The association between job stress and metabolic syndrome among medical university staff.

BACKGROUND: The relationship between job stress and each component of metabolic syndrome has been previously suggested; however, this association is not consistent. The present study was conducted to assess the association between job stress and metabolic syndrome and its components in a group of Iranian workers affiliated with Tehran University of Medical Sciences. METHODOLOGY: This cross-sectional study was performed on 3,537 randomly selected staff in Tehran University of Medical Sciences including the staff of clinical, administrative, and service departments with at least one year of working experience. The overall frequency of metabolic syndrome was assessed based on the international diabetes federation (IDF) criteria. The Persian version of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ) was used to measure major domains of psychosocial factors in the workplace. RESULTS: The overall frequency of metabolic syndrome in the assessed personnel was estimated to be 22.1 % and there was a significantly higher rate of metabolic syndrome in office workers and service personnel compared to clinical staff (OR: 1.51, CI 95 %: 1.25-1.82 and OR: 1.74, CI 95 %: 1.41-2.14, respectively). Health and well-being as a major domain of COPSOQ was found to be significantly impaired by the presence of metabolic syndrome. According to the results of multiple logistic regression modeling, the relationship between metabolic syndrome and impaired health and well-being domain remained significant after adjusting for age, gender, marital status, educational level, and employment category. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings revealed a close association between job-related stress and the impaired well-being in the presence of metabolic syndrome among the medical university staff.

Hierarchical zeolitic imidazolate framework-67 derived from in-situ synthesized CO-Al layered double hydroxide embedded within porous-anodized aluminum foil for thin film microextraction of caffeine followed by its high performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detection.

In this study, the in-situ conversion of the synthesized Co-Al layered double hydroxide (Co-Al LDH) nanosheets to three dimensional hierarchical zeolitic imidazolate framework-67 (3D HZIF-67) was presented as a cost-effective, highly efficient, flexible and robust sorbent to carry out the microextraction process. In the first stage, the anodized aluminum foil was prepared electrochemically. Then, the Co-Al LDH precursor was constructed on the surface of the previously-prepared anodized Al foil applying in-situ formation approach. The procedure is followed by the conversion of the prepared Co-Al LDH film to 3D HZIF-67 film via a facile solvothermal method without adding cobalt salt. The in-situ prepared 3D HZIF-67-anodized Al was used for the thin film microextraction (TFME) of caffeine. The effective factors in TFME procedure were investigated and optimized through applying Central Composite Design (CCD). In the obtained optimal condition, the calibration curves for TFME-HPLC-UV of caffeine were linear in the range of 1-200 µg L-1 with the coefficient of determination (r2) higher than 0.9915. The limits of detection were 0.33 and 0.38 µg L-1, in water and urine matrices, respectively. Moreover, the enrichment factors (EFs) and absolute recoveries (%AR) were also calculated as 173-198 and 57.1%-65.3%, respectively. The inter-day relative standard deviations (RSDs) were evaluated as the method precision for 20 and 200 µg L-1 of spiked sample and were between 4.9-6.1%. The repeatability of the preparation step was investigated as batch-to-batch reproducibility and it was found to be 4.9%; as a result, the reproducibility of the presented film was approved. Finally, the proposed method was utilized to determine caffeine (as the model analyte) from different types of real samples including urine, coffee, beverage (Pepsi) and shampoo. The obtained recoveries (higher than 88%) confirmed the capability of the method for real sample analysis.

In-situ synthesis of flower like Co3O4 nanorod arrays on anodized aluminum substrate templated from layered double hydroxide as a nanosorbent for thin film microextraction of acidic drugs followed by HPLC-UV quantitation.

The present study is the first report of in-situ growth and application of nanorods-flower like Co3O4 nanosorbent coated on the anodized aluminum substrate for thin film microextraction (TFME) approach. The flower like Co3O4 was successfully fabricated by conversion of Co-Al layered double hydroxide (LDH) precursor to Co3O4 using the simple calcinations process. The cheap and available aluminum foil was electrochemically anodized and used as a porous substrate. Response surface methodology (RSM) was explored for optimization step. Different acidic drugs, including: paracetamol, ibuprofen, aspirin and diclofenac were extracted from biological fluids in order to investigate the capability of the prepared sorbent. The extracted analytes were then analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV). Under the optimized conditions, the limits of detection were between 0.2 and 1.7 µg L-1 in different selected matrices. The obtained limits of quantification were also calculated to be between 0.8 and 5.1 µg L-1 in the selected matrices. In addition the enrichment factors were also in the range of 105-169. Batch-to-batch reproducibility at 100 µg L-1 concentration level was also evaluated to be lower than 5.2% (n = 3). Finally, the method was successfully used for analysis of these compounds in the biological fluids.

Using of Ileucecal Interposition as a Neo-stomach in Dogs with Total Gastrectomy (Presentation of a Novel Technique).

Total gastrectomy and R&Y reconstruction is the standard treatment of gastric cancer except distal form one. Malnutrition is a common adverse effect of this technique, and in this study, we preset a novel technique in order to help to reduce the rate of it. We use seven dogs as participants and after total gastrectomy; we used the 10 cm of the ileum and its concomitant cecum as a neo-stomach in them. For 3 months, the dogs were evaluated in nutrition status. Three of the dogs died-one due to endocarditis and two due to internal hernia. No anastomosis leakage or stricture was seen and there were no unusual neo-stomach dilation or food stasis. This technique can help the nutrition status of total gastrectomy patients but needs more comparative human studies.

Equine adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells: phenotype and growth characteristics, gene expression profile and differentiation potentials.

OBJECTIVE: Because of the therapeutic application of stem cells (SCs), isolation and characterization of different types of SCs, especially mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), have gained considerable attention in recent studies. Adipose tissue is an abundant and accessible source of MSCs which can be used for tissue engineering and in particular for treatment of musculoskeletal disorders. This study was aimed to isolate and culture equine adipose-derived MSCs (AT-MSCs) from little amounts of fat tissue samples and determine some of their biological characteristics. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this descriptive study, only 3-5 grams of fat tissue were collected from three crossbred mares. Immediately, cells were isolated by mechanical means and enzymatic digestion and were cultured in optimized conditions until passage 3 (P3). The cells at P3 were evaluated for proliferative capacities, expression of specific markers, and osteogenic, chondrogenic and adipogenic differentiation potentials. RESULTS: Results showed that the isolated cells were plastic adherent with a fibroblast-like phenotype. AT-MSCs exhibited expression of mesenchymal cluster of differentiation (CD) markers (CD29, CD44 and CD90) and not major histocompatibility complex II (MHC-II) and CD34 (hematopoietic marker). Cellular differentiation assays demonstrated the chondrogenic, adipogenic and osteogenic potential of the isolated cells. CONCLUSION: Taken together, our findings reveal that equine MSCs can be obtained easily from little amounts of fat tissue which can be used in the future for regenerative purposes in veterinary medicine.