Electrochemical aptasensor based on carboxylated graphene oxide modified carbon paste electrode for strontium ultrasensitive detection.

Determination of strontium ions (Sr2+) is crucial with regard to human health and environmental protection. In this work, an electrochemical aptasensor was designed using carboxylated graphene oxide (CGO)-modified carbon paste electrode (CGO/CPE) for ultrasensitive determination of Sr2+ ions. The electrochemical determination was accomplished with employing the constructed G-quadruplex (G4) aptamer at the surface of aptasensor in presence of carmoisine (CA) as an electrochemical label. Moreover, NH2-functionalized aptamer was immobilized onto CGO/CPE via carboxylic group. Hence, differential pulse voltammetry was applied for detection of any possible signal changes of CA on the aptasensor surface. The reduction peak currents of CA in the absence and presence of Sr2+ in solution were different and this difference was linearly dependent to the concentration of Sr2+ in solution. The analytical results revealed that our novel aptasensor showed two appropriate linear ranges (0.1-8.0 pM and 3.0-20.0 nM) versus to Sr2+ ion concentrations with the limit of detection of 0.06 pM (S/N = 3). Excellent stability, selectivity and reproducibility were achieved with this new electrochemical aptasensor. Additionally, the aptasensor showed good achievements in analysis of Sr2+ in aqueous and urine real samples, which making this proposed method a promising candidate for electrochemical detection of Sr2+ in real samples.

Obesity, a challenge in the management of inflammatory bowel diseases.

Obesity, a morbid condition snowballing in the world, may cause many health issues in healthy and ill people. Many disorders are known to be influenced by obesity, mainly in a catastrophic way, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Many studies sought to determine the effects that obesity prompts IBD. Some of them indicate that obesity is associated with poor outcomes. There is no consistency regarding the correlation between obesity and IBDs due to the equivocal nature of obesity and the shortage of extensive and reliable investigations. However, to a worldwide consensus, obesity has a unique disease burden and can cause poor prognosis when it accompanies other ailments. Here, we have reviewed some of the alterations and impacts that obesity may impose on the pathogenesis and clinical management of IBD. Conclusively, inflammatory processes of IBD are reinforced by obesity. Furthermore, as a two-way road, obesity can be caused by IBD. However, autoimmunity in IBD is not found to have a consistent relationship with obesity. Although, medical and surgical treatments of IBD are affected by obesity in terms of their efficacy and outcomes. The most important aspect of obesity that can influence the course of disease management is associated with significant disabilities that obesity may cause rather than a metabolic or molecular rationale.

Epidemiology of COVID-19 in Tehran, Iran: A Cohort Study of Clinical Profile, Risk Factors, and Outcomes.

Background: The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) dates back to December 2019 in China. Iran has been among the most prone countries to the virus. The aim of this study was to report demographics, clinical data, and their association with death and CFR. Methods: This observational cohort study was performed from 20th March 2020 to 18th March 2021 in three tertiary educational hospitals in Tehran, Iran. All patients were admitted based on the WHO, CDC, and Iran's National Guidelines. Their information was recorded in their medical files. Multivariable analysis was performed to assess demographics, clinical profile, outcomes of disease, and finding the predictors of death due to COVID-19. Results: Of all 5318 participants, the median age was 60.0 years, and 57.2% of patients were male. The most significant comorbidities were hypertension and diabetes mellitus. Cough, dyspnea, and fever were the most dominant symptoms. Results showed that ICU admission, elderly age, decreased consciousness, low BMI, HTN, IHD, CVA, dialysis, intubation, Alzheimer disease, blood injection, injection of platelets or FFP, and high number of comorbidities were associated with a higher risk of death related to COVID-19. The trend of CFR was increasing (WPC: 1.86) during weeks 25 to 51. Conclusions: Accurate detection of predictors of poor outcomes helps healthcare providers in stratifying patients, based on their risk factors and healthcare requirements to improve their survival chance.

Designing a novel DNA-based electrochemical biosensor to determine of Ba2+ ions both selectively and sensitively.

This work describes a novel electrochemical biosensor based on G-quadruplex (G4) DNA for the sensitive and selective detection of Ba2+ ions using a Carbon Paste Electrode modified with Ag nanoparticles incorporated in reduced Graphene Oxide via a simple wet chemical method (Ag-rGO/CPE), in the presence of carmoisine (CA) as a new electrochemical indicator. The peak current of CA increased with increasing Ba2+ ions concentration and the DNA-based sensor showed linear ranges of 0.06-0.80 nM and 1.0-80 nM and a Limit of Detection (LOD) of 0.045 nM. The proposed biosensor showed a good selectivity toward Ba2+ ions in the presence of other metal ions such as Ag+, Hg2+, K+ and Na+ and was applied to the analysis of natural samples showing appropriate results.

Evaluation of adalimumab effects on left ventricle performance by echocardiography indexes among patients with immunosuppressant refractory ulcerative colitis.

Background and aims: Inflammatory bases lead to a simultaneous flourishing of cardiovascular complications with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). As a released cytokine, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) can either disrupt or preserve cardiovascular performance. Due to this controversy, this study aimed to appraise the short-term anti-TNF (adalimumab [ADA]) relics on cardiac function by gauging the echocardiography indexes in patients with immunosuppressant refractory ulcerative colitis (UC). Methods: All cases with a definite diagnosis of UC were included based on providing written informed consent and owning the severe form of active disease (Mayo score ≥7), which did not dampen with immunosuppressant. Patients were excluded in the case of previous cardiac ailments/risk factors and prior related surgical or pharmaceutical intervention. Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) was carried out before and 3 months after biological regimen allocation and changes in indexes [ejection fraction (EF), left ventricular end-diastolic volume (LVEDV)/left ventricular end-systolic volume (LVESV), and global longitudinal strain (GLS) in standard parasternal short axis from mid-ventricular level, two-, three-, and four-chamber apical long axes] were compared via statistical analyses. Results: The study consisted of 13 (65%) men and 7 (35%) women, with a mean age of 36.54 ± 11.3 years. Participants mainly possessed Montreal class I (45%) and an average of 3.25 years of disease duration. The intervention significantly controlled inflammation [endoscopic Mayo score (P = 0.001), partial Mayo score (P = 0.001), and C-reactive protein (P = 0.001)]. Endoscopic and clinical remission was obtained in 7 (35%) and 9 (45%) patients, respectively; however, no significant discrepancy related to the LVEDV (P = 0.86), LVESV (P-value = 0.25), EF (P-value = 0.06), and GLS in standard parasternal short axis (P = 0.73), long axis [apical 2-chamber (P-value = 0.61), apical 3-chamber (P-value = 0.15), and apical 4-chamber (P-value = 0.19) views] was observed before and after the intervention. Furthermore, no statistically significant correlation between disease activity and cardiac function was found, neither before nor after ADA administration. Conclusion: The present perusal found no deterioration in left ventricular function indexes with ADA intervention among patients with IBD without cardiac ailment. Thus, prescribing the anti-TNF to alleviate the inflammation can be carried out with less concern about cardiac consequences and considering other adverse traces in the target group.

Lack of association between VEGF -2578C/A polymorphism and risk of colorectal cancer in an Iranian population.

AIM: Here, we evaluated the VEGF gene -2578C/A polymorphism as a potential susceptibility factor in colorectal cancer (CRC) occurrence amongst Iranian CRC patients. BACKGROUND: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a key regulatory factor in angiogenesis which plays essential roles in the development of malignancy in colorectal cancer (CRC), as the third most prevalent cancer worldwide. METHODS: VEGF -2578C/A polymorphism was evaluated in 200 CRC patients and 200 healthy control subjects via restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. RESULTS: The frequencies of CC, AC and AA genotypes among CRC patients were 22.5%, 51% and 26.5%, respectively, with their respective genotype frequencies at 16%, 54% and 30% in control cohorts (P=0.247). The A allele frequency among the case group was 52% and for control group, it was 57%. C allele frequency in case and control groups was 48% and 43%, respectively (p=0.156). No significant association was observed (p=0.990) between this polymorphism and CRC stage. CONCLUSION: Our findings provide limited support for the hypothesis that the -2578C/A VEGF are associated with increased risk of colorectal cancer in Iranian colorectal cancer patients and suggest instead that meta data studies, which have previously relied upon populations definitions such as 'Asian', should more specifically take into account country of origin when associating prognostic value to a given genotype.