فصلنامه کومش
سال پانزدهم شماره 3 (پیاپی 51، بهار 1393)

Hypocretins/orexins are novel hypothalamic neuropeptides involved in various hypothalamic mechanisms, such as energy homeostasis and neuroendocrine function. Orexins A (33 amino acids) and B (28 amino acids) are derived from a single pre-pro-orexin polypeptide. Physiological studies over the last ten years have implicated orexin signaling plays a central role in a variety of important biological processes. There is a clear evidence for defects in orexin signaling being involved in obesity and diabetes, narcolepsy, panic anxiety disorder and drug addiction. Therefore, this system may be a potentially important therapeutic target for treatment of sleep disorder, obesity, emotional stress, and addiction. In addtion, it has been well known that orexin-A elicits analgesia. Thus, there is a considerable interest in the drug industry in the development of potent compounds for the manipulation of orexin signaling. Therefore, This a review about recent progress in understanding orexin system

Reduction in child mortality- as an important determinant of health- is one of the Millennium Development Goals. Many of death in children aged 1 to 59 months are preventable. In this study, some mortality associated factors were assessed in children in the rural population, which were covered by the health services sectors of Semnan University of Medical Sciences in Iran. A nested case-control study was performed based on 10 years of surveillance data. The study subjects were the children who died from 2002 to 2012. For each case, two controls were randomly selected from the age-matched children who were alive at the time of death of the case in the same village. To express the association between the death and each of the factors of interest, the odds ratio (OR) was calculated using conditional logistic regression method via stata-9.2 software. The data of 65 cases and 130 controls were enrolled in the analysis. Adjusting for age and place of residence, the odds of death was significantly associated with formula feeding (OR=4.14, p<0.001), low birth weight (OR=2.83, p=0.02), failure to growth (OR=7.04, p<0.001) and prematurity (OR=5.08, p=0.02). Every aforesaid identified factors is expected to be associated with the conditions that those influence on the mortality of children aged 1 to 59 months. Effective efforts focusing better identification and management of them are essential for health promotion in this age group

Acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II (APACHE II) scoring system has been proposed in order to estimate the outcome of patients admitted in the intensive care units. This study was purposed to evaluate correlation between APACHE II score and mortality rate in patients admitted in intensive care units. This retrospective study was conducted with the records of the patients who were admitted in surgical and medical ICUs, Semnan University of Medical Sciences. For each patient, outcome data (survival or death) was extracted and Apache II score was calculated. Data were analysed by SPSS 17 software, using unpaired t-test and spearman’s correlation coefficient. Significant level was set at P<0.05. A total of 195 patients including 99 in the surgical ICU and 96 in the medical ICU were evaluated. Mortality rate was 18.2% and 43.8% in the surgical and the medical ICUs, respectively. Observed mortality was significantly lower in the surgical ICU (P=0.001), and higher in the medical ICU (P<0.001) than expected levels. The APACHE score was significantly correlated to mortality rate in surgical ICU (r=0.421; P<0.001) and in medical ICU (r=0.928; P=0.004). The mortality rate was as well as expected levels in surgical ICU but higher than standard in medical ICU. It is proposed to improve quality of cares in order to decline mortality in medical ICU

Fatigue is a common presentation in Multiple Sclerosis (MS).This study was conducted for evaluation of content, convergent and divergent validity besides test-retest, inter-rater and internal consistency of reliability of Persian-version of fatigue impact dcale (P-FIS) in Iranian patients with MS for the first time in Iran. In this descriptive analysis, 140 MS patients and 140 healthy control participated and completed the following assessments: P-FIS, fatigue severity scale (FSS), SF-36 questionnaire, mini-mental state sxamination (MMSE) and the data were analysied by using SPSS (version 17). Spearman’s correlation was used for convergent validity of the P- FIS test with the FSS and the SF-36 tests, Mann -Whitney U test used for divergent validity, The Intra-class correlation coefficient used for inter-rater and test-retest reliability and and finally cronbach’s α was used to evaluate of internal consistency. Content validity index of scale was 0.85. FIS had a convergent validity with the quality of life (SF-36) and also FSS. The ICC values for inter rater reliability in the physical, cognitive, and social sections and the whole questionnaire were 0.89, 0.86, 0.95 and 0.98, and for test-restest reliability were 0.86, 0.78, 0.92 and 0.93, respectively. The above findings together with the Cronbach’s α of 0.953 indicated a high reliability for the FIS Persian version. Having shown a sound validity and reliability, P-FIS retains the capability for being used in assessment of fatigue on the daily activities and evaluation the scale of the effects of treatment and rehabilitation interventions on fatigue amongst Persian-speaking patients suffering from MS.

The aim of the current study was to investigate the effects of aerobic training on body composition, insulin- like growth factor-1 (IGF-I) and insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3(IGFBP-3) in obese women. 18 obese women were randomly selected and divided into two experimental (n=9; age=33.3±5.9 yrs; weight=76.0±12.9 kg; height=158.1±7.0 cm; VO2max=24.7±4.1 ml/kg/min; BMI=31.4±3.1 kg/m2) and control (n=9; age=33.7±4.6 yrs; weight=75.9±12.4 kg; height=154.2±6.5 cm; VO2max=24.7±2.7 ml/kg/min; BMI=31.7±3.6 kg/m2) group. The experimental group performed aerobic training 3 sessions per week for 8 weeks with 65-75% HRmax. Anthropometrical factors such as weight, body fat percentage, WHR and BMI were measured along with basal serum IGF-1, IGFBP-3, insulin and glucose before and after the training period. The results shown that BMI, body fat percentage, weight and WHR were significantly decreased and maximal oxygen consumption was increased after 8 weeks aerobic training program (p<0.05). However, serum IGF-1, IGFBP-3, insulin and glucose had no significant changes in experimental and control, both, groups (p>0.05). It is likely that due to a insufficient exercise intensity and period, no significant changes in IGF-1, IGFBP-3, insulin, and glucose were found. Anthropometric factors and aerobic fitness, however, were developed after this training program in obese women

Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder and one of its important features is repetition of relapses over time. The aim of this study was to identify some risk factors of relapse time in schizophrenia patients using Weibull parametric accelerated failure time frailty model in survival analysis with Bayesian approach. In this retrospective longitudinal study, the data was extracted from records of 159 schizophrenia patients with at least one relapsein Razi Psychiatric ٍEducational-Medical Centre in Tehran. In survival analysis, the times of relapses of schizophrenia are known as recurrent events times. To identify some risk factors of these times, Weibull accelerated failure time frailty model was fitted to the data and analyzed by Bayesian approach using WinBUGS software to estimate accelerated factors and their credible intervals for significance testing. 28. 7% of males and 12% of females had experienced 9 to 14 times of relapse. Among the studied factors, age at onset (CI95%: (-0. 09, -0. 07), gender (CI95%: (-0. 87, -0. 21)), marital status CI95%: (-1. 12, -0. 55) and family history of schizophrenia (CI95%: (-0. 67, -0. 17) were identified as significant risk factors for the times of occurred relapses, but the mode of onset and a history of head injury was not a significant risk facor. There was a significant correlation (frailty parameter) among the relapses times (CI95%: (0. 24, 0. 58)), too. Existing correlation among relapse times requires continued efforts. To decrease relapse probability especially in patients who experience relapses in low ages, single, male and patients with family history of schizophrenia, special preventive and treatment efforts is recommended. Not uniform registration of other variables in the records, made identifying other risk factors not possible

Iron supplementation in specific groups is one of the recommended approches by the World Health Organization to prevent and control iron deficiency anemia as the most common type of malnutrition. The purpose of this study was to investigate the consumption of iron supplement and the related factors by girl students in Jounior and high schools in Semnan. In this study, 440 jounior and high school girl students were randomly selected from different districts in Semnan. Data Collecting was performed via filling out a questionnaire by the students under revising a research expert. The supplement intake was considered as ''complete'' or ''favorable'' if the number of the tablets, which were taken by the students, was equal to the one was distributed by school officials, otherwise, that was considered ''incomplete''. 53.9% of jounior school girls and 16.5% of high school girls were completely taken their tablets that this difference between two group of students was significant (p<0.001). Supplement consumption in jounior school girls declined with their grade, i.e., more decrease in full tablet consumption at higher grades (p=0.002). Awareness of iron deficiency symptoms was inversely proportional to full iron tablet consumption (p=0.003). A significant relationship was observed between complete iron tablet consumption by the students and their father's educational levels (p=0.046); their mother's educational levels (p=0.015), student’s score average (p=0.003); student’s participation levels in “iron supplementation” classes (p<0.001); parents’ participation levels in “iron supplementation” classes (p=0.021); authorities’s supervising about taking of tablets by the student (p<0.001); consumption of iron tablets during lessons (p<0.001); and distribution of iron tablets by the health advisor (p<0.001). The study indicates an unsatisfactory situation regarding the consumption of iron supplementary tablets in Semnan jounior and high school girl students. To improve the iron supplementation program, efforts in creating a positive attitude and awarenes about taking iron supplements, as well as face to face training of students and their parents, and supervision by a health educator can be helpful.

Patients following mechanical ventilation go down to agitation due to anxiety, stress and stimulation of tracheal tube, that may be treat in doing of mechanical ventilation processes and can be create dyspnea, confusion and inability. Control of agitation with drug and physical restrictions have much unpleasant complication. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the effect of touch on agitation in patients under mechanical ventilation. The semi-experimental research was performed in a general intensive cares unit in a hospital in Tehran in 2011. The data collection tools were including demographic questionnaire, Glasgow coma scale and Richmond agitation score scale. 35 consciousness patients under mechanical ventilation with 30-60 years old and acute respiratory problems were investigated. Firstly, the patient's agitation was evaluated and then intervention performed in two ways:(a) with standing and touching patient's wrist and (b) with standing without touching of patient's wrist. From 35 patients, 21 (60%) and 14 (40%) were respectively men and female. Minimum and maximum age was respectively 35 and 60 years. Most of the patients were ranged in the age group of 50 years or more (57.1%) and then 40 to 49 years group (17.2%) and 25.7% of the patients were under 40 years old. In standing without touching patient's wrist intervention, agitation scores before and after intervention had no significant difference (P=0.592), while as, with standing and touching patient's wrist intervention this difference was significant (P<0.001). According to the results of this study, touch is effective on agitation in patients under mechanical ventilation. Therefore, touch is recommended as safe and effective non-pharmacological interventions in controlling agitation in the field of independent nursing jobs

The term ‘executive functioning’ (EF) refers to a complex cognitive and processes which are generally associated with the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Researchers believe that there are some differences in the growth of executive functioning as well as physical growth. The aim of this study was to investigate the developmental trend of executive functioning on primary school students. This study was as a causal-comparative research. The statistical population included primary students in Rasht city in the north of Iran. 126 primary students were selected with a multi-stage random sampling method and divided into three groups including: first and second year students (n=40), third and fourth year students (n=42) and fifth and sixth year students (n=44). The sampling method was random and executive functioning was measured by the Wisconsin card sorting, color word stroop and continuing performance test. A significant difference was observed between three groups by ANOVA test in regards with continuous performance, interference task (stroop), preservative and the total error. The results of the post hoc test indicated a significant difference between first and third group and also second and third group. The results indicate that the executive functioning emerges during in the developmental trend of individual and evolves with increasing age

The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of class 1 integrons and their association with antimicrobial resistance profiles among Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) isolates from environment, staffs and hospitalized patients at an intensive care unit (ICU) in a hospital in Tehran, Iran. A total of 410 clinical, environmental and personnel samples were examined for S. aureus infections and contamination. Susceptibility of these isolates to 15 antibiotics and minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of oxacillin were determined by disk diffusion and micro dilution methods, respectively. Class 1 integrons (int1) were determined among the extracted DNA and purified plasmid samples by PCR. In this study, 32.2% of the clinical specimens including respectively 27% and 19.3% of the environmental and personnel samples were positive for S. aureus. A total of 90.6%, 68% and 46% of the clinical, environmental and personnel samples showed oxacillin resistance phenotype, respectively. In addition, all of the clinical and 33.3% of the environmental isolates showed multidrug resistance (MDR) phenotype. Highest resistance rates for the clinical isolates were related to ampicillin and erythromycin (96.5%), penicillin and kanamycin (93.5%), and gentamicin (90.5%); and these rates for the environmental samples were related to penicillin (72%), ampicillin (68%), and erythromycin (66%); and also for the personnel samples were related to penicillin and ampicillin (73%) and erythromycin (61.5%). Integron class one was found among 32.3% of the clinical, 67.7% of the environmental and all of the oxacillin resistance isolates (100%). Nose and hands of the ICU nurses and staffs seems as main sources of the infections. Our results also established the presence of class 1 integron in these isolates, especially among the isolates with oxacillin resistant phenotype.

Mesenchymal stem sells (MSCs) have an important role in cell therapy due to those high proliferation, differentiation and cell regeneration capacity. Advent signs of Replicative Cellular Senescence (R.C.S) in culture condition are one of the problems in stem cells culture pathway before treatment. R.C.S is associated with reducing the capacity of antioxidant enzymes and matrix metalloproteinase (MMPs) proteins changes. The aim of this study was to areinvestigate and compare the production capacity of antioxidant superoxiddismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) enzymes and matrix metalloproteinases (MMP-2) in conditional medium of rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs). BMSCs and ADSCs were respectively isolated from the tibia and femur bones and subcutaneous adipose tissues. These cells were cultured for alternative 7 passages in α-MEM supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum. Evaluation of antioxidant and MMP activity in the conditional medium without serum was respectively assayed by enzymatic assay and zymography. Two types of cells studied almost identical have most activity in the expression of SOD and GPx, respectively, in 5 and 4-6 passages. Also, demonstrated MMP activity is highest in the fourth passage. On the other hand, in these cells, membrane health reported with measurement of MDA and LDH. Adipose tissue has a population of stem cells with high capacity of antioxidant. Also, BMSCs and ADSCs are at highest level of antioxidant and MMP expression capacity in 4-6 passages

CCR5 is one of the most important chemokine receptor involved in the recruitment of specific anti-viral immune cells to the liver. CCR5-Δ32 is a functionally null allele of CCR5 gene with a 32-bp deletion. Several studies have reported that this mutation may be associated with recovery from acute hepatitis B or persistence of HBV infection. The main purpose of this study was to compare the frequency of the Δ32 mutation within the CCR5 gene in a group of chronic HBV infected patients with healthy individuals in Iran. A total of 200 blood samples including 100 healthy individuals and 100 HBsAg positive patients were randomly selected. The samples were tested for HBsAg by ELISA and HBV-DNA by PCR method. Genomic DNA was extracted by salting out method. CCR5-Δ32 mutation was genotyped by PCR with specific primers. The results of this study showed that none of the subjects in the control and patient groups had a 32-bp deletion in the CCR5 gene. CCR5-Δ32 was not a prevalent mutation in control group and HBV infected patients in Iran. No significant difference was observed in genotypes frequency of CCR5-Δ32 between control group and HBV infected patients, therefore it seems that this mutation is not associated with persistence of HBV infection in Iranian patients

Invasive fungal infections represent a major public health concern. In particular, systemic candidiasis remains an increasing source of morbidity and mortality especially in immunocompromised patients such as neutropenic patients undergoing antiblastic chemotherapy or bone marrow transplants. Early diagnosis is often difficult. Consequently, effective treatment is often delayed. PCR has the potential to decrease the time required to diagnose fungal infections and therefore reduce the mortality associated with disseminated disease.The MP65 gene of Candida albicansis appropriate for detection and identification. The aimofthisstudy was toidentifydifferentspecies of Candida (C. albicans, C. glabrata, C. parapsilosis) withPCRtechnique. All 107 yeast isolateswere identified on cornmeal agar supplemented with tween-80, germ tube formation in serum, and assimilation of carbon sources in the API 20 C AUX (Biomerieux, France). Then, all isolates were tesed by PCR using by different species-specific PCR primers selected within the MP65 gene; a recently cloned gene encoding a mannoprotein adhesin. A hundred of clinical isolates were detemined as C. albicans and 6 of the isolates detemined asC. glabrata and 1 of the isolates detemined as C. parapsilosis. The species-specific PCR primers allowed differentiation of each of three Candida species by the amplicon length produced.The primers amplified all Candida species DNA tested (100% positivity) giving a band of the expected length (475 bp for C. albicans, 361bp forC. glabrata, 124bp forC. parapsilosis). The results were agreed with all culture results for Candida species detection. The results of this study showed that PCR method for rapididentification ofCandida specieswith specific primers is reproducible, simple and specific

There are controversial reports about angiogenesis of the amniotic membrane after transplantationas cornea substitute. Inducing or inhibitory effects of amniotic epithelial cells on angiogenesis of the amniotic membrane were evaluated in this in vitro study. The scraped and non-scraped amniotic membranes were cultured in 12-wells plates in two positions of epithelial side up and mesenchymal side up. In order to evaluate angiogenesis, rat aortic rings were placed on the cultured amniotic membranes. Results were reported as presence or absence of angiogenesis within 7 days. When the amniotic membrane was intact, no formation of capillary like structures or angiogenesis was seen on both sides of the amniotic membrane. In contrast, after removing the amniotic epithelial cells, infiltration of fibroblastic cells from rat aortic ring was seen on both epithelial and mesenchymal sides of amniotic membrane after 2 days. Afterward, the cells started directional out-growth and initiated formation of capillary like structures up to day 7. This study showed that epithelial cells have a key role in angiogenic or anti-angiogenic properties of the amniotic membrane. In addition, acellular amniotic membrane (without epithelial cells) is a proper substrate for angiogenesis and neovascularization. These dual effects on angiogenesis make the amniotic membrane useful in several clinical situations

Hypothalamic orexinergic neurons playan important role in food consumption and expresses µ-opioid receptor. This study was investigated the interaction of orexinergic system on effects of morphine on food and water intake in male rats. 40 male Wistar rats (250–300 g) were used in this study. The animals were operated stereotaxic and then after a week recovery period were divided into the following groups: 1. control; 2.vehicle injection; 3. morphine; 4. orexin receptor 1 antagonist; 5. orexin receptor 1 antagonist + morphine group. Drugs were injected into lateral ventricle (LV) after 12 hours food deprivation and then, the feeding and drinking behaviors were calculated 4h after injection. The injection of morphine into LV increased the amount of food intake and numbers of referral to feeding plate. Administration of orexin receptor1 antagonist (SB334867) attenuated significantly morphine-induced feeding, but had no effect on morphine induced water consumption. Morphine decreased water intake but increased numbers of referral for water bottle, which this effect was significantly attenuated by administration of SB334867. It may be orexin is at least one of the pathways of opiates effects on food and water intake.

Diabetes is the most common endocrine disease, which in many biochemical parameters such as glucose and lipid profiles changes. Propolis is as a bee-collected natural product is very useful and has diverse biological properties. The propose of this study was to test the effects of hydro-alcoholic extracts of Iranian Propolis on serum glucose, lipids profile, BUN and creatinine levels in streptozotocin-induced diabetic Rats. This study was performed on 40 male wistar rats that ther were divided into 5 groups: control, diabetic, diabetic vehicle, and two groups of Propolis-treated diabetic. Diabetes was induced in the rats by single dose injection of streptozotocin (STZ, i.p., 60 mg/kg bwt). The hydro-alcoholic extracts of Propolis was administered gavages at doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg after diabetes induction for 6 weeks. At the end of administration period, the body weight, kidney weight, levels of lipid profile (LDL, HDL, TG and cholesterol), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine and glucose were measured. Administration of the hydro-alcoholic extracts of Iranian Propolis significantly increased body weight and reduction kidney weight in treated diabetic rats. In addtion, Propolis significantly inhibited the increasing of glucose, BUN, creatinine, total cholesterol, triglyceride and LDL-c levels and increased HDL-c levels in Propolis-treated diabetic rats as compared untreated diabetics (P<0.05). The results indicate that hydro-alcoholic extracts of Iranian Propolis can control blood glucose and modulate some of biochemical factors in diabetic rats

Aflatoxins are a large group of mycotoxins, which are produced by certain species of Aspergillus, including Aspergillus flavus, A. parasiticus and A.numius. This group of fungal toxins is considered as a leader of all mycotoxins. Therefore, many efforts have been performed for elimination or neutralization of these compositions in foods and feeds. The aims of this study were to survey the effects of anti-aflatoxin and anti-fungal essential oils of Cuminum cyminum, Ziziphora clinopodioiedes and Nigella sativa growth in Khorasan-e- Razavi province (Northeastern of Iran). In this experimental study, herbal substances which included Cuminum cyminum, Ziziphora clinopodioiedes and Nigella sativa were selected and collected on the basis of traditional medicine and their growing region. Then, their essential oils (essences) were extracted by hydro-distillation procedure. The concentration of each Aspergillus parasiticus aflatoxin (B1, B2, G1, G2, and Total) was mesured three times by Reverse Phase-High Performance Liquid Chromatography (RP-HPLC) technique in ng/ml (ppb). Also, the final concentration of each aflatoxin was measured following the impact of Cuminum cyminum, Ziziphora clinopodioiedes and Nigella sativa essences in concentrations of 0.25, 0.25, and 1.5 mg/ml, respectively. The inhibitory effect of above mentioned essential oils on producing of different aflatoxins was the essences of Cuminum cyminum,Nigella sativa and Ziziphora clinopodioiedes, respectively. Also, there was a significant and positive correlation between fungus dry weight and amount of total aflatoxin (P = 0.0005, r = 0.896). The findings of this study showed that Cminum cyminum, Nigella sativa and Ziziphora clinopodioiedes has an inhibitory effect on aflatoxin producing by Aspergillus parasiticus. In addtion, this study confirmed the traditional use of these herbs against microbial infections

Glucocorticoid receptors (GRs) of basolateral amygdala (BLA) play an important role in emotional learning and memory. The aim of present study was to determine the role of GRs of BLA in extinction of fear memory in inhibitory avoidance learning (PAL) in rats. Rats with surgically implanted bilaterally cannulae aimed at the BLA were trained and tested in an inhibitory avoidance task. Animals received bilateral microinjections of corticosterone (CORT, 0.3 or 3ng/0.5µl per side), RU38486 (0.3 or 3 ng/10.5µl per side /side) or combinenation of both drugs into BLA 30 min before the first retrieval test which was done 2 days after training. Memory retention again tested 2, 9, 12, 14 and 16 days after the first retention test, during which the latency to re-enter dark compartment of the apparatus was recorded. Results indicated that microinjections of both CORT and RU38486 and also their combination into BLA facilitated the extinction of fear memory. It seems that GRs located in the BLA nucleus play a critical role in fear memory extinction.