Journal of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences
Year:2018 | Volume:17 | Issue:2 |Papers Count:11

Background and Objectives: Cutaneous wounds are seriously painful and their antibiotic treatments are expensive with adverse effects. Nowadays medicinal herbs are widely used because of lower cost and side effects.Calendula officinalis, Aloe arborescens and Ricinus communis herbs have antimicrobial and healing effects. The aim of the present study was comparing the effect of these three herbal medicines on cutaneous wound healing process in male rat.Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, 32 male adult rats were randomly divided into 4 equal groups of 8, including one control group (wound group and topical use of eucerine in the injured area) and three groups treated withCalendula officinalis, Aloe arborescens and Ricinus communis (topical use of 2cc extract 10%).Wounds with equal thickness were made on the rats’ back sides and their diameters were measured in the treatment period (21 days) and tissue samples were finally prepared. Data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA and Tukey's post hoc test.Results: Diameter measures of the wounds on the 5th day showed that the average of the wounds’ diameters in theCalendula officinalis and Ricinus communis treated groups were significantly lower than the control group (p<0.05). At the end of the experiment, the best improvement on cutaneous wound healing belonged to the group treated withRicinus communi s so that there was a significant difference between this group and the control group (p<0.05).Conclusion: Ricinus communis medicinal herb has more improving effect on cutaneous wound healing in rat.

Background and Objectives: Breast cancer is a major health concern in women, but it seems that exercise plays an important role in controlling it. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to examine the effects of six weeks of aerobic training on the tumor volume and oncostatin-M serum level in mice with breast cancer.Materials and Methods: This research was an experimental study. For this purpose, 16 BALB/c mice, after being familiarized with the environment, were injected with estrogen receptor-dependent breast cancer cells (MC4-L2 cell line) and then, were randomly divided into two groups: control (n=8) and exercise group (n=8).The exercise group performed 5 days a week incremental aerobic training for 6 weeks (with speed of 22-18 meters per second, equivalent to 55 to 70 percent of aerobic capacity in mice), and the control group did not perform any aerobic activity. Finally, the mice were sacrificed, and serum and tumor tissue were used to measure the serum and tissue levels of oncostatin-M. Statistical analysis was done using independent t-test.Results: Significant differences were observed between the exercise and control groups in terms of the amount of oncostatin-M in the tumor (p=0.001), and serum (p=0.001). A significant increase was observed in oncostatin-M serum levels in the exercise group compared to the control goup (p=0.001). The independent t-test results for tumor volume showed its significant reduction in the exercise group (p=0.001).Conclusion: Aerobic exercise can slow down the process of tumor growth, and one of its mechanisms is increasing oncostatin-M in the active muscles and seeping it into the serum. The reason for this process can be related to the fact that oncostatin-M inhibits the growth of cancer cells.

Background and Objectives: Detection of the biomarkers is one of the effective methods for diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer. Prostate specific antigen (PSA) is currently the best biomarker available for controlling and detecting this cancer. The purpose of the current study was to design an electrochemical aptamerbased biosensor (electrochemical aptasensor) to measure the PSA.Materials and Methods: In this laboratory study, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), gold nanoparticles (AuNPs), reduced graphene oxide (rGO), and chitosan (CS) were used to increase the electrical conductivity and surface area. The PSA-specific aptamer was also used for binding PSA on the surface of the electrode. Differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), cyclic voltammetry (CV), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques were applied to study the electrochemical properties and importance of synthesized nanocomposite. This aptasensor was used to measure PSA in four blood samples in patients with prostate cancer and was compared with thein vitro immuno-radiometric method. Data were analyzed using independent t-test.Results: Based on the calibration curve, the detection limit of 6.0 pg mL-1 and the linear range of 0.01-100.00 ng mL-1 were obtained. The repeatability and reproducibility of this aptasensor for PSA with the concentration of 0.9 ng mL-1 were obtainedwith relative standard deviations (RSD%) of 2.39 and 4.01%, respectively.Conclusion: The results of the comparisons between the proposed method and the immuno-radiometric method showed the applicability of the aptasensor to measure the real samples. It seem that the biosensor with low limit of detection and wide linear range may be a suitable device for diagnosis of prostate cancer.

Background and Objectives: Aerobic exercise and taking chlorella supplementation to control oxidative stress markers and paraoxonase-1 (PON1) levels in diabetic patients is of great importance. So, the aim of the present research was to investigate the effect of eight-week aerobic exercise on paraoxonase-1 and lipid hydroperoxide plasma levels in diabetic Wistar rats treated with chlorella algae.Material and Methods: The present study was an experimental research. 50 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 5 groups of 10: control, diabetic, diabetic with taking supplement (colorella), diabetic with training, and combined diabetic (training+supplement) groups. Training and taking supplement continued for 8 weeks after diabetes induction; at the end of the 8th week, the levels of paraoxonase-1 and lipid hydroperoxide were measured. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s post hoc test.Results: The results showed that there were significant differences between the groups in terms of paraoxonase-1 (p=0.001). Comparison between the groups of chlorella and training (p=0.001) and the combined and chlorella (p=0.001) as well as the exercise and combined (p=0.007) showed a significant difference. Also, there were significant differences between the groups in terms of lipid hydroperoxide (p=0.001). So that there was a significant difference between the training and chlorella (p=0.005) and combined groups (p=0.001) and the combined and exercise groups (p=0.029). So that in the combined group, paraoxonase -1 was further increased.Conclusion: Eight weeks of aerobic training along with taking chlorella can remarkably reduce lipid hydroperoxide and increase paraoxonase-1 in rats with diabetes; However, their separate protocls can be also useful.

Background and Objectives: Production and use of valuable compounds such as biosurfactants from wastewater, with regard to its environmental and economic benefits, is of particular interest recently. Nowadays, biosurfactants produced by microorganisms are used in various food sources, pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, oil extraction, and wastewater treatment plants. This study was conducted to evaluate the use of oily wastewater as a cheap substrate using Pseudomonous aeruginosa strains isolated from hospital wastewater to produce rhamnolipid biosurfactants.Materials and Methods: The present study was an experimental study that was conducted in a laboratory scale in a batch reactor containing local bacteria isolated from hospital sewages wastewater in a mineral medium containing various oils so that the culture oil was evaluated at different times and concentrations, using hemolysis, oil spill, droplet removal, emulsifying activity, and chemical oxygen demand experiments. In this study, the statistical analyses were performed based on the assessments of the control-test groups according to student’s t-test.Results: The obtained results showed that Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria had a good ability to produce biosurfactant. Reduced surface tension, more than 70% emulsification, and 85% COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) reduction were the results of using isolated biosurfactant.Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, it seems that oily sewages containing high amounts of organic matters are the suitable option for producing rhamnolipid biosurfactants. Produced biosurfactants, due to the desired emulsification properties, can be used in elimination of decomposable pollutants and biodegradation processes.

Background and Objectives: Nowadays, the ability to communicate with employees has become an essential skill in providing and supporting organizational performance and survival of the organization. But managers have a weak performance while confronting early activities of relationship management. This has led to the reduction of the productivity of the organization and the inability to compete in national and international arenas.Therefore, this study aimed to determine the correlation between interactional management and organizational performances of the staff of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences.Materials and Methods: The present study was a descriptive one.150 office workers of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, with a job history for at least five years, participated in this study in 2016. For data collection, two questionnaires of measurement of the relationship between managers and employees and employees’organizational performance were used. The obtained data were analyzed using t-test and one way ANOVA.Results: The results of the Pearson’s correlation test indicated that there was a significant positive relationship between managerial relationship and organizational performance (r=0.759, p<0.001). Also, there was a significant positive relationship between managers’ equality based relationship (r=0.788, p<0.001), structural relationship (r=0.742, p<0.001), dynamic relationship (r=0.736, p<0.001), and delegating relationship (r=0.756, p<0.001) and organizational performance of staff. Moreover, there was a significant negative relationship between the use of controlling relationship (r=-0.603, p<0.001) and avoidance relationship (r=-0.909, p<0.001) of managers with the employees organizational performance.Conclusion: According to the results, it can be concluded that improving staff-management relationship brings an increase in the organizational performance of the staff.

Background and Objectives: Expression of genes related to biofilm formation in methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) can play an effective role in biofilm formation and pathogenicity. Due to the significance of antimicrobial activity of Artemisia species against biofilm producer genes, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of ethanolic extract of Artemisia oliveriana on the expression of icaA, icaD, and ebps genes in MRSA.Materials and Methods: This was a laboratory study. First, Artemisia oliveriana extract was prepared and then, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of growth for the extract of the plant againsts. aureus strains containing mecA was obtained by microdilution method. Then, at the lower concentrations, levels of expression in the icaA, icaD, and ebps genes in MRSA were determined by Real-Time PCR, and the results were analyzed through repeated measures ANOVA.Results: The MIC of ethanolic extract of A. oliveriana was 512 mg/ml. The reduction of the expression of the genes in the standard sample after 4, 8, and 16 hours was significant in the Artemisia oliveriana group (p<0.05).Conclusion: The ethanolic extracts of Artemisia oliveriana had a significant effect on the expression of the genes involved in biofilm formation and this expression reduction was not seen in the housekeeping DNA gyrase-B as a reference gene.

Background and Objectives: Nowadays, people spend a considerable amount of time in buildings, having artificial lighting systems throughout the day. LED lamps with low energy use and high efficiency are one of the most used sources. Considering the effect of lighting sources color temperature on human performance, the current study evaluated the effect of LED lamps in two color temperature mods on typing performance of students.Materials and Methods: In this clinical trial study, 24 students from the Tehran medical universities contributed through non-probabilistic (available) sampling method. Each participant underwent two trials with cool and warm LED lightings (color temperatures of 3000 and 4000°k) having to complete randomized typing tasks.Statistical Analysis was performed using Wilcoxon Signed-Ranked Test.Results: Mean and standard deviation of typing speed under cool LED lighting condition was 25.06±3.13, and typing accuracy with error percentage was 0.45±0.53. The results showed higher typing speed and accuracy under cool light (p=0.002).Conclusion: The results indicated that the typing performance is improved at 4000 °k color temperature.Considering that the LED lamps under cold temperature and the color temperature of 4000°k can increase the speed and decrease the error compared to the warm light and color temperature of 3000°k, the use of LEDs with higher color temperature is recommended in order to improve the performance,