A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Death Anxiety Among Iranian Patients With Cancer.

Death anxiety in cancer patients can cause and exacerbate mental disorders and affect the healing process and survival. In this study, percentage score of death anxiety among Iranian cancer patients was reported. The databases of Scopus, PubMed, ISI, MagIran, and Scientific Information Database were searched and 396 articles were retrieved.

Effective connectivity of the human mirror neuron system during social cognition.

The human mirror neuron system (MNS) can be considered the neural basis of social cognition. Identifying the global network structure of this system can provide significant progress in the field. In this study, we use dynamic causal modeling (DCM) to determine the effective connectivity between central regions of the MNS for the first time during different social cognition tasks.

The effect of theory - Based educational intervention on consumption of smokeless tobacco products by merchants' guilds.

Background: Smokeless tobacco (SLT) products are highly addictive and contain at least 28 carcinogenic chemicals. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of theory-based on the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change on consumption of SLT products by Merchants' Guilds in 2018.

Materials And Methods: The present quasi-experimental research was conducted over one intervention group.

Human exposure to aerosol from indoor gas stove cooking and the resulting nervous system responses.

Our knowledge of the effects of exposure to indoor ultrafine particles (sub-100 nm, #/cm ) on human brain activity is very limited. The effects of cooking ultrafine particles (UFP) on healthy adults were assessed using an electroencephalograph (EEGs) for brain response. Peak ultrafine particle concentrations were approximately 3 × 10 particle/cm and the average level was 1.

MoS Nanodonuts for High-Sensitivity Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy.

Nanohybrids of graphene and two-dimensional (2D) layered transition metal dichalcogenides (TMD) nanostructures can provide a promising substrate for extraordinary surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) due to the combined electromagnetic enhancement on TMD nanostructures via localized surface plasmonic resonance (LSPR) and chemical enhancement on graphene. In these nanohybrid SERS substrates, the LSPR on TMD nanostructures is affected by the TMD morphology. Herein, we report the first successful growth of MoS nanodonuts (N-donuts) on graphene using a vapor transport process on graphene.

Nanotechnology-Abetted Astaxanthin Formulations in Multimodel Therapeutic and Biomedical Applications.

Astaxanthin (AXT) is one of the most important fat-soluble carotenoids that have abundant and diverse therapeutic applications namely in liver disease, cardiovascular disease, cancer treatment, protection of the nervous system, protection of the skin and eyes against UV radiation, and boosting the immune system. However, due to its intrinsic reactivity, it is chemically unstable, and therefore, the design and production processes for this compound need to be precisely formulated. Nanoencapsulation is widely applied to protect AXT against degradation during digestion and storage, thus improving its physicochemical properties and therapeutic effects.

The demographic, clinical, and medical manifestations of pulmonary thromboembolism development in COVID-19.

Background: Since the emergence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), various clinical manifestations ranging from asymptomatic to severe, life-threatening courses have been presented. It is well known that COVID-19 patients are at an increased risk of pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) development; however, the associated demographic, medical, and clinical factors for developing PTE remain unknown. The current study aimed to assess the characteristics of patients with PTE.

A network-based drug repurposing method via non-negative matrix factorization.

Motivation: Drug repurposing is a potential alternative to the traditional drug discovery process. Drug repurposing can be formulated as a recommender system that recommends novel indications for available drugs based on known drug-disease associations. This article presents a method based on non-negative matrix factorization (NMF-DR) to predict the drug-related candidate disease indications.

Association between serum inflammatory parameters and the disease severity in COVID-19 patients.

Objective: Most patients infected with the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), as the causative agent of COVID-19 disease, show mild symptoms, but some of them develop severe illness. The purpose of this study was to analyze the blood markers of COVID-19 patients and to investigate the correlation between serum inflammatory cytokines and the disease severity.

Methods: In this prospective cross-sectional study, 50 patients with COVID-19 and 20 patients without COVID-19 were enrolled.

Nanoencapsulation as a General Solution for Lyophilization of Labile Substrates.

Protein macromolecules occur naturally at the nanoscale. The use of a dedicated nanoparticle as a lyophilization excipient, however, has not been reported. Because biopolymeric and lipid nanoparticles often denature protein macromolecules and commonly lack the structural rigidity to survive the freeze-drying process, we hypothesized that surrounding an individual protein substrate with a nanoscale, thermostable exoshell (tES) would prevent aggregation and protect the substrate from denaturation during freezing, sublimation, and storage.

The effectiveness of urban trees in reducing airborne particulate matter by dry deposition in Tehran, Iran.

Deposition of atmospheric pollution as particulate matter (PM) has become a serious issue in many urban areas. This study measured and estimated the amount of atmospheric PM deposition onto oriental plane (Platanus orientalis L.) trees located in Tehran Megapolis, Iran.

Pathergy test with a 23G needle with and without self-saliva in patients with Behçet's disease, recurrent aphthous stomatitis and control group compared to the 20G test.

Objectives: The pathergy test (PT) is part of the diagnostic criteria of Behçet's disease (BD). Factors like needle character and number of punctures can affect the sensitivity of PT. We tried to compare its positivity using a thinner needle with and without self-saliva in active and inactive BD, recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS), and healthy people.

Intranasal administration of immunogenic poly-epitope from H1N1 and H3N2 viruses adjuvanted with chitin and chitosan microparticles in BALB/c mice.

Objectives: Prevalence of virus, creates the need to achieve an efficient vaccine against it. We examined whether the predicted antigenic epitopes of HA, NP, and M2 proteins of the influenza H1N1 and H3N2 viruses accompanied by chitin and chitosan biopolymers might be relevant to the induction of effective proper mucosal responses.

Materials And Methods: The construct was prepared using B and T cell predicted epitopes of HA, NP, and M2 proteins from the influenza H1N1 and H3N2 viruses by considering haplotype "d" as a dominant allele in the BALB/c mice.

Antimalarial effects of the hydroalcoholic extract of in vitro and in vivo.

Malaria still is the most fatal parasitic disease affecting 50% of the world's population. Although annual deaths attributed to malaria has reduced, crucial importance of its prevention and treatment remains a priority for health care systems and researchers. The worldwide increase in resistance to most common antimalarial drugs such as chloroquine, their unpleasant side effects and low efficiencies persuade researchers to prioritize finding alternative drugs including herbal medication from plant roots.

Brain structures and activity during a working memory task associated with internet addiction tendency in young adults: A large sample study.

The structural and functional brain characteristics associated with the excessive use of the internet have attracted substantial research attention in the past decade. In current study, we used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and multiple regression analysis to assess the relationship between internet addiction tendency (IAT) score and regional gray and white matter volumes (rGMVs and rWMVs) and brain activity during a WM task in a large sample of healthy young adults (n = 1,154, mean age, 20.71 ± 1.

A randomized controlled clinical trial on efficacy and safety of anakinra in patients with severe COVID-19.

Introduction: Hyperinflammatory state has a role in the pathogenesis of COVID-19. Anakinra could reduce inflammation and help to combat the condition. In this study, we aimed to assess the safety and efficacy of anakinra (PerkinRA®) in severe COVID-19.

A New Method on Kerma Estimation in Mammography Screenings.

Background: Given the extensive use and preferred diagnostic method in common mammography tests for screening and diagnosis of breast cancer, there is concern about the increased dose absorbed by the patient due to the sensitivity of the breast tissue.

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the entrance surface air kerma (ESAK) before irradiation to the patient through its estimation.

Material And Methods: In this descriptive paper, firstly, a phantom was used to measure some data, including ESAK, Kvp, mAs, HVL, and type of filter/target.

On-admission versus in-hospital thromboembolism due to COVID-19 infection. What is the particular characteristic of those with early thrombotic events?

Introduction: Increasing evidence has declared a hypercoagulable state in the coronavirus 2019 infection (COVID-19), while the etiology has remained a question. For the first time, the current study has aimed to compare the contributors of thromboembolism among those whose primary manifestations of COVID-19 were thrombosis vs the patients with a thrombotic event during the period of hospitalization.

Material And Methods: This case-control study has been conducted on 267 COVID-19 patients, including 59, 48, and 160 ones with an on-admission, in-hospital, and without a thrombotic event, respectively.

Circulating Tumor Cell-Based Messenger RNA Scoring System for Prognostication of Hepatocellular Carcinoma: Translating Tissue-Based Messenger RNA Profiling Into a Noninvasive Setting.

Numerous studies in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have proposed tissue-based gene signatures for individualized prognostic assessments. Here, we develop a novel circulating tumor cell (CTC)-based transcriptomic profiling assay to translate tissue-based messenger RNA (mRNA) signatures into a liquid biopsy setting for noninvasive HCC prognostication. The HCC-CTC mRNA scoring system combines the NanoVelcro CTC Assay for enriching HCC CTCs and the NanoString nCounter platform for quantifying the HCC-CTC Risk Score (RS) panel in enriched HCC CTCs.

Keratinocyte growth factor in focus: A comprehensive review from structural and functional aspects to therapeutic applications of palifermin.

Palifermin (Kepivance™) is the first therapeutic approved by the Food and Drug Administration for preventing and managing the oral mucositis provoked by myelotoxic and mucotoxic therapies. Palifermin is a recombinant protein generated from human keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) and imitates the function of endogenous KGF. KGF is an epithelial mitogen involved in various biological processes which belongs to the FGF family.

A general approach to protein folding using thermostable exoshells.

In vitro protein folding is a complex process which often results in protein aggregation, low yields and low specific activity. Here we report the use of nanoscale exoshells (tES) to provide complementary nanoenvironments for the folding and release of 12 highly diverse protein substrates ranging from small protein toxins to human albumin, a dimeric protein (alkaline phosphatase), a trimeric ion channel (Omp2a) and the tetrameric tumor suppressor, p53. These proteins represent a unique diversity in size, volume, disulfide linkages, isoelectric point and multi versus monomeric nature of their functional units.

Does cosmetic rhinoplasty affect sleep quality and/or contribute to the development of obstructive sleep apnea?

Objective: Rhinoplasty can reduce nasal airways' resistance. This study evaluates the effects of rhinoplasty on sleep quality, daytime drowsiness, and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

Methods: In this prospective cohort study, 80 rhinoplasty candidates were examined before and six months after rhinoplasty to evaluate symptom changes.