The effect of infliximab on oxidative stress after myocardial infarction in rats

Infliximab is a human mouse human chimeric IgG1 antibody that includes human stable regions and variable mouse regions that have inhibitory effects on TNFα, and has recently been used to treat Crohn's disease, urticaria colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriatic arthritis. This study was conducted to determine the effect of TNFα inhibition on infectious stress and serum lactate levels in infants after isoproterenol induced myocardial infarction in rats. Methods and Results: For induction of myocardial infarction (MI), isoproterenol (100 mg/kg) was injected subcutaneously in a 24-hour saline solution in normal saline for 24 days. Animals after 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours after the second dose of isoproterenol was surgically treated. After infusion of inflections, 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours of surgery were performed. Anesthesia for animal surgery with ketamine and xylazine (3 to 2. Blood samples were collected from the hepatic vein and serum was used after the isolation to measure biochemical factors. At the end of the test, the heart was quickly separated and washed with normal cold saline and water was taken and weighed. Induced infarction with isoproterenol 100 mg/kg changes the pattern and parameters of electrocardiography and hemodynamics, and also causes hypertrophy, necrosis, edema and severe cardiac inflammation. Injection of infliximab at a dose of 7 mg/kg in the mentioned intervals did not have an effect on induced hypertrophy due isoproterenol. Isoproterenol increases lipid peroxidation, lactate dehydrogenase, total serum antioxidant and heart tissue, and serum lactate, which seems to be a significant reduction in the levels of MDA, TAC, LDH, and LDH, especially in the early hours of myocardial infarction. Lactate reduces serum levels. But in some cases, with the passage of time does not apply photo effects. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that infliximab, at 24-48 hours after MI, has a protective effect on cardiac myocardial infarction, and in the long term may exacerbate oxidative activity

Kimura's disease with eosinophilic panniculitis - treated with cyclosporine: a case report

Kimura's disease is a rare, benign, slow growing chronic inflammatory swelling with a predilection for the head and neck region and almost always with peripheral blood eosinophilia and elevated serum IgE levels. Here, we report a 25-year-old male patient with asthma, Reynaud phenomenon, eosinophilic panniculitis, bilateral inguinal lymphadenopathy and peripheral blood eosinophilia

A systematic review of the effect of lavender on cancer complications

publishedVersio

The Efficacy of “Care for Child Development” Intervention on the Improvement of the Development Skills of Orphanage Children

ObjectivesDevelopment refers to the progressive enhancement of skills and functional capacity, i.e., qualitative changes in the child’s functions.The process of development begins before birth and continues throughout life. The present study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the “Care for Child Development (CCD)” program on 4-42 months children’s developmental skills in orphanages.Materials & MethodsIn this study, two orphanages in the capitals of East and West Azerbaijan provinces were selected using the convenience sampling technique, and thirty children were included. Then, they were randomly divided into two intervention and control groups (each group, N=15). Next, after obtaining consent from the head of the orphanages, a group of volunteers from the healthcare center performed the CCD program, considering children’s chronological ages (4 to 42 months), for three sessions a week, with each session lasting two hours and it lasted for three months. At the end of the intervention process, the Bayley Scale of Infant and Toddler Development 3rd version (BSID-III) and the Ages and Stages Questionnaire-II (ASQ) were completed for the two intervention and control groups to compare them in the cognitive, motor, communication, and personal-social domains. ResultsComparing the two control and intervention groups using the T-test (difference in mean) indicates that except for the domain of cognitive skills (Bayley: P-value = 0.176), there was statistically a significant difference between the two groups in communication (ASQ: P-value= 0.001; Bayley: P-value = 0.003), motor (ASQ: P-value = 0.000; Bayley: P-value = 0.009), and personal-social (ASQ: P-value <0.000)skills.ConclusionIn the present study, it was concluded that it is required to apply interventions, including standard ones such as the CCD program in environments like orphanages, to enhance the developmental skills of those children living in them    

Effect of A-769662, a direct AMPK activator, on Tlr-4 expression and activity in mice heart tissue

Objective(s): TLR-4 activates a number of inflammatory signaling pathways. Also, AMPK could be involved in anti-inflammatory signaling. The aim of this study was to identify whether stimulation of AMPK could inhibit LPS-induced Tlr-4 gene expression in mice hearts. Materials and methods: Heart AMPK activity and/or Tlr-4 expression was stimulated in different mice groups, using respectively IP injection of A-769662 (10 mg/kg) and LPS (2 mg/kg) or a combination of both agents. Moreover, compound-C (20 mg/kg), as an AMPK antagonist, was intraperitoneally co-administrated with both A-769662 and LPS in another group to investigate the role of AMPK activity on Tlr-4 regulation. After 8 hr, in addition to peripheral neutrophil cell count, myocardial p-AMPK, p-ACC as well as MyD88 protein contents and Tlr-4 expression was assessed by Western blotting and real-time qRT-PCR, respectively. TNF-α and IL-6 expression levels were also determined by ELISA. Results: LPS induced heart Tlr-4 expression (

Pharmacy Students' Self-Identified Interests in a Hospital Pharmacy Internship Course in Iran

Introduction: After revision of pharmacy curriculum by, Iranian Health and Education Ministry reviewed in 2005, it was decided that pharmacy students need extra internship courses such as hospital internship course. Hospital internship course could provide students with the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and master the skills required for current pharmacy practices in community and hospital setting. The aim of this study was to identify and analyze pharmacy students’ experiences during hospital internship. Methods: Each student attended in 3 wards and provided a logbook for each ward. Students were asked to document at least one topic interesting for them on each day. The collected information was divided into sections and analyzed using SPSS ver 14. Results: Seventeen students enrolled in the course. Endocrinology and nephrology wards had the highest and neurology the lowest number of attended students. Seven hundred and one reported learning subjects were divided into 24 areas. The highest numbers of reported topics were the drugs indications, adverse drug reactions and diagnosis of diseases while the lowest number was pretreatment laboratory tests, pharmacoeconomy, counseling medical staffs and off label use of medications. Gastroenterology and endocrinology wards with 210 reports had the highest and neurology ward with 12 had the lowest number of reports. Conclusion: Completing the logbooks was an encouragement for students to seek and document and learn new topics and also a major feature of the clinical assessment scheme of the course. The majority of the reported topics were learning objectives but not the interventional ones. The present study showed us some areas of pharmacy education which need further attention

Clinical, epidemiological, and mycological features of patients with candidemia: Experience in two tertiary referral centers in Iran

Background and purpose: Candidemia is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among patients receiving immunosuppressive therapy and those hospitalized with serious underlying diseases. Here, we investigated the epidemiological, clinical, and mycological features of candidemia in Tehran, Iran. Materials and methods: A prospective observational study of all patients diagnosed with candidemia was performed at two referral teaching hospitals in Tehran, Iran, from February to December 2018. Demographic characteristics, underlying diseases, risk factors, clinical symptoms, and laboratory analyses of candidemic patients with positive culture were mined. Candida isolates were molecularly identified by sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2). The antifungal susceptibility testing for fluconazole, itraconazole, voriconazole, posaconazole, amphotericin B, caspofungin, micafungin, and anidulafungin against the isolates was performed using CLSI broth microdilution reference method (M27-A3). Results: A total of 89 episodes were identified, with an incidence of 2.1 episodes/1000 admissions. The common underling disease were malignancy (46%), renal failure/dialysis (44%), and hypertension (40%). The overall crude mortality was 47%. C. albicans (44%) was the most frequent causative agent, followed by C. glabrata (21%), C. parapsilosis complex (15%), C. tropicalis (11%), and C. lusitaniae (3.5%). All the isolates were susceptible to amphotericin B. The activity of all four azoles was low against non-albicans Candida species, especially C. tropicalis. Conclusion: The increase in non-albicans Candida species with reduced susceptibility to antifungal drugs might be alarming in high-risk patients. Therefore, accurate knowledge of predisposing factors and epidemiological patterns in candidemia are effective steps for managing and decreasing the mortality rate in candidemia.This study has been funded and supported by Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran (Grant no. 99-2-99-48944).S

Long and Short-term Metformin Consumption as a Potential Therapy to Prevent Complications of COVID-19

Purpose: The aim of the study is to evaluate the effect of metformin in complication improvement of hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Methods: This was a randomized clinical trial that involved 189 patients with confirmed COVID-19 infection. Patients in the intervention group received metformin-500 mg twice daily. Patients who received metformin before admission were excluded from the control group. Patients who were discharged before taking at least 2000 mg of metformin were excluded from the study. Primary outcomes were vital signs, need for ICU admission, need for intubation, and mortality. Results: Data showed that patients with diabetes with previous metformin in their regimen had lower percentages of ICU admission and death in comparison with patients without diabetes (11.3% vs. 26.1% (P=0.014) and 4.9% vs. 23.9% (P≤0.001), respectively). Admission time characteristics were the same for both groups except for diabetes and hyperlipidemia, which were significantly different between the two groups. Observations of naproxen consumption on endpoints, duration of hospitalization, and the levels of spO2 did not show any significant differences between the intervention and the control group. The adjusted OR for intubation in the intervention group versus the control group was 0.21 [95% CI, 0.04-0.99 (P=0.047)]. Conclusion: In this trial, metformin consumption had no effect on mortality and ICU admission rates in non-diabetic patients. However, metformin improved COVID-19 complications in diabetic patients who had been receiving metformin prior to COVID-19 infection, and it significantly lowered the intubation rates

The unfinished agenda of communicable diseases among children and adolescents before the COVID-19 pandemic, 1990-2019: a systematic analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

BACKGROUND: Communicable disease control has long been a focus of global health policy. There have been substantial reductions in the burden and mortality of communicable diseases among children younger than 5 years, but we know less about this burden in older children and adolescents, and it is unclear whether current programmes and policies remain aligned with targets for intervention. This knowledge is especially important for policy and programmes in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to use the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2019 to systematically characterise the burden of communicable diseases across childhood and adolescence. METHODS: In this systematic analysis of the GBD study from 1990 to 2019, all communicable diseases and their manifestations as modelled within GBD 2019 were included, categorised as 16 subgroups of common diseases or presentations. Data were reported for absolute count, prevalence, and incidence across measures of cause-specific mortality (deaths and years of life lost), disability (years lived with disability [YLDs]), and disease burden (disability-adjusted life-years [DALYs]) for children and adolescents aged 0-24 years. Data were reported across the Socio-demographic Index (SDI) and across time (1990-2019), and for 204 countries and territories. For HIV, we reported the mortality-to-incidence ratio (MIR) as a measure of health system performance. FINDINGS: In 2019, there were 3·0 million deaths and 30·0 million years of healthy life lost to disability (as measured by YLDs), corresponding to 288·4 million DALYs from communicable diseases among children and adolescents globally (57·3% of total communicable disease burden across all ages). Over time, there has been a shift in communicable disease burden from young children to older children and adolescents (largely driven by the considerable reductions in children younger than 5 years and slower progress elsewhere), although children younger than 5 years still accounted for most of the communicable disease burden in 2019. Disease burden and mortality were predominantly in low-SDI settings, with high and high-middle SDI settings also having an appreciable burden of communicable disease morbidity (4·0 million YLDs in 2019 alone). Three cause groups (enteric infections, lower-respiratory-tract infections, and malaria) accounted for 59·8% of the global communicable disease burden in children and adolescents, with tuberculosis and HIV both emerging as important causes during adolescence. HIV was the only cause for which disease burden increased over time, particularly in children and adolescents older than 5 years, and especially in females. Excess MIRs for HIV were observed for males aged 15-19 years in low-SDI settings. INTERPRETATION: Our analysis supports continued policy focus on enteric infections and lower-respiratory-tract infections, with orientation to children younger than 5 years in settings of low socioeconomic development. However, efforts should also be targeted to other conditions, particularly HIV, given its increased burden in older children and adolescents. Older children and adolescents also experience a large burden of communicable disease, further highlighting the need for efforts to extend beyond the first 5 years of life. Our analysis also identified substantial morbidity caused by communicable diseases affecting child and adolescent health across the world. FUNDING: The Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Centre for Research Excellence for Driving Investment in Global Adolescent Health and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Deregulation of miR-21 and miR-155 and their putative targets after silibinin treatment in T47D breast cancer cells

Objective(s):MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of short RNAs that control the biological processes including cell proliferation, apoptosis and development. Aberrant expression of miRNAs was determined in the different stages of tumor development and metastasis. To study the effect of silibinin on miRNAs expression, we evaluated quantitative expression of miR-21 and miR-155 as two oncomiRs and several potential targets in silibinin-treated T47D cells. Materials and Methods:The rate of proliferation and apoptosis was measured in silibinin-treated and untreated cells. The expression levels of miR-21 and miR-155 were evaluated in T47D cells treated with silibinin (100 µg/ml). Also, their putative targets were predicted in apoptotic pathways using multiple algorithms; as a confirmation, the transcription level of APAF-1, CASP-9 and BID was evaluated. Results:In silibinin-treated cells, death was occurred in a dose and time-dependent manner. miR-21 and miR-155 was downregulated in cells treated with silibinin (100 µg/ml). It is noticeable that the expression of their potential targets including CASP-9 and APAF-1 was increased in silibinin-treated cells after 48 hr. Conclusion:Our findings showed a correlation between the expression of miR-21 and miR-155 and apoptosis in silibinin treated T47D cells. It seems that miRNAs such as miR-21 and miR-155 were regulated by silibinin. Also, increase in the transcript level of APAF-1 and CASP-9 after downregulation of miR-21 and miR-155 might indicate that these genes were targeted by aforementioned miRNAs in T47D cells