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Background and Objective: Despite enormous progress in the understanding of human reproductive physiology, the underlying cause of male infertility remains undefined in about 50.0% of cases, which are referred to as idiopathic infertility and affects about 5.0-7.0% of the general male population. Human apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease (ApE1) is a multifunctional protein that has an important role in the base excision repair (BER) pathway. ApE1 SNP T>G found in exon 5 led to substitution of Asp>Glu at codon 148. This study was done to evaluate the association of ApE1 Asp148Glu polymorphism and the risk of idiopathic male infertility. Methods: In this case-control study, blood samples were collected from 90 patients diagnosed with idiopathic male infertility and 90 healthy men, genotyped by Allele-Specific PCR (AS-PCR) method by using specific primers that were designed and the association between genotype and allele frequencies in cases and controls were estimated. Results: There was no significant association between ApE1 gene polymorphism at codon 148 in case and control groups. Conclusion: No significant association was found between the Asp148Glu polymorphism and idiopathic male infertility.

Abstract Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer and one of the main causes of cancer-related death all over the world that has become a major public health concern. Human apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease (ApE1) is a multifunctional protein that has an important role in the base excision repair (BER) pathway. Single- nucleotide polymorphism T>G found in exon 5 led to substitution of Asp>Glu at codon 148 (Asp148Glu). In this case-control study, we aimed to evaluate the association of this polymorphism on the risk of breast cancer in Guilan population. Materials and Methods: To study gene polymorphism APE1 (Case- Control), blood samples were collected from 75 patients diagnosed with breast cancer and 75 control subjects, and genotyped by allele-specific PCR (AS-PCR). To estimate the association between genotype and allele frequencies in cases and controls, Chi-Square (χ2) analysis was used. Results: Analysis revealed no significant differences were found in genotype and allele distributions of ApE1 Asp148Glu polymorphism between breast cancer patients and controls (p=0.1, p=0.6 respectively) in this population. Conclusion: Data from this study indicated no significant association between the Asp148Glu polymorphism and breast cancer risk (p=0.1). Further study needed to clarify the impact of Asp148Glu polymorphism on the breast cancer.

Background and Objective: Menopausal symptoms influence mental, physical and emotional health, as well as social performance and family relationships. Due to the undesirable side effects of alternated hormone-therapy, tendency toward alternative treatments in relieving these symptoms have been increased, and the use of herbs like phytoestrogens seem preferable. This study was conducted to determine the effect of red clover Isoflavones extract on menopausal symptoms. Materials and Methods: This clinical randomized, triple-blind trial was conducted on 72 menopausal women who referred to Navab Safavi health care center, Isfahan, Iran during Oct-Apr 2011. After two weeks of monitoring and determination of the baseline symptoms score including hot flushes and sweating, paresthesia, insomnia, nervousness, depression, vertigo, weakness and fatigue, arthralgia and myalgia, headache, palpitation and formication, the women were randomly divided into two groups of 36 subjects: placebo and intervention (taking 45 mg of red clover Isoflavones extract capsules). The subjects were given one capsule daily for eight weeks and menopausal symptoms were recorded weekly. Data were analyzed using SPSS-18, independent t-test, ANOVA, chi-square and Mann–Whitney tests. Results: 55 women completed the study: 27 subjects in the placebo and 28 in the intervention group. The mean age of subjects in placebo and intervention group was 53.923.21 and 52.963.07 years, respectively. The mean age of menopause in the placebo and intervention groups was 51.382.63 and 50.051.17 years, respectively. The mean elapsed time since menopause was determined as 2.691.47 years in placebo and 2.661.65 years in intervention group. The average score of menopausal symptoms at the end of the 10th week was 13.877.22 and 16.4411.59 in intervention and placebo groups, this reduction was significant (P

Introduction: microRNAs (miRNAs) are frequently dysregulated in colorectal cancer (CRC) primary tumors vs. metastasic to the liver. Objective: Our aim was to prediction of biomarker miRNAs signature of CRC Metastasis to liver cancer. Material and Methods: mRNA and miRNA expression profiles of CRC primary tumors to metastases formed in the liver were downloaded from NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. miRNAs targets were predicted using Targetscan algorithm. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway and Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis were performed using DAVID online tool, since mRNA expression profile of liver and colon cancer primary tumors vs. metastasis to the liver were used in background of these analysis. Results: 43 and 58 down- and up-regulated miRNAs were obtained from GSE98406 (p-value < 0.05). mRNA expression profile include of 1,048 mRNAs differentially expressed in metastatic and non-metastatic CRC to liver from GSE40367 (p-value < 0.05). The some of the down-regulated miRNAs were significantly enriched in migration signaling and cancer stem cell signaling. Moreover, the some of the up-regulated miRNAs were significantly enriched in negative regulation of cell migration. Conclusions: Some of the miRNAs are many number of target genes that some of these are oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. It is concluded that differentially expressed miRNAs in metastatic vs. non-metastatic CRC to the liver take part in cell migration and cancer stem cell signaling pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]