Discovering the Potential Value of Coenzyme Q10 as an Adjuvant Treatment in Patients With Depression.

PURPOSE/BACKGROUND: Depressive disorder or mental cold is the most common mental disorder, and depression exists all over the world and in all countries and cultures. The results of several studies have shown that using compounds with antioxidant properties has been fruitful in patients with depression. Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is a fat-soluble antioxidant and exerts its antioxidant effect by directly neutralizing free radicals or reducing tocopherol and preventing the inhibition of mitochondrial activity because of oxidative stress. This study aimed to investigate the effects of oral CoQ10 in patients with depression as an adjunctive treatment. METHODS/PROCEDURES: Sixty-nine patients with moderate and severe depression were randomly divided into 2 CoQ10 groups (36) and placebo (33). The first group of patients received CoQ10 supplements at a dose of 200 mg daily for 8 weeks along with standard interventions and treatments for depression, and the second group received standard treatments for depression along with a placebo. The change in the score of Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale depression scale was evaluated 4 and 8 weeks after the intervention. Also, at baseline and 8 weeks later at the end of the study, serum levels of total antioxidant capacity, total thiol groups, nitric oxide, malondialdehyde, and interleukin 6 were assessed. FINDINGS/RESULTS: The changes in the depression score at the end of the study showed that, in the group receiving the CoQ10 supplement after 8 weeks, there was a reduction in depression symptoms, which was statistically significant compared with before the start of the study Meanwhile, no significant changes were observed in the patients of the placebo group in terms of symptom reduction. Compared with baseline and the placebo condition, serum levels of nitric oxide and total thiol groups significantly decreased and increased, respectively. Also, no statistically significant changes were observed for interleukin 6, malondialdehyde, and total antioxidant capacity. IMPLICATIONS/CONCLUSIONS: A dose of 200 mg of CoQ10 supplement daily for 8 weeks can reduce depression and fatigue, as well as improve the quality of life of patients with depression. In addition, CoQ10 can significantly improve inflammation and oxidative stress status in patients with depression.

Impact of Clinical Pharmacist-conducted Medication Reconciliation at Admission and Discharge on Medication Safety in Patients Hospitalized with Acute Decompensated Heart Failure.

BACKGROUND: Most studies have focused on the impact of medication reconciliation on one of the points of hospital admission or discharge. In this study, we aimed to investigate the impact of medication reconciliation at both admission and discharge on medication safety in patients hospitalized with acute decompensated heart failure. METHODS: This was a prospective, single-center, cohort study conducted in a tertiary care cardiovascular hospital from October 2022 to March 2023 on patients hospitalized with acute decompensated heart failure. Patients were considered eligible if they were taking at least five chronic medications prior to hospital admission. Medication reconciliation was carried out for the study patients by a clinical pharmacy team both at admission and discharge. Further, the study patients also received comprehensive discharge counseling as well as post-discharge follow-up and monitoring. RESULTS: Medication reconciliation was applied for 129 patients at admission and 118 of them at discharge. The mean time needed for medication reconciliation presses was 32 min per patient on admission and 22min per patient on discharge. Unintentional medication discrepancies were relatively common both at admission and discharge in the study participants, but compared to admission, discrepancies were less frequent at discharge (178 versus 72). Based on the consensus review, about 30% of identified errors detected at both admission and discharge were judged to have the potential to cause moderate to severe harm to the patient, and most of the clinical pharmacists' recommendations on unintended discrepancies were accepted by physicians and resulted in changes in medication orders (more than 80%). Further, the majority of the participants were 'very satisfied' or 'satisfied' with the clinical pharmacy services provided to them during hospitalization and after hospital discharge (89.90%). CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrated that heart failure patients are vulnerable to medication discrepancies both at admission and discharge and implementing a comprehensive medication reconciliation by clinical pharmacists could be helpful in improving medication safety in these patients.

Investigation of the Effect of Oral Selenium on the Reduction of Clinical Symptoms and Joint Pain in Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis in the Iranian Population.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common inflammatory joint disease. Because inflammation and nitrosative stress play an important role in the pathogenesis of RA, drugs that have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects can be effective as adjuvant treatment in these patients. Selenium is a compound that has been shown in recent studies to have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of oral selenium on the reduction of clinical symptoms and joint pain in patients with RA. Fifty-one patients with moderate and severe RA were randomly divided into selenium and placebo groups. The first group of patients received selenium at a dose of 200 µg twice a day for 12 weeks along with standard RA interventions and treatments, and the second group received standard treatments of RA along with a placebo. Clinical symptoms were evaluated with standard indicators to evaluate disease activity before and after the intervention in the 12th week. Examination of clinical symptoms at the end of the study showed that in the selenium group and after 12 weeks, a reduction in clinical symptoms and joint pain were observed, which was statistically significant compared with before the study began. Meanwhile, no significant changes were observed in the patients of the placebo group in terms of reducing symptoms and joint pains. A dose of 200 µg of oral selenium twice a day for 12 weeks can significantly reduce clinical symptoms and joint pain in patients with RA.

Development of ternary H-point standard addition method for simultaneous analysis of curcuminoids by differential pulse voltammetry.

Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) rhizome is one of the most famous plants that has been widely used in food, medicine, and industry. Its quality deeply depends on the presence of curcuminoids and their ratios. As their structures are very similar to each other, this work reported simple, accurate, fast, and sensitive method based on developed ternary H-point standard for differential pulse voltammetry (t-HPSAM-DPV). For electrochemical determination of three analytes in the sample, three standards were added simultaneously. This method was developed for detection of three curcuminoids including curcumin (CU), desmethoxycurcumin (DMC), and bisdemethoxycurcumin (BDMC) in real samples. The precision of method has RSD% < 5.5 % and the accuracy of proposed method has relative error lower than 7.0 %. Also, intra and inter-day precisions have provided the mean RSD% < 4.50. The LOD values were obtained for CU, DMC and BDMC are 0.6 × 10-6, 0.57 × 10-6 and 0.42 × 10-6, respectively. Compared with other reported HPLC methods, the results revealed a reasonable accurate precision for proposed method. Under optimized experimental conditions, t-HPSMA significantly resolved overlapping of DPV peaks of CU, DMC, and BDMC. This method can be successfully used for ternary analysis of analytes using one standard addition to the real samples.

Adipose tissue-derived stem cells as a potential candidate in treatment of Alzheimer's disease: A systematic review on preclinical studies.

In recent years, numerous investigations have evaluated the efficacy of adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ADSCs) and their exosome transplantation in managing Alzheimer's disease (AD) in different animal models. However, there are still many contradictions among the studies that hinder reaching a reliable conclusion. Therefore, we aimed to systematically review the existing evidence regarding the efficacy of ADSCs administration in treatment of AD. The systematic search was conducted in the databases of Medline (via PubMed), Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science, in addition to the manual search in Google and Google scholar, to find articles published until March 13, 2021. Preclinical studies were included and two independent reviewers summarized the eligible papers. Ten articles were included in our review. The treatment strategies varied between isolated ADSC, ADSCs exosomes, ADSCs conditioned medium, and combination therapy (ADSCs plus conditioned medium in one study, and ADSCs plus melatonin in another study). Overview of the included articles showed promising results of ADSCs and its conditioned medium/exosome administration in animal models of AD. These studies showed significant learning and memory improvements through ADSCs and their conditioned medium/exosome administration in animal models of AD. In addition, the application of ADSCs reduced the amyloid-beta plaque deposits in the hippocampus and neocortex of these animals. Based on the aforementioned evidence, studies have suggested potential beneficial effects of ADSCs in the treatment of AD, particularly through decreasing the size of Aß plaques and improvement of cognitive deficits. Further investigations regarding the subject are encouraged to achieve more accurate conclusions.

Protective Effects of Omega-3 Fatty Acids Supplementation Against Renal Parenchymal Scarring in Children with Acute Pyelonephritis: Results of a Pilot Clinical Trial.

AIM: This trial aimed to determine if supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids as an adjunct therapy to antibiotic treatment can have protective effects against renal scar formation after acute pyelonephritis (APN) in pediatric patients. BACKGROUND: Current evidence points out that besides antibiotic treatment, early administration of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds may be effective in reducing the occurrence of renal damage following APN in children. OBJECTIVE: The main endpoint of the trial was the comparison of the development of renal scarring formation after APN in an omega-3 fatty acids-treated group and in a control-treated group. METHODS: This prospective randomized, controlled trial study was conducted from March 2016 to May 2018 on 60 children with a diagnosis APN in a tertiary hospital in Iran. After the diagnosis of APN based on the clinical signs and symptoms, urine analysis, urine culture, and dimercaptosuccinic acid renal scan (DMSA scan), the patients were randomly allocated into either the control group (n=30 patients: received standard antibiotic treatment only) or the intervention group (n=30 patients: received standard antibiotic-treatment in combination with oral omega-3 fatty acids based on the children's weight for three consecutive days). A second DMSA scan was performed for the patients at a minimum of six months after treatment. The development of renal scars was evaluated by comparing the baseline DMSA scan lesions with the follow-up DMSA scan lesions. RESULTS: Fifty patients, including 26 and 24 individuals in the control and intervention groups, respectively, completed the entire course of the study. Renal parenchymal involvement based on the baseline DMSA scan was similar in the two groups (p-value =0.85, 0.90, and 0.53 regarding the right, left, and both kidney units together, respectively). Although comparison of the follow-up DMSA scan lesions to the baseline DMSA scan lesions considering the right and left kidneys as separate units between two groups did not reach the significant level, when considering both left and right kidney units together, results showed a statistically significant difference between groups in favor of the intervention group (p-value =0.04). CONCLUSION: Although preliminary, the results of this study showed that administration of omega-3 fatty acids, a natural supplement with well-known anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, as an adjunct therapy to standard antibiotic treatment might significantly reduce the incidence of the occurrence renal scarring following APN in children. Confirmation of these results requires further studies.

A review on the role of tau and stathmin in gastric cancer metastasis.

Gastric cancer is resistant to chemotherapy, especially in the later stages. The prevalence of gastric cancer increases after the age of 40, and its peak is in the 7th decade of life. The proteins tau (tubulin associated unit) and stathmin are overexpressed in gastric cancer and contribute to the progression of the disease by increasing cancer cell proliferation, invasion, and inducing drug resistance. This review summarizes the current knowledge on the expression of tau protein and stathmin in gastric cancer and their roles in drug resistance. Medline and PubMed databases were searched from 1990 till February 2021 for the terms "tau protein", "stathmin", and "gastric cancer." Two reviewers screened all articles and assessed prognostic studies on the role of tau and stathmin proteins in gastric cancer progression. Collectively, studies reported that both proteins are expressed at different concentrations in gastric cancer and could be significant molecular biomarkers for prognosis. Both proteins could be good candidates for targeted therapy of gastric cancer and are associated with resistance to taxanes.

Evaluation of Serum Level of Carnitine in Children with Acute Pyelonephritis (APN) Compared to Healthy Children.

AIM: This cross-sectional case-control study evaluated the serum carnitine level in children with urinary tract infection (UTI). BACKGROUND: Acute pyelonephritis (APN) is a common bacterial infection of the upper urinary tract in children which may also lead to renal damage and tubular atrophy. Activation of inflammatory mediator bedside alterations in the cytokines and generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a striking role in the development of tissue damage after pyelonephritis. L-carnitine as one of the most potent natural antioxidant agents by inhibition of lipid peroxidation may protect cells and tissues from damage. METHODS: A total of 30 children with UTI (as a case group) and 30 healthy children (as a control group) which matched in terms of age and sex were enrolled in this study. All children were evaluated and compared with respect to age, sex, weight, body mass index (BMI) and serum carnitine level. Serum carnitine level was determined using serum carnitine ELISA kit. RESULTS: Demographic and clinical data such as age, sex, weight and BMI were not statistically significant between the two groups. The serum carnitine levels were significantly lower in the case group with UTI than the control group. Mean serum carnitine concentration in the case group and in the control group was 36.56 ± 9.87 µmol/l and 62.8±21.35, respectively (P = 0.001). CONCLUSION: According to our study, it could be concluded that low serum L-carnitine level is linked to UTI in children. Therefore, further studies are needed to confirm our results.

Preventive Effect of L-Carnitine on Scar Formation During Acute Pyelonephritis: A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Urinary tract infection and pyelonephritis are clinical problems that frequently occur in children. Several factors are responsible for renal tissue injury, morbidity, and renal scarring after pyelonephritis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the preventive effect of L-carnitine on renal scarring in acute pyelonephritis. METHODS: A randomized double-blind clinical trial was conducted on 65 children aged 6 months to 10 years. Patients were randomized into 2 groups to receive 7-day treatment with only antibiotics without L-carnitine (control group; n = 32) and 7-day treatment with L-carnitine (case group; n = 33) during the acute phase of infection. Technetium-99m-labeled dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) scintigraphy was performed for all children during the acute phase (in 2-7 days of hospitalization) and late phase. P-value less than 0.05 was statistically significant. RESULTS: We recruited 65 participants in the study: 32 children in control group and 33 children in case group. Three children in the control group and 2 children in the case group refused to perform the second DMSA scan. Overall, data analysis at the end of the study was done on 60 patients. Age distribution of girl patients with upper urinary infection was 6.5% in girl children aged between 6 months and 12 months, 41.1% aged between 1 and 5 years, 33.3% aged between 5 and 10 years, respectively. There was no significant difference between 2 groups in age and sex. There was no significant difference between 2 groups in systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, the lab data including urine white blood cells and serum erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and antibiogram profiles. Voiding dysfunction was detected in 10% of the participants. The baseline DMSA was not significantly difference in 2 groups, but worsening of kidney lesions was significantly higher in control group after 6 months (P = 0.012). CONCLUSION: Our study showed that L-carnitine significantly decreased renal scarring because of acute pyelonephritis.

Association Between Delayed Graft Function (DGF) Biomarkers and Long-term Outcomes After Living Donor Kidney Transplantation.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The association between preoperative Urine Neutrophil Gelatinase-associated Lipocalin (uNGAL) and interleukin-18 (uIL-18) with poor 1-year allograft function has been shown in deceased-donor kidney transplant recipients previously, and also these markers could predict 3-month allograft function. However, it is unknown whether there is an association between these postoperative biomarkers with important recipient outcomes beyond this time in livedonor transplants. METHODS: NGAL and IL-18 four and 24 hours were measured in live-donor kidney transplant recipients after transplantation. The relationships between changes in these markers with clinical outcomes as well as kidney function were examined at 1 month and 2 years. Moreover, the association between delayed graft function with clinical outcome and Serum Creatinine (SrCr) was evaluated during this period. RESULTS: The Mean age for kidney recipients was 23.9 years. Significant interaction was observed between uNGAL 24 hr (pvalue=0.01) and uIL-18 four and 24 hr after transplantation (pvalue=0.04, 0.03; respectively) with patients' outcome after 1 month and changes in uNGAL with outcomes after 2 years (pvalue= 0.04). CONCLUSION: Changes in urine NGAL postoperative are associated with worst outcomes, 2 years after kidney transplantation, suggesting its potential role in identifying patients that are at high risk for diminished allograft function, outcome and survival.

Plasma Oxytocin Level and Sexual Dysfunction in Depressed Women Treated by Either Fluoxetine or Citalopram: a Pilot Clinical Trial.

Sexual dysfunction is a common cause of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) withdrawal. Various studies indicate that decreased oxytocin is involved as a mechanism of delayed ejaculation induced by SSRIs. The aim of the present pilot study was to evaluate and compare sexual dysfunction and oxytocin levels in women being treated with either fluoxetine or citalopram. Thirty-nine women with the diagnosis of major depressive disorder were enrolled in the study. A baseline blood sample was collected and each participant was given either fluoxetine 20 mg/d or citalopram 20 mg/d. After 1 month, a second blood sample was collected and sexual dysfunction was evaluated via the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) questionnaire. Twenty-three women completed the study (12 and 11 in the fluoxetine and citalopram groups, respectively). After 1 month, the FSFI scores were 22.8 ± 7.8 and 22.5 ± 4.8 in the fluoxetine and citalopram groups, respectively. The oxytocin levels were 187.8 ± 38.8 pg/mL and 214.6 ± 23.1 pg/mL in the fluoxetine and citalopram groups, respectively. Statistical analysis did not reveal any difference in the FSFI score between the two groups after 1 month (p = 0.89). However, the oxytocin levels were significantly lower in the fluoxetine group than in the citalopram group (p = 0.05). We also observed a positive relationship between the FSFI score and oxytocin level at 1 month after starting fluoxetine or citalopram (r = 0.43, p = 0.04).A positive relationship between the oxytocin level and FSFI score supports the hypothesis that the oxytocin level plays a role in sexual dysfunction induced by SSRIs.

Evaluating the Effect of Oral N-acetylcysteine as an Adjuvant Treatment on Clinical Outcomes of Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Randomized, Double Blind Clinical Trial.

OBJECTIVE: Oxidative stress and Overproduction of pro-inflammatory cytokines are contributed in Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) pathogenesis. N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is an antioxidant and antiinflammatory agent which demonstrated analgesic effects in some studies. This study is designed to assess the effects of oral NAC as an adjuvant therapy on the clinical outcomes of patients with active RA. METHODS: In this randomized clinical trial, 51 RA patients with active RA were studied in 2 groups: NAC group (27 patients) received standard treatment of RA and 600 mg NAC twice a day for 12 weeks, and placebo group (24 patients) received the standard treatment of RA and placebo. Disease activity score (DAS28) was used to assess the activity of RA, Visual Analog Scale (VAS) for the severity of pain, Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) for the patients' physical performance, and Global Health (GH) parameter for the patients' assessment of their disease activity. The number of tender and swollen joints and Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR) were also determined for each patient. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 16.0 (Chicago, IL, USA). RESULTS: After 12 weeks of intervention, there were no significant differences between two groups in DAS28 score and ESR (P values were 0.4 and 0.6, respectively). However, GH, VAS, and HAQ scores were improved significantly in the NAC group compared to the placebo group. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that oral administration of NAC may be associated with improving health status in RA patients and considered as an adjuvant therapy in these patients. Further studies with larger sample size, longer study duration and higher doses of NAC are needed to confirm the effects of oral NAC in RA patients.

Protection from Reperfusion Injury with Intracoronary N-Acetylcysteine in Patients with STEMI Undergoing Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in a Cardiac Tertiary Center.

BACKGROUND: Evidence suggests that oxidative stress plays a principal role in myocardial damage following ischemia/reperfusion events. Recent studies have shown that the antioxidant properties of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) may have cardioprotective effects in high doses, but-to the best of our knowledge-few studies have assessed this. OBJECTIVES: Our objective was to investigate the impact of high-dose NAC on ischemia/reperfusion injury. METHODS: We conducted a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial in which 100 consecutive patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) were randomly assigned to the case group (high-dose NAC 100 mg/kg bolus followed by intracoronary NAC 480 mg during PCI then intravenous NAC 10 mg/kg for 12 h) or the control group (5% dextrose). We measured differences in peak creatine kinase-myocardial band (CK-MB) concentration, highly sensitive troponin T (hs-TnT), thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) flow, myocardial blush grade (MBG), and corrected thrombolysis in myocardial infarction frame count (cTFC). RESULTS: The peak CK-MB level was comparable between the two groups (P = 0.327), but patients receiving high-dose NAC demonstrated a significantly larger reduction in hs-TnT (P = 0.02). In total, 94% of the NAC group achieved TIMI flow grade 3 versus 80% of the control group (P = 0.03). No significant differences were observed between the two groups in terms of changes in the cTFC and MBG. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, NAC improved myocardial reperfusion markers and coronary blood flow, as revealed by differences in peak hs-TnT and TIMI flow grade 3 levels, respectively. Further studies with large samples are warranted to elucidate the role of NAC in this population. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01741207, and the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (IRCT; http://irct.ir ) registration number: IRCT201301048698N8.

Coffee consumption and risk of nonmelanoma skin cancer: a dose-response meta-analysis.

Several epidemiological studies have evaluated the associations between coffee consumption and the risk of skin cancer; however, the results were not conclusive. This systematic review and meta-analysis of the cohort and case-control studies was carried out to determine the association between coffee intake and the risk of nonmelanoma skin cancer. Studies were identified by searching the PubMed and MEDLINE databases (to November 2015). Study-specific risk estimates were pooled under the random-effects model. We separately estimated the relative risk of the three conditions, for exposure to different doses of coffee consumption, kind of study design, and analysis restricted to the basal cell carcinoma type. The summary relative risks for nonmelanoma skin cancer were 0.96 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.92-0.99] for one cup of coffee, 0.92 (95% CI: 0.88-0.97) for one to two cups of coffee, 0.89 (95% CI: 0.86-0.93) for two to three cups of coffee, and 0.81 (95% CI: 0.77-0.85) for more than three cups of coffee per day, respectively. This meta-analysis suggested that caffeinated coffee might have chemopreventive effects against basal cell carcinoma dose dependently. However, other prospective studies are warranted to confirm these effects.

The Role of N-Acetylcysteine in Platelet Aggregation and Reperfusion Injury in Recent Years.

BACKGROUND: N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is an amino acid that contains a cysteine group and is currently used widely in various fields of medical research especially in cardiology. In this review, potential benefits of NAC in the aggregation of platelet and reperfusion injury are evaluated. METHODS: The available evidence was collected by searching Scopus, Pub-Med, Medline, Cochrane central register of controlled trials, and Cochrane database systematic reviews. Our searching was performed without time limitation and only English language articles were included in this review. Key words used as search terms included "N-acetylcysteine", "platelet aggregation", "reperfusion injury". RESULTS: Over the past decade, several investigations were carried out to ascertain reperfusion injury and antiplatelet properties of NAC, and in this article the results of investigations in both models (human and animal) were addressed in detail. The results revealed that NAC has an important antiplatelet property in animal models while this effect is not very significant in human models and needs more investigations. However, its reperfusion injury in both models is worth noticing. CONCLUSION: Due to the limited data about effectiveness of NAC in both human and animal as antiplatelet agent, more investigation is needed to evaluate NAC efficacy in platelet aggregation and reperfusion injury especially in human studies in the future.

Comparison the Effect of Fish-Oil and Calcium Supplementation on Treatment of Primary Dysmenorrhea.

BACKGROUND: Primary dysmenorrhea is common among young girls and childbearing women. Dysmenorrhea is a painful contraction of uterus which occurs in the beginning of bleeding or before the menstrual cycle begins. Regarding the mechanism of calcium in response to hormonal change and the role of fish oil on reducing prostaglandins, we compared the effectiveness of fish-oil and calcium supplementation in treating primary dysmenorrheal. METHODS: This randomized double-blinded clinical trial was conducted on women aged 18 to 45 years with moderate to severe primary dysmenorrhea symptoms from January 2015 to March 2015. The women were randomly divided to two groups (fish oil and calcium). The drugs were given every day in the first cycle and from 8 days before till 2 days after initiation of menstruation for the second and third cycles. The intensity of pain and other symptoms of dysmenorreha were recorded and data were analyzed in SPSS 16 using T-test and X2 tests. Significant level was considered to be less than 0.05. RESULTS: The mean ± SD age of the patients in the fish oil group was 25.0±4.3 and in calcium group was 25.48±6.6 years. According to this result, there was no statistically significant difference in the intensity of pain between fish-oil group and calcium group before and 1 month after the study (P>0.05). However, there was statistically significant difference between fish-oil group and calcium group before the study and 2 months (P=0.001) and 3 months after study (p<0.001). Besides, the fishoil patients needed less analgesic as compared to the calcium patients. CONCLUSION: It is concluded that omega-3 is more effective than calcium, what can be justified by pain mechanisms and symptoms pathology in dysmenorrheal.

Evaluating Community Pharmacists' Dyspepsia Knowledge: A Crosssectional Study in Tehran, Iran.

BACKGROUND: Dyspepsia is one of the most frequent ailments in the Iranian community. Fuelled by a growing interest in understanding drugs and self-medication for common conditions such as dyspepsia, the public increasingly seeks health advice from professionals such as community pharmacists. The purpose of our study was to assess dyspepsia-related knowledge of pharmacists in Iran. METHODS: This cross-sectional study has been done among 200 community pharmacists working in Tehran, Iran, and conducted through a survey questionnaire, which consisted of questions about demographic information and knowledge of dyspepsia. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were also evaluated. The main results estimated the knowledge of pharmacists about dyspepsia, and the relationship between pharmacists' demographic and practice characteristics and their knowledge of dyspepsia. RESULTS: The mean (± SD) age of participants was 41.56 ± 13.90 years, and the mean score of knowledge was 9.32 ± 2.13 out of 17 points. Our results showed a statistically significant negative relationship between knowledge levels and both age and years of experience (p = 0.002 and p = 0.033, respectively). CONCLUSION: According to the research, the mean knowledge level of Iranian pharmacists, in terms of correct responses for dyspepsia questions, was just over half of the possible points. Thus it was concluded that improvement in the knowledge of dyspepsia among pharmacists would improve the quality of patient services, especially because of the high prevalence of dyspepsia among the public and their frequent referral to community pharmacists for taking over-the-counter medication.

QT Dispersion and Age; Independent Predictors of Restenosis after Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.

INTRODUCTION: There are no reliable non-invasive markers of restenosis after Percutaneous Coronary Interventions (PCIs). The aim of our study was to measure changes incorrected QT interval (QTc), corrected QT dispersion (QTcd), corrected T wave peak to end interval (TPEc) and corrected TPE dispersion (TPEcd) after PCI and to determine whether restenosis subsequently affects these indices. METHODS: From 211 patients, who underwent successful PCI, 202 patients were referred for repeated coronary angiography in order to exclusion of coronary restenosis and included in this analysis. QTc, QTcd, TPEc and TPEcd indices were calculated just before PCI and 24 hours later. RESULTS: Comparing pre procedural with post procedural results, median QTc and median QTcd decreased significantly after PCI procedure (from 447 to 440 ms, p=0.017 and from 46 to 40 ms,p=0.005; respectively). Corresponding changes of TPEc and TPEcD were not statistically significant. Multivariate analysis showed higher amounts of QTcd changes [Exp(B): 1.033, 95% CI: 1.018-1.051; P=0.025] and younger age[Exp(B): 1.074, 95% CI: 1.038-1.112; P=0.023] as independent predictors of restenosis. Area under the ROC curve indicated good predictive performance of QTcd changes (.QTcd) [AUC: 0.71, 95% CI: 0.51-0.86, P = 0.03] and age [AUC 0.68, 95% CI 0.62-0.74, p = 0.04] for restenosis after PCI. The best cut-off point for .QTcd was 6 msec, and for age was 52 years. The sensitivity and specificity of .QTcd.6 ms to detect coronary restenosis were 73.2% and 71.4% respectively. The diagnostic accuracy of age was also similar, the sensitivity and specificity of age. 52 years were 68.1% and 74.3% respectively. CONCLUSION: The Higher differences between pre and post PCI QTcd may be an inexpensive and simple predictor of restenosis after a previously successful coronary angioplasty. It seems that these findings encourage us to re-think about using QTcd as a simple ECG predictor for sustained coronary patency after angioplasty.

Statins Use and Risk of Breast Cancer Recurrence and Death: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies.

PURPOSE: Statins are widely prescribed drugs for lowering cholesterol. Some studies have suggested that statins can prevent breast cancer recurrence and reduce mortality rate. However they are not conclusive. Present systematic review and meta-analysis of published cohort studies was conducted to determine the effects of statins intake and risk of breast cancer recurrence and mortality rate. METHODS: Online databases (PubMed, Embase, Scopus, EBSCO and Cochrane Collaboration) were searched through October 2014. Pooled relative risks and 95 % confidence intervals were calculated with random-effects. RESULTS: A total of 8 cohort studies (4 for recurrence 2 for mortality and 2 for both) involving 124669 participants with breast cancer were eligible. Our results suggest a significant reduction in recurrence (OR= 0.79. I2= 38%) and death (OR = 0.84, I2 = 8.58 %) among statin users. CONCLUSION: Our meta-analysis suggests that breast cancer patients will benefit from statin intake, however from these cohorts we are unable to differentiate between various statins in terms of effectiveness and duration of use. We highly propose conducting randomized clinical trials.

Assessment of Depression Prevalence and Its Relation With Interleukin 18 One Year After Renal Transplantation.

Renal transplantation is the treatment of choice for many patients with end-stage renal disease. Because there is little information about depression after kidney transplantation, we investigated frequency and determinant factors of depression and also its association with interleukin (IL)-18. Kidney transplant recipients were investigated between January 2011 and February 2013. Depression was assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI, BDI-II). We investigated the relationship between 1-year posttransplantation depression and all-cause mortality, acute kidney injury, and serum creatinine 1, 3, and 12 months after transplantation. Furthermore, the association of depression with IL-18 biomarker was recorded 1 year after transplantation. A total of 74 patients (age: 37.06 ± 16.2 years; 59.5% male) were enrolled in this study 1 year after transplantation. Nineteen (25.6%), 2 (2.7%), and 1 (1.3%) of them experienced mild, moderate, and severe depression, respectively. IL-18 biomarker (independent variable) was significantly associated with depression 1 year after transplantation. Our data suggested that IL-18 level increased significantly in renal transplant patients with depression.