Investigation of the antimicrobial activity of a short cationic peptide against promastigote and amastigote forms of Leishmania major (MHRO/IR/75/ER): An in vitro study.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is one of the most endemic global health problems in many countries all around the world. Pentavalent antimonial drugs constitute the first line of leishmaniasis treatment; however, resistance to these drugs is a serious problem. Therefore, new therapies with new modes of action are urgently needed. In the current study, we examined antimicrobial activity of CM11 hybrid peptide (WKLFKKILKVL-NH2) against promastigote and amastigote forms of L. major (MHRO/IR/75/ER). In vitro anti-leishmanial activity was identified against L. major by parasite viability and metabolic activity after exposure to different peptide concentration. In the presentt study, we demostrated that different concentrations of CM11 result in dose dependent growth inhibition of Leishmania promastigotes. Furthermore, we demostrated that CM11 peptide has significant anti-leishmanial activities on amastigotes. Our results demonstrated that CM11 antimicrobial peptide may provide an alternative therapeutic approach for L. major treatment.

A Meta-Analysis of Fall Risk in Older Adults With Alzheimer's Disease.

OBJECTIVES: Falls are the leading cause of injuries in older adults. Although it is well recognized that Alzheimer's disease (AD) increases the fall risk of older adults, the reported fall risk in people with AD varies drastically. The principal purpose of this study was to summarize and synthesize previous studies reporting fall risk-related metrics in people with AD. DESIGN: This was a meta-analysis. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-one studies reporting relevant fall data among 4654 older adults with AD were included. METHODS: The fall prevalence, average number of falls, rate of recurrent fallers, and rate of injured fallers of included studies were meta-analyzed using random-effects models with inverse variance weights. RESULTS: The pooled annual fall prevalence in older people with AD is 44.27% with an average annual number of falls of 1.30/person and a yearly rate of recurrent fallers of 42.08%. The reported rate of injured fallers was 45.0%. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Our results reinforce that people with AD experience a higher fall risk than their cognitively healthy counterparts. The pooled fall metrics in this meta-analysis extend our understanding of the fall risk in people with AD. In addition, standardized approaches are needed to report fall-related data for people with AD.

Meta-Analysis-Based Comparison of Annual Fall Risk between Older Adults with Alzheimer's Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Background: Falls are a primary cause of injuries and hospitalization in older adults. It has been reported that cognitive impairments and dementia can increase fall risk in the older population; however, it remains unknown if fall risk differs among subgroups of dementia. This meta-analysis summarized previous studies reporting the annual fall risk of people with Alzheimer's disease (AD) or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and compared the fall risk between these two groups of people with dementia. Methods: Thirty-five studies enrolling 7844 older adults with AD or MCI were included. The annual fall prevalence and average number of falls of the included studies were meta-analyzed and compared by random-effects models with inverse variance weights. Results: The annual fall prevalence in people with AD (43.55%) was significantly higher than MCI (35.26%, p < 0.001). A χ2 test indicated that the pooled fall prevalence is significantly higher in people with AD than MCI χ2 = 158.403, p < 0.001). Additionally, the yearly average number of falls in AD was higher than in MCI (1.30 vs 0.77 falls/person). Conclusions: The results showed that older people with AD experience a higher annual fall prevalence with a larger number of falls than older adults with MCI. The results suggested that the fall risk measurements should be reported separately between people with AD and MCI. The findings could provide preliminary guidance for the identification of individuals with dementia who experience a high fall risk.

Effect of Combined Balance Exercises and Kinesio Taping on Balance, Postural Stability, and Severity of Ankle Instability in Female Athletes with Functional Ankle Instability.

Ankle sprain is a common musculoskeletal injury, and recurrent ankle sprains often lead to ankle instability. This study aimed to examine whether a 6-week balance training on a wobble board (WB) combined with kinesio taping (KT) is effective in improving balance, postural stability, and ankle stability among female athletes with functional ankle instability (FAI). Twenty-four female athletes with FAI were randomly assigned to study (SG) or control groups (CG). SG attended a 6-week training protocol of combined balance training on the wobble board with KT applied to ankles during exercise. CG only went through a 6-week balance training procedure that was the same as the SG. Before and after the training program, balance and postural stability and the severity of ankle instability were assessed by single-leg Biodex Balance system and Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool (CAIT), respectively. The analysis revealed that the scores of balance and postural stability decreased after the 6-week training for CG (p = 0.002) and SG (p = 0.001), which indicates an improvement for these variables, and the score of CAIT increased, which means the severity of instability reduced (p = 0.001 for both groups). Significant between-group differences were found for balance and postural stability (t = 2.79, p = 0.011, g = -1.99) and the severity of instability (t = 2.082, p = 0.049, g = 1.36), favoring SG compared with CG. This study showed that the addition of KT to balance training is more effective than balance training alone in improving balance, postural stability, and severity of ankle instability in female athletes with FAI. Our findings could provide a preliminary reference for designing combined balance and KT programs for delivering health benefits to females with FAI.

Workload is associated with the occurrence of non-contact injuries in professional male soccer players: A pilot study.

Injuries in professional soccer are a significant concern for teams, and they are caused amongst others by high training load. This cohort study describes the relationship between workload parameters and the occurrence of non-contact injuries, during weeks with high and low workload in professional soccer players throughout the season. Twenty-one professional soccer players aged 28.3 ± 3.9 yrs. who competed in the Iranian Persian Gulf Pro League participated in this 48-week study. The external load was monitored using global positioning system (GPS, GPSPORTS Systems Pty Ltd) and the type of injury was documented daily by the team's medical staff. Odds ratio (OR) and relative risk (RR) were calculated for non-contact injuries for high- and low-load weeks according to acute (AW), chronic (CW), acute to chronic workload ratio (ACWR), and AW variation (Δ-Acute) values. By using Poisson distribution, the interval between previous and new injuries were estimated. Overall, 12 non-contact injuries occurred during high load and 9 during low load weeks. Based on the variables ACWR and Δ-AW, there was a significantly increased risk of sustaining non-contact injuries (p < 0.05) during high-load weeks for ACWR (OR: 4.67), and Δ-AW (OR: 4.07). Finally, the expected time between injuries was significantly shorter in high load weeks for ACWR [1.25 vs. 3.33, rate ratio time (RRT)] and Δ-AW (1.33 vs. 3.45, RRT) respectively, compared to low load weeks. The risk of sustaining injuries was significantly larger during high workload weeks for ACWR, and Δ-AW compared with low workload weeks. The observed high OR in high load weeks indicate that there is a significant relationship between workload and occurrence of non-contact injuries. The predicted time to new injuries is shorter in high load weeks compared to low load weeks. Therefore, the frequency of injuries is higher during high load weeks for ACWR and Δ-AW. ACWR and Δ-AW appear to be good indicators for estimating the injury risk, and the time interval between injuries.

Fluctuations of Training Load Variables in Elite Soccer Players U-14 throughout the Competition Season.

Excessive daily training load (TL) can affect the musculoskeletal system health of youth elite soccer players. The purposes of this study were (i) to describe the TL and session rating of perceived exertion (s-RPE) throughout the competition season; (ii) to analyze the weekly (w) differences of acute (daily) workload (wAWL), chronic workload (wCWL), acute-chronic workload ratio, training monotony (wTM), and training strain (wTS) among three periods over the season (early-, mid-, and end-season) by playing position; and (iii) to compare the TL variables during competition periods for the whole team. Twenty young elite soccer players in the under-14 category participated in this study. The game positions were considered as six wide defenders and wide midfielders (WM), five central defenders and central midfielders, and four strikers (ST). Daily monitoring was continued for 26 weeks during a full competition season. According to the league schedule, the season was divided into three periods: early-season from w1 to w8, mid-season from w9 to w17, and end-season from w18 to w26. The main results were that the higher TLs were detected in the early- and mid-season. There was a wAWL and wCWL decrease for all playing positions from early- to mid- and end-season, but the wCWL change was significant only from early- to mid-season (p ≤ 0.05). For all playing positions but ST, there was a considerable wTM increase from early- to mid-season. When compared with all other playing positions in terms of wAWL and wCWL, WM showed significantly greater values (p ≤ 0.05). Throughout the season periods, all workload indicators showed a considerable reduction, although there was a significant increase in the three other workload-derived variables (all with p ≤ 0.05) and namely: (i) wACWLR from mid- to end-season; (ii) wTM from early- to mid- and end-season; and (iii) wTS from early- to mid-season. Daily training load and s-RPE had significant fluctuations during all macrocycles of the competition season (p ≤ 0.05). In addition, in the mid-season, wTM and wTS were higher. Training load monitoring (in terms of, e.g., wAWL, wCWL, and s-RPE) could be the key for coaches of soccer teams to prevent overtraining and injury, especially in U-14 players, who are more susceptible to being affected by high workload.

Comparison of Official and Friendly Matches through Acceleration, Deceleration and Metabolic Power Measures: A Full-Season Study in Professional Soccer Players.

Soccer is a popular team sport and highly demanding activity that requires high effort and long-term training plans. The goals of this study were to compare the accelerations, decelerations and metabolic power between official and friendly full matches, between the first and second halves of the matches, and between both halves of official and friendly matches. Twelve professional soccer players (age, 28.6 ± 2.7 years; height, 182.1 ± 8.6 cm; body mass, 75.3 ± 8.2 kg; BMI, 22.6 ± 0.7 kg/m2) participated in this study. A total of 33 official and 10 friendly matches were analyzed from the Iranian Premier League. All matches were monitored using GPSPORTS systems Pty Ltd. The following variables were selected: total duration of the matches, metabolic power, accelerations Zone1 (<2 m·s-2) (AccZ1), accelerations Zone2 (2 to 4 m·s-2) (AccZ2), accelerations Zone3 (>4 m·s-2) (AccZ3), decelerations Zone1 (<-2 m·s-2) (DecZ1), decelerations Zone2 (-2 to -4 m·s-2) (DecZ2) and decelerations Zone3 (>-4 m·s-2) (DecZ3). The major finding was shown in metabolic power, where higher values occurred in friendly matches (p < 0.05 with small effect size). Furthermore, total duration, AccZ3, DecZ1, DecZ2, and DecZ3 were revealed to be higher in official matches, while AccZ1 and AccZ2 were higher in friendly matches. The second half of the official matches revealed higher values for total duration compared to friendly matches (p < 0.05, moderate effect size). In conclusion, this study observed higher values of metabolic power in friendly matches compared to official matches. AccZ3, DecZ1, DecZ2, and DecZ3 were higher in official matches, while AccZ1 and AccZ2 were higher in friendly matches.

Molecular Survey on Vector-Borne Pathogens in Alpine Wild Carnivorans.

In Europe, free-ranging wildlife has been linked to the emergence of several vector-borne diseases such as rodents for Borrelia burgdorferi s.l. In particular, wild carnivorans are one of the most important sources of emerging zoonotic pathogens worldwide, although little information is available regarding the epidemiology of vector-borne parasites in these animals. Thus, the aim of this paper was to investigate the prevalence of Babesia spp., Anaplasma spp., Ehrlichia spp., Hepatozoon spp. and Leishmania infantum in alpine wild canids and mustelids from Italy. For this study, spleen samples of 157 foxes (Vulpes vulpes), 45 badgers (Meles meles), and 33 wolves (Canis lupus) collected between 2009 and 2017 in Northwest Italy were examined by using conventional PCR. Logistic regression was used to identify possible risk factors for pathogen infections. DNA of any of the tested pathogens was found in more than 90% of the analyzed animals. In particular, Babesia spp. showed significantly higher prevalence in foxes (89.7%) and badgers (89.6%) than in wolves, while the latter were considerably more infected with Hepatozoon canis (75.8%) than foxes (5.1%). None of the badger tested positive for Hepatozoon spp., although they showed high prevalence of Leishmania infantum (53.3%). Sequencing results revealed the presence, among others, of Babesia vulpes, Babesia sp. isolate badger type A and B, and Anaplasma phagocytophilum. Moreover, previously unreported pathogen/host associations were observed, such as Babesia capreoli in wolves and badgers. The prevalence of vector-borne pathogens observed in the present study is one of the highest reported so far, suggesting the importance of free-ranging carnivorans in the epidemiology and maintenance of the sylvatic cycle of the pathogens. Moreover, several of these pathogens are of particular importance regarding human (A. phagocytophilum, L. infantum) and pet health (L. infantum, B. vulpes).

The Relationship Between rs3212986C>A Polymorphism and Tumor Stage in Lung Cancer Patients.

Background The nucleotide excision repair (NER) system is one of the most important deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) repair mechanisms and is critical for chemotherapy resistance. We conducted the present study to investigate the association between two polymorphisms of excision of repair cross-complementing group 1 (ERCC1), the key component of the NER pathway, and the clinicopathological features of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods A total of 38 patients with confirmed NSCLC were included in our study. DNA was extracted from peripheral blood. ERCC1 rs3212986 (8092) and rs11615 (118) were genotyped using molecular assays including polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with restriction fragment length polymorphism (by MboII and HpyCH4 enzymes) and sequencing. Results The PCR results indicated the correct performance of the genomics extraction and molecular protocols. The distribution of C/C, C/A and A/A genotypes at position 8092 was 42.10%, 47.36%, and 10.52% respectively (P=0.03). Multivariate regression analysis showed that there was a significant correlation between C8092A (rs3212986) polymorphism and metastasis, grade of the tumor, and response to treatment. Individuals carrying the rs3212986 CA genotype and A allele had a significantly worse response to the treatment. Also, the correlation between alteration at this genomics location and patients with NSCLC who used to smoke cigarettes was positive. However, no significant association was detected between rs11615 C118>T polymorphism and demographic characteristics of patients with NSCLC. Conclusion We concluded that in lung cancer patients there is a relationship between tumor stage and rs3212986C>A polymorphism.

A comparative evaluation of APF gel, CPP/ACP paste alone and in combination with carbon dioxide laser on human enamel resistance to acid solubility using atomic absorption spectrometry: an in-vitro study.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to compare the effects of acidulated phosphate fluoride (APF) gel, calcium phosphopeptide-amorphous calcium phosphate (CPP/ACP) paste alone and in combination with CO2 laser on the resistance of enamel to acid solubility. METHODS: Ninety enamel sections were obtained from 15 extracted teeth and were randomly assigned to six groups: 1) control group; 2) APF group; 3) CPP-ACP group; 4) CO2 laser group; 5) APF + CO2 group; and 6) CPP-ACP + CO2 group. The specimens were individually demineralized in 0.1 M lactic acid solution with adjusted pH of 4.8 for 24h at 37 ºC. The acid solubility was determined using atomic absorption spectrometry. Statistical analysis was done using one-way ANOVA and Tukey-Kramer post hoc test (P<0.05). RESULTS: The average extent of calcium ion released (ppm) was estimated as follow: group 1: 6.974±1.757, group 2: 5.363±1.383, group 3: 6.962±1.489, group 4: 6.890±1.560, group 5: 4.803±1.080 and group 6: 6.789±1.218. Based on the between-group comparison results, group 2 and group 5 showed significant differences with the other groups. CONCLUSIONS: Under the studied conditions, only, the APF group alone and in combination with CO2 laser could decrease enamel acid solubility.

Association of rs1042522 SNP with Clinicopathologic Factors of Breast Cancer Patients in the Markazi Province of Iran.

BACKGROUND: The nucleotide changes in different genetic loci increased the incidence risk of breast cancer. AIM: The aim of present study was to investigate genotype distribution at codon 72 of the TP53 gene (rs1042522) in breast cancer patients to achieve a potential diagnostic marker related to some demographic feathers. METHODS: In our case-control study, blood samples were collected from a total of 34 patients harboured breast cancer. DNA was extracted, and nested-PCR was performed. Products were digested with AccII and subsequently were sequenced. Results were compared with samples characteristics. RESULTS: The PCR results indicated the correct implementation of extraction and amplification protocol. The genotypic distribution at codon 72 of TP53 in control group was 20%, 62.4% and 16.6% for Arg (wildtype), Arg/Pro (heterozygous) and Pro (homozygous variant) respectively. Also, this distribution in the patient group was 23.52% homozygous, 50% heterozygous, and 26.47% another homozygous variant (Adjusted odds ratio: 1.12 and 95%CI = 0.57 to 2.2, P = 0.03). The absence of Arg at codon 72 of TP53 is relevant with age higher than 40 years and metastasis to other organs. CONCLUSION: Polymorphism at codon 72 of TP53 was associated with high-grades of breast cancer risk and different responses to chemotherapy treatment. It is recommended genotype distribution of codon 72 of TP53 before chemotherapy.

Antimicrobial activity of an antimicrobial peptide against amastigote forms of Leishmania major.

Zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania major is a most common type of vector-borne disease in Iran. The pentavalent antimonial drugs have been used in the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis for a long time, but drug resistance and some of serious side effects have been reported. Thus, discovery and development of new therapeutic candidates are needed. The CM11 peptide is one of these peptides that its anti-bacterial activity has been proven. This peptide is a short cecropin-melittin hybrid peptide obtained through a sequence combination approach. The aim of this study was to evaluate in vitro anti-leishmanial activity of CM11 peptide against amastigote forms of Leishmania major. In this study, amastigote forms of Iranian strain of L. major (MRHO/IR/75/ER) were cultured in the presence of different concentrations of meglumine antimoniate (Glucantime®) to find the most appropriate in vitro concentration of Glucantime® against L. major amastigotes. Then, the anti-leishmanial activities of various concentrations of CM11 peptide (8, 16, 32 and 64 µM) were evaluated for 24, 48 and 72 hr by DAPI staining. In addition, MTT assay was used to determine the cytotoxic effects of CM11 peptide on murine fibroblast cell line. The results showed that CM11 peptide has antimicrobial activity against Iranian isolate of L. major in the laboratory conditions. It seems that the CM11 peptide has significant potential to be used as a new anti-leishmanial agent.

Cellular effect of low-level laser therapy on the rate and quality of bone formation in mandibular distraction osteogenesis.

OBJECTIVE: Therapeutic lasers have been shown to influence bone physiology and repair. The aim of the present investigation was to evaluate the use of a GaAlAs (λ:810 nm) laser in distraction osteogenesis. BACKGROUND DATA: To reduce problems associated with distraction osteogenesis and shorten the time required for treatment, it is desirable to accelerate the process of bone formation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighteen male rabbits underwent corticotomy of mandibular body, and customized distraction devices were inserted. After a 5-day latency period, the mandibles were lengthened by 0.5 mm/day for 10 days. The rabbits were divided into two groups. A GaAlAs (λ: 810 nm) laser beam with the parameters power (P), 200 mW; energy density (ED), 3 J/cm(2); time (T), 7.5 sec; power density (PD) 400 mW/cm(2); energy (E) 1.5 J and spot diameter, 0.8 mm was directed medially and laterally in the study group; the control group received no laser treatment. The exposure continued with six more doses every other day. Three rabbits from each of the two groups were euthanized on the 10th, 20th, and 40th days post-distraction (consolidation) period. RESULTS: Both light microscopy and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) analysis showed significant improvement in new bone formation in the study group at the 10th and 20th days compared with the control group, but the difference was more prominent on the 10th day. By the 40th day, there were no significant differences between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that a low-level GaAlAs (λ:810 nm; P, 200 mW) laser hastens new bone formation only in the early stages of the consolidation period in distraction osteogenesis, and has no significant effect in later stages.