Jorjani Biomedicine Journal

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Background and objectives: Anabolic steroids are routinely consumed by athletes. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the effect of Boldenone (BOL) on testicular tissue and the healing effect of jujube (Ziziphus jujuba) hydroalcoholic extract in addition to physical exercise.
Methods: In the present case–control study, 42 male wistar rats were purchased and divided into 3 experimental groups. 28 rats were subjected to BOL injection and subsequently divided into 4 groups. The control group, Sham and 8-week BOL group which was also divided into 4 subsequent groups of controlling BOL complications after 8 weeks, untreated control, jujube extract and jujube extract along with physical exercise.
Results: In the present study we found that jujube extract exerted healing effects on all groups pf treated rats in addition to the exercise training groups.
Conclusion: Jujube extract along with physical exercise may exert healing effects on testicular tissue after administration of anabolic BOL steroid.

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Background and objectives: Historically, herbs and plants have been used for their therapeutic properties in the form of flavors and preservatives. Recently, the application of medicinal herbs has increased considering their numerous benefits and minimum side-effects. Treatment of bacterial infections is currently a major challenge in the healthcare systems across the world. The present study aimed to assess the bacterial effects of Zingiber officinale, Aloysia citrodora and Artemisia dracunculus essential oils on the survival of standard Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial strains.
Methods: In the present experimental study, we evaluated the effects of Tarragon (A. dracunculus), Ginger (Z. officinale) and Lemon Beebrush (A. citrodora) essential oils on 6 strains of Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella spp, Salmonella typhimurium, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Proteus spp and Corynebacterium diphtheriae. The well-diffusion method was applied to assess the antibacterial properties of the essential oils. Moreover, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) tests were used to determine the bacterial and inhibitory concentrations of the extracts.
Results: MIC and MBC results demonstrated that the ginger extract (0.125 mg/mL) had the most significant impact on Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhimurium, and Staphylococcus epidermidis. Furthermore, tarragon extract (0.03125 mg/mL) had the most significant effect on Staphylococcus aureus, Proteus spp, and Corynebacterium diphtheriae. The antibacterial effects of these essential oils were not observed on other bacteria.
Conclusion: Medicinal plants have long been used for their therapeutic properties. According to the results, ginger and tarragon extracts are effective combinations for the treatment of the infections caused by Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria.

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Background and objectives: Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of mortality among men worldwide, and the eighth cancer-related cause of death in Iran. Male sex hormones (androgens) are the main cause of prostate cancer cells. Triptorelin is considered a synthetic decapeptide analogue of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) in the treatment of prostate cancer. This study aimed to evaluate the methods to deal with the constraints in use of lipid nanoarchaeosomes. Due to their adjuvant feature and presence of ether links, archaeosomes are more stable in blood, compared to other lipid-based formulations. In the present study, the effects of nanoarchaeosomes containing triptorelin acetate on the cellular toxicity of the PC3 prostate cancer cell line were evaluated.
Methods: Halobacterium salinarum bacteria were cultured in HS medium, and their polar lipids of the membrane were removed applying the Blight&Dye technique in order to obtain nanoarchaeosome containing membrane polar lipids. In the next stage, nanoarchaeosomes were prepared by the hydration of polar lipids. In addition, cell viability was evaluated using the MTT assay on the PC3 cell line.
Results: In this research, mean diameter of the drug-containing nanoarchaeosomes was estimated at 263 nm using the ZetaSizer device. Moreover, drug loading efficiency of nanoarchaeosomes was estimated at 98%. Furthermore, the toxicity of the free and nanoarchaeosome drugs was assessed via the MTT assay, results of which were indicative of a mean of IC 50 0.22 µg/ml in this regard.
Conclusion: According to the results of the study, archaeosomes extracted from polar lipids were produced with high concentration and purity on the nanoscale. Considering the high stability, ease of production, level of drug loading, and toxic effect on cancer cells, nanoarchaeosomes can be used as a suitable technique for targeted drug delivery in future studies. 
 

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Due to low cost, ease of administration, and lack need for trained personnel, the oral route is the most convenient and accessible way to design different medicines that could be simply consumed by patients. Regardless of the great benefits of this route, the main challenge in the bioavailability of oral medications is gastrointestinal instability. Nanotechnology is used to improve the solubility and bioavailability of poorly water-soluble drugs. The self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery system is an ideal method for improving the solubility and bioavailability of poorly water-soluble drugs. This system is a sustainable combination of drugs, oils, surfactants, and cosurfactants. The combination of these components causes the nanoemulsion of oil in water with the size of droplets in the range of nm, thereby increasing the bioavailability and oral absorption of poorly water-soluble drugs. This system is highly regarded for its benefits and the ability to improve the healing properties of oral medications.

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Background and Objectives: Production of fish protein hydrolysate is a method for converting the low-value economical underutilized fish species to value-added products. This study aimed to evaluate the different proportions of distilled water to the substrate on the functional characteristics, antioxidant and nutritional quality of fish protein hydrolysate of bigeye ilisha (Ilisha megaloptera) produced by enzymatic hydrolysis.
Materials and Methods: After defatting of minced fish, the hydrolysis process was carried out using three different 4:1, 5:1 and 6:1 distilled water to substrate proportions by using alcalase enzyme in three replications. The protein hydrolysate samples were analyzed for approximate composition (soluble protein, moisture, fat and ash), functional characteristics (solubility, foam capacity, and foam stability), antioxidant properties (DPPH radical scavenging activity and reducing power) and mineral composition.
Results: In this study, the ratio of distilled water to the substrate affected the protein hydrolysate properties and the highest amounts of hydrolysis degree and DPPH radical scavenging activity were observed in samples with 5:1 ratio. Fish protein hydrolysate obtained from 4:1 ratio had the highest amount of soluble protein, and no significant difference was observed in term of solubility with samples obtained by 5:1 ratio. Moreover, there were no significant differences in terms of lightness and foam capacity of samples obtained from 4:1 and 6:1 proportions.
Conclusion: According to the results of the study, using a 4:1 ratio of distilled water to substrate led to the production of fish protein hydrolysates from bigeye ilisha with higher functional properties and nutritional composition.

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Nano science and nanotechnology have revolutionized all aspects in the endodontic field. The aim of the present study was to describe the application of nanotechnology in endodontics by reviewing the literature.The application of nanomaterials, with a smaller size, for surface modification has reduced the incidence of failure in the rotary nickel-titanium files. Nanoparticles with the ability of rapid dispersion into the hard-to-reach spaces in the complex root canal system have a better antimicrobial effect. The incorporation of nanoparticles in the obturating materials promotes the sealing properties and antimicrobial efficacy. Nanoscaffolds in the pulp regeneration approaches, bioceramics as retrofilling, and repair materials, and Nanorobots and nanoterminators as new technologies for local anesthesia with fewer side effects are some examples in this regard.
 

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Background and objectives: The association of oral micro-organisms with infectious diseases such as bacterial endocarditis is a concern in dentistry. Bacterial endocarditis is a serious disease with a mortality rate of 40%. The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of using chlorhexidine mouthwash on concentrations of some groups of bacteria in gingival sulcus, which is the main contact point of oral flora with circulating blood during scaling.
­­­ Methods: In this Randomized controlled clinical trial, participants were selected among referrals to the department of gingival diseases of Yazd dental school. Participants underwent determining plaque index and after scaling, sampling of the buccal and lingual gingival groove of mandibular central and lateral teeth was performed by paper with walking movement.
Results: participants were 53 patients who divided into two groups. Group A consisted of 27 patients (15 women and 12 men) ranging in age from 21 to 54 years mean of 35) who used 50 mL chlorhexidine mouthwash and Group B consisted of 26 patients (13 females and 13 males) ranging in age from 19 to 51 years old with a mean of 35.76 who used 50 mL normal saline before scaling. Study groups were not significantly different in terms of age, sex and plaque index. (P-values= 0.755, 0.348 and 0.708)
Mann Whitney-Wilcoxon test compared the counted values of Streptococcus viridance and Staphylococcus aureus in control group was significantly higher than the study group. (P-value = 0.000)
Conclusion: according to the results of our study chlorhexidine mouthwash prior to scaling teeth significantly reduced Streptococcus viridance and Staphylococcus aureus colony counts and could be recommended as a complementary agent for antibiotic prophylaxis in high risk patients prone to endocarditis, or as the only agent in moderate risk cardiac patients that antibiotic prophylaxis does not been used.

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Background and objectives: Breast carcinoma is one of the most common malignant diseases among women worldwide. In Iraq there are noticeable elevation in incidence rates and prevalence of advanced stages of breast cancer. Cobalamin (vitamin B12) is essential micronutrient involved in one carbon metabolism and DNA methylation, which affects cancer. All of these may be change in breast cancer. The present work was designed to estimate and compare serum vitamin B12 among female breast cancer patients (60 ones) and healthy control subjects (60 ones) in Sulaimania city.
Methods: This is a case-control study conducted on sixty cases of newly diagnosed women with breast cancer, the control group include sixty healthy women. Serum vitamin B12 levels were estimated by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (Elecsys) method. Data was analyzed using the software SPSS (Ver. 22) including frequency and percentage for categorical variables. Pearson chi-square test was used for analysis of all categorical variables.
Results: In this study we found that serum vitamin B12 levels were significantly (p=0.01) lower in breast cancer patients as compared to healthy control subject. There was no association between serum vitamin B12 levels with estrogen, progesterone, and HER2 receptor.
Conclusion: Given the results, it can be concluded that serum vitamin B12 is consistently lower among breast cancer patients. There was no association between serum vitamin B12 levels and hormones receptors status, indicating clinical implications for the interpretation of serum vitamin B12 levels. Therefore, it should be taken into consideration by physicians and cancer specialists.
 

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Background and objectives: Ischemic stroke (IS) is a life-threatening disease which lacks reliable prognostic and/or diagnostic biomarkers. In the present study, we examined the serum oxidative stress balance (OSB) and evaluated its diagnostic and prognostic value for IS.
Methods: Sera from 52 IS patients and 52 sex- and age-matched healthy volunteers were obtained. All patients were subjected to the collection of samples at the time of admission, 24 and 48 hours later, at the time of discharge and three months later. OSB levels were assessed by spectrophotometry. Statistical analyses for diagnostic accuracy of quantitative measures were performed.
Results: We showed that OSB levels were elevated at the time of admission in comparison to normal subjects. ROC curve analysis expressed that OSB could be an acceptable diagnostic marker to discriminate IS patients from normal subjects (AUC = 0.7337; P<0.0001). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that OSB had no prognostic value (P=0.8584).
Conclusion: Oxidative stress balance could be introduced as a suggested biomarker to segregate IS patients from normal subjects.

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Study objectives: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common chronic and systemic autoimmune disease, characterized by inflammation and the destruction of the joints. It is well known that CD4+ T cells play a major role in the pathogenesis of RA. Expanded subpopulations of CD4+ T cells have been reported in RA patients. Here, we investigated the expression of PD-1 on subsets of CD4+ T cells (CD4+CD28- and CD4+CD28+ T cells) in the peripheral blood (PB) and synovial fluid (SF) of patients with RA.
Methods: A total of 42 RA patients, including 10 newly diagnosed (ND) and 32 relapsed (RL) cases and also 20 healthy controls were enrolled. Phenotypic characterization subsets of CD4+ T cells were evaluated by flow cytometry, using fluorescence conjugated specific human monoclonal antibodies.
Results: The frequency of CD4+CD28+ T cells was significantly increased in SF versus PB in ND and RL patients. In contrast, the percentage of CD4+CD28- T cells was elevated in PB of ND and RL patients comparison to SF. Expression of PD-1 on CD4+CD28+ and CD4+CD28- T cells in PB of ND and RL patients was significantly higher than the healthy controls. Furthermore, PD-1 expression on CD4+CD28+ and CD4+CD28- T cells in SF versus PB of RL patients were significant increased.
Conclusion: These data suggest that CD4+ T cells subsets in RA patients were resistance to PD-1 mediated effects and PD-1 has insufficient ability to suppression of CD4+T cells.

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Background and objectives: Microbial resistance to antibiotics is one of the most common problems in the health care system. Therefore, many efforts have been performed to find new compounds as antimicrobial compounds. This study carried out to investigate the in-vitro antibacterial effect of methanolic extract of peppermint on standard Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain.
Material and Methods: In this experimental laboratory study, after collecting and performing pharmacognosy evaluations, methanolic extract of the peppermint plant was prepared and its antimicrobial effects on several bacteria were determined at concentrations of 20 to 400 mg/ml using the agar well diffusion method, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC)  methods. The test was repeated five times for each bacterium and the collected data were analyzed using SPSS software.
Results: It was revealed that the methanolic extract of peppermint had antimicrobial effects against standard Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The highest effect was observed in S. aureus and the least in P. aeruginosa.  MIC and MBC of methanol extract on S. aureus, B. cereus, E. coli, and P. aeruginosa were 6.5-15.5, 15.5-25, 50-100, and 100-200 mg/ml, respectively.
Conclusion: The results of this study reveal that peppermint can be considered as an antibacterial medicinal herb and that if the concentration of the extract is higher, its antibacterial properties will also increase. Thus, it can be used as an alternative to the usual chemical drugs in the treatment of infections after evaluating their effects in vitro.

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Background and objectives: It has been reported that deep-fried oils (DFOs) used in the preparation of fast foods can affect the immune system. On the other hand, regular physical activity and proper nutrition, in addition to affecting physical function, have a tremendous impact on the immune system. The aim of the present study was to investigate the anti-inflammatory effects of aerobic training (T) and octopamine (O) consumption in the heart tissue of rats fed DFO.
Methods: In this experimental study, 25 male Wistar rats with mean age of 20 weeks old and weighing 300- 350 were purchased and divided into 5 groups of 5 rats, including: 1) control, 2) DFO, 3) DFO+T, 4) DFO+O and 5) DFO+T+O. During four weeks, groups 2- 5 received DFO by gavage; groups 3- 5 ran on treadmill (with speed of 50% Vo_2max in the first week which reached 65% Vo_2max in the last week) five sessions per week and 20 minutes per session and groups 4-5 received 81 μmol/kg octopamine supplement peritoneally for 5 days per week. Nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) gene expression were measured in heart tissue.
Results: DFO significantly increased NF-κB (P=0.005) and TNF-α (P=0.001) gene expression levels; T significantly on decreased NF-κB (P=0.01) and TNF-α (P=0.007) gene expression levels; O consumption significantly decreased NF-κB (P=0.001) and TNF-α (P=0.001) gene expression levels; however, the interactive effects of T and O consumption on NF-κB (P=0.57) and TNF-α (P=0.20) gene expression levels was not significant.
Conclusion: It seems that T and O consumption alone have anti-inflammatory effects on the heart tissue of rats fed DFO, however T and O do not have anti-inflammatory interactive effects.

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Background and objectives: Vitamin D receptor (VDR) has been identified as a susceptibility gene for several autoimmune diseases. This study was designed to investigate the association of VDR gene polymorphisms with the susceptibility to rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
Methods: A case-control study was performed on 130 RA patients and 128 healthy subjects in the north-east of Iran using restriction fragment length polymorphism-polymerase chain reaction (RFLP-PCR) technique.  
Results: Our findings suggested a significant association of T allele (p=0.01) of TaqI (rs731236), and f allele (p=0.01) of FokI (rs10735810) genetic variants of the VDR gene with RA susceptibility. These significant associations were also found in the T/T genotype of TaqI (p=0.009), and F/f genotype of FokI (P=0.014). The f-T haplotype was more significantly detected in-patients than in healthy controls (p=0.007).
Conclusion: The RA group showed an increase in the f allele and heterozygous F/f genotype and also in the T allele and homozygous T/T and heterozygous T/t genotypes as compared to the control group. Our results demonstrated that polymorphisms of TaqI and FokI in the VDR gene might be involved in the development of RA in an Iranian population.

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