مجله دانشکده پزشکی اصفهان
پیاپی 325 (هفته اول اردیبهشت 1394)

The vesicular stomatitis virus G (VSVG) protein is a transmembran glycoprotein, which is involved in virus attachment to the specific receptor at the cell surface. This protein has been widely used to study therapeutic gene delivery. However, the major limitation of its usage in gene therapy is toxicity of protein for host cells in high concentrations. The vesicular stomatitis virus G protein was produced via transfection of HEK-293T cells with using polyfection kit. The cytotoxic activity was examined against MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell lines and human embryonic kidney normal cell line (HEK293) using MTT [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide] and morphology changes assay. The cytotoxic activity of vesicular stomatitis virus G protein against MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells was significantly more than that of the normal cells (P < 0.05). In addition, cancer cells treated with vesicular stomatitis virus G protein showed morphology changes. The results indicated that cytotoxic activity of vesicular stomatitis virus G protein against MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells was more than that of the normal cells and it could be an appropriate candidate for in-vivo testing as cytotoxic agent.

Candida glabrata is one of the most common Candida species which is able to get resistant to antifungals. So, the rapid identification of it, seems to be necessary for early treatment of infections. The conventional methods for detection of Candida species are time-consuming and difficult. Today, using of nanoparticles with unique properties has been expanded. The purpose of this study was rapid identification of Candida glabrata using colorimetric assay based on gold nanoparticles. Candida glabrata was cultured in yeast extract peptone dextrose broth medium and DNA was extracted. The gene specific sequence (CAGL0M05005g) was determined from the Candida genetic information bank. For polymerase chain reaction (PCR), the primers and probe were designed via Oligo 7 software. The PCR product and probe was affected by denaturation and optimized binding temperatures. The gold nanoparticles were added and changed the color to be visual; by using ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectrophotometer and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), they were confirmed. To evaluate the sensitivity of new method, different concentrations of PCR product were used and the results were analyzed using gel electrophoresis. The optimum temperatures of the primer binding to the DNA template and hybridization the probe was determined. After adding gold nanoparticles, the mixture solution color was changed from red to purple. The results were confirmed via spectroscopy and electron microscopy. The results indicated that in detection of Candida glabrata, the new method is faster than conventional methods and more sensitive than gel electrophoresis.

One of the most important fields in medicine is medical ethics. This study aimed to evaluate the attitude to medical ethics among physicians to determine weak and strength points in this statement and to improve it. In a cross-sectional study, 103 physicians were selected from Isfahan areas, Iran, and their attitude about medical ethics was evaluated via a special questionnaire. Finally, the data were analyzed using SPSS software. The mean ± SD of attitude score in studied population was 48.4 ± 8.9 (rang: 28-96) from the maximum score of 100. 1 physician (1%) had weak attitude, 62 (61.2%) had moderate attitude and 40 (38.8%) had good attitude about medical ethics. According to our findings, physicians’ attitude about medical ethics is not acceptable and some strategies must be done for improvement of this attitude, especially among medical students.

Meningioma is one of the most prevalent brain tumors and is derived from meninges. Although, the tumor is usually benign and has limited numbers of genetic aberrations, but intracranial location often cause serious and lethal outcomes. Following role of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) protein, a tumor suppressor gene that is one of miR-148a targets in meningioma and as the microRNA has showed up regulation in brain tumor samples in microarray data, we assessed miR-148a expression pattern in meningioma. We evaluated miR-148a expression among 25 meningioma and 4 normal tissues using real-time polymerase chain reaction method. The expression level of miR-148a showed significant difference between meningioma and normal tissues (P < 0.05). As a result, since there is a significance difference in the miR-148a expression in meningioma tumors compared to normal tissues, the microRNA might be considered as a marker in meningiomas tumors, with further investigations.

The global prevalence of diabetes mellitus is increasing rapidly. Measurement of glycated hemoglobin, predominantly HbA1c, is fundamental to the management of patients with diabetes. HbA1c is used to monitor long-term glycemic control, adjust therapy, assess the quality of diabetes care and predict the risk for the development of complications. While HbA1c is the standard indicator for long-term glycemic control in diabetes, there are different methods for measurement of HbA1c and all laboratories do not use the reference method of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). This study aimed to compare three different methods of measuring HbA1c with HPLC to find out which method have acceptable concordance and correlation with the reference method. 58 patients with diabetes mellitus were assessed. Blood sample of each patient was checked via Diazyme (enzymatic assay), Nycocard (boronate-affinity binding) and Biosystem (microcalumn chromatography). The values of HbA1c in each method were compared with the Knauer-HPLC results. The mean (SD) of differential values between each method and HPLC in ANOVA test was 1.8 (1.09) for Nycocard-HPLC, 1.5 (1.08) for Biosystem-HPLC, and 1.3 (1.2) for Diazyme-HPLC. Pearson's correlation coefficient was 0.76 between Nycocard and HPLC, 0.75 between Diazyme and HPLC and 0.68 between Biosystem and HPLC. With HPLC linear regression parameters were also determined for each method. Diazyme had a better performance and showed a greater concordance with HPLC among others; although it was not an ideal alternative for HPLC.