Background: Green synthesized silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have been used in a wide range of biological applications, including their use as antimicrobial agents. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antibacterial activity of green synthesis AgNPs using nisin against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa). Materials and Methods: In order to synthesize Ag-nisin, a 1 mg/ml nisin solution was mixed with a 1-mM silver nitrate solution and incubated. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis was employed to determine the presence of various biomolecules around AgNPs. The AgNPs were morphologically observed and characterized using field emission scanning electron microscopy assessment, dynamic light scattering (DLS), and zeta potential analysis. The microdilution broth method based on CLSI principles was used for the assessment of the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of nisin on P. aeruginosa isolates. Results: Field emission scanning electron microscope showed spherical shaped nanoparticles. DLS revealed that the average size of nanoparticles was 37.2 nm. The zeta potential of AgNPs was − 13.3 mV. FTIR findings revealed that nitrogen atoms of nisin's amine and amide groups are responsible for the capping and stability of the nanoparticles. The MIC and MBC showed that Ag/nisin nanoparticles had higher antimicrobial activity than nisin or AgNPs alone. Conclusion: The findings of this study show that the antibacterial activity of nisin can be increased by assembling it into the AgNP interface using a green chemical synthesis method. As a result, the technique may be used to develop an antibacterial formulation to enhance the effectiveness of nisin.

Since the main role in the pathogenesis of the coronavirus is attributed to the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) receptor, it could possibly be a hypothesis in the differential sex-based pathogenesis of the coronavirus. The virus inserts its genetic material into the cell through its ACE2 receptors and replicates it by intracellular proteins. ACE2 receptors are highly expressed in cell membranes of various tissues in the body, including cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, renal, macrophage cells, and especially on the surface of type 2 pneumocytes in the lungs, ovaries, uterus, vagina, placenta, and testes. Therefore, cells having a higher expression of the ACE2 may be a specific target for coronavirus binding and infectivity. Due to the increase of infections in males, concerns have been appeared about the potential impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on their fertility and reproductive organs. Thus, it is necessary to investigate if COVID-19 disturbs female and male fertility, so this review aimed to study the comprehensive evidences on the association of COVID-19 with human reproduction.

Insulin resistance (IR) is a chronic pathological condition that is related to reduce the rates of glucose uptake, especially in the liver, muscle, and adipose tissue as target tissues. Metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes mellitus can occur following progression of the disease. The majority of prior research has applied that some cations such as magnesium (Mg²⁺) have important physiological role in insulin metabolism. Mg²⁺ is the fourth most abundant mineral in the human body that gets involved as a cofactor of various enzymes in several metabolic events, such as carbohydrate oxidation, and it has a fundamental role in glucose transporting mechanism of the cell membrane. This cation has numerous duties in the human body such as regulation of insulin secretion in pancreatic beta-cells and phosphorylation of the insulin receptors in target cells and also gets involved in other downstream signal kinases as intracellular cation. On this basis, intracellular Mg²⁺ balancing is vital for adequate carbohydrate metabolism. This paper summarizes the present knowledge about the therapeutic effects of Mg²⁺ in reducing IR in liver, muscle, and pancreases with different mechanisms. For this, the search was performed in Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science by insulin resistance, skeletal muscle, liver, pancreases, magnesium, Mg²⁺, and inflammation keywords.

Background: The aim of the study is to identify latent class (LC)-derived patterns of women's knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) toward coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Iran. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional survey of 2029 women, who participated in the PERSIAN Birth Cohort, was conducted in Isfahan, Iran. KAP was assessed by shortened and validated form of a recently used questionnaire in Iran. LC analysis was used to discover underlying response patterns of KAP toward COVID-19 using Mplus 8.0 software. Results: Three classes were identified: Class 1 (n = 514, 25.33%) “Low knowledge and poor practice, Class 2 (n = 423, 22.08%) “Moderate knowledge and proper practice,” and Class 3 (n = 1092, 53.82%) “Low knowledge and proper practice.” The lowest rate of positive attitude was seen in Class 3. Women living in rural areas, as well as those with lower education, were more likely to member classes with improper practice. Conclusion: The findings suggest that the LCA approach can provide important information reflecting different levels of adoption of protection toward COVID-19 infection. The results may be useful to conducting health-care programs during the outbreaks.

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and depression, anxiety, body image, and eating attitudes in 12- to 16-year-old adolescents. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive-analytical study on 437 students in Shahrekord, Iran, selected by two-step random sampling (selection of schools and students), participants were divided into normal weight (BMI: 5–85^th), overweight (BMI: 85–95^th), and obese (BMI >95^th) groups and completed the questionnaires and data were analyzed by SPSS version 23. Results: BMI had a positive correlation with anxiety, depression, and dysfunctional eating attitudes, and negative correlation with body image in adolescents. Mean scores of depression and anxiety in both overweight and obese groups were significantly higher than those in normal weight adolescents but scores of body image and eating attitudes were not different between overweight and normal weight groups. Conclusion: Obesity and overweight may have adverse effects on mental health of adolescents and more attention to psychological aspect of obesity can help us to provide better health services to overweight and obese adolescents.

Background: Hepatopulmonary syndrome (HPS) is one of the complications of advanced cirrhosis which has a serious impact on prognosis of patient. Finding arterial deoxygenation early and initiating higher-level treatment is one of the most critical strategies in the therapy of HPS. In this study, we aimed to assess the utility of six-minute walk test (6MWT) in the diagnosis of HPS. Materials and Methods: We have enrolled 100 consecutive cirrhosis patients referred to the Liver Clinic of a tertiary care centre of India for >1 year. The Child-Pugh score and the MELD score were used to determine the severity of cirrhosis. All the patients underwent transthoracic contrast echocardiography, arterial blood gas measurements on room air, 6MWT, and chest imaging. Results: A total of 100 patients were included in the study after fulfilling the inclusion criteria. HPS was present in 21 out of 100 patients (21%). Median (twenty fifth to seventy fifth percentile) MELD score in patients with HPS was 29 (26–33), which was significantly higher as compared to patients without HPS 22 (14.5–26); P <.0001. The 6MWT was positive in 20 (95.23%) HPS patients, while only 1 patient (4.77%) of HPS had negative 6MWT. If 6MWT is positive, then there was 76.92% probability of HPS and if 6MWT is negative, then 98.65% chances of no HPS. Conclusion: The 6MWT is a simple and effective screening test for HPS, it helps in identifying the patients early who have a potential to deteriorate. This simple intervention would help in prioritizing patients for liver transplantation as liver transplant is the only effective treatment for HPS.

Background: The present study evaluated the effect of internal mesh fixation and external fixation (inguinal hernia truss) on postoperative complications in patients with inguinal hernia. Materials and Methods: This randomized clinical trial was performed on 64 patients that were candidates for inguinal hernia repair by laparoscopic method following the totally extraperitoneal procedure. These patients were randomly divided into two groups. In the first group, the mesh was fixed with a maximum of three absorbable tacks. In the second group, the inguinal hernia truss was used as the external fixation for 6 weeks immediately after the surgery. Results: The results revealed that seroma, neuralgia, and recurrence were observed with the values of 6.4%, 19.4%, and 3.2% in Group A and 3.3%, 13.3%, and 3.3% in Group B (P > 0.05). Moreover, patients' pain scores 1 week and 1 month after the surgery in Group B were significantly lower than those of Group A (P < 0.05). However, the mean pain score of patients was not different between the two groups 3 and 6 months after the surgery (P > 0.05). Furthermore, the duration of return to work in Group B with an average of 8.07 ± 3.09 days was less than that of Group A with the average of 9.65 ± 5.34 days (P > 0.05). Conclusion: The mentioned findings can trigger the use of external fixation and an inguinal hernia truss as a support for the abdominal wall to make the dream of not using a foreign body in the human body come true.

Background: Previous studies have reported that gastrectomy and fundectomy can induce osteopenia. Body fat index is a new index of obesity that shows central obesity and other risks of obesity. Sleeve gastrectomy (SG) is a bariatric surgery and a new technique introduced as subsleeve, which only resected fundus of the stomach. In this study, it has been shown the effect of subsleeve and SG on fat index and bone densitometry in an animal model. Materials and Methods: Rabbits were underlined SG, fundectomy (surgical removal of fundus), or sham-operated (controls without any resection), and after 12 weeks, fat index and bone densitometry were obtained. Results: Our study showed that there was no significant difference between SG and fundectomy groups in bone mass density and fat mass after surgery in comparison with presurgery condition. SG group were associated with lower fat index and bone density, and it showed significantly decrease in weight after 1.5 months. Conclusion: Sub-SG did not show any significant effect on fat index and bone densitometry in comparison with SG. However, we found lower fat index in sleeve group of rabbits, but it was not statistically significant.

Background: Osteoarthritis is one of the most common rheumatological diseases and is also considered as one of the causes of myofascial trigger points (MtrPs). Dry needling (DN) is one of the methods used for the treatment of the MtrPs. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effects of DN on pain in participants with knee osteoarthritis (KOA). Materials and Methods: In this before and after preliminary clinical trial study, patients with mild to moderate KOA were enrolled. In one session, after determining the location of trigger points in quadriceps and gastrocnemius muscles, the patients underwent DN. The pain was evaluated at baseline, by passing 4 days and 1 month from the intervention using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS). Results: Sixteen patients with a mean age of 56.5 (4.53) years old have completed the study and follow-up period. According to the ANOVA analysis, VAS values indicated a significant decrease in pain score at the 4^th and 1 month after the intervention compared to baseline (P < 0.001). There was no significant difference between VAS at the 4^th day of intervention and also 1 month later of intervention (P = 0.087). Conclusion: The application of one session DN can lead to improvement in pain intensity in participants with mild to moderate KOA.

Background: Hypertension may lead to notifying adverse perinatal events that should be diagnosed and managed precisely. This study aims to investigate the values of cerebroplacental ration for the prediction of adverse perinatal events in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. Materials and Methods: The current descriptive-comparative study has been conducted on 100 singleton pregnant women with the diagnosis of preeclampsia or pregnancy-induced hypertension. The Cerebroplacental ratio (CPR) was measured for the included population and divided into normal and abnormal ranges of >1 and ≤1. The adverse perinatal outcomes, including abnormal 5 min APGAR, low birth weight, perinatal death, neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admission, academia, seizure, emergency cesarean delivery, and Tchirikov index as the general manifestation of adverse perinatal outcomes were compared between the groups. The specificity, sensitivity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value (NPV), and accuracy were measured for the adverse perinatal outcomes. Results: The two groups were remarkably different in terms of 5 min APGAR, low birth weight, cesarean section delivery, and Tchirikov index (P < 0.05). The specificity of CPR for prediction of small-for-gestational age, poor APGAR, requirement of assisted respiration, academia, Tchirikov score and NICU admission was 93.1%, 93.1%, 67.1%, 91.8%, 71.2%, and 63%, and its sensitivity was 26%, 14.8%, 51.8%, 14.8%, 51.8%, and 37%, respectively. Conclusion: CPR seems to be an appropriate means for the prediction of adverse perinatal outcomes with diversity in the prediction values of different determinants of adverse perinatal outcomes; however, in general, it had sensitivity, specificity, PP, NPV, and accuracy of 51.8%, 71.2%, 40%, 80%, and 66%, respectively.