Sun protection factor, total phenol, flavonoid contents and antioxidant activity of medicinal plants from Iran

Purpose: To evaluate the correlation between sun protection factor (SPF) and the content of phenol and flavonoid and antioxidant activity. Methods: Different parts of 9 medicinal plants were extracted with methanol using three extraction methods (percolation, Soxhlet and ultrasonically assisted extraction) to obtain 42 crude extracts. Their phenol and flavonoid contents, and antioxidant activities were determined using Folin-Ciocalteu reagent, aluminum chloride method and DPPH radical-scavenging activity, respectively. The SPF values were determined and correlated with the phenol and flavonoid contents as well as antioxidant activities. Results: The phenol and flavonoid contents, and antioxidant activities ranged from 54.16-688.97mg GAE/g, 13.38-146.60 mg QE/g and 9.5-1472.4 µg/mL, respectively while the SPFs were between 0.067 and 0.841. The highest SPF was related to Cucumis melo L. ultrasonically assisted leaf extract (0.841) and Artemisia absinthium L., aerial parts extracted with percolation method (0.717). A significant correlation was found between SPF and phenolic (p= 0.003) and flavonoid contents (p= 0.023). Conclusion: This study showed a correlation between SPF and phenolic and flavonoid contents. Ultrasonically assisted extract of C. melo leaf has suitable SPF and can be used in sun screen formulations

Presence of Macrovolt T Wave Alternans and Short Coupled PVC Simultaneously in a Patient with Long QT Syndrome

This report presents a patient with macrovolt T wave alternans, PVC with R on T or a long-short sequence followed by torsades de pointes

Factors Associated with Quality of Life in Mothers of Children with Cerebral Palsy in Iran

SummaryObjective/BackgroundChildren with cerebral palsy (CP) need more attention and care, especially from their mothers. This can affect the mothers' quality of life (QOL) adversely. This study aimed to assess the QOL of Iranian mothers who have a child with CP, compared with mothers with a healthy child, focusing on some individual and social underlying factors.MethodsUsing a cluster-sampling approach, two groups of eligible mothers having children aged 4–12 years, with and without CP, from Tehran's randomly selected clinics, were chosen in a convenient way and enrolled in a cross-sectional study. A group of mothers with healthy children whose demographics closely matched with the group of mothers having children with CP were selected and recruited in the study. The group with mothers with children with CP was selected randomly from a convenience sample in 14 rehabilitation and occupational therapy clinics in Tehran, Iran. To collect data on characteristics of interest, mothers were interviewed, and the SF-36 Questionnaire was used to measure their QOL. The relationship between each characteristic and the mothers' level of QOL was assessed, and the crude odds ratios (ORs) and adjusted ORs were measured by logistic regression.ResultsSixty mothers with CP children, and 60 mothers with healthy children participated in this study. Their mean (±standard deviation) age was 33.79 (±6.02) years, and their children's mean age was 7.11 (±2.71). The two groups were significantly different in QOL mean score (57.35 ± 18.39 vs. 71.7 ± 13.58; p ≤ .001). It was shown that having a child with CP with intellectual disability is significantly related to a worse level of QOL of mothers (adjusted OR = 5.4, p ≤ .001), whereas having full-time jobs is reversely associated with it (adjusted OR = 0.2, p = .02).ConclusionTwo important factors that lead to a worse QOL of mothers with a CP child are the unemployment of mothers and having a CP child with concurrent intellectual disabilities. To diminish the adverse effects of having a CP child on QOL of mothers, unemployed women who have a CP child with concurrent intellectual disabilities need more psychological support and help

Clinical Characteristics of Fatal Cases of COVID-19 in Tabriz, Iran: An Analysis of 111 Patients

Introduction: The rapid worldwide spread, in addition to the morbidity and mortality associated with the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), have raised concern throughout the world. Identifying the characteristics of patients who died of COVID-19 is essential to implement preventive measures. Objective: We aimed at investigating these characteristics among the Iranian population in Tabriz. Methods: In this case series, we analyzed clinical characteristics, laboratory parameters, and imaging findings of 111 patients with a reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)-confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis who died during hospitalization. The studied patients had been admitted to the hospital between February 2020 and May 2020. Results: The median age of patients was 73 years (IQR, 62-82 years) and approximately 70% of them were male. The median oxygen saturation on admission was 88% (IQR, 80-92%) and dyspnea, cough, and fever were the most common presenting symptoms. Among comorbidities, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseases were more frequently observed among patients who had a fatal outcome. While ground-glass opacity was the most commonly reported finding on chest computed tomography, 5% of the patients had no abnormal finding on imaging. Chloroquine was the most frequently used medication for treatment. Conclusion: Our results showed that the majority of COVID-19 deaths occurred in male elderly with decreased levels of oxygen saturation and elevated levels of lactate dehydrogenase and erythrocyte sedimentation rate on admission

Study of the inhibitory effect of the small molecule Diethylthia tri carbocyanine iodide, as an anti- Alzheimer's candidate drug on human recombinant tau aggregation

Background and aims: Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that is affected by different factors. Forming aggregations of the tau proteins in the brain is one of the most commonly observation in the patients’ brains suffered from this disease. Several strategies have been devised to target the tau aggregates in the neuronal cells of the patients. Recently, chaperones have drawn the attention of the researchers as a tool to inhibit or disaggregate the tau protein aggregations. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of small molecule chaperone called Diethylthia tri carbocyanine iodide on the formation of tau aggregates. Methods: In this basic laboratory study, Tau protein was expressed in bacteria. Then, Tau protein was purified by the ion-exchange chromatography and affinity chromatography, and its purity was evaluated by SDS-PAGE. Heparin was added as the inducer of tau aggregation, and the inductive effect of heparin on tau aggregation was examinated by circular dichroism (CD) method. Then, Diethylthia tri carbocyanine iodide chaperones was added to the aggregated tau and its effect was evaluated using SDS-PAGE and thioflavin T fluorescence assay. Results: Electrophoresis SDS-PAGE confirmed the expression of tau protein and its purity. CD validated the successful induction of tau aggregation by heparin. Following treatment of the tau aggregates with Diethylthia tri carbocyanine iodide, the results of SDS-PAGE showed that induced aggregation, remarkably reduced compared to the control sample. Thioflavin T fluorescence assay was used to confirm the results of SDS-PAGE analysis. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that Diethylthia tri carbocyanine iodide could inhibit the aggregation of the tau protein which they were produced in the presence of heparin inductor. These results can propose Diethylthia tri carbocyanine iodide as a potential treatment to target the tau aggregates in people with Alzheimer’s disease

Drug Resistance of Acinetobacter in Selected Hospitals

Background: Nowadays, nosocomial infection with multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter is an important problem in the world, which is facing wide spectrum antibiotics and hence has become resistant.Materials and Methods: In this study, positive cultures of Acinetobacter from one hundred clinical samples in seven hospitals from Tehran during 2012-2013 were collected for checking antibiotic susceptibility. Samples test with Ceftazidim, Cefepime, Amikacine and Imipenem by E-test and for Tazocin, Colistin and Tigecycline was performed with disk diffusion method.Results: For Colistin 10 samples, and for Tazocin, 40 samples were performed by E-test method. Then boumannii species of bacteria and non-baumannii Acinetobacter were separated by PCR and antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed on them. 89% of Acinetobacter samples were boumannii species, which was isolated from respiratory secretions at ICU.Conclusion: Boumannii and non-boumannii species of bacteria with a high percentage were resistant to Ceftazidim, Amikacine, Cefepime, Tazocin and Imipenem. All baumannii and non-boumannii Acinetobacter were sensitive to Colistin, were only 75% sensitive to Tigecycline, which is a new glycylcycline. Colistin and Tazocin results in samples limited to the E-test method were similar with disk diffusion

The effect of Zingiber officinalis L. on learning and memory in rats

A B S T R A C T Background and Objective: According to the importance of learning and memory in the human life and also unavoidable neural degeneration due to aging, finding new compounds (drugs) against this process is valuable. However, there are many recommendations for herbal medicine and constituents which encouraged us to examine a candidate plant Zingiber officinalis for the mentioned purpose. Materials and Methods: Male rats (250-300 g) were divided into control and treatment groups. Treatment groups consist of three subgroups including oral (plant was prescribed to animals mixed in food at a ratio of 6.25%) for 2 weeks, and two groups that received the plant extract at doses of 50 and 100 mg/kg (intraperitoneal, IP). In order to investigate the spatial recognition (alternation) behavior and acquisition-recalling (step through latency, STL), the animals were subjected to Y maze and shuttle box tests, respectively. Results: In our study, the difference of the initial latency (IL) in oral treatment groups (8.24±1.21 s) and injection (50 and 100 mg/kg) groups versus control group (14.28±1.45 s) were non-significant. However, step through latency (STL) time difference for oral (18.12±0.8 s) group versus control one (13.28±1.33 s) was significant (p<0.05). Alternation behavior percentage in injection group (100 mg/kg) and oral one was significant versus control animals (p<0.05). Conclusion: Oral and intraperitoneal administration of the Zingiber officinalis could have a significant improving effect on acquisition, retention and recall

Representing a new approach for implementing e-insurance using fuzzy DEMATEL

During the past two decades, e-commerce has revolutionized many industries by providing easy access infrastructures for interested users who wish to place their orders via internet facilities. Insurance industry is one of the most important financial industries in the world. E-commerce has been attracting many in insurance industry and insurance industry has utilized e-commerce because of its own significance in economic growth and health of society. However, enhancing e-commerce into insurance firms may face serious barriers and it is important to detect and setup appropriate actions to remove them. In this paper, we present a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) technique based on DEMATEL with an adaptation of fuzzy logic to find important factors influencing implementation of e-commerce into insurance industry. The proposed study of this paper designs a questionnaire and distributes it among five important insurance experts. Findings indicate that “behavioral-cultural barriers” influence on structural and field barriers. “Problems resulted from obeying government complicated rules” in the group of structural barriers, “low capacity of accepting e-insurance” in field barriers group and “lack of sufficient support of insurance chief managers from e-insurance and relative tendency of insurance staffs to make the insurance affairs electronic” in behavioral-cultural barriers group have the most influence on other factors of group