Idiopathic granulomatous mastitis is a rare and benign disease that primarily affects young women of reproductive age. Various factors have been suggested as possible causes, including pregnancy, breastfeeding, history of taking birth control pills, hyperprolactinemia, smoking, and history of trauma. Due to unknown etiology, opinions on its treatment have varied, resulting in differing recurrence rates and side effects. Therefore, conducting a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis can aid in understanding the causes and recurrence of the disease, thereby assisting in the selection of effective treatment and improving the quality of life. A systematic literature review was conducted using predefined search terms to identify eligible studies related to risk factors and recurrence up to June 2022 from electronic databases. Data were extracted and subjected to meta-analysis when applicable. A total of 71 studies with 4735 patients were included. The mean age of the patients was 34.98 years, and the average mass size was 4.64 cm. About 3749 of these patients (79.17%) were Caucasian. Patients who mentioned a history of pregnancy were 92.65% with 76.57%, 22.7%, and 19.7% having a history of breastfeeding, taking contraceptive pills, and high prolactin levels, respectively. Around 5.6% of patients had previous trauma. The overall recurrence rate was 17.18%, with recurrence rates for treatments as follows: surgery (22.5%), immunosuppressive treatment (14.7%), combined treatment (14.9%), antibiotic treatment (6.74%), and observation (9.4%). Only antibiotic and expectant treatments had significant differences in recurrence rates compared to other treatments ( value = 0.023). In conclusion, factors such as Caucasian race, pregnancy and breastfeeding history, and use of contraceptive hormone are commonly associated with the disease recurrence. Treatment should be tailored based on symptom severity and patient preference, with surgery or immunosuppressive options for recurrence.

Background/Aims: A growing body of evidence supports an important role of inflammatory-cytokines in development and progression of metabolic-syndrome (MetS), which explain, at least in part, its relationship with an increased cardiovascular-risk. Several studies have reported the therapeutic-impact of crocus-sativus in preclinical/clinical setting. Here we have explored the effects of crocus-sativus, saffron, on the modulation of twelve serum cytokines in subjects with MetS in a randomized control trial. Methods: Forty four adult volunteers, who met the diagnostic-criteria of MetS, were enrolled and randomly divided into 2 groups, to receive 100 mg/day crocus-sativus for 12 weeks. 12 cytokines, including IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF-α, MCP-1, IFN-γ, EGF, and VEGF were measured using a sandwich chemi-luminescence assays before/after therapy. Results: Our findings showed that MetS-patients who received therapy had a significantly (P<0.05) lower levels of total-cholesterol, low density-lipoprotein-cholesterol and triglyceride (TG), fasting-blood-sugar and hsCRP, however the serum concentration of high density-lipoprotein-cholesterol markedly enhanced after therapy (e.g., TG level reduced from 148.86±71.49 to 101.90±38.19 after therapy, P= 0.003). Moreover, we observed that Crocus-sativus was able to modulate the serum-concentrations of some pro-/anti-inflamatory cytokines. In particular the level of VEGF was increased from 12.64 pg/mL (95%CI: 9.60-17.67) to 16.59 (95%CI: 11.33-35.98, P= 0.033. Similar results were detected for IL-6 and EGF. Conclusion: Our findings provide a novel insight on the therapeutic role and mechanisms of this therapy in treatment of MetS patients via perturbation of cytokines and reducing the levels of triglyceride and LDL/TC, supporting further studies in a larger population.

Background/Aims: Adropin is a metabolic hormone secreted by the liver, brain, and many peripheral tissues and is involved in energy homeostasis and insulin sensitivity. Some reports have indicated a significant decrease in serum adropin levels in type 2 diabetic patients. However, the significance of a decline in adropin level in early detection of diabetic nephropathy (DN) remains to be clarified. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the serum levels of adropin in patients with type 2 diabetes with and without nephropathy. Methods: A total of 135 unrelated subjects (including 45 diabetic patients with nephropathy, 45 without nephropathy, and 45 healthy controls) were enrolled in this study. Fasting venous blood samples were collected from all patients. Serum adropin levels of all cases were analyzed by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. The correlations of serum adropin levels with anthropometric and biochemistry variables were determined. Logistic regression was performed to assess the association of adropin with odds of nephropathy. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was obtained to explore the optimum serum adropin concentration in distinguishing diabetic patients with and without nephropathy. Results: Diabetic patients with nephropathy showed lower serum adropin levels than those in patients without nephropathy and healthy controls (p < 0.001). Pearson correlation analysis indicated that serum adropin was negatively correlated with BMI, FBS, HbA1c, blood urea, creatinine, LDL, and ACR and positively correlated with HDL and albumin. Logistic regression analysis showed that serum adropin was correlated with decreased risk of developing diabetic nephropathy. Moreover, in ROC analysis, at cutoff value 3.20 (mg/dL) with an AUC = 0.830, adropin had 80% sensitivity and 60% specificity for distinguishing the diabetic nephropathy. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that decreased level of adropin is associated with renal dysfunction in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Serum adropin concentrations may be used as a biomarker for early detection of diabetic nephropathy.

In spite of decreasing the overall incidence of gastric cancer (GC), it remains one of the most common and deadly cancers worldwide. The incidence and mortality rate of GC is very different in the world. Geographical differentiation is one of the most distinctive characteristics of GC. Effective prevention and early diagnostic strategies are the most important public health interventions in GC, as a common malignancy worldwide. Notably, the preventive strategies require understanding the risk factors associated with GC for identifying high‐risk groups that may require screening for prevention. Therefore, up‐to‐date statistics on GC occurrence and outcome are essential for the primary prevention of the disease. We conducted this review based on the current epidemiology knowledge of GC to provide an update perspective of GC in Asia‐Pacific region. Based on the findings of this study, incidence and mortality rate of GC in Asia‐Pacific region shows a great heterogeneity. Gastric carcinogenesis arises as a consequence of a complex interaction between host and environmental factors. In addition to screening and eradication of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection, it seems that the main cause of GC is an undesirable lifestyle in this region. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the lifestyle and the community awareness about GC risk factors and healthy lifestyle education.