Background: COVID-19 is responsible for the latest pandemic. Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) is one of the cellular receptors of interest for coronavirus. The aim of this study was to assess the roles of DPP-4 inhibitors in prognosis of COVID-19 infection in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Materials and Methods: retrospective cohort study was performed in 2020 in military medical centers affiliated to AJA University of Medical Sciences in Tehran on 220 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus who were admitted in medical centers with COVID-19 infection. We collected demographic data of patients including age, gender, drug history, usage of DPP-4 inhibitors, clinical presentations at the time of the first visit, and the disease outcome including hospitalization duration and need for respiratory assist. Results: The study population consisted of 133 males (60.5%) and 87 females (39.5%), with a mean age of 66.13 ± 12.3 years. Forty-four patients (20%) consumed DPP-4 inhibitors (sitagliptin and linagliptin). Patients who were treated with DPP-4 inhibitors required less oxygen (O 2 ) therapies compared to other cases (76.7% vs. 88.6%, P = 0.04). Patients who were treated with DPP-4 inhibitors had significantly lower hospitalization duration compared to other cases (6.57 ± 2.3 days vs. 8.03 ± 4.4 days, respectively, P = 0.01). There were no significant differences between the two groups of patients regarding survival rates ( P = 0.55). Age was a predictive factor for survival (odds ratio, 1.13; 95% confidence interval, 1.04–1.23; P = 0.004). Conclusion: DPP-4 inhibitors could significantly decrease hospitalization days in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus who were hospitalized for COVID-19. However, DPP-4 inhibitor usage showed no statistically significant impact on survival. Age was the important prognostic factor.

Context: RNA editing is an essential modification that needs to develop normal cells and is involved in a wide range of biological processes. It can arise in both coding and non-coding sequences with different functional effects. Although the expansion of transcriptome diversity is the primary goal of RNA editing, dysregulation and aberrant editing may act as an essential contributor to cancer pathogenesis. Evidence Acquisition: The current review aimed to investigate the role of RNA editing in cancer initiation and progression. Science Direct and PubMed databases were reviewed from 2000 to 2020 and 2003 to 2020, respectively, using various combinations of "RNA editing" and "cancer" keywords. Results: The location of editing sites has different functional impacts on tumorigenesis. Nonsynonymous editing in antizyme inhibitor 1 (AZIN1) leads to a metastatic progression of colorectal and gastric cancer. Recoding editing events in bladder cancer-associated protein (BLCAP) is correlated with the progression of cervical carcinogenesis. Editing events located at 3′UTRs are also a general mechanism to promote tumor growth in different types of cancers. A significant number of editing events in microRNAs with a functional role in cancer are also reported. These editing sites could change the fate and function of microRNAs, either by preventing target mRNA recognition or by dysregulating an off-target mRNA. Conclusions: There are increasing shreds of evidence on the key role of RNA editing events in cancer initiation and progression.

: Using DNA to generate genetic profiles of individuals is an efficient and accurate technique. Achieving the right and net amount of DNA is one of the challenges in this area. Due to tissues destruction after death, it is usually very difficult to achieve proper DNA. So, the use of hard tissues such as bones and teeth as important resources can help in these cases. Accordingly, the use of ion chelating buffers is one of the most important parts of preparing these tissues to extract DNA. In this study, a buffer containing ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) buffer (0.5 mM) and distilled water was used as a control. Different temperatures were also examined. The average concentration of DNA extracted from the sample into ternary sort at a temperature of 55°C, 37°C, 22°C, and 4°C was equal to 19.68 ng/µL, 12.23 ng/µL, 17.19 ng/µL, and 15.06 ng/µL, respectively. For evaluation, sterile distilled water was used instead of buffer, which was equal to 7.9 ng/µL at 55°C. Based on the results of this study, the buffer containing EDTA was found to be suitable for releasing genomic resources from bones and teeth.

Background: Decision-making is a complex process, and many factors are involved in it. Identifying consumer decision-making styles provides insights that can serve a basis for managers to make decisions about how to deliver goods and services. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the decision-making styles of patients referring to specialty and subspecialty clinics in Iran. Methods: In this study, a qualitative-quantitative approach was used. In the qualitative phase, through the Delphi method, important factors in patients’ decision-making in selecting different clinics were identified in three rounds. In the quantitative part of the study, a questionnaire consisting of 48 questions was prepared using factors identified in the qualitative section. Finally, 460 questionnaires were collected. Exploratory factor analysis using varimax rotation was used to summarize factors and extract decision-making styles. Results: The results identified 10 decision-making styles among patients referring to specialty and subspecialty clinics in Iran. Conclusions: Compared to previous research and the list of decision-making styles (CSI), the results showed that the two styles of being/inclining and paying attention to entertainment/recreation were not found among patients referring to clinics in this study. Each of the three styles of perfectionism/high-quality sensitivity, brand sensitivity, and habitual loyalty shopping was identified in two separate dimensions, and the style of coercion/lack of choice was identified in this study for the first time.