Planning, implementation, and evaluation of educational intervention based on PRECEDE-PROCEED model for mothers about oral health promotion on children aged 3-6 years.

BACKGROUND: Mothers play an important role in oral health of children. The present study was planned, implemented, and evaluated to determine the impact of mothers' educational program based on PRECEDE-PROCEED model on oral health promotion of Rafsanjan 3-6-year-old children, in 2020. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 100 mothers with children aged 3-6 years divided into two groups. The research tool was developed and approved based on the model phases in the form of demographic information, predisposing, enabling, and reinforcing factors. At phase five, intervention planning was conducted and the program was implemented in four sessions (45 min each) in 30 days. Follow-up was done 2 months after the last training session. The data were analyzed by SPSS18, using Chi-square, paired t-test, and independent t-test at the significance level of 0.05. RESULTS: After implementing the program, a significant difference was observed between predisposing, enabling, and reinforcing factors, as well as oral health-related behaviors of the two groups (P < 0.05). Finally, 30.4% of the changes in oral health-related behavior resulted from the implementation of the designed educational program. CONCLUSION: Considering the importance of planning to promote children's oral health and hygiene, it is recommended that the PRECEDE-PROCEED model be used to design, implement, and evaluate health evidence-based interventions.

Indexes of Caring for Elderly in Earthquakes According to the Iranian Experience: A Qualitative Study.

OBJECTIVE: The elderly are especially susceptible to death and injury in disasters. This study aimed to identify indexes of caring for elderly people in an earthquake according to the Iranian experience. METHODS: This qualitative study was conducted during 2014-2016 by use of the content analysis technique. Data were collected through individual deep interviews with the elderly and people with experience providing services to the elderly during earthquakes in an urban area of Iran. The data were analyzed by use of the Graneheim and Lundman method. RESULTS: Seven categories emerged: vulnerability of elderly people, physiological indexes, psychological indexes, economic indexes, religious and spiritual indexes, health indexes, and security indexes. There were 3 uncategorized issues: "There is no specific protocol for the elderly," "The need to design plans based on age care," and "Aid organizations." CONCLUSIONS: Implementing a comprehensive plan would not only save lives but decrease suffering and enable effective use of available resources. Due to the crucial role of the prehospital care system in disasters, there is a need for further investigation based on the results of this study to develop strategies for improving the system. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018;12:493-501).

ASC provides a potential link between depression and inflammatory disorders: A clinical study of depressed Iranian medical students.

Background and aims AIM2 is a component of inflammasomes which can activate caspase-1 via an adaptor protein (ASC) after pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP) or danger-associated molecular pattern (DAMP) recognition. Activation of caspase-1 is a trigger for the induction of IL-1 and IL-18 which are important pro-inflammatory cytokines. Furthermore, IL-1ß, which can regulate inflammatory responses, has also been associated with depression. Previous studies revealed that patients suffering from depression may also have altered immune responses, but the mechanisms underlying this correlation are unclear. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine the mRNA levels of AIM2 and ASC in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) isolated from Iranian medical students suffering from depression. Materials and methods The participants used for the study included 38 Iranian medical students diagnosed with depression and 43 non-depressed students as a control group. The mRNA levels of AIM2 and ASC were evaluated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using ß-actin as a housekeeping gene for the normalization of expression. Results The results showed that mRNA levels of AIM2 were similar in both groups. However, ASC levels were significantly increased in PBMCs isolated from individuals with elevated depressive symptoms when compared to non-depressed participants. Conclusions Based on the current results, it appears that ASC transcript expression may be a surrogate marker for depression and may represent a link between depression and the altered immune responses observed in these categories of individuals with elevated depressive symptoms.

Differential pattern of cytokine production by depressed medical students; evidence for involvement of cytokine network in pathology of depression.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies revealed that the immune responses of depressed patients can be affected by alteration of immune system factors; however, the immune genes mainly influenced are yet to be fully understood. Therefore, the main aim of present study was to identify serum levels of drastic inflammatory cytokines including IL-17A, IL-12, and IL-6 as well as anti-inflammatory cytokines, IL-10 and TGF-beta, amongst Iranian depressed medical students. METHODS: Peripheral blood specimens were collected from 38 Iranian medical student patients with moderate and severe depression along with 43 healthy students as control subjects. The serum levels of IL-17A, IL-12, IL-6, IL-10, and TGF-beta were assessed using the ELISA technique. RESULTS: Our results showed that the serum IL-10 level was significantly (p = 0.011) decreased in depressed patients (2.8 +/- 0.41 pg/mL) compared to healthy controls (4.3 +/- 0.4 pg/mL). The results also revealed that serum levels of TGF-beta were significantly increased in severely (12.75 +/- 5.22) compared to moderately (5.3 +/- 0.7) depressed patients (p = 0.045). CONCLUSIONS: According to the results of the present study, the decreased IL-10 level in the depressed patients may be responsible for the induction of inflammation in Iranian depressed patients. Additionally, increased serum levels of TGF-beta in severely compared to moderately depressed patients may be related to normal immune responses against inflammation in severely depressed patients.

The adapter proteins of TLRs, TRIF and MYD88, are upregulated in depressed individuals.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: TRIF and MYD88 are intracellular adaptor proteins for TLR signaling, and altered expression of these molecules can lead to defective or unregulated immune responses. Furthermore, previous studies revealed that depression may alter immune responses, but its mechanisms of action are unclear yet. There is a possibility that immunity and depression are linked through molecules such as TRIF and MYD88, thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the mRNA levels of TRIF and MYD88 in the PBMCs isolated from depressed medical students. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The current study examined 38 depressed medical students studying in Iran and 43 healthy students from the same cohort as a control group. The mRNA levels of TRIF and MYD88 were examined in parallel with a housekeeping gene using real-time PCR. RESULTS: Our results demonstrated that expression of TRIF and MYD88 were significantly elevated in PBMCs isolated from depressed patients when compared to healthy subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the current results, it seems that chronic inflammation in depressed patients correlates to the over expression of TRIF and MYD88 genes. Our results show a possible link between the reported increases of chronic inflammation in depressed individuals with unbalanced expression of genes that regulate immunity.

Exercise preconditioning improves behavioral functions following transient cerebral ischemia induced by 4-vessel occlusion (4-VO) in rats.

BACKGROUND: There is evidence that exercise decreases ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats. Since behavioral deficits are the main outcome in patients after stroke, our study was designed to investigate whether exercise preconditioning improves the acute behavioral functions and also brain inflammatory injury following cerebral ischemia. METHODS: Male rats weighing 250-300 g were randomly allocated into five experimental groups. Exercise was performed on a treadmill 30min/day for 3 weeks. Ischemia was induced by 4-vessel occlusion method. Recognition memory was assessed by novel object recognition task (NORT) and step-through passive avoidance task. Sensorimotor function and motor movements were evaluated by adhesive removal test and ledged beam-walking test, respectively. Brain inflammatory injury was evaluated by histological assessment. RESULTS: In NORT, the discrimination ratio was decreased after ischemia (P < 0.05) and exercise preconditioning improved it in ischemic animals. In the passive avoidance test, a significant reduction in response latency was observed in the ischemic group. Exercise preconditioning significantly decreased the response latency in the ischemic rats (P < 0.001). In the adhesive removal test, latency to touch and remove the sticky labels from forepaw was increased following induction of ischemia (all P < 0.001) and exercise preconditioning decreased these indices compared to the ischemic group (all P < 0.001). In the ledged beam-walking test, the slip ratio was increased following ischemia (P < 0.05).  In the ischemia group, marked neuronal injury in hippocampus was observed. These neuropathological changes were attenuated by exercise preconditioning (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Our results showed that exercise preconditioning improves behavioral functions and maintains more viable cells in the dorsal hippocampus of the ischemic brain.

Defective NF-kB transcription factor as the mediator of inflammatory responses: a study on depressed Iranian medical students.

BACKGROUND: NF-kB is a transcription factor that is a downstream target of several cell signaling systems including TLRs. Defective expression of the molecule can lead to inappropriate immune responses. Previous studies revealed that depression can affect immune responses, but its molecular mechanisms are yet to be fully understood. Thus, the main aim of this study was to identify if mRNA levels of NF-kB are changed in the PBMCs isolated from Iranian depressed medical students. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was done on 38 Iranian depressed medical students and 43 healthy students as a control group. The mRNA levels of NF-kB were assessed in parallel with beta-actin (as the housekeeping gene) using Real-Time PCR technique. RESULTS: Our results showed that mRNA levels of NF-kB were significantly decreased in isolated PBMCs from depressed patients compared to healthy controls. CONCLUSIONS: According to the results obtained in the present study, it seems that depressed patients are unable to appropriately express NF-kB at mRNA levels which may in turn lead to defective molecule expression.

Downregulation of CCR5 expression on the peripheral blood CD8+ T cells of southeastern Iranian patients with chronic hepatitis B infection.

Studies indicated that CC receptor 5 (CCR5), as a receptor for CC ligand 3, CCL4, and CCL5, plays important roles in the recruitment of T cytotoxic lymphocytes to the liver of chronic HBV (CHB)-infected patients. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the expression levels of CCR5 on the CD8(+) T lymphocytes of CHB patients. This clinical study was performed on 63 CHB patients and 96 healthy controls. Flow cytometric analysis was performed to examine the expression of CCR5 on CD8(+) T cells of CHB patients. Real-time PCR was also used for HBV-DNA quantification. The results of our study demonstrated that CCR5 expressing T cytotoxic cells were decreased significantly in CHB patients in comparison to healthy control. Based on our results, it can be concluded that the percent of CCR5(+)/CD8(+) T cells in Iranian CHB patients is significantly decreased, hence their migration to the infected liver, and HBV eradication from the hepatocytes is disrupted.