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Introduction: Flexor tendon entrapment of the digits (FTED) is a disorder characterized by snapping or locking of the thumb or fingers (with or without pain) and called trigger finger. Corticosteroid injections are one of the most commonly used treatments for chronic tendon disorders. Despite their popularity, the systematic evidence for their benefits are largely lacking. This study tries to determine the efficacy of local corticosteroid injection in treatment of trigger finger. Materials and Methods: This is a clinical trial research. Variables including local tenderness, trigerring stage, pain during isometric flexion and passive stretching of the tendon (based on VAS) were evaluated before local injection of corticosteroid and then 3 weeks, 3 months and 6 months after the injection. Data was collected by special forms and analyzed using Chi square and ANOVA Tests. Results: The difference between persence of A1 pulley tenderness in 4 examinations was significant (p<0.0001). The difference between pain induced by isometric flexion and pain induced by stretching the tendon passively in extension was also significant (both p<0.0001). The difference between frequency distribution of triggering was significant (p<0.0001). Patients satisfaction was 90% . Conclusion: The rate of success in local corticosteroid injection was 90% (only with one injection). The high rate of success and low side effects, make this method a suitable treatment for trigger finger.

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Introduction: Dehydroepiandrostrone (DHEA) and its sulfate form is an adrenal hormone and is the most common steroidal hormone in body and despite of other adrenal hormones increases with age, so it is called youth fountain. Recently, DHEA is noticed increasingly because of its multiple effects. Its effect on insulin sensitivity is controversial. In this study the relation between Dehydroepiandrostrone (DHEA) level and Insulin sensitivity is investigated. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional analytical study, samples were selected among female relatives of diabetic patients referring to Isfahan Endocrine Research Center. They were divided into three groups including diabetic, impaired glucose tolerance and normal glucose tolerance, each 30 persons. In these groups blood sugar, lipid, CBC, Insulin and DHEA-S levels were evaluated and the rate of Insulin sensitivity was determined using Homeostatic Modle Assessment- Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) and the relation between insulin sensitivity rate and DHEA in the three groups was compared. Data was analyzed using one way analysis of variance and t-tests. Results: The mean of variables in the three groups of diabetic, impaired glucose tolerance and normal glucose tolerance for DHEA-S was 127, 113, 129 mcg/dl Insulin 7.7, 1.10, 8.3 mcg/ml HOMA-IR 1.6, 3.5, 1.8 and fasting blood sugar 86, 135, 89 mg/dl respectively. Comparison of mean of variables showed that the difference between DHEA-S in groups was not significant. Also there was no meaningful relationship between DHEA-S and blood sugar. In the group with normal glucose tolerance, DHEA-S with HOMA-IR and insulin had a partial meaningful relation (p<0.06). Conclusion: Overally DHEA has no meaningful relation with insulin sensitivity and HOMA-IR, but this relation is meaningful in the three groups and the relation between DHEA-S with HOMA-IR in the group with normal glucose tolerance is partially meaningful.

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Background: The role of sex hormones in pain perception and the effect of stress on reproductive system have not been determined yet. The present study investigated the effects of acute and chronic restraint stress on nociception and sex hormones concentration in rats. Methods and Materials: This experimental study was carried out with 47 male and female rats which ranged in weight from 170-230 gr. In order to transmit stress to the rats, they were initially exposed to acute restraint stress (1h) and chronic stress (for two weeks-1h/day). Then they were submitted to tail flick test for nociception evaluation. Sex hormones serum level was measured by radioimmunoassay method. Results were analyzed with Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests. Results: In male and female rats, acute restraint stress had significant increment in latency in the tail flick test. Chronically stress in male rats, was not significant effect on latency time. Chronically stress in females responded to restraint stress with an increase in tail flick latency. Both acute and chronic restraint stress reduced testosterone level in the male rats. In the female rats, only acute restraint stress significantly decrease plasma estradiol level. Restraint stress did not effect on testosterone concentration level in the female and estradiol level in the male rats. Conclusion: Acute restrain stress decrease nociceptive and sex hormon levels in male and female rate but, chronic restraint stress causes sex dependent response.

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Background: Psychological interventions may improve the quality of life in females with temporal lobe epilepsy through affecting their bio-psycho-social dimensions. This aim of this study was to aim assess the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral stress management (CBSM) group education on improvement of quality of life in epileptic patients. Materials and Methods: This was a case-control study with pre-post-and follow-up tests. The sample population included 26 patients, already diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy by neurologist and through electro-encephalography, that were randomly selected and assigned to experimental and control groups. Data were collected through the Quality Of Life Questionnaire for Epileptic patients (QOLIE- 89) that was administered in the pre-test, post-test, and follow-up test. CBSM group education was given to the experimental group in ten sessions during two months. Results: The mean of QOLIE-89 score in the experimental group showed a significantly higher increase in comparison to that in the control group (p<0.05). Conclusion: The results demonstrated the effectiveness of CBSM group education on the improvement of quality of life in females with temporal lobe epilepsy.

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Background: Hyperlipidemia is an important risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. In this study, the effects of physalis alkekengi extract on the levels of cholesterol, low density lipoproteins (LDL), high density lipoproteins (HDL), and triglycerides (TG) were evaluated. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, fifty adult male Wistar strain rats were selected and divided into five groups of ten: Control group with a normal diet, control group with a high fat diet receiving interpritoneal injection of saline for 21 days, and treatment groups with fatty diets which received maximum (0.1 g/kg), moderate (0.2 g/kg), and minimum (0.4 g/kg) dose interpritoneal injections of the extract. After this period, blood sampling was done and the obtained results were analyzed through SPSS software. Results: According to the obtained results, LDL and cholesterol concentrations decreased significantly (P<0.05), whereas HDL and TG plasma concentrations did not reveal any significant changes. Conclusion: The findings of this study show that such changes are mainly due to the lycopene existing in the plant. Lycopene is a strong antioxidant which inhibits the production of LDL and presumably increases the excretories through releasing cholesterol therefore, it reduces blood cholesterol level and controls cholesterol synthesis.

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Background: Physalis Alkekengi is a perennial plant with a creeping and ryzumy stem belonging to the solanaceae family. This study investigates the possible effects of Physalis Alkekengi on plasma concentrations of some biochemical factors. Materials and Methods: Fifty male Wistar rats weighing an average of 190 ± 5 g were divided into five groups of ten: Control group without receiving any substances, control group with 2.0 ml/dl administration of the solvent, and three experimental groups receiving 0.4 (maximum), 0.2 (medium), and 0.1 (minimum) g/kg intra-peritoneal (IP) injections of the drug. The intra-peritoneal (IP) injection of the drug was done for 14 days and after this period, for conducting lab tests, blood sampling was done and the results were analyzed through ANOVA and Tukey test. Results: According to the results, protein and albumin plasma concentrations showed a significant increase (P<0.05) while creatinine plasma concentration, bilirubin, and urea nitrogen (BUN) did not reveal any significant changes. Conclusion: This family of plants contains significant amounts of glucocorticoids, such compounds are likely to increase liver and plasma proteins. In addition, due to the presence of compounds, such as physaline, vitamin C, and albumin, this extract is likely to increase blood pressure and, eventually, increase glomerulic refinement and diuretic properties therefore, the absence of significant increases in plasma concentrations of the substances produced by metabolism in plasma seems reasonable

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Background: Live attenuated Shigella vaccines have shown promise in inducing protective immune responses in human clinical trials. The aim of this study was to design and construct pDS132::∆icsA as a suicide plasmid for targeted deletion of a region of icsA gene in Shigella. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, species and serotypes of Shigella isolated from diarrhea samples of children at Firozabadi and Milad Hospitals of Tehran were confirmed by using serological and PCR tests. Identification primers of icsA gene were designed and then cloned to the pGEM-5zf vector and sequenced. According to icsA restriction enzyme map, 1751 bp of icsA gene was deleted by HincП restriction enzyme and the ∆icsA was constructed successfully. The pGEM∆icsA vector was digested by use of SphI and SalI enzymes and was then cloned to a suicide vector (pSD132). Precision of the process was confirmed by phenotype and genotype tests. Results: The Shigella dysenteriae type 1 strain was verified by serological tests and PCR. Sequence of the icsA gene in the native strain was identical to the strains submitted in the gene-bank database. Since the pDS132::∆icsA contains 1484 bp derived from icsA gene, it can be used to disrupt icsA gene as a specific suicide vector. Conclusion: Application of suicide systems facilitated mutant construction in more specific and effective methods in comparison with the other primary techniques such as serial passage.

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Background: Leukemia is the most common type of cancer in children which its relapse decreases the patients’ survival rate. The aim of this study was to determine the risk factors involved in leukemia relapse in patients in Shahid Faghihi Hospital, Shiraz, during 2004-2009 years. Materials and Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, 280 patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and acute myeloid leukemia were included. Patient characteristics were analyzed with respect to their association with recurrence through Chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test, and logistic regression model using SPSS software version 16 (P-value<0.05). Results: Logistic regression model revealed a statistically significance relationship between age and recurrence of the disease (odds ratio (OR) = 0.35, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.15-0.82), odds ratio of relapse in the 5-10 years old age group was 0.35 times more than the 0-5 years old age group (p=0.01). Conclusion: Noticing the greater likelihood of relapse in 0-5 years old age group compared with the 5-10 years old age group, more attention and better follow-up for decreasing the side effects of the disease and enhancing the survival rate of the 0-5 y/o age group are recommended.

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Background:Noticing the side effects associated with chemical drugs, using natural medicinal plants has gained more prominence recently. Physalis alkekengi extract is a medicinal plant belonging to Solanaceae family which similar to most drugs used in traditional medicine, despite possessing a multitude of medicinal properties, has not received sufficient attention. The aim of the present study was to briefly review the effects of Physalis alkekengi extract on the concentration of thyroid hormones, blood cholesterol, some plasma biochemical factors, liver function, immune system, and sexual hormones. Due to the extensive usage of Physalis alkekengi extract in traditional medicine, determining its advantages and possible side effects is of great physiologic and pharmacologic significance. Physalis alkekengi extract due to the presence of such effective substances as alkaloids, lycopene, glucocorticoids, alcoholic agents, and a large amount of vitamin C as well as antioxidant properties can play a significant role in changes in body homeostasis. This study dealt with the function and effect of Physalis alkekengi extract on different body organs through using proper keywords and extensive online search through electronic databases and credible sources. The results of this mini-review showed that Physalis alkekengi extract can bring about various significant changes in different body organs that have not been properly recognized. Therefore, further and more extensive studies should be done on this plant.

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Background: Psoriasis is a common chronic skin disease which usually appears as white and silvery spots on the skin. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of berberine on patients with psoriasis. Materials and Methods: This double-blind clinical trial was conducted on 60 psoriasis patients who referred to Imam Khomeini Hospital, Ahvaz, between July and December 2011. The patients were randomly divided into two equal groups that applied berberine and placebo to the treatment of their lesions twice a day. Lesions severity rate in the patients was assessed 7 times using a Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI). Data were analyzed by ANOVA with repeated measurements and Chi-square using SPSS software. Results: After 6 months, severity of lesions showed a significant decrease in the group receiving the berberine cream compared with the placebo group so that the mean PASI score of the group receiving berberine decreased from 3.99 to 2.11 while in the placebo group this decreased from 3.98 to 3.71. Mean difference in PASI score was not significant before receiving the treatment till the third month in berberine and placebo groups, but in the fourth to sixth months it was statistically significant (p=0.013). Conclusion: Berberine cream was more effective than the placebo in reduction of skin lesions of psoriasis patients. Therefore, it is recommended that plant-based drugs, like berberine, be used more besides the main medications of patients.

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Background: Heat stress reduces reproductive performance in farm animals. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of heat stress and different concentrations of melatonin on nuclear maturation of ovine oocytes. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, ovary collection and oocyte recovery were carried out by standard methods. Oocytes culture was in A: TCM199+10% FBS, 5µg/ml FSH, 0.01IU/ml LH, 100 IU/ml penicillin, and 100 IU/ml streptomycin, B: A+heat stress at 40 C0, and C and D:B+1 and 10 µM melatonin, respectively. Results: Heat stress significantly (P<0.05) decreased nuclear maturation in the treatment group in comparison with the control group (60.60 vs. 84.89). Also, 1 and 10 µM melatonin could improve oocytes to reach metaphase-II stage (60.60 vs. 76.92, 78.82, respectively). However, increasing the melatonin dose from 1 to 10 µM did not alter oocytes maturation. Conclusion: Overall, this study showed that melatonin improves ovine immature oocytes maturation during heat stress.

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Background: Load lifting is the most stressful activity of the Manual Material Handling and can trigger of work-related musculoskeletal disorders of workers. Purposes of this study are determining the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders, assessment lifting tasks by NIOSH lifting equation method, ergonomic design and assessment of its effectiveness.

Materials and Methods: This analytical and interventional study was performed on 30 workers in a Porcelain Health Manufacturing industry in Hamadan. Assessment of lifting tasks by NIOSH lifting equation and determining the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders by Nordic questionnaire was conducted. Then, construction steps and determination of the effectiveness of ergonomic design was conducted.

Results: The results showed that the most frequent musculoskeletal disorders related to back. Results of the lifting index (LI) showed that the risk of lifting load in before intervention is high (greater than 3). This value after the conducting of ergonomic intervention (load-carrying cart) decreased to moderate level (between 1 to 3). The relationship of risk average amount before and after interventions were significant (p<0.001).

Conclusion: Load-carrying cart designed with shelves capable of moving vertically up and down has considerable role in safe making of lifting tasks and probability of reduce the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders and lumbar injuries will bring in the near future.

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Background: One of the acute effects of snakebite is injury to vital organs including kidneys. This study examines the effects of snake (Najanajaoxiana) venom on renal function.

Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, six male Dutch rabbits with average weight of 1.5± 0.3 kg were selected. Before injection of the venom, blood samples were collected for serum analysis and then the snake (Najanajaoxiana) venom (140µg/kg) was injected intramuscularly. Following venom injection, blood sampling from each rabbit was carried out at hours 1, 3, and 24. All serum samples were separated within two hours and the amounts of creatinine, urea, albumin, and glucose were determined by quantitative detection kits. Statistical analyses were carried out by SPSS software version 21. Obtained information was compared by one-way ANOVA and F and Tukey tests. p value<0.05 was considered significant.

Results: Following venom injection at hours 1, 3, and 24, some serum parameters showed slight changes which were not statistically significant. However, glucose showed a significant increase (71%) at hour 1 (p<0.05). Following venom injection, this returned to normal at hour 24.

Conclusion: Based on the results obtained in the present study, it seems that the Najanajaoxiana venom, unlike the viper species, have no severe effects on the kidney.

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Background: Despite control, prevention and the availability of drugs to cure tuberculosis, TB remains an important cause of death from an infectious agent in Iran. Pulmonary tuberculosis is more than 80% of tuberculosis cases. Chest x-ray is sensitive, cheap and accessible instrument for the diagnosis of tuberculosis. The aim of this study was to determine the radiological changes in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis.

Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, after consideration of inclusion and exclusion criteria, finally 477 radiographic patients referred to rural and urban clinics in recent decade were enrolled. The affected lobe or lobes of the left or right lung were recorded. The types of involvement were categorized based on patchy consolidation, cavitation, fibrosis, bronchiectasis, gohn lesion, bronchogenic spread and bronchopneumonia. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to measure the strength of association between continuous variables. For analysis of qualitative parameters, we use from Chi-square test. Data analysis was done in SPSS18 and p value below than 0.05 was significant.

Results: Out of 477 patients, mean age was 48.24±22 years old, male including 33.3%, Iranian and urban cases were 44% and 91.3% respectively. The most frequent involved site was the left upper lobe followed by the right upper lobe. The most frequent radiographic finding was patchy consolidation and then bronchogenic spread and pneumonic consolidation respectively. There was significant correlation between lung cavities in patients with nationality.

Conclusion: This study could  help to early diagnosis and treatment of suspect patients to pulmonary tuberculosis.

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Background: The pathogenesis of recurrent pregnancy loss includes complex interaction of several genetic and environmental factors. Changes in blood coagulation factors during pregnancy may play an important role in the occurrence of recurrent abortions (RA). Recently, inherited thrombophilia has been considered as a possible cause. Therefore, in this study we have investigated association of factor V (G1691A) and factor II (G20210A) polymorphisms in Iranian patients with recurrent abortions.

Materials and Methods: A total of 203 women participated in this study: 105 women with two or more consecutive unexplained miscarriage as cases and 98 women with at least two healthy children as control group. Total genomic DNA was isolated from Peripheral blood leukocytes. The presence or absence of mutation in the FV (G1691A) and FII (G20210A) polymorphisms were assessed by PCR-RFLP, using Mnl1 and HindIII digestion enzymes, respectively. Finally, the data were  analyzed using Chi-Square test.

Results: The results showed no statistical significant differences in the prevalence of FV (G1691A) and FII (G20210A) polymorphisms between patients and control group.

Conclusion: considering the results of this study, these polymorphisms Seem to have no role in etiology of recurrent pregnancy loss in the studied population.

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Background: Shigella is the causative agent of human shigellosis and its lipopolysaccharide is detected by TLR4. TLR4 belongs to Toll-like receptors family and many immunological pathways are triggered when these receptors are stimulated. Many researches showed increasing in TLR4 expression in mesenchymal stem cells through lipopolysaccharide treatment. The main goal of this study is detecting the optimum lipopolysaccharide between shigella strains through stimulation of immune system for vaccine studies.

Materials and Methods: In this experimental study human bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells were treated with three distinct concentrations (0.1, 0.01, and 0.001) of shigella (S. flexneri, S. dysenteriae, S. sonnei) extract containing lipopolysaccharide. Then TLR4 expression in mRNA level was investigated by RT-PCR and Q-PCR. The cells treated with phosphate buffered saline have been considered as a control group.

Results: Expression of TLR4 was shown in all of case groups except treatment with concentration 0.001 of extracts from sonnei and dysenteriae and also control group. The variations in the expression of TLR4 was dose-dependent in all of case groups. The maximum expression of TLR4 related to treatment with extract from shigella flexneri strain and the minimum expression related to treatment with shigella sonnei extract. The use of lipopolysaccharide from E. coli as a positive control indicated that lipopolysaccharide in shigella extracts is responsible for the increased expression of TLR4.

Conclusion: The TLR4 expression level was increasesed by S. flexneri extract, so it could be recommended for increasing vaccine efficiency.

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Background: There have been numerous reports of snake venoms being employed as analgesics in attempts to relieve severe pain associated with cancer, immune dysfunction and viral infections. This study investigates the antinociceptive effects of iranian cobra snake venom (Naja naja oxiana) in comparison with morphine and lidocain on laboratorial femal mice.

Materials and Methods: This study has been done on 48 NMRI female mice of 18-20 g in weight. Antinociceptive activeity of snake venom was evaluated by formalin test. In this test, the animals were divided into 6 groups (each group consisting of 8 mice): Sham, positive Control (receiving morphine at dose of 5 mg/kg, and receiving lidocain at dose of 20 mg/kg), and experimental groups receiving venom at doses of 1, 3 and 4.5 µg/mice. In all groups, the formalin test was recorded for 60 min after administration of venom and drugs in mice. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Tukey test.

Results: The results showed that the venom of Naja naja oxiana decreased nociception meaningfully in both acute and chronic phases. We also showed that this venom revealed even a better analgesic activity in comparison with morphine and lidocain.

Conclusion: This study showed that the antinociceptive effect of the venom was mediated through central nervous system and peripheral mechanisms. Although details of the mechanism remain unclear, and further studies should be considered to demonstrate its therapeutic effects.

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Background:  Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) is defined as the occurrence of two or more consecutive pregnancy losses prior to 20^th week of gestation. There are several leading causes of RPL including uterine anatomical defects, infections, genetic, immunological, and environmental factors. However, despite in a large number of cases no causes have been identified, therefore, it is introduced as idiopathic.

Recent studies have implicated the role of miRNAs in endometriosis, preeclampsia, infertility and RPL. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the association of miR-196a2C>T (rs11614913) with RPL in Iranian women.

Materials and Methods: In this case-control study, 183 Iranian women including 83 patients with at least two unexplained consecutive pregnancy losses and 100 healthy controls with at least one live birth and no history of pregnancy loss were investigated. Patients with recurrent pregnancy losses due to anatomic, hormonal, chromosomal, infectious, autoimmune, or thrombotic causes were excluded from the study group. Genotyping was performed using Tetra- ARMS PCR method.

Results:  Significant difference in distribution of miR-196a2 rs11614913 genotypes was found in RPL patients in comparison to controls, with p value of 0.04 and odds ratio equal to 2.96 (95% CI: 1.03-7.03).

Conclusion: The results of the present study provide evidence for association between genetic variation in miR-196a2 and recurrent pregnancy loss. Further studies will be required to validate the significance of the studied genetic variation in diverse populations and its regulatory role on target genes.

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Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of fed fish oil (FO) with or without vitamin E for mothers on the testis cells of male offsprings.

Materials and Methods: Sixty mature female NMRI mice were divided into different groups: control (CTR; Standard diet(vitamin E 50 mg IU/kg) pre and postnatal period); I) Gavages 0.01 ml/day/mother fish oil (FO)+CTR diet during prenatal period; II) Gavages FO+CTR diet during postnatal period; III) consumed VITE(125 mg IU/kg) 2.5 folded greater than standard recommendations(2×)during prenatal period; IV)consumed VITE(2×)diet during pre and postnatal period; V)consumed VITE(2×)diet during postnatal period; VI) Gavages FO+VITE(2×) diet during prenatal period; VII) Gavage FO+VITE(2×)diet during postnatal period ;VIII) Gavages FO+VITE (2×)diet during pre and postnatal period. After weaning, the testes were collected and histological data were analyzed using SAS software by Duncan test.

Results: testes cells length, width and weight was lower in offspring which their mothers fed FO+CTR diet during prenatal, (p<0.05).Vitamin E consumption during postnatal period improved these parameters (p<0.05). Spermatogoni (47 vs. 43), spermatocyte (43 vs. 34), Spermatid (63 vs. 44), Sertoli (0.9 vs. 2), and Leydig (3 vs. 1.7) were increased as FO+VITE was used than CTR (p<0.05).

Conclusion: The positive effects of supplementation maternal diet by FO with VITE or sole VITE was observed. Thus, antioxidants should be consumed along with omega-3 fatty acids in maternal diet.