Journal of Advances in Medical and Biomedical Research
Year:2017 | Volume:24 | Issue:106|Papers Count:16

Background and Objective: Various biomarkers lead to the incidence of pathologic left ventricular hypertrophy such as Cardiotrophin-1. The aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of 12 weeks of aerobic exercise on serum levels of cardiotrophin-1, blood pressure and left ventricular hypertrophy in hypertensive elderly women.Materials and Methods: In this study, 40 women aged 50 to 70 years old were selected and assigned to two groups of control and experimenytal based on their body fat percentage and body mass index. The training program included aerobic exercises which were conducted increasingly, 3 times a week for 12 weeks. Before the training, and 24 hours after the last session, blood samples and echocardiography data were collected and analysed using paired sample t-test and independent t-test at a significance level of p=£0.05.Results: There were significant differences in left ventricular wall thickness (p=0.0001) and systolic blood pressure (p=0.03), but there was no significant difference between cardiotrophin-1 (p=0.54) and diastolic blood pressure (p=0.14).Conclusion: The results of this study assert that aerobic exercises bring about positive effects on heart functioning, reverse diastolic dysfunction, and left ventricular hypertrophy. Also, it was indicated that Cardiotrophin-1 response and release depend on the intensity and duration of exercises.

Background and Objective: Pre-eclampsia is the most serious disease in high-risk pregnancies affecting women and their fetus which may be associated with severe maternal-fetal problems and even death. The symptoms of this disease are high blood pressure and proteinuria. Prompt diagnosis of the disease can be particularly important in preventing or minimizing the effects on the mother and the fetus. This study aimed to determine the relationship between 24- hour urine protein and urine protein to creatinine ratio (Up/Uc) in the urine of women with pre-eclampsia Materials and Methods: The urine samples were collected from 300 women with suspected pre-eclampsia admitted to Ayatollah Mousavi Hospital in Zanjan. To determine the amount of protein excreted in the urine, a random sample was prepared to determine the ratio of protein to creatinine excretion. The results and the demographic findings were recorded in the relevant questionnaire. The data were fed to SPSS software via which Pearson correlation and ROC curve were implemented.Results: The random urine protein to creatinine ratio and the 24 hour urine protein excretion showed a significant correlation (r=0.76, p<0.001). The highest sensitivity (0.38%) and specificity (1.64%) were obtained concerning protein to creatinine ratio to predict protein of more than 300 mg and 2, 000 mg in 24 hours.Conclusion: According to the findings of this study, the protein to creatinine ratio is a proper alternative for 24- hour urine protein test in diagnosing pre-eclampsia.

Background and Objective: Tuberculosis (TB) is the main cause of morbidity in many regions and understanding its effect on quality of life and health condition is important for patient care and improving their quality of life. To this end, this study was set to investigate the effect of adjuvant L-arginine treatment on improving the health status of TB patients.Materials and Methods: This double blind clinical trial comprised 68 tuberculosis patients who were randomly assigned to two groups. The intervention group received standard treatment regimen for 6 months plus L-arginine (2 grams per day for 30 days), while the control group received a 6-month standard treatment regimen plus placebo. Demographic data and GHQ-28 questionnaire were employed as data gathering instruments. Data were analyzed by SPSS software and p-values less than 0.05 were considered significant.Results: 63 Out of 68 patients. data were analyzed. Demographic variables in the intervention and control groups were not significantly different. The mean score at the beginning of the treatment in the intervention group was 28.3± 9.2 and in the control group was 27.8 ± 8.7, respectively (P=0.825). Following the intervention, the mean of the two groups was significant (P=0.006). In the meantime, the subscales of somatic symptoms (P=0.001), anxiety (P=0.023) and depression (P=0.026) were significantly different between the groups.Conclusion: This study illustrates that the use of L-arginine in the treatment of TB patients may improve their health in addition to their quality of life.

Background and Objective: Cesarean rate is increasing in most countries. This rate in Iran exceeds World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation. Thus, the aim of this study was to identify the determinants of cesarean section within a framework approach via defining the factors affecting it while determining its dimensions and inter-component associations.Materials and Methods: Using meta-synthesis approach to analyze the results of previous studies, 711 articles were found following a thorough search in databases of SID, Magiran (in Iran), Scopus, Pub Med, and Google Scholar, some of which were eliminated due to being irrelevant, repetitive and inaccessibility of authors. information. Finally, 96 articles were analyzed and factors affecting cesarean section were extracted and categorized based on themes and category.Results: Medical, socio-cultural and economic factors affect the intention towards cesarean section. The most important medical factors in the tendency to cesarean section are previous cesarean, fetal distress, uncertainty about the fetal heart rate pattern, and dystocia. In the socio-cultural category, individual requests, mother education and fear of damage to the mother are the most important factors. In addition, physician recommendation and type of hospital are the most important factors in the economic category.Conclusion: Based on this study, not only medical factors affect the intention towards cesarean section, but also socio-cultural and economic factors play dominant role. Other researches support these results by Shannon entropy. The results are deemed to be helpful for policy makers in formulation of policies to reduce the rate of cesarean section taking into account the most important factors influencing it. Also, researchers can achieve more comprehensive understanding of the issue by detailed study of the determinants, using meta-analysis and audit analysis.

Background and Objective: Bacterial vaginosis is the most common cause of vulvovaginits in reproductiveaged women. Metronidazole which is considered as the first -line treatment accompanies a few side effects.Besides, many women prefer to use herbal therapy for the treatment of vaginitis. This study was carried out to compare the effect of Propolis vaginal cream with Metronidazole vaginal gel on the treatment of bacterial vaginosis in reproductive -aged women.Materials and Methods: Based on Amsel.s criteria and gram stain, the afflicted patients were diagnosed and were randomly assigned to two groups of 50 to receive treatments with Metronidazole or Propolis. The results were compared after 7 days of therapy.Results: There was a significant relationship between groups in terms of type of treatment and recovery based on Amsel.s criteria (P<0.05). The response to the treatment in the groups of Metronidazole and Propolis were 95.8 % and 70.8%, respectively.Conclusion: Although Propolis had a weak effect on the improvement of Amsel.s criteria and nugent score changes, but responses to the treatment in Propolis group was considerable (70.8%). So Propolis can be used as a complimentary treatment besides the main therapy.

Background and Objective: Endurance activity affects muscle gene expression leading to the improvement of its function and effectiveness. Meanwhile, PGC-1 alpha transcription factor increases mitochondrial biogenesis in skeletal muscles. This study was designed to investigate the effect of an endurance activity program on PGC-1 alpha expression gene of fast and slow twitch muscles.Materials and Methods: 14 male wistar rats weighing 113±20 grams under controlled conditions were housed after familiarization (231±24 grams) and then were randomly assigned to control (n=7) and treatment (n=7) groups. The treatment group performed an endurance activity program (30 m/min, 50 min, and 6 sessions per week for 14-weeks) on a motorized treadmill.48 hours after the end of the last session, the rats in both groups were anesthetized and sacrificed and the soleus and extensor digitorum longus muscles were removed. Real time RT-PCR was used to determine expression levels of PGC-1 alpha gene. T-test was used to compare the results.Results: 14 weeks of endurance activity increased PGC-1 alpha gene expression in extensor digitorum longus and soleus muscles. The rate of this gene expression in soleus muscle of treatment group was significantly higher (P=0.0001) in comparison to the control group and also in the treatment group extensor digitorum longus muscle was significantly more (P=0.006) than the control group.Conclusion: Though endurance activity has similar effect on slow and fast twitch PGC-1 alpha gene expression, it seems that the intensity of this effect is higher in slow twitch muscle.

Background and ObjectiveStroke is a neurological disease with a rapid increase in incidence across developing world Cannabidiol is a non- psychoactive constituent ofcannabis which has attracted the attention of investigators in basic and therapeutic research. The most significant property of cannabidiol is its strong neuroprotective effect manifested in animal model of epilepsy, Alzheimer, and Parkinson. The present study was designed to examine the effect of cannabidiol on stroke damages in particular the blood-brain barrier integrity.Materials and Methods66 rats were randomly divided into 6 main groups Using stereotaxic surgery, guide cannula was implanted in the lateral ventricle. Cannabidiol (50, 100, and 200 ng) was administrated for 5 consequent days through Intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) injection. After pretreatment, the rats were subjected to right middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). After 24 hours, reperfusion neurological deficit scores (NDS), infarct volume (IV), and blood.brain barrier (BBB) permeability were assessed.Results: The results indicate that administration of cannabidiol (100 and 200 ng) in the cerebral ischemia caused a remarkable reduction in NDS and IV, as well as BBB permeability in comparison with the vehicle group.Conclusion: The obtained results indicate that cannabidiol possibly ameliorates ischemic injuries manifested as infarction through reduction of the blood-brain barrier permeability and neurological defects.

Background and Objective: Ghrelin has different functions in the body and one of its newly known roles is the antiapoptotic effect. However, this effect of ghrelin has not been considered in the probable hypoxia induced apoptosis in the animal lung tissue. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of ghrelin treatment on Bax/Bcl-2 gene expression in the lung tissue of rats with chronic hypoxia.Materials and Methods: Twenty four male Wistar rats were divided in three experimental groups of normal, hypoxic+saline and hypoxic+ghrelin and were treated for 2 weeks. The expression level of Bax and Bcl-2 genes were assessed using Real-Time PCR in isolated lung tissues of all animals. In addition, histological changes of pulmonary arteries were examined following Hematoxylin-Eosin staining of the isolated tissues.Results: Chronic hypoxia caused pulmonary artery wall thickness and treatment with ghrelin reversed the changes to the normal. Keeping animals under chronic hypoxia treated or not with ghrelin had no significant effect on Bax/Bcl-2 gene expression ratio as measured in the total lung.Conclusion: Ghrelin treatment restores the histological changes induced by chronic hypoxia in rats.However, no significant changes in Bax/Bcl-2 gene expression ratio as a marker of cell apoptosis seem to occur in the isolated lung tissues, even after ghrelin treatment. Further similar studies especially in vascular endothelial and smooth muscle cells are recommended.

Background and Objective: Aloe Vera plant is used in the treatment of many diseases due to its moisturizing, antimicrobial, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory and other effects. However, owing to this plant.s various compounds, its consumption over pregnancy may be harmful.Materials and Methods: 2.4 g/kg of Aloe Vera extract was injected intraperitoneally to 40 mice. The first experimental group received the extract on days 3, 4, 5, 6, of pregnancy while the second experimental group received this extract on days 7, 8, 9, 10 of pregnancy. Simultaneous with these experimental groups, the control and the sham groups were considered for comparison. All mice were dissected on day 15 of pregnancy; fetuses were removed from uterus and the results were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA).Results: In the first experimental group, the weight of the placenta and fetus, Crown-Rump of fetus and placental diameter showed significant decrease (p<0.001). Likewise, in the second experimental group, there was a significant decrease in the weight of the placenta and fetus (p<0.001) and in placental diameter (p<0.001), There was no significant change in Crown-Rump of fetus compared to the control group.Moreover, abnormalities such as percutaneous bleeing, C-shaped body, syndactyly, and polyp were seen in both experimental groups.Conclusion: The results of this research elicit that Aloe Vera extract can be teratogen and harmful during pregnancy.

Background and Objective: Child weight is considered as one of the most appropriate criteria for determining the nutritional status of the children particularly prior to 24 months of age. There is an association between duration of breastfeeding and child weight via which childhood and even adult obesity can be predicted. Regarding the importance of breastfeeding and its critical role in future health of children, the present research was carried out to investigate the association between the duration of exclusive breastfeeding and the weight of 24- month-old children in Zanjan province.Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional research was carried out using the registered data from 24 months old children records in rural/ urban health centers of Zanjan province. The sampling included all records of neonates born from 2010 to 2012 which were selected using a multi-stage cluster sampling method. Data were assessed by ordinal regression with the Proportional odds model and chi-square test.Stata12 was used for data analysis.Results: Of 8456 children with the age of 24 months, 4146 (49%) were female. The mean age of the mothers was 27.1±5.4 years. The mean duration of breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding with related standard deviation were 20.3±5.8 and 4.7±1.4 months, respectively. The mean and standard error concerning 24-month- old children.s weight was 11939±13.2 grams. There was an inverse relationship between the duration of breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding with 24-month-old children.s weight (p<0.001).Conclusion: This study elucidates that continuation of breastfeeding until 24 months of age may prevent child obesity. Therefore, exclusive breastfeeding encouragement and the continued breastfeeding until 24 months are critically recommended.

Background and Objective: Uricase (EC 1.7.3.3) is an enzyme which catalyses uric acid to H2O2 and alantoin and is utilized in the treatment of hyperuricemia or gout. The aim of this study was cloning of Aspergillus flavusuricase synthetic gene into pET-28 (a) and its recombinant expression in E. coli Materials and Methods: The coding sequence of uricase retrieved from gene bank and once optimized, the gene synthesis was ordered. Then, the synthetic gene subcloned betweenNcoI and XhoI within the vector.The proper subcloning was confirmed by enzymatic digestion check, PCR and finally DNA sequencing. The construct, then chemically transformed intoE. coli BL21 and induced by IPTG which followed by overexpression optimization. For enzyme expression evaluation, protein gel electrophoresis was utilized.Results: Restriction check, PCR and sequencing indicated that the coding sequence of enzyme was cloned in the desired point of vector. The optimized condition obtained for enzyme expression was IPTG 1mM for 6 h at 22oC. Enzyme molecular weight was determined 34.5 kDa by electrophoresis. Evaluation of uricase specific activity showed that the expressed enzyme is 7.69 U/mg and it is catalytically active.Conclusion: The results of the current research showed that the uricase gene could be simply cloned and expressed inpET system. Enzyme specific activity determination exhibited that the enzyme was produced as a soluble protein and catalytically active inE. coli cytosole.

Background and Objective: Unreasonable prescription and indiscriminate use of antibiotics bring about increased antimicrobial resistance. Evaluating the pattern of use seems to be a perfect procedure to improve its reasonable prescription. The objective of this study was to evaluate pattern of antibiotic use in different units of Zanjan Vali-Asr Teaching Hospital.Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective and descriptive surveillance study carried out in Vali-Asr Hospital, a teaching hospital under the supervision of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, by using ATC/DDD international system which has been advised by the World Health Organization (WHO) over a period of one year (2011).Results: Total number of antibiotic use in the selected hospital was 79.79 DDD/100 bed days during the study. Infectious Unit of the hospital has been used most frequently (27%) than other units. The most frequent antibiotics used in the hospital units were Cephalosporins followed by Macrolides and Fluoroquinolones with a mean of 48.5%, 17.22% and 12%, respectively.Conclusion: In comparison with similar studies, on average the prescribing rate of antibacterials in Vali Asr Hospital might have been less than other hospitals in Iran. This study puts forward a series of useful methods for subsequent planning interventions and policies to improve quality of antibiotic prescription.