Archives of Advances in Biosciences

Skin cancer has a broad and burdensome impact on the health and well-being of Iranian and account for substantial health care costs to the nation. The first most common form of skin cancer is basal cell carcinoma (BCC); followed by the squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and the incidence of malignant melanoma (MM) is lower but is fatal. Kaposi sarcoma (KS) is a tumor caused by human herpes virus 8. In this study, prevalence and incidence of four skin cancer (BCC, SCC, MM and KS) was investigated by considering to risk factors include age, sex, skin color, sun exposure levels, Lesion location, occupations and timeout to seek treatment. In this study, 95 patients with skin cancers registered in Loghman Hakim hospital during the 7 years from 1998 to 2004 were analyzed. Result depicted that BCC is the most common skin cancer in both sexes and in all types male incidence was significant. Age prevalence of all was about 50 to 80 years. The most common sites of tumor involvement in BCC and SCC were head and neck; KS was lower limb and MM had sporadic lesions. Almost all of patients referred to diagnosis or treatment 1 to 5 years after the initial onset of the disease. Occupations of the majority of patients with skin cancer were farmers. More patients lived in the area with warm and dry climate. In sum up, the skin cancer risk factors are included older ages, residence of warm and dry regions, be male and farmer, and most importantly rate of exposure to sunlight can influence lifestyle of patients that everyone can easily take to protect in different ways. 

      Vitexagnus- castus L. [Vac.] has been used in the Iranian traditional medicine for the treatment of pain and swelling of uterus. In this study, GC and GC/MS analyses  were carried out for the identification of essential oil chemical components. Formalin and Xylene-induced ear-edema were used in order to nociception and inflammation activity. Then, the possible interaction between 3drugs including Naloxone (2mg/kg), Dextrometorphane(20mg/kg), and L-NAME (10mg/kg) have been used and  Vitexagnus-castus hexane extract was examined. 1,8-Cineole (23 %), alpha-Pinene (16 %), beta- Pinene (13 %), , Z- Caryophylene (11 %), alpha- Terpinyl acetate (9 %), E- caryophylene (9 %) and Linalool (6.5 %) were the major identified components of the essential oil of Vitexagnus- castus L. Hexane extract was reduced licking time as compared to the control group in the first and second phase of formalin test. In Xylene-induced ear-edema, the hexane extract of Vitexagnus- castus fruits was strongly inhibited inflammation as compared to the positive control group. Interaction between L-NAME and Vitexagnus-castus hexane extract showed significant effect. It was concluded that the anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive effects of the fruit of Vitexagnus- castus L. may be due to its very pharmacological   effective   essential oil components. Interaction between  L-NAME and Vitexagnus-castus hexane extract showed that one of the possible pathways is NO pathway, but Vitexagnus-castus hexane extract probably acts via other pathways that need more research. 

The subjective of this study was to explore and compare the effects of Whole Body Vibration (WBV) and conventional spinal stabilization exercises on persons with non-specific chronic low back pain (CLBP). Thirty patients with non-specific chronic low back pain randomly received 6 sessions of spinal stabilization therapy with and without whole body vibration over 2 weeks. The severity of pain, functional disability,  abdominal and lumbar multifidus muscle endurance were assessed prior to, midway and after two week  WBV or spinal stabilization intervention program sequentially by using VAS score, Oswestry disability index and stabilizer pressure biofeedback unit. Repeated measure ANOVA was used for data analysis. A p-value <0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Findings show that multifidus muscle endurance and general functionality  increase significantly over time in both groups (P <0/05). Both groups didn't show any statistically significant change in perception of pain, supine and prone time after the treatment period (P>0/05) .Neither of the two exercise interventions wasn't superior in producing more significant results except for multifidus and transverse abdominus muscles endurance where the vibration group showed significant improvement over the non-vibration group. Findings revealed that a slight difference existed in favor of the vibration training group, but not sufficient enough to conclude that it is more effective than core muscle exercises alone.

   "Fish consumption twice per week" recommendation has been adopted in many countries, including Iran, by Nutrition experts. Data derived from food balance sheets (FBSs) and national household food consumption surveys (NHFCSs) show that fish consumption has been increased in the last 20 years in Iran. The gap between supply and recommendation figures in order to analyze the feasibility of this policy however needs to be determined. In this study, we took current figures of fish supply and consumption in Iran and calculated the amount of fish needed to support the recommendation of fish consumption. Data obtained from FAOSTAT-FBSs in 1980-82, 1990-92 and 2000-02, and NHFCS reports in 1992-95 and 2001-03. Fish supplies needed to fulfill the nutritional policy were calculated based on 120 and 180 gr/caput/wk scenarios. Sharp increase happened in the average fish supply from 1980s to 1990s, but slowed down afterwards. In early 2000, fish availability and intake were 4.73 and 4.43 kg (as raw-whole fish)/capita/year, respectively. The amount of fish required to fulfill the recommendation were however calculated as 10.97 and 16.43 kg/caput/yr based on the two scenarios, respectively. This study reveals that the gap between present fish consumption and the amounts for nutritional goal is still big. Whether bridging this gap in terms of feasibility, ecological, environmental and logistical burdens is attainable, needs more evaluation. Nutrition educators should be aware of the effects of their campaigns on the nationwide food policy as well as on issues such as consumer demand, prices, and environment.

Arsenic is a carcinogenic and toxicant element widely found in the environment and might be part of causation web of Oesophageal Cancer (OC), which has one of the highest incidence rates in Golestan Province, Northeast Iran. In this pilot study, we collected 10 Sheep tail (donbeh) and 9 mixed spices samples, as widely consumed foods in the region, from main counties in the province and analyzed for arsenic concentrations using AOAC atomic absorption spectrophotometry method. Findings showed that arsenic levels in all samples were less than the safe level of 1 ppm. Total arsenic intake from sheep tail and mixed spices sources were estimated at 4.68 and 4.24 µg/day in men and women, respectively. Therefore, the study suggests that arsenic intake from these commonly consumed foods do not seem as a major hazard for OC etiology.

Radical resection of a pathological lesion along with the preservation of eloquent cerebral tissue is the principle goal of neurosurgery. Brain lesions are usually diagnosed by conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), but this method is unable to describe the relationship between lesions and neighboring specific white matter (WM) tracts. Diffusion tensor tractograghy (DTT) is a new sophisticated imaging modality to reveal the neural fibers and their relationships with lesions. In the current study we assess that how diffusion tensor tractograghy can affect on treatment planning in patients afflicted by different types of brain lesions. In this prospective observational study, eight patients with brain mass lesion underwent conventional brain MRI pulse sequences and DTT imaging with 1.5 Tesla system using 64 independent diffusion encoding directions between December 2011 to January 2013.Acquired images were assessed by the neuroradiologist and neurosurgeon. Finally, the treatment strategies were compared using data before and after the tractograghy. The treatment strategy in six patients changed from radiotherapy into the craniotomy by using tractograghy data, in one patient changed from radio surgery to craniotomy and in one patient, neurosurgeon preferred to avoid operation. As we can infer from this study, based on the tractograghy results, the treatment technique may be changed, and the treatment plan could be devised with more accuracy and in case of surgery, may lead to less post-operative neurological deficits and better outcome results.

     Nowadays, air pollution in cities with regard to its harmful outcomes has been turned into one of the serious challenges in urban management. Pollutants as Carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and the aerosols that are known to be among the most important factors related to heart, vascular, and lung disease, have underlined public welfare and health, and the organizations concerned with community health undertake remarkable expenses for disease coming out of these pollutants per year. Awareness of the air situation and its quality over periods and the process of air pollutants’ changes in locations, and especially detection of high risk places can play an important and efficient role in urban health management and land use policy-making. In this paper, for the prediction of the possibility of occurring a pollutant in different locations, based on location information, one modern method of analysis entitled indicator kriging method is introduced. Since, nowadays, CO and PM₁₀ are the two major pollutants in Tehran city, using the mentioned method, the probability of occurrence of each of them in Dey 1390 along with their accuracy is being measured and then a map is provided for the possible occurrence of these pollutants over the whole city of Tehran.  

The purpose of this study was to investigate the possible association between pregnancy weight gain and child weight at the 12^th and 24^th months of age in Damavand city, North-East Tehran, Iran. Materials and Methods: In a cross-sectional study, using existing data collected by the urban health centers, records of 266 women who attended urban health centers for prenatal care and delivered between March 2004 and March 2008 with singleton term pregnancy were analyzed. Data on pre-pregnancy weight and height, total pregnancy weight gain, mother’s age, parity, neonatal birth weight, birth order, mother’s education, working status, breastfeeding practice and child weight at the 12^th and 24^th months of age were extracted. Pregnant Women were categorized based on their pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) as underweight, normal, and overweight and obese. Chi-square and ANOVA tests were employed to analyze data using SPSS software. Mean (±SD) of gestational weight gain was 11.4±3.9 kg. On average, 34% of mothers had inadequate weight gain, while 44 and 22% gained appropriate and excessive weight, respectively, based on the US Institute of Medicine (IoM-1990) guidelines. About 11, 56, 20 and 13% of mothers were defined as underweight, normal, overweight, and obese based on their BMI values. Initial BMI and educational level was associated with pregnancy weight gain. There was a significant difference between mean child weight at the 12^th and 24^th months of ages in all three categories of pregnancy weight gain, i.e. inadequate (<6.8 Kg), normal (6.8–11.3 Kg), and excessive (>11.3 Kg) (p< 0.01). Gestational weight gain seemed associated with child weight. Educating and assisting pregnant women to meet the weight gain within recommendations range might therefore be an important strategy to prevent child malnutrition, both under- and overweight, in early life.

HSA plays an important role in transporting metabolites and drugs throughout the vascular system.  In as much as its performance is very vital in the presents of different kinds of ligands at the specific body temperatures, its examination is crucial. This molecule can undergo increased glycation in diabetes. Therefore, glucose as the one of the most fundamental ligands dealing with albumin in human body is examined in this study at 100 mg/dl concentration in correspond to normal condition on human body, 175 mg/dl as a kidney glucose tolerance point and also 400 mg/dl as the critical point at the two most important temperatures in diabetic patients. Thermal conformational changes of (HSA) are important. These conformational alterations are accompanied by a mild alteration of secondary structures. For this reason, possible secondarystructural changes of HSA in presence of glucose has beeninvestigated by circular dichroism (CD) using Hepes bufferat the normal temperature 37˚C and 42˚C as a high fever condition.UV spectroscopystudies confirmed CD findings and indicate that critical concentration of glucoselead to generation of new structural feature of albumin similar to 42^oC. However, as the temperature increases from 37˚C to 42˚C this process is no more capable of responding to glucose concentration changes.These results indicate that the native form of HSA is changed in the severe diabetic condition; likewise, same consequences can be achieved as the temperature arises from 37˚C to 42˚C.

Regular physical activity has a positive effect on physical, mental, and social aspects of individual and community health. Regarding prevalence of non-communicable diseases such as primary hypertension, osteoporosis, and cardiovascular diseases that sedentary is responsible for them; health policy makers plan to encourage people to do more physical activity. In this study, knowledge, attitude and practice towards physical activity and its related factors of students living on campus at Shahid Beheshti university of medical science were determined.In this descriptive analytic survey, 665 individuals college students living on campus at Shahid Beheshti university of medical science were selected by clustering sampling method. Data collected using  questionnaires and analyzed by SPSS16 software.54.9% of the subjects were female and 45.1% male. Mean age of participants was 21.82 years for female and 22.76 years for male. Mean scores of knowledge was 73±1.72 for male and 78.90 ±1.66 for female. In addition mean scores of attitude was 79.18 for male and 74.33 for female and mean scores of practice was 228.78 minute per week for male and 174.41minute per week for female.Results indicated that students had no optimal practice towards physical activity. Thus, more attention is necessary to be paid by authorities to this specific topic and some measures are essential in training students.

Studies have demonstrated that zinc plays an important role in development of cardiovascular diseases in Western populations. But there is little data for other racial groups. This study was aimed to investigate the association between serum zinc and coronary artery disease (CAD) in Iranian subjects.This study was conducted on 81 subjects,which referred to Heshmat Hospital of Guilan province , Iran, for routine coronary angiography from June to August 2011. Subjects were assigned into 2 groups; 41 CAD patients.case and 40 healthy subjects in control group. Data about smoking habit,physical activity, dietary intake and anthropometric indices were collected by questionnaire. Serum zinc was measured by atomic spectroscopy.The serum zinc concentrations were significantly lower in case group than control (p<0.05). The mean serum zinc concentration in the case and control group was 73.50±1.61μg/dl and 78.47±1.66μg/dl, respectively. subjects  that lives in  rural area had 7.11-fold higher CAD risk in compare to subjects lives in urban  after adjustment for confounder factors,they also had lower zinc concentration than urban (p<0.05). in our study With increasing in serum zinc concentration CAD risk decrease 0.94-fold.Zinc concentration had significant correlation with age (r= -0.23   p<0.05), weight (r=0.26   p<0.05)  and  Place for living (r=- 0.22  p= 0.04).There were no significant correlation between the dietary intake , Waist circumference ,smoking and serum zinc concentration in our study.Serum zinc concentration was significantly lower in the north of Islamic Republic of Iran patients with abnormal versus those with a normal angiogram. It seems Serum zinc concentration correlate with some risk factors for coronary artery disease

Food labels play an important role in well being of consumers. As a part of it, date marking is a valid guide to shelf life of a food. The present study was done in 2010, in Smart Food Center, Wollongong; New South Wales, Australia to determine if the residents are familiar with date marking of food products. Data was accumulated by either interview guide or questionnaire method. Basic unselected samples of 200 shoppers were interviewed. Awareness of consumers about the method of date marking of food products, the frequency of purchasing spoiled or stale products, particularity about dates marked on food products before buying them, observation of the date marked on perishable and semi perishable food items, and satisfaction of consumers with the freshness and date marking of products were mainly studied. Out of 200 consumers who were interviewed, 112 (56%) supported date marking services. 128 (64%) consumers were well informed of the date making system. Most of the people in this group were between 35 to 44 years of age. 75% were or respondents women. The range of family income was between AUS$30000-750000 per months. There was no association between degree of knowledge of date marking and sex and educational level of consumers who purchased spoiled food products. Among consumers who purchased spoiled food items, a significant number were informed of date marking systems and used it when making purchases. Date marking has been observed by both male and female and was not related to their academic degrees.

Ischemia Reperfusion injury is the tissue damage caused when blood supply returns to the tissue after a period of ischemia or lack of oxygen. Ischemia Reperfusion induces cell death and endemic reaction that is one of the most important clinical problems with acute renal failure and renal transplantation. In this study, the effect of pentoxifylline on rat kidney function and cell injury following Ischemia Reperfusion were evaluated. In this experimental study, 20 male wistar rats with average weight of 250-300g were selected and then were accidently divided them on two tenth group of control and treatment groups. In the control group, celiotomy was performed by ventral midline incision. The left kidney was isolated, and then both the renal artery and vein were obstructed. After 60 minutes of warm ischemia, vessel obstruction resolved and the right kidney was removed. 72 hours after reperfusion, tissue samples were taken from left kidney for histopathology. All these steps in treatment group were exactly repeated after administration of 45 mg/kg/PO pentoxifylline (3 hours before operation) and in this group treatment was continued every 12h until 3 days. In this research quantitative real-time PCR is used for the detection expression Bax gene in ischemia group and PNT drug group and  compared to  normal sample .The results showed the gene dosage ratio of 1.24 for ischemia groups  and 0.64 for drug group. The results showed the expression Bax gene in PNT group  decline  than to  ischemia group. Therefore, quantitative real time PCR could be used as a direct method for detection of Bax gene expression in tested and normal samples.

Herbs have been used for its medicinal properties from several thousand years ago. Herbs, essences and extracts, possess a variety level of biological activities and antimicrobial activities of a large number of them have been proved. Eucalyptus is one of these plants which the anti-virus effects of its extract has long been used to treat influenza and colds in most parts of the world. The aim of this study is evaluating antimicrobial effects of aqueous and alcoholic Eucalyptus camaldulensis leaves against some of the important food pathogens. Antimicrobial effects of extracts were evaluated on Staphylococcus aureus PTCC 2592, Escherichia coli PTCC1330 and Penicillium digitatum by “using the method of Collins” and “disk agar diffusion method”. The results showed that aqueous and ethanolic extract were quite effective in 2000 μg/ml concentration on Staphylococcus aureus and Penicillium digitatum, while both extracts have no certain antimicrobial effect on Escherichia coli. In “disk agar diffusion method” 20, 40, 60 and 80 mg/ml aqueous and ethanolic extract concentrations, was inhibition effect on Staphylococcus aureus and Penicillium digitatum, and 60 and 80 mg/ml aqueous and ethanolic extract concentrations, has deterrent effect on Escherichia coli, but at 20 and 40 mg/ml concentrations, no inhibitory effect on Escherichia coli was observed. Minimum Inhibitory Cconcentration (MIC) of ethanolic extract of Eucalyptus camaldulensis leaves and Minimal Bactericidal Concentration (MBC) for bacteria and Minimum Fungicidal Concentration (MFC) for fungi were performed. The results indicate that ethanolic and aqueous extracts of Eucalyptus camaldulensis leaves have the greatest effect on gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus. Escherichia coli were resistant to most of the aqueous and ethanolic Eucalyptus camaldulensis extracts. In conclusion, using Eucalyptus as a natural antimicrobial compounds in vitro have considerable antimicrobial ability over the studied strains.

In most general and special English courses of the Iranian universities, reading comprehension is the main component of the syllabus. Nonetheless, in an attempt to improve listening and speaking skills, some general English courses were accompanied by oral presentations, according to which each student had to give a lecture lasting for nearly 10 minutes. The main objective was to investigate the effect of a 10-minute oral presentation on students' linguistic skills, in a comprehension-oriented syllabus. As such, two linguistically homogeneous general English classes were selected. Students in both classes were taught by the same English teacher, using the same textbook and syllabus, which, as usual, focused on reading comprehension. In one class (group 1) a 10-minute lecture, using a Power-point slide presentation software, was included in the syllabus whereas in the other class (group 2) the usual no-lecture syllabus was followed.  At the beginning of the semester, both groups took a pretest composed of a set of reading comprehension, listening comprehension, vocabulary and grammar items, and at the semester end they sat for a posttest, which was similar to the pretest. The results of the two tests were then compared using the student t-test. Comparison of the mean scores on reading comprehension, listening comprehension, vocabulary and grammar, for the pre-test and post-test,  showed no significant differences between the two groups although score gains on listening comprehension for the first group was noticeable.  The conclusion may be that mini-lectures in a reading comprehension-oriented syllabus can improve students' listening comprehension although the level of improvement may not be so significant. 

There are more than 350 million individuals with hepatitis C in the world. One of the important problems in vaccine project is development of effective and suitable adjuvant in human vaccines. At present research we applied human βHsp90 protein as an adjuvant in recombinant HCV vaccine design. The thermal vector of pGP1-2 was used for human heat shock protein 90 expression. This protein injected to BalbC mice as an adjuvant together with recombinant protein of HCV core. The combination of these proteins was used and we evaluated the humoral and cellular immunity and the cytokine secretion of inguinal and popliteal lymph nodes lymphocytes were analyzed in vitro and ex vivo conditions. So the combination of Core protein together with hsp90 induced total IgG and IgG2a secretion. The spleen lymphocytes proliferation were increased equal to serum IgG2a level that was constant in second time bleeding with significant different to complexes with freund’s adjuvant. At first IL-4 and IL-5 cytokines were increased, after one week it decreased. Production of IL-4 showed there was no hypersensitivity reaction after vaccine injection.

Because of the huge amounts of proteomic data and demand for new methods of laboratory analysis results, proteins collective analysis, in addition to taking less time, biostatistician assist at identification of new patterns in the data set. In this study, rat hippocampus proteome in normal and Alzheimer's disease (AD) were analyzed by using proteomic techniques and bioinformatics’ analysis. Protein extracts from normal and Alzheimer's rats were separated by using two-dimensional electrophoresis (2DE). The silver staining method was used for detecting spots. Bioinformatics analysis of proteome were performed by progensis same spots software. Bioinformatics and statistical analysis of 2DE gel techniques obtained 760 protein spots were detected in both normal and AD rats.  Comparisons between controls and Alzheimer gel containing 20 common proteins were expressed significantly differences. 16 new proteins were expressed in AD, while 36 proteins were suppressed. Proteins clustering by using correlation analysis evaluated 3 clusters in the proteome; Principal component analysis also confirmed the results of clustering. Finally, we can conclude that a significant expression of Alzheimer changes in the hippocampus proteome which are associated with specific biological processes summarized in 3 main clusters indicated 3 principal biological pathways of AD.

Flavonoids are wide range of phytochemical with various pharmacological effects including antioxidant, anti-inflammation, anti-platelet, anti-allergic, cytotoxicity, reduce risk for heart disease or cancer etc. These flavonoids inhibited various enzymes such as prostaglandin synthase, lypoxygenase, cyclooxygenase, and induced detoxifying enzyme systems such as glutathione S-transferase. Flavonoids have significant vitamin C sparing activity and powerful antioxidants than the traditional vitamins such as quercetin, myricetin, rutin and apigenin. In vegetables, quercetin glycosides predominate, but glycosides of kaempferol, luteolin, and apigenin are also present. Fruits exclusively contain quercetin glycosides, whereas kaempferol and myricetin glycosides are found only in trace quantities. In this article we mainly discussed on three major flavonols (kaempferol, quercetin, and myricetin) and two major flavones (luteolin and apigenin) of edible tropical plants.  

     Exposure to high dosages of sulfur mustard (SM) can cause bone marrow depression, immune system suppression, impairment of the immune functions, and eventually results in diseases due to secondary immune disorders. In this article, we have studied the effects of this poison on Iranian veterans by analysis of related published studies. In a systematic search, the effects of SM gas on Iranian victims were reviewed. We used known international medical databases such as   ISI, Medline, Scopus and Iranian databases such as Iranmedex and Irandoc. About 350 published articles were assessed. Among them, 43 articles were related to immunologic field. No special evaluation was conducted on the quality of the reviewed manuscripts and the credit of journal was considered sufficient. In accomplished studies conducted on Iranian people, both cellular and humoral immunity were affected. The reported changes were as follows:  increasing the number of inflammatory cells in chronic phase which indicates ongoing active alveolitis, neutrophils (in chronic bronchitis), eosinophils, CRP titer, RF titer, IgG (especially in asthmatic patterns) ,IgM , Ig E, IL-6, TFG-beta1target protein in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, and decreasing the number of leukocytes , lymphocytes, natural killer cells (NKCs), IL-8and IL-6 in blood. Eventually, in reported changes, chemo taxis factors, plasma opsonins and  nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) test were normal. In sever and prolonged exposure to mustard gas, the immune system would be suppressed. Therefore, the victims should be monitored for infections and even cancers.