Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a global health problem. Although many aspects of NAFLD pathogenesis have been understood, there is a paucity of effective treatments to be used as the second line when lifestyle modification is insufficient. Curcumin, a natural polyphenol from turmeric, has been shown to be effective against development of hepatic steatosis and its progression to steatohepatitis, yet these beneficial effects have not been explored in clinical practice. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of curcumin on hepatic fat content as well as biochemical and anthropometric features of patients with NAFLD. In this randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial, patients with ultrasonographic evidence of NAFLD were randomly assigned to receive an amorphous dispersion curcumin formulation (500 mg/day equivalent to 70-mg curcumin) or matched placebo for a period of 8 weeks. Liver fat content (assessed through ultrasonography), glycemic and lipid profile, transaminase levels, and anthropometric indices were evaluated at baseline and at the end of follow-up period. The clinical trial protocol was registered under the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials ID: IRCT2014110511763N18. Compared with placebo, curcumin was associated with a significant reduction in liver fat content (78.9% improvement in the curcumin vs 27.5% improvement in the placebo group). There were also significant reductions in body mass index and serum levels of total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, glucose, and glycated hemoglobin compared with the placebo group. Curcumin was safe and well tolerated during the course of trial. Findings of the present proof-of-concept trial suggested improvement of different features of NAFLD after a short-term supplementation with curcumin. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The herbal remedies examined had significantly beneficial effects on cholesterol, but not on measures of glycemic control, oxidative stress, and inflammation. Based on the contradictory results reported in the literature, the effects of herbal medicine in diabetic patients should undergo further detailed investigation.

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Background and Objective. Breast cancer (BC) continues to be a major cause of morbidity and mortality among women throughout the world and in Iran. Lack of awareness and early detection program in developing country is a main reason for escalating the mortality. The present research was conducted to assess the Iranian women's level of knowledge about breast cancer risk factors, early warning signs, and therapeutic and screening approaches, and their correlated determinants. Methods. In a cross-sectional study, 2250 women before participating at a community based screening and public educational program in an institute of cancer research in Isfahan, Iran, in 2012 were investigated using a self-administered questionnaire about risk factors, early warning signs, and therapeutic and screening approaches of BC. Latent class regression as a comprehensive statistical method was used for evaluating the level of knowledge and its correlated determinants. Results. Only 33.2%, 31.9%, 26.7%, and 35.8% of study participants had high awareness levels about screening approaches, risk factors, early warning signs and therapeutic modalities of breast cancer, respectively, and majority had poor to moderate knowledge levels. Most effective predictors of high level of awareness were higher educational qualifications, attending in screening and public educational programs, personal problem, and family history of BC, respectively. Conclusion. Results of current study indicated that the levels of awareness among study population about key elements of BC are low. These findings reenforce the continuing need for more BC education through conducting public and professional programs that are intended to raise awareness among younger, single women and those with low educational attainments and without family history.

Herbal medicines with high amounts of phytochemicals have been shown to have beneficial effects on blood pressure (BP), endothelial function and anthropometric measures. This study aimed to determine the effect of herbal treatment on BP, endothelial function and anthropometric measures in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). This clinical trial included 204 T2DM patients randomly assigned to four intervention groups receiving 3 g cinnamon, 3 g cardamom, 1 g saffron or 3 g ginger with three glasses of black tea, and one control group consuming only three glasses of tea without any herbals, for 8 weeks. Intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), systolic and diastolic BP and anthropometric measures were collected at baseline and after 8 weeks. No significant difference was found between various medicinal plants in terms of influencing BP, serum soluble (s)ICAM-1 concentrations and anthropometric measures. However, in within-group comparison saffron and ginger intakes significantly reduced sICAM-1 concentrations (340.9 ± 14.4 vs 339.69 ± 14.4 ng/ml, p = 0.01, and 391.78 ± 16.0 vs 390.97 ± 15.8 ng/ml, p = 0.009, respectively) and ginger intake affected systolic BP (143.06 ± 0.2 vs 142.07 ± 0.2 mmHg, p = 0.02). Although administration of these herbal medicines as supplementary remedies could affect BP and sICAM-1 concentrations, there was no significant difference between the plants in terms of influencing anthropometric measures, BP and endothelial function.

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Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is the most common sleep-related breathing disorder and is associated with significant morbidity. We sought to present an updated systematic review of the literature on the accuracy of screening questionnaires for OSA against polysomnography (PSG) as the reference test. Using the main databases (including Medline, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and Scopus) we used a combination of relevant keywords to filter studies published between January 2010 and April 2017. Population-based studies evaluating the accuracy of screening questionnaires for OSA against PSG were included in the review. Thirty-nine studies comprising 18 068 subjects were included. Four screening questionnaires for OSA had been validated in selected studies including the Berlin questionnaire (BQ), STOP-Bang Questionnaire (SBQ), STOP Questionnaire (SQ), and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). The sensitivity of SBQ in detecting mild (apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) ≥ 5 events/hour) and severe (AHI ≥ 30 events/hour) OSA was higher compared to other screening questionnaires (range from 81.08% to 97.55% and 69.2% to 98.7%, respectively). However, SQ had the highest sensitivity in predicting moderate OSA (AHI ≥ 15 events/hour; range = 41.3% to 100%). SQ and SBQ are reliable tools for screening OSA among sleep clinic patients. Although further validation studies on the screening abilities of these questionnaires on general populations are required.

The Persian version of FAAM is a reliable and valid measure to quantify physical functioning in patients with foot and ankle disorders.