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Introduction & Objective: Systemic lupus erythematous (SLE) is a disorder of unknown disease in which tissues and cells are damaged by pathogenic autoantibodies and immune complexes. 90% of cases are women. One of affected organs is heart and pericarditis is the most common manifestation of cardiac lupus. Myocarditis is an unusual presentation . Occasionally lupus patients present with Fuo. For diagnosis of lupus we need disease criteria and presence of antibodies in the serum. Case Report: Patient was a 39 years old women who presented with fever, chills and generalized abdominal pain from 25 days before admission. Arthralgia and mild nocturnal dyspnea were other complaints. Fever and tachycardia with rug tenderness were found in physical exanimation. Abdominal ulterasound and CT scan were normal, CXR showed upper limit of normal heart. Leucopenia was hematological abnormality and echocardiography suggested myocarditis. 48h after administrating of captopril fever stopped and systemic symptoms subsided. Serologic study showed a positive result for SLE Conclution: Lupus myocarditis may have no significant clinical symptoms and systemic symptoms respond only to captopril.

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ABECTRACT Introduction & Objective: Acute urinary retention is an unusual symptom among women. This is a case report of acute urinary retention due to endometriosis in a postmenopausal woman. Case: The patient was a 49 – years old woman who had referred with dull abdominal pain and acute urinary retention for a few weeks. In physical examination, cervix was displaced anteriorly and superiorly and a large and tender mass was palpable above symphysis pubis. Ultrasonography and CT-Scan showed a huge thick-walled cystic structure almost 12×14 cm occupying central part of pelvic and lower abdominal cavity most likely arised from left ovary. The patient operated and TAH+BSO was done.The mass was reported endometriosis by pathologist. CA-125 level was normal. Conclusion: Endometriosis is not a disease of childbearing age and about 2-4% of cases occur in postmenopausal age. It is still unclear how endometric masses grow and become evident in postmenopausal women .

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ABESTRACT Introduction & Objective: Neuron tracing is a novel method that is used for detecting communications between cells, tracing nervous pathways, and recognizing the nuclei relating to different pathways. One of the most common tracing methods is putting cutting end of nerve inside the tracer solution. This method is so sensitive that improper insertion of the nerve inside a solution or histological preparation, would lead not to observing the tracers. We evaluated methods for observing tracers. Material & Methods: 10 adult dogs were assigned into two groups. In the first group, the superior laryngeal nerve was cut and its proximal end, after washing and des-heating, was put inside the horse radish peroxidase (HRP) solution. In the second group, after washing the proximal cutting end of superior laryngeal nerve, we separated tiny vessels supplying the nerve to prevent hemorrhage. Then, by using the needle (gauge 22), 2-3 distal end of nerve sheath was precisely removed and nerve fibers were separated and kept inside the HRP solution. In both groups, nerve end was kept inside the HRP solution for 2 hours. Three to five days later, after perfusion and fixation their head and neck, their pons, medulla oblongata, three upper spinal segments and vagal ganglions were removed, sectioned and prepared histochemically and stained with thionin. Results: The number of labeled cells in the first group was less (2-4 cells per section) than the second group (4-8 cells). This difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Conclusion: This study showed that separating nerve fibers and fixation of nerve end inside the solution increased the absorption of tracer.

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Introduction & Objective: Primer-Template hybridization temperature is one of the important parameters in Nested PCR optimization. Unlike instant temperature for sequence amplification in routine PCR process, Touchdown PCR is a modified form of standard PCR that employs a range of annealing temperature. This study intended to develop a Touchdown Nested PCR in order to circumvent spurious priming and enhancing specify during gene amplification. Materials & Methods: This is an experimental study conducted at Tarbiat Modarres University of Tehran during 2008-2009. Study samples were collected from Digestive Diseases Research Centre- at Shari'ati Hospital and HIV research center – Imam Khomeini Hospital. After extracting the nucleic acid, primer designing for HIV and GBV-C and c-DNA synthesis Nested PCR was performed on negative and positive samples using standard and touchdown protocols. Results: The intended band was observed in all positive samples. No band was observed in any human and viral negative control samples. After electrophoresis of PCR products, non specific band were seen in HIV and GBV-C samples during standard PCR. Using the touchdown protocol, undesirable bands were omitted or significantly decreased. Conclusion: In the present study, despite the formation of uncalled bands in standard reaction using the touchdown method led to omission of non-specific bands without any significant effect on the final products. As for its simplicity, cost and time saving, it seems that using this method is a rational and economical way for fast optimization of PCR reactions.

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Introduction & Objective: Plants from the genus Pistacia family such as Pistacia atlantica, Pistacia vera and Pistacia khynjuk are considered as herbal medicines. Antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects of these plants have been confirmed. The aim of the current study was to find the effect of Pistacia khynjuk on humoral immune system of Wistar rats. Materials & Methods: This is an experimental study which was conducted at Yasuj University of Medical Sciences in 2009. Forty male Wistar rats were randomly allocated into four groups of ten animals and orally received 10 mg/kg of the extract of nucleus, cutin and fruit of Pistacia khynjuk respectively, every day for two weeks. The control group received only placebo. Immuno-reactivity was induced using BCG vaccine (IP) with Freund‘s complete adjuvant (CFA). The titer of IgG and IgM were measured after the treatment using ELISA method. Moreover, the cervical lymph nodes and spleen of animals were excised and the volume and density of the primary and secondary follicle was evaluated by steriology. The collected data were analyzed by the SPSS using one-way ANOVA. Results: The differences in the mean level of IgG and IgM between the treated and the control animals were not significant (p>.05). Also, the mean volume of the spleen and cervical lymph nodes of the first three groups in comparison with the control animals were not significant (p>.05). Conclusion: Findings of this study showed that the Pistacia khynjuk did not have any direct effect on the activity of humoral immune system and the increasing of antibody level among Wistar rats.

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Background & aim: An increase in weight of school bags may lead to changes in body position. To compensate this stress, the musculoskeletal system must react appropriately. The purpose of the present study was to compare the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain among children and identify the risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders. Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted on 800 secondary school children, aged 12 to 15 years, selected by cluster random sampling in four areas of Shiraz, Iran. The researcher instrument consisted of a questionnaire and body map for evaluating musculoskeletal pains. Data were analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney test. Results: The results revealed that 80.6% of the students had pain correlation with carrying the school bags. 40.8% experienced pain while carrying their school bags, 27.2% expressed continuous pain and 32% of them felt pain whenever they put off their bags. Conclusion: According to the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain, the prevalence of pain in the shoulders had the highest rate which was similar to the results of several studies.

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Background & Aim: Tissue engineering is a new method for the replacement of degraded tissue components by biodegradable polymers, which is provided as a three-dimensional scaffold for growth and proliferation of stem cells. In this study, chitosan scaffold was used to evaluate the proliferation of fibroblasts in the presence of hyaluronic acid.

 Methods: In this experimental study, powder scaffolds were prepared for growth of fibroblastic cells. The following groups were designed for later studies: Group 1: Chitosan scaffold with hyaluronic acid, Group 2: Chitosan without hyaluronic acid scaffold, Group 3 (control 1): Hyaluronic acid fibroblast cell and Group 4 (control 2): ​​Hyaluronic acid fibroblaster cell. The human foreskin was prepared and the fibroblasts of the dermal layer were removed after separation, and the cells were transferred to the culture flasks with DMEM medium and stored in a CO2-containing incubator. After several passages, 10,000 cells were transferred to 96 wells containing DMEM medium and MTT and DAPI staining method was used to amplify fibroblasts on the chitosan scaffold. The obtained results were analyzed by ANOVA and Tukey's post hoc test after uniformity of data analysis.

Results: The mean survival rate of chitosan without hyaluronic acid scaffold in 24 hours was significantly higher than that of control with and without hyaluronic acid and chitosan group with hyaluronic acid (P <0.05). The mean survival in the control group without hyaluronic acid increased significantly in 48 hours compared to the chitosan scaffold with and without hyaluronic acid and the control group with hyaluronic acid (P <0.05). The mean survival time in chitosan scaffold with and without hyaluronic acid in 72 hours was not statistically significant compared to control groups with and without hyaluronic acid.

Conclusion: Chitosan scaffold showed better biocompatibility with fibroblasts due to its hydrophilic property, but the presence of hyaluronic acid with chitosan reduced the fibroblast growth trend. Chitosan may be alone in structures that are synthesized to repair damaged areas of the skin, a good scaffold for proliferation of damaged fibroblast cells.

 

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Abstract                
 
Background & aim: Tissue engineering identifies degraded tissue components and provides rational solutions to improve and perform them. One of these approaches is to fabricate a mixed scaffold with polysaccharide and synthetic antioxidants for stem cells to be cultured inside. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potency of poly caprolactan-chitosan-tannic acid scaffold for proliferation of fibroblast cells.
 
Methods: In the present experimental study, polycaprolactane, chitosan powder and tannic acid scaffold were prepared for growth of fibroblast cells. Subsequently, the following groups were designed: Group 1: Polycaprolactane scaffold Group 2: Polycaprolactane-chitosan scaffold Group 3: Polycaprolactane-tannic acid scaffold Group 4: Polycaprolactane-chitosan-tannic acid scaffold. The human foreskin was prepared and the dermal layer fibroblast cells were isolated after laboratory tests, then the cells were placed in cell culture flasks with DMEM medium and stored in a 5% CO² incubator. Ten thousand cell fibroblasts were transferred to 96-well wells containing DMEM solution and scaffolds and then fibroblast cell proliferation and viability were determined by MTT assay and by SEM microscopy to determine the infiltration of fibroblast cells into scaffolds and also in order to review of the chemical groups in the polymers was performed using a FTIR spectrometer. The results were analyzed by the SPSS software; ANOVA and Tukey's post hoc test after the data were analyzed uniformly.
 
Results: The mean survival rate of fibroblast cells based on MTT assay at 24 h was significantly increased in the polycaprolactone-tannic acid scaffold group (p<0.05) compared to the polycaprolactone scaffold group (p<0.05). The results also indicated that the mean survival of cells based on MTT assay at 24 h was significantly increased in the polycaprolactone-chitosan-tannic acid scaffold group (p<0.05) compared to the polycaprolactone scaffold group (p<0.05). Moreover, the mean cell viability in the polyprolactone-chitosan scaffold was not statistically significant compared to the polyprolactone group.
 
Conclusion: Due to its hydrophilic properties and biocompatibility of chitosan and tannic acid, poly caprolactone-chitosan-tannic acid scaffold may be a suitable scaffold for the activity of fibroblast cells in the scaffold.  It can also be a good environment for the growth and proliferation of other cells.
 
 

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Background & aim: Steroid production has been reported in the asexual tissues of the nervous system. Stimulants are in the normal activity, function and function of the nervous system. Identifying the conduction pathways involved in glucocorticoids and enabling brain parenchymal cells can offset the balance in the active nervous system at old ages when the body is depleted. Therefore, in this study, by increasing the activity of sonic hedgehog (SHH) pathway attempted by purmorphamine and its capacity by Gant 61, the effect of this pathway on steroid process in culture medium of glial neurons is evaluated.

Methods: The present experimental study was conducted in 2021. First, neuronal stem cells were obtained from the cortex of a 14-day-old embryonic mice by standard methods. Survival of neuronal stem cells after treatment with 5 μM pregnenolone with different concentrations of purmorphamine (1,2,5, 10 and 20) and Gant 61 was performed by MTT method. Then the cells were placed in a differentiation medium and after treatment with different concentrations and 5-day incubation, the surface of the cells was removed from the cell culture medium and the amount of testosterone and estrogen were measured by ELISA and HPLC. Data were analyzed using ANOVA statistical test using graph pad software.
 
Results:  The survival data of the groups indicated an increase in survival after treatment with purmorphamine (114.3) compared to the Gant 61 group (63.7 Pg) (p≤0.5). Progesterone data in the supernatant of glial neurons showed that purmorphamine groups (287.2 Pg) had a significant increase compared to control (88.28) and Gant 61 (40.5 Pg) groups (p≤ 0.001). Also, testosterone data show that purmorphamine groups (73.8 Pg) in both ELISA and HPLC methods have a significant increase compared to the control (153.8 Pg) and Gant61 (52.92 Pg) groups (p≤ 0.0001). Also, pregnenolone group (236.5 Pg) showed a significant increase compared to Gant61 (40.5 Pg) group (p≤ 0.05). Analysis of estrogen data by HPLC method showed that there was a significant increase in estrogen production in the purmorphamine groups (331.2 Pg) compared to the control (42.11 Pg) and Gant61 (42.11 Pg) groups (p≤ 0.0001).
 
Conclusion: The data from this study indicated that the induction of the shh pathway by purrmorphamine increased the production of steroid hormones (estrogen-progesterone and testosterone) by glial-neuronal differentiating cells, which inhibition of this pathway had the opposite effect. The present study concluded that induction of the shh pathway can lead to the production of steroids.
 
 

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Background & aim: Pregnenolone acts as a precursor to other steroid hormones and exerts its effect as an anti-inflammatory molecule to maintain immune homeostasis in various inflammatory conditions. In these diseases, a decrease in the level ofP has been observed, which emphasizes its role in neuroprotection and nerve regeneration and its anti-inflammatory role. Accordingly, the purpose of the present study was to determine the ability of Pregnenolone in the proliferation of mouse neural stem cells and reduce inflammatory and oxidant markers. of inducing inflammation with lipopolysaccharide in laboratory conditions.

Methods: In the present experimental study conducted at Yasuj University of Medical Sciences, neural stem cells (NSCs) were isolated from the embryonic cortex of E14 mice with standard protocol and incubated for 5 days. Subsequently, neurosphere formation and propagation for second passage the survival of the cells was done after pregnenolone combined treatment with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) inflammatory model. The number of neurospheres and cells derived from neurospheres were counted after 5 days of incubation in the inflammatory model. The supernatant of the cells was removed and the levels of oxidant and antioxidant markers MDA, NO FRAP, and inflammatory markers IL6 and TNFα were measured by ELISA method. Data were analyzed by one-way variance statistical method and Tukey's post hoc test.

Results: The results indicated that pregnenolone with its effect on inflammatory factors could increase the proliferation of neural stem cells in conditions of inflammation and the greatest effect was observed in the group treated with 10 μM dose of pregnenolone with an increase of 68% compared to the LPS group. On the other hand, it caused a decrease in the inflammatory factors TNF-α (12%) and IL-6 (30%) and oxidative stress factors including NO (38%) and MDA (20%) compared to the LPS group, as well as a significant increase FRAP was an antioxidant marker (P<0.0001) in the model of inflammation caused by LPS in the culture medium of mouse neural stem cells.

Conclusion: The results of the present study indicated that Pregnenolone, by affecting inflammatory factors, increased the proliferation of neural stem cells in the conditions of inflammation, and it was as well able to reduce the amount of inflammatory and oxidant markers in the inflammatory model of the culture medium.

 

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Background & aim: Cellular senescence is an irreversible process in cells that is affected by various factors such as oxidative stress and inflammation, and the importance of this issue rises in its effect on neural stem cells. Fluvoxamine at appropriate concentrations provides proliferation and differentiation of neural stem cells into glial and neurons and modulates inflammatory factors. Therefore, considering the mechanism of the aging process on neural stem cells, the present study investigated the effects of fluvoxamine in culture.

Methods: The present experimental study was conducted in 2023. Neural stem cells were isolated from the subventricular zone of the adult male mouse brain and cultured using a standard method to generate neurospheres. Cell viability, number of neurospheres and cells in the control group, the D-galactose treatment group (20 mg/cc), the fluvoxamine treatment groups with different concentrations, and the D-galactose and fluvoxamine combined groups were measured using the MTT method. The number of neurospheres, the number of proliferating cells and senescent cells were also counted. The collected data were analyzed using the one-way analysis of variance statistical test.

Results: The survival of neural stem cells in the low-dose fluvoxamine group was higher than in the control group but significantly decreased with increasing doses (p<0.001). In contrast, the D-galactose group indicated a significant decrease compared to the control (p<0.01). Low-dose fluvoxamine combined with D-galactose significantly increased survival compared to the D-galactose group (p<0.001) but decreased in the high-dose groups. The number of neurospheres in the D-galactose group was significantly lower than in the control group (p<0.001), while the combination treatment with 50 nM fluvoxamine showed a significant increase compared to D-galactose alone (p<0.01). The average number of BrdU-positive cells in the 100 fluvoxamine group increased significantly compared to the control (p<0.001), whereas in the D-galactose group, it was significantly reduced (p<0.01). D-galactose and low-dose fluvoxamine treatment increased BrdU-positive cells compared to D-galactose treatment alone. The average number of neural stem cells in the D-galactose groups dropped significantly compared to the control, but the combination with 50 nM fluvoxamine led to a significant increase (p<0.001). The average number of senescent cells rose significantly with higher fluvoxamine doses compared to the control, and treatment with D-galactose also elevated senescent cell counts. However, combining D-galactose with low concentrations of fluvoxamine resulted in a significant decrease in senescent cells compared to D-galactose alone (p<0.0001).

Conclusion: The results of the present study indicated that fluvoxamine, prescribed for the treatment of major depression and obsessive-compulsive disorders, while increasing the survival and viability of cells at low doses, demonstrated significant toxicity at higher doses in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, it elevated aging-related factors and induced aging in neural stem cells under ex vivo conditions. In other words, it reduced the survival of neural stem cells, the number of neurospheres, and the number of cells derived from each neurosphere, while simultaneously it increased the number of aged cells. These findings necessitate further investigations in both in vivo and in vitro environments.

 

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Background:

 Neurogenesis must be continuous and dynamic throughout each individual's life so that the efficiency of different brain parts does not become weak and ineffective. On the other hand, protecting old neurons can also be a solution, so synthetic substances simultaneously having both protective and neurogenic functions can be a good option for targeted drug delivery in brain diseases and aging. In particular, agmatine has a beneficial role in protecting and neurogenic roles due to its role as a polyamine precursor and its ability to cross the blood-brain barrier while inhibiting nitric oxide synthase, and previous studies have also reported a protective and neurogenic role. Therefore, this study aimed to target drug delivery with nanoliposomes and investigate its effects on the proliferation and differentiation of neural stem cells.

Materials and methods 

In this experimental-in vitro study, neural stem cells were first isolated from the subventricular zone of the adult mouse brain and proliferated and neurospheres were formed in the presence of epidermal growth factor and fibroblast growth factor. Cell viability was measured in six groups including the control group, a nanoliposome group, an agmatine group with concentrations of (25 and 50) micromolar, and nanoliposome groups treated with agmatine with concentrations of (25 and 50) micromolar by the MTT method. Also, the number of neurospheres, the number of cells resulting from each neurosphere, and the number of neuronal and glial cells following differentiation were counted. The collected data were analyzed using a one-way variance test.
Result: 
The cell survival of neural stem cells in the agmatine groups increased in a dose-dependent manner, with a significant increase in the 50 and 100 μM groups compared to the 10 μM agmatine group (**p<0.01). The mean number of neurospheres in the nanoliposome-agmatine 50 μM groups showed a significant increase compared to the liposome and control groups (*p<0.05, **p<0.01). The mean number of neuronal cells in the nanoliposome-agmatine 25 and 50 groups showed a significant increase compared to the liposome and control groups (***p<0.0001).
Conclusion:
The data from this study showed that treatment with agmatine and nano-liposomes containing agmatine can be effective in the proliferation and differentiation of stem cells, and that this increase in proliferation and differentiation in the targeted method with liposomes was effective at a lower concentration of agmatine, which may indicate the targeting of the liposomal system and its value.

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Background & aim: Obesity is widely recognized as a significant health concern due to its association with various diseases, including fatty liver disease. This study aimed to examine the effects of two types of exercise—aerobic and resistance training—combined with cinnamon supplementation on the levels of liver inflammatory markers in obese subjects.
Methods: Following a two-month obesity induction period using a high-fat diet, 42 male Wistar rats were divided into seven groups: control, obese control, obese cinnamon, obese aerobic exercise, obese resistance exercise, obese aerobic exercise with cinnamon, and obese resistance exercise with cinnamon. The supplement groups received 200 mg/kg of cinnamon extract daily. The exercise groups performed their respective training protocols for four weeks, four days per week. The control and obese control groups received no intervention. To account for dietary effects, all rats were maintained on a high-fat diet throughout the one-month training period. After confirming the normality of the data and homogeneity of variances, a one-way ANOVA was used to compare the groups at a significance level of P ≤ 0.05.
Results: The results showed a significant reduction in the levels of alanine aminotransferase (P = 0.011), aspartate aminotransferase (P = 0.025), and alkaline phosphatase (P = 0.018) in the aerobic exercise group compared to the obese control group. Similarly, the resistance training group exhibited a significant decrease in alanine aminotransferase (P = 0.005), aspartate aminotransferase (P = 0.043), and alkaline phosphatase (P = 0.041) levels compared to the obese control group. However, no significant differences were observed between the aerobic and resistance training groups.
Conclusion: It appears that in individuals who are dealing with obesity and overweight, engaging in aerobic or resistance exercises along with cinnamon supplementation may help improve indicators of liver inflammation.