Therapeutic effects of Crocus sativus: An overview of systematic reviews

Background and aims: Crocus sativus is of medicinal plants possessing many beneficial effects in treatment of various disorders. This study aimed to overview the therapeutic effects of Crocus sativus on the basis of reviews and systematic reviews. Methods: Computerized search of review articles was performed using PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus and Web of Science, Medline database from 1996 to 2015. Results: Searches identified 8 reviews and systematic reviews of therapeutic effects of Crocus sativus. Despite remarkable difference in interventions, and type of studies carried out on this plant (in vivo and in vitro), it seemed to have many therapeutic effects on the treatment of various types of diseases. In all the reviews, the objectives were similar, e.g. inhibition of growth of cancer cell lines, analgesic activity, improvement of health condition and treatment of some disease but the type of study (in vivo and in vitro) (animal studies: rat, mouse, guinipig, rabbit) and content was quite different. The most common effects of Crocus sativus were anti-carcinogenesis, tumoricidal, anti-depressant, antihypertensive, anticonvulsant, antitussive, anti-genototoxic and cytotoxic effects, anti-Alzheimer’s, antitussive, anxiolytic, aphrodisiac, antioxidant, anti-nociceptive, anti-inflammatory, relaxant activity, and effects on the gastrointestinal tract, on ocular blood flow and on retinal function, effect on coronary artery diseases, and hypnotic, and anesthetic effects. Conclusion: The results of various studies on Crocus sativus showed that it has a lot of therapeutic effects on the treatment of various types of diseases. However, to be able to use these results in our daily life, additional clinical trials with larger sample size and longer duration may be required to evaluate its toxicity and safety in each and every case of its therapeutic effects

Systematic review on safety and drug interaction of herbal therapy in hyperlipidemia: a guide for internist.

Because of reporting high side effects related to biosynthetic drugs, recent attention has been paid to the use of herbs instead of chemical drugs to balance serum lipids. The present systematic review aimed to evaluate the safety of herbal medicines and also to assess drug interaction in herbal therapy in treating hyperlipidemia. The international research databases including MEDLINE; Google scholar, Web of Science SciVerse Scopus (SCOPUS); EBSCO Academic Search; Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL); and a Chinese database (China Network Knowledge Infrastructure [CNKI]) were searched from their respective inceptions up to September 2014 with the search terms of "hyperlipidemia", "herbal medicine", "medicine traditional", "extract plant", "Traditional Medicine" and "Chinese Herbal Medicine" without narrowing or limiting search elements. A total of 85 randomized clinical trials (RCTs) studies were finally assessed on human subjects. A notable number of herbal drugs that are commonly used as an anti-hyperlipidemia agent may be interacted with a variety of biosynthetic drugs. In this regard, the most common reported herb-drug reactions were related to anticoagulants, antidepressants, anti-epileptic, anti-inflammatory, and/or even antihypertension and anti-lipidemic drugs. Also, a considerable number of anti-lipidemic drugs of plants origin may be accompanied with metabolic disturbances and serious complications within pregnancy and breast feeding. The main fundamental principles for administration of these drugs include physicians' complete awareness of the effects and interactions of these drugs, educating people not taking these drugs arbitrarily, and closely monitoring the verification and distribution of the drugs in the society

Intravenous hypnotic regimens in patients with liver disease; a review article

Context: The liver as an important organ in the body has many essential functions in physiological processes. One of the major activities of liver is drug metabolism. Hepatic dysfunction affecting hepatic physiological activities, especially drug metabolism can cause many problems during anesthesia and administration of different drugs to patients. Evidence Acquisition: Studies on hepatic disorders and hypnotic anesthetics prescribed in hepatic disorders were included in this review. For this purpose, reliable databases were used. Results: Anesthesia should be performed with caution in patients with hepatic dysfunction and drugs with long half-life should be avoided in these patients. Conclusions: A review of the literature on the use of hypnotic drugs in patients with liver dysfunction showed that some hypnotic drugs used during anesthesia could be safely used in patients with impaired liver function. In these patients, certain drugs should be used with caution. © 2015, Iranian Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (ISRAPM)

ALEXITHYMIA DIFFERENCES AND THE THEORY OF MIND AMONG CHILDREN WITH NURSING CAREERS PARENTS

Different studies have presented various results on Alexithymia and Theory of Mind in both women and men. Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to determine differences of alexithymia and theory of mind among Children survivors in the Kurdistan's among children with nursing careers parents. Therefore, 284 nurses (123 boys and 161 girls) were chosen among children with nursing careers parents located in hospital sanandaj in 2016. Then the respondents completed the Toronto Alexithymia and Mind Reading through Eyes questionnaires. Descriptive Statistical Method and Multi-Variate Variance Analysis were used to analyze the data. Results of the research showed that the rates of theory of mind and externally orientated thinking were different in both genders. In other words, survival boys showed higher levels of externally orientated thinking and lower levels of theory of mind compared to survival girls

Responding to physical and psychological health impacts of disasters: Case study of the Iranian disaster rehabilitation plan Agir en réponse aux conséquences physiques et psychologiques des catastrophes naturelles: �tude de cas du plan de relèvement post-catastrophe en Iran

This paper describes the process of developing a national pre-disaster plan for physical health and psychological rehabilitation of disaster-stricken communities. Data gathered from a literature review and expert panel discussions informed the process of drawing up unified definitions of physical and psychological health rehabilitation, carrying out stakeholder and STEEP-V analyses, and assigning the responsible organization and the collaborative organizations for each task. The Ministry of Health and the Welfare Organization were selected as the two responsible organizations. Integrated management at all levels, and sharing information, education and funding, were identified as ways to improve stakeholders� participation and collaboration. A system is needed for evaluating the implementation of the disaster rehabilitation plan, using valid and reliable indicators. © 2016, World Health Organization. All rights reserved

3D Printing of Inertial Microfluidic Devices.

Inertial microfluidics has been broadly investigated, resulting in the development of various applications, mainly for particle or cell separation. Lateral migrations of these particles within a microchannel strictly depend on the channel design and its cross-section. Nonetheless, the fabrication of these microchannels is a continuous challenging issue for the microfluidic community, where the most studied channel cross-sections are limited to only rectangular and more recently trapezoidal microchannels. As a result, a huge amount of potential remains intact for other geometries with cross-sections difficult to fabricate with standard microfabrication techniques. In this study, by leveraging on benefits of additive manufacturing, we have proposed a new method for the fabrication of inertial microfluidic devices. In our proposed workflow, parts are first printed via a high-resolution DLP/SLA 3D printer and then bonded to a transparent PMMA sheet using a double-coated pressure-sensitive adhesive tape. Using this method, we have fabricated and tested a plethora of existing inertial microfluidic devices, whether in a single or multiplexed manner, such as straight, spiral, serpentine, curvilinear, and contraction-expansion arrays. Our characterizations using both particles and cells revealed that the produced chips could withstand a pressure up to 150 psi with minimum interference of the tape to the total functionality of the device and viability of cells. As a showcase of the versatility of our method, we have proposed a new spiral microchannel with right-angled triangular cross-section which is technically impossible to fabricate using the standard lithography. We are of the opinion that the method proposed in this study will open the door for more complex geometries with the bespoke passive internal flow. Furthermore, the proposed fabrication workflow can be adopted at the production level, enabling large-scale manufacturing of inertial microfluidic devices

Fabrication of unconventional inertial microfluidic channels using wax 3D printing.

Inertial microfluidics has emerged over the past decade as a powerful tool to accurately control cells and microparticles for diverse biological and medical applications. Many approaches have been proposed to date in order to increase the efficiency and accuracy of inertial microfluidic systems. However, the effects of channel cross-section and solution properties (Newtonian or non-Newtonian) have not been fully explored, primarily due to limitations in current microfabrication methods. In this study, we overcome many of these limitations using wax 3D printing technology and soft lithography through a novel workflow, which eliminates the need for the use of silicon lithography and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) bonding. We have shown that by adding dummy structures to reinforce the main channels, optimizing the gap between the dummy and main structures, and dissolving the support wax on a PDMS slab to minimize the additional handling steps, one can make various non-conventional microchannels. These substantially improve upon previous wax printed microfluidic devices where the working area falls into the realm of macrofluidics rather than microfluidics. Results revealed a surface roughness of 1.75 μm for the printed channels, which does not affect the performance of inertial microfluidic devices used in this study. Channels with complex cross-sections were fabricated and then analyzed to investigate the effects of viscoelasticity and superposition on the lateral migration of the particles. Finally, as a proof of concept, microcarriers were separated from human mesenchymal stem cells using an optimized channel with maximum cell-holding capacity, demonstrating the suitability of these microchannels in the bioprocessing industry

Numerical and Experimental Study of Cross-Sectional Effects on the Mixing Performance of the Spiral Microfluidics.

Mixing at the microscale is of great importance for various applications ranging from biological and chemical synthesis to drug delivery. Among the numerous types of micromixers that have been developed, planar passive spiral micromixers have gained considerable interest due to their ease of fabrication and integration into complex miniaturized systems. However, less attention has been paid to non-planar spiral micromixers with various cross-sections and the effects of these cross-sections on the total performance of the micromixer. Here, mixing performance in a spiral micromixer with different channel cross-sections is evaluated experimentally and numerically in the Re range of 0.001 to 50. The accuracy of the 3D-finite element model was first verified at different flow rates by tracking the mixing index across the loops, which were directly proportional to the spiral radius and were hence also proportional to the Dean flow. It is shown that higher flow rates induce stronger vortices compared to lower flow rates; thus, fewer loops are required for efficient mixing. The numerical study revealed that a large-angle outward trapezoidal cross-section provides the highest mixing performance, reaching efficiencies of up to 95%. Moreover, the velocity/vorticity along the channel length was analyzed and discussed to evaluate channel mixing performance. A relatively low pressure drop (<130 kPa) makes these passive spiral micromixers ideal candidates for various lab-on-chip applications

Annealing Heat Treatment of ZnO Nanoparticles Grown on Porous Si Substrate Using Spin-Coating Method

ZnO nanoparticles were successfully deposited on porous silicon (PSi) substrate using spin-coating method. In order to prepare PSi, electrochemical etching was employed to modify the Si surface. Zinc acetate dihydrate was used as a starting material in ZnO sol-gel solution preparation. The postannealing treatments were investigated on morphologies and photoluminescence (PL) properties of the ZnO thin films. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) results indicate that the thin films composed by ZnO nanoparticles were distributed uniformly on PSi. The average sizes of ZnO nanoparticle increase with increasing annealing temperature. Atomic force microscopic (AFM) analysis reveals that ZnO thin films annealed at 500°C had the smoothest surface. PL spectra show two peaks that completely correspond to nanostructured ZnO and PSi. These findings indicate that the ZnO nanostructures grown on PSi are promising for application as light emitting devices