An overview on inactivated and live‐attenuated SARS‐CoV‐2 vaccines

After about 2 years since severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2), first infections were detected in Wuhan city of China in December 2019, which was followed by a worldwide pandemic with a record of 5.41 million deaths. Due to urgent need for the development of a safe and effective vaccine for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19), attempts for producing efficient vaccines are inexhaustibly continuing. According to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO) on COVID‐19 vaccine tracker and landscape, there are 149 vaccine candidates all over the world. Inactivated SARS‐CoV‐2 vaccines as a conventional vaccine platform consist of whole virus particles grown in cell culture and inactivated by chemicals. Because of benefits such as antigenic similarity to real virion inducing humoral and cellular immune responses and ease for transport and storage, these vaccines, including the vaccines produced by Bharat Biotech, Sinopharm, and Sinovac, are in use at large scales. In this study, we have a review on inactivated SARS‐CoV‐2 vaccines that are passing their phase 3 and 4 clinical trials, population which was included in the trials, vaccine producers, the efficiency, adverse effects, and components of vaccines, and other vaccine features.     

Father–Son COVID‐19‐associated mucormycosis: Important role of genetic susceptibility in combination with environmental factors

In this report, a father with a history of diabetes mellitus and his son without a remarkable past medical history, both got COVID‐19‐ associated mucormycosis (CAM) as evidenced by their clinical and radiological findings. This suggests the possible role of genetics in combination with the environment in susceptibility to CAM.     

Association of AXIN1 rs12921862 C/A and rs1805105 G/A and CTSB rs12898 G/A polymorphisms with papillary thyroid carcinoma: A case–control study

BackgroundPapillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is the most common type of thyroid cancer which its precise etiology remains unknown. However, environmental and genetic factors contribute to the etiology of PTC. Axis inhibition protein 1 (Axin1) is a scaffold protein that exerts its role as a tumor suppressor. In addition, Cathepsin B (Ctsb) is a cysteine protease with higher expression in several types of tumors. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the possible association of AXIN1 rs12921862 C/A and rs1805105 G/A and CTSB rs12898 G/A polymorphisms with PTC susceptibility.Materials & MethodsIn total, 156 PTC patients and 158 sex‐, age‐, and BMI‐matched control subjects were enrolled in the study. AXIN1 rs12921862 C/A and rs1805105 G/A and CTSB rs12898 G/A polymorphisms were genotyped using the PCR–RFLP method.ResultsThere was a relationship between AXIN1 rs12921862 C/A polymorphism and an increased risk of PTC in all genetic models except the overdominant model. The AXIN1 rs1805105 G/A polymorphism was associated with an increased PTC risk only in codominant and overdominant models. The frequency of AXIN1 A _rs12921862 A _rs1805105 haplotype was higher in the PTC group and also this haplotype was associated with an increased risk of PTC. Moreover, the AXIN1 rs12921862 C/A polymorphism was not associated with PTC clinical and pathological findings, but AXIN1 rs1805105 G/A polymorphism was associated with almost three folds of larger tumor size (≥1 cm). There was no association between CTSB rs12898 G/A polymorphism and PTC and its findings.ConclusionThe AXIN1 rs12921862 C/A and rs1805105 G/A polymorphisms were associated with PTC. AXIN1 rs1805105 G/A polymorphism was associated with higher tumor size.     

Direct sulfonamidation of (hetero)aromatic C–H bonds with sulfonyl azides: a novel and efficient route to N-(hetero)aryl sulfonamides

N-Aryl sulfonamides belong to a highly important class of organosulfur compounds which are found in a number of FDA-approved drugs such as dofetilide, dronedarone, ibutilide, sotalol, sulfadiazine, sulfamethizole, vemurafenib, and many more. There is therefore continuing interest in the development of novel and convenient protocols for the preparation of these pharmaceutically important compounds. Recently, direct sulfonamidation of (hetero)aromatic C–H bonds with easily available sulfonyl azides has emerged as an attractive and powerful strategy to access N-(hetero)aryl sulfonamides where non-toxic nitrogen gas forms as the sole by-product. This review highlights recent advances and developments (2012–2020) in this fast growing research area with emphasis on the mechanistic features of the reactions.

N-Aryl sulfonamides belong to a highly important class of organosulfur compounds which are found in a number of FDA-approved drugs such as dofetilide, dronedarone, ibutilide, sotalol, sulfadiazine, sulfamethizole, vemurafenib, and many more.     

Hyperlipidemia in Iranian liver transplant recipients: prevalence and risk factors

Background Hyperlipidemia is a metabolic complication after liver transplantation (LT). The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and risk factors for developing hyperlipidemia in patients who underwent LT in the Shiraz Organ Transplantation Center. Methods Our patients were 170 liver recipients who underwent LT from 1994 to 2006 in the Organ Transplantation Center of the Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. To perform this study we administered questionnaires, including information about age, sex, body mass index (BMI), underlying liver disease, graft type, immunosuppressive medications, and serum levels of triglycerides and cholesterol, before and 6 months after LT. Serum triglyceride and cholesterol levels were considered elevated if they were >150 mg/dl and >250 mg/dl, respectively. Data were analyzed with SPSS software. Results There were 108 male and 62 female patients, with a mean age of 31.4 ± 13.3 years, and the mean duration of follow-up was 25.9 ± 23.5 months. The average pretransplant serum triglyceride and cholesterol (mean of individual means) levels were 104.6 ± 73.2 and 109.5 ± 51.5 mg/dl, respectively, and the average posttransplant levels were 230.1 ± 131 and 185 ± 77 mg/dl, respectively. Six months after LT, 119 (70%) and 26 (15.3%) patients developed hypertriglyceridemia and hypercholesterolemia, respectively. Age, sex, BMI, and underlying liver disease were not predictors of hypertriglyceridemia or hypercholesterolemia (P > 0.05). Posttransplant hypertriglyceridemia was significantly more common in patients receiving tacrolimus than in those receiving cyclosporine (P = 0.040), but posttransplant hypercholesterolemia had no significant correlation with type of immune suppression (P > 0.05). Conclusions Hyperlipidemia was common after LT, and hypertriglyceridemia was more common than hypercholesterolemia. Among all risk factors, tacrolimus therapy was correlated with development of hypertriglyceridemia after LT.     

Antioxidant,anti-microbial and antimutagenicity activities of pistachio (Pistachia vera) green hull extract

Antioxidant, anti-microbial and antimutagenicity activities of pistachio (Ahmadaghaei variety) green hull extracts (crude and purified extracts) were studied. At first, different solvents were compared for determining of the best solvent for extraction of phenolic compounds from pistachio green hull. Water and acetonitrile with 49.32 and 6.22 (mg of gallic acid equivalents/g sample) were the best and the worst solvent in the extraction of phenolic compounds, respectively. The antioxidant capacity of crude and purified extracts were assessed through ABTS assay, DPPH assay and β-carotene bleaching (BCB) method. A concentration-dependent antioxidative capacity was verified in ABTS, DPPH assays and BCB method. The anti-microbial capacity was screened against Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria, and fungi. Aqueous and purified extracts inhibited the growth of Gram positive bacteria; Bacillus cereus was the most susceptible one with MIC of 1 mg/mL and 0.5 mg/mL for the crude and purified extracts, respectively. The results of antimutagenicity test showed that phenolic compounds of pistachio green hull have antimutagenicity activity against direct mutagen of 2-nitrofluorene. The results obtained indicate that pistachio green hull may become important as a cheap and noticeable source of compounds with health protective potential and anti-microbial activity.     

Incidence of Childhood Cancers in Golestan Province of Iran

Objective

This paper presents the incidence rates of childhood cancers using the data obtained from Golestan population based cancer registry (GPCR) between 2004 and 2006.

Methods

GPCR registers only primary cancers based on standard protocols of the international association of cancer registries (IACR). We collect data on newly diagnosed (incident) cancer cases from all public and private diagnostic and therapeutic centers of the whole province. CanReg-4 software was used for data entry and analysis.

Findings

Totally 5076 cancer cases (all ages) were diagnosed in GPCR between 2004 and 2006. Of these, 139 (2.74 %) were children (aged 0–14 years) with mean (±SD) age of 8.06 (±4.48) years. The age standardized incidence rates for childhood cancer were 119.8 and 78.3 per 1000000 person-years in male and female children, respectively. Leukemia was the most common childhood cancer in Golestan province of Iran. Lymphomas and central nervous system tumors were the second and third ones, respectively.

Conclusion

The incidence rates of childhood cancers were relatively high in Golestan province of Iran. So, controlling of childhood cancers should be mentioned as an important issue in health policy making in this area.