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Background: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) share pathogenic mechanisms, and their lead-lag relationship remains unclear. We performed a meta-analysis of data from longitudinal studies to evaluate the interactive association between age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Methods: A literature search was performed in PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library up to Feb 2019. Estimates were pooled by study quality and type of AMD and CVD. Publication bias was assessed by Begg’s test.

Results: We identified nine studies for the risk of AMD in CVD and ten studies for the risk of CVD in AMD. Overall, evidence for the risk of CVD in AMD patients was most robust. Both early and late AMD preceded CVD, but more solid significance existed in late AMD. Among the types of CVD, stroke was more tightly associated with AMD than coronary heart disease. Publication bias was not significant in either direction.

Conclusion: AMD is a risk factor for CVD, which is primarily driven by the increased risk of stroke in patients with late AMD. Moreover, these results suggested that AMD treatment and screening for CVD in AMD patients may have unexplored clinical benefits.

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Background: The necessity of easing pandemic restrictions is explicit. Due to the harsh consequences of lockdowns, governments are willing to find reasonable pathways to reopen their activities.

Methods: To find out the basics of developing a reopening roadmap, on 6^th-10^th July 2020, we conducted a systematic search on PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science to review the databases; and Google by manual to review the grey literature. Two independent authors extracted the data, and the senior author solved the discrepancies.

Results: Sixteen documents were included. Data categorized into four sections: principals, general recommendations for individuals, health key metrics, and in-phases strategy. The number of phases or stages differed from three to six, with a minimum of two weeks considered for each one. Health key metrics were categorized into four subsets: sufficient preventive capacities, appropriate diagnostic capacity, appropriate epidemiological monitoring, and sufficient health system capacity. These metrics were used as the criteria for progressing or returning over the roadmap, which guarantees a roadmap's dynamicity. Noticeably, few roadmaps did not mention the criteria that may alter the dynamicity of their roadmap. When some areas face new surges, the roadmap's dynamicity is essential, and it is vital to describe the criteria to stop the reopening process and implement the restrictions again.

Conclusion: Providing evidence for policymaking about lifting the COVID-19 restrictions seems to be missed in the literature should be addressed more, and further studies are recommended.

Background: Zinc as one of the important trace elements in human health has been suggested to be a supplement for modifying the level of adipokines, whereas findings from studies have been inconsistent. This study aimed to systematically review the evidence provided by randomized controlled trials (RCTs) regarding the effect of zinc supplementation on serum adipokines levels.

Methods: PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Science, and Scopus were systematically searched up to June 2019. The mean differences and their corresponding standard deviations (SDs) of changes in serum adipokines levels were used as effect size.

Results: Eight eligible RCTs (leptin n=6, adiponectin n=3) were included in the current study. There were no significant changes in serum leptin levels [weighted mean difference (WMD) =0.60 ng/ml, 95% confidence interval (CI): -1.78, 2.99; I-squared (I²) = 64.3%] and adiponectin levels (WMD = 1.09 ng/ml, 95% CI: -0.76, 3.18, I² = 78.8%) following zinc supplementation compared to placebo group. These findings did not change after considering several subgroups including gender, study duration, health status, body weight and the type of zinc used for supplementation.

Conclusion: No evidence was found to support the efficacy of dietary zinc supplements on serum levels of adipokines. Further, high-quality, long-term controlled clinical trials are warranted to confirm these findings.

Background: Unsafe behaviors are the cause of 80% of accidents. However, there has also been no worldwide review and meta-analysis of the prevalence of workers’ unsafe behaviors. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate and estimate the prevalence of unsafe behaviors among Iranian workers using a systematic review and meta-analysis study.

Methods: This systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted from Nov to Dec 2018. The researchers searched Medline/PubMed, Scopus, Embase, Science Direct, and Google Scholar for international articles and four Iranian databases (Scientific Information Database, MagIran, IranMedex, and IranDoc) for Persian articles. The method of reporting this study was based on the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis) checklist.

Results: Overall, 235 articles from databases were imported to EndNote library. Final screening of the included studies produced a total of 38 studies. Based on the random-effect model, the prevalence of total unsafe behaviors, non-use or inappropriate use of personal protective equipment, and inappropriate work posture was 40.37% (CI 95% = 35.8-44.9), 27.79% (CI 95% = 21.2-34.3), and 14.87% (CI 95% = 10.7-18.9). There was no statistically significant relationship between unsafe behaviors and mean age, mean of work experiences, and year of study.

Conclusion: The prevalence of unsafe behaviors among Iranian workers was relatively high and the most common behaviors were non-use or inappropriate use of PPE; one of the most important causes for this behavior is lack of training, inappropriate working conditions, and lack of positive attitude towards safety. Therefore, further studied are required to investigate the causes of these unsafe behaviors.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused massive casualties, severe economic losses, and poses a threat to the world. This study's primary objective was to analyze the hospital's potential hazards of COVID-19 prevention and control. The second objective was to review the disaster plan and make recommendations to minimize the spread of COVID-19 in hospitals.

Methods: An expert group for the prevention and control of COVID-19 in the First People's Hospital of Longquanyi Dis-trict, Chengdu, China was established. We adopted the hazard vulnerability analysis (HVA) to risk-stratify potential hazards and calculated relative risk values. We used the Delphi expert consultation method to propose and implement targeted improvement measures for the top five potential hazards. Then, the effects before and after the intervention were compared.

Results: The top five hazards were: insufficient Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) (25.68%), inadequate diagnosis ability of clinicians (22.55%), and inadequate management strategies of patients and caregivers (22.38%), lack of professional ability of pre-checking and triage staff (16.96%), lack of knowledge of COVID-19 of medical staff (15.59%). After taking targeted improvement measures, the average score of the hospital staff's COVID-19 knowledge test increased from 73.26 points to 90.44 points, the average test score of the outsourcing company employees increased from 68.55 to 89.75 points. The differences were statistically significant (P<0.05).

Conclusion: HVA can be used to systematically risk-stratify potential threats, measure the probability of those potential hazards, and develop various hospital prevention and control measures for COVID-19 epidemics.

Background: The positive effects of blood glucose levels should be demonstrated in healthy or type 2 diabetic individuals who can be recommended to consume macronutrients (protein + fat) with carbohydrates. Therefore, at the end of the research planned with the amount of carbohydrates and fats that can be consumed in a meal, we aimed to recommend the consumption of food with high protein content egg together with the carbohydrate source.

Methods: The study was carried out from Nov 2017 to Apr 2018 by looking at fasting blood glucose levels using feeding 2 different test foods on a minimum of 8 h of fasting in the Haliç University Sutluce Campus, Istanbul, Turkey. Before and after the carbohydrate and carbohydrate + protein source, blood glucose was measured from the fingertip for 3 days in 30 min, 60 min and 120 min periods. The average of 3 days was used in the analysis.

Results: Blood glucose values were compared after individuals were given carbohydrate and carbohydrate + protein source. The mean blood glucose value 60 min after the carbohydrate administration was significantly higher than the average blood glucose value 60 min after the carbohydrate + protein administration (P= 0.006

Conclusion:  A protein-containing diet positively affects the glycemia response and can recommend it. In individuals with diabetes, they should focus on the effects of proteins to achieve glycemia control.

Background: The global spread of COVID-19 not only exerted an enormous impact on the public in different countries but also aggravated depression among youths. The aggressive tendencies of depressed individuals can harm their body and life and threaten those of others. The aggressive and non-suicidal self-injurious behaviors of depressed youths may seriously affect their physical and psychological health if not identified and mediated promptly.

Method: A total of 875 young respondents (including college students, community youths, migrant workers, and so on) from three provinces in China were surveyed in 2020 using a depression scale, non-suicidal self-injury scale, aggression scale, and resilience scale.

Results: Depression, non-suicidal self-injury, and aggression are significantly higher among the members of the depression group compared with the members of the healthy control group (P<0.001), and the resilience of the members of the former group is remarkably lower than that of the members of the latter group (P<0.001). Aggression among the depressed youths exhibits a significant positive correlation with non-suicidal self-injury (r= 0.43, P<0.01), whereas aggression (r= –0.18, P<0.05) and non-suicidal self-injury (r= –0.20, P<0.05) demonstrates significant negative correlations with resilience. The resilience of the youths in the depression group plays a partial mediating role in the relationship between aggression and non-suicidal self-injury.

Conclusion: The more aggressive the behaviors of the depressed youths, the more serious their non-suicidal self-injurious symptoms. Furthermore, resilience plays a partial mediating role in the relationship between aggression and non-suicidal self-injury.

Background: The field of physician health is gaining increasing attention; however, most research and interventions have concentrated on factors such as job stress, mental health, and substance abuse. The risks of major cancers in physicians remain unclear. We used a propensity score-matched analysis to investigate the risk of cancer in physicians relative to the general population who had no healthcare-related professional background.

Methods: Data were obtained from the National Health Insurance system in Taiwan. The physician cohort contained 29,713 physicians, and each physician was propensity score-matched with a person from the general population.

Results: The physicians demonstrated a 0.90-fold lower risk of all-cancers (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.83 – 0.96) when compared with the general population. Female physicians had a higher risk of cancer than male physicians (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] = 1.59; 95% CI = 1.28 – 1.96). Physicians had higher risks of prostate (HR = 1.26; 95% CI = 1.00 – 1.59) and thyroid cancers (HR = 3.16; 95% CI = 1.69 – 5.90) when compared with the general population.

Conclusion: Physicians have lower rates of overall cancer risk than the general population. Female physicians have higher cancer risks than male physicians. Male physicians have higher risks of thyroid and prostate cancer relative to the general population.

Background: We aimed to investigate the effect of self-controlled exercise on the antioxidant activity of red blood cells and the recovery of limb function in patients with breast cancer after rehabilitation.

Methods: Overall 130 breast cancer patients admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, China from Feb 2018 to Jan 2019 were divided into intervention group and control group. The control group received perioperative care and chemotherapy, the intervention group implemented a self-controlled exercise program. Indexes were compared between the two groups before intervention, 3 months and 6 months after intervention.

Results: The activity of erythrocyte superoxide dismutase (SOD in the intervention group was significantly increased in the first 3 months (P=0.030), and decreased from 3rd to 6th month (P=0.033). The glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity in the intervention group increased through the whole intervention period. The plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) in the intervention group was significantly decreased (P=0.029, 0.012). After intervention for 3 months and 6 months, the 6MND distances in the intervention group were significantly longer (P=0.001, 0.045). The average exercise time in the intervention group were significantly increased (P=0.004, 0.000).

Conclusion: Self-controlled exercise can effectively improve the antioxidant ability of red blood cells in patients with breast cancer, improve the mobility of shoulder joints of the affected side and increase their exercise capacity, with good sustainability. It has positive effect on postoperative rehabilitation, could be used in long-term regular clinical work.

Background: We aimed to develop a model predicting the participation of the elderly in a cognitive health program using the random forest algorithm and presented baseline information for enhancing cognitive health.

Methods: This study analyzed the raw data of Seoul Welfare Panel Study (SWPS) (20), which was surveyed by Seoul Welfare Foundation for the residents of Seoul from Jun 1st to Aug 31st, 2015. Subjects were 2,111 (879 men and 1232 women) persons aged 60 yr and older living in the community who were not diagnosed with dementia. The outcome variable was the intention to participate in a cognitive health promotion program. A prediction model was developed by the use of a Random forests and the results of the developed model were compared with those of a decision tree analysis based on classification and regression tree (CART).

Results: The random forests model predicted education level, subjective health, subjective friendship, subjective family bond, mean monthly family income, age, smoking, living with a spouse or not, depression history, drinking, and regular exercise as the major variables. The analysis results of test data showed that the accuracy of the random forests was 72.3% and that of the CART model was 70.9%.

Conclusion: It is necessary to develop a customized health promotion program considering the characteristics of subjects in order to implement a program effectively based on the developed model to predict participation in a cognitive health promotion program.

Background: To investigate the clinical application value of the combination of the inflammatory factors and dynamic detection in the diagnosis and treatment of neonatal sepsis by detecting serum inflammatory factor C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels before and after treatment of neonatal infection. 

Methods: A total of 138 neonates with different degrees of infection were randomly enrolled, including 88 cases in the sepsis group and 50 cases in the virus infection group. Another 50 non-infected newborns in the same period were enrolled as the normal control group. Venous blood of all subjects for CRP, PCT, IL-6 detection, and send bacterial blood culture for sepsis and virus infection groups were collected at the same time. In the recovery period, venous blood of children in sepsis group was collected again to review CRP, PCT, IL-6, and differences in each test index of each group were compared.

Results: The serum CRP, PCT, IL-6 levels in the sepsis group were significantly higher than those in the virus infection group (all P <0.05); serum CRP, PCT, IL-6 levels in the sepsis group were significantly lower than before treatment (P <0.05); the sensitivity and accuracy of the combined detection of indicators for the diagnosis of neonatal sepsis were significantly improved.

Conclusion: The inflammatory factors CRP, PCT, and IL-6 are closely related to the occurrence and development of neonatal sepsis. Combined detection can effectively improve the diagnostic accordance rate, which is beneficial to the early diagnosis and early clinical intervention of neonatal sepsis.

Background: To evaluate changes of associated markers in neonatal pathological jaundice due to bacterial infection in newborns, to provide an experimental basis for early diagnosis and treatment of neonatal pathological jaundice.

Methods: A total of 126 newborns with neonatal pathological jaundice in the Pediatrics Department of Qilu Hospital (Qingdao), Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University from Jan 2016 to Jun 2018 were enrolled. The patients were divided into bacterial infection group (76 cases with combined bacterial infection) and non-infection group (50 cases without bacterial infection). Peripheral blood was drawn from patients, and levels of inflammatory factors, levels of indexes of liver function and levels of cardiac markers were detected. Correlation between inflammatory factors and neonatal pathological jaundice was assessed.

Results: The levels of WBC, hs-CRP and PCT in the bacterial infection group were significantly higher than those in the non-infected group (P<0.05). The level of TRF in the bacterial infection group was significantly lower than that in the non-infection group (P<0.01). In the bacterial infection group, the levels of WBC, hs-CRP, PCT, and TRF were positively correlated with the levels of CK, CKMB, LDH, and α-HBDB, respectively (all P<0.05). The TRF level after treatment was significantly higher than that before treatment (P<0.01).

Conclusion: Markers such as WBC, hs-CRP, PCT, and TRF can be used as effective indicators in diagnosis of pathological jaundice due to bacterial infection in newborns. The combined testing of WBC, hs-CRP, PCT, and TRF was helpful for early diagnosis and early clinical intervention of neonatal pathological jaundice, which can lower the risk of clinical complications.

Background: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the most common opportunistic bacteria causing nosocomial infections, which has significant resistance to antimicrobial agents. This bacterium is a biofilm and alginate producer. Biofilm increases the bacterial resistance to antibiotics and the immune system. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the biofilm formation, alginate production and antimicrobial resistance patterns in the clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa.

Methods:  One hundred isolates of P. aeruginosa were collected during the study period (from Dec 2017 to Jul 2018) from different clinical samples of the patients admitted to Milad and Pars Hospitals at Tehran, Iran. Isolates were identified and confirmed by phenotypic and genotypic methods. Antimicrobial susceptibility was specified by the disk diffusion method. Biofilm formation and alginate production were measured by microtiter plate and carbazole assay, respectively.

Results: Sixteen isolates were resistant to all the 12 studied antibiotics. Moreover, 31 isolates were Multidrug-Resistant (MDR). The highest resistance rate was related to ofloxacin (36 isolates) and the least resistance was related to piperacillin-tazobactam (21 isolates). All the isolates could produce the biofilm and alginate. The number of isolates producing strong, medium and weak biofilms was equal to 34, 52, and 14, respectively. Alginate production was more than 400 μg/ml in 39 isolates, 250-400 μg/ml in 51 isolates and less than 250 μg/ml in 10 isolates.

Conclusion: High prevalence of MDR, biofilm formation, and alginate production were observed among the clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa. The results also showed a significant relationship between the amount of alginate production and the level of biofilm formation.

Background: Leishmaniasis is an expanding neglected tropical disease in the world reporting from 98 countries including Iran. This study focused on eco-epidemiological determinants of the disease following a rapid and unexpected increase of leishmaniasis incidence in a strategic residential district in North-East of Isfahan County, Iran.

Methods: This study was accomplished from Apr 2012 to Jan 2014 in a strategic residential zone in North-East of Isfahan County, Esfahan, Iran. Monthly activity, parity, Leishmania infection and susceptibility tests, were determined on sand flies. Some portion of inhabitants and school children were surveyed to find active or passive cases of leishmaniasis and also wild rodents were collected to determine reservoir host.

Results: Totally 5223 sand flies belonging to Phlebotomus and Sergentomyia genus were collected and identified; Ph. papatasi was the dominant species and started to appear in May and disappeared in Oct. The majority of living dissected sand flies were unfed and parous. Ph. papatasi showed 4.6% Leishmania infection through direct examination and 39.54% by nested-PCR respectively. Phlebotomus papatasi was susceptible against deltametrin 0.05%. Totally 2149 people were surveyed and incidence and prevalence of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis estimated as 45.39 and 314.40 per 1000 population. Rodents showed 73.91% and 80% Leishmania infection by direct examination and nested-PCR respectively.

Conclusion: Cutaneous leishmaniasis due to L. major has been established in this area. Rodent control operation and personal protection are highly recommended to control the disease in this focus.

Background: Cosmetic surgery accompanied with high economic cost is increasing in Iran. It is necessary to be aware about factors affecting cosmetic surgery in order to control its increasing trend. Therefore, we aimed to determine the factors affecting the incidence of cosmetic surgery in Tehran, Iran.

Methods: This survey was conducted on 2002 subjects between the ages of 15 to 60 yr using random digit dialing in Tehran, Iran 2015. Demographic data was collected from all of participants and in the presence of cosmetic surgery, the related cosmetic questions were asked in details. Cosmetic surgery was considered as an event and the incidence rate ratio for variables were estimated. For univariate analysis, Poisson regression was used as well as multi-level Poisson regression was used for multivariate analysis.

Results: Totally, 224 participants (11%) undergone cosmetic surgery. There was a significant relationship between the age at surgery of participants with the incidence of cosmetic surgery (P<0.001). Cosmetic surgery in women was 1.9 times greater than in men (P <0.001). Incidence Rate Ratio (IRR) for the average and wealthy economic status in comparison to poor level was estimated (IRR=5.6, CI%95: 3.64,8.63) and (IRR=3.14, CI%95: 1.93,5.11), respectively.  In addition, according to multivariate analysis all variables except the level of education and occupation, had significant relationship with the incidence of cosmetic surgery (P<0.001).

Conclusion: Cosmetic surgery was related to socioeconomic and demographic factors. Given the high economic burden of this unnecessary surgery, it can be effective to emphasize on awareness-raising programs for those are more likely to undergo cosmetic surgery.

Background: Preterm birth is the most important in children under 5 yr mortality. In this study, we used the Global Burden of Disease Data (GBD) to evaluate the trend of preterm infant mortality rate for all countries from 1990 to 2017 and to assess the effect of development factors on this trend.

Methods: The preterm infant mortality rate data from 196 countries of the world, from 1990 to 2017, were extracted from the GBD database. To study the trend of preterm infant mortality rate, a mixed-effects log-linear regression model was fitted separately for each IHME super-region. In the next step of data analysis, the development factor was included in the model to determine its effect on this trend for all countries under study.

Results: The average rate mortality rate has declined about 2% per year throughout the world over the mentioned period. The highest and lowest decreasing trends were observed in high-income countries (about 4.0%) and Sub-Saharan Africa (about 1.0%), respectively. Including the effect of development factor in the mentioned model revealed that in 1990, the rate of preterm infant mortality in developed countries was 2.2 times of this rate in developing countries and this rate ratio has increased to 2.69 in year 2017.

Conclusion: Although the preterm infant mortality rate were decreasing in all super regions, there is a remarkable gap in this rate between developing and developed countries yet. Therefore, preventative strategies are needed to reduce preterm birth and its burden, especially in the developing world.

Background: Most jellyfish species are poisonous. Human victims of jellyfish sting each year are 120 million. Chironex fleckeri is a venomous box jellyfish that inflicts painful and potentially fatal stings to humans. The CfTX-1 is one of the antigenic proteins of venom that is suggested to stimulate the immune system for treatment and vaccine. This study aimed to clone and express the CfTX-1 antigen in E. coli and then to determine the synthesis of related antibody in the mice.

Methods: The study was performed in the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea Ecology Research Center, Bandar Abbas, Iran in autumn 2016. The synthetic CfTX-1 gene in PUC57 plasmid was purchased from Nedaye Fan Company. The 723 bp fragment of N-CfTX-1 was amplified by PCR, PUC57 plasmid containing CfTX-1 with BamHI SalI restriction enzyme sites were subcloned in pET28a [+] expression vector and transformed into E. coli BL21 (DE3). The CfTX-1 gene expression was induced by IPTG. Then antibody produced from the mice serum were isolated and confirmed by ELISA. After protein purification, resulted antigen was injected to mice in 4 repeats and then evaluated the rate of antibody in mice serum. Mice were challenged by the Carybdea alata.

Results: The 726 bp of N-CfTX-1 were cloned in a vector of expression pET28a [+] and confirmed by PCR, sequencing and enzymatic analysis. Moreover, the recombinant protein was confirmed by SDS-PAGE and Western blotting. Then the antibody was isolated from mice serum and confirmed by ELISA test. The results showed that immunized mice tolerated 50x LD50[1] of jellyfish venom.

Conclusion: The CfTX-1 recombinant protein was able to protect the BALB/c mice against jellyfish venom. The produced protein can be used as a candidate for vaccine against jellyfish venom.

Background: The human life value is among the most important challenges of the health economic evaluation. This limitation has reduced the feasibility of applying the cost-benefit method in evaluations of health interventions and policies. Using the human capital approach and discounted value of future earnings, the present study calculated the human capital of different age groups.

Methods: The required data were obtained using “income and expenditures of Iranian households” data in 2015 from the Statistical Center of Iran, which included the information on 19380 urban households.

Results: According to the calculation of human capital, the maximum value of a statistical life year in the high-income group was related to the age group of 30-34 yr old (223,286 US$ equals to 9378 million Iranian Rials). The lowest value in all three groups of high, medium and low income is related to the age group of 85 and older. In addition, the economic value of statistical life year for men has been calculated as higher than that of women, however, in older age groups, the human capital of both genders have been converging.

Conclusion: The economic value of life for young people aged between 20 to 30 yr was higher than other demographic groups. The findings of the research help to provide a more accurate base for the cost-benefit analysis of health and social policies. Considering the economic value of the statistical life for different age groups may change policy priorities in areas related to health and life of human beings.

Background: Medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) accounts for 5%–10% of all thyroid cancers, but causes 13% of all thyroid cancer related deaths. MicroRNAs (miRs) have key functions in the development and progression of MTC. Altered expression of some miRs has been reported in many human cancers, including Thyroid cancer. Therefore, we aimed to analyze the expression of miR-154, miR-183 and miR-127 in MTC tumor tissues.

Methods: In this case-control study, 15 MTC Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue samples and 15 adjacent normal thyroid FFPE tissues, as a control group, were collected from Taleghani, and Loghman Hakim Hospitals, Tehran, Iran since 2005 till 2015. After RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis, the expression of miR-127, miR-154 and miR-183 was measured by quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR).

Results: Our data showed a significant increase in the expression of miR-127 in MTC samples in comparison with the control group (P<0.05). Although miR-154 and miR-183 expression levels had increase expression in MTC tumors, this change was not statistically significant.

Conclusion: The miR-127 could be considered as a prognostic, diagnostic and therapeutic marker for the management of MTC, and it is proposed for further investigation to fully establish the role of this miRNA in MTC.

Background: KIF26B gene is found to play essential roles in regulating different aspects of cell proliferation and development of the nervous system. We aimed to determine if rs12407427 T/C polymorphism could affect susceptibility to schizophrenia (SZN) and breast cancer (BC), the two genetically correlated diseases.

Methods: The current case-control study was performed from Aug 2018 to Dec 2018. Briefly, 159 female pathologically confirmed BC cases referring to Alzahra Hospital, Isfahan, Iran, and 102 psychologically confirmed SZN patients (60 males and 42 females) admitted to Baharan Hospital, Zahedan, Iran, were enrolled. Using the salting-out method, genomic DNA was extracted, and variants were genotyped using allele-specific amplification refractory mutation system polymerase chain reaction (ARMS-PCR) method.

Results: The results revealed a significant association between the KIF26B rs12407427 codominant CT (P=0.001), CC (P=0.0001), dominant CT+CC, and recessive CC (P=0.001) genotypes with the risk of developing SZN. Significant correlations were also found regarding rs12407427 and BC susceptibility in different inheritance models, including over-dominant CT (P=0.026), dominant CT+CC (P=0.001), recessive CC (P=0.009), and codominant CT and CC (P=0.001) genotypes. The over-presence of the C allele was also correlated with an increased risk for SZN (P=0.0001) and BC (P=0.0001). Finally, computational analysis predicted that T/C variation in this polymorphism could change the binding sites in proteins involved in splicing.

Conclusion: rs12407427 T/C as a de novo KIF26B variant might be a novel genetic biomarker for SZN and/or BC susceptibility in a sample of the Iranian population.

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