Effect of low dose nebulized morphine on respiratory function improvement in mustard gas-exposed patients: A double-blind crossover clinical trial study.

Background: Mustard is one of the most destructive chemical gases used in chemical warfare. Several studies showed effectiveness of inhaled morphine as a secondary treatment for the improvement of dyspnea. Therefore, this study aimed at determining the efficacy of low dose inhaled morphine for respiratory function improvement in patients who were exposed to the mustard gas. Methods: This study was designed as a cross-over double-blinded clinical trial. Patients exposed to mustard gas were randomly assigned into two groups: 1) received 0.4 mg of morphine by inhalation and 2) received 5 ml of normal saline serum as a placebo in the same manner. After a washout period of one week, the first group received the placebo and the second group received morphine for 5 days. Spirometric indices, expiratory flow peak, exercise test, severity of dyspnea, and quality of life were evaluated as respiratory function parameters. Data analysis was done using SPSS software Version 16. Results: The mean maximum expiratory flow was significantly higher among cases who used morphine in comparison with the placebo group (p<0.05). Moreover, the severity of dyspnea, quality of life, and the frequency of coughing during the day were significantly improved among the recipients of morphine (p<0.05) while the spirometric indices and exercise tolerance tests were similar between the two groups (p>0.05), but the mean peak expiratory flow (PEFR) was significantly higher among the patients receiving morphine than the placebo patients (p<0.001). Conclusion: The use of inhaled morphine had a significant positive effect on the respiratory system of people exposed to mustard gas. We can use low doses of inhaled morphine to improve the respiratory function of these patients as a secondary therapy.

Clinical evaluation of vasomotor system functionality in type 2 diabetic Patients.

BACKGROUND: Autonomic neuropathy and vital organ dysfunctions are the known complications in type 2 diabetes Mellitus (DM). Genetic endowments involving individuals make subtle differences in physiological systems, particularly at the time of sickness. Hence, the presented study was designed to evaluate the vasomotor system in healthy people and type 2 DM cases for determining any functionality differences between the mentioned groups. METHODS: Sixty patients with type 2 diabetes (case group) and sixty healthy subjects (control group) matched for age and sex were enrolled in the study. Then, the performance of vasomotor system was assessed using valsalva maneuver, cold pressor, sustained hand-grip and mental arithmetic tests and the differences were determined via statistical methods. RESULTS: According to our findings, abnormal response to valsalva maneuver was found in the case group (P=0.028) and the same response was seen about mental arithmetic evaluations. In the case of cold pressor and sustained hand-grip tests, remarkable differences were not found in both groups. Important differences were also found among vasomotor dysfunction and the time of DM labeling. CONCLUSION: This study showed a higher incidence of vasomotor dysfunction in DM patients. However, revision in cold pressor and sustained hand-grip tests definition as well as methodology was recommended.

Serum Profiles of Cytokines in Behcet's Disease.

Introduction: Behcet's disease (BD) is a chronic systemic autoinflammatory vasculitis which is handled by the variety of proteins like cytokines. Therefore, cytokines are considered as one of the prototypic factors during inflammatory responses of BD. Consequently, the present study was designed for evaluation of cytokine profiles in Iranian BD cases, including those with and without uveitis. Materials and Method: All cases were divided into three groups based on ophthalmologic exam results: BD with uveitis, BD without uveitis, and recovered uveitis BD. Cases with a history of BD recovery were placed in the group of recovered uveitis. The patients with infectious uveitis as well as other collagen vascular diseases and patients who have used biologics to treat ocular immune-mediated diseases were excluded. Finally, after venous blood sampling, levels of cytokines were quantified and statistical approaches were performed for measurements. Results: Enrolled cases were divided to 26 patients with active uveitis, 25 patients with recovered uveitis and 24 patients without uveitis and interestingly, just IL-2 was the only cytokine that showed statistical difference in patients with BD uveitis in comparison with other groups (pvalue = 0.02). The pair wise comparison showed a significant difference between the patients with and without uveitis groups (pvalue = 0.004) as well as patients with uveitis and recovered uveitis groups (pvalue = 0.002). Discussion: Significant elevation of IL-2 in patients with uveitis (in comparison with recovered or without uveitis cases) demonstrates that it may be one of the main proteins that enroll in the pathophysiology of BD uveitis and may be considered as a new target for refractory disease therapies. Studies with larger samples can help to obtain more accurate conclusions.

Bioimpacts of dialyzer variety on phosphorus level in Iranian hemodialysis patients.

INTRODUCTION: Cardiovascular events are the major cause of death in patients with chronic renal failure. About half of dialysis patients because of reduced phosphorus clearance have hyperphosphatemia. Hyperphosphatemia and following secondary hyperparathyroidism lead to some cardiovascular changes. Hemodialysis (HD) partly removes phosphorus during each dialysis session. OBJECTIVES: Presented study was designed to evaluate dialyzer variation effect on phosphorus level as a prognostic factor after dialysis using. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Six kinds of dialyzer were used for dialysis; low flux (LF) dialyzer (F7 and F8), high flux (HF) dialyzer (F70 and F80) and finally hollow-fiber dialyzers including polyethersulfone (PES) 130 HF and polysulfone (PS) 13 LF. Fifty-seven patients were divided into 6 matched groups included three groups of 10 people and 3 groups of 9 persons in groups: A (F70), B (F80), C (F7), D (F8), E (PES 130 HF) and F (PS 13 LF). Patients were treated for one month with these dialyzers. At the end of the month, blood samples were taken again for phosphorus level before dialysis handling. RESULTS: The mean pre-dialysis serum phosphorus was 5.03, 5.4, 5.2, 4.6, 4.95 and 5.1 mg/dl and the mean phosphorus was 5.43, 5.01, 4.9, 4.18, 4.17 and 5.3 mg/dl after one month of dialysis, respectively in groups A to F without any statistically differences between pre- and after one month dialysis values respectively. DISCUSSION: The findings indicate dialyzer type in the control of serum phosphorus has not been effective in the short-term HD. We suggest a study with more duration time.

A review of modeling techniques for genetic regulatory networks.

Understanding the genetic regulatory networks, the discovery of interactions between genes and understanding regulatory processes in a cell at the gene level are the major goals of system biology and computational biology. Modeling gene regulatory networks and describing the actions of the cells at the molecular level are used in medicine and molecular biology applications such as metabolic pathways and drug discovery. Modeling these networks is also one of the important issues in genomic signal processing. After the advent of microarray technology, it is possible to model these networks using time-series data. In this paper, we provide an extensive review of methods that have been used on time-series data and represent the features, advantages and disadvantages of each. Also, we classify these methods according to their nature. A parallel study of these methods can lead to the discovery of new synthetic methods or improve previous methods.

Gap junctions: the claymore for cancerous cells.

INTRODUCTION: Gap junctions play an important role in the cell proliferation in mammalian cells as well as carcinogenesis. However, there are controversial issues about their role in cancer pathogenesis. This study was designed to evaluate genotoxicity and cytotoxicity of Carbenoxolone (CBX) as a prototype of inter-cellular gap junction blocker in MCF7 and BT20 human breast cancer cells. METHODS: The MCF7and BT20 human breast cancer cell lines were cultivated, and treated at designated confluency with different doses of CBX. Cellular cytotoxicity was examined using standard colorimetric assay associated with cell viability tests. Gene expression evaluation was carried out using real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). RESULTS: MCF7 and BT20 cells were significantly affected by CBX in a dose dependent manner in cell viability assays. Despite varying expression of genes, down regulation of pro- and anti-apoptotic genes was observed in these cells. CONCLUSION: Based upon this investigation, it can be concluded that CBX could affect both low and high proliferative types of breast cancer cell lines and disproportionate down regulation of both pre- and anti-apoptotic genes may be related to interacting biomolecules, perhaps via gap junctions.