Evaluation of the Systolic and Diastolic Right Ventricular Function: A Comparison Between Diabetes, Prediabetes and Normal Patients Without Coronary Artery Disease.

Diabetes mellitus is a well-known dangerous factor for cardiovascular disease with high rate of comorbidities. Patients suffering from this disease have represented more heart failures which is entangled with Ischemic heart disease or high blood pressure. Thus, depending on the recent scientific facts, diabetes mellitus as a separate factor which is independent from CAD, Arterial blood pressure or other factors, is claimed to culminate in advance heart failure. Previous studies have concentrated on the impacts of diabetes and prediabetes on the performance of the left ventricular which leaves right ventricular uncovered. Consequently, the aim of this article is to analyze and compare the systolic and diastolic function of the right ventricular in normal patients and the ones with diabetes and prediabetes without any coronary artery disease.

A novel self-assembled micelles based on stearic acid modified schizophyllan for efficient delivery of paclitaxel.

This study was aimed to design a novel amphiphilic carrier based on schizophyllan (SPG) exopolysacharide for drug delivery. Stearic acid (SA) was used for the esterification of SPG with two degrees of substitutions (SA-SPG0.5 and SA-SPG1). The H NMR and FTIR spectroscopies verified the succesfull esterification of SPG. The polymeric micelles easily self-assembled into nanomicelles by ultrasound method. Fluorescence spectroscopy showed that the critical micelle concentrations (CMCs) of SA-SPG0.5 and SA-SPG1 micelles were 0.068 mg/mL and 0.027 mg/mL, respectively. DLS analyses showed that nanomicelles were ranged from 156 to 175 nm. SEM and TEM images showed that nanomicelles were mostly spherical. Paclitaxel (PTX) as a drug model was successfully loaded into SA-SPG nanomicelles with three different drug/polymer weight ratios of 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3. The highest encapsulation efficiency (75 %) was obtained when the PTX/SA-SPG weight ratio was 0.1. The in vitro release of PTX from SA-SPG micelles represented the sustained release profile over 144 h. MTT assay showed that the PTX-loaded SA-SPG nanomicelles had the higher cytotoxicity against MCF-7 cells than free PTX. These results revealed that the synthesized SA-SPG nanomicelles had a promising potential as a new carrier for efficient delivery of hydrophobic drugs.

Sulfur Mustard Effects on Mental Health and Quality-of-Life: A Review.

OBJECTIVE: Mental disorders are more common among the chemically injured veterans rather the than the normal population. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of mustard gas (MG) on mental health and quality-of-life (QOL) in the people exposed to it based on reviewing valid published articles. METHODS: We searched English databases including Medline, ISI and Scopus as well as Farsi databases including Iranmedex and Irandoc and reviewed them. The used keywords were in two English and Farsi languages. Forty related full texts out of more than 300 articles were assessed and for their qualification, only the publications in accredited journals were considered sufficient. RESULTS: The average mental health score of victims using the general health questionnaire (GHQ) was 48.92. The frequency of anxiety was (18-65%), insomnia (13.63%), social performance disturbances (10.73%), severe depression (6-46%), low concentration (54%), emotional problems (98%), behavioral abnormalities (80%), thought processing disturbances (14%), memory impairment (80%), personality disorders (31%), seizures (6%), psychosis (3%). Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the most common and important disorders with lifetime PTSD (8-59%), current PTSD (2-33%) and the QOL in chemical warfare victims decreased. CONCLUSION: Exposure to chemical weapons may lead to physical, mental, social, and economic damages and consequently decrease the victims' (QOL. Therefore, they should be taken into more care.