Amin Mokari‐Yamchi

BACKGROUND: Over the last decade, many researchers tried to evaluate the effects of collagen supplements on skin aging and surprisingly revealed that the interventions improved skin aging parameters without any inconsistency. AIM: This systematic review assesses the literature regarding the effects of collagen supplements on skin health parameters in healthy and patient subjects, focusing on mechanisms of action. METHODS: At the first step of search in the databases, 9057 items were obtained. After removal of duplicate items, 6531 publications remained. Further screening by title and/or abstract resulted in removal of 6500 items. Finally, full texts of the 31 remained items were assessed for eligibility and 10 publications were included in this review. RESULTS: The evidences obtained from these systematic reviews indicated that oral administration of intact or hydrolyzed collagen improves clinical manifestation of skin health. Almost all of the included studies reported the beneficial effects of collagen supplementation, and no inconsistencies have been seen in this regard between studies. CONCLUSIONS: In this systematic review, three different mechanisms of action were clarified for the intervention. Direct effects of collagen peptides on fibroblasts, M2-like macrophages, and oral tolerance-related mechanisms are the possible mechanisms for the beneficial effects of collagen supplementation.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to evaluate the freeze-thawing method in reducing viral load of cytomegalovirus (CMV) in breast milk of mothers of preterm infants. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, 169 nursing mothers of preterm infants were evaluated serologically for CMV infection. We found 29 (17.15%) nursing mothers who had serologic evidence of CMV infections consistent with recent infection (N = 2, IgG + IgM +) or prior infection (N = 27 IgG + IgM-). Two to 6 weeks after delivery, breast milk of seropositive mothers (N = 29) was evaluated for CMV load by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) before and after freezing at -20°C for 72 hours. All preterm infants with milk results positive for DNA particles of CMV (N = 25) were followed up for signs and symptoms of CMV infection until 3 months of age, together with urine testing for CMV by real-time PCR. RESULTS: Examination of breast milk by real-time PCR of the seropositive mothers showed 25 of them with CMV DNA particles in their breast milk. After freezing and thawing, we found virus DNA in 4 of 25 (16%) of the breast milk samples and there was no CMV DNA particles in 21 (84%) of them. In these samples, mean viral load before freezing was 76.04 ± 34.08 copies/μL (20-135.00 copies/μL) and after freezing it was 6.75 ± 4.34 copies/μL (0.00-13.00 copies/μL). Freezing showed a significant decrease in viral load of the samples (p = 0.001). CONCLUSION: The study showed that the freeze-thawing method is an effective method in reducing the CMV load in breast milk samples.

Food insecurity is a major and multidimensional global problem, particularly in rural and vulnerable areas. In this cross-sectional study, we aimed to identify the relationship between social support and food insecurity in 404 Iranian rural households. We selected the sample by cluster random sampling and collected data using three questionnaires [demographic, Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale (MSPSS), and United States Department of Agriculture food security questionnaires] and analyzed data using chi-square tests and logistic regression (using SPSS version 19.0). Of the 404 Iranian households, 168 (41.6%) were classified as food secure. The logistic regression analysis revealed that education and job status of the household heads and household income were significantly associated with food security status. Additionally, perceived social support was protective against food insecurity after adjusting for confounding factors [compared with the first quartile, second quartile odds ratio (OR)=1.76, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.94∼3.3 and fourth quartile OR=2.21, 95% CI: 1.13∼4.33]. This study indicated that social support contributes to a reduced chance of food insecurity in rural households. These results suggest that policy makers should focus on strengthening social support in vulnerable communities to help protect against hunger and poverty.