The effect of resistance training on serum levels of sex hormones and sperm quality in male rats under X-ray radiation.

OBJECTIVES: The present study aims to investigate the effects of resistance training on sex hormones and sperm parameters in male rats under X-ray. METHODS: In this experimental study, 24 Sprague Dawley rats (200-250 g) were randomly assigned into four groups: healthy control, irradiated control, healthy training and irradiated training. Irradiation was induced at a dose of 4 Gy on the whole body. The resistance training protocol was performed for 10 weeks. Finally, blood serum was used to assess FSH, LH and testosterone and sperm quality. Data were analyzed using ANOVA and Tukey's post hoc test. RESULTS: The results showed that radiation significantly reduced serum levels of LH (p=0.42), FSH (p=0.001) and testosterone (p=0.28) between radiation control and healthy control groups. Also, no significant difference was observed between serum levels of LH (p=0.135) and testosterone (p=0.419) in radiation resistance training and the healthy control groups. In addition, significant differences were observed between radiation resistance training and radiation control groups in sperm parameters such as sperm count (p=0.02) and progressively motile sperm (p=0.031). CONCLUSIONS: It seems that short-term resistance training can improve sperm parameters, including sperm count and sperm motility through increasing serum levels testosterone and LH in male rat under X-ray.

Evaluation of Radiotherapy on miR-374 Gene Expression in Colorectal Cancer Patient Blood Samples.

Background: Current cancer treatments include surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy. Despite these treatments, a main issue in cancer treatment is early detection. microRNAs (miRNAs) can be used as markers to diagnose and treat cancers. This study investigated the effect of radiotherapy on miR-374 expression, and APC and GSK-3ß, two of its target genes, in the WNT pathway, in peripheral blood samples from radiotherapy-treated colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. Methods: Peripheral blood was collected from 25 patients before and after radiotherapy. RNA was extracted from the blood and cDNA synthesized. miR-374, APC, and GSK-3ß expression was determined by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and the amplicons were sequenced. Finally, the data were statistically evaluated. Results: Quantitative RT-PCR revealed significant down-regulation of miR-374 (0.63-fold) and up-regulation of APC (1.12-fold) and GSK-3ß (1.22-fold) in CRC patients after five weeks of radiotherapy. Sequencing of PCR-produced amplicons confirmed the conservation of mature and precursor sequences encoding miR-374. miR-374 expression changed with time after radiotherapy treatment and related tumor grading. Increased age and tumor grade positively correlated with decreased miR-374 expression. Conclusion: miR-374 expression, and that of its two target genes, APC and GSK-3ß, changed after radiotherapy. These genes can likely be used as diagnostic radiotherapy markers in CRC.

Renal-Type Clear Cell Carcinoma of the Prostate: A Rare Case Report.

Occurrence of clear cell carcinoma of the prostate is exceedingly rare and presents a diagnostic dilemma. We describe a case of a 47-year-old male nonsmoker, who presented with a history of frequency, dribbling urination, and dysuria for 6 months. In a digital rectal exam, enlarged prostate with a hard consistency was identified. All results for hematological and biochemical tests were normal. Also, the serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level was 2.7 ng/mL (within normal range). Open prostatectomy was done and the result showed a 300 g specimen, and a histopathological examination revealed clear cell carcinoma. A computerized tomography scan and ultrasound did not show any mass in the kidneys, but three nodules in both lungs in favor of metastasis were identified. Three months after surgery, a PET scan revealed hyperactivity in the abdominal wall, pelvic lymph nodes, and lung fields in favor of metastasis; thereafter, systemic therapy with tyrosine kinase inhibitor was prescribed. To the best of our knowledge, clear cell carcinoma of the prostate has been reported very rarely.

A comparison of symmetry and flatness measurements in small electron fields by different dosimeters in electron beam radiotherapy.

BACKGROUND: Symmetry and flatness are two quantities which should be evaluated in the commissioning and quality control of an electron beam in electron beam radiotherapy. The aim of this study is to compare symmetry and flatness obtained using three different dosimeters for various small and large fields in electron beam radiotherapy with linac. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Beam profile measurements were performed in a PTW water phantom for 10, 15 and 18 MeV electron beams of an Elekta Precise linac for small and large beams (1.5 × 1.5 cm2 to 20 × 20 cm2 field sizes). A Diode E detector and Semiflex-3D and Advanced Markus ionization chambers were used for dosimetry. RESULTS: Based on the obtained results, there are minor differences between the responses from different dosimeters (Diode E detector and Semiflex-3D and Advanced Markus ionization chambers) in measurement of symmetry and flatness for the electron beams. The symmetry and flatness values increase with increasing field size and electron beam energy for small and large field sizes, while the increases are minor in some cases. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that the differences between the symmetry and flatness values obtained from the three dosimeter types are not practically important.

Concomitant Up-Regulation of Hsa- Mir-374 and Down-Regulation of Its Targets, GSK-3ß and APC, in Tissue Samples of Colorectal Cancer.

BACKGROUND: The WNT-pathway is involved in several cancers, including colorectal cancer (CRC). Many cell signaling components and pathways are controlled by microRNAs. The main purpose of the present study was to investigate the expression of hsa-miR-374, and its two target genes of the Wnt-pathway in CRC clinical samples. METHODS: In this study, we predicted the miRNAs targeting key genes of WNT-pathway using bioinformatics algorithms. The expression levels of hsa-miR-374, APC and GSK-3ß on 48 pairs of Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded (FFPE) CRC tumors and marginal-tumors were evaluated using real time-PCR. Additionally, the hsa-miR-374a-5p precursor sequence was amplified by whole-blood DNA as a template. This amplicon was cloned into pEGFP-c1 expression vector and transfected into SW742 cells. Aside from this, MTT assay was performed to evaluate the effect of miR-374 on cell viability. RESULTS: The bioinformatics analysis indicated that hsa-miR-374 binds to the regulatory region the key components of WNT-pathway, including APC and GSK-3ß considering the recognition elements and mirSVR scores. Our results revealed significant down-regulation of GSK-3ß (0.94 times, p= 0.0098) and APC (0.96 times, p= 0.03) and up-regulation of miR-374 (1.22 times, p= 0.0071) on tumor samples compared with their normal pairs. Meanwhile, the results of the over-expression of miR-374 showed down-regulation of APC and GSK-3ß. MTT-assay also indicated that the miR-374 increased cell survival. CONCLUSION: The results of our study indicated a concomitant change in the expression of miR-374 and its two related target genes, in clinical samples of CRC. Hsa-miR-374 might be as a helpful biomarker or therapeutic target in CRC.

Comparison of dosimetric parameters of small-field electron beams between Advanced Markus, Semiflex 3D, and Diode E responses.

The usage of dosimetry of small fields in radiotherapy to measure radiation dose is difficult because of high-dose gradients, lateral electronic disequilibrium, and detector volume effects. In this study, three dosimeters namely, Markus, Semiflex 3D, and Diode E were tested using the Elekta-accelerator electron beams. The electron beam parameters, penumbra, and output factor were determined using these dosimeters for each field size and energy. According to the results, Diode E and Advanced Markus exhibited the greatest difference in Rq among the electron beam parameters. Furthermore, the greatest difference in penumbra was observed between Diode E and Advanced Markus for the field size of 3 cm2 at 10 MeV. In terms of output factor, three dosimeters exhibited the greatest difference between Diode E and Advanced Markus for the field size of 3 cm2 at 10 MeV. The findings indicate that the Semiflex 3D can be regarded as an appropriate dosimeter for electron small-field dosimetry.

Comparison of Photon-electron and Photon Radiotherapy for Supraclavicular Lymph Nodes of Mastectomy Patients with Left-sided Breast Cancer.

The aim of radiotherapy is to deliver the highest possible radiation dose to the tumor and the lowest radiation to normal tissues surrounding the tumor. In the present study, lymph nodes of the supraclavicular region were treated using two therapeutic techniques, namely photon technique (PT) and combinatory photon-electron technique (CPET). We recruited 50 patients with local lymph node metastasis. The photon energies were 6-15 MV. Furthermore, the electron beam energy was 18 MeV in CPET. The study findings revealed that the mean delivered dose to target volume was 41.12 ± 2.98Gy for PT and 44.56 ± 1.90Gy for CPET. The percentage of the target volume irradiated to 90% of the prescribed dose (V90) was calculated as 74.61% ± 9.30% and 82.06% ± 9.70% for PT and CPET, respectively. The mean dose delivered to the heart and lungs was not significantly different between the two groups. Furthermore, the maximum doses delivered to the spinal cord were 12.55Gy in PT and 8.89Gy in CPET. The mean doses delivered to the thyroid gland were 39.26 and 34.89Gy in PT and CPET. According to the study results, the maximum doses delivered to the spinal cord, head of the humerus bone, and thyroid were reduced significantly as measured the CPET technique. In contrast, no significant difference was observed regarding the dose delivered to the heart and lung. The dose delivered to the supraclavicular region determined by the CPET was significantly augmented. Furthermore, the coverage of the tumor mass was optimized using the new method.

A Novel Algorithm in Radiation Dosimetry of Regular and Irregular Treatment Fields.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to design an algorithm for the calculation of monitor unit (MU) in a short time and high precision for different radiotherapy (RT) fields. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The algorithm for calculating MU for the stated patients was designed in MATLAB software. To investigate the efficiency of this algorithm, 11 regular chest fields with the sizes of 7 cm × 7 cm up to 17 cm × 17 cm were considered, and the obtained MUs were compared with MUs of 13 patients which were calculated with a "hand calculation" which is used in some RT centers for the aforementioned fields. RESULTS: The maximum percentage of calculation errors of regular fields at the depths of 4 and 10 cm were 1 and 0.8, respectively. The maximum and minimum percentage of calculation errors in irregular fields was 3 and 0.9, respectively. Furthermore, the maximum and minimum errors were 8.8 and 0.14, respectively. In addition, relative percentages of the MUs for irregular fields of chest and supraclavicular were 1.63 and 1.01, respectively. CONCLUSION: Calculation of MUs is suggested to be performed with the novel proposed algorithm, due to reduce the treatment time, and also provide high accuracy and precision compared to hand calculation.

Protective properties of Myrtus communis extract against oxidative effects of extremely low-frequency magnetic fields on rat plasma and hemoglobin.

PURPOSE: This study investigates the protective properties of Myrtus communis extract against the oxidative effects of extremely low-frequency magnetic fields (ELFMF). Also, this study is aimed to analyze the conformational changes of hemoglobin, oxidative damages to plasma proteins and antioxidant power of plasma following exposure to ELFMF. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Adult male rats were divided into 3 groups: (1) control, (2) ELFMF exposure, and (3) ELFMF exposure after M. communis extract administration. The magnetic field (0.7 mT, 50 Hz) was produced by a Helmholtz coil for one month, 2 hours a day. The M. communis extract was injected intraperitoneally at a dose of 0.5 mg/kg before exposure to ELFMF. The oxidative effects of ELFMF were studied by evaluating the hemoglobin, methemoglobin (metHb) and hemichrome levels, absorption spectrum of hemoglobin (200-700 nm), oxidative damage to plasma proteins by measuring protein carbonyl (PCO) levels and plasma antioxidant power according to the ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP). The mean and standard errors of the mean were determined for each group. One-way ANOVA analysis was used to compare the means of groups. The significance level was considered to be p < .05. Moreover, artificial neural network (ANN) analysis was used to identify the predictive parameters for estimating the oxyhemoglobin (oxyHb) concentration. RESULTS: Exposure to ELFMF decreased the FRAP which was in concomitant with a significant increase in plasma PCO, metHb and hemichrome concentrations (p < .001). Oxidative modifications of Hb were shown by reduction in optical density at 340 nm (globin-heme interaction) and 420 nm (heme-heme interaction). Administration of M. communis extract increased FRAP values and decreased plasma POC, metHb, and hemichrome concentrations. Also, a significant increase in Hb absorbance at 340, 420, 542, and 577 nm showed the protective properties of M. communis extract against ELFMF-induced oxidative stress in erythrocytes. ANN analysis showed that optical absorption of hemoglobin at 520, 577, 542, and 630 nm and concentration of metHb and hemichrome were the most important parameters in predicting the oxyHb concentration. CONCLUSIONS: Myrtus communis extract enhances the ability of erythrocytes and plasma to deal with oxidative conditions during exposure to ELFMF. Also, ANN analysis can predict the most important parameters in relation to Hb structure during oxidative stress.