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Sumac has been traditionally used by people as a medicinal plant for the treatment of different disorders. Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is one of the major zoonotic diseases of human with a worldwide distribution. Long term albendazole therapy is usually associated with side effects including impaired liver function and leukopenia. The present study investigated the efficacy of the methanolic extract of Sumac, Rhus coriaria , on the secondary hydatid cyst development in mice and evaluated sumac effects on the expression of a profile of genes with a potential role in parasite development. Thirty-six mice were intraperitoneally inoculated with of with 3000 protoscoleces and six months after induction of infection were divided into three groups that received either oral sumac extract, albendazole or distilled water. The mice were necropsied 45 days later and the volume and weight of cysts were measured. The expression level of five target genes were analyzed using RT-qPCR. The volume and weight of the cysts were significantly lower in the sumac group compared to the controls. Decreased expressions were found in four out of the five genes following sumac administration. While significantly lower expressions in the sumac group were found for the cdk6, b-raf, fgfr and ras genes , no significant difference was found in cdk2 expression as compared with the control groups. Findings of the present study indicate high efficacy of sumac on the size and volume of secondary hydatid cysts in a murine CE model. Further studies are required to explore the most active and effective ingredients of this natural product. [Display omitted] • The present study investigated the efficacy of sumac in a murine model of echinococcosis. • The volume and weight of the intraperitoneal cysts were significantly lower in sumac group. • Significantly decreased expressions were found in 4 out of 5 genes in the infected mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Hydatidosis is a parasitic zoonotic disease. Surgery is one of its treatment modalities during which protoscolices are likely to be released into the peritoneal cavity and cause recurrence of the disease. Given the above problem and the complications associated with conventional anti-parasitic agents, it is imperative to find an effective and natural protoscolicidal agent. The present study was conducted to evaluate effects of Artemisia sieberi on Echinococcus granulosus protoscolices. Protoscolices were collected from slaughtered livestock in Kerman abattoir and the effect of three concentrations of aqueous extract of A. sieberi (25 mg ml−1, 50 mg ml−1 and 75 mg ml−1) was assessed over three different exposure periods. Results showed that scolicidal effect of this extract at exposure periods of 2, 5 and 10 min was 76 ± 1.4, 76.8 ± 1.41 and 85.7 ± 3.29 percent at concentration of 25 mg ml−1 and 76.8 ± 1.4, 78 ± 3.18 and 86.4 ± 24.9 percent at concentration of 50 mg ml−1 and finally 80 ± 2.73, 90 ± 0.79 and 92.6 ± 1.27 percent at concentration of 75 mg ml−1, respectively. It can be concluded that the aqueous extract of A. sieberi has a protoscolicidal activity and can be considered a natural agent against hydatid cyst protoscolices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quality of life (QOL) of children with epilepsy has been widely studied, and several problems related to cognition, behavior, social lives, and physical activity among these children have been reported. Family life and parental care are important aspects of the lives of these patients. The impact of parental education on the QOL of pediatric patients with epilepsy is an understudied topic, especially in developing countries. In this study, we investigated the QOL and general health (GH) of patients with epilepsy presenting at the pediatric neurology clinic at Baqiyatallah Hospital and a private clinic. The Quality of Life in Childhood Epilepsy (QOLCE) questionnaire, which is a 92-item epilepsy-specific questionnaire covering physical activity, well-being, cognition, behavior, social activity, overall QOL, and GH, was used for interviewing parents. A total of 106 patients (m = 61, 57.5% and f = 45, 42.5%) aged 5–17 years (mean: 10.31 ± 2.91) participated in the study. Overall, there was no significant difference between the QOL and GH results of male and female patients. However, the maternal education level had a significant impact on the overall QOL (high school: 3.02 ± 0.85 vs. B.Sc.: 3.67 ± 0.61, p < 0.05) and GH (high school: 2.81 ± 0.79 vs. B.Sc.: 3.8 ± 0.94, p < 0.05) of male patients, while paternal education had no significant effect. A multiple linear regression showed that the maternal education level had an independently significant association with the physical activity of the patients (p = 0.02, CI: 1.4–6.25), and the paternal education level had an independently significant association with the well-being of the patients (p = 0.02, CI: 0.43–5.36). In addition, the maternal education level (high school vs. B.Sc.) had a significant effect on physical activity, well-being, cognition, and behavior for all of the patients (p < 0.05), while the paternal education level (high school vs. B.Sc.) had no significant impact. However, in a comparison of high school vs. higher education, paternal education had a significant effect on patients' physical activity and well-being (p < 0.05). We conclude that parental levels of education play a significant role in various aspects of the lives and GH of children with epilepsy. Maternal education, in particular, plays a significant role in GH and the overall QOL of male patients. Further research is suggested to identify the socioeconomic and cultural factors responsible for these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A dual-signaling electrochemical ratio metric strategy was developed for detection microRNA-18a based on the duplex-specific nuclease-assisted target recycling and electrochemical atom transfer radical polymerization signal amplification. In the presence of target microRNA, RNA/DNA duplexes are formed, which become the substrate of the duplex-specific nuclease-assisted target recycling. Hence only the DNA strand is cleaved by duplex-specific nuclease enzyme, resulting in the throw away of methylene blue (MB) from the electrode (signal off) accompanied by releasing of target microRNA, which can be recycled in the next hybridization. The remaining piece of capture DNAs on the electrode surface hybridize with the Azide labeled-signal DNAs. "Click reactions" were carried out between 3-Butynyl-2-bromoisobutyrate and Azide to initiate the electrochemical atom transfer radical polymerization reaction. This process could bring a great number of ferrocenylmethyl methacrylate (FMMA) on the surface of electrode (signal on). The I FMMA /I MB value was proportionate to the microRNA-18a concentration and measured by square wave voltammetry. The promising potential of the proposed biosensor in clinical analyses was exhibited by its remarkable features such as strong performance, high specificity, agreeable storage stability, and notable selectivity in real sample evaluation with no pretreatment or amplification. Finally, our biosensing method offers such an application to be used for the early clinical diagnosis of Pancreatic Cancer. [Display omitted] • A dual-signaling electrochemical ratiometric strategy was developed for detection of microRNA-18a. • The method demonstrated a lower detection limit than that obtained using either 'signal on' or 'signal off' strategies alone. • The biosensor could be used for quick and direct analysis of miRNAs in human serum. • The biosensing method offers such an application to be used for clinical early diagnosis of Pancreatic Cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer progression is typically associated with the simultaneous changes of multiple microRNA (miR) levels. Therefore, simultaneous determination of multiple miR biomarkers exhibits great promise in early diagnosis of cancers. This research seeks to discuss a simple biosensing method for the ultrasensitive and specific detection of the three miRs related to the breast cancer based on S9.6 antibody coated magnetic beads, titanium phosphate nanospheres, and screen-printed carbon electrode. To prepare signaling probes, three hairpin DNAs (hDNAs) were labeled with three encoding titanium phosphate nanospheres with large quantities of different heavy metal ions (zinc, cadmium, lead), which have been utilized to discriminate the signals of three microRNA targets in relation with the corresponding heavy metal ions. After that, these hairpin structures hybridize with miR-21, miR-155 and miR-10b to form miR-21/hDNA1, miR-155/hDNA2 and miR-10b/hDNA3 complexes, which were captured by S9.6 antibodies (one anti-DNA/RNA antibody) pre-modified on magnetic bead surface. Therefore, the specific preconcentration of targets from complex matrixes can be carried out using magnetic actuation, increasing the sensitivity and specificity of the detection. The biosensor was suitably applied for direct and rapid detection of multiple microRNAs in real sample. It was observed that there were no significant differences between the results obtained by the suggested method and qRT-PCR as a reference method. So, this method makes an ultrasensitive novel platform for miRNAs expression profiling in clinical diagnosis and biomedical research. [Display omitted] • A novel biosensor for simultaneous detection of three breast cancer related miRNAs was fabricated for the first time. • Three encoding nanospheres- heavy metals ions have been utilized to discriminate the signals of three RNA targets. • Biosensor in enzyme-free detection showed the good linear ranges of 2 fM to 10 pM. • The biosensor shows high performance for the measurement of endogenous three target miRNA levels directly in real sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) has a strong female bias. We evaluated an X chromosome dose effect by analyzing 47,XXY (Klinefelter's syndrome, 1 in 500 live male births) among subjects with pSS. 47,XXY was determined by examination of fluorescence intensity of single nucleotide polymorphisms from the X and Y chromosomes. Among 136 pSS men there were 4 with 47,XXY. This was significantly different from healthy controls (1 of 1254 had 47,XXY, p = 0.0012 by Fisher's exact test) as well men with rheumatoid arthritis (0 of 363 with 47,XXY), but not different compared to men with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) (4 of 136 versus 8 of 306, Fisher's exact test p = NS). These results are consistent with the hypothesis that the number of X chromosomes is critical for the female bias of pSS, a property that may be shared with SLE but not RA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]