Differentiation of definitive endoderm from human induced pluripotent stem cells on hMSCs feeder in a defined medium

Background: The Definitive Endoderm (DE) differentiation using the undefined media and non-human feeders can cause contaminations in the generated cells for therapeutic applications. Therefore, generating safer and more appropriate DE cells is needed. This study compared five different methods to establish an appropriate method for inducing an efficient DE differentiation from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (hiPSCs) on an appropriate feeder in a more defined medium. Methods: Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (hiPSCs) were cultured on inactivated feeders. Passaged hiPSCs, without feeder, were incubated for three days with Activin-A and different endodermal differentiation media including 1-FBS, 2-B27, 3- ITS and albumin fraction-V, 4-B27 and ITS and 5-like the third medium. The feeder cells in the first four methods were Mouse Embryonic Fibroblasts (MEFs) and in the fifth method were human adult bone marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells (hMSCs). DE markers FOXA2, SOX17 and CXCR4 and also pluripotency marker OCT4 were evaluated using qRT-PCR, as well as FOXA2 by the immunocytochemistry. Results: QRT-PCR analysis showed that after three days, the expression levels of DE and pluripotency markers in the differentiated hiPSCs among all five groups did not have any significant differences. Similarly, the immunocytochemistry analysis demonstrated that the differentiated hiPSCs expressed FOXA2, with no significant differences. Conclusion: Despite this similarity in the results, the third differentiation medium has more defined and cost effective components. Furthermore, hMSC, a human feeder, is safer than MEF. Therefore, the fifth method is preferable among other DE differentiation methods and can serve as a fundamental method helping the development of regenerative medicine. © 2016, Avicenna Journal of Medical Biotechnology. All rights reserved

The health-related quality of life in Iranian patients with COVID-19

Background: COVID-19 is a public health emergency with a high mortality rate and it reduces the patient�s Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) significantly. This effect is measured in the current study. Methods: In a cross-sectional study in Iran, 320 randomly selected treated patients from COVID-19 were studied. To collect the required data, we applied a questionnaire that included socio-demographic factors, clinical characteristics, and questions on the patients� HRQoL. Time trade-off (TTO) approach was used to measure the lost HRQoL attributed to COVID-19. Besides, we applied a two-limit Tobit regression model to determine the effects of the socio-demographic factors on patients� health utility and the visual analogue scale approach was used to estimate the perceived total current health status. Results: The overall mean (SE) and median (IQR) of the health utility values were 0.863 (0.01) and 0.909 (0.21) respectively. These values for the traders (those who were willing to lose a part of their remaining time of life to avoid the disease) were estimated at 0.793 (0.01) and 0.848 (0.17), respectively. The lowest amount of utility value belonged to the elderly (mean (SE) = 0.742 (0.04); median (IQR) = 0.765 (0.42)) and those living in rural areas (mean (SE)) = 0.804 (0.03); median (IQR) = 0.877 (0.30)). The univariate analysis showed that age, place of residence, and household size had a statistically significant effect on health utility. Moreover, findings of the regression analysis indicated that the participants� age and hospitalization status were the key determinants of COVID-19 health utility value. Conclusion: COVID-19 is associated with a substantial and measurable decrease in HRQoL. This decline in HRQoL can be directly compared with that induced by systemic health states. © 2021, The Author(s)

Correction to: The health-related quality of life in Iranian patients with COVID-19 (BMC Infectious Diseases, (2021), 21, 1, (459), 10.1186/s12879-021-06170-z)

After publication of the original article 1, an error was identified in two authors� names. The incorrect names are: Sima Pourteymour; Hassan Mahmoudi The correct names are: Sima Pourteimour; Hassan Mahmoodi The original article has been corrected. © The Author(s). 202

The Impact of Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Education: A Systematic Review and Research Agenda

Using a teaching model framework, we systematically review empirical evidence on the impact of entrepreneurship education (EE) in higher education on a range of entrepreneurial outcomes, analyzing 159 published articles from 2004 to 2016. The teaching model framework allows us for the first time to start rigorously examining relationships between pedagogical methods and specific outcomes. Reconfirming past reviews and meta-analyses, we find that EE impact research still predominantly focuses on short-term and subjective outcome measures and tends to severely underdescribe the actual pedagogies being tested. Moreover, we use our review to provide an up-to-date and empirically rooted call for less obvious, yet greatly promising, new or underemphasized directions for future research on the impact of university-based entrepreneurship education. This includes, for example, the use of novel impact indicators related to emotion and mind-set, focus on the impact indicators related to the intention-to-behavior transition, and exploring the reasons for some contradictory findings in impact studies including person-, context-, and pedagogical model-specific moderator

Decreased level of the anti-inflammatory adipokine, secreted frizzled-related protein 5, in patients with coronary artery disease

Background: Secreted frizzled-related protein 5 (SFRP5) is an anti-inflammatory adipokine that excreted by adipose tissue and functions to modulate metabolic and inflammatory dysregulations. The exact contribution of SFRP5 toward coronary artery disease (CAD) is largely unclear. Objectives: In the current study, the potential role of SFRP5, by particular focusing on its anti-inflammatory effects, was sought in CAD. Patients and Methods: Serum levels of SFRP5 and the inflammatory biomarkers, oxidized low-density lipoprotein (Ox-LDL), and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), were measured in 40 CAD patients and 40 controls who were identified based on coronary angiography examinations. The status of CAD severity (in accord with Gensini score) and traditional CAD risk factors were also determined. Association of SFRP5 with Ox-LDL, hsCRP, CAD severity, and traditional CAD risk factors was analyzed. Results: Serum SFRP5 level in CAD patients was significantly decreased compared to controls (28.60 ng/mL 25.67-34.58 vs. 39.92 ng/mL 32.82-49.91, P = 0.000). The correlation of serum SFRP5 level with hsCRP, Ox-LDL, body mass index, and Gensini score was reveal to be significant and negative (P < 0.05). Serum SFRP5 level was independently and inversely associated with CAD (odds ratio, 0.28 95% confidence interval, 0.11-0.56, P = 0.001) and differentiated between CAD patients and controls (P = 0.01). Conclusions: Decreased level of serum SFRP5 is associated with CAD, highlighting its implication in CAD. It may also be a clinically useful biomarker for CAD

Effects of curzerene and Smyrnium cordifolium Boiss. Extract on addiction withdrawal syndrome in mice

Introduction: The purpose of this study was evaluating the effect of Smyrnium cordifolium extract (SCE) and curzerene (Cur) on withdrawal syndrome in mice compared with clonidine. Methods: High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to determine the active ingredients of S. cordifolium. To evaluate the effects of SCE and Cur, 64 mice were divided into 8 equal groups. Groups 1, 2 and 3 were treated Cur (0.03, 0.06, 0.12 mg/kg, respectively). Groups 4, 5 and 6 were treated with SCE (100, 200, 300 mg/kg, respectively). The seventh group received just morphine. Group 8 received morphine and clonidine (0.2 mg/kg). Results: The results of this study showed that Cur was the most important ingredient in the extract of the plant, and the hydroalcoholic extract yield of S. cordifolium was 17.55 (w/w). The dose of 100 mg/kg of extract (SCE100) and 0.03 mg/kg curzerene (Cur1) (P< 0.05), dose of 200 mg/kg of extract (SCE200) and dose of 0.06 mg/kg curzerene (Cur2), (P< 0.01), dose of 300 mg/kg of extract (SCE300) and dose of 0.12 mg/kg of curzerene (Cur3) (P< 0.001) decreased the symptoms compared to clonidine. Doses higher than 300 mg/kg of extract and 0.12 mg/ kg of Cur had fatal effects. All doses of SCE and Cur in comparison with the control group at significant level (P< 0.001) reduced the number of jumping, rearing and teeth chattering in morphine-dependent mice. Conclusion: The findings suggest that SCE and Cur are capable of reducing the symptoms of withdrawal syndrome and their effectiveness may be more than clonidine in reducing the addiction withdrawal syndrome, which may have human therapeutic potential. © Nickan Research Institute 2018. All rights reserved

Strategy of Bayesian Propensity Score Estimation Approach in Observational Study

Abstract Estimating causal effect of a treatment on an outcome is often complicated. This is because the treatment effect may be deviated by the confounding variables. These variables affect treatment and outcome simultaneously, and the causal effect estimation thus depends upon these variables. Several methods have been proposed to reduce the attribute bias of confounding effect. In this article, we compare the traditional method of Propensity score through Stratification; and recent method of Propensity score through Bayesian in observational studies. Comparison is constructed on Mont Carlo simulation of the hypothetical binary treatment