaire which specified the social class with the validity and reliability of 89%. The research method of data collection for the study was causal - or post-hoc comparisons application of research. Smart school and traditional schools students’ GPA, were compared by using T-test in two different major: mathematic and scientific. Results showed that the average GPA of students in smart schools significantly differed from the traditional school grade point average and smart schools had a positive impact on students ' grade point average

Reactive oxygen species and male reproductive hormones

Reports of the increasing incidence of male infertility paired with decreasing semen quality have triggered studies on the effects of lifestyle and environmental factors on the male reproductive potential. There are numerous exogenous and endogenous factors that are able to induce excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) beyond that of cellular antioxidant capacity, thus causing oxidative stress. In turn, oxidative stress negatively affects male reproductive functions and may induce infertility either directly or indirectly by affecting the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis and/or disrupting its crosstalk with other hormonal axes. This review discusses the important exogenous and endogenous factors leading to the generation of ROS in different parts of the male reproductive tract. It also highlights the negative impact of oxidative stress on the regulation and cross-talk between the reproductive hormones. It further describes the mechanism of ROS-induced derangement of male reproductive hormonal profiles that could ultimately lead to male infertility. An understanding of the disruptive effects of ROS on male reproductive hormones would encourage further investigations directed towards the prevention of ROS-mediated hormonal imbalances, which in turn could help in the management of male infertility

Upstream or swim up processing technique: which one is more effective to select human sperm with high chromatin integrity

Background: Sperm processing methods separate motile sperms with good morphology from dead and abnormal forms of sperms, immature germ cells, and non-sperm cells. Objective: The propose of this study was to compare the efficacy of upstream and swim-up processing techniques to separate sperms with the high quality especially in relation to sperm chromatin integrity. Materials and Methods: This experimental study used semen samples from 60 normozoospermic men. Specimens were divided into equal aliquots for processing by swim up (group A), and upstream (group B) methods and compare with control by raw semen (group C). Sperm concentration, morphology, motility, DNA fragmentation and chromatin maturation were measured in these three groups. Results: The results revealed that sperm concentration in the swim up samples was significantly greater than upstream samples (p≤0.04). as addition, motile sperm recovery including the percentage of progressive motility and a total number of motile sperm was better in the swim-up compared to an upstream method and raw semen (p≤0.001). The cell debris and seminal fluid were equally removed by both methods and the percentage of normal forms was also similar in both procedures (p≥0.4). In addition, sperm DNA fragmentation and chromatin maturation were not significantly different between the three groups (p≥0.1). Conclusion: According to results, apparently the upstream method had no significant efficiency to separate good quality sperms compare to swim up. Therefore, swim up seems to be a simple, inexpensive, reliable and widely available method with an efficient yield to separate motile sperm with good morphology and better chromatin integrity for insemination in the infertility clinics

Potential biomarkers for testicular germ cell tumour: Risk assessment, diagnostic, prognostic and monitoring of recurrence

Testicular germ cell tumour (TGCT) is considered a relatively rare malignancy usually occurring in young men between 15 and 35 years of age, and both genetic and environmental factors contribute to its development. The majority of patients are diagnosed in an early-stage of TGCTs with an elevated 5-year survival rate after therapy. However, approximately 25 of patients show an incomplete response to chemotherapy or tumours relapse. The current therapies are accompanied by several adverse effects, including infertility. Aside from classical serum biomarker, many studies reported novel biomarkers for TGCTs, but without proper validation. Cancer cells share many similarities with embryonic stem cells (ESCs), and since ESC genes are not transcribed in most adult tissues, they could be considered ideal candidate targets for cancer-specific diagnosis and treatment. Added to this, several microRNAs (miRNA) including miRNA-371-3p can be further investigated as a molecular biomarker for diagnosis and monitoring of TGCTs. In this review, we will illustrate the findings of recent investigations in novel TGCTs biomarkers applicable for risk assessment, screening, diagnosis, prognosis, prediction and monitoring of the relapse. © 2021 Wiley-VCH Gmb

Methyltetrahydrofolate vs Folic Acid Supplementation in Idiopathic Recurrent Miscarriage with Respect to Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase C677T and A1298C Polymorphisms: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

To determine whether 5-methylenetetrahydrofolate (MTHF) is more effective than folic acid supplementation in treatment of recurrent abortion in different MTHFR gene C677T and A1298C polymorphisms.A randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled trial conducted April 2011-September 2014 in recurrent abortion clinics in Tehran, Iran. The participants were women with three or more idiopathic recurrent abortion, aged 20 to 45 years. Two hundred and twenty eligible women who consented to participate were randomly assigned to receive either folic acid or 5-MTHF according to the stratified blocked randomization by age and the number of previous abortions. Participants took daily 1 mg 5-methylentetrahydrofolate or 1 mg folic acid from at least 8 weeks before conception to the 20th week of the pregnancy. The primary outcome was ongoing pregnancy rate at 20th week of pregnancy, and the secondary outcomes were serum folate and homocysteine at the baseline, after 8 weeks, and at the gestational age of 4, 8, 12, and 20 weeks, MTHFR gene C677T and A1298C polymorphisms.There was no significant difference in abortion rate between two groups. Serum folate increased significantly in both groups over time; these changes were significantly higher in the group receiving 5-MTHF than the group receiving folic acid (value = 2.39, p<00.1) and the result was the same by considering the time (value = 1.24, p<0.01). Plasma tHcys decreased significantly in both groups over time; however these changes were not significantly different between the groups (value = 0.01, p = 0.47).The results do not support any beneficial effect of 5-MTHF vs. folate supplementation in women with recurrent abortion with any MTHFR C677T and/or A1298C polymorphism.ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01976676

Evaluation of the NOX5 protein expression and oxidative stress in sperm from asthenozoospermic men compared to normozoospermic men

Purpose: NADPH oxidase 5 (NOX5), the main isoform of NOX in spermatozoa, has been recognized as the main active generators of reactive oxygen species (ROS), including superoxide anion (O 2 �. ) and hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ). ROS have been shown to play important roles in many physiological and pathological conditions in spermatozoa. The present study aims to investigate the alterations of NOX5 protein expression and oxidative stress (OS) status in asthenozoospermic men compared to normozoospermic men. Methods: Semen samples were collected from 25 asthenozoospermic men and 28 normozoospermic men. In this study, NOX5 protein expression was evaluated by Western blotting. An OS status was evaluated by measuring of ROS (O 2 �. and H 2 O 2 ), DNA damage and plasma membrane integrity in spermatozoa. Results: The protein expression of NOX5 (p &lt; 0.0001) was remarkably higher in asthenozoospermic men in comparison to normozoospermic men. In addition, the percentages of intracellular O 2 �. (p &lt; 0.0001), H 2 O 2 (p &lt; 0.0001) in viable spermatozoa, apoptotic sperm cells with altered plasma membrane (p &lt; 0.001) and DNA damage (p = 0.001) were significantly increased in asthenozoospermic men compared to normozoospermic men. Conclusions: The present study provides evidence that the overexpression of NOX5 protein may induce excessive ROS production and oxidative stress damages to DNA and plasma membrane integrity in asthenozoospermic men. © 2019, Italian Society of Endocrinology (SIE)