Lipid-lowering effect of artichoke on liver phosphatidate phosphohydrolase and plasma lipids in hyperlipidemic rats

Artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.) is full of natural antioxidants and has a lipid-lowering effect. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of artichoke on the liver phosphatidate phosphohydrolase (PAP), plasma lipid levels, plasma malondialdehyde (MDA), and plasma antioxidant in hyperlipidemic rats. Male rats were fed by standard pellet diet (Group 1), standard diet supplemented with 10 artichoke (Group 2), lipogenic diet (containing sunflower oil, cholesterol and ethanol) plus 10 artichoke (Group 3) and only lipogenic diet (Group 4). On day 60 of the experiment, liver PAP activity, liver triglyceride (TG), plasma lipids, plasma MDA, and plasma antioxidant levels were measured. PAP activity, liver TG, the ratio of total cholesterol (TC) to high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, plasma TC and TG levels were significantly decreased due to artichoke treatment in Groups 2 and 3 compared to Groups 1 and 4, respectively. Significant reduction in plasma MDA and significant elevation in plasma antioxidant power observed in Groups 2 and 3 compared to Groups 1 and 4, respectively. The results clearly indicated that artichoke can be useful for the reduction of PAP activity and liver TG. Also, artichoke has beneficial effects in the controlling of hyperlipidemia, abnormalities in lipid profiles and oxidative stress in hyperlipidemic regimes

Evidence for hyperprolactinemia in migraineurs: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: One of the hypothalamus-pituitary axis hormones which may play a crucial role in pathophysiology of migraine is prolactin which is secreted from anterior pituitary gland and synthesized by various immune system cells as well. Whether prolactin blood levels can affect the migraine pathogenesis is an open question. Therefore, investigating prolactin circulatory levels in migraineurs may pave the way to underpin the mechanisms of migraine pathophysiology at biochemical levels. In the current investigation, the prolactin blood levels in the migraine subjects were investigated using systematic review and meta-analysis. METHODS: Using online and specialized biomedical databases including Google Scholar, Medline, Pubmed, Pubmed Central, Embase, and Scopus, without the beginning date restriction until Feb 2019, the systematic review retrieved 11 publications in this systematic review after fulfilling for the inclusion and exclusion criteria. For heterogeneity, extent calculation statistical testing was applied. In the present study, the levels of circulatory prolactin in migraineurs assessed using standardized mean difference (SMD) as the effect size. RESULTS: Q quantity and I(2) statistic index showed a high heterogeneity in the 13 selected publications (188.370 and 92.568, respectively) and random-effects model was chosen for further analyses. The meta-analysis on a total number of 460 migraineurs and 429 healthy controls found that the weighted pooled SMD for the effects of prolactin blood concentrations on migraine pathogenesis was as follows: SMD = 1.435 (95 confidence interval, 0.854-2.015). CONCLUSION: The current investigation presents evidence that prolactin blood levels are higher in migraineurs than healthy subjects

Serum vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels in ischemic stroke patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis of case-control studies

Serum VEGF level is regarded to be a biomarker for the diagnosis of stroke. Even though there have been published plethora of original articles describing higher blood VEGF concentrations since the 1970s, however, there is no any meta-analysis report for serum VEGF levels in the field of evidence-based medicine yet. A systematic review was performed by searching the online biomedical databases including retrieving 14 case-control studies including within-article subgroups after fulfilling the inclusion and exclusion criteria without the beginning date restriction, until 2020 for ischemic stroke patients. The Q quantity andI(2) statistic index showed a high heterogeneity (84.895 and 84.687, respectively) and the random-effects model of meta-analysis was applied for further analyses. The meta-analysis on a total number of 769 stroke subjects and 621 controls found that the weighted pooled SMD for overall serum VEGF levels on different days of testing was 1.92 (95 CI, - 4.059-0.219,pvalue = 0.079) and the pooled SMD for overall serum VEGF levels on day 1 of testing was - 1.083 (95 CI, - 4.229-2.063,pvalue = 0.500). The meta-regression results demonstrated that different days of testing do not significantly affect serum VEGF concentrations in ischemic patients and actually their serum levels are time-independent. Based on the recently published studies, this meta-analysis showed that serum VEGF levels were not significantly associated with an ischemic stroke diagnosis. Thus, researchers may concern another ideal serum or cerebrospinal fluid-derived biomarker for stroke diagnosis

A systematic review and meta-analysis of recent studies reporting hormone levels related to thyroid gland function in migraineurs, until April 2020

Purpose The purpose of the current study was to evaluate thyroid function in terms of serum thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH, also known as thyrotropin), 3,5,3 '-triiodo-l-thyronine (T3), and 3,5,3 ',5 '-tetraiodo-l-thyronine (T4, also known as thyroxine) levels in migraineurs in comparison with non-migraineurs using a systematic review of literature and a meta-analysis. Methods This is a systematic review of case-control studies on serum TSH, T3, and T4 concentrations of migraineurs in comparison with non-migraineurs. After extracting the data from the finally included studies, the weighted overall standardized mean difference (SMD) was calculated. Results The weighted overall SMD for the impact of TSH, T3, and T4 blood levels for migraineurs in comparison with non-migraineurs was as follows: 0.804 (95 CI, 0.045-1.564), - 0.267 (95 CI, - 0.660-0.125), 0.093 (95 CI, - 0.077-0.263), respectively. It is noteworthy that only thepvalue for the significance of the overall SMD for serum TSH level was statistically significant (p= 0.038), as examined by thez-test. Conclusions The results of the current study point to an association between migraine pathogenesis and changing TSH levels in comparison with those of controls

Frequency of CD8(+) regulatory T cells in the multiple sclerosis patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neuro-immunological demyelinating disease. From the immunological aspects, it is well accepted that T cells play a pivotal role in the etiology of the disease. T helper (Th) 1 and Th17 cells are thought to be the main pathogenic T cells in the pathogenesis of MS and are known as effector T cells. As the self-reactive T lymphocytes can escape clonal deletion in the thymus and subsequently are released into the periphery, there is an urgent need for peripheral tolerance, which is executed by the specialized regulatory T (Treg) cells. Interestingly, CD8(+) regulatory T (Treg) cells have also been identified among lymphocyte subtypes. The peripheral CD8(+) Treg cells frequency in MS subjects in comparison with healthy controls is the objective of the current study using the systematic review and meta-analysis. A systematic literature search was carried out using specialized biomedical databases of Pubmed, Pubmed Central, Medline, Google Scholar, Embase and SCOPUS databases without the beginning date restriction until January 2018 in English language. The results were as follows: OR 15.548 (95 confidence interval 1.954-123.742) using the random-effects model. The P value for test of significance of the total OR was examined by the z test and calculated as 0.010 (clearly considered as statistically significant). Based on our findings, the number of CD8(+) Treg cells in the blood of MS subjects is significantly different as compared to healthy controls

A systematic review and meta-analysis of serum resistin level and its relation to HOMA-IR score using meta-regression in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease patients

BACKGROUND: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) comorbidity with adipose tissue dysfunction is not new and studies have focused on how adipose tissue influences NAFLD pathophysiology. OBJECTIVE: Quantification of nature and magnitude of the association between serum resistin and also insulin resistance, by calculating pooled Homeostatic Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) score, with NAFLD pathophysiology was the objective of the current study. METHODS: Using systematic reviewand meta-analysis and standardized mean difference (SMD) as the effect size, the levels of resistin and HOMA-IR scores have been investigated in NAFLD subjects in comparison with controls in the case-control studies using random-effects models. RESULTS: This meta-analysis retrieved a total number of 665 and 522 cases and 671 and 555 control subjects until May 2020 for serum levels of resistin and HOMA-IR score until May 2020. The final analyses demonstrated that pooled SMD of resistin and HOMA-IR score was 0.687 (95 confidence interval, 0.070-1.304) and 1.368 (95 confidence interval, 1.080-1.655); respectively. Moreover, the p-value for the test of significance for each pooled SMD was examined by the z-test and calculated as 0.029 and 0.000 for resistin and HOMA-IR score (clearly considered as statistically significant). . CONCLUSION: Based on the findings, the HOMA-IR score and the serum levels of resistin in NAFLD subjects are associated with disease pathogenesis

Liver and kidney serum profile abnormalities in workers exposed to aflatoxin B1 in urban solid waste management centers

Many workers are exposed to health problems arising from molds, fungi, and their toxins during waste processing. Aflatoxin B-1(AFB(1)) level in airborne and settled dust, aflatoxin B-1-albumin (AFB(1)-Alb) adduct in serum, liver and kidney biochemical tests, and body redox change of workers in municipal dry waste-processing sites were investigated. The surface, personal, and area air dust and the blood of workers' samples were collected from the plastic and bread waste-sorting sections in three recycling municipal dry waste sites. Digestion (only for serum samples), passed through SPE cartridge, elution, and collection with methanol, immune-affinity column clean-up, and HPLC system equipped with post-column derivatization method and fluorescence detection were performed for determination of AFB(1)and AFB(1)-Alb levels in the samples. The mean level of dust and AFB(1)in the personal and area air, and in the settled dust and the AFB(1)-Alb in the serum of workers in the bread waste sorting, was higher than plastic waste-sorting samples, in all of the sites. The differences in the biochemical profiles of subjects exposed to aflatoxin B(1)as compared to the control group especially in liver and kidney function parameters as well as antioxidant factors of the serum were significant. The workers in handling of municipal waste may be exposed to potentially hazardous levels of aflatoxin B-1. The adverse effects of AFB(1)on the kidney and liver may be caused by changes in the redox system

Leptin, adiponectin, and resistin blood adipokine levels in migraineurs: Systematic reviews and meta-analyses

INTRODUCTION: Migraine comorbidity with obesity is not new and studies have focused on how adipose tissue-derived substances such as adipokines might be involved in the migraine pathophysiology. Quantification of the nature and magnitude of the association between each adipokine including leptin, adiponectin and resistin with migraine pathophysiology is the objective of the current study. METHODS: Using systematic reviews and meta-analyses and standardized mean difference as effect size, the levels of three adipokines, leptin, adiponectin and resistin, have been investigated in migraineur subjects in the case-control studies. RESULTS: Using random-effects models, the final analyses demonstrated the standardized mean differences of leptin, adiponectin and resistin as 0.534 (95 confidence interval, 0.169-0.898), 0.439 (95 confidence interval, 0.132-0.746) and 0.194 (95 confidence interval, -0.158-0.546), respectively. The p-value for test of significance for each pooled standardized mean difference was examined by the z-test and calculated as 0.004, 0.005 and 0.281 for leptin, adiponectin and resistin (clearly considered as statistically significant, significant and non-significant), respectively. CONCLUSION: Based on the findings, the blood levels of leptin and adiponectin, but not resistin, of the migraineurs are associated with disease pathogenesis

Association of Statin Therapy on Clinical Outcomes in Covid-19 Patients: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis on All Related Evidences

Introduction: Statins is a class of lipid-lowering drugs and our previous investigations showed that statins have antiviral effects and have a wound healing effect in the lung. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the effects of statin therapy on mortality and clinical outcomes in COVID-19 patients. Methods: A comprehensive search was conducted in international databases, including MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, and Embase from December 1, 2019 until January 26, 2022 without any restriction in language. The random-effects model was used to estimate the pooled odds ratio (OR). Results: The statin therapy overally was associated with decrease in odds of ventilation pooled OR (95% CI): 0.85 (0.70 to 0.99) and mortality pooled OR (95% CI): 0.73 (0.66 to 0.81) but had no effects on the ICU admission pooled OR (95% CI): 0.93 (0.77 to 1.12), oxygen therapy pooled OR (95% CI): 0.85 (0.70 to 0.99), recovery pooled OR (95% CI): 1.85 (0.35 to 9.92), kidney failure pooled OR (95% CI): 1.01 (0.73 to 1.40), hospitalization pooled OR (95% CI): 1.45 (0.88 to 2.36), asymptomatic disease pooled OR (95% CI): 1.33 (0.24 to 7.44), and ARDS pooled OR (95% CI): 1.15 (0.88 to 1.49). Conclusion: The present meta-analysis showed that statin therapy was associated with a reduced risk of mortality and ventilation in patients with COVID-19 but had no effects on other clinical outcomes. © 2022 Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Published by Tehran University of Medical Sciences