A possible protective role for Bacillus Calmette-Guérin therapy in urinary bladder cancer in the era of COVID-19: a brief report

Solmaz Ohadian Moghadam,Behzad Abbasi,Ali Nowroozi,Erfan Amini,Mohammad Reza Nowroozi,Seyed Ali Momeni,Hassan Niroomand 대한백신학회 2021 Clinical and Experimental Vaccine Research Vol.10 No.2

Given the systemic immunogenic effects of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) therapy in patients with bladder cancer and its non-specific immunogenic effects in viral respiratory diseases, we aimed to study severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in bladder cancer patients with a history of BCG therapy. In the present study, all bladder cancer survivors with a history of BCG therapy were identified and included in the study according to the data recovered from the UORC (Uro-Oncology Research Center) registry database. These patients were followed up in terms of acquiring coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Among the studied patients, 102 eligible bladder cancer patients with a history of BCG therapy entered the study. The males constituted the majority of the patients (86.3%), and more than half of the study population (55.9%) were above 65 years old. Among the understudy patients, 12.7% were confirmed for COVID-19. The study results did not show a statistically significant association between the time and number of BCG therapy courses and SARS-CoV-2 infection. Although no statistically significant association was observed between receiving BCG therapy and developing COVID-19, the infection rate in patients who had recently received BCG therapy was lower than those who had received therapy more than a year ago.

Reaction Time in Semantic Priming Experiments with Persian (Ll) vs. English (L2) Primes

( Ali Akbar Ansarin ),( Solmaz Saeeidi Manesh ) 범태평양응용언어학회 2015 범태평양응용언어학회지 Vol.19 No.1

Representation of languages in a bilingual mind in general and the way bilinguals restore words from their mental lexicon, and the way they retrieve the words have been explored by many researchers resulting in varied findings. The more information regarding bilingual memory is obtained, the better image would be constructed about this knowledge representation. The present study is an attempt to investigate if bilinguals share semantic features of their Ll and L2 using semantic priming paradigm. Tn two experiments, semantically related target-prime pairs were examined. In both of the experiments target words were in English, but the primes were in Persian in the first experiment and in English in the second. Reaction time of sixty Persian-English bilinguals for these prompts was measured by DMDX software. Results showed that semantic priming effect was not there in any of the experiments. The findings suggest that bilinguals have shared semantic representation for two languages with different scripts only for the cognate words. Results also suggest that using semantically related words, for noncognate words, in the process of language teaching is not useful in intennediate proficiency levels.

Micro RNA 34a and Let-7a Expression in Human Breast Cancers is Associated with Apoptotic Expression Genes

Behzad, Mansoori,Ali, Mohammadi,Solmaz, Shirjang,Elham, Baghbani,Behzad, Baradaran Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2016 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.17 No.4

Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related death among women in the whole world. MiR- 34a and let-7a are well known tumor suppressors that participate in the regulation of apoptosis, invasion and other cellular functions. In this study, expression of miR-34a, let-7a and apoptosis pathway genes such as Bcl-2, Caspase-3 and P53 were evaluated using quantitative real-time PCR in 45 paired samples of normal margin and tumor tissue collected from breast cancer patient at advanced stage (3-4). MiR-34a, let-7a, caspase-3 and P53 expression are reduced and Bcl-2 expression is increased within tumoral tissues in comparison with normal margin tissues. P53 expression directly or indirectly was correlated with miR-34a, let-7a, Bcl-2 and caspase-3 expression. In This study we found that MiR-34a and let-7a expression are reduced in the tumoral tissues. Down-regulation of these two molecules correlated with expression of genes associated with apoptosis. These results suggest that due to the correlation of miR-34a and let-7a with apoptotic and anti-apoptotic pathways these molecules could participate as regulators in advanced clinical stages of breast cancer and should be considered as markers for diagnosis, prognostic assessment and targeted therapy.

Clinical Analysis of 21 Cases of Spinal Cord Ependymoma : Positive Clinical Results of Gross Total Resection

Kaner, Tuncay,Sasani, Mehdi,Oktenoglu, Tunc,Solmaz, Bilgehan,Sarioglu, Ali Celin,Ozer, Ali Fahir The Korean Neurosurgical Society 2010 Journal of Korean neurosurgical society Vol.47 No.2

Objective : To evaluate the clinical results of gross total resection in the surgical approach to spinal ependymoma. Methods : Between June 1995 and May 2009,13 males and 8 females (mean age 34) diagnosed with intramedullary or extramedullary spinal ependymoma were surgically treated at our centre. The neurological and functional state of each patient were evaluated according to the modified McCormick scale. Results : The average follow-up duration was 54 months (ranging from 12 to 168 months). The locations of the lesions were : thoracic region (4, 19%), lumbar region (7, 34%), cervical region (4, 19%), cervicothoracic region (3, 14%) and conus medullaris (3, 14%). Four patients (19%) had deterioration of neurological function in the early postoperative period. The neurological function of three patients was completely recovered at the 6th postoperative month, while that of another patient was recovered at the 14th month. In the last assessment of neurological function, 20 patients (95%) were assessed as McCormick grade 1. No perioperative complications developed in any of our patients. In one patient's 24-month assessment, tumour recurrence was observed. Re-operation was not performed and the patient was taken under observation. Conclusion : Two determinants of good clinical results after spinal ependymoma surgery are a gross total resection of the tumour and a good neurological condition before the operation. Although neurological deficits in the early postoperative period can develop as a result of gross total tumour resection, significant improvement is observed six months after the operation.

Examination of protective and therapeutic effects of ruscogenin on cerulein-induced experimental acute pancreatitis in rats

Gulcin Ercan,Rumeysa İlbar Tartar,Ali Solmaz,Osman Bilgin Gulcicek,Onur Olgac Karagulle,Serhat Meric,Huseyin Cayoren,Ramazan Kusaslan,Ahu Kemik,Damla Gokceoglu Kayali,Sule Cetinel,Atilla Celik 대한외과학회 2019 Annals of Surgical Treatment and Research(ASRT) Vol.97 No.6

Purpose: To determine the potential protective and therapeutic effects and action mechanism of ruscogenin on ceruleininduced acute pancreatitis (AP) model in rats. Methods: Overall, 32 rats were attenuated to the sham (2-mL/kg/day isotonic solution for 4 weeks), control (20-μg/kg cerulein-induced AP for 12 hours), prophylaxis groups (cerulein-induced AP following 3-mL/kg/day ruscogenin for 4 weeks) and treatment (3-mL/kg/day ruscogenin following cerulein-induced AP for 12 hours). Blood samples were collected for biochemical analysis of nitric oxide synthase 1 (NOS1/neuronal NOS), malondialdehyde (MDA) and intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1). After sacrification, pancreas tissues were collected and prepared for light microscopic (hematoxylin and eosin), immunohistochemical (nuclear factor kappa B) and biochemical analysis (tumor necrosis factor-alpha [TNF-α], interleukin-6 and 1β [IL-6 and IL-1β], CRP, high-sensitivity CRP [hs-CRP] amylase, lipase, and ICAM-1). Ultrastructural analysis was performed by transmission electron microscopy. Results: The protective and therapeutic actions of ruscogenin were accomplished by improvements in histopathology, by decreasing blood cytokine levels of CRP, hs-CRP levels, TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1β, ICAM-1, by reducing the pancreatic enzymes amylase and lipase in blood, and by suppressing the expression of nuclear factor kappa B, ICAM-1, and NOS-1, but not MDA in pancreatic tissues. Ruscogenin also improved cerulein-induced ultrastructural degenerations in endocrine and exocrine cells, especially in treatment group. Conclusion: The present findings have demonstrated the beneficial protective and therapeutical effects of ruscogenin, nominating it as a highly promising supplementary agent to be considered in the treatment of AP, and even as a protective agent against the damages induced by disease