Archives of Advances in Biosciences
Volume:12 Issue: 4, Autumn 2021

Previous investigations have documented that nicotine-pulsed mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can induce an anti-inflammatory phenotype in some immune cells in vitro. This study aimed to assess the effects of nicotine-pulsed MSCS in the function of immune cells, macrophages, and lymphocytes of mice receiving these cells.

Bone marrow-derived MSCs (1.5×106) were seeded in a T75flask and incubated with 0, .1, .5, or 1 µM nicotine until the cells reached 90% confluency. Afterwards, immunophenotyping change, vitality, concentration of TGF-β, IL-10, and IDO levels of the MSC-conditioned medium were examined. Correspondent to in vitro results, the C57BL/6 mice intravenously received 400 µL of the conditioned medium of MSCs (CM), conditioned medium of nicotine (.5 µM)-pulsed MSCs (CMN), or medium. After 12 h, the lymphocytes, neutrophils, and peritoneal macrophages of the mice were isolated and their function was evaluated ex vivo.

The least effective dose concentration of nicotine that led to an anti-inflammatory environment by the MSC-conditioned medium was 0.5 µM. Nicotine at this concentration prompted a higher level of TGF-β, IDO concentration in the conditioned medium. However, this concentration did not affect the MScs' markers expressions or MScs' vitality. T lymphocytes isolated from the mice receiving CMN showed a significant decrease in proliferation rate. The ratio of the IFN-γ gene expression to IL-4 gene expression in splenocytes was significantly reduced in the mice receiving CMN compared to the mice receiving CM. The neutral red uptake, respiratory burst, and nitric oxide production of the peritoneal macrophage only decreased in the mice treated with CMN. These factors also decreased in neutrophils isolated from mice receiving CM or CMN. However, these decreases were more prominent in the mice treated with CMN.

Treatment of MSCs by nicotine may be a promising strategy to enhance the immunomodulatory properties of these cells.

Parkinson's disease is one of the debilitating diseases which is more common amongst the elderly; oxidative stress has been found to be one of its major causes. In this study, therefore, the effect of vitamin E on the expression of Bcl-2 family genes was studied.

A total of 24 adult rats were purchased from the Pasteur Institute of Iran. The rats were later divided into 4 groups: control group, control group receiving VitE, PD group, PD group receiving VitE. After RNA extraction, cDNA synthesis, and primer design of Bax and Bcl-2 genes, their expressions were studied in different rat groups by RT-PCR technique.

The mitochondrial apoptotic gene expressions were affected by vitamin E administration. Vitamin E decreased the expression of Bax gene and overexpressed Bcl-2 gene.

Vitamin E plays an important role in reducing the effects of oxidative stress and, consequently, apoptosis in the cerebellar tissue cells of rats with Parkinson's disease.

Celiac disease is associated with body, eating concerns, and life style problems. This study was performed with the purpose of comparing components of eating attitude, body dissatisfaction, and health promoting life style in celiac patients and with those  in healthy people.

The method of the research is descriptive-causal comparative. The statistical population includes all 18-80 year-old celiac patients and healthy people from West Azerbaijan Province in 2016. Forty celiac patients were selected from those referred to the gastrointestinal clinic; 40 healthy people who were matched with respect to demographic characteristics were selected through availability sampling. They answered the Eating Attitude Test (EAT-26), the Body Image Concern Inventory (BICI), and the Health Promoting Life Style Profile (HPLP) questionnaires.

The results of multivariate analysis of variance showed that the means of eating attitude (F=27/64) and body image concern (F=10/48) in celiac patients are significantly higher than those in healthy people. Also, the mean of health promoting life style (F=18/89) in celiac patients is lower than that of healthy people.

Eating disorder symptoms and body image concern in celiac patient are significantly more than those in healthy people; moreover, health promoting life style in celiac patient is more insufficient than that of healthy people. Therefore, it is essential to pay more attention to the psychological status of these patients.

This study was designed to determine the effect of delivery type on obesity of children.

This case-control study investigated preschoolers in Rafsanjan city in 2018. The study population was divided into two groups. The first group consisted of children who were overweight and obese as the case group, the second group included children with normal BMI as the control group. For each obese and overweight child, a normal-weight child was considered his or her control, matching the preschool center, sex and age. Logistic regression models were used to examine the relationship and calculate the odds ratio.

  Data for 171 paired children were collected. Results showed that 126 (73.7%) of the case group and 115 (67.3%) of the control group were born through CS. The odds of obesity and overweight in children born through CS was 1.363 times higher than those born through normal delivery but this difference was not statistically significant (P = .193). These results did not change after controlling the effect of confounding factors.  Also, the risk of obesity and overweight in children born from mothers who had cesarean selective delivery was 1.523 times higher than those born through normal delivery, but this difference was not statistically significant (P = .275).

The findings of our study did not show any evidence of a relationship between maternal type of delivery and childhood weight. In this study, obesity and childhood overweight depended on maternal characteristics.

Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is one of the best curable cancers. Many researches have validated the benefit of hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) for patients with relapsed or primary resistant HL. This analysis aimed to identify an effective change point in patients' age, the cure fraction before and after the change point, and significant prognostic factors on the cure fraction before and after the change point for these patients after HSCT in Iran.

In this retrospective cohort study, there were 156 patients with HL who underwent HSCT from 2007 to 2014 with 18 months of follow up in Tehran, Iran. The survival time was set as the time interval between transplantation and the recurrence of HL. Also, the change point and the cure fraction before and after the change point were estimated using the Bayesian estimation method and log-normal distribution.

The estimated cure fraction was 79.2% for all patients. In susceptible cases, the mean survival time was 999 days (2.7 years). Also, the three and five-year survival rates were 82.1% and 80.0%, respectively. The effective change point in the age at transplantation of patients was 35 years, and the cure fraction before the change point was 84.5 % and after the change point was 60.6%.

The study concluded that the age of 35 years is a significant change point in the age at transplantation. If individuals underwent HSCT with HL before the age of 35, they have a higher survival rate (recurrent of HL) than those underwent HSCT after 35.

Parents whose children suffer from diabetes face various issues and challenges, including reduced quality of life. On the other hand, they have an essential role in taking care of their diabetic children.

This descriptive correlational study was conducted in 2020 in Jiroft, Iran, to evaluate the quality of life in 96 parents of children with type 1 diabetes. The sampling method in this study was census and the study population was parents with a child suffering from type 1 diabetes. Research tools included Demographic Information Checklist and Health-related quality of life Questionnaire (SF36). SPSS 19 software was used for data analysis. Descriptive statistics was used as frequency tables, and indicators such as mean and standard deviation described the demographic characteristics and the quality of life. Pearson correlation coefficient test was deployed to assess the quality of life. Independent chi-square and t-test were used to relate this variable to demographic characteristics.

There is a significant difference between life satisfaction, parental boredom, feeling of well-being, sufficient income, general health status, and being covered by supportive institutions of parents of type 1 diabetic children with the quality of life (p-value <0.05).

By knowing this group of parents' living conditions and implementing programs to support these families, the quality of life of parents with a diabetic child can be improved.

Due to the increasing progress of cancer, the view of paying attention to the rich resources in nature such as animal venom has been considered by researchers due to less side effects than existing treatments. Therefore, the tissue distribution of radionuclide-venom complex in laboratory animals and the internal dosimetry of the organs are of great importance for the clinical diagnostic and therapeutic purposes of cancer.

In this study, after biological distribution of 99mTc-venom complex and calculation of %ID/g, accumulation activity, dosimetry estimation steps were obtained and human data were extracted from the Sparks-Idogan formula. Then effective dose calculation was performed using MIRD analysis method and MCNP simulation code.

The dose of 99mTc-venom in different organs of the human body was calculated based on the distribution of information in the rat body using the MIRD analysis method and the MCNP simulation code. The highest and the lowest effective dose respectively delivered to the heart wall (with 3.47E-05 and 4.05E-05 mSv/MBq) and the testic(0.05E-06 and 0.08E-06 mSv/MBq).

Considering the antitumor effect of Andro ctonus crassicauda scorpion venom according to recent research, we hope that the results of  biological distribution and internal dosimetry 99mTc-venom in this research will be a step the clinical diagnostic and therapeutic purposes of cancer using natural products in the future .

Various studies show that contracting the Covid 19 disease can affect the normal functioning of the immune system. In some patients, lack of stimulation of the specific immune system causes excessive innate immune activity and secretion of inflammatory cytokines.

It seems that the occurrence of cytokine storm depends on various factors. One of the immune system cells that can play an important role in cytokine storm is Natural killer (NK) cell.  Thus, more attention should be paid to the role of NK cell in patients with Covid-19.

In this article, we seek to examine the role of NK cell in cytokine storms.

Perhaps the difference between the characteristics of NK cell in children and adults is due to the difference in the severity of symptoms after infection with Covid-19.