Archives of Advances in Biosciences

    Tuberculosis is an infectious disease that caused by Mycobacterium Tuberculosis (TB). Despite the implementation of free treatment, detection rate of TB remains low. Lake of awareness is a main reason for not expressing symptoms in patients. The study aimed to determine the level ofawareness about TB among rural areas of Gorgan. This study was cross-sectional research which was conducted in 2014-2015 in Gorgan villagers (age <?mso-application progid="Word.Document"?>12≥15, '> non-TB). These individuals were selected by two-staged cluster sampling. The total sample size was 672. The data collection instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire. Face& content validity and also test-retest method were used for validity and reliability, respectively. Participation of individuals in this study was voluntary and with informed consent. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS 16 software. Findings analysis by independent Sample T-Test and Anova test. The mean age of respondents was <?mso-application progid="Word.Document"?>12 33±1.17'> . The mean score of villagers' awareness was <?mso-application progid="Word.Document"?>1230.95±6.16'> . The awareness level of 330 participants (49.1%) was high. There was a significant difference between awareness and some variables such as literacy level and age (p<0.05). There wasn't a significant difference between awareness and gender, family size, history of morbidity, and ethnicity. According to results of this study, Level of villagers'awareness about TB was high, but they lacked awareness on some aspects like the ways of transmission and virulence of disease. It seems that increasing awareness and surveying of influent factors on awareness in people who have TB symptoms is necessary.

Global cerebral ischemia (GCI) and reperfusion induced apoptosis that lead to cell injury and death. The bax and bcl-2 are pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptotic genes, respectively. These genes belong to The B-cell lymphoma-2 (bcl-2) family.In this study; we assessed the effect of pentoxifylline drug on bax/bcl2 gene dosage expression changes following   ischemic reperfusion injury in kidney. In this experimental study, 20 male wistar rats 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-timePCR is used for the detection expression Bcl2 and  Bax genes in ischemia group and PNT drug group and  compared to  normal sample. The results showed the gene dosage ratio of Bax/bcl2 in PNT group  decline  than to  ischemia group. Therefore, the pentoxyfylline might have a role in control of apoptosis result from Ischemia- reperfusion

Human Herpes Virus 8 (HHV8) causes Kaposi’s sarcoma, a common cancer among AIDS patients. It is proposed that this virus plays a role in formation of some blood vessel and lymphoma tumors. This study aimed to investigate the frequency of KSHV among benign and malignant breast tumors. A total of 24 carcinomas and 24 fibroadenomas paraffin embedded tumoral tissue samples were obtained from the pathology sections of Toos and Firoozgar hospitals in Tehran, Iran. All samples had been collected from patients during a period of time effective from June 2013 to February 2014. DNA was extracted from all samples and their infection with HHV8 was examined by PCR technique. The results obtained by this study showed that 6 out of 24 carcinoma samples (25%) were infected by KSHV, while the number of fibroadenoma samples infected by this virus was 9 (37.5%). The frequency of HHV8 infection was different among malignant and benign tumors. Based on the results obtained by this study, KSHV was observed in both benign and malignant tumors. Since KSHV was observed in both types of tumors therefore, it may not have significant relationship with tumor type. The role of KSHV in vessel tumors has been proved by many studies during the past decade. Some other studies have also defined a role for this virus in formation of breast fibroadenoma tumor. Therefore, further studies are needed to define the influence of this virus in breast tumors formation.

    There is a strong relationship between spiritual development of nursing students and their ability to provide patients with spiritual care. Therefore, present research aims to explore spiritual health in nursing students of theIlam University of Medical Sciences, in Iran for both boys and girls. Spiritual health of students is determined using the Palutzian andElisonquestionnaire which consisted of three parts. 10 questions were related to demographic date of students and 20 questions were examined religious health and existential health of students. Eventually, spiritual health of nursing students is classified into four groups and first group who received the grade of 20-40 has poor state of spiritual health. The groups that obtained total grades of 41-70, 71-99 and 100-120 are assigned as low-moderate, high-moderate and high status of spiritual health, respectively.  Data analysis is conducted using ANOVA, Two-way analysis, and Factor analysis. The sample included 39% girls and 61% boys. Poor status of spiritual health between participants was not observed and correlation coefficient between scales of spiritual health is found to be 84.3% which represents as the score of religious health increases existential health score enhances. In order to promote spiritual health of nursing students, it is recommended that the course of spiritual health shouldbe added as a part of the curriculum for medical students due to this fact that capability of student nurses for providing  spiritual  care  is related  to  their  spirituality and  their  education  in  spiritual  care.

     The Plaque Forming Unit(PFU) and Tissue Culture Infectious Dose50(TCID₅₀) methods are used for evaluation of vaccine heat stability and effect of various stabilizers on thermal stability of vaccines. The aim of present study is using Real-Time PCRtechniquefor estimation of vaccine degradation rate and thermal stability of measles vaccines. Lyophilized measles vaccines containing three various stabilizers were reconstituted with distilled water. Three vial of each vaccine incubated at25˚C for 0, 4 and 8 hours. Titer of virus in vaccines calculated by TCID₅₀ method. Also after RNA Extraction and cDNA synthesis, the RNA copy numbers of viruses in vaccines were estimated by absolute quantitative Real-Time PCRtesting. The data were analyzedby SPSS 19 and Sigma Plot 11 software.The result of this study showed there is a significant relationshipbetween vaccine degradation rate calculated with TCID₅₀ and Real-Time PCR method (p<0.05). ThereforeReal-Time PCR is a good complement or appropriate replacement to traditional methods.Titration methods based on cell culture are gold tests for titration of viral vaccines and estimation of heat stability but Real-Time PCR technique can also be used for this goals. This method is faster, cheaper and easier than TCID₅₀.

To investigate the prevalence of methicillin and aminoglycoside resistance and gene encoding staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) and aminoglycoside modifying enzymes in clinical isolates of coagulase negative staphylococci(CoNS) from hospitalized patients. One hundred and three isolates of coagulase negative staphylococci(CoNS) were recovered from various clinical samples from August 2013 to November 2014. All the specimens were identified by conventional microbiological methods. These tests were contained colony morphology, gram stain, catalase, slide and tube coagulase. To determine the sensibility of CoNS to antimicrobial components including Cefoxitin(30µg), Tobramycin(10µg), Kanamycin(30µg), Amikacin(30µg) and Gentamicin(10µg), disk diffusion method was performed by Kirby Bauer antibiotic testing. In order to show the presence of  methicillin and aminoglycoside resistant CoNS genes, PCR were demonstrated. In our study the rate of resistance to Cefoxitin, Kanamycin, Gentamicin, Tobramycin and Amikacin were 74(71.8%), 54(52,4%), 51(49.5%), 45(43.7%) and 16(15.5%), respectively. Some strains of CoNS have been detected with intermediate resistance to Kanamycin 4(3.9%), Tobramycin and Amikacin 2(1.9%). In our study, the distribution of mecA gene among clinical isolates of CoNS was 89(86.4%). The prevalence of aminoglycoside resistance genes like ant(4 ')-Ia, aac(6 ')/aph(2 ") and aph(3 ')-IIIa were 89(86.4%), 87(84.5%) and 68(66%), respectively. The rate of coexistence of aac(6’)-Ie-aph(2’’) with aph(3’)-IIIa and aac(6’)-Ie-aph(2’’) with ant(4’)-Ia was 65(63%) and 77(74%), respectively. Resistance to aminoglycosides, develops quickly in coagulase-negative staphylococci from clinical areas where these antimicrobial agents are widely used. Therefore, higher investments should be directed towards identifying coagulase-negative staphylococcus species in healthcare institutions and in the community. Overall, Knowing the epidemiology and antibiotic resistance of CoNS is essential to implement the prevention strategies and reducing antibiotic consumptions.

      Ethosomes are a novel and alternative drug delivery systems and currently the focus of many research activities. Ethosomes are soft, flexible vesicles that are composed mainly of phospholipids, ethanol and water. Ethosomes can provide better skin permeation than liposomes and deliver enhanced amounts of both small and large therapeutic agents through skin and targeting to deeper skin layers for various diseases. Finally deliver to the systemic circulation. It is clear that ethosomal carrier because of presences ethanol cause skin disruption and increases lipid fluidity. In this review, the mechanism of penetration, applications, preparation, advantages and disadvantages of ethosomes are illuminated.

     Obesity is an epidemic nutritional disease caused mainly by excessive dietary intake and/or insufficient exercise. The purpose of this study was to investigate associations between a number of demographic characteristics and eating habits with prevalence of overweight and obesity in hospital employees. The study was cross-sectional performed on employees of Namazi Hospital in Shiraz, Iran. Subjects were selected from different departments of the hospital. Demographic characteristics, eating habits, and exercise were questioned by interview. Overweight and obesity was defined as a body mass index ≥ 25 kg/m². The rate of overweight/obesity was 30.2%. Among demographic characteristics, only age (OR=5.6 for older ages, p=0.001) and sex (OR=0.4 for females, p=0.04) were significantly associated with overweight/obesity. Skipping breakfast was not associated with overweight/obesity, but skipping meals (OR=2.8, p=0.08) and consuming ≥ 3 snacks per day (OR=0.2, p=0.05) had associations with it, although non-significantly. Performing ≥ 60 min/day (but not ≥ 45 min/day) exercise was associated with a lower risk of overweight/obesity (OR=0.1, p=0.01). The association between exercise and overweight/obesity existed in both sexes, but the association between skipping meals and obesity was present only in females (OR=3.8, p=0.05). Females skipped meals especially breakfast more frequently than males (p=0.001) but snack consumption and exercise was not statistically different between the two sexes. Eating 3 meals and at least 3 snacks per day and performing 1 hour or more exercise may be introduced as helpful strategies in prevention of obesity.

Academic failure is an important issue in medical students which, if not controlled, will cause a drop in the academic level of physicians and paramedics in the coming years. Therefore, identification of factors affecting academic failure can influence the future planning of universities and reduce those factors and help effectiveness and flourishing of these students. This study aimed to investigate the factors influencing academic failure in medical universities' students in the region II of country Which and its results can be applicable to Whole country. This study is a case-control study including all students with academic failure in the academic year 2009 in Semnan, Mashhad, Gorgan, Shahroud, Sabzevar, Gonabad and Bojnoord Universities of Medical Sciences (Probation, increased educational semesters, failure in comprehensive medical tests).Data on students with academic failure and other students was collected and analysed using SPSS software by chi-square test at 5% significance level. The prevalence of academic failure in men was higher than women (N=571 , 5.33%). There was a significant difference between two groups in terms of gender, type of university, degree and entry quota (P <0.05). Given the significant differences in some demographic and educational characteristics between students with and without academic failure, special attention and planning in this area are necessary.

      Night work can have a significant impact on health, well-being, performance and occupational safety of workers. Night workers often complain about the sleep disorder characterized by excessive sleepiness.  The aim of the study was to determine the level of sleepiness among night workers and investigate its relationship with oral temperature in a hot industry. This cross-sectional study involved 80 night workers. Stanford Sleepiness Scale (SSS) has been used to measure the level of sleepiness. Oral temperature and SSS were recorded at different hours of night shift (23 pm to 4 am) for two consecutive nights. The analysis of results showed that there was a positive linear trend in the sleepiness scale (Pvalue<0.001) and an increasing trend in the oral temperature between 23pm and 1am. Then a decreasing trend has been observed after 1am for both of them (Pvalue <0.001).  Comparison of the results for two nights indicated that the mean sleepiness index in the second night is higher than the first (Pvalue <0.001), but the mean oral temperature in the second night was equal to that in the first night. Findings suggest a weak negative association between sleepiness and oral temperature. (r=-0.24, Pvalue =0.03). A substantial proportion of subjects were working while sleepy, especially at late night and early morning hours. The combination of heat stress and sleepiness can lead to impaired performance. The growing amount of sleepiness index indicates the high risk of sleep disorders and the other possible problems related health among night shift workers.

     The aim of this study was to investigate the in vitro developmental competence of isolated pre-antral follicles derived from vitrified ovaries in the presence of coenzyme Q₁₀ (CoQ₁₀). Mice pre-antral follicles derived from fresh and vitrified-warmed ovarian tissues were in vitro cultured individually in α-MEM medium supplemented with or without CoQ₁₀, followed by adding human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG) to induce ovulation. The follicle development parameters and ovulated oocyte maturationwere assessed.The diameter and development of pre-antral follicles and oocyte maturation rates were significantly higher in CoQ₁₀ pretreatment groups of both vitrified and fresh samples compared to the respective CoQ₁₀free conditions groups. CoQ₁₀ improves the in vitrodevelopment of pre-antral follicles derived from fresh and vitrified –warmed ovaries.

Nowadays brain tumors remain as a significant cause of morbidity and mortality and are often treatment refractory. The grading of brain tumor has an important implication in clinical management. Currently, magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is an important modality in evaluating and grading brain tumors. The aim of this study is  evaluation of metabolites in the differentiation of brain tumors and  grading of brain gliomas using HMRS (proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy).The studies were performed using single voxel MRS ،3Tesla with pulse of sequence used for MRS was point resolved single volume spectroscopy (PRESS)with repetition time (TR) 1000-6000ms and echo time (TE) 36-136ms and The detected distinguished metabolites was included Choline (Cho), Creatin (Cr), and N-acetyl a aspartate (NAA), 37cases had data which passed quality control. The Patient ages ranged from 7 To 81 years, 17 were male and 20 female.MRS data was processed using SYNGO software to give mean spectra and metabolite concentrations which were compared using min it a band SPSS. To test the primary hypothesis, univariate logistic regression was performed on each individual measured metabolite quantity. Significant differences were found in concentrations of key metabolites and Cho/NAA and Cho/Cr ratios using T-test and significance (P≤0.05). In the assessment of age rate and tumor grading, the malignancies of brain tumors did not correlate with patients’ ages as well as sexuality. MRS can detect subtle differences between low grade brain tumors in children and should form part of the clinical assessment of these tumors.

     Information about the health risks that might be associated with lipstick consumption effects is scarce in the literature. The present work investigated the bioaccumulation of lead (Pb) in brain of rats originated from lipstick sample. First, Lead contents were determined in 12 different brands of lipsticks. Lead was detected in all the studied samples. The average lead content in 14 lipsticks samples was 12.2 PPM wet wt. Then, one brand was selected for feeding to the rats and amount of oral exposing in the three doses was calculated. Sixty rats were used for the experiment. Animals were divided into 4 groups of 15 animals each. While 1group served as control group, the remaining 3 groups were exposed to lipstick through oral gavage for 12 weeks.  Results show that, exposure to the lipstick cause significantly disposition of lead in the brain of rats.

Laboratory errors may occur in every stage of laboratory management process and lead to a considerable harm to inpatients. This study was aim to investigate the Proactive risk assessment of the laboratory management process in Ghaem Hospital, Mashhad (2013). This was a descriptive research that quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed some failure modes and effects. In order to classify the modes of failure and effective causes of them and also determining the improvement strategies, we have used "nursing error management association", "Eindhoven" and "theory of inventive problem solving" models respectively. In 5 steps of laboratory management process which is conducted on17 listed sub-processes, on average 59 error modes in each ward was identified. 18.7% of error modes were identified as high risk errors (hazard score ≥ 8). Most of error causes were related to human factors (42.7%).In addition, 31.6% of preventive measures were assigned in human resources management strategy group and 16.9% in team work group. The Healthcare Failure Mode and Effect Analysis method was very efficient in identifying failure modes, determining causes which impact each failure mode, and proposing improvement strategies for laboratory management processes of Ghaem Department.

TiO₂ nanoparticles (NPs) might be considered as the most important photosensitizer due to high photocatalytic and sonocatalytic efficiency, low toxicity, excellent biocompatibility, low cost and high chemical stability. TiO₂-NPs normally tend to aggregate in physiological medium and which results to decreased cell viability and inducing expression of stress-related genes. Thus dispersion and stability of TiO₂ NPs should be considered in biological application. This paper deals on various dispersing methods such as ultrasonication, electrostatic, steric electrosteric stabilization that suppress agglomeration and stabilizes the dispersed NPs in aqueous medium.Sonication breaks up agglomerated NPs in a solvent. The results showed that probe sonication performs better than bath sonication in dispersing TiO₂ agglomerates, but sonication couldn’t prevent long term aggregation of nanoparticles and in order to form stable dispersions, it is not enough to break nanoparticles apart. Agglomerated NPs can be separated by overcoming the weaker attractive forces by electrostatic, steric or electrosteric interactions. Electrostatic stabilization takes place when charges accumulate at the surface of particles. At values of potential more than 30 mV or less than -30 mV no agglomeration occurs. Ionic strength and pH influence on electrostatic stabilization; when pH is far from the isoelectric point, agglomeration is suppressed. In a sterically stabilized dispersion large molecules such as polymers, surfactants and biomolecules, adsorbed on to the surface of particles suppress re-agglomeration. PEG is a hydrophilic polymer, non-toxic and non-immunogenic, and has favorable pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution. PEGylation of NPs not only prevents agglomeration, but also enhances their biocompatibility and increases the in vivo circulation time.

     Extremely low frequency (ELF) electromagnetic field (ELF-EMFs) are widely employed in electrical appliances and different equipment such as television sets, ELF-EMFs can  affect biological systems by increasing production  ROS. The altered balance between ROS generation and elimination plays a critical role in a variety of pathologic conditions. ROS levels have been observed in several hematopoietic malignancies including acute and chronic myeloid leukemia. ELF-EMFs exposure significantly decreased Nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) protein expression Lower levels of NO have been demonstrated to exert a protective function in leukemic and melanoma cells and to inhibit effector caspases by S-nitrosylation. Also ELF-EMFs can decrease melatonin production by effects on N-acetyltransferase. Melatonin is an antioxidant, effective in protecting nuclear DNA. Transmitters emitting radio frequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs) are usually not located in populated areas but some epidemiology studies showed association distance transmitters from residential area and leukemia.

      Metabolomics studies provide useful information about health and disease status. Metabolite based investigations on various cancers is a powerful approach to diagnosis, prognosis and therapy of cancer diseases. Recently by using advanced analytical techniques such as NMR and MS and its hyphenation methods, global metabolic profiling of diseases has been possible. It is predictable that international contributions and software developments in the future will lead to accurate instrumental analysis based on  a large number of  human samples that finally will improve validation methods and reach this field from the research phase to the clinical phase. In this review, we also discussed the latest developments in analytical methods, application of data analysis, investigation of useful databases and the curent application of metabolomics in cancer diseases that have led to the identification of related biomarkers. In continuation, we listed biomarkers involved in cancer diseases that have been published during recent years.

    In assisted reproduction techniques (ART) settings, reactive oxygen species (ROS) can be produced from endogenous and exogenous sources during in vitro manipulation. Endogenous sources of ROS include gametes and embryo, whereas exogenous sources are oxygen tension, light exposure, culture media, and the nature of some protocols, such as centrifugation or cryopreservation. Elevated ROS production can result in oxidative stress (OS), which is harmful to gametes and embryos, and reduces the procedure’s outcomes. Therefore, addressing various aspects of the adverse effects of oxidative stress and its management is necessary.

Beer is the most consumed beverage after tea, carbonates, milk and coffee in the world and it continues to be a popular drink. One of the important reason for its popularity is that beer is a drink with a pleasant flavor, an attractive color and also because of its clarity. So, Membrane separation technology has become widely used in the food processing industryto attain these characteristics.As advantages of membrane filtration are included maintainingdissolved macromolecules that give the beer its flavor and functional properties while causes removal of yeast cells and turbidity colloids and also, reducing the components that cause turbidity of the bottled beer.Because of the potential of cross-flow microfiltration as a separation method for brewery, it has been investigated in the many of recent studies. Clarification of rough beer (RB) and pasteurization of clarified beer (CB) are as an application of cross-flow microfiltration (CFMF) in brewery. An important limitation in the performance of membrane processes is the fouling mechanism and the general effect of these phenomena, known as concentration polarization have described briefly in this review article. Moreover, the influence of important parameters in the filtration process such as temperature, pressure,type of membrane, pore size and the use of stamped membrane have been discussed.