Background and aimAltered glucose metabolism, oxidative stress, lipid levels and inflammatory markers are important risk factors in diabetes, cardiovascular, and many other diseases. Cocoa has been shown to exert antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. The aim of this study is twofold: to assess the effect of Cocoa on the lipid profile and peroxidation in addition to the inflammatory markers in type 2 diabetic patients, and to represent a virtual model of probable action mechanism of observed clinical effects of Cocoa consumption using in silico analysis and bioinformatics data.MethodsOne hundred subjects with type 2 diabetes were included in a randomized clinical control trial. Fifty treatment subjects received 10 grams cocoa powder and 10 grams milk powder dissolved in 250 ml of boiling water, and the other fifty control subjects received only 10 grams milk powder dissolved in 250 ml boiling water. Both groups were on the mentioned regimen twice daily for 6 weeks. Blood samples were obtained prior to Cocoa consumption and 6 weeks after intervention. Serum lipids and lipoproteins profile, malondialdehyde and inflammatory markers including tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and high sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) were measured. For statistical analysis two independent and paired samples t-test and linear regression were used. Bioinformatics and virtual analysis were performed using string data base and Molegro virtual software.ResultsCocoa consumption lowered blood cholesterol,triglyceride, LDL-cholesterol, and TNF-α, hs-CRP, IL-6 significantly (P < 0.01). The results showed that the levels of HDL-cholesterol decreased significantly (P < 0.05) but Cocoa inhibited lipid peroxidation in treatment group than control group (P < 0.0001). Virtual analysis showed that the most frequent Cocoa ingredients, (+)-Catechin and (−)-Epicatechin, can dock to the enzyme COX-2.ConclusionThese data support the beneficial effect of Cocoa on the lipid peroxidation prevention and inflammatory markers in type 2 diabetic patients. Cocoa ingredients block the Cox-2 activation and reduce inflammatory prostanoids synthesis according to virtual analysis.

The therapeutic effects of mesenchymal stem cells-extracellular vesicles have been proved in many inflammatory animal models. In the current study, we aimed to investigate the effect of extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from human umbilical cord-MSC (hUCSC-EV) on the clinical score and inflammatory/anti-inflammatory cytokines on the EAE mouse model. After induction of EAE in C57Bl/6 mice, they were treated intravenously with hUCSC-EV or vehicle. The clinical score and body weight of all mice was registered every day. On day 30, mice were sacrificed and splenocytes were isolated for cytokine assay by ELISA. Cytokine expression of pro-/anti-inflammatory cytokine by real-time PCR, leukocyte infiltration by hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining, and the percent of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and myelin basic protein (MBP) positive cells by immunohistochemistry were assessed in the spinal cord. Our results showed that hUCSC-EV-treated mice have lower maximum mean clinical score (MMCS), pro-inflammatory cytokines, and inflammatory score in comparison to the control mice. We also showed that hUCSC-EV administration significantly improved body weight and increased the anti-inflammatory cytokines and the frequency of Treg cells in the spleen. There was no significant difference in the percent of GFAP and MBP positive cells in the spinal cord of experimental groups. Finally, we suggest that intravenous administration of hUCSC-EV alleviate induce-EAE by reducing the pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as IL-17a, TNF-α, and IFN-γ, and increasing the anti-inflammatory cytokines, IL-4 and IL-10, and also decrease the leukocyte infiltration in a model of MS. It seems that EVs from hUC-MSCs have the same therapeutic effects similar to EVs from other sources of MSCs, such as adipose or bone marrow MSCs.

Cinnamon has been used as an anti-diabetic agent for centuries but only in recent few years its mechanism of action has been under investigation. Previous studies showed that cinnamon might exert its anti-diabetic effect via increasing glucose transporter isotype-4 (GLUT4) gene and glycoprotein contents in fat cells. To study if hydro-alcoholic cinnamon extract (HACE) enhances GLUT4 translocation from intracellular compartments of nuclear or endoplasmic reticulum membranes (N/ER) into the cytoplasmic membrane (CM). C2C12 myoblastic cell line were seeded in DMEM plus 20 % FBS and differentiated to myotubes using 2 % horse serum. After myotubes formation, 100 or 1,000 lg/ml HACE, as intervention, and as control 1 % DMSO were added for 3 h. Cells were washed and homogenized followed by ultracentrifuge fractionation, protein separation by SDS-PAGE and GLUT4 detection using semi-quantitative Western blotting. Data analysis was done by two-independent samples t test for comparison of mean ± SD of GLUT4 percent in categories. GLUT4 contents were higher in CM of groups 100 and 1,000 lg/ml HACE and lower in 1 % DMSO treated myotubes (CI = 0.95, P \ 0.05). For N/ER reverse results were obtained (CI = 0.95, P \ 0.05). As our results have shown HACE induces GLUT4 translocation from intra-cell into cell surface. We conclude that cinnamon maybe a choice of type-2 diabetes mellitus treatment because its extract enhances GLUT4 contents in CM where it facilitates glucose entrance into the cell. However it is necessary to trace the signaling pathways which are activated by HACE in muscular tissue.

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Background Hospital environmental resources have a significant role in cross-transmission of opportunistic pathogens such as actinomycetes species to the patients. Actinomycetes have a remarkable capability to survive in adverse and harsh conditions of hospital environments; therefore, they are a threat to the health of patients. Due to this issue, we aimed to determine the frequency and diversity of actinomycetes species in hospital soil, water and dust by using a combination of conventional and molecular methods including the phenotypic and biochemical tests for preliminary identification and the PCR amplification of the specific region of the 16S rRNA, hsp65 gene and sequence analyses of 16S rRNA for the genus and species identification. Results A total of 50 (35.2%) actinomycetes isolates from 7 genera were isolated from 142 hospital environmental samples. The three most prevalent species were M. setense 10%, R. erythropolis and M. fortuitum 8% followed by N.cyriacigeorgica and M. gordonae 6%, M. chelonae, M. abscessus, M. lentiflavum, M. mucogenicum, N. asteroides, N. farcinica, R. equi and L. shinushuensis 4% and the single isolates of M. conceptionense, M. septicum, N. rhamnosophilia, N. bravicatena, M. flavescens, M. arupense, M. doricum, M. frederiksbergense, S. heliomycini, S. albus, S. albogriseolus, R. facians, D. maris, G. terae and A. globiformis. Conclusions In conclusion we showed that the hospital environment is a potential reservoir for a broad range of actinomycetes species, due to the remarkable survival capability of these microorganisms in adverse hospital environment, carrying a threat to the health of patients.

Introduction: The role of inflammatory indices has been suggested in preterm labor. Objectives: The possible relationship of some inflammatory and hematological markers were investigated as predictors of preterm labor. Patients and Methods: Around 110 full-term and 109 preterm women were randomly enrolled. According to the gestational age at delivery, they were divided into two groups including <37 weeks and ≥37 weeks pregnancies. The patients' age, body mass index (BMI), history of smoking were recorded. Selected hematological parameters, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and high-sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) were measured. Comparison of groups, the odd's ratio and accuracy of each index were evaluated and assessed statistically. Results: Overall, 110 full-term and 109 preterm mothers were evaluated. Mothers with preterm labor had higher WBC, hemoglobin, neutrophil proportion, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet count, platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and ESR and also hs-CRP values. However, they had lower lymphocyte proportion than mothers with full-term delivery. Hs-CRP higher than 10.9 mg/L showed moderate sensitivity (50.46%) instead of high specificity (90.91%), while ESR >30 mm revealed 85.32% sensitivity and 93.64% specificity for predicting preterm labor. Lymphocyte ratio ≤22% and NLR >3.21 represented high sensitivity and plausible specificity. Hemoglobin >10.8 g/dL, platelet count >178 000 cells/μL, PLR> 8.53 and WBC >7800 cells/μL showed adequate sensitivities with low to moderate specificities to predict preterm labor. Conclusion: Most of the investigated variables were associated with preterm delivery. The cutoff values obtained here may help obstetricians to predict preterm delivery, and therefore to manage its complications, costs, hazards and care problems.

The purpose of this study was to determine the accuracy of selected first or second-order histogram features in differentiation of functional types of pituitary macro-adenomas. Materials and methods: Diffusion-weighted imaging magnetic resonance imaging was performed on 32 patients (age meanAEstandard deviation ¼ 43.09 AE 11.02 years; min ¼ 22 and max ¼ 65 years) with pituitary macro-adenoma (10 with functional and 22 with non-functional tumors). Histograms of apparent diffusion coefficient were generated from regions of interest and selected first or second-order histogram features were extracted. Collagen contents of the surgically resected tumors were examined histochemically using Masson trichromatic staining and graded as containing <1%, 1-3%, and >3% of collagen. Results: Among selected first or second-order histogram features, uniformity (p ¼ 0.02), 75th percentile (p ¼ 0.03), and tumor smoothness (p ¼ 0.02) were significantly different between functional and non-functional tumors. Tumor smoothness > 5.7 Â 10 À9 (area under the curve ¼ 0.75; 0.56-0.89) had 70% (95% confidence interval ¼ 34.8-93.3%) sensitivity and 33.33% (95% confidence interval ¼ 14.6-57.0%) specificity for diagnosis of functional tumors. Uniformity 179.271 had a sensitivity of 60% (95% confidence interval ¼ 26.2-87.8%) and specificity of 90.48% (95% confidence interval ¼ 69.6-98.8%) with area under the curve ¼ 0.76; 0.57-0.89. The 75th percentile >0.7 had a sensitivity of 80% (95% confidence interval ¼ 44.4-97.5%) and specificity of 66.67% (95% confidence interval ¼ 43.0-85.4%) for categorizing tumors to functional and non-functional types (area under the curve ¼ 0.74; 0.55-0.88). Using these cutoffs , smoothness and uniformity are suggested as negative predictive indices (non-functional tumors) whereas 75th percentile is more applicable for diagnosis of functional tumors. Conclusion: First or second-order histogram features could be helpful in differentiating functional vs non-functional pituitary macro-adenoma tumors.

Trace element determination is requested rarely for critically ill patients in Iran, due to the underestimation of the trace element determination by Iranian physicians. The aim was to compare the levels of Zn and Mg in a group of hemodialysis patients and normal individuals. This study shows that trace element determination is helpful for management of hemodialysis patients. Fifty-three hemodialysis patients and 51 control individuals were randomly analyzed for Zn and Mg serum levels. Comparison of before or after dialysis and with normal individuals was done and receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves were plotted to evaluate the analytical sensitivity and specificity of Zn and Mg determination. Confidence interval for all statistical methods was 95 %. Zinc serum levels were decreased after hemodialysis insignificantly ( = 0.201) but Mg levels were decreased significantly ( = 0.000). Both Zn and Mg levels, before and after hemodialysis were meaningfully lower than normal controls ( < 0.05). ROC analysis showed that the area under the curve was high for Zn levels both before and after hemodialysis but it was high for Mg only before hemodialysis. Current study shows that serum Zn and Mg measurements can have clinical importance. Both before and after hemodialysis, serum Zn = 297.5 µg/L and Mg = 2.295 µg/L are proposed as cut-off values with about 90 % specificity, for monitoring of these two element in hemodialysis patients. It is suggested that clinicians consider the measurement of these trace elements for hemodialysis patients routinely or periodically as clinical chemistry tests.