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Objective: Allergic diseases (ADs) are a serious global public health problem affecting all age groups. Hundreds of millions suffer from ADs worldwide. We aimed to determine the prevalence of asthma, allergic rhinitis (AR), and eczema symptoms in school children aged 6-14years in a tropical region in Southwestern Iran. Material and Method: In 2020, we conducted a cross-sectional study using the Persian version of the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) questionnaire among two age groups (school children aged 6-7 and 13-14 years). The schools were randomly selected from Dezful City, Iran. Results: Valid responses were obtained [rom 2908 participants. The prevalence of diagnosed asthma, AR, and eczema was 3.1% and 6.3%, 3.9% and 7.6%, and 4.5% and 7.1% among the 6-7 and 13-14 age groups, respectively. Also, the prevalence rates of diagnosed asthma, AR, and eczema in school children aged 6-14 years were 4.6%, 5.5%, and 5.8%, respectively. Regarding sex and age groups, the prevalence rates of AD symptoms were significantly higher in boys than in girls and in the 13-14 age group than in the 6-7 age group (p< 0.05). Conclusion: The prevalence of asthma, AR, and eczema was moderate in school children of Dezful City. Our study described the distribution of AD in school children in this region of Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Invasion and metastasis in tumors are considered as two most important reasons for the reduction of treatment efficiency, as well as an increase in the mortality rate among the patients. According to the evidence, HOX transcript antisense RNA (HOTAIR) accounts for one of the main IncRNAs associated with the development and expansion of gastric cancer (GC). Objectives: This research investigates the impact of HOTAIR suppression on the expression and translation of the ZEB1 marker in GC. Methods: The knockdown HOTAIR was in the AGS cell line using small interfering RNA targeting against HOTAIR (si-HOTAIR). The impact of HOTAIR expression on the cell proliferation was previously evaluated by the MTT assay. The expression of the zinc finger Ebox binding homeobox 1 (ZEB1) gene in transfected cell lines was quantified compared to the control samples using the quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was also used to assess the HOTAIR suppression impact on the ZEB1 protein. Results: The findings revealed that a decrease in the HOTAIR expression could cause a reduction in the proliferation and growth of cancer cells (Fold changes = 0/28, P-value < 0.01). According to the impact of changes in the HOTAIR expression levels on the ZEB1 expression, the ZEB1 expression level was directly correlated with HOTAIR so that a decrease in the HOTAIR expression led to a significant decline in the ZEB1 expression level (P-value< 0.05). At the protein level, the effect of theknockdownof HOTAIR expression on the reduction of ZEB1 protein was also observed. Conclusions: Our findings showed a significant association between the HOTAIR and ZEB1 expression levels. Overall, the HOTAIRZEB1 axis plays a vital role in the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process in human GC and represents a new therapeutic strategy for future GC treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective(s): Autophagy is an intracellular degradation system of damaged proteins and organelles; however, the role of autophagy in the progression of cancer remains unclear. In recent years, mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-based approaches have attracted considerable attention for anti-cancer therapy. The present study aimed to examine the interaction of MSCs with the breast cancer cells under autophagy-induced conditions. Materials and Methods: In this study, MSCs isolated from human adipose tissue were co-cultured with MDA-MB 231, a breast cancer cell line, and the autophagy process was induced by tunicamycin treatment. The cell viability was monitored by the MTT assay, and the cells were recovered at different time intervals (24 or 48 hours) to determine autophagy markers such as Beclin, mTOR and the ratio of LC3II/I expression. Additionally, the animal study was conducted using a mouse model of breast cancer treated with isogenic adipose-derived MSCs, and the expression of Beclin and Ki67 was determined using immunohistochemistry in breast tumor tissue. Results: In cancer cells co-cultured with MSCs, the cell proliferation was increased, the Beclin expression and the LC3II/I protein ratio were decreased, and the mTOR expression was increased in MDA-MB 231 upon co-cultured with MSCs. Direct injection of MSCs to a mouse model of breast cancer showed an increase in tumor volume, an increase in the accumulation of Ki67 and a decrease in the Beclin expression in tumor tissues. Conclusion: The data may suggest that suppressed autophagy in breast cancer cells is probably a mechanism by which MSCs can induce cancer cell proliferation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and purpose: Breast cancer (BC) is one of the major causes of female cancer-related death. It has recently been demonstrated that metabolic reprogramming including alteration in lipid metabolism is indicated in various types of cancer. The enzymes of the acyl-coenzyme A synthetase long-chain family (ACSLs) are responsible for converting fatty acids to their corresponding fatty acyl-coenzyme A esters which are essential for some lipid metabolism pathways. ACSL4 is one of the isoforms of ACSLs and has a marked preference for arachidonic and eicosapentaenoic acids. The objective of this study was to evaluate ACSL4 expression, its prognostic significance, and its correlation with p53 tumor suppressor in BC patients. Experimental approach: In this study 55 pairs of fresh samples of BC and adjacent non-cancerous tissue were used to analyze ACSL4 expression, using real-time polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining. The expression of other studied variables was also examined using the IHC technique. Findings / Results: ACSL4 expression was significantly higher in BC tissues compared to the adjacent normal tissue. This upregulation was negatively correlated with Ki-67 and age, and positively correlated with p53 status. The correlation between ACSL4 and p53 may indicate the role of p53 in the regulation of lipid metabolism in cancer cells, in addition to its role in the regulation of ferroptosis cell death. Conclusion and implications: Our results indicated that the expression of ACSL4 may be considered as a prognostic indicator and potential therapeutic target in BC. However, further studies are needed to confirm the significance of these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Statement of the Problem: Periodontal diseases are complex oral diseases characterized by bacterial-induced inflammatory destruction of tooth-supporting tissues. Porphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis) is a common gram-negative anaerobic oral bacteria strongly associated with periodontal disease. Purpose: The present study was conducted to estimate prevalence of P. gingivalis in patients with periodontal diseases by using meta-analysis method. Martials and Method: Different databases including PubMed, EmBase, Scopus, the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library were searched to identify original English-language studies addressing prevalence of P. gingivalis in periodontal diseases up to December 2014. The random effects model was applied in the meta-analysis and the heterogeneity between studies was assessed using a Cochran test and the I2 index. Funnel plots and Egger test were used to examine publication bias. Statistical analyses were performed using STATA version 12. Results: Forty-two eligible studies published during 1993- 2016 were selected for meta-analysis. Considering all the included studies, the total sample size was 5,884 individuals containing 2,576 healthy people with a mean age of 37.21±7.45 years and 3,308 periodontal patients with a mean age of 44.16±8.35 years. Overall, the prevalence of P. gingivalis was 78% [95% CI: 74-81] in periodontal diseases group and 34% [95% CI: 26-41] in healthy individuals. There was a significantly higher prevalence of P.gingivalis in individuals with periodontal diseases compared to healthy subjects [78% versus 34%, respectively]. Conclusion: This study indicates that P. gingivalis is highly present in subjects with periodontal diseases and it also appears in periodontally healthy people, although to a lesser extent. Thus, the presence of P. gingivalis increases the chance of periodontal disease and it can be considered as a main potential risk factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Designing novel antigens to rise specific antibodies for Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) detection is of great significance. A novel fusion protein consisting of the C termini sequence of TSH beta subunit and a fusion sequence was designed and produced for rabbit immunization. Thereafter, the produced antibodies were purified and characterized for TSH detection. Our results indicate that the produced antibody is capable of sensitive and specific detection of TSH with low cross reactivity. This study underscores the applicability of designed fusion protein for specific and sensitive polyclonal antibody production and the importance of selecting an amenable region of the TSH for immunization. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objective(s): IL-12 as an anti-tumor cytokine and IL-33 a novel identified cytokine with both pro- or anti-tumor activities, play important roles in response against tumor cells. Our aim was to evaluate the IL-12 and IL-33 levels and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in their genes in patients with breast cancer. Materials and Methods: Blood samples were collected from 100 patients with breast cancer, and 100 healthy women were controls. The serum IL-12 and IL-33 levels were measured by ELISA. The SNP rs3212227 (in IL-12 gene) and rs 1929992 (in IL-33 gene) were determined using PCR-RFLP. Results: The IL-12 levels similarly expressed in patients and controls. IL-12 levels in patients at stage1 were significantly lower than in the healthy group (P<0.05). IL-33 levels and the IL-33/IL-33/IL-12 ratio in stage IV patients were significantly higher than other stages and controls (P<0.0001 and P<0.001, respectively). There were no significant differences in the frequencies of genotypes in rs3212227 and res1929992 between patients and the control group. No sigficant differences were observed between subjects with various genotypes at rs3212227 and res1929992 with respect to related cytokine levels. Conclusion: These results indicate that the diminished IL-12 production may contribute to the tumor establishment. The higher IL-33 levels and IL-33/IL-12 ratio in patients also indicate an imbalance in Th1/Th2 responses that may contribute to tumor development. Thus, correcting the imbalance of Th1/Th2 could be an important strategy for cancer immunotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pre-eclampsia, a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy is the main cause of fetal and maternal morbidity and mortality. Growing evidences suggest that placental oxidative stress involves in the pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia. The HSP70 is a novel marker of oxidative stress which binds with high avidity to LOX-1. The aim of this study was to evaluate the co-expression of HSP70 and LOX-1 in the placental tissues of normotensive and pre-eclamptic pregnancies. Materials and methods: The placental tissues were collected from 35 healthy women with normal pregnancies and 33 women with pre-eclampsia disorder. Expression of HSP70 and LOX-1 on the placental tissues was examined by using immunohistochemistry technique. The intensity of the molecules' expression was determined by semi-quantitative scoring. Results: The 34.3% and 37.1% of the healthy women did not express the HSP70 and LOX-1 on their placenta, respectively. All pre-eclamptic patients expressed HSP70 and LOX-1 with various scores. Indeed, the majority of the pre-eclamptic subjects had ≥3+ scores of the expression of HSP70 and LOX-1 on their placenta (60.6% and 66.7%, respectively). The percentage of the ≥3+ scores of the expression of HSP70 and LOX-1 was significantly higher in patients than those in healthy women ( p < 0.0001 for both). Similarly, the majority of the pre-eclamptic subjects had ≥3+ scores of the co-expression of HSP70 and LOX-1 molecules (57.6%) which was significantly higher in patients than those in control group ( p = 0.0001). Conclusions: These results showed higher expression of HSP70 and LOX-1 in the placental tissues of pre-eclampsia patients which represent the possible contribution of these molecules in the disease pathogenesis. Further studies need to clarify their role in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]