مجله دانشکده پزشکی اصفهان
پیاپی 350 (هفته دوم آبان 1394)

Different studies have been done to obtain sufficient number of neuronal cells for treatment of central nervous system injuries. Adipose-derived stem cells have higher proliferation rate and more resistant to apoptosis. These cells can be induced to differentiate along several multilineage cells such as neuron-like cells. Alginate hydrogel is a polysaccharide polymer that has proper properties including biocompatibility with no immunogenicity. In this study, the effect of alginate hydrogel on the cell viability, proliferation rate and neurogenic differentiation of human adipose derived stem cells was evaluated at 14 days after induction.

Adipose-derived stem cells isolated from human, were cultured in neural induction media and seeded into alginate hydrogel. The cell viability and differentiation efficiency of encapsulated cells were evaluated via doubling time and real time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (real time RT-PCR) analysis, respectively. The collected data was analyzed using one-way ANOVA test.

The rate of proliferation of encapsulated cells significantly decreased as compared with control group (P < 0.001). The expression of nestin, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2) markers significantly decreased as compared with control group (P < 0.001).

Altogether cell viability and proliferation rate of encapsulated cells in alginate hydrogel significantly decreased as compared with control group, but alginate hydrogel can promote neural differentiation of adipose-derived stem cells.

Measuring biomarkers has become of the most useful methods for diagnosis cardiovascular diseases (CVD), due to the simplicity and accessibility. Irisin, a newly discovered myokine, has been recently introduced as a potential biomarker for diagnosis of myocardial infarction (MI). Recent studies showed that irisin decreases significantly in patients with myocardial infarction. The present study aimed to explore the irisin concentration in men with atherosclerosis or myocardial infarction, compared to control group. This cross-sectional controlled trial study conducted on 75 Iranian men in three groups of myocardial infarction, angiography test-positive and control. Anthropometric parameters (height, weight, waist and hip circumference) were measured at the first step. Blood collection was done within 48 hours after chest pain initiation in patients with myocardial infarction (for determination of serum troponin, creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and irisin concentration); and after a 10-12 hours fasting in angiography-positive and control groups (for determination of serum lipid profile, hsCRP and irisin concentration). Irisin concentration was significantly lower in myocardial infarction and in angiography-positive groups compared to the control group. There was not significant difference in irisin concentration between the myocardial infarction angiography-positive groups. Decreasing of irisin concentration in patient with myocardial infarction might be a protective response. There is a possibility that if irisin would not be decreased, there would be a bigger tissue damaging due to the energy depletion.

Osteoarthritis is the most frequent illness of synovial joints and is one of the main reasons of disability in old age. The symptoms of knee osteoarthritis are as pain, morning stiffness and limited joint movements. Among different treatments, none of them is superior to the others. The goal of this study was comparing the effect of 2 physiotherapeutic treatments, feet reflexology and physiotherapy, on knee osteoarthritis in senile patients. In a semi-experimental study, 24 patients with knee osteoarthritis who came to Tohid Physiotherapy Center in Isfahan, Iran, were completely informed of the steps of the investigation, and randomly divided in to two physiotherapeutic groups of reflexology-physiotherapy and physiotherapy. In physiotherapy group, typical treatments like ultrasound, infrared and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) were used; and in reflexology group, besides the physiotherapeutic treatments, foot reflexology was applied for 30 minutes. In both groups, a program of 24 sessions (6 weeks and 4 sessions every week) was planned. In pre- and post-test, the standard form of knee injury and osteoarthritis outcome score (KOOS) was used to check the symptoms of patients of both groups. The data was analyzed using the covariance of variances test via SPSS20 software. The symptoms of the patients (pain, stiffness, daily activities, working out and leisure activities) had more improvement in physiotherapy-reflexology group compared to physiotherapy group (P < 0.050). There was no significant difference between the two types of applied treatment in improving the quality of life in the patients (P = 0.111). This study shows that combination of physiotherapeutic and reflexology treatments is more effective than physiotherapeutic treatments alone, in senile patients with knee osteoarthritis. Thus, it is suggested that this program can be used to reduce the symptoms in these patients.

Obesity is one of the biggest public health challenges of the century. Genetic studies show that proteins associated with vitamin D, such as vitamin D receptor (VDR) are effective in the pathogenesis of obesity. This study aimed to investigate the relationship of FokI polymorphism in VDR gene and the body mass index (BMI), as an indicator of obesity, and other risk factors. In this case-control study, 91 patients with obesity (BMI > 30 kg/m2) and 100 healthy controls (BMI: 18.5-24.9 kg/m2) participated. The levels of fasting blood sugar (FBS), total cholesterol and triglyceride were measured and the BMI was determined. The genomic DNA was extracted from the peripheral blood of participants. VDR gene amplified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique and FokI polymorphism was investigated via the restriction fragment lengths polymorphism (RFLP) method. The odds ratio was used to examine the relationship between the risk factors and the disease; 95% of confidence interval was used for these calculations. The frequency of F allele of FokI polymorphism was 95.00% and 88.46%, while the frequency of f allele was 5.00% and 11.53% in control and obese groups, respectively. The difference between F and f alleles in the control and obese groups was significant (P = 0.005). In the obese group, there was no significant relationship between the levels of fasting blood sugar, total cholesterol, and triglyceride and the genotypes. In the control group, significant relationship was observed between the level of fasting blood sugar and genotypes (P = 0.010). Our findings showed that protection against the obesity was conferred significantly when F allele existed. For this reason, the individuals with FF genotype in the control group had lower fasting blood sugar levels compared to the other genotypes.