Journal of Advanced Biomedical Sciences
Volume:12 Issue: 4, Winter 2022

Tumor markers are elements produced by tumors or other cells in the body in response to cancer or some benign condition. Although most of these markers are made by normal cells as well as cancer cells, they are produced at much higher levels in cancerous conditions. This study aimed to provide a method for using tumor markers to diagnose cancer and detect the presence of metastasis and recurrence of the disease.

The present narrative review study was done by selecting the appropriate keywords and searching for research and review studies indexed in Google Scholar, PubMed, Science Direct, and SID databases.

These studies often indicate the effective role of tumor markers in the MUC-1 family (especially Cancer antigen15-3(CA15-3)) and CEA (carcinoembryonic antigen) as the most widely used tumor markers in patients with breast cancer.

Based on information from studies on tumor markers, the combination of CEA, CA15-3, PRL (prolactin), KL-6(Kerbs von den Lungen), Thioredoxin 1, and FER (ferritin) tumor markers can increase the sensitivity of early-stage breast cancer detection, and CA15-3 tumor markers can also be used to identify the presence or absence of metastasis to the axillary lymph nodes. The use of ultrasound (especially color Doppler) and its combination with CEA and CA15-3 tumor markers are recommended to improve the accuracy of a breast cancer diagnosis.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was confirmed as the cause of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The disease presents with a wide range of clinical signs and symptoms involving vital organs such as the lungs, heart, gastrointestinal tract, liver, central nervous system, blood, and kidneys. It also potentially affects other organs, including the placenta.The present systematic review aimed to evaluate effects of SARS-CoV-2 on pregnant women, fetuses, and infants born to infected mothers.

The search fields used in this study were angiotensin-converting enzyme receptor (ACE2), fetus, pregnancy, and SARS-CoV-2. We reviewed articles published in 2020 and 2022. The inclusion criteria were articles on receptor expression, virus entry into the host cell, studies on the characteristics and outcomes of pregnant or recently pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2 infection who were approved and characteristics and outcomes of infants whose mothers were infected with SARS-CoV-2.

The virus uses the ACE2 to enter the cell. The coronavirus can be expected to affect any cell or organ that expresses ACE2. Female reproductive system is one of the systems that express ACE2. The destructive effects of COVID-19 on maternal and fetal health are strongly influenced by the spatial-temporal distribution of ACE2.

The harmful role of COVID-19 in pregnancy is highly controversial, although maternal COVID-19 infection contributes to adverse consequences of pregnancy. There is a limited amount of information on the efficacy of COVID-19 on pregnants and their fetuses.

The novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has led to a global infection and a continuing pandemic. Symptoms have been associated with age, biological sex, and other previous present health situations.The aim of this study was to make a genetic comparison between the SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV, and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)-CoV using phylogenetic methods.

In this review study, previously published papers were collected from 2010 to 2020 using electronic sources in reliable databases such as Scopus, PubMed, ISI, Google Scholar, and Science Direct. Then, we performed the bioinformatics study. For sequences alignment, analysis, and phylogenetic construction, all sequences from SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV, and MERS-CoV were obtained from the GeneBank database.

Eighty percent of SARS-CoV and 50% of MERS-CoV RNA sequences shared with SARS-CoV-2 RNA and SARS-CoV-2 show additional genomic regions. The phylogenetic analysis of the full-length genome sequence shows that SARS-CoV-2 has the highest similarity with SARS-CoV, but it has a lower similarity with MERS-CoV. Considering the close relationship between SARS-2 and SARS, the examination of the amino-corrosive translocation of completely different proteins may prove that there are fundamental and utilitarian differences between SARS-2 and SARS.

Although COVID-19 pathogenicity is not well known, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV pathogenesis still can be the best source of COVID-19 information. The global effect of this new epidemic is yet uncertain. So, analyzing genome sequencing is important for epidemiological, clinical, and experimental studies.

For over 60 years, proton beams and heavy ions have been a powerful ion therapy method for treating cancerous tumors. It is an inherent ability of high-energy ions to discharge their energy at a certain depth with high doses, which is impossible for other beams such as X-rays, gamma rays, and electron beams. Moreover, it is an excellent way to protect healthy tissues in ion therapy.

Scientists have used radio frequency (RF) accelerators to generate high-energy ions. However, due to the high price and large devices, laser-plasma accelerators have received much attention. This paper has studied the best conditions for producing high-energy argon ions. For this purpose, the interaction of high-intensity laser pulses with argon nanoclusters is simulated. This simulation is based on the nanoplasma model by the particle in cell method (PIC).

The simulation results show that the ion energy is dependent on the parameters of the irradiated laser and the parameters of the target cluster.

The energy of the ions increases with the intensity of the laser and the duration of the laser pulse. Access to higher energy ions is also possible by changing the radius of the cluster. The density of the initial atoms of the cluster is also an important parameter that influences the energy of ions.

Breast cancer (BC) is a complex genetic disease that has an average annual incidence of one million people and is the second leading cause of death among women in the world. Therefore, a better understanding of tumor biology and the determination of biomarkers for early diagnosis of disease is essential. MicroRNAs and long non-coding RNAs are novel gene regulators that play key roles in tumor initiation and progression. The current study was performed to assess the biomarker potential. This study performed a combination of in-silico and experimental investigations of altered miRNAs in BC to assess the use of miRNAs as novel biomarkers for early detection and prognosis prediction of patients with BC.

We searched the miRNA expression patterns of BC from three expression arrays (GSE58606, GSE38867, and GSE40525,) from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database to recognize differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs) between BC tissues and normal adjacent samples. Using “Limma" package's Quantile Normalization function and INMEX bioinformatic tool, hub DEMs were identified. MiRNAs targeted genes were found and visualized via the miRWalk and miRTargetLink databases and their Enrichment analysis was performed for identified genes. Due to more validation of DEGs, GSE70951, an independent expression array dataset, was analyzed. By merging DEMs and DEGs, miRNA-mRNA network was constructed. After elucidation of hub miRNAs, the capacity of detected miRNAs to differentiate BC from adjacent controls was estimated by Kaplan-Meier analysis.  Furthermore, RT-qPCR on 100 BC samples and 100 adjacent non-tumor tissues was performed to validate the in-silico results.

According to our study, in BC samples, miR-662 was differentially downregulated in comparison with normal adjacent tissues.

Altogether, miR-662 can be considered as a viable target for BC diagnostics and treatment.

Staphylococcus spp. is a resident flora of the skin and mucosa of humans that can colonize the anterior nares of individuals. This cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the rate and antibiotic resistance pattern of nasal Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) carriers among the staff of Fasa hospital, southern Iran.

Nasal swab samples were collected from 117 hospital staff working in 12 wards. Microbiological culture method was applied for S. aureus identification. The isolates were confirmed by tuf gene identification using PCR assay. Five isolates were randomly sequenced and phylogenetically analysed  using MEGA software. The antimicrobial resistance pattern of the isolates was evaluated using the disc diffusion assay and the amplification of the methicillin resistance (mecA) gene.

The prevalence of S. aureus nasal carriers included 10.26% (n=12). The nasal carriers were identified in the wards of surgery ICU, gynecologic surgery, NICU, pediatric, internal surgery, and emergency. Among them, gynecologic surgery staff had the highest rate of nasal colonization (33.33%). Phylogenetic analysis showed that of five isolates, four had high similarities with each other. Also, the highest rate of resistance was related to penicillin (83.3%), followed by cefazolin (75%), and cephalexin (75%). However, the highest level of susceptibility (100%) was found for vancomycin, cefoxitin, and oxacillin. Furthermore, the methicillin resistance gene (mecA) was highly detected (75%) from the isolates, elucidating oxacillin-susceptible or cefoxitin-susceptible mecA-positive S. aureus (OS-MRSA).

The high rates of OS-MRSA can lead to antibiotic resistance among health care workers tremendously. Moreover, the high similarity probability in phylogenetic analysis shows the possibility of cross-infection between these health care workers, warning to exert effective strategies to control infection spread, especially in the surgery ward.

Adequate amniotic fluid volume is one of the most important aspects of fetal health and Oligohydramnios refers to amniotic fluid volume that is less than expected for gestational age. The aim of this study was to compare the trend of amniotic fluid changes in the two groups of oral and injectable before and after fluid therapy.

In the present study, pregnant women with oligohydramnios in the third trimester referring to Amir Al-Momenin Hospital (Zabol, 2019) were randomly divided into two groups of case. The first group received oral water and the second group was treated with serum therapy. Eventually, all patients underwent ultrasonography and their AFI was recalculated and compared. Data was analyzed using SPSS 20 statistical software.

The results of the study showed that there was no statistically significant difference between the amniotic fluid index before fluid therapy in the oral and injectable (serum therapy) groups (p = 0.426). After fluid therapy, the amniotic fluid index in the oral group was significantly higher than the injected group (p <0.001).Although in both oral and injectable groups, the amniotic fluid index increased significantly after treatment (p <0.001), the increase in the oral group was significantly higher than the injectable group.

The results of this study showed that oral and intravenous fluid therapy improves the amniotic fluid index more than injectable fluid therapy.

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), carried by more than half of the world population, is a major cause of chronic duodenal and gastric ulcers, gastritis and carcinoma. Colonization and toxin production include major virulence traits of H. pylori. The aim of this study was to assess the existence of H. pylori and virulence factors among patients with risk of gastrointestinal carcinoma (GC) in an Iraqi population.

During May 2016- October 2020 in Babylon, Iraq, a total of 500 biopsy samples were obtained from gastric tissue of patients with GC, gastritis, duodenitis, duodenal ulcer and gastric ulcer and cultured onto the Brucella agar. H. pylori isolates were identified using conventional biochemical and molecular tests. Molecular identification was conducted by amplification of glmM gene using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique. The adhesin (babA2, babB and oipA) and toxin (cagA and vacA) genes were also amplified using PCR technique.

Among 500 biopsy samples, 269 (110 from males and 159 from female patients) H. pylori isolates were identified. The age range of patients was 14-69 years (mean age=47.34±7.23). The babA2 and babB genes were detected in 59.47% and 59.10% of isolates, respectively. Notably, babA2 was observed in 89% of GC and 64% of DN strains being significantly more associated with GC and DN (<0.0001 and 0.028, respectively). Furthermore, babB-positive strains were significantly (0.042) more associated with PG. The rate of cagA and vacA was 44.60% and 48.32%, respectively. The cagA was detected in 64.73% of GC, and 100% of PG and DN strains with a significant association. We detected the oipA in 58.36% of strains which was significantly associated with GC (74%, P=0.0001), PG (88%, p<0.0001) and DN (84%, p<0.0001) as compared to oipA-negative strains.

The existence of H. pylori babA2, cagA and oipA virulence genes was associated with GC, DN and PG. As these genes play a crucial role in the development of gastric carcinoma, accurate control measure toward hindering the colonization of pathogenic strains is essential.

An opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa can cause frequent hospital-acquired infections as well as one microorganism in the food spoilage. Also, the emergence of multidrug-resistant P. aeruginosa has become a serious threat to public health.This pathogen has many virulence factors which aid in bacterial invasion as well as toxicity, during infections. Out of different virulence genes in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, oprL (Encoding membrane lipoprotein L) and toxA (encoding exotoxin A i.e. ETA), are predominantly involved in, P. aeruginosa-related infections.

A total of 120 specimens of the bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa were collected from Veterinary microbiology and various hospital laboratories. The isolates were initially identified by culturing on MacConkey agar and Eosin Methylene blue (EMB) agar and were further characterized by morphological and biochemical tests. An antibiotic sensitivity test was carried out on 13 antibiotics using the disc diffusion method. Genotypic detection of oprL and toxA genes was performed using a specific PCR test.

The results revealed that the toxA gene was detected by 84.62% in isolates belonging to human samples and 75% in the isolates of animal samples, whereas the oprL gene was detected by 80.77% and only 16.67 % in the isolates were derived from human and animal samples, respectively.

The PCR analysis can help in the fast and specific detection of oprL and toxA genes in P. aeruginosa. Monitoring of these pathogenic genes could prevent the risk of transmission of multi-drug resistant P. aeruginosa, from animals to humans.

Breast cancer consists of a heterogeneous group of tumours with different prognosis and is the most common cause of cancer-related mortality among women. In this study, our goal was to evaluate the association of AURKA rs2273535 and CDKN1B rs34330 polymorphisms with risk of female breast cancer in southwest part of Iran.

This case-control study was done on 50 women with breast cancer and 50 healthy women without any symptoms or family history of breast cancer as the case and control group, respectively. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP- PCR) technique was designed to determine the AURKA rs2273535 and CDKN1B rs34330 gene polymorphisms. Afterwards, statistical analysis was done by means of SPSS (version 17).

In current research, our finding showed that rs2273535 T allele increased the susceptibility of breast cancer (OR:2.58, 95%CI:1.5-31.09, P=0.006). Moreover, T allele in dominant phase could raise the risk of the breast cancer (OR:3.01, 65%CI:1.31-6.92, P=0.009). However, the other polymorphism, CDKN1B rs34330, revealed no associations with increased risk of breast cancer.

These findings suggest that AURKA rs2273535 may influence individual’s susceptibility to breast cancer. But we found no associations regarding CDKN1B rs34330 polymorphism and this type of cancer.

Brucellosis is an endemic disease with a high prevalence in Iran whose highest frequency is in the western region of the country. Genetic diversity investigation is an important method to determine the epidemiological relationship of Brucella isolates in different geographical areas. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the genetic diversity of human Brucella melitensis (B. melitensis) strains using the Multiple Locus Variable-Number Tandem Repeat Analysis (MLVA) Typing method in the west of the country.

In this study, 20 strains of isolated B. melitensis were collected from the human serum samples of suspected Brucellosis in the west of the country and were analyzed by MLVA-16 method.

The results showed that 3 genotype numbers 42, 43 and 47 were identified using MLVA-8 method and using MLVA-11 method genotypes 125, 138 and 111 were recognized. Also, 16 different genotypes were detected from the analysis of the isolates by MLVA-16 method which shows a high degree of polymorphism among the isolates due to the high genetic diversity of the isolates in Panel 2B loci.

The results showed the high genetic diversity of B. melitensis isolates in the west of the country and their genetic relationship with the known strains in the neighboring countries of the Eastern Mediterranean area, as well as the importance of the MLVA method in identifying the source of infection.

 Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders in humans, which appears as sudden, episodic, repetitive, and unpredictable seizures, and these patients suffer from memory impairment. Medicinal herbs have long been used to treat epilepsy. In this study, the impact of effective oleuropein on the time of arising of attacks and the rate of attack's incidence of tonic, clonic, tonic-clonic, and total seizure longevity in male rats was investigated. 

 Forty rats were randomly divided into four groups of 10. The negative control group (the recipient of normal saline), the positive control group (the recipient of diazepam 1 mg/kg), and the two treatment groups (the recipient of doses of 10 and 20 mg/kg of oleuropein). After 30 min of oleuropein administration, saline, or diazepam, pentylenetetrazole was injected intraperitoneally into rats' bodies at a dose of 85 mg/kg, and 30 min after injection, seizure parameters were evaluated. Data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA and Tukey's statistical tests. 

 Injection of the oleuropein significantly increased the threshold of seizures in the form of initial delay at the arising of seizure in the positive control group and treatment groups (P< 0.001). Furthermore, it reduces the time of seizures in different phases (P< 0.001). In addition, a dose of 10 mg/kg oleuropein has the highest effect on total seizure longevity. 

 This study showed that oleuropein has an appropriate anti-seizure effect and future studies appear to be necessary for further understanding of the mechanism.