Dietary determinants of pregnancy induced hypertension in Isfahan

<ul> <li><strong>BACKGROUND</strong>: Pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) is a pregnancy-specific condition that occurs after the 20th week of gestation. These physiologic changes can be aggravated by undernutrition. There are some evidence based on the importance of nutrient deficiency in developing this syndrome. Therefore, the aim of present study was to determine the nutritional risk factors for pregnancy induced hypertension in a group of pregnant women in Isfahan.</li> <li><strong>METHODS</strong>: In this case-control study, we recruited 46 Isfahanian pregnant women in two groups (with and without PIH). They were 19 to 45 year-old and they did not consume any antihypertensive or diuretic medications. Demographic questionnaire and food frequency questionnaire were filled in both groups.</li> <li><strong>RESULTS</strong>: There were no significant differences in energy and vitamin E and C intakes between the two groups. Zinc and calcium intakes were lower in women with PIH compared to those without PIH (P = 0.04 and P = 0.007, respectively). Riboflavin and protein intakes were lower in women with PIH compared to subjects without PIH (P = 0.03 and P = 0.01, respectively).</li> <li><strong>CONCLUSIONS</strong>: Lower intake of calcium, zinc, riboflavin and protein should be considered as possible risk factors for PIH. Adequate intake of dairy products which are good sources of mentioned nutrients are recommended to prevent PIH.</li> <li><strong>KEYWORDS</strong>: Pregnancy induced hypertension, diet, nutrient.</li> </ul&gt

The Effect of Purgative Manna on the Infant Jaundice: Jaundice treatment by purgative manna

Infant jaundice is observed during the first week of life in approximately 60% of term and 80% of preterm infants. Hyperbilirubinemia may lead to the development of kernicterus, hearing loss, and convulsion. The goal of therapy in hyperbilirubinemia is lowering blood bilirubin levels or at least preventing its increase. It is recommended that phototherapy and if unsuccessful, blood exchange transfusion be used to keep bilirubin in the normal levels. In the Iranian traditional medicine, Cotoneaster manna (purgative manna) is commonly used in the treatment of infant jaundice. However, no scientific data was available regarding its effectiveness. In this study, purgative manna which was obtained from Cotoneaster discolor Pojark from south eastern Iran was used as an oral drop preparation. After standardization of the manna and the drop, clinical study was performed on 200 hyperbilirubinemic newborns. The serum bilirubin was assayed twice a day, using spectrophotometric method. The results showed that 88% of the infants who were treated by purgative manna plus phototherapy were cured during the first 3 days of administration, but only 21% of the infants who were treatment by phototherapy alone were cured

Gavkosh - a new locality yielding large mammal fossils in the Bakhtiari Formation in Lorestan Province, Iran

A new vertebrate fossil assemblage was discovered during road construction works near Gavkosh, Lorestan Province, Iran. The fossils come from a succession of conglomerates, sands and marls of fluvial origin. At least three high concentration fossiliferous horizons occur within a stratigraphic thickness of about 2 m and a distance of some12 m. The fossils are well-preserved, though many are broken due to the circumstances of the discovery. The new fossil locality is from the Bakhtiari Formation, which is the last synorogenetic deposit of the Zagros foreland basin and has a stratigraphic thickness of up to 3000 m and extends for over 1000 km along the SW of the Zagros Mountains. Because of its relevance for the orogenetic history of these mountains, the age of this formation is under discussion with proposed ages varying between latest Oligocene to Pleistocene. The preliminary identifications of the fossils lead to the recognition of seven to eight species of Carnivora, Perissodactyla and Artiodactyla: Felidae indet., Hipparion spp. A & B (Equidae), Giraffidae indet. and Gazella sp., Boselaphini indet, Bovidae indet. spp. 1 & 2 (Bovidae). The composition of the assemblage recalls that of the classic fauna from Marageh (Iran) and the fauna from Injana (Iraq), both of middle Late Miocene age, but it cannot be excluded that it is of a different age between about 11 to 2.6 Ma. The fauna from Gavkosh is in a biogeographically interesting position between the ¿Pikermian¿ faunas (such as Marageh) and the Siwalik faunas of the Indian Subcontinent.Peer Reviewe

Erratum:Proteomic analysis of JAK2V617F-induced changes identifies potential new combinatorial therapeutic approaches

Correction to: Leukemia (2017) 31, 2717–2725; doi:https://doi.org/10.1038/leu.2017.143; published online 23 May 201

Proteomic analysis of an induced pluripotent stem cell model reveals strategies to treat Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukaemia

Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) is an aggressive myeloproliferative neoplasm of early childhood with a poor survival rate, thus there is a requirement for improved treatment strategies. Induced pluripotent stem cells offer the ability to model disease and develop new treatment strategies. JMML is frequently associated with mutations in PTPN11. Children with Noonan syndrome, a development disorder, have an increased incidence of JMML associated with specific germline mutations in PTPN11. We undertook a proteomic assessment of myeloid cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells obtained from Noonan syndrome patients with PTPN11 mutations, either associated or not associated with an increased incidence of JMML. We report that the proteomic perturbations induced by the leukemia-associated PTPN11 mutations are associated with TP53 and NF-Kκb signaling. We have previously shown that MYC is involved in the differential gene expression observed in Noonan syndrome patients associated with an increased incidence of JMML. Thus, we employed drugs to target these pathways and demonstrate differential effects on clonogenic hematopoietic cells derived from Noonan syndrome patients, who develop JMML and those who do not. Further, we demonstrated these small molecular inhibitors, JQ1 and CBL0137, preferentially extinguish primitive hematopoietic cells from sporadic JMML patients as opposed to cells from healthy individuals

Predictors of treatment response in a lupus nephritis population: lessons from the Aspreva Lupus Management Study (ALMS) trial

Objectives: To identify predictors of overall lupus and lupus nephritis (LN) responses in patients with LN. Methods: Data from the Aspreva Lupus Management Study (ALMS) trial cohort was used to identify baseline predictors of response at 6 months. Endpoints were major clinical response (MCR), improvement, complete renal response (CRR) and partial renal response (PRR). Univariate and multivariate logistic regressions with least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) and cross-validation in randomly split samples were utilised. Predictors were ranked by the percentage of times selected by LASSO and prediction performance was assessed by the area under the receiver operating characteristics (AUROC) curve. Results: We studied 370 patients in the ALMS induction trial. Improvement at 6 months was associated with older age (OR=1.03 (95% CI: 1.01 to 1.05) per year), normal haemoglobin (1.85 (1.16 to 2.95) vs low haemoglobin), active lupus (British Isles Lupus Assessment Group A or B) in haematological and mucocutaneous domains (0.61 (0.39 to 0.97) and 0.50 (0.31 to 0.81)), baseline damage (SDI>1 vs =0) (0.38 (0.16 to 0.91)) and 24-hour urine protein (0.63 (0.50 to 0.80)). LN duration 2–4 years (0.43 (0.19 to 0.97) vs <1 year) and 24-hour urine protein (0.63 (0.45 to 0.89)) were negative predictors of CRR. LN duration 2–4 years (0.45 (0.24 to 0.83) vs <1 year) negatively predicted PRR. The AUROCs of models for improvement, CRR and PRR were 0.56, 0.55 and 0.51 respectively. Conclusions: Baseline variables predicted 6-month outcomes in patients with SLE. While the modest performance of models emphasises the need for new biomarkers to advance this field, the factors identified can help identify those patients who may require novel treatment strategies