Archives of Advances in Biosciences

Introduction: ^99mTc-Macro Aggregated-Albumin (^99mTc-MAA) has been evaluated as a useful perfusion study agent. In this study, the human absorbed dose of ^99mTc-MAA was estimated with MIRD and MCNP methods based on animal biodistribution data and finally compared with ICRP publication data.

Materials and Methods: In this study, for investigating the biodistribution of ^99mTc-MAA, after radiolabeling of MAA with Technetium-99m, it was injected to mice via the tail vein. After 1-120 min post injection, the mice were sacrificed and some of their tissues dissected and counted for calculating the percentage of the injected dose per gram (% ID/g) and the absorbed dose. Then, the obtained data was converted to equivalent data in human for each tissue.

Results: Dose prediction shows that the highest absorbed dose is observed in the lungs (MIRD: 6.8E-2 mGy/MBq, MCNP: 6.32E-2 mGy/MBq). There is good agreement between the results obtained from MIRD and MCNP simulation for lungs.

Conclusion: According to the present results and comparison with ICRP publication data, animal dissection model and simulation MCNP code can be useful tools for internally-absorbed dose estimation of pulmonary radiopharmaceuticals.

Introduction: Recently, silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) have found extensive and raising biomedical applications. Ag-NPs may lead to increased rate of toxicity on human health and environment. Because of the high antioxidant potential of the Scrophularia striata, the aim of the present study was to investigate the protective influence of Scrophularia striata against Ag-NPs-induced toxicity.

Materials and Methods: Thirty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 5 groups (n=6 for each group). Group 1 was normal control rats. Group 2 received only Ag-NPs (200 ppm). In groups 3 to 5, the rats were pretreated with different concentrations (20, 60 and 180 mg/kg) of the Scrophularia striata extract, respectively and then were treated with Ag-NPs to induce toxicity. Animals were treated once daily by gavage over a period of 30 days. At the end of the treatment period, blood samples were collected and serum IgG, IgM, C3, C4, and CRP levels were determined. Data were statistically analyzed through one-way ANOVA, followed by Tukey’s post hoc test.

Results: Oral administration of Ag-NPs evoked a significant increase in the serum IgG, IgM, C3, C4, and CRP levels, compared with those in the control group (P<0.05). These changes were ameliorated through treatment with Scrophularia striata extract at different doses as compared with the Ag-NPs-treated group (P<0.05).

Conclusion: The extract was found to be as an effective immunomodulatory agent against Ag-NPs-induced toxicity presumably due to its active compounds with medicinal value.

Introduction: Post-lumpectomy wound fluid (seroma) contains many proteins from tumor bed due to physiologic answer to operation and wound healing process. Some cellular tests had been performed on different types of breast cancer (BC) cell lines and normal cell line while treated with seroma.

Materials and Methods: The wound fluid samples were collected from BC patients. The human BC cell lines included MCF-7, MDA-MB-231 as well as normal non-tumorigenic epithelial cell line (MCF-10).

Results: Seroma could inhibit various cancer cells proliferation pattern in comparison with the normal cell. Concerning the cell death, aggressive MDA-MB-231 cells were put into the apoptosis process. Besides, seroma could decrease colony count and size and changed the clone morphology from holoclone to paraclone. Regarding the invasion assay, seroma significantly inhibited cell motility.

Conclusion: By remaining in tumor bed, seroma can induce inhibitory pattern of proliferation, and change the morphology of cancer cell colony and cell motility, consequently leading to positive impact on patients who suffer from   cancer.

Introduction: Nuclear respiratory factor-1 (NRF-1) is an important factor involved in cellular growth and mitochondrial replication.  The nuclear factor, erythroid-derived 2, -like2 (Nrf2) and Nuclear erythroid 2-related factor 1 (Nrf1) are two regulatory factors important for anti-oxidants defense system.

Materials and Methods: To understand the effect of Nrf2 and Nrf1 downregulation on NRF-1 protein level, the effects of Nrf1 and Nrf2 silencing through small interfering RNA (siRNA) on NRF-1 protein level were examined by western blotting in hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and amygdala.

Results: According to the current data, downregulation of Nrf1 and Nrf2 significantly reduced the level of NRF-1 protein level in the amygdala (%33), 4 and 8h after injection. In prefrontal cortex, NRF-1 protein level decreased (%27) 8h after siRNA injection but it did not have any statistically significant effect on NRF-1 protein level in the hippocampus.

Conclusion: Overall, it is argued that antioxidant defense system is important in mitochondrial respiration as using siRNA against Nrf1 and Nrf2 could lower NRF-1 protein level.

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common cancers in the world and has a high mortality rate. It is accepted that dysfunction in the expression of mucins are associated with the occurrence and development of CRC. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the expression of MUC12 gene in colorectal cancer and their relationship with clinicopathological variables.

Materials and Methods: This research was prospective case-control study. Tumors from CRC patients were collected from the Taleghani Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.  RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis were performed using the corresponding kits. The gene primer was designed and RT-PCR was used to evaluate gene expression. The t-test and ANOVA were used to examine the differences between the different groups. Data analysis was performed using Prism8 software. Data analysis was performed using Prism8 software.

Results: The results of the present study showed that the expression of MUC12 (P=0.0012) gene in patients with colorectal cancer were significantly different from tumor margin samples. There were also associations between the expression of the studied gene and clinicopathological variables such as grade and stage of colorectal cancer tumor as well as the age of the patients. The area under the curves (AUC) for the MUC12 0.953 (95% CI 7565 to 0.9897, P=0.0003) was calculated by ROC analysis.

Conclusion: It can be stated that malignant transformation of colorectal cells is accompanied by changes in the expression of membrane-bound MUC gene (MUC12) in colorectal cancer, which has a biomarker value for the diagnosis of colorectal cancer.

Introduction: In colorectal cancer surgery, diverting colostomy after low anterior resection (LAR) and very low anterior resection (VLAR) operations is an issue of great significance to the surgeons. This study set out to compare the results of operation in patients with rectal cancer, undergoing VLAR and a type of LAR of the rectum, with or without diverting colostomy.

Materials and Methods: 100 patients with rectal cancer undergoing VLAR and LAR, with or without diverting colostomy at a tertiary care hospital (Imam-Hossein Medical Center) were prospectively assessed from March, 2011 to February, 2015. Demographic data, radiotherapy history, and surgery-related data such as duration as well as post-operative complications were collected and analyzed.

Results: Of 100 patients, 50 underwent VLAR or LAR without diverting colostomy, and 50 underwent surgical resection with diversion. The age, male to female ratio, and history of radiation were not different in the two groups (P>0.05). The surgery was successful for 47 (94%) patients without diverting colostomy and for 48 patients (96%) with diverting colostomy. The age, gender, history of radiotherapy, and surgery duration did not affect the surgery success rate (P > 0.05), which is fairly significant. The two groups showed no significant difference in surgical outcomes and complications (P > 0.05).

Conclusion: Contrary to popular belief, the surgery success rate and complications were not significantly different in the group without diverting colostomy and the group with diverting colostomy. VLAR and LAR without diverting colostomy are recommended.

Context: Nowadays, experiencing occasional anxiety is a common part of each person’s life. The number of anxious people has increased in this modern life style. This study aimed to review some researches as to accelerate searching for new anxiolytic treatments.

Evidence Acquisition: Related articles were extracted from databases including PubMed, Google Scholar, Springer, Science Direct and Wiley. Forty-eight articles were chosen. The articles were carefully considered, and after extracting information, they were categorized and integrated in the appropriate sequences to meet the needs of this study.

Results: This review mentions the important brain regions involved in anxiety; it then continues with encapsulating some of the neurotransmitters’ and neuropeptides’ functions that cope with anxiety-like behaviors.

Conclusion: With regard to the results, it is suggested that anxiety can be caused by change in the brains’ neurotransmitters level but more studies are needed to identify its exact mechanism.

Context: In late 2019, COVID-19 launched a pandemic from around Wuhan, China. It`s called the SARS-CoV-2 virus which belongs to the corona family and it has a lot in common with SARS-CoV-2, but it has been reported to be more common.

Evidence Acquisition: The risk of the virus is high for people with high blood pressure and use medication. The reason for this potential and risk for COVID-19 is an increase in expression in a membrane protein called ACE2. This protein is responsible for converting Ang I to Ang1-9 as well as converting Ang II to Ang1-7.

Results: Its pathogenic role is due to its receptor for SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV. Research has shown that there is a significant link between hypertension, Increase the expression and activity of ACE2 and having coronavirus. That`s why our goal is to remind people of high blood pressure about the risk of developing Covid-19. We studied ACE2 and Covid-19 from a clinical and biological point of view. In the following we have shown the position and the type of virus connection to ACE2 with the help of protein database.

Conclusion: In the SARS-Cov-2, there are four structural proteins and several non-structural proteins together with capsid can contain positive-stranded RNA viruses. Studies have shown that the Spike (S) protein binds strongly to the chain E and F with the ACE2 receptor.