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Publications by authors named "Ehsan Saburi"
Genetics and molecular biology of male infertility among Iranian population: an update.
Majid Mojarrad Ehsan Saburi Alireza Golshan Meysam Moghbeli
Am J Transl Res 2021 15;13(6):5767-5785. Epub 2021 Jun 15.
Department of Medical Genetics and Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences Mashhad, Iran.
Infertility is one of the main social and health problems among young couples. Although a noticeable ratio of infertilities are asymptomatic, about half of the cases are observed among males. Various environmental factors such as life style, dietary patterns, and pathogens are associated with male infertility. Mutations and chromosomal abnormalities are also the most important genetic risk factors of male infertility. Similar to other populations, there is a dramatically rising trend of male infertility among Iranian. Regarding the high ratio of asymptomatic cases, it is required to clarify the molecular biology and cellular processes involved in male infertility in this population to suggest an efficient panel of diagnostic markers. In this review, we have summarized all of the cellular and molecular processes which have been reported among Iranian infertile males to clarify the molecular biology of male infertility in this population. It was observed that the stress response, cellular detoxification, and DNA repair processes were the most common aberrant cellular mechanisms among Iranian infertile males. This review paves the way of introducing a population-based diagnostic panel of genetic markers among Iranian infertile males.
MAEL as a diagnostic marker for the early detection of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
Mohammad Reza Abbaszadegan Negin Taghehchian Azadeh Aarabi Faride Akbari Ehsan Saburi Meysam Moghbeli
Diagn Pathol 2021 Apr 26;16(1):36. Epub 2021 Apr 26.
Department of Medical Genetics and Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
Background: Esophageal cancer is one of the most common malignancies among Iranians and is categorized as adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. Various environmental and genetic factors are involved in this malignancy. Despite the recent advances in therapeutic modalities there is still a noticeable mortality rate among such patients which can be related to the late diagnosis. Regarding high ratio of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) in Iran, therefore it is required to assess molecular biology of ESCC to introduce novel diagnostic markers. In present study we assessed the role of Maelstrom (MAEL) cancer testis gene in biology of ESCC among Iranian patients.
Methods: Forty-five freshly normal and tumor tissues were enrolled to evaluate the levels of MAEL mRNA expression using Real time polymerase chain reaction.
Results: MAEL under and over expressions were observed in 12 (26.7%) and 9 (20%) of patients, respectively. MAEL fold changes were ranged between -4.33 to -1.87 (mean SD: -2.90± 0.24) and 1.92 to 7.72 (mean SD: 3.97± 0.69) in under and over expressed cases, respectively. There was a significant association between stage and MAEL expression in which majority of MAEL over expressed tumors (8/9, 88.9%) were in stage I/II (p<0.001). There was also a significant correlation between MAEL expression and depth of invasion in which tumor with T1/2 had higher levels of MAEL expression compared with T3/4 tumors (p=0.017). Moreover, there were significant correlations between MAEL expression, tumor size (p=0.028), and grade (p=0.003) among male patients.
Conclusions: Our data showed that the MAEL was mainly involved in primary stages of tumor progression and it has a declining expression levels toward the advanced stages and higher depth of tumor invasions. Therefore, MAEL can be efficiently introduced as an early detection marker among Iranian ESCC patients.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13000-021-01098-z DOI Listing
Immunoregulatory Effects of Tolerogenic Probiotics in Multiple Sclerosis.
Hadi Atabati Esmaeil Yazdanpanah Hamed Mortazavi Saeed Gharibian Bajestani Amir Raoofi Seyed-Alireza Esmaeili Azad Khaledi Ehsan Saburi Jalil Tavakol Afshari Thozhukat Sathyapalan Abbas Shapouri Moghaddam Amirhossein Sahebkar
Adv Exp Med Biol 2021 ;1286:87-105
Biotechnology Research Center, Pharmaceutical Technology Institute, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
Gut microbiota has essential roles in the prevention and progression of multiple sclerosis (MS). The association between the gut microbiota and the central nervous system (CNS) or immune system response of MS patients has been documented in many studies. The composition of the gut microbiota could lead to sensitization or resistance against promotion and development of MS disease. Probiotics are the major part of gut microflorapopulation and could be substituted with tolerogenic probiotics that protect the CNS against autoimmune responses. Tolerogenic probiotics with anti-inflammatory and immuno-modulatory properties have effects on intestinal flora and can reestablish regulatory mucosal and systemic immune responses. Probiotics are able to prevent and restore excessive activation of inflammatory responses, especially autoreactive T cells and inflammatory cytokines. Tolerogenic probiotics, through induction of regulatory T cells and increase of anti-inflammatory cytokines, play a crucial role in controlling inflammation and maintaining tolerance and hemostasis. Therefore, probiotics can be considered as a preventive or therapeutic tool in MS. In the present review, we focus on the immunoregulatory effects of tolerogenic probiotics on the severity of disease, as well as Th1, Th2, and Treg populations in different experimental and human studies of MS.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55035-6_6 DOI Listing
Chemokines as the critical factors during bladder cancer progression: an overview.
Amir Sadra Zangouei Amir Abbas Hamidi Hamid Reza Rahimi Ehsan Saburi Majid Mojarrad Meysam Moghbeli
Int Rev Immunol 2021 16;40(5):344-358. Epub 2021 Feb 16.
Bladder cancer (BCa) is one of the most frequent urogenital malignancies which is mainly observed among men. There are various genetic and environmental risk factors associated with BCa progression. Transurethral endoscopic resection and open ablative surgery are the main treatment options for muscle invasive BCa. BCG therapy is also employed following the endoscopic resection to prevent tumor relapse. The tumor microenvironment is the main interaction site of tumor cells and immune system in which the immune cells are recruited via chemokines and chemokine receptors. In present review we summarized the main chemokines and chemokine receptors which have been associated with histopathological features of BCa patients in the world. This review highlights the chemokines and chemokine receptors as critical markers in early detection and therapeutic purposes among BCa patients and clarifies their molecular functions during BCa progression and metastasis.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08830185.2021.1877287 DOI Listing
The use of mesenchymal stem cells in the process of treatment and tissue regeneration after recovery in patients with Covid-19.
Ehsan Saburi Mohammad Foad Abazari Hadi Hassannia Reyhaneh Nassiri Mansour Reza Eshaghi-Gorji Mobina Gheibi Mohammad Rahmati Seyed Ehsan Enderami
Gene 2021 Apr 4;777:145471. Epub 2021 Feb 4.
Immunogenetics Research Center, School of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran; Department of Medical Biotechnology, Faculty of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran. Electronic address:
In addition to causing health concerns, the new coronavirus has been considered in the world with its unknown mechanism of physiopathogenesis and long-term effects after patient recovery. Pulmonary, renal, hepatic and cardiac complications have been reported so far. Beside the researchers' focus on finding vaccines and using conventional therapies, cell-based therapy might be an effective therapeutic strategy. The use of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is one of the options due to their immunomodulatory properties and their proven effects in the treatment of many diseases. As MSCs are not infected with covid-19, there is evidence that it modulates the immune system and prevents the virus from clotting. Despite the beginning of numerous clinical trials in the use of mesenchymal stem cells, it is necessary to set a practical guideline that specifies items such as cell origin, number of cells, frequency of injection, injection site, etc.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gene.2021.145471 DOI Listing
Genetic and molecular biology of systemic lupus erythematosus among Iranian patients: an overview.
Meisam Gachpazan Iman Akhlaghipour Hamid Reza Rahimi Ehsan Saburi Majid Mojarrad Mohammad Reza Abbaszadegan Meysam Moghbeli
Auto Immun Highlights 2021 Jan 30;12(1). Epub 2021 Jan 30.
Background: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a clinicopathologically heterogeneous chronic autoimmune disorder affecting different organs and tissues. It has been reported that there is an increasing rate of SLE incidence among Iranian population. Moreover, the Iranian SLE patients have more severe clinical manifestations compared with other countries. Therefore, it is required to introduce novel methods for the early detection of SLE in this population. Various environmental and genetic factors are involved in SLE progression.
Main Body: In present review we have summarized all of the reported genes which have been associated with clinicopathological features of SLE among Iranian patients.
Conclusions: Apart from the reported cytokines and chemokines, it was interestingly observed that the apoptosis related genes and non-coding RNAs were the most reported genetic abnormalities associated with SLE progression among Iranians. This review clarifies the genetics and molecular biology of SLE progression among Iranian cases. Moreover, this review paves the way of introducing an efficient panel of genetic markers for the early detection and better management of SLE in this population.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13317-020-00144-y DOI Listing
Withdrawal Notice: Anti-cancer Effect of Urginea Maritima Bulb Extract In Vitro through Cell Cycle Arrest and Induction of Apoptosis in Human Breast Cancer Cell Lines
Khadije Saket Roshanak Salari Ehsan Saburi Mahdi Yousefi Mohammad Ali Khodadoust Mahdieh Hadi Jalil Tavakol Afshari
Curr Drug Discov Technol 2020 08 17. Epub 2020 Aug 17.
Department of Immunogenetics, Buali Institute, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad. Iran.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1570163817666200817111703 DOI Listing
Potential inhibitory effect of lycopene on prostate cancer.
Mahdi Mirahmadi Shayan Azimi-Hashemi Ehsan Saburi Hossein Kamali Mandana Pishbin Farzin Hadizadeh
Biomed Pharmacother 2020 Sep 30;129:110459. Epub 2020 Jun 30.
Biotechnology Research Center, Pharmaceutical Technology Institute, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran; Department of Medicinal Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. Electronic address:
Studying prostate cancer is important due to its high annual incidences and mortality rates in the world. Although prostate cancer mortality rates are reduced using new therapy, complicated routes and side effects of these current drugs require a daily available treatment for prevention. Lycopene is a natural, prominent, and effective product which has a high value in diet. The anti-cancer effect, non-toxicity, safety and preventive or therapeutic roles of lycopene have been investigated in several studies. In the current review, we have collected information about the anti-cancer, anti-progressive and apoptotic effects of lycopene on prostate cancer. This article is a summary of the most important original and review articles on lycopene and its anticancer effects that are systematically categorized and presents information about the molecular structure, different sources, biological functions, and its in-vivo and in-vitro effects of lycopene on variety of cancerous and normal cells. The clinical studies provide a clear image for continuous use of this adjunctive dietary for different type of cancers, especially prostate cancer in men. In addition, this article discusses the various molecular pathways activated by lycopene that eventually prevent or suppress cancer. Lycopene has been found to effectively suppress the progression and proliferation, arrest in-cell cycle, and induce apoptosis of prostate cancer cells in both in-vivo and in-vitro conditions. Additionally, lycopene showed that it could modulate the signaling pathways and their protein for the treatment or prevention of prostate cancer.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2020.110459 DOI Listing
Aloe Vera-Derived Gel-Blended PHBV Nanofibrous Scaffold for Bone Tissue Engineering.
Aylin Tahmasebi Abbas Shapouri Moghadam Seyed Ehsan Enderami Maryam Islami Mohamad Kaabi Ehsan Saburi Amir Daei Farshchi Fatemeh Soleimanifar Vahid Mansouri
ASAIO J 2020 08;66(8):966-973
Proteomics Research Center, Faculty of Paramedical Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Today, composite scaffolds fabricated by natural and synthetic polymers have attracted a lot of attention among researchers in the field of tissue engineering, and given their combined properties that can play a very useful role in repairing damaged tissues. In the current study, aloe vera-derived gel-blended poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) nanofibrous scaffold was fabricated by electrospinning, and then, PHBV and PHBV gel fabricated scaffolds characterized by scanning electron microscope, protein adsorption, cell attachment, tensile and cell's viability tests. After that, osteogenic supportive property of the scaffolds was studied by culturing of human-induced pluripotent stem cells on the scaffolds under osteogenic medium and evaluating of the common bone-related markers. The results showed that biocompatibility of the PHBV nanofibrous scaffold significantly improved when combined with the aloe vera gel. In addition, higher amounts of alkaline phosphatase activity, mineralization, and bone-related gene and protein expression were detected in stem cells when grown on PHBV-gel scaffold in comparison with those stem cells grown on the PHBV and culture plate. Taken together, it can be concluded that aloe vera gel-blended PHBV scaffold has a great promising osteoinductive potential that can be used as a suitable bioimplant for bone tissue engineering applications to accelerate bone regeneration and also degraded completely along with tissue regeneration.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/MAT.0000000000001094 DOI Listing
The Role of MicroRNAs in the Induction of Pancreatic Differentiation.
Elham Sabouri Alireza Rajabzadeh Seyedeh Elnaz Enderami Ehsan Saburi Fatemeh Soleimanifar Ghasem Barati Mohamad Rahmati Gholamreza Khamisipour Seyed Ehsan Enderami
Curr Stem Cell Res Ther 2021 ;16(2):145-154
Diabetes Research Center, Department of Medical Biotechnology, Faculty of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran.
Stem cell-based therapy is one of the therapeutic options with promising results in the treatment of diabetes. Stem cells from various sources are expanded and induced to generate the cells capable of secreting insulin. These insulin-producing cells [IPCs] could be used as an alternative to islets in the treatment of patients with diabetes. Soluble growth factors, small molecules, geneencoding transcription factors, and microRNAs [miRNAs] are commonly used for the induction of stem cell differentiation. MiRNAs are small non-coding RNAs with 21-23 nucleotides that are involved in the regulation of gene expression by targeting multiple mRNA targets. Studies have shown the dynamic expression of miRNAs during pancreatic development and stem cell differentiation. MiR- 7 and miR-375 are the most abundant miRNAs in pancreatic islet cells and play key roles in pancreatic development as well as islet cell functions. Some studies have tried to use these small RNAs for the induction of pancreatic differentiation. This review focuses on the miRNAs used in the induction of stem cells into IPCs and discusses their functions in pancreatic β-cells.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1574888X15666200621173607 DOI Listing
Probiotics with ameliorating effects on the severity of skin inflammation in psoriasis: Evidence from experimental and clinical studies.
Hadi Atabati Seyed-Alireza Esmaeili Ehsan Saburi Maedeh Akhlaghi Amir Raoofi Nima Rezaei Amir Abbas Momtazi-Borojeni
J Cell Physiol 2020 12 28;235(12):8925-8937. Epub 2020 Apr 28.
Halal Research Center of IRI, FDA, Tehran, Iran.
Experimental and clinical studies have confirmed safety and the medical benefits of probiotics as immunomodulatory medications. Recent advances have emphasized the critical effect of gastrointestinal bacteria in the pathology of inflammatory disorders, even, outside the gut. Probiotics have shown promising results for curing skin-influencing inflammatory disorders through modulating the immune response by manipulating the gut microbiome. Psoriasis is a complex inflammatory skin disease, which exhibits a microbiome distinct from the normal skin. In the present review, we considered the impact of gastrointestinal microbiota on the psoriasis pathogenesis, and through literature survey, attempted to explore probiotic species utilized for psoriasis treatment.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jcp.29737 DOI Listing
Different osteogenic differentiation potential of mesenchymal stem cells on three different polymeric substrates.
Mohammad Foad Abazari Zahrasadat Hosseini Shohreh Zare Karizi Sara Norouzi Mojdeh Amini Faskhoudi Ehsan Saburi Seyed Ehsan Enderami Abdolreza Ardeshirylajimi Hassan Mohajerani
Gene 2020 May 4;740:144534. Epub 2020 Mar 4.
Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Dental School, Shahid Beheshti University Of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address:
The function of tissue cells is strongly depends on the extracellular matrix (ECM) that can guide and support cell structure. This support plays a crucial role in the process of cell proliferation and differentiation. Herein, three different nanofibrous scaffolds that are highly attractive for tissue engineering were selected and then osteogenic related genes and protein expression patterns of human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AT-MSCs) were investigated when grown on substrates. Polycaprolactone, Poly (L-lactic acid) and Polyvinylidene-fluoride nanofibrous scaffolds were fabricated using Electrospinning method and then AT-MSCs viability and osteogenic differentiation were evaluated while cultured on them. The highest AT-MSCs survival rate when grown on the scaffolds was detected when grown on Polyvinylidene-fluoride. In addition, the highest ALP activity and mineralization were also observed in differentiated AT-MSCs has grown on Polyvinylidene-fluoride. The expression levels of Runx2, osteonectin and osteocalcin genes and osteocalcin protein in the AT-MSCs has grown on the Polyvinylidene-fluoride were also significantly higher than the rest of the scaffolds. Based on the results, it seems that since the studied substrate have a similar structural characteristics, their nature may have an important role in the stem cell's osteogenesis process, where the Polyvinylidene-fluoride piezoelectricity was a most distinguished characteristic.
Potential cytotoxic and anti-metastatic effects of berberine on gynaecological cancers with drug-associated resistance.
Hamed Mortazavi Banafsheh Nikfar Seyed-Alireza Esmaeili Fatemeh Rafieenia Ehsan Saburi Shahla Chaichian Mohammad Ali Heidari Gorji Amir Abbas Momtazi-Borojeni
Eur J Med Chem 2020 Feb 4;187:111951. Epub 2019 Dec 4.
Halal Research Center of IRI, FDA, Tehran, Iran; Nanotechnology Research Center, Bu-Ali Research Institute, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran; Department of Medical Biotechnology, Student Research Committee, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. Electronic address:
Gynaecological disorders, such as cervical, ovarian, and endometrial cancers are the second most prevalent cancer types in women worldwide. Therapeutic approaches for gynaecological cancers involve chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. However, lifespan is not improved, and novel medications are required. Among various phytochemicals, berberine, a well-known natural product, has been shown to be a promising cancer chemopreventive agent. Pharmacokinetics, safety, and efficacy of berberine have been investigated in the several experiments against numerous diseases. Here, we aimed to provide a literature review from available published investigations showing the anticancer effects of berberine and its various synthetic analogues against gynaecological disorders, including cervical, ovarian, and endometrial cancers. In conclusion, berberine has been found to efficiently inhibit viability, proliferation, and migration of cancer cells, mainly, via induction of apoptosis by both mitochondrial dependent and -independent pathways. Additionally, structural modification of berberine showed that berberine analogues can improve its antitumor effects against gynaecological cancers.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejmech.2019.111951 DOI Listing
Prevalence of Integrons and Antibiotic Resistance Pattern in Isolated from Clinical Samples of Iranian Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
Mehran Ghazalibina Hamed Mortazavi Mahtab Babadi Mohammadreza Rahimi Azad Khaledi Manouchehr Teymouri Ehsan Saburi
Ethiop J Health Sci 2019 Sep;29(5):639-648
Immunogenetic and Cell Culture Department, Immunology Research Center, School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
Background: Acinetobacter baumannii is an important opportunistic nosocomial pathogen. Class 1 integrons in A. baumannii plays a significant role in antibiotic resistance. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the prevalence of integrons and antibiotic resistance pattern in A. baumannii isolated from clinical samples of Iranian patients.
Methods: The Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) and the keywords with the help of Boolean operators ("AND" or "OR") were used alone or in combination to conduct the search. The searching process was conducted in the Web of Science, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases and, also Iranian databases. The search was restricted to relevant English and Persian cross-sectional publications reporting the prevalence of Int1 in A. baumannii isolated from clinical samples from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2018. The data were analyzed using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software. Regarding the heterogeneity of studies, the random effects model was used. Cochrane Q and I tests was used to evaluate statistical heterogeneity between the studies.
Results: Fifteen studies were included in the analysis. The combined prevalence of class 1 integrons in A. baumannii was 55.2% (95% CI: 44.8-65.1). The pooled prevalence of MDR A. baumannii isolates was 68.1%. The highest resistance belonged to Aztreonam, followed by Ciprofloxacin, and Ceftazidime with a resistance rate of 97.6%, 92.8%, and 91.6%, respectively. Tobramycin was reported as an effective antibiotic.
Conclusions: The present study reported an alarmingly high prevalence of class 1 Integrons, and MDR isolates of A. baumannii recovered from clinical samples that should be considered.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ejhs.v29i5.15 DOI Listing
Micro-RNA-incorporated electrospun nanofibers improve osteogenic differentiation of human-induced pluripotent stem cells.
Aylin Tahmasebi Seyed E Enderami Ehsan Saburi Maryam Islami Somayeh Yaslianifard Javad A Mahabadi Abdolreza Ardeshirylajimi Fatemeh Soleimanifar Abbas S Moghadam
J Biomed Mater Res A 2020 02 11;108(2):377-386. Epub 2019 Nov 11.
Department of Immunogenetics, Bu-Ali Research Institute, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
Smart scaffolds have a great role in the damaged tissue reconstruction. The aim of this study was developing a scaffold that in addition to its fiber's topography has also content of micro-RNAs (miRNAs), which play a regulatory role during osteogenesis. In this study, we inserted two important miRNAs, including miR-22 and miR-126 in the electrospun polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofibers and after scaffold characterization, osteoinductivity of the fabricated nanofibers was investigated by evaluating of the osteogenic differentiation potential of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) when grown on miRNAs-incorporated PCL nanofibers (PCL-miR) and empty PCL. MiRNAs incorporation had no effect on the fibers size and morphology, cell attachment, and protein adsorption, although viability and proliferation rate of the human iPSCs were increased after a week in PCL-miR compared to the empty PCL. The results obtained from alkaline phosphatase activity, calcium content, bone-related genes, and proteins expression assays demonstrated that the highest osteogenic markers were observed in iPSCs grown on the PCL-miR compared to the cells cultured on PCL and culture plate. According to the results, miR-incorporated PCL nanofibers could be considered as a promising potential tissue-engineered construct for the treatment of patients with bone lesions and defects.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jbm.a.36824 DOI Listing
Comparison of human-induced pluripotent stem cells and mesenchymal stem cell differentiation potential to insulin producing cells in 2D and 3D culture systems in vitro.
Mohammad Foad Abazari Navid Nasiri Fatemeh Nejati Shohreh Zare Karizi Mojdeh Amini Faskhodi Ehsan Saburi Nasrin Aghapur Mohammad Reza Mahdavi Abdolreza Ardeshirylajimi Seyed Ehsan Enderami Fatemeh Soleimanifar
J Cell Physiol 2020 05 15;235(5):4239-4246. Epub 2019 Oct 15.
Dietary Supplements and Probiotic Research Center, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran.
Diabetes is one of the most common diseases in the world that is chronic, progressive, and costly, and causes many complications. Common drug therapies are not able to cure it, and pancreas transplantation is not responsive to the high number of patients. The production of the insulin producing cells (IPCs) from the stem cells in the laboratory and their transplantation to the patient's body is one of the most promising new approaches. In this study, the differentiation potential of the induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) into IPCs was compared to each other while cultured on poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid (PLGA)/polyethylene glycol (PEG) nanofibrous scaffold as a 3D substrate and tissue culture polystyrene (TCPS) as a 2D substrate. Although the expression level of the insulin, Glut2 and pdx-1 genes in stem cells cultured on 3D substrate was significantly higher than the stem cells cultured on 2D substrate, the highest expression level of these genes was detected in the iPSCs cultured on PLGA-PEG. Insulin and C-peptide secretions from differentiated cells were also investigated and the results showed that secretions in cultured iPSCs on the PLGA-PEG were significantly higher than cultured iPSCs on the TCPS and cultured MSCs on both PLGA-PEG and TCPS. In addition, insulin protein was also expressed in the cultured iPSCs on the PLGA-PEG significantly higher than cultured MSCs on the PLGA-PEG. It can be concluded that differentiation potential of iPSCs into IPCs is significantly higher than human MSCs at both 2D and 3D culture systems.
Unfolded protein response-mediated modulation of mesenchymal stem cells.
Fataneh Tavasolian Ahmad Z Hosseini Ali Mirzaei Elham Abdollahi Pouria Jandaghi Sara Soudi Mahmood Naderi Ehsan Saburi Amir Abbas Momtazi-Borojeni Thomas P Johnston Amirhossein Sahebkar
IUBMB Life 2020 02 24;72(2):187-197. Epub 2019 Aug 24.
The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) receives unfolded proteins predestined for the secretory pathway or to be incorporated as transmembrane proteins. The ER has to accommodate the proper folding and glycosylation of these proteins and also to properly incorporate transmembrane proteins. However, under various circumstances, the proteins shuttling through the ER can be misfolded and undergo aggregation, which causes activation of the unfolded protein response (UPR). The UPR is mediated through three primary pathways: activating transcription factor-6, inositol-requiring enzyme-1 (IRE1), and PKR-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase, which up-regulate ER folding chaperones and temporarily suppress protein translation. The UPR can be both cytoprotective and/or cytotoxic depending on the duration of UPR activation and the type of host cell. Proteostasis controls stem cell function, while stress responses affect stem cell identity and differentiation. The present review aimed to explore and discuss the effects of the UPR pathways on mesenchymal stem cells.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/iub.2154 DOI Listing
The trip of a drug inside the body: From a lipid-based nanocarrier to a target cell.
Manouchehr Teymouri Mohammad Mashreghi Ehsan Saburi Ali Hejazi Amin Reza Nikpoor
J Control Release 2019 09 21;309:59-71. Epub 2019 Jul 21.
Molecular Medicine Research Center, Hormozgan Health Institute, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran. Electronic address:
To date, enormous investigations have been conducted to enhance medicines' target-oriented delivery to improve their therapeutic index. In this regard, lipid-based carrier system might have been regarded as prime delivery systems that are very close to the naturally cell-derived vesicles used for biomolecular communication among cells from occasionally remote tissues. Upon examination of the literature, we found a chasm between groups of investigations in drug pharmaceutics and thought that maybe holistic research could provide better information with respect to drug delivery inside the body, especially when they are going to be injected directly into the bloodstream for systemic distribution. While a collection of older research in most cases dealt with the determination of drug partition coefficient between the aqueous and cell membrane compartments, the link has been overlooked in newer investigations that were mostly focused on drug formulation optimization and their association with particle biodistribution. This gap in the literature motivated us to present the current opinion paper, in which drug physicochemical properties like drug lipophilicity/hydrophilicity is considered as an important element in designing drug-carrying liposomes or micelles. How a hypothetical high throughput cell-embedded chromatographic technique might help to investigate a nanocarrier tissue distribution and to design 'multi-epitope grafted lipid-based drug carrier systems' are discussed. Whenever we would need support for our opinions, we have provided analogy from hydrophobic biomolecules like cholesterol, steroid hormones, and sex hormones and encouraged readers to consider our principle hypothesis: If these molecules could reach their targets far away from the site of production, then a large list of hydrophobic drugs could be delivered to their targets using the same principles.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jconrel.2019.07.027 DOI Listing
Synergistic effects of polyaniline and pulsed electromagnetic field to stem cells osteogenic differentiation on polyvinylidene fluoride scaffold.
Ali Mirzaei Ehsan Saburi Seyed Ehsan Enderami Matineh Barati Bagherabad Seyedeh Elnaz Enderami Mahmood Chokami Abbas Shapouri Moghadam Reza Salarinia Abdolreza Ardeshirylajimi Vahid Mansouri Fatemeh Soleimanifar
Artif Cells Nanomed Biotechnol 2019 Dec;47(1):3058-3066
i Dietary Supplements and Probiotic Research Center, Alborz University of Medical Sciences , Karaj , Iran.
Repairing the lost or damaged mandible is very difficult and time-consuming, so there is a great hope for tissue engineering to accelerate it. At the present study, electrospinning was applied to fabricate polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and PVDF-polyaniline (PANI) composite scaffolds. In addition, extremely low frequency pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) was applied for treating the stem cells derived from dental pulp (DPSCs) when cultured on the nanofibrous scaffolds. Osteoinductive property of the fabricated PVDF, PVDF-PANI scaffold at the presence and absence of the PEMF was investigated by evaluating the common osteogenic differentiation markers in seeded-DPSCs on the scaffold. Results demonstrated that cell attachment, protein adsorption and cells viability were increased when PEMF was applied. In addition, ALP activity, calcium content, osteogenic genes and protein evaluations confirmed that PEMF could significantly increase osteoinductivity of the PVDF while composite with PANI. According to the results, the use of polymers with piezoelectricity and conductivity features plus PEMF exposure has a promising potential to improve the current treatment methods in bone and mandibular defects.
A Meta-Analysis of the Prevalence of Class 1 Integron and Correlation with Antibiotic Resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Recovered from Iranian Burn Patients.
Siamak Heidarzadeh Yasamin Enayati Kaliji Reza Pourpaknia Alireza Mohammadzadeh Mehran Ghazali-Bina Ehsan Saburi Hossein Vazini Azad Khaledi
J Burn Care Res 2019 10;40(6):972-978
Infectious Diseases Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.
The role of integrons has been highlighted in antibiotic resistance among Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates. Therefore, we here reviewed the prevalence of class 1 integrons and their correlations with antibiotic resistance of P. aeruginosa isolated from Iranian burn patients. This review was conducted according to the guidelines of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). Cross-sectional and cohort studies published from January 1, 2000 until December 31, 2018 were enrolled. Meta-analysis was performed by Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (CMA) software using the random effects model, Cochran's Q, and I2 tests. Publication bias was estimated by Funnel plot and Egger's linear regression test. Nine out of 819 studies met the eligibility criteria. The overall combined prevalence of class 1 integrons in P. aeruginosa isolates was 69% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 50.5-83%). The highest combined resistance was reported against Cloxacillin (87.7%), followed by Carbenicillin (79.1%) and Ceftriaxone (77.3%). The combined prevalence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) isolates was 79.3% (95% CI: 31.1-97%). Also, a significant correlation was noted between the presence of class 1 integrons and antibiotic resistance in 55.5% of the included studies (P < .05). The results showed high prevalence of class 1 integrons, antibiotic resistance, and MDR strains in P. aeruginosa isolated from Iranian burn patients. Also, most of the included studies showed a significant correlation between the presence of class 1 integrons and antibiotic resistance.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jbcr/irz135 DOI Listing
Cell cytotoxicity, immunostimulatory and antitumor effects of lipid content of liposomal delivery platforms in cancer immunotherapies. A comprehensive in-vivo and in-vitro study.
Amin Reza Nikpoor Mahmoud Reza Jaafari Parvin Zamani Manouchehr Teymouri Hamed Gouklani Ehsan Saburi Shahrzad Amiri Darban Ali Badiee Ali Bahramifar Mahdi Fasihi-Ramandi Ramezan Ali Taheri
Int J Pharm 2019 Aug 2;567:118492. Epub 2019 Jul 2.
Nanobiotechnology Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address:
Liposome is one of the promising technologies for antigen delivery in cancer immunotherapies. It seems that the phospholipid content of liposomes can act as immunostimulatory molecules in cancer immunotherapy. In the present study, the immunological properties of different phospholipid content of liposomal antigen delivery platforms were investigated. To this aim, F1 to F4 naïve liposomes (without tumor-specific loaded antigens) of positively charged DOTAP/Cholesterol/DOPE (4/4/4 mol ratio), negatively charged DMPC/DMPG/Cholesterol/DOPE (15/2/3/5), negatively charged DSPC/DSPG/Cholesterol/DOPE (15/2/3/5) and PEGylated HSPC/mPEG2000-DSPE/Cholesterol (13/110) liposomal compositions were administered in mice bearing C26 colon carcinoma to assess tumor therapy. Moreover, In-vitro studies were conducted, including cytotoxicity assay, serum cytokines measurements, IFN-γ and IL-4 ELISpot assay, T cells subpopulation frequencies assay. The liposomes containing DOTAP and DOPE (F1 liposomes) were able to stimulate cytotoxic T lymphocytes signals such as IFN-γ secretions. In parallel, the aforementioned phospholipids stimulated secretion of IL-4 and IL-17 cytokines from T helper cells. However, these liposomes did not improve survival indices in mice. As conclusion, DOTAP and DOPE contained liposomes (F1 liposomes) stimulate a mixture of Th1 and Th2 immune responses in a tumor-specific antigens-free manner in mice bearing C26 colon carcinoma. Therefore, phospholipid composition of liposomes merits consideration in designing antigen-containing liposomes for cancer immunotherapy.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpharm.2019.118492 DOI Listing
Improved osteogenic differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells cultured on polyvinylidene fluoride/collagen/platelet-rich plasma composite nanofibers.
Mohammad Foad Abazari Fatemeh Soleimanifar Mojdeh Amini Faskhodi Reyhaneh Nassiri Mansour Javad Amini Mahabadi Solmaz Sadeghi Hadi Hassannia Ehsan Saburi Seyed Ehsan Enderami Mohammad Mehdi Khani Shohreh Zare Karizi
J Cell Physiol 2020 02 27;235(2):1155-1164. Epub 2019 Jun 27.
Department of Biology, Varamin-Pishva Branch, Islamic Azad University, Varamin, Iran.
Blood transfusion or blood products, such as plasma, have a long history in improving health, but today, platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is used in various medical areas such as surgery, orthopedics, and rheumatology in many ways. Considering the high efficiency of tissue engineering in repairing bone defects, in this study, we investigated the combined effect of nanofibrous scaffolds in combination with PRP on the osteogenic differentiation potential of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Electrospinning was used for fabricating nanofibrous scaffolds by polyvinylidene fluoride/collagen (PVDF/col) with and without PRP. After scaffold characterization, the osteoinductivity of the fabricated scaffolds was studied by culturing human iPSCs under osteogenic medium. The results showed that PRP has a considerable positive effect on the biocompatibility of the PVDF/col nanofibrous scaffold when examined by protein adsorption, cell attachment, and 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assays. In addition, the results obtained from alkaline phosphatase activity and calcium content assays demonstrated that nanofibers have higher osteoinductivity while grown on PRP-incorporated PVDF/col nanofibers. These results were also confirmed while the osteogenic differentiation of the iPSCs was more investigated by evaluating the most important bone-related genes expression level. According to the results, it can be concluded that PVDF/col/PRP has much more osteoinductivity while compared with the PVDF/col, and it can be introduced as a promising bone bio-implant for use in bone tissue engineering applications.
Fucosylated umbilical cord blood hematopoietic stem cell expansion on selectin-coated scaffolds.
Maryam Islami Zahra Payandeh Elaheh Dalir Abdolahinia Ehsan Saburi Fatemeh Soleimanifar Mousa Kehtari Yousef Mortazavi Samad Nadri Maryam Darvish
J Cell Physiol 2019 12 17;234(12):22593-22603. Epub 2019 May 17.
Department of Medical Biotechnology, Faculty of Medicine, Arak University of Medical Science, Arāk, Iran.
Despite the advantages of transplantation of umbilical cord blood's (UCB's) hematopoietic stem cells (uHSCs) for hematologic malignancy treatment, there are two major challenges in using them: (a) Insufficient amount of uHSCs in a UCB unit; (b) a defect in uHSCs homing to bone marrow (BM) due to loose binding of their surface glycan ligands to BM's endothelium selectin receptors. To overcome these limitations, after poly l-lactic acid (PLLA) scaffold establishment and incubation of uHSCs with fucosyltransferase-VI and GDP-fucose, ex vivo expansion of these cells on selectin-coated scaffold was done. The characteristics of the cultured fucosylated and nonfucosylated cells on a two-dimensional culture system, PLLA, and a selectin-coated scaffold were evaluated by flow cytometry, 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay, colony-forming unit (CFU) assay, and CXCR4 expression at the messenger RNA and protein levels. According to the findings of this study, optimized attachment to the scaffold in scanning electron microscopy micrograph, maximum count of CFU, and the highest 570 nm absorption were observed in fucosylated cells expanded on selectin-coated scaffolds. Furthermore, real-time polymerase chain reaction showed the highest expression of the CXCR4 gene, and immunocytochemistry data confirmed that the CXCR4 protein was functional in this group compared with the other groups. Considered together, the results showed that selectin-coated scaffold could be a supportive structure for fucosylated uHSC expansion and homing by nanotopography. Fucosylated cells placed on the selectin-coated scaffold serve as a basal surface for cell-cell interaction and more homing potential of uHSCs. Accordingly, this procedure can also be considered as a promising technique for the hematological disorder treatment and tissue engineering applications.
Incorporated-bFGF polycaprolactone/polyvinylidene fluoride nanocomposite scaffold promotes human induced pluripotent stem cells osteogenic differentiation.
Mohammad Foad Abazari Fatemeh Soleimanifar Seyed Ehsan Enderami Mahsa Nematzadeh Navid Nasiri Fatemeh Nejati Ehsan Saburi Shabanali Khodashenas Behzad Darbasizadeh Mohammad Mehdi Khani Pegah Ghoraeian
J Cell Biochem 2019 10 13;120(10):16750-16759. Epub 2019 May 13.
Department of Genetics, Tehran Medical Sciences Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
Bioactive scaffolds that can increase transplanted cell survival time at the defect site have a great promising potential to use clinically since tissue regeneration or secretions crucially depend on the transplanted cell survival. In this study embedded basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF)-polycaprolactone-polyvinylidene fluoride (PCL-PVDF) hybrid was designed and fabricated by electrospinning as a bio-functional nanofibrous scaffold for bone tissue engineering. After morphological characterization of the PCL-PVDF (bFGF) scaffold, nanofibers biocompatibility was investigated by culturing of the human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Then, the bone differentiation capacity of the iPSCs was evaluated when grown on the PCL-PVDF and PCL-PVDF (bFGF) scaffolds in comparison with culture plate as a control using evaluating of the common osteogenic markers. The viability assay displayed a significant increase in iPSCs survival rate when grown on the bFGF content scaffold. The highest alkaline phosphatase activity and mineralization were detected in the iPSCs while grown on the PCL-PVDF (bFGF) scaffolds. Obtained results from gene and protein expression were also demonstrated the higher osteoinductive property of the bFGF content scaffold compared with the scaffold without it. According to the results, the release of bFGF from PCL-PVDF nanofibers increased survival and proliferation rate of the iPSCs, which followed by an increase in its osteogenic differentiation potential. Taking together, PCL-PVDF (bFGF) nanofibrous scaffold demonstrated that can be noted as a promising candidate for treating the bone lesions by tissue engineering products.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jcb.28933 DOI Listing
Cardioprotective microRNAs: Lessons from stem cell-derived exosomal microRNAs to treat cardiovascular disease.
Abbas Shapouri Moghaddam Jalil Tavakol Afshari Seyed-Alireza Esmaeili Ehsan Saburi Zeinab Joneidi Amir Abbas Momtazi-Borojeni
Atherosclerosis 2019 06 23;285:1-9. Epub 2019 Mar 23.
The stem cell-based therapy has emerged as a promising therapeutic strategy for treating cardiovascular ischemic diseases (CVIDs), such as myocardial infarction (MI). However, some important functional shortcomings of stem cell transplantation, such as immune rejection, tumorigenicity and infusional toxicity, have overshadowed stem cell therapy in the setting of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Accumulating evidence suggests that the therapeutic effects of transplanted stem cells are predominately mediated by secreting paracrine factors, importantly, microRNAs (miRs) present in the secreted exosomes. Therefore, novel cell-free therapy based on the stem cell-secreted exosomal miRs can be considered as a safe and effective alternative tool to stem cell therapy for the treatment of CVDs. Stem cell-derived miRs have recently been found to transfer, via exosomes, from a transplanted stem cell into a recipient cardiac cell, where they regulate various cellular process, such as proliferation, apoptosis, stress responses, as well as differentiation and angiogenesis. The present review aimed to summarize cardioprotective exosomal miRs secreted by transplanted stem cells from various sources, including embryonic stem cells (ESCs), induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), and cardiac stem/progenitor cells, which showed beneficial modulatory effects on the myocardial infracted heart. In summary, stem cell-exosomal miRs, including miR-19a, mirR-21, miR-21-5p, miR-21-a5p, miR-22 miR-24, miR-26a, miR-29, miR-125b-5p, miR-126, miR-201, miR-210, and miR-294, have been shown to have cardioprotective effects by enhancing cardiomyocyte survival and function and attenuating cardiac fibrosis. Additionally, MCS-exosomal miRs, including miR-126, miR-210, miR-21, miR-23a-3p and miR-130a-3p, are found to exert cardioprotective effects through induction of angiogenesis in ischemic heart after MI.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2019.03.016 DOI Listing
Comparison of osteogenic differentiation potential of induced pluripotent stem cells on 2D and 3D polyvinylidene fluoride scaffolds.
Ali Mirzaei Abbas Shapouri Moghadam Mohamad Foad Abazari Fatemeh Nejati Sepehr Torabinejad Mohamad Kaabi Seyed Ehsan Enderami Abdolreza Ardeshirylajimi Maryam Darvish Fatemeh Soleimanifar Ehsan Saburi
J Cell Physiol 2019 08 9;234(10):17854-17862. Epub 2019 Mar 9.
In recent decades, tissue engineering has been the most contributor for introducing 2D and 3D biocompatible osteoinductive scaffolds as bone implants. Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), due to the unique mechanical strength and piezoelectric properties, can be a good choice for making a bone bioimplant. In the present study, PVDF nanofibers and film were fabricated as 3D and 2D scaffolds, and then, osteogenic differentiation potential of the human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) was investigated when grown on the scaffolds by evaluating the common osteogenic markers in comparison with tissue culture plate. Biocompatibility of the fabricated scaffolds was confirmed qualitatively and quantitatively by the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide and scanning electron microscopy assays. Human iPSCs cultured on PVDF nanofibers showed a significantly higher alkaline phosphate activity and calcium content compared with the iPSCs cultured on PVDF film. Osteogenic-related genes and proteins were also expressed in the iPSCs seeded on PVDF nanofibers significantly higher than iPSCs seeded on PVDF film, when investigated by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis, respectively. According to the results, the PVDF nanofibrous scaffold showed a greater osteoinductive property compared with the PVDF film and due to the material similarity of the scaffolds, it could be concluded that the 3D structure could lead to better bone differentiation. Taken together, the obtained results demonstrated that human iPSC-seeded PVDF nanofibrous scaffold could be considered as a promising candidate for use in bone tissue engineering applications.
In vitro osteogenic differentiation potential of the human induced pluripotent stem cells augments when grown on Graphene oxide-modified nanofibers.
Ehsan Saburi Maryam Islami Simzar Hosseinzadeh Abbas Shapouri Moghadam Reyhaneh Nassiri Mansour Esmaeel Azadian Zeinab Joneidi Amin Reza Nikpoor Mohammad Hassan Ghadiani Zohreh Khodaii Abdolreza Ardeshirylajimi
Gene 2019 May 15;696:72-79. Epub 2019 Feb 15.
Department of Tissue engineering and Applied Cell Sciences, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address:
Due to the several limitations that surgeons are faced during bone tissue implantation there are daily increases in introducing new cell-co-polymer composites for use in bone tissue engineering approaches. In this study tried to develop a suitable nanostructured bio-composite for enhancing osteogenic differentiation of the human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Polyvinylidene fluoride-Graphene oxide (PVDF-GO) nanofibers was fabricated by electrospinning and then characterized using scanning electron microscope, tensile and viability assays. After that osteogenic differentiation of the iPSCs was investigated in three groups, including PVDF, PVDF-GO and tissue culture plate as a control group. Alkaline phosphatase activity and calcium content of the iPSCs cultured on PVDF-GO were significantly higher than those cultured on other groups. In addition, Runx2, osteocalcin and osteonectin genes were up regulated in iPSCs cultured on PVDF-GO significantly higher than those cells cultured on PVDF and control. Finally, osteocalcin and osteopontin proteins expression evaluated and the results confirmed higher osteoinductivity of the PVDF-GO nanofibers in comparison with the PVDF nanofibers. According to the results, it was demonstrated that PVDF-GO nanofibers have a great osteoinductive potential and taking together iPSCs-PVDF-GO nanofibrous construct can be an appropriate bio-implant to use for bone tissue engineering applications.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gene.2019.02.028 DOI Listing
Improved chondrogenic response of mesenchymal stem cells to a polyethersulfone/polyaniline blended nanofibrous scaffold.
Fatemeh Sadat Hosseini Ehsan Saburi Seyed Ehsan Enderami Abdolreza Ardeshirylajimi Matineh Barati Bagherabad Hadi Zare Marzouni Pegah Ghoraeian Fatemeh Soleimanifar
J Cell Biochem 2019 Feb 11. Epub 2019 Feb 11.
Owing to the fact that the cartilage tissue is not able to repair itself, the treatment of the joint damages is very difficult by current methods. Induction of tissue repair requires suitable cell and extracellular matrix. Providing these two parts can only be done using tissue engineering. In the present study, polyethersulfone (PES) and polyaniline (PANI) blend was electrospined for nanofibrous scaffold fabrication. Mesenchymal stem cells were isolated from human adipose tissue (AT-MSCs), and after characterization cultured on the PES-PANI scaffold and culture plate. Electron microscopic and 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) colorimetric assays were used for biocompatibility evaluation of the scaffold and the chondrogenic differentiation potential of AT-MSCs were investigated by staining of proteoglycans and gene and protein expression evaluation. Alcian blue staining, real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and Western blot results showed that chondrogenic differentiation potential of AT-MSCs was significantly increased when grown on PES-PANI nanofibers and was compared to the one grown on a culture plate. According to the results, PES-PANI has a promising potential to be used as a biomedical implant in patients with joints lesion, such as arthritis and osteoarthritis.
Bladder smooth muscle cell differentiation of the human induced pluripotent stem cells on electrospun Poly(lactide-co-glycolide) nanofibrous structure.
Ali Mirzaei Ehsan Saburi Maryam Islami Abdolreza Ardeshirylajimi Mir Davood Omrani Mohammad Taheri Abbas Shapouri Moghadam Soudeh Ghafouri-Fard
Gene 2019 Apr 6;694:26-32. Epub 2019 Feb 6.
Department of Medical Genetics, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Electronic address:
Smooth muscle cell (SMC) regeneration plays an important role in retrieving the bladder-wall functionality and it can be achieved by a proper cell-co-polymer constructed by tissue engineering. Human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which can be specifically prepared for the patient, was considered as cells in this study, and Poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) as a most interesting polymer in biomedical applications was applied to the scaffold fabrication by electrospinning. After scaffold characterization, SMC differentiation potential of the human iPSCs was investigated while cultured on the PLGA nanofibrous scaffold by evaluation of the SMC related important gene and protein markers. Alpha-smooth muscle actin (ASMA), Smooth muscle 22 alpha (SM-22a) as two early SMC markers were significantly up regulated either two and three weeks after differentiation induction in human iPSCs cultured on PLGA compared to those cells cultured on the tissue culture polystyrene (TCPS). But Calponin-1, Caldesmon1 and myosin heavy chain (MHC) expression differences in human iPSCs cultured on PLGA and TCPS were significant only three weeks after differentiation induction based on its lately expression in the differentiation process. ASMA and MHC proteins were also considered for evaluation by immunocytochemistry on differentiated iPSCs whereas results showed higher expression of these proteins in stem cells grown on PLGA compared to the TCPS. According to the results, human iPSCs demonstrated a great SMC differentiation potential when grown on PLGA and it could be considered as a promising cell-co-polymer for use in bladder tissue engineering.
Therapeutic Aspects of Squill; An Evidence-Based Review.
Khadije Saket Jalil T Afshari Ehsan Saburi Mahdi Yousefi Roshanak Salari
Curr Drug Discov Technol 2020 ;17(3):318-324
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Persian Medicine, School of Persian and Complementary Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
From ancient times, medicinal plants have been usually utilized to treat many disorders, but today, interest in these herbs is again aroused, because of their fewer side effects and low-cost. In traditional medicine, for many diseases, various medicinal herbs have been suggested so far. Drimia maritime, also named squill, is an important medicinal plant for the treatment of many diseases, especially respiratory diseases. In the current evidence-based study, we conducted a review of the general characteristics, ingredients, administration form, and side effects of squill in traditional medicine. For this purpose, traditional Persian medicine literatures and electronic databases were examined including PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar. Many compounds are isolated from D.maritima, including scillaren, scillirubroside, scillarenin, and bufadienolide glycosides. Oxymel is the most commonly used form of squill for various diseases, especially respiratory diseases. Besides, squill has been used in the treatment of cardiovascular, digestive, and dermatological disorders, it is also used against various cancer cells for its antioxidant and cytotoxic properties. Moreover, there is relatively reliable evidence of its benefits for bacterial and helminthic infections, rheumatism, edema, gout, abortion induction, healing of wounds and urine induction. It seems that supplementary studies are required to explore the bioactive agents and their effective mechanisms.


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In a Brainy Age, the Heart Retains its Symbolic Power
Scientists no longer believe that the soul lives in the heart—but we continue to use it as a metaphor for far more than just its physical function.
Julie Beck
Sukree Sukplang / Reuters
These days, the brain is where it's at. "It" being our minds, our personalities, our behaviors, our memories, our consciousness. The lumpy chunk of grey between our ears is the part of the human body scientists are most excited to study. When President Obama announced his BRAIN Initiative, to map the human brain, the New York Times called the brain "the next frontier."
But the pedestal the brain currently occupies used to belong to the heart. For much of history, the heart was the seat of what made humans human, as Fay Bound Alberti, an honorary senior research fellow at Queen Mary University of London, writes in her new book This Mortal Coil, a history of how culture has treated the body. And as the focus shifted to the brain, and scientists began to think of the heart purely in terms of its physical function, the heart nonetheless retained a glimmer of its former emotional, spiritual aura. The English language is full of metaphors invoking the heart. People wear their hearts on their sleeve; they have hearts of stone, or hearts of gold; they have heart-to-heart conversations. Other languages have many similar metaphors.
I spoke with Bound Alberti about how the poetry and metaphor of the heart has helped the physical heart hold onto a psychological significance, even in this, the era of the brain. A lightly edited and condensed transcript of our conversation is below.
Julie Beck: You write that, for much of history, the heart was the most important organ for selfhood. Why did people think that your self was something that physically resided in your heart?
Fay Bound Alberti: So the ancient Greeks had what we call a cardiocentric view of the body. I suppose because it's the first part of the body that demonstrates life through beating, they saw the heart as the center of the human body. The organ was imbued with psychological characteristics, but also was the space where the soul moved through the body, bringing together the mind and the body with the divine. That was also evident in those physiological feelings that we have in our chest that are linked to our emotional state. So for 2000 years we have this image of the body as being entirely driven by the heart, and the heart lies at the center of our psychological well-being and character as well as our relationship with God.
Beck: Was this part and parcel with the four humors? Since blood was one of the humors and the heart pumps blood?
Bound Alberti: There were four different humors in the body. Each one was responsible for a different emotion. And if the soul moved through the body and determined that an event was negative and disturbing, then the heart would summon the appropriate humors. Either choler, so that the body could run fast away from the threatening object, or melancholy, in which case the heart would feel down, sunken, and the body would retreat into itself. So the heart was responsible for summoning these humors that were made in the liver.
Beck: It was also a heating/cooling thing, right? Which also kind of had to do with personality. Could you explain that a bit?
Bound Alberti: In the early modern period you have the heart, which is responsible for the heat of the body, and the brain, which is basically the body's refrigerator. Under humoral medicine what you have is a balance of heat in the body. Men were hotter than women for instance, who were wet. And the reason was that the heat was supposedly burning up the hair on the men's head, which is why women's hair is longer, and it burns up flesh which is why women's bodies are fatter. So you have an incredible gendering of the body around the heat that operates through the heart. At this point the brain is just a cooling organ and has no importance to most physiological interpretations. It's all about the heart.
Beck: When did we start to shift away from that?
Bound Alberti: Well, it's a fascinating aspect of the history of physiology really. On the one hand, for the first time in the 17th century people can cut open human bodies and look inside, do vivisection and dissection in a way you weren't allowed to legally in the earlier period, for religious reasons. So you have the heart, increasingly from the 17th century but specifically in the 19th century, being regarded as this organ that you could compare and classify and contrast with other organs. And you also have the removal of the soul from the body in medicine generally. So the heart becomes an automated organ.
And the second big shift is you have philosophical ideas about the self, starting really from Rene Descartes in the 16th century, who talked about that disjuncture between mind and body. He introduced notions of the reflex and so on, which gave organs like the heart these integral properties—they could pump on their own. So Rene Descartes separated the passions from reason, and this coincides with work like physicians like William Harvey who talk about the circulation of the blood. Once you have the circulation of the blood, then the humoral model cannot survive. We can't be composed of these different humors that move around the body when actually the blood is being circulated all the time. So you have this convergence of philosophical, medical, and scientific belief that ultimately makes the heart less significant in relation to our mental selves and our spiritual selves, and prioritizes the brain. That's how we've ended up now in a very neuroscientific age where we're all about the brain.
Beck: Did they think the soul was something that no longer had any physical component?
Bound Alberti: Interestingly not. Rene Descartes wanted to view the body as still having a soul, but what he did was he moved the soul from the heart to the brain. He put it in the pineal gland, which is just behind the eyebrows. One of the reasons he did that was that facial expressions are very important in showing emotion. And he figured that actually, if you've got the soul working behind the eyebrows, that makes sense.
Beck: Scientists were thinking of the heart more as just part of the body, just another organ, but the poets were not having it, right?
Bound Alberti: That's right. So in the late 18th, early 19th century, the peak of the process by which the heart was becoming objectified, you've got the rise of the Romantic poets who reinforced the idea that there was something very heartfelt about what lurks in our chest. Those languages of emotions being heartfelt, hearts rising and sinking, being heavy-hearted, light-hearted, having the heart of a lion and so on—those metaphors and the language in which we talk about the heart, show that we still, even at the very peak of scientific medicine, have those associations of the heart being psychologically and emotionally, even spiritually important.
Beck: It seems like that period of poetry had a really big influence. We still use the heart to describe personality, you mentioned that in the book, like you could be cold-hearted, or tender-hearted, or empty-hearted. The poets kind of won, didn't they?
Bound Alberti: I see there being a really strong and problematic disjuncture in modern medicine, as a result of these changes. On the one hand you've got the surgeons who do really important valuable work on the heart, transplantations and so on. But when I've spoken to the surgeons, they don't want to imagine that the heart has any more significance than being a pump that sends the blood around the body and beats 100,000 times a day because they couldn't bear to do their job.
But then you also have people who continue to view the heart as something that is symbolic and psychological. There's some evidence of this in heart transplants, where you have people who've received a heart from another person and claim that they have all kinds of personality changes, like they're craving different food as a result. That isn't to say that demonstrates that there's anything more fundamentally real, if you like, about the heart as opposed to the brain as a way of talking about the self. But what's interesting to me is you've got these different narratives of understanding behavior.
And actually the medical community, through work like that done at the HeartMath Institute are slowly moving toward a cellular memory being located in the heart. Which actually, gives a very modern scientific explanation for the kinds of phenomena we're seeing in people who identify a heart transplant as being psychologically changing.
Beck: That's like, very fringe though, isn't it?
Bound Alberti: Yes, yes. But with something so dramatic and life-changing as heart surgery or heart transplantation, you can understand why all these different cultural ideas might come into play.
Beck: I wonder about the cellular memory stuff, I'm not sure how... legit that is.
Bound Alberti: It's not mainstream and it's absolutely not that I wish to say that it is the way ahead. But what I have found in looking at different ways the body's been interpreted, is it becomes another story that we tell about the body. So in a sense whether it's true or not is not as important to me as the fact that people use it as a way of explaining their world.
Beck: That is interesting because I think you do see this with a lot of alternative medicine stuff where people are suffering from a disease that's not well understood yet like chronic fatigue, or something like that. And because we believe in science so much, it's much more comforting or you just want to have a scientific narrative even if the actual science isn't there yet.
Bound Alberti: I think that's true. We are basically products of the 19th century scientific revolution that redefined how we view our bodies. I think it's the same in America as it is in most of Europe. We want to be able to objectify things, we want to name them, we want to classify them, and that gives a degree of comfort. But I think in a sense it also makes us question the medical framework that we live by. So when you have medical students dissecting bodies, they talk about the fact that actually it feels both frightening and privileged to cut open the heart and look at it. Because they, like everybody else, are imbued with these cultural ideas that just exist in the ether. So we're trying to be very objective, very materialistic in how we view the human body, but of course even the practitioners don't always see things that way.
Beck: And they felt that way more even about the heart than the brain, right?
Bound Alberti: Yeah. I think what you find in medical students—and I feel this really takes us to the heart of the matter—they tend to view cutting up the brain as problematic in the same way that cutting up the heart is problematic. But when they cut open the brain they tend to talk more about thoughts and memories, and whether or not they're cutting through those immaterial processes. But when they talk about dissecting the heart it's much more about love and feeling.
If I give talks and I say to people, "Could you point to the location of your mind?" they point to their head. When I say "Where is your soul?", they point to their chest. So I think in popular culture, we have these competing organs, the brain and the heart.
Beck: One thing that's interesting to me is how we ascribe an agency, or a sort of separateness, to the heart. Like, you "listen to your heart"—as though it's not a part of you. Like it's talking to you, or you're not totally in touch with it. And people do that with the brain, but it's much more detached like, "Oh when the brain wants this, you behave this way." Which is a little different. And I don't think there's any other body parts that we really do that with. Why do you think we talk about the heart that way?
Bound Alberti: I think you're absolutely right. Nowadays we think of our selves as residing in our heads so we are crainiological beings rather than cardiological beings. Part of it I think is that division between reason and emotion, which is also a product of the 19th century. We're locked in this battle sometimes between our minds and our passions—head over heart and which do we follow. There are interesting gender theory issues around that, because you have the brain which traditionally was associated with reason and very male and very objective, and the heart really becomes female and problematic and all about feelings. That head-heart divide is something that I think is very much built into modern medical structures. We don't tend think of ourselves anymore as a holistic whole, so we think about our hearts as very separate from our heads.
Beck: I'm wondering about not just contrasting the heart with your head, but thinking of it as not even totally connected to who you are, because you have to listen to it, like "Oh what is your heart telling you?" If it was like "Oh what is your brain telling you?", you would know. It's like a separate thing that you have to kind of seek out and listen to.
Bound Alberti: To expand on the head and the heart analogy, I think the reason that we do this is that we are used to thinking of our thoughts and our brains as being the rational way we could do something. What we're doing when we live our lives that way is actually distancing ourselves from our bodies. Our hearts are beating in our chests, and they are a very visceral reminder that our bodies have feelings and our bodies have reactions. But we have learned as crainiological beings to separate ourselves out from our bodies. So sometimes we might be trying to rationalize something, to feel okay about something, but our body, our heartbeat, is telling us there's a disconnect. I think that's why we have a rise in body memory work and in body therapies, that focus on the senses that are locked into the body and particularly the heart, that are telling us something different than the rational brain that tries to reason with the world.
Beck: Could you give me an example of what kind of therapies you're talking about?
Bound Alberti: There's quite a lot of body work that's on trauma. There's work by people like Peter Levine who does somatic experiencing, which focuses on the physical experiences, we have a sinking feeling we associate with fear and so on. People who do body work and somatic forms of therapy, their argument is that we need to bypass this rational brain which talking therapy has focused on, to try to get to what is making us feel lacking in ease within our own bodies. Body work has been most particularly useful for survivors of trauma and sexual abuse. There's different ways of understanding mental and physical health that either relate to what's happening in the brain or what's happening in the heart. Integrated medicine, I think, is finding ways to draw them together. But change is always slow, largely because we're locked into our original metaphors and our very traditional ways of seeing the body.
Beck: It's interesting because we have such advanced technology now that we can look at genes and neurons and get really computery with it if we want to. Even with all that, is there still something that remains mystical to us about the heart?
Bound Alberti: I think that there is. I think a lot of people still regard their heart as having an essence of self which cannot be read in material terms. There's metaphors about the heart that are enduring in the language that we discussed, about feeling that something is heartfelt, you're being true to your heart and so on. So the organ carries on that meaning above and beyond any scientific explanation.
And if you think about the iconography as well, there is nothing more iconic than "I heart..." whatever it is, New York, or you. Those sorts of images, of what I call the Hallmark heart, that wonderfully symmetric beautiful blood red sign, have been found throughout the world since the 14th century, and it's relentlessly the same across cultures, which is fascinating because it has no comparison to the bloodied slab on the butcher's block. This is a fantastical heart, which represents unity, it represents sex, it represents love, in a way that the brain can never visually represent, because it's not such a beautiful aesthetically pleasing symbol, is it?
Julie Beck is a senior editor at The Atlantic, where she covers family and education.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Physical Description: xvi, 454 pages : illustrations, maps ; 31 cm.
İstanbul : Ege Yayınları, 2018.
Physical Description: xv, 402 pages : illustrations, maps ; 28 cm.
Physical Description: x, 284 pages, 94 plates : illustrations, maps ; 30 cm.
Bonn : Habelt- Verlag, .
Physical Description: xviii, 415 pages, 7 colour plates : illustrations ; 30 cm.
New York : Cambridge University Press, 2016.
Physical Description: xii, 333 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.
Roma : L'Erma di Bretschneider, .
Physical Description: 56 pages, 61 pages of plates : illustrations (black) ; 24 cm.
Zaragoza : Prensas de la Universidad de Zaragoza, 2018.
Physical Description: 157 pages : illustrations ; 30 cm.
Leiden ; Boston : Brill, .
Physical Description: xiii, 376 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 25 cm.
Physical Description: 268 p., 20 p. of plates : ill., charts, plans ; 36 cm.
Princeton, New Jersey : American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 2018.
Physical Description: xxiv, 240 pages, 3 pages of plans, 48 pages of figures, 44 pages of plates : illustrations, maps, plans ; 30 cm.
Physical Description: 177 pages : illustrations, maps ; 21 cm.
Stuttgart : J.B. Metzler, 2018.
Physical Description: xvi, 1208 columns : illustrations ; 24 cm.
Dresden : Landesamt für Archäologie, Freistaat Sachsen, 2018.
Physical Description: 318 pages : illustrations, graphics ; 30 cm.
Langenweißbach : Beier & Beran, 2018.
Physical Description: 234 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), maps, charts, ; 30 cm.
Zagreb : Arheološki Muzej, 2016.
Physical Description: 219 pages : illustrations ; 34 cm.
Soest : Westfälische Verl.-Buchh. Mocker & Jahn, 2018.
Physical Description: 203 pages : illustrations ; 30 cm.
Physical Description: 386 pages : illustrations, maps ; 31 cm.
Berlin : Akademie Verlag, 2004.
Physical Description: 414 pages : charts ; 25 cm.
Weinstadt : Verlag Bernhard Albert Greiner, 2012.
Physical Description: 54 pages : color illustrations ; 24 x 17 cm.


text:
/*
 * To change this license header, choose License Headers in Project Properties.
 * To change this template file, choose Tools | Templates
 * and open the template in the editor.
 */
package flappybirdclone;

import java.awt.Image;

/**
 *
 * @author ppesq
 */
public class Bird extends Base implements Constants {
    //movement
    private int ySpeed = 0;

    //animations
    Animacion basic;

    public Bird(int posX, int posY, Animacion a1) {
        setPosX(posX);
        setPosY(posY);
        ySpeed = 0;
        basic = a1;
    }

    public void resetPosition() {
        setPosX(BIRD_DEFAULTX);
        setPosY(BIRD_DEFAULTY);
        setySpeed(0);
    }
    public void flap(){
        setySpeed(-30);
    }

    public void updateAnimation(long tiempoTranscurrido){
        basic.actualiza(tiempoTranscurrido);
    }

    public void move(double timer){
        double newYSpeed = getySpeed() + timer * G;
        setySpeed( (int)Math.round(newYSpeed) );
        setPosY((getPosY() + getySpeed()));
    }

    //getters and setters
    public int getySpeed() {
        return ySpeed;
    }

    public void setySpeed(int ySpeed) {
        this.ySpeed = ySpeed;
    }

    public Image getImage(){
        return basic.getImagen();
    }
}//Fin de la clase Bird

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Wind Creek Casino & Hotel
Emerald Coast Blue Marlin Classic, General, Hook &Tackle, Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort, Wind Creek Casino & Hotel June 24, 2016
THIS WEEKEND: Hunt is On For Big-Game Fish at Sandestin's Blue Marlin Classic
In a few short weeks, a fleet of powerful sport-fishing yachts will blast through the Destin Pass in a mad dash to fame and fortune as the 2016 Emerald Coast Blue Marlin Classic gets underway at Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort. At stake will be nearly $2 million in prize money and bragging rights for one of the premier events in the sport. Tournament Director Adam Alfonso said they have already surpassed all previous records for the number of sponsors and donations for the tournament, which will be held June 22-26. "We'll have a ton of great gifts for all the anglers and especially the winners," he said. Boat owners will receive an exclusive package from presenting sponsor Wind Creek Casino & Hotel-Atmore along with a custom fishing shirt from Hook &Tackle, while the captains will take home a special Wind Creek gift bag. Get a look inside the festivities from last year: Category winners will be awarded goodies from Costa, Orion Coolers, Jackson Fishing Kayaks, Glas Designs custom jewelry, Larry Rackley paintings and custom sculptures from beneath the blue. "Best of all, based on the pace of pre-tournament registrations, we're on track to top our record number of boats and record $1.68 million in overall prize money," Alfonso said. "I've ordered plenty of beautiful Florida weather and some really big fish, so it's shaping up to be another fantastic tournament week here at Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort." Now celebrating its 14th year, the Emerald Coast Blue Marlin Classic draws teams from across the Gulf Coast and Southeastern United States. Eligible species include blue marlin, tuna, wahoo and dolphin, plus a billfish release division. In 2015, Johnny Dorland's Cotton Patch crew from Orange Beach, Alabama, set the new tournament benchmark by weighing in an 899.6-pound blue marlin. The record billfish was measured at 134 inches with a girth of 74 inches to earn Team Cotton Patch first place and a payout of $195,277. The tournament held at Baytowne Marina at Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort doled out more than $1.5 million in winnings during the 2015 event. Check out this video with the Cotton Patch crew: "This year adding new boats that have never fished with us before, so that bodes well for spirited competition and more available prize money," Alfonso added. "We've also re-arranged the weigh station to increase the viewing area to accommodate more spectators for the Friday and Saturday weigh-ins. The public is welcome to come watch all the festivities as the boats unload their catch." The 2016 Emerald Coast Blue Marlin Classic, presented by Wind Creek Casino & Hotel—Atmore, runs June 22-26 at Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort. For registration forms, dockage or more information, visit www.fishecbc.com. To make your reservation, visit Sandestin.com/ECBC or call 800-320-8115. Use GROUP Code FISH16 for a special discount. Read More


text:
Solo Travel in North America
Budget: $65 to $100+ a day
Languages spoken: English, Spanish, French
Did you know? In some parts of the USA, many people speak Spanish (e.g. California and Miami).
If you are planning on solo travelling to North America, below is a summary of each country to help you choose the right destination for you. Scroll down to the end for the solo country and city guides.
About North America
Think of North America and you'll conjure up images of road trips, skyscrapers, desert cities and Rocky Mountains. But with 50 states to explore, plus neighbouring Canada and paradise islands, there are dramatic landscapes, snowy peaks and some amazing beaches to visit. It's more diverse than you think.
North America is an ideal place for a solo female. Not only do they speak English, but people are relatively friendly, and with great service, you'll be made to feel special. It's easy to meet others here and there's always help if you need it. Plus, finding your way around is relatively effortless.
Although places such as San Francisco and New York are cosmopolitan, you may find that attitudes in the South can be more old-fashioned than the rest of America, but their hospitality is warm and you won't encounter any uncomfortable stares or leering men here (no more than you would experience in your own country).
America has a diversity of people and although some of the States are safe, you need to be careful in big cities such as Chicago, Detroit and New York. Avoid walking in big cities after dark to prevent being mugged, and ask in your accommodation for any areas that you should avoid.
If you decide to hire a car here, pull over at gas stations at night where there are other people, instead of a quiet spot where you're alone. If you go hiking, stick to marked trails and don't hike at night. Many solos camp alone here but if you feel more comfortable look for others to camp next to for a bit more security.
Canada is really safe for solos. Canadians are very liberal and friendly to travellers and even apologise as much as the British. Discover the different regions to explore below.
Solo Travel in America
Starting with the North East, New York has to be the most famous city of all and is a shopper's paradise, with iconic buildings such as the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building. Take the Staten Island Ferry past the famous Statue of Liberty or wrap up warm and skate around Central Park in the winter.
For ocean solos, you can sail in Newport, Rhode Island, which is said to be the sailing capital of the world. Or ski in Vermont, one of the safest states in America and known for its ski resorts and rural settings.
New Hampshire is great for the outdoors solo, with the White Mountain National Forest and over 1,000 lakes. It even has its own Stonehenge, found in Salem on Mystery Hill.
Take a trip to Massachusetts and spot great white sharks on Cape Cod, an area made famous by the movie Jaws. Cycle along the century-year-old canal or explore the many diverse towns and villages, a draw for tourists with natural attractions and miles of beaches.
Experience the rural charm of Connecticut or the diversity of Maryland with the sea and mountains, and the fun resort city of Ocean City, with its amusement parks and skyscrapers. Hike Valley Forge in Pennsylvania or visit the oldest Protestant church in the USA in Delaware.
Spend some time in the country's capital of Washington, DC, the centre of the US government, and known for its famous museums and many historical monuments, or travel north and indulge in fresh seafood in Maine.
Head west to deserts, canyons and California sunshine, with a coastline that is just perfect for a road trip. Watch a show in Las Vegas, a desert city known for its nightlife and casinos, or take a helicopter ride across the Grand Canyon to escape the chaos of the city.
Try celebrity spotting in Hollywood and Los Angeles, and walk along the Avenue of Stars before window shopping in Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. See giant redwood trees in California or spot grizzly bears in Yellowstone National Park before admiring the views of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
Bellevue Washington
Explore the Great Salt Lake and rock formations of Utah or the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, or feel the wind in your hair on an epic road trip along Route 66. Visit Texas for the Houston Space Center, New Mexico for the glistening white sands of Tularosa Basin, and ski in Colorado or Idaho. There is plenty of hiking here too, from the Glacier Park in Montana to the Crater Lake and dunes in Oregon.
Chicago sits in the Midwest and is one of the top destinations in the US, with great architecture and art. Take a riverboat along the Mississippi River, visit Cleveland for sports, or pay a visit to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum. Just near Canada is Detroit, with its R 'n' B legacy, but this isn't the only city known for its music roots. As well as boasting over 200 fountains, Kansas City has a thriving jazz and blues scene.
Learn more about American history at the Abraham Lincoln historic sites in Illinois or find peace at the International Peace Garden in North Dakota. Visit Nebraska for fossil beds, Wisconsin for 14,000 lakes and Milwaukee for its music festival, Missouri for some country dancing or Indiana for the Basketball Hall of Fame.
They say for American music that all roads lead to the Deep South and you'll find plenty of live venues in this part of the country, from jazz clubs in Louisiana to the blues in Mississippi. You can follow the Mississippi Blues Trail, visiting birth sites and graves of musical legends. Known for its southern hospitality, there's plenty of culture and history here too. Explore the history of the Cherokee Indians, the largest Native American tribe in the US or see the Cajun Cowboys in Louisiana.
Explore the Gulf Coast beaches of sweet home Alabama, take a nostalgic riverboat ride along the Mississippi River, the Harpers Ferry in West Virginia or just get off the tourist track in Georgia. Visit Kentucky for the Kentucky Derby, South Carolina for Myrtle Beach and Arkansas for America's only diamond mine. Tennessee is home to the Great Smoky Mountains and the musical legend Elvis Presley – a visit to Gracelands will get you rocking and rolling.
The capital of Tennessee, Nashville, is home to country music, with the Ryman Auditorium and the Grand Ole Opry. Florida is the most southernmost point of America and if you're looking for fun, then this state has it all. From swanky beachfront clubs in Miami and the Keys to amusement parks in Orlando, this state is the place to find plenty of other tourists and party until sunrise.
Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco
Travelling America Alone
There are so many ways to get around America and it is fairly easy for a traveller here. Greyhound buses operate throughout the continent, with good bus timetables and they allow you to buy passes to get from state to state.
America is also known for its road trips and with iconic journeys such as Route 66, hiring a car here is easy and gives you the freedom to stop where you wish, though you have to be over 21 years old to hire a car. Getting from state to state does take time, but there is a good flight network and many low- cost internal flights if you need to travel long distances.
The North East has the best public transportation. It is recommended to take public transport here, as parking a car is costly. A car is needed to explore the Midwest and it's easy to find a car-rental company. Greyhound do operate buses here, but they may be slower than you need.
There are a few options of getting around outside the cities in the west of America. You can rent a car, take the Greyhound between cities or fly with low-cost airlines. The Marta is a good train system within Atlanta, or you can fly with Southwest Airlines and other low-
cost airlines. Gas is cheaper here, so renting a car isn't as expensive as in other parts of America.
Solo Trip To Alaska
For those who love the outdoors, Alaska is the perfect region for nature, with remote wilderness, mountain peaks and glacier lakes to an abundance of wildlife, from whales to brown bears. With more national parks than you'll have time to see, Alaska is broken up into regions, each with scenery that will just blow you away.
Getting Around Alaska
Driving in Alaska isn't that easy, as some of the roads are in poor condition. Although there is a railway line, it can be costly, so if you need to get around, consider an air pass with Alaska Airlines. If you're feeling flush, renting a plane and a pilot is a unique way of exploring the state. Ferries run along the coast, which takes you through the fjords and past Anchorage.
Kings Wharf, Bermuda
Bermuda Solo Travel
Although still owned by the UK, Bermuda lies off the coast of America and is made up of several islands isolated from the rest of the continent. Accessible only by boat or plane, Bermuda's attraction is its pink sandy beaches and the famous Bermuda triangle, where various craft have been known to disappear. With names such as John Smith's Bay and Somerset Village, if you're coming from the UK, you'll feel right at home.
How To Get Around Bermuda
There are many ways to get around Bermuda, but the best way to explore this unique island is on motorbike or by bicycle (you don't need a driving licence to rent a scooter here) or rent a hybrid bike to help you get up the hills. The only cars you can rent here are eco-friendly small electric ones but there is a good bus system that can take you to the beaches. Ferries operate daily and there are four different ferry routes, which can be quicker than taking the bus.
Waikiki Beach & Diamond Head in Hawaii
Solo Travel in Hawaii
Hawaii is an amazing destination and one for the solo bucket list. It attracts women searching for transformational travel as well as nature and volcano lovers. As well as gorgeous locations and warm tropical waters, the islands have a lot of historic significance. If you love to surf, then head to the North Shore of Oahu. This area is well renowned for its amazing coastlines, beautiful beaches and its waves during the winter that are larger than life.
Explore Na Pali Coast while you're here. The most popular destination in Hawaii is the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, where you can take guided tours and boat shuttles to learn more about what happened at this famous harbour. Then there's Maui for the historic hot spot of Lahaina town.
Crime is low in Hawaii and places such as Hilo are untouristy, so you can integrate with the locals. As a solo, be careful on isolated beaches where theft can occur.
Getting Around Hawaii
The road to Hana is one of the most popular activities and is the most beautiful drive in Hawaii. The Hana Highway has gorgeous landscapes, including waterfalls, black sand beaches and the only winery in Maui. Hire a car to experience this island at your own pace. Hawaiian Air and Mokulele Airlines both offer flights to and from the islands.
Emerald Lake, Yukon Canada
Solo Travel in Canada
Canada is so vast that it has much to offer. There's Alberta, with a rugged beauty of turquoise lakes and rolling grasslands with endless hiking trails and natural hot springs, or Labrador, one of the world's last wilderness regions to lose yourself in. Visit Charlevoix, with the oldest rock formation on Earth or walk on the ocean floor at the Bay of Fundy, a Marine Wonder of the World.
Follow historical routes in Yukon, with granite peaks and alpine lakes, or go back in history with Celtic traditions in Nova Scotia. Canada is great for a self-drive or, if you prefer some company, then the Rocky Mountaineer will take you on a spectacular journey through the Rockies.
For the adventure solo, British Columbia is the place to surf or ski in the famous ski resort of Whistler. Spend time outdoors at Algonquin Park, kayaking, canoeing and quad biking whilst spotting moose. Go horse riding on the world's largest active sand dune in Saskatchewan or spot polar bears in the famous Hudson Bay.
Go whale watching in New Brunswick and enjoy its multicultured history or kayak among beluga whales in Manitoba. Explore the Arctic wilderness of the Northwest territories and get pulled on a husky sleigh before spending a night in a wooden log cabin, enjoying a warm fire. Or just slow down the pace at Prince Edward Island with some of the friendliest locals you'll ever meet.
Canada also has vibrant cities: Toronto, a multicultural city with trendy restaurants and a great nightlife scene; the festival city of Edmonton; Calgary, with outdoor adventures; and Ontario, with the world-famous Niagara Falls. Not forgetting Ottawa, the capital, a city with famous landmarks and culture, or Vancouver, with the famous Stanley Park and aquarium.
For French Canadian culture, visit Quebec and Montreal, where you can step back in time in the cobblestone streets and fortified city walls. Or visit Victoria for a British colonial charm. You can mingle with the locals in Halifax while spotting kilt-wearing soldiers, enjoy the culture and festivals of Saskatoon or the artistic talents within Dawson City, or explore the Arctic capital of Nunavut with thousands of years of Inuit history.
The Toronto skyline
Travelling Around Canada
If you're planning to travel outside the cities in Canada, it's not difficult to get off the beaten track as it's easy to get around. Greyhound buses also operate in Canada and there's a good rail system with VIA Rail, but getting somewhere can take a few hours as the distances are quite vast.
The Rocky Mountaineer is an iconic rail journey across the Rocky Mountains. It isn't cheap, but is one of the most spectacular train rides in the world. If you prefer some company to travel with, try one of the tourist buses, such as Moose Network, which are good value and provide you with ready-made company to see the rest of the country with.
There is also the option of renting a car, but as a solo, other methods work out cheaper. There are internal flights with West Jet and Air Canada Jet, especially if you're hopping from city to city.
Fly or take the boat to Newfoundland. There are shuttles, which can take you to the next town, but the bus route isn't that frequent. Renting a car is very expensive here, so use public transport if you can.
Whale watching in British Colombia
Attractions of North America
Skiing in Whistler
Explore the beauty of Banff
Watch a show in Las Vegas
The skyline of Toronto
See polar bears in Hudson Bay
Whale watching in Alaska
Watch a musical on Broadway in New York
Hiking in Maui
Visit Graceland in Tennessee
Listen to jazz in New Orleans
Watch a baseball game in the oldest baseball stadium in Boston
See a volcano in Hawaii
Drive along Route 66
Enjoy the nightlife in Miami
Admire the architecture in Chicago
Drink whisky on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail
Have fun in a theme park in Orlando
Hike Yellowstone National Park
White-water rafting on the Rogue River in Oregon.
Grand Canyon – Arizona, USA
Aurora Borealis – Northern Lights, Alaska
The famous Hollywood sign
North America Itineraries
Canada – Calgary, Banff, Jasper, Lake Louise, Yoho National Park, Calgary.
Alaska – Anchorage, Seward, Kenai, Homer, Anchorage.
LA to Vegas – Los Angeles, San Diego, Scottsdale, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas.
Miami Beach in Florida
Montreal to Toronto – Montreal, Ottawa, Algonquin, Niagara Falls, Toronto.
West USA – Los Angeles, San Diego, Scottsdale, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Death Valley, Yosemite National Park, San Francisco, Pismo Beach, Los Angeles.
New York to New Orleans – New York, Washington D.C, Appalachia, Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans.
Denver Capitol
Three Weeks
Vancouver to Alaska – Vancouver, Port Hardy, Inside Passage, ferry to Juneau, Glacier Bay National Park, ferry to Whittier, Seward, Kenai Peninsula, Anchorage.
Chicago to San Francisco – Chicago, Wisconsin, Sioux Falls, Kennebec, Badlands National Park, Custer State Park, Devil's Tower, Cody, Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Jackson, Salt Lake City, Tonopah, Yosemite National Park, San Francisco.
The Grand Canyon
One Month in North America
New York to San Francisco – New York, Washington D.C, Shenandoah National Park, Appalachia, Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans, Houston, San Antonio, Carlsbad, Santa Fe, Cortez, Mesa Verde, Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Death Valley National Park, Bishop, Yosemite National Park, San Francisco.
If I've inspired you to take a solo trip to North America, click on the photos below for the solo destination guide to help you plan a trip to that city, country or region.


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