Journal of Basic Research in Medical Sciences
Volume:6 Issue: 4, Autumn 2019

Obesity is a chronic disease and is a known risk factor for development of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), and its risk can be independently decreased through lifestyle modification. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of endurance training and hydroalcoholic extract of dill on biochemical cardiovascular risk factors in obese male rats.

Thirty-two obese male rats (weighing 350-400 g) with aged 12 weeks were randomly divided into four equal groups (n=8) including endurance training (ETr: 10 weeks, 5 sessions per week at 75%VO2max), dill extract (DEx: 300 mg/kg body weight via gavage), endurance training+dill extract (ETr+DEx), and control (Ct). Eight rats (weighing 240-280 g) were also in the non-obese control (NCt) group. Fasting plasma lipid concentration was measured 48 hours after the last intervention session. Data were analyzed with one way ANOVA at P < 0.05 significance.

The result showed a significant increase in the levels of TC, TG, LDL-C, VLDL-C, TC/HDL-C, and LDL-C/HDL-C in the Ct group compared to the NCt group (P < 0.05). There was a significant decrease in the plasma levels of LDL-C, VLDL-C, TG, TC/HDL-C, and LDL-C/HDL-C in the ETr+DEx group and TC/HDL-C ratio in the ETr group compared to the Ct group (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the levels of HDL-C among groups (P > 0.05).

The results of this study showed that endurance training combined with the dill extract improved the plasma lipid profile. Therefore, it can be more effective in obesity complications reduction than exercise training or dill extract alone.

Oxidative stress can impair the antioxidant protective capacity of the body, which is associated with decreased capacity of the body's internal defense system. There are some evidences that training and pumpkin seed (PS) consumption by different mechanisms have a protective effect on myocardial tissue by inhibiting oxidative stress. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of endurance training (ET) and PS consumption on oxidative stress and DNA damage markers in the cardiac tissue of rats poisoned with H2O2.

In this experimental study, 42 healthy male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 7 groups, including: 1) control, 2) H2O2, 3) H2O2+ET, 4) H2O2+1mg/kg PS, 5) H2O2+2 mg/kg PS, 6) H2O2+ET+ 1 mg/kg PS, and 7) H2O2+ET+2 mg/kg PS. During eight weeks, groups 2 to 7 received 1 mg/kg of H2O2 (manufactured by Sigma Aldrich Co.) peritoneally; also, groups 3, 6, and 7 ran for 30 minutes on a treadmill at a speed of 23 m/min for 5 sessions per week. Independent sample t-test and two-way ANOVA with Bonferroni’s post- hoc tests were used to analyze the data (P<0.05).

H2O2poisoning significantly decreased ATP and increased cytochrome-C, MDA and PAB (P=0.001); on the other hand, ET and PS consumption alone significantly increased ATP and decreased cytochrome-C and MDA (P=0.001); but the interactive effects of ET and PS consumption on increase of ATP and decrease of cytochrome-C, MDA and PAB were not significant (P>0.05). In addition, although consumption of 1 mg/kg PS had no significant effect on increase of ATP and decrease of cytochrome-C and MDA (P>0.05), 2 mg/kg PS significantly increased ATP and decreased cytochrome-C, MDA and PAB (P<0.05).

It seems that ET and PS consumption alone can be a good strategy to reduce the adverse effects of toxicity by inducing oxidative stress; however the effects of PS are dose-dependent.

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) including MMP2 and MMP9 play an important role in hypertension pathogenesis. The aim of present study was to identify the effect of endurance training along with L-arginine supplementation on the levels of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in postmenopausal hypertensive women. 

The 40 postmenopausal hypertensive women’s (average age of 55.26 ± 2.56 years and BMI 28.61±1.18 kg/m2) randomly divided in four groups including placebo, L-arginine, endurance training and endurance training + L-arginine groups. Exercise training program conducted for 12 weeks with 60-75 percent of maximum heart rate. L-arginine consumption considered 6 g daily. Blood sampling performed in pre and posttest (48 hours after last training session or L-arginine consumption) stages and MMP2 and MMP9 were measured by ELISA method.

Present study findings indicated that L-arginine, training and training + L-arginine result in significant decrease of MMP-2, MMP-9 and systolic blood pressure (P<0.05). Moreover, the greatest reduction in MMP-2 and MMP-9 levels and systolic blood pressure were observed in training + L-arginine group.

It seems that, L-arginine supplementation increases the antihypertensive effect of endurance training that partly related to decrease in MMP-2 and MMP-9 levels.

Emotional regulation and marital forgiveness are among the factors that affect family efficacy. The present study was conducted to investigate the simple and multiple correlations of emotional regulation and marital forgiveness, and family efficacy in married female students of Islamic Azad University of Ilam. 

This is a descriptive correlational study. In order to conduct this research, 351 married female students were selected through convenience sampling method. For data collection, the marital forgiveness questionnaire, emotional regulation and efficacy scale were used. After collecting data, they were analyzed by SPSS software, Pearson correlation and multivariate regression.

there is a significant positive relationship between emotion regulation and family efficacy among married female students of Islamic Azad University (r = 0.49, P = 0.001). Also, there was a significant positive relationship between marital forgiveness and family efficiency in married female students of Islamic Azad University (r = 0.44, P = 0.001). In addition, the regression of the prediction of the efficacy of the students' family is significant regarding the variables of marital forgiveness and emotional regulation, so that the variables together predict 29% of the variance of the criterion variable (family efficacy in students). 

Marital forgiveness and emotional regulation are effective in family efficacy in married female students. Educational authorities and activists should pay attention to the role of marital forgiveness and emotional regulation, and apply the results of the present study.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common endocrine disorders, can be associated with problems, such as hyperandrogenism, chronic anovulation and infertility. Ginger and its active components, have powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is the enzyme in the biosynthesis of prostaglandins and operates as an inducible enzyme with a number of inflammatory stimuli like PCOS. In this research, we evaluated the effects of ginger extract on ovarian COX-2 gene expression and reproductive improvement in PCOS rats.

After induction of PCOS (by Estradiol Valerate injection), the rats divided into, control, PCOS control, PCOS treated with ginger extract (150 and 300 mg/kg) groups. At the end of treatment period, biochemical factors were measured by ELISA kits and histological assessment was done. Then RNA isolation and cDNA synthesis of ovarian tissues was performed. The data were analized by one way ANOVA ,followed by Tucky test and gene expression data were evaluated by using ΔΔCT method. Statistical significance level was set at P<0.05.

Administration of ginger extract to PCOS treated groups, led to improved gonadotropin, sex steroids and ovarian functioning. In addition, treatment of the PCOS group with 300 mg/kg of ginger extract caused to reduce COX-2 gene expression significantly (P<0.01).

Ginger extract can act as a natural anti-inflammatory agent, and can use as a replacement of conventional synthetic anti-inflammatory drugs, in the chronic inflammatory conditions like PCOS.

One of the side effects of myocardial infarction(MI) is a change in slow contraction muscle phenotype to fast contraction due to decreased mitochondrial density. Mitochondrial biogenesis with its ability to create new mitochondria and increase mitochondrial density can minimize these complications. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of eight weeks of high intensity interval training on peroxisome-proliferator activated receptor γ coactivator (PGC-1α) gene expression levels in fast twitch (FT) and slow twitch muscle (ST)  muscles in rats with myocardial infarction.

For this purpose, 12 Wistar male rats with MI were divided into two experimental groups (30 minutes on a treadmill on a regular basis and 4 minutes running with a severity of 85-90% VO2 max and two minutes of active recovery with 50% -60% VO2max three days a week for eight weeks) and control (without exercise). The expression of PGC-1α genes was studied as an effective factor in mitochondrial biogenesis. Statistical data were analyzed with independent T-test in SPSS18.

The results showed that the expression of PGC-1α genes increased significantly in ST (P=0.012) and FT (P=0.001) muscles in rats with MI. Also, this increasing in the ST muscles was significantly higher than those in the FT muscles (P=0.000).

 Generally, eight weeks of high intensity interval training increase mitochondrial biogenesis in ST and FT muscles of MI rats through effect on the PGC-1α gene expression.

This paper discusses some of the main methodological challenges involved in carrying out research on pain, especially pain experienced by people with multiple sclerosis (MS). It starts by arguing the most common challenges in pain related research methodology, which will form the framework of this article. Within this framework, the issues include pain definition, the self-reported nature of pain, the complex and multidimensional nature of pain, confounders, study design, and other methodological challenges faced by researchers in using assessment tools and scales. Presenting a universal framework for pain measurement, suggesting appropriate study design, and using comprehensive assessment and appropriate statistical method to analyze the collected data will be the main solutions for those challenges that are discussing at the end of this paper. Finally, paper will end with a conclusion of study's implications and significance.

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common leukemia in adults. Anemia is world health problems and common medical conditions seen in clinical practice. We report the case of a 47-years-old woman who presented pain and obvious changes in hallux. With regard to available symptoms, special issues like strike, CLL, banned veins of foot and occult blood was guessed as a general mechanism of disease. But the result of performed tests and the effect of used drugs exclude all mentioned problems and low hemoglobin level was recognized as the only crucial cause of disease. With according to the results of blood counts and symptoms, disease for CLL, after performing tests and treatment of disease with iron supplementation, we recognized that particularly iron deficiency is the essential cause of disease.