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Abstract: Early diagnosis and accurate prognosis are significant important challenges against effective treatment of cancer and improving patient’s condition. Hitherto, many research works have tended to focus on the carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) to detect cancers and estimate the survival rates of patients with multiple cancer types, including colorectal, breast, non-small cell lung, and pancreas cancer. Limited sensitivity and specificity of this traditional tumor marker make it an inappropriate biomarker to diagnose cancer, especially in the early stages while several lines of research have introduced miRNAs as reliable indicators of tumor initiation, development, and therapy response. Indeed, miRNAs have unique properties that provide considerable benefits, such as discriminating benign diseases from malignancies, predicting cancer development and progression, checking sensitivity to treatment, and initial detecting of tumors. This review summarizes the relationships between miRNAs and CEA, the diagnostic significance of CEA in combination with miRNAs, and the distinct advantages of miRNAs over CEA as tumor biomarkers. Advancement in our current understanding of miRNAs is very essential to discover new and effective biomarkers for diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic goals of cancer patients.

Background The term non-invasive follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillary-like nuclear features (NIFTP) was recently proposed as a non-malignant thyroid lesion with indolent behavior that does not require post-operative radio-iodine treatment. We are reporting a case of NIFTP with bone metastasis that is the second case reported so far. Case presentation We describe a 38-year-old woman who presented with an indeterminate thyroid nodule and underwent total thyroidectomy with the finding of NIFTP on careful pathologic examination. However, her initial follow-up evaluation revealed a serum thyroglobulin level of > 300 ng/ml and a diagnostic whole body 131I scan demonstrated a focus of increased uptake in the left hemipelvis, confirmed on CT scan to be a lytic lesion in the left iliac bone. She was treated with 7.4GBq (200 mCi) of 131I and her follow-up 1 year later revealed an undetectable serum thyroglobulin and a negative whole body 131I scan with no visible uptake in the iliac bone indicating an excellent response. Conclusion This case presentation reminds us to be alert to the rare occurrence of distant metastasis in NIFTP and the need for a case by case analysis and continuing post-operative follow-up for detection of residual or recurrent disease.

Disruptive technology and a generation with an increased interest in using that technology to aid their learning has caused a need to change the current educational landscape. Student Response Systems are a contemporary means to integrate digital technology in the modern classroom. The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine the perspectives that impact students' engagement when using Student Response Systems in a technology enhanced classroom environment. The study was guided by qualitative methods of inquiry through non-participant observations, examination of the course material, and semi-structured interviews. The in-depth interviews ( n = 14) were conducted with graduate students who participated in the technology enhanced flipped classroom (TEFC) during their STEM degree studies in southern Sweden. The collected data were analyzed through the means of content analysis. The results of the study show that Student Response Systems are an effective and innovative method to increase students’ engagement in the classroom and embrace a modern learning environment. The participants expressed a positive impact on their willingness to participate in classroom discussions and share their respective views. A drawback that was mentioned is the dissatisfaction to invest more time in preparation ahead of the discussion, compared to lecture-based learning. The Student Response Systems increased the graduate students’ esteem to comfortably engage in classroom discussions and offers educators an additional tool to enhance their current pedagogical methods. The study contributes to the body of knowledge by closing an identified research gap that lacks perceptions from graduate students in a STEM program in southern Sweden. There are a few limitations that the reader should consider. The collected data pertains to graduate-level studies in a STEM degree program. Further, ample data were collected through multiple sources; however, the reflections are limited to 14 interview participants and are, therefore, not generalizable to other populations than those examined in the context. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.20.9.6

The new outbreak as unknown pneumonia that occurred in Wuhan province of China in December 2019, is a new coronavirus from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and has been termed Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that usually cause respiratory illness. Since food plays an essential role in human health as an integral part of human life, food safety is critical in such cases. It is essential to adopt practical strategies in controlling the COVID-19 crisis. Also, extreme economic consequences and threats to human health were imposed in the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019-2021. Some studies have been published by World Health Organization (WHO), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Food and Drug Administration (FDA);however, there is little information about food safety and COVID-19. Although COVID-19 transmission routes through food are not currently known, contamination through contaminated food and environmental surfaces cannot be ignored, especially in manufacturing companies, restaurants, and communities that are unsanitary. Nevertheless, World Health Organization precautions on good hygiene when preparing food, and recommends effective management of food safety during COVID-19. In food safety, COVID-19 is known as a potential risk through food especially in restaurants and industrial areas. There have been very few studies on the relationship between food safety and COVID- 19. Studies have shown that COVID-19 can survive longer than MERS-CoV in food stored at 4 °C. In the current situation, several methods are used to disinfect and control the spread of COVID-19 disease, some of which are not effective and can also have problems and limitations. Heat treatment, pasteurization, UV light-based, and chemical disinfectants can be ways to prevent COVID-19 probable transmission. The temperatures (30 or 40 °C) reduced the survival time of HCoVs on the inanimate surfaces. The cooking processes (70 °C) are effective in inactivating the virus in food. SARS-CoVs were inactivated by exposure to ultraviolet (254 nm) for 1 to 6 min with an increase of up to 400-fold. Also, usage of disinfectants can be effective for inanimate surfaces. This review summarizes the available data related to some topics and methods to inactivate COVID-19 and the role and importance of the food industry and food supply chain during the pandemic. © 2021. All Rights Reserved.

The effectiveness of sentinel lymph node (SLN) mapping and biopsy following neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in axillary lymph node staging of breast cancer (BCa) patients with initial clinical node positive status (cN +) compared to clinical node negative status (cN0) is not yet known. The aim of this meta-analysis was to compare the accuracy of SLN mapping following NAC in cN + and cN0 BCa patients. PubMed and Scopus were comprehensively reviewed to retrieve all the studies that performed SLN mapping/biopsy and standard axillary lymph node dissection on cN0 and cN + BCa patients following NAC. Pooled detection and false negative rates for N0 and N + patients including 95% confidence interval values (95% CI) were evaluated. Odds ratio (OR) and risk difference (RD) of SLN detection failure and false negative results were compared between two groups. A total of 27 articles were included for SLN detection rate evaluation and 17 for false negative assessment. The OR and RD of detection failure in N + group compared with N0 group following NAC were 2.22 (p = 0.00, 95% CI 1.4–3.4) and 4% (p = 0.00, 95% CI 2–6%), respectively. The OR and RD of false negative rate were 1.6 (p = 0.01, 95% CI 1–2.6) and 8% (p = 0.02, 95% CI 1–14%), respectively. SLN mapping in BCa patients following NAC shows high risk of detection failure and high false negative rate of SLN biopsy in cN + patients. In comparison with cN0 BCa patients, SLN mapping and biopsy after NAC was associated with almost two times higher odds of detection failure and false negative results in cN + patients; therefore, this method should not be recommended in this group of patients.

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most prevalent cancer and the fifth leading cause of cancer-related deaths among men. Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is the most frequently used therapeutic strategy in PCa; however, the development of resistance to ADT, known as castration- resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), continues to be a major obstacle against the successful treatment of PCa. The abnormal activation of the androgen receptor (AR) signaling pathway has been found as one of the main contributing factors to the development of resistance in CRPC. Therefore, AR regulatory strategies are urgently required to combat resistance. Recently, microRNAs (miRNAs) have been found as major AR regulatory factors affecting ADT resistance. MiRNAs can target AR itself, AR-related genes, AR splice variants, AR-related signaling pathways as well as cancer stem cells (CSCs), and play critical roles in regulating ADT resistance. Due to their capability to affect various genes and signaling pathways, miRNAs are now being studied for their potential role as a new therapeutic target in CRPC. It has been recommended that combination therapies, including miRNAs and existing drugs, can synergistically decrease castration resistance. miRNAs also have prognostic values for ADT, and their expression profiling in CRPC patients before therapeutic scheduling may enable the physician to diagnose patients who are ADT-resistant. Overall, extant evidence obviously supports the predictive and therapeutic potential of miRNAs in CRPC patients. This review summarizes the available information about the microRNA-mediated AR controlling mechanisms involved in ADT resistance.

Background Mucinous cystadenoma (MC) of the kidney is exceedingly rare. We found 22 similar cases in the literature. These masses are underdiagnosed due to radiologic similarities with simple renal cysts. Case presentation A 66-year-old man with a previous history of hypertension and anxiety was referred to our tertiary clinic with left flank pain. Ultrasound revealed a 60 mm-sized, complex cystic mass with irregular septa in the lower pole of the left kidney (different from last year's sonographic findings of a simple benign cyst with delicate septa). CT scan showed the same results plus calcification. Due to suspected renal cell carcinoma, a radical nephrectomy was performed. Postoperative histopathologic examination revealed a cyst lined by a single layer of columnar mucin-producing cells with small foci of pseudo-stratification, consistent with the MC’s diagnosis. The first follow-up visit showed normal blood pressure without medication and no flank pain and anxiety after a month. Conclusion It is quite challenging to distinguish the primary MC of the kidney from a simple renal cyst based on clinical and imaging findings. The radiologic features of these entities overlap significantly. Thus, complex renal cyst and renal cysts with mural nodules should be followed closely to detect malignancy earlier.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is a zoonotic disease and one of the most widespread diseases in our country. This illness is a significant public health concern in most Iranian provinces. Therefore, it is necessary to study the prevalence and identification of new sources of this problem in many regions of Iran. The present study was intended to investigate the epidemiology of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Yazd city.This descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional study was performed on 121 patients with leishmaniasis in Nicopoor Center, Yazd in 2017. According to ethical and research standards, information about patients, including their gender, age, occupation, location and number of lesions and month of illness were collected and evaluated using SPSS Statistics, Version 21.The highest incidence of leishmaniasis occurred in adults over 50 years of age (28.9%) and in children under the age of 10 (23.1%). An incidence of 41.3% was observed for other occupations, including driver, farmer and child. In second place, the highest frequency was related to housewives (25.6%), and in third place, a higher frequency was observed in students (19%). The most common venereal sites were the hands (38.8%), in second place the feet (28.1%) and in third place the face (15.7%). The highest seasonal frequency of leishmaniasis occurred during the autumn.In light of the current study findings and the adverse effects of leishmaniasis, it is necessary to design strategies with the aim of controlling the disease and to implement appropriate actions with the intention of decreasing its prevalence nationally.Zootonik bir hastalık olan kutanöz leishmaniasis, İran’daki en önemli endemik hastalıklardan biridir. Bu hastalık, ülkenin birçok ilinde önemli bir sağlık sorunudur. Bu nedenle, İran’ın pek çok bölgesinde bu hastalığa neden olan yeni kaynakların yaygınlığını ve hastalığın tanımlanması gibi konuları incelemek gerekmektedir. Bu çalışmada İran’ın Yezd kentindeki kutanöz leishmaniasis epidemiyolojisi araştırılmıştır.Bu kesitsel tanımlayıcı-analitik çalışma, 2017 yılında Nicopoor Center, Yezd’de leishmaniasis hastaları üzerinde gerçekleştirilmiştir. Etik ve araştırma standartlarına göre; yaş, cinsiyet, meslek, lezyon sayısı, lezyon yeri ve hastalığın ortaya çıktığı ay gibi bilgiler hasta grubundan toplandı ve toplanan veriler SPSS sürüm 21 programının standart istatistiksel paketi kullanılarak analiz edildi.En yüksek leishmaniasis insidansı, 50 yaşın üzerindeki yetişkinlerde (%28,9) ve 10 yaşın altındaki çocuklarda (%23,1) görülmekte idi. Şoför, çiftçi ve çocuk da dahil olmak üzere diğer meslek gruplarında %41,3 oranında bir artış gözlendi. İkinci en yüksek görülme sıklığı %25,6 ile ev hanımı hasta grubu ile ilişkiliydi ve üçüncü sırada ise %19 oranı ile öğrenciler bulunmaktaydı. En yaygın zührevi bölgeleri; birinci sırada eller (%38,8), ikinci sırada ayaklar (%28,1) ve üçüncü sırada yüz (%15,7) oluşturmakda idi. En yüksek leishmaniasis sıklığı sonbahar mevsiminde görülmekteydi.Çalışmanın sonuçları ve leishmaniasis’in olumsuz etkileri değerlendirilerek, hastalığı kontrol etmek için yeni stratejilerin tasarlanması ve hastalık insidansını azaltmak için uygun eylemlerin uygulanması gerekli görülmektedir.

Background and objectives: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality in the world. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have potential as diagnostic biomarkers for various diseases including cancer. This study was undertaken to investigate expression of miR-21 before and after surgery in patients with hereditary CRC. Methods: After collecting blood samples from 39 patients and 39 healthy controls, total RNA was extracted by the TRIzol method. Following cDNA synthesis, expression of miR-21 in serum of subjects was evaluated using real-time PCR, along with two reference genes, let-7d and let-7g. The real-time expression results and Ct values were collected and analyzed based on the 2-∆∆ct method. Results: In spite of tumor removal, serum miR-21 expression levels was significantly higher in hereditary CRC patients compared with controls (P=0.022). Conclusion: Our results confirmed that samples from hereditary cases of CRC must not be included in experiments on the diagnostic potential of miRNAs.

A dual narrow band perfect THz absorber is presented in this work. The structure includes three layers of graphene ribbons, disks, and sheet on the TOPAS dielectric layer while a golden plate is placed at the bottom to act as a fully reflecting mirror against THz waves. According to the simulations, the device is robust enough to show independent operation versus layers thicknesses variations, chemical potentials mismatches, and changing of electron relaxation time. The designed THz absorber in this work is an appropriate basic block for several applications in THz optical systems such as sensors, detectors, and modulators. The layers in the proposed device are modeled via passive circuit elements and consequently, the equivalent circuit of the device is calculated. Leveraging developed circuit model and impedance matching concept, the proposed device is designed to perfect absorption at 1 THz and 7 THz. Ample simulations are performed using MATLAB and CST to verify the superior performance of the device. The presented manuscript considers the circuit model representation for three different layers of the device. For a unique structure, highly tunable response versus chemical potential is obtained. Circuit model approach and impedance matching theory are exploited to reduce computational time regarding conventional approaches.

Aflatoxins are types of mycotoxins that can cause acute and chronic toxicity in human. In general, there are four types of aflatoxinsB1, B2, G1 and G2, which among them aflatoxin B1 is the most pot...

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory joint disease that causes chronic synovial inflammation. Reactor-producedβ-particle emitting radionuclides is a new therapeutic strategy in the management of RA. This study was conducted in 2019and analyzed the toxicity and feasibility of 188Re-tin colloid injection, Three-Phase Positive Bone Scan, and Refractory KneePain. Ten patients with RA were administered radiosynovectomy with 188Re-tin colloid. The main complications after theintervention were assessed and compared with patients’ pre-intervention condition. Patients showed alleviation of pain,tenderness, and morning stiffness after the administration of radiosynovectomy. Only one RA patient received a corticosteroidinjection; the other 6 patients did not need a corticosteroid injection after radiosynovectomy. Intra-articular 188Re-tin colloidinjection seems to be an effective treatment modality for refractory knee joint pain in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Thus, it issuggested as a safe and effective strategy to apply.

Potentially toxic elements (PTEs) are a major concerns from food safety, environmental, and ecological points of view. In this study, the concentration of Arsenic (As), Lead (Pb), Mercury (Hg), Nickel (Ni), Cadmium (Cd), Copper (Cu), Chromium (Cr) and Zinc (Zn) in corn and soybean samples collected from Tehran’s market was investigated by the aid of an Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES). Besides, the percentile 95% target hazard quotient (THQ) and carcinogenic risk (CR) for adults’ and children’s consumers were estimated using the Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) technique. The range concentration of As, Cd, Pb, Ni, Cr, Cu and Zn detected in corn samples was

Choosing a trusted cloud service provider (CSP) is a major challenge for cloud users (CUs) in the cloud environment, as many CSPs offer cloud services (CSs) with the same functionality. Trust evaluation of CSPs is often based on information from quality of service (QoS) monitoring and CUs’ feedback ratings. Despite the volume of feedback ratings received in trust management systems, the quality of feedback storage is very low, as many CUs do not send their feedback ratings when using CSs. Additionally, a percentage of existing feedback ratings may not be valid, since some malicious CUs send unfair feedback ratings to change the trust evaluation results. As these lead to poor data quality, the accuracy of trust evaluation results might be affected. To overcome these limitations, this paper proposes a new multi-level trust management framework, which completes previous frameworks by defining new components to improve the data quality of feedback storage. In our framework, new components were defined to solve the invalidity and sparse problems of feedback storage. Certainly, the trust assessment of CSP would be more accurate based on high-quality feedback ratings. The performance of the MLTM was evaluated using two different datasets based on a real Quality of Web Services dataset (QWS) and an artificial data set (Cloud-Armor), whose quality was reduced for the purpose of this study. Analytical values revealed that our proposed approach significantly outperformed other approaches even with the poor data quality of feedback storage.

Background: Chlamydia pneumonia has currently been proposed to be involved in multiple sclerosis (MS) pathogenesis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the serum level of anti-C. pneumoniae immunoglobulin G (IgG) in patients with MS compared to the control group, which may be helpful in further understanding of MS etiology. Methods: The serum was obtained from 66 people with MS and 20 healthy people as patient and control groups, respectively. Serums were matched to the patient’s age, gender, and place of residence. Finally, anti-C. pneumoniae IgG was measured by a sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: Sixty-six patients (25 men and 41 women within the age range of 17-56 years and mean±SD of 35.53±9.56) with MS and 20 control subjects (8 men and 12 women with the age range of 25-56 and mean±SD of 38.3±9.66) were enrolled in this study. The mean serum anti-C. pneumoniae IgG of patients with MS (28.82±33.54 RU/mL) was compared with that of the control group (4.075±6.691 RU/mL) and a statistically significant difference was observed in this regard (P

BACKGROUND: In this study, we sought to determine factors relating to initiating injection drug use before the age of 18 years in Iran. METHODS: In this cross-sectional survey, people who inject drugs (PWID) were recruited using facility-based sampling in 10 cities in Iran in 2014. Adults (≥18 year) who reported injecting drugs at least one time during the last year were included. A structured questionnaire collected behaviors related to injection, sexual risk, and HIV testing. Based on the reported age of first injection, we grouped participants into that initiating injection drug use by before 18 years old versus 18 and after 18 years old. RESULTS: Of 2,356 participants, 199 (8.5%, 95% CI 7.4–9.6) started injecting before the age of 18 years. Initiating injection drug use before the age of 18 years were more likely to be

Objectives: Racial/ethnic minority women have disproportionately lower breast cancer survival rates compared to white women. As minorities in the US are exposed to higher levels of discrimination, ...

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women. Absence of hormone receptors (estrogen and progesterone) and lack of overexpression of Human Epidermal Growth Factor 2 (HER2) make triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) an aggressive subtype of breast cancer that is resistant to conventional therapies. Peptide decoys have emerged as a novel therapeutic approach for the treatment of breast cancer. Decoy peptide technology entails the use of soluble proteins or peptides, including binding proteins or inactive cell surface receptors. Peptide decoys bind to certain ligands (e.g., inflammatory cytokines) with high affinity and specificity as receptors but cannot initiate any signaling pathway that is involved in the pathogenesis of breast cancer. In this review, we discuss the use of decoy peptides as a novel therapeutic approach for breast cancer treatment.

Histamine is the most common biogenic amine and is responsible for Scombroid fish poisoning. The presence of histamine at high concentrations in foodstuff indicates a public health issue Therefore, to the assurance of safety and quality, the monitoring of histamine concentration in fish and fishery products is urgent. To this aim, histamine content in 30 samples of canned tuna was measured by the UV-Vis spectrophotometry method. Linear regression was gained (R2 = 0.9905). The range of histamine levels was calculated between 85.04-125.08 mg kg-1 with an overall mean of 98.104 ± 5.18 mg kg-1. 40% of the samples were contained more than 100 mg kg-1, the allowable limit declared by Iranian National Standard (INS). However, The histamine amount of all samples were below the limit set by Codex Alimentarius (200 mg kg-1). There was no significant difference between the mean values of histamine in various brands of canned tuna. This spectrophotometric method used in this study can be introduced as a simple, applicable method for rapid monitoring of fish products, which is based on histamine reaction with copper and Alizarin Red S.

Objective: The aim of this study was registration of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) in Yazd (the first phase of registration). Materials and Methods: This study was a cross-sectional study on the first phase registration of T1DM in Yazd, Iran. Participants in this study included all patients diagnosed with T1DM by an endocrinologist. Data were analyzed by SPSS20 statistical software. Non-parametric tests were used in this study. Median ± Range was used to describe the data. Stata 13 software was used to calculate the confidence interval for the prevalence. Results: Yazd T1DM registry (YT1DMR) was conducted from June 2018 to August 2020. All new and old cases of T1DM were registered. YT1DMR was able to identify 158 T1DM and it registered the data of 128 patients. The age of the participants was between 2.5 - 57 years old. Median ± Range of age in these participants was calculated 17 ± 54.5. In terms of gender, (57.81%, CI= 48.76-66.48) of these patients were male. The prevalence of overweight and obesity in these patients was 17.32 (CI= 11.18- 25.04) and 6.29% (CI= 2.75-12.03), respectively. Conclusion: In the future, all patients with T1DM in Yazd province are expected to enroll in the YT1DMR and be followed up.

The article's abstract is not available.

A 74-year-old woman with hyperthyroidism was referred for radioiodine therapy. The patient was accidentally given 60 mCi of Lu-PSMA orally instead of I. Upon discovery of this medical event, we immediately started radiation protective actions including hydration, antiemetics, and laxatives. The patients did not have any symptoms. Static acquisition was performed from the abdominal-pelvic and head and neck regions at 20 and 90 hours after ingestion, which showed prominent intestinal activity and mild systemic activity in the kidneys, bladder, salivary, and lacrimal glands.

Soy and maize are the most cultivated genetically modified (GM) crops in the world, which are commonly used in many food products. Establishing regulations for food products containing transgenic materials are obligatory in many countries in order to provide consumers with information. For this purpose, an accurate qualitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method was applied to investigate GM food products from Iran. In present study, a total of 90 non-labeled soy and maize samples were collected from Tehran’s market and their DNA were extracted by a kit. All samples were analyzed to screen the 35 S promoter and (nopaline synthase) NOS terminator elements. Having screened the GM positive samples, they were subjected to identification of specific transgenic events RR soy, Bt11 and MON810 maize with PCR. According to our results, 95% of soy and 60% of maize analyzed samples were positive for the 35 S promoter and NOS terminator. Furthermore, event-specific analysis indicated the presence of RR soy, Bt11 and MON810 maize in tested samples, while none of these food-derived samples demonstrated any GM label. The obtained results revealed that the necessity of monitoring system to provide a good reliable control of GM materials in food products and subsequently on their labeling.

Background Legislation regulating for labeling and use of genetically modified (GM) crops are increased considerably worldwide in order to health and safety assurance of consumers. For this purpose, a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method has been developed for detection of GM rice in people’s food diet. Methods In this study, eighty-one non-labeled rice samples were collected randomly from different market sites of Tehran, Iran. In order to analysis, rice genomic DNA was extracted using MBST DNA extraction kit and subsequently, sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS) gene was used to confirm the quality of extracted DNA. Then, cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S promoter and Agrobacterium nopaline synthase (NOS) terminator were selected as screening targets for detection of GM rice sequences by PCR. Results According to our results, 2 out of 81 (2.4%) samples tested were positive for CaMV 35S promoter while no positive result was detected for NOS terminator. Conclusion The obtained data indicated that this method is capable to identify the GM rice varieties. Furthermore, it can demonstrate the possibility of the presence of GM rice in Tehran’s market, thus putting emphasis on the requirement for developing a precise approach to evaluate this product.

The treatment response of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) depends on the percentage of lymphoblasts, cytogenetic aberrations, and altered gene expression. The analysis of the gene expression is applicable for determination of risk stratification and prognosis of cancers. c-MYC, P14ARF, MDM2, and P53 play a vital role in cell survival through a functional network. This study aimed to investigate the expression of these genes, also their correlation with immunophenotypic subtypes of ALL and the percentage of blasts. Real-time PCR was performed for the expression analysis of P53, MDM2, c-MYC, and P14ARF in the bone marrow or peripheral blood samples of 52 ALL patients and 13 normal samples as controls. The morphological analysis and flow cytometry were carried out to examine the phenotypes and percentage of lymphoblasts. The decreased expression levels of P53 and MDM2 were seen in ALL patients compared with control group. In T cell subgroup of ALL the expression of P14ARF gene was more decreased among other subgroups. The expression of MDM2 was decreased in ALL patients who were under the age of 16. Based on our study, the interaction between P53 and MDM2 might be more complex and different from reports published in previous studies. Our findings showed that MDM2 is not negatively correlated with P53, at least in our samples. It can be very effective on the current and future studies to use different techniques for analysis of genome, transcriptome, and proteome in definitive risk stratification and prognosis determination.

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common cancers and the fifth most common reason for cancer deaths in the males. Surgical castration combined with androgen deprivation therapy, antiandrogens, and androgen synthesis inhibitors is the current therapeutic modalities for PCa. These strategies inhibit androgen synthesis or reduce its binding to the androgen receptor (AR) but the development of resistance to these therapies and transient responsiveness are challenging issues in the treatment of this cancer. Deregulation of ARs has a vital role in the initiation and progression of PCa. Also, recent findings imply that micro RNAs (miRNAs) are involved in the evolution of PCa and mediate drug resistance in different cancers. Hence, discovering and targeting miRNAs might represent a novel therapeutic approach. This review paid particular attention to the AR pathway and existing information on the possible roles of miRNAs associated with AR pathway and drug resistance to two second-generation antiandrogens, that is, enzalutamide and abiraterone.

The present study compared the effects of Portulaca oleracea (P. oleracea) seed hydro-alcoholic extract, valsartan, and vitamin E on hemodynamic changes, oxidative stress markers and cardiac hypert...

Among the numerous agents, genetic factors and environmental elements such as pesticides have an important role in colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence. The present study aimed to investigate the probable-role of some organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) and organophosphorous pesticides (OPPs) in patients with CRC.In this case-control study, 42 patients with CRC and 30 healthy subjects were selected. The serum levels of some OCPs (α-HCH, β-HCH, γ-HCH, 2,4 DDE, 4,4 DDE, 2,4DDT and 4,4DDT) were measured by gas chromatography (GC) method. Serum levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) as well as the enzyme activity of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and arylesterase activity of Paraoxonase-1 (PON-1) were evaluated in all participants. The methylation specific PCR (MSP) assay was used for determining the methylation status of CpG island of p16 and MGMT genes in CRC patients.The mean serum levels of each OCPs were significantly higher in the patient group compared to the control group (P 0.001). The AChE and arylesterase activity of PON-1 in the patient group were significantly lower than the control group (P 0.001). The mean serum levels of MDA and TAC in the serum of the patient group were significantly higher than the control group (P 0.001 and P 0.002, respectively). The current findings demonstrated significantly hypermethylation of p16 promoter in CRC patients.Regarding the higher levels of OCPs in CRC patients, along with hypermethylation of the p16 promoter gene, diminishing in AChE and PON-1 activity and increasing in oxidative stress factors, the role of OCPs and OPPs in the CRC progression in the South-East of Iran may be assumed.

Dyslipidemia is one of the major but modifiable risk factors for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ACVD). Despite the accessibility of statins and other lipid-lowering drugs, the burden of ACVD is still high globally, highlighting the need for new therapeutic approaches. Nucleic acid-based technologies, including antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs), small interfering (si)RNAs, miRNAs, and decoys, are emerging therapeutic modalities for the treatment of ACVD. These technologies aim to degrade gene mRNA transcripts to decrease the levels of atherogenic lipoproteins. Using gene-silencing approaches, the levels of atherogenic lipoproteins can be decreased by targeting proteins that have key roles in lipoprotein metabolism. Here, we highlight preclinical and clinical findings using these approaches for the development of novel therapies against ACVD.

OBJECTIVES In this study, our objective was to identify perioperative factors associated with postreperfusion severe hyperglycemia, with a particular focus on deceased donor factors. MATERIALS AND METHODS Perioperative data from 100 patients without diabetes who were undergoing liver transplant from deceased donors were reviewed. Mean blood glucose levels were calculated at each liver transplant surgical phase, with a cutoff level of 12.7 mmol/L (230 mg/dL) during the neo-hepatic phase defined as postreperfusion severe hyperglycemia. Patients were divided into those with and without postreperfusion severe hyperglycemia. Selected perioperative variables were compared between the 2 groups. RESULTS Of 100 patients, 55 developed postreperfusion severe hyperglycemia. Among donor variables, a statistically significant difference between groups was only shown for graft-to-recipient liver weight ratio (P < .001). With regard to preoperative recipient variables, the 2 groups showed a significant difference in mean age (P = .001). Patients in the postreperfusion severe hyperglycemia group required significantly more packed red blood cell transfusions (P = .002), sodium bicarbonate (P = .054), and vasopressors (P = .002) during the operation. Moreover, in terms of laboratory findings, although the last arterial pH was acceptable in both groups, a last lower arterial pH was observed in patients with postreperfusion severe hyperglycemia (P = .011). Higher mean blood glucose levels were detected in the postreperfusion hyperglycemia group during the preanhepatic and anhepatic phases (P = .024, P = .001, respectively). CONCLUSIONS In patients undergoing liver transplant, incidence of postreperfusion severe hyperglycemia was influenced by graft-to-recipient liver weight ratio. Furthermore, postreperfusion severe hyperglycemia was associated with intraoperative clinical and laboratory disturbances in liver transplant recipients.

Trace elements are compounds that are essential in small amounts for biochemical reactions and to maintain human health. Almost all foods can contain varying amounts of these metals. In this study, the effects of food processing on the content of trace metals are investigated. Extensive interpretations of processing, including aspects of food production and specific examples of changes in metal content due to processing will be discussed. Pre-consumption food processing to improve rheological properties and increase shelf life is inevitable, which changes the bioavailability and amount of these compounds in different directions depending on the process. The amount of these trace metals in the food product can be affected by various conditions such as heating, fermentation, food additives, etc. The main factor in reducing trace elements in food, especially the use of heat in a special method and on the other hand, factors such as fermentation can also increase the bioavailability of these elements.

Inflammation is the main contributing factor to atheroma formation in atherosclerosis. Interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) is an inflammatory mediator found in endothelial cells and resident leukocytes. Canakinumab is a selective monoclonal antibody against IL-1β which attenuates inflammation and concurrently precipitates fatal infections and sepsis. Natural products derived from medicinal plants, herbal remedy and functional foods are widely used nowadays. Experimental and clinical trial evidence supports that some natural products such as curcumin, resveratrol, and quercetin have potential effects on IL-1β suppression. In this review, we tried to document findings that used medicinal plants and plant-based natural products for treating atherosclerosis and its related diseases through the suppression of IL-1β.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have been classified into several types of disease, of which atherosclerosis is the most prevalent. Atherosclerosis is characterized as an inflammatory chronic disease which is caused by the formation of lesions in the arterial wall. Subsequently, lesion progression and disruption ultimately lead to heart disease and stroke. The development of atherosclerosis is the underlying cause of approximately 50% of all deaths in westernized societies. Countless studies have aimed to improve therapeutic approaches for atherosclerosis treatment; however, it remains high on the global list of challenges toward healthy and long lives. Some patients with familial hypercholesterolemia could not get intended LDL-C goals even with high doses of traditional therapies such as statins, with many of them being unable to tolerate statins because of the harsh side effects. Furthermore, even in patients achieving target LDL-C levels, the residual risk of traditional therapies is still significant thus highlighting the necessity of ongoing research for more effective therapeutic approaches with minimal side effects. Decoy-based drug candidates represent an opportunity to inhibit regulatory pathways that promote atherosclerosis. In this review, the potential roles of decoys in the treatment of atherosclerosis were described based on the in vitro and in vivo findings.

Knowing the climate and studying the needs of crops is one of the most important factors in the production of crops. Therefore, experts based on ecological-agricultural models recognize and evaluate the ecological resources of the earth with suitable methods and can be validated for specific purposes. The purpose of this study was to identify the effective factors and elements in corn planting in rural settlements Ardabil province and it’s zoning using GIS technology. The studied data are rainfall (annual growth period), temperature (minimum, average, annual) and duration of growth, evapotranspiration, topography, slope, and depth of soil. In this research, the desirable climate of corn was determined, and based on this, the layers were weighted, and then the layers were combined in the GIS environment. The results of data analysis based on the methods used indicate that the water requirement for corn is less than the real amount of rainfall in the area. However, the temperature of the area is correlated with the temperature of corn growth, and based on the zoning, from the total area of the province, about 16% is very suitable, 22% suitable, 27% moderate, and about 35% is unsuitable for planting corn. In the province of Ardabil, about 17% of the province has a rainfall of more than 400 ml, which is more mountainous, and the possibility of corn rearing is not suitable due to the temperature drop, steep slope, and soil shortage.

Background and ObjectivesFocal cortical dysplasia (FCD) is a type of malformations of cortical development and one of the leading causes of drug-resistant epilepsy. Postoperative results improve the diagnosis of lesions on structural MRIs. Advances in quantitative algorithms have increased the identification of FCD lesions. However, due to significant differences in size, shape, and location of the lesion in different patients and a big deal of time for the objective diagnosis of lesion as well as the dependence of individual interpretation, sensitive approaches are required to address the challenge of lesion diagnosis. In this research, a FCD computer-aided diagnostic system to improve existing methods is presented.MethodsMagnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data were collected from 58 participants (30 with histologically confirmed FCD type II and 28 without a record of any neurological prognosis). Morphological and intensity-based features were calculated for each cortical surface and inserted into an artificial neural network. Statistical examinations evaluated classifier efficiency.ResultsNeural network evaluation metrics—sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy—were 96.7, 100, and 98.6%, respectively. Furthermore, the accuracy of the classifier for the detection of the lobe and hemisphere of the brain, where the FCD lesion is located, was 84.2 and 77.3%, respectively.ConclusionAnalyzing surface-based features by automated machine learning can give a quantitative and objective diagnosis of FCD lesions in presurgical assessment and improve postsurgical outcomes.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first discovered in December 2019 in China and has rapidly spread worldwide. Clinical characteristics, laboratory findings, and their association with the outcome of patients with COVID-19 can be decisive in management and early diagnosis. Data were obtained retrospectively from medical records of 397 hospitalized COVID-19 patients between February and May 2020 in Imam Reza hospital, northeast of Iran. Clinical and laboratory features were evaluated among survivors and non-survivors. The correlation between variables and duration of hospitalization and admission to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) was determined. Male sex, age, hospitalization duration, and admission to ICU were significantly related to mortality rate. Headache was a more common feature in patients who survived (p = 0.017). It was also related to a shorter stay in the hospital (p = 0.032) as opposed to patients who experienced chest pain (p = 0.033). Decreased levels of consciousness and dyspnea were statistically more frequent in non-survivors (p = 0.003 and p = 0.011, respectively). Baseline white blood cell count (WBC), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and C-reactive protein (CRP) were significantly higher in non-survivors (p < 0.001). Patients with higher WBC and CRP levels were more likely to be admitted to ICU (p = 0.009 and p = 0.001, respectively). Evaluating clinical and laboratory features can help clinicians find ways for risk stratifying patients and even make predictive tools. Chest pain, decreased level of consciousness, dyspnea, and increased CRP and WBC levels seem to be the most potent predictors of severe prognosis.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first discovered in December 2019 in China and has rapidly spread worldwide. Clinical characteristics, laboratory findings, and their association with the outcome of patients with COVID-19 can be decisive in management and early diagnosis. Data were obtained retrospectively from medical records of 397 hospitalized COVID-19 patients between February and May 2020 in Imam Reza Hospital, northeast Iran. Clinical and laboratory features were evaluated among survivors and nonsurvivors. The correlation between variables and duration of hospitalization and admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) was determined. Male sex, age, hospitalization duration, and admission to ICU were significantly related to mortality rate. Headache was a more common feature in patients who survived ( p = 0.017 ). It was also related to a shorter stay in the hospital ( p = 0.032 ) as opposed to patients who experienced chest pain ( p = 0.033 ). Decreased levels of consciousness and dyspnea were statistically more frequent in nonsurvivors ( p = 0.003 and p = 0.011 , respectively). Baseline white blood cell (WBC) count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and C-reactive protein (CRP) were significantly higher in nonsurvivors ( p < 0.001 ). Patients with higher WBC and CRP levels were more likely to be admitted to ICU ( p = 0.009 and p = 0.001 , respectively). Evaluating clinical and laboratory features can help clinicians find ways for risk stratifying patients and even make predictive tools. Chest pain, decreased level of consciousness, dyspnea, and increased CRP and WBC levels seem to be the most potent predictors of severe prognosis.

Background P. aeruginosa is the primary source of hospital-acquired infections. Unfortunately, antibiotic resistance is growing to precariously high levels, making the infections by this pathogen life-threatening and hard to cure. One possible alternative to antibiotics is to use phages. However, the isolation of phages suitable for phage therapy— be lytic, be efficient, and have a broad host range —against some target bacteria has proven difficult. To identify the best places to look for these phages against P. aeruginosa we screened hospital sewages, soils, and rivers in two cities. Results We isolated eighteen different phages, determined their host range, infection property, and plaque morphology. We found that the sewage and sewage-contaminated environments are the most reliable sources for the isolation of Pseudomonas phages. In addition, phages isolated from hospital sewage showed the highest efficiency in lysing the bacteria used for host range determination. In contrast, phages from the river had larger plaque size and lysed bacteria with higher levels of antibiotic resistance. Conclusions Our findings provided additional support for the importance of sewage as the source of phage isolation.

The influence maximization problem in social networks is an optimization problem in viral marketing. This problem is concerned with identifying a certain number of people with the most influence in the social network level. Considering the NP-hard of this problem, finding an optimal solution with acceptable accuracy and the low running time is of the high importance. To this purpose, GIN (Group of Influential Nodes) algorithm is presented in this article which creates different groups of graph nodes with more connections than other groups. Then, it selects specific nodes from each group to reduce the search space to find the most influential nodes. Following the greedy method, it selects the seed nodes with the highest expected diffusion value. Experimental results show that the GIN algorithm has provided high influence spread along with low running time in comparison algorithms on all seven real-world datasets.

Background: Liver diseases, mainly hepatitis B and C, commonly occur in patients with end-stage renal diseases (ESRD). Alanine and aspartate aminotransferase are important for the diagnosis and monitoring of liver diseases. Several studies demonstrated that patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) have lower levels of serum aminotransferases than the normal population. The present study was designed to compare these enzymes in different types of dialysis in ESRD patients and the general population in Iran. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, ESRD patients who were candidates for organ transplants in Montaserieh Hospital in Mashhad (Iran) from 2007 to 2014 were enrolled. The data of 1116 patients were collected by reviewing their medical records. Patients were divided into two groups of hemodialysis (n = 1034) and peritoneal dialysis (n = 82); their liver enzymes were compared with 510 healthy individuals from the MASHAD study. Results: There was a significant difference between hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis patients and the control group regarding the age (P < 0.0001) and gender (P = 0.005). Conclusions: The reduction in serum aminotransferase levels in ESRD cases compared to the control group suggested that renal failure influences liver enzymes that were mildly increased in peritoneal dialysis versus hemodialysis patients in samples provided before the dialysis session.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a noticeable reason of cancer-associated deaths with a high incidence and mortality rate. Countless effort have been put into the improving clinical management of CRC patients including more effective tools and a wide variety of biomarkers for diagnostic, prognostic or predictive purposes. In recent years, dysregulated miRNAs have been emerged as highly sensitive and specific markers to manage CRC in an effective way. They can play key roles in carcinogenesis as potential oncogenes, tumor suppressors or regulators of cancer network. Therefore, miRNAs may serve as molecular tools that can be quantified and used in diagnostic and prognostic approaches. Growing evidence also suggests that forced expression of tumor suppressor miRNAs or inhibiting the oncogene ones, can be used as a novel treatment strategy. In this review, we focus on the clinical applications of miRNAs as promising biomarkers of early cancer detection, prognosis and treatment.

Background: For most people, the first step in treatment is to take out the tumor (surgery), so precise and fast diagnosis of any sign of high-risk cells in surgical cavity margins is significant. The frozen pathology method is the conventional standard of intraoperative diagnosis, but the low number of slides prepared from non-fixed tissues prevents us to achieve a perfect diagnosis. Although many improvements in intraoperative margin detection were achieved, still no clinically approved intra-operative technique has been reported for the detection of surgical margins with pathologically approved classification in breast cancer.Methods: From November 2018 to April 2020, 227 patients were registered and 213 with different types of breast tumors (IDC: n=151 (70.9%), ILC: n=6 (2.8%), DCIS: n=38 (17.8%), Atypia: n=8 (3.8%), Benign tumors: n=10 (%4.7)) were randomly assigned for CDP clinical trials. Men made up 2 (1%) of the patients; 211 (99%) were women. Functionalized carbon nanotubes grown on the electrode needles lively and selectively determine the H2O2 released from cancer/atypical cells, through reverse Warburg effect and hypoxia assisted glycolysis pathways, in a quantitative electrochemical manner. The study is registered at Iran National Committee for Ethics in Biomedical Research (IR.TUMS.VCR.REC.1397.355).Result: A real-time electrotechnical system, named cancer diagnostic probe (CDP) (Patent Pub. No.: US 2018/0299401A1), has been developed and clinically approved for breast cancer surgery (National Certificate ID:14006918495) to find the presence of pre-neoplastic/neoplastic cells in-vivo. Here, Functionalized carbon nanotubes grown on the electrode needles lively and selectively determine the H2O2 released from cancer or atypical cells, through reverse Warburg effect and hypoxia assisted glycolysis pathways, in quantitative electrochemical manner. A matched clinical diagnostic categorization between the pathological results and response peaks of CDP was proposed based on pathological classifications of WHO. Conclusion: The clinical ability of CDP was verified on more than 1300 human in-vivo breast samples with sensitivity and specificity of 93%, and 97%, respectively. After passing many trials and standard examinations, the system received production and clinical use certifications as a surgeon assistant system for usage in the operating room.

This study aims to evaluate the effect of melatonin supplementation on the outcomes of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and mitochondrial adenosine triphosphate production (MT-ATP6) gene expression in Iranian infertile couples. A single-blind nonrandomized controlled trial was conducted, recruiting 90 infertile couples who underwent IVF at an infertility center in Tehran, Iran. Patients who were assigned to the intervention group received melatonin as a supplementation to the standard controlled ovarian stimulation (COS). The control group received a COS protocol only. Primary outcome was the mRNA level of the MT-ATP6 gene in cumulus cells of ovarian follicles. Secondary outcomes were the mean number of mature oocytes retrieved, the embryo quality, and biochemical and clinical pregnancy rates. The mRNA level of the MT-ATP6 gene in cumulus cells between intervention and control groups was not statistically different (0.931 vs.1; P ˃ 0.05). The mean number of poor-quality embryos was significantly lower in the intervention group than that in the control group (0.27 vs. 0.80; P = 0.028). The biochemical and clinical pregnancy rates were higher in the intervention group (24% vs. 14%, P = 0.089, and 14% vs. 7%, P = 0.302, respectively); however, the difference was not significant. Melatonin supplementation did not increase the odds of clinical pregnancy and the number of mature oocytes retrieved, but significantly reduced the number of low-quality embryos. More extensive studies focusing on the level of MT-ATP6 gene expression in the oocyte or blastomere cells may further elucidate the effect of supplementation with melatonin in infertile couples who have poor clinical outcomes. Trial registration: Current Controlled Trials: IRCT2015042912307N4.

Background Girls who experience early-life familial stress may have heightened risk of early puberty, which has adverse implications for adolescent and adult health. We assessed the association between household intactness and pubertal onset using a racially/ethnically diverse cohort of girls from Northern California. Methods A prospective cohort study of 26,044 girls born in 2003-10. Girls living with both parents from birth up to 6 years were considered to come from “intact” households while others constituted “non-intact” households. Pubertal development was measured using pediatrician-assessed Tanner staging for breast and pubic hair. Pubertal onset was defined as the transition from Tanner Stage 1 to 2+ for breast (thelarche) and pubic hair (pubarche). Menarche data was collected from routine well-child questionnaires. Weibull regression models accommodating left, right, and interval censoring were used to determine risk of earlier thelarche and pubarche, and logistic regressions were used to assess the risk of early menarche (age Results Girls exposed to non-intact households before age 2 years were at increased risk for earlier thelarche and pubarche with significant effect modification by race/ethnicity, compared with girls from intact households. The associations were strongest among Black girls (adjusted hazard ratio [HR]: 1.60, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.29,1.98; HR: 1.42, 95%CI: 1.15,1.77 for thelarche and pubarche, respectively). There were no significant associations among Asian/Pacific Islanders. Girls who lived in non-intact households before age 2 years were also at increased risk for earlier menarche, but without race/ethnic interaction. Adjustment for prepubertal obesity did not change these associations. Associations between living in non-intact households after age 2 years and early puberty were weaker but still significant. Conclusions Exposure to a non-intact household early in life may increase the risk of early puberty in girls. Future psychosocial interventions focused on improving family cohesiveness and efforts to reduce childhood stress among families that are non-intact may mitigate these negative associations, thereby preventing future adverse health effects of early puberty and health disparities.

In recent years, thousands of microRNAs (miRNA) have been found in numerous species. The huge data resulting from miRNA researches are ordered in several levels including miRNA discovery, the sequence of mature and precursor miRNAs, role in diseases, pathway interaction, target validation, and prediction, etc. To prepare a simple approach to this information, numerous databases for miRNA records have been established. The selection of the correct database can be laborious and prolonged, especially for scientists who do not have experience in this field. To facilitate access to these resources, we have classified the available databases into seven categories and have described each one. The different categories of miRNA databanks contain miRNA sequence, target validation, target prediction, expression, function, role in pathways and networks, and their roles in diseases. Moreover, examples are included to describe the prototype databases for the most common applications. Hence, this review introduces available miRNA databases and presents a convenient overview of these databases that will enable researchers with different backgrounds to find suitable miRNA-related bioinformatics web tools and relevant microRNA information rapidly.

This article is an Editorial and does not include an Abstract.

Probiotics are commonly defined as live microorganisms (yeast or bacteria), when getting ingested in adequate amounts, they exhibit the beneficial effects on the host. During the past two decades, probiotic microorganisms as health-promoting agents have been increasingly added to various types of food products, especially in fermented food and also drugs. Due to the importance of food safety aspects of the human diet and with regards to some adverse effects of probiotics for human, we decided to carry out a review on probiotics and their adverse effects by research in literature. Previous studies indicated that several aspects, including safety, functional and technological characteristics, have to be considered in the selection of probiotic microorganisms. Safety aspects include origin (gastrointestinal tract of healthy human), nonpathogenicity and antibiotic resistance. Some probiotic microorganisms such as enterococci have been considered as an opportunistic pathogen for humans and cause disease, possess agents for antibiotic resistance and potential virulence factors. The bacteria used as a probiotic in food should be completely safe. Probiotic bacteria should be chosen from the healthy human micro-flora and should not have any antibiotic resistance that would prevent treatment of a rare probiotic infection. This review focused on key issues concerning the safety aspects of probiotics added to particular food products for improvement of general health and also discussed the criteria for probiotic selection in details.

Objective Assess the feasibility of conducting a cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) comparing technology-delivered mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) programs against a waitlist control arm targeting advanced cancer patients and their informal caregivers. Methods Two-arm cluster RCT within Kaiser Permanente Northern California. We recruited patients with metastatic solid malignancies or hematological cancers and their informal caregivers. Intervention-group participants chose to use either a commercially available mindfulness app (10-20 min/day) or a webinar-based mindfulness course for 6 weeks. The waitlist control group received usual care. We assessed feasibility measures and obtained participant-reported data on quality of life (QoL; primary outcome) and distress outcomes (secondary) pre- and postintervention. Results A hundred and three patients (median age 67 years; 70% female; 81% White) and 39 caregivers (median age 66 years; 79% female; 69% White) were enrolled. Nearly all participants chose the mindfulness app over the webinar-based program. Among the participants in the intervention arm who chose the mobile-app program and completed the postintervention (6-week) survey, 21 (68%) patients and 7 (47%) caregivers practiced mindfulness at least 50% of the days during the 6-week study period. Seventy-four percent of intervention participants were "very" or "extremely" satisfied with the mindfulness program. We observed improvements in anxiety, QoL, and mindfulness among patients in the intervention arm compared to those in the control group. Conclusions We demonstrated the feasibility of conducting a cluster RCT of mHealth MBI for advanced cancer patients and their caregivers. Such remote interventions can be helpful particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.