Background: Cancer is the third cause of death following cardiovascular disease and accidents, in Iran. The purpose of this study was to systematically review the economic burden of cancer studies in Iran. Methods: This systematic review examined the types of direct medical and non-medical costs and indirect costs in cancer patients and includes studies in English and Persian that were reviewed in Scopus, Web of science, SID, Iranmedex, Magiran and databases of Medline, etc., from 1995-2019. Results: Twenty-one articles were included. Most studies have examined the direct costs of all types of cancers. The articles reviewed different types of cancer, such as prostate cancer (n=2), colorectal cancer (n=2), breast cancer (n=4), gastric cancer (n=2), oral and pharyngeal cancer (n=1), lung cancer (n=3), and blood cancer (n=4). The great number of studies were related to the gastrointestinal, breast and blood cancers. The gastrointestinal (gastric and colorectal) and breast cancer had the major economic burden than others. Conclusion: It is necessary that special attention to patients, supportive measures to reduce the share of costs, and more budget allocation for prevention, screening and early detection being at priorities in the health system planning.

Introduction: Treatment of cardiovascular risk factors seems to be necessary and involves a number of changes in drug treatment and lifestyle. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of Matricaria chamomilla L. hydroalcoholic extract on antioxidant activity, atherosclerotic plaques, lipid profile and inflammatory indicators in rats. Methods: Thirty male Wistar rats were divided into five experimental groups consisting of group 1 (Sham; normal dietary), group 2 (control; high cholesterol diet (2%)), group 3 (high cholesterol diet plus 55 mg/kg of chamomile hydroalcoholic extract), group 4 (high cholesterol diet plus 110 mg/kg of chamomile hydroalcoholic extract), and group 5 (high cholesterol diet plus 10 mg/kg of lovastatin). At the beginning and end of the study, blood samples of all the animals were taken for determination of antioxidant activity and the level of biochemical parameters. The hearts and aorta were also isolated for ontological tests. Results: No symptom of plaque formation was observed in experimental groups 3, 4 and 5 that received the high cholesterol diet. High cholesterol diet (2%) resulted in a significant increase in serum cholesterol level, TG and LDL-c levels in groups 2 and 3 as compared to group 1 (P<0.001). No significant difference was observed in serum cholesterol, TG and LDL-c levels in experimental groups 4 and 5, compared to experimental group 1. In group 4, serum HDL-c concentration did not show significant changes as compared to group 1. In groups 4 and 5, no significant change was observed in inflammatory factors as compared to group 1. The levels of superoxide dismutase in red blood cells and malondialdehyde in plasma of groups 3 and 5 showed no significant change when compared with group 1. Conclusion: Chamomile led to the management and correction of changes in risk factors of cardiovascular diseases.

No abstract

Introduction: Vitamin D deficiency has become quite prevalent and is known to cause a great many diseases. Numerous studies have investigated the association between vitamin D deficiency and gestational diabetes, and the results are somewhat contradictory. The present study deals with the relationship between the vitamin D deficiency and gestational diabetes. Methods: Two researchers made use of MeSH, Scopus, PubMed database, Science Direct, the Cochrane Library, the Web of Science, CINAHL, and Google Scholar search engines to identify qualified studies and articles carried out and published before August 2017 and reported the risk of gestational diabetes developing as a result of vitamin D deficiency. The association between the two conditions was measured using odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Funnel plots, Egger’s, and Begg’s tests were also used to assess publication bias. All analysis was done by STATA (version 11.2). Results: Twenty-nine eligible studies with a total of 14,497 participants were included in the final analysis. Overall, maternal vitamin D insufficiency was significantly associated with a greater risk of gestational diabetes (OR = 1.15; 95% CI, 1.00-1.30; p<0.001). Serum 25OHD was significantly lower in participants with gestational diabetes mellitus than in those with natural glucose tolerance (−29.7 nmol/L, 95% CI, −36.6 to −22.8; p=0.000). Conclusion: According to the current meta-analysis results, vitamin D deficiency is correlated with the risk of gestational diabetes development.