فصلنامه علوم پزشکی دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی
سال سی و یکم شماره 4 (پیاپی 106، زمستان 1400)

Streptomyces is one of the most important prokaryotic microorganisms, and their secondary metabolites have high antimicrobial and cytotoxic properties. Three-quarters of the antibiotics known to be produced by these bacteria. As a result, finding new effective compounds from these microorganisms can be a way to treat cancer. The aim of this study was to isolate and screen halophilic or halotolent Streptomycetes from Garmsar salt cave soil that have the ability to produce metabolites with cytotoxic properties against human breast cancer cell line (MCF-7, IBRC C10082).

Isolation of Streptomyces from soil sample was done by serial dilution method and cultured on casein agar with 15% Nacl. The isolates were identified by microscopic and macroscopic examinations and the presence of diaminopalimic acid (DAP) in their cell wall. The cytotoxic effect was evaluated using MTT assay and 16SrRNA sequencing was performed to select selected streptomycetes.

Secondary metabolites of 2 Streptomyces showed a 50% reduction in the concentration of human breast cancer cells. Streptomyces sp.2 was 100% similar to Streptomyces koyangensis and Streptomyces sp.25 was 95.4% similar to Streptomyces tunisiensis.

The results of this study showed that Streptomyces sp.2 and Streptomyces sp.25 secondary metabolites had cytotoxic effect against MCF-7 human breast cancer cell line. The metabolite produced by them can be an option for further studies and provide more effective treatment with fewer side effects in the treatment of this disease.

Imatinib is an antineoplastic agent acting as a tyrosine kinase inhibitor to treat cancer such as lymphoblastic leukemia. The dosage of the anticancer drugs plays a critical role in the survival of the patients. For this reason, the patient's plasma and urine samples should be monitored to obtain the necessary information regarding the toxicity of the drug. In this study, the applicability of preconcentration and dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction for extraction of trace amount of Imatinib in aqueous samples, before a determination by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), was evaluated.

The targeted drug was extracted from an aqueous sample with pH= 11 (the donor phase) into an extraction solvent (n-octanol) in the dispersive solution (acetone) as an acceptor phase, which has been dispersed in the sample solution. Different variables on extraction efficiency were studied and optimized by chemometrics design and the Taguchi method. The variables were the donor phase's pH, type of extraction solvent, type of dispersive solvent, speed stirring, extraction time, and extraction temperature.

The optimum conditions of the test were as pH of donor phase:11, type of extraction solvent: n-octanol, type of dispersive solvent: acetone, speed stirring: 500rpm , extraction time: 45min,  extraction temperature: 65 centigrade.

The developed method was simple, rapid, sensitive, and suitable for determining trace amounts of Imatinib in aqueous samples.

One of the important factors that play a key role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is inflammatory processes leading to impaired expression of inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-6, TNF-α, and interleukin-1β (IL-1β). Propolis, as a therapeutic compound, has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of this compound on changes in IL-1β expression levels in AD rats.

42 adult male Wistar rats were divided into four groups, including control, sham, Alzheimer, and propolis. Cellular changes in brain tissue was evaluated by preparing histopathologic slides and effect of propolis on changes in IL-1β expression levels were investigated using Real-Time PCR method.

Histopathologic investigations in the studied groups showed a significant difference between scopolamine-treated group compared to control and sham groups in terms of changes in the IL-1β expression levels and cellular damage; whereas there was no difference between the propolis-treated and scopolamine-treated groups in this regard; only-morphological difference in the organization of neurons were observed. The results of Real-Time PCR showed that the IL-1β expression level was significantly different in the propolis-treated group from the Alzheimer's group (p<0.05), indicating that propolis significantly decreased gene expression.

The results of the present study showed that propolis could be considered as an effective drug candidate for the AD treatment considering its anti-inflammatory property and effect on the decrease of IL-1β expression.

The brain in exposure to irritating factors may lead to production of some chemical factors and proinflammatory cytokines and neuroinflammation. Over time, the chronic neuroinflammation will cause some cognitive disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. The present study studied the effect of acetyl L -carnitine on cognitive and cellular disorders derived from lipopolysaccharide (LPS)- induced inflammation, with emphasis on cellular pathways in the hippocampus of male rat.

In this study, we used LPS with dose of 500 μg/kg of animal’s weight regarding to the previous studies. Acetyl L carnitine was prescribed with three doses of 30, 60 and 100 mg/kg among rats received LPS. Passive avoidance behavior was used to assess learning and memory, and biochemical and molecular methods were used for mTOR, p-AKT, and inflammatory factors.

Acetyl L carnitine improved passive avoidance memory as well as working memory in a dose-dependent manner. It also prevented the death of hippocampal neurons by inhibiting neuroinflammation by reducing the expression of IL-6 and IL-1B and increasing the levels of mTOR and AKT-p.

The present study showed that acetyl L-carnitine can reduce the destructive effects of lipopolysaccharide, which appears to be through increased levels of mTOR and AKT.

Staphylococcus aureus is a pathogenic bacterium that can target host cell membranes with virulence factors such as toxins and peptides. This study was evaluated the frequency of alpha, beta, and delta hemolysine genes in antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolated from patients' urine and wound samples.

This cross-sectional study was performed on 100 antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (tetracycline, penicillin, gentamicin, co-trimoxazole, tobramycin, and ciprofloxacin) isolated from wound and urine samples of patients who referred to medical diagnostic laboratories. Then, their antibiotic susceptibility was determined by the disk diffusion method based on CLSI instruction. After examining the MIC and MBC of the samples, a single colony culture was performed for the samples and their DNA was extracted by using a commercial kit. By designing specific primers, hemolysine alpha, beta, and delta genes were amplified in the samples. The results were analyzed by statistical software.

In isolated Staphylococcus aureus, the highest antibiotic resistance was related to co-trimoxazole with 63% and the highest sensitivity to penicillin with 53%. There was a statistically significant relationship between resistance to tetracycline and co-trimoxazole antibiotics and age, and also ciprofloxacin showed greater resistance in women than men. The frequency of hemolysine genes was 91% for HLA, 96% for HLB, and 99% for HLD.

Penicillin antibiotic with 53% sensitivity seems to be a better candidate than other antibiotics and the high abundance of hemolysine genes should be considered as an important concern in the medical community.

Exercise can cause inflammation and neutrophil activity. Neutrophils contain the enzyme myeloperoxidase that its main function is to produce reactive oxygen species. On the other hand, physical activity can improve immune function and antioxidant activity. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate neutrophil activity, changes in myeloperoxidase levels and total antioxidant capacity of healthy middle-aged men participating in regular leisure time exercises and untrained subjects.

Twenty trained (age 53.58± 2.94 years, BMI 25.47±1.6) and 17 untrained (age 54.17±2.83 years, BMI 27.83±1.12) subjects participated in this study. Subjects performed modified Bruce treadmill test as a model of progressive exercise training. Blood samples were taken before, immediately after and one hour after the end of the test.

There was a significant difference in the neutrophil counts of the trained group and also between both groups. Furthermore, the results showed significant difference in myeloperoxidase levels in trained compared to untrained group. Significant changes in total antioxidant capacity were observed in both groups and the trained group demonstrated higher levels of total antioxidant capacity.

Participation in regular leisure time exercises can improve neutrophil function, reduce myeloperoxidase levels and increase the total antioxidant capacity of healthy middle-aged men and may potentially slowdown the immunosenescence process.

Optimized is a common and important method in which aberrations are created by the device and the surgeon, but high-grade aberrations are out of the surgeon's control and are induced by the device in the patient. The aim of this study was the evaluation of out-of-control high-order aberration changes before and after PRK surgery and these impact on vision outcome.

In this before and after clinical trial study, we recurred 24 patients consist of 48 eyes. For the patients with myopic astigmatism, before the operation, a complete visual examination (visual acuity, refraction, etc.) and imaging including orbscan, zywave, and topolyzer were performed and tests were repeated six months after surgery. The results were compared before and after surgery.

24 patients included 8 males (33.3%) and 16 females (66.7%) with a mean age of 29±5 years recurred in the study. The total higher-order aberration increased after operation. There was no significant difference between the third and fourth-order corneal
aberrations before and after the operation. The ocular and corneal high-order aberration was increased. Mean asphericity was similar before and after the operation. Also, significant correlations among spherical equivalent, total high order abbration, and occular abbaration were found.

Regarding our study, eye sporadic defect improved after the operation but it would never achieve the optimal goal. According to the findings, it seems that the optimized method with the Allegretto EX500 device, despite its superiority over the conventional method, still induces high-grade aberrations and changes the asphericity from prolate to oblate mode. However, it improves refraction, which affects the quality of patients' vision.

Infertility is one of the most common problems of women that always has negative psychological consequences for infertile women. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to investigate and compare the effectiveness of reality therapy and interaction behavior analysis approach on character strength in infertile women.

The present study was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest and posttest design with a control and follow-up group of 45 days. The research population was infertile women who referred to Ibn Sina Infertility Clinic in Tehran in 2018. 45 people were randomly assigned to 3 groups (each 15 people). Experimental groups were trained in 10 sessions of 90 minutes with reality therapy methods and interaction behavior analysis approach and the control group was not trained. Data with demographic information form and competency questionnaire behavior (VIA-IS) was analyzed by chi-square, multivariate analysis of variance and Bonferroni post hoc test in SPSS software version 22.

The results showed that there was a significant difference between the effectiveness of reality therapy and interaction behavior analysis on character strength in infertile women (P <0.05); in other words, reality therapy had a greater effect on character strength in infertile women than interaction behavior analysis (P <0.05).

Considering the effectiveness of reality therapy on the character strength of infertile women, it is necessary to pay attention to this approach in order to accept the problem of infertility and reduce its consequences in infertile women, along with medical treatments.

Stress is one of the perceived feelings in university students that plays an important role in students' academic performance and achievement which is often overlooked. Therefore, the present study was conducted to identify and compare stressors in medical and non-medical students.

In this comparative descriptive study, a sample of 380 medical and non-medical students of Islamic Azad University in Tehran, who were at the first semester of the 2019-2020 academic year were selected. The study tools included a demographic information and stressors questionnaire. Data were analyzed by SPSS-16 software using descriptive statistics and independent t-test at the significant level of 0.05.

There was a statistically significant difference between the medical and non-medical students of Tehran Islamic Azad University, in terms of problems related to "academic affairs", "emotions", "job, welfare and finance", "marital issues, marriage and choice of spouse", "social issues " and " family issue” (p<0.05). However, no statistically significant difference was observed between the medical and non-medical students in terms of problems related to "burnout", "unexpected events such as natural disasters”, "different accidents" and "behavioral characteristics and habits, and health issues" (p>0.05).

The results of present study can help managers in developing educational frameworks to improve and create a suitable educational environment, recognize and improve coping strategies among students and to provide effective education for parents in order to reduce the stressors of students

The incidence of neural bladder is increasing today and these people need catheterization. Intermittent clean urinary catheterization is a low-risk method for the patients.

This was a descriptive methodological and validation research. For content validity, 10 people were selected by purposive method. For face validity, 25 people were chosen by convenience method Aimed at structural validity, gradual method was used from sounding conductors. For the reliability of the questionnaire, 10 people completed the questionnaire.

First, a draft was developed and two qualitative and quantitative methods were used for face validity. The effect scores of the items were not less than 1.5. None of the items less than 62% were deleted according to the table. In construct validity, exploratory factor analysis and varimax rotation methods were used and the adequacy of sample size was 0.78 by KMO test, and the results of Bartlett sphericity test were significant (4017/486 p <0.001). 5 items with a share of less than 0.4 were removed and factor analysis was performed again and the number of factors was reduced to four with a variance of 40.136. The results of internal consistency of Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the whole questionnaire with 32 items were equal to 0.862 and 0.859 for women and men respectively. The results of the stability of the verification tools and the result of the ICC test (0.949) showed a good correlation coefficient for each structure.

The tools designed in this study are valid and reliable and can be used in various studies.

Upper limbs deep vein thrombosis is a rare event in patients, although increasing incidence is seen due to higher cancer diagnosis rate and the use of various vascular catheters. A 58-year-old man with a history of anemia was scheduled for radical prostatectomy due to prostate adenocarcinoma. The patient underwent surgery under general anesthesia. After surgery, he was transferred to the intensive care unit. At the beginning of admission, right limb edema in the distal part of the right limb (hands and wrists) was observed that was accompanied by cyanosis and pain. The patient was diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis and was treated with anticoagulant drugs. He was discharged after 4 days in a good general condition and uneventfully. This report shows that patients with venous catheters, especially patients who are candidates for surgery, are at high risk of deep vein thrombosis and need careful monitoring after surgery.

Primary hyperoxaluria (PH) disorder causes end-stage renal disease (ESRD). Missed diagnosis or relapse in transplanted kidney is common. We present a 36-year-old patient with a history of recurrent renal calculus which progressed to end-stage renal disease. He underwent kidney-transplant surgery. Renal function tests had worsening progressively at first-week post-transplant. Transplanted kidney biopsy lead to the underlying PH. His several admissions and complications make us to report the case and suggest re-evaluation of PH before the kidney transplant in ESRD.