Journal of Arak University of Medical Sciences

The Effect of Probiotic Supplementations on Cognitive Function in Patients with Primary and Secondary Alzheimer

Gholamali Hamidi

Abstract
Background: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a most common neurodegenerative disorder. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of probiotic on cognitive function in patients with Alzheimer disease.
Materials and Methods: This clinical trial was conducted among 48 AD patients. The patients were randomly divided into two groups (n=23 in control group and n=25 in probiotic group) treating with capsules 500mg containing maltodextrine (control group) and probiotic supplementation (probiotic group) for 12 weeks. Mini-mental state examination (MMSE) and TYM test score was recorded in all subjects before and after treatment.
Results: After 12 weeks intervention, compared with the control group, the probiotic treated, patients with mild degree of Alzheimer disease showed an improvement in the MMSE, TYM score
(p < 0.0001).
Conclusion: Our current study demonstrated that probiotic consumption for 12 weeks positively affects cognitive function in mild degree of AD.

Isolation and Discovery of New Antimicrobial-agent Producer Strains Using Antibacterial Screening of Halophilic Gram-positive Endospore-forming Bacteria Isolated from Saline Lakes of Iran

Abolghasem danesh

Abstract
Background: Today, discovery and production of new antimicrobial drugs has been emphasized due to the growing of antimicrobial resistance. The purpose of this study was to screen out antimicrobial producing bacteria among halophilic or halotolerant Gram-positive endospore-forming bacteria isolated from different areas of Iran.
Materials and Methods: 62 strains were isolated from salin lakes of Iran, endospore-forming ability was evaluated and further identification of strains was done using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Screening test was performed using two-layer agar diffusion method in which the indicator strains, Bacillus cereus (ATCC 14579) and Escherichia coli, (PTCC 1330) were inoculated in the seed layer. Finally, the production of antimicrobial active agent during a period of 7 days was studied followed by evaluating the effect of base-layer agar concentration on the dissemination of antibacterial metabolite.
Results: Isolates WT6, R4A19 produced an agent(s) which inhibited the growth of both B.cereuse and E.Coli. The inhibition zone against only E.Coli was observed when R4A20 strain had been cultured in the base layer, while four non-bacillus strains (R4S2, LbS2, RF1 and WT19) could inhibit the growth of B.cereuse. The antibacterial compound production of WT6 against Bacillus cereuse and E.Coli reached to its optimumm leved after 3 and 4 days respectively, while R4A20 produced the active substance, optimally, after 5 days. No significant difference effect on diameter of zone inhibition was observed among various base-layer agar concentrations.
Conclusion: Halophile or halotolerant endospore-forming bacteria isolated from different areas of Iran possess a potential to be considered as interesting microorganisms for further antimicrobial research studies.

A Comparative Analysis of Acceptance-Commitment and Cognitive-Behavioral Interferences Effectiveness on Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Hadi Bahrami

Abstract
Background: The present study aims to provide a comparative analysis of studies on Acceptance-Commitment and Cognitive-Behavioral interferences effectiveness on generalized Anxiety disorder.
Materials and Methods: This is a quasi-experimental research. Students at the Islamic Azad University of Toyserkan, Iran, who have been in contact with the counseling office in the educational year 2016-2017, were selected as statistical population. These students, in a diagnostic interview with a psychiatrist, met the DSM5 standards for generalized anxiety disorder and were approved by a trusted psychiatrist. Then, these selected subjects gave average or more score in beck anxiety test and were randomly divided into two groups of 20. After executing interferences for each group, data were analyzed by t-test and covariance.
Results: The findings indicated that the average acceptance and commitment interference was 12.3 (t= 16.01 and p < 0.001) and the average cognitive-behavioral interference was 11.25 (t= 10.60 and p < 0.001) on generalized anxiety disorder. Also, covariance analysis showed that ACT was more effective than CBT and f (0.03) was significant. Therefore, all hypotheses turned out to be approved.
Conclusion: The research demonstrated that both interferences are effective in treating generalized anxiety disorder, although Acceptance and Commitment interference is more effective than Cognitive and Behavioral interference.

Examining the Effect of Inhibition of Lysyl oxidase on Involved Genes in Hypertrophy Following One Period of Resistance Training in Wistar Rats

Amir Rashidlamir

Abstract
Background: Recent Research has pointed to the involvement of lysyl oxidase (LOX) in the muscle development. Despite the fact, there is currently no direct evidence that lox is involved in the myogenic factors and exercise-induced hypertrophy. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of lysyl oxidase inhibition on exercise-induced hypertrophy, as well as the gene expression of MyoD1, myogenin, TGF-β and LOX in FHL muscle of wistar rats.
Material and Methods: In this experimental research, 32 male Wister rats with an average weight of 220±15 were divided into four groups: resistance training, normal control, treated control and treated resistance training. Rats performed a resistance training for 8 weeks in which animals climbed a vertical ladder of 1 m and inclined at 85° with weights attached to their tails. In order to inhibit lysyl oxidase, treatment group rats received daily injection of intraperitoneal β-aminopropionitrile (120 mg/kg/day). FHL muscle was extracted to measure relative muscle weight, as well as genes expression of MyoD1, myogenin, TGF-β and LOX by real time-PCR.
Results: Relative weight of FHL muscle was decreased significantly in the treated groups with BAPN, compared with normal groups (p<0.05). Lysyl oxidase showed a significant increase compared to the normal control group following a resistance training (p<0.05). LOX gene expression in treatment groups showed a significant increase compared to normal control group (p<0.05). TGF-β gene expression in BAPN-treated groups significantly was increased (p<0.05) and Myogenin in treatment groups showed a significant decrease compared to normal control groups (p<0.05). The expression of MyoD1 gene in treatment groups was only decreased significantly in the treated control groups compared to normal control groups (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Results showed that inhibiting the lysine oxidase enzyme could affect the genes involved in hypertrophy and reduce the hypertrophy induced by resistance training.

Determination of Relations between Systolic Blood Pressure and Heart Attack in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes with Association Rules

Danial Habibi

Abstract
Background: Today, the high prevalence of diabetes and its complications are one of the most important public health issues worldwide. For this reason, finding relations between diabetes risk factors is very effective in preventing and reducing complications. For discovering these relations, the data mining methods can be used. By extracting association rules, which is one of the data mining techniques, we can discover the relations between a large numbers of variables in a disease.
Materials and Methods: The population of this study was 1046 patients with type 2 diabetes, whose data had recorded between 2011 and 2014 at the Special Clinic for Diabetes in Tehran's Imam Khomeini Hospital. After pre-processing step with SPSS19 software, 573 people entered the analysis phase. The FP-Growth algorithm was applied to the data set to discover the relations between heart attack and other risk factors using Rapid miner5 software. Relations, after extraction, were given to the doctor to confirm clinical validation.
Results: The obtained results of studying these 573 people (Including 292 (51%) women and 281 (49%) men, with age range 27 to 82 years) showed that the lack of blood pressure, creatinine and diastolic blood pressure at its normal level, despite higher systolic blood pressure level than normal, doesn't increase the probability of heart attack.
Conclusion: Using association rules is a good way of identifying relations between the risk factors of a disease. Also, it can provide new hypotheses to do epidemiological studies for researchers.

Study The Effect of 4 weeks of Special Aerobic Training on CBS and SAM Levels in Hippocampus of Rats with Alzheimer-induced Disease with Aβ1-42 Injection

Marefat Siahkouhian

Abstract
Background: H2S plays a key role in the pathogenesis of the Alzheimer’s disease. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of 4 weeks of the special aerobic training after induction of Alzheimer’s disease by Aβ1-42 injection on CBS and SAM levels in hippocampus of Wistar male rats.
Materials and Methods: Twenty male Wistar rats (8 weeks old and weight 195 ± 20 g) were divided into four groups including: healthy control, Alzheimer’s control, Alzheimer’s + training and sham. To induce Alzheimer’s disease, Aβ1-42 was infused into the hippocampus of rats. Training group trained for 4-week. For data analysis, one-way ANOVA was used and Eta and Omega squared tests were used to determine the effect size (p<0.05).
Results: Findings revealed that 4 weeks of special aerobic training increased significantly the CBS and SAM levels in hippocampus of Alzheimer’s rats compared to the control Alzheimer’s rats ( ES=53; p= 0.007, ES= 92.22; p= 0.001). Also, we showed 4 weeks of special aerobic training increased CBS level in hippocampus of Alzheimer’s rats compared to the healthy cotrol group (ES= 44.07;
p= 0.014).
Conclusion: It seems that the special aerobic training can be used as a useful non-pharmacologically effective therapeutic treatment for Alzheimer's patients through positive regulation of hydrogen sulfide via CBS and SAM enzymes.

Evaluation of Anti-amoebic Activity of Peganum harmala Ethanolic Extract on Acanthamoeba In vitro

Fatemeh Ghaffarifar

Abstract
Background: Acanthamoeba is an opportunistic protozoan pathogen that is known to infect the cornea to produce eye keratitis and the central nervous system to produce lethal granulomatous encephalitis. The overall aim of the present study was to determine the anti-amoebic potential of natural compound Peganum harmala against the trophozoites and cysts of Acanthamoeba in vitro.
Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, a clinical isolate of Acanthamoeba was cultured and genotyped. The ethanolic extract of Peganum harmala was prepared. The trophozoites and cysts were collected by washing in page's saline. Various concentrations (1.25, 2.5, 5, and 10 mg/ml) of the ethanolic extract and polyhexanide 0.02% drop as positive control were tested at three different times (24, 48 and 72 h) on trophozoites and cysts of Acanthamoeba in vitro. The viability of trophozoites or cysts was tested by eozin method, MTT, and flowcytometry analysis.
Results: The results revealed that alcoholic extract had remarkable inhibitory effect on the proliferation of Acanthamoeba cysts as compared to non-treated control, and the inhibition was time and dose dependent. In the presence of 10 mg/ml ethanolic extract in medium culture after 72 h, no viable trophozoites were determined and 21.10% cysts of Acanthamoeba were viable. Percentage of trophozoites and cysts viability after adding polyhexanide 0.02% drop in medium culture after 72 hours was 0% and 23.71%, respectively.
Conclusion: Ethanolic extracts of Peganum harmala could be considered a new natural compound against the Acanthamoeba trophozoites and cysts. Further works are required to evaluate the exact effect of this extract on Acanthamoeba agents in animal models.

The Effects of One Period of Swimming Training on IL-6 Concentration in Lung Tissues of Wistar Rats Following the Injection of Carcinogen NNK

Shadmehr Mirdar

Abstract
Background: It is believed that sports exercises have minimal impacts on the pathological changes in the lung tissue exposed to chemical carcinogens in cigarette smoke. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of 12 weeks of swimming exercises on IL-6 concentration in the lung tissue of rats following the injection of carcinogen NNK.
Materials and Methods: This study is experimental in terms of the design. Forty-six Wistar rats were divided into five groups: A) Exercise (E), B) Exercise-NNK (EN), C) NNK (N), D) Control (C) and E) Vehicle (V). Exercise groups completed the swimming exercises for twelve weeks, five days per week (25-60min). Rats of vehicle and NNK treatment groups were respectively administered subcutaneous injections of distilled water and NNK (12.5mg/kg, once a week, 12weeks). Then, samples of the lung tissue were collected and IL-6 concentration was measured by ELISA technique. One-way analysis of variance and Tukey post hoc test were used for data analysis at the level of p ≤ 0.05.
Results: The results indicated a significant decrease of IL-6 concentration in exercise (p=0.009), exercise-NKK (p=0.006) groups and vehicle (p=0.006) with NKK groups; while there was no significant difference between exercise groups and the control groups. The swimming exercises can reduce IL-6 concentration significantly in lung tissue of rats following the injection of carcinogen NNK.
Conclusion: It seems that endurance exercises, along with other therapeutic methods, can play a role in reducing the effects of carcinogen NNK and negative effects of smoking by decreasing the inflammatory factor of IL-6.

To Investigate the Association of Thr241Met Polymorphisms of the XRCC3 Gene with the Risk of Breast Cancer in Women in Markazi Province

Ahmad Hamta

Abstract
Background: Biological and epidemiological data suggest that damage induced by endogenous and exogenous factors affects the integrity and stability of DNA and associated with susceptibility to breast cancer. The XRCC3 protein participates in DNA double-strand breaks and recombination repair. The aim of the present study was to evaluate associations between the risk of breast cancer and Thr241Met polymorphism in the XRCC3 gene.
Materials and Methods: In this study, the effects of Thr241Met polymorphism of the XRCC3 gene and the risk of breast cancer in a population-based case-control study inclusive 80 patients and 80 healthy individuals of women in Markazi province were evaluated. Genomic DNA was extracted from blood samples using the kit procedure. The genotypes of samples were determined by PCR-RFLP technique. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS software (estimation of χ² and p-value) and the final results were determined.
Results: Statistically significant difference was observed between the two groups of patients and controls for three genotypes of the site rs861539 (p= 0.000). Genotype CT (p= 0.000, OR=2.352, CI= 95%; 2.431 - 39.948) and TT (p = 0.003, OR= 2.352, CI=95%; 0.611 - 9.049) significant associations were showed with risk of breast cancer. Instead, the genotype CC (p= 0.000) showed a protective role against susceptibility to breast cancer.
Conclusion: This study identified that there is significant association between Thr241Met polymorphisms of the XRCC3 and the risk of susceptibility to breast cancer, which is in accordance to some of researchers' studies.