Jundishapur Journal of Health Sciences
Volume:12 Issue: 2, Apr 2020

Context: 

Periodontal disease is a complication of diabetes mellitus. Both periodontal disease and diabetes mellitus stimulate the release of proinflammatory cytokines.

 The aim of the present study was to evaluate the salivary and serum levels of interleukin (IL-6) and IL-8 levels in type II diabetic patients with periodontal disease.
Data Sources: The present study is a narrative review. A literature review was conducted using the electronic databases including Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar as well as Persian databases such as SID, Magiran, and IranMedex from 2005 to 2019, particularly the last 10 years. The appropriate keywords were searched, including “Diabetes Mellitus”, “IL-6”, “IL-8”, Periodontal Disease”, “Saliva”, and “Serum”.

 The present study analyzed four articles from the case-control series, including 42 to 90 patients. The results showed that the level of salivary concentration of IL-6 was increased in patients with periodontal disease with/without diabetes mellitus. A marginally statically significant correlation was found in salivary and serum levels of IL-6 after applying spearman’s nonparametric test. However, the relevant serum analysis showed only a minor influence of type II diabetes and periodontal disease on IL-6 serum levels. There was no significant difference between the periodontitis patients and IL-6 and IL-8 serum levels. A positive correlation was found between glycemic control and the severity of periodontal disease.

 The intensity of periodontal disease was high in patients with type II diabetes, underlining the need for special oral health care for these patients. The level of salivary IL-6 can be considered as a main biomarker in the diagnosis of diabetes and periodontal disease. The serum levels of the IL-6 and IL-8 showed no significant difference in patients with periodontitis.

Context:

 The use of herbal medications can improve the quality of life and prevent the side effects of chemical drugs. The present narrative review study aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of Zataria multiflora, Satureja, oak fruit husk, and Jaftex herbal mouthwash for the treatment of minor oral aphthous stomatitis.

Evidence Acquisition: 

A literature review was conducted in electronic databases such as PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar, as well as Persian databases such as SID, Magiran, and IranMedex from 2000 to 2019, particularly in the last 10 years. The appropriate keywords were searched including “recurrent aphthous stomatitis”, “oak tree”, “Satureja”, “Zataria multiflora”, and “Jaftex mouthwash”.

 Six clinical trials were analyzed in the present study. The results showed that Zataria multiflora, Satureja, oak fruit husk, and Jaftex mouthwash have beneficial effects on the treatment of recurrent aphthous stomatitis. The main outcome measures assessed in this study were the duration of the complete healing process, ulcer size, and the level of pain. No side effects were reported in Zataria multiflora, oak fruit husk, and Jaftex mouthwash, but Satureja khuzestanica essential oil revealed a trivial burning at the initial time of application.

 Reviewing these studies indicated that Zataria multiflora, Satureja, oak fruit husk, and Jaftex mouthwash greatly improved the patients’ symptoms by shortening the duration of the complete healing process, reducing ulcer size, and relieving pain. Therefore, these herbal medicines can be used as alternative treatment agents for recurrent aphthous stomatitis. More investigations are required to elucidate the probable mechanism(s) and mode(s) of action of these plants and standardization.

 Waste causes negative impacts on animal species and their habitats.

 This study aimed to assess the status of animal species based on the effects of human wastes.

 This study was carried out in villages of the Oshtorankooh protected area of Lorestan province in 2019. Sampling and measurement of waste were used to analyze the quantity and quality of the waste of 42 villages in the protected area. The Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), in combination with the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) was applied to evaluate the effects of waste on animal species.

 The average total of solid waste generation rates was 555 g/day, and the average density of waste was 412 kg/m3. Also, the results of ranking showed that Canis lupus, Vulpes vulpes, and Hyaena hyaena were ranked with the highest scores of 2.260, 1.958, and 1.948, respectively, and the most effects will be on these species.

 It is necessary to consider the impacts of waste on animal species, and according to the results of TOPSIS and impacts assessment, the presented method has shown good performance.
 

 Food-borne pathogens are one of the most important problems in less developed and developed countries. Commercial refrigerators are a potential source of fungal contamination that causes food spoilage, food-borne intestinal infectious diseases or mycotoxin diseases.

 The purpose of this study was to determine the distribution of psychotropic fungi in food storage refrigerators (n = 50) with temperatures above and below 0ºC at selected restaurants (n = 25) located in the city of Ahvaz, Iran.

 Samples were collected from the surfaces of the refrigerators by using sterile swab sticks pre-moistened with sterile distilled water, and then each collected sample was plated out on Sabouraud dextrose agar medium. Finally, all fungi were counted and identified based on macroscopic and microscopic characteristics.

 According to our results, 100% of the sample refrigerators showed fungal contamination. Cladosporium sp. (42.34%) and Mucor sp. (0.06%) had the highest and the lowest frequency of fungi recovered from our research, respectively. Furthermore, the P value calculated indicated a significant correlation between refrigerators above 0ºC and refrigerators below 0ºC (P < 0.00001).

 The presence of fungi in commercial refrigerators could be an indicator of a potential source of food spoilage and food-borne diseases. Therefore increased education, and proper packaging and refrigerator management are recommended since regular cleaning of these refrigerators is important in order to prevent food-borne diseases and other health risks.
 

In the operation of oil refineries, one of the main pollutants in stack emission is SO2. Dispersion modeling is a necessary tool for simulation of air pollutant concentration, which is the main part of urban air quality management.

The ability of air quality models is well established where sufficient input data are available. The present study is performed to assess the SO2 emission from the Tehran oil refinery.

The release pattern of SO2 was simulated by the AERMOD model in the desired zone, with an area of 25 × 25 km2. Modeling was run in the 1, 3, 8, and 24 average times for two warm and cold seasons. Predicted and observed pollutant concentrations were compared for validation of the results by the EPA statistical index. Four receptors were selected to compare the predicted and observed values.

Correlation coefficient values for SO2 were 0.92 and 0.95 for the warm and cold seasons, respectively. The maximum concentration of SO2 was on the local scale of 25 × 25 km2.

The results showed that modeling is appropriate for conducting point sources in the oil refinery. 1 and 24 h averaging time from the model for SO2 concentrations were lower than standard levels; therefore, in the study area, the AERMOD model performance for prediction of SO2 concentrations was acceptable. Although most of the measurements were lower than standard values, due to the possibility of air pollution transmission to the urban area, their control should be considered.

Paint coating systems are widely implemented on different surfaces for both aspects of decoration and protection against corrosion. Due to the presence of organic compounds, the growth of microorganisms is more likely to take place in paints, such as automotive paint. In the process of automotive painting, 20% - 60% of the paint does not expose to the automotive body, which is washed using water and would lead to the painting sludge formation. Paint sludge is considered one of the hazardous wastes from the automotive industry, which is finally landfilled or incinerated.

Despite the presence of inhibiting compounds in paint sludge, such as heavy metals and biocides, the objective of this study was to isolate and identify microorganisms in the sludge culture.

The microorganisms were isolated using serial dilutions, direct cultivation, and enrichment methods in basic salt cultivation media. Then, their biochemical and molecular specifications were investigated.

The number of microorganisms counted in paint sludge was approximately around 1 × 104 CFU/mL, and six isolated colonies were finally obtained.

The main isolated microbial consortium from paint sludge included Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus haemolyticus, Micrococcus yunnanensis, Rothia amarae, Gordonia terrae, and Brevibacillus agri. Nearly 83% of the isolated strains were Gram-positive.

Critical care pharmacists (CCPs) have a key role in ensuring medication safety by screening drug-drug interactions (DIs) in polypharmacy prescriptions, mostly in critically ill patients. The drug-interaction checker mobile apps (DICMA) are freely available for smartphones.

The current study aimed to assess the utilization of smartphone-based free mobile apps by CCPs for ensuring drug-drug interaction-free polypharmacy prescriptions in critically ill patients.

This observational study was conducted in an intensive care unit. Critical care pharmacists (CCPs) checked the medications of polypharmacy prescriptions to detect DIs or potential drug-drug interactions (PDIs) using free DICMA installed on their smartphones. DIs/PDIs were sent to physicians as suggestions, and the prescriptions were modified accordingly.

CCPs screened 2,967 prescriptions, where 11,128 and 3,932 DIs and PDIs were identified, respectively. Prescriptions with 6 to 10 medications and prescription with more than 10 medications, on average, had 3.28 and 7.53 DIs, respectively, and 1.42 and 4.7 PDIs, respectively. Physicians accepted 95.85% (n = 3,932) of PDI suggestions from CCPs and modified prescriptions, accordingly. CCPs reported a satisfaction level of 4 (on a scale of 5) concerning the use of free DICMA.

Drug-drug interactions-free polypharmacy prescriptions can ensure medication safety in patients. CCPs are professionally responsible for this task, but resource-limited setups do not provide them scopes to accomplish this task efficiently. In this study, CCPs ensured medication safety in the prescriptions of critically ill patients efficiently using free DICMA installed on their smartphones.

 Waste has negative impacts on animal species and their habitats.

 This study was aimed to evaluate the wild mammals status affected by human wastes.

 The study was carried out in villages of Oshtorankooh protected area of Lorestan province in 2019. The quality and quantity of waste was measured by sampling and measuring waste in 42 villages. The Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) in combination with the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) was used to evaluate impacts.

 The waste generation rate and density were 555 g/day and 412 kg/m3, respectively. Also, the results of ranking showed that Canis lupus, Vulpes vulpes, and Hyaena hyaena were ranked with the highest scores of 2.260, 1.958, and 1.948, respectively, and these species were more affected.

 It is necessary to consider waste effects on animal species, and according to the results of TOPSIS and impacts assessment, the presented method has shown good performance.