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Introduction: Thyroidectomy can be done using different methods. In this study, post thyroidectomy thyroid remnant was compared between tie ligation and LigaSure. Methods: Thirty-two patients undergoing thyroidectomy were equally grouped into tie ligation (A) and LigaSure (B). The duration of operation, estimated surgical blood loss, drain discharge, pre and post-operation calcium and parathormone levels, and pre and post-operation subjective assessment of the vocal cord function were collected. Thyroid bed technetium uptake (TTU) and ultra-sonographies were done, respectively, within 3 and 7-14 days after surgery, and thyroid tissue remnant was evaluated. Results: Duration of the operation was longer in group A. Surgery-related blood loss and drain discharge, changes of calcium, parathormone and quality of voice before and after surgery were similar between the two groups. Three patients had sonographically remarkable post-surgical thyroid remnant; all operated by tie ligation, the difference with group B was insignificant. TTU was similar between groups A and B. Conclusion: Although LigaSure reduces the operation time with similar operation outcomes, the indicators of thyroid tissue surgical remnants are similar between the two strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & Objective: Lung transplantation is a promising therapy for patients with end-stage lung disease. Pulmonary surfactant is a lipid and protein complex which has a key role in lung function. Molecular mechanisms mediating in rejection of lung transplantation related to surfactants are not still comprehensively understood. In this study, we applied bioinformatics approaches to identify genes and molecular mechanisms involved in surfactant function in rejection of lung transplantation. Materials & Methods: At first, transcriptomics data was extracted and analyzed to construct the protein-protein interaction network and gene regulatory network using Cytoscape. Then, networks analysis were performed to determine hubs, bottlenecks, clusters, and regulatory motifs to identify critical genes and molecular mechanisms involve in surfactant function in rejection of lung transplantation. Finally, critical genes selected for repuposing drugs. Results: Analyzing the constructed PPIN and GRN identified SCD, FN1, ICAM1, ITGB8, FOXC1, SIX1, FHL2, KRT5, TFAP2A, GAS5, MALAT1, and lnrCXCR4 as critical genes. Enrichment analysis showed the genes are enriched for pulmonary surfactant metabolism dysfunction, defective CSF2RB causes pulmonary surfactant metabolism dysfunction 4 and 5, Interleukin-4 and Interleukin-13 signaling may be the mechanisms for surfactant function in rejection of lung transplantation. We predicted some candidate drugs for preventing of lung transplantation rejection such as Sunitinib, Gemcitabine, Oxaliplatin, Hyaluronic acid. Conclusion: Following our model validation using the existing experimental data, our model suggested critical molecules and candidate medicines involve in surfactant function in rejection of lung transplantation for furtur investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and purpose: Excitotoxicity in nerve cells is a type of neurotoxicity in which excessive stimulation of receptors (such as N-methyl-d-aspartate glutamate receptors (NMDAR)) leads to the influx of high-level calcium ions into cells and finally cell damage or death. This complication can occur after taking some of the plasminogen activators like tissue plasminogen activator and reteplase. The interaction of the kringle2 domain in such plasminogen activator with the amino-terminal domain (ATD) of the NR1 subunit of NMDAR finally leads to excitotoxicity. In this study, we assessed the interaction of two new chimeric reteplase, mutated in the kringle2 domain, with ATD and compared the interaction of wild-type reteplase with ATD, computationally. Experimental approach: Homology modeling, protein docking, molecular dynamic simulation, and molecular dynamics trajectory analysis were used for the assessment of this interaction. Findings/Results: The results of the free energy analysis between reteplase and ATD (wild reteplase: -2127.516 ± 0.0, M1-chr: -1761.510 ± 0.0, M2-chr: -521.908 ± 0.0) showed lower interaction of this chimeric reteplase with ATD compared to the wild type. Conclusion and implications: The decreased interaction between two chimeric reteplase and ATD of NR1 subunit in NMDAR which leads to lower neurotoxicity related to these drugs, can be the start of a way to conduct more tests and if the results confirm this feature, they can be considered potential drugs in acute ischemic stroke treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Surgery is still the best way for treatment of esophageal cancer. The increase in life expectancy and the rising incidence of esophageal tumors have led to a great number of elderly candidates for complex surgery. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of advanced age (70 years or more) on the surgical outcome of esophagectomy for esophageal cancer at a single high-volume center. Materials and Methods: Between January 2000 and April 2006, 480 cases with esophageal cancer underwent esophagectomy in the referral cancer institute. One hundred sixty-five patients in the elderly group (70 years old or more) were compared with 315 patients in the younger group (< 70 years). All in-hospital morbidity and mortality were studied. Results: The range of age was 38-84 years, with a mean of 58.7. The mean age of the elderly and younger groups was 74 and 53.2, respectively. In the younger group, 70 patients (22.2%) and in the elderly group, 39 patients (23.6%) were complicated ( P 0.72).The most common complications in the two groups were pulmonary complications (9.8% in younger and 10.3% in elderly) ( P 0.87). Rates of anastomotic leakage and cardiac complications were also similar between the two groups. Hospital mortality rates in younger and elderly patients were 2.8% and 3%, respectively. There was no significant difference between the two groups in morbidities and mortality ( P -value > 0.05). Conclusions: With increased experience and care, the outcomes of esophagectomy in elderly patients are comparable to young patients. Advanced age alone is not a contraindication for esophagectomy.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes COVID-19, a disease currently spreading around the world. Some drugs are underway or being used to combat this disease. Several proteins of the virus can be targeted in therapeutic approaches. Two structural proteins, membrane (M), envelope (E) have critical roles in virus life cycle, such as assembly, budding, envelope formation and pathogenesis. Here, we employed the in silico strategies to identify and evaluate the selected potential compounds against M and E proteins. For this, the structures of proteins were modeled and then several groups of compounds as FDA approved, natural products or under clinical trials were screened from DrugBank and ZINC databases. The selected dockings were analyzed and the ligands with best binding affinity scores were subjected to evaluate drug-likeness and medicinal chemistry friendliness through prediction of ADMET properties. Normal mode analyses were also performed for six selected complexes to explore the collective motions of proteins. Molecular dynamic (MD) simulation was also performed to calculate the stability of two docked protein–ligand complexes. The results revealed that several compounds had high affinity to the proteins along with some acceptable profiles of mobility and deformability, especially, for M protein. The aim of this study was finding the potential compounds with inhibitory effect on membrane and envelope proteins of SARS-CoV-2 and according to the results several compounds especially some FDA-approved drugs and natural compounds shown that can be applied as hit compounds against these structural proteins of the virus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective(s): In patients with papillary thyroid cancer (PTC), sentinel lymph node (SLN) radio-guided biopsy is not routinely used for detection of involved neck lymph nodes (NLN); 99mTc- antimony sulfide colloid (99mTc- ASC) has been used for this purpose. In this study, besides 99mTc-ASC another radiotracer, 99mTc-phytate (99mTc-P) with different doses and injection methods were evaluated. Methods: Twenty-two patients, scheduled to undergo thyroidectomy for PTC, were injected for radio-guided SLN biopsy in the morning of operation in 3 groups: intra tumoral injection of about 1 mCi 99mTc-P (group A; n=5); peritumoral injection of less than 3 mCi 99mTc-ASC (group B; n=6); and peritumoral injection of 3 to 5 mCi 99mTc-ASC with application of massage (group C; n=9). A patient refused to complete the study. A patient with follicular thyroid cancer was also excluded. No NLN was detected in the pre-operative ultra-sonographic examinations of all patients. Central neck dissection was done for all the participants. The presence of radio guided detected NLN and results of pathology were assessed. Results: In group A and B, no SLN was detected. NLNs were resected in 4 patients in group A and B; 2 of them involved by the tumor. In group C, 6 out of 9 patients (66.7%) had between 1 to 6 SLNs; the procedure failed to detect NLN in a patient in group C with surgically resected reactive NLN (failure rate 1 out of 7). Conclusion: The results underscored the significance of SLN radio guided biopsy in patients with PTC; the radiotracer, dose and method of injection may affect the detection rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humans have always been encountered to big infectious diseases outbreak throughout the history. In December 2019, novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was first noticed as an agent causing insidious pneumonia in Wuhan, China. COVID-19 was spread rapidly from Wuhan to the rest of the world. Until late June 2020, it infected more than 10,000,000 people and caused more than 500,000 deaths in almost all of countries in the world, creating a global crisis worse than all previous epidemics and pandemics. In the current review, we gathered and summarized the results of various studies on characteristics, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of this pandemic crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]