Comment on ‘Cell phone use and ill health: is there a definite relationship?’

Prof Gboyega A Ogunbanjo, in his editorial entitled ‘Cell phone use and ill health: is there a definite relationship?’, published in South African Family Practice, has addressed the possible link between mobile phone use and adverse health effects such as cancer. He has also discussed the challenging issue of electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS). Although his editorial has remarkable strengths, this paper needs some clarifications. The main concerns regarding the evidence presented in this paper about possible association of mobile phone use with cancer are discussed. In this light, recent evidence that supports a possible link as well as the shortcomings of the reports claiming no association between exposure to radiofrequency radiation and cancer are presented

Can Reactivation of SARS-CoV-2 Decrease the Chance of Success of Future Deep Space Missions?

Korean CDC experts first reported the likelihood of reactivation in COVIOD-19 patients. They hypothesized that like childhood chicken pox infections which lie dormant for tens of years only to cause shingles in seniors, SARS-CoV-2 can reactivate. However, as testing for the virus had been flawed at that time, U.S. infectious disease experts were skeptical about the reports of second COVID-19 infections. New reports have addressed the urgent need to conduct large-scale studies to better understand the potential recurrence of SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 patients. Moreover, some case studies show possible reactivation of SARS-CoV-2 in a family cluster. Given this consideration, major space stressors such as microgravity and space radiation and their interactions which are not fully known, so far can increase the risk of reactivation of SARS-CoV-2 in future space missions, an event that can easily impact the success of any space mission. Since about 80% of infected people are either asymptomatic or show only mild symptoms, in a near future, it would be likely that astronauts who start their mission even after complex medical examinations, experience reactivation of the virus during their mission. Moreover, we have previously addressed the potential higher fatality of COVID-19 infections in space due to 1) uselessness of social distancing due to microgravity 2) immune system dysregulation 3) possibly higher mutation rates of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) as a RNA virus 4) higher risk of reactivation of the virus 5) existence of strong selective pressure and 6) decreased maximum oxygen uptake

A case of polypoid intraoral nevus in buccal mucosa: A case report

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Mouth discoloration can be of internal or external origin. Melanotic nevus are the result of benign proliferation of melanocytes, the intraoral type of which is not as common as melanotic skin moles. In addition, they have the potential for malignant changes and can develop into oral melanoma. In this article, a case of Polypoid Intraoral Nevus is reported. CASE REPORT: In intraoral examination, a 21-year-old man who had referred to the Oral Diseases Department for dental scaling and examination showed a prominent black lesion with a smooth, 1�1 cm long lobular surface and a firm consolidation in the buccal mucosa. The lesion was asymptomatic and not sensitive to touch. Chronic stimulation was not reported on clinical examination and history, and the diascopy test was negative. Systemic disease and history of drug and tobacco use were not reported. The lesion was removed by excisional biopsy while maintaining a safe margin. The macroscopic specimen was a brownish-gray lesion with elastic consolidation and the microscopic appearance of benign proliferation of nevus cells and melanin production in the connective tissue was observed. The final diagnosis was an intra-mucosal lesion. The patient referred for regular six-month examinations for two years, during which no recurrence or similar symptoms were observed in the oral mucosa. CONCLUSION: In the present case, the histopathological result indicated a mucosal nevus after excisional biopsy. © 2020, Babol University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Bimetallic S. pachycarpa@Ag-doped ZnO alloy nanoparticles unveil therapeutic promise: Revolutionizing multiple myeloma treatment

In recent years, nanoscience has emerged as a prominent research field, focusing on exploring the therapeutic properties of herbal medicine. This research presents the green synthesis of Ag-doped ZnO nanoparticles using the fruit extract of Sophora pachycarpa (S. pachycarpa@Ag-doped ZnO NPs). Various characterization methods, including XRD, EDAX, TEM, and FT-IR, were employed to identify the nanoparticles. The XRD technique confirmed the crystallinity of S. pachycarpa@Ag-doped ZnO NPs, with an average size of 47 nm. In this investigation, we explored the potential toxicity of S. pachycarpa fruit extract and S. pachycarpa@Ag-doped ZnO NPs on U266B1 cells. The cells were treated for 24 and 72 h with varying concentrations (0.5–1 mg/ml) of S. pachycarpa and S. pachycarpa@Ag-doped ZnO NPs. The percentage of cell viability was determined using the AlamarBlue Assay. Additionally, the expression level of the P53 gene was evaluated by Real-Time PCR, with the β-actin gene serving as an internal reference gene for comparison. Viability results demonstrated that approximately 92 % and 62 % of cells remained alive after treatment with 1 mg/ml dose of S. pachycarpa for 24 and 72 h, respectively, compared to the control. In the case of cells treated with S. pachycarpa@Ag-doped ZnO NPs, an IC50 of 585.664 µg/ml was acquired after 24 h of treatment. The expression level of P53 in cells treated with S. pachycarpa@Ag-doped ZnO NPs and S. pachycarpa significantly increased in a concentration-dependent manner, reaching 10,380 and 1.62 fold expressions in 2 mg/ml of S. pachycarpa@Ag-doped ZnO NPs and S. pachycarpa, respectively. Based on the obtained results, it can be concluded that S. pachycarpa@Ag-doped ZnO NPs can be considered a new avenue for Multiple myeloma (MM) treatment. However, further studies are necessary to identify more detailed aspects of the drug's mechanism of action, such as investigating the signaling pathway and protein level via western blotting

Unlocking the therapeutic potential: Green synthesized zinc oxide/silver nanoparticles from Sophora pachycarpa for anticancer activity, gene expression analysis, and antibacterial applications

Hematologic malignancies and bloodstream infections rank among the most lethal medical conditions. Research on new treatments for these diseases is crucial. In this study, we investigated the anticancer properties and molecular mechanisms of zinc oxide nanoparticles doped with silver synthesized using a green approach involving Sophora pachycarpa (S. pachycarpa) plant seed extract (SPS@ZnO/Ag NPs). Additionally, we explored the antibacterial effects of these nanoparticles and S. pachycarpa extract. The SPS@ZnO/Ag NPs were characterized using XRD, FTIR, zeta potential, EDS, FESEM, and TEM analyses. Subsequently, we assessed the viability of K562 cells in the presence of different nanoparticles and extract. Molecular mechanisms underlying cell death were examined through flow cytometry analysis, Hoechst staining, and relative expression of pro-apoptotic genes (Apaf-1, Cytochrome c, Caspases 3, 6, 9) relative to the gene B-actin. Also, BAX/BCL2 ratio was determined. Antibacterial effects were evaluated against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. The results confirmed successful synthesis of spherical SPS@ZnO/Ag NPs with positive surface charge, purity, and size ranging from 50 to 65 nm. SPS@ZnO/Ag NPs significantly reduced K562 cell viability compared to S. pachycarpa extract and chemical nanoparticles, with the 1:1 ratio of zinc oxide and silver nitrate exhibiting the highest cell death. The findings from flow cytometry analysis, Hoechst staining, and molecular pathway analysis indicate that SPS@ZnO/Ag NPs induce cancer cell death through apoptosis. Evaluation of antibacterial properties demonstrated the destruction of all studied strains by SPS@ZnO/Ag NPs. Overall, our study demonstrates that green synthesis, in comparison to chemical synthesis, exerts a notable impact on the anticancer properties of zinc oxide nanoparticles doped with silver. Moreover, SPS@ZnO/Ag NPs exhibit targeted induction of cancer cell apoptosis, showcasing their potential application in biomedical fields

Genetic and Epigenetic Characteristics of FSHD-Associated 4q and 10q D4Z4 that are Distinct from Non-4q/10q D4Z4 Homologs

Genomics, epigenetics, population genetics and bioinformatic

COVID-19 prognostic modeling using CT radiomic features and machine learning algorithms: Analysis of a multi-institutional dataset of 14,339 patients: COVID-19 prognostic modeling using CT radiomics and machine learning

Background: We aimed to analyze the prognostic power of CT-based radiomics models using data of 14,339 COVID-19 patients. Methods: Whole lung segmentations were performed automatically using a deep learning-based model to extract 107 intensity and texture radiomics features. We used four feature selection algorithms and seven classifiers. We evaluated the models using ten different splitting and cross-validation strategies, including non-harmonized and ComBat-harmonized datasets. The sensitivity, specificity, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) were reported. Results: In the test dataset (4,301) consisting of CT and/or RT-PCR positive cases, AUC, sensitivity, and specificity of 0.83 ± 0.01 (CI95: 0.81�0.85), 0.81, and 0.72, respectively, were obtained by ANOVA feature selector + Random Forest (RF) classifier. Similar results were achieved in RT-PCR-only positive test sets (3,644). In ComBat harmonized dataset, Relief feature selector + RF classifier resulted in the highest performance of AUC, reaching 0.83 ± 0.01 (CI95: 0.81�0.85), with a sensitivity and specificity of 0.77 and 0.74, respectively. ComBat harmonization did not depict statistically significant improvement compared to a non-harmonized dataset. In leave-one-center-out, the combination of ANOVA feature selector and RF classifier resulted in the highest performance. Conclusion: Lung CT radiomics features can be used for robust prognostic modeling of COVID-19. The predictive power of the proposed CT radiomics model is more reliable when using a large multicentric heterogeneous dataset, and may be used prospectively in clinical setting to manage COVID-19 patients. © 2022 The Author