Abstract

         Background and Objectives: Concentration low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is one of the strongest indicators of atherosclerosis and predicts the diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases. LDL measurement accuracy is very important. LDL can be measured directly, such as enzymatic and nephelometry methods or can be calculated using Friedewald's formula. Despite the development of enzymatic methods and LDL nephelometry still in most laboratories is calculated using Friedewald's formula. The aim of this study was an investigation of correlation coefficient between two methods of measuring LDL- cholesterol levels.

         Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study, performed on the 1141 patients. Cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL, LDL all patients assayed by enzymatic method. For patients with triglyceride levels of less than 400 mg/dl had LDL levels were calculated by Friedewald's formula. Normal levels of LDL/HDL ratio of less than 3.5 were considered.

          Results: Of the 1141 patients participating in this study, 38.3 % men and 61.7 % women. The mean patient age was 46.3 ± 16.1 years. Mean serum cholesterol, triglycerides and HDL were 177.9 ± 41.1, 132.9 ± 73.2 and 45.8 ± 13.2 mg/dl, respectively. Average direct and calculated LDL concentration was 82.1 ± 23.1 and 105.5 ± 35.8, respectively. The direct measurement of LDL, LDL/HDL levels in 97.1% of cases was normal, while 85.1 % of the calculation of LDL were normal. Pearson correlation coefficients were obtained by two methods: 0.869 (p <0.001).

         Conclusion: Despite the favorable correlation between two methods of measurements of LDL, the results of a calculation method is more than direct method. This can have a negative impact on the judgment of the treating physician.

           Key words: LDL, Enzymatic Method, Friedewald's Formula.

Abstract

        Background and Objective: Normal hemoglobin (Hb) is formed of a heme group and a protein group known as globin. Globin is made of four polypeptide chains and in hemoglobinopathies, the structure of one of these four polypeptide chain becomes abnormal. Cellulose acetate method is a common way to differentiate haemoglobinopathies. Inability to identify the components of Hb low concentrations and incapability to isolate all Hb types are among the disadvantages of this method. The aim of this study was to report the prevalence of hemoglobinopathies in the North of Iran by capillary electrophoresis method.

      Methods: All patients with suspected hemoglobinopathies, referred by physicians for electrophoresis, have been studied in a private center in the city of Gorgan, Iran. The level of HbA2, HbA, HbF and other Hb was recorded.

       Results: Overall, 725 blood samples were analyzed using the capillary method. HbE was reported in 2 patients, HbH was observed in 2 patients and Hb Barts was reported in 3 patients. Using the capillary method, among patients with the SDG area, only 4 of 38 (10.52%) had HbS and the majority of them (89.48%) had HbD.

      Conclusion: HbD is the most common hemoglobinopathy in the North of Iran.

        Keywords: Hemoglobinopathy; hemoglobin D; Capillary Electrophoresis; Iran

ABSTRACT

      Background and Objective: Ochratoxin is a fungal toxin produced by Penicillium verrucosum and some Aspergillus species. Ochratoxin is usually found in grains, cereal products and also animal feed of livestock. The aim of this study was to measure the level of Ochratoxin in pasteurized milk samples of Golestan Province, Iran.

      Methods: Overall, 38 milk samples were collected from East and West of the Golestan province in accordance with standards 326 and 419 of the Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran. The level of Ochratoxin was measured by ELISA method.

      Results: The mean level of Ochratoxin A in 20 raw milk samples collected from the West of the Province was 3.32 ± 3.76 ng/ml. The mean level of Ochratoxin A in 18 raw milk samples collected from the East was 6.02 ± 4.42 ng/ml. Ochratoxin A levels in most samples were higher than the limits established by the European standards.

      Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, Ochratoxin level of 84.2% and 52.6% of the samples from the West and East of the province are higher than the allowed limits (2 ng/ml), respectively.

      

ABSTRACT

       Background and Objective: The association of Triglyceride/High Density Lipoprotein-Cholesterol (TG/HDL-C) ratio with fasting serum insulin, which is an alternative method of insulin resistance (IR) measurement, is well-recognized. Thus, the measurement of TG/HDL-C ratio is useful to determine both IR and dyslipidemia, which itself is a characteristic of individuals with IR. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between TG/HDL ratio as an indicator of IR, with different fasting blood glucose levels.

      Methods: This case-control study was performed on 343 volunteers with no history of diabetes or use of blood glucose-lowering medications and fasting blood sugar (FBS) levels of less than 126 mg/dl. After sampling, the subjects were divided into three groups based on their FBS level. First group included healthy subjects with FBS of less than 100 mg/dl. Second group consisted of subjects with impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and FBS of 110-100 mg/dl and a third group including those with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and FBS of 110-125 mg/dl.

       Results: The amount of TG/HDL-C ratio was 3.8 ± 2.8, 4.0 ± 2.1 and 5.4 ± 3.8 for the healthy group, individuals with IFG and IGT, respectively. The TG/HDL index was significantly different among the tested groups with no significant difference between healthy subjects and subjects with IFG. Moreover, there was a statistically significant difference between the IGT and IFG groups with healthy individuals.

       Conclusion: Considering the significant increase of the TG/HDL ratio in groups with impaired glucose, using this index can be helpful in evaluation of glycemic disorder.

  

ABSTRACT

       Background and Objective: Measurement of amino acids is an important tool for metabolic studies and evaluation of patients’ clinical condition. The aim of this study was to analyze the plasma amino acids using reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography techniques (RP-HPLC) with pre-column derivatization by o-phthalaldehyde (OPA) in combination with 3- mercaptopropionic acid (3-MPA).

       Methods: Overall, 107 neonates and babies suspected of having metabolic disorder were enrolled in this study. The level of amino acids in plasma samples was analyzed within 65 minutes by HPLC with pre-column derivatization by OPA/3-MPA. This was a gradient RP-HPLC method that was performed using two solvents with a ratio of methanol and sodium acetate. L-norvaline internal standard was used as the reference peak for amino acids. Standard mixture of amino acids was used to determine the concentrations of amino acids.

        Results: According to the values of coefficient of variation obtained for each amino acid, the results indicated a good chromatographic separation of amino acids by this method. The use of OPA/3-MPA derivative reagent increased the efficiency and resolution of amino acids chromatographic separation.

      Conclusion: Due to simple preparation and accurate assessment, determination of plasma amino acids using OPA/3-MPA derivatives and RP-HPLC is a suitable method in many clinical samples.

ABSTRACT

          Background and Objective: Genetic variations in the gene encoding endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) enzyme affect the susceptibility to cardiovascular disease. Identification of the way these changes affect eNOS structure and function in laboratory conditions is difficult and time-consuming. Thus, it seems essential to perform bioinformatics studies prior to laboratory studies to find  the variants that are more important. This study aimed to predict the damaging effect of changes in the coding region of eNOS using homology- and structure-based algorithms (SIFT and PolyPhen).

           Methods: First, the single nucleotide polymorphisms in the coding region (cSNPs) of the human eNOS gene were extracted from dbSNP. Resulting amino acid changes were reported as primary data required for the study. Then, position and type of amino acid changes along with the complete amino acid sequence were separately entered into the SIFT and PolyPhen tools for analysis.

         Results: Of 144 single nucleotide changes, 38 changes by the SIFT, 47 changes by the PolyPhen and 18 amino acid substitutions by both tools were predicted as damaging.

          Conclusion: It is predicted that 18 amino acid changes may have damaging phenotypic effects on the structure of the eNOS enzyme that may affect its performance by potentially affecting the enzyme’s various functional regions. Therefore, computational prediction of potentially damaging nsSNPs and prioritizing amino acid changes may be useful for investigating protein performance using targeted re-sequencing and gene mutagenesis experiments.

        

ABSTRACT

       Background and Objective: Esophageal cancer is the third most common type of cancer in Iran. Studies on water, soil, grains, waste and sediments in Golestan Province have shown that the environmental concentrations of antimony and strontium are increased in areas with high incidence rate for cancer. The carcinogenic effects of strontium have been reported, but carcinogenicity of antimony is still unclear. Since there is not enough information regarding the relationship between the concentration of strontium and antimony and prevalence of esophageal cancer in the province, this study aimed to evaluate serum levels of these elements in patients with esophageal cancer using atomic absorption spectroscopy.

       Methods: This study was performed on 30 patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and 30 healthy matched controls. After sampling, concentrations of strontium and antimony were measured using atomic absorption spectroscopy.

       Results: Half of the esophageal cancer patients and control participants were male. The mean age of patients and controls was 66 ± 13 and 64 ± 8 years, respectively. The mean serum concentration of strontium in patients and controls was 24.18 ± 1.62 and 24.08 ± 1.46 μg/L, respectively. The mean serum concentration of antimony in patients and controls was 18.61 ± 1.48 and 18.98 ± 1.93 μg/L, respectively. No statistically significant difference was observed between the serum concentrations of the two elements in patients and controls.

        Conclusion: There is no difference between serum levels of strontium and antimony in cancer patients and healthy controls, which could be due to tissue accumulation.

          Keywords: Antimony, Strontium, Esophageal Neoplasms.

ABSTRACT

        Background and Objectives: sperm motility mainly depends on aerobic glycolysis, and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) is a key enzyme in the last step of this process. On the other hand, fructose is considered as the main energy source for sperm motility. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the LDH activity and fructose levels and their correlation with sperm motion parameters in normospermic and asthenozospermic males.

       Methods: In this case-control study, 96 normospermic and 96 asthenozospermic males were enrolled.  The semen samples were analyzed by computer assisted semen analysis to identify sperm motion parameters. Seminal plasma fructose levels were measured using Seliwanoff's test. LDH activity in the samples was evaluated using commercially available kits. The obtained data were analyzed by SPSS software (version 16).

       Results: The levels of LDH activity and fructose concentration were not different between the two groups. There was no correlation found between LDH activity and fructose concentration or sperm motility parameters. However, LDH was significantly correlated with sperm concentration in both groups.

      Conclusion: Although LDH activity and fructose levels seem to be influenced by sperm motility, other factors such as sperm concentration and total sperm count can also affect their seminal plasma levels. Thus, when the sperm concentrations are equal in study groups, the level of these factors are expected to be equal.

         Keywords: Lactate Dehydrogenase, Fructose, Sperm Motility, CASA.

ABSTRACT

         Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is one of the most important causes of mortality worldwide. Several risk factors have been proposed to be associated with CVD. The main risk factors include family history, smoking, hypertension, history of diabetes, hyperlipidemia and obesity. However, new factors have been recently proposed to be associated with CVD. These include blood homocysteine, fibrinogen, plasma factor VII activity, lipoprotein (a) and several other factors. Nowadays, the role of homocysteine in the development and exacerbation of several diseases has been demonstrated. Extensive studies have been performed on the role of homocysteine in diabetes, preeclampsia, depression, Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis. Homocysteine level increases with age. Moreover, absorption of micronutrients, especially vitamin B12, decreases in old age that could cause a further increase in homocysteine level. On the other hand, elasticity of blood vessels decline with aging, and increased levels of homocysteine accelerate atherosclerosis. The sum of these processes highlights the role of homocysteine in the development and exacerbation of several diseases.

         Keywords: Homocysteine, Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Preeclampsia, Depression, Alzheimer's Disease.

ABSTRACT
          Background and Objectives: The incidence rate of esophageal cancer (EC) is high in north and northeast of Iran. Taurine is a sulfur-containing amino acid with a wide range of vital biological functions. The aim of this study was to compare plasma levels of taurine between patients with EC and healthy controls.
        Methods: Plasma samples from 36 recently diagnosed cases of EC and 36 healthy adults were analyzed by high-pressure liquid chromatography. Data analysis was done using SPSS (version 16). The t-test was used to evaluate significant differences in the level of taurine between the two groups. P-values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant.
         Results: Patients with EC had significantly higher levels of plasma taurine compared with the controls (P<0.05).
         Conclusion: Patients with EC have significantly higher levels of plasma taurine compared with healthy individuals. This finding suggests that the measurement of plasma taurine in patients with EC could be useful for the early diagnosis of the disease.
        Keywords: Esophageal Cancer, Taurine, HPLC.

Background and Objective: HER-2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2) is one such gene that can play a role in the development of breast cancer by making HER-2 proteins (receptorson breast cells). Normally, HER-2 receptors control breast cells grow and Division.  HER-2 protein over expression is the cause of up to 20% of breast cancers. The phosphoinositide 3 kinase (PI3K) pathway is important in the oncogenic function of HER-2. 

It has been reported compounds including Se, such as selenite significantly attenuated oxidative-stress-induced activation of the PI3K signaling pathways and can exhibit antitumor activity by downregulating PI3K activation.

 In this study, we evaluated Association of tissue selenium level and Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) expression in breast cancer.

methods:

Se contents and expression of HER-2 were determined in 30 tissue collected from 30 women diagnosed with breast cancer based on immunohistochemistry (HER-2) and atomic absorption (Se).

Results:

About 30% of the samples were positive for HER-2 expression. Mean level of tissue selenium in tumors for positive and negative HER-2 was 268.15 µg/l and 206.43µg/l respectively. So, there was no significant association between selenium level and HER-2 expression. (p>0.005)

Conclusion:

There is no Association of tissue selenium level and HER-2 expression in breast cancer.

Keyword:

Selenium, HER-2, breast cancer

ABSTRACT
              Background and Objectives: Recently, the incidence of breast cancer has increased drastically worldwide. Therefore, the identification of novel diagnostic biomarkers is essential for improving treatment outcomes and prognosis. Estrogen receptor (ER) and progesterone receptor (PR) are routinely available in breast cancer specimens. Semi-quantitative assessment of ER and PR is important for prognosis. Even with the development of genomic tests, hormone receptor status remains the most significant predictive and prognostic biomarker. Selenium is known to protect mammary epithelial cells against oxidative DNA damage and early carcinogenetic events. Since overexpression of ER and PR is common in breast cancers, we aimed to evaluate association of tissue selenium level and ER and PR expression in breast cancer.
              Methods: Sixty tissue samples (30 tumors and 30 tumor margins) were collected from patients with breast cancer. Selenium level was measured using graphite furnace atomic absorption spectroscopy and ER/PR expression was evaluated using immunohistochemistry.
              Results: About 60% of the samples were positive for ER/PR expression. Mean level of tissue selenium was 209.54 µg/L in tumors and 185.04 µg/L in tumor margins that were ER/PR positive. In addition, mean selenium level was 243.39 µg/L and 168.06 µg/L in ER/PR-negative tumors and tumor margins, respectively. There was no significant association between selenium level and ER/PR expression (P>0.05).
              Conclusion: There is no association between tissue Se level and ER/PR expression in breast cancer.
              Keywords: Selenium, Estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), breast cancer.

ABSTRACT
             Background and Objectives: Apolipoprotein M (APOM) is a novel high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-associated protein involved in the production of pre-beta HDL and cholesterol efflux to HDL. The present study examined effect of 12 weeks of aerobic interval training on HDL-associated APOM levels.
             Methods: Study population included 20 healthy men aged 20 to 24 years. The subjects were randomly and equally divided into a training group and a control group. Each training session included 10 minutes of warm-up, 35 minutes of aerobic training (5 combined cycles each including four minutes of running at intensity of 85-95% and an active resting period of treadmill running at 65-75% of maximum heart rate for 3 minutes) and 10 minutes of cool-down. Blood samples (10 mL) were taken every four weeks. Two-way ANOVA and Bonferroni's post hoc test were used to compare the groups. A P-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
             Results: At the end of the 12^th week, HDL-associated APOM levels increased in the training group and decreased in the control group. However, these changes were not statistically significant (P>0.05). 
             Conclusion: This study demonstrated that the 12-week aerobic interval training does not significantly affect HDL-associated APOM levels. However, it is recommended to monitor subjects’ diet throughout the study period to reach a more comprehensive conclusion. 
             Keywords: Aerobic interval training, Apolipoprotein M, Young men.

ABSTRACT
             Background and Objectives: Apolipoprotein O (apoO) is a 198 amino acids protein that exists predominantly in high-density lipoprotein (HDL). It may exert cardioprotective effects via decreasing fat accumulation and increasing removal of cholesterol from macrophages. Although the health benefits of exercise are well documented, no study has yet investigated the effects of various types of training, including resistance training on apoO level. Therefore, we aimed to determine effects of five weeks of circuit resistance training with different intensities on plasma levels of apoO, HDL, total cholesterol (TC) and triglyceride (TG) in young untrained men.
             Methods: Forty-five age- and weight-matched healthy untrained men were randomly assigned to a control group (n=10) and four training groups: training at 20% intensity (n=9), training at 40% intensity (n=8), training at 60% intensity (n=7) and training at 80% intensity (n=8). The subjects performed circuit resistance training at 10 stations (30 seconds at each station) with three repetitions, without rest between stations and with 3-minute active rest between the repetitions. The training was carried out for 45 minutes per session, three sessions a week, for five weeks. Venous blood samples were taken 48 hours before the first exercise session and 48 hours after the last training session. Plasma levels of apoO, HDL, TC and TG were measured using commercial kits. Data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA and Tukey's post hoc test at significance level of 0.05.
             Results: After the training intervention, mean plasma level of TC and TG did not differ significantly between the study groups (P>0.05). Training at 80% of one-repetition maximum (1RM) caused a slight decrease in the apoO concentrations. Moreover, apoO concentration was significantly higher in the 20% 1RM training group compared to other study groups (F=11.599, P<0.002).
             Conclusion: Our results indicate that circuit resistance training at 80% of 1RM can decrease HDL-associated apoO level but does not significantly alter other parameters.
             KEYWORDS: Circuit resistance training, HDL-O, TC, TG, Young men.