Although the chemotherapeutic drug, doxorubicin, is commonly used to treat various malignant tumors, its clinical use is restricted because of its toxicity especially cardiotoxicity. The use of curcumin may alleviate some of the doxorubicin‐induced cardiotoxic effects. Especially, using the nano‐formulation of curcumin can overcome the poor bioavailability of curcumin and enhance its physicochemical properties regarding its efficacy. In this study, we systematically reviewed the potential cardioprotective effects of nano‐curcumin against the doxorubicin‐induced cardiotoxicity. A systematic search was accomplished based on Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses guidelines for the identification of all relevant articles on “the role of nano‐curcumin on doxorubicin‐induced cardiotoxicity” in the electronic databases of Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science up to July 2021. One hundred and sixty‐nine articles were screened following a predefined set of inclusion and exclusion criteria. Ten eligible scientific papers were finally included in the present systematic review. The administration of doxorubicin reduced the body and heart weights of mice/rats compared to the control groups. In contrast, the combined treatment of doxorubicin and nano‐curcumin increased the body and heart weights of animals compared with the doxorubicin‐treated groups alone. Furthermore, doxorubicin could significantly induce the biochemical and histological changes in the cardiac tissue; however, coadministration of nano‐curcumin formulation demonstrated a pattern opposite to the doxorubicin‐induced changes. The coadministration of nano‐curcumin alleviates the doxorubicin‐induced cardiotoxicity through various mechanisms including antioxidant, anti‐inflammatory, and antiapoptotic effects. Also, the cardioprotective effect of nano‐curcumin formulation against doxorubicin‐induced cardiotoxicity was higher than free curcumin.

Purpose 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), an effective chemotherapy drug, is commonly applied for colorectal cancer treatment. Nevertheless, its toxicity to normal tissues and the development of tumor resistance are the main obstacles to successful cancer chemotherapy and hence, its clinical application is limited. The use of resveratrol can increase 5-FU-induced cytotoxicity and mitigate the unwanted adverse effects. This study aimed to review the potential therapeutic effects of resveratrol in combination with 5-FU against colorectal cancer. Methods According to the PRISMA guideline, a comprehensive systematic search was carried out for the identification of relevant literature in four electronic databases of PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Scopus up to May 2021 using a pre-defined set of keywords in their titles and abstracts. We screened 282 studies in accordance with our inclusion and exclusion criteria. Thirteen articles were finally included in this systematic review. Results The in vitro findings showed that proliferation inhibition of colorectal cancer cells in the groups treated by 5-FU was remarkably higher than the untreated groups and the co-administration of resveratrol remarkably increased cytotoxicity induced by 5-FU. The in vivo results demonstrated a decrease in tumor growth of mice treated by 5-FU than the untreated group and a dramatic decrease was observed following combined treatment of resveratrol and 5-FU. It was also found that 5-FU alone and combined with resveratrol could regulate the cell cycle profile of colorectal cancer cells. Moreover, this chemotherapeutic agent induced the biochemical and histopathological changes in the cancerous cells/tissues and these alterations were synergized by resveratrol co-administration (for most of the cases), except for the inflammatory mediators. Conclusion The results obtained from this systematic review demonstrated that co-administration of resveratrol could sensitize the colorectal cancer cells to 5-FU treatment via various mechanisms, including regulation of cell cycle distribution, oxidant, apoptosis, anti-inflammatory effects.

Introduction With regards to the use of ionisation radiation in the computed tomography (CT), optimal parameters should be used to reduce the risk of incidence of secondary cancers in patients who are constantly exposed to X-rays. The aim of this study was to optimise the parameters used in CT scan of cervical vertebrae and neck soft tissue with minimal loss of image quality in emergency patients. Materials and methods In this study, the patients were divided into two groups. The first group consisted of patients scanned with default parameters and the second group scanned with optimised parameters. All the study has been implemented in emergency settings. The cases included cervical vertebrae and soft tissue protocols. Common CT dose descriptors including weighted computed tomography dose index (CTDIw), volumetric CTDI (CTDIvol), dose length product (DLP), effective dose (ED) and image noise were measured for each group. The ImpactDose program was used to estimate the organs doses. Statistical analysis was performed using Kruskal-Wallis test using SPSS software. Results There was no significant quality reduction in the optimised images. Decreasing in radiation dose parameters for the soft tissue was: kVp=16.7%, mAs=64.3% and pitch=24.1%, and for the cervical vertebrae was: kVp=16.7%, mAs=54.2% and pitch=48.3%. Consequently, decreasing these parameters reduced CTDIw=81.0%, CTDIvol=90.0% and DLP = 90.2% in the cervical vertebral protocol, as well as CTDIw=75.5%, CTDIvol=81.3% and DLP = 81.4% in the soft tissue protocol. Conclusion Regarding the results, the optimised parameters in the mentioned organ scan reduce the radiation dose in the target area and the organs surrounding. Therefore, these protocols can be used for reducing the risk of cancer.

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