مجله دانشکده پزشکی اصفهان
پیاپی 758 (هفته دوم اردیبهشت 1403)

Empathy is critical for social interactions. Nevertheless, the sharing of excessive negative emotions may affect the behaviors of the observer and demonstrator in social equality and inequality conditions. The present study investigated the effects of chronic empathic and reversed empathic stress on anxiety-like behaviors and their correlation with serum corticosterone levels in male rats.

Forty-eight male Wistar rats were divided into six groups: Control, Pseudo-Observer, Pseudo-Demonstrator, Observer, Demonstrator, and Co-Demonstrator. Various types of stress included dyadic stress in social inequality conditions, such as empathic and reversed-empathic (restrained) stress, dyadic stress in social equality (receiving common stress), and single stress (restrained and unrestrained) as sham stress groups. All of these stressors were induced for 2h/day for 21 days. The time spent in the open arms and the number of entries in the open arms were measured during the elevated plus maze test to assess anxiety-like behavior. The correlations between serum corticosterone levels and OAT% were evaluated for all experimental groups.

The percent of total time spent in the open arms and the number of open arm entries were significantly decreased in all stressed groups. Moreover, there was a significant negative correlation between serum corticosterone levels and the percent of total time spent in the open arms in all experimental groups, except the control and pseudo-observer groups.

According to the present findings, chronic empathic stress (observing others' psychological stress or distress) could induce anxiety in the observers. In addition, the reversed empathic stress (receiving restraint stress in the presence of a familiar cagemate in social inequality condition) can be unexpectedly effective in the induction of anxiety. It seems that the gradual changes in serum corticosterone levels play an essential role in the development of anxiety-like behaviors.

Pomegranate peel extract (PPE) exhibits biological activities with potential therapeutic applications. In this research, the antioxidant properties of the combination of atorvastatin and PPE, and the effect of this combination on the regulation of inflammatory factors and the gene pathway of glucose transport regulation (GLUT4) in tissue fibroblast cells (3T3-L1).

This research was done in a descriptive-analytical way. The percentage of cell survival after treatment with suitable concentrations of aqueous extract of pomegranate peel (AEPP) and atorvastatin drug was obtained. The amount of inflammatory cytokines IL-1, IL-6, and TNF-α in the supernatant solution of treated cells was measured using the ELISA method. Then the antioxidant activity and GLUT4 expression were measured using real-time PCR.

The highest antioxidant capacity is related to the combination of AEPP with atorvastatin. Also, the level of IL-1, TGF-B, and IL-6 cytokines increased. Furthermore, atorvastatin significantly increased the level of GLUT4 in adipocytes compared to the combination of atorvastatin and AEPP concentration, as well as AEPP alone.

The results showed that the combined use of AEPP and Atorvastatin can improve the efficiency of antioxidant pathways in the cell and significantly reduce the level of reactive oxygen. In addition, atorvastatin has a greater effect on regulating the function of inflammatory factors and the adipose glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) regulatory gene pathway than the combination of atorvastatin and AEPP concentrations. However, more studies are needed in this area.

The Islamic Iranian lifestyle (a combination of Islamic beliefs, values, and norms of Iranian society) leads to attaining optimal levels of health, preventing health-threatening factors, and improving the quality of people's lives. The study aims to explore the impact of the Islamic Iranian lifestyle on various aspects of health from the perspective of ixxt is the Qur'an and Ahl al-Bayt.

This systematic review was employed to gather relevant information from Quranic sources and databases such as Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, SID, Magiran, and Google Scholar. The search language was limited to Persian and English until 2024. MeSH keywords were utilized during the search process. The quality assessment tool was a mixed methods appraisal tool (MMAT).

The results showed that the Iranian Islamic lifestyle has an important and worthwhile role in improving mental, physical, social, and spiritual health. Ahl al-Bayt's perspectives also show this important role issue. Referring to the Holy Quran which includes all aspects of the health of human life, which express the details related to the improvement of health, showed the necessity of these instructions in Iranian life.

In the current conditions, the inappropriate lifestyle has caused adverse consequences in society and has affected various dimensions of health; therefore, it seems necessary to provide Iranian Islamic lifestyle training. Thus, it is advisable to instill teachings rooted in the Islamic Iranian lifestyle from early childhood. By incorporating these principles into the health guidelines of society, individuals can attain both physical well-being and prosperity.