Cancer is a primary cause of mortality around the world and imposes a significant physiological, psychological, and financial burden on patients. Lipids regulate cell cycle progression and affect cell proliferation, migration, and apoptosis. Therefore, alterations in serum lipid levels might contribute to carcinogenesis. In this article, we review the relationships between triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels and different types of cancer. Then, we examine the association between cancer and familial hypercholesterolemia. Finally, we evaluate the impact of statins on different types of cancer. Increased total cholesterol has been reported to increase cellular proliferation and angiogenesis in tumors and inhibit apoptosis. Increased LDL-C has been reported to induce inflammation and increase susceptibility to oxidative damage. HDL-C has anti-oxidation, anti-inflammatory, and antiproliferative properties. Increased levels of serum TG can induce oxidative stress and a chronic inflammatory state and therefore contribute to the proliferation and progression of cancer cells. Statins decrease downstream products of cholesterol synthesis that are crucial in cell proliferation and growth. Thus, lipid components can have prognostic value in cancer and management of serum lipid levels through lifestyle changes and medical therapy can be beneficial in cancer prevention and treatment.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, has rapidly spread worldwide and has been infected more than 219 million individuals with 4.55 million deaths worldwide as of September 2021, causing a pandemic. Preexisting cardiovascular (CV) comorbidities such as hypertension, diabetes, and coronary artery disease seem to be associated with greater severity of infection, worse prognosis, and higher mortality. Moreover, COVID-19 can contribute to CV complications, including acute myocardial injury, arrhythmia, acute coronary syndrome, and venous thromboembolism, emphasizing the importance of precocious detection and implementation of optimal therapeutic strategies. This review provides an overview of evidence-based data of CV complications of COVID-19, focusing on their management strategies, as well as potential cardiac adverse effects and drug interactions, due to off-label and investigational drugs used for the treatment of COVID-19.

Background: The economic impact of acute respiratory disease pandemics has yet to be specifically systematically reviewed. The aim of this scoping review is to identify and classify the economic impacts and its values and ranges. Materials and Methods: We conducted a literature search across three key databases using an extensive list of keywords. Then, we included studies which explored direct and indirect costs as well as broader economic impact associated with different nine acute respiratory diseases, i.e., pandemic and seasonal influenza, avian influenza, equine influenza, swine influenza, severe acute respiratory syndrome, coronavirus disease 2019, Middle East respiratory syndrome, H1N1, and H7N9. Results: We included 62 studies in English language between 1987 and 2020, mostly from the countries of East Asia and Pacific pertinent. We classified the economic impact into 5 main categories and 18 subcategories. The main categories were macroeconomic impacts, impacts on health cost, industry, businesses and trade, and education. Conclusion: Respiratory disease pandemics have widely impacted different sectors of economy such as the direct cost on macroeconomic, providing and receiving health services, disease management, industries, business and trade, education, and indirect costs due to productivity losses. However, lots of the reviewed studies were unable to quantify the actual economic cost of these impacts. This made it challenging to conduct any kind of quantitative comparison of the results. A key priority for future research is to develop standard methods to quantify the broader economic costs of respiratory disease pandemics. Understanding the total economic impact of respiratory disease pandemics is a key step to inform national and international priority setting for disease prevention and pandemic control interventions.

Background: Paraquat (PQ) poisoning is a serious public health concern, especially in developing countries, due to its easy access and lack of awareness of potential harms. No effective treatment has been reported yet. Conventional hemodialysis (HD) is still used in many centers for excreting PQ or reducing acute kidney injury, but there is no consensus on its efficacy. Therefore, we aimed to review the HD efficacy in PQ poisoning mortality. Materials and Methods: We searched Web of Science, PubMed, Excerpta Medical Database, Google Scholar, Scopus, Cochrane, Web of Knowledge, Pro-Quest, ScienceDirect, Springer, Clinical Key, Scientific Information Database, Magiran, and Iran-doc, in publications before January 1, 2020. We compared patients who underwent HD (Group 1) with those who did not (Group 2). The outcome was considered mortality/survival. The data were analyzed by Comprehensive Meta-analysis Software. Results: This systematic review and meta-analysis included five studies with a combined total of 203 patients. The patients in the Group 1 had higher mortality than Group 2 (odds ratio, 2.84; 95% confidence interval: 1.22–6.64; P = 0.02). There was no evidence of publication bias (P value for Egger's test = 0.833). Conclusion: Although HD did not affect the survival of patients, other variables such as the amount of ingested PQ, poisoning severity, the time between PQ ingestion and the start of HD, duration, and times of HD sessions may influence the results regarding mortality.

Quinazolinone and quinazoline have been shown different pharmacological activities, namely anticancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-hyperlipidemia, analgesic, antihypertensive, and antibacterial. On the other hand, molecular hybridization is a structural modification technique in the design of new ligands which consist of two or more pharmacologically active molecules in one structure. Therefore, due to the importance of the biological activities of quinazolinones for the development of new therapeutic agents, this review emphasizes current findings on various quinazolinone-based hybrids in medicinal chemistry. Moreover, it highlights the biological activities and structure-activity relationship of these hybrids.

At a time when the COVID-19's second wave is still picking up in countries like India, a number of reports describe the potential association with a rise in the number of cases of mucormycosis, commonly known as the black fungus. This fungal infection has been around for centuries and affects those people whose immunity has been compromised due to severe health conditions. In this article, we provide a detailed overview of mucormycosis and discuss how COVID-19 could have caused a sudden spike in an otherwise rare disease in countries like India. The article discusses the various symptoms of the disease, class of people most vulnerable to this infection, preventive measures to avoid the disease, and various treatments that exist in clinical practice and research to manage the disease.

In recent years, some studies have evaluated the epidemiologic factors associated with breast density. However, the variant and inconsistent results exist. In addition, breast density has been proved to be a significant risk factor associated with breast cancer. Our review summarized the published studies and emphasized the crucial factors including epidemiological factors associated with breast density. In addition, we also discussed the potential reasons for the discrepant results with risk factors. To decrease the incidence and mortality rates for breast cancer, in clinical practice, breast density should be included for clinical risk models in addition to epidemiological factors, and physicians should get more concentrate on those women with risk factors and provide risk-based breast cancer screening regimens.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) comprise of various heart and blood vessels-related diseases. Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is one of them. Basic researchers and cardiologists have witnessed landmark developments related to ACS and despite rapid refinement in our understanding; scientists are seeking answers for more questions. Scientists have mapped wide ranging proteins and intricate protein networks which play central role in the pathogenesis in ACS. In this review, we have attempted to summarize underlying causes of ACS. Better understanding of the disease pathology will enable us to get a step closer to an effective clinical management.

Background: Acute severe organophosphorus pesticide poisoning (ASOPP) is one of the major diseases that endanger human life and health. However, the effects of conventional therapy including gastric lavages, mechanical ventilation, muscarinic antagonist drugs, and cholinesterase reactivators were uncertain. This meta-analysis aims to investigate the safety and efficacy of hemoperfusion combined with hemofiltration besides routine therapy for ASOPP. Materials and Methods: A comprehensive search for candidate publications was performed through PubMed, Medline, Cochrane Library, WanFang, Chinese Biomedical Literature, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure from database inception to May 12, 2020. The retrieved studies were screened by the predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The data of important end points were extracted. The risk ratio (RR) and weighted mean difference (WMD) were pooled for categorical variables and continuous variables, respectively. Meta-analyses and publication bias were conducted by using STATA software version 15.1. Results: A total of 11 randomized controlled trials with 811 patients were included. Compared to conventional therapy group, patients in the hemoperfusion plus hemofiltration group were significantly superior with regard to mortality (RR 0.38, 95% confidence interval [CI] [0.25, 0.57], P < 0.001), total atropine dosing (WMD −147.34 mg, 95% CI [−199.49, −95.18], P < 0.001), duration of mechanical ventilation (WMD −2.34 days, 95% CI [−3.77, −0.92], P < 0.001), cholinesterase recovery time (WMD −2.49 days, 95% CI [−3.14, −1.83], P < 0.001), and length of stay (WMD −4.52 days, 95% CI [−5.31, −3.73], P < 0.001). Conclusion: Combined hemoperfusion and hemofiltration was a very safe and effective treatment protocol for ASOPP, not only resulting in significantly decreased mortality but also resulting in reduced total atropine dosing, duration of mechanical ventilation, cholinesterase recovery time, and length of stay.

Fatigue is the most common symptom in multiple sclerosis (MS). Although MS-related fatigue (MS-F) strongly affects quality of life and social performance of patients, there is currently a lack of knowledge about its pathophysiology, which in turns leads to poor objective diagnosis and management. Recent studies have attempted to explain potential etiologies as well as treatments for MS-F. However, it seems that without a consensus on its nature, these data could not provide a route to a successful approach. In this Article, we review definitions, epidemiology, risk factors and correlated comorbidities, pathophysiology, assessment methods, neuroimaging findings, and pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatments of MS-F. Further studies are warranted to define fatigue in MS patients more accurately, which could result in precise diagnosis and management.

Background: This scoping review aimed to investigate the status of breast cancer (BC) preventive behaviors and screening indicators among Iranian women in the past 15 years. BC, as the most common cancer in women, represents nearly a quarter (23%) of all cancers. Presenting the comprehensive view of preventive modalities of BC in the past 15 years in Iran may provide a useful perspective for future research to establish efficient services for timely diagnosis and control of the disease. Materials and Methods: The English and Persian articles about BC screening modalities and their indicators in Iran were included from 2005 to 2020. English electronic databases of Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus, and Persian databases of Scientific Information Database (SID) and IranMedex were used. The critical information of articles was extracted and classified into different categories according to the studied outcomes. Results: A total of 246 articles were assessed which 136 of them were excluded, and 110 studies were processed for further evaluation. Performing breast self-examination, clinical breast examination, and mammography in Iranian women reported 0%–79.4%, 4.1%–41.1%, and 1.3%-45%, respectively. All of the educational interventions had increased participants' knowledge, attitude, and practice in performing the screening behaviors. The most essential screening indicators included participation rate (3.8% to 16.8%), detection rate (0.23–8.5/1000), abnormal call rate (28.77% to 33%), and recall rate (24.7%). Conclusion: This study demonstrated heterogeneity in population and design of research about BC early detection in Iran. The necessity of a cost-effective screening program, presenting a proper educational method for increasing women's awareness and estimating screening indices can be the priorities of future researches. Establishing extensive studies at the national level in a standard framework are advised

Background: Ischemic heart disease and psychiatric disorders are among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality. Plans for providing basic health services to community members require knowledge of the current state. Therefore, the aim of this study was to systematically review the literature to estimate the prevalence of psychiatric disorders among patients with ischemic heart disease. Materials and Methods: In this study, PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science were systematically searched to find studies published before June 6, 2021. The systematic review included all original articles on the prevalence of psychiatric disorders among patients with ischemic heart disease. Two independent researchers evaluated the quality of studies, using the Joanna Briggs Institute questionnaire. All analyses were performed in Stata/MP version 16. A random-effects model was used for data analysis. Results: Of 1672 studies initially identified, 13 studies were included in our meta-analysis, with a total of 2233 participants. The overall prevalence of psychiatric disorders was estimated at 46.85% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 36.08–57.62; I² = 100%; P < 0.001 for heterogeneity). The most common disorder was depression (27.80%; 95% CI: 18.27–37.34; I² = 99.99%; P < 0.001 for heterogeneity). Based on the results, the prevalence of psychiatric disorders had increased by 25.55% from 2000 to 2021 compared to1984–2000. Conclusion: The prevalence of psychiatric diseases in people with ischemic heart disease is high and increases over time. It is recommended that preventive measures be taken worldwide.