Iranian Biomedical Journal
Volume:22 Issue: 5, Sep 2018

It is often wondered as to what part of all the research performed around the globe actually leaves the lab and reaches the real people and betters their lives. In case of Professor David W. Denning's research, a large part does. As a prominent international face in the field of medical mycology, he translates his research into clinical applications and takes medical problems back to his lab, in order to develop potential solutions.
e is a professor of Infectious Diseases in Global Health and a consultant in infectious diseases and medical mycology, Wythenshawe Hospital and University of Manchester. He is also the founding president of the Global Action Fund for Fungal Infections (GAFFI) and the leader of Leading International Fungal Education (LIFE). He supervises a strong research group funded by grants from the UK, USA, and Europe, as well as multiple pharmaceutical companies, with research grant income of more than 22 million pounds to Manchester University, since 1990...

Lice are small, wingless, minor ectoparasites of mammals and birds. More than 540 blood-sucking lice (Phthiraptera: Anoplura) have been described with each host having its own type of louse, suggesting the cospeciation of the lice species with their host. Among these, two lice species from two different genera infest humans: Pediculus humanus and Phthirus pubis (pubic “crab” lice ). The former constitutes two morphotypes, P. humanus morphotype capitis (head lice) and P. humanus morphotype corporis (clothing “body” lice). Head, body, and pubic lice live on the head, in clothing, and in the pubic areas, respectively. These tiny creatures have been human's and primate's close companions for millions of years and have played a significant role in human history, as they became the source of inspiration for many novelists. Human lice cannot survive on their target hosts for extended periods of time and die of starvation within 24-48 h. However, recent evidence implies human lice can shift hosts and adapt to other closely related species to evade death. This “host infidelity” has enabled these obligate, host-specific creatures to possibly survive the potential extinction of their host. This phenomenon has shed light on a novel way for scientists to study the history of human evolution, which previously relied on the fossil records, the human genome, and archaeological findings.

The pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is influenced by both genetic factors and epigenetic modifications; the latter is a result of exposure to various environmental factors. Epigenetic modifications affect gene expression and alter cellular functions without modifying the genomic sequences. CpG-DNA methylation, histone modifications, and miRNAs are the main epigenetic factors of gene regulation. In SLE, global and gene-specific DNA methylation changes have been demonstrated to occur in CD4 T-cells. Moreover, histone acetylation and deacetylation inhibitors reverse the expression of multiple genes involved in SLE, indicating histone modification in SLE. Autoreactive T-cells and B-cells have been shown to alter the patterns of epigenetic changes in SLE patients. Understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of SLE is critical for the introduction of effective, target-directed and tolerated therapies. In this review, we summarize the recent findings that highlight the importance of epigenetic modifications and their mechanisms in SLE.

Increasing the prevalence of type 2 diabetes has given rise to a global health burden and a concern among health service providers and health administrators. The current study aimed at developing and comparing some statistical models to identify the risk factors associated with type 2 diabetes. In this light, artificial neural network (ANN), support vector machines (SVMs), and multiple logistic regression (MLR) models were applied, using demographic, anthropometric, and biochemical characteristics, on a sample of 9528 individuals from Mashhad City in Iran.
This study has randomly selected 6654 (70%) cases for training and reserved the remaining 2874 (30%) cases for testing. The three methods were compared with the help of ROC curve.
The prevalence rate of type 2 diabetes was 14% in our population. The ANN model had 78.7% accuracy, 63.1% sensitivity, and 81.2% specificity. Also, the values of these three parameters were 76.8%, 64.5%, and 78.9%, for SVM and 77.7%, 60.1%, and 80.5% for MLR. The area under the ROC curve was 0.71 for ANN, 0.73 for SVM, and 0.70 for MLR.
Our findings showed that ANN performs better than the two models (SVM and MLR) and can be used effectively to identify the associated risk factors of type 2 diabetes.

Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) elicit neuroprotective effects, and their repair ability has been investigated in different experimental models. We aimed to investigate the effect of multiple i.p. BM-MSCs injections in the cuprizone model of multiple sclerosis in mice.
Adult male C57BL/6 mice (n = 40) were fed a regular diet or a diet containing cuprizone (0.2% w/w) for 6 six weeks. Bone marrow samples were taken from patients with spinal cord injury. BM-MSCs (2 × 106 in 1 milliliter medium) were administered intraperitoneally for two consecutive weeks at the end of the forth weeks of cuprizone administration. Animals (n = 12) were perfused with 10% paraformaldehyde at the end of sixth week. The brains were sectioned coronally in 6-8-μm thickness (-2.3 to 1.8 mm from bregma). The sections were stained by luxol fast blue-cresyl violet, and images were captured via a microscope. Demyelination ratio was estimated in corpus callosum in a blind manner. A quantitative real-time PCR was used to measure the myelin basic protein gene expression at sixth week.
Histologically, cuprizone induced demyelination in the corpus callosum. Demyelinated area was diminished in the corpus callosum of cell-administered group. Cuprizone could decrease myelin-binding protein mRNAs expression in corpus callosum, which was significantly recovered after BM-MSCs injections.
Our data indicated a remyelination potency of multiple i.p. BM-MSCs in the cuprizone model of multiple sclerosis in mice.

Skin flap procedures are employed in plastic surgery, but failure can lead to necrosis of the flap. Studies have used bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) to improve flap viability. BM-MSCs and acellular amniotic membrane (AAM) have been introduced as alternatives. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of BM-MSCs and AAM on mast cells of random skin flaps (RSF) in rats.
RSFs (80 × 30 mm) were created on 40 rats that were randomly assigned to one of four groups, including (I) AAM, (II) BM-MSCs, (III) BM-MSCs/AAM, and (IV) saline (control). Transplantation was carried out during the procedure (zero day). Flap necrosis was observed on day 7, and skin samples were collected from the transition line of the flap to evaluate the total number and types of mast cells. The development and the total number of mast cells were related to the development of capillaries.
The results of one-way ANOVA indicated that there was no statistically significant difference between the mean numbers of mast cell types for different study groups. However, the difference between the total number of mast cells in the study groups was statistically significant (p = 0.001).
The present study suggests that the use of AAM/BM-MSCs can improve the total number of mast cells and accelerate the growth of capillaries at the transient site in RSFs in rats.

Prostate cancer is the second form of cancer among men worldwide. For early cancer detection, we should identify tumors in initial stages before the physical signs become visible. The present study aims to evaluate the diagnostic value of cell-free DNA (cfDNA), its comparison with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level in prostate cancer screening and also in patients with localized prostate cancer, metastatic form, and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).
The participants of this study were selected from 126 patients with genitourinary symptoms suspected prostate cancer, rising PSA, and/or abnormal rectal examination results and 10 healthy subjects as controls. Peripheral blood plasma before any treatment measures was considered. cfDNA was extracted using a commercial kit, and PSA levels were measured by ELISA. The ANOVA test was used to compare the average serum level of PSA and plasma concentration of cfDNA between the groups. The correlation between variables was measured by the Pearson test.
The subgroups consisted of 50 patients with localized prostate cancer, 26 patients with metastatic prostate cancer, 50 patients with BPH, and 10 healthy subjects; the average concentrations of cfDNA in these subgroups were 15.04, 19.62, 9.51, and 8.7 ng/μl, respectively. According to p Our findings indicated significant differences between cfDNA levels of patients with localized and metastatic prostate cancer, and differences of these two groups from BPH and healthy cases show the importance of this biomarker in non-invasive diagnostic procedures.

Torque teno virus (TTV) was the first human Anelloviridae detected in a Japanese patient with an unknown type of hepatitis in 1997. TTV is by far the first known single-stranded circular DNA virus infecting human. In spite of its widespread nature in human population, its pathogenesis is still unclear. In addition, information regarding TTV infection in Iranian population is limited. Therefore, we attempted to determine the prevalence and genotype of TTV in three groups: HIV/HBV patients, chronic hepatitis B patients, and healthy individuals.
The presence of TTV DNA in sera was investigated using PCR. The primer sets encompassing two 5΄-UTR and N22 regions were used, and the positive products were collected for sequencing. Phylogenetic tree was generated based on N22 region and using the MEGA 7 software.
TTV DNA was detected in 452 patients with HIV/HBV and chronic hepatitis B, as well as in healthy control groups. The results from PCR indicated positive rates ftrated ates positive rates Results, Conclusionffor these three groups, 48%, 54%, and 49.3% using 5΄-UTR primer and 15.1%, 12%, and 8% using N22 primer, respectively.
Five genogroups were observed, which the second group was found to be the most frequent. The results of 5΄-UTR primer showed more prevalence of TTV DNA comparing to N22 primer in patients and healthy control.

Typically, non-cellulytic glucanase, including fungi and yeast cell wall hydrolyzing enzymes, are released by some symbiotic fungi and plants during the mycoparasitic fungi attack on plants. These enzymes are known as the defense mechanisms of plants. This study intends to investigate the biochemical properties of β-1,6-glucanase (bg16M) from native thermophilic bacteria, Cohnella A01.
bg16M gene was cloned and expressed in E. coli BL21 (DE3). The enzyme was purified utilizing Ni-NTA nikcle sepharose column. Pustulan and laminarin were selected as substrates in enzyme assay. The purified bg16M enzyme was treated with different pH, temperature, metal ions, and detergents.
The expressed protein, including 639 amino acids, showed a high similarity with the hydrolytic glycosylated family 30. The molecular weight of enzyme was 64 kDa, and purification yield was 46%. The bg16M demonstrated activity as 4.83 U/ml on laminarin and 2.88 U/ml on pustulan. The optimum pH and temperature of the enzyme were 8 and 50 °C, respectively. The enzyme had an appropriate stability at high temperatures and in the pH range of 7 to 9, showing acceptable stability, while it did not lose enzymatic activity completely at acidic or basic pH. None of the studied metal ions and chemical compounds was the activator of bg16M, and urea, SDS, and copper acted as enzyme inhibitors.
Biochemical characterization of this enzyme revealed that bg16M can be applied in beverage industries and medical sectors because of its high activity, as well as thermal and alkaline stability.

DNA polymerase β (pol β) is a key enzyme of base excision repair pathway. It is a 1-kb gene consisting of 14 exons. Its catalytic part lies between exon 8 and exon 14. Exon 12 has a role in deoxyribonucleotide triphosphate selection for nucleotide transferase activity.
Genomic DNA was isolated from ovarian carcinoma samples. Single strand conformation polymorphism method was used to detect mutation in genomic DNA.
Twenty-four patients of the 152 pair of tumor samples (15.8%) exhibited a point mutation (C→G) in position 725 in exon 12, which shifts proline to arginine (P242R). Statistical analysis showed a significant (p This is a newly reported somatic mutation of pol β in ovarian carcinoma patients from India.