Background: Birthweight less than 2500 grams is the major indicators of neonatal and infant health. The studies on animals show that copper and zinc deficiency in pregnancy is associated with fetal growth and congenital abnormalities. Therefore, our study was conducted to evaluate the role of these two elements on human embryos.

 Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, cord blood of all infants born in Nik-Nafs Maternity of Rafsanjan was Collected for 1 year. Then, serum was separated and saved. In total, 64 samples including 9 infants with congenital anomalies, 21 infants with a weight equal to or less than 2500 grams and 34 healthy infants were selected randomly as control group. The level of copper and zinc in cord boold was measured by the spectrophotometric method and data analysis was carried out by SPSS 17 software and statistical methods involving Chi-square, T-test and analysis of variance.

Results: No significant relation was shown between the levels of copper and zinc withbirth weight and congenital abnormalities. Also, there was not any significant correlation between these two teo elements and some pregnancy risk factors such as type of delivery, premature rupture of membrane, placental decolman, placental previa, preeclampsia, gravidity, height, head circumference and Apgar scores.

 Conclusion: The findings indicate that the levels of copper and zinc in cord blood are not associated with incidence of low birth weight, congenital malformations and pregnancy risk factors.

Background: Cardiovascular diseases is one of the most prevalent causes of mortality in all around the world accounting for high rates of decrease of physical function and daily work. The aim of this study is to assess the effect of cardiac rehabilitation on quality of life dimensions Percutanous Coronary Intervention (PCI) patients.

Materials and Methods: This clinical trial study was conducted on 96 patients in the rehabilitation unit in Qom. Half of patients put in the test group and the others remained as control. Data of all patients including of demographic parameter and questionnaire of quality of life before and after rehabilitation (in case and control groups) were collected. Data analysis was done in SPSS 18 by central statistical indices and frequency distribution as well as independent t-test, pair t-test ans Chi-square and p-value below than 0.05 was significant.

Results: out of 96 patients, the mean age was 57.21±9.09 and 57.3± 10.89 years in case and control groups respectively and 70.8% were male and remains were female. There was significant relationship between quality of life and its subtypes except physical function (p<0.001). Moreover, difference between quality of life and six out of eight subtypes scores before and after rehabilitation in both groups was significant.

Conclusion: It seems that cardiac rehabilitation after PCI affects quality of life.

Background: Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months after delivery plays a crucial role in preventing infants morbidity and mortality. Exclusive breastfeeding intention during pregnancy is one of predictors of this behavior. Determining the effective factors in exclusive breastfeeding intention helps plan for promoting breastfeeding intention and behavior. The aim of this study is to determine predictive factors of exclusive breastfeeding intention in pregnant women, based on the theory of planned behavior.

Materials and Methods: This analytical study was conducted in 2014 on 224 primigravide women referred to Health Centers of Kashan. The samples were randomly selected from 16 health centers. The mothers completed the questionnaires of demography, intention, attitude, subjective norms and the perceived behavior control. A linear regression analysis was used to identify independent predictors of the exclusive breastfeeding intention.

Results: In regression model, the perceived behavior control (&beta=0.42, p<0.001), attitude (&beta=0.27, p<0.01) and subjective norms (&beta=0.18, p=0.059) were predictors of the exclusive breastfeeding intention. This model could explain 63% of the variance of the exclusive breastfeeding intention. The knowledge and demographic factors were not predictors of the intention.

Conclusion: The results reveal the perceived behavior control, attitudes and subjective norms could predict exclusive breastfeeding intention, so they should be considered as general guidelines in designing educational interventions in order to improve exclusive breastfeeding in women.

  Background: The physiological role of apelin, an adipokine secreted by adipose tissue , in insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes has been identified . The aim of this study was to determine t he correlation of plasma level s of apelin-13 with insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR) and plasma leptin of diabetic male rats after 8-week aerobic exercise .

  Materials and Methods: Peresent study was an experimental study with animal model. Twenty eight diabetic male Wistar rats were divided into 3 groups: Non-diabetic (n=9), control diabetic (n=9) and trained diabetic (n=10). Type 2 diabetes was induced by intraperitoneal injection of nicotinamide and streptozotocin. The trained diabetic rat ran 8-week on treadmill progressively. After the training period, plasma levels of glucose, insulin, leptin and apelin-13 were measured and HOMA-IR was calculated. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Pearson’s correlation were used for analyzing data. p<0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.

  Results: A significant decrease in plasma levels of glucose, insulin and leptin and HOMA-IR in trained diabetic vs control diabetic rats, a significant increase in plasma levels of apelin in trained diabetic vs non-diabetic and control diabetic rats and a significant negative correlation of plasma levels of apelin with HOMA-IR and plasma leptin in trained diabetic rats was observed.

  Conclusion: In present study, 8-week aerobic training by improvement of insulin sensitivity (decrease of HOMA-IR and plasma leptin) increased plasma levels of apelin-13 in diabetic male rats.

  Background: Due to the harmful side effects of chemical drugs, in recent decades, much attention has been returned to the use of medicinal plants. The flavonoids as plant secondary compounds are allocated to own an important part of this attention. Based on previous studies, some of the flavonoids are able to reduce contraction induced by KCl, acetylcholine, etc in rat ileum. Therefore, in this study, the effect of the flavonoid extract of parsley leaves on smooth muscle contraction of the ileum and the role of Nitric oxide (NO) has been studied.

  Materials and Methods: Distal segment of Wistar rat ileum was separated and contractions under one gram tension and at 37°C, in an organ bath containing Tyrode solution was recorded by isotonic method. Rats were divided into 2 groups with 7 in each group. After placing the tissue exposed to L-NAME 100&muM (Sigma, America) as an inhibitor of NO, the antispasmodic effect of cumulative concentrations of the flavonoid extract was investigated

  Results: The extract cumulative concentrations reduced ileum contraction induced by KCl in a dose-dependent manner. Also, the antispasmoide effect of flavonoids extract on ileum contractions (only 16 mg/ml) was affected by L-NAME.

Conclusion: This study showed that the extract relaxed rat's ileum by the NO system at higher concentrations.

Background: Obesity is a complex, multifaceted disease resulting from a combination of genetic, environmental, and lifestyle backgrounds, and is associated with increased risk of diseases, such as hypertension, dyslipidemia, and type 2 diabetes. MiRNAs have been reported to be associated with chronic diseases such as obesity. The present study is the first investigation that examines the possible association of rs2910164 polymorphism in mir-146a gene with overweight and obesity in Iranian women.

Materials and Methods: This case-control study was conducted on 133 overweight, 75 obese and 173 healthy control women with normal weight. The rs2910164 polymorphism genotypes of mir-146a gene were determined by the Tetra-ARMS PCR method. Also, logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the association between genotypes and obesity risk.

Results: There was a significant association between GC (OR: 1.8, 95%CI: 1-3.3, p: 0.04) and CC (OR: 4.5, 95%CI: 1.6-12.6, p: 0.004) genotypes with susceptibility to obesity. In the dominant genetic model of the C allele (comparison between CC+GC vs. GG), CC+GC genotypes were associated with the risk of obesity (OR = 2.1, 95% CI: 1.2–3.7, p= 0.01).

Conclusion: This study showed that mir-146a gene rs2910164 polymorphism is associated with obesity risk and the C allele may act as a dominant allele and increase the obesity risk in Iranian women.

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Background: Aflatoxins are known as the most important toxins which their consumption could cause acute poisoning and create carcinogenic effects. Moreover, previous studies demonstrated the ability of lactic acid bacteria to connect to aflatoxin in food material. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of the native probiotic Lactobacillus para casei strains TD3 against toxicity induced by aflatoxin B1 in vivo.

Materials and Methods: 24 wistar male rats (250±10 g) were divided into 3 groups including: one negative control group and two groups treated with aflatoxin (170 µg/kg) and Lactobacillus para casei strain TD3 isolated from Tarkhine with aflatoxin (10⁹ cfu/day) for 4 weeks. At the end of the experiment, the blood and tissue samples were collected for histopathological and biochemical studies.

Results: The results indicated that treatment with Aflatoxin leads to a significant increase in the amount of liver enzymes such as AST, ALP and also liver damages.  Furthermore, the group that received Lactobacillus para casei strain TD3, the level of these enzymes was reduced and liver damages due to aflatoxin were improved.

Conclusion: The present study showed that aflatoxin can lead to liver damages and native Lactobacillus para casei strain TD3 which isolated from Tarkhine, probably leads to protective effects by binding to aflatoxin. Thus, it is considered as a biologic agent to remove aflatoxin in vivo.

Background: One of the important adaptations that occurs after exercise is increased capillary density or angiogenesis. Vascular endothelial growth factor, has a mitogenic role for endothelial cells and acts as an important intermediator in the process of angiogenesis. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of two kind of endurance training on vascular endothelial growth factor gene expression in healthy male rats.

Materials and Methods: In this laboratory experimental study, 18 male Wistar rats at the age of eight weeks, with an average weight of 210/5± 9/77g were  selected and randomely divided into three groups (control (n=6), ET (n=6) and HIIT (n=6)). Aerobic continuous training was performed 5 days a week, totally in eight weeks for 30 minutes with 70-75% VO2max and high intensity interval training consisted of three periods (four minutes with 90 to100% VO2max and two minutes with 50 to 60% VO2max). Vascular endothelial growth factor gene expression was measured by real time-PCR technique. To determine the significance of variables between these groups, one-way ANOVA and Tukey's post hoc tests were used.

Results: The results showed that the gene expression levels of vascular endothelial growth factor were increased significantly (p=0/006, F=7/243) in intense aerobic continuous and interval training groups compared to control group. Changes in exercise groups compared with each other were not significant.

Conclusion: According to the results of this study, increased levels of vascular endothelial growth factor gene expression in both training groups caused pro-angiogenic function in endothelial cells and an increase in ratsVO2max following eight weeks training may be due to increased angiogenesis process. High intensity interval training may cause faster adaptations in the body of organism than aerobic continuous training.

Background: Considering the increased activity of hippocampal glial cells due to chronic morphine administration and the involvement of hippocampus in restoration of the addictive drug-associated experience, the role of these cells on morphine induced conditioned place preference (CPP) was investigated.

Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, four groups of animals were evaluated. After habituation to CPP apparatus on the first day, conditioning was done by injection of morphine (5 mg/kg) or its vehicle (saline) during three consecutive days. On the fifth day, the time spent in each compartment of CPP cage and locomotor activity was recorded for 20 min. To investigate the role of hippocampal glial cells in CPP, these cels were inbibited by bilaterally injecting fluorocitrate (1nmol/1ml), before each morphine injection. CPP testing in this group and animals received fluorocitrate vehicle (Phosphate buffer saline) was done before morphine injection.

Results: Fluorocitrate pretreatment reduced morphine induced conditioned place preference acquisition, so that a significant decrease was observed in conditioning score (unpaired t-test, p<0.01) in this group (n=8) compared to animals received morphine (n=9). Neither morphine nor fluorocitrate pretreatment did not affect locomotor activity (ANOVA, p>0.05).

Conclusion: The results suggest that glial cells in the hippocampus are involved in morphine induced conditioned place preference.

Background: Despite advances in surgical techniques and risk management practices in recent years, wound dehiscence following abdominal laparotomy has still high prevalence. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of retention sutures on wound dehiscence of emergent abdominal laparotomy.

Materials and Methods: In this randomized clinical trial study, 160 patients scheduled for emergency laparotomy for peritonitis or trauma were enrolled. Half of the patients randomly underwent retention suture and the other half underwent routine sutures. Finally, the amount of surgical wound dehiscence and complications were assessed. 

Results: Three patients (3.7%) in retention group and 11 patients (13.7%) in the control group developed wound dehiscence which there was a significant difference between them (p=0.025). It was determined by multivariate logistic regression that wound dehiscence is correlated with hemodynamic status, type of trauma and injury to the abdominal organs, and sex. The incidence of wound dehiscence, early hemodynamic instability, penetrating abdominal trauma and damage to the intestines were higher in males. 

Conclusion: In general, it seems that the preventive use of retention sutures in patients with multiple risk factors for postoperative wound dehiscence can be useful.

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Background: Thyroid nodules are common. 4-7% of adults have a palpable nodule and up to 50-70% of nodules are detected in high-resolution sonography. Thyroid nodules in women are 4 times greater than men and the rate of thyroid cancer in women is 3:1 compared to men, and is the sixth most common cancer in women. Epidemiological findings and experimental evidences show that sex hormones, especially estrogen, may have effect on this gland and its neoplasm. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between rs1256049 polymorphism in the estrogen receptor beta gene with thyroid nodular disease.

Materials and Methods: In this case-control study, 146 Patients with nodular thyroid and 151 health individuals were referred to Amiralmomenin hospital of Arak were recruited in study. Diagnosis is based on by ultrasonography and was confirmed by an endocrinologist. Genomic DNA was extracted from EDTA treated whole blood .The genotypes were determined using tetra-amplification refractory mutation system-polymerase chain reaction (T-ARMS-PCR) and analyzed by statistical methods.

Results: The frequency of CC, TC and TT genotypes in case group 136(93.2%), 10(6.8%) and 0(0%) and in the control group 139(92.1%), 12(7.9%) and 0(0%) were obtained respectively. No statistically significant association (p=0.72) was observed between nodular thyroid disease and rs1256049 polymorphism.

Conclusion: Our findings showed no significant association between rs1256049 polymorphism and nodular thyroid disease. For best deduction, it is recommended that this study be done in other populations.

Background: Height and weight growth failure are among the most important health disorders affecting children less than two in the developing countries. Failure to treat this disorder can lead to the development of serious conditions including increased mortality and types of disability. The aim of the present study is to investigate the factors affecting the height and weight growth of children less than two years old.

Materials and Methods: This historical cohort study was conducted on a sample of 2030 children less than two in Khorramabad who were selected using stratified and cluster sampling methods. Based on household records, data related to the height and weight were recorded as quantitative variables and finally were modeled using a longitudinal marginal model, identity link functions and the R software.

Results: Based on the marginal model, the effect of such variables as child's age, child's gender and mother's educational attainment were significantly related to the child's height and weight. Moreover the child's birth order had significant relationship with only the child's height. However, the variable of exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months was no significantly related to weight and height growth of the children.

Conclusion: Given the results, it seems that monitoring the growth of the children of the illiterate mothers, specially the girls and the children with first birth orders are the most important approaches to deal with growth disorders among this population.

Background: The aim of this study was to test  the proposed model  for the impact of self-efficacy beliefs on parent’s anxiety and marital adjustment with mediating role of cognitive emotion regulation strategies among parents of chronically ill children of ahwaz city.

Materials and Methods: The statistical universe was all the parents of chronically ill children who was selected by Convenience sampling method.The research tools are included the self-efficacy questionnaire (SES), anxiety questionnaire (STAI), Spanier marital adjustment questionnaire  and Garnesfki cognitive emotion regulation strategies questionnaire.Amos 18 program software was applied for structural equation modeling (SEM).The indirect relationship was tested with bootstrap Amos 18 program software.

Results: The results revealed that the tested model had good fit indices.

Conclusion: Results revealed that self-efficacy beliefs directly influenced on parent's anxiety, marital adjustment, and adaptive and nonadaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies. Also, adaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies have a direct relation with parent's anxiety and marital adjustment. In addition, there was a direct relation between nonadaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies and marital adjustment. Alternatively, self-efficacy beliefs directly influenced on anxiety and marital adjustment with mediating role of adaptive cognitive emotion tegulation strategies and indirectly influenced on adjustment with mediating role of nonadaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies.

Background: Infertility is a multifactorial disorder with genetic and non-genomic factors. It is estimated that female infertility factors accounts for more than 40%. Estrogen is one of the effective hormons  in fertility. Its crucial actions on target tissues are mediated via binding to estrogen receptors(ESR). The ESR1 gene is located on chromosome 6q25.1 and encodes α estrogen receptor. The aim of this study was to analysis of ESR1 rs104893956 polymorphism in female infertility.

Materials and Methods: In this case-control study, of 60 infertiles and 55 healthy controls, blood samples were attained. After the extraction of genomic DNA from peripheral blood leukocytes, Allele Specific-PCR (AS-PCR) method was applied for determining the codon polymorphism. Statistical analysis was performed using the MedCalc software (Version 12.1).

Results: The frecuency of T allele was significantly higher in patients (58%) than the controls (44%). There was higher frequency of TT genotype of the polymorphism in patients (18.33%) compared with controls (1.8%). Our findings revealed that the patients carrying the TT genotype had a significant increased risk of infertility.

Conclusion: The results of this study suggests that ESR1 rs104893956 polymorphism may affect the increased susceptibility to female infertility in Guilan province. The results may be different in other genetic pools or large-studied population.

Background: Lamiaceae family has about 200 genuses and 4000 species. The majority of species of the family have essence that was used for nutritional, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry. The aim of this study was to investigate the chemical composition of essential oil from aerial parts of Bollota platyloma  and antibacterial activity of it.

Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, study Ballota platyloma, belonging to lamiaceae family and entomic of iran, was collected from Versk region in Mazandaran provinc. Essential oil from aerial parts was obtained by hydro distillation method by using Clevenger apparatus. GC/MS analysis of essential oil was carried out to identify major volatile constituents. Extraction was prepared by maceration method. Antibacterial activity of methanolic extracts against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis, Stapylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli was investigated by disc diffusion method and minimal inhibitory concentration(MIC) method.

Results: Results showed that GC/MS analysis of the essential oil confirms the presence of 24 constituents in Ballota platyloma. The main constituents were Hexadecanoic Acid (40.03%), Germacrene D (26.6%) and Beta Caryophylene (4.76%). The results indicated that methanolic extract of Ballota platyloma possessed antibacterial activity. Among the aforementioned bacteria, the highest antibacterial activity was seen against S. aureus and the lowest activity against P. aeruginosa.

Conclusion: The findings of the present study showed that the major component of oil essential was germacrene-D and methanolic extract from the aerial parts of Ballota platyloma Rech. f. possess anti-bacterial effects. Thus, in order to find the underlying mechanism of this activity, further research should be carried out.

Background: Laryngeal carcinoma induce immune system suppression in tumour micro environments with unknown mechanism. Toll like receptors (TLRs) are important molecules which play a critical role in the management and induction of immune responses. In this regard, the importance and the role of TLR 2, 4 and 9 have not been studied together in laryngeal cancer. The present study aims to evaluate the expression level of TLR2, TLR4 and TLR9 in patients with laryngeal carcinoma.

Materials and Methods: 89 tumour samples and 35 tumour-free tissues were obtained from laryngeal carcinoma male patients and the expression level of TLR2, TLR4 and TLR9 was analysed using Real-time PCR method.

Results: The expression level of TLR2 was increased as the result of increasing lymph node involvement, pretumoral involvement and regional metastasis. Also, the TLR4 gene expression levels were increased 1.5 fold in patients with lymph node involvement. The expression Level of TLR9 was increased by increasing stage and primary tumour involvement. The expression pattern of TLR2 and TLR4 in tumour and tumour-free tissues was the same, while TLR9 gene expressions show higher level in tumour tissues than its normal tissue. None of our findings were statistical significant.

Conclusion: we have shown that the expression status of TLR2, TLR4 and TLR9 in patients with laryngeal cancer was correlated with their clinicopathologic features. Additionally, the expression level of TLRs in cancerous and non-cancerous tissues shows no significant changes.

Background: Listeria monocytogenes is one of the most important causes of abortion and postpartum infection in newborns. Because of the importance of L . monocytogenes in the health of pregnant women and newborn babies, the aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of these bacteria in pregnant women and to compare the level of prevalence between women with a history of abortion and with no a history of abortion.

Materials and Methods: In this study, 540 samples of pregnant women were provided from Arak Taleghani hospital. The samples were cultured in enrichment media, then L .monocytogenesis was isolated in specific media.

Results: Of clinical samples, 14 cases had Listeria monocytogenes. Of these samples, 8 cases in women had a history of abortion, while women with no history of abortion were 6 Most cases of positive culture were related to the age of 25 to 34 years, including 7 cases, the lowest cases were 35 to 44 years old including 3 women and 4 women were between 17 and 24 years old.

Conclusion: The study showed that Listeria monocytogenes can cause infection in pregnant women. The use of Phenotypic methods and specific media can apparently isolate listeria monocytogenes from healthy pregnant women.

Background: studies in adults have shown that external focus of attention is better than internal focus in motor learning. So, the aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of focus of attention- self talk on balance of women with multiple sclerosis.

Materials and Methods: In this semi- experimental study, statistical population included women with MS referred to MS Society of Arak. Whereas balance disorder in patients was diagnosed by neurologyist, they were invited to the study. Patients were accidentally divided into 3 groups each of 15 concluding control, self tak-external focus of attention and self talk- internal focus of attention groups and were evaluated by Berg balance scale. 42 samples completed executive steps of study. ANOVA and Tukey tests were used to compare balance score between groups with significant level of less than 0.05. All patients practiced balance tasks for 9 days and then they were undergone post test.

Results: Balance was improved in all groups. Although the external- self talk group was better than the two other groups, there was no significant difference between external and internal- self talk groups.

Conclusion: The findings of this study showed the effect of practice on improvement of balance skill and superiority of the experimental groups in comparison with control group. Probably, focus of attention with self talk has effect on balance of women with MS.

Background: Hypervariability of hepatitis C virus (HCV) proteins is an important obstacle to design an efficient vaccine for the infection. To construct a protective vaccine against HCV, a DNA vaccine containing conserved epitopes of the virus was designed. To enhance the induced immune responses, adjuvant activity of N-terminal domain of gp96 (NT(gp96)) was used.

Materials and Methods: A multi-epitope (PT) DNA vaccine encoding four HCV immunodominant cytotoxic T lymphocyte epitopes (HLA-A2 and H2-D^d) from Core, E2, NS3 and NS5B antigens in addition to a T-helper CD4+ epitope from NS3 protein and a B-cell epitope from E2 protein was designed and constructed. Then, NT(gp96) was fused to the PT DNA (PT-NT(gp96)). The stimulated cellular and humoral immune responses of PT and PT-NT(gp96) were evaluated in mice model.

Results: According to multicolor flow cytometry assay, the frequency of CD8+ T-cells producing IFNγ and TNFα in the splenocytes of immunized mice with PT-NT(gp96) (6.8%, 4%) was significantly higher than those of immunized with PT (0.9% , 0.8%), respectively. The same results have obtained in hepatic lymphocytes of the vaccinated mice. The level of IgG, IgG1 and IgG2a in the mice vaccinated with PT-NT (gp96) was significantly higher than the value obtained from the mice immunized with PT.

Conclusion: The results showed that PT DNA vaccine induces immune responses in mice model. Fusion of NT (gp96) to PT DNA vaccine causes to enhance cellular and humoral immune responses against HCV compared to sole PT vaccine.

Background: Due to high prevalence of vitrectomy surgery, and the importance of anesthetic technique in conducting an uncomplicated surgery, we decided to do this study.

Materials and Methods: This prospective randomized study was conducted on 80 patients 40-80 years old candidating deep vitrectomy sugery under general anesthesia that were categorized into II and III Class by American Society of Anesthesiologist (ASA). Patients were randomly allocated to two groups of 40 members. Anesthesia was induced in both groups in the same manner. For maintaining anesthesia, patients from I group receiVed 1.2% isofluran with 50% O2 in air at 4L/min and infusion of remifentanil (0.1 mg.kg-1.min-1). But in the P group, we used propofol up to 10mg/kg /hr with infusion of remifentanyl. Propofol and isoflurane in fusion was discontinued with the last surgical stitches, but remifentanil infusion continued in both groups until the eye was covered with shield. Hemodynamic variables were recorded just before the induction of anesthesia and in different time intervals till discharging of the patients from the recovery room.  Then, data were compared.

Results: Results showed that there is a significant changes in propofol group compared to isofluran in deep vitrectomy surgery operations.

Conclusion: Hemodynamic changes are more significant in maintaining propofol anesthesia when compared with isoflurane.