Probiotic therapies are going to be an effective alternative therapeutic strategy in the treatment and management of diabetes. The mechanism behind the essential effects of probiotic therapies in diabetic patients was not fully understood. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of probiotic soy milk containing Lactobacillus planetarum A7 on inflammation, lipid profile, fasting blood glucose, and serum adiponectin among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Forty patients with type 2 diabetes, at the age of 35-68 years old, were assigned to two groups in this randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial. The patients in the intervention group consumed 200 ml/day of probiotic soy milk containing L. planetarum A7 and those in control group consumed 200 ml/day of pure soy milk for 8 weeks. Serum TNF-α, C reactive protein, adiponectin, lipid profile, and fasting blood glucose were determined before and after intervention. In intervention group, serum adiponectin in pre- and post-treatment did not show any significant changes (2.52 ± 0.74 vs 2.84 ± 0.61, P = 0.658), as well as changes in serum TNF-α and C reactive protein (172.44 ± 5.7 vs 172.83 ± 7.6, P = 0.278, 4.2 ± 1.4 vs 4.5 ± 1.9, P = 0.765, respectively). Low-density cholesterol and high-density cholesterol changed significantly (P = 0.023, P = 0.017, respectively), but fasting blood glucose did not show any significant changes. The results of this study showed that consumption of probiotic soy milk and soy milk has no effect on serum adiponectin and inflammation, but it can change lipid profile among type 2 diabetic patients.

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In March 2020, the WHO declared the COVID-19 disease as a pandemic disease. There have been studies on the COVID-19 to find a certain treatment, but yet, there is no certain cure. In this article, we present a possible way to treat severe cases of COVID-19. Based on the previous studies, there are similarities between the spike antigens of SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 viruses. It is expected that these similarities (structural and affinity to the receptor of ACE2) can lead to the same pathophysiological activity of the virus by the use of ACE2 and FcγRII (the antibody-dependent enhancement mechanism). Therefore, we propose a way of washing out (by plasmapheresis) the possible antibodies against the spike protein of the virus out of patients’ plasma to stop the antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE)-mediated infection of the immune system cells at the first phase of the treatment and simultaneous use of the anti-ACE2 with anti-FcγRII monoclonal antibodies at the second phase. We propose these procedures for the patients that have no significant response for typical anti-viral, ARDS and conservative therapies, and the disease persists or progresses despite sufficient therapies.

Introduction Clinical laboratories are identified as one of the most important and expensive units of the health system. Therefore, it is essential to pay attention to these units' cost efficiency. This study purpose was to evaluate the economic efficiency of hospitals' laboratory units affiliated to Urmia University of Medical Sciences (UMSU), in order to assess their performance. Methods This research was a descriptive‐analytic study that was accomplished in 2017. The statistical population of the study included all of the hospitals' clinical laboratories affiliated to UMSU. Moreover, DEA method and Deap2.1 software were used to analyze data. In this study, technical and allocative efficiencies of the studied laboratory units were also calculated in addition to the determination of the economic efficiency of the laboratories. Results The average economic efficiency of clinical laboratories calculated by DEA in 2017 was 0.676. This value was lower than the allocative and technical efficiency scores, which indicates that these units could attain full efficiency by reducing their costs without having any effect on output values. Moreover, about 14 percent of the clinical laboratory units were economically efficient. In addition, it is noteworthy to state that, from total of university hospital laboratories, only three hospitals had no economic excess or deficiency values of inputs. Conclusion Considering that 76% of laboratory units have not been economically efficient, it is necessary for the laboratory managers to consider optimum allocating of resources, with respect to the cost of laboratory equipment and inputs in order to increase their units' economic efficiency.