Adiponectin effects on osteonectin gene expression in vascular smooth muscle cell line

Background and purpose: Atherosclerosis is a major cause of death in adults in most countries. Many studies have focused on the protective role and anti-inflammatory properties of adiponectin but its role in calcification has been less studied. Studies that could determine the causes and mechanisms of calcification could be of great value. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of adiponectin on osteonectin gene expression, a protein involved in vascular calcification. Materials and methods: In this experimental study, vascular smooth muscle cells were obtained from Pasteur Institute of Iran and were cultured in F12K medium containing β-glycerophosphate as calcifying stimuli. The cells were treated with 5μg/ml adiponectin. At 24 and 48 hours osteonectin gene expression in these cells was studied against control cells using real time PCR. Results: We observed that adiponectin increased osteonectin gene expression against control cells 2.17 and 3.6 fold in vascular smooth muscle cells at 24 and 48 hours, respectively. Conclusion: Increasing the expression of osteonectin gene lead to increases in calcification, therefore, adiponectin could be considered as a risk factor for atherosclerosis

Neuroprotective Effect of Coenzyme Q10 in Hippocampal Injury in Balb/c Mouse

Coenzyme Q10 is a promising agent for neuroprotection in neurodegenerative diseases. Neuroprotective effects of Coenzyme Q10 demonstrated in some neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson, Alzheimer and etc. Hippocampus is home of these diseases. We assayed Coenzyme Q10 effects on Hippocampal injury model and our hypothesis is that Coenzyme Q10 has Neuroprotective effects in some neurodegenerative diseases via hippocampus. For this purpose 24 Balb/c mouse took in 4 groups: Control (Without any treatment), Vehicle (Treated with sesame oil as Coenzyme Q10 vehicle), Hyppocampal injury model (Treated with Trimethyltin chlorideneurotoxin, 2.5 mg per kg IP), and test (Treated with Coenzyme Q10 after Trimethyltin chloride injection, 10 mg per kg IP for 2 weeks). After two weeks brain harvested and hippocampus tissue assayed by Nissl and Tunnel staining. Hystological study showed significantly increase of normal cells and decrease of apoptotic cells in test group after Coenzyme Q10 treatment in hippocampus. This study showed Coenzyme Q10 has protective effects in hippocampus after injury and it seems that Neuroprotective effects of Coenzyme Q10 in some neurodegenerative diseases com from that

Acute and critical care for rabies bitten patients and the different outcomes in a Family: A Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) Failure report

Rabies is a zoonotic viral disease that spread via infected animal saliva. Rabies virus belongs to Lyssavirus genus (Rhabdoviridae family) and the disease is endemic in Iran. The disease causes a fatal encephalomyelitis by infecting the nervous system. Dogs are the most common source of human rabies cases. In this presentation, we had a 58-year-old man who had a dog bitten history on his face and hands with his other two family members with the same dog at the same time. They received post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) as soon as possible (from day 0). Eighteen days after bitten the man hospitalized and died of rabies three days after hospitalization. Other two relatives were healthy without any rabies symptom. The man was an Iranian veteran with residual body insults during the attacks of chemical warfare from the combat front. Obtained data in this study suggested that the direct inoculation of the virus to the nerve and immune system inability in virus clearing system were possible etiologies of PEP failure in the reported case. Keywords: Rabies Virus, Immunoglobulin, Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), Immunosuppressio

Burden of disease scenarios for 204 countries and territories, 2022–2050: a forecasting analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

Background: Future trends in disease burden and drivers of health are of great interest to policy makers and the public at large. This information can be used for policy and long-term health investment, planning, and prioritisation. We have expanded and improved upon previous forecasts produced as part of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) and provide a reference forecast (the most likely future), and alternative scenarios assessing disease burden trajectories if selected sets of risk factors were eliminated from current levels by 2050. Methods: Using forecasts of major drivers of health such as the Socio-demographic Index (SDI; a composite measure of lag-distributed income per capita, mean years of education, and total fertility under 25 years of age) and the full set of risk factor exposures captured by GBD, we provide cause-specific forecasts of mortality, years of life lost (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) by age and sex from 2022 to 2050 for 204 countries and territories, 21 GBD regions, seven super-regions, and the world. All analyses were done at the cause-specific level so that only risk factors deemed causal by the GBD comparative risk assessment influenced future trajectories of mortality for each disease. Cause-specific mortality was modelled using mixed-effects models with SDI and time as the main covariates, and the combined impact of causal risk factors as an offset in the model. At the all-cause mortality level, we captured unexplained variation by modelling residuals with an autoregressive integrated moving average model with drift attenuation. These all-cause forecasts constrained the cause-specific forecasts at successively deeper levels of the GBD cause hierarchy using cascading mortality models, thus ensuring a robust estimate of cause-specific mortality. For non-fatal measures (eg, low back pain), incidence and prevalence were forecasted from mixed-effects models with SDI as the main covariate, and YLDs were computed from the resulting prevalence forecasts and average disability weights from GBD. Alternative future scenarios were constructed by replacing appropriate reference trajectories for risk factors with hypothetical trajectories of gradual elimination of risk factor exposure from current levels to 2050. The scenarios were constructed from various sets of risk factors: environmental risks (Safer Environment scenario), risks associated with communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases (CMNNs; Improved Childhood Nutrition and Vaccination scenario), risks associated with major non-communicable diseases (NCDs; Improved Behavioural and Metabolic Risks scenario), and the combined effects of these three scenarios. Using the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways climate scenarios SSP2-4.5 as reference and SSP1-1.9 as an optimistic alternative in the Safer Environment scenario, we accounted for climate change impact on health by using the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change temperature forecasts and published trajectories of ambient air pollution for the same two scenarios. Life expectancy and healthy life expectancy were computed using standard methods. The forecasting framework includes computing the age-sex-specific future population for each location and separately for each scenario. 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs) for each individual future estimate were derived from the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles of distributions generated from propagating 500 draws through the multistage computational pipeline. Findings: In the reference scenario forecast, global and super-regional life expectancy increased from 2022 to 2050, but improvement was at a slower pace than in the three decades preceding the COVID-19 pandemic (beginning in 2020). Gains in future life expectancy were forecasted to be greatest in super-regions with comparatively low life expectancies (such as sub-Saharan Africa) compared with super-regions with higher life expectancies (such as the high-income super-region), leading to a trend towards convergence in life expectancy across locations between now and 2050. At the super-region level, forecasted healthy life expectancy patterns were similar to those of life expectancies. Forecasts for the reference scenario found that health will improve in the coming decades, with all-cause age-standardised DALY rates decreasing in every GBD super-region. The total DALY burden measured in counts, however, will increase in every super-region, largely a function of population ageing and growth. We also forecasted that both DALY counts and age-standardised DALY rates will continue to shift from CMNNs to NCDs, with the most pronounced shifts occurring in sub-Saharan Africa (60·1% [95% UI 56·8–63·1] of DALYs were from CMNNs in 2022 compared with 35·8% [31·0–45·0] in 2050) and south Asia (31·7% [29·2–34·1] to 15·5% [13·7–17·5]). This shift is reflected in the leading global causes of DALYs, with the top four causes in 2050 being ischaemic heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, compared with 2022, with ischaemic heart disease, neonatal disorders, stroke, and lower respiratory infections at the top. The global proportion of DALYs due to YLDs likewise increased from 33·8% (27·4–40·3) to 41·1% (33·9–48·1) from 2022 to 2050, demonstrating an important shift in overall disease burden towards morbidity and away from premature death. The largest shift of this kind was forecasted for sub-Saharan Africa, from 20·1% (15·6–25·3) of DALYs due to YLDs in 2022 to 35·6% (26·5–43·0) in 2050. In the assessment of alternative future scenarios, the combined effects of the scenarios (Safer Environment, Improved Childhood Nutrition and Vaccination, and Improved Behavioural and Metabolic Risks scenarios) demonstrated an important decrease in the global burden of DALYs in 2050 of 15·4% (13·5–17·5) compared with the reference scenario, with decreases across super-regions ranging from 10·4% (9·7–11·3) in the high-income super-region to 23·9% (20·7–27·3) in north Africa and the Middle East. The Safer Environment scenario had its largest decrease in sub-Saharan Africa (5·2% [3·5–6·8]), the Improved Behavioural and Metabolic Risks scenario in north Africa and the Middle East (23·2% [20·2–26·5]), and the Improved Nutrition and Vaccination scenario in sub-Saharan Africa (2·0% [–0·6 to 3·6]). Interpretation: Globally, life expectancy and age-standardised disease burden were forecasted to improve between 2022 and 2050, with the majority of the burden continuing to shift from CMNNs to NCDs. That said, continued progress on reducing the CMNN disease burden will be dependent on maintaining investment in and policy emphasis on CMNN disease prevention and treatment. Mostly due to growth and ageing of populations, the number of deaths and DALYs due to all causes combined will generally increase. By constructing alternative future scenarios wherein certain risk exposures are eliminated by 2050, we have shown that opportunities exist to substantially improve health outcomes in the future through concerted efforts to prevent exposure to well established risk factors and to expand access to key health interventions

Toxico-clinical study of patients poisoned with household products; a two-year cross-sectional study

Abstract Background Several studies worldwide have investigated household product poisoning. We conducted a toxico-clinical study on the two-year prevalence of poisoning with household products. Methods This cross-sectional study was performed in Khorshid Hospital, the main referral center for poisoning cases in Isfahan, affiliated to Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, central Iran. All patients with intentional or unintentional household substance poisoning, referring to the poisoning emergency center of the hospital, were evaluated with respect to epidemiological and toxico-clinical features and outcomes. Results During the study period, 5946 patients were hospitalized, of which 83 (1.39%) had been poisoned with household products including 48 (57.8%) men and 35 (42.2%) women with a mean ± SD age of 34.40 ± 17.71 years. Most patients (54.2%) were in the 20–40-year-old age group. Accidental poisoning (63.9%) was the most common type of exposure (P = 0.02) predominantly in men (57.8%, P = 0.51). The most common household products were sodium hypochlorite (32.53%) followed by petroleum hydrocarbon (21.68%). Most of the accidental poisonings (77.8%) were due to petroleum hydrocarbon. 59% of cases were poisoned at home (P < 0.0001). No patient died. Conclusion Household products were not common means of poisoning in our referral center. Sodium hypochlorite and petroleum hydrocarbon were the most common substances. Most of the patients were men with accidental exposure at home. Because of the availability of the household product, the frequency and outcomes may be varied in different societies

The effect of green tea on blood pressure in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background and objectives: Previous trials conducted on patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) showed controversial results regarding the efficacy of green tea (GT) in improving blood pressure (BP). We conducted a review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to summarize the effect of GT supplementation on BP among patients with T2DM. Methods and study design: Online databases, including PubMed/Medline, Scopus, and ISI web of science, were searched up to March 2021 to retrieve RCTs that examined the effect of GT on BP in patients with T2DM. Meta-analyses were carried out using a random effects model. The I2 index was used to evaluate the heterogeneity. Results: Among the initial 854 studies identified from electronic databases search, ten trials, which included 681 participants, were eligible. Pooled effect size from 10 studies indicated that supplementary intake of GT had no significant effect on systolic blood pressure (SBP) (Mean Difference (MD): 0.00 mmHg, 95 % CI: (-0.01, 0.01), p = 0.997), with no significant heterogeneity between the studies (I2 = 8.8 %, p = 0.356) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (MD:-0.90 mmHg, 95 % CI: (-2.21, 0.41), p = 0.178), with significant heterogeneity among the studies (I2 = 55.6 %, p = 0.006). Subgroup analysis revealed that GT supplementation lowers DBP when intervention is conducted on patients with elevated DBP. Conclusion: Our meta-analysis revealed that although GT supplementation has no significant effect on general BP in patients with T2DM, it may significantly improve DBP in patients with T2DM who have high DBP

Are Women with Normal-Weight Obesity at Higher Risk for Cardiometabolic Disorders?

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the cardiometabolic abnormalities in women with normal-weight obesity (NWO) in comparison with lean, overweight, and obese women. Methods: This cross-sectional study evaluated the assessment of cardiometabolic abnormalities of women with NWO compared to lean, overweight, and obese women. NWO was defined as a BMI −2 and a BFP higher than 30%. Anthropometric variables, cardiometabolic abnormality markers (fasting blood glucose (FBG), blood pressure (BP), lipid profile, insulin resistance, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP)), and liver enzymes were also examined. Results: Significant differences were observed in HDL concentrations between NWO, lean, and obese participants (p p > 0.05). The prevalence of the abnormal metabolic phenotype was higher in NWO compared to the lean group (4.0% and 24.1%, respectively; p p p p p < 0.001, respectively). Conclusions: Individuals with NWO had a significantly higher incidence of cardiometabolic abnormalities when compared to lean participants. These abnormalities strongly relate to BFP and waist circumferences