The failure of cardioprotection by IPostC in diabetic hearts may be attributed to the loss of phosphorylation of GSK-3β and thereby increase in oxidative stress in diabetic states.

Objectives: Brucellosis is a worldwide zoonotic disease with high morbidity in the absence of treatment. The early diagnosis of brucellosis is efficient to prevent chronic infections. The aim of this study is evaluation of nested PCR efficiency in comparison with conventional methods for diagnosis of human brucellosis. A total of 120 patients with brucellosis symptoms were included in this study. Serological and microbiological tests and nested PCR were used for detection of Brucella bacteria. Results: Based on serological tests, 60.83% (73/120) of individuals were positive for brucellosis which only 8.33% of cases were confirmed by blood culture. Among them, 55% of cases were positive in serum agglutination test (SAT≥1:160) and Coombs (C-SAT≥1:160) tests. Furthermore, 7 negative SAT cases were positive in C-SAT as evidence for chronic brucellosis. Also, 68.18% and 56.06% of SAT positive samples were positive in blood nested PCR and serum nested PCR respectively. The sensitivity of blood nested PCR was more than serum nested PCR, SAT≥1:160 and blood culture (P<0.001). The specificity of the blood and serum nested PCR was 100% compared with blood culture and SAT≥ 1:160. Our findings highlight high performance of nested PCR for diagnosis of both acute and chronic brucellosis.

Our results revealed a modest modifier effect of -866G>A UCP2 polymorphism in patients with NAFLD.

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Introduction Osteoporosis is one of the most common metabolic bone diseases (1). Primary osteoporosis may result from menopause or aging whereas secondary osteoporosis is developed from local infection or inflammation, renal disease, medications (e.g., corticosteroids), systemic inflammation, and the like. Secondary osteoporosis is idiopathic in 30%-40% of cases (2). In postmenopausal women, bone mass decreases by about 3%-9% per year in the first six postmenopausal years (3). According to the International Osteoporosis Foundation, more than 50% of all bone fractures are projected to be of an osteoporotic nature by 2050 in East and Southeast Asia (4). Oxidative stress has been reported to create major changes in the function of bone cells such as osteocytes. Oxidative stress and inflammatory factors reduce bone mass through excessive osteocyte apoptosis (5). Bone is also highly responsive to sex hormones, especially estrogen, and its turnover can be regulated by estrogen-like compounds. Estrogen has an important role in skeletal development and bone homeostasis in both men and women (6).