فصلنامه علوم پزشکی دانشگاه آزاد اسلامی
سال سی و یکم شماره 1 (پیاپی 103، بهار 1400)

DNA methylation is one of the epigenetic marks that are created by de novo DNA methylation and be maintained through cell division. This process is catalyzed by DNA methyltransferases. DNA methylation establishment in germ line is important, since they have the potential to regulate gene expression in offspring and improper DNA methylation patterns in germ lines has serious consequences on development post fertilization. Dysregulation in epigenetic changes, especially sperm DNA methylation, may play an important role in the development of numerous diseases and has a negative effect on male fertility. The aim of this review study was to discuss about DNA methylation process and enzymes involved in this procedure and also the impact of environmental factors on the spermatogenesis process.

A search was conducted according to keywords in databases such as Scopus, PubMed and Google Scholar. Then, all articles that met the inclusion criteria, between 1975 and 2017, were examined.

Disorders in expression of DNA methyltransferases increase cellular oxidative stress and lifestyle can affect DNA methylation patterns during spermatogenesis and fertility potential in men.

As sperm DNA methylation is closely related to male infertility, it is important to understand underlying DNA methylation mechanisms in order to develop therapeutic strategies

Current pharmacological and non-pharmacological   treatment strategies   for   prostate cancer may control disease progression and increase the survival rates of patients but decreased quality of life is the most important concern of existing medical interventions. Erection dysfunction and fatigue are the most prevalent adverse effects of therapeutic procedures which impair the quality of life of patients from psychological and physiological viewpoints. We aimed in the first part of this review to explain and compare the adverse health effects of different therapeutic interventions and the level of their health impartments  At the second part of this review we showed clinical evidence for  risks and benefits of oral Ginseng supplement regimens in different stages of prostate cancer.

To achieve these goals, human evidence and published clinical trials without time limit from databases until the end of 2019 were collected and qualitatively analyzed.

The results showed that oral consumption of ginseng can improve erectile dysfunction, reduce fatigue and ultimately improve the quality of life of patients, but the duration of treatment, interactions and possible side effects of this supplement should also be considered.

Because of the relative effectiveness of this compound in continuous and long-term use, the role of ginseng in improving other aspects of quality of life in patients with prostate cancer, increasing life expectancy and drug resistance are other unknown aspects of this issue which needs further investigation.

There is a strong consensus globally that production of an effective vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 is likely the most effective approach to sustainably controlling the COVID-19 pandemic. An unprecedented research effort and global coordination has resulted in a rapid development of vaccine candidates and initiation of trials. In this paper, we review vaccine candidate against COVID-19 and also challenges of vaccination have been explored in different region.

Lung cancer is a very aggressive and most deadly cancer in both men and women. Lung cancer is divided into two types of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). NSCLC is divided into 3 subgroups: adenocarcinoma (AC), squamous cell carcinoma (SqCC) and large cell carcinoma (LCC). Dopamine is involved in controlling motions, cognition, emotions, memory and reward mechanisms within the brain. Dopamine receptors are divided into two D1 subfamilies, including D1 and D5, and D2 subfamilies, including D2, D3 and D4 receptors. There is an association between the expression of the D2 family of dopamine receptors and developing NSCLC. miRNAs are conserved molecules with 18-22 nucleotides. miR4301 is located in the first intron of the dopamine D2 receptor gene. Transfection of miR4301 into the A549 and QU-DB lung cancer cell lines reduces cell proliferation and increases apoptosis; so the use of miRNAs in combination with standard therapeutic strategies can improve the success of cancer treatment. In this review article, we evaluated the role of dopamine receptors and novel therapeutic strategies in NSCLC.

The health of society is the result of Godchr('39')s grace to humanity. Due to the supervision of the rule of account, the government should observe and have a sense of prudence and required precautions, and also it must behave wisely. The necessity of public health is considered as a principle of social life. The trustees of nature sometimes not only don’t observe the protection of nature, but also are a threat to the health of nature and human society by their actions. Jurisprudence and law, as two inseparable links and complement each other, are tools to use the inspirational messages of Islam to tariff the scene of the creation of glory to human beings; otherwise oblige the harmful to repair the damage. Although particulate matter has long dominated the health of all, its increasing trend in recent decades can be the product of natural affairs or the result of human activities; this is the deduction of health to the present world. The result of the realization of civil liability for health is restoration to its former state, which is not properly codified in our law at the moment. For example, the payment of compensation to the Treasury Fund itself is a flawed reason for civil liability goals. In this case, support for the health of the community and methods of restoring it to its pre-injury state, despite having rich jurisprudence and tradition, and in order to eliminate and prevent the process of dust, have not been expressed to prevent the pollution of the community in the first place. In this situation, we cannot inherit it for the future, unless the laws of our country in the field of health and environmental protection are revised.

Safe and effective gene therapy is considered as one of the therapeutic goals in many diseases. Due to the important role of stem cells in cell therapy, this study aimed to produce human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hASCs) using the miR-34a overexpression.

The hsa-mir-34a precursor sequence was cloned into the PCDH lentiviral vector. The recombinant vector and two helper vectors, i.e. psPAX and pMD2, were transferred into HEK-293T cell line by calcium phosphate method. Viral supernatant was collected and concentrated by ultracentrifuge. On the fourth day, transduced HEK-293 T cells were analyzed by flowcytometry. After the determination of viral concentration, hASC cells were transduced with condensed viruses. RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis were performed in order to assess miR-34a expression level by Real Time PCR.

The hsa-mir-34a precursor sequence cloned into PCDH vector was confirmed by colony-PCR and DNA sequencing. Transduction of HEK-293T cells and hASCs were confirmed under fluorescent inverted microscope and flowcytometry. The assessment of miR-34a expression level in infected cells with recombinant virus showed that the expression ratio of miR-34a in the test group was significantly higher than the control group (P=0.001).

This study showed that lentiviral systems can be used to insert actopic genes like miR-34a into cells. It also showed that genetically manipulated stem cells can be used as a delivery system to deliver miR-34a or other genes.

Thyroid cancer is one of the most common endocrine malignancies. Anaplastic thyroid cancer is a rare and dead full cancer among types of the thyroid cancer. Despite the conventional chemotherapy, a considerable number of the patients show developing chemo resistance. Therefore, there is a necessary need to find the novel therapeutic approaches in the anaplastic thyroid cancer patients. The aim of this study was to study anti-tumor effect of Abemaciclib on the anaplastic thyroid carcinoma cell lines.

The human anaplastic thyroid cancer (SW1736 and C643) were cultured according to ATCC recommendations. The MTT assay was used to assess the chemo sensitivity of the cell lines in exposure to the desire concentration of Abemaciclib. Colony formation assay was used to determine the ability of the cell line colony formation in exposure to the drug. Quantitative real-time PCR was applied to analyze the mRNA expression of the apoptotic and anti-apoptotic genes.

The cell viability and proliferation of the thyroid cancer cell lines were remarkably inhibited in doses of 10 and 20 μM of Abemaciclib (p<0.0001). Also, Abemaciclib reduced the number of the SW1736 and C643 colonies in doses of 1 and 2.5 μM, respectively. Moreover, Abemaciclib significantly reduced anti-apoptotic gene expression levels, including BCL2 and CMYC, and increased pro-apoptotic gene expression levels, including p21 and BAX (p<0.05).

Our study suggests that Abemaciclib could be used as a therapeutic agent in anaplastic thyroid cancer. Further laboratory and animal studies are needed and recommended to evaluate the exact molecular and clinical properties of Abemaciclib.

Postpartum pain is one of the problems of the Post-delivery period. Prostaglandin inhibitors, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, are commonly used to reduce pain, but may cause gastrointestinal side effects. In this study, the effect of dill essential oil and mefenamic acid on the duration of postpartum pain was compared.

108 multiparous women who had a normal vaginal delivery and suffered from the postpartum pain were recruited from Razi hospital of Ahvaz City. Subjects were randomly divided into two groups of 54: dill essential oil (1.5 mg / kg) and mefenamic acid (250 mg capsule), using a simple random sampling method. The magnitude of postpartum pain was measured by the Visual Analogue Scale two hours after birth. Patients experiencing the pain of 3.1 and more enrolled in the study. Both extract and mefenamic acid administered every 6 hours up to 4 times in case of constant pain. Following consumption of dill extract or mefenamic acid, the patient was asked to mention the duration of drug effect, the time of complete removal of the pain and the time of experiencing pain resumption. Statistical analysis was was done by t-test, Chi-square and repeated measure using SPSS Statistics V22.

The duration of pain has decreased significantly over the time (39.2±3.21 and 32.07±1.89 min for the first and fourth intervention of dill extract, and 40.5±4.09 and 31.97±3.15 min for the first and fourth intervention of mefenamic acid) (P<0.001).The mean duration of drug effect following second and third intervention showed a significant reduction in the extract group (19.24±2.05 and 20.89±2.74 min respectively) compared to mefenamic acid group (34.22± 85.3 and 21.12±3.55 min respectively) (P<0.005).

It bseems that the onset of action of dill extract is faster than mefenamic acid; so extract can be used due to the lack of gastrointestinal side effects.

It seems that logotherapy and acceptance and treatment based on acceptance and commitment can affect on death anxiety, resilience and hopelessness in women with multiple sclerosis (MS). The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of logotherapy and treatment based on acceptance and commitment on death anxiety, resilience and hopelessness in pattern with MS.

The method of this study was semi-experimental with pre-test, post-test and follow up with the control group. The population of this study consisted of all women with MS in Tabriz City who were members of MS Society of Tabriz in 2019. In total, 30 women were selected by purposive sampling method, and randomly divided into three groups of logotherapy and treatment based on acceptance and commitment and control group. Members of both experimental groups received their own treatment respectively in 8 sessions of 1.5 hours. Data were analyzed by repeated measures ANOVA and Bonferroni post hoc test.

Logotherapy and treatment based on acceptance and commitment led to reduce death anxiety and hopelessness, and increase resilience compared to the control group in post-test of MS patients (P<0.001). In the follow-up phase, the effect of logotherapy and treatment based on acceptance and commitment on the death anxiety, resilience and hopelessness persisted (P<0.001). The effect of logotherapy and treatment based on acceptance and commitment on the death anxiety, resilience and hopelessness was not different at posttest and follow-up period.

Logotherapy and treatment based on acceptance and commitment are likely to reduce death anxiety, thereby they lead to better cope with disease, increase resiliency, and reduce hopelessness in patients with MS.

Improving the quality of internship training requires continuous review of the status quo, identification of strengths and correction of weaknesses. In this regard, studentschr('39') ideas, as an educational element, can be a way forward for future programs. The purpose of this study was to improve the quality of internship courses at the Faculty of Paramedicine, Islamic Azad University of Medical Sciences, Tehran Medical Branch.

This study was carried out in a cross-sectional and qualitative manner. In the qualitative stage, the basic data approach was used. Theoretical coding was used to analyze the qualitative data.

Regarding the present study, the quality improvement model of internship courses at the Faculty of Paramedical Sciences of Islamic Azad University of Tehran was evaluated using qualitative approach and exploratory design. To this end, using a qualitative approach and data coding, a model for improving the quality of internship courses was developed at the Faculty of Paramedicine of Islamic Azad University of Medical Sciences, Tehran Medical Branch.

The results of the pattern of improving the quality of internship courses in the department of paramedical sciences of Islamic Azad University of Tehran in the qualitative section showed that, in response to the circumstances of the adaptation, theoretical and clinical education, the attraction of specialist trainers, motivation, educational facilities, timing of the course studentschr('39') information and evaluation were extracted. In response to the field of planning, increasing the number of hospitals was extracted. In response to intervening factors, financial constraints and a large number of students were extracted. In response to strategies, provision of educational facilities and interaction between clinical educators and educational professors was extracted and in response to outcomes, the outcomes were extracted for the hospital, patients, social and interns.

The incidence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is increasing due to the growing epidemics of obesity. Omentin-1 is an anti-inflammatory adipokine produced preferentially by visceral adipose tissue. The aim of this study was to determine omentin-1 serum levels and its relationship with body mass index, fasting blood sugar and lipid profile.

This case-control study was performed on 70 patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and 70 participants as controls. Plasma levels of omentin 1 were measured by ELISA kit and other variables were determined by standard methods. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20 software.

Patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver presented significantly higher omentin levels compared to the controls (p<0.05). NAFLD patients had significantly higher levels of body mass index (BMI) and triglycerides, compared to healthy group (p-value<0.05). An inverse correlation was observed between omentin1with BMI, triglyceride, and LDL-C (p<0.05), but were positively associated with HDL‑C levels (p<0.05). We did find correlation between omentin‑1 with FBS in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver (p<0.05).

The findings showed that omentin-1 serum levels were significantly different in patients with NAFLD when compared to controls. Omentin levels are correlated with BMI, LDL-C, and HDL-C.

Fetal weight is a common index of health in neonates and determination of related factors would help to improve the conditions and outcomes. The aim of this study was to speculate the relationship between placental location and neonatal weight.

We conducted an observational-prospective study on 87 pregnant women. Placental position was categorised by ultrasonography as anterior, posterior and lateral position. Demographic information, including age, early pregnancy weight, weight in the last week of pregnancy, height, gravid, parity, history of underweight in previous pregnancies and history of underweight in the husband family, was recorded in the checklist. Association of placental location with neonatal weight was noted in three groups.

The highest birth weight was seen in cases with lateral placenta and the least weight was observed in anterior placenta cases and there was statistically significant association between placental location and neonatal weight.

Totally, according to the obtained results, it may be conducted that there is significant association between placental location and neonatal weight and the least weight was observed in anterior placenta.