Annals of Military and Health Sciences Research
Volume:19 Issue: 1, Mar 2021

Context: 

During the past two decades, the development of drug delivery systems based on nanomaterials has yielded nanocarriers for smart application in nanomedicine to treat diseases.

Evidence Acquisition: 

The current review presents a summary of some advances in the development and application of nano-delivery systems for improving the efficacy of conventional drugs and reducing their adverse effects through the production of smart delivery carriers with targeting moieties and controlled release strategies used in therapy. The searches were conducted in ScienceDirect, Scopus, Google Scholar, and PubMed databases for relevant studies.

 As reviewed in the present paper, the investigated targeted drug delivery systems have proven to be more effective than free drugs by enhancing efficacy and reducing the systemic toxicity of therapy. In addition, many studies have shown remarkable advantages of nanoscale drug delivery carriers regarding the possibility to improve properties such as solubility, stability, absorption, diffusivity, bioavailability, targeting, and controlled release of drugs.

 Despite many advantages of nanoscale drug delivery systems reported in the medical literature, deeper research about the composition, synthesis, characteristics, and clinical applications in this area is needed.

Context:

 RNA editing is an essential modification that needs to develop normal cells and is involved in a wide range of biological processes. It can arise in both coding and non-coding sequences with different functional effects. Although the expansion of transcriptome diversity is the primary goal of RNA editing, dysregulation and aberrant editing may act as an essential contributor to cancer pathogenesis.

Evidence Acquisition: 

The current review aimed to investigate the role of RNA editing in cancer initiation and progression. Science Direct and PubMed databases were reviewed from 2000 to 2020 and 2003 to 2020, respectively, using various combinations of "RNA editing" and "cancer" keywords.

 The location of editing sites has different functional impacts on tumorigenesis. Nonsynonymous editing in antizyme inhibitor 1 (AZIN1) leads to a metastatic progression of colorectal and gastric cancer. Recoding editing events in bladder cancer-associated protein (BLCAP) is correlated with the progression of cervical carcinogenesis. Editing events located at 3′UTRs are also a general mechanism to promote tumor growth in different types of cancers. A significant number of editing events in microRNAs with a functional role in cancer are also reported. These editing sites could change the fate and function of microRNAs, either by preventing target mRNA recognition or by dysregulating an off-target mRNA.

 There are increasing shreds of evidence on the key role of RNA editing events in cancer initiation and progression.
 

 Military activities cannot be classified as pure isometric or pure dynamic exercise. The effects of these activities on intra ocular pressure (IOP) have not been investigated so far.

 The current study aimed to evaluate the short-term effects of military activities on IOP.

Following a cross-sectional design, this study was conducted on 44 soldiers in the Islamic Republic of Iran Army. Soldiers’ heart rate and IOP were recorded before marching activities at rest, immediately after marching, and 30 minutes after the march. The measurements were repeated in the same process in 3 months. The marching activity was the same for all participants and took 60 minutes.

 In total, 44 soldiers were studied, with a mean age of 21.80 ± 1.56 years. The IOP measurements before, immediately after, and 30 minutes after the marching were significantly different. IOP was significantly lower after the march (P < 0.001), and 30 minutes after the march, it was increasing gradually. The same results were observed in the IOP measurements 3 months later. We found no association between IOP after marching and heart rates before and after marching. Also, no significant association was observed between IOP and age.

 IOP was significantly decreased after marching, but it was transient. The results indicate that the dynamic component in military marches is more prominent than isometric parts.

Heavy metals (HM) can enter the human body via food chains or contaminate groundwater resources. The current study aimed to investigate HM contamination in vegetables and its associated health index risk (HIR) in Isfahan, Iran. The lowest amount of HM was observed for Cd and Pb in all vegetables. The highest level of Cadmium content was found in potato (1.15 mg kg-1 dry matter (DM)) and spinach (1.18 mg kg-1 DM). The highest levels of As and Cu were observed in lettuce, while the lowest content of Cu was in the carrot. Moreover, the highest content of N (344 mg kg-1 DM) was obtained in spinach. The As and P were higher than standard amounts, and HIR was higher than 1 for these two elements. Heavy metal's HIR through ingestion vegetables were a great concern, and there has been particularly increased attention to As. A great understanding of the ecological effects of HM on soils and vegetables is needed to develop management options.

 Management of Covid-19 patients is key to control the pandemic. In this line, access to chest Computed Tomography (CT) scan findings and investigating changes during initial diagnosis until recovery is of crucial importance.

 The present study aimed to investigate the chest CT-scan findings of patients with a definitive diagnosis of Covid-19 in Guilan, Iran.

 In this retrospective study, 1000 patients with a definitive diagnosis of Covid-19, from 20 April to 30 July 2020, were enrolled. Their first and follow-up chest CT-scans were obtained. Total lung involvement was determined by the number of lobes involved and by scoring 0 to 5 for each lobe (5 lobes, lowest score: 0, and highest score: 25).

 In this study, three CT-scans of all 1000 patients were studied. Patients were classified into 4 stages according to their hospitalization duration (ranging from 0 to 30 days): stage 1 or primary (0 to 7 days): ground-glass opacities (n = 178 or 89%), stage 2 or progressive (8 to 15 days): increased crazy-paving pattern (n = 89 or 44.5%), stage 3 or peak involvement (16 to 22 days): consolidation (n = 78 or 89%), and stage 4 or decreased pulmonary involvement severity (greater than 23 Day): the gradual resolution of consolidation (n = 178 or 89%).

 Chest CT-scan findings revealed that patients with Covid-19 had a high rate of pulmonary involvement, on average, for the first 15 days, which then declined.
 

 Undescended testis (UDT) is the most common abnormality of the male genital system. To date, no study has been carried out to determine the prevalence of UDT and its risk factors in Tehran. This study aimed to determine the frequency of cryptorchidism and its risk factors in male infants who were born at three university hospitals in Tehran.

 A cross-sectional study was done on boys born at three major university hospitals (Baharlou, Yas, and Ziaeian Hospitals) in Tehran between 2016 and 2018. All of the newborns were examined on the first or second day of birth. Demographic data were collected using hospital databases after getting permission. Also, the pregnancy care card was used to collect maternal complications of pregnancy, including gestational diabetes mellitus, preeclampsia, eclampsia, fetal malignancy, preterm, and late delivery.

 A total of 1,350 boys were evaluated. Eleven (0.81%) boys had UDT. There were statistically significant associations between UDT and maternal hypertension, presence of other congenital anomalies, infection during pregnancy, fetal presentation, and type of delivery. The average birth weight and gestational age were lower in patients with UDT than in healthy infants.

 The prevalence of UDT in Tehran was much lower than in previously reported rates in other areas. Factor analysis showed that cryptorchidism was associated with the markers of poor fetal development.

 Lymphocele formation post-renal transplantation surgery can cause various complications such as pelvic pain, frequent urination, hydronephrosis, deep vein thrombosis, etc. It is, therefore, necessary to prevent and treat lymphocele.

 This study aimed to evaluate the effect of rinsing the surgical site with betadine (povidone-iodine 2%) on the prevention of lymphocele formation during kidney transplantation surgery.

 This case-control study was conducted at Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2019. The study population consisted of 60 kidney transplant patients referred to Sina Hospital, located in Tehran, who were randomized into two groups of study and control by simple randomization using a computer-generated random list. The surgical site of one group (control group: 30 patients) was washed with povidone-iodine 2%, but this operation was not performed for the patients of the other group (control group: 30 patients). One month after the surgery, patients were monitored for lymphocele via ultrasound, and their sera’s creatinine level was measured to assess renal function. For all statistical interpretations, P < 0.05 value was accepted as being significant. Statistical analyses were performed with statistical software package SPSS version 23.

The mean serum creatinine level of patients in the case group was 2.50 ± 1.78, and in the control group was 2.31 ± 1.89. Ultrasound performed one-month post-renal transplant showed the presence of lymphocele in 17 patients out of the total 30 in the study group, while the control group had only 12.

 It seems that the use of betadine during kidney transplant surgery does not prevent the formation of lymphocele after the surgery.
 

 Research on the effects of high-intensity intermittent training (HIIT) with different volumes on cardiovascular risk factors is limited.

 The current study aimed to determine the effects of eight-week of high-intensity intermittent training and to compare the volumes of training programs on body composition, fitness factors, and cardiovascular risk factors in overweight students.

 There were thirty overweight boys (13 - 16years) as the participants of the study who were randomly divided into three groups, including the control group (n = 10), HIIT-1 (n = 10), and MIIT-2 (n = 10). The HIIT-1 group program included 2 × 8 - 15 sets (100 - 110% MAV), and the HIIT-2 group training program included 4 × 4 - 6 sets (100 - 110% MAV). These training programs continued three times a week for eight weeks. Yo-Yo recovery test, RAST test, and ELISA technique were applied to measure aerobic and anaerobic performance, lipid profile, and hematological indices, respectively.

 The findings showed that except for anaerobic performance and hematological variables in the HIIT-1 group and hematological variables in the HIIT-2 group, other research variables of the two training groups were significantly different from the pre-test (P < 0.05). Besides, in between-group comparison, the findings revealed that there was a significant difference between VO2max, HDL, and TG as well as anaerobic performance between the HIIT-1 and HIIT-2 groups (P < 0.05).

 The results suggest that HIIT-1 program is suitable to increase aerobic performance and reduce cardiovascular risk factors, while HIIT-2 program may be applied to increase anaerobic performance because the volume of exercises plays a decisive role in possible adaptation resulting from such exercises.