The Association between Interleukin-10 Gene Polymorphisms and Hepatitis B Virus: Evidence in Iran

Background and Aim: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a human carcinogenesis agent. Interleukin 10 (IL-10) is a key anti-inflammatory cytokine, and single nucleotide polymorphisms in IL-10 gene promoter are correlated with infections caused by HBV. This research intended to assess the prevalence and genotype of HBV as well as the association between the polymorphisms of -819 and -1082 in the IL-10 gene with HBV in individuals with HBV infection in Qom Province, Iran Methods: In this cross-sectional research, 360 individuals with chronic HBV infection and control group were involved between July 2018 and March 2019. HBV diagnosis was evaluated using ELISA and nested PCR assays. To determine polymorphisms in the IL-10 gene promoter in HBV positive and control samples, an allele-specific polymerase chain reaction technique was employed. Results: The constructed phylogenetic trees for the HBsAg gene revealed that all sequences under study belong to genotype D and also, the majority of HBV samples presented similar sequences to the Iranian samples. Genotype frequencies of TT, TC and CC (polymorphism -819) were 82.2%, 11.6% and 6.1% for patients and 85%, 10.5% and 4.4% in control groups, respectively. Also, frequency of genotypes of AA, AG and GG (polymorphism -1082) were 45%, 43.8% and 11.1% for patients and 42.2%, 46.1% and 11.6% in control groups, respectively. Conclusion: Here, we found no association among IL-10 gene polymorphisms in control and HBV-infected groups. However, more studies about the frequency of chronic HBV infection are necessary to be conducted. *Corresponding Author: Mohsen Zargar; Email: [email protected] Interleukins-10 Gene Polymorphism and Hepatitis B Virus: Evidence in Iran. Arch Med Lab Sci. 2021;7:1-7 (e7). https://doi.org/10.22037/amls.v7.3355

Reduction of vancomycin resistance inVanAand VanBcontainingVancomycin Resistant Enterococci (VRE) isolatesin presence of lactoferrin protein

چکیده زمینه و هدف : پروتئین لاکتوفرین(Lactoferrin(LF)) دارای اثرات ضدمیکروبی اثبات شده ای است. هدف از این مطالعه بررسی تأثیر لاکتوفرین روی حداقل غلظت مهاری) Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC))وانکومایسین در سویه های انتروکوک مقاوم به وانکومایسین دارای ژنهای مقاومت VanA و VanB بود. ﻣﻮﺍﺩ ﻭ ﺭﻭﺵﻫﺎ: در این مطالعه مقطعی ، پس از جداسازی و تشخیص265 سویه انتروکوک از نمونه های بالینی ، MIC وانکومایسین و تیکوپلانین سویه هابا روش تست اپسیلومتر ( Epsilometer test(Etest)) بدست آمد. نمونه های انتروکوک مقاوم به وانکومایسین Vancomycin Resistance Entrococcus(VRE)) ) ، با روش real time PCR ازلحاظ وجود ژنهای مقاوم به وانکومایسین VanA و VanB بررسی شد و سپس تأثیر لاکتوفرین را بر روی MIC آنتی بیوتیک وانکومایسین سویه های VRE مورد بررسی و بااستفاده از نرم افزارآماری SPSS نسخه 20 (version 20, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL) و آزمون های آماری رگرسیون خطی و همبستگی پیرسون با سطح معنی داری P-value <0.05 آنالیز گردید. ﻧﺘﺎﻳﺞ: نمونه VanA در غلظت µg/ml) 2048)پروتئین لاکتوفرین MIC وانکومایسین را 85 و 80 برابر به ترتیب در روش تغییر یافته Etest و میکروتیتر کاهش داده و در نمونه VanB در غلظت µg/ml) 512) پروتئین لاکتوفرین MIC وانکومایسین را 10و 10.3 برابر به ترتیب در روش تغییر یافته Etest و میکروتیتر کاهش داده است. شاخص لاکتوفرین ارتباط همبستگی مثبت معنی داری را با کاهش MIC وانکومایسین نشان داد (001/0 Pvalue< و r=0.183 ). نتیجه گیری: غلظت های متفاوت پروتئین لاکتوفرین در شرایط آزمایشگاهی باعث کاهش مقاومت در سویه هایVRE دارای ژن VanA و VanB می شود ،پیشنهاد پتانسیل استفاده از این پروتئین به عنوان یک عامل کمکی به وانکومایسین وجود دارد

A Comparative Study of Realism from the Perspective of Waltz and Ferdowsi

1. Introduction Realism is one of the most important and one of the oldest theories in political sciences and international relations. Attraction, objectivism, and on the other hand, closeness to conventional understanding in the analysis of political phenomena is the factor that has promoted and sustained this theory. The theoretical dominance of realism is such that intellectuals of international relations consider realism as the mainstream theory. (Griffiths, 1992:3). Waltz's theory of realism is based on four basic hypotheses: 1) Pessimism about human nature. 2) War is the final solution for settling the problems. 3) The security of the government and its survival is the most important goal. 4) The only way that is put forward for the governments is to increase power. (Jackson & Sorensen, 2015:chp3). Accordingly, realists emphasize the constraints of agents' corruption and the lack of supreme authority of the international system, which requires increased power and security. In Persian historical and literary texts, Ferdowsi can be considered as the closest intellectual to Waltz's realist approach. Shahnameh is an epic work in which the concepts of war, power and security are the most important words used. In addition the independence movements in the third and fourth centuries AH, that coincided with the rise of Feudalism and chaos caused by weak power structure of the Iranian monarchy, influenced the importance of realism in Ferdowsi's political thoughts. The main question of the research is to what extent is Waltz's theory of political realism compatible with Ferdowsi's political thought? With regard to the main question of the research, it is hypothesized that considering the events and political disorders in Ferdowsi’s era, Hakim Toos has expressed his political-theoretical views on the need to increase power and ensure security in Iran, through using the anecdotes and legends of his predecessors, which is compatible with the main political realistic Hypotheses of Waltz.   2. Methodology This article uses the "Content Analysis" method; Because this method is useful for orderly, objective and quantitative description of communication content. Sampling of sources is purposeful and is done with a theoretical framework that is based on key words such as government, power, hierarchical structure, rationality and war in Kent Waltz’s theoretical realism framework.   3. Discussion In the turbulent internal conditions and the cultural and identity collapse of Iran in the Ferdowsi era, he was able to offer an appropriate answer and a favorable plan for the future of Iranian identity by epic and paying attention to the main elements of the political reality. By dealing with epics and wise advices, he gathered the behavior of the heroes and even their defeats and victories into a system of political thought. In addition, the concepts that can be extracted from the myths mentioned in Shahnameh are to build a desirable society in order to unite the Iranian government and prevent the collapse of this historical-cultural-political system. Iranian mythology represents the mental structures left over from ancient Iran and Ferdowsi's attempts to elevate the value of these structures in his time to create a powerful and free-standing Iran in the framework of a political school that the authors consider close to political realism in international relations theories. The authors believe that Shahnameh is a strong theoretical structure that, in the shade of stories and philosophies, expresses Ferdowsi's desirable political system in order to portray a powerful and famous Iran for future generations.   4. Conclusion Although Waltz's realism can be identified in many schools, the central concepts in his political thought are key concepts such as human nature, power, war, the structure of the international system, and rationality. Although some approaches place more emphasis on each of these concepts and theoretically explain political events from that perspective, they all owe much to his philosophical view of the nature of human existence and nature. Regarding Ferdowsi's political thought, due to the geographical conditions, the unfavorable situation of national and religious culture, the rule of Feudalism and the growing weakening of Iranian power and identity under the rule of Sultan Mahmoud Ghaznavi, Ferdowsi's greatest concern about the political future was a single entity called Iran. Accordingly, in long fictional systems and mythical and historical metaphors, he expresses his political thought, which is closest in meaning to the philosophical approach of political realism. lism

Inter-sectoral cooperation model (Study: Mosque-School-Family Cooperation)

ضرورت و هدف اصلی: لازمه تحقق اهداف تربیتی اسلام، همگرایی ارکان تربیتی جامعه اسلامی است. تعامل مدرسه (به­عنوان اصلی‌ترین نهاد تربیت رسمی در کشور)، خانواده (به­عنوان طبیعی‌ترین و پایدارترین نهاد) و مسجد (به­عنوان اصیل‌ترین نهاد تربیتی در جامعه اسلامی) موجب هم­افزایی و تسهیل تحقق اهداف تربیتی اسلام می­گردد. از سوی دیگر این سه رکن تربیتی(مسجد، مدرسه و خانواده) از مؤلفه‌های اساسی ارتباط سنتی می‌باشند و تحقق همکاری این ارکان،‌ تأثیری قابل­توجه بر تقویت شبکه ارتباطات اجتماعی و تعمیق باورهای ملی و دینی خواهد داشت. روش پژوهش: پژوهش حاضر از نوع کیفی بوده و در آن از راهبرد نظریه­پردازی داده­بنیاد استفاده شده است. داده‌های پژوهش از نتایج موردکاوی چهارده مسجد برتر در کشور در حوزه تعامل با خانواده‌ و مدرسه استخراج شده است. یافته‌ها: همکاری مسجد با مدرسه و خانواده پدیده‌ای محوری است که شرایط علّی آن را ظرفیت‌ها و ضعف‌های نهادهای تربیتی تشکیل می‌دهند و برای تحقق آن باید به زمینه‌های آن که بایسته‌های برنامه‌ای، ساختاری و سرمایه انسانی است، توجه شود. این پدیده دارای مراحل چهارگانه: «1-زمینه‌سازی و اعتمادسازی، 2- جذب از مدرسه به مسجد، 3-تداوم ارتباط و تربیت در مسجد، 4-نقش‌آفرینی دانش­آموزان در مسجد و مدرسه» است که مؤلفه‌هایی در قالب عوامل مداخله‌گر بر آن اثر‌گذار می‌باشند و نتایجی را به دنبال خواهند داشت. الگوی حاصل از روابط مقوله‌های تحقیق در مدلی پارادایمی نمایش داده شده است

Layered Semiotic Readings in the Semantic Process in Fereshteh Sari's "Abolhol" Modern Story

Verbal discourse of the modern prose is formed by interconnected structure from a conscious mind in a way that the play of the signs in the text along with the personal mentality and memory of the character can become so fluid and elusive that ambiguity becomes a particular component of modern narrative. But semiotic layers with a detailed and systematic reading deal with the interaction of the text layers in the story to investigate implicit and explicit implications of signs in a semantic process through multiple codes and according to the context of the texture. "Abolhol" is a short story by Fereshte Sari written in the eighties. Narrator's diegesis that as if it is the symbolic narrative of the visualization of his subconscious mind and body about the fate of women, shows such semantic capacity of the places such as caravanserai and darkroom so fertile with human and inhuman activists that the phenomenology of reading with a layered semiotic approach, in addition to the interference of the paratext elements in the implications, the layers of time, space, aesthetics, and actors in codes are considered to show their semantic capacity in the semantic process of the story. But in the "sequence" the semantic process of the modern subject is on the path of "becoming" which led to the narrator's transcendental "Stative subject "in addition to the obvious role of "effective verbs" the narrator's "disjunction" was also considered in "meaning manqué" to show the difference between the character of traditional and modern stories in search of objects

Evaluation of 4-Amino salicylic acid chelating effect on healing of manganese induced intoxications in male Wistar rat's liver

زمینه و هدف: قرار گرفتن انسان در معرض غبارات منگنز می تواند باعث بروز بیماری شبیه به پارکینسون به نام منگانیسم شود. برای کاهش عوارض حاصل، داروهای شلات کننده‌ی فلزات پیشنهاد شده‌اند. این پژوهش با هدف بررسی، قدرت شلات کنندگی داروی پاراآمینوسالیسیلیک اسید انجام شده است. روش بررسی: در این مطالعه تجربی بیست رات نر بالغ نژاد ویستار در چهار گروه پنج تایی طبقه بندی شدند (یک گروه کنترل و سه گروه آزمون) و طی دو دوره به ترتیب سالین-سالین، منگنز-سالین، سالین-پاراآمینوسالیسیلیک اسید و منگنز- پاراآمینوسالیسیلیک اسید دریافت نمودند. تزریق داخل صفاقی کلرید منگنز به میزان mg/kg8 وزن بدن حیوان به مدت یک هفته برای ایجاد مسمومیت و تزریق زیر جلدی یک سی سی پاراآمینوسالیسیلیک اسید با غلظت g/l5/1 پنج روز در هفته به مدت چهار هفته جهت درمان صورت گرفت. سپس سرم حیوانات برای بررسی فاکتورهای بیوشیمیایی و بافت کبد آنها برای بررسی تغییرات هیستوپاتولوژیک جداسازی و فیکس شدند. داده ها توسط آزمون های آماری آنالیز واریانس یک طرفه و سپس تست توکی تجزیه و تحلیل شدند. یافته ها: بررسی فاکتورهای بیوشیمیایی بیانگر افزایش معنی دار کلسترول در گروه دوم نسبت به کنترل و کاهش سطح کلسترول خون گروه چهارم نسبت به گروه دوم بود (01/0

Detection of Legionella pneumophila in the bronchoalveolar lavage samples by real time PCR in patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia in ICU

زمینه و هدف: لژیونلا پنوموفیلا به خاطر توانایی آن در ایجاد پنومونی ناشی از ونتیلاسیون مکانیکی مورد توجه مراکز درمانی است. هدف از این مطالعه ردیابی گونه های لژیونلا پنوموفیلا در نمونه های بدست آمده از برونکوآلوئولار لاواژ با روشReal Time PCR در بیماران بستری در بخش مراقبت های ویژه ی بیمارستان الزهرا(س) اصفهان می باشد. روش بررسی: در یک مطالعه توصیفی تحلیلی سی و نه نمونه برونکوآلوئولار لاواژ در بیماران مبتلا به پنومونی همراه با ونتیلاتور بستری در بخش مراقبت های ویژه (ICU) بیمارستان الزهرای اصفهان در سال 1390 گرفته و تا زمان آزمایش در 20- درجه سانتیگراد نگهداری شد. DNA به روش فنل کلروفرم استخراج و آزمایش Real Time PCR در 45 چرخه شامل oC95 برای 4 ثانیه و oC58 برای 30 ثانیه انجام شد. در حالی که پروب به روش Taq Man عمل می کرد. یافته ها: نتیجه برای حضور باکتری لژیونلا پنوموفیلا در همه نمونه ها منفی شد. حداقل سن افراد در مطالعه 20 و حداکثر 86 سال بوده است. مدت زمان بستری افراد مورد مطالعه در ICU حداقل 2 روز و حداکثر 65 روز است. مدت زمان ونتیلاسیون افراد مورد مطالعه حداقل 2 روز و حداکثر 65 روز بود. نتیجه گیری: این مطالعه عدم حضور لژیونلا پنوموفیلا در بیماران دچار پنومونی وابسته به ونتیلاتور در ICU بیمارستان الزهرای اصفهان رادریک مقطع زمانی نشان می دهد؛ لذا بر اساس مطالعه فوق، شناخت الگوی میکروبیولوژیک لژیونلا پنوموفیلا در سایر مراکز درمانی نیز امری منطقی به نظر می رسد

Molecular networking-based analysis of cytotoxic saponins from sea cucumber holothuria atra

The saponin composition of a specimen of black sea cucumber, Holothuria atra collected in the Persian Gulf was studied by a combined approach including LC-MS/MS, Molecular Networking,pure compound isolation, and NMR spectroscopy. The saponin composition of Holothuria atra turned out to be more complex than previously reported. The most abundant saponins in the extract (1–4) were isolated and characterized by 1D- and 2D-NMR experiments. Compound 1 was identified as a new triterpene glycoside saponin, holothurin A5. The side chain of the new saponin 1, unprecedented among triterpene glycosides, is characterized by an electrophilic enone function, which can undergo slow water or methanol addition under neutral conditions. The cytotoxic activity of compounds 1–4, evaluated on the human cervix carcinoma HeLa cell line, was remarkable, with IC50 values ranging from 1.2 to 2.5 ug/mL

Enhanced synergistic antitumor effect of a DNA vaccine with anticancer cytokine, MDA-7/IL-24, and immune checkpoint blockade

MDA-7/IL-24 cytokine has shown potent antitumor properties in various types of cancer without exerting any significant toxicity on healthy cells. It has also been proved to encompass pro-immune Th1 cytokine-like behavior. Several E7 DNA vaccines have developed against human papillomavirus (HPV)-related cervical cancer. However, the restricted immunogenicity has limited their clinical applications individually. To address this deficiency, we investigated whether combining the E7 DNA vaccine with MDA-7/IL-24 as an adjuvant would elicit efficient antitumor responses in tumor-bearing mouse models. Next, we evaluated how suppression of immunosuppressive IL-10 cytokine would enhance the outcome of our candidate adjuvant vaccine. Methods For this purpose, tumor-bearing mice received either E7 DNA vaccine, MDA-7/IL-24 cytokine or combination of E7 vaccine with MDA-7/IL-24 adjuvant one week after tumor challenge and boosted two times with one-week interval. IL-10 blockade was performed by injection of anti-IL-10 mAb before each immunization. One week after the last immunization, mice were sacrificed and the treatment efficacy was evaluated through immunological and immunohistochemical analysis. Moreover, the condition of tumors was monitored every two days for six weeks intervals from week 2 on, and the tumor volume was measured and compared within different groups. Results A highly significant synergistic relationship was observed between the E7 DNA vaccine and the MDA-7/IL-24 cytokine against HPV-16+ cervical cancer models. An increase in proliferation of lymphocytes, cytotoxicity of CD8+ T cells, the level of Th1 cytokines (IFN-γ, TNF-α) and IL-4, the level of apoptotic markers (TRAIL and caspase-9), and a decrease in the level of immunosuppressive IL-10 cytokine, together with the control of tumor growth and the induction of tumor regression, all prove the efficacy of adjuvant E7&IL-24 vaccine when compared to their individual administration. Surprisingly, vaccination with the DNA E7&IL-24 significantly reduced the population of Regulatory T cells (Treg) in the spleen of immunized mice compared to sole administration and control groups. Moreover, IL-10 blockade enhanced the effect of the co-administration by eliciting higher levels of IFN-γ and caspase-9, reducing Il-10 secretion and provoking the regression of tumor size. Conclusion The synergy between the E7 DNA vaccine and MDA-7/IL-24 suggests that DNA vaccines’ low immunogenicity can be effectively addressed by coupling them with an immunoregulatory agent. Moreover, IL-10 blockade can be considered a complementary treatment to improve the outcome of conventional or novel cancer therapies