فهرست مطالب mohsen alipour

Despite all the research, no definitive treatment for stroke has been found yet. Cinnamon is a plant that has been shown to have health benefits effects. In this study, the effect of pretreatment of cinnamon on ischemia tolerance and the expression of Zonula occludens 1(ZO-1) gene in the brains of rats receiving a high-fat diet was investigated.

In this study, 72 rats were divided into six groups: control, sham, model (stroke), vehicle, lovastatin, and cinnamon. All groups except the control group received a high-fat diet for 8 weeks. Then the last three groups received Carboxymethyl cellulose, lovastatin, and cinnamon 130 mg accordingly for 6 weeks. Stroke was induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Twelve hours later, the animals were examined for the extent of serum lipids, brain edema, anti-oxidant capacity and gene expression of ZO-1.

Cinnamon was effective in reducing serum cholesterol and triglyceride. Cinnamon treatment significantly diminished brain edema. It also restored anti-oxidant capacity. ZO-1 gene expression was increased in the ischemic brains after cinnamon treatment (P< 0.05).

Pretreatment with Cin130 had beneficial effects on the serum lipid profile, edema volume in ischemic brain and anti-oxidant capacity. It increased ZO-1 gene expression and so maintained cellular integrity and prevented the subsequent edema.

Evidence suggests that there is some relationship between circadian clock gene variants and obesity. However, there are few examinations supporting this observation in human subjects. This study was aimed to investigate the interaction between Cry1 circadian gene polymorphism and major dietary patterns on obesity measurements.

Healthy overweight and obese women aged 18–53 years old were recruited from health centers in Tehran, Iran by a multistage cluster random sampling method (n = 377). Major dietary patterns were elicited after assessing the intake of 16 food groups using a valid and reliable 147‑item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Anthropometric measurements were performed for each and every participant. Body composition was analyzed using bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA). Socio‑demographic and physical activity data were also collected by a validated Farsi demographic questionnaire and the international physical activity questionnaire (IPAQ). The Cry1 rs2287161 polymorphism were genotyped using polymerase chain reaction‑restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR‑RFLP). Generalized linear models were used for interaction analysis.

Two major dietary patterns, including healthy and unhealthy dietary pattern (HDP and UDP, respectively) were determined using factor analysis. Our study showed a significant higher weight (P = 0.003), body mass index (BMI) (P = 0.042), hip circumference (P = 0.052), and body fat mass (P = 0.028) in carriers of C allele compared with G allele. Moreover, a significant gene‑diet interaction was observed between being a carrier of C allele and BMI (P = 0.099 for CC genotype; P = 0.1 for CG genotype) and fat mass (P = 0.1 for CG genotype).

The current study suggests a significant interaction of Cry1 rs2287161 gene polymorphisms in people following a healthy dietary pattern on BMI and fat mass among carriers of C allele compared to carriers of G allele.

Adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) are one of the most well-known and accessible sources of stem cells that can be used for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. On the other hand, previous studies have suggested that selegiline, as an irreversible inhibitor of monoamine oxidase, affects stem cells’ differentiation into neurons. This study was conducted to investigate the involvement in phosphatidylinositol-bisphosphate 3-kinase (PI3K) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways in ADSCs differentiation to neuron-like cells using selegiline as inducer.

ADSCs were isolated from male rats, cultured in DMEM and then treated with selegiline (10-7 M) for 24h. Real-time PCR for nestin and neurofilament-68 (NF-68) was performed from the negative control (ADSCs at the 3rd passage), positive control (ADSCs were treated with 10-7 M selegeline for 24h, PI3AKT inhibitor (ADSCs were pretreated with treated with 10µM LY294002 for 3h, then10-7 M selegeline for the next 24h, and MAPK inhibitor (ADSCs were pretreated with treated with 10µM PD98059 for 3h, then10-7 M selegeline for the next 24h).

Nestin and NF-68 genes have been over-expressed in the selegiline-treated ADSCs. The PD98059 and LY294002 significantly down-regulated the selegiline-induced over-expression of nestin and NF-68; however, PI3K inhibition did not return the genes expression to control level. ADSCs were immunoreactivefor nestin and NF-68 about 98% and 95% respectively.

According to the results, selegilinecan induce the gene expression of neural stem cell biomarkers in ADSCs through MAPK pathway activating and so differentiating them into neuron-like cells.

Liposomes, as a biological membrane, is successfully used for drug delivery, reduces toxicity in normal cells and improves bio-accessibility of the drug to the target cells. Curcumin, as a bioactive substance with pleiotropic biological activities, is an anti-inflammatory compound and has several anticancer effects in different cancers such as pancreatic and breast cancer.  This study was conducted to determine the bio-distribution of arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD)-modified nanoliposomes containing curcumin in different tissues of rats.  The amount of curcumin in each tissue was examined by HPLC analysis. The distribution of liposomal Hoechst in the rats was evaluated by using fluorescence spectrophotometry, live animal imaging analyses and histological methods.  HPLC analysis showed the mean of curcumin in the blood significantly increased in the liposomal curcumin modified with RGD compared to free curcumin. These results were confirmed by fluorescence measurement for RGD modified liposome containing Hoechst dye. There was negligible fluorescent intensity in the blood rats, which received Hoechst alone. Live animal imaging analysis showed the presence of fluorescent color in heart tissue for all groups. It was also detected in kidney tissue for liposomal Hoechst modified with RGD group.  The present study demonstrated that RGD-modified nano-liposomes can significantly improve drug retention time in the blood of rats.

Unfortunately, a lot of people infected with and died due to covid-19. The exact mechanism of causative virus in human body is unknown. The aims of the study were to survey and analysis the microarray data and to perform functional analysis to unveil the new mechanisms of this virus in regarding to human cells.

NCBI microarray extracted data were analyzed by GEO2R and R package. Up- and down-regulated genes were extracted and functional analysis was performed.

results showed that in Log of expression greater than 3 and lesser than -3 of transcriptome, there were 319 and 573 up-regulated genes in mild and severe covid-19 patients, respectively. Also there were 156 and 590 down-regulated genes in mild and severe covid-19 patients, respectively. GO analysis showed that deferentially expressed gene pattern in severe covid-19 patients is related to ATP13A2

Covid-19 probably regulates its vitality in human cells through interplay with factors such as ATP13A2

‎ ‎In ‎‎t‎his article, we present a ‎‎‎numerical ‎method ‎for‎ solving a class of ‎two-‎dimensional fractional optimal control problems ‎by‎ the Legendre ‎polynomial‎ basis with fractional operational ‎matrix‎. It should be mentioned that the dynamic system of the problem is based on the Caputo fractional partial derivative. This method, the dual integral is approximated by ‎Gauss-‎Legendre rule, and then by using the Lagrangian equation, a nonlinear equation is obtained. This nonlinear equation set is solved by Newton's iterative method and unknown coefficients is determined. Finally, the proposed method was applied on a fractional problem with the different degree of fractional derivative. Also, the CPU time of method is exhibited. It is notable that all calculations were obtained by the Mathematica software.

Counting the number of objects using image processing is very important in many aspects from medical science and biology to agronomy, genetic study and plant breeding. Although many studies were implemented for detecting the objects in image processing but the counting objects is easier and faster than recognition, because in some cases, an object can be counted and not be detected. In this study, a new algorithm is presented to count the granular objects without detection and recognition. This method can work correctly in despite of some noise in image. Presented method is based on distance-transform and because of this, the results almost are independent on size and depend on shape of objects and in other hand this method is relatively simple and fast. The other strength of this method is to use from detected edges. Not only perfect edge is not needed but also even one pixel from edge in some cases can be effective for counting correctly. The sharper edges are more helpful in this method. This is a good combination of detecting edge and using shape and size to count correctly. The results showed that in all of conditions, ideal or natural, the proposed method was better than the other investigated methods. Some of investigated methods were implemented only in special condition or special shape of objects but results showed that our method is capable in all of the investigated conditions. Disadvantage of this method is that it does not work on star shape objects unless changes to convex shape with morphological transforms. In spite of the good results, sharp edges and a good binary image of objects guarantee an acceptable counting result. The presented segmented image as graphical output is a valuable instrument for object recognition in machine vision systems. This method is recommended for counting plant seeds, especially convex seeds.

Quantitative fluorescence-polymerase chain reaction (QF-PCR) is an inexpensive and accurate method for the prenatal diagnosis of aneuploidies that applies short tandem repeats (STRs) as a chromosome-specific marker. Despite its apparent advantages, QF-PCR is not applicable in all cases due to the presence of uninformative STRs. This study was carried out to investigate the efficiency of a method based on applying segmental duplications (SDs) in conjunction with STRs as an alternative to stand-alone STR-based QF-PCR for the diagnosis of Down syndrome. Fifty amniotic fluid samples from pregnant women carrying Down syndrome fetuses, 9 amniotic fluid samples with 1 or without any informative STR marker (inconclusive), and 100 normal samples were selected from Shiraz, Iran, between October 2015 and December 2016. Analysis was done using an in-house STR-SD-based multiplex QF-PCR and the results were compared. Statistical analysis was performed using MedCalc, version 14. All the normal, Down syndrome, and inconclusive samples were accurately identified by the STR-SD-based multiplex QF-PCR, yielding 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity. Karyotype analysis confirmed all the cases with normal or trisomic results. The STR-SD-based multiplex QF-PCR correctly identified all the normal and trisomy 21 samples regardless of the absence of informative STR markers. The STR-SD-based multiplex QF-PCR is a feasible and particularly useful assay in populations with a high prevalence of homozygote STR markers.

Small supernumerary marker chromosomes (sSMCs), or markers, are abnormal chromosomal fragments that can be hereditary or de novo. Despite the importance of sSMCs diagnosis, de novo sSMCs are rarely detected during the prenatal diagnosis process. Usually, prenatally diagnosed de novo sSMCs cannot be correlated with a particular phenotype without knowing their chromosomal origin and content; therefore, molecular cytogenetic techniques are applied to achieve this goal. The present study aimed to characterize an sSMC in a case of Klinefelter syndrome using an in-house microsatellite analysis method and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) technique. Amniotic fluid was collected from a pregnant woman who was considered to have risk factors for trisomy higher than the screening cut-off. Karyotype analysis was followed by the amplification of different microsatellite loci and FISH technique. Karyotype analysis identified a fetus with an extra X chromosome and also an sSMC with unknown identity. Further investigation of the parents showed that the sSMC is de novo. Microsatellite amplification by quantitative fluorescent PCR (QF-PCR) and FISH analysis showed that the sSMC is a derivative of chromosome 18. Eventually, the patient decided to terminate the pregnancy. Here, the first case of the coincidence of sSMC 18 in a Klinefelter fetus is reported.

The purpose of this research was to study the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral group therapy on the parameters of the model of coping with loss, hope and spiritual well-being in grieving students. The research was semi-experimental with pre-test, post-test design and control group. From among the grieving students at Mohaghegh Ardabili University, 30 undergraduate students were selected using convenience sampling method. Schneider Hope Questionnaire and Spiritual Health Questionnaire were used as pre-test and post-test in this study. The Data were analyzed using the statistical analysis of covariance. The results of the data analysis indicated that cognitive-behavioral group therapy is beneficial for increasing the hope and spiritual well-being of grieving individuals, and there is a significant difference between the two groups (P</001). Accordingly, it can be said that cognitive-behavioral group therapy is effective in improving the parameters of the model a coping with loss; it helps the grieving individuals in their emotional discharge and acceptance of death, and increases their hope and spiritual well-being.

The antiapoptotic effect of ghrelin in various cell lines including bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) has been proved. However, the real mechanism of this effect is not clear. Caspase3 and Bcl2 are well-known pro- and antiapoptotic regulatory genes in eukaryotes. The aim of the study was to find out the effect of ghrelin on Caspase 3 and Bcl2 change in BMSCs. Rat BMSCs were cultivated in DMEM. Passage 3 BMSCs were treated with ghrelin 100 μM for 48 h. Real-time PCR for Caspase 3 and Bcl2 was carried out from B (untreated BMSCs), BH (BMSCs treated with 125 µM H2O2), BGH (BMSCs treated with 100 µM ghrelin then 125 µM H2O2) and BG (BMSCs treated with 100 µM ghrelin) groups. For immunofluorescence, cells were incubated with anti Caspase 3 and Bcl2monoclonal antibodies. Primary antibodies were visualized using the FITC method. All data are presented as means ± SEM. Values of P<0.05 were considered statistically significant. Ghrelin decreased mRNA expressions of Caspase-3 significantly as compared to the BH group (P<0.05). Also, Bcl-2 gene expression showed an increment in BG group as compare with BH and BGH groups (P<0.05). A high present of Bcl-2 positive cells were observed in the BGH group while Caspase-3 positive cells were significantly decreased in the BGH group compared with the BH group (P<0.05). Ghrelin probably enhances BMSCs viability through regulation of pro- and antiapoptotic genes Caspase 3 and Bcl2. However the signaling pathway of this effect should be elucidated in the future.

The aim of the present study was investigating the role of components moral intelligence and study habits in student-teacher academic procrastination. The research method was descriptive and correlational. The population consisted of all male student-teacher studying at Allameh Amini Tabriz campus in the academic year 2017-2018 to number 480 students that according to Krejcie and Morgan table, 214 of them were selected by cluster sampling method. For data collection from moral intelligence questionnaire student (2011), Palsane & Sharma study habit inventory (PSSHI) and procrastination assessment scale (Solomon & Rothblum, 1984) were used. Data were analyzed using software spss 22 and statistical tests Pearson correlation and multiple regression (stepwise). Pearson correlation coefficient results showed that all of the components of moral intelligence and study habits with academic procrastination significant negative relationship (P

Ghrelin is a peptide which has a proliferative and antiapoptotic effect in many cells including bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs). Homeobox protein B4 (HOXB4) is a transcription factor involved in stem cell regeneration and survival. The aim of the study was to find out the efect of ghrelin on Hoxb4 expression in BMSCs.
In this experimental study, rat BMSCs were cultivated in Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM). Passage three BMSCs were treated with ghrelin 100 μM for 48 hours. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was carried out from the untreated BMSCs (B), BMSCs treated with 125 μM H2O2 (BH), BMSCs treated with 100 μM ghrelin then 125 μM H2O2 (BGH) and BMSCs treated with 100 μM ghrelin (BG) groups. For immunofluorescence, cells were incubated with an anti-HOXB4 monoclonal antibody. Primary antibodies were visualized using the Fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) method. All data are presented as mean ± SEM and P Hoxb4 expression significantly increased in the BG compared with BH and BGH groups. Furthermore, 100 μM ghrelin, increased the mean of HOXB4 positive immunoreactive cells compared to the BH group.
Ghrelin probably enhances proliferation and viability of BMSCs through Hoxb4 upregulation. However, the signaling pathway and other biological outcomes of this effect should be elucidated in different stem cells.

In this paper‎, ‎steady flow of a third-grade fluid in a porous half‎ space has been considered‎. ‎This problem is a nonlinear two-point‎ boundary value problem (BVP) on semi-infinite interval‎. ‎The‎ solution for this problem is given by a numerical method based on the feed-forward artificial‎ neural network model using radial basis activation functions trained with an interior point method‎. ‎Moreover, to confirm the performance of the proposed technique‎, ‎our results are compared with other available  ‎results‎. ‎Numerical results demonstrate the validity and‎ ‎applicability of the ‎technique.‎

To investigate mutations of visual system homeobox 1 (VSX1) and superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) in 20 patients with keratoconus in the south of Iran.
Twenty patients with keratoconus who had a positive familial history were enrolled in this study and gave informed consent for DNA analysis. Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood lymphocytes. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was carried out to amplify exon 2 of SOD1 and its exon‑intron boundary for the detection of a seven‑base deletion in intron 2 of SOD1, and also all five exons of VSX1 and their exon‑intron boundaries. Amplified samples were then subjected to direct DNA sequencing.
Sequencing data were compared against reference sequences using NCBI basic local alignment search tool (BLAST), which revealed that our patients had no mutations in SOD1 and VSX1. Two single‑nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), namely in VSX1 (rs58752432 and rs59089167) were found in six patients.
Mutations in VSX1 and SOD1 genes associated with keratoconus were not identified in our patients. Therefore, it will be necessary to investigate other chromosomal loci for potential causal mutations of keratoconus using next generation sequencing (NGS) methods in our population.

PEI based nanoparticle (NP) due to dual capabilities of proton sponge and DNA binding is known as powerful tool for nucleic acid delivery to cells. However, serious cytotoxicity and complicated conditions, which govern NPs properties and its interactions with cells practically, hindered achievement to high transfection efficiency. Here, we have tried to optimize the properties of PEI/ firefly luciferase plasmid complexes and cellular condition to improve transfection efficiency.
For this purpose, firefly luciferase, as a robust gene reporter, was complexed with PEI to prepare NPs with different size and charge. The physicochemical properties of nanoparticles were evaluated using agarose gel retardation and dynamic light scattering. MCF7 and BT474 cells at different confluency were also transfected with prepared nanoparticles at various concentrations for short and long times.
The branched PEI can instantaneously bind to DNA and form cationic NPs. The results demonstrated the production of nanoparticles with size about 100-500 nm dependent on N/P ratio. Moreover, increase of nanoparticles concentration on the cell surface drastically improved the transfection rate, so at a concentration of 30 ng/ìl, the highest transfection efficiency was achieved. On the other side, at confluency between 40-60%, the maximum efficiency was obtained. The result demonstrated that N/P ratio of 12 could establish an optimized ratio between transfection efficiency and cytotoxicity of PEI/plasmid nanoparticles. The increase of NPs N/P ratio led to significant cytotoxicity.
Obtained results verified the optimum conditions for PEI based gene delivery in different cell lines.

Iron plays an important role in physiological processes as a trace element. Today, iron oxide nanoparticles have attracted extensive attention due to their super paramagnetic properties and a variety of potential applications in many fields. The main objective of this study was to evaluate in vitro and in vivo toxic effects of the iron oxide nanoparticles on L929 cell line, kidney and liver function, in order to achieve a safe application of the mentioned nanoparticles. The toxicity effects of 200 and 800 μg/ml iron oxide nanorods on L929 were determined using (3-(4, 5- dimethylthiazol-2-yl) -2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide)MTT (test. One and 24 h after the injection of iron oxide via tail vein, serum iron, blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and liver enzymes (ALT, AST, and ALP) were measured as indicators of the kidney and liver function, respectively. Histopathological studies on liver and kidney was carried out using light microscopy following tissue processing steps and standard H&E staining. The viability of the cells exposed to iron oxide nanorods, was decreased with increasing dose. No significant differences were observed between biochemical factors, 1 and 24 h after the injection of nanoparticles. Serum iron level showed no difference with control 1 h after the injection. However, it exhibited a significant increase 24 h after the injection as compared to the control. Meanwhile, pathological studies did not show any acute toxic damage. Use of the iron oxide in short-time and in doses less than 800μg/ml may be safe. More studies are needed for accurate assessment of the toxicity of these particles in terms of dose، time and the type of covering.

Memory impairment is one of the complications of diabetes which may accompany with changes in expression of apoptotic and antiapoptotic genes. The aim of the present study was the evaluation of intra-hippocampal injection of aminoguanidine (AG), as an antioxidant and inducible nitric oxide synthase inhibitor, on passive avoidance memory and Bcl-2 family genes expression in diabetic rats. Diabetes was induced in male rats using streptozotocin (STZ) (50 mg/kg, i.p). AG (10 and 90 μg/rat) was injected by intra-hippocampal implanted cannulae. Passive avoidance memory was assessed 7 weeks later. Then, animals were killed and hippocampus was removed. The expressions of Bcl-2, Bcl-xLand Bax mRNA were measured using semi-quantitative RT-PCR technique. Diabetes caused significant impairment in passive avoidance memory. None of the AG doses improved the memory impairment. In diabetic rats, the levels of Bcl–2 and Bcl-xL were decreased in hippocampus while the expression of Bax, Bax/Bcl-2 and Bax/Bcl-xL was increased. In comparison to diabetic control group, AG treatment increased the levels of Bcl–2 and Bcl-xL but decreased Bax/Bcl–2 and Bax/Bcl-xL. Although AG was not associated with the significant improvement of memory but it modified the expression of the apoptosis involved genes in hippocampus of STZ-induced diabetic rats.

Major applications of nanotechnology in industry, agriculture, biology and medicine are growing. Given the broad range of nanoscience in medical sciences, evaluation of the cytotoxicity of iron oxide nanorods through comparing viability and apoptosis formed the objectives of this study. In this study, the nanorods were synthesized by coprecipitation method and transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy was used for determination of the size and shape of nanoparticles. 200 and 800 μg/ml urea and polyethylene glycol (PEG) coated nanorods, in forms of modified and non-modified, were assessed for toxicity using MTT assay 48 and 72 hours later. The length and diameter of the urea- and PEG-coated nanorods were 150 and 15 nm and 150 and 23 nm, respectively. Viability of cells exposed to non-modified iron oxide nanorods was less than modified form. This toxicity showed uptrend with increasing dose. Viability of the cells exposed to PEG-coated iron oxide nanorods was lower than urea-coated once. It appears that the increase in apoptosis affected by non-modified iron oxide nanorods might be resulted from formation of protein rings called Hard Corona around the nanorods. In addition, more increase of cell death by PEG-coated nanorods compared to urea-coated nanorods is indicator of the effect of type of coverage and type of cells on their cytotoxicity.

The p21 belongs to the CIP/KIP family of CDK inhibitors involved in cell cycle arrest at specific stages of the cell cycle progression. DNA methylation is the best studied epigenetic mark that have been evidently associated to chromatin condensation, and repression of gene transcription. The CpG island hypermethylation in promoter region of certain genes occurs in cancer cells and affects tumorigenesis. The aim of the current study was to assess DNA methylation pattern of p21 gene promoter region in the MCF7, T47D, MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-468 human breast carcinoma cell lines. The methylation status of cancer associated gene, p21waf1/cip1 was analyzed at CpG sites in the promoter region using a sensitive methylation-specific PCR (MSP) technique. The total genomic DNA from each cell line was isolated and subjected to the sodium bisulfite treatment to differentiate between methylated and unmethylated CpG islands. Then MSP was performed using designed primers for methylated (M-MSP) and unmethylated (U-MSP) forms of CpG islands in the promoter region of p21 gene. The results of the MSP indicated that promoter of p21 gene was consistently unmethylated in tested human breast cancer cell lines. Therefore, methylation inactivation of the p21waf1/cip1 does not commonly happen in all cancer cell lines.

The Bcl-2 protein family members have known as essential controllers of mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis. Bax is a pro-apoptotic member of Bcl-2 protein family, which is well known to play crucial roles for apoptosis control. bax has been implicated as potential tumor suppressor in certain solid tumors such as breast and colorectal carcinoma. DNA methylation of promoter associated CpG islands has known as a common mechanism for gene inactivation in tumor cells. The Methylation Specific PCR (MSP) has used to find the methylation profile of the bax gene promoter CpG islands in colorectal and breast cancer cell lines. We have not detected any kind of «CpG islands hypermethylation» in promoter region of the bax gene in T47D, MCF7 (as ER positive), MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-468 (as ER negative) breast carcinoma-derived cell lines and colorectal cancer cell lines H29 and Caco II. It seems that CpG island methylation could not play the main role in down-regulation of bax gene in breast and colon cancers.

The p21 belongs to the CIP/KIP family of CDK inhibitors involved in cell cycle arrest at specific stages of the cell cycle progression. DNA methylation is the best studied epigenetic mark that have been evidently associated to chromatin condensation, and repression of gene transcription. The CpG island hypermethylation in promoter region of certain genes occurs in cancer cells and affects tumorigenesis. The aim of the current study was to assess DNA methylation pattern of p21 gene promoter region in the MCF7, T47D, MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-468 human breast carcinoma cell lines. The methylation status of cancer associated gene, p21waf1/cip1 was analyzed at CpG sites in the promoter region using a sensitive methylation-specific PCR (MSP) technique. The total genomic DNA from each cell line was isolated and subjected to the sodium bisulfite treatment to differentiate between methylated and unmethylated CpG islands. Then MSP was performed using designed primers for methylated (M-MSP) and unmethylated (U-MSP) forms of CpG islands in the promoter region of p21 gene. The results of the MSP indicated that promoter of p21 gene was consistently unmethylated in tested human breast cancer cell lines. Therefore, methylation inactivation of the p21waf1/cip1 does not commonly happen in all cancer cell lines.

Since internal evaluation is an effective procedure toward improving quality, universities should consider self-evaluation priority and pave the way for continuous quality improvement. To this end, department of physiology and pharmacology followed this approach for the first time to achieve the mentioned goal. In this descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional study, based on the internal evaluation pattern, the evaluation criteria were investigated in the department including a) department objectives, management and organization b) teaching staff c) educational courses and curriculums followed by the department and learning and teaching process d) students. Each criterion included a set of markers, and the data were gathered through the forms and questionnaires and classified according to the key variables, then analyzed using qualitative statistical tests and Likert scale. Overall, the results obtained from the internal evaluation revealed that the situation in the department of physiology and pharmacology of medical school in the mentioned criteria is relatively desirable. Based on the findings of this study, it seems that there are some weak points which were revealed following the internal evaluation in the department.To improve the department situation in the future, planning, sensible decision making, and the support of authorities are necessary.

Evaluation is one of the important aspects of educational activities that can be performed in different forms and by which the weaknesses and strengths of educational programs can be found identified. Here, the role of continuous evaluation in academic achievement of BS students of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences (ZUMS) was studied. This is a descriptive-analytical study that was performed in cross-sectionally during a four-semester period with four classes. Students in each class were randomly divided into two groups. One group was tested continuously during the semester but no tests were given to the group. At the end of the course, the scores of the two groups of students in each class as well as all the students regardless of the type class were compared under the same conditions. Results demonstrated that in all four classes, mean scores in the students who were asked tested during the semester was significantly higher than the students who were not tested. This result was also true for all students, regardless of their field of study. From total of fifty four students who were questioned, only four students had a lower score toward other fifty four students. The findings of this study reveal that formative evaluation as classroom questioning has powerful impacts on academic achievement. Thus, achieving the educational objectives needs accurate planning and careful implementation.