Zoya Tahergorabi | Isfahan University of Medical Sciences (original) (raw)

Papers by Zoya Tahergorabi

DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals), Jun 1, 2013

Obesity is recognized as a chronic low grade and systemic inflammatory disease. Angiogenesis is c... more Obesity is recognized as a chronic low grade and systemic inflammatory disease. Angiogenesis is critical for adipose tissue expansion. Several evidences have demonstrated that angiogenesis sustains inflammation by preparing oxygen and nutrients for inflammatory cells and inflammation in turn can cause insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. The understanding of mechanisms of obesity especially main roles of inflammation and angiogenesis in fat mass expansion can lead to therapeutic approaches in growing field of obesity and its related disorders. In this review, we studied the relationship between obesity, angiogenesis, and inflammation.

International Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2023

Vitamin D deficiency is often associated with adverse health outcomes in older adults. The circul... more Vitamin D deficiency is often associated with adverse health outcomes in older adults. The circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) status predominately relies on UV exposure. However, the extent of which northerly latitude exasperates deficiency is less explored in ageing. We aimed to investigate vitamin D deficiency in community-dwelling, older adults, residing at latitudes 50-55 • north. This study was comprised of 6004 adults, aged >50 years from wave 6 (2012-2013) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA). Deficiency was categorised by two criteria: Institute of Medicine (IOM) (<30 nmol/L) and Endocrine Society (ES) (<50 nmol/L). The overall prevalence of Institute of Medicine (IOM) and Endocrine Society (ES) definitions of deficiency were 26.

Obstetrics & gynecology science, 2019

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a gynecological endocrine disorder that is characterized by d... more Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a gynecological endocrine disorder that is characterized by disturbances in ovarian blood flow and angiogenesis. The aim of this study was to determine the association of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) serum levels with the body mass index (BMI) in patients with PCOS compared with healthy subjects. Methods The study was conducted with 80 subjects in 3 PCOS groups, including normal weight, overweight, and obese PCOS groups, and a control group of healthy subjects (n=20). The participants in all groups completed a questionnaire comprising sociodemographic and obstetric questions. The PCOS diagnosis in the study subjects was confirmed based on the Rotterdam criteria, BMI was determined according to the World Health Organization guidelines, and the lipid accumulation product index was calculated for all groups. Venous blood samples were collected from all participants after fasting to measure the serum levels of fasting blood glucose (FBG), lipids, insulin, VEGF, TSP-1, and leptin. Results Our findings showed that the serum VEGF level was significantly higher in the normal BMI PCOS group than that in the control group (P=0.03), and the TSP-1 level was significantly lower in the obese PCOS group than that in the control group (P=0.04). Conclusions Our study demonstrated that alterations in VEGF and TSP-1 concentrations are dependent on BMI. Because abnormal ovarian angiogenesis is considered to be the main feature of PCOS, the study of ovarian angiogenic imbalance is proposed as a new tool for PCOS diagnosis and management.

International Journal of Medical Research and Health Sciences, 2017

Background: Birth weight has been shown to be influenced by numerous factors including, maternal ... more Background: Birth weight has been shown to be influenced by numerous factors including, maternal characteristics such as maternal BMI. In pregnancy, there is increased adipose tissue which can cause to maternal obesity and insulin resistance. There is visfatin expression increase specific to pregnancy. Aim: We planned this study to assess relationships of the first trimester maternal BMI with new-born anthropometric characteristics and visfatin levels throughout pregnancy. Methods and Material: This longitudinal, observational study on 100 nulliparous pregnant women carried out in Birjand, Iran, over three trimesters in 2016. The researcher asked the participants to fill out the Researcher-made questionnaire including demographic and anthropometric characteristics including first trimester BMI and then referred them to laboratory to serum sample taking from mothers and visfatin levels measurement in the three trimesters. Neonate’s anthropometric measures (weight, height, head circum...

Current Topics on Chemistry and Biochemistry Vol. 8, Jan 23, 2023

Background: Methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) isas one of the best evidence-based and the most ... more Background: Methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) isas one of the best evidence-based and the most effective researched opioid substitution treatments however, it may associated with some adverse effects. This study aimed to investigate the effect of Methadone on lipid profile, serum leptin and liver enzymes levels in male and female rats. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study 41 Wistar rats weighing 200-300gr were randomly assigned into four groups, including two methadone treatments and two control groups, male and female. They were orally treated with methadonehydrochloride (5mg/kg) or normal saline (1cc) daily for 8 weeks consecutively (6 days in a week). All animals were weighed weekly. Fasting blood sugar (FBS) was measured by glucometer, and blood samples were taken by cardiac puncture for lipid profile (triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and total cholesterol), liver enzymes of serum glutamic-pyruvic transaminase (SGPT), serum glutamicoxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and leptin levels measurement after 12h fasting. Results: One-way ANOVA showed no significant difference in mean FBS, total cholesterol, triglyceride, and LDL levels among the four groups (p > 0.05). Moreover, HDL level was significantly lower in male methadone and male control groups than female methadone group (p=0.003), and there was a significant differencein liver enzymes among the four groups (p<0.05).

Modern Care Journal

Background: Dental caries, gingivitis, and periodontitis are considered the most common oral and ... more Background: Dental caries, gingivitis, and periodontitis are considered the most common oral and dental health problems in different parts of the world. Objectives: The present study aimed to evaluate the antibacterial activity, plaque index, and gingival index determination of herbal toothpaste compared with standard toothpaste. Methods: The present study is a randomized clinical trial on 60 participants of 18 - 28 years and a minimum of 24 healthy teeth at Birjand Dental School that were randomly divided into two groups, herbal and standard toothpaste (n = 30 each group); only participants were blind. All subjects brushed their teeth for 3 minutes 2 times a day for seven months. The plaque index (PI) and gingival index (GI) for each participant also, saliva samples were taken from the subjects for Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacillus spp., colony count at the onset of the study, and 3, 5, and 7 months after toothpaste usage. Results: This study was conducted on 60 patients in tw...

BioMedicine

Background and objectives: Cervical cancer is ranked as the third most prevalent cancer that affe... more Background and objectives: Cervical cancer is ranked as the third most prevalent cancer that affects women all over the world and Pap smear seems to be the single most critical intervention to prevent cervical cancer. In the present study, the effects of demographic factors (age, education level, job, income level, marriage age, pregnancy, child number, breastfeeding, and menopause), insurance type, disease history and screening (sono and mammography, breast problem) and cancer information on Pap smear screening and behavior stage of change were investigated and modeled using an artificial neural network model (ANN). Materials and methods: Data were collected from a descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study. This research was conducted on 1898 female employees of governmental agencies of Birjand, a city located in the east of Iran. The questionnaire consisted of four parts (socioeconomic, reproductive characteristics, information about cervical cancer screening, and stage of change for cervical cancer screening). Multilayer feed-forward back-propagation neural networks were used to detect the patterns between variables using a neural network with 14 inputs and one output. To find out the neural network with the minimum sum of squared errors, we evaluated the performance of all neural networks using varying algorithms and numbers of neurons in the hidden layer. For this purpose, the data collected from 1898 women were analyzed using SPSS-22 software. Results: In the optimal ANN model, the variables of marriage age, age, breastfeeding, and the number of children were identified as the most significant factors with 18.3, 16.3, 7.3, and 7.3 percent, respectively, whereas the history of cancer, job, pregnancy, and menopause had importance of lower than 5 percent. Conclusion: Our findings showed that among many associated variables, the marriage age, age, breastfeeding, and the number of children were the most important predictors for the behavioral stage of change. Thus, it seems, focusing on these factors may lead to the adoption of effective programs and policies to improve cervical cancer screening practices in women.

Cellular and Molecular Biology, 2017

Ghrelin is a 28 amino acids peptide that initially was recognized as an endogenous ligand for gro... more Ghrelin is a 28 amino acids peptide that initially was recognized as an endogenous ligand for growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHSR). Recently, a number of studies demonstrated that ghrelin is a cardiovascular hormone with a series cardiovascular effect. The main objective of this study was to investigate the effect of systemic ghrelin administration on angiogenesis in the heart and its correlation with serum leptin levels in normal and diet-induced obese mice. 24 male C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into four groups: normal diet (ND) or control, ND+ghrelin, high-fat-diet (HFD) or obese and HFD+ghrelin (n=6/group). Obese and control groups received HFD or ND, respectively, for 14 weeks. Then, the ghrelin was injected subcutaneously 100µg/kg twice daily. After 10 days, the animals were sacrificed, blood samples were taken and the hearts were removed. The angiogenic response in the heart was assessed by immunohisochemical staining. HFD significantly increased angiogenesis in the heart expressed as the number of CD31 positive cells than standard diet. Ghrelin did not alter angiogenesis in the heart in both obese and control groups, however, it reduced serum nitric oxide (NO) and leptin levels in obese mice. There was a strong positive correlation between the number of CD31 positive cells and serum leptin concentration (r=0.74). Leptin as an angiogenic factor has a positive correlation with angiogenesis in the heart. Although systemic administration of ghrelin reduced serum leptin and NO levels in obese mice, however, it could not alter coronary angiogenesis.

Objective(s): Atherosclerosis is a chronic immune-inflammatory disease that generally leads to is... more Objective(s): Atherosclerosis is a chronic immune-inflammatory disease that generally leads to ischemic heart disease. Ghrelin has several modulatory effects on cardiovascular system. In this study, we investigated the effect of ghrelin on aortic intima-media thickness, size and the number of adipocyte cells in obese and control mice. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted on 24 male C57BL/6 mice. The animals were divided into four groups: control, obese (received high fat diet), control+ghrelin (injected with 100 µg/Kg subcutaneously, bid) and obese+ghrelin (n=6 each). After 10 days, animals were sacrificed and epididymal adipose tissue and thoracic aortae were removed. Adipocyte cell number, size and aortic intima-media thickness were evaluated. Results: Ghrelin did not change adipocyte cell number and size and aortic intima-media thickness in obese and control mice. In this study, high fat diet significantly decreased the number of adipocyte cells while increased their s...

مجله دانشکده پزشکی اصفهان, 2019

Background: Opioid abuse is a major and challenging public health problem with a broad range of p... more Background: Opioid abuse is a major and challenging public health problem with a broad range of physical, mental, and psychiatric consequences worldwide. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of low doses of memantine on serum levels of inflammatory mediators in methadone-dependent rats. Methods: This study was performed on 40 male wistar rats weighing 300-350 grams in four groups (n = 10). The rats were weighed at the beginning and the end of the study, and fasting blood glucose was measured by glucometer. Within 10 days, one group received intraperitoneal methadone 5 mg/kg, two groups received memantine 30 minutes before methadone injection subcutaneously 1 and 2 mg/kg, respectively, and the last group received normal saline. At the end, rats were sacrificed, and serum levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin 6 (IL-6), and lipid profiles were measured. Findings: Thera was a signific...

مجله دانشکده پزشکی اصفهان, 2013

مقدمه: امروزه چاقی به عنوان یکی از عوامل خطرساز برای بسیاری از بدخیمی‌ها در نظر گرفته می‌شود. پدی... more مقدمه: امروزه چاقی به عنوان یکی از عوامل خطرساز برای بسیاری از بدخیمی‌ها در نظر گرفته می‌شود. پدیده‌ی آنژیوژنز به طور بارز در موارد فیزیولوژیکی همچون ترمیم زخم‌ها و شرایط پاتولوژیکی همچون رشد تومورها نقش زیادی دارد. یکی از آنزیم‌هایی که در این پدیده در پاسخ به فاکتورهای آنژیوژنیک نقش دارد، آنزیم گاما سکرتاز است. هدف این مطالعه، بررسی اثر DAPT بر سطح سرمی فاکتور رشد اندوتلیال عروقی (Vascular endothelial growth factor یا VEGF) و گیرنده‌ی محلول آن (Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1 یا VEGFR1) در موش‌های Balb/C چاق بود. روش‌ها: تعداد 12 موش از نژاد Balb/C از انستیتو پاستور ایران خریداری شدند. جهت ایجاد چاقی، حیوانات به مدت 20 هفته تحت رژیم غذایی با محتوای گروه چربی بالا قرار گرفتند. پس از این مدت، حیوانات به دو گروه دریافت‌کننده‌ی داروی DAPT (یک مهارکننده‌ی گاما سکرتاز) و شاهد تقسیم شدند. DAPT به مدت 14 روز به صورت زیر جلدی با دوز 50 میلی‌گرم بر کیلوگرم تزریق شد. به گروه شاهد حلال DAPT تزریق شد. در پایان آزمایش حیوانات با کتامین بیهوش شدند و نمونه‌ی خونی برای تعیین سطح سرمی ...

Clinical and applied thrombosis/hemostasis, Jan 14, 2014

Journal of Research in Medical Sciences, 2022

Background: Quarantine, an unpleasant experience, was implemented in many countries to limit the ... more Background: Quarantine, an unpleasant experience, was implemented in many countries to limit the spread of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which it could associated whit lifestyle changes. The present study aimed to determine the changes in Iranian's lifestyle during COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: In the present cross-sectional study, 2710 Iranian people completed an online researcher-made questionnaire asking lifestyle regarding COVID-19, which includes five sections about physical activity, stress and anxiety, nutrition habit, sleep disorders, and interpersonal relationship in addition to demographic data from January to February 2021, using the multistage cluster sampling method. Results: The participants’ mean age was 33.78 ± 11.50 years and 68.3% of them were female. Traveling, sightseeing, and family visits have been eliminated from 91%, 83.5%, and 77.5% of participants’ lives, respectively. There were increase in stress level (P < 0.001), weight of the participants (P < 0.001), sleep problems (P < 0.001), and healthier foods (P < 0.001) but decrease in interpersonal communication (P < 0.001) and the amount of physical activity (P < 0.001). Conclusion: In summary, this study indicates some changes in lifestyle of Iranian people, including changes in some eating practices, physical activity, social communication, and sleeping habits during the pandemic. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing, a comprehensive understanding of these behaviors and habits can help develop interventions to mitigate the negative lifestyle behaviors during COVID-19 pandemic.

Iranian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences, 2013

Atherosclerosis is a chronic immune-inflammatory disease that generally leads to ischemic heart d... more Atherosclerosis is a chronic immune-inflammatory disease that generally leads to ischemic heart disease. Ghrelin has several modulatory effects on cardiovascular system. In this study, we investigated the effect of ghrelin on aortic intima-media thickness, size and the number of adipocyte cells in obese and control mice. This study was conducted on 24 male C57BL/6 mice. The animals were divided into four groups: control, obese (received high fat diet), control+ghrelin (injected with 100 µg/Kg subcutaneously, bid) and obese+ghrelin (n=6 each). After 10 days, animals were sacrificed and epididymal adipose tissue and thoracic aortae were removed. Adipocyte cell number, size and aortic intima-media thickness were evaluated. Ghrelin did not change adipocyte cell number and size and aortic intima-media thickness in obese and control mice. In this study, high fat diet significantly decreased the number of adipocyte cells while increased their size (P<0.05). Ghrelin administration had no...

Angiogenesis or formation of new blood vessels from preexisting vasculature is a key process in s... more Angiogenesis or formation of new blood vessels from preexisting vasculature is a key process in some physiological conditions such as wound healing, growth, and action of female reproductive organs. Moreover, disturbance of the mechanisms of physiological angiogenesis has a role in pathogenesis of some diseases in the form of overproliferation of blood vessels such as cancers, psoriasis, arthritis, retinopathies, obesity, asthma, and atherosclerosis or impaired angiogenesis participates in diseases such as heart and brain ischemia, neurodegeneration, hypertension, osteoporosis, respiratory distress, preeclampsia, endometriosis, postpartum cardiomyopathy, and ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. Research and study in angiogenesis provide a potential to cure a variety of diseases such as cancers or cardiovascular diseases. Thus, in recent years, several methods for evaluation of angiogenesis have been introduced and selecting the most appropriate cure is very important. In this article,...

Clinical and Applied Thrombosis/Hemostasis, 2014

Background: Several studies have indicated that inflammatory markers were associated with the ris... more Background: Several studies have indicated that inflammatory markers were associated with the risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in type 2 diabetes (T2D). Serum folate was related to MCI as well as inflammation. However, no studies have investigated the association between inflammatory markers and MCI taking account of serum folate level in T2D patients. This study aimed to conduct a case-control study to evaluate the association between inflammatory markers and MCI taking account of serum folate level in Chinese patients with T2D. Methods: This study consisted of 126 T2D patients (63 cases with MCI and 63 controls without MCI). Clinical parameters, serum folate, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were measured. Spearman correlation analysis and logistic regression analysis were used to analyze the association between the inflammatory markers and the risk of MCI in T2D patients. Results: There were higher serum hs-CRP, IL-6 and TNF-α in T2D cases with MCI compared with the controls. Serum folate was negatively correlated with hs-CRP, TNF-α, and IL-6 (P < 0.05). In multivariate analysis, there were significant associations between serum IL-6 or hs-CRP and MCI after adjusting for the confounding variables, however, the association between hs-CRP and MCI disappeared after further adjusting for serum folate. Further subgroup analysis revealed that the significant association between hs-CRP and MCI only existed in the low folate subgroup (< 7.0 μg/L; OR = 3.34, 95% CI: 1.05-10.64), not in the high folate subgroup (≥7.0 μg/L; OR = 2.16, 95% CI: 0.68-6.88) after adjusting for the confounding variables. Conclusions: Serum IL-6 and hs-CRP were associated with the risk of MCI in Chinese patients with T2D. Serum folate might modify the association between serum hs-CRP and MCI in T2D patients.

Journal of Birjand University of Medical Sciences, 2017

Clinical education can be taken as a facilitating activity for learning in the clinical settings ... more Clinical education can be taken as a facilitating activity for learning in the clinical settings in which students gain experiences from patients' bedside and apply their previously learned concepts through their interactions with their teachers and routine works. Clinical education provides an opportunity for students to transform their theoretical knowledge into diverse intellectual and psychomotor skills essential to patient care. The evaluation process of teaching and learning is one of the noticeable activities in educational institutions because the training of skilled and competent manpower, to a large extent, is dependent on this process. The use of modern educational techniques, increasing productivity, and ultimately enhancing the effectiveness of educational centers is the goal followed all over the world but, this is more emphasized in the field of medical sciences that are directly connected with maintaining and improving the health of people and society. This is wh...