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In this study, a facile and cost-effective approach has been developed for fabricating antibacterial and antistatic waterborne polyurethane (WPU)-based coatings by using Polyaniline-Copper@Zinc oxide (P-Cu@ZnO) ternary nanohybrid as a multifunctional additive. The solid-state reaction of copper acetate and zinc acetate salts led to the synthesis of copper clusters on the ZnO nanoparticles (Cu@ZnO). The obtained Cu@ZnO nanoparticles were intercalated with polyaniline (PANI) chains to prepare the P-Cu@ZnO nanohybrid. FTIR, XRD, UV–Vis, and FESEM analyses were used to characterize the structural, crystallographic, and morphological properties of the synthesized nanohybrid. Adding P-Cu@ZnO nanohybrid to the WPU matrix not only improved adhesion strength of the coatings but also enhanced their scratch resistance compared to the pristine WPU coating. Moreover, incorporation of the obtained nanohybrid into the WPU coatings caused electrical surface resistance of the obtained coatings to reach 1.2 × 10+8 Ω/sq, so, these coatings gained the optimum electrical surface resistance to be counted as an antistatic coating. Also, the results of the colony counting test showed that the modified coatings could reduce the Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli bacteria growth by about 86% and 74%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glucocorticoids (GC) are known as inflammatory drugs, which are used in neuroinflammatory diseases. Unlike the classic picture, recent studies have revealed that some GC drugs exacerbate inflammatory responses in their acute and prolonged administration. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a demyelinating inflammatory disorder, in which reactive M1 microglia phenotype play a central role. Since methylprednisolone (MP), as a synthetic GC, are commonly used by MS patients, in this study, we evaluated the effect of long-term administration of MP on microglia polarization in cuprizone (CPZ)-induced MS model. The immunostaining results showed that chronic exposure to MP in the CPZ treated mice increased the number of Iba-1 positive microglia, which significantly expressed IP10 as M1 marker than arginase as M2 marker. MP treatment induced significant amplification in the transcript levels of iNOS and TNF-α (M1-related markers) in the corpus callosum of the MS mice, whereas no change detected in the expression of IL-10 (M2-related marker) between the groups. In addition, evaluation of myelin by luxol fast blue staining and transmission electron microscopy revealed that prolonged MP administration increased demyelination in comparison to the CPZ group. In conclusion, our results show that chronic MP therapy in the CPZ-induced demyelination model of MS polarized microglia to M1 pro-inflammatory phenotype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate is an effective factor in the ecological structure which plays an important role in control and outbreak of the diseases caused by biological factors like malaria. With regard to the occurring climatic change, this study aimed to review the effects of climate change on malaria in Iran. In this systematic review, Cochrane, PubMed and ScienceDirect (as international databases), SID and Magiran as Persian databases were investigated through MESH keywords including climate change, global warming, malaria, Anopheles, and Iran. The related articles were screened and finally their results were extracted using data extraction sheets. Totally 41 papers were resulted through databases searching process. Finally 14 papers which met inclusion criteria were included in data extraction stage. The findings indicated that Anopheles mosquitoes are present at least in 115 places in Iran; they are compatible with climatic zones of Iran. Malaria and it’s vectors are affected by climate change. Temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, wind intensity and direction are the most important climatic factors affecting the growth and proliferation of Anopheles, Plasmodium and the prevalence of malaria. The transmission of malaria in Iran is associated with the climatic factors of temperature, rainfall, and humidity. Therefore, with regard to the occurring climatic change, the incidence of the disease may also change which needs to be taken into consideration while planning of malaria control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some special advantages of poly vinyl alcohol (PVA), including biocompatibility and non-toxicity, make it a good choice to be used in drug delivery systems. The large swelling capacity of PVA requires to be adequately stabilized to ensure that carriers could be retained in water. Thus, to form electrospun fibers and improve stability in aqueous mediums, PVA is often exposed to a stabilization process. In this work, PVA/sodium alginate (SA) nanofibers with core/shell structure were fabricated by electrospinning of PVA (10 w/v%) and SA (2 w/v%) in water. The electrospun nanofibers were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry. These characterizations showed that there were good interactions between PVA and SA caused by probable hydrogen bonds. In vitro tests exhibited that the core/shell structure of PVA/SA nanofibers could be regarded as a suitable carrier for the controlled release delivery of dexpanthenol (delivery for 150 h), as well it was indicated that the drug release from dexpanthenol-loaded nanofibers follows Korsmeyer-Peppas model with Fickian diffusion mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To compare the pregnancy outcomes between four regimens of luteal phase support (LPS), including vaginal progesterone, oral dydrogesterone, combination of oral dydrogesterone and gonadotropin releasing hormone analog (GnRH-α), and combination of oral dydrogesterone and human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG), in Frozen-thawed Embryo Transfer (FET) cycles.Methods: This randomized clinical trial was performed during a 6-month period, including candidates for FET. Patients were randomly assigned to four groups for LPS: 400 mg vaginal progesterone suppository twice daily, 10 mg oral dydrogesterone twice daily, 10 mg oral dydrogesterone twice daily combined with injection of 0.1 mg GnRH-α, and 10 mg oral dydrogesterone twice daily combined with injection of 1500 IU hCG. Primary endpoint included clinical pregnancy rate, ongoing pregnancy rate (OPR), and miscarriage rate (MR).Results: A total of 400 FET cycles were analyzed. CPR was significantly lower in dydrogesterone group (9 %) when compared to vaginal progesterone (20 %), dydrogesterone and GnRH-α (25 %), and dydrogesterone and hCG (17 %). Logistic regression showed that only dydrogesterone group had significantly lower CPR in comparison with vaginal progesterone (OR = 0.39; p = 0.03), while it was comparable between other three groups. There were no significant difference between four groups regarding to OPR and MR.Conclusion: Vaginal progesterone provides appropriate LPS. Yet, combination of oral dydrogesterone and GnRH-α or hCG can be more suitable option compared to vaginal progesterone for LPS in women with vaginal irritation or discharge at a lower cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite advances in anticancer drug development and discovery, the survival of patients is so poor. A deep need for discovery of novel anticancer drugs is among priority issues in medicinal chemistry now. A new series of 1,2,4-triazole derivatives were designed and synthesized by means of bioisosteric replacement. In vitro cytotoxicity evaluation was carried out with respect to PC3 (prostate carcinoma), HT29 (colorectal cancer) and SKNMC (neuroblastoma) cell lines using MTT assay, and the obtained results were compared to imatinib as a reference drug. Spectroscopic methods including 1H NMR, IR, and MS were used for characterization of the synthesized compounds. Generally, none of the tested compounds showed superior activity in comparison to imatinib against PC3 and SKNMC cell lines. However, compound 3b (IC = 3.69 ± 0.9 μM) and 3e(IC = 15.31 ± 2.1 μM) exhibited higher activity than imatinib (18.1 ± 2.6) against HT29 cells. Some of the obtained 1,2,4-triazole derivatives can be proposed as potential anticancer agents - in particular, against colorectal cancer - but further structural modifications and experimental tests are needed to increase the anticancer activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an increased risk of neural tube defects and axial skeletal malformations among infants born by mothers who had received Valproic acid…The aim of the present study is, if administration of valproic acid can induce maternal hepatic Metallothionein (MT) synthesis and so secondary decrease of plasma Zn. In the present experimental study, mated rats were divided into four groups of 12 animals each [control, valproic acid (VPA), valproic acid + zinc (VPA+ Zn) and Zinc (Zn) groups]. The VPA group received 300 mg/kg valproic acid; daily. The control group received an equal volume of 0.9% NaCI. The VPA+ Zn group received 300 mg/kg VPA as well as 30 mg/kg zinc sulfate, and the Zn group received 30 mg/kg zinc sulfate, daily. These drugs were administered intraperitoneally from day 6 through day 15 of gestation. Dams were killed on GD 16 or 20. Blood was drawn to determine plasma zinc; furthermore, maternal liver Zn and MT were also determined. The zinc concentration in the plasma of rats treated with valproic acid was significantly lower than those of the other groups on GD 16 (p=0.004), but liver Zn (p=0.016) and MT (p=0.004) were significantly higher than those of the control group. On GD 20 the incidence of skeletal malformations and neural tube defects tended to be higher in VPA group than VPA+ Zn treated group and no anomalies were seen in the control group. The results from the present experiment support hypothesis that one of biochemical lesions causing the teratogenicity of VPA is a drug -induced maternal plasma zinc deficiency secondary to Metallothionein induction in liver. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]