Aging of mesenchymal stem cell in vitro

BACKGROUND: A hot new topic in medical treatment is the use of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) in therapy. The low frequency of this subpopulation of stem cells in bone marrow (BM) necessitates their in vitro expansion prior to clinical use. We evaluated the effect of long term culture on the senescence of these cells. RESULTS: The mean long term culture was 118 days and the mean passage number was 9. The average number of PD decreased from 7.7 to 1.2 in the 10th passage. The mean telomere length decreased from 9.19 Kbp to 8.7 kbp in the 9th passage. Differentiation potential dropped from the 6th passage on. The culture's morphological abnormalities were typical of the Hayflick model of cellular aging. CONCLUSION: We believe that MSC enter senescence almost undetectably from the moment of in vitro culturing. Simultaneously these cells are losing their stem cell characteristics. Therefore, it is much better to consider them for cell and gene therapy early on

Investigation of the Effects of Estrogen and Progesterone Hormones on Active Knee Joint Position Sense in Healthy Women in Different Phases of a Menstrual Cycle

Abstract The proprioceptive system is actually a sensory system based on an individual’s knowledge of the body. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of estrogen and progesterone hormones on understanding and to recognize the proprioceptive sense the knee joint in healthy women during the menstrual cycle. Fifteen healthy women with regular menstrual cycles participated in this study. The estrogen and progesterone levels were evaluated during a cycle in the follicular, ovulation, and luteal phases. The effect on the sense of perception and cognition of the proprioceptive knee joint in two directions (extension and flexion), by target angle reconstruction at 30° was studied. The results showed that female sex hormones affect the knee active Joint Position Sense (JPS). In the extensions, the changes of the menstrual cycle affect the JPS in constant error during the ovulation phase. In the flexion, changes in the menstrual cycle affect the JPS in constant, absolute, and variable error during the luteal phase. The findings of this study show that the menstruation phases can change the active JPS at knee joint. Since the outbreak of joint problems, especially in the knee joint, is higher in women than in men, it was predicted that hormonal changes during the menstrual cycle affect the proprioceptive cognition of the knee joint, which in turn increases the percentage of knee injuries in women

Melanoma Cell Expression of CD200 Inhibits Tumor Formation and Lung Metastasis via Inhibition of Myeloid Cell Functions

CD200 is a cell surface glycoprotein that functions through engaging CD200 receptor on cells of the myeloid lineage and inhibits their functions. Expression of CD200 has been implicated in a variety of human cancer cells including melanoma cells and has been thought to play a protumor role. To investigate the role of cancer cell expression of CD200 in tumor formation and metastasis, we generated CD200-positive and CD200-negative B16 melanoma cells. Subcutaneous injection of CD200-positive B16 melanoma cells inhibited tumor formation and growth in C57BL/6 mice but not in Rag1−/−C57BL/6 mice. However, i.v. injection of CD200-positive B16 melanoma cells dramatically inhibited tumor foci formation in the lungs of both C57BL/6 and Rag1−/−C57BL6 mice. Flow cytometry analysis revealed higher expression of CD200R in Gr1+ myeloid cells in the lung than in peripheral myeloid cells. Depletion of Gr1+ cells or stimulation of CD200R with an agonistic antibody in vivo dramatically inhibited tumor foci formation in the lungs. In addition, treatment with tumor antigen specific CD4 or CD8 T cells or their combination yielded a survival advantage for CD200 positive tumor bearing mice over mice bearing CD200-negative tumors. Taken together, we have revealed a novel role for CD200-CD200R interaction in inhibiting tumor formation and metastasis. Targeting CD200R may represent a novel approach for cancer immunotherapy

The Combination of Inconsistent Feelings in Satire or Humor on Persian Language (A Case study: Parviz e Shapoor s Caricalamatures)

Abstract Grotesque is a concept and style in art and literature in which artist or belletrist tries to induce two inconsistent senses of fear (anxiety or repulsion) or laugh (satire or humor) to second person simultaneously. Grotesque, today, describes and manifests distressed and alienation world. It means observing familiar world of strange perspective that shows off it fearful and ridiculous. The most prominent features that make a Grotesque work are as fallow: disharmony, extravagance and exaggeration, abnormality and comic and terrifying. But one of the most important art and literature branches that Grotesque enters in it, is satire and humor that one of its kind is Caricalamatur.   Caricalamatur is a kind of short, simple and satire prose that paid attention to around to phenomenon and world by different attitude with aim of foregrounding and based on some people opinion, also, it is defined as a caricature that is expressed by worlds.   Grotesque in Caricalamaturs has special appearance particularly in Caricalamatur of Parviz e Shapoor, the pioneer of this style.Grotesque in Caricalamaturs is more the result of two technics of abnormality (paradox), and extravagance and exaggeration and present to it strange and comic and terrifying picture quality.   The most important of Grotesque technics in Caricalamaturs are disorder, levels integration, exaggeration, movement, metamorphosis and uses of antithetical and twin.This research has performed by descriptive- analytical method to recognize and investigate Grotesque concepts, how it occurs and its contents in Caricalamatur by evidence representation

Do highly cited clinicians get more citations when being present at social networking sites?

Background and Aims: The advent of social networking sites has facilitated the dissemination of scientific research. This article aims to investigate the presence of Iranian highly cited clinicians in social networking sites. Materials and Methods: This is a scientometrics study. Essential Science Indicator (ESI) was searched for Iranian highly cited papers in clinical medicine during November–December 2015. Then, the authors of the papers were checked and a list of authors was obtained. In the second phase, the authors' names were searched in the selected social networking sites (ResearchGate [RG], Academia, Mendeley, LinkedIn). The total citations and h-index in Scopus were also gathered. Results: Fifty-five highly cited papers were retrieved. A total of 107 authors participated in writing these papers. RG was the most popular (64.5%) and LinkedIn and Academia were in 2nd and 3rd places. None of the authors of highly cited papers were subscribed to Mendeley. A positive direct relationship was observed between visibility at social networking sites with citation and h-index rate. A significant relationship was observed between the RG score, citations, reads indicators in RG, and citation numbers and there was a significant relationship between the number of document indicator in Academia and the citation numbers. Conclusion: It seems putting the papers in social networking sites can influence the citation rate. We recommend all scientists to be present at social networking sites to have better chance of visibility and also citation

Surgeons’ Errors in the Management of Patients with Cervical Cancer

Background and Aim: Generally, in patients with cervical cancer, careful preliminary evaluation is necessary for avoiding improper surgical procedures and making effective clinical decisions for treatment. The aim of this study was to determine surgeons’ errors, which necessitate a combination of surgery and radiotherapy for cervical cancer patients.    Methods: In this retrospective study, medical records of all cervical cancer patients, undergoing hysterectomy at tumor clinics of Ghaem and Omid hospitals, were collected from 1988 to 2008. In total, the medical records of 93 subjects with postoperative radiotherapy were examined. All records were assessed in terms of surgeons’ errors, patients’ follow-up after radiotherapy, rate of disease recurrence, and mortality rate. In addition, survival factors were recorded and assessed, and cumulative 3- and 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) rates as well as overall survival (OS) rate were determined by Kaplan–Meier test. Results: The overall rate of surgeons’ errors was 41%. The most common surgical error was improper surgical care due to surgeon’s lack of knowledge about the cervical cancer treatment. The 3-year DFS rates were 86% and 64% in cases without surgeon’s error and those affected by surgeon's error, respectively. In addition, the 5-year DFS rate was 53% in the non-affected group and 47% in cases affected by surgeon's error (P=0.05).      Conclusion: Pre-treatment evaluation as well as proper treatment is necessary for the prevention of adverse effects, caused by inappropriate surgical interventions. It is suggested that more time and attention be allocated to the improvement of surgical outcomes

Conjoined twins in a monochorionic triplet pregnancy after in vitro fertilization: a case report

Background: Monozygotic monochorionic triplet pregnancy with conjoined twins is a very rare condition and is associated with many complications. Case: In this study, we describe a monochorionic–diamniotic triplet pregnancy after in vitro fertilization with an intracytoplasmic sperm injection. At a gestational age of 6 weeks and 4 days of pregnancy one gestational sac was observed, and at a gestational age of 12 weeks and 2 days, triplets with conjoined twins were diagnosed. After consulting with the parents, they chose fetal reduction of the conjoined twins. Selective feticide was successfully performed by radiofrequency ablation at 16 weeks of pregnancy. Unfortunately, the day after the procedure, the membrane ruptured, and 1 week later, all fetuses and placenta were spontaneously aborted. Conclusion: Monochorionic triplet pregnancy with conjoined twins is very rare. These pregnancies are associated with very serious complications. Intra cytoplasmic sperm injection increases the rate of monozygotic twinning and conjoined twins. Counseling with parents before IVF is very important

IL-27 enhances the survival of tumor antigen-specific CD8+T cells and programs them into IL-10-producing, memory precursor-like effector cells

To organize and prioritise species-specific conservation efforts, we delineate `functional conservation units' for the threatened Alcon Blue butterfly Maculinea alcon in Belgium. We used detailed distribution data on the butterfly, its host plant and its habitat, present-day population sizes and its mobility and colonization capacity to determine functional conservation units (FCUs) on different spatial scales: FCU-1, i.e., the 12 presently occupied habitat patches plus the area within a range of 500 m surrounding them (the maximum local movement distance, based on mark-release-recapture data), FCU-2, i.e., the areas within a range of 2 km around the occupied habitat patches (the maximum observed colonization capacity) and FCU-3, i.e., potential re-introduction sites (sites where M. alcon went extinct recently). We suggest different management and planning measures for each type of functional conservation unit and discuss translocation and re-introduction as `intensive care' conservation measures for this threatened and sedentary species