Crescent Journal of Medical and Biological Sciences
Volume:9 Issue: 1, Jan 2022

This review investigates the existing research with regard to a variety of different suggested methods by traditional Persian medicine (TPM) about the baby’s sex selection.

A comprehensive scoping review including five stages was conducted to summarize evidence on preimplantation sex selection in TPM. The research question and relevant studies were identified in stages 1 and 2, respectively. Then, studies were selected and data were charted in stages 3 and 4, and finally, the results were collated, summarized, and reported in stage 5.

Accordingly, 7 general categories were arranged, including the temperament of the sexual organs in a man, the temperament of sexual organs in a woman, the type of male semen, and timing and manner of sexual intercourse for fetus sex induction purposes. Other categories were the effect of environmental factors, the couple’s psychic states during the course of love-making, the couple’s age, and measures for male sex induction.

This review summarizes the existing research regarding different suggested methods by TPM on the baby’s sex selection. These could well be the basis for further prospective scientific research and investigation.

Dysfunction of the thyroid gland has a negative effect on the male reproductive system. Studies also show that extracellular matrix (ECM) components play an essential role in testicular development and function. In hypothyroidism, there is a significant disruption in the ECM structure of mammalian tissues. In addition, notable changes have been reported in the germ cell population under a hypothyroid state. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between ECM proteins and apoptosis of testicular germ cells due to hypothyroidism.

In the present experimental study, 20 male Balb/C mice were divided into control and hypothyroid groups. The hypothyroid group received 0.05% 6-n-propyl-2-thiouracil (PTU) through drinking water for 35 days. Finally, real-time polymerase chain reaction, immunohistochemistry, periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) staining, terminal transferase-mediated dUTP nickend labelling (TUNEL) assay, and biochemical measurements were performed after hypothyroidism confirmation.

Laminin α5 and collagen IV mRNA levels were upregulated in the hypothyroid group compared to the controls (P<0.05). Further, a strong immunoreactivity of collagen IV and laminin α5 was observed in the basement membrane (BM) of hypothyroid mice (P<0.05). In contrast, there was no significant difference between the case and control groups regarding PAS staining. The number of TUNEL-positive germ cells in hypothyroid mice increased significantly compared to control mice. Moreover, PTU administration reduced superoxide dismutase activity while increasing the malondialdehyde level (P<0.05). Eventually, no significant difference was found between the two groups in terms of thiol content.

Based on the results of the present study, hypothyroidism can cause changes in BM components and increase the apoptosis of germ cells by inducing lipid peroxidation and reducing the activity of antioxidant defense molecules.

The aim of the current study was to assess the effects of hesperetin on damage to kidneys as remote organs following skeletal muscle ischemia-reperfusion (IR) in rats.

In general, 30 male Wistar rats were randomized and placed into sham, IR, hesperetin, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), and IR+hesperetin groups. The rats in the hesperetin and IR+hesperetin groups received a 50 mg/kg dose of hesperetin dissolved in DMSO intraperitoneally. In the IR+hesperetin group, hesperetin was injected exactly prior to reperfusion. To induce skeletal muscle ischemia, the femoral artery was clamped for two hours. Following a 24-hour period of reperfusion, the samples of blood were collected for renal function tests and oxidative stress measurements. Next, the rats were euthanized, and histological analyses were conducted on their removed kidneys.

Based on the results, urea and creatinine serum levels were significantly higher in the IR group (P<0.05) whereas they significantly reduced following treatment with hesperetin (P<0.05). The concentration of malondialdehyde (P<0.05) increased for the IR group while those of superoxide dismutase (P<0.05) and glutathione peroxidase (P<0.05) activities were lower than the other groups. The analysis of renal tissues in the IR group showed glomerular necrosis, degeneration, and necrosis of the tubular epithelium, protein casts, interstitial edema, and inflammation. Finally, the degree of renal injury was significantly ameliorated (P<0.05) in rats treated with hesperetin.

Overall, the results indicated that in rats, hesperetin could reduce renal injury that has been induced through skeletal muscle IR.

Cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) including Cdk9 have been associated with cardiac differentiation. The increasing evidence has proposed that Cdk9 overexpression can regulate the epigenome. However, the current research is the first report of the Cdk9 affection on the regional and global DNA methylation during differentiation.

This study examined the effects of Cdk9 overexpression on the regional methylation patterns of cardiac miRNAs (miR-1, -133, -206) and myogenic regulatory factors (i.e., MyoD and Myogenin) and promoter DNA methylation in mouse myoblast C2C12 cells during differentiation by the methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP-PCR) method. Moreover, the mRNA expression levels of DNMT1, DNMT3A, DNMT3B, and global 5-methyl cytosine (5-mC) levels in mouse myoblast C2C12 cells were quantified during differentiation by RT-qPCR and ELISA methods, respectively.

The results demonstrated that Cdk9 overexpression results in DNA methylation changes in mouse myoblast C2C12 cells. It was found that the average expression levels of DNMTs in line with global DNA methylation significantly increased in Cdk9 transfected cells upon Cdk9 overexpression (P<0.05). In addition, the results showed that the regional promoter methylation of miR-1 and miR-133 genes increased in transfected cells during differentiation. An interesting possibility raised by our study is that further active global DNA methylation observed in Cdk9-transfected C2C12 cells can be clarified through the increased DNMT expression by Cdk9 in these cells.

In general, our study provides a comprehensive mechanism that Cdk9 can promote epigenetic changes and modulate global and regional DNA methylation profiling of myoblast cells during differentiation.

Uncertainty about the effect of age on the success rate of laryngeal mask airway (LMA) insertion led us to conduct the present study to evaluate the success rate of LMA in airway management in different age groups.

A total of 183 patients, who were admitted to Shohada hospital (Tabriz, Iran) during 2018-2019, were enrolled in this descriptive, cross-sectional, prospective study. The patients were selected through the convenience sampling method and divided into 4 age groups. After anesthesia, patients were compared in terms of duration and number of LMA insertion attempts and LMA insertion complications. The data were analyzed using SPSS20 through one-way ANOVA and the Chi-square test at P<0.05).

There were significant statistical differences between different age groups regarding resistance against LMA insertion (P=0.008) so that insertion was most comfortable and easy in the first attempt in the adult group compared to other groups. However, no significant statistical difference was observed between different groups in terms of the rate of air leakage (P=0.129), the duration of successful LMA insertion (P=0.119), and the number of LMA insertion attempts (P=0.091). Regarding LMA insertion complications, laryngospasm was significantly higher in the middle-age and aged group (P=0.009), and blood observation on LMA was significantly higher in the pre-school and child group (P=0.005).

According to the results of this study, no difference was found between different groups in terms of successful LMA insertion and post LMA insertion complications.

Ventricular septal defect (VSD) is the most common congenital heart disease (CHD) (40%). Traditionally, VSDs have been repaired surgically; however, recently VSD closure by device has been developed. This study aimed to compare these two methods in terms of effectiveness, outcomes, and complications.

This study was conducted on VSD patients who were treated by either surgery or trans catheter technique in Madani Heart Center from March 2011 to March 2017. The required data regarding effectiveness, outcomes, and complications were recorded based on the patient’s documents. The extracted data were analyzed by SPSS version 18.0.

A total of 93 patients were enrolled (43 patients in transcatheter [A] and 50 patients in open-heart surgery [B] group) in this study. The gender distribution was approximately the same. The mean age of group A was 10.55 years while it was 8.8 years for group B. The duration of ICU and hospital stay, total hospitalization cost, and frequency of blood products transfusion were significantly lower in group A than in group B. However, postoperative pacemaker insertion, arrhythmias, thromboembolism, and mortality rates did not show any significant difference between the two groups. The success rates in group A and B were 97.7% and 96%, respectively.

The results of our study demonstrated that open-heart surgery, due to its nature, required longer hospital and ICU stay, higher cost, and higher blood transfusion rate than transcatheter therapy, but it was associated with similar complications and success rates. Therefore, device closure in appropriately selected patients is recommended as an alternative to the surgical approach.

The endometriosis prevalence in the general population is about 7%-10%. In 30% of women, endometriosis is one of the causes of primary and secondary infertility. There are various risk factors for this disease. The present study aimed to determine the reproductive and menstrual risk factors of endometriosis.

In this case-control study, 185 women of reproductive age with confirmed endometriosis were compared with 370 women of reproductive age who referred to the same center for other problems in terms of reproductive and menstruation risk factors for endometriosis. The two groups were matched for age. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire based on previous studies. Finally, bivariate analysis was done by the chi-square test, and multivariate analysis was performed by the conditional logistic regression for controlling confounder variables.

Based on multivariate logistic regression, early menarche age (P=0.004), no history of pregnancy (P<0.001), no child (P=0.002), no lactation history (P<0.001), high age of the first lactation (P=0.029), short duration of breastfeeding (P=0.015), no regular menstruation (P<0.001), short intervals between menstrual bleedings (P=0.016), prolonged menstruation (P<0.001), dysmenorrhea (P<0.001), dyspareunia (P<0.001), and recurrent vaginitis (P<0.001) had a significant relationship with endometriosis.

In general, there was a relationship between some reproductive and menstrual characteristics and endometriosis. Therefore, it seems that these characteristics can predict the occurrence of endometriosis disease.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the rate and severity of intrauterine adhesions (IUAs) and their association with septum morphology following the hysteroscopic resection of the uterine septum.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on patients with septate uteri undergoing hysteroscopic septolysis with scissors. Two months after the surgery, the second look hysteroscopy was performed and the intrauterine cavity was evaluated for IUAs and residual septum. Afterward, the rate and severity of adhesions and residual septum and their association with the septal morphology were studied as well.

In general, 30 patients were entered into the study. The incidence rate of adhesions following septoplasty was 23.3%. It was mild and moderate in 16.7% and 6.7%, respectively. The incidence rate of adhesions was not related to the length and width of the septum (P=0.281, P=0.495). The rate of the residual septum in second-look hysteroscopy was 56.7%, which was less than 0.5 cm in most cases (33.3%). It was not more than 1 cm in any case. The possibility of the residual septum was significantly higher in long septa (P=0.045) whereas it was not related to the septum width (P=0.087).

IUA following hysteroscopic septolysis is a possibility, especially in infertile patients which is often mild. The presence of a uterine factor in such patients may justify the risk of increased IUAs in our study in comparison to others. Therefore, it is able to perform second-look hysteroscopy in infertile patients with a septate uterus for the diagnosis and early treatment of IUAs.

Due to recent advances in caring for premature neonates, premature retinopathy has become an important cause of preventable blindness and ocular disabilities. Therefore, more attention is paying to its diagnostic-therapeutic methods. Thus, the current trial assessed the efficacy of oral propranolol on the treatment of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in neonates.

In the current trial, 58 neonates with ROP were included and the efficacy of oral propranolol (0.5 mg/kg every 8 hours) was compared with the control group.

In the intervention group, the stage of ROP was almost the same as the control group while 31.1% of neonates in the control group were progressed to stage 3. On the other hand, it was only 6.9% (P=0.009) in the intervention group. In patients receiving propranolol, only 2 cases required invasive therapeutic interventions whereas 9 patients required such interventions in the control group (P=0.009). The ROP improvement rate was significantly higher in the intervention group. In the control group, the overall progression to higher stages was about 48.3% while it was 13.8% for the intervention group. The mean age of neonates at the time of retinal artery completion was 91.40±22.16 and 128.08±79.89 days for the control and intervention groups, respectively (P=0.136).

The results of this study showed that adding oral propranolol to standard therapy can reduce the rate of ROP progression to higher stages in preterm neonates with low birth weight, and the need for invasive treatments.

Combination therapy with powerful and new components is presented as an effective method in treating breast cancer against conventional approaches. Here, we tried to evaluate the implementation of rosmarinic and thymoquinone on the tumor growth inhibition and apoptotic induction of docetaxel on MDA-MB231 breast cancer cells.

The drug interaction between rosmarinic acid, thymoquinone, and docetaxel, as the chemotherapeutic drug, was analyzed using the Chou-Talalay method along with CompuSyn. To understand the number of cell proliferation of MDAMB231 breast cancer, a tetrazolium-based colorimetric assay (MTT assay) was investigated. DAPI and the flowcytometric assay were harnessed to evaluate the morphology and the percentage of apoptosis, respectively. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to recognize the association between the NF-κB pathway and program cell death signal.

The IC50 values for docetaxel, rosmarinic, and Thymoquinone were 2.6 ± 0.62 nM, 15.6 ± 2.4 µM, and 35.5 ± 3.4 μM, respectively. MDA-MB231 breast cancer showed combination index value following three combination recipes; rosmarinic acid + docetaxel, thymoquinone + docetaxel, rosmarinic acid + thymoquinone + docetaxel was 0.26, 0.55, and 0.08, which designated a remarkable synergistic effect. The cultivation of the tumor cells under the exposition of docetaxel and rosmarinic, as well as thymoquinone, discovered a substantial upsurge in the anti-proliferative manner of docetaxel from 60% to 82%, along with a double-fold surge in the number of dead cells. mRNA levels exhibited a noticeable decline in IκB-α as an indicator of NF-κB activation and the decline of survivin and Bcl-2 escorted by a surge in pro-apoptotic Bad mRNA levels (P<0.05).

By considering our results, the co-administration of docetaxel, rosmarinic, and thymoquinone can be figured out as a promising adjuvant therapy besides other treatment protocols.