Outcomes and long-term quality of life of patients with severe left ventricular dysfunction who underwent coronary artery bypass surgery

Purpose  

The aim of this study was to identify determinants of long-term results after coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) in group of Iranian patients with systolic left ventricular (LV) dysfunction.     

Phenolic content and antioxidant activity of flixweed (Descurainia sophia) seeds extracts: Ranking extraction systems based on fuzzy logic method

Flixweed (Descurainia sophia) seeds (FS) is a rich source of polyphenols. This study aimed to investigate the effects of various solvents (water, aqueous-methanol and aqueous-ethanol) and techniques (maceration (M), ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE), ohmic-assisted extraction (OAE), and decoction – infusion (DI)) on extraction yield, pH, total phenolic contents (TPC), and antioxidant activity (DPPH radical scavenging activity (DRSA)) of flixweed seeds powder (FSP). Extraction systems were ranked by fuzzy-logic (inputs: extraction yield and time, TPC and DRSA). Water as a solvent in extraction process had the maximum yield, TPC and DRSA 6.49%; 141.598 mg GAE/100 mL and 72.91%, respectively. The difference between water and aqueous-ethanol was significant (p < 0.05). Values of pH of aqueous-methanol extract was significantly higher than other solvents. OAE and UAE achieved the highest (10.1%) and lowest (2.3%) extraction yields, respectively. Low temperature maceration showed the highest TPC and DRSA. Fuzzy-logic ranking based on expert's knowledge (30 experts) predicted the OAE with water as solvent to be score the highest rank in terms of overall efficiency. The overall efficiency is determined based on yield, extraction duration, antioxidant activity, and TPC. However, if the ranking are to be based on isolation of bioactive materials at a reasonably short time, the UAE may be the preferred choice. The HPLC analysis of OAE water extract indicates the presence of several phenolic compounds such as caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, rutin, quercetin, and kaempferol.     

Antioxidant Properties and Total Phenolic Contents of Extracts from Three Macroalgae Collected from Chabahar Coasts

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, India Section B: Biological Sciences - Water, ethanol and ethanol/water extracts from three species of seaweeds (Padina australis, Stoechospermum...     

Identification of a stool long non‐coding RNAs panel as a potential biomarker for early detection of colorectal cancer

BackgroundThe feces of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients contain tumor colonocytes, which constantly shed into the lumen area. Therefore, stool evaluation can be considered as a rapid and low‐risk way to directly determine the colon and rectum status. As long non‐coding RNAs (lncRNAs) alterations are important in cancer cells fate regulation, we aimed to assess the level of a panel of cancer‐related lncRNAs in fecal colonocytes.MethodsThe population study consisted of 150 subjects, including a training set, a validation set, and a group of 30 colon polyps. The expression levels of lncRNAs were evaluated by quantitative real‐time PCR (qRT‐PCR). The NPInetr and EnrichR tools were used to identify the interactions and functions of lncRNAs.ResultsA total of 10 significantly dysregulated lncRNAs, including CCAT1, CCAT2, H19, HOTAIR, HULC, MALAT1, PCAT1, MEG3, PTENP1, and TUSC7, were chosen for designing a predictive panel. The diagnostic performance of the panel in distinguishing CRCs from the healthy group was AUC: 0.8554 in the training set and 0.8465 in the validation set. The AUC for early CRCs (I‐II TNM stages) was 0.8554 in the training set and 0.8465 in the validation set, and for advanced CRCs (III‐IV TNM stages) were 0.9281 in the training set and 0.9236 in the validation set. The corresponding AUC for CRCs vs polyps were 0.9228 (I‐IV TNM stages), 0.9042 (I‐II TNM stages), and 0.9362 (III‐IV TNM stages).ConclusionsThese data represented the application of analysis of fecal colonocytes lncRNAs in early detection of CRC.     

Comparison of two regimens of vitamin D supplementation for vitamin D-deficient neonates

INTRODUCTION

Vitamin D deficiency is common in pregnant women, and supplementation of vitamin D is necessary for the infants of these women. This study explored the efficacy of an alternative way of vitamin D supplementation in an area with a high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in mothers.

METHODS

This was a non-randomised clinical trial conducted in 2010 in Yazd, Iran. Full-term healthy infants born to vitamin D-deficient mothers (n = 82) were divided into the high-dose regimen (HDR; single oral bolus 30,000 IU vitamin D₃, n = 34) and the standard-dose regimen (SDR; 400 IU/day vitamin D₃ within two weeks of life, n = 48) groups. 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) was measured using chemiluminescent immunoassays, and 25OHD level > 20 ng/mL was deemed sufficient.

RESULTS

Over 90% of infants in the HDR group attained vitamin D sufficiency within one month, while comparable sufficiency was reached in the SDR group only after four months. At two months, the proportion of infants attaining 25OHD > 30 ng/mL was 93.3% and 27.9% in the HDR and SDR groups, respectively (p = 0.003). None of our infants achieved 25OHD levels > 100 ng/mL.

CONCLUSION

For infants born to vitamin D-deficient mothers, oral supplementation of 30,000 IU vitamin D₃ during the first month of life, followed by a routine recommended dose of 400 IU/day, should be considered. The four-month lag for attaining vitamin D sufficiency in 90% of infants in the SDR group may have clinical implications and should be further investigated.     

Simultaneous effects of noise exposure and smoking on OAEs

Noise is one of the most pervasive hazardous factors in the workplace. Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is the most common disorder related to noise exposure. Smoking is probably associated with hearing loss. The simultaneous effect of noise and smoking on hearing is a recent concern. In this study, we assessed the simultaneous effect of noise and smoking on standard pure tone audiometry (PTA) and distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DP-OAEs). This was an historical cohort study on 224 workers exposed to noise who were divided into two groups: Smokers and nonsmokers. DP-OAE response amplitudes were assessed. Data were analyzed by SPSS software (version 19) using Student''s t-test and Mann-Whitney U test. One hundred and five subjects were smokers (case group) and 119 individuals were nonsmokers (control group). All the subjects were exposed to 91.08 ± 2.29 dBA [time-weighted average (TWA) for an 8 h work shift]. Mean DP-OAE response amplitude at frequencies higher than 1,000 Hz was significantly higher in the smokers than the nonsmokers. This study showed that smoking can aggravate the effect of noise on hearing in DP-OAEs.     

Five Years Survival of Patients After Liver Transplantation and Its Effective Factors by Neural Network and Cox Poroportional Hazard Regression Models

Background:

Transplantation is the only treatment for patients with liver failure. Since the therapy imposes high expenses to the patients and community, identification of effective factors on survival of such patients after transplantation is valuable.

Objectives:

The current study attempted to model the survival of patients (two years old and above) after liver transplantation using neural network and Cox Proportional Hazards (Cox PH) regression models. The event is defined as death due to complications of liver transplantation.

Patients and Methods:

In a historical cohort study, the clinical findings of 1168 patients who underwent liver transplant surgery (from March 2008 to march 2013) at Shiraz Namazee Hospital Organ Transplantation Center, Shiraz, Southern Iran, were used. To model the one to five years survival of such patients, Cox PH regression model accompanied by three layers feed forward artificial neural network (ANN) method were applied on data separately and their prediction accuracy was compared using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC). Furthermore, Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate the survival probabilities in different years.

Results:

The estimated survival probability of one to five years for the patients were 91%, 89%, 85%, 84%, and 83%, respectively. The areas under the ROC were 86.4% and 80.7% for ANN and Cox PH models, respectively. In addition, the accuracy of prediction rate for ANN and Cox PH methods was equally 92.73%.

Conclusions:

The present study detected more accurate results for ANN method compared to those of Cox PH model to analyze the survival of patients with liver transplantation. Furthermore, the order of effective factors in patients’ survival after transplantation was clinically more acceptable. The large dataset with a few missing data was the advantage of this study, the fact which makes the results more reliable.