Background:Seaweeds have proven to be a promising natural source of bioactive metabolites for drug development.Objective:This study aimed to monitor the ethanol extract of ten algae from the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea, for their in vitro cytotoxic activity on three human breast cancer cell lines.Materials and Methods:Three human breast cancer cell lines including MDA-MB-231(ER−), MCF-7(ER+), and T-47D (ER+) were treated by different concentrations of total ethanol (90%) algae extracts and the cytotoxic effects were evaluated by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. Doxorubicin (Ebewe, Austria) was used as a positive control. After 72 h of incubation, the cytotoxic effect of the algae was calculated and presented as 50%-inhibitory concentration (IC50).Results:The results indicated Gracilaria foliifera and Cladophoropsis sp. to be the most active algae in terms of cytotoxic effects on the investigated cancer cell lines. The IC50 values against MDA-MB-231, MCF-7, and T-47D cells were, respectively, 74.89 ± 21.71, 207.81 ± 12.07, and 203.25 ± 30.98 µg/ml for G. foliifera and 66.48 ± 4.96, 150.86 ± 51.56 and >400 µg/ml for Cladophoropsis sp. The rest of the algal extracts were observed not to have significant cytotoxic effects in the concentration range from 6.25 µg/ml to 400 µg/ml.Conclusion:Our data conclusively suggest that G. foliifera and Cladophoropsis sp. may be good candidates for further fractionation to obtain novel anticancer substances. Moreover, stronger cytotoxic effects on estrogen negative breast cancer cell line (MDA-MB-231(ER−)) in comparison to estrogen positive cells (MCF-7 and T-47D) suggest that the extract of G. foliifera and Cladophoropsis sp. may have an estrogen receptor/progesterone receptor-independent mechanism for their cellular growth inhibition.

No abstract

Background: Malaria is one of the most widespread communicable diseases in the southeast of Iran particularly in Chahbahar County. Comprehensive understanding of the influence of climate on this disease is a key element for success in the environmental-based malaria elimination programs. After analyzing the spatio-temporal distribution of the disease, the relationships between the infection statistics and some important climate indices particularly the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and rainfall were investigated.Methods: The malaria statistics collected from various health centers were composited with the corresponding data of Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), ground-based meteorological records and satellite-based rainfall data. Non-parametric Mann-whitely test was applied to detect the significant difference between patient number between El Niño and La Niña and between the adopted wet and dry episodes.Findings: Patient number from highest to lowest was associated to summer, autumn, spring and winter, respectively. Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax and other species were responsible for 22%, 75% and 3% of the sickness, respectively. While the outbreak of P. falciparum is in autumn; P. vivax is erupted in summer. When the epidemic statistics were collected from rural rather than urban areas, the effect of climate on the infection statistic was more obvious.Interpretation: For rural / urban areas, the infection statistics exhibited a significant decline / increase during El Niño episodes. In autumn, spring and winter, patient number has significantly increased / decreased during the dry / wet epochs, respectively. These relationships were, however, reversed during summertime of health indicators are rarely available for every population and period of interest, and available data.Funding: Shiraz University of Medical Sciences

Malaria is one of the most widespread communicable diseases in the southeast of Iran particularly in Chahbahar County. Comprehensive understanding of the influence of climate on this disease is a key element for success in the environmental-based malaria elimination programs. After analyzing the spatio-temporal distribution of the disease, the relationships between the infection statistics and some important climate indices particularly the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and rainfall were investigated.The malaria statistics collected from various health centers were composited with the corresponding data of Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), ground-based meteorological records and satellite-based rainfall data. Non-parametric Mann-whitely test was applied to detect the significant difference between patient number between El Niño and La Niña and between the adopted wet and dry episodes. Patient number from highest to lowest was associated to summer, autumn, spring and winter, respectively. Plasmodium falciparum, Plasmodium vivax and other species were responsible for 22%, 75% and 3% of the sickness, respectively. While the outbreak of P. falciparum is in autumn; P. vivax is erupted in summer. When the epidemic statistics were collected from rural rather than urban areas, the effect of climate on the infection statistic was more obvious. Interpretation: For rural / urban areas, the infection statistics exhibited a significant decline / increase during El Niño episodes. In autumn, spring and winter, patient number has significantly increased / decreased during the dry / wet epochs, respectively. These relationships were, however, reversed during summertime of health indicators are rarely available for every population and period of interest, and available data.