Inhibitory effects of postbiotic consisting sonication-killed Bifidobacterium bifidum on experimental triple negative breast neoplasm in mice: a preliminary study.

Background and Objectives: Breast cancer is the second leading cause of death and one of the most common malignancies among women in the world. The aim of this study was to investigate the preventive effects of postbiotic consisting of sonicated Bifidobacterium bifidum cells on triple negative breast cancer. Materials and Methods: Thirty-six female BALB/c mice aged 5-7 weeks were randomly divided into 3 groups (n=12): Ctrl-, healthy mice; Ctrl+, mice with breast cancer with no treatment; and Postbiotic, mice with orally gavage postbiotic before and after 4T1 cell line transplantation. Cancer progress and the effects of postbiotic were assayed by histological, immunohistochemical and gene expression quantification. Results: The histological results showed that administration postbiotic consisting of B. bifidum significantly decreased carcinogenesis in terms of tumor incidence, multiplicity and volume. The tumor progress was suppressed by oral intake of B. bifidum as showed by p53 and Ki-67 expression. Furthermore, Oral intake of postbiotic resulted in extended survival of mice and inhibited sever weigh loss. Conclusion: Pretreatment with sonication killed B. bifidum, as a postbiotic, inhibited breast cancer progress and malignancy.

Evaluation of Crocin Effect on Contrast-Induced Nephropathy Following Coronary Angiography or Angioplasty: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) is the third cause of hospital-acquired acute kidney injury. The CIN prophylactic strategies adopted to date, although not highly efficient, are mostly based on antioxidant activity and hydration therapy. This study was designed and conducted to evaluate crocin's efficacy in the prevention of CIN in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients undergoing coronary angiography/angioplasty. In this randomized clinical trial, a total of 110 eligible CKD stage 3 patients requiring contrast agent administration for coronary angiography/angioplasty were enrolled and randomly assigned to either crocin (n = 57) or control (n = 53) group. The patients in both groups received standard hydration therapy; nevertheless, in the crocin group, the patients were also orally administered three consecutive oral doses of 30 mg crocin tablets 1 day before up to 1 day after contrast media (CM) exposure. The primary endpoint was CIN incidence defined as an increase in serum creatinine (SrCr) level by ≥ 0.3 mg/dL or any change in urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) from the baseline within 48 hours of CM exposure. During 4 months, 130 patients were recruited. The mean age of the patients was 65.62 ± 9.05 years, and the majority of them were male (64.54%). The SrCr in the crocin group did not significantly increase within 48 hours of angiography/angioplasty. The changes in the urinary NGAL level were not significant in both groups. The CIN incidence was significantly lower in the crocin group than in the control group (1.75% and 13.2%; P = 0.028). Crocin administration plays an important nephron-protective role in the prevention of CIN.

Acacetin Alleviates Hepatitis Following Renal Ischemia-Reperfusion in Male Balb/C Mice by Antioxidants Regulation and Inflammatory Markers Suppression.

BACKGROUND: Ischemia-reperfusion (Isc/Rep) incidence can damage kidneys and long-distance organs such as the liver. Due to the increasing use of herbs in medicine, this study was designed to assess the effects of Acacetin (ACA) on pathophysiology of liver following renal Isc/Rep induction. Methods: 84 male Balb/C mice were divided into 12 groups including control, control + ACAs groups (0.01% DMSO or 50, 25, 10 mg/kg of ACA.) sham group (a period of 60 min laparotomy with 0.01% DMSO treatment) sham + ACAs groups (0.01% DMSO + 50, 25, 10 mg/kg of ACA) Isc/Rep treatment groups (laparotomy and bilateralrenal occlusion for 60 min with/without administration of 50, 25, 10 mg/kg ACA). All experimental groups were treated intraperitoneally daily for 4 consecutive days. The values of quantitative histology, Total Antioxidant Capacity (TAC), Nitric oxide (NO), TNFα, IL1ß, and the serum levels of hepatic enzymes were evaluated. Results: In the Isc/Rep and Isc/Rep + ACA (10 mg/kg) groups, there were a significant decrease in the level of albumin and TAC, while the other evaluated parameters were significantly increased (p < 0.05). In the Isc/Rep + ACA (25, 50 mg/kg), these parameters showed significant recovery compared to Isc/Rep + ACA (10 mg/kg) group (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Increasing the oxidant activity is the most important cause of injury in long-distance organs following Isc/Rep process. By employing the inflammatory mediators in a dose-dependent manner, the ACA reveals the recovery effects on liver failure.

Ultrasensitive bio-detection using single-electron effect.

Single-electron devices are capable of detecting changes of the electric field caused by the presence of one single electron in their environment. These devices are optimized to identify the material that is in close contact with them based on the material's internal charge distribution or dipole moment. As an important practical use, they present the possibility of detecting bacteria, viruses, or pathogens. However, their practical use is hampered by their nano-meter size, which is normally an order of magnitude smaller than that of detected species, their very complex fabrication techniques, their cryogenic operational temperature, and the problem of bringing the said species in contact with the single-electron structure. In this document, a large scaled room temperature single-electron structure is introduced, and its ability to distinguish liquids based on their internal dipole moments is demonstrated. The device is a Schottky junction made of PtSi, as the metal contact, and the walls and surfaces of the porous Si, as the semiconductor. The reverse bias current-voltage (IV) characteristic of this device is sensitive to 1 ppm change in the dipole moment of the liquid entering its pores. The simple fabrication, easy testing procedure, high sensitivity, and fast response can make this device an optimized testing kit to identify the given bacteria, viruses, or pathogens dissolved in liquids.

Evaluating the effects of acacetin versus a low dose of cisplatin drug on male reproductive system and kidney in mice: With emphasis on inflammation process.

This study aimed to compare acacetin adverse effect besides a cisplatin low dose on male reproductive and urinary systems on mice. In this study, 36 male Balb/c mice were received Dimethyl sulfoxide, cisplatin (1 mg/kg) or acacetin (10, 25, 50 mg/kg) for 3 days, while the sixth group, treated with acacetin (50 mg/kg) for 10 days. All treatments were done consequence daily and intraperitoneally. Histological and biochemical factors to male reproductive and urinary systems were assayed. Only in cisplatin exposed group, significant differences were seen with the others. So that, some reproductive criteria were significantly decreased; serum levels of follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, testosterone, sperm parameters, the diameters of seminiferous tubules, Johnsen's score and from the urinary system; renal corpuscles' space, Mg2+ concentration (p < .01). Moreover, significant increases were seen in serum levels of tumour necrosis factor-alpha, Blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, testis myeloperoxidase activity and tumour necrosis factor-alpha expression, kidney histological damage and renal corpuscle diameter (p < .01). Cisplatin exposure disrupts histological and functional characteristics of either male reproductive or urinary systems, suggesting by inflammation-promoting. Acacetin does not induce any harmful impact on these two systems and could be considered as a safe flavonoid by high dose and prolonged usage.