Resveratrol (3, 5, 4′‐trihydroxystilbene) is a nonflavonoid polyphenol that naturally occurs as phytoalexin. It is produced by plant sources such as grapes, apples, blueberries, plums, and peanut. This compound has critical roles in human health and is well known for its diverse biological activities such as antioxidant and anti‐inflammatory properties. Nowadays, due to rising incidence of different diseases such as cancer and diabetes, efforts to find novel and effective disease‐protective agents have led to the identification of plant‐derived compounds such as resveratrol. Furthermore, several in vitro and in vivo studies have revealed the effectiveness of resveratrol in various diseases such as diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, obesity, inflammatory, neurodegenerative, and age‐related diseases. This review presents an overview of currently available studies on preventive properties and essential molecular mechanisms involved in various diseases.
The novel COVID-19 outbreak is a major health threat to human beings with multiorgan injuries. However, its endocrine system manifestations are much less studied. In this study, we aimed to reassess the available findings on the association between cortisol level and severity of COVID-19 infection. We conducted a systematic search on Medline/PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases. To pool data, a random-effects model was performed depending on the heterogeneity among studies. Sensitivity analysis was also carried out by removing each study systematically. In addition, subgroup and meta-regression analyses were performed depending on the presence of the variables of sex and age. Subsequently, 11 studies (5 observational studies and 6 case reports) were included in the meta-analysis. Pooled analysis on the observational studies showed significantly higher levels of cortisol in patients with severe COVID-19 in comparison with those with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 (standardized mean difference: 1.48 µg/dL; 95% CI (0.51 to 2.46); p=0.003). Assessment of the results of case reports revealed that the patients with severe COVID-19 demonstrated higher cortisol levels than the patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19. No publication bias was observed using the Begg’s (p=0.08) and Egger’s tests (p=0.09). Meta-regression illustrated a significant correlation between cortisol levels with sex. The serum cortisol level seems to be higher in patients with severe COVID-19 infection. This finding could be helpful to detect patients with poor prognosis at early stages of the disease, although age and sex may modify this level.
Summary
The gene Nrf2 (nuclear factor‐erythroid 2‐related factor 2) is the most important regulator of the cellular antioxidant system and its dysregulation has a role in the etiology of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The aim of this study was to investigate the association between Nrf2 targeted miRNAs (miR‐27a, miR‐142‐5p, miR‐153, and miR‐128) with lipid accumulation in vitro and in vivo models of NAFLD. We used two in vivo and in vitro models of NAFLD. The expression of the genes and miRNAs was assessed by real‐time PCR and the protein level was evaluated using western blot. To investigate the potential role of miRNAs in NAFLD, the inhibitors or mimics of the miR‐27a and miR‐142‐5p were transfected into HepG2 cells. The mRNA and protein levels of Nrf2 were significantly decreased in the liver of high fat diet‐fed mice as well as in HepG2 cells treated with high glucose (HG). Reduced expression of Nrf2 was associated with increased expression levels of miR‐27a and miR‐142‐5p in both models of NAFLD. HG‐induced triglyceride accumulation was attenuated by inhibition of miR‐27a or miR‐142‐5p in HepG2 cells. Overexpression of miR‐27a or miR‐142‐5p suppressed the expression of Nrf2 and its downstream antioxidant genes and increased production of reactive oxygen species, whereas inhibition of miR‐27a or miR‐142‐5p reversed these effects. In conclusion, the data of this study may suggest that miR‐27a and miR‐142‐5p are increased in NAFLD, where they suppress Nrf2 expression and contribute to the accumulation of lipids in the hepatocytes.
a b s t r a c tLeishmania is a neglected protozoan parasite which creates some problems for public health with different clinical infections in different countries around. Due to the lack of an effective drug without side effects and the emergence drug resistance, there is an urgent need to introduce the novel drug targets and new drugs and vaccines to control leishmaniasis during recent years, metabolomics and other ''Omics" platforms has become an important approach to comprehensive knowledge of the Leishmania parasites biology. The study of metabolite profiles can open the insights for discovering novel therapeutic targets in this infection in both of the parasites and human host. In addition, specifying the metabolomics profile changes among promastigotes, amastigotes and during metacyclogenesis can pay the way for achieving parasite survival parameters and the host-parasite interaction. The previous studies in this field have been extracted from the databases, literature and their detailed major concepts. The present review highlights the role of metabolomics approach in the field of Leishmania research. Also, several important metabolite signatures introduced in various aspect of leishmania parasite such as drug resistance and parasite biology which would be useful in the field of biomarker and drug discovery process. Finally, metabolomics plays a potential role in introducing metabolic pathways related to Leishmania parasite and its treatment design. Ó 2018 Alexandria University Faculty of Medicine. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.