mohammad reza zali

The current systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to assess the association between Gastrointestinal (GI) cancers and opium use.

GImalignancies are a global public health issue and are associated with many risk factors including genetic and lifestyle factors.

PubMed, Web of Science, Embase and Scopus and the Google Scholar search engine in addition to Persian databases including Magiran and SID were searched using relevant keywords. The associations of opium use, long duration of opium use, high daily amount opium use and high cumulative opium use and GI cancer and various subtypes of GI cancers were estimated and pooled in format of odds ratios (OR) and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) with a random effects model.

22 articles that were published between 1983 and 2022 entered the analyses. There were significant relationships between opium use based on crude effect sizes (OR: 2.53, 1.95-3.29) and adjusted effect sizes (OR: 2.64, 1.99-3.51), high daily opium use (or: 3.41, 1.92-6.06), long duration of opium use (OR: 3.03, 1.90-4.84) and high cumulative opium use (OR: 3.88, 2.35-6.41), all compared to never opium use, and GI cancer. The results were not sensitive to sensitivity analyses and no influential publication biases were found in these analyses.

Our meta-analysis showed that opium use could be associated with increased risk of overall and some particular GI cancers including oropharyngeal, gastric, pancreatic and colorectal cancers. Opium use as a potentially modifiable factor, therefore,should be more emphasized.

Inflammatory bowel disease comprising Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis presents with periods of flares and remission. Many reports have identified different dysregulated miRNAs in patients with IBD. Finding new biomarkers in IBD patients can help to launch a novel non-invasive approach for diagnosis and prognosis for patients with UC and CD. This study aimed to evaluate the plasma expression pattern of the miRNAs panel in IBD patients compared to healthy individuals. 73 plasma samples were included; 58 patients with IBD (33 individuals in flare and 25 in remission phase) and 15 healthy controls were enrolled in the study. The miRNA expression was measured by qRT-PCR using miScript SYBR Green PCR Kit (QIAGEN). Our results showed the expression level of miR-16-5P was significantly increased in the active phase compared to the inactive phase (P=0.0138) and in CD patients compared to UC patients (P=0.0216). There was a significant difference in the expression of miR-29a in Crohn's patients compared to healthy subjects (P=0.04). Measuring the expression of mir-106a; a significant increase was observed compared to healthy individuals (P=0.03) and patients with CD (P=0.0143) in proportion of UC patients’ group. The miR-126 expression significantly increased in patients with active disease compared to patients in the inactive phase (P=0.0413) and healthy controls (P=0.0492). This study showed evidence for differential expression levels of plasma panel of miR-16, miR-29a, miR-106a, and miR-126 in IBD patients compare to healthy individuals. We illustrate that miRNAs in plasma correlate with disease activity and can be used as a practical and non-invasive biomarker for early diagnosis and monitoring of the treatment protocol.

Oncolytic viruses, as novel and advanced tools in the field of treating various types of cancer, have played a very important role in medical developments. The term “oncolytic” refers to the ability of these viruses to destroy and damage cancer cells while preserving the surrounding healthy cells.

To conduct this study, a total of 270 initial results were collected through searching in the PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases from 2012 to 2024. The primary researcher reviewed 68 relevant articles, extracted and summarized the contents, and finally compiled the findings.

The findings from this review study demonstrate that cancer cells possess distinct characteristics that differentiate them from normal cells, including continuous growth signaling, resistance to anti-growth signaling, evasion of apoptosis, increased angiogenesis, and invasion into other body parts. Oncolytic viruses utilize these distinctive features to selectively target and infect cancer cells. Most oncolytic viruses directly eliminate host tumor cells, resulting in viral replication and induction of host antiviral responses. Moreover, these viruses can destroy cancer cells through the production of specific proteins. The cytotoxic potential of oncolytic viruses depends on viral type, genetic manipulation, optimal virus dosage for injection, natural and induced viral tropism, and cancer cell sensitivity to various forms of cell death. The mechanism driving the selective replication of oncolytic viruses in cancer cells likely relates to defects in signaling pathways specific to tumor cells. Phase III clinical trials have demonstrated significant improvements in the treatment outcomes of various cancers, including head and neck cancer, melanoma, glioblastoma, and bladder cancer, through the use of H101 (Oncorine), T-Vec, ECHO-7, and Teserpaturev (Delytact) viruses.

Oncolytic viruses are constructed from various types of viruses and are currently being evaluated in laboratory, preclinical, and clinical stages. The use of these viruses for the treatment of cancer as a new and targeted approach has been proposed, which requires further investigation and achievement of more precise mechanisms for their better performance.

Subepithelial lesions formerly known as subepithelial tumors are incidentally discovered protrusions throughout the gastrointestinal tract with normal overlying mucosa. Studies related to the diagnosis and methods of therapy are limited due to the low incidence and low malignant potential of these lesions. They are commonly originating from the second, third and fourth layers (muscularis mucosa, submucosa and muscularis propria) of gastrointestinal wall. They are reported to be more prevalent in stomach and esophagus than small intestine and colon. Subepithelial lesions located in the stomach and duodenum are more prone to malignancy than the lesions in the esophagus. Despite the presence of different strategies in the management of subepithelial lesions based on their size and location, there is still not a unique consensus on the issue. In this review we have attempted to introduce the most practical approach to the management of gastrointestinal subepithelial lesions based on current guidelines.

Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC)is a chronic cholestatic liver disease which is associated with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)in 70% of cases. It seems PSC/IBD is a distinct phenotype that is different from PSC, and IBD alone. Hence, we review the epidemiology, pathogenesis, natural course and management of PSC/IBD before and after LT for PSC. Extensive colitis, rectal sparing, backwash ileitis, and mild symptomsare the characteristics of IBD coexisting with PSC. Moreover, PSC patients with concurrent IBD have higher risk of cholangiocarcinoma, and colorectal neoplasia predominantly in right colon and at younger age. Therefore, it is essential to monitor these individuals continuously. It is interesting to note that the course of IBD (ulcerative colitis) after liver transplantation (LT)for PSC varies greatly, and some patients may develop worsening colitis after LT despite immunosuppressive regimens. As well, management of these patients was discussed in this review.

Gastric cancer is one of the most commonly known malignancies and is the fifth cancer-related death globally. Whereas natural killer (NK) cells play a critical role in tumor elimination; therefore, adoptive NK cell therapy has become a promising approach in cancer cytotherapy. Hence, this study investigated the chemoimmune cell therapy in MKN-45 derived xenograft gastric cancer model.

Three groups of animals have received the following treatments separately: activated NK cells, capecitabine, the combination of capecitabine and activated NK cells, and one was considered as the control group. Morphometric properties of tumor samples were evaluated at the end of the study. NK cells infiltration was evaluated by immunohistochemistry (IHC) of hCD56. Mitotic count and treatment response was assessed by hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining. The proliferation ratio to apoptosis was determined by IHC assessment of Ki67 and caspase 3.

The results indicated that the NK cell therapy could effectively decrease the mitotic count in pathology assessment, but the tumor was not completely eradicated. In combination with metronomic chemotherapy (MC) of capecitabine, NK cell therapy demonstrated a significant difference in tumor morphometric properties compared to the control group. The proliferation ratio to apoptosis was also in line with pathology data.

Although NK cell therapy could effectively decrease the mitotic count in vivo, the obtained findings indicated lesser potency than MC despite ex vivo activation. In order to enhance NK cell therapy effectiveness, suppressive features of the tumor microenvironment and inhibitory immune checkpoints blockade should be considered.

Celiac disease (CD) is a gluten-sensitive chronic autoimmune enteropathy. A strict life-long gluten-free dietis the only efficient and accepted treatment until now. However, maintaining a truly gluten-free status is both difficult and costly, often resulting in a social burden for the person. Moreover, 2 to 5 percent of patients fail to improve clinically and histologically upon elimination of dietary gluten. Therefore, novel therapeutic approaches, including gluten degrading enzymes, are an unmet need of celiac patients.

To evaluate the function of sunn pest prolyl endoprotease for gluten and gliadin hydrolysis in vitro.

The spPEP was expressed as a recombinant protein in E. coli BL21 (DE3), and its catalyticactivity was assessed by SDS-PAGE and RP-HPLC analyses.

Production of a 100-kDa spPEP protein was confirmed by SDS-PAGE and western blot analysis. Also, wedemonstrate that spPEP efficiently degrades gluten and α-gliadin (30-40 kDa) in vitro under conditions similar to the GIand is resistant to pepsin and trypsin.

The gathered data demonstrated that spPEP might be a novel candidate for Oral Enzymatic Therapy (OET)in CD and other gluten-related disorders.

The maturation faith of dendritic cells is restrained by the inflammatory environment and cytokines, such as interleukin-6 and its downstream component. Therefore, introducing the suitable antigen to dendritic cells is crucial. However, reducing the severity of the suppressive tumor microenvironment is indispensable. The present study examined the combination therapy of lymphocyte antigen 6 family member E (LY6E) pulsed mature dendritic cells (LPMDCs) and pioglitazone against colorectal cancer (CRC) to elevate the effectiveness of cancer treatment through probable role of pioglitazone on inhibiting IL-6/STAT3 pathway.

Dendritic cells were generated from murine bone marrow and were pulsed with lymphocyte antigen 6 family member E peptide to assess antigen-specific T-cell proliferation and cytotoxicity assay with Annexin/PI. The effect of pioglitazone on interleukin (IL)-6/STAT3 was evaluated in vitro by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Afterward, the CRC model was established by subcutaneous injection of CT26, mouse colon carcinoma cell line, in female mice. After treatment, tumor, spleen, and lymph nodes samples were removed for histopathological, ELISA, and real-time PCR analysis.

In vitro results revealed the potential of lysate-pulsed dendritic cells in the proliferation of double-positive CD3-8 splenocytes and inducing immunogenic cell death responses, whereas pioglitazone declined the expression of IL-6/STAT3 in colorectal cell lines. In animal models, the recipient of LPMDCs combined with pioglitazone demonstrated high tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. Elevating the IL-12 and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) levels and prolonged survival in lysate-pulsed dendritic cell and combination groups were observed.

Pioglitazone could efficiently ameliorate the immunosuppressive feature of the tumor microenvironment, mainly through IL-6. Accordingly, applying this drug combined with LPMDCs provoked substantial CD8 positive responses in tumor-challenged animal models.

Ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD) are two major types of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs). Toll‑like receptors (TLRs) are expressed in the innate immune system compartments, in charge of identifying a wide range of microorganisms. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the expression of TLR‑2, ‑7, and ‑8 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of UC patients as a novel non‑invasive primary inflammation sensor for monitoring the clinical course of UC candidates.

In this cross‑sectional study, total RNA was extracted from the PBMC of 42 UC patients along with 20 healthy donors. The mRNA levels of TLR‑2, ‑7, and ‑8 were assessed using the quantitative real‑time polymerase chain (qRT‑PCR) reaction.

The present research study demonstrated no significant changes in TLR‑2 mRNA expression in UC patients in comparison with the control group (P = 0.1264), whereas significant elevation (P = 0.0008) was distinguished in the TLR‑7 expression of UC participants specifically during the remission course compared with healthy donors and flareup patients (P = 0.0004 and P = 0.0063, respectively). The last selected TLR, TLR‑8 was not shown remarkable changes either between UC patients and the control group or between clinical courses of the disease.

Here, among three nominated TLRs for predicting UC patients, TLR‑7 was potentially selected according to the significant difference in mRNA expression in flareup UC patients and control donors. TLR‑7 could be used as a novel non‑invasive biomarker for monitoring UC patients in the active course of the disease.

B. thetaiotaomicron is introduced as a candidate for the next generation of probiotics. TLR2, 4 play an important and necessary role in activating and modulating the innate immune system after exposure to bacteria in the intestine. This study aimed to investigate the effect of B. thetaiotaomicron and its derivatives on the alteration of the tlr2 and tlr4 gene expression.

The effects of B. thetaiotaomicron, OMVs, inactive bacteria and supernatant treatments on the tlr2 and tlr4 gene expression in the STC-1 cell line were investigated using the qRT-PCR method.   

The treatment of the STC-1 cell line with live and active B. thetaiotaomicron did not have significant effect on transcription of  tlr2, 4. The OMVs of this bacterium at 50 µg/ml significantly increased the gene expression of tlr2 (p=0.01) and tlr4 (p=0.02), but at a concentration of 100 µg/ml, its effect was not significant. Inactive bacteria at MOI 10 (p=0.03) and MOI 50(p=0.003) significantly induce the transcription of both two genes. Supernatant 25% significantly increased tlr2 (p=0.038) and tlr4 (p=0.034) gene expression at the transcription level.

Our results showed that OMVs at a concentration of 50 μg/ml, inactive bacteria, and supernatant B. thetaiotaomicron play an important role in modulating immune response and can be used as a next generation postbiotics and paraprobiotic candidates for further studies to be used.

Development of an amplification method for further investigation of HBV S gene variation patterns.

Pre-S/S variants in patients with chronic HBV infection may contribute to the progression of liver damage and Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

This study wasperformed on ten patients with chronic HBV infection. Viral DNA was extracted from patient's plasma, primer design was performed, and a semi-nested PCR method was set up to amplify the pre-S/S region of HBV genome. Subsequently, sequencing was performed to analyze the variants of this region.

In the current study, the semi-nested PCR method was successfully set up, and types of variation in the studied samples were investigated.

Pre-S/S variants should be routinely determined in HBV carriers to help identify individuals who may be at a high risk of less favorable liver disease progression. This study showed that the technique could accurately amplify the pre-S/S region, and the product can be successfully used for variation detection bydirect sequencing.

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of supplementation with ground flaxseed (GF) on the concentrations of adiponectin, resistin, and visfatin in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC).

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is one of the most common gastrointestinal diseases affecting people of all ages. Adipokines secreted from adipose tissue have beenshown to play an essential role in the pathogenesis of UC.

This trial is an open-labeled randomized controlled trial conducted on 70 patients with UC. The patients were randomly divided into two groups: flaxseed and control. The patients in the intervention received 30 g/day flaxseed powder for 12 weeks. Patients' anthropometric, nutritional, and biochemical factors were evaluated at the beginning and end of the intervention period.

Totally, 64 patients (36 men and 28 women) with a mean age of 31.12±9.67 were included in the final analysis. There was no significant difference between the two groups regarding baseline weight and height (P>0.05). After the 12-week intervention, flaxseed supplementation led to a significant reduction in the resistin (-4.85±1.89 vs. -1.10±2.25, P<0.001) and visfatin concentration (-1.33±1.14 vs. -0.53±1.63, P=0.018). Further, we found a significant increase in the adiponectin levels after the GF supplementation (3.49±1.29 vs. -0.35±0.96, P<0.001).

Flaxseed supplementation could exert beneficial effects on adipokine levels in patients with UC

A data-driven colorectal cancer screening strategy based on a personalized approach can improve health outcomes. This study aims to develop an information road map for personalized colorectal cancer screening in Iran.

This study is a mix-method research (MMR) which consisted of three phases: phase I, the development of a checklist with 275 items for assessing required data elements of personalized colorectal cancer screening; phase II, situational analysis of colorectal cancer screening dataset according to the checklist; phase III, development of national information roadmap for personalized colorectal cancer screening with in-depth interview and focus groups.

Personalized datasets of colorectal cancer screening were defined in four dimensions, including a clinical dataset, a genetic dataset, a demographic dataset, and a social determinant dataset. In the next step data elements of colorectal cancer screening based on personalized datasets were analyzed. Of the 275 items, only 96 items are recorded. In the final step, a national information roadmap of personalized colorectal cancer screening with 6 levels was developed.

Personalized screening based on integration dataset play a key role in the successful implementation of the screening program. Implementation of a national roadmap can assist to improve the quality of data in personalized screening.

There is insufficient data about esophageal body dysmotility in patients with refractory gastroesophageal reflux disease (RGERD) and inadequate response to proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) treatment. This study aimed to assess esophageal motility disorder and reflux parameters among these patients by high-resolution manometry (HRM) and intraluminal impedance and pH (MII‐pH) monitoring after stopping PPI therapy. A retrospective study was conducted among 100 RGERD patients admitted to Taleghani Hospital (Tehran, Iran) for one year. More than half of them were males (55%). Their mean age was 47.10±6.92, and 50% of patients had ineffective esophageal motility (IEM). Middle, distal, and proximal esophageal pressure (MEP, DEP, and PEP), lower esophageal sphincter (LES) basal pressure (LESP), integrated relaxation pressure (IRP), distal contractile integral (DCI), large breaks, upper esophageal sphincter basal pressure (UESP), and LES length (LESL) in IEM patients were significantly lower than the patients with normal esophageal motility (P<0.001). Furthermore, there were more patients in the IEM group with long-term and abnormal weakly acid reflux compared with the non-IEM group (P<0.05). It seems that the evaluation of reflux parameters and esophageal motility could lead to additional insights into the pathophysiological mechanisms of RGERD. Nevertheless, further studies are suggested to evaluate the effects of esophageal motility disorders among RGERD patients.

The TBS-derived image processing method, based on the observer's diagnosis, has been developed in the current investigation. Image parametrization is proposed for both novel description and convergent shreds of evidence.

Condensed X-ray images of the esophageal timed barium swallow (TBS) provide substantial implications for elucidating the pathophysiological dimensions of esophageal motility disorders.

Throughthe simultaneous study on TBS and high-resolution manometry (HRM) findings, we performed a retrospective cohort study on 252 patientsfrom March 2018 to October 2019. Interventions, irrelevant information, and insufficient patient data were excluded. Only subjects with adequate data and acceptable test accuracy were considered for participation. We reviewed 117 Dicom (digital imaging and communications in medicine) X-ray images from patients with confirmed diagnoses of achalasia type II, esophagogastric junction outflow obstruction (EGJOO), or non-achalasia.

The results suggested a cut-off level of 47% in DDi (dilated diameter index) as a sign of the dilated body. In achalasia type II patients (n=66 images), the mean DDi was 55.6%. Our method presented a sensitivity of 95% and a specificity of 93% compared to images of the non-achalasia findings. The mean DDi in EGJOO patients was 50.4%, according to the 27 images. Moreover, results from EGJOO patients provided a sensitivity of 85% and specificity of 87%.

TBS is an efficacious method and a prominent component in the process of achalasia diagnosis. Standard parametrization might develop radiological exports proposed by DDi. Our method could assist in obtaining a non-invasive medical diagnosis and help advance diagnostic reports to identify achalasia subtypes somewhat earlier. To the best of our knowledge, this interface is an innovative parametrization for TBS image review.

Colorectal cancer is one of the most prevalent types of cancer in Iran. Detection and removal of polyps in colorectal cancer can significantly decrease the morbidity and mortality of the disease. The present study aimed to describe the characteristics of patients who had been detected with colorectal neoplasia.

This descriptive study was conducted on all the people who had been referred to the Research Institute for Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases for receiving colonoscopy services during 2017-2019. Information was collected through questionnaires designed based on four categories, namely personal information, clinical history, pharmacological history, and pathological results. We used logistic regression analysis to investigate the relationship between independent risk factors and colorectal neoplasia.

The total number of the patients referred to the hospital was 2826. The percentage of males was 43.06. There was a low statistically significant relationship between gender and having neoplasia (P = 0.053). We found that the history of diabetes was associated with neoplasia (P = 0.007). Watery diarrhea and abdominal pain had a relationship with colorectal neoplasia and P-values; they were both below 0.001. Moreover, weight loss and inflammatory bowel disease had a significant statistical relationship and P-values were 0.02 and <0.001, respectively.

In Iran, most colonic polyps are located in the left colon and also polyps that are situated in different locations. Our study could strongly suggest some important risk factors, such as age, smoking, and body mass index, whose impact on colorectal neoplasia has been reported by other papers.

Recent studies have shown that the level of hepatocyte-derived mitochondrial DNA is elevated in plasma samples obtained from mice and NASH patients, and it has the ability to toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) activation resulting in steatosis, hepatocyte injury, and fibrosis. In this study, we explored the association between TLR9 rs5743836, rs352140, and rs187084 polymorphism and its plasma mRNA level in non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) patients with different liver fibrosis scores compared to healthy controls. Seventy Iranian patients diagnosed with NAFL, based on fibroscan testing results, were divided into F0-F1 (N=33), F2-F3 (N=19), and F4 (N=18) hepatic fibrosis groups and compared to 22 healthy controls. Genotyping was done using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and the mRNA expression level of TLR9 was determined using Real-Time PCR analysis. Results showed no significant association between allelic and genotypic distribution frequency of TLR9 rs5743836, rs352140, and rs187084 polymorphisms in NAFL patients with hepatic fibrosis compared to healthy controls (P>0.05). However, the mRNA level of TLR9 was significantly elevated in correlation with hepatic fibrosis progression in NAFL patients compared to healthy controls (P<0.05). As a preliminary study, our data showed a correlative overexpression of TLR9 mRNA with hepatic fibrosis progression in NAFL patients without the effectiveness of TLR9 gene polymorphisms.

Toll-Like Receptors (TLRs) are the critical mediators of inflammatory routs in the gut, which play an essential role in regulating the immune responses towards various ligands derived from pathogenic bacteria. Also, TLR signaling has been implicated in the development of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), Adenomatous Polyp (AP), and Colorectal Cancer (CRC). Here, we aimed to examine the expression of some TLRs concerning certain fecal bacteria in AP and CRC patients with and without IBD.

This case-control study collected fecal and colonic tissue samples from 93 patients versus Normal Controls (NC) via colonoscopy. Fecal samples were used for DNA extraction, and the abundance of selected fecal bacteria was determined by absolute real-time PCR. Also, the gene expression of TLR2, 4, and 5 was analyzed using RT-PCR on the colonic tissues of participants.

Compared to NC individuals, in AP and CRC patients, the mRNA expressions of TLR4 and TLR2 were significantly increased while TLR5 was decreased. A meaningful association between TLRs mRNA expression levels and the abundance of some selected fecal bacteria was detected. Also, there was a significant relationship between participant’s food regimes, smoking habit and intestinal TLRs expression.

Our study proposed the important role of TLRs during adenomatous and CRC formation. Alterations in TLRs expression associated with certain gut bacteria may contribute to disease development.

The aim of this study was to investigate sequence variations in the C-terminus of latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1) in Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) isolates from Iranian patients with chronic gastritis or gastric cancer (GC).

EBV is an important member of gammaherpesviruses that causes persisting latent human infection. LMP1 is the essential viral oncoprotein that is a key element for B cells immortalization. LMP1 contains of a small twenty-four amino acid cytoplasmic N-terminal region, six transmembrane segments and a two hundred amino acid cytoplasmic C-terminal domain. Most LMP1-mediated signal transduction events are moderated by some functional parts of cytoplasmic C-terminal domain. Sequence variations of LMP1 gene have been described in numerous EBV-isolates.

This study included 32 EBV positive biopsy tissues from patients with gastric cancer and patients with chronic gastritis. The C-terminal nucleotide sequences of LMP1 were amplified using nested-PCR and analyzed by DNA sequencing.

In the carboxyl-terminal site of patients was observed 4 to 8 copies of the 11 repeat elements (codon 254–302) and there was no relationship between the number of repeat sequences and disease status. The 30-bp deletion corresponding to codon 345–354 of the B95-8 strain was observed in 34% isolates and remaining samples were non-deleted. In group of gastric cancer, a high number of 33-bp repeats (>5 repeats) was observed in 30-bp-deletion (100%) than non-deleted (42%) isolates and the difference was also statistically significant. In addition, the analysis revealed that a gastritis isolate may be result of recombination between Alaskan and China1 strains.

Overall, our results showed no association between the C-terminal sequence variations of LMP1 and malignant or non-malignant isolate origin.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is characterized by the chronic gastrointestinal inflammation. The two common forms of IBD are ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD) that are distinguished by their location and depth of involvement in the diffuse inflammation of the colonic mucosa and affects the rectum (proctitis). A novel class of LncRNAs transcribed from ultra-conserved regions (UCRs) is a recently identified ultra-conserved region (T-UCR) transcript that is involved in the cellular function in a variety of pathways. However, the regulation of LncRNA uc.173 in IBD remains to be fully elucidated. In this study, we aimed to examine the expression of LncRNA uc.173 and Occludin genes in an Iranian population with inflammatory bowel disease.

This case-control study was performed on 33 inflammatory bowel disease patients including 13 Crohn's disease, 20 ulcerative colitis and 20 healthy controls. The mRNA levels of LncRNA uc.173 and Occludin genes were assessed using the quantitative Real-time polymerase chain reaction. The B2M was used as an internal control. The 2 -ΔΔCq method was used to determine the expression fold changes.

Statistically, the level of the LncRNA uc.173 gene expression between the UC and normal tissues increased significantly(P=0.0024). Also, the expression analysis revealed no significant difference between the samples of CD patients compared to the controls (P>0.05). In order to further evaluate the role of LncRNA uc.173 in IBD, the associations between the transcript levels of the LncRNA uc.173 and Occludin mRNA demonstrated significant difference in the CD tissue (R=0.59; P=0.002). In our study, the mRNA expression of Occludin gene did not show any changes in the IBD patients compared to the healthy controls.

The increased expression of LncRNA uc.173 in the tissues of UC patients may be considered as a diagnostic or prognostic biomarker. Also, there was no correlation found between Occludin and LncRNA uc.173 expressions in the IBD patients' tissues.

Blastocystis sp., is a prevalent protist isolated from humans and animals, which its opportunistic role in immunocompromised patients is still controversial. The current study aimed to evaluate the subtype and alleles distribution of Blastocystis sp., among immunocompromised patients.

Totally, 33 microscopically Blastocystis-positive stool samples, isolated from Guilan province during April 2018 to May 2019 were investigated. Total DNA extraction was performed and the barcoding region of the small subunit ribosomal RNA (SSU rRNA) gene was amplified. Targeted fragments were sequenced to characterize subtypes and relevant alleles. Phylogenetic tree was constructed using Maximum-likelihood and Tamura 3-parameter to illustrate the correlation between subtypes and certain immunodeficiency.

Subtype analysis revealed the presence of ST1, ST2, ST3, and ST7 among 13/33 (39.4%), 5 (15.2%), 14/33 (42.4%), and 1/33 (3%), of samples, respectively. ST1 was the major subtype among cancer patients 5/7 (71.42%), while ST3 was the predominant subtype among rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients 3/6 (50%), internal ward patients 5/10 (50%), and asthma and allergy patients 2/3 (66.66%). ST7 was isolated from a patient hospitalized in internal ward. No significant correlation was seen between the type of immunodeficiency and subtypes (P-value = 0.771). The phylogenetic tree showed no separation regarding the type of immunodeficiency.

Among studied immunocompromised patients, ST3 was the most prevalent subtype followed by ST1. There was no specific correlation between subtypes and alleles with type of immunodeficiency. Putative zoonotic alleles were highlighted the probability of zoonotic transmission for Blastocystis sp.

Nutrition‑related factors have been of great interest as one of risk factors of biliary stones. This study evaluated the association of dietary patterns with biliary stone among Iranians.

This is a hospital‑based case‑control study, which was conducted in a general hospital in Tehran, Iran. A total of 110 patients with gallstone or common bile duct (CBD) stone confirmed by Ultrasonography within the last 6 months before collecting data were recruited. Controls were age‑matched patients admitted to the other wards of the same hospital for a broad spectrum of disorders including traumas and orthopedic conditions, or elective surgeries, or throat/ear/nose disease and had no gallbladder disorders, participated in this study. We used a valid and reliable food frequency questionnaire to assess dietary intakes of participants. Dietary patterns were determined by factor analysis.

By design, age was similar in both groups (57.66 ± 16.39 years vs . 56.00 ± 10.64 years in cases and controls, respectively). Two dietary patterns were extracted; “Unhealthy” (high consumption of artificial juice, processed meats, refined grains, sweets and desserts, pickles, snacks, and red meats), and “Healthy” (high consumption of vegetable oils, vegetables, fruits, fish, legumes, and nuts, as well as low consumption of hydrogenated fats and salt). Participants in the highest tertile of “Healthy” dietary pattern were significantly less likely to have the gallstones disease (OR: 0.33, 95% CI = 0.120.89) compared to the reference group (low tertile of “Healthy” dietary pattern) (P = 0.02).

High consumption of vegetable oils, vegetables, fruits, fish, legumes, and nuts, as well as low consumption of hydrogenated fats and salt in context of healthy dietary pattern are inversely associated with risk of gallstones.

”Brandpreneurship” as a new concept is a conceptual combination of “brand” and “entrepreneurship”. In the “Brandpreneurship” view, branding is the basis of all new venture activities which are performed by the entrepreneur. The purpose of this study is to investigate and identify the stages of the Brandpreneurship process in startups.

The approach used in this study is a qualitative – single case study, through which data was collected using documents and event-based interviews with 11 people, including the founder and founding members of the Panter brand, by purposive sampling using Atlas.ti 7.

Based on the results of the interviews, 6 dimensions were identified for Brandpreneurship: "gathering resources", " Implementation of the idea and providing the ground for brand-based business", "simultaneous legitimation of business and brand", "creating a brand-based start-up", "Birth of brand-based start-up ", and "growing a brand-based start-up".

The Brandpreneurship pattern emphasizes focusing on the simultaneous start-up of the business and the creation of the brand, or even the priority of creating and legitimizing the brand on the start-up of the business. And paying attention to the steps and sequence of using this model can provide the basis for the sustainability, viability, and growth of a brand-based business.

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of factors like demographic items, comorbidities, and drug history on the inadequacy of colonic preparation before colonoscopy.

Inadequate bowel preparation can lead to lower polyp detection rates, longer procedure times, and lower cecal intubation rates.

This population-based study was conducted on 2476 Iranian adults who were referred to two tertiary centers for elective colonoscopy between 2017 and 2018. Bowel preparation quality was scored by the Boston bowel preparation scale (BBPS). Univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were used to find the independent predictors of bowel preparation inadequacy.

Results:

The results showed that 31.8% of patients had inadequate bowel preparation before their colonoscopy. Higher age, BMI>25, abdominal circumference>95 cm, low fruit consumption, and history of smoking were independently correlated with bowel preparation inadequacy. Additionally, using NSAIDs and SSRIs were correlated with bowel preparation adequacy in multivariate regression analysis. Finally, age, gender, ethnicity, BMI, abdominal circumference, fruit consumption, smoking, NSAIDs, SSRIs, education, constipation, physical activity, and diabetes entered the predictive model of this study. The area under the curve (AUC) reached 0.70 in the final step.

The independent risk factors associated with colonic preparation inadequacy were identified, and herein, a predictive model is suggested for identifying patients with a high risk of bowel preparation inadequacy before a colonoscopy so that alternative preparation techniques can be employed among high-risk groups to yield optimal preparation quality.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common cancers in the world and has a high mortality rate. It is accepted that dysfunction in the expression of mucins are associated with the occurrence and development of CRC. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the expression of MUC2 , MUC5A , and MUC5B genes in CRC and their relationship with clinicopathological variables.

The population included 28 patients after a colonoscopy and confirmation of the results. Tumors and parallel adjacent normal tissues from CRC patients were collected. RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis were performed using the corresponding kits. The gene primer was designed and RT-PCR was used to evaluate gene expression. The t-test and ANOVA were used to examine the differences between the different groups. Data analysis was performed using Prism8 software. Tumors from CRC patients were retrospectively collected from Taleghani Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

The results showed that the expression of MUC2 , MUC5A , and MUC5B genes was lower in patients with CRC aged 50 years or younger than was in older patients (P<0.05). Only the MUC5B gene expression was associated with tumor grades, which was higher in poorly differentiated tumors. The expression of MUC5A and MUC2 genes was higher in stage IV of the tumor than in other stages (P<0.05).

Among the changes in the expression of MUC secretory genes, including MUC2 , MUC5A , and MUC5B and clinicopathological variables, there was a relationship that could have prognostic and diagnostic value in CRC.