Iron chelators: as therapeutic agents in diseases.

The concentration of iron is tightly regulated, making it an essential element. Various cellular processes in the body rely on iron, such as oxygen sensing, oxygen transport, electron transfer, and DNA synthesis. Iron excess can be toxic because it participates in redox reactions that catalyze the production of reactive oxygen species and elevate oxidative stress. Iron chelators are chemically diverse; they can coordinate six ligands in an octagonal sequence. Because of the ability of chelators to trap essential metals, including iron, they may be involved in diseases caused by oxidative stress, such as infectious diseases, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, and cancer. Iron-chelating agents, by tightly binding to iron, prohibit it from functioning as a catalyst in redox reactions and transfer iron and excrete it from the body. Thus, the use of iron chelators as therapeutic agents has received increasing attention. This review investigates the function of various iron chelators in treating iron overload in different clinical conditions.

Progress in Electronic, Energy, Biomedical and Environmental Applications of Boron Nitride and MoS2 Nanostructures.

In this review, we examine recent progress using boron nitride (BN) and molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) nanostructures for electronic, energy, biomedical, and environmental applications. The scope of coverage includes zero-, one-, and two-dimensional nanostructures such as BN nanosheets, BN nanotubes, BN quantum dots, MoS2 nanosheets, and MoS2 quantum dots. These materials have sizable bandgaps, differentiating them from other metallic nanostructures or small-bandgap materials. We observed two interesting trends: (1) an increase in applications that use heterogeneous materials by combining BN and MoS2 nanostructures with other nanomaterials, and (2) strong research interest in environmental applications. Last, we encourage researchers to study how to remove nanomaterials from air, soil, and water contaminated with nanomaterials. As nanotechnology proceeds into various applications, environmental contamination is inevitable and must be addressed. Otherwise, nanomaterials will go into our food chain much like microplastics.

The environmental risk factors associated with fetal macrosomia: An umbrella review.

The present umbrella review evaluated the environmental risk factors prior to conception associated with fetal macrosomia based on meta-analyses and systematic reviews. We systematically searched international databases, including PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science, until April 2023 by using some relevant keywords. The quality of the included studies was assessed using the AMSTAR 2checklist. The risk factor of advanced maternal age 35-39 years compared with <30 years (OR 1·42, 95 % CI: 1·25, 1·60), prepregnancy obesity (OR 1.93, 95 % CI: 1.65, 2.27) and excessive weight gain before and during pregnancy (OR 2.35, 95 % CI: 1.95, 2.85) were graded as suggestive evidence (class III). Two risk factors of advanced maternal age >40 years compared with <30 years (OR 1.40, 95 % CI: 1.02, 1.78) and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) without insulin use (OR 1.70, 95 % CI: 1.23, 2.36) were graded as risk factors with weak evidence (class IV). Advanced maternal age, prepregnancy obesity, excessive weight gain before and during pregnancy, and GDM without insulin use were environmental risk factors for macrosomia.

Unfolded Protein Response Signaling in Hepatic Stem Cell Activation in Liver Fibrosis.

Frequent exposure to various external and internal adverse forces (stresses) disrupts cell protein homeostasis through endoplasmic reticulum (ER) capacity saturation. This process leads to the unfolded protein response (UPR), which aims to re-establish/maintain optimal cellular equilibrium. This complex mechanism is involved in the pathogenesis of various disorders, such as metabolic syndrome, fibrotic diseases, neurodegeneration, and cancer, by altering cellular metabolic changes integral to activating the hepatic stellate cells (HSCs). The development of hepatic fibrosis is one of the consequences of UPR activation. Therefore, novel therapies that target the UPR pathway effectively and specifically are being studied. This article covers the involvement of the UPR signaling pathway in cellular damage in liver fibrosis. Investigating the pathogenic pathways related to the ER/UPR stress axis that contribute to liver fibrosis can help to guide future drug therapy approaches.

The environmental risk factors related to uterine leiomyoma: An umbrella review.

BACKGROUND: Uterine leiomyoma (UL) is the most common benign tumor of the reproductive period and become a major health problem. The present umbrella review assessed the environmental risk factors associated with UL based on meta-analyses studies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We searched three Major databases until February 2022. The meta-analyses that had focused on evaluating the environmental risk factors associated with the UL were included. The summary effect estimates, 95% CI, heterogeneity I², 95% prediction interval, small-study effects, excess significance biases, and sensitive analysis were applied. We used A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews 2 (AMSTAR 2) for assessing the quality of the meta-analyses. RESULT: The risk factor of chronic psychological stress (OR 1.24, 95% CI: 1.15, 1.34) and obesity (OR 1.19, 95% CI: 1.09, 1.29) was graded as suggestive evidence (class III). The current alcohol intake (OR 1.33, 95% CI: 1.01, 1.76) was graded as the risk factor with weak evidence (class IV). Current oral contraceptive (OCP) use (RR 0.43, 95% CI: 0.25, 0.73) (class IV), and former smokers (OR 0.93, 95% CI: 0.88, 0.99) (class IV) were as the protective factors. CONCLUSION: The current alcohol intake, chronic psychological stress, and obesity were risk factors for the UL, but current OCP use and former smokers were the protective factors.

The environmental risk factors prior to conception associated with placenta accreta spectrum: An umbrella review.

BACKGROUND: The present umbrella review evaluated the environmental risk factors prior to conception associated with placenta accrete spectrum(PAS) based on meta-analyses and systematic reviews. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We searched PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science until October 14, 2021. All meta-analyses that had focused on assessing the risk factors associated with the PAS were included. We calculated summary effect estimates, 95% CI, heterogeneity I², 95% prediction interval, small-study effects, excess significance biases, and sensitive analysis. The quality of the meta-analyses was evaluated with A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews 2 (AMSTAR 2). RESULT: The risk factor of in-vitro fertilization (IVF) (OR 5.03, 95% CI: 3.34, 7.56) was graded as suggestive evidence (class III). The multiple gestation (OR 1.90, 95% CI: 1.26, 2.88) was graded as the risk factor with weak evidence (class IV). Hypertension disorders (OR 0.5, 95% CI: 0.30, 0.82), low socioeconomic status (SES) (OR 0.51, 95% CI: 0.37, 0.71) (class IV) and male fetus (OR 0.79, 95% CI: 0.74, 0.84) (class III) were as the protective factors (class IV). The methodological quality of four of the included meta-analyses, based on AMSTAR 2, was low and three meta-analyses were critically low. CONCLUSION: The multifetal gestation and IVF were environmental risk factors for the PAS, while hypertension disorders, low SES, and male fetus were the protective factors.

The environmental risk factors prior to conception associated with placental abruption: an umbrella review.

BACKGROUND: The present umbrella review evaluated risk factors prior to conception associated with placental abruption based on meta-analyses and systematic reviews. METHODS: We searched PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science until June 25, 2021. All meta-analyses that had focused on assessing the risk factors associated with placental abruption were included. We calculated summary effect estimates, 95% CI, heterogeneity I2, 95% prediction interval, small-study effects, excess significance biases, and sensitive analysis. The quality of the meta-analyses was evaluated with A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews 2 (AMSTAR 2). RESULTS: There was no risk factor in the present umbrella review with the high level of evidence (class I or II). Eight risk factors including maternal asthma (RR 1.29 95% CI 1.14, 1.47), prior cesarean section (RR 1.38, 95% CI 1.35-1.42), cocaine using (RR 4.55, 95% CI 1.78-6.50), endometriosis (OR 1.40, 95% CI 1.12-1.76), chronic hypertension (OR 3.13, 95% CI 2.04-4.80), advanced maternal age (OR 1.44, 95% CI 1.35-1.54), maternal smoking (OR 1.80, 95% CI 1.75-1.85) (RR 1.65, 95% CI 1.51-1.80), and use of assisted reproductive techniques (ART) (OR 1.87, 95% CI 1.70-2.06) were graded as suggestive evidence (class III). The other four risk factors including pre-pregnancy underweight (OR 1.38, 95% CI 1.12-1.70), preeclampsia (OR 1.73, 95% CI 1.47-2.04), uterine leiomyoma (OR 2.63, 95% CI 1.38-3.88), and marijuana use (OR 1.78, 95% CI 1.32-2.40) were graded as risk factors with weak evidence (class IV). CONCLUSION: Maternal asthma, prior cesarean section, cocaine use, endometriosis, chronic hypertension, advanced maternal age, maternal smoking, and use of ART, pre-pregnancy underweight, preeclampsia, uterine leiomyoma, and marijuana use were risk factors associated with placental abruption. Although factors associated with placental abruption have been investigated, the current meta-analytic associations cannot disentangle the complex etiology of placental abruption mainly due to their low quality of evidence.

The risk factors associated with placenta previa: An umbrella review.

We evaluated in this umbrella review a systematic collection from meta-analyses conducted on risk factors associated with placenta previa. We searched PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science until April 2021 assessing the risk factors associated with placenta previa. We calculated summary effect estimates odds ratio, relative risk, 95% CI, heterogeneity I2, 95% prediction interval, small-study effects, excess significance biases, and sensitive analysis. The quality of the meta-analyses was evaluated with AMSTAR 2. We included nine studies in the present umbrella review. Seven risk factors including prior induced abortion (OR 1·36, 95% CI: 1·02, 1·69), prior spontaneous abortion (OR 1·77, 95% CI: 1·60, 1·94), male fetus (OR 1·2, 95% CI: 1·2, 1·3), smoking (OR 1·42, 95% CI 1·30, 1·54) (RR 1·27, 95% CI: 1·18, 1·35) advanced maternal age (OR 3·16, 95% CI: 2·79, 3·57), cesarean (OR 1·60, 95% CI: 1·44, 1·76) and ART (singleton pregnancy) (RR 3·71, 95% CI: 2·67, 5·16) were graded as highly suggestive evidence (class III). Endometriosis (OR 3·03, 95% CI: 1·50, 6·13) and maternal cocaine use (OR 2·9, 95% CI: 1·9, 4·3) were graded as risk factors with weak evidence (class IV). This study provides suggestive evidence about prior spontaneous abortion, prior induced abortion, male fetus, smoking, advanced maternal age, cesarean section, and assisted reproductive techniques (singleton pregnancy) as risk factors associated with placenta previa.

Motion sickness and sense of presence in a virtual reality environment developed for manual wheelchair users, with three different approaches.

Visually Induced Motion Sickness (VIMS) is a bothersome and sometimes unsafe experience, frequently experienced in Virtual Reality (VR) environments. In this study, the effect of up to four training sessions to decrease VIMS in the VR environment to a minimal level was tested and verified through explicit declarations of all 14 healthy participants that were recruited in this study. Additionally, the Motion Sickness Assessment Questionnaire (MSAQ) was used at the end of each training session to measure responses to different aspects of VIMS. Total, gastrointestinal, and central motion sickness were shown to decrease significantly by the last training session, compared to the first one. After acclimatizing to motion sickness, participants' sense of presence and the level of their motion sickness in the VR environment were assessed while actuating three novel and sophisticated VR systems. They performed up to four trials of the Illinois agility test in the VR systems and the real world, then completed MSAQ and Igroup Presence Questionnaire (IPQ) at the end of each session. Following acclimatization, the three VR systems generated relatively little motion sickness and high virtual presence scores, with no statistically meaningful difference among them for either MSAQ or IPQ. Also, it was shown that presence has a significant negative correlation with VIMS.

Are social robots ready yet to be used in care and therapy of autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials.

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects the everyday life of people who have this lifelong condition. Robots hold great promise for uplifting therapy and care of the affected population. We searched Scopus, Medline, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, and PubMed databases for randomized controlled trials that had evaluated robot use in the therapy of people with autism, to see how effective social robots have been incorporated in autism care. Out of 240 papers initially identified, 19 satisfied the inclusion criteria and were fully evaluated. Overall, 10 different robots were utilized in the trials, out of which, four were non-humanoids. The number of papers with positive results for using robots on the main and secondary parameters was 11 and 5, respectively. Three papers reported that robot groups did not achieve better results than others. Robots in the papers included here were mainly added as the "entertainment agent" to elicit greater engagement from the participants, which is understandable, as robots at this stage might not be ready yet to deliver high-end care.

Investigating the test-retest reliability of Illinois Agility Test for wheelchair users.

The Illinois Agility Test (IAT) is a standard agility course used to assess and train able-bodied athletes as well as wheelchair-sport athletes and rehabilitation of wheelchair users. It has been shown to be a reliable and valid tool to assess the able-bodied population, but the reliability of this test for assessing wheelchair propulsion has never been shown. The purpose of this study is to investigate the test-retest reliability of IAT to assess wheelchair propulsion. In this paper, the test-retest reliability of using IAT for wheelchair users is found for peak and average velocity, acceleration, tangential and total force of the push, each for the left and the right wheel. Each of these variables was found for thirty-two decisive points throughout the IAT path. The Intra-class Correlation Coefficient (ICC) was found to be very strong for 15 out of 16 variables. The average ICC was 89% and the average 95% confidence interval was [44% 96%]. In addition, thirty-seven other significant propulsion parameters were found that are clinically important, such as the number of pushes participants take to go around cones on the right, relative to turning around the cones on the left. Also, all thirty-seven variables were compared between the two sessions using four separate MANOVAs; the results showed no significant difference between IAT performed in the two sessions which were at least one week apart. This, in turn, backs the reliability of IAT for wheelchair users. These results are sufficient evidence to show that IAT is a reliable tool to test wheelchair agility for fifteen variables tested for non-wheelchair users. Since experienced wheelchair users are much more consistent in wheelchair propulsion compared to non-wheelchair-users, the results of this study show that IAT can be used as a reliable tool to assess and train wheelchair users, both for clinical and athletic applications.

Investigating the Reliability and Validity of Three Novel Virtual Reality Environments With Different Approaches to Simulate Wheelchair Maneuvers.

Wheelchair manoeuvring has received little attention in the literature despite its importance in mobility and performing activities of daily living and its role in developing secondary injuries for wheelchair users. The focus in this paper was technology development with iterative and proof-of-concept testing. Three versions of a wheelchair simulator that were designed and developed for simulating curvilinear wheelchair propulsion in virtual reality were tested for their validity and reliability. The wheelchair simulators comprise a sophisticated wheelchair ergometer in an immersive virtual reality environment and are developed for manual wheelchair propulsion. These simulators all replicate inertia in translation, in addition to taking three approaches for simulating turning. The three systems were then tested and compared with the real world to see how reliable and valid they are; 15 healthy participants were recruited to perform the Illinois Agility Test (IAT) in two sessions that were at least one week apart. The intraclass correlation coefficient and the Pearson correlation coefficient were found for 16 variables to find the test-retest reliability and convergent construct validity of the systems, respectively. Overall, the three systems showed good validity and reliability with the VR_system 2 (mechanical compensation for rotational inertia) having the best scores and the VR_system 3 (software compensation for rotational inertia) having the lowest scores. Also, it was observed that performing IAT in the real world needed fewer pushes and often accompanied more negative pushes. Participants also used longer strokes in the real world compared to virtual reality environment.

Development of Three Versions of a Wheelchair Ergometer for Curvilinear Manual Wheelchair Propulsion Using Virtual Reality.

Although wheelchair ergometers provide a safe and controlled environment for studying or training wheelchair users, until recently they had a major disadvantage in only being capable of simulating straight-line wheelchair propulsion. Virtual reality has helped overcome this problem and broaden the usability of wheelchair ergometers. However, for a wheelchair ergometer to be validly used in research studies, it needs to be able to simulate the biomechanics of real world wheelchair propulsion. In this paper, three versions of a wheelchair simulator were developed. They provide a sophisticated wheelchair ergometer in an immersive virtual reality environment. They are intended for manual wheelchair propulsion and all are able to simulate simple translational inertia. In addition, each of the systems reported uses a different approach to simulate wheelchair rotation and accommodate rotational inertial effects. The first system does not provide extra resistance against rotation and relies on merely linear inertia, hypothesizing that it can provide acceptable replication of biomechanics of wheelchair maneuvers. The second and third systems, however, are designed to simulate rotational inertia. System II uses mechanical compensation, and System III uses visual compensation simulating the influence that rotational inertia has on the visual perception of wheelchair movement in response to rotation at different speeds.

rs11895168 C allele and the increased risk of breast cancer in Isfahan population.

OBJECTIVES: Some of the single nucleotide polymorphisms in EebB4 gene have been studied to date in order for finding their relevance to the risk of breast cancer. However, no study has been conducted to investigate the importance of rs11895168, a microRNA-related SNP located in ErbB4 3'UTR, in breast tumors. In this paper, we investigated the frequency and association between rs11895168 and breast cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The rs11895168 was genotyped in 364 samples collected from 172 breast cancer patients and 192 healthy participants, using Tetra-primer ARMS PCR. The frequency of genotypes was analyzed to find the association between rs11895168 and breast cancer risk and also clinicopathological characteristics of patients. RESULTS: our in silico studies suggested that different alleles at rs11895168 affect the binding strength of miR-1276, a potential tumor suppressor. Statistical analysis showed a significant association between rs11895168 C allele-harboring genotypes and increased breast cancer risk. CONCLUSION: rs11895168 C allele is strongly and significantly associated with the increased risk of breast cancer and positivity of ER/PR tumor cells.

Optimization of dextran production by Leuconostoc mesenteroides NRRL B-512 using cheap and local sources of carbohydrate and nitrogen.

Using pure components for the fermentation medium in dextran production imposes high costs on the industry. In the present study, the economic production of dextran using local and cheap sources of carbohydrate and nitrogen was investigated. Different concentrations of molasses and wheat-bran extract, after filtration, steam sterilization and pH adjustment, were inoculated with a fresh suspension of Leuconostoc mesenteroides. Cultures were incubated, and then diluted with an equal volume of ethanol. The bacteria were pelleted, and an aliquot of the supernatant was diluted with ethanol and dextran was precipitated. The supernatant was removed and the precipitate was dissolved in a minimal volume of water. Activated charcoal was added and the solution was boiled. The solution was filtered and protein impurities removed by 2-methylbutan-2-ol/chloroform extraction. Dextran was again precipitated with cold ethanol as described above, and the precipitate was dried in a desiccator. Optimum conditions and composition of culture media for dextran production using sugar-beet molasses and wheat bran were determined. The best results were obtained when 20% (w/v) molasses and 15% (w/v) wheat bran were used. The optimal initial pH for dextran production was 7.5.