The Efficacy of Kohl (Surma) and Erythromycin in Treatment of Blepharitis: An Open-Label Clinical Trial.

INTRODUCTION: Blepharitis is a common and chronic form of eyelid inflammation. Blepharitis treatment aims to decrease symptoms through antibacterial effects. One of the most common treatments of eyelid diseases in traditional medicine is using kohl. This clinical trial aimed to investigate its efficacy as a complementary treatment in staphylococcal blepharitis through an open-label clinical trial. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty patients were randomized to receive kohl in one eye contralateral and erythromycin ointment in another eye for 90 days. At baseline and after 90 days of treatment, symptoms, clinical signs, and side effects of treatments were recorded. Statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS software, version 19. RESULTS: Despite randomization, there was a significant difference between the intervention and control eyes in the baseline mean clinical score (intervention eye: 9.86 (2.95) and control eye: 4.30 (2.81), P < 0.001). The degree of reduction of related signs and symptoms in the eyes treated with kohl was significantly higher than that in the control group: (5.2 vs. 2.20, P < 0.001) for symptoms and (7.40 vs. 2.46, P < 0.001) for clinical signs. Cohen's d statistic for mean difference of sign and symptom was 2.4 and 1.75, respectively, indicating a very strong effect. CONCLUSION: The present study results demonstrated a significant improvement in blepharitis-related signs and symptoms. The degree of improvement in the eyes treated with kohl was much higher than that in the control eyes.

The Therapeutic Effect of Intravesical Instillation of Platelet Rich Plasma on Recurrent Bacterial Cystitis in Women: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

PURPOSE: Recurrent bacterial cystitis is a common infection in women and there are concerns about its antibiotic therapy. Platelet rich plasma has antimicrobial and tissue repairing effects. We investigated the effect of platelet rich plasma as an intravesical therapy to prevent recurrence of bacterial cystitis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty women with a history of recurrent bacterial cystitis were randomly assigned into two groups: 1) platelet rich plasma and 2) control groups. The first group received 10 mL of platelet rich plasma with intravesical instillation plus 40 mL of normal saline. The control group only received 50 mL of normal saline. We did the instillation once a week for four weeks in both groups. We followed up the participants two and 12 months after the last instillation with a questionnaire (the international consultation on incontinence questionnaire in overactive bladder) and result of their urine culture. RESULTS: A significant decrease was observed in the number of bacterial cystitis recurrences in the platelet rich plasma group compared to the control group 12 months after the instillation (4 vs. 1, P = 0.004). Also, there was a significant improvement in the questionnaire's score two (3.6 ± 2.58 vs. 0.66 ± 1.63, P = 0.002) and 12 months (3.4 ± 2.77 vs. 0.006 ± 1.83, P < 0.001) after instillation in the platelet rich plasma group compared to control group. There was no adverse effect 12 months after instillation. CONCLUSION: Platelet rich plasma can significantly decrease the recurrence of bacterial cystitis up to a year after instillation without any side effect.

MicroRNA in leukemia: Tumor suppressors and oncogenes with prognostic potential.

Leukemia is known as a progressive malignant disease, which destroys the blood-forming organs and results in adverse effects on the proliferation and development of leukocytes and their precursors in the blood and bone marrow. There are four main classes of leukemia including acute leukemia, chronic leukemia, myelogenous leukemia, and lymphocytic leukemia. Given that a variety of internal and external factors could be associated with the initiation and progression of different types of leukemia. One of the important factors is epigenetic regulators such as microRNAs (miRNAs) and long noncoding RNAs (ncRNA). MiRNAs are short ncRNAs which act as tumor suppressor (i.e., miR-15, miR-16, let-7, and miR-127) or oncogene (i.e., miR-155, miR-17-92, miR-21, miR-125b, miR-93, miR-143-p3, miR-196b, and miR-223) in leukemia. It has been shown that deregulation of these molecules are associated with the initiation and progression of leukemia. Hence, miRNAs could be used as potential therapeutic candidates in the treatment of patients with leukemia. Moreover, increasing evidence revealed that miRNAs could be used as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in monitoring patients in early stages of disease or after received chemotherapy regimen. It seems that identification and development of new miRNAs could pave to the way to the development new therapeutic platforms for patients with leukemia. Here, we summarized various miRNAs as tumor suppressor and oncogene which could be introduced as therapeutic targets in treatment of leukemia.

Use of Some Additives for Improving Mesenchymal Stem Cell Isolation Outcomes in Non-Mobilized Peripheral Blood.

BACKGROUND: The mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) of peripheral blood (PB) have been recognized as a promising source for allogeneic cell therapy. The objective of the present study was to isolate and characterize MSCs derived from non-mobilized PB, and evaluate their differentiation potential. METHODS: The buffy coat mononuclear fractions of the PB were concentrated using the Ficoll-Paque density gradient centrifugation and were grown on primary and secondary culture media, respectively. The isolated cells were characterized using a multidisciplinary approach which was based on morphology, immunophenotyping, gene expression, and multipotentiality. Flow cytometry and Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were used to identify the expression of different MSC markers. Finally, after culturing in osteogenic and adipogenic induction media, the isolated cells were stained by Alizarin red and Oil-Red O. RESULTS: In spite of absence of any bone marrow stimulating factor, the isolation approach in this study yielded a rather homogeneous and spindle-shaped mononuclear cell population (the yield of passage 0 was 0.65 ± 0.15) that stained positive for CD90, CD105, and CD73, and were negative for CD45 and CD34. These cells have high proliferative capacity (confirmed by the expression of Oct-4, Nucleostemin, and Nanog genes) and were able to differentiate into lineage-specific committed cells, when exposed to the appropriate medium. CONCLUSION: Overall, it can be concluded that conventional, labour-intensive and time-consuming approaches are not necessary in isolating MSCs from PB. This relatively accessible and minimally invasive source, PB, represents a good alternative reservoir of homogeneous MSCs that could open a new era for practical exploitation in regenerative medicine.

A New Indole Derivative Decreased SALL4 Gene Expression in Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia Cell Line (NB4)

Background: Acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) is a clonal disorder due to bone marrow failure and uncontrolled proliferation of myeloid lineage. Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is a subtype of AML. Heterocyclic compounds, such as indole, are considered as attractive candidates for cancer therapy, due to their abundance in nature and known biological activity. Sal-like protein (SALL4) is a zinc finger transcription factor involving in the multi-potency of stem cells, in the NB4 cell line. This study was aimed to evaluate the effects of basal indole and its new derivative, 2-(1-((2, 4-Aril)imino)-2,2,2-trifluoroethyl) phenyl-1H Indole-3- carbaldehyde (TFPHC), on the expression of SALL4. Methods: Cells were cultured and treated with different concentrations (75, 150, and 300 µg/mL) of the new indole derivative and DMSO, as a vehicle control, for 24 and 48 hours. Cell proliferation was evaluated by using Trypan blue exclusion and MTT assays. The percentage of apoptotic cells was determined by flowcytometry analysis using the Annexin V/PI apoptosis detection kit; mRNA expression of SALL4 was studied using absolute quantitative RT-PCR. Data were analyzed by student's t-test. P<0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: Our findings demonstrated the effects of new indole derivatives on SALL4 mRNA expression. Expression of SALL4 mRNA was significantly decreased at 75, 150, and 300 µg/mL concentrations. Conclusion: SALL4 plays a role in the survival of APL cells. SALL4 expression could be suppressed by the novel indole derivative. Additionally, SALL4 gene suppression can serve as a target in APL therapy.