Antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory effects of hydroalcoholic extract of Vitex agnus castus fruit in mice

زمینه و هدف: از آنجا که در طب سنتی اثرات ضد دردی و ضد التهابی به گیاه پنج انگشت نسبت داده شده است. این مطالعه با هدف بررسی اثرات ضد دردی و ضد التهابی عصاره هیدروالکلی میوه گیاه پنج انگشت ((Vitex agnus- castus در موش کوچک نر نژاد آزمایشگاهی NMRI انجام شده است. روش بررسی: در این مطالعه تجربی از 112 سر موش نر بالغ نژاد NMRI استفاده شد. در تست التهاب، حیوانات به 7 گروه شاهد، کنترل مثبت (دریافت کننده دگزامتازون با دوز mg/kg15) و پنج گروه دریافت کننده دوزهای 265، 365، 465، 565 و 665 میلی گرم بر کیلوگرم عصاره هیدروالکلی میوه پنج انگشت تقسیم و برای ایجاد التهاب از گزیلن استفاده شد. جهت بررسی اثر ضد دردی عصاره، تست فرمالین مورد استفاده قرار گرفت. در این تست نیز حیوانات به 7 گروه شاهد، کنترل مثبت (دریافت کننده مورفین با دوز mg/kg 10) و پنج گروه دریافت کننده عصاره تقسیم شدند. تزریقات به روش داخل صفاقی و 30 دقیقه قبل از شروع هر تست انجام شد. داده ها با استفاده از آزمون های آماری آنالیز واریانس یک طرفه و سپس توکی تجزیه و تحلیل شدند. یافته ها: تمام دوزهای عصاره اثر ضد التهابی قابل ملاحظه ای را در مهار التهاب گوش، ناشی از گزیلن در مقایسه با گروه شاهد نشان داد (05/0

Lateral column lengthening augmented by medial split tibialis posterior tendon advancement for the treatment of symptomatic flexible flatfeet

Background: Management of Idiopathic flexible pes planus (IFPP) is debatable. Surgery is rarely indicated for flexible flatfoot. The goal of the surgery should be always to treat symptomatic patients and not to alter the shape of the foot. There are numerous options for surgical treatment in children and adolescents including subtalar arthroereisis or osteotomy with or without soft tissue procedures.Methods: Between June 2013 to December 2017, twenty eight feet in sixteen patients (9 boys, 7 girls) were included in this study. Twelve cases were operated bilaterally, three in the right foot and one in the left side. The mean age of the patients was 8.36±1.704 years (6-12 years). Calcaneal lengthening osteotomy was done with an oscillating saw about 1.5 cm proximal to the calcaneocuboid joint. Usually, 8-10 mm autologous bone graft from iliac crest was sufficient and fixed by K wires. Half of the tibialis posterior tendon after splitting with a periosteal flap from the navicular was then advanced distally until clinical restoration of the medial arch was then performed.Results: Radiographic analysis revealed significant improvements in talo-first metatarsal, calcaneal pitch, talocalcaneal angles in lateral radiographs, and talo-first metatarsal and talonavicular coverage angles in AP radiographs. All patients were evaluated at final follow-up visits. Preoperative mean AOFAS score increased significantly from 64.04±8.867 (range: 50 to75) to 94.11±3.765 (90-100).Conclusions: It is concluded that Evans calcaneal lengthening osteotomy augmented by spilt tibialis posterior tendon advancement is an excellent procedure in the management of IFPP

Effect of Metformin and Sitagliptin on Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiotoxicity in Rats: Impact of Oxidative Stress, Inflammation, and Apoptosis

Doxorubicin (DOX) is a widely used antineoplastic drug whose efficacy is limited by its cardiotoxicity. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible protective role of the antidiabetic drugs metformin (250 mg/kg dissolved in DW p.o. for seven days) and sitagliptin (10 mg/kg dissolved in DW p.o. for seven days) in a model of DOX-induced (single dose 15 mg/kg i.p. at the fifth day) cardiotoxicity in rats. Results of our study revealed that pretreatment with metformin or sitagliptin produced significant (P<0.05) cardiac protection manifested by a significant decrease in serum levels of LDH and CK-MB enzymes and cardiac MDA and total nitrites and nitrates levels, a significant increase in cardiac SOD activity, and remarkable improvement in the histopathological features as well as a significant reduction in the immunohistochemical expression of COX-2, iNOS, and caspase-3 enzymes as compared to DOX group. These results may suggest using metformin and/or sitagliptin as preferable drugs for diabetic patients suffering from cancer and receiving DOX in their chemotherapy regimen

Déclinaisons géographiques du changement social en Iran

Proposer un numéro thématique en géographie sur un pays comme l’Iran dans la deuxième moitié des années 2010 est à la fois une entreprise passionnante et un défi. Depuis quelques années, la République islamique d’Iran attire tous les regards. L’élection de H. Rohani à la présidence en 2013 a permis le retour des modérés au pouvoir après les deux mandats du conservateur M. Ahmadinejad. La réouverture des négociations multilatérales autour du fameux « dossier nucléaire » iranien, qu’on a pu int..

Femtosecond photonic viral inactivation probed using solid-state nanopores

We report on detection of virus inactivation using femtosecond laser radiation by measuring the conductance of a solid state nanopore designed for detecting single particles. Conventional methods of assaying for viral inactivation based on plaque forming assays require 24–48 h for bacterial growth. Nanopore conductance measurements provide information on morphological changes at a single virion level.We show that analysis of a time series of nanopore conductance can quantify the detection of inactivation, requiring only a few minutes from collection to analysis. Morphological changes were verified by dynamic light scattering. Statistical analysis maximizing the information entropy provides a measure of the log reduction value. This work provides a rapid method for assaying viral inactivation with femtosecond lasers using solid-state nanopores.First author draf

A Novel Germline Pathogenic Variant of RECQL4 Gene in an Iranian Pedigree with Familial Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Brief Report

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is the most common human solid tumor and the leading cause of cancer death. SCC of the breast is a very rare type of cancer that has not been well researched. Early identification of the genetic factors involved can lead to early diagnosis and targeted treatment. The present study was conducted in 2018 at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences (Isfahan, Iran). The proband was a 66-year-old woman with SCC of the breast and a positive family history of cancer. Blood DNA samples were used for whole-exome sequencing to identify germline pathogenic variants. Variant annotation and prioritization were done on variant call format files using bioinformatics software tools. The screened variants were confirmed using the Sanger sequencing method. Co-segregation analysis was performed on the blood DNA samples of the first- and second-degree relatives of the proband to assess the presence of the mutation. A novel germline pathogenic variant was identified in the RECQL4 gene of the family. RECQL4 is a known protein in DNA repair and replication. Considering its effect on other types of SCC, it may play an important role in SCC initiation and progression in the breast

A comparative study on the meaning in life of patients with cancer and their family members

Introduction: Overwhelming effects of cancer could be catastrophic for the patients and their family members putting them at risk of experiencing uncertainty, loss, and interruption in life. Also, it can influence their sense of meaning, a fundamental need equated with purpose in life. Accordingly, this study aimed to compare the meaning in life (MiL) of patients with cancer with and their family members. Methods: This descriptive comparative study was conducted on 400 patients with cancer and their family members admitted to university hospitals in Tabriz and Ardebil provinces, Iran. The participants were sampled conveniently and the Life Evaluation Questionnaire (LEQ) were used for collecting data which analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The mean score for the MiL of patients with cancer and their family members was 119 ± 16.92 and 146.2 ± 17.07, respectively. There is a significant difference between patients with cancer and their family members in terms of MiL (p<0.001). Conclusion: The MiL of patients with cancer is lower than their family members which indicates the necessity for further attention to the psychological process and its modification in Iranian healthcare systems

The association of the paraoxonase 1 Q192R polymorphism with coronary artery disease (CAD) and cardiometabolic risk factors in Iranian patients suspected of CAD

IntroductionThe present study aimed to investigate the association of the paraoxonase 1 (PON1) Q192R polymorphism with coronary artery disease (CAD) and cardiometabolic risk factors in Iranian patients suspected of CAD.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted on 428 patients undergoing angiography. The data related to demographic information and physical activity were collected by valid and reliable questionnaires. The PON-1 genotypes were detected by the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP-PCR) technique. The Gensini and SYNTAX score, anthropometric measurements, and biochemical and clinical parameters were measured by standard protocols.Results and discussionFindings indicated that the odds of obesity was significantly higher in people with the RR genotype compared to the QQ genotype carriers (OR: 2.95 CI: 1.25–6.93, P = 0.014) and also odds of low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) was marginally higher (OR: 2.31 CI: 0.97–5.49, P = 0.056). There was no significant association between other CAD risk factors with PON1 Q192R polymorphism (P &gt; 0.05). Further analysis showed a significant interaction between sex and 192QR (P = 0.019) and 192 RR (P = 0.007) genotypes on body mass index (BMI). More specifically, the risk of obesity in men carrying the RR genotype was 3.38 times (OR: 3.38 CI: 1.08–10.58, P = 0.036). Also, a significant joint effect of the RR genotype and sex on HDL-C was seen (P = 0.003). The stratification based on sex showed that the risk of low HDL-C is significantly higher in women carrying the RR genotype (OR: 6.18 CI: 1.21–31.46, P = 0.028). A marginal sex-genotype interaction was also found in the risk of elevated alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (P = 0.057). In summary, the findings showed that the risk of obesity and low HDL-C was higher in people carrying the RR genotype. On the other hand, a Q192R polymorphism-sex interaction was observed on the risk of obesity, elevated ALT, and low HDL-C

Making Outbound Route Selection Robust to Egress Point Failure

Abstract. Offline inter-domain outbound Traffic Engineering (TE) can be formulated as an optimization problem whose objective is to determine primary egress points for traffic exiting a domain. However, when egress point failures happen, congestion may occur if secondary egress points are not carefully determined. In this paper, we formulate a bi-level outbound TE problem in order to make outbound route selection robust to egress point failures. We propose a tabu search heuristic to solve the problem and compare the performance to three alternative approaches. Simulation results demonstrate that the tabu search heuristic achieves the best performance in terms of our optimization objectives and also keeps traffic disruption to a minimum

Skin cancer classification model based on VGG 19 and transfer learning

Skin cancer is a concerning health issue with yearly increasing numbers. Detecting and classifying cancer type is problematic, especially since patients have to undergo several diagnosis over lengthy periods of time, which hinders early treatment and survival chances. With the aid of digital image processing, features can be extracted to identify skin cancer and its different types. Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) recently emerged as powerful autonomous feature extractors, and they have high potential to achieve high accuracy with skin cancer diagnosis. In this paper, two cancer types in addition to one non-cancer type taken from Human Against Machine (HAM10000) dataset are classified using CNN model based on VGG 19 and Transfer Learning technique. The training strategy is explained, tested, and evaluated by calculating the network's overall accuracy and loss