Some heavy metals are nutritionally essential elements playing key roles in different physiological and biological processes, like: iron, cobalt, zinc, copper, chromium, molybdenum, selenium and manganese, while some others are considered as the potentially toxic elements in high amounts or certain chemical forms. Nowadays, various usage of heavy metals in industry, agriculture, medicine and technology has led to a widespread distribution in nature raising concerns about their effects on human health and environment. Metallic ions may interact with cellular components such as DNA and nuclear proteins leading to apoptosis and carcinogenesis arising from DNA damage and structural changes. As a result, exposure to heavy metals through ingestion, inhalation and dermal contact causes several health problems such as, cardiovascular diseases, neurological and neurobehavioral abnormalities, diabetes, blood abnormalities and various types of cancer. Due to extensive damage caused by heavy metal poisoning on various organs of the body, the investigation and identification of therapeutic methods for poisoning with heavy metals is very important. The most common method for the removal of heavy metals from the body is administration of chemical chelators. Recently, medicinal herbs have attracted the attention of researchers as the potential treatments for the heavy metals poisoning because of their fewer side effects. In the present study, we review the potential of medicinal herbs such as: Allium sativum (garlic), Silybum marianum (milk thistle), Coriandrum sativum (cilantro), Ginkgo biloba (gingko), Curcuma longa (turmeric), phytochelatins, triphala, herbal fibers and Chlorophyta (green algae) to treat heavy metal poisoning.

BackgroundThyroid cancer is the most common endocrine malignancy. Studies have observed an anti-cancer effect for vitamin D and found that polymorphisms of vitamin D receptors can influence the prevalence of various cancers. The present study investigated the serum level of vitamin D and FokI, BsmI and Tru9I polymorphisms of vitamin D receptors.MethodsForty patients with medullary thyroid cancer and 40 healthy controls were investigated. The genomic DNA of the subjects was extracted using saturated salt/proteinase K and investigated by PCR sequencing. Serum levels of vitamin D were evaluated by ELISA. The results were analyzed in SPSS and GraphPad Prism 5 software.ResultsThe genotypic and allelic frequencies of FokI and BsmI polymorphisms showed no significant differences between test and control groups. For Tru9I polymorphism, Tt genotype and t allelic frequency in the test group were significantly different from those of the control group. Also, we found Tt genotype and t allelic frequency to be significantly associated with medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) type and the agressiveness of the disease. The average serum vitamin D level was 23.32 ng/mL and 18.95 ng/mL for patients and controls, respectively, and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant. Moreover, we found high serum vitamin D level to be associated with t allelic frequency.ConclusionsUnexpectedly, the mean serum vitamin D level of the test group was significantly higher than that of the control group. Tru9I polymorphism was found to be significantly correlated with the prevalence of medullary thyroid carcinoma.

Chanarin-Dorfman syndrome (CDS) is a rare autosomal recessive metabolic disorder caused by mutations in gene encoding the domain-5 of α/β-hydrolase enzyme (ABHD5). It is known as a natural lipid storage disorder arising from impaired lipid metabolism often characterized by hepatomegaly, myopathy, ataxia, non-bullous ichthyosiform erythroderma, hearing loss, and mental retardation. In the present study, we report two affected 28-month-old monozygotic twin boys as new cases of CDS. Genetic analysis was performed in patients, and the results showed a homozygote deletion in exon 4 of ABHD5. According to the the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics, this variant is categorized as a pathogenic variant.

Background: Contrary to the reports about the useful effects of atorvastatin on blood lipids and insulin sensitivity by up-regulation of peroxisome proliferative-activated receptor gamma (PPAR-γ) expression, to our knowledge, there is inconclusive results about vitamin E. Also, there is no study to assess co-administration of vitamin E and atorvastatin on PPAR-γ mRNA expression, insulin sensitivity and lipid profile in diabetic patients. We compared this effect in hyperlipidemic subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods: At the present randomized clinical trial (RCT), 30 T2DM women with hyperlipidemia were categorized into the treated group with 20 mg atorvastatin plus 400 IU vitamin E supplement (n = 15) or atorvastatin plus placebo (n = 15) per day for 12 weeks. Anthropometric and biochemical measures were done at the baseline and after the 12-week intervention. PPAR-γ mRNA expression was measured in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of all patients. Results: After adjusting for the baseline measures, vitamin E resulted in significant improvements in insulin sensitivity in terms of HOMA-IR (-1.01±0.52 vs. -2.56 ± 0.54, P = 0.04) and serum insulin (-0.55±0.35 vs. -6.5 ± 1.3, P < 0.001), compared with the atorvastatin plus placebo. Adjusted for the baseline variables, compared with the atorvastatin plus placebo, vitamin E supplementation could up-regulate PPAR-γ mRNA expression (OR=5.4, 95% CI=0.8-36.9, P=0.04) in PBMC of T2DM women. Conclusions: Vitamin E supplementation along with atorvastatin may improve insulin sensitivity through up-regulation of PPAR-γ gene. More RCTs are needed to reach conclusive results. Trial registration: The present study is registered under ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier no. IRCT20170918036256N1.

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