ABSTRACT
Background: In recent decades, much interest has been focused on investigating new roles of vitamin D in human body beyond the mineral-ion homeostasis
Methods: By searching medical databases such as PubMed, over 16000 articles were found which have been published since 2000 on novel aspects of vitamin D in health and diseases
Results: Of great interest was the effects of vitamin D on decreasing the risk of several chronic illnesses, including common cancers, autoimmune, infectious, and cardiovascular diseases. In this review, the new roles of vitamin D that have recently been investigated were addressed
Conclusions: Due to the vast prevalence of vitamin D deficiency worldwide, it seems that time has come to conduct well-designed clinical trials and meta-analysis to explore the effectiveness of vitamin D supplementation in treatment of common diseases. Finally, the progression in cellular and molecular methods and technology will shed new lights on vitamin D roles in health and disease
ABSTRACT
Background and Aims: brucellosis is the most common worldwide zoonosis. Brucellosis is principally caused by Brucella abortus which leads to female reproductive failure and potential infertility in males. This study was done to investigate brucellosis epidemiology during 2011-2013 in Amol city
Materials and Methods: in this epidemiological study, data achieved from medical records of brucellosis patients in Amol Health Center during 2011-2013. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software. Chi-square was used for data analysis while statistical significance was defined as p<0.05
Results: during 2011-2013, 173 patients were reported. The highest number of brucellosis outbreaks observed in 2013. In this study 60.12% of samples were males and 39.88% were females; 68.21% were rural people and 31.79% were urban residents. The lowest disease occurrence observed in winter [15.59%] and the highest frequency observed in summer [30.62%]. In terms of occupationally exposure highest morbidity frequency [32.94%] observed in housewives. A significant and meaningful relationships between gender and the job was found [P<0.05]
Conclusion: disease incidence increased in the first 6 months of the year. Furthermore, the patients were mostly rural and men. This study revealed that brucellosis is prevalent in Amol city. Controlling and vaccination of sick animals would reduce the human cases
ABSTRACT
Background: Dyslipidemia and insulin resistance [IR], occurring in most infertile women with polycystic ovarian syndrome [PCOS], increase the risk of cardiovascular disease [CVD] and type 2 diabetes. This study aimed to assess the relationships between lipopro-tein ratios and IR in PCOS women
Materials and Methods: Thirty six infertile women with PCOS selected based on Andro-gen Excess Society [AES] criteria and 29 healthy women matched for age were recruited to this case-control study. After physical measurements, fasting serum glucose [Glu], insulin and lipid profile levels [triglycerides [TGs], total cholesterol [TC], low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol [LDL-C] and high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol [HDL-C]] were measured, while lipoprotein ratios [TC/HDL-C, LDL-C/HDL-C, TG/HDL-C] were calculated. IR was also calculated using homeostasis model assessment [HOMA]-IR. The optimal cutoffs of lipoprotein ratios in relation to HOMA-IR were calculated based on the Receiver Operating Characteristics [ROC] curve analysis using the area under curve [AUC]
Results: Waist circumference [WC], insulin levels, HOMA-IR, TG levels, and all lipoprotein ratios were significantly higher, while HDL-C was lower in PCOS group as compared to healthy controls. All lipoprotein ratios, TG levels, and WC are significantly correlated with insulin levels and HOMA-IR. Among lipoprotein ratios, the highest AUC of the ROC belonged to TG/HDL-C ratio with sensitivity of 63.6% and specificity of 84.4% [TG/HDL-O3.19] as a marker of IR in infertile PCOS women
Conclusion: Lipoprotein ratios, particularly TG/HDL-C, are directly correlated with insulin levels and can be used as a marker of IR [HOMA-IR] in infertile PCOS patients
Subject(s)
Humans , Women , Adult , Lipoproteins/blood , Insulin Resistance , Infertility, Female , Case-Control StudiesABSTRACT
Background: Premenstrual syndrome [PMS] is one of the important health problems with high incidence; in young women. The exact cause of this syndrome is not clear and some theories have been declared from hormonal factors to nutritional disorders
Objective: We investigated the correlation between serum zinc and antioxidant status with PMS
Materials and Methods: In this case-control study, forty eight young girls were selected from a total sample of 110 students residing at university dormitories including PMS [n=23] and healthy [n=25] groups based on PMS questionnaire
Dietary intake questionnaire and blood samples were collected from all participants
Serum total antioxidant capacity [TAG] and zinc concentrations were also measured
Results: Serum TAG and zinc concentrations were lower in PMS patients compared with healthy groups [p<0.0l and p<0.05? respectively]. Healthy control consumed lower servings of hydrogenated oils [p<0.05]
There were significant differences in terms of muscle mass between the PMS and healthy groups [p<0.05]. Both serum TAG and zinc levels were negatively correlated to PMS scores [r=-0.39, p<0.05 and r= -036; p<0.05, respectively]
Conclusion: This study shows that higher TAG and zinc serum levels are associated with lower risk of PMS. PMS cases have more hydrogenated oils than their normal counterparts
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Several studies indicate that estrogen use increase performance on some tests of cognition especially in postmenopausal women. These steroids have many side effects, thus, other estrogenic agents with fewer side effects are needed to develop alternative treatment strategies. The main objection of this study was to evaluate the effects of different doses of dietary soy meals [with or without isoflavone] on spatial learning and memory in ovariectomized [OVX] rats. Methods: Female Wistar rats with the exception of intact group were ovariectomized at the first line of study. Subjects were divided into six groups. The control group rats [c] were gonadally intact, while the others were OVX. OVX groups received normal diet [0], treated with 10 gr soy [10], 20 gr soy [20], 10 gr isoflavone free soy [-10] or 20 gr isoflavone free soy [-20] in daily diet for four weeks. The spatial learning and memory were tested using Morris water maze. Rats were trained in water maze to find a hidden escape Platform. Rats received 6 blocks that each block consisted of 3 trials. Following acquisition trials, one probe trial were conducted in which the platform was removed. Results: Soy meal diet [with or without isoflavone] in ovariectomized rats caused improvement of performance across 18 trials of Acquisition. Discussion: Our results suggest that soy consumption apart from containing isoflavone or not is a potential alternative to estrogen in the improvement of cognition