Impact of resveratrol supplementation on inflammatory,antioxidant, and periodontal markers in type 2 diabetic patients with chronic periodontitis

BackgroundDiabetes mellitus and periodontal disease are two common and chronic diseases with bidirectional relationship influence public health and quality of life. The aims of this study was to study the impact of resveratrol supplementation in adjunct with non-surgical periodontal therapy on inflammatory, antioxidant, and periodontal markers in patients with type 2 diabetes with periodontal disease.Materials and methodsIn this randomized clinical trial, 43 patients with diabetes and chronic periodontitis were randomly allocated into two intervention and control groups receiving either resveratrol supplements or placebo for 4 weeks. Serum levels of interleukin 6 (IL6), tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα), total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and clinical attachment loss (CAL) as the main index of periodontal marker were measured pre-intervention and post-intervention.ResultsIn the intervention group, the mean serum level of IL6 was reduced significantly (P = 0.039) post-intervention (2.19 ± 1.09 and 1.58 ± 1.06). No significant differences were seen in the mean levels of IL6, TNFα, TAC and CAL between two groups post-intervention.ConclusionsIt is suggested that daily consumption of resveratrol supplement may not change TNFα, TAC and CAL, but it would be beneficial in reducing serum levels of IL6. Therefore, further studies are suggested to investigate the effects of resveratrol supplementation along with NST on periodontal status.     

Sleep hygiene behaviours mediate the association between health/e-health literacy and mental wellbeing

Background

Health literacy and e-health literacy are important factors helping people shape awareness of health behaviours in different aspects, including sleep hygiene behaviours. Good sleep hygiene behaviours promote sleep quality and are beneficial to overall mental wellbeing.

Objective

We aimed to examine if sleep hygiene behaviours may mediate the association between health literacy/e-health literacy and mental wellbeing.

Methods

Adult Iranian subjects (n = 9775; mean [SD] age = 36.44 [11.97] years; 67.3% females) completed the Health Literacy Instrument for Adults, eHealth Literacy Scale, three items on sleep hygiene behaviour that have been used in prior research and the Short Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale. Data were then subjected to structural equation modelling (SEM) including 500 bootstrapping resampling to examine whether sleep hygiene is a mediator in the relationship between health literacy/e-health literacy and mental wellbeing.

Findings

Both health literacy and e-health literacy were significantly associated with mental wellbeing (r = .63 for health literacy and .39 for e-health literacy; p < .001) and sleep hygiene behaviours (r = .58 for health literacy and .36 for e-health literacy; p < .001). Sleep hygiene behaviours were significantly associated with mental wellbeing (r = .42; p < .001). Moreover, SEM that incorporated bootstrapping approaches indicated that sleep hygiene behaviours were significant mediators in the association between health literacy/e-health literacy and mental wellbeing.

Conclusions

We conclude that health literacy and e-health literacy are associated with mental health wellbeing in the Iranian population. Additionally, the association could be mediated via sleep hygiene behaviours.

Patient or Public Contribution

The study was co-designed with healthcare providers from the vice-Chancellor's Office for Health Affairs of Qazvin University of Medical Sciences as equal partners. Moreover, the women's health volunteers were involved in the design of the study.     

Improving fund allocation in Iran Health Insurance Organization by applying internal reference pricing: a policy brief

Journal of Public Health - Improving healthcare quality services is one of the governments’ major commitments, which often faces budget constraints. Addressing this challenge requires that...     

Evaluation of the efficacy of topical sucralfate on healing haemorrhoidectomy incision wounds and reducing pain severity: A randomised clinical trial

The healing of haemorrhoidectomy wounds is a main concern of surgeons and patients. Various modalities can improve the quality of wound care after surgery. Antibiotics and topical agents, such as solutions and ointments, have been evaluated. The current research investigates the effects of sucralfate ointment on wound healing (epithelialisation) and postoperative pain after open haemorrhoidectomy. This trial involves two groups of randomly collected patients (n = 40) who underwent open haemorrhoidectomy surgery by the Milligan‐Morgan method. A 10% topical sucralfate ointment was applied to the investigated group''s wounds, while the control group patients used Vaseline as a placebo. The present work measured the two outcomes as follows: pain severity by a Visual Analogues Scale (VAS) score and epithelialisation by a surgeon''s visual inspection. During the postoperative phase, the mean VAS was 3.70 for the investigated group and 6.90 for the control group. On the average, the completion of epithelialisation for the investigated group was on day 13 as opposed to day 20 for the control group. The topical application of sucralfate ointment on post‐haemorrhoidectomy wound is an effective method for the promotion of healing, also lessens the severity of pain, and reduces the need for analgesics.     

The effects of smoking on female sexual dysfunction: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Archives of Women's Mental Health - The increased number of female smokers is considered a global health challenge in recent years. One of the detrimental effects of smoking is sexual hormone...     

Extracellular vimentin is an attachment factor that facilitates SARS-CoV-2 entry into human endothelial cells

SARS-CoV-2 entry into host cells is a crucial step for virus tropism, transmission, and pathogenesis. Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) has been identified as the primary entry receptor for SARS-CoV-2; however, the possible involvement of other cellular components in the viral entry has not yet been fully elucidated. Here we describe the identification of vimentin (VIM), an intermediate filament protein widely expressed in cells of mesenchymal origin, as an important attachment factor for SARS-CoV-2 on human endothelial cells. Using liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry, we identified VIM as a protein that binds to the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein. We showed that the S-protein receptor binding domain (RBD) is sufficient for S-protein interaction with VIM. Further analysis revealed that extracellular VIM binds to SARS-CoV-2 S-protein and facilitates SARS-CoV-2 infection, as determined by entry assays performed with pseudotyped viruses expressing S and with infectious SARS-CoV-2. Coexpression of VIM with ACE2 increased SARS-CoV-2 entry in HEK-293 cells, and shRNA-mediated knockdown of VIM significantly reduced SARS-CoV-2 infection of human endothelial cells. Moreover, incubation of A549 cells expressing ACE2 with purified VIM increased pseudotyped SARS-CoV-2-S entry. CR3022 antibody, which recognizes a distinct epitope on SARS-CoV-2-S-RBD without interfering with the binding of the spike with ACE2, inhibited the binding of VIM with CoV-2 S-RBD, and neutralized viral entry in human endothelial cells, suggesting a key role for VIM in SARS-CoV-2 infection of endothelial cells. This work provides insight into the pathogenesis of COVID-19 linked to the vascular system, with implications for the development of therapeutics and vaccines.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) (1). SARS-CoV-2 binds to host receptors and attachment factors through its spike (S) glycoprotein and mediates membrane fusion and viral entry (2, 3). Although infection of cells along the respiratory tract was almost immediately defined as an important hallmark of the disease, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has also been detected not only in the lungs, but also in the cardiovascular system, brain, liver, kidneys, and intestine (4–7). Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is recognized as an important receptor for SARS-CoV-2 (1, 2). However, recent single-cell sequencing studies have demonstrated that ACE2 expression is relatively high in upper respiratory cells but low in the lower respiratory tract (8–12), and this result coupled with the identification of multiple other factors—including AXL receptor tyrosine kinase (11), Neuropilin-1 (13), CD209L/L-SIGN, CD209/DC-SIGN (14), and heparin sulfate (15)—as additional potential receptors or coreceptors for SARS-CoV-2, suggest that multiple receptors/coreceptors may facilitate SARS-CoV-2 entry in a cell type-dependent manner. Therefore, variations in the mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 entry could account for its robust tropism, transmission, and pathogenesis.To search for unidentified receptors involved in SARS-CoV-2 entry into endothelial cells, we used SARS-CoV-2 S-receptor binding domain (S-RBD) as bait and whole-cell lysate (WCL) of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC-TERT) as a source for prey proteins followed by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analysis of proteins that showed an affinity for the SARS-CoV-2 S-RBD. Our analysis identified vimentin (VIM) as a SARS-CoV-2 binding protein. Further biochemical and cell culture studies using pseudotyped viruses expressing SARS-CoV-2 S-protein or infectious SARS-CoV-2 demonstrated that VIM interacts with both SARS-CoV-2 S and ACE2 and acts as a coreceptor for SARS-CoV-2.VIM is a type III intermediate filament protein and is widely expressed in cells of mesenchymal origin, such as endothelial cells, fibroblasts, and monocytes (16). In addition to its key role in intermediate filament formation, VIM is also present at the extracellular surface of endothelial cells and macrophages (17–19). Previous studies have found that extracellular VIM functions as an attachment factor or coreceptor for various viruses, including, SARS-CoV-1 (20), cowpea mosaic virus (21), Japanese encephalitis virus (22), dengue virus (23), and human papillomavirus (24). VIM could play an important role in promoting SARS-CoV-2 entry into the human vascular system, as well as other organs and tissues via cis- and trans-infection mechanisms.     

Evaluation of Eravacycline: A Novel Fluorocycline

Eravacycline (ERV), formerly known as TP-434, is a novel tetracycline (TET) antibiotic that exhibits in vitro activity against various gram-positive, gram-negative aerobic and anaerobic pathogens, including those exhibiting TET-specific acquired resistance mechanisms. Similar to other TETs, it inhibits protein synthesis through binding to the 30S ribosomal subunit. Eravacycline was approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in August 2018 for the treatment of complicated intraabdominal infections (cIAIs) in adults following the Investigating Gram-Negative Infections Treated with Eravacycline (IGNITE)1 and IGNITE4 phase III trials. In these two, double-blind, multicenter clinical trials, ERV was proven noninferior in terms of clinical response in comparison to ertapenem and meropenem, respectively. Eravacycline was well tolerated with nausea, vomiting, and infusion site reactions being the most commonly reported adverse reactions. Clinicians now have ERV as a novel therapeutic option for the treatment of adults with intraabdominal infections, allergies to β-lactam agents, Clostridioides difficile-associated diarrhea, or if tolerability to other agents is a concern.