Journal of Isfahan Medical School
Year:2023 | Volume:41 | Issue:748|Papers Count:3

Background: Chemotherapy is one of the most common treatments for children with cancer, which is associated with gastrointestinal diseases. Synbiotics are supplements containing probiotics and prebiotics that potentially have a significant effect in modulating the intestinal microbiota.Methods: This double-blind clinical trial was conducted on 88 children with non-hematological neoplasms. Patients were randomly divided into two groups to receive Lactocare® and placebo (46 patients in the Lactocare group and 42 patients in the placebo group). Patients receive the drugs twice a day for 14 days. The number of times diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, and constipation caused by chemotherapy were evaluated after the start of receiving Lactocare and placebo until the end of the study.Findings: In the Lactocare® group, the duration of diarrhea and constipation (in days) after the first week was significantly less than in the placebo group (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of the severity of nausea and vomiting (P > 0.05). The placebo group in our study was 1.37 times more likely to have diarrhea compared to the LactoCare®-treatment group (P = 0.041, odds ratio: 1.37; confidence interval: 1.05-3.31).Conclusion: In this study, the use of Lactocare® reduced diarrhea and constipation caused by chemotherapy in patients. It seems that the use of Lactocare® synbiotic supplement is an easy and effective way to reduce diarrhea and constipation caused by chemotherapy in patients with neoplasms.

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease that affects the central nervous system and is mediated by the immune system. Since physical activity has anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects, Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effect of voluntary swimming activity on the iNOS & COX-2 protein content, as well as the cognitive and motor performance of the Multiple Sclerosis rats model.Methods: In the present study, 20 rats with an average age of 12 weeks were categorized into four groups, including healthy control, MS control, healthy training, and MS training. To induce MS, the rats of the MS groups were fed food infused with 0.5%cuprizone throughout the entire 12-week research protocol. After the end of 6 weeks of training protocol and conducting behavioral tests, the hippocampus tissue was extracted, and the number of proteins was measured using the western blot method.Findings: The results of the memory and motor function tests revealed that subjects with MS had impaired memory function, motor activity, and difficulty maintaining balance. However, following a period of swimming activity, these functions significantly improved. The results also showed that the levels of iNOS and COX-2 proteins in the MS control group were significantly elevated compared to the healthy control group. On the other hand, the MS training group showed significant reductions in the levels of these proteins compared to the MS control group.Conclusion: Based on the results of the current research, voluntary swimming exercise activity could potentially lead to more nerve protection and improvement of memory function, motor activity, and balance in patients with MS and can be promising as a non-pharmacological treatment strategy.

Background: The purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of oak fruit extract and its combination with chemotherapy drug cisplatin on AGS gastric adenocarcinoma cell line and also to evaluate its effect on cell cycle, apoptosis, and metastasis as well as the expression of key genes P21, CDK2, and MMP2.Methods: Cytotoxic effects of oak fruit extract and its combination with cisplatin on gastric cancer AGS cell line 48 hours after treatment were investigated using the MTT method. Using Real-Time PCR, the expression changes of P21, CDK2, and MMP2 genes were investigated. Cell cycle and apoptosis were also investigated by flow cytometry.Findings: The results showed that oak fruit extract combined with cisplatin causes more effects of apoptosis and cell death and inhibition of metastasis, as well as reducing the expression of MMP2 compared to the use of cisplatin alone after 48 hours of incubation.  It also causes the cell cycle to stop in the Sub G1 phase and reduce the S phase. Also, the combination of these two substances has reduced the activity of CDK2/cyclin E by increasing the level of P21 protein.Conclusion: It seems that the combination of oak fruit extract and cisplatin can express genes that play a tumor suppressor role, such as P21, and reducing the expression of CDKs leads to growth inhibition. On the other hand, by reducing the expression of genes such as MMP2, it prevents cell migration. It also inhibits the growth of cancer cells by inducing apoptosis, and this effect is comparable to the effect of cisplatin alone.