Advanced Biomedical Research
Volume:9 Issue: 1, Jan 2019

Assessing the relation between dietary habits and functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) is less investigated among military personnel. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the association of certain eating patterns and FGIDs in Iranian army men.

This cross-sectional study was performed on 600 army personnel working in Kerman ground forces military station number 05, Iran. Participants were asked to define their weekly breakfast consumption, lunch intake time, and chewing efficiency. FGIDs were categorized as four groups including functional dyspepsia (FD), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), functional constipation (FC) and functional diarrhea (FDi) diagnosed by Rome Ш criteria. Relation between variables was assessed through crude and multiple stepwise adjusted models.

The prevalence of FD, IBS, FC, and FDi in our study was 20%, 32.3%, 3%, and 53.2%, respectively. After adjustment of all potential confounding variables, more weekly breakfast consumption was associated with decreased FDi prevalence (odds ratio [OR]: 0.57, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.38–0.84, P = 0.005). Slowly lunch consumption declined prevalence of IBS (OR: 0.33, 95% CI = 0.13–0.84, P = 0.02). Individuals chewing their meals well had a lower percentage of IBS, FC, and FDi (OR: 0.53, 95% CI = 0.33–0.83, P = 0.006; OR: 0.24, 95% CI = 0.06–0.89, P = 0.03; and OR: 0.52, 95% CI = 0.34–0.79, P = 0.003, respectively).

This study suggested that increasing breakfast intake, slowly lunch consumption, and better food chewing could be effective decreasing FGIDs' prevalence and increasing army crews' quality of lives and work efficiency. Further studies required to confirm this relationship and define accurate pathophysiological mechanisms.

Diabetes can increase the generation of free radicals and can be harmfully effective in spermatogenesis. Crocin is a carotenoid and is accountable for the red color of saffron. Crocin has shown numerous pharmacological actions such as antioxidant roles and radical scavenging. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of crocin on sperm parameters and the diameter of seminiferous tubules in diabetic rats.

In this experimental study, diabetic rats were induced by Streptozotocin (STZ) (60 mg/kg). Sixty-four rats were equally divided into the following eight groups; (1) normal control group, (2–4) crocin groups, receiving various doses of crocin (12.5, 25, and 50 mg/kg), (5) diabetic control group, and (6–8) diabetic groups, receiving STZ plus crocin (12.5, 25, and 50 mg/kg) injected intraperitoneally once a day for 28 consecutive days. The sperm count, motility, morphology, viability, spermatogenesis index (SI), and the diameter of seminiferous tubules were examined and compared.

The results demonstrated that count, motility, viability, normal sperm morphology, SI, and the diameter of seminiferous tubules decreased significantly in the diabetic control group compared to the normal control group (P < 0.05). However, in the diabetic groups, count, motility, normal morphology, viability, SI, and the diameter of seminiferous tubules enhanced significantly in total doses compared to those of the diabetic control group (P < 0.05).

It seems that, as a strong antioxidant, crocin could compensate for the toxicity induced through STZ and raise the quality of some sperm parameters.

Fluvoxamine, a well-known selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, is used for the management of mental disorders and various types of chronic pain. In our previous study, we found the inhibitory effect of fluvoxamine on inflammatory mediator's expression. In the line of the indicated study, we sought to evaluate the effect of fluvoxamine on the expression of some inflammatory mediators such as cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2).

An in vitro model system of lipopolysaccharide-stimulated human U937 macrophages was used. The expression of COX-2 protein was measured by flow cytometry.

The expression of COX-2 significantly decreased by fluvoxamine in U937 macrophages.

The results of the present study provide further evidence for the anti-inflammatory effect of fluvoxamine. This effect appears to be mediated by the downregulation of inflammatory genes. Further studies are needed to evaluate the complex cellular and molecular mechanisms of fluvoxamine.

This study aimed to compare the effects of preoperative administration of midazolam and dexmedetomidine on cognitive dysfunction prevention after cataract surgery.

This research was a double-blind controlled clinical trial. In this study, 150 candidates for cataract surgery under general anesthesia, over 65 years, and similar to American Society of Anesthesiologists I and II characteristics were selected as the sample and randomly assigned to three groups. Participants of these three groups were treated with 0.1 mg/kg of midazolam, 1 μg/kg of dexmedetomidine, and the same volume of normal saline (control), respectively. Hemodynamic parameters and cognitive dysfunction score of the participants were measured using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) before the surgery, 24 h and 1 week after the surgery.

An evaluation of hemodynamic parameters before anesthesia up to 24 h after the surgery showed no significant difference between the midazolam, dexmedetomidine, and control groups in terms of systolic and diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, and blood oxygen saturation (P > 0.05). In addition, there was no statistically significant difference between the midazolam and dexmedetomidine groups in the MMSE score before the surgery and 24 h and 1 week after that (P > 0.05). However, there was a significant difference between these two groups and control (P < 0.05).

There was no significant difference between midazolam and dexmedetomidine in reducing postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD). However, there is a significant difference between these two groups and control. Hence, either midazolam or dexmedetomidine can be prescribed to reduce POCD in cataract surgeries.

Epidural anesthesia (EA) today has been used extensively in surgical procedures and the management of pain associated with midwifery and chronic pain. This type of anesthesia can be done in different technical, physiological, and pharmacological ways. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of thoracic EA with general anesthesia (GA) on hemodynamic changes and its complications in patients underwent laparoscopic colonoscopy.

This clinical trial study was conducted on 80 patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy with EA or GA based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. The patients were randomly divided into two groups of 40 and changes in blood pressure, systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), heart rate (HR), and arterial blood oxygen saturation were measured. The incidence of nausea, vomiting, chills, and itching in the two groups was recorded. The analysis was performed descriptively and also using t-test and Chi-square tests.

The results showed that the mean of SBP and DBP, HR, and arterial blood oxygen saturation and the incidence of nausea and vomiting was statistically significant (P < 0.05) between the two groups at 4, 6, and 12 h after anesthesia and it was higher in a group of GA. There was no significant difference in shivering and itching between the two groups (P > 0.05).

The results of this study indicated that thoracic EA in patients with laparoscopic cholecystectomy has significant effects on factors such as SBP and DBP and arterial blood oxygen saturation. Furthermore, EA has fewer complications than GA, and it is the preferable approach.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the incise drape (ID) on surgical wound bacterial contamination during lumbar spine surgical procedures in treatment group (with ID) and control group (without ID).

The present study was conducted on 88 patients who were a candidate for lumbar spine surgery. The patients were randomly assigned to one of the two groups, treatment and control. The ID was only used in the treatment group. The surgical wound sampling for bacterial culture was done in two steps, immediately after surgical incision (IASI) and immediately prior to the surgical wound closure (IPSWC). The samples were then sent to the laboratory.

The mean total bacterial count of the surgical wound in the stage IASI was not significantly different between treatment and control groups (0.09 vs. 0.02, P = 0.31). However, this means in the stage IPSWC in treatment group was significantly more than the control group (18.6 vs. 0.41, P = 0.04). The frequency distribution of Staphylococcus aureus (25% vs. 3%, P = 0.02) and Staphylococcus epidermidis (36.4% vs. 9.1%, P = 0.002) was significantly higher in the treatment group compared with control group in the stage IPSWC.

The results suggest that the use of ID is unable to reduce surgical wound bacterial contamination in clean lumbar spine surgery. Therefore, based on the results obtained in our study, the application of ID is not recommended as an essential action for the prevention of surgical wound contamination.

The kB family of nuclear factor (NF-κB) is a series of transcription factors that plays a key role in regulation of immunity, cell growth, and apoptosis and is considered as the main downstream component of epidermal growth factor receptor for which there are evidence of excessive activity in most cases of glioblastoma multiform (GBM). Thus, the current information has gained evidence on NF-κBIA tumor suppressor role in GMB. SNP rs1957106 was diagnosed as a new polymorphism which affected the expression of NF-κBI and causes activation of NF-κB in GBM patients.

This study was conducted on 100 cases of GBM including 47 paraffin-embedded brain tissue samples and 53 blood samples from another 53 GBM patients and 150 controls. The NF-κBI rs1957106 SNP was identified by the NCBI, and genotyping was performed by high-resolution melt (HRM) assay. Melt curves from HRM which suspected to single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) were selected and subjected to direct sequencing.

The distribution of allele A of NF-κβ gene in patients with GBM with 31% was not significantly different from healthy participants (27.3%) (P = 0.375). Furthermore, the distribution of AG and GG genotypes in comparison with AA genotypes did not show a significant correlation with GBM incidence (P > 0.05).

Findings of the present study provide evidence that the rs1957106 SNP in NF-κBIA is found more in GBM patients, but it was not statistically significant. As there are conflicting studies showing significant higher rate of this SNP in GBM, further study is suggested.

Coarctation of aorta (CoA) is a congenital heart disease that can lead to heart failure during infancy and neonatal period. Several treatments have been proposed for this disease, including surgery and balloon angioplasty. The experiences of using stents in small infants or neonatal patients are very low. In this article, we report a 3 months old age infant who after balloon angioplasty, his CoA symptoms had return and stenting of CoA was performed for him.