مجله فیض
سال بیست و پنجم شماره 6 (پیاپی 122، بهمن و اسفند 1400)

Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer death worldwide. Berberine as a herbal alkaloid has antioxidant, anti-cancer and anti-tumor properties. Cisplatin is a potent inducer of apoptosis in most types of cancer cells. In the present study, investigated the ability of berberine alone and in combination with cisplatin to induce apoptosis in the Calu-6 cell line (human lung cancer cell line).

In this experimental study, MTT assay was used to evaluate the cytotoxic effects of combination of berberine with cisplatin on Calu-6 cell proliferation; DAPI staining and annexin V-FITC assay were also used to evaluate apoptosis in treated cells; changes in the level of transcripts of BAX, Caspase 3,9, p53 genes were examined by real-time PCR. Quantitative data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA at a significant level of P<0.05.

The MTT assay results showed that the combination of berberine with cisplatin inhibits the proliferation of Calu-6 cells in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. Morphological observations obtained from DAPI staining method and annexin V-FITC assay showed an increase in apoptotic cells in the treatment groups. The real-time PCR results showed an increase in the expression of transcripts of BAX, Caspase 3,9, p53 genes in the treatment groups.

The results of this research showed that the concomitant use of berberine with cisplatin inhibits the proliferation of Calu-6 cells and induces apoptosis in these cells.

A close link exists between diabetes and cardiovascular disease. cardiovascular disease is the most prevalent cause of mortality and morbidity in diabetic populations. The response of biomarkers such as miRNA to environmental factors is important for optimizing diabetes treatment strategies. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of aerobic training and stevia supplement on the expression of miR-322 and cyclin D1 in heart tissue of type 1 diabetic rats.

In this experimental study, 25 type 1 diabetic rats (weight 300-250 g) were divided into 5 groups; healthy control, type 1 diabetic control, type 1 diabetic – stevia supplement, type 1 diabetic-exercise and type 1 diabetic - exercise - stevia supplement. Aerobic training was performed 5 days a week at a speed of 20 to 30 meters per minute and a slope of zero degrees for 8 weeks. The dose of stevia was 250 mg per kilogram of body weight in gavage. Rats were slaughtered 48 hours after the last training session and Cardiac tissue was used to analyze the indicators. The gene expression of miR-322 and cyclin D1 in cardiac tissue was measured by Real Time PCR. Data were analyzed by One-way ANOVA and Bonferron's post hoc test at the P<0.05.

Aerobic training, stevia and the interaction of aerobic training and stevia supplementation had no significant effect on the gene expression of miR-322 and cyclin D1 in the heart tissue of type-1 diabetic rats (P<0.05).

According to the results of the study, it seems that intervention of aerobic training with stevia supplementation has no effect on the gene expression of cardiac metabolic markers in type 1 diabetes.

Diabetes is a metabolic disease that can causes complications such as oxidative stress and decreased levels of antioxidant enzymes. In researches, it has been found that the alcoholic extract of pecan is effective in the treatment of diabetes. Harmaline is an alkaloid of pecan extract, which has antioxidant properties. In this study, models of type 1 diabetic mice were used to evaluate the properties of harmaline.

In this study, 40 male NMRI mice were used. Mice were divided into 5 groups of eight including control (ordinary food and water recipient), diabetic (mice that became diabetic with streptozotocin), sham (diabetic mice received only the solvent of harmalin, distilled water, during the experimental stages), experimental groups 1(50 mg/kg harmaline) and 2 (100 mg/kg harmaline). At the end of the harmaline treatment period, the animals were anesthetized with ether and blood samples were taken from all groups. Glucose, insulin, lipid profile, malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) were measured in rat serum. Sampling of pancreatic tissue was performed using western blotting method to measure insulin changes in experimental groups.

The levels of insulin, HDL, superoxide dismutase and catalase in treatment groups had a significant increase and the levels of glucose, MDA, LDL and cholesterol in treatment groups showed a significant decrease.

Treatment of mice with harmaline can improves the condition of diabetic animals.

β3-AR and ERK2 are key factors in regulating adipose tissue metabolism and its conversion to brown adipose tissue. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the effect of a period of swimming training with different temperatures on the expression of β3-AR and ERK2 genes in the visceral adipose tissue of diabetic rats.

28 male 2-month-old Wistar rats with a mean weight of 200±20 g were selected. After diabetic induction through streptozotocin solution, divided into 4 groups: 1) healthy control, 2) diabetic control, 3) diabetic water swimming training 5 °C and 4) diabetic water swimming training 36 °C (n=7 per each group) were divided. The training groups trained aerobic swimming training for 5 days/week for 4 weeks according to Protocol. One-way ANOVA and Tukey Post-hoc tests were used to analyze the data.

A significant decrease in β3-AR gene expression was observed (P=0.0001), and the results showed that this difference was significant between pairs of healthy control groups compared to other groups (P=0.0001). Also, ERK2 gene expression showed a significant increase (P=0.0001), and the results showed that this is a significant difference between pairs of healthy control groups with water swimming training 36 °C (P=0.001) and diabetic control group with water swimming training 36 °C (P=0.001).

Four weeks of swimming training decreased β3-AR and increased ERK2, which can be concluded to play an important role in the metabolism of white adipose tissue and its conversion to brown adipose tissue.

Coronavirus infection in patients with pre-existing diabetes mellitus has been shown to indicate a poorer outcome compared to non-diabetic cases. This study aimed to explore disease severity and mortality in patients infected with Coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19) between these two groups.

The current analytical cross sectional study reviewed the medical records of 99 patients hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 from February 14th to February 26th, 2020. The cases were divided into non-diabetic (n=77) and diabetic (n=22) groups. The differences in clinical symptoms, biochemical parameters, length of hospital stay, CT scan analysis, and the proportion of the patients with the outcome of mortality were compared.

The statistical analysis illustrated that most of the patients were male, and compared to non-diabetic, patients with diabetes were significantly older (P=0.01). Results indicated a considerable increase in ALP, vitamin D, pO2 levels of serum and a decrease in SpO2 (P<0.05). The patients with co-existing metabolic disorders, such as cardiovascular diseases were significantly higher in the diabetic group (P<0.05). Statistics evaluation did not show significant differences between the two groups in terms of other assessed factors and CT images.

Based on the current study, it seems that diabetic and non-diabetic patients have almost similar clinical and paraclinical findings, so additional investigations with larger sample sizes are needed to achieve more accurate results.

Physical health is one of the most important human assets and motor competence can improve this. This study aimed to investigate the effect of physical activity levels and physical maturity on the motor competency of 8–11 year-old children in Tehran.

The present study was a cross sectional- analytical study. The statistical population was children aged 8-11 years in Tehran from which 205 people (105 girls and 100 boys) were randomly selected. Assessment of the level of physical activity using the international physical activity questionnaire for children, index of physical maturity through Khamis-Roche method and motor competency was assessed using the TMC test. Data were analyzed using multifactorial analysis of variance and Bonferroni Post hoc test.

The results of multifactorial analysis of variance showed that the main effect of physical activity level was not significant (P =0.74). Children with late adulthood had better mean motor fitness at all three levels of physical activity. Children with high levels of physical activity had better mean motor fitness than children with moderate and low levels of physical activity. The main effect of physical maturity levels was significant (P= 0.001).

It is suggested to develop a comprehensive and practical program in schools to increase the level of physical activity and skills in children in order to develop motor skills.

Indirect Pulp Cap (IPC) is a treatment that preserves pulp vitality. This study aimed to investigate the success rate of indirect pulp cap therapy as a conservative treatment for deep carious lesions in permanent teeth.

In this cross-sectional study, among the patients for whom IPC treatment was performed in 2015, 100 patients were randomly selected. Vital pulp tests (thermal, cold and electrical test) and pre-apical tests (percussion, tactility and chewing) were performed for the target tooth and control teeth. The tooth was examined radiographically and the signs of success or failure of treatment were examined, also.

Of the 100 patients who received IPC, 91 had signs of a successful treatment after 4 years, and only 9 had failed. In other words, the success rate of the treatment was 91% and the failure rate of treatment was 9%.

According to the results of this study, IPC is an appropriate treatment for teeth with deep caries in both sexes and all ages, the type of the material used to seal the pulp and the restorative material used for dental restoration does not affect the success rate. But the most important factors are to apply the indirect pulp treatment carefully, avoiding bacterial contamination, and to seal the teeth with a hermetic restoration.

Rheumatoid arthritis is the most common chronic systemic inflammatory and autoimmune disease. Considering that one of the important goals of treatment of this disease is to achieve remission, this study was designed to identify the factors associated with the prognosis of this disease to select a treatment appropriate to its severity.

In this study, the records of 433 patients with rheumatoid arthritis were examined by several rheumatologists and their assistants in Tabriz and Kashan centers and the factors affecting the prognosis of patients using logistic regression test was determined.

Results showed that the variables of disease duration, DAS28 at the first visit, treatment regimen and TNF inhibitors have a significant effect on patients' prognosis (P <0.05) so that with an increase of one unit (year) duration of the disease, the chance of a poor prognosis in patients increases 1.117 times; The chance of a poor prognosis among patients in whom the disease activity was severe at the beginning of the referral is 2.369 times higher than in patients in whom the disease activity was moderate; Also, the chance of a poor prognosis among patients on a mono-therapy regimen is 9.346 times higher than in patients on a double-therapy regimen.

Increasing duration of the disease, severe disease activity at the beginning of the visit, lack of commitment to treatment and use of a mono-therapy regimen at the beginning of treatment increase the chance of poor prognosis in patients.

Introducing an accurate method with minimal invasiveness to evaluate vascular involvement in diabetic patients is essential. This study aimed to evaluate the Ankle-Brachial Index (ABI) in diabetic patients without vascular symptoms of the lower extremities.

A descriptive-analytical study was performed in 2020 on 339 lower extremities of diabetic patients without peripheral vascular involvement and a history of cardiovascular disease, referred to clinics or emergency rooms of selected hospitals in Ahvaz. After recording demographic information and clinical sign/symptom: Pain, paresthesia, vascular ulcers, pallor, no capillary filling, ABI and lower vascular Doppler were recorded, also. Mann-Whitney and independent t-test, Pearson correlation and Rock curve were used to compare data.

  Out of 339 Dopplers, 42 cases (12.4%) were abnormal and out of these 42 cases, 33 cases (9.7%) were severe and 9 cases (2.7%) were mild. Other findings of the study showed that the mean ABI in patients with abnormal Doppler was significantly lower than patients with normal Doppler (0.93 vs. 1.13). In the study based on the severity of vascular involvement, the lowest ABI was observed in patients with severe involvement (0.88). However diagnostic power of ABI in the diagnosis of abnormal Doppler at the cut-off point of 1.085 was low, that the sensitivity and specificity to 59.5% and 81.5% were obtained, respectively. Its positive and negative predictive values were 31.3% and 93.4%, respectively. The overall accuracy of the test was 78.7%. Finally, it was found that ABI has a direct and significant relationship with age and an inverse and significant relationship with creatinine.

Based on the findings of this study, reduction of ABI in patients with peripheral vascular involvement occurs in asymptomatic diabetic patients but does not have high diagnostic power in diagnosing abnormal Doppler cases and other methods should be used in addition to it.

This study aimed to the relationship between specific cognitive components and balance and functional mobility in women with multiple sclerosis.

The research methodology was descriptive correlational method, and it was practical in terms of objective. 62 women with relapsing and flexible MS were selected using available sampling procedure of the study. To measure the cognitive components including TMT test was used to measure executive performance; auditory/verbal memory was measured using CVLT-II test and in order to assess motor functions including balance, walking speed, and functional mobility Berg Balance Scale, Timed Foot 25-Walk, and Up and Go tests were used, respectively. Falls Efficacy Scale International, to measure the fear of the risk of falling, was used.

Correlation coefficient results showed that there is a meaningful relationship between auditory/verbal memory with balance (r=0.669) , functional mobility (r=0.771), fear of falling risk (r=0.602) and walking speed (r=0.778) and between executive performance balance (r=0.795), functional mobility (r=0.820), fear of falling risk (r=0.791)  and walking speed (r=0.778), and with  the results from multiple regression analysis showed that a large percentage of changes in balance, functional mobility, and walking speed are predictable from cognitive components (P=0.001).

According to the results in present study, it seems that there is a significant relationship between cognitive components with balance, functional mobility, walking speed and fear of falling, and cognitive components can largely predict the motor function of patients with MS.

Gastroesophageal reflux is very common in infants and its diagnosis is not through clinical signs but through diagnostic tests, especially ultrasound. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of physiological and pathological gastroesophageal reflux in neonates born in Kashan.

In this cross-sectional study, 214 infants underwent ultrasound to assess the presence of GERD. First, the infant was fasting for one hour, then breast milk or formula was given as desired, and finally for 15 minutes in the mother's arms was upright position and an ultrasound was performed. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS software version 16 using chi-square and independent t-tests.

The results showed that 180 neonates (84.1%) had reflux, of which 125 neonates had physiological reflux and the rest were pathological. Also, the type of GERD did not have a significant relationship with the variables related to the infant (sex, weight and type of nutrition) and mother (age, gestational age and type of delivery) (P>0.05).

The results showed that the prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux (physiological and pathological) was high in neonates, so it seems that screening for neonatal reflux with ultrasound and following the course of neonatal physiological reflux to recovery and also following the treatment of pathological reflux are useful in reducing long-term reflux complications.

 In dental treatment, sometimes the results and complications of treatment along with the failure of the dentist in establishing a professional relationship with the patient, can lead to dissatisfaction and complaints against the dentist. This study aimed to offering a picture of dental malpractices in Kashan.

 In this descriptive cross-sectional study, we assessed complaints against dentists and experimental dentists between 2008-2019 in Kashan. The study checklist includes complainant and therapist variables, type of treatment, and complaint variables. Data analysis was performed by SPSS-22 and Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests for qualitative variables and t-test and analysis of variance for quantitative variables.

 The results showed that 25(48%) of 52 complaints were proved to be medical malpractice. The mean age of complainants was 42.9±10.77 and 29 cases (55.8%) were women. Most practitioners that had complained of were male (82.7%). The frequency of complaints was related to general dentists (75%), experimental dentists (17%), and specialists (8%), respectively. 86.5% of complaints were related to private centers and 13.5% were related to governmental centers. The most common cause of complaints was dissatisfaction with treatment (96.2%) and the most type of malpractice was due to lack of expertise (32.7%).

 According to this study, one of the most important reasons for complaints against dental practitioners is the lack of communication between patients and dentists. Increasing scientific and technical skills and improving communication skills with patients can prevent many complaints.