Background and Objectives: In recent years, researchers have focused to find out the best dietary composition to provide maximum performance and health for the animals. Therefore, providing suitable nutritional conditions is aimed to improve the growth performance of calves. There are reports of the use of dietary fatty acids to alter growth performance as well as the immune response in suckling calves. Using a fat source is suggested as a way to improve energy and growth performance in calves. However, the relationship between the level of forage consumption and the type of fat source in the infant’ s calves is not well understood. Therefore, the current study was designed and conducted to evaluate the effects of fat sources with or without alfalfa hay forage in the starter diet on performance, nutrient digestibility, and blood and rumen parameters of Holstein dairy calves. Materials and Methods: This experiment with 40 newborn Holstein calves with a mean age of 3 days and a mean weight of 39 ± 1. 8 kg with 4 treatments and 10 replications was a factorial arrangement in a completely randomized design. Experimental treatments were included: 1) starter diet containing soybean oil supplement without alfalfa; 2) starter diet containing soybean oil supplement with 15% alfalfa; 3) starter diet containing palm oil supplement without alfalfa; 4) starter diet contained palm oil supplement along with 15% alfalfa hay. Daily starter intake and 10-d intervals body weight were recorded and the feed conversion ratio was calculated for each group. To determine blood parameters on day 36 of experiment, blood samples were taken from the jugular vein. Apparent digestibility of nutrients (organic matter, dry matter, NDF, crude protein, and ether extract) was measured using acid-insoluble ash as an internal marker. Results: The results showed that feeding alfalfa hay along with soybean oil could negatively affect the starter consumption, average daily gain, and final weight of suckling calves. Thus, the lowest starter consumption (635 vs. 443 g/d), daily gain (541 vs. 671 g/d) and final weight (71. 2 vs. 79. 6 kg) were found when palm fat and soybean oil was fed with alfalfa hay, respectively. Dry matter intake (milk + starter) and feed efficiency were not affected by oil, alfalfa forage, and their interactions. The results showed that the digestibility of organic matter in the treatment containing soybean oil with alfalfa was the lowest (P < 0. 05). The highest digestibility was related to the treatment of palm oil with alfalfa and the lowest amount was found for soybean oil with alfalfa. The highest concentration of ammonia nitrogen was for calves receiving soybean oil with alfalfa, where the lowest amount was related to the treatment of palm oil with alfalfa (P <0. 05). The results showed that alfalfa, oil and alfalfa and oil interaction had a significant effect on the short-chain fatty acid concentration (P <0. 05). Rumen pH, acetate and propionate concentrations, acetate to propionate ratio, and short chain fatty acids were not affected by alfalfa, oil and their interactions. Oil supplementation and the interaction could have a significant effect on blood concentrations of glucose, Insulin, and beta-hydroxybutyrate (P<0. 05). While soybean oil, alfalfa, and the interaction of oil and alfalfa did not have any significant effect on blood concentrations of cholesterol, triglycerides, albumin, blood urea nitrogen, aspartate aminotransferase, and alanine aminotransferase. Conclusion: It can be concluded that despite the level of forage in the starter diet, supplementation with soybean oil reduced performance, nutrient digestibility, and also impaired ruminal fermentation compared to the diet containing palm oil. Simultaneous feeding of soybean oil and alfalfa forage had a negative effect on feed intake and performance of dairy calves, and on the other hand, when consuming forage during the pre-weaning period of calves, the use of palm oil is more advisable rather than soybean oil.

Objective: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are obtained from a variety of sources, mainly bone marrow. These cells have great likely for clinical research due to their potential to regenerate tissue. A cryopreservation procedure for MSCs is required because these cells cannot stay alive for long periods in culture. The aim of this study was to determine whether vitrification is a useful freezing method for storage of MSCs.Materials and Methods: Mesenchymal stem cells were isolated from rat bone marrow based on their capacity to adhere to plastic culture surfaces. MSCs were cryopreserved using both vitrification method and OPS vitrification and stored at -196oC in liquid nitrogen with EFS as cryoprotectant for two months. The morphology and viability of thawed MSCs were evaluated by Trypan Blue staining. Furthermore, pre and post cryopreserved MSCs induced to osteocyte and adipocyte with corresponding osteogenic and adipogenic medium for three weeks and alizarine red S and oil red- O staining were done.Results: We were able to obtain homogeneous plastic adherent cells from the mononuclear cell fractions of bone marrow using our culture conditions. After thawing, the viability rates was 81.33%±6.83 for vitrification method and 80.83%±6.4 for OPS vitrification, while the values with the before vitrification control group were 88.16%±6.3 (Mean±SD, n=6). Post-cryopreserved cells from both of vitrification method and OPS vitrification also had similar cellular morphology and colony-formation indistinguishable from the non-vitrified fresh MSCs. In addition the resuscitated cells cultured in induction medium consisting of 100 nM dexamethasone, 10 mM b-glycerol phosphate and 50 mM ascorbic acid-2-phosphate, showed osteogenesis, and mineral production and deposition was detectable after 21 days by alizarine red S staining. Moreover, applying adipogenic differentiation condition, pre and post cryopreserved cells differentiated into adipocyte by 5mg/ml Insulin, 1mM dexamethasone, 100 nM Indomethacine, 0.5 mM methylisobutylxanthine and lipid vacuole accumulation was stained by oil red O.Conclusion: This study indicates that vitrification is a reliable and effective method for cryopreservation of MSCs.

Background: Based on clinical studies, low adiponectin and high tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a) are associated with obesity and related diseases such as type 2 diabetes and Insulin resistance.Objectives: In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of an aerobic training program on adiponectin, TNF-a, and adiponectin/TNF-a ratio in adult obese men.Patients and Methods: For this purpose, 24 sedentary adult obese men matched for age (38±3.23 years) and body mass index (31.94±3.26 kg/m2) were selected and divided into exercise (aerobic training) and control groups. Exercise subjects participated in an aerobic exercise training intervention for 12 weeks (3 times/week) and the control group did not participate in aerobic intervention. Anthropometric and biochemical data including fasting serum adiponectin, TNF-a, and adiponectin/TNF-a ratio were measured before and after aerobic training for each participant in each group. Data were analyzed by both independent and paired sample t test. Results: Compared to pre-training, fasting serum adiponectin decreased significantly (P=0.019), but serum TNF-a was not changed by aerobic training (P=0.057). A significant increase was observed in adiponectin/TNF-a ratio in exercise subjects after aerobic training (P=0.008).Conclusions: Based on these data, we conclude that aerobic training intervention is associated with improved inflammatory profile in obese subjects.

Background and Objective: The use of supplements, herbal extracts, and exercise training for the treatment of diseases and metabolic disorders has increased among people. Thus, the aim of this study was the study of combined aerobic exercise training and consumption of green tea extract on serum levels of tumor necrosis factor a (TNF-a) and interleukin 6 (IL-6) in obese women with type 2 diabetes.Materials and Methods: In this research study, 46 obese diabetic women (BMI>30, blood fasting sugar more than 150-250 mg/dL, 45-60 years old) were selected and randomly assigned into four groups, green tea (n=12), aerobic exercise training+green tea (n=12), aerobic exercise training (n=12) and control (n=10). Participants in supplementary groups received 1500 mg green tea extract daily for 10 weeks. Aerobic training program included 10 weeks of training, 3 sessions per week and each session was 60 minutes at 55% maximum heart rate during the first week and gradually increased with the progress of the training program to 75 percent of maximum heart rate. Each session consists of warm up (10 minutes), the main part of the training involves performing aerobic exercises in a standing position (40 minutes) and recovery in sitting (10 minutes).Results: The data showed that no significant difference was observed in serum TNF-a level (p>0.05). But, in training+Green Tea group, a significant difference was observed in the serum IL-6 (p=0.009). The results of analysis of variance showed that a significant difference between the effects of different interventions do not exist for TNF-a (F=2.33, P=0.089). However, for the impact of various interventions, there was a significant difference in the amount of IL-6 (F=8.01, P=0.000). Post-hoc test for IL-6 showed that significant differences exist between the control group and exercise+green tea (P=0.021), between green tea and exercise group (P=0.021) and training+green tea group (P=0.021). In addition, after different interventions, serum Insulin levels in the exercise group had a significant increase (P=0.013).Conclusion: According to obtained results, it appears that aerobic training plus green tea extract consumption have better effect on serum inflammatory factors in obsess women with diabetes type 2.

Background and Purpose: Sweeteners make the diet more palatable. Honey is a natural sweetener which can be useful in weight loss due to its antioxidant content. In this study, we examined the effect of honey intake on body weight and blood glucose of overweight and obese subjects with type 2 diabetes.Methods and Materials: This randomized clinical trial was conducted on 34 type diabetics with BMI³25 kg/m2 and fasting blood sugar (FBS) 110-220 mg/dl. Exclusion criteria were malignant disease, major surgery, taking immunoregulatory, cytotoxic or immunosuppressive drugs, pregnancy or lactation in women and Insulin injection. They were randomly assigned into 2 groups: Honey Group received oral natural honey for 8 weeks, but  the control group continued their usual diet. Body weight and FBS measurements were done at the end of weeks 0, 2, 4, 6 and 8. Repeated measurement analysis was used for analyzing the trend of changes.Results: After the adjustment for the baseline values, the amount of weight loss in the Honey group was 1.6±0.33 kg in average less than the control group (P=0.0001). After the adjustment of the effect of the baseline FBS, the trend of FBS changes were 10.38±8 mg more than the Honey group, which was not significant. The FBS changes were not also significant across the two groups.Conclusion: The 8-week consumption of honey can help lose body weight in obese and overweight diabetic patients without any harmful damages on blood glucose.

Purpose: Lipocalin-2 (Lcn2), a newer adipocyte-secreted acute phase protein, was recently reported to be correlated with potential effects on obesity and inflammation. The reaction of this protein to progressive exercise has not been evaluated yet. This study was designed to compare the serum Lcn2 and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs- CRP) levels after participating in an acute bout of treadmill protocol in obese and normal-weight men.Methods: Nine obese (aged: 43.2±4.6 yrs and body mass index (BMI):31.4±1.6 kg/m2) and 9 normal-weight (aged: 42.9±4.4 yrs and BMI: 23.03±1.7 kg/m2; mean ± SD) sedentary men selected randomly from volunteers performed a single bout of exercise according to the treadmill Bruce protocol.Results: Before the exercise, Lcn2 level was higher in obese than normal-weight individuals (P<0.05). A significant increase in Lcn2, hs- CRP, white blood cells (WBC) and Insulin resistance index was observed after the exercise in both groups (P<0.05). The level of Lcn2, hs-CRP and WBC increase was more significant in obese individuals than normal-weight subjects after the exercise (P<0.05). Conclusions: It seems that the levels of Lcn2 and other inflammatory markers elevated in obese and normal-weight men after participating in an exhaustive progressive exercise. These changes in obese men were considerable.

Background & Objectives: The elderly population is increasing due to important reasons, like decreased mortality rate resulting from advances in medical sciences, health, and education, and subsequently increased life expectancy globally. Aging is associated with various biopsychosocial aspects. The prevalence of no communicable diseases, like diabetes, increases with age and reaches its maximum in the elderly. Diabetes is among the most prevalent metabolic disorders, especially in the elderly. Diabetes has debilitating and dangerous effects on the vital organs of the body. Moreover, due to deficiency in Insulin secretion, blood glucose levels of the patient is significantly increased; the most frequent symptom of diabetes is glucose intolerance or hyperglycemia. Accordingly, the patient encounters short– and long– term complications of diabetes. One of such problems in the elderly is the odds of the occurrence of another concomitant disease that complicates blood glucose level control. The current study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of laughter therapy on self– compassion and hypoglycemia in the elderly with type 2 diabetes. Methods: This was a quasi– experimental research with a pretest– posttest, follow– up, and a control group design. The statistical population of the study consisted of 60– to 75– year– old patients with type 2 diabetes, referring to the Iranian Diabetes Association treatment centers in Tehran City, Iran, in 2019. The study participants were voluntarily selected, 36 of whom were randomly divided into two groups (laughter therapy=18; control group=18). The criterion for the selection of sample size was an effect size of 0. 25, alpha of 0. 05, and power of 0. 80 in both study groups. The minimum sample size was 18 per group. The study participants were selected from three treatment centers, and 15 were chosen from each center. The required data were obtained by the Self– Compassion Scale (SCS, Neff, 2003) and glycated hemoglobin test (HbA1c). The experimental group received 8 sessions of laughter therapy, and no intervention was provided to the control group. The follow– up test was performed two months after the end of the training period. The inclusion criteria were ≥ 1 year of type 2 diabetes according to a physician’ s approval, hemoglobin A1c level of ≥ 6%, minimum high– school diploma education, moderate socioeconomic status, receiving no concurrent psychological treatment, no acute or chronic medical illnesses, such as epilepsy, skeletal diseases, cardiovascular failure, etc. which could cause problems in blood sampling and attending meetings, no severe mental illnesses, such as psychotic disorders and sensory impairment, no current use of psychotropic drugs or substance abuse, as well as no severe diabetes complications (e. g., nausea, & undergoing kidney dialysis, etc. ) that could lead to hospitalization. Absence from >2 therapeutic sessions and the occurrence of major stress due to unpredicted events were also considered as the exclusion criteria. The acquired data were analyzed by repeated– measures Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) at the significance level of p<0. 05 in SPSS. Results: The obtained results revealed that laughter therapy increased self– compassion (p<0. 001) and reduced blood glucose level (p<0. 001) in the posttest phase; the treatment effects retained after two months (p<0. 001). The posttest scores of the self– compassion components in the experimental group were relatively higher than those of the pretest stage. In other words, the intervention significantly improved compassion variables in the experimental group. The relevant findings also indicated that the self– compassion scores of the follow– up phase significantly increased in the experimental group, and blood glucose levels significantly decreased in the experimental group. Conclusion: The present study evaluated the effectiveness of laughter therapy on self– compassion and hypoglycemia in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes. The collected results demonstrated that laughter therapy could improve the study subjects’ compassion and blood glucose level. Thus, laughter therapy is effective on self– compassion and hypoglycemia in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes and could be used by clinicians to improve the health status of patients with diabetes.

Introduction: The central melanocortin system appears to be an important mediator of the actions of both leptin and Insulin, which are key elements in the control of energy balance. Proopiomelanocortin (POMC) is a complex precursor protein that is proteolytically cleaved to a variety of biologically active and important neuroendocrine peptides. The POMC gene is expressed mainly in the anterior and intermediate lobes of the pituitary and in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus, and at a lower level also in a wide variety of peripheral tissues and of brain regions in mammals. It produces many biologically active peptides via a series of enzymatic steps in tissue-specific manners, which have important roles in the regulation of appetite, sexual behavior, the movement of melanin produced from melanocytes in skin and the production of endogenous opioid peptides with widespread actions in the brain. In chicken, the POMC gene consisted of three exons and two introns and its protein has 251 amino acid residues with nine proteolytic cleavage sites, suggesting that it could be processed to give rise to all members of the melanocortin family, including adrenocorticotropic hormone and alpha-, beta-and gamma-melanocyte-stimulating hormones, as well as the other POMC-derived peptides. Considerable evidence has been collected indicating that POMC mutations are associated with obesity. Materials and method: Blood samples were collected in EDTA vials from one hundred Ross and sixty Cobb broiler chicks, stored at-20 and their DNA was extracted using the modified salting-out chloroform method. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was carried out by specific primer pairs to amplify a 444bp fragment from a part of exon two of the Pro-Opiomelanocortin gene. The pattern of all samples was determined through single stranded conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analyses by Acrylamide gel using silver nitrate staining. The associations between polymorphisms (patterns) and the growth traits (live and carcass weight, and the weight of breast, thigh, back and neck, wings, liver, heart, bursa of Fabricius, pancreas, paraventricular, gizzard and spleen) were evaluated using the GLM procedure of the SAS software. Results and Discussion: The extraction or genomic DNA and amplification of 444bp fragment of Pro-Opiomelanocortin gene were successfully done and it was polymorph in both strains. Two different patterns were found in Ross strain, E and F patterns with the frequencies of 0. 56 and 0. 44, respectively. Four different patterns were found in Cobb strain, A, B, C and D patterns with the frequencies of 0. 63, 0. 09, 0. 14 and 0. 14, respectively. There was no significant association between the patterns and the growth traits. In Ross strain, the effect of genotype (pattern) tend o be significant for carcass weight (p value = 0. 054) and the chickens with F pattern have more carcass weight than those with pattern E. In Cobb strain, chickens with B pattern tend to have better slaughter yields compared to other patterns. Our results revealed that Cobb strain has more diversity in the studied fragment of POMC gene than Ross strain. Conclusion: Energy homeostasis and body weight (BW) are regulated by coordinated actions of multiple genes. For significant economically traits, improvements in BW can be achieved through mass selection whereas feed conversion is relatively more difficult to improve. Gene polymorphisms can be used for improvement of the production traits by genetic selection, if the allelic association with the traits be determined. The variable associations of the identified polymorphisms may be a result of the differences in the population characteristics, sex, or both, indicating that the selection criteria may influence the production trait associations. This should be taken into consideration while selecting for the desired production traits. Additional studies are required to expand the genetic and physiological aspects involved in feed intake, digestion, and metabolism. The genomic diversity also has important implications in the evolutionary dynamics of species. Investigations of polymorphisms are useful for better understanding of the gene function, and those associated with commercially significant production traits have a potential for usage as molecular markers for selection programs. In summary, the identified polymorphisms and their associations with the traits of economic importance in the present study provides greater insight into the role POMC gene involved in energy balance in poultry and points toward the potential application of the findings for the enhancement of production traits by marker assisted selection.

Objective: Adiponectin is secreted from adipose tissue. This hormone has a fundamental role in pathogenesis of Insulin resistance, and has anti-inflammatory and anti-atherogenic effects. The objectives of this study were to compare serum adiponectin level between type 1 diabetics and healthy people and to assess its related factors, and also to determine the relationship between adiponectin and metabolic state.Methods: This was a case control study involving 60 diabetics (25 good and 35 poor metabolic controlled) and 28 healthy persons (younger than 18 years old). The data about demographic (age and sex), clinical and paraclinical characteristics [body mass index (BMI), duration of disease, puberty state, and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and adiponectin level in serum] were collected. Determinants of adiponectin were assessed using univariate and multiple linear regression analyses.Findings: Mean (±SD) serum adiponectin level in healthy persons, good-controlled and poor-controlled type 1 diabetes mellitus patients were 9.16 (±4.2) mg/cc, 10.89 (±4.48)mg/cc, and 15.92 (±8.26)mg/cc, respectively. Post hoc analysis revealed that differences of adiponectin between poor- and good-controlled type 1 diabetes mellitus patients (P=0.01) and between healthy persons and poor controlled type 1 diabetes mellitus (P<0.0001) were statistically significant. Adiponectin level was associated with puberty state and BMI in healthy persons. It was associated with puberty state and HbA1c in type 1 diabetic persons.Conclusion: Serum level of adiponectin was higher in type 1 diabetics than in healthy persons and it can be used as a good marker for metabolic control state among diabetics.

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a prevalent disease, which is caused by deficiency in Insulin secretion or factors that impair its function. Diabetic hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia are important risk factors in cardiovascular diseases. The arteriosclerosis and its accompanying structural changes are in part due to endothelial cell injury and abnormal glycosylation of cell surface and extra cellular matrix glycoconjugate. These are the first structural changes of formation of atheromatous plaque. The aim of the present study was to identify the structural and extra cellular matrix changes of terminal sugars by histochemical methods in aorta and common carotid arteries in male diabetic rats. Methods and Materials: A total number of 63 male Sprague Dawley rats with 250 ± 50 gr weights were chosen and randomly divided into experimental (n=36) and control (n= 27) groups. Diabetes was induced by IP injection of 60 mg/kg of streptozotocin in experimental group. Experimental and control groups further divided into 2 week, 2 months and 4 months subgroups. Animals were preserved in standard condition. After the mentioned time, samples were taken from carotid and aorta, fixed in Boins and processed routinely. Paraffin blocks were cut with 5-6 micrometer in thickness and stained by H-E, PAS and PNA/Alcian blue pH=2.5, thereafter sections graded according to staining intensity and data were analyzed by NPAR test of Mann Whitney. Results: Results of this study showed significant difference only for PAS positive media components between 2 and 4 months diabetic groups (P<0.007).There were also statistically significant difference between elastic lamina of 2 and 4 month of diabetic group (P<0.03). PNA showed the presence of Gal/GalNac in sub endothelial and adventitial components of arteries. Although there was a slight difference of ECM staining between diabetic groups for the Gal/GalNac and intense reactivity of 4-month diabetic group in comparison to 2-month and 2-week diabetic groups, there were no significant difference between them for PAS and lectin staining. Conclusions: It seems that in diabetes, the rate of glycosylation of cell surface and ECM components changed slowly. Future studies will probably show the exact role of these components in pathophysiology of diabetes.