Effects of Soy Flour Fortified Bread Consumption on Cardiovascular Risk Factors According to APOE Genotypes in Overweight and Obese Adult Women: A Cross-over Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Recent studies suggest that inclusion of soy product in the diet may have favorable effects on relief of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and risk factors. These effects might be associated with the presence of specific polymorphism in gene. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of consumption of soy flour fortified bread on cardiovascular risk factors in overweight and obese women according to APOE genotype. In a randomized cross-over clinical trial 30 overweight and obese women received a mild weight loss diet and assigned to a regular diet and a soy bread diet, each for 6 weeks and a washout period for 20 days. Subjects in the soy bread diet were asked to replace 120 grams of their daily usual bread intake with equal amount of soy bread. No significant effects of soy bread on serum lipid, systolic blood pressure and anthropometric indices were observed compared to the regular diet (p > 0.05). For diastolic blood pressure (DBP), comparison of mean differences between two groups showed a marginally significant effect of soy bread (p = 0.06). Compared to regular diet, soy bread had a significant effect on DBP in E2 genotype group (epsilon2/epsilon2) (p = 0.03). Having epsilon2 allele may influences responses of CVD risk factor to soy bread consumption. However more nutrigenetic studies are required.

Altered Th17/Treg ratio in recurrent miscarriage after treatment with paternal lymphocytes and vitamin D3: a double-blind placebo-controlled study

Background: Recurrent miscarriage [RM] affects 2-5% of pregnant women. Paternal lymphocyte immunotherapy is a common treatment for RM patients but the outcome has not been consistent. Therefore, combined therapy with other immunosuppressive drugs such as 1a, 25-dihydroxy-vitamin-D3 [vitamin D3] may improve the outcome

Objectives: To investigate the effect of vitamin D3 on the balance of two essential T cells subsets, T helper [Th] 17 and T regulatory [Treg] cells, which regulate tolerance

Methods: The expression levels of CD4 and forkhead box protein 3 [FOXP3] in Treg cells, and the expression levels of CD4 and IL-17 in Th17 cells, were evaluated pre- and 3 months post-immunotherapy in RM patients treated with a combination of paternal lymphocytes and vitamin D3 compared with RM patients receiving lymphocyte immunotherapy alone

Results: Vitamin D3 therapy decreased the frequency of Th17 cells in addition to reducing the Th17/Treg ratio in peripheral blood of RM patients compared with the control group [p<0.05]

Conclusion: Considering that RM patients have a higher Th17/Treg ratio in peripheral blood, vitamin D3 may be a candidate therapeutic approach in this disease

direct medical costs of colorectal cancer in Iran; analyzing the patient's level data from a cancer specific hospital in Isfahan

The Immense cost of cancer treatment is one of the main challenges of health care systems all over the world including Iran. The aim of this study was to analyze the direct treatment costs of colorectal cancer patients in Isfahan, Iran. In this cross sectional study, the medical records of colorectal cancer [CRC] patients admitted to the Seyyed-al-Shohada Hospital "SSH" from 2005-2010 were reviewed. The profiles of 452 patients were examined. However based on inclusion, exclusion criteria a total number of 432 profiles were analyzed. All records including age, sex, treatment processes and treatment costs were extracted from the patients' profiles and analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis test. The results showed that 56.1% of CRC patients were male. The mean age of patients suffering from CRC was 56 +/- 13.4. More than Thirty-six percent of the patients were in stages 1-3 of CRC and more than half of them [64.4%] were in the 4[th] stage. The higher the stage of the cancer the higher the percentage of treatments used. 5-Fluorouracil and Leucovorin [5FU/LV] was the most common used chemical treatment protocol. The mean treatment cost for stage one was 10715 [ +/- 4927], for stage two 15920 [ +/- 3440], stage three 16452 [ +/- 2828] and for stage four was 16723 [ +/- 2555] US Dollars. The cost of drug treatment was the first cost driven between the medical services. CRC in Iranian population starts in younger age than people in western countries. This imposed considerable direct and indirect economic cost to the society. The direct medical cost of colorectal cancer in Iran is very higher than 38 million [dollar sign]. Screening programs could reduce the economic cost of CRC significantly