Archives of Advances in Biosciences

Tumor necrosis factor- α (TNF-α) plays an important role in diverse cellular events such as septic shock, induction of other cytokines, cell proliferation and apoptosis. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) is currently attracting great interest as a potential anticancer drug. TRAIL could selectively induce apoptosis in tumor cells in vitro and in vivo by a death receptor-mediated process. TRAIL shows a high degree of promiscuity as it binds to the DR5 receptor and it  is generating considerable interests as a possible anticancer therapeutic agent. Use of TRAIL or its antagonist could be a good anticancer treatment in future. The extracellular domain of DR5 human protein which has the attachment part of this ligand to TRAIL ligand is considerable domain of it. We produced a small peptide with just 15 aminoacids from this domain, with peptide synthesizer. Then inject them to hens to immunize them and achieve high affinity IgY. At least, obtained IgYs specially recognize DR5 protein and in vitro start exclusively to induce death in the MCF7 cell line, and interestingly not on normal cells.

Obesity is rising rapidly in Iran. Nutrition is an important issue of obesity; Fruits and vegetables are among the best food sources of antioxidant vitamins, soluble fibers, phytochemicals, and other nutrient constituents. Further, some of these foods have been shown to be protective related to reduction of chronic disease risk. In this study, consumption of fruits & vegetables and body mass index (BMI) among College Students Living in dormitory at Shahid Beheshti University of medical sciences were evaluated. In this descriptive analytic survey, 658 college students whose have being lived in dormitory at Shahid Beheshti University of medical sciences were selected by clustering sampling method. Data collected using a food frequency questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS₁₆ software.  Mean age of participants was 21.82 for females and 22.76 years for males. Frequency of fruits consumption was 2.6± 0.9 per day in female and 2.3±0.7 in male, while frequency of   vegetables consumption was 3.2±1.00 in female and 2.9± 0.9 per day in male students.  In general, consumption of fruits (p=0.003) and vegetables (p<0.001) were significantly more in female than males students. BMI in students was normal. Results indicated that students hadn’t optimal practice towards fruits and vegetables consumption. Thus, it is essential that authorities pay more attention to this specific problem in training the students, in order to maintain the optimal nutritional status.

Sleeping is an important physiological process, wielding deep effect on the spiritual and physical health of individuals. The present study has been carried out to investigate workers’ sleep quality in GoleGohar Mineral Industries Co., Sirjan, Iran. This cross-sectional and descriptive-analytical study has been carried out in 2012. The statistical society included 345 workers in of psychological health of workers in Hematite and Pelletizing section in GoleGohar Mineral Industries Co., Sirjan. The sampling method was simple random selection. Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was applied in the study, with the Cronbach validity of 0.83.  Analysis of data was carried out under SPSS 19 software using descriptive and inferential statistics tests. Workers averaged 30.92±4.78 years of age and their working experience averaged 5.47±3.24 years. 82.9 percent of the workers responding to the questionnaire were satisfied with their jobs, and 17.1 percent were not satisfied. Body Mass Index (BMI) for workers averaged 24.5±3.51 Kg/m3.51 Kg/m² 46.9 percent of workers experienced satisfactory sleep and 53.1 percent of them experienced unsatisfactory sleep. The present study has reported workers’ sleep quality in a modest level. With high influence of sleep quality on individual performance and on their general health, and high incidence of workplace events, this aspect of workers’ health should be in the focus of policy-makers and relevant authorities in health sector.

Caesarean section is considered as a major surgery which is accompanied by several complications. The present study aimed to determine the effect of behavioral intention model-based educational intervention on reducing the caesarean section among pregnant women. The present interventional study was conducted on 100 primiparous women in the third trimester of pregnancy who were covered by the health and treatment centers of Fasa city, placed in Fars province, Iran. The subjects were selected through simple random sampling and divided into an intervention and a control group. After the pre-test, the intervention group underwent exclusive training based on the behavioral intention model. Then, both groups took part in the post-test and the data were analyzed using paired t-test, independent t-test, and chi-square tests. The results of the study revealed a significant difference between the two groups regarding knowledge, evaluation of the outcomes, attitude, and intention (P<0.001). The results of the chi-square test also showed a significant difference between the two groups regarding their performance (P<0.001). According to the results, the present intervention was effective in increasing the pregnant women’s knowledge, evaluation of outcomes, attitude and strengthening their intention as well as performance. Thus, this model and other systematic trainings are suggested to be used for pregnant women in order to decrease the rate of caesarean section.

Cholera is an acute intestinal infection caused by consuming food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. Two main epidemiological characteristic of disease is tendency for create of sudden outbreaks and the ability to causing a pandemic. The objective of this study is to describe the epidemiology of the disease. This survey is a descriptive cross-sectional study based on reports from the health centers and hospitals covered by city health centers. Rectal swab is obtained from all suspected cases. After reporting each positive case, health team was sent to the location and it completed the epidemiological form. Data were analyzed by version 16 of SPSS software. All reported patients were 44 cases. Epidemic lasted from 4 August to 18 September 2011. Ogawa was the predominant pathogenic serosubtype. 47.7% of all patients admitted to the hospital and 52.3% were treated as outpatients. Most of the patients were in age group >60 years and there were no reports of disease in age group under 15 years.  2 of the 44 patients had mild symptoms of diarrhea, 13 patients had moderate and 29 cases had severe diarrhea. Not affection of age groups less than 15 years indicates epidemic patterns of disease in the city. Severity of symptoms is important in case finding; then, in disease surveillance system we should obtain rectal swab specimen from all cases of diarrhea with severe symptoms.

     Cannabinoids induce diverse responses on anxiolytic–like behaviors. Moreover some studies postulated that there is a close relationship between this system and serotonergic system upon cognitive process formation. Thus the aim of present study is investigation the possible role of 5-HT₁ receptor on anxiolytic–like behaviors induced by ACPA in the elevated plus maze task (EPM). In the present study rats weighting 250–300g upon surgery bilateral guide cannulae were implanted to allow microinjection of ACPA (agonist CB1 receptor), CP94253 Hcl(agonist 5-HT₁ receptor) alone and them interaction in the AcbSh.

The data showed pretest AcbSh infusion of ACPA at doses of0.0002, 0.002, 0.02 and 0.2 μg/rat increased and decreased the percentage of open-arms time (%OAT) and percentage of Enclosed-arms time (%CAT), respectively as compared to control groups. Pretest AcbSh infusion ofCP94253 Hcl at doses of 5, 0.5 and 0.05 ng/rat, did not alter anxiety-like behaviors. In addition intra-AcbSh microinjection of subthreshold dose of CP94253 Hcl did not alter ACPA-induced anxiolytic-like behaviors. Our data suggest that activation of AcbSh 5-HT₁ receptor did not involve in ACPA-induced behaviors in the EPM task.

Various stresses during life can affect metabolism and brain activities, immune and endocrine systems directly and indirectly, and ultimately, causes animal behavior change. The cellular and molecular level change in neurotransmitter and hormone concentrations led to the functional changes of operating systems in the intracellular organelles.  These events cause of course oxidative stress. All these reactions cause general or limited inflammation that is characterized by increased phenomena of inflammatory cytokines. Electromagnetic waves are the most important stimulus of ions and biomolecules therefore they change ions movement in a living organism. This process can lead to neuronal and behavioral changes. Yet, certainly, radiation pattern, intensity and magnetic field strength will be highly effective in response (reaction). In the present study, short-term (one day) and medium-term (3 days and 7days) and long-term (19 days and 21 days) effects of extremely low-frequency waves (ELF) on behavioral and metabolic activities in male wistar rats with an average weight 180-250g have been investigated.

Today, in parallel to growing in acceptance of functional products, various additives are used to improve the characteristics of functional food products. The coenzyme Q10 plays a vital role in cellular energy production. It also increases the body's immune system via its antioxidant activity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the addition of coenzyme Q10 on physicochemical properties of orange fruit juice. The variables were concentrations of coenzyme Q10 (10 or 20 mg in 300 ml) and storage temperature (25 ° C and 4 ° C) and the parameters were pH, titrable acidity, brix, viscosity, turbidity and sensory evaluation during three months of storage . By increasing time and temperature, pH was decreased and with increasing concentration of coenzyme Q10, pH was increased. Time and temperature had direct influence on acidity, and the concentration of coenzyme Q10 had the opposite effect on the acidity. With increasing storage time and concentration of coenzyme Q10, Brix, viscosity and turbidity levels were increased and with increasing time and concentration of coenzyme Q10, the Brix, viscosity and turbidity were increased. The addition of coenzyme Q10 in grape juice showed no negative effect on the physicochemical and sensory properties.

     Curcumin is a natural polyphenolic compound with anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, and anti-oxidation properties. Low water solubility and rapid hydrolytic degradation are two challenges limiting use of curcumin as therapeutic agent. In the current study, the role of the Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA), β-lactoglobulin and casein, as food-grade biopolymers and safe drug delivery systems, on the physical activity of curcumin were surveyed. It appears that BSA and casein as protein vehicles are useful tools to increase stability of curcumin, as a health promoting agent.

     Chlorotoxin is a 36 amino acids peptide, which is able to block chloride channels isolated from mouse brain. A derivative of chlorotoxin is synthesized and it is labeled by iodine 131; then animal experiments carry out on rats. Multiple organ doses may be calculated with biological distribution results in rats with labeled compounds using simulated MCNP4C code. Human dose can be calculated using the dose distribution in rats with a conversion ratio for dose distribution. Chloramine T is our method for marking, and electrophilic substitution reactions are methods for iodize of peptides. Simulation of a human phantom to evaluate dose distribution was done using simulation code MCNP4C. To evaluate the dose distribution in the human body, using this code and the accumulated activity in each organ tissue dose is calculated. To study the biological distribution of the radiotracer 131I, 0.37 MBq radiotracer was injected into rat via the tail vein. The accumulated activity in each organ with the agent “ID / g” is determined. Biological distribution of 131I-chlorotoxine in the normal rats is obtained. Its Decay constant in the liver is 0.07h and the effective half-life of the radiotracer is 10h in rat liver. The total number of particles found in the leak from liver tissue was reported 67600. Liver tissue dosimetries originating from other sources (thyroid tissue, stomach, kidney, right & left lung, spleen, and pancreas) were examined. Then, the overall dose to the target tissue will be calculated. Leaked beta particles in liver itself (self-dose) are the most delivered dose to the liver (98%); it is for gamma rays 1.1%, while its source is adjacent tissues in addition to liver (cross-dose); Because of low atomic number of the tissue, delivered dose originated from Bremsstrahlung (braking radiation) is low (0.9%). Radiation dose to the liver in intravenous injection of 0.37 MBq  ¹³¹I-chlorotoxine radiotracer is 3.44 * 10-6.  

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is probably the most important problem of public health in advanced countries. Kidneys are often damaged as a result of high blood pressure. One of our main concerns in patients with hypertension is early detection of kidney disorders. The routine biomarkers such as creatinine have some limitation for this purpose, however recent studies suggest plasma NGAL to be a better marker. Therefor in this study we assessed the diagnostic value of plasma NGAL and compared it with serum creatinine in hypertensive patients. This study was performed on 42 hypertensive patients and 30 healthy Volunteer, both with normal serum creatinine and urea concentration  who referred to Shohada Tajrish Hospital, plasma NGAL were measured subsequently using ELISA method and eGFR was considered  as the gold standard method(cut off value of<78ml.min.1.73m²). mean NGAL level was significantly higher in patients  in comparison to control group. The sensitivity and specificity were  96% and 100% respectively for plasma NGAL(≥32.2 ng/ml) compared with 76% and 47% for serum creatinine (>0.97 mg/dl). Our findings indicate that NGAL is a better indicator of kidney impairment in the early stages of CKD as compared with serum creatinine in hypertensive patients.

     Scaffold design has pivotal role in tissue engineering. In the present study, We modified the surface of electrospun poly(caprolactone) (PCL) nanofibers to improve their compatibility with living medium and to show the potential application of PCL nanofibers as a artificial extracellular matrix using in tissue-engineering. PCL nanofibers were fabricated by electrospinning method. To graft gelatin on the nanofiber surface, PCL scaffolds were first treated with air plasma to introduce carboxyl groups on the surface, followed by covalent grafting of gelatin molecules. The hydrophilicity of the electrospun PCL nanofibers was significantly increased by the gas plasma treatment, as confirmed by contact angle measurements. ATR-FTIR analysis demonstrated that the chemical composition of the PCL nanofiber surface was influenced by the gelatin coating, resulting in an increase in the number of amine groups. Our results show that the modified PCL nanofibers are suitable physical properties as polymeric artificial scaffold in tissue engineering application.

    Protein memories are novel technologies which use the hidden abilities of bacteria proteins and biological molecules in order to the electronic processes. Four decades before baceriorhdopsin ( BR) protein was extracted from the membrane of Halobacerinum Salina rum found in high salt water depositions after its original discovery in 1967. In this study, for immobilizing the protein a film has been provided from the different weight/volume use of polyvinyl alcohol and gelatin polymers. Then a suspension of protein bacteriorhodopsin with the 3/2 mg.ml ^-1 has been used that according to the spectroscopy and determining their activity, optimizing concentration of a film containing bacteriodospian has been obtained. Polymeric film containing bacteriorhodopsin protein has been injected on the glass and by use of spin coater, after obtaining optimizing protocol become stabilized. After that the biological activity of the bacteriorhodopsin protein has been studied. Several biological molecules are being considered based on their usage in computers sciences, as though the bacterial protein – BR has generated much interest among scientists. Functional immobilization of membrane proteins requires consideration of their physiological needs, often dictated by the quality and components of the natural hydrophobic environment surrounding this class of proteins.

Human serum albumin (HSA) is the most abundant protein constituent of blood plasma. This protein consists of a single polypeptide chain of 585 amino acid residues, which has many important physiological functions. HSA can bind and carry many drugs, including anticoagulants, tranquilizers, and general Anesthetics. Some technique such as: fluorescence spectroscopy, three-dimensional fluorescence, UV–visible, FT-IR, circular dichroism (CD), X-ray scattering (SAXS) technique and molecular modeling was utilized to investigate the effects of acceptor on conformation of the donor (HSA). The binding site number n and apparent binding constant K_A drugs corresponding thermodynamic parameters, the free energy change (∆G), enthalpy change (∆H), and entropy change (∆S) were calculated. The hydrophobic effect, van der Waals forces, hydrogen bond and electrostatic interactions play a major role in stabilizing the complex. More investigation also revealed that these drugs bind to the amino acids on the hydrophobic pocket of HSA and induce changes to the secondary structure of the HSA. In this study for better understanding of HSA-drug interactions, we categorized drugs into ten groups from years 2006 to 2012 and are suggested that two important parameters such as ΔG⁰_H20 and [D] _1/2 can be calculated for each groups and refer to ten categories to finally indicate that fine structural change in human serum albumin.

Hypertension is one of the major risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.  One of primary management of hypertension include dietary changes which could incorporate dietary supplementation ,also use of non pharmacological treatment options is high in patients with high blood pressure .Garlic has played an important dietary as well as medicinal role in human history and  it has been on the top ten lists of herbal sales among people. For evaluating  the effect of garlic on blood pressure ,we reviewed clinical trials published  from 1982 until 2013 by searching in informative bank such as  PubMed، Ovid،  Elsevier Science , Google Scholar with keywords  garlic , blood pressure, hypertension and herbal supplement. The result of this review article showed that several clinical trials have suggested garlic lowers systolic and or diastolic blood pressure and has beneficial effect in controlling hypertension, but negative results also have been obtained in some of trials .Blood pressure reducing properties of garlic have been linked to its hydrogen sulphide production  and allicin content , liberated from alliin and the enzyme alliinase. large scale trials are needed to investigate whether standardized garlic preparations could provide a safe alternative or complementary treatment option for hypertension in clinical practice.

    Mind-altering drugs, especially plants, have fascinated human and always occupied man’s attention .Among the plants used by humans, those able to alter the mind and the mood have drawn special consideration. Actually, due to their amazing effects, these drugs, have occupied much of the researchers’ time and efforts towards attempts to understand their mechanism, and, hence, to understand human thoughts, behavior, cognitive aspects, sensations and etc. The fact is plants could have beneficial properties to treat mental disease and have some effects on cognitive function. Now we know that plants by originating directly from nature are not less toxic than synthetic drugs. The manner of poisoning with plants can be divided into unintentional or intentional ingestion of plant material and substance abuse. This review article deals with β-carboline, which has effect on CNS.

This article reviews the recently published data on the diagnosis of cancer with proteomics, including the major proteomics technologies and promising strategies for biomarker discovery and development.  Most of the tumor markers are proteins that either numerically increase in response to the alteration of cancer conditions or are produced by cancer cells. However, they are natural compounds ordinarily available in the typical cells to a little extent what are affected by increase of expression due to cancer and its intensity in blood, body fluids or tissues. Tumor markers are substances normally available in body fluids such as serum, urine, blood, and tissues that increase in the desired tissue of cancer patients. Most of tumor markers are proteins that either are produced in response to changes in cancer conditions or are made by the cancer cells. However, most of tumor markers are among the natural compounds of normal cells present in normal conditions in the cell in small amounts and are affected by increase of expression, due to cancer and their levels in the blood, body fluids or tissues.

      Atmospheric pressure plasma (APP) is an emerging non thermal technology for the improvement of food  safety. Non-thermal plasma (NTP) is a neutral ionized gas that comprises highly reactive spices including, positive ions, negative ions, free radicals, electrons, excited or non excited molecules and photons at or near room temperature. NTP can be generated at atmospheric pressure that makes it more applicable. Moreover, it could be employed in inactivation of microorganisms on the surface of fresh and processed foods. However, for the reason that there are few studies on the application of this technology in real food systems, the effects of non-thermal plasma on nutritional and chemical properties of food is not known well. Furthermore, the studies which explore the safety and cost aspects of this technology could help it become widespread in food industry. This paper will attempt to provide a review of atmospheric pressure cold plasma, its application in microbial inactivation,food preservation and future prospect of this new technology.

Currently cancer is considered as one of the main factors of mortality globally. Many chemicals in our environment can cause genetic mutations and are potentially responsible for millions of cancer-related deaths. Nowadays the scientists are looking for food materials which can potenthially prevent the cancer occurrence. The purpose of this research is to examine antimutagenicity and anticancer effect of Citrus nobilis . The Citrus nobilis  was subsequenthy evaluated in terms of antimutagenicity properties by a standard reverse mutation assay (Ames Test). This was performed with histidine auxotroph strain of Salmonella typhimurium(TA100) .Thus, it requires histidine from a foreign supply to ensure its growth.The aforementioned strain gives rise to reverted colonies when expose to carcinogen substance (Sodium Azide). In Ames Test the Citrus nobilis prevented the reverted mutations and the hindrance percent of Citrus nobilis was 72.46% . This is the first study that have revealed antimutagenicity effect of Citrus nobilis.