Search

Evidence has suggested better pregnancy outcomes due to exposure to greenspace; however, the studies on such an association with the level of liver enzymes in the cord blood are still nonexistent. Hence, this study investigated the relationship between exposure to greenspace during the entire pregnancy and gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels in cord blood samples. We selected 150 pregnant women from our pregnancy cohort in Sabzevar, Iran (2018). Greenspace exposure was characterized based on (i) residential distance to green space, (ii) time spent in public/private green spaces, (iii) residential surrounding greenspace, (iv) visual access to greenspace, and (v) number of indoor natural pot plants at home. We developed linear regression models to investigate the adjusted associations of greenspace exposure with enzyme levels. Each one interquartile range (IQR) increase in the residential surrounding greenspace (100 m buffer) was related to a reduction of -12.58 (U/L) (95% CI -22.86, -2.29), -3.35 (U/L) (95% CI -5.50, -1.20), and -0.57 (U/L) (95% CI -1.12, -0.02) in the levels of GGT, AST, and ALT, respectively. Moreover, a similar association was observed for the time the participants spent in green spaces. A decrease in the residential distance to large green spaces was related with lower cord blood levels of AST, ALT, and GGT. Having a window with greenspace view at home was significantly related to lower AST level. The results for the indoor plant pots were not conclusive. Our findings suggested an inverse relationship between greenspace exposure during pregnancy and cord blood levels of liver enzymes. Further studies in other settings and populations are needed to confirm our findings.

There exists an enormous volume of data in the database system, which is accountable for the storage of data and organization of data. The intruders can breach the security system of database and steal the important information. Therefore, it is of great significance to carry out the cumulative anomaly identification of the security database. In view of the shortcomings of traditional anomaly detection methods in detection performance and poor effect of anomaly recognition, this paper proposes a cumulative anomaly recognition method based on discrete Markov chain for security database. First, the sniffer is used to read the user access behaviour data, and then, it is processed, that is, standardized processing. Then, the segmentation method is used to extract the user behaviour features, and the normal feature data and abnormal feature data are obtained. Finally, the state sequence generated by the discrete Markov chain is used to calculate the state probability, which is used to evaluate the abnormal process behaviour. The proposed method in this paper is based on the Markov chain and can be used for better anomaly recognition. The results are obtained in terms of sensitivity score, precision score, and F1-score. The results are also compared with the results obtained by using some of the state-of-the-art traditional techniques. The comparison clearly indicated that the proposed method is more effective as compared to the tradition methods. The proposed method has the highest F1-score of 0.8586, and then the traditional methods have F1-scores of 0.7233, 0.8236, and 0.7562 for methods 1, 2, and 3, respectively.

Considerable attempts have been made for the complete elimination of aflatoxins (AFs), as potent health hazards to both humans and animals, or reduction of their content in foodstuffs with increasing the knowledge and awareness of these toxins. In spite of the fact that the most effective intervention is considered prevention, heating has been also applied for the inactivation of AFs in contaminated foodstuffs. In the present study, the adoption of response surface methodology was evaluated for the assessment of the effect of heating on the reduction of AFs. Despite various degrees of AF decrease in the samples by treatment, a significant reduction was observed in the heated samples at a temperature of 90°C for 240 min. According to the results of the current study, a 23.70 % reduction was reported in the amount of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1). Various treatment conditions demonstrated a significant difference in AFB1 decomposition (p < 0.05). In addition, AFB1 degrading was reported to be depending on both time and temperature. After the statistical analysis of the obtained data, the third-order equation for the reduction of AFB1 is presented as follows (A: Time; B:Heating): AFB1 = 12.28 + 6.24A + 4.95B + 1.12AB - 3.11A2 + 1.55B2

Traditional Chinese medicine has made some progress in the study of liver fibrosis, and provides valuable experience for clinical treatment of liver fibrosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the rationality of compatibility use of Salvia miltiorrhiza and Radix astragali on liver fibrosis in rats. For this purpose, the rat model of liver fibrosis was treated with single or different compatibilities of herbals extracts for 4 weeks. Saline and colchicine were set as a negative and positive control, respectively. Liver histopathology, liver function, and expressions of key proteins in the TGF-β/Smad/Wnt pathway were assessed. Results showed that compared with colchicine, herbal extracts showed better ability to reduce deposition of α-SMA and type I collagen, and improve liver function. The effect of R. astragali extracts and 1:1 compound on improving liver fibrosis and liver function was relatively better than other treatment options. The compound groups showed a particularly significant effect on reducing Cyclin D1 expression. It was concluded that the 1:1 compatibility use of S. miltiorrhiza extracts and R. astragali extracts can preferably attenuate liver fibrosis by regulating the expression of TGF-β1 and Cyclin D1.

The current experiment was performed to explore the effect and possible mechanism of resveratrol on the proliferation, migration and invasion of skin squamous cell carcinoma cells (HSC-5). Tetramethyl azozo blue (MTT) method, Transwell experiment and real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) were used to detect the effects of resveratrol intervention on the proliferation, migration and invasion of HSC-5 cells and the expression of miR-126. The miR-126 mimics and inhibitors were transfected into HSC-5 cells, and the effects of up-regulation or down-regulation of HSC-5 expression on the proliferation, migration and invasion of HSC-5 cells were detected. The miR-126 inhibitor was transfected into HSC-5 cells, and the effects of resveratrol intervention on HSC-5 cell proliferation, migration and invasion, and β-catenin protein expression were detected. After resveratrol intervention, the growth rate, migration and invasion of HSC-5 cells were significantly reduced, miR-126 expression was significantly increased, and β-catenin protein expression was significantly reduced (p

Objective: Cancer is the second leading cause of death in children under 15 and leukemia is the most common type of cancer in this age group. The aim of the present study is to investigate the incidence and mortality of leukemia in children aged 0-14 years and its relationship with Human Development Index (HDI in different countries of the world. Methods: Incidence and mortality rates were obtained from GLOBOCAN and Country’s income from World Bank. The data analysis was conducted using correlation analysis. The association of incidence and mortality rates with HDI was investigated using linear regression models. Results: The results revealed a significant positive correlation between the incidence rate and Gross National Income per capita (r = 0.464, P

Although evidence reporting the beneficial associations of prenatal greenspace exposure with pregnancy outcomes is increasing, there is still a lack of evidence on the potential association of such exposure to greenspace on fetal lipid profile. We aimed to first-time investigate the associations between prenatal exposure to greenspace and lipid levels in the cord blood. The present study was based on data from 150 expectant mothers, residents of Sabzevar city in Iran (2018). For each participant, we identified exposure to greenspace in residential surroundings, residential accessibility to green space, use of green spaces, and the number of plant pots inside the home. Measures of levels of triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and TC/HDL-C and TG/HDL-C ratios in samples of cord blood were applied to identify the lipid profile. We developed adjusted linear regression models to estimate the associations of each indicator of greenspace exposure with each cord blood lipid. We found increased greenspace in residential surroundings across a 100m buffer, higher residential accessibility to green space, and more use of green spaces were associated with decreased cord blood lipid levels. The remainder findings regarding the greenspace in residential surroundings across 300m and 500m buffers and the number of plant pots were null. Some suggestions were observed for a potential mediatory role of air pollution. This study suggests that greenspace exposure during pregnancy may influence positively fetal lipid levels in the cord blood. Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Potentially toxic elements (PTEs) have many adverse health effects due to bioaccumulation capability and their long persistence in the environment. As a renewable water source, the effluents of municipal wastewater treatment systems have been used to irrigate agricultural products widely. However, the evidence on the bioaccumulation of PTEs in crops irrigated with these effluents is still scarce, with no available study in low and middle-income countries. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the PTEs concentration in the soil and crops irrigated with effluents of Sabzevar wastewater treatment plant and the related health risk by that. The clustered method was used to determine the soil and craps samples. Seventy cumulative samples were randomly prepared in summer and autumn 2016 and 2017 from crops, soil and effluent. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used to measure PTEs. The health risk of exposure to PTEs was assessed using Monte Carlo simulation technique. Kruskal Wallis test and Posthoc Tukey HSD test were used to assess the mean difference of PTEs between soil, effluent and crops as well as between crops together. The bioaccumulation factor (BAF) magnitude order in different crop samples was Cd > Sr > Cu > Pb > Zn > Co > As > Cr > Ni, respectively. The Cd accumulation in Sugar beet plant was significantly higher than in other samples. The highest hazard quotient (HQ) based on single PTEs was observed for As (mineral) (mean: 5.62 × 10−1 and percentile 95th: 2.13) in Okra. Regarding total HQ (THQ), the highest and lowest mean (percentile 95th) values were 1.50 (3.22) and 2.40 × 10−1 (4.01 × 10−1) for Okra and Watermelon, respectively. The mean concentrations of Co, Cr, Ni and Zn were significantly higher in crops compared to soil and influent samples. Posthoc tests indicated that the concentration of PTEs between investigated crop samples were not statistically significant different (p > 0.05). Overall, our study suggested that irrigation with the effluent of stabilization pond wastewater treatment system exerts a potential health risk due to bioaccumulation of PTEs in crops.

Background: The available evidence on determinants of personal exposure to air pollution in low and middle-income countries is very scarce. Moreover, although airway macrophages carbon loading (AMCL) has been suggested to be a biomarker of the long-term exposure to air pollution, to date no study has characterized AMCL for the pregnancy period. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the determinants of AMCL during pregnancy in Iran, a middle-income country. Methods: This study was based on a sample of 234 pregnant women with term and normal vaginal delivery who were residing in Sabzevar, Iran (2019). Image analysis was applied to calculate the carbon area (µm 2 ) in airway macrophages as an indicator of AMCL. For each participant, we characterized 35 potential determinants of personal exposure to air pollution including six personal, nine indoor, and 20 home-outdoor factors. We applied Deletion/Substitution/Addition algorithm to identify the most relevant determinants that could predict AMCL levels. Findings: The median (IQR) of AMCL level was 0·12 (0·30) µm 2 with a successful sputum induction in 82·9% (194) of participants. Ambient residential PM 2·5 levels was positively associated with higher AMCL levels. On the other hand, increased residential distance to the traffic lights, squares and ring-roads, the duration of opening window per day, and opening window during cooking were inversely associated with AMCL levels. Interpretation: Our findings provide novel insights on the different personal, indoor, and outdoor determinants of personal exposure to air pollution during pregnancy in a middle-income country. Funding: This study was supported by a research grant awarded by the Sabzevar University 55 of Medical Sciences [Grant number: 95075]. Declaration of Interest: We declare no competing interests. Ethical Approval: The Clinical Research Ethical Committee of Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences approved our study (IR.MEDSAB.REC.1395.82)

Air pollution exposure has been related with mental disorders, especially depression; however, the available evidence on these associations in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) is scarce. Therefore, we aimed to assess the relationship between particulate matter (PM) exposure and indicators of traffic with depressive symptoms in women of Sabzevar, Iran. This cross-sectional study was based on 741 women aged 15-45 years (adults) in 2019. The annual average of PM

Lung cancer is a lethal disease, and early diagnosis with the aid of biomarkers such as HSP90α protein can certainly assist the doctors to start treatment of patient at the earliest and can save their lives. To analyse the diagnostic value of HSP90α expression in lung cancer patients by collecting data of patients through IoT devices to avoid delay in treatments, a study has been presented in this paper where the significance of HSP90α biomarker is highlighted in early diagnosis of patients suffering from lung cancer. The second objective of the research study is to examine the correlation between the appearance level of HSP90α biomarker and the clinicopathological features of lung cancer. It is also evaluated whether the changes in HSP90α index are indicative or noteworthy before and after surgery of lung cancer patients. An observatory study of 78 patients with lung cancer in Qinhuangdao Hospital is presented in this paper where the samples were collected from June 2018 to March 2020. Their data were collected through IoT devices used in the latest healthcare facilities of the hospital. The ELISA method was utilized to identify the level of plasma HSP90 and to analyse HSP90 levels between the lung cancer group and healthy group of people. The relationship between HSP90 and the clinical pathological features of 78 patients suffering from lung cancer was analysed. An electrochemical luminescence method was used to detect CEA, NSE, SCC, and CYFRA21-1 levels. ROC curve and box plots were used to determine the analytic value of HSP90 and other biomarkers used in lung cancer diagnosis. Forty-two patients with moderate to early stage lung cancer with surgical correction were selected, and paired sample T test was used to analyse HSP90 levels before and after surgery. The plasma HSP90 level of lung cancer patients was quite higher as compared to the group of healthy people as per the values depicted in the research study. Second, HSP90 levels are substantially higher in pathologic type, differentiation degree, stage, and the existence of the lung, liver, and bone metastases (P 0.05). The ROC value for HSP90 was 0.599, while the area under the curve of HSP90 combined with other four tumour markers was 0.915 in the presented case study, indicating the presence of lung cancer. Patients with lung cancer had statistically significant differences in HSP90 expression levels before and after surgery (P

Zika virus (ZIKV), the causative agent of Zika fever in humans, is an RNA virus that belongs to the genus Flavivirus. Currently, there is no approved vaccine for clinical use to combat the ZIKV infection and contain the epidemic. Epitope-based peptide vaccines have a large untapped potential for boosting vaccination safety, cross-reactivity, and immunogenicity. Though many attempts have been made to develop vaccines for ZIKV, none of these have proved to be successful. Epitope-based peptide vaccines can act as powerful alternatives to conventional vaccines due to their low production cost, less reactogenic, and allergenic responses. For designing an effective and viable epitope-based peptide vaccine against this deadly virus, it is essential to select the antigenic T-cell epitopes since epitope-based vaccines are considered safe. The in silico machine-learning-based approach for ZIKV T-cell epitope prediction would save a lot of physical experimental time and efforts for speedy vaccine development compared to in vivo approaches. We hereby have trained a machine-learning-based computational model to predict novel ZIKV T-cell epitopes by employing physicochemical properties of amino acids. The proposed ensemble model based on a voting mechanism works by blending the predictions for each class (epitope or nonepitope) from each base classifier. Predictions obtained for each class by the individual classifier are summed up, and the class with the majority vote is predicted upon. An odd number of classifiers have been used to avoid the occurrence of ties in the voting. Experimentally determined ZIKV peptide sequences data set was collected from Immune Epitope Database and Analysis Resource (IEDB) repository. The data set consists of 3,519 sequences, of which 1,762 are epitopes and 1,757 are nonepitopes. The length of sequences ranges from 6 to 30 meter. For each sequence, we extracted 13 physicochemical features. The proposed ensemble model achieved sensitivity, specificity, Gini coefficient, AUC, precision, F-score, and accuracy of 0.976, 0.959, 0.993, 0.994, 0.989, 0.985, and 97.13%, respectively. To check the consistency of the model, we carried out five-fold cross-validation and an average accuracy of 96.072% is reported. Finally, a comparative analysis of the proposed model with existing methods has been carried out using a separate validation data set, suggesting the proposed ensemble model as a better model. The proposed ensemble model will help predict novel ZIKV vaccine candidates to save lives globally and prevent future epidemic-scale outbreaks.

Waterpipe (WP) smoking is a global phenomenon, with the most consumers in Middle East countries and China. Heavy metals exposure related to WP smoking has been associated with many adverse health effects. However, the association of lifestyle factors and smoking habits with blood heavy metals concentration in WP smokers is unclear yet. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the relationship of lifestyle factors (i.e., diet and physical activity) and smoking habits (i.e., duration of the use of WP and times of smoking WP per week) with blood concentrations of lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd). This cross-sectional study was based on 86 WP smokers in Khalkhal, Iran (2018). Graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS) was used to measure heavy metals. The median (interquartile range (IQR)) of Pb and Cd concentrations were 39 (24) and 1.3 (1.2) μg/L. The blood Pb and Cd levels were significantly higher in participants with lower education level (P-value = 0.049 and 0.041, respectively). An IQR increase in physical activity per week was associated with −0.12 μg/L (95% confidence interval (CI): −0.23, −0.01, P-value = 0.04) decrease in Pb concentration. An increase in the times of consuming fruit per week was negatively associated with the concentration of Cd. Overall, our findings suggested that physical activity and healthy diet have been associated with lower blood heavy metal concentrations in WP smokers; however, further studies are needed to confirm these findings.

Telomere length (TL) has been associated with lifestyle and dietary pattern. However, the available evidence on this association in children is scarce, especially in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs). Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the association of dietary pattern and leukocyte TL (LTL) in preschool children, Sabzevar, Iran (2017). This cross‐sectional study was based on 187 preschool children (aged 5 to 7) recruited from 27 kindergartens. Nutrition information including amounts of consumed dairy products, meat and processed meat products, nuts and seeds, white bread and refined grains, fruits, vegetables, simple sugars, fats and drinks was obtained through a questionnaire. Linear mixed‐effects models were fitted with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) plate ID and kindergartens as random effects to estimate the association of each food group consumption with LTL, controlled for relevant covariates. Higher consumption of dairy products and sugar was associated with shorter LTL (β = −0.180, 95% confidence interval [CI]: −0.276, −0.085, P value

In the present study, the concentration of (potentially toxic element) PTEs in the five fish species from the Caspian Sea (from five coastal areas) was measured and compared. The target hazard quotient (THQ) and total THQ (TTHQ) were calculated using Monte Carlo simulations to determine the non-carcinogenic risk in both children and adults consumers. The highest concentration of PTEs was associated with chromium (Cr) measured in Cyprinus carpio, sampled from Bandar Anzali (1.56 ± 0.14 μg/g dw), and the minimum PTEs level was nickel (Ni) in Vimba from Astara (0.02 ± 0.01 μg/g d w). The rank order for PTEs based on THQ was mercury (Hg) > cadmium (Cd) > lead (Pb)> Ni > tin (Sn) > Total Cr. For adults, the fishes rank order based on TTHQ was: Cyprinus carpio (3.268) > Chelon saliens (2.89) > Rutilus frisii kutum kanesky (2.28) > Oncorhynchus mykis (1.39) > Vimba (0.25); and for children was Cyprinus carpio (15.25) > Chelon saliens (13.47) > Rutilus frisii kutum kanesky (10.63) > Oncorhynchus mykis (6.48) > Vimba (1.16). Overall this study showed that the levels of PTEs in investigated fish species had a potential non-carcinogenic risk for both children and adults (TTHQ>1).

Lung cancer is a lethal disease, and early diagnosis with the aid of biomarkers such as HSP90α protein can certainly assist the doctors to start treatment of patient at the earliest and can save their lives. To analyse the diagnostic value of HSP90α expression in lung cancer patients by collecting data of patients through IoT devices to avoid delay in treatments, a study has been presented in this paper where the significance of HSP90α biomarker is highlighted in early diagnosis of patients suffering from lung cancer. The second objective of the research study is to examine the correlation between the appearance level of HSP90α biomarker and the clinicopathological features of lung cancer. It is also evaluated whether the changes in HSP90α index are indicative or noteworthy before and after surgery of lung cancer patients. An observatory study of 78 patients with lung cancer in Qinhuangdao Hospital is presented in this paper where the samples were collected from June 2018 to March 2020. Their data were collected through IoT devices used in the latest healthcare facilities of the hospital. The ELISA method was utilized to identify the level of plasma HSP90 and to analyse HSP90 levels between the lung cancer group and healthy group of people. The relationship between HSP90 and the clinical pathological features of 78 patients suffering from lung cancer was analysed. An electrochemical luminescence method was used to detect CEA, NSE, SCC, and CYFRA21-1 levels. ROC curve and box plots were used to determine the analytic value of HSP90 and other biomarkers used in lung cancer diagnosis. Forty-two patients with moderate to early stage lung cancer with surgical correction were selected, and paired sample T test was used to analyse HSP90 levels before and after surgery. The plasma HSP90 level of lung cancer patients was quite higher as compared to the group of healthy people as per the values depicted in the research study. Second, HSP90 levels are substantially higher in pathologic type, differentiation degree, stage, and the existence of the lung, liver, and bone metastases ( P P > 0.05). The ROC value for HSP90 was 0.599, while the area under the curve of HSP90 combined with other four tumour markers was 0.915 in the presented case study, indicating the presence of lung cancer. Patients with lung cancer had statistically significant differences in HSP90 expression levels before and after surgery ( P

Background: Oral mucositis is a common debilitating complication of cancer chemotherapy and radiotherapy that can reduce the quality of patient’s lives. Hence, treating this condition plays an important role in increasing the patient’s tolerance. Objectives: Doxepin mucoadhesive gel is useful for treating oral mucosa inflammation caused by long-term effects of chemotherapy, which has low adverse effects. Methods: Doxepin gel’s formulation was prepared with various concentrations of poloxamer 407 and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose in deionized water. The prepared gels were evaluated for pH, appearance, viscosity, spreadability, stability, and drug release. Results: After providing gels containing doxepin, formulations 1, 2, 8, and 9 had low quality and, thus, were removed from the study. Based on qualitative evaluations, formulations 3 and 4 did not meet the criteria for mucoadhesive gel and were removed from the study. The best formulation contained 17% w/w poloxamer 407, 10% w/w hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, and 5% w/w doxepin. Conclusions: Suitable physicochemical properties of prepared doxepin mucoadhesive gel enable it to well cover inflamed and damaged oral mucosa. On the other hand, doxepin’s slow release from formulation (8 hours) can increase therapeutic effects and reduce side effects, which can heal and soothe inflammations of the oral mucosa and be useful in cancer patient’s treatment.

Background Preconception exposure to air pollution has been associated with glucose tolerance during pregnancy. However, the evidence in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) is under debate yet. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the relationship between exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM) and traffic indicators with glucose tolerance in healthy pregnant women in Sabzevar, Iran (2019). Methods Two-hundred and fifty healthy pregnant women with singleton pregnancies and 24–26 weeks of gestations participated in our study. Land use regression (LUR) models were applied to estimate the annual mean of PM1, PM2.5 and PM10 at the residential address. Traffic indicators, including proximity of women to major roads as well as total streets length in 100, 300 and 500 m buffers around the home were calculated using the street map of Sabzevar. The oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was used to assess glucose tolerance during pregnancy. Multiple linear regression adjusted for relevant covariates was used to estimate the association of fasting blood glucose (FBG), 1-h and 2-h post-load glucose with PMs and traffic indicators. Results Exposure to PM1, PM2.5 and PM10 was significantly associated with higher FBG concentration. Higher total streets length in a 100 m buffer was associated with higher FBG and 1-h glucose concentrations. An interquartile range (IQR) increase in proximity to major roads was associated with a decrease of − 3.29 mg/dL (95% confidence interval (CI): − 4.35, − 2.23, P-value P-value = 0.03) decrease in 1-h post-load glucose. Conclusion We found that higher preconception exposure to air pollution was associated with higher FBG and 1-h glucose concentrations during pregnancy.

Many previous studies have investigated BTEX concentrations in urban areas; however, the available evidence on the association of different land-use types and BTEX concentrations is still scarce. In this study, the BTEX concentrations were measured and compared in different land-use types and traffic volumes of Mashhad metropolis, Iran. Sampling was conducted in summer and winter of 2018 based on NIOSH 1501 method in six land-use types, including Residential, Commercial/official, Industrial, Greenspace, Transportation, and Tourism. The spatial autocorrelation model was used to investigate the emission pattern. The Monte Carlo simulation technique and sensitivity analysis were used to assess the health risk of exposure to BTEX compounds. The median [interquartile range (IQR)] of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene m-xylene, o-xylene and total BTEX concentrations based on overall mean were 4 (2.23), 8.37 (4.48), 1.2 (1.46), 0.89 (2.59), 0.8 (1.73) and 17.7 (8.19) µg/m3, respectively. Benzene and toluene had clustered emission patterns (z-score > 1.96). Exposure to benzene in the study area had a carcinogenic risk for inhabitants. The concentration of BTEX compounds was significantly different based on land-use type. The maximum and minimum concentrations of BTEX were observed in Transportation and Greenspace land uses, respectively. The BTEX concentrations in summer were significantly higher than in winter, and traffic had a significant effect on BTEX concentrations. Overall, our results supported a significant relationship between land-use type and BTEX concentrations in the urban area. Moreover, ambient benzene concentration had a carcinogenic risk potential for inhabitants of study area.

Traditional Chinese medicine has made some progress in the study of liver fibrosis, and provides valuable experience for clinical treatment of liver fibrosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the rationality of compatibility use of Salvia miltiorrhiza and Radix astragali on liver fibrosis in rats. For this purpose, the rat model of liver fibrosis was treated with single or different compatibilities of herbals extracts for 4 weeks. Saline and colchicine were set as a negative and positive control, respectively. Liver histopathology, liver function, and expressions of key proteins in the TGF-β/Smad/Wnt pathway were assessed. Results showed that compared with colchicine, herbal extracts showed better ability to reduce deposition of α-SMA and type I collagen, and improve liver function. The effect of R. astragali extracts and 1:1 compound on improving liver fibrosis and liver function was relatively better than other treatment options. The compound groups showed a particularly significant effect on reducing Cyclin D1 expression. It was concluded that the 1:1 compatibility use of S. miltiorrhiza extracts and R. astragali extracts can preferably attenuate liver fibrosis by regulating the expression of TGF-β1 and Cyclin D1.

An emerging body of evidence has associated exposure to traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) during pregnancy with birth outcomes. However, the evidence on the association of TRAP exposure and neonatal anthropometric measurements (NAPM) in low and middle-income countries is very scarce yet. Therefore, we investigate the association of prenatal exposure to indicators of traffic and ambient particulate matter (PM) with NAPM. This cross-sectional study was based on hospital medical records of 4053 mother-neonate pairs between May 16, 2016, and December 5, 2018. PMs were estimated at residential addresses based on validated spatiotemporal models. Moreover, total street length in 100, 300 and 500m buffers around the home, residential distance to the ring road, major roads, heavy-traffic lights, gas station, motorway junction, bank, square, bus terminal, public parking and industrial land-use were calculated as indicators of traffic. The head circumference (HC), birth weight (BW) and birth length (BL) of neonates were collected as NAPM. Multivariate regression models were applied to evaluate the relationship between PMs and indicators of traffic with NAPM, controlled for relevant covariates. The median (IQR) of BW, BL, and HC of newborns were 3250 (592) gr, 51.0 (3.5) cm, 35 (2) cm, respectively. The adjusted models revealed that higher exposure to PM2.5 and PM10 was significantly related with lower BW and BL. Similar results were observed for total street length in a 100 m buffer around maternal home with BW and BL. Moreover, higher distance to heavy traffic lights was significantly associated with higher BW and BL. An IQR increase in PM10 was significantly related to lower HC (95% CI: 0.11, −0.01, P-value = 0.03). An increase in distance from residential address to heavy traffic lights, ring roads, bus terminal, and transportation land-use was associated with higher HC. Overall, our findings suggested that higher prenatal exposure to TRAP was related with lower BW, BL and HC.

Soil contamination related to industrial and agricultural activities were associated with many adverse health effects and climate change could exacerbate this effect. However, the evidence on this topic in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) is still scarce. We, therefore, aimed to investigate the heavy metals (HMs) concentrations in topsoil around Lake Urmia (which dried about 50 % of it in recent years). Accordingly, 96 surface soil samples were collected from an area of about 4000 km2 in 2019. An inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) was used to measure the HMs concentrations, including cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), chromium (Cr), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn). Health risk assessment of exposure to HMs was performed using Monte Carlo simulations technique. The mean concentrations of Zn, Cu, Ni, Co, Pb, Cr, As and Cd were 68.66, 35, 31.66, 15, 14.4, 11.2, 7.04, and 0.26 mg/kg, respectively, which was in the allowable range of USEPA guideline. The mean enrichment factor (EF) values for Zn, Cd, Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb, Co and As were1.3, 1.9, 1, 1.2, 1.7, 2.8, 1.8 and 2, respectively. Carcinogenic risks of exposure to HMs for inhalation, dermal and ingestion exposure pathways were at safe level. Similarly, the hazard index (HI) was at safe level (HI

Air pollution exposure has been linked with glucose dysregulation in pregnant women; however, evidence on these associations with fetal glucose homeostasis is unclear yet. We therefore aimed to evaluate the association of prenatal exposure to particulate matter (PM) and traffic indicators with fetal glucose homeostasis in cord blood samples. A total of 169 mother-infant pairs recruited from Mobini hospital of Sabzevar, Iran, were included in this cross-sectional study. Maternal exposure to PMs was estimated using land use regression models. Moreover, traffic indicators (i.e., total street length in 100, 300 and 500 m buffers and distance from residential home to the nearest major roads) were calculated based on the street map of Sabzevar. Cord blood glucose and insulin concentrations, HOMA-ꞵ, HOMA-S and HOMA-IR were used as glucose homeostasis markers. Higher maternal exposure to PM2.5 and PM10 were associated with higher cord blood glucose and insulin concentrations and HOMA-IR. Moreover, total streets length in 300 m buffer was positively associated with cord blood glucose and insulin concentrations and HOMA-IR. An increase in distance to major roads was associated with higher HOMA-ꞵ and HOMA-S and lower cord blood glucose and insulin concentrations as well as HOMA-IR. Overall, we found prenatal exposure to PMs and traffic indicators was associated with a higher risk of glucose homeostasis dysregulation in the fetus.

Exposure to greenspace has been associated with a wide range of health benefits; however, the available evidence on the association of this exposure with telomere length (TL), an early marker of ageing, is still scarce. We investigated the association of greenspace exposure with TL in a sample of 200 preschool children (aged 5-7 years) residing in Sabzevar, Iran (2017). We comprehensively characterized different aspects of greenspace exposure encompassing residential, kindergarten, and total (including both residential and kindergarten) surrounding greenspace (using satellite-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), residential and kindergarten distance to green spaces, time spent in private gardens and public green spaces, and the number of plant pots at home. Relative leukocyte TL (LTL) in blood samples of the study participants was measured using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). We applied mixed effects linear regression models with kindergarten and qPCR plate as random effects, to estimate the association of indicators of greenspace exposure (one at a time) with LTL, controlled for relevant covariates. We observed an inverse association between distance from home and kindergarten to green spaces larger than 5000 m2 and LTL. Moreover, higher total surrounding greenspace at 300m and 500m buffers and higher surrounding greenspace at 300m buffer around kindergarten and home were associated with longer LTL. Furthermore, longer time spent (h/week) in the public green spaces was associated with longer LTL. Our findings for residential and kindergarten distance to any green space (regardless of the size), residential surrounding greenspace at 100m and 500m buffers, kindergarten surrounding greenspace at 100m buffer, time spent in private gardens (h/week) and the number of plant pots at home were not conclusive. Our findings were generally suggestive for a positive association between greenspace exposure and LTL in preschool children. More studies are needed to confirm these findings in other settings with different climates and populations. This study was supported by Sabzevar University of medical sciences. Payam Dadvand is funded by a Ramón y Cajal fellowship (RYC-201210995) awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness

Additional file 1: Table S1. The predictor variables and performance indicators of developed land use regression (LUR) models of annual mean PMs. Fig. S1. Correlation plot of FBS, PP1 and PP2 and main independent variables (i.e., PMs and traffic indicators).

In the present study, we assessed the concentration of airborne HMs (Zn, Cu, Pb, and Cd) and their probable sources using the bark of Pinus eldarica as a bio-indicator. Hence, 47 tree bark samples were harvested according to the land uses and biomonitoring techniques in the city of Yazd, Iran. The potential health risks in 13 age groups, ecological risk, as well as the possible relationship between HM concentrations and traffic indicators, were evaluated. The order of average HM concentrations in the P. eldarica bark samples was as Zn > Pb > Cu > Cd. The mean values of non-carcinogenic risks of all HMs in entire age groups were within secure range (HQ 1 × 10−6). About Pb, it was in the safe level. The main element causing potential ecological risks was Cd, indicating moderate to very high ecological risk in most of the study areas. There was an inverse significant association between distance from major roads and Pb concentration (β = −0.011 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.022, −0.0001). All HMs in bark samples render the negative Moran's index, representing a random spatial distribution pattern. Besides, according to principal component analysis (PCA), the first component accounted for 36.55% of the total variance, dominated by Cd, Pb, Cu, and Zn, respectively, and characterized by vehicle and industrial emissions. Our results infer that industrial activities and traffic are the main sources of HMs pollution in urban environments that should be considered by decision-makers.

Air pollution exposure during pregnancy has been associated with abnormal glucose hemostasis in the fetus, which may result in the programming of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) development in future life. Therefore, we investigated the association of maternal exposure to particulate matters (PMs) and traffic indicators with umbilical asprosin concentration, a novel insulin-resistant inducing adipokine, in newborns. Accordingly, 759 mother-newborn pairs from Sabzevar, Iran (2018–2019) participated in our study. Maternal exposure to PM1, PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations was estimated using spatial-temporal models developed for the study area. The associations of exposure to traffic indicators (total street length in 100, 300 and 500 m buffers around home and proximity of mothers to nearest major roads) and air pollution with umbilical asprosin concentration were estimated using linear regression models, adjusted for potential confounders. The median (interquartile range (IQR)) of umbilical asprosin concentration was 30.4 (19.1) ng/mL. In fully adjusted models, each one IQR increase in PM10 and PM2.5 were associated with 26.43 ng/mL (95% CI: 10.97, 41.88) and 31.76 ng/mL (95% CI: 15.66, 47.86) increase in umbilical asprosin concentration, respectively. A similarity result was observed for total street length in 100 m buffer. An increase in proximity to major roads was associated with a decrease of −21.48 ng/mL (95% CI: 33.29, −9.67) in umbilical asprosin concentration. Our results suggested that maternal exposure to air pollution during pregnancy could increase the umbilical asprosin concentration. These novel findings may improve our understanding of the mechanisms whereby air pollutants impaired glucose hemostasis during the fetal period.

Exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) has been associated with shorter telomere length (TL), a marker of ageing at cellular level. However, the available evidence on this association among children is still scarce. We therefore aimed to assess, the relationship between urinary 1-hydroxipayrene (1-OHP), a marker of exposure to PAHs, and relative leukocyte TL (LTL) in children at preschool age. Our study was based on 200 children enrolled from 27 randomly-selected kindergartens in the city of Sabzevar, Iran (2017). 1-OHP levels in the participants' urine samples were measured using solid phase extraction (SPE) method and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Moreover, real-time PCR was used to measure the LTL in the participants’ blood samples. Linear mixed effects models, controlled for relevant covariates, were applied to investigate the association of 1-OHP concentration and LTL. The median (interquartile range (IQR)) of relative LTL and urinary 1-OHP were 0.83 (0.7) and 257 (375.5) ng/L, respectively. In the fully adjusted model, an IQR increase in urinary 1-OHP was related to −0.05 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.09, −0.01, P-value = 0.02) decrease in relative LTL. This association was similar among boys and girls; however, we observed indications for a stronger association for those children whose parents had university education. Our study suggested an inverse relationship between urinary 1-OHP and LTL in children at preschool age. However, further longitudinal research with repeated measures of PAHs and LTL are needed to confirm these findings.

Adverse health effects of exposure to air pollution have been investigated in many previous studies. However, there is no study available on the association between maternal exposure to air pollution during pregnancy and cord blood lipid profile. This study, based on 150 mother-newborn pairs residing in Sabzevar, Iran (2018), evaluated the association of exposure to ambient air pollution as well as traffic indicators (total street length in different buffers around residential address and distance to major roads) during entire pregnancy with lipid levels cord blood lipid profile. Concentrations of PM10, PM2.5, and PM1 at maternal residential address were estimated using land use regression (LUR) models. We measured triglyceride (TAG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), total cholesterol (TC) levels and TC/HDL-C and TAG/HDL-C ratio in the cord blood samples to characterize their lipid profile. Multiple linear regression models were developed to estimate the association of exposure to air pollution and traffic indicators with cord blood lipid profile controlled for relevant covariates. Higher concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 were associated with higher levels of TAG, TC, HDL-C, TC/HDL-C, and TAG/HDL-C in cord blood samples. Moreover, higher concentration of PM1 was associated with higher levels of TAG, TC and LDL-C. There was also a positive association between total street length in 100 m buffer around home and serum levels of TC, TAG, LDL-C and TC/HDL ratio (β = 3.73, 95% confidence intervals (CI): 1.76, 5.71; β = 2.75, 95% CI: 0.97, 4.53; β = 1.87, 95% CI: 0.64, 3.09; β = 0.06, 95% CI: 0.01, 0.11, respectively). However, the associations for total street length in larger buffers and distance to major roads were not statistically significant. Our findings support a relationship between exposure to air pollution during pregnancy and increase in cord blood lipid levels.

Exposure to air pollution has been associated with adverse health effects while exposure to greenspace has been associated with public health benefits. However, the available evidence on the association of exposure to air pollution with ovarian reserve markers is still scarce, with no study on such an association with greenspace exposure. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the association of exposure to particulate matter with diameter of less than 1, 2.5 and 10 μm (PM1, PM2.5, PM10), traffic indicators (distance from women's residence to major roads and total street length in different buffers around women's residential address) and greenspace indicators (residential surrounding greenspace and distance to green spaces) with serum levels of anti-mullerian hormone (AMH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) as markers of ovarian reserve. This cross-sectional study was based on 67 women residing in Sabzevar, Iran (2018). Basal serum levels of FSH and AMH were measured by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). Land use regression models were used to estimate PMs concentrations at residential addresses and the average of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) in different buffers was used to characterize residential surrounding greenspace. Multiple linear regression models were developed to estimate the association of AMH and FSH with exposure to air pollution, traffic, and greenspace (one at a time) controlled for relevant covariates. In fully adjusted models, there was an inverse association between exposure to PM1, PM2.5 as well as total street length in 100 m buffer around women's residence and AMH level (β = −0.89, 95% confidence interval (CI): −1.43, −0.35, P-value ≤ 0.01, β = −1.11, 95% CI: −1.67, −0.55, P-value ≤ 0.01 and β = −0.76, 95% CI: −1.48, −0.50, P-value = 0.03, respectively). Moreover, increase in distance from home to nearest major road as well as residential surrounding greenspace (100 m buffer) and decrease in residential distance to a green space larger than 5000 m2 were associated with increase in serum level of AMH. However, we did not observe any significant association between exposure to air pollution, traffic, and greenspace with FSH level. Overall, our findings supported a beneficial association of exposure to greenspace and detrimental association of exposure to air pollution with ovarian reserve.

Introduction: The insect repellent compounds are used to protect humans, animals and plants against insect bites. Aromatic amides have insect repellent effects. N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide (DEET) (C12 H17 NO) is one of the best insect repellents has been used for many years. DEET is a colorless, odorless liquid that is approximately insoluble in water and soluble in glycerin, ethanol, and isopropyl alcohol. Due to the solubility problem of DEET, its topical formulations usually have alcoholic bases, but these kind of formulations increase skin permeation and also systemic absorption of DEET, which leads to some toxic effects. The main goal of this study was to prepare the formulation of DEET niosomes in a topical dosage form with suitable stability properties. Materials and Methods: Three different methods were used to prepare niosome formulations: Dehydration rehydration vesicle method, direct mixing method, homogenizer method. Sorbitan surfactants, cholesterol, polyoxyethylenecetyl, phosphate buffer (pH 7.4), and charge inductive compounds like cetyltrimethylammonium bromide were used to provide a net negative charge to the final membrane structure. A high-performance liquid chromatography method was then used for the determination of the loaded DEET. Results: A large number of niosomes were multi-layered and have a spherical shape. In comparison, syringe method against direct mixing is more appropriate because of creation MLV and uniform niosomes but the best method is homogenizer method. Drug entrapment was between 14% and 21% in selected formulation. Conclusion: According to this study, homogenizing method can be used for formulation of DEET in niosome form in topical formulations.