Jorjani Biomedicine Journal
Year:2023 | Volume:11 | Issue:3|Papers Count:6

Background: Aerobic exercise and ginger after myocardial infarction (MI) modify calcium handling. Ginger has cardioprotective effects on cardiovascular disease. This study assessed the effects of aerobic exercise combined with ginger extract (GE) loaded into chitosan nanoparticles (CNPs) on miRNA-214, Serca2a, and Anp genes and cardiac fibrosis in myocardial infarction (MI) rat models. Methods: Twenty-five male rats divided into 5 groups were subjected to ginger treatment and exercise. Aerobic exercises (AE) were performed on a rodent treadmill 5 days per week for 6 weeks. The GE-CNPs (500 mg/kg) were orally administered to the rats for 6 weeks. The expressions of miRNA-214, Serca2a, and Anp genes were assessed by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The histopathological assessments were performed using hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and Masson's trichrome staining. The serum activities of creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were also measured by ELISA. Results: The MI model and CNP groups had the highest rate of collagen deposition (P <0.05). The serum activities of both CK-MB and LDH were significantly elevated in the Isop group compared to the control (P<0.05), while following aerobic exercise and ginger treatment, their activity was significantly dropped in the Isop + AE + GE-CNPs group. The expression of miRNA-214 showed a significant increase in GE-CNPs (P <0.01) and GE-CNPs + AE (P <0.001) groups. Serca2a and Anp genes showed significant changes in the GE-CNPs + AE group (P<0.05). Conclusion: Our findings revealed that aerobic exercise, along with ginger treatment, improved cardiac fibrosis, modulating the expression levels of miRNA-214, Serca2a, and Anp genes and serum levels of MI biomarkers.

Background: Body image studies confirm a higher level of dissatisfaction among women compared to men, and some evidence shows that ethnicity may have a role in the level of body image fear. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the data of 372 Fars and Turkmen women visiting health care centers in Gonbad, Iran, were collected via convenience sampling and analyzed by SPSS v. 17. The instruments were a demographic checklist and Littleton's Body Image Concern Inventory. Results: The level of fear of body image between Fars (M = 2.022, SD = 0.685) and Turkmen (M = 2.1408, SD = 0.661) ethnicities was not statistically different (P-value = 0.09) based on the t test. Furthermore, age, education level, and internet usage were significantly related to the variable of fear of body image. Conclusion: The role of ethnicity in the fear of body image is not statistically significant and needs further research.

Background: Type 2 diabetes is a metabolic disease associated with a partial or absolute deficiency of insulin, hyperlipidemia, and impaired metabolism of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. The present study aimed to compare the effects of different types of exercises on lipid profiles in menopausal women with type 2 diabetes. Methods: Fifty-six sedentary obese menopausal women with type 2 diabetes were randomly divided into 4 groups: aerobic exercise, resistance exercise, combined exercise, and a control group. Each group, except the control group, participated in their respective exercises for 8 weeks. Blood samples were collected from the subjects before and 48 hours after the training period. Data were analyzed using the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and paired sample t tests, with a significance level set at P≤0.05. All calculations were performed using SPSS v. 20. Results: Triglyceride levels significantly decreased in the aerobic exercise (P = 0.017) and combined exercise (P = 0.0001) groups. Low-density lipoprotein levels significantly decreased in aerobic exercise (P = 0.034), resistance exercise (P = 0.003), and combined exercise groups (P = 0.009). Cholesterol levels significantly decreased in the aerobic exercise (P = 0.0001), resistance exercise (P = 0.030), and combined exercise (P = 0.01) groups. Additionally, high-density lipoprotein levels significantly increased in the aerobic exercise (P = 0.041) and combined exercise (P = 0.002) groups. Conclusion: It appears that combined exercises, rather than resistance or endurance exercises alone, are a more appropriate intervention for improving lipid profiles in menopausal women with type 2 diabetes.

Background: In medical research and survival analysis, it is common for an individual or item's failure to be attributable to multiple causes, also known as competing risks. This article focuses on examining the competing risks model as the data increasingly becomes type II censored and randomly removed. The model assumes that the causes of failure are independent and that the lifetimes of individuals are described by the Cox model. At each failure time, the number of items or people removed follows a binomial distribution. The article derives estimators for the indefinite parameters in the model. The study presents a set of detailed data and includes a simulation study that also illustrates the results. Methods: Different reasons, frequently known as competing risks, are frequently embroiled in an individual's or an item's failure in medical research survival analysis. The competing risks shown under sort II dynamic censoring with random removals are the subject of this research. We get the maximum likelihood and inexact most extreme probability estimators of the obscure parameters. The asymptotic distribution of the maximum probability estimators is utilized to decide the CIs. Then, Monte Carlo simulations were applied to demonstrate the approach. The analyses were performed utilizing R 4.0.4 software. Results: For stroke, systolic blood pressure (SBP) and hypertension status are the only significant variables. In contrast, gender, body mass index (BMI), smoking status, the logarithm of urinary albumin and creatinine ratio, and diabetes status are significant variables for coronary heart disease (CHD) and other cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). The results suggest that significant risk factors differ for different types of CVD events. Conclusion: The outcomes of the simulation study indicate that progressively right-censored type II sampling designs outperformed the usual censored type II sampling designs. Therefore, the estimated parameters on the defined pattern setting are recommended. They can be used in many practical situations when competing risks occur, and progressive censoring could be considered.

It seems necessary to understand the association of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), with its entering bronchoalveolar and brain cells, which have a high concentration of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). Although the virus infects healthy people, the rate of infection and mortality is higher and significant in vulnerable people, such as drug users and addicts who have acute and chronic respiratory disease. It also places a heavy economic burden on families and societies around the world. Thus, researchers are aiming to provide prevention and treatment strategies to people at risk. The purpose of the present study was to collect studies on the rate of infection with coronavirus in people who abuse drugs. Besides, the role of the ACE2 receptor as a key factor in coronavirus infectivity in these people was investigated. Our narrative review on the relationship between COVID-19 and opioid abuse and smoking, with consideration of ACE2's role, contains original and human studies. According to the results of the current study, those who smoke or are dependent on opioids are much more likely to experience COVID-19-related respiratory side effects or even pass away.

Background: Metabolic syndrome, a problem of the present age, is a combination of several medical issues, and miRNAs play important regulatory roles in metabolic syndrome. Many studies indicate that high-intensity interval training (HITT) may improve risk factors for metabolic syndrome. This study aimed to investigate the effect of 8 weeks of HIIT training on the changes in miR-21, miR-122, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), lipid profile, and glucose. Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, middle-aged male (n=19) volunteers with metabolic syndrome (body mass index (BMI)>30) were randomly assigned to the control (n=9) and training (n=10) groups. The training program consisted of 8 weeks of HIIT training with 4 sets of workouts with an intensity of 80-90% heart rate for the training group (3 sessions per week during the first 4 weeks and 4 sessions per week during the second 4 weeks). Blood samples were collected from the subjects 48 hours before and after the last training session to analyze miR-21, miR-122, ALT, AST, HDL, LDL, triglyceride, cholesterol, and glucose. The within-group and between-group differences of data were analyzed using the paired t-tests and analysis of covariance at a significance level of P˂0.05 in SPSS software. Results: This study indicated that HIIT caused a significant decrease in miR-122, ALT, AST, triglyceride, cholesterol, glucose, body weight indicators, fat percentage, and BMI (P˂0.05). Also, a significant increase in miR-21 and HDL levels was observed following HIIT training (P˂0.05). Conclusion: HIIT training seems essential in metabolic changes, such as reducing the lipid profile, decreasing glucose, and improving liver damage by affecting miR-21 and miR-122 indicators as small regulatory transcripts. However, more extensive studies are needed in this field.