lncRNA involvement in hepatocellular carcinoma metastasis and prognosis

Eukaryotic lncRNAs are RNA molecules defined to be greater than 200 bp in length that are not translated to a protein and operate through several mechanisms, including participating in chromatin remodeling and methylation, influencing the integrity and stability of proteins and complexes, or acting as a sponge for miRNA inhibition. A number of recent studies have concentrated on the relationship between long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and cancer. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most prevalent histological type of liver tumors, accounting for about 80 % of the cases worldwide. Lack of proper molecular markers for diagnosis of HCC and treatment evaluation is a significant problem. Dysregulated expression of HCC-related lncRNAs such as MEG-3, MALAT1, HULC, HOTAIR, and H19 have been identified and closely related with tumorigenesis, metastasis, prognosis and diagnosis. In this review, we summarized recent highlighted functions and molecular mechanisms of the most extensively studied lncRNAs in the pathophysiology of hepatocellular carcinoma and their potential for serving as probable therapeutic targets

Comparison of the calcium-related factors in Parkinson's disease patients with healthy individuals

Background: Parkinson’s disease (PD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases (ND). Studies have demonstrated that biochemical markers have an association with PD. We aimed to investigate an association of biochemical markers including calcium, vitamin D, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), parathormone (PTH), and phosphorous with PD. Methods: This study was conducted on 139 PD patients and 100 healthy individuals. Serum levels of calcium, phosphorous, ALP, PTH and vitamin D were evaluated. Furthermore, student’s t-test and logistic regression models were used by SPSS. Results: The mean levels of calcium (9.4±0.7 and 9.0±0.8 ) and vitamin D (29.7±22.1 and 25.8±23.7) were higher in PD patients as compared with healthy controls, which only status of calcium being significantly different in the two groups (P<0.001). Levels of ALP (202.4±96.7 and 242.9±142.4) and phosphorous (3.6±0.6 and 4.22±1.1) were significantly different comparing PD patients with healthy subjects (P<0.01, P<0.001, respectively). ALP and phosphorous were significantly different in the two groups (OR=0.996, CI 95%, 0.994-0.999, P <0.001, OR= 0.475, CI 95%, 0.325-0.694, P<0.001, respectively). Furthermore, increased levels of calcium resulted in an elevated risk of PD (OR= 2.175, CI 95% 1.377-3.435, P <0.001). Conclusion: Results show that mean levels of calcium are higher in PD patients relative to healthy controls. Thereby, higher levels of calcium may be associated with PD

Association of serum magnesium levels with risk factors, severity and prognosis in ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke patients

Background: Stroke is the third leading cause of mortality worldwide. One of the factors that affect the occurrence of stroke can be attributed to changes in the levels of trace elements. Accumulating evidence has been shown that magnesium, as an important element, is a new predictor of stroke. We aimed to determine the levels of Mg in ischemic stroke patients in comparison with those having the hemorrhagic type. Methods: This study was conducted on 447 stroke patients. Demographic characteristics of patients, stroke severity, and risk factors such as hypertension, ischemic heart disease, diabetes mellitus, and hyperlipidemia were recorded. Stroke was diagnosed based on the neurological examination and neuroimaging findings e.g. computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The colorimetric technique was used to determine the concentration of Mg at 450 nm according to the commercial kit. Results: The mean of magnesium levels in ischemic patients was significantly higher than that in the hemorrhagic patients (P=0.001). Difference in magnesium status was associated with gender in thrombotic patients (P<0.05), while hyperlipidemia was associated with the status of magnesium in embolic patients (P=0.012). Furthermore, magnesium levels were correlated with ischemic heart disease in embolic (P=0.011) and sub-arachnoid hemorrhagic (SAH) patients (P=0.012), and with diabetes mellitus in thrombotic patients (P=0.012). Magnesium status was associated with the severity of ischemic stroke at the time of discharge in ischemic patients (P<0.001). Mg levels had the best area under curve (AUC) for the discrimination of ischemic patients from hemorrhagic ones. Conclusion: Magnesium levels were higher in ischemic patients compared to hemorrhagic ones, and these levels were associated with many risk factors contributing to a stroke. Magnesium may be used as a new predictor of stroke in ischemic patients as opposed to hemorrhagic ones. &#160

The speed of the narrative of the story of Sa'di's Golestan based theory of Gérard Genette

Abstract Today, because of the importance of narrative style in literature, science of "narratology" has great importance in the narrative, and the issue of "Time" has found a special place. "Time" and "speed" in the narrative are the two issues which are closely related to each other and always effective in narration of narrative works. Since "time" has found its great value for modern man, new knowledge, "narratology", like all areas of human knowledge, has given time particular importance. The speed of the story in a literary work is to display, actions and events occurred during what period of time and how much of the story is devoted to. Sa'di's Golestan anecdotes as one of the most successful ancient Persian literature and the Persian poet Sa'di, one of the most discussed story writers, represent other literary values. In this study the issue of "rapid narrative" as a factor contributing to the popularity and persistence of this effect has been studied. For this purpose, 81 pieces of Golestan, which has a narrative structure (with two elements: dialogue and action fiction) and also have more of a coherent plot, selected on the basis of Gerard Genette's theory of narratology, to do a descriptive analysis and to reflect the increase and decrease of speed of the narrative on topics such as: the selection and elimination, the Parish, frequency, description, dialogue, adding episode, theorist, writer, intellectual expression, revealing the imaginative and emotional time, Hadith breath, Quote, use of metaphor, decelerating and comparing the characters of the story, will be discussed. The result of this study showed that the pace of the narrative in the story of Sa'di's Golestan is "sluggish" and due to the volume of the stories, use of the maximum of rapidly reducing factors is considered good and causes this literary work to be more lasting. It also has a great impact on making the young novelists focus on the importance of the narrative in the story, and pushing researchers to discover unknown aspects of the literary works of ancient Persian language.  More stories of Golestan were written in a "realistic" way and besides simplicity, in many respects accord with the contemporary fiction techniques and principles. In this work, the following questions will be answered: 1. What are the most important factors affecting the pace of the narrative Golestan's anecdotes?  2. Does the rapid or slow pace of the narratives impact on their popularity or everlasting? The objectives of this paper can be summarized as follows: 1. Evaluation of use of the additive and reductive factors in speed of Golestan's narrative stories.  2. Examining the Effect of narrative speed as one of the most important topics in everlasting Golestan's stories.  3- Determine the skills Saadi's successful or unsuccessful use of narrative speed. In this paper was to review the pace of the narrative in Sa'di's Golestan anecdotes. The results of this study showed that: 1. In Golestan's anecdots, the use of elements of selection and elimination, single frequency and frequency recounts, speeded up (rapid movement) the narrative. 2. In Golestan's anecdotes these factors have been used more: descriptions, subjective expression, adding episode, frequently repeated, the Parish of retrospectively, revealing the mental - emotional, negative acceleration, self-talk, dialogue, quotation, analogy, theorizing and comparing the characters. But these elements slowed down the speed of narrative stories. Thus, according to the results of this paper can be said the Golestan's anecdotes are narrative s in which the pace is slow. However this pace of the narrative is effective because pace factors of the narratives are charm and reputation and in the popularity of Golestan, have left a positive effect. Thus, this feature makes the reader without boredom, enjoy reading stories, adventures and events and pursue them until the end. Witness is the various and several editions of Golestan by different publications that justify the popularity of this work in the eyes of the audiences