Rivaroxaban is an anticoagulant drug that prevents forming of blood clots. In addition, it can be administered to prevent and treat thrombotic diseases such as atrial fibrillation, cardiac arrhythmia, heart valve disease, orthopedic surgery, and thrombophilia to reduce the risk of thrombosis. Various factors such as age, gender, diet, medications, and genetic factors effectively determine the dose of rivaroxaban. Genetic variability in drug-metabolizing enzymes, including the cytochrome P450 (CYP450) enzymes and especially CYP3A4, has been associated with rivaroxaban response. The current study aimed to identify the frequency of CYP3A4 common polymorphisms, as well as their association with rivaroxaban response in 100 patients of Arab descent (48.6% female). CYP3A4 gene polymorphisms were examined by the PCR-RFLP method, and the findings were analyzed by SPSS 16 software and t-test. The frequency of CYP3A4*1B/*1B, CYP3A4*1B/*1A, CYP3A4*1B/*1C, and CYP3A4*1A/*1C was 67.35%, 10.64%, 19.12% and 2.89%, respectively. According to our results, CYP3A4 *1B/*1B genotype was the most common, and patients with CYP3A4*1B/*1B alleles needed a higher daily dose of rivaroxaban than *1B/*1A, *1B/*1C, and *1A/*1C carriers (9.57 ± 1.54 mg/day, P=0.015). Therefore, according to the results, CYP3A4 gene polymorphism has an important effect on the dose of rivaroxaban required to maintain the International Normalized Ratio (INR) in the range of 2-3.

Glioblastoma is a fatal brain tumor, and the standard treatment for this cancer is the surgical removal of the tumor followed by chemotherapy with temozolomide and radiotherapy. Because chemotherapy has many side effects, the use of compounds extracted from natural herbs, due to fewer side effects, can be a good alternative or supplement to chemical drugs in cancer treatment. In this study, curcumin (diferuloylmethane), known as the main active ingredient of turmeric, was used to evaluate itscytotoxicity on four human glioblastoma cell lines (U373, U251, D54, and T98G). Among these cell lines, U373 was temozolomide resistance, and T98G was photodynamic treatment resistance. These cell lines were treated with increasing concentrations of diferuloylmethane. Survival percentage was assessed by MTT assay and the trypan blue staining method was used to evaluate the rate of cell death and confirm the results of the MTT assay. The results showed that diferuloylmethane has a cytotoxic effect on U251, D54, and T98G cell lines. This effect was higher in high concentrations of diferuloylmethane on U251 and D54 than on U373. Therefore, according to the results of the current study and further studies, curcumin (diferuloylmethane) can be considered an effective complementary treatment in the treatment of glioblastoma.

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) is one of the most common genetic deficiencies that affect approximately 400 million people worldwide. This study aimed to identify neonates with G6PD deficiency in Ardabil province during 2017-2018. This cross-sectional study was conducted on all term and preterm newborns in Ardabil Province from April 2018 to April 2019. The sampling method was census and in study duration, 1044 newborns were entered in the study. For each infant, severe hyperbilirubinemia (total serum bilirubin equal or greater than 300 micromol/L) was tested by the diazo method and G6PD was evaluated by Fluorescent Spot Test (FST). Of all infants, 15 (1.4 %) were diagnosed to have G6PD deficiency by FST. The prevalence of G6PD deficiency was significantly in boys higher than in girls (80% vs. 20%, p=0.001). Of all infants, 97 (9.3%) had jaun dice 72 hours after birth that of them 7 neonates (7.2%) had G6PD deficiency. Results showed that the prevalence of G6PD deficiency in this study was less than in other places in Iran that may be because of different ethnicity and demographic features.

Recently, stem cells have been considered renewable cell sources in the treatment of diabetes and the development of insulin-producing cells. In this regard, the current study aimed to compare Insulin-producing cells from bone marrow stem cells with injectable insulin in rats with type I diabetes. For this purpose, 40 rats were divided into four groups: the control or healthy group, the diabetic control group, the group that received differentiated insulin-producing cells from bone marrow, and the group that received insulin treatment. To differentiate insulin-producing cells from bone marrow, the femoral bone marrow of rats was extracted using the flushing method. Differentiated cells were evaluated using dithizone-specific dye, anti-insulin-proinsulin antibodies, and anti-insulin beta receptors. Also, the expression of the pdx-I gene, as the specific gene of pancreatic cells, was examined by RT-PCR. The results showed that transplantation of insulin-producing cells could significantly increase blood insulin levels in diabetic rats. This increase intensified in the second stage of transplantation when more cells were injected into rats. Concerning decreasing blood sugar levels, differentiated cells were able to reduce blood sugar levels significantly. Even in the first stage of cell injection, in which the rats received a small number of cells, their blood sugar levels were controlled by these cells. As a result, the present study showed that repeated transplants of insulin-producing cells differentiated from bone marrow could decrease blood sugar and increase insulin levels.

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers known, and it is also a significant cause of death in women. If breast cancer is diagnosed in the early stages of the disease and treated appropriately, we can see an increase in life expectancy for more than 90% of patients. Research on molecular biomarkers with enough sensitivity and specificity can be a good solution for rapid diagnosis in the clinical stage. Meanwhile, endogenous retroviral biomarkers can have good functional benefits. Human Endogenous Retroviruses as heterochromatin fragments of the genome usually lack expression, but in several types of human cancers, including breast cancer, HERV-Kenv mRNA is significantly increased. This study used RT-PCR to detect the expression of HERV-K mRNA and tried to introduce screening tools for the early detection of breast cancer. In this case-control study, blood samples of 50 patients with hospitalized breast cancer and 50 healthy individuals were designed to evaluate the expression of HERV-Kenv mRNA using specific primers and were analyzed by RT-PCR. PCR test was optimized as a positive control using Hela cancer cell line (cervical adenocarcinoma), which expresses the HERV-Kenv gene. Studies on both patient and control groups showed that the increase in mRNA expression was positive in 64% of patients with breast cancer and negative in all healthy individuals. The results indicate an increase in the expression of endogenous human retroviruses (HERVs) in breast cancer. Because the amount of HERV-Kenv mRNA in the blood of breast cancer patients increases dramatically, it is predicted that these mobile genetic elements could be used as a diagnostic biomarker.

Finding efficient therapeutic strategies to fight antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a complicated affair specifically in the therapy of chronic bacterial infections related to hospital-acquired infections. Recently, three major antibacterial systems based on antisense RNA, CRISPR-Cas9, and metal/metal oxide nanoparticles particularly silver (Ag) nanoparticles have shown more effective antibacterial activity compared to conventional antibiotics. ROS generation, attachment to the cell membrane, disruption of bacterial envelop, inactivation of electron transport chain, decreasing the local pH, modulation of cell signaling, and denaturation of biological macromolecules such as proteins and nucleic acids have been found as the main antibacterial functions of Ag nanoparticles. Antisense RNA, a single-stranded RNA, can hybridize with complementary genes in messenger RNA (mRNA) followed by blockage translation of these genes into proteins. Moreover, CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) is a family of viral DNA sequences derived from bacteriophages, which can target and destroy foreign DNA by nuclease activity. There are 2 classes and 6 subtypes (I-VI) of CRISPR-Cas systems, which may be engineered as potential antibacterial agents to target specific sequences. Therefore, here, recent advances and challenges for the antibacterial application of these three therapeutic agents are presented.

Naproxen is a common analgesic and antipyretic medication that is widely used around the world. This medicine at high doses leads to liver and kidney necrosis in humans and animals. The mechanism of kidney damage, unlike liver damage, is not well understood and is one of the most common causes of emergency department patients. Therefore, in the present study, the protective effect of curcumin, a compound derived from turmeric, was investigated on renal damage caused by naproxen. For this purpose, 25 male Wistar rats were selected and were randomly divided into five groups. Naproxen was dissolved in a 5% dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) solution and was injected intraperitoneally at 1000 mg/kg of animal weight. Also, curcumin was dissolved in 5% DMSO and was injected within peritoneum at a dose of 200 mg/kg of animal weight into the relevant groups. After 24 hours of injection, rats were bled and plasma urea and creatinine levels were measured. The rate of lipid peroxidation, the activity of superoxide dismutase and catalase in the kidney, total plasma antioxidant capacity, and PGC-1a gene expression were measured. The results showed that naproxen significantly increased the levels of biochemical markers of urea and creatinine in plasma and lipid peroxidation in the kidney; also, it decreased the activity of the antioxidants enzymes. The use of curcumin in naproxen-exposed groups significantly reduced the concentrations of urea, creatinine, and lipid peroxidation. Curcumin increased the activity of catalase, superoxide enzymes, and the total antioxidant capacity of plasma. Also, curcumin increased the expression of the PGC-1a gene, which reduces the effects of naproxen. Therefore, according to the current study results, curcumin could significantly reduce the harmful effects of naproxen on the kidneys. However, in future studies, the effect of curcumin should be evaluated on the naproxen mechanism in the treatment of those patients who need naproxen.

Emerging antibiotic resistance in microorganisms particularly multidrug-resistant strains among bacteria are increasing because of misusing antibiotics as well as evolution of antibiotic resistance mechanisms. In this regard, Acinetobacter baumannii is one of the six most common multidrug-resistant microorganisms in hospitals. Recently, carbapenems, as common antibiotics to treat infections of Acinetobacter have not an acceptable efficiency because of the resistance emergence to these antibiotics in many strains. In this study, resistant strains of A. baumannii were isolated and identified as an appropriate preventive strategy to reduce infections in hospitals. Disc diffusion test and PCR method were used to isolate of resistant strains and identify beta-lactamase genes of blaAmpC, blaTEM, blaVIM, and blaSHV. This study showed that these genes were contributed in antibiotic resistance with about 18.4% and =53.5% strains expressing all 4 genes and =3 genes, respectively. The blaAmpC gene is more prevalent than other genes, and this is probably due to the prevalence or rapid transfer of this beta-lactamase. However, more studies should be performed in a comparative way to isolate and identify other antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains relate to other hospitals.

The main purpose of microbial typing is to evaluate the relationships between microbial isolates. Microbial typing can use for identifying the source of infection by detecting a clonal link between the strains. Moreover, it can analyze outbreaks, antimicrobial-resistant strains, and evaluate the effectiveness of control measures so, the efficiency of monitoring systems would increase. HAIs can affect hospitalized patients in all age ranges with any clinical situation, and lead to death. Molecular epidemiology is useful to determine genetic relatedness between isolated pathogens from patients, and design proper prevention plans to prevent infection through the hospital and community. Nowadays, typing methods for a wide range of bacterial strains are known as essential epidemiological tools to prevent and control infections in hospitals and communities. Although basic typing methods were more focused on phenotypic techniques like antibiogram and serotyping, new methods are based on molecular techniques including PCR-based methods and sequencing-based methods. Due to the high frequency of methods, choosing the right one for research applications seems difficult and requires basic knowledge about all of them. In this review, we aim to introduce the most useful and practical molecular typing techniques. Also, their utilization, advantages, and disadvantages were compared.

Staphylococcus aureus contains numerous surface proteins called microbial surface components recognizing adhesive matrix molecules (MSCRAMMs) that mediate binding to host tissues and initiate colonization leading to infection. Virulence genes such as enzymes, toxins, adhesin proteins, cell surface proteins play an important role in the pathogenicity of S. aureus strains. The distribution and prevalence of virulence genes vary among S. aureus strains in different regions. However, the highest frequency of virulence genes among S. aureus strains is related to toxin genes. There are many PCR methods for detecting these microorganisms such as conventional PCR, multiplex PCR, reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR), and quantitative PCR (qPCR). Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the presence of virulence genes among methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) strains. In this study, multiplex PCR technique was applied to determine the presence of virulence genes among MRSA strains. Results showed the frequency of virulence genes among bacterial strains isolated from Al-Najaf Al-Ashraf teaching hospital. In addition, among the strains, hla gene with 91% frequency, exhibited the highest prevalence among pathogenic genes. Sea, mecA, clfB, femA, fnbB, tsst, hlb genes with 88%, 65%, 54%, 45%, 39%, 27% and 13% were in the next ranks, respectively. This investigation showed mecA is a gene found in bacterial cells that allows them to be resistant to antibiotics such as methicillin and other penicillin-like antibiotics.

A type of viral pneumonia that broke out in Wuhan, China in December 2019, and new strains of it are spreading rapidly around the world, is called coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The incidence of cardiovascular complications has increased both in the general population and in patients diagnosed with the disease during the COVID-19 epidemic. One of the conditions is stress cardiomyopathy, which may be related to COVID-19. During the COVID-19 epidemic, stress cardiomyopathy may be present as a complication of acute infection or as an indirect consequence of quarantine. These conditions have created complications in patient care that have led to increased adverse outcomes, hospitalization, and medical costs. Stress cardiomyopathy is caused by various emotional and physical stressors such as anger, sadness, happiness, surgery, multiple medications, general anesthesia, and infectious diseases. The outbreak of the new coronavirus has posed an ongoing challenge for these patients with several medical and economic consequences. Providing useful information on stress and COVID-19 to people with heart disease and their families can be very important, and also, education and psychotherapy of heart patients can reduce the number of hospitalization and their complications.