Effect of Herbal Medicine on Vaginal Epithelial Cells: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

OBJECTIVES: The present meta-analysis aimed to assess the effect of the herbal medicine on the vaginal epithelial cells (VECs) among the menopausal subjects. METHODS: The literature related to VECs exposed to various herbal medicines in menopausal women were searched on three databases, MEDLINE (1966–August 2017), Scopus (1990–August 2017) and Cochrane Library (Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials; 2014). RESULTS: Totally, the meta-analysis was conducted on 11 randomised controlled trials. Based on the findings, the standardized mean difference (SMD) of maturation value (MV) was observed to be elevated by 0.48% (95% interval confidence [CI], 0.108–0.871; P = 0.012), as well as the heterogeneity was high (I2 = 84%; P < 0.001). The MV revealed a significant increase in soy group (SMD, 0.358; 95% CI, 0.073–0.871; P = 0.014) compared to the control group. CONCLUSIONS: The herbal medicines exhibited a statistically significant effect on the VECs. A significant effect on the VECs was also found in the subgroup analysis of the patients, who received soy. However, further and extensive studies are required to achieve reliable outcomes.

Comparison of mean platelet volume levels in coronary artery ectasia and healthy people: systematic review and meta-analysis

Coronary artery ectasia (CAE) is defined as the dilation of a segment of a coronary vessel to at least 1.5 times the diameter of its normal adjacent segment. Mean platelet volume (MPV) plays a role in acute coronary syndromes, with high MPV correlating to poor prognosis for acute thrombotic events and CAE. Several studies investigated the relationship between MPV and CAE, resulting in conflicting results. These results led us to systematically review all studies investigating the relationship between MPV and ectatic heart diseases by performing a meta-analysis study in order to report a unified result. This meta-analysis study investigated all case-control articles examining the relationship between MPV and CAE. All studies in the following databases published until January 31, 2018, were investigated: Science Direct, Scopus, PubMed, Google Scholar, and Web of Science. Following a quality control evaluation, 14 articles, all of which were published following studies performed in Turkey from 2007 to 2016, met the criteria for study inclusion. After pooling the results from all of the articles, a total standardized mean difference (SMD) value of 0.584 (95% CI, 0.219, 0.95) was obtained using the D+L pooled SMD, indicating a significant difference (P=0.002) between the two groups, with higher MPV values in ectatic patients when comparing to healthy individuals. Therefore, increased MPV levels were significantly related to CAE, suggesting that platelets, with their inflammatory and thrombotic activities, play a role in this disease. Therefore, anti-platelet and anti-inflammatory therapies may be effective in treating CAE.

The Evaluation of p53 Polymorphism at Codon 72 and Association With Breast Cancer in Iran: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in Iran and the world. Multiple environmental factors and genetic variations such as genetic polymorphisms are of its main causes. p53 gene plays an important role in conserving and sustaining the genome as a tumor suppressing gene. Change and polymorphism at codon 72 of p53 gene are correlated with increased risk of lung, mouth, endometrial, prostate, and colorectal cancers, and could be considered an indicator of susceptibility to breast cancer. METHODS: Twelve studies (1,190 cases and 1,145 control studies with evaluation of three types of Arg/Arg, Arg/Pro, and Pro/Pro genotypes) have been conducted using keywords, such as polymorphism at codon 72, gene p53 polymorphisms, and the relation between polymorphisms and breast cancer, from databases in Iran, including Magiran, Medlibe, Sid, and Iranmedex, as well as Latin databases such as PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, and Scopus. RESULTS: The OR for Arg/Arg is 1.58 (95% CI: 2.45 to 1.01), the OR for Arg/Pro is 0.75 (95% CI: 1.10 to 0.51), and the OR for Pro/Pro is 0.62 (95% CI: 0.93 to 0.42). p53 gene polymorphism at codon 72 is statistically significant in Arg/Arg and Pro/Pro genotypes. CONCLUSIONS: Arg/Arg genotype can be considered as a risk factor for breast cancer, and Pro/Pro genotype can be accounted for as a protective factor against breast cancer.

The Role of Oral Contraceptive Pills on Increased Risk of Breast Cancer in Iranian Populations: A Meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Cancer is one of the main public health issues in the world. Breast cancer is one of the most common types of cancer among women. It is also the second cause of mortality in women. The association between the use of oral contraceptive pills and breast cancer is controversial and a main issue in public health. Some findings have shown that taking these pills does not have a significant effect in increasing the risk of breast cancer, while others have confirmed the carcinogenic effect of these products. These contradictory findings necessitated this meta-analysis, through of all correlated studies in Iran. METHODS: All published studies were considered from June 2000 until June 2015, using reliable Latin databases like PubMed, Google Scholar, Google search, Scopus, and Science Direct, and Persian database like SID, Irandoc, IranMedex, and Magiran. Finally, 26 papers were selected: 24 studies were case control while two were population based studies. A total of 26 papers with 46,260 participants were assessed since 2001. RESULTS: Overall estimate of OR for the effect of oral contraceptive pills on breast cancer is 1.521 (CI = 1.25–1.85), which shows that the intervention group had more chance (52%) compared to the control group (P = 0.001). Using these pills increased the risk of breast cancer up to 1.52 times. CONCLUSIONS: Because of directly increasing levels of estrogen and the role of estrogen in gaining weight indirectly, oral contraceptive pills can stimulate the occurrence of breast cancer. More studies should be conducted for controlling the period of pill use.