Climate change and health: The case of mapping droughts and migration pattern in Iran (2011-2016).

INTRODUCTION: Migration and mobility of population have been reported as a common reaction to drought. There is historical evidence to suggest the health effects of droughts and human migration linkage in Iran. This study aimed to map the drought and migration patterns in Iran in 2011 and 2016 and explore their possible health impacts. METHODS: This sequential explanatory mixed-method study was done in two stages of spatial analysis and qualitative study. Data mapping was conducted through the equal interval classification and using drought, migration, and agriculture occupation data based on provincial divisions in Iran in 2011 and 2016. This qualitative study was conducted using the content analysis approach. RESULTS: The in-migration rate was higher in 2011 rather than 2016. Migration to cities was much higher than migration to villages in both years. The frequency of male migrants was higher than females in all provinces in 2011 and 2016. Physical and mental diseases as well as economic, sociocultural, education, and environment effects on health were extracted from the qualitative data. CONCLUSION: A holistic picture of droughts and migration issues in Iran and their health consequences were achieved by the present research. Further research is needed to explore the determinants of health impacts of climate change in vulnerable groups. Public health problems can be prevented by adaptive and preventive policy-making and planning. This can improve the coping capacity of the population facing droughts and enforced migration.

Reprogramming of astrocytes to neuronal-like cells in spinal cord injury: a systematic review.

STUDY DESIGN: A Systematic Review OBJECTIVES: To determine the therapeutic efficacy of in vivo reprogramming of astrocytes into neuronal-like cells in animal models of spinal cord injury (SCI). METHODS: PRISMA 2020 guidelines were utilized, and search engines Medline, Web of Science, Scopus, and Embase until June 2023 were used. Studies that examined the effects of converting astrocytes into neuron-like cells with any vector in all animal models were included, while conversion from other cells except for spinal astrocytes, chemical mechanisms to provide SCI models, brain injury population, and conversion without in-vivo experience were excluded. The risk of bias was calculated independently. RESULTS: 5302 manuscripts were initially identified and after eligibility assessment, 43 studies were included for full-text analysis. After final analysis, 13 manuscripts were included. All were graded as high-quality assessments. The transduction factors Sox2, Oct4, Klf4, fibroblast growth factor 4 (Fgf4) antibody, neurogenic differentiation 1 (Neurod1), zinc finger protein 521 (Zfp521), ginsenoside Rg1, and small molecules (LDN193189, CHIR99021, and DAPT) could effectively reprogramme astrocytes into neuron-like cells. The process was enhanced by p21-p53, or Notch signaling knockout, valproic acid, or chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan inhibitors. The type of mature neurons was both excitatory and inhibitory. CONCLUSION: Astrocyte reprogramming to neuronal-like cells in an animal model after SCI appears promising. The molecular and functional improvements after astrocyte reprogramming were demonstrated in vivo, and further investigation is required in this field.

Schematic Embodiment of Perseverance in Persian.

A group of Persian speakers were asked to talk about the concept of perseverance in semi-structured interviews. Gestures that participants used to talk about this concept were analyzed. The results showed that the concept of perseverance was primarily embodied in upward head gestures, fist-shaped hand gestures, forward hand gestures, and forward leg gestures. In a significant number of cases, these four elements occurred together. This suggests that the embodiment of perseverance can be distributed in several gestures in several body parts. Although these gestures had different directions in various body parts, the pattern of occurrence of these gestures was the same in a significant number of cases. We call this process schematic embodiment. These four elements create a gestural scheme that represents the embodied realization of perseverance. We define gestural scheme as a set of dynamic, sequential, and coordinated gestures that collectively represent a concept or an event.

Predictors of Outcome After Surgical Decompression for mild degenerative Cervical Myelopathy -A Systematic Review.

STUDY DESIGN: Systematic Reviews. OBJECTIVES: To investigate predictors of surgical outcomes for mild Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy (DCM) by reviewing all related studies conducted at this point. METHODS: An electronic search was carried out in PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, and Web of Science until June 23, 2021. Full-text articles reporting surgical outcome predictors of mild DCM cases were eligible. We included studies with mild DCM which was defined as a modified Japanese Orthopaedic Association score of 15 to 17 or a Japanese Orthopaedic Association score of 13 to 16. Independent reviewers screened all the records, and discrepancies between the reviewers were solved in a session with the senior author. For risk of bias assessment, RoB 2 tool was used for randomized clinical trials and ROBINS-I for non-randomized studies. RESULTS: After screening 6 087 manuscripts, only 8 studies met the inclusion criteria. Lower pre-operative mJOA scores and quality-of-life measurement scores were reported by multiple studies to predict better surgical outcomes compared to other groups. High-intensity pre-operative T2 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was also reported to predict poor outcomes. Neck pain before intervention resulted in improved patient-reported outcomes. Two studies also reported motor symptoms prior to surgery as outcome predictors. CONCLUSION: Lower quality of life before surgery, neck pain, lower pre-operative mJOA scores, motor symptoms before surgery, female gender, gastrointestinal comorbidities, surgical procedure and surgeon's experience with specific techniques, and high signal intensity of cord in T2 MRI were the surgical outcome predictors reported in the literature. Lower Quality of Life (QoL) score and neck prior to surgery were reported as predictors of the more improved outcome, but high cord signal intensity in T2 MRI was reported as an unfavorable outcome predictor.

The Prevalence of Asymptomatic Cervical Spinal Cord Compression in Individuals Presenting With Symptomatic Lumbar Spinal Stenosis: A Meta-Analysis.

STUDY DESIGN: Systematic review and meta-analysis. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of asymptomatic cervical spinal cord compression (CSCC) in individuals with lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS). METHODS: A systematic electronic search was conducted in Medline, EMBASE, Scopus, and Web of Science without language restriction, with no starting date limit to June 8, 2023, to define the prevalence of asymptomatic CSCC in symptomatic LSS patients. Asymptomatic CSCC was defined based on radiographic studies. All types of studies were included in the review. Meta-analysis was performed on the reported prevalence of asymptomatic CSCC in LSS. RESULTS: The database search yielded 10,272 articles. After a full-text review, five studies were included in the final review, comprising a total of 1043 cases. Two studies had a low risk for bias, two moderate, and one estimated to be high risk. The range of prevalence of asymptomatic CSCC in LSS in the five included studies was between 24% and 61%. Meta-analysis on the reported prevalence of asymptomatic CSCC patients with symptomatic LSS demonstrated that the random pooled prevalence was 35% (95% CI: 23 to 48). CONCLUSIONS: Asymptomatic CSCC appears to occur in a high number of patients, with this study noting its presence in one-third of patients with LSS. Based on these findings, we strongly recommend that spine surgeons exercise particular caution during the positioning of patients who are undergoing surgery for lumbar stenosis. Furthermore, it is imperative to monitor individuals with symptomatic LSS closely for any potential signs of emerging myelopathy.

Embodiment and gestural realization of ergative verbs.

In this study, we examined the gestural embodiment of active, passive, and active-form/passive-sense voices of ergative verbs in English. We analyzed gestures produced by presenters talking about a variety of subjects in a set of videos. We used several Chi-square tests to find out what type of gesture (representational, beat, and pointing gestures) co-occurred more frequently with active, passive, and active-form/passive-sense voices of ergative verbs. The results showed that representational gestures occurred more frequently with active than passive and active-form/passive-sense voices of ergative verbs. Furthermore, representational gestures occurred more frequently with active voices of ergative verbs having human subjects than non-human subjects. This was also the case with active-form/passive-sense sentences. Based on these results, it is suggested that form of a sentence is an influential factor in the process of embodying the situation that is described by that sentence. Active voice of an English ergative verb is more likely to be accompanied by representational gestures and is embodied more strongly than passive and active-form/passive-sense voices of that verb.

A Review of Studies Supporting Metaphorical Embodiment.

This paper presents a review of studies that have provided evidence supporting metaphorical embodiment. These studies are divided into three categories of behavioral, neuroimaging, and corpus studies. After summing up the findings of these studies, it is concluded that metaphorical embodiment is supported by these three lines of research. This is followed by a review of a number of studies that have measured sensorimotor and action effector strengths of various concepts. Then, the idea of sensorimotor and action effector strength of concepts is linked to metaphorical embodiment to present the main idea of the paper. Based on the findings of studies that have measured sensorimotor and action effector strengths of concepts, it is suggested that the degree of involvement of sensorimotor systems in mental simulation of metaphoric actions may not be at the same level in all metaphors. It depends on the sensorimotor strength of the base of the metaphor in various modalities. If the base of a metaphor has a high degree of perceptual strength in a certain modality, that modality plays the most important role in the processing of that metaphor, while other modalities take less important roles. In other words, depending on the sensorimotor strengths of the base of a metaphor in various modalities, those modalities have various levels of importance in the processing of that metaphor. If the base of the metaphor is weak in all modalities, modal resources can come into play to process that metaphor.

Studying the microbial, chemical, and sensory characteristics of shrimp coated with alginate sodium nanoparticles containing Zataria multiflora and Cuminum cyminum essential oils.

Retardation of quality loss of seafood has been a new concept in recent years. This study's main objective was to evaluate the microbial, chemical, and sensory attributes of shrimp coated with alginate sodium nanoparticles containing Zataria multiflora and Cuminum cyminum essential oils (EOs) during refrigerated storage. At the end of storage time (15 days storage at 4°C), the pH, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), and total volatile basic nitrogen (TVBN) amounts in shrimps coated with the alginate nanoparticles were 7.62, 1.14 mg MDA/kg, and 117 mg/100 g which were significantly (p < .05) lower than the control groups. The count of all bacteria groups was also lower in this treatment, which was 2-2.74 Log CFU/mL on day 15 of cold storage. This combined treatment also obtained the highest sensory scores (around 7) and the lowest melanosis score (2.67) due to the effective delaying microbial and oxidation activities. Therefore, this edible coating could substantially retard microbial and chemical changes and improve the organoleptic properties of shrimp under refrigerated storage.

Design and psychometrics of risk assessment tool for makeshift hospitals: Focusing on pandemics.

Pandemics caused a change in the health service delivery system. In disasters with massive injuries or epidemic, the capacity to admit the injured and infected patients to provide health services faces the challenges. Covid-19 virus is a respiratory disease that from its emergence until January 18, 2023, the Covid-19 virus has infected more than 672 million people worldwide. In most countries, makeshift hospital has been set up as intermediate medical centers to keep people who are likely to be carriers of the disease to control communicable diseases. Most makeshift hospitals already have alternative uses and, have changed into temporary or intermediate care centers. Based on the search of research team, any standard tools were found to assess the makeshift hospitals safety. All the safety assessment tools were related to the hospital, but since makeshift hospitals are mostly non-hospital structures, the research team has designed and validate a makeshift hospital safety assessment tool for the first time in this study. The present study is a mixed method that was conducted in 3 phases including; a document review, explaining the components affecting non-structural and functional safety of the makeshift hospital, designing makeshift hospital safety assessment tools and analyzing the results and validating it in 2022. Content validity and reliability were measured by CVR and CVI, ICC and Cronbach's alpha. In the fourth phase, with the participation of 15 specialists, managers, experts, qualitative and quantitative validity of content was done. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 21 software. The final tool contains 186 items and a 5-point Likert designed for very low safety (1), low safety (2), moderate safety (3), good safety (4), and very good safety (5). The scores of each makeshift hospital were calculated based on the items and the degree of safety. Cronbach's alpha coefficient for tool was 0.98. Retesting the questionnaire after two weeks confirmed the stability of tool (ICC = 0.98). The validity and reliability of this tool were confirmed with 186 items in 2 factors and 26 subcategories including risk of disaster, non-structural safety, safety of windows and shutters, hospital access, information and communication management, patient safety and hygiene and etc. All centers providing health services, whether temporarily or permanently, must have safety to continue their activities in disaster and maintain the safety and health of staff and inpatients. The makeshift hospital safety tool can be a suitable tool for assessing the risk and eliminating their vulnerabilities, and it can also provide important indicators for the design and set up of the makeshift hospital to policymakers and executives in the field of health.

The Impact of Manner Adverb on the Gestural Embodiment of Actions Described by Literal and Metaphoric Sentences.

The aim of this study was to examine the impact of manner adverbs on the gestural embodiment of actions that are described by literal and metaphoric sentences. We asked a group of participants to read and then orally retell four stories. Each story had two versions. In one version, literal and metaphoric sentences describing literal and metaphorical actions did not include manner adverbs. In the other version of each story, the same sentences included a manner adverb that provided more information about literal or metaphoric actions. Participants' reproductions of stories were recorded with a camera and were analyzed to make a comparison between gestures that accompanied sentences that included a manner adverb and sentences that did not include a manner adverb. The results showed that when literal and metaphoric sentences included a manner adverb, there was a higher probability of using a gesture than when these sentences were used without a manner adverb. In other words, using a manner adverb increases the probability of using a gesture with literal and metaphorical sentences. Therefore, it is suggested that adding a manner adverb to a literal or metaphoric sentence can strengthen the process of embodiment of the action described in that sentence. We present two explanations for this observation.

Gestural Embodiment of Intensifiers in Iconic, Metaphoric, and Beat Gestures.

This study aimed to examine the gestural embodiment of intensifiers in iconic and metaphoric gestures when these words are used with literal and metaphoric statements. We asked a group of Persian native speakers to listen to and then retell a set of Persian stories. In these stories, a number of intensifiers were used with literal and metaphoric sentences. The results showed that when an intensifier was used with a literal sentence, there was a higher probability of using an iconic or beat gesture than when there was no intensifier in the sentence. Also, when an intensifier was used with a metaphoric sentence, there was a higher probability of using a metaphoric or beat gesture than when the sentence contained no intensifier. These results suggested that an intensifier in a literal or metaphoric sentence can strengthen the mental simulation and the embodiment of objects, ideas, or situations. When an intensifier is used with a literal or metaphoric sentence, the strength of activation in the premotor areas may be amplified and spread to motor areas. In contrast, when no such intensifier is used in a literal or metaphoric sentence, there is a higher probability of simulation in premotor areas without spreading to the primary motor areas. The production of an internal force and expressing emphasis are two other possibilities that may explain the higher use of gestures with intensifiers.

Embodiment of infinity in mathematics.

In this article, we discuss the embodiment of infinity as one of fundamental concepts in mathematics. In contrast to the embodiment of many other mathematical concepts, the embodiment of infinity is an endless dynamic process. In embodying +∞, an object moves rightward toward a previously-set limit and passes it. Then, a new limit is set on the right side of the moving object. The moving object continues its movement and passes it as well. The moving object can pass any limit. In other words, there is no impassable limit for it. In embodying -∞, a similar process happens but the movement is leftward. Embodiment of infinitely small quantities has a basic similarity to the embodiment of infinitely large quantities, although it is different in some respects. We call the embodiment of infinity as iterative embodiment. It is iterative because the process of setting a new limit and passing it is repeated endlessly. Finally, it is suggested that in the process of embodying infinitely large and infinitely small quantities, the visual system and the motor system play important roles, as this process involves spatial concepts and movement.

The roles of motion, gesture, and embodied action in the processing of mathematical concepts.

This article discusses perspective and frame of reference in the metaphorical description of mathematical concepts in terms of motions, gestures, and embodied actions. When a mathematical concept is described metaphorically in terms of gestures, embodied actions, or fictive motions, the motor system comes into play to ground and understand that concept. Every motion, gesture, or embodied action involves a perspective and a frame of reference. The flexibility in taking perspective and frame of reference allows people to embody a mathematical concept or idea in various ways. Based on the findings of past studies, it is suggested that the graphical representation of a mathematical concept may activate those areas of the motor system that are involved in the production of that graphical representation. This is supported by studies showing that when observers look at a painting or handwritten letters, they simulate the painter's or writer's hand movements during painting or writing. Likewise, the motor system can contribute to the grounding of abstract mathematical concepts, such as functions, numbers, and arithmetic operations.

Gestures Enhance Executive Functions for the Understating of Mathematical Concepts.

This article discusses the role of gestures in enhancing inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility as the three components of executive functions during the processing of mathematical concepts that are metaphorically described in terms of motion events. Gestures can contribute to the process of inhibition by highlighting the relevant information and keeping the irrelevant information out of focus of attention. Gestures contribute to working memory in two ways during mathematical processing. They increase activity in the motor areas of the brain. Therefore, they may facilitate the process of understanding those mathematical concepts that are described in terms of motion event, as the motor system could play a role in the grounding and the processing of these concepts. Also, gestures can function as an external working memory and keep the visual representation of some parts of information for a short period of time in order to manipulate that information in later stages of processing. Gestures enhance cognitive flexibility by allowing us to have a spatial representation of that concept or idea for a period of time. During this time, we can shift our perspective and process that concept or idea from a variety of perspectives.

Factors affecting development of air ambulance base: A systematic review and thematic analysis.

Nowadays, air ambulances have been developed as part of advanced emergency medicine services with many countries employing these services for transferring patients in usual and emergency conditions. However, there are challenges concerning the optimal development of air ambulance base. The present research aimed to identify factors affecting the development of air ambulance bases to provide the opportunity of planning to improve the quality of emergency medical services. In this systematic literature review, the peer-reviewed papers in fiv electronic databases, including Medline through PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, and ProQuest, as well as available gray literature, were searched and selected. Two combinations of groups were used as keywords: the Health Planning and development factor, air ambulance base. The focus was on the PRISMA checklist, with no time limitations until from 1990 to January 2020. Finally, through 5156 related citations, 20 articles were included. Descriptive and thematic content analyses were evaluated. The factors affecting the development of the air ambulance base were classified in fiv categories and 14 subcategories as follows: navigation criteria, process indications and standards, sociopolitical factors, and current situation of the area. There are few studies on factors affecting the development of air ambulance bases. It is necessary to apply multidimensional models to consider various factors for development. The development of high populated cities, events and ceremonies with a crowd of participants, and increase of human-made disasters are making these services increasingly indispensable.

Levan enhanced the NF-κB suppression activity of an oral nano PLGA-curcumin formulation in breast cancer treatment.

Chemoresistance (CR) is one of the reasons why chemotherapy agents like Gemcitabine (GMC) remain insufficient in healing breast cancer. Activation of Nuclear Factor-kappa B (NF-κB) during chemotherapy is known as an important factor in the development of CR. The hydrophobic polyphenol curcumin is shown to inhibit NF-κB and hence CR. The aim of this work was to increase the poor bioavailability of curcumin by loading it into the nano-micelles made of Poly (Lactide-co-Glycolide) (PLGA) and levan, where levan as a natural fructose homopolymer makes the nano-micelle more stable and increases its uptake using the fructose moieties. In this study, a PLGA-levan-curcumin formulation (PLC) was designed and characterized. The size was measured as 154.16 ± 1.45 nm with a 67.68% encapsulation efficiency (EE%). The incorporation between the components was approved. Levan made the nano-micelles stable for at least three months, increased their uptake, and led to a 10,000-fold increase in the solubility of curcumin. The enhanced bioavailability of curcumin reduced the NF-κB levels elevated by GMC, both in vitro and in vivo. The PLC showed a complete tumor treatment, while GMC only showed a rate of 52%. These point to the great potential of the PLC to be used simultaneously with chemotherapy.

Targeting breast cancer using pirarubicin-loaded vasoactive intestinal peptide grafted sterically stabilized micelles.

In this study the chemotherapeutic agent Pirarubicin (PRB) which is known for its serious side effects was actively targeted to the breast cancer cells by uploading it to the biocompatible and biodegradable Sterically Stabilized Micelles (SSMs) made of 1,2- Distearoyl- sn- glycero­3- phosphoethanolamine- N- methoxy­ polyethylene glycol 2000 (DSPE-PEG2000) to enhance efficacy and reduce toxicity. Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), the receptors of which are overexpressed on the breast cancer cells, was grafted on the surface of the micelles. To the best of our knowledge this is the first report on active targeting of PRB to tumor site. For this purpose, PRB loaded VIP grafted SSMs (PRB-SSM-VIP) were synthesized and characterized. The in vitro efficiency of PRB-SSM-VIP along with SSM and free PRB was investigated on the MCF-7 breast cancer cells and the in vivo effects were studied on the 4T1 breast cancer bearing nude mice. Solubilizing 300 µg of PRB using 2.81 mg of DSPE-PEG2000 resulted in obtaining monodispersed particles of 12.16 ± 2.7 nm with slow drug release profile. Incorporation of PRB within the hydrophobic DSPE core of SSM was confirmed using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and the spherical shape of the synthesized particles was demonstrated using atomic force microscope (AFM). Both in vitro and in vivo studies showed significantly higher activity of PRB-SSM-VIP compared to free PRB. In vivo imaging showed successful accumulation of PRB-SSM-VIP at the tumor site and 98.8% tumor eradication was obtained with no signs of side effects. Current study suggests that SSM-VIP could be used as new drug delivery system for targeting PRB to the breast cancer cells.

Clinical and laboratory findings in COVID-19 adult hospitalized patients from Alborz province / Iran: comparison of rRT-PCR positive and negative.

BACKGROUND: The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was emergency turned into global public health after the first patients were detected in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease rapidly expanded and led to an epidemic throughout China, followed by the rising number of cases worldwide. Given the high prevalence of COVID-19, rapid and accurate diagnostic methods are immediately needed to identify, isolate and treat the patients as soon as possible, decreasing mortality rates and the risk of public contamination by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2). METHODS: This case-control study was conducted in two hospitals in Alborz Province in Iran. All recruited cases in this study were symptomatic adults hospitalized as COVID-19 patients with compatible Computed tomographic (CT) scan findings and available rRT-PCR results. The patients were recruited in this study. The patients were categorized into positive and negative rRT-PCR groups and evaluated for symptoms, initial vital signs, comorbidity, clinical and laboratory findings. Finally, the results were assessed by SPSS software. RESULTS: Between March 5 to April 5, 2020, 164 symptomatic COVID-19 patients were studied. In total, there were 111 rRT-PCR positive (67.6%) and 53 rRT-PCR negative patients (32.4%). In terms of statistics, the frequency of symptoms revealed no difference, except for cough (P.V:0.008), dizziness (PV: 0.048), and weakness (P.V:0.022). Among initial vital signs, PR (P.V:0.041) and O2 Saturation (PV: 0.014) were statistically different between the two groups. Evaluation of comorbidities revealed no difference except for hyperlipidemia (P.V:0.024). In the comparison of laboratory findings, only WBC count (PV: 0.001), lymphocyte count (PV: 0.001), and Hb (P.V:0.008) were statistically different between the two groups. CONCLUSION: In case of the negative rRT-PCR result, it is necessary to take a logical approach, and we recommended that the physician decides according to clinical manifestations, laboratory findings, and positive CT results.

Temporal fluctuations of PM2.5 and PM10, population exposure, and their health impacts in Dezful city, Iran.

Morbidity and mortality impacts of particulate matter (PM) are globally important health critical parameters. In this ecological-descriptive study, the health impact of PM10 and PM2.5 associated with there temporal variations in Dezful city were assessed from 2013 to 2015. AirQ+ software handles the PM air pollutants by addressing impact evaluation and life table evaluation. We used a new method to analysis fine particles feature by using regular daily observations of PM10. In this method, relationship between PM2.5 and PM10 mass concentrations were analyzed and calculated. The annual average concentrations of PM10 were 147.1, 114.3 and 158.8 µg/m3, and the annual average concentration of PM2.5 were 57.8, 50.7 and 58.2 µg/m3 in 2013, 2014 and 2015, respectively. PM10 also had obvious diurnal variations with highest hourly concentrations in 13:00 and 22:00 but the lowest concentrations often occurred in 05:00 and 16:00. Unexpectedly, in weekends the concentration of PM pollutants appeared to have increased from 18:00 to midnight. The daily based analysis showed that there are 147 dusty days in the study period during which the most severe dusty day occurred in 2014. Over the study period, mean levels of PM10 and PM2.5 in both conditions were higher in 2015 compare to 2013 and 2014, which probably is due to higher frequency of dust storms in 2015. Hence, during 2015 and 2013 they're were higher morbidity and mortality compare to 2014 due to exposure to higher polluted air with PMs in all cases except lung cancer (LC).

Targeted Nanomedicines for Cancer Therapy, From Basics to Clinical Trials.

Traditional systemic chemotherapy involves the wide distribution of drug molecules in the body, causing toxic side effects in the healthy tissues and limiting the therapeutic dose required at the site of drug action. In order to decrease side effects and increase the drug efficacy, recent research on chemotherapy focuses on drug targeting. Targeted therapy can be achieved by several mechanisms including; 1) using an antibody as a drug that is specific to a disease biomarker, 2) using an antibody (or peptide) as a targeting agent conjugated to the drug molecule, 3) delivering the drug molecules to the target tissue in a nano-carrier with or without the targeting agent attached on its surface. The third approach involves the nanomedicines that can be targeted to diseased tissues by both passive (extravasating at diseased sites due to leaky vasculature) and active (specific interaction of the targeting agent with disease biomarker) targeting mechanisms. In this review we will cover the passively targeted nanomedicines prepared using nano drug carriers. Ideally the carrier particle should be in the right size (1-100nm), stable enough to prevent drug leakage during circulation, and safe not to cause any damage to healthy tissues. Competition for all these properties generated many different types of materials to be used as nanodrug delivery systems. After a brief review of most commonly used drug carriers, we discuss the clinical use of the targeted nanomedicines with regard to their pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics properties, and how these properties vary from conventional formulations providing free drugs in the circulation after administration.