Background: Renal ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury is one of the main leading causes of acute kidney injury associated with inflammation, oxidative stress and cell apoptosis. We studied the effects of prazosin, as a specific blocker of α1-AR, on renal IR injury. Methods: Rats were divided into normal control; untreated IR and prazosin-treated IR (1 mg/kg body weight). Prazosin was administered by intraperitoneal injection 30 min prior to IR induction. The level of urea/creatinine and oxidative factors were detected by colorimetric methods. Apoptosis-associated factors, inflammatory, and signaling proteins were analyzed in renal tissue. The abnormalities of renal histopathology were detected by immunohistochemistry. Results: Administration of prazosin to IR rats ameliorated serum urea and creatinine and IR-induced histopathological damages. Lipid peroxidation was significantly improved after treatment by prazosin in IR injury rats, however, antioxidant status was not affected. Rats subjected to IR injury activated Bax protein and NF-κB mediated inflammatory response. Moreover, treatment with prazosin inhibited renal NF-κB activation, resulting in a significant decline in pro-inflammatory cytokine of IL-6. Conclusion: These findings suggest that prazosin could be a good candidate to attenuate renal IR injury due to its ability to modulate renal function, apoptosis and inflammation.
This study undertook to create small-diameter vascular grafts and assess their structure and mechanical properties to withstand arterial implantation. Twenty samples of intact human internal mammary arteries (IMAs) were collected and decellularized using detergent-based methods. To evaluate residual cellular and extracellular matrix (ECM) components, histological analysis was performed. Moreover, collagen typing and ECM structure were analyzed by Picrosirius red and Movat's pentachrome staining. Scanning electron microscopy was also applied to assess microarchitecture of both endothelial and adventitial surfaces of native and decellularized arterial samples. Furthermore, mechanical tests were performed to evaluate the rigidity and suture strength of the arteries. Human IMAs were completely decellularized in all three segments (proximal, middle, and distal). ECM proteins such as collagen and elastic fibers were efficiently preserved and no structural distortion in intima, media, and adventitial surfaces was observed. The parameters of the mechanical tests revealed no significant differences in the mechanical properties of decellularized arteries in comparison to native arteries with considerable strength, suture retention, and stress relaxation (Young's modulus [MPa] = 0.22 ± 0.023 [native] and 0.22 ± 0.015 [acellular]; and suture strength 0.56 ± 0.19 [native] vs. 0.56 ± 0.12 [acellular], respectively). Decellularized IMA represents a potential arterial scaffold as an alternative to autologous grafts for future arterial bypass surgeries. By this technique, microarchitecture and mechanical integrity of decellularized arteries were considerably similar to native arteries. The goal of this study was to introduce an efficient method for complete decellularization of human IMA and evaluate the ECM and biomechanical properties.
Bladder duplication is a rare congenital anomaly which occurs in the sagittal or coronal plane and it can be associated with other anomalies. It has been previously classified as complete duplication of the bladder and urethra or incomplete duplication with two bladders and common urethra. However, complete duplication of bladder with a single urethra has been rarely reported. Herein, we present a patient with a different variation of bladder duplication in the coronal plane with two urethras originating from the main bladder and associated glans diphallia.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in middleaged and elderly men after lung cancer with the prevalence of 25.3 per 10,000. The previous studies have shown that one man in six will suffer from this cancer during his lifetime. Genetic, hormonal, and environmental factors are known to be Abstract: Prostate cancer is the most common cancer type in men and is the second cause of death, due to cancer, in patients over 50, after lung cancer. Prostate specific antigen (PSA) is a widely used tumor marker for prostate cancer. Recently, PSA is discovered in non-prostatic cancer tissues in men and women raising doubts about its specificity for prostatic tissues. PSA exists in low serum level in healthy men and in higher levels in many prostate disorders, including prostatitis and prostate cancer. Thus, a supplementary tumor marker is needed to accurately diagnose the cancer and to observe the patient after treatment. Recently, soluble human leukocyte antigen-G (sHLA-G) has been introduced as a new tumor marker for different cancer types, including colorectal, breast, lung, and ovary. The present descriptive-experimental study was carried out including patients with malignant prostate tumor, patients with benign prostate tumor, and a group of health men as the control group, as judged by an oncologist as well as a pathologist. After sterile blood sampling, sHLA-G was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in each group. The data was then analyzed using one-way ANOVA. P≤0.05 was considered as statistically significant. The results showed that the mean of sHLA-G level was high in patients. Also, it was found that there was a significant difference in sHLA serum level between the three groups. The data revealed that sHLA-G can be a novel supplementary tumor marker in addition to PSA to diagnose prostate cancer.
Introduction: Diagnosis, prediction and control of oral lesions is usually done classically based on clinical signs and histopathologic features. Due to lack of timely diagnosis in all conventional methods or differential diagnosis, biopsy of patient is needed. Therefore, the patient might be irritated. So, an intelligent method for quick and accurate diagnosis would be crucial. Intelligent systems approach has been successful in prediction and diagnosis of factors. Intelligent instruments significantly contributed to the diagnosis of different disease, such as timely diagnosis of breast cancer, heart failures and so on. In this research, three of the most common and relatively dangerous oral diseases (lichen planus, leukoplakia and squamous cell carcinoma) have been studied using intelligent systems based on artificial neural networks (ANN).
The first cases of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were reported in late December 2019 in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. It has spread rapidly around the world. Taking preventive measures by the public plays the most important role in infection prevention and control of the COVID-19. One of the major challenges in preventing and controlling COVID-19 has been the proliferation of misinformation on social media. In such a special epidemic, assessment of knowledge and attitude of the public will help to reduce the uncoordinated social behavior arising from misinformation. The purpose of this crosssectional online survey was to determine the level of knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of Iranian population toward outbreak of COVID-19. Data were collected by self-administrated questionnaire. Analytical statistics were performed on the results. The mean scores of respondents' KAP were 87.7, 59.3, and 89.6, respectively. Married and females participants, who work in healthcare systems, participants in the age group of 36 to 45 years with a higher level of education, and those who studied in the fields related to health gained significantly higher knowledge scores. Most respondents (63.7%) had a negative attitude towards the observance of appointed prevention principles by others. Also, the results showed a statistically significant positive correlation between all sections of KAP. Our findings suggest that despite the rapid dissemination of reliable and unreliable information about COVID-19 through cyberspace, the Iranian people have sufficient knowledge to deal with COVID-19 outbreak.
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