Quercetin and Its Role in Reducing the Expression of Pro-inflammatory Cytokines in Osteoarthritis.

Osteoarthritis is the most common human joint disease in the world. It is also one of the most common skeletal muscle defects, destructive joint changes, and the leading cause of disability and reduced quality of life. Destructive changes in inflammatory joints are associated with a range of biochemical events, including the overproduction of inflammatory cytokines. Cytokines are protein compounds that play an essential role in causing and regulating inflammation. A balance between pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines is crucial in maintaining a stable body. In some inflammatory diseases, including osteoarthritis, the balance between these compounds is disturbed, and the balance shifts to pre-inflammatory cytokines. For this reason, researchers today are trying to find an effective way to reduce inflammation and treat osteoarthritis by using certain compounds. Current treatments for osteoarthritis, including nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, glucocorticoids, and hyaluronic acid, are mainly based on reducing pain and inflammation. However, they have limited effects in controlling symptoms and improving the patient's quality of life. Also, due to the high level of side effects, synthetic drugs have led to the identification of compounds of natural origin to give patients a chance to use painkillers and antiinflammatory drugs with fewer side effects. This review study aimed to present the role of quercetin as a natural compound in reducing the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines in osteoarthritis. This study also discusses the relationship between inflammation and cartilage destruction and other inflammation-related factors caused by cytokines.

Prevelence of depression in Iranian women with breast cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Depression is a debilitating disease that is highly prevalent among cancer patients. Various studies in Iran have reported different prevalence. This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to estimate the overall prevalence of depression in Iranian women with breast cancer. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this study, published articles in Persian and English were collected without time limit. Keyword searches for depression, depressive disorder, dysthymic disorder, major depressive disorder, breast cancer, breast neoplasm, and Iran and all of their potential combinations were performed in Scientific Information Database (SID), MagIran, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science databases. The heterogeneity between studies was assessed using the Q-Cochrane test and, given the significant heterogeneity, a random-effects model was used to estimate the overall prevalence of depression. Data were analyzed using STATA version 11 software. RESULTS: The analysis of 22 selected articles with a total sample size of 3,082 showed that the overall prevalence of depression in women with breast cancer was 49.98% (95% confidence interval: 48.43-52.52). The prevalence of depression in Region 1 in the country was (28%; 95% confidence interval: 25.53-52.55) and in other regions, it was (63.79% with 95% confidence interval of 61.82-76.76). The highest and the lowest prevalence of depression were related to BDI (69.33%; 95% confidence interval: 67.19-71.48) and HADS (26.43%; 95% confidence interval: 23.14-29.72), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Half of the Iranian women with breast cancer had depression. Given the overlap of physical symptoms of cancer with depression, identifying at-risk patients for controlling and providing therapeutic interventions seems necessary.

Antioxidants and their role in the prevention and treatment of chronic kidney disease (CKD), perspective of complementary nursing and medicine: a review.

BACKGROUND: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a progressive and irreversible disease that leads to end-stage renal disease. Many factors such as increased oxidative stress play a role in the occurrence of this complication. Due to the effective role of the antioxidant defense system in controlling many of the complications in which oxidative stress is involved, the present study was conducted to evaluate the role of antioxidants in the prevention and treatment of chronic kidney disease. METHODS: In this review study, studies using standard keywords in internal and external databases including: SID, Magiran, IranDoc, Medlib, Science Direct, PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Web of Science, Medline and Google Scholar search engine, were retrieved and selected without time limit. RESULTS: Among the selected articles, 14 articles were eligible for inclusion in the study, which was performed on more than 20,000 people and several animal models of rats from 2005 onwards. The results showed that there is an inverse relationship between the concentration of antioxidant enzymes in the body and the intensity and progression of CKD. In severe cases, a significant decrease in the concentration of antioxidant enzymes in the body, as well as cofactors such as selenium, iron and zinc in the progressive and severe course of CKD has been observed. CONCLUSIONS: The positive and significant effect of antioxidant compounds in chronic kidney disease is evident. The use of these compounds in the diet in the form of fruits, vegetables and grains, as well as the supply of iron and zinc and other minerals elements as cofactors for the action of enzymatic antioxidants has an effective role in the prevention and treatment of diseases by controlling free radicals.

Care and prevention during the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine: sedentary lifestyle and increased risk of kidney stones.

Currently, the issue of lifestyle combined with lack of physical activity in quarantine conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic has become a major health problem in many countries around the world. Increased inactivity is associated with increased obesity as well as decreased physical activity and general health. Kidney stones are the third most common urinary tract disease. Prevention of non-communicable diseases depends on controlling risk factors such as low levels of physical activity. Kidney stones are also among the noncommunicable diseases that can be prevented by changing behavioral habits. Physical activity is a behavior that has many proven health benefits and is one of the most effective ways to prevent chronic diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate sedentary lifestyle and its relationship with oxidative stress and kidney stone formation, and finally to provide medical solutions and recommendations.

Investigating the effect of quarantine caused by COVID-19 on mental health and social trust.

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to examine the effect of quarantine caused by COVID-19 on people's mental health and social trust. METHOD: In this study, the sample size covers 2919 people in the southwest of Iran that was selected cluster sample method and was evaluated online using tools of social trust and a checklist of mental disorder syndrome. RESULTS: Due to the results, COVID-19 affected all people's mental health negatively, but there was a significant difference between the rates of COVID-19 caused anxiety and the dimensions of the psychological problems and social trust different between men and women and married and single people, and also the education level. There was no significant relationship between any of the demographic variables and social trust variables, corona anxiety, and dimensions of psychological problems. And there was a negative and significant relationship between the dimensions of social trust and the dimensions of psychological problems. Moreover, the social trust rate in the subjects was desirable. Based on the results and the cutoff point of 2.5 as a border of healthy and unhealthy psychological dimensions, 4.5% had pathological anxiety, 7.3% had pathological depression, 5% had aggression, and 5.9 % had pathological obsessive-compulsive disorder. Depression had the highest scores, and aggression had the lowest scores. CONCLUSION: Due to this study's results, policymakers should consider measures that should be taken in crisis to support all people, especially vulnerable people in psychological, economic, social, spiritual, and psychological fields. On the other hand, the government must train the public through the mass media to cope with COVID-19.

Anxiety, quality of work life and fatigue of Iran health care providers in health care centers in COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: The aim of this study was to investigate the status of anxiety, quality of work life, and fatigue of healthe care providers in six educational and medical centers of Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences in the southwest of Iran in the Covid-19 pandemic. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present study was a cross-sectional study and included the statistical population of healthcare providers in six educational and medical centers of Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences in the southwest of Iran. Using random sampling method, 181 people who had direct involvement with patients with Covid-19 were selected and compared with 261 staff in other wards who had no direct contact with patients with Covid-19. For data collection, demographic information (demographic characteristics questionnaire), Covid-19 Anxiety Questionnaire, quality of work life and Rhoten fatigue questionnaires were used by self-administered online questionnaires. RESULTS: The results showed that the quality of life in both groups decreased and fatigue and anxiety caused by Covid-19 increased, but there was no statistically significant difference between anxiety derived fatigues of personnel involved with Covid-19 with personnel of other wards which were no directly faced Covid-19 patients. Regarding the quality of work life, no significant difference was observed in other components except in the component of human resource development. The results also showed that there was a statistically significant relationship between the level of anxiety caused by Covid-19 with quality of work life and fatigue. CONCLUSION: According to the results of the present study, Covid-19 had a negative effect on physical, mental and various aspects of quality of life of health care staff and led to increased fatigue.

Crude incidence, age-specific incidence, and standardized incidence rates of leukemia in children under 14 years of age in Iran: an updated meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Cancer is the second leading cause of death in children aged 0-14 years and leukemia is the most prevalent of them among children in the world and Iran. Estimating cancer incidence is a vital tool in epidemiology and subsequent cancer control programs. The aim is to evaluate the crude incidence, age-specific incidence and standardized incidence rates of leukemia in these children in Iran through a meta-analysis. METHODS: This is a systematic review and meta-analysis between 1950 and 2019. We searched national (Iran Medex, Mag Iran and Scientific Information Database) and international (Google Scholar, PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, and the Web of Sciences) databases for this purpose. The quality of articles was evaluated using the guidelines checklist for critically appraising studies of the incidence of a health problem. After the quality assessment the random effect meta-analysis was used to estimate the incidence rates in overall and based on sex. RESULTS: A total of 382 articles were identified in the search phase and finally, 15 studies were included. The crude incidence rate in the total population using the Random effect model was estimated at 29.29 (CI %95, 25.74-32.84) per one million children aged 0-14 years. This rate was 34.72 (CI %95, 28.85-40.59) in boys and 24.89 (CI %95, 20.28-29.5) in girls. According to the results, three provinces of Fars (51.48), Golestan (40.86) and Qazvin (35.82) had the highest prevalence, respectively. CONCLUSION: Given that the incidence of leukemia in boys is higher than in girls and it is more drastic in some Iranian provinces, further attention should be dedicated to risk factors in boys and high risk locations in Iran to help prevent of incidence of this disease.