Causes and risk factors of urinary incontinence: Avicenna's point of view vs. contemporary findings

Purpose: To extract the causes and risk factors of urinary incontinence from an old medical text by Avicenna entitled "Canon of Medicine" and comparing it with contemporary studies. Materials and Methods: In this study, etiology and risk factors of urinary incontinence were extracted from Avicenna's "Canon of Medicine". Commentaries written on this book and other old reliable medical texts about bladder and its diseases were also studied. Then the achieved information was compared with contemporary findings of published articles. Results: Urinary incontinence results from bladder dysfunction in reservoir phase. Bladder's involuntary muscles and voluntary external sphincter are two main components which are involved in this process. Urinary incontinence can exist without obvious structural and neuronal etiologies. According to Avicenna, distemperment of muscular tissue of bladder and external sphincter is the cause for urinary incontinence in such cases. Distemperment is the result of bothering qualities in tissue, i.e.: "wet" and "cold". They are the two bothering qualities which are caused by extracorporeal and intracorporeal factors. Interestingly, the positive associations of some of these factors with urinary incontinence have been shown in recent researches. Conclusion: "Cold" and "wet" distemperment of bladder and external sphincter can be independent etiologies of urinary incontinence which should be investigated

Optimal power control in green wireless sensor networks with wireless energy harvesting, wake-up radio and transmission control

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are autonomous networks of spatially distributed sensor nodes which are capable of wirelessly communicating with each other in a multi-hop fashion. Among different metrics, network lifetime and utility and energy consumption in terms of carbon footprint are key parameters that determine the performance of such a network and entail a sophisticated design at different abstraction levels. In this paper, wireless energy harvesting (WEH), wake-up radio (WUR) scheme and error control coding (ECC) are investigated as enabling solutions to enhance the performance of WSNs while reducing its carbon footprint. Specifically, a utility-lifetime maximization problem incorporating WEH, WUR and ECC, is formulated and solved using distributed dual subgradient algorithm based on Lagrange multiplier method. It is discussed and verified through simulation results to show how the proposed solutions improve network utility, prolong the lifetime and pave the way for a greener WSN by reducing its carbon footprint

Review of skin cancers terminology, etiology and treatment from ancient Persian medicine view point

Background: Skin cancers are the most prevalent type among the white with an increasing trend of incidence around the world and Iran. Scientific developments in diagnosing these cancers and using screening methods and utilizing treatment methods have contributed to the relative control of the cancer. Hence, it is necessary to consider other suggested approaches of complementary and traditional medicine to prevent and treat these cancers. Objective: The purpose of this review is to investigate the alternative remedies from the Persian Medicine; as a pioneer medical approach with an old history. Methods: In this review study, the medical textbooks of the golden era of Persian Medicine (9th to 19th centuries AD), i.e., the times of Razes and Avicenna, were explored and interesting opinions on skin malignancies were found. In addition, the phrase �skin cancers� was searched in databases like PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, and Google Scholar. The gleaned data were analyzed and compared. Results: The ancient Persian scholars knew the cancers and were forerunners in the description, classified, etiology and treatment of skin cancers. This study explored interesting opinions like nutrition and black bile clearance on skin malignancies treatment, also found no contradictory views between the Persian and modern medicine on the topic of skin cancers. Conclusion: Paying attention to the neglected areas can makes useful theories and hypotheses fore achievement to new more effective and safe remedies. © 2020. Open access

The role of Olea Europaea L. Fruit on A2780, A172 and HFFF2 proliferation

Olea europaea L. commonly known as olive has been traditionally used for the prevention and treatment of many diseases since ancient times. Olive has been reported to possess a broad spectrum of pharmacological properties. In the present study, we investigated the activity of aqueous extract of Olea europaea L. fruit at various concentrations on A2780, A172, and HFFF2 cell lines proliferation by MTT assay. Aqueous extract of olive significantly increased cell proliferation in a dose dependent manner in the cell lines. It has been previously reported that olive has chemoproventive and anti-tumor effects. These disagreements can be explained by differences in cell line properties, type of olive and different solvents in the extracts. However, further investigation is needed to clarify the exact role of olive in cell proliferation and cancer. In this study fruit extract of Olea europaea L. showed more activatory effects on A2780 cell line in comparison with A172 and HFFF2. These differences in the activatory effects may be related to the activation of different signaling pathways in different cell lines. © 2016, Iranian Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists. All rights reserved

Cytotoxic effect of iris germanica l. Rhizomes extract on human melanoma cell line

Background: Melanoma is the leading cause of 80 of skin cancer worldwide due to its high proliferation rate, metastatic nature, and limited effective therapies. Given the rapid increase in its incidence compared to other skin cancers, new therapeutic agents are needed to control the disease. Scientists are interested in medicinal plants due to their anticancer properties. The rhizomes of the Iris germanica L., known as �Irsa�, is one of the herbs used in traditional Persian medicine for the treatment of various skin cancers. Objectives: This study aimed at investigating the cytotoxic effects of Iris germanica on A375 melanoma and AGO-1522 normal human fibroblast cell lines for the first time. Methods: The ethanolic extract was prepared by the maceration method. Cell viability and cytotoxic activities were assessed through 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and flow cytometric assay, using annexin V/propidium iodide (PI) staining. Results: IC50 values were estimated for the A375 melanoma and the AGO-1522 normal cell lines. We revealed that the IC50 for the A375 melanoma was 0.0438 mg/mL and for the AGO-1522 normal cell line was 0.8494 mg/mL after 48 hours of treatment. Further-more, flow cytometry analysis illustrated that 0.125 mg/mL of the Iris germanica extract could lead to 55.24 apoptosis of the A375 melanoma cell line. The same concentration of the Iris germanica extracts only lead to 8.76 apoptosis in the AGO-1522 cell line. Conclusions: Iris germanica extract has considerable cytotoxic effects on the human melanoma cell line. Further studies are re-quired to demonstrate the therapeutic effects of Iris germanica on melanoma cancer. © 2021, Author(s)

Wireless energy harvesting for Internet of Things

Internet of Things (IoT) is an emerging computing concept that describes a structure in which everyday physical objects, each provided with unique identifiers, are connected to the Internet without requiring human interaction. Long-term and self-sustainable operation are key components for realization of such a complex network, and entail energy-aware devices that are potentially capable of harvesting their required energy from ambient sources. Among different energy harvesting methods such as vibration, light and thermal energy extraction, wireless energy harvesting (WEH) has proven to be one of the most promising solutions by virtue of its simplicity, ease of implementation and availability. In this article, we present an overview of enabling technologies for efficient WEH, analyze the life-time of WEH-enabled IoT devices, and briefly study the future trends in the design of efficient WEH systems and research challenges that lie ahead

Cytokine storm in COVID-19 and parthenolide: Preclinical evidence

A group of patients with pneumonia caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) were reported from China in December 2019. Although several antiviral drugs are widely tested, none of them has been approved as specific antiviral therapy for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Accumulating evidence established a hyperinflammatory states or cytokine storm in COVID-19. Among these cytokines, IL-6 plays a key role in cytokine storm and can predict the adverse clinical outcomes and fatality in these patients. Based on the evidence of the significant role of IL-6 in cytokine storm, diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular diseases as principal comorbidities, it seems that anti-cytokine therapy may be useful in patients with severe COVID-19 to reduce mortality. Recent studies demonstrated that herbal-derived natural products had immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory properties and exhibited exceptional act on mediators of inflammation. Parthenolide is the principal sesquiterpene lactones and the main biologically active constituent Tanacetum parthenium (commonly known as feverfew) which has could significantly reduce IL-1, IL-2, IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α production pathways established in several human cell line models in vitro and in vivo studies. Therefore, parthenolide may be one of the herbal candidates for clinical evaluation. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Effects of �Satureja hortensis L.� on improving adult gastroesophageal reflux disease: A double-blind, randomized, controlled, clinical trial

Background: Gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD) is one of the most widespread gastrointestinal disorders. In addition, there is increasing evidence that not all patients respond to its current remedies. Objectives: The aim of this pilot study was to investigate the effect of �Satureja hortensis L.� on improving the symptoms of mild to moderate GERD in adults. Methods: In this double-blind, randomized, controlled, clinical trial, we evaluated the efficacy of �Satureja hortensis L.� compared to placebo in the symptoms of GERD in fifty-eight adultswith GERD who referred to Hazrat Rasool-e-Akram hospital in Tehran, Iran, in 2015. In order to assess GERD symptoms, a standardized questionnaire of frequency scale (FSSG) was used before and after the intervention. Results: Regarding within-group changes, a significant decrease was observed in FSSG, dysmotility-like symptoms and acid reflux related scores in both groups of the study after the intervention compared to baseline (P < 0.001). Regarding between-group analysis, no significant differences were observed between the two groups in terms of FSSG total scores (0.05 < P). Conclusions: According to the results of the current study, Satureja hortensis L. with the dose of 500mgthree times per day failed to improve the symptoms of GERD in adults compared to placebo. The significant reductions in the GERD scores in both groups seem to be related to the lifestyle modification that was prescribed to both groups. © 2018, Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal