Melanoma is known as an aggressive tumor which shows an increasing incidence and poor prognosis in the metastatic phase. Hence, it seems that diagnosis and effective management (including early diagnosis, choosing of the effective therapeutic platform, caring, and training of patients for early detection) are major aspects of melanoma therapy. Early detection of melanoma is a key point for melanoma therapy.There are various diagnosis options such as assessing of biopsy, imaging techniques, and biomarkers (i.e., several proteins, polymorphism, and liquid biopsy). Among the various biomarkers, assessing circulating tumor cells, cell-free DNAs, cell-free RNAs, and microRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as powerful diagnosis tools for melanoma patients. Deregulations of these molecules are associated with melanoma pathogenesis. After detection of melanoma, choosing of effective therapeutic regimen is a key step for recovery of melanoma patients. Several studies indicated that various therapeutic approaches including surgery, immunotherapy, systematic therapy, radiation therapy and antibodies therapy could be used as potential therapeutic candidates for melanoma therapy. Caring for melanoma patients is one of the important components of melanoma therapy. Caring and training for melanoma patients could contribute to better monitoring of patients in response to various therapeutic options. Here, we summarized various diagnosis approaches such as assessing biopsy, imaging techniques, and utilization of various biomarkers (i.e., proteins, CTCs, cfDNAs, and miRNAs) as a diagnostic biomarker for detection and monitoring patients with melanoma. Moreover, we highlighted various therapeutic options and caring aspects in patients with melanoma.Melanoma is the fifth most common malignancy in men and the sixth in the women (Siegel et al., 2012). The 5-year survival rate is only 15% for remote metastasis, and a very poor cure rate (American Cancer Society, 2012). Owing to the poor prognosis and the lack of effective treatment options for patients with metastases, much attempt has been made to discover the etiology and pathogenesis of melanoma. Both environmental agents and genetic capacity appear to have an important role in malignancy progression (Miller & Mihm, 2006). The associated risk factors of progression into skin cancer are sun exposure (Gilchrest et al., 1999), the existence of atypical nevi (Hayward, 2003;Tucker et al., 2002), skin pigmentation phenotype, and personal and family histories of malignancy (Gandini et al., 2005; J Cell Physiol. 2019;234:3307-3320.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jcp

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Hypersensitivity and autoimmunity are the main features of immune system-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes (T2D), multiple sclerosis (MS), and asthma. It has been established that chemokines play key roles in the activation and regulation of immune cell migration which is important in the pathogenesis of the diseases mentioned. CC chemokines receptor 5 or CCR5 is a receptor for RANTES, MIP-1α, and MIP-1β and is expressed by several immune cells including NK cells, T lymphocytes, and macrophages. It plays key roles in the regulation of migration and activation of the immune cells during immune responses against microbe and self-antigens during autoimmunity and hypersensitivity disorders. Therefore, any alteration in the sequence of CCR5 gene or in its expression could be associated with immune system-related diseases. Previous studies revealed that a 32-base pair deletion (Δ 32) in exon 1 of the CCR5 gene led to downregulation of the gene. Previous studies demonstrated that not only CCR5 expression was altered in autoimmune and hypersensitivity disorders, but also that the mutation is associated with the diseases. This review addresses the recent information regarding the association of the CCR5 Δ 32 mutation in immune-related diseases including T2D with and without nephropathy, MS, and asthma. Based on the collected data, it seems that the CCR5 Δ 32 mutation can be considered as a risk factor for MS, but not asthma and T2D with and without nephropathy.

BACKGROUND: Ultrasonography has shown to be useful in the diagnosis of constipation. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to compare the rectal diameter and rectal wall thickness in children with and without constipation. METHODS: Children with the diagnosis of constipation according to Rome III criteria were included in the study. The children underwent transabdominal sonography for the evaluation of rectal diameter and rectal wall thickness. Ultrasonography was performed with a full bladder. Children without constipation who underwent abdominal sonography were assigned to the control group. RESULTS: The rectal diameter was larger in children with constipation than in children without constipation (31.72±9.63 mm vs 19.85±4.37 mm; P=0.001). The rectal wall was thinner in children with constipation than in children without constipation (1.75±0.33 mm vs 1.90±0.22 mm; P=0.032). There was no significant difference between boys and girls with constipation in terms of rectal diameter (31.02±8.57 mm 32.77±11.35 mm; P=0.63). CONCLUSION: Transabdominal rectal diameter measurement may be useful in the diagnosis of constipation.

Background:The celiac axis, superior mesenteric artery (SMA), and hepatic artery are the most important branches of abdominal aorta due to their vascularization field. The aim of our study was to evaluate the prevalence of different anatomical variation of celiac axis, SMA, hepatic artery, and its branches with multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) angiography of upper abdomen arteries.Materials and Methods:MDCT of 607 kidney donor and traumatic patients that referred to MDCT unit at Al Zahra Hospital in Isfahan from 2012 to 2015 were retrospectively evaluated. We excluded patients with history of abdominal vascular surgery and hepatic or pancreatic surgery. Computed tomography images of the patient were obtained with 64-row MDCT scanner and anatomical variations were analyzed.Results:Three hundred and eighty-eight (63.9%) of the 607 patients had classic arterial anatomy and 219 (36.1%) patients had variant types. The most common type of variation was the origin of the right hepatic artery (RHA) from SMA (9.6%), and the next common variation was the origin of the left hepatic artery (LHA) from the left gastric artery (6.9%). Variations in the origin of the common hepatic artery (CHA) were seen in 16 (2.6%) patients. Buhler arc was identified in two patients. The RHA originated from the celiac axis in 11 (1.8%) patients and from the aorta in 8 (1.3%) patients. Trifurcation of CHA into gastroduodenal artery, RHA, and LHA was detected in 11 (1.8%) patients.Conclusion:The results of the present study showed that anatomical variation occurs in a high percentage of patients. Detection of these variations can guide surgical and radiological interventional planning.

Background and aims AIM2 is a component of inflammasomes which can activate caspase-1 via an adaptor protein (ASC) after pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP) or danger-associated molecular pattern (DAMP) recognition. Activation of caspase-1 is a trigger for the induction of IL-1 and IL-18 which are important pro-inflammatory cytokines. Furthermore, IL-1β, which can regulate inflammatory responses, has also been associated with depression. Previous studies revealed that patients suffering from depression may also have altered immune responses, but the mechanisms underlying this correlation are unclear. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine the mRNA levels of AIM2 and ASC in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) isolated from Iranian medical students suffering from depression. Materials and methods The participants used for the study included 38 Iranian medical students diagnosed with depression and 43 non-depressed students as a control group. The mRNA levels of AIM2 and ASC were evaluated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using β-actin as a housekeeping gene for the normalization of expression. Results The results showed that mRNA levels of AIM2 were similar in both groups. However, ASC levels were significantly increased in PBMCs isolated from individuals with elevated depressive symptoms when compared to non-depressed participants. Conclusions Based on the current results, it appears that ASC transcript expression may be a surrogate marker for depression and may represent a link between depression and the altered immune responses observed in these categories of individuals with elevated depressive symptoms.

Previous investigations demonstrated that immune responses play critical roles in the defense against visceral leishmaniasis (VL). A key regulator of immune responses is the cytokine, IL-10 and polymorphisms within its promoter which could alter its expression. Thus, the aim of this study was to examine the correlation between polymorphism at the -819 position of the IL-10 gene and VL in a selected Iranian population. This cross-sectional study was performed on 100 patients with clinical presentation of VL and seropositive for the leishmania (group 1), 62 patients without clinical presentation but seropositive (group 2), and 128 healthy controls (group 3). The IL-10 -819 polymorphism was evaluated using the PCR-RFLP technique. The anti-leishmania antibody titration was assessed using an immunofluorescence assay. Our results showed that the polymorphism at IL-10 -819 (C/T) position was significantly associated with VL, and C/T genotype was significantly higher in VL patients when compared to groups 2 and 3 (p < 0.001). However, the results demonstrated that the C and T alleles were not associated with VL (p = 0.855). The data presented here confirm the results of previous reports that polymorphisms at the -819 position of the IL-10 gene can influence susceptibility to VL suggesting that the C/T genotype may be considered as a risk factor for the disease.

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