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Background and Objective: The risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) is proportional to the LDL-C lipoprotein. Due to frequent use of Friedwald formula in estimation of LDL-C in most laboratories, this study was done to compare the Friedwald formula and direct measurement to determine the serum levels of LDL-C Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was conducted on of 598 patients 226 male and 372 female whome referred to Imam Ali hospital Andimeshk cityin Khozestan province of Iran for health check up during 2009. 5 ml of the venous blood was drown. Total cholesterol (TC) (mg/dl), Triglyceride (TG) (mg/dl), HDL-C (mg/dl) and LDL-C (mg/dl) of serum are measured with Pars azmun company kits. The Friedwald formula was used for estimation of LDL-C. The K=3, 3.5 and 5 were used to stimate the lipid by Friedwald formula. Data were analyzed using SPSS-18, Pearson correlation coefficient and ANOVA tests. Results: A total of 598 serum samples collected 37.8% were men and 62.2% women. The mean age of participants was 38.8±10.77 years. Minimum age 21 years and maximum age was 77 years. Mean deviation for TG≤150, 201-300 and 301-400 in Friedwald formula (k=5) were -13.01±8.79, -17.11±13.17 and -18.63±18.54, respectively and with k=3 are -.39±12.04, -0.078±18.55 and 0.04±25.55 and for TG between 151-200 is -9.72±10.54 and with k=3.5 is equal to 0.82±13.70. Pearson correlation test showed that direct measurment and calculated from the equation Friedwald, for triglycerides in the area equal to or less than 150, 151-200, 201-300 and 301-400 mg/dl, with correlated to Pearson correlation coefficient were 0.982, 0.991, 0.991 and 0.975, respectively. Conclusion: This study showed that the direct measurement method is superior to the Friedwald equation, otherwise, equation Friedwald formula with K=3 is recommended.

Abstract Background and Objective: Snake venom is a complex of several toxic elements and enzymes. It has the agents with the ability to destroy cellular and subcellular membrane and to bring about hemolysis of red blood cells (RBC). Two types of direct and indirect hemolytic activity are known in snake venom in that phospholipase A2 is responsible for the indirect lysis. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of α-lipoic acid on hemolytic activity of Iranian Vipera Lebetina venom. Material and Methods: Protein concentration of the crude venom of Vipera Lebetina was determined using bovine serum albumin as a standard. Direct hemolytic activity of venom was determined by using the Human RBC and Indirect hemolytic activity was assayed on RBC in the presence of egg yolk. Then, α-lipoic acid with different concentrations in 100 mM Tris-HCL buffer was applied and its effect on hemolysis of RBC was studied. Results: direct hemolytic activity on RBC was not observed while its indirect activity was detected to be increased proportional to different concentration of α-lipoic acid. The range of indirect hemolysis was increased up to 60% by 60µm α-lipoic acid. Conclusion: Not only has α-lipoic acid no inhibitory effects on the hemolytic activity of Iranian Vipera Lebetina venom but also has the positive effects on it. Keywords: Iranian Vipera Lebetina Venom, Direct Hemolytic, Indirect Hemolytic, α-Lipoic Acid, Phospholipase A2

Objective: Calpains are a family of Ca(2+) dependent proteases. There is some evidence that calpains involved in fusion process that occurs between spermatozoa and the oocyte. The current study aimed to investigate the association of smoking with semen quality and µ-calpain level., Materials and Methods: This case-control study was conducted on 117 normospermia males between June 2013 and march 2014 in Jahad Laboratory in ahvaz, Iran. The semen samples were collected from male smokers (n = 50) and non-smokers (n = 67). We divided these participants as light, moderate, or heavy smokers based on their cigarettes per day (CPD). ELISA assays were used to measure µ-calpain concentration. All semen samples were analyzed according to World Health Organization guidelines., Results: The analysis of semen showed the volume, concentration, motility and morphology of semen were significantly lower among the smoker men than the non-smoker men. Also this significant difference was observed based on the number (light, moderate and heavy smokers) and duration (short term and long term smoker) of smoking. Although, showed no significant difference between µ-calpain of smoker men and non-smoker men. CPD showed negatively correlation with semen volume, concentration, motility and morphology of sperm., Conclusion: Sperm quality was negatively correlated with CPD and duration of smoking. However, there is no significant correlation between smoking and µ-calpain concentration.

Background: Transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) has a critical role in breast cancer initiation and progression., Objectives: We have investigated the possible differences in two promoter polymorphisms (-509C/T and -800G/A) of TGF-β1 gene between breast cancer cases and controls., Patients and Methods: A total of 100 patients with confirmed breast cancer and 100 subjects without breast cancer was selected. Two promoter polymorphisms (-509C/T and -800G/A) of TGF-β1 gene were genotyped using PCR-based restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) method., Results: The allele frequencies were 63% for C allele and 37% for T allele of SNP -509C/T and 66% for G allele and 34% for A allele of SNP -800G/A. Although no significant difference has observed between two groups, according to the genotype distribution, However, the TT genotype of -509 and AA genotype of -800 was significantly associated with breast cancer risk [odds ratio (OR) = 2.409; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.087 - 5.337, P = 0.030; and OR = 2.383; CI = 1.039 - 5.40, P = 0.040, respectively]. In addition, a multinomial logistic regression model shown, homozygous of -800 G/A (OR = 0.570; 95% CI = 0.362 - 0.896, P = 0.015); and HDL-C (OR = 0.935; 95% CI = 0.906 - 0.965, P < 0.001) were the selected variables associated with the presence of breast cancer. Haplotype analysis has shown no significant association between TGF-β1 haplotypes and breast cancer risk., Conclusions: Our results indicated that among two promoter polymorphisms of the TGF-β1gene, -800G/A compared to -509C/T is more associated with breast cancer.