New insight into functional limb regeneration: A to Z approaches

Limb/digit amputation is a common event in humans caused by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. Although the loss of a digit is not lethal, it affects quality of life and imposes high costs on amputees. In recent years, the increasing interest in limb regeneration has led to enhanced scientific knowledge. However, the limited ability to develop functional limb regeneration in the clinical setting suggests that a challenging issue remains in limb regeneration. Recently, the emergence of regenerative engineering is a promising field to address this challenge and close the gap between science and clinical applications. Cell signalling and molecular mechanisms involved in the limb regeneration process have been extensively studied; however, there is still insufficient data on cell therapy and tissue engineering for limb regeneration. In this review, we intend to focus on therapeutic approaches for limb regeneration that are closely related to gene, immune, and stem cell therapies, as well as tissue engineering approaches that take into consideration the peculiar developmental properties of the limbs. In addition, we attempt to identify the challenges of these strategies for limb regeneration studies in terms of clinical settings and as a road map to accomplish the goal of functional human limb regeneration.     

Neck pain in Iranian school teachers: Prevalence and risk factors

Neck pain (NP) is a common occupational health problem associated with a number of professions. Many studies indicate that NP is common among teachers, yet no published study was found to address the prevalence and risk factors of NP in Iranian school teachers. The purpose of the current study was to assess the prevalence and risk factors for NP among school teachers in Iran. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 586 randomly selected primary and high schools teachers from 22 schools in Tehran, Iran. Point, last month, last 6 months, annual, and lifetime prevalence rates of NP were 24%, 29%, 33%, 37%, and 43%, respectively. There was a significant association and increased prevalence of NP with a number of risk factors such as; being female, age, general health, length of employment, regular exercise and job satisfaction (P < 0.05 in all instances). Therefore, some individual and occupational factors may make conditions relevant for the development of NP among teachers.     

Prevalence of Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders in Iranian Physical Therapists: A Cross-sectional Study

Objective

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among Iranian physical therapists.

Evaluation of Apoptotic and Antileishmanial Activities of Artemisinin on Promastigotes and BALB/C Mice Infected with Leishmania major

Background:

In leishmaniasis, some drugs prescribed for treatment have toxic effects and there are reports about drug resistance in some countries. Due to this fact, using herbal drugs such as artemisinin with good efficacy and low toxic effect might be suitable.

Methods:

We evaluated the apoptotic effect of artemisinin on Leishmania major in vitro and the antileishmanial activities of artemisinin on leishmaniasis in BALB/c mice and at the end INF-γ and IL-4 cytokines levels were detected by ELISA in spleen cell culture supernatants. During treatment the lesion size and survival rate were measured each four and ten days, respectively.

Results:

Percentage of early and late apoptosis in promastigotes of control group and promastigotes treated with 10, 25, 50 and 100 μg/ml of artemisinin after 48 h were 0.13, 16.04, 41.23, 49.03 and 81.83, respectively. The IFN-γ in ointment treated group were higher than those of other groups (P<0.05). The in vivo results showed that ointment compounds healed the lesions more effectively rather than intraperitoneal injection method (P<0.05). The survival rate of mice 150 days after challenge in treated group with ointment of artemisinin was 66% while all mice in control groups were died.

Conclusion:

All of in vitro results represented that this drug had antileishmanial effects and these results were confirmed by evaluation effects in vivo condition of leishmaniasis. Interestingly, according to these results it can be concluded that this drug has antileishmanial effects in vitro and in vivo conditions. Artemisinin induces cytotoxic effect on L. major via apoptosis-related mechanism.     

Phylogenetic Study of Haemonchus Species from Iran Based On Morpho-Molecular Characterization

Background:

Haemonchosis has a negative effect on the farming industry throughout the world, especially in the tropic and sub-tropic countries. The present study was carried out to differentiate Haemonchus species from its main hosts in Iran, including sheep, goat and camel.

Methods:

The identification took place based on the morphometrics of the spicules and molecular characters. Two hundred seventy adult male nematodes were collected from the abomasums of different ruminants (90 samples from each animal) at the slaughterhouses from different localities in Iran. Samples were morphologically identified according to the spicules’ morphometric measurements. In the section on molecular study, 10 samples of each Haemonchus isolates were genetically examined. A simple PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) assay of the second internal transcribed spacer of ribosomal DNA (ITS2-rDNA) were described to confirm the PCR results.

Results:

PCR-RFLP profile obtained from the restriction enzyme HPa1 in H. contortus and H. longistipes indicated 1 (278 bp) and 2 (113 and 135 bp) different fragments, respectively. The morphological parameters clearly distinguish H. contortus from H. longistipes. Moreover, regarding the ITS2-rDNA, sequences of 295 bp and 314 bp were obtained from H. contortus and H. longistipes, respectively.

Conclusion:

The genotypic results are in agreement with the phenotypic findings of both species.     

Decarboxylative cross-coupling reactions for P(O)–C bond formation

Phosphorus-containing compounds are one of the most important classes of organic compounds, which have wide applications in organic chemistry, medicinal chemistry, agricultural chemistry, and materials chemistry. In particular, organophosphorus compounds bearing a P(O)–C bond have attracted significant attention in recent decades due to their widespread biological and pharmacological activities. In this review, we will highlight the most important developments in the construction of P(O)–C bonds through decarboxylative C–P cross-coupling reactions. The literature has been surveyed from 2011 to May 2018.

Phosphorus-containing compounds are one of the most important classes of organic compounds, which have wide applications in organic chemistry, medicinal chemistry, agricultural chemistry, and materials chemistry.     

Health-related quality of life in Iranian women with polycystic ovary syndrome: a qualitative study

Background

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is associated with a range of challenging symptoms which impact patient’s lives. Iranian women with PCOS are likely to face a number of unique difficulties given particular societal and cultural norms for women. Understanding health-related quality of life (HRQoL) from a patients’perspective is critical to developing the appropriate support interventions. The present study aimed to generate an in-depthunderstanding of HRQoL Iranian women with PCOS.

Methods

Twenty Iranian women were interviewed and data was subjected to thematic analysis.

Results

Women reported substantial effects of PCOS on their quality of life, Themes generated from the data related to sexual - physical problems (An unsexualised self: loss, change and pain; and Being pained and painful); exposure and nvasion: the rejecting and invading social world (Concealing and Avoiding and Public property: public scrutiny), diminished self and diminished life (Infertile as inferior and Exhausted mind andbody) respectively.

Conclusion

PCOS is a physical - sexual, psychological and social syndrome; therefore, it is necessary to taking a more holistic approach to patient care beyond treating physical symptoms.

     

HIV Prevalence and Related Behaviors Among People Who Inject Drugs in Iran from 2010 to 2020

AIDS and Behavior - Injection drug use has been the leading route of HIV transmission in Iran. We assessed HIV prevalence, risk behaviors, and uptake of prevention services among people who inject...     

Development of a mono‐specific anti‐VEGF bivalent nanobody with extended plasma half‐life for treatment of pathologic neovascularization

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays a crucial role in angiogenesis within solid cancers. Thus, targeting VEGF might be part of a feasible therapy for treating pathological neovascularization, and nanobodies ? derived from heavy chain‐only antibodies occurring within Camelidae ? are a novel class of nanometer‐sized antibodies possessing unique properties that could be developed into a promising therapeutic. However, nanobodies have a very short half‐life in vivo due to their small size. Development of a bivalent nanobody is one way to remediate the half‐life problem of nanobodies. Two identical anti‐VEGF nanobodies were connected using the hinge region of llama IgG2c. The recombinant plasmid (pHEN6c‐bivalent nanobody) was transformed into E.coli WK6 cells and expression of the bivalent nanobody construct was induced with 1mM Isopropyl β‐D‐1‐thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG). Recombinant bivalent nanobody was purified using nickel affinity chromatography and its activity on human endothelial cells was assessed using 3‐(4,5‐Dimethylthiazol‐2‐yr)‐2,5‐diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT), tube formation, and cell migration assays. The pharmacokinetic study was performed after intravenous (i.v.) injection of recombinant bivalent nanobody into six‐week‐old C57BL/6 mice. Recombinant bivalent nanobody performed significantly better than monovalent nanobody in inhibiting proliferation, tube formation, and migration of human endothelial cells. Pharmacokinetic results showed a 1.8‐fold longer half‐life of bivalent nanobody in comparison with the monovalent nanobody. These results underscore the potential of recombinant anti‐VEGF bivalent nanobody as a promising tool for development of a novel therapeutic with an extended plasma half‐life for VEGF‐related diseases.