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Introduction: One of the severe forms of affective disorders, defined in DSM-IV-TR, is bipolar disorder type1. This is a psychotic disease that coexists with structural and biochemical changes of CNS. It is probably under influence of environmental and/or genetic factors. Finger and hand prints are formed during the late first and second trimester of fetal development, and then remain unchanged. There are some suggestions that disturbance in dermatoglyphic patterns probably are in relation with appearance of bipolar disorder. It seems that this disturbance is appeared at the first and second trimester of fetal development, which is a critical period for CNS growth. This study is done to investigate the dermatoglyphic patterns in bipolar disorder. Materials and Methods: This is a case-control study in which we have studied the dermatoglyphic changes in 30 bipolar disorder patients and compared to those of 72 healthy controls. The χ2 test was used for quantitative and T-test for qualitative data analysis. Results: Results showed that TABRC in patients was decreased in comparison to healthy people but this decrease was not significant. Regarding the type of patients, fingerprints, Loop and Whorls forms were heterogenous and were significantly different in comparison to control group (p=0.001, p=0.003). Conclusion: It seems that dermatoglyphic patterns can be an interesting and probably suitable procedure in determining the prognosis of bipolar disorder type 1 and other psychiatric disorders.

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Background: Diabetes mellitus is one of the most important health problems in the world. B-cells are susceptible to damage by free radicals. Noticing the mechanism of cupping, this study was carried out to evaluate the effect of cupping together with drug therapy on biochemical factors and oxidative stress. Materials and Methods: In this clinical trial, 5ml of intravenous blood was obtained from diabetic patients in beginning and late stages of this disease who referred to a diabetes center. In addition to receiving metformin and glibenclamide, the patients underwent cupping after one month and were analyzed one month later. Blood samples obtained one month before and after the treatment were compared in terms of diabetes and oxidative stress indicators. To evaluate lipid peroxidation, TBA method was used and FRAPS method was employed to measure total serum antioxidants and blood factors by Pars Azmon kit. Results: Hemoglobin A1C, fasting blood sugar, blood sugar 2 hours after fasting, triglycerides, cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein as well as high-density lipoprotein showed significant increases. Aspartate transferase in diabetic patients significantly decreased after phlebotomy (p<0.05). Conclusion: Cupping improves blood factors in diabetic patients and it is recommended to be used as a complementary treatment in patients with diabetes type II.

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Background: All-trans retinoic acid(RA), an active metabolite of vitamin A, is widely used to induce cell differentiation. It has significant effects on growth and proliferation of epithelial cells. It also causes cell cycle arrest in G0/G1 phase and induces the apoptosis. cisplatin, a chemotherapy compound that cross-linking to DNA, and leads to apoptosis, it is commonly used for treatment of ovarian, head and neck, esophageal, gastric cancers and melanoma. Recent studies showed that RA enhances cytotoxic effects of cisplatin on melanoma and ovarian cancer. Our literature review showed that there is no previous study on the effect of RA in combination with cisplatin on esophageal cancer, hence current study conducted to investigate such combination treatment on esophageal derived cell, KYSE-30.

Materials and Methods: KYSE30 cell line was cultured in presence of different concentration of RA alone and in combination with cisplatin. Then, cell death was investigated by colonogenic assay and acridine orange/ ethedium bromide staining.

Results: The results showed that RA concentrations &ge15µM cause differentiation of KYSE30 to squamous cell morphology, while lower concentrations decreases the colony formation (p&le0.05). These effects were also observed in combination with cisplatin and RA. The best effects on cell death were observed in 10 µM of RA of combination with 5 and 10 µg/ml of cisplatin.

Conclusion: The results suggest that low concentration of RA in combination with cisplatin are more effective than cisplatin alone in terms of apoptosis and necrosis of esophageal cancer, KYSE-30.