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Clinical potential of curcumin in radiotherapy (RT) setting is outstanding and of high interest. The main purpose of this randomized controlled trial (RCT) was to assess the beneficial role of nanocurcumin to prevent and/or mitigate radiation-induced proctitis in prostate cancer patients undergoing RT. In this parallel-group study, 64 eligible patients with prostate cancer were randomized to receive either oral nanocurcumin (120 mg/day) or placebo 3 days before and during the RT course.Acute toxicities including proctitis and cystitis were assessed weekly during the treatment and once thereafter using CTCAE v.4.03 grading criteria. Baseline-adjusted hematologic nadirs were also analyzed and compared between the two groups. The patients undergoing definitive RT were followed to evaluate the tumor response.Nanocurcumin was well tolerated. Radiation-induced proctitis was noted in 18/31 (58.1%) of the placebo-treated patients versus 15/33 (45.5%) of nanocurcumintreated patients (p = 0.313). No significant difference was also found between the two groups with regard to radiation-induced cystitis, duration of radiation toxicities, hematologic nadirs, and tumor response. In conclusion, this RCT was underpowered to indicate the efficacy of nanocurcumin in this clinical setting but could provide a considerable new translational insight to bridge the gap between the laboratory and clinical practice.

We investigated significant predictors of poor in-hospital outcomes for patients admitted with viral pneumonia during the COVID-19 outbreak in Tehran, Iran. Between February 22 and March 22, 2020, patients who were admitted to three university hospitals during the COVID-19 outbreak in Tehran, Iran were included. Demographic, clinical, laboratory, and chest CT scan findings were gathered. Two radiologists evaluated the distribution and CT features of the lesions and also scored the extent of lung involvement as the sum of three zones in each lung. Of 228 included patients, 45 patients (19.7%) required ICU admission and 34 patients (14.9%) died. According to regression analysis, older age (OR = 1.06; P < 0.001), blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) < 88% (OR = 2.88; P = 0.03), and higher chest CT total score (OR = 1.10; P = 0.03) were significant predictors for inhospital death. The same three variables were also recognized as significant predictors for invasive respiratory support: SpO2 < 88% (OR = 3.97, P = 0.002), older age (OR = 1.05, P < 0.001), and higher CT total score (OR = 1.13, P = 0.008). Potential predictors of invasive respiratory support and in-hospital death in patients with viral pneumonia were older age, SpO2 < 88%, and higher chest CT score.

Purpose: To compare the potential of five functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) language paradigms in activating language areas in Persian-speaking volunteers in order to optimize these tasks for clinically useful protocol.Materials and Methods: 16 healthy right-handed Persian-speaking volunteers were studied. Each individual performed five tasks during the fMRI scan: word generation (WG), object naming (ON), word reading (WR), word production (WP), and reverse word reading (RWR). The ability of each task to activate classical language areas was assessed using group analysis. In addition, the lateralization index (LI) for each subject-task was calculated and compared.Results: We found that WP, RWR, and WG robustly activated language-related areas in the dominant hemisphere. ON and WR failed to sufficiently delineate these activation areas. Highest activation intensities in the frontal lobe (including Broca's area) were seen with WP, whereas RWR showed the highest LI among all examined tasks. Conclusion:Our results demonstrated that the Persian version of WG and newly presented WP and RWR tasks can be reliably used for localization of language-related areas in Persian speakers. This type of language evaluation may be used in presurgical planning of neurosurgical procedures in the Persian population. We recommend application of WP and RWR in future researches establishing the optimized protocol for other language speakers.

INTROduCTION Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID -19), caused by the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS -CoV -2), has recently been announced a global pandemic by the World Health Organization. 1 This infection can lead to severe respiratory distress requiring intensive care unit (ICU) admission. The World Health Organization estimated

Background. Many insurance companies require obese patients to lose weight prior to gastric bypass. From a previous study by the same authors, preoperative weight at surgery is strongly predictive of weight loss up to one year after surgery. This review aims to determine whether preoperative weight loss is also correlated with weight loss up to one year after surgery. Methods. Of the 186 results screened using PubMed, 12 studies were identified. A meta-analysis was performed to further classify studies (A class, B class, regression, and rejected). Results. Of all 12 studies, one met the criteria for A class, six were B class, four were regression, and one was rejected. Six studies supported our hypothesis, five were inconclusive, and no study refuted. Conclusions. Preoperative weight loss is additive to postsurgery weight loss as predicted from the weight at the time of surgery.