Evaluating the correlation between migraine and subclinical atherosclerosis.

BACKGROUNDS AND AIMS: Migraine is known to be associated with vascular dysfunction. However, sufficient evidence has not been reported in this regard. This study aims to assess subclinical atherosclerosis and endothelial function via Doppler Sonography in migraine patients. METHODS: In this case control study, Subjects were divided into two groups; Patients with migraine, and Healthy controls. Migraine was diagnosed according to the International Classification of Headache Disorders criteria. Participants were evaluated for carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) and flow-mediated dilation (FMD) indices, and the findings were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: In the study population, 64.9 % were female, and the mean age was 34.63 ± 6.06 years. Of the 47 people with migraine, 12 suffered from migraine with aura. Increased IMT was more in migraine with and without aura compared to control (p = 0.247), and FMD was lower in these groups than the control group (p = 0.311). There was a significant correlation between the duration of headache with the duration of migraine (p = 0.007, 0.389) and IMT (p = 0.038, 0.303). No statistically significant differences were observed between NSAID, acetaminophen, and ergotamine groups with IMT (p = 0.532) and FMD (p = 0.834). CONCLUSION: Migraine and its related medications do not affect vascular changes in favor of atherosclerosis. However, these findings might be valid for patients with acute migraines only.

A Framework for National Rehabilitation Policy and Strategies in Iran: A Scoping Review of Experiences in Other Countries.

BACKGROUND: The main objective of this study was to review the goals and programs of rehabilitative care in different countries to achieve a framework for a national operational plan for expanding rehabilitation services in Iran. METHODS: In this qualitative study (scoping review), national rehabilitation documents were reviewed in a selected list of countries. We searched several databases including Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar and main website such as WHO. Then, the review results were presented to a panel of experts to receive their feedback and opinion for a framework of national rehabilitation policy and strategies in Iran. RESULTS: In the preliminary phase, 1775 documents were found and 17 documents were selected from Asia, Europe, three islands near Australia, America, and Australia continents. National policies and programs regarding rehabilitation could be categorized in three fields: 1) Removing the barriers to access rehabilitative health services, 2) strengthening and improving rehabilitation, relevant appropriate technologies, Supportive Services, and Community Based Rehabilitation, and 3) Collecting international data on social support and improving the quality of research and services related to rehabilitation. CONCLUSION: To achieve a successful national rehabilitation framework in any country, it is required to strengthen information and research database, implement annual monitoring of policymaking, assess the next year rehabilitation needs of society, finding causes of disabilities for effective planning.

Mitochondrial oxidative stress and dysfunction induced by single- and multiwall carbon nanotubes: A comparative study.

With the ever-increasing use of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in health-related and engineering applications, the hazardous risks of this material have become a major concern. It is well known that CNTs accumulate with cytotoxic and genotoxic levels within vital organs. It has also been shown that treating cell cultures with CNTs resulted in cell-cycle arrest and increased apoptosis/necrosis. The goal of this pilot study is to perform a comprehensive comparative study on the toxicity of single-wall (SW) and multiwall (MW) CNTs in rat skin cells. Our results confirm a dose-dependent toxicity of SWCNTs and MWCNTs due to the loss of mitochondrial activity, increase in mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation, and mitochondrial membrane potential collapse before mitochondrial swelling. Moreover, disturbance in the oxidative phosphorylation is observed by a decrease in ATP level. These events induced the release of cytochrome c via outer membrane rupture or MPT pore opening and subsequently programmed cell death of all doses compared to control group. Our results demonstrate that although MWCNTs can be very toxic, SWCNTs cause more mitochondrial damage to the cells. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 105A: 2047-2055, 2017.

Chronic administration of daidzein, a soybean isoflavone, improves endothelial dysfunction and attenuates oxidative stress in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.

The effect of chronic daidzein, a soybean isoflavone, on aortic reactivity of streptozotocin-diabetic rats was studied. Male diabetic rats received daidzein for 7 weeks a week after diabetes induction. Contractile responses to KCl and phenylephrine (PE) and relaxation response to acetylcholine (ACh) were obtained from aortic rings. Maximum contractile response of endothelium-intact rings to PE was significantly lower in daidzein-treated diabetic rats relative to untreated diabetic rats, and endothelium removal abolished this difference. Endothelium-dependent relaxation to ACh was significantly higher in daidzein-treated diabetic rats as compared with diabetic rats and pretreatment of rings with nitric oxide synthase inhibitor N(G)-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester and/or indomethacin attenuated it. Two-month diabetes also resulted in an elevation of malondialdehyde (MDA) and decreased superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, and daidzein treatment significantly reversed the increased MDA content and reduced activity of SOD. Therefore, chronic treatment of diabetic rats with daidzein could prevent some abnormal changes in vascular reactivity in diabetic rats through nitric oxide and prostaglandin-related pathways, and via attenuation of oxidative stress in aortic tissue and endothelium integrity seems essential for this effect.