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Background: Cognitive interventions are among the effective training-on-gait parameters; however, the effects of such trainings on inter-joints coordination has not been much considered., Research Question: Can dual task and executive function training affect inter-joint coordination during walking in elderly with poor balance?, Methods: Thirty elderly men were purposefully divided into three groups: 1) dual-task training group (DTG), 2) executive function training group (EFG) and 3) control group. After the pre-test, the experimental groups participated in 24 training sessions while the control group were required to do their normal daily tasks. VICON three-dimensional motion analysis system with four T20 series cameras was used to evaluate inter-joints coordination during the experiment. Participants had to walk a 12-meter path while kinematics of their joints was recorded. The inter-joint coordination at the sagittal plane and in four phases were assessed using the vector coding technique., Results: The findings of this study showed that the greatest effect of the intervention on the coordination between the joints was in the loading and mid-stance phases (p < 0.05). Also, the variability in the coupling angle showed a significant decrease in most phases (p < 0.05)., Significance: Based on the obtained results, it can be argued that the loading and mid-stance are more involved in postural control and balance because the center of gravity is transferred between the legs and the person is normally on single-leg stance in these phases., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest All authors stated there are no conflicts of interest to report., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: The pandemic COVID-19 has caused a high mortality rate and poses a significant threat to the population of the entire world. Due to the novelty of this disease, the pathogenic mechanism of the disease and the host cell's response are not yet fully known, so lack of evidence prevents a definitive conclusion about treatment strategies. The current study employed a small RNA deep-sequencing approach for screening differentially expressed microRNA (miRNA) in blood and bronchoalveolar fluid (BALF) samples of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) patients., Methods: In this study, BALF and blood samples were taken from patients with ARDS (n = 5). Control samples were those with suspected lung cancer candidates for lung biopsy (n = 3). Illumina high-throughput (HiSeq 2000) sequencing was performed to identify known and novel miRNAs differentially expressed in the blood and BALFs of ARDS patients compared with controls., Results: Results showed 2234 and 8324 miRNAs were differentially expressed in blood and BALF samples, respectively. In BALF samples, miR-282, miR-15-5p, miR-4485-3p, miR-483-3p, miR-6891-5p, miR-200c, miR-4463, miR-483-5p, and miR-98-5p were upregulated and miR-15a-5p, miR-548c-5p, miR-548d-3p, miR-365a-3p, miR-3939, miR-514-b-5p, miR-513a-3p, miR-513a-5p, miR-664a-3p, and miR-766-3p were downregulated. On the contrary, in blood samples miR-15b-5p, miR-18a-3p, miR-486-3p, miR-486-5p, miR-146a-5p, miR-16-2-3p, miR-6501-5p, miR-365-3p, miR-618, and miR-623 were top upregulated miRNAs and miR-21-5p, miR-142a-3p, miR-181-a, miR-31-5p, miR-99-5p, miR-342-5p, miR-183-5p, miR-627-5p, and miR-144-3p were downregulated miRNAs. Network functional analysis for Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), in ARDS patients' blood and BALF samples, showed that the target genes were more involved in activating inflammatory and apoptosis process., Conclusion: Based on our results, the transcriptome profile of ARDS patients would be a valuable source for understanding molecular mechanisms of host response and developing clinical guidance on anti-inflammatory medication., (© 2022 The Authors. Journal of Clinical Laboratory Analysis published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

We introduce the galaxy intensity mapping cross-correlation estimator (GIMCO), which is a new tomographic estimator for the gravitational lensing potential, based on a combination of intensity mapping (IM) and galaxy number counts. The estimator can be written schematically as IM(z&#95;{f})×galaxy(z&#95;{b})-galaxy(z&#95;{f})×IM(z&#95;{b}) for a pair of distinct redshifts (z&#95;{f},z&#95;{b}); this combination allows to greatly reduce the contamination by density-density correlations, thus isolating the lensing signal. As an estimator constructed only from cross-correlations, it is additionally less susceptible to systematic effects. We show that the new estimator strongly suppresses cosmic variance and consequently improves the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for the detection of lensing, especially on linear scales and intermediate redshifts. For cosmic variance dominated surveys, the SNR of our estimator is a factor of 30 larger than the SNR obtained from the correlation of galaxy number counts only. Shot noise and interferometer noise reduce the SNR. For the specific example of the dark energy survey (DES) cross-correlated with the hydrogen intensity mapping and real time analysis experiment (HIRAX), the SNR is around four, whereas for Euclid cross-correlated with HIRAX it reaches 52. This corresponds to an improvement of a factor of 4-5 compared to the SNR from DES alone. For Euclid cross-correlated with HIRAX the improvement with respect to Euclid alone strongly depends on the redshift. We find that the improvement is particularly important for redshifts below 1.6, where it reaches a factor of 5. This makes our estimator especially valuable to test dark energy and modified gravity, that are expected to leave an impact at low and intermediate redshifts.

Background: Congenital anomalies are considered as main causes of disability and mortality among children in developing and developed countries. Expenditures of hospitalization and treatment procedures for these children impose a large burden on health system and their families. This study aimed to review the prevalence of congenital anomalies among infants in Iran., Methods: The review of studies was conducted through searching databases including IranMedex, SID, Magiran, Scopus, and PubMed. Descriptive and cross-sectional studies investigating on the prevalence of congenital anomalies among infants were included into the study. Hand search for some related journals and websites was done. The list of studies' references was reviewed. The data were analyzed using the CMA 2 software., Results: Of 455 studies, 27 studies were included into the meta-analysis study. The studies were conducted between 1992 and 2014.The overall prevalence of congenital anomalies among infants was estimated to be 2.3%. The overall prevalence rates, in terms of gender, were estimated to be 3% in boys and 2% in girls. While the highest prevalence rates were related to musculoskeletal anomalies (27.5%), skin anomalies (19.7%) and genitourinary system anomalies (15.8%), the lowest prevalence rate was related to respiratory system (1.82%)., Conclusion: The prevalence of congenital anomalies among infants in Iran is high. In order to reduce the rates of these anomalies and complications resulted from them, coping and preventive strategies such as the necessity of genetic counseling particularly in consanguineous marriages seem to be appropriate solutions., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interests The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests.

CHEK2 gene is known as a tumor suppressor gene in breast cancer (BC), which plays a role in DNA repair. The germ line mutations in CEHK2 have been associated with different types of cancer. The present study was aimed at studying the association between CHEK2 mutations and BC. Peripheral blood was collected from patients into a test tube containing EDTA, and DNA was extracted from blood samples. Then, we analyzed mutations including 1100delc, IVS2+1>A, del5395bp, and I157T within CHEK2 gene in patients with BC and 100 normal healthy controls according to PCR-RFLP, allelic specific PCR, and multiplex-PCR. Although IVS2+1G>A mutation within CHEK2 gene was found in two BC patients, other defined mutants were not detected. For the first time, we identified CHEK2 IVS2+1G>A mutation, one out of four different CHEK2 alterations in two Iranian BC patients (2%). Also, our results showed that CHEK2 1100elC, del5395bp, and I157T mutations are not associated with genetic susceptibility for BC among Iranian population.

Background: Regular moderate intensity physical activity and lipid lowering effects of Nigella sativa (N. sativa) supplementation may be appropriate management for sedentary overweight females. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to examine the effects of long-term N. sativa supplementation and aerobic training on lipid profile and maximal oxygen consumption (VO2 max) in sedentary overweight females., Methods: In this randomized, double-blind, controlled trial, which was conducted in Kerman city (Iran), 20 sedentary overweight females were divided into two groups and assigned to N. sativa supplementation (N. sativa capsules) or a placebo for the 8 weeks, both groups participated in an aerobic training program (3 times/week). Each N. sativa capsule contained 500 ± 10 mg N. sativa crushed seeds and subjects had to take 2 g N. sativa per day for 8 weeks. Blood lipids and VO2 max were determined at baseline and at the end of 8 weeks., Results: N. sativa supplementation lowered total cholesterol (TC) (P < 0.01), triglyceride (P < 0.001), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) (P < 0.001) and body mass index (P < 0.01) and increased high density lipoprotein (HDL) and VO2 max (P < 0.01). Aerobic training program lowered TC (P < 0.001) and LDL (P < 0.01) and increased VO2 max (P < 0.01). Furthermore, we observed a significant effect of aerobic training program and N. sativa supplementation lowered LDL and HDL (P < 0.05)., Conclusions: The present study demonstrates that 8-week aerobic training plus N. sativa supplementation have a synergistic effect in improve profile lipid parameters.

Aim: To evaluate portal hypertension parameters in liver cirrhosis patients with and without esophageal varices (EV)., Methods: A cohort of patients with biopsy confirmed liver cirrhosis was investigated endoscopically and with color Doppler ultrasonography as a possible non-invasive predictive tool. The relationship between portal hemodynamics and the presence and size of EV was evaluated using uni- and multivariate approaches., Results: Eighty five consecutive cirrhotic patients (43 men and 42 women) were enrolled. Mean age (+/- SD) was 47.5 (+/- 15.9). Portal vein diameter (13.88 +/- 2.42 vs 12.00 +/- 1.69, P < 0.0005) and liver vascular index (8.31 +/- 2.72 vs 17.8 +/- 6.28, P < 0.0005) were found to be significantly higher in patients with EV irrespective of size and in patients with large varices (14.54 +/- 1.48 vs 13.24 +/- 2.55, P < 0.05 and 6.45 +/- 2.78 vs 10.96 +/- 5.05, P < 0.0005, respectively), while portal vein flow velocity (13.25 +/- 3.66 vs 20.25 +/- 5.05, P < 0.0005), congestion index (CI) (0.11 +/- 0.03 vs 0.06 +/- 0.03, P < 0.0005), portal hypertensive index (2.62 +/- 0.79 vs 1.33 +/- 0.53, P < 0.0005), and hepatic (0.73 +/- 0.07 vs 0.66 +/- 0.07, P < 0.001) and splenic artery resistance index (RI) (0.73 +/- 0.06 vs 0.62 +/- 0.08, P < 0.0005) were significantly lower. A logistic regression model confirmed spleen size (P = 0.002, AUC 0.72) and portal hypertensive index (P = 0.040, AUC 0.79) as independent predictors for the occurrence of large esophageal varices (LEV)., Conclusion: Our data suggest two independent situations for beginning endoscopic evaluation of compensated cirrhotic patients: Portal hypertensive index > 2.08 and spleen size > 15.05 cm. These factors may help identifying patients with a low probability of LEV who may not need upper gastrointestinal endoscopy.

The internal jugular vein is often used for central venous catheter placement. The variations in the location of this vein along the major neck vessels (in the carotid sheath) may account for unsuccessful cannulations or iatrogenic arterial injuries. The aim of this study was to delineate the relation of the internal jugular vein and common carotid artery in the lower neck, and to assess the effects of age, gender and side on these anatomical structures. Two-dimensional ultrasonographic examinations of the right and left supraclavicular triangle were performed in 219 adult individuals who had no history of neck surgery or known pathology. The location of the internal jugular vein in relation to the common carotid artery was recorded. An anterolateral location of the internal jugular vein was the most common configuration observed on both sides (84% right side and 91.8% left side) followed by the lateral (14.2% right and 6.4% left) and anterior (1.4% right and 1.8% left) locations. A single case of a medial internal jugular vein was observed on the right side (0.23% of both sides). Subjects with a laterally located internal jugular vein were older than those with an anterolateral configuration (P<0.01). No gender differences were found with regard to these two configurations (P=0.867). The laterally located internal jugular vein was more frequent on right sides (P=0.007). Such information may be potentially useful for clinicians who are managing critically ill patients or patients undergoing hemodialysis.