Crescent Journal of Medical and Biological Sciences
Volume:1 Issue: 2, Apr 2014

Most human filarial nematode parasites and arthropods are hosts for a bacterial endosymbiont, Wolbachia. In filariasis, Wolbachia are required for normal development, fertility, and survival. However, in arthropods, Wolbachia are largely parasitic and can influence development and reproduction, but are generally not required for host survival. Due to their obligate nature in filarial parasites, Wolbachia have been a target for drug discovery initiatives using several approaches including diversity and focused library screening and genomic sequence analysis. In vitro and in vivo anti-Wolbachia antibiotic treatments have been shown to have adulticidal activity, a long sought goal of filarial parasite drug discovery. In mosquitoes, it has been shown that the presence of Wolbachia can inhibit the transmission of certain viruses, such as dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever, West Nile, as well as the infectivity of the malaria-causing protozoan, Plasmodium and filarial nematodes. Wolbachia can cause a form of conditional sterility that can be used to suppress populations of mosquitoes and additional medically important insects. Thus, Wolbachia, a pandemic endosymbiont, offers great potential for elimination of a wide-variety of devastating human diseases.

Fluoxetine is widely used in the treatment of neurological disorders. Hence, considering the adverse effects of this drug on the endocrine axes of the body is very important. Fluoxetine has been shown to cause significant changes in testicular tissue structure and sex hormones in rats. It seems that antioxidant compounds such as vitamin E can reduce free radicals and inhibit these changes. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the therapeutic effects of vitamin E on testicular tissue damage caused by fluoxetine use. In the present study, 40 Wistar rats (weight = 250 ± 10 gr) were randomly divided into 4 groups; control group that received normal saline (with intraperitoneal (IP) method), fluoxetine group (n = 10) that received 10 mg/kg of fluoxetine (IP), vitamin E group (n = 10 that received 100 mg/kg of vitamin E (IP), and the treatment group that received both vitamin E (100 mg/kg) and fluoxetine (10 mg/kg) for 28 days. On the 28th day of the study testis tissue was removed and sent to the pathology lab and blood samples were taken for analyzing of testosterone and total antioxidant capacity. The highest testosterone levels are related to the control group and the lowest levels are related to the fluoxetine receiving group. Significant differences were observed between sperm density in the seminiferous tubes, spermatogonia cells, and primary spermatocyte, and leydig and sertoli cells in the experimental groups compared to the control group after a 28-day period. Fluoxetine can damage the leydig cells and decrease activity of testis and production of testosterone, but vitamin E can repair the leydig cells and reduce damages caused by fluoxetine.

Ginger is a strong antioxidant and long-term treatment of streptozotocin (STZ)-diabetic animals, and it has been shown to reduce oxidative stress. Prevalence oxidative stress among urban life and changes in antioxidant capacity are considered asplay an important role in the pathogenesis of chronic diabetes mellitus. Wistar male rat (n = 40) were divided into three groups, control group (n = 10) and Ginger Quercetin group that received 100 mg/kg (gavage), (n = 10), and diabetic group, which received 55 mg/kg intra peritoneal (IP) STZ (n = 20), which was subdivided to two groups of 10; STZ group and treatment group. Treatment group received 55 mg/kg (IP) STZ plus100 mg/kg ginger, daily for, 8 weeks, respectively; however, the control group just received an equal volume of distilled water daily (IP). Diabetes was induced by a single (IP) injection of STZ (55 mg/kg). Animals were kept in standard condition. In 28 day after inducing diabetic 5 cc blood were collected for total antioxidant capacity, malondialdehyde and oxidized low density lipoprotein levels and kidney tissues of rat in whole groups were removed then prepared for apoptosis analysis by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated dUTP nick end labeling assay (TUNEL) method. Apoptotic cells significantly decreased in group that has received 100 mg/kg ginger (P < 0.05) in comparison to experimental groups (P < 0.05). Since in our study 100 mg/kg ginger have significantly preventive effect on kidney cells damages by reducing number of apoptotic cells in kidney and hence it seems that using it can be effective for treatment in diabetic rat.

The aim of the present study was to determine the rate of contamination with intestinal protozoan parasites among restaurant workers in Tabriz (center of East Azerbaijan province), Iran. To identify intestinal protozoan parasites among restaurant workers in Tabriz (East Azerbaijan province), Iran, in 2013, stool specimens were collected and examined from a total of 100 restaurant workers at the School of Veterinary Medicine, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz Branch. In the present study, the direct-smear examination, saline sedimentation, and Trichrome staining techniques were used. The positivity in the majority of them was single infection; however, 4 cases were double infection that constituted 1% of the prevalence. The prevalence of Entamoeba histolytica/dispor was 47.22%, Giardia lamblia 16.66%, and Entamoeba coli 36.11%. The double infection was only observed with E. histolytica/dispor and Giardia. The infection caused by these parasites was also accompanied by abdominal troubles, diarrhea, constipation, nausea, and vomiting. These results lead to the understanding that sanitary measurements are not effective, and these hazardous situations facilitate the distribution of parasitic agents among consumers. The current pre-employment screening policies must be performed annually in order to be effective and systematic surveillance is needed in addition to health education.

Until date, there is no report on safety of Artemisia lanata. This study aimed to determine the possible undesirable effects of A. lanata on reproduction of female rats. The pregnant rats were treated (i.p.) with vehicle or 200 and 400mg/kg of A. lanata hydroalcoholic extract from the 2-8 day of pregnancy. Then, number and weight of neonates, duration of pregnancy, and percent of dead fetuses were determined. Furthermore, cytotoxicity of this plant was tested using fibroblast (L929) and Chinese hamster ovary (Cho) cell lines. The A. lanata had no significant effect on duration of pregnancy, average number of neonates, and weight of neonates. However, administration of 200 and 400 mg/kg of the extract led to 30 and 44% abortion in animals, respectively. The extract at concentrations ≥ 200 μg/ml significantly (P < 0.001) inhibited the proliferation of L929 fibroblast cells. Regarding the Cho cells, the extract induced toxicity only at concentration of 800 μg/ml (P < 0.010). Our results showed that continuous consumption of A. lanata in pregnancy may increase the risk of abortion and also may have toxic effect on some cells.

The importance of research and its fundamental role in the country’s growth and development is vital. Connecting research to knowledge translation is an essential component of research process and its production, management, and the maintenance of this process is the reason behind the survival of the national health research system. Knowledge translation is the process of disseminating knowledge into actual use, or simply application of knowledge. This was a cross-sectional study conducted on 418 university students enrolled in medical universities throughout the country during the period from September 2006 to 2013. About 42.5% of respondents have expressed that results of dissertations will benefit the health care providers while 2.2% of respondents have expressed that research results can benefit the industrial sector, they further expressed that 11.4% of researchers and 32.2% of the general population can benefit from these researches. Furthermore, in order that results of students’ dissertations will become useful to others 71.7% of the students have expressed that research results be published as an article in international indexed journals. The results of this study showed that majority of students have selected the title of their research project based on their personal interest and then decided based on the opinion of their thesis mentor. The principles of accurate and relevant data management must be implemented in order that researches will be directed toward being more practical rather than theoretical. Hence, by performing more extensive researches, barriers as well as factors that promote researches will be identified and by emphasizing on knowledge translation a cultural environment aiming at presenting research results to users will be achieved and researches and dissertations that resulted to the solution of the problems of the community will be promoted.

Phytoestrogens plant compounds with biologic-estrogenic activity, structurally similar to 17-β estradiol, are first converted to heterocyclic compounds similar to estrogens in structure and then conjugated in the liver. Olive (Olea europaea), from the oleaseae family, is known as a phytoestrogen plant compound since it contains lignans and phenolic compounds. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of O. europaea extract on male rats’ reproductive parameters. In this experimental study, 40 male Wistar rats with the average weight of 200-250 g and age of 8-10 weeks, divided into 5 groups. Group 1, which called control group, received no treatment. Group 2 received normal saline and Groups 3-5 received extract at a dose of 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg/day of the olive leaves extract (1 cc), respectively. Before the administration of the first gavage and 24 h after that of the last one (i.e., in the 49th day), all the rats were weighed, and blood samples were taken from their tail vein. The blood samples were then centrifuged at 1500 rpm for 20 min, then serum was separated and stored at −80 °C for the measurement of estradiol and testosterone, using immunoassay technique. The results show a significant decrease in testosterone and estradiol level among the five groups, which is dependent on the concentration of the extract; the decrease in testosterone and estradiol is positively correlated to the concentration of the extract. In conclusion, olive leaves extract significantly decreased fertility parameters in the male adult rat dose-dependently.