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Background: Systemic lupus erythematosus is a multisystemic rheumatic disease with different clinical features. Disturbance in apoptosis regulation seems to be a major factor in SLE development. Objective: Survivin plays a key role in mitosis and inhibiting apoptosis. A study was conducted to examine the expression level of survivin and miRNAs that affect survivin transcript levels in patients with SLE. Methods: We isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 50 inactive SLE patients and 50 healthy controls. RNA is extracted and converted to cDNA. The quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction is conducted to assess the expression levels of survivin total and its variants with effective miRNAs in PBMCs. Results: Expression levels of miR-34a-5p (fold change = 1.5, p + + = 0.027), and 218-5p (fold change = 1.5, p + + = 0.020) were significantly increased. While miR-150-5p (fold change = 0.56, p + + = 0.003) was significantly decreased. The mRNA expression of survivin-WT (fold change = 0.63, p ++ = 0.002) was significantly downregulated in SLE patients compared to the healthy controls. Survivin total and its two major variants (survivin-2B, and survivin-ΔEx3) did not differ significantly between SLE patients and controls. Conclusion: Although survivin-TS and its two variants (survivin-2B, and survivin-ΔEx3) were not differently expressed in SLE patients, survivin-WT had altered expression. Despite aberrant miRNA expression in PBMCs from SLE patients, survivin and miRNA expression were not associated with leukopenia. The pathogenesis of SLE disorder might be linked to survivin's other roles in the immune system aside from anti-apoptotic functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Titanium tetrafluoride (TiF4) is an anticariogenic agent with high remineralizing potential. However, the acidic pH of TiF4 solution can limit its clinical application. The present study aimed to prepare and characterize a new TiF4-dendrimer inclusion complex and evaluate its ability to inhibit enamel demineralization under pH cycling conditions. Methods: PEG-citrate dendrimer and TiF4-dendrimer inclusion complex were synthesized and their molecular structures were evaluated using Fourier-transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Hydrogen Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (HNMR), and Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS) tests. Forty-eight enamel samples were prepared and randomly divided into four groups: distilled water (negative control), TiF4 solution (T), dendrimer solution (D), and TiF4-dendrimer solution (TD). The microhardness of the samples was measured initially. Next, the samples underwent pH cycling, were exposed to the solutions, the microhardness was measured again, and microhardness loss was calculated. EDX analysis was performed on the surface and cross-sectional segments of the samples. Results: The microhardness loss was significantly higher in control (−65.1 ± 6.0) compared to other groups. No significant difference was observed between T (−47.9 ± 5.6) and D (−41.7 ± 12.0) and also D and TD (−40.5 ± 9.4) in this regard. Microhardness loss was significantly higher in T compared to TD group. The TD samples showed similar fluoride and titanium content in both surface and subsurface regions, while the T group had higher concentrations in the surface region. Moreover, the TD solution had a higher pH of 3.4 compared to the T solution's pH of 1.1. Conclusion: No significant difference was observed between the efficacy of TiF4-dendrimer and TiF4 solution in inhibiting demineralization while TiF4-dendrimer solution had the added advantage of having a higher pH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The study of the angles between the vertebrae and the curvatures of the spine plays an important role in the pathogenesis of spinal disorders. The nature of the cervical region makes it susceptible to various cervical disorders, many of which can be caused by imbalanced alignment. Methods: In the present study, patients with chronic neck pain were compared with the normal population for cervical indexes. Results: One hundred subjects were selected, including 57 males (57%) and 43 females (43%). Neck tilting was significantly lower in the case group than control (41.5 vs. 45.8) (p=0.01). The mean of C0-C2 angle did not differ between groups (p=0.503), however, a significant increase was found for C2-C7 and C0-C7 angles (p=0.012) and (p=0.05), respectively. Further analysis revealed that cranial offset (21.9 vs. 8.6) and cranial tilting (21.3 vs. 10.1) significantly increased in patients with chronic neck pain (p<0.001) and (p=0.004), respectively. Also, cervical Sagittal Vertical Axis (SVA) has shown a significant increase in patients than control (24.8 vs. 9.7) (p<0.001). Conclusion: The data have indicated that cervical indexes. Thus, spine surgeons should obtain standing cervical radiographs and evaluate the relationship between T1 slope, Spino Cranial Angle (SCA), and cSVA in all cases affected by cervical pathogenesis, even without obvious deformity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) disturbs the stability of the knee, and increases the risk of subsequent meniscal damage and the risk of developing degenerative joint disease. Surgical ACL reconstruction (ACLR) is one of the most common orthopedic surgeries. This study aimed to investigate the effective factors on the rehabilitation rate in ACLR with hamstring autograft based on the Tegner activity scale (TAS) and Lysholm knee scoring scale (LKS) one year after the operation. In this descriptive-analytical study, 140 patients who underwent ACLR surgery with hamstring autograft were evaluated. Patients were evaluated based on TAS and LKS scores before and after the surgery and their responses were recorded. Then, the rehabilitation rate was calculated based on these two scales, and the association between the rehabilitation rate and pre-operative and post-operative parameters was investigated. Based on the findings, LKS scores after surgery were significantly associated with age, gender, education, injury mechanism, loss of full flexion ROM, analgesic consumption after surgery, surgical site infection, and BMI. Also, the LKS score was higher in people whose Tegner activity scale score was 8 before the injury. There was no significant association with smoking before surgery, hematoma at the graft site after surgery, knee meniscal lesions, and hemarthrosis formation during the first six hours of ACL injury. Determining the effective factors before and after surgery on the rehabilitation rate of patients undergoing ACLR who were treated with hamstring autograft may be useful in evaluating the rehabilitation rate of patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Recent researches have indicated that pregnancies with frozen embryo transfer are associated with the increment of risk of maternal and neonatal complications, especially hypertension during pregnancy. The present study aimed to compare the occurrence rate of gestational hypertension in pregnancy with frozen embryo transfer and normal pregnancy. Materials and Methods: This research, as a retrospective cross-sectional study, was performed on pregnant women with frozen embryo transfer (n = 97) and women with normal pregnancies (n = 164) referring to medical centers under the supervision of Ahvaz University of Medical Sciences in 2021. Women aged 18–35 were included in the study after week 20th of pregnancy. Maternal and neonatal outcomes including hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (including gestational hypertension and preeclampsia), preterm birth (before the week 37th), low birth weight (lower than 2500 g), neonatal asphyxia (Apgar score >7 in minute 5th), intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and bleeding in the first trimester of pregnancy were evaluated. The association between frozen embryo transfer and pregnancy outcomes was evaluated using multiple logistic regressions. Results: The findings of this study indicated that pregnancy hypertension was observed in 23 people (23.7%) from the frozen embryo transfer group vs. 18 people (11.0%) from the normal pregnancy group (P = 0.006). Frozen embryo transfer pregnancy has a higher risk of gestational hypertension (OR = 2.521, 95% CI: 1.281-4.962; P = 0.007), preterm birth (OR = 2.264, 95% CI: 1.335-3.840; P = 0.002), and low birth weight (OR = 2.017, 95% CI: 1.178-3.455; P = 0.011). However, the incidence of birth asphyxia (P = 0.850), intrauterine growth restriction (P = 0.068), first-trimester bleeding (P = 0.809), and placenta accreta (P = 0.143) did not show a significant difference between two types of normal pregnancy and frozen embryo transfer pregnancy. Conclusion: Frozen embryo transfer pregnancy was associated with a higher risk of maternal and neonatal complications, hypertension, preterm birth, and low birth weight compared to natural and spontaneous pregnancies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]