فصلنامه کومش
سال بیست و چهارم شماره 4 (پیاپی 90، امرداد و شهریور 1401)

The sense of smell, one of the five basic senses that humans have, helps us detect different types of odors. It also plays an important role in the detection of pollutants, toxic gases, or rotten and hazardous foods. Although olfaction is considered less important than the other senses, smell disorders could cause a variety of problems, including reduced taste detection due to the relationship between taste and smell, depression, and overall loss of quality of life. Olfactory dysfunction is one of the first clinical signs of neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. The olfactory disorder has many etiologies, some of which are more obvious. Most people with olfactory disorders have experienced a recent illness or trauma. Common causes of olfactory disorders include aging, rhinosinusitis, upper respiratory infections, and cerebral lesion; the rest of the cases are less relevant. Since there are limited evidence-based treatments for olfactory disorders, it is necessary to share information about the risks associated with these disorders. This information includes practical and useful screening measures for olfactory dysfunction, appropriate clinical evaluation, patient counseling to prevent injury, health and quality of life management, and the introduction of treatments with higher recovery rates. This review study focuses on the etiology, prevalence, and short-term and long-term consequences of olfactory disorders. Also, diagnostic strategies and new treatment options have been developed and discussed.

Diastasis recti is often caused by pregnancy in women and may cause complications such as low back pain, lumbopelvic pain, and pelvic floor disorders. Determining the most accurate method to measure diastasis recti is important to estimate the rate of recovery in response to treatment and the need for surgery. Thus, ths study aimed to review the evidence regarding methods of diastasis recti assessment.

First, databases such as Web of Science, Pro-Quest, Em-base, PubMed, Google Scholar, AMED, and Scopus were searched using related keywords by June 2020. Then, articles were selected based on inclusion and exclusion criteria and the quality of the studies was assessed using the COSMIN checklist. Required information from each article was extracted and the table of characteristics and findings of the articles was recorded.

Amongst the 18 included articles, the reliability, and validity of the finger width method, caliper and ultrasonography were studied (one, one, and nine studies, respectively). Additionally, the comparison of the validity of ultrasonography and surgical compass, ultrasonography and the finger width, ultrasonography and caliper, CT scan and ruler, Magnetic Resonance Imaging and ruler, was performed in one, one, two, one, two, and one studies, respectively. Most of the evidence was in the field of ultrasonography and the ICC of this method and caliper was above 0.9. In addition, ICC for agreement between ultrasonography and caliper above umbilicus was more than 0.7 and below umbilicus was less than 0.5. The agreement between raters for the finger width method was moderate (62.5%). There is not enough evidence about other methods.

Ultrasonography and caliper are lightly reliable and valid. In addition, these methods are safe and non-invasive. Due to real-time dynamic examination with ultrasonography and the limitation of using the caliper method, ultrasonography seems to be the best method for assessing diastasis recti. However, future studies seem to be necessary due to the heterogeneity of previous studies.

Drug use disorder and dependency is one of the most challenging problems in the world. One of the most common therapy for opioid use disorder is agonist maintenance therapy especially methadone maintenance treatment and buprenorphine maintenance treatment. The study aimed to investigate the challenges of providing agonist therapy from the perspective of stakeholders.

The present study is a qualitative study with a content analysis method that has used exploratory and semi-structured interviews and purposeful sampling. Interviews were conducted individually to collect data from the view of stakeholders; including some of the physicians as service providers and a group of patients as service recipients. Sampling reached saturation with 21 people. The data were analyzed based on the Graneheim and Lundman model.

Data analysis revealed eight important challenges and barriers, including travel and time spent, availability of agonist drugs (used in maintenance therapy) illegally, take-home dose ( home dose of methadone), trust and confidentiality of authorities, the cost of treatment and income and expenditure, policy and cultural issues of the centers, file filing process, and family factors.

The current pattern and the process of treatment with the agonist drugs reasonably have been well received. If the obstacles and problems of this treatment method are not considered, its useful results can face challenges.

With age increases, the risk of cancer increases, and the importance of examining important sources of adjustment, including a sense of coherence, physical function, and social support to control the living conditions of these people, is of particular importance. Therefore, the present study was conducted to determine the relationship between a sense of coherence and physical function, and social support.

The present study is a correlational study that was performed on 120 elderly people with cancer by available sampling in selected hospitals of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences in Tehran. Data collection tools were a short cognitive test scale, sense of coherence, activities of daily living, instrumental activities of daily living, and social support questionnaires.

The results showed that the sense of coherence had a significant positive relationship with physical function in the field of instrumental activities of daily living and activities of daily living and social support, but social support did not have a significant positive relationship with the two variables of physical function. Also, the mean of a general sense of coherence was 15/28±54/88, physical function was 99/60±13/3 and 56/70±9/4 and social support was 78/96±61/14.

The results showed the sense of coherence was positively related to the two variables of physical function and social support. Since a sense of coherence can help improve the physical function and social support of the elderly with cancer, the need for strategies and interventions based on promoting a sense of cohesion by nurses and other clinicians is emphasized.

Osteoporosis is the most common chronic metabolic bone disease associated with decreased bone mass and structural disorders. Complications of osteoporosis affect the quality of life by affecting the psychological and physical dimensions of life. Osteoporosis can affect the oral health of middle-aged and older people. This study compared the oral health-related quality of life (OHIP) in patients with osteoporosis with healthy individuals.

In this descriptive comparative study, demographic information and questions related to medication and years of being affected as well as xerostomia and oral health-related quality of life (OHIP-14) questionnaires were asked in case and control groups (each group including 70 people). Oral health indicators including gingival index (GI), plaque index (PI), sulcus bleeding index (SBI), and DMFT were assessed on Ramfjord teeth of patients.

There was a statistically significant relationship between OHIP, PI, GI, SBI, DMFT, and xerostomia between the group with osteoporosis and healthy individuals (P<0.001). Quality of life in patients with osteoporosis was significantly lower than in healthy individuals (P<0.001).

The quality of life of people with osteoporosis is significantly lower than healthy ones. These patients need special knowledge and care to improve their oral health and special protocols in their treatment plan.

Teachers are a large group of professional voice users who are exposed to many voice problems. Vocal warm-up exercises (VWUE) can prepare the muscles involved in vocalization before teaching and can reduce voice damage in teachers. However, limited studies have examined the effects of VWUE on teachers' voices. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the immediate effects of VWUE on the acoustic and perceptual characteristics of the teachers' voices.

The present study was a pretest-posttest within a group design study. A total of 20 teachers aged 18-45 with at least 5 years of teaching experience participated in the study and received VWUE for 30-45 minutes. VWUE included stretching the sternocleidomastoid, trapezius, and mylohyoid muscles, open-mouth, and yawn-sigh technique, glottal fry, tongue trills, resonance exercises, and performing ascending and descending tones. Outcome measurements included auditory-perceptual evaluation using CAPE-V and assessment of acoustic parameters with fundamental frequency, jitter, shimmer, and harmonic to noise ratio.

After VWUE, a significant improvement was observed in acoustic parameters including decreasing jitter and shimmer and increasing the harmonic to noise ratio during the vowel /ɑ/ sustaining (P<0.05). Also, no significant change was found in the fundamental frequency of teachers' voices (P>0.05). In addition, VWUE resulted in a statistically significant improvement and reduction in the overall severity of voice disorder during vowel sustaining and connected speech tasks (P<0.05).

The present study can provide primary evidence of the immediate and positive effects of VWUE on teachers' voices. However, due to the lack of a control group in our study, the positive results of VWUE should be interpreted with more caution, and stronger studies with a control group are recommended in the future.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is one of the most important public health concerns worldwide. The steady increase in the number of people with End-stage renal disease (ESRD) needing a kidney transplant to survive and incur high costs, highlights early diagnosis and treatment of the disease. This study aimed to design a Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) for diagnosing CKD and predicting the advanced stage to achieve better management and treatment of the disease.

In this retrospective and developmental study, we studied the records of 600 suspected CKD cases with 22 variables referred to ShahidLabbafinejad Hospital in Tehran from 2019 to 2020. Data mining algorithms such as Naïve Bayesian, Random Forest, Multilayer Perceptron neural network, and J-48 decision tree were developed based on extracted variables. Then the recital of selected models was compared by some performance indices and 10-fold cross-validation. Finally, the most appropriate prediction model in terms of performance was implemented using the C # programming language.

Random Forest classification algorithm with an accuracy of 99.8% and 88.66%, specificity of 100% and 93.8%, the sensitivity of 99.75% and 88.7%, f-measure of 99.8% and 88.7%, kappa score of 99.4% and 82.73%, and ROC of 100% and 90.52% was identified as the best data mining model for CKD diagnosis and prediction respectively.

The developed MC-DMK system based random Forestcan be used practically in clinical settings.

Malnutrition (MN) is a typical complication among hemodialysis patients which is associated with morbidity and mortality rates. This cross-sectional study investigated different indices in detecting MN in hemodialysis patients.

MN assessment was performed using subjective [Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) and Dialysis Malnutrition Score (DMS)] and objective techniques [Hand Grip Strength (HGS)] on patients undergoing hemodialysis 3 times a week in Semnan Province (Iran). SGA and DMS were evaluated by their specific check-lists and HGS analysis was performed using a handgrip dynamometer. The dietary intake of hemodialysis patients was determined using a 4-day dietary recall. Moreover, 4 ml blood sample was obtained from each patient to measure serum biochemical parameters.

Amongst 116 enrolled patients, 61 were male and 55 were female. The total prevalence of MN in terms of SGA, DMS, and HGS was 74.2, 58.6, and 63% respectively. Moreover, the association of SGA with age and of DMS with age, gender, and time of hemodialysis were shown. For HGS, not only these factors but also biochemical parameters showed a relationship. This index was associated with serum Albumin and inflammatory marker, hsCRP.

Simple and easily accessible tools like handheld dynamometers can verify to be a good nutrition assessment technique for hemodialysis patients in combination with SGA or DMS.

Cardiovascular diseases, especially coronary artery disease, is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Accordingly, the present study aimed to compare the effects of continuous and interval aerobic training on brachial artery diameter and endothelial function in coronary artery bypass graft patients.

The present study encompassed 30 male patients meeting the inclusion criteria, who were randomly assigned to three groups (namely continuous training, interval aerobic training, and control groups). The participants took the intervention for eight weeks (three sessions per week) according to the training program for each group. The continuous and interval aerobic groups observed the relevant protocols; however, during the same period, the control group took part in no regular training program.

The results indicated that flow-induced dilation (FMD) significantly increased in the two training groups (namely the continuous training group (P=0.01) and the interval training group (P=0.002)) compared to the control group; however, the difference was not significant (P=0.9). There was no significant difference among the three groups regarding the basal diameter of the brachial artery (P= 0.93). Comparing the secondary diameter of the brachial artery in the three groups indicated that the secondary diameter significantly increased in the two training groups (namely the continuous training group (P=0.044) and the interval training group (P=0.015)) compared to the control group; however, the difference was not significant between the two training groups (P=0.99).

The results showed that interval and continuous training caused positive changes in endothelial function and increased the secondary diameter of the brachial artery. Similar to continuous training, interval training can probably be used as a safe exercise in the cardiac rehabilitation programs developed for coronary artery bypass graft patients.

Ameloblastoma is a benign odontogenic neoplasm with a high risk of recurrence. Ameloblastoma stromal fibroblasts are associated with tumor growth and invasion; however, a few studies have evaluated the immunohistochemical characteristics of stromal fibroblasts and their association with recurrence in Ameloblastoma. Galectin-3 (gal-3) is a member of the B-galactoside bonding protein family that is involved in the growth of fibroblasts and their conversion to myofibroblasts. This study aimed to investigate the expression of gal-3 in ameloblastoma stromal fibroblasts and its association with recurrence.

Forty-eight samples with the diagnosis of ameloblastoma were included in the study. gal-3 expression in stromal fibroblasts was determined using immunohistochemical staining. We also extracted clinical, radiographic, and histological variables from the archived patients' recordings.

Thirty-four (70.8%) cases showed nuclear and cytoplasmic expression of gal-3. Four (8.3%) cases revealed only cytoplasmic expression and three cases (6.3%) showed only nuclear positivity for gal-3. We found no statistically significant relationship between tumor recurrence and recurrence-free survival with immunoreactivity for gal-3(Log-rank analysis: P=0.248 and P=0.555, respectively. Cox regression: P=0.272 and P=0.572, respectively).

Gal-3 expression was seen in most samples. This protein could be one of the effective proteins in the function of ameloblastoma stromal fibroblasts; however, it was not associated with the tumor recurrence and could not be used as a prognostic factor.

Labeled nucleotide detectors provide a basis for measuring cell division. Zidovudine is a prodrug that is phosphorylated by cellular enzymes at the 5ʹ position and converted to active triphosphate. Zidovudine triphosphate interferes with the reverse transcriptase enzyme and lengthens the viral DNA strand.

Ethyl-2-propynyl acetate and 2-amino-N-propynyl benzamide ligands were obtained by the reaction of ethyl-2-amino-acetate hydrochloride with propargyl bromide and isatuic anhydride with propargylamine, respectively. Then, a click reaction was performed between the acetylene group of the ligands and the azide group of zidovudine, and a 1,2,3-triazole ring was formed in the chelating products. The resulting structures were labeled with [99mTc(CO)3(H2O)3]+ complex. Qualitative control and then radiotherapy stability in normal saline were performed using HPLC. In vitro studies were performed to evaluate the accumulation of radiotherapy using the blocking method.

The chemical structures of chelating compounds were confirmed by proton and carbon magnetic resonance spectroscopy and elemental analysis. Using optimal conditions, the thymidine analogs were labeled with the desired yield. The labeled compounds had good stability in normal saline and showed entry into lung cancer cells.

These studies demonstrated the capability of labeled azidothymidine analogs as a tool for molecular imaging of cancer.

Exploratory behaviors in rodents are an indicator of anxiety behaviors. In the present study, the combined effect of aerobic exercise with different intensities and inhibition of the glutamate system on exploratory behavior in rats was investigated.

In this experimental study, 80 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 10 groups including control, diazepam (0.6 mg/kg), two doses of MK-801 (0.1 and 0.05 mg/kg), two groups of acute aerobic exercise (low and moderate intensity), two acute aerobic exercise groups (low and moderate intensity) + dose 0.1 MK-801, the two groups performing acute aerobic exercise (low and moderate intensity) + dose 0.05 MK-801. On the test day, immediately after exerciseو drugs were injected, and 30 minutes later, exploratory behaviors were assessed by an open field.

Low and moderate-intensity exercise with MK-801 at a dose of 0.05 mg/kg significantly increased the frequency of rearing and decreased the number of grooming, and frequency of defecation compared to control and MK-801 groups (P<0.01, P<0.01 and P<0.05, respectively). In addition, performing low and medium intensity exercise with MK-801 at a dose of 0.1 mg/kg significantly increased the number of rearing and decreased the number of grooming, and frequency of defecation compared to control and MK-801 groups (P<0.001, P<0.001 and P<0.05, respectively).

The results of the present study suggest that the use of exercise in combination with NMDA inhibition can be effective on anxiety-induced exploratory behaviors in animals.

The venom of Jellyfish venom contains a variety of bioactive proteins that can be studied for vaccine application. Poly-Lactic Acid is a biodegradable polymer that is used in vaccine systems. The aim of this study was to encapsulate the C-CfTX1-STxB protein into PLA-PEG-PLA three-block copolymer and its immunogenicity study in mice.

After purification, the protein was confirmed by Western Blot. Then, the antigen was loaded in the three-block copolymer using the solvent evaporated method and prepared nanoparticles characteristics by SEM electron microscopy and DLS. Following encapsulated and free antigen with complete and incomplete adjuvant, PBS and PLA_PEG-PLA nano were injected subcutaneously into the mice four times. In the end, the amount of antibody produced was measured by indirect ELISA and the survival of immunized animals against challenges by jellyfish venom was studied.

The results showed that the prepared nanoparticles have good quality and quantity. The size of the nanoparticles was 176.1 nm and the protein encapsulation efficiency was 71%. In the end, it was shown that immunized mice survived the challenge with the venom and the production of antibody titers was directly related to laboratory animal resistance.

Regarding the lack of cardiotoxicity and neurotoxicity of the recombinant C-CfTX1-STxB protein, as well as the results, PLA-PEG-PLA nanoparticles could be suggested as suitable carriers for the preparation of a vaccine against jellyfish venom for further investigation.

Walnut has anti-atherogenic, anti-mutagenic, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties. Walnut also contains many substances with strong neuroprotective properties, including vitamin E, folate, melatonin, flavonoids and polyphenolic compounds, which have strong anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of ethanolic extract of woody endocarpium walnut on acid secretion and oxidative changes of the gastric tissue following ischemic-reperfusion injury in male rats.

40 male Wistar rats were divided into 4 groups (n = 10 in each group) control (intact), ischemia-reperfusion injury group, and ethanolic extract of woody endocarpium walnut (20 and 50 mg/kg). In each group, the amount of acid secretion, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, malondialdehyde, thiol and histological changes of gastric tissue were measured.

The results of the present study showed that ischemia-reperfusion induction decreased the activity of superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, thiol and gastric acid and increased malondialdehyde. Treatment with ethanolic extract of woody endocarpium walnut significantly increased the amount of acid secretion and superoxide dismutase activity and decreased the levels of malondialdehyde and thiol. In histopathological evaluation, the density of peripheral cells secreting gastric acid was restored after treatment. There was no significant difference between the two doses of the extract.

The results of the present study showed that ischemia-reperfusion causes gastric damage in rats and treatment with ethanolic extract of woody endocarpium walnut can be effective in preventing complications of gastric ischemia.

The present study aimed to investigate the protective effects of Pimpinella anisum L. ethanolic and aqueous extracts on L-asparaginase- associated hepatotoxicity in rats using histopathological and specific 99mTc-Phytate biodistribution studies.

60 female rats were divided into 9 treatment groups including L-asparaginase group, Aqueous extract (100 and 200 mg/kg), Ethanolic extract (100 and 200 mg/kg), Aqueous extract (100 mg/kg) + L-asparaginase, Aqueous extract (200 mg/kg) + L-asparaginase, Ethanolic extract (100-100 mg/kg) + L-asparaginase, and Ethanolic extract (200 mg/kg) + L-asparaginase and one control group. L-asparaginase was intraperitoneally injected at a dose of 1000 IU/Kg every other day for a week. Aqueous and ethanolic extracts of P. anisum were given by gavage technique for seven consecutive days. 24h after the last day of treatment, 99mTc-phytate was intravenously injected and then, rats were killed with a lethal dose of ketamine/xylazine. Vital organs were removed, weighed, and their activity was counted by a gamma counter. 99mTc-phytate scintigraphy and histopathological assessment were performed for further evaluation.

L-asparaginase-induced liver toxicity was significantly reduced with ethanolic extract in L-asparaginase-treated rats (P˂0.05). It is worth mentioning that the aqueous extract of Anise seed led to hepatotoxicity (P˂0.05) which is likely to be mainly due to contamination of the plant with the toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids.

P. anisum ethanolic extract due to the presence of anethole and phenolic compounds can ameliorate L-asparaginase-induced hepatotoxicity in rats.