2023 CiteScore: 0.7
pISSN: 0044-6025
eISSN: 1735-9694
Editor-in-Chief:
Ahmadreza Dehpour, PharmD, PhD
This journal is a member of, and subscribes to the principles of, the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).
Vol 50, No 7 (2012)
Original Article(s)
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The mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations in mitochondrial coding and non coding regions seem to be important in carcinogenesis. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate coding region (mt-tRNAPhe and tRNAPro) and non-coding sequence, mitochondrial displacement loop (mtDNA D-loop), in the cancerous and non-cancerous lesions of Iranian patients with breast cancer (BC). Genomic DNA was extracted from 50 breast tumors and surrounding normal tissue pairs as well as from 50 unrelated normal breast tissues from Iranian Kurdish population. Subsequently, PCR amplification was performed using specific primers, and then PCR products were subjected to direct sequencing. 41 genetic variants were identified in mtDNA D-loop among tumoral and non-tumoral tissues but not in tRNAPhe and tRNAPro sequences. Our findings indicated that C182T, 194insT, 285insA and 16342delT were just found in BC tumors whereas 302insC, C309T and C16069T found in both tumors and surrounding normal tissues. Although our findings showed that the observed genetic variations were not restricted to breast cancer tissues, some genetic changes were found only in BC tumors. Our results, in agreement with the evidence from earlier studies, confirm that the mtDNA genetic alterations might be implicated in tumor initiation, progression and development.
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Chemotherapeutic agents used in patients with cancer cause to generate the enormous amounts of free radicals associated with cell injury. In this study we assess the effects of chemotherapy regimen on oxidant/antioxidant status in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). 38 newly diagnosed patients with acute myeloid leukemia were recruited in this study. All patients received cytarabine and daunorubicin as chemotherapy regimen. Plasma levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), total antioxidant status (TAS), and the levels of erythrocyte activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) were determined before chemotherapy and 14 days after chemotherapy with cytarabine and daunorubicin. Plasma MDA concentrations increased significantly (from 2.68±0.89 nmol/L to 3.14±1.29 nmol/L) during the 14days post-chemotherapy period (P=0.04). Plasma TAS concentrations changed with chemotherapy from 1.09±0.15 mmol/L to 1.02±0.14 mmol/L with P=0.005. Erythrocyte SOD and GPX activity decreased overtime from 1157.24±543.61 U/g Hb to 984.01±419.09 U/g Hb (P=0.04) and 46.96±13.70 U/g Hb to 41.40±6.44 U/g Hb (P=0.02) respectively. We report here that there is an increase in malondialdehyde levels and a decrease in the levels of antioxidant enzymes and total antioxidant status. This suggests that chemotherapy causes these changes as a result of enormous production of reactive oxygen species in the patients with AML. Antioxidant supplementation must be approached with caution because of the probability of reduction the therapeutic efficacy of these cytotoxic drugs.
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Major salivary gland tumors are uncommon and the exact nature of these tumors is not obvious. This study was carried out to compare the histological results of intraoperative frozen sections against those of permanent reports for major salivary glands masses. One hundred thirty-nine patients with major salivary gland masses who were candidates for surgery underwent an intraoperative frozen section biopsy. A permanent histological examination was then performed for definite diagnosis and its result was compared with that of the frozen section. Sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and the positive and negative predictive values were analyzed. The frozen section had 98.4% sensitivity, 87% specificity, 97.1% accuracy, 98.4% positive predictive value and 87% negative predictive value in differentiating between non-neoplastic and neoplastic lesions. In addition, the frozen section's identification of a mass as either benign or malignant showed 98% sensitivity, 100% specificity, 99.2% accuracy, 100% positive predictive value and 99% negative predictive value. Based on the current study's findings, it can be suggested that the frozen section is considerably accurate in the diagnosis of malignant versus benign lesions of major salivary glands, regardless of the exact histopathological type of the malignant tumors.
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Septic arthritis of the hip in children has multiple sequelae and may result in severe disability. Significant morbidity can be prevented by early recognition and treatment. The authors reviewed 13 children with 14 hips with sequelae of septic arthritis of the hip. All of children had history of hip septic arthritis before age of 4 years. Six were male subjects, and 7 were female subjects. We evaluated the history, clinical findings and radiographs of all children who had been treated at the Imam Khomeini hospital between 1986 and 2001 for septic arthritis of the hip. Final results of operations in patients include range of motion, presence or absence pain, joint stability, limb-length discrepancy were assessed. Three hips had mild pain in usual daily activities and one patient with cerebral palsy experienced hip instability. Most of patients (80%) had flexion contracture about 10-15 degrees .Final results showed average limb length discrepancy was about 2.8 cm. Septic arthritis of the hip in children may result in a spectrum of residual problems and the significant complications can be averted by early detection and treatment. Treatment in younger age cause better outcome.
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This study was conducted to investigate whether the length of the interval between a urinary tract infection and the performance of the voiding cystourethrogram influences the presence or severity of vesicoureteral reflux (VUR). In this study 161 children with first episode of urinary tract infection were evaluated. Depending on time of performance of voiding cystourethrogram (VCUG), patients divided into two groups: early (within the first 7 days following treatment) and late (during second week or thereafter of the start of treatment). The prevalence and severity of vesicoureteral reflux in both groups were compared. Out of 161patients, the early and late groups consisted of 75 and 86 patients, respectively. The prevalence of vesicouretral reflux in the early and late groups was 25.3% and 30.2%, respectively. No significant difference was observed between two groups regarding prevalence (P=0.598) and severity (P=0.379) of vesicoureteral reflux. This study showed that the prevalence and severity of VUR is not affected by timing of VCUG. Therefore, it is recommended that in children with urinary tract infection, VCUG should be done following negative urine culture as soon as possible.
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Intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) is one of the major causes of the cerebral palsy and mental retardation. Prevention and early management of these neurologic developmental problems will require determining the perinatal risk factors associated with this clinical entity. Pneumothorax increase the risk of IVH, and cause of pneumothorax has an important effect in severity of IVH. This is a prospective cross sectional study in 2010. This study includes 150 preterm neonates. Cranial ultrasound was performed in all neonates in age 3, 7, 30, 60, just after pneumothorax and every 2 week until chest tube discontinuation. Then prevalence of IVH and pneumothorax was calculated in preterm infant and severity of IVH was investigated before and after development of pneumothorax, and this comparison was divided by different causes of pneumothorax with SPSS version 11.5. Prevalence of IVH and pneumothorax in preterm infants were 30% and 10% respectively. Pneumothorax was not a risk factor of IVH (P>0.05), but prevalence of pneumothorax caused by RDS was a risk factor of development of IVH (P=0.01). Also pneumothorax in patients with birth weight less than 1000 g and gestational age less than 28 week was a risk factor of IVH pneumothorax (P=0.008, P=0.01 respectively). Our study discusses the differences in previous studies about association of pneumothorax and IVH. Also we suggest the hypothesis that lack of cerebral autoregulation in neonates with gestational age less than 28 week can cause IVH development after hypotension induces by pneumothorax.
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Restoration of the sagittal alignment is one of the fundamental goals in scoliosis correction surgery. Having an increase in popularity of segmental spinal instrumentation, thoracic kyphosis (TK) is often sacrificed to achieve frontal and axial plane correction. Patients with a Lenke type 1 deformity underwent selective thoracic fusion (lowest instrumented vertebra of T12 or L1) using corrective segmental spinal instrumentation (Hook-Rod) and were followed up for 2 years. They were evaluated before and after operation for coronal and sagittal alignments using standing anteroposterior and lateral radiographs. There were 63 patients (21 male, 42 female) with a mean age of 15.8±2.1 years included to this study. TK reduction had significant correlation (P≤0.001) with lumbar lordosis (LL) decrease at preoperative (r=0.47), immediately postoperative (r=0.37) and at 2-year follow-up (r=0.5). The decrease in LL after 2-years was less than decrease in TK (4.5±8.5 vs 6±10, respectively).
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This study was aimed to determine prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency and rickets in children with cholestatic liver diseases. Forty eight children with established cholestatic liver disease who referred to gastrointestinal clinic of Children Medical Center (Tehran, Iran) between April 2010 and March 2011 were enrolled in a cross-sectional study. Laboratory analysis including calcium, phosphate, albumin, total and direct bilirubin, aminotransferases, alkalinephosphatase (ALP), prothrombin time (PT), parathyroid hormone (PTH), total protein determined by routine laboratory techniques. Mean age of participants was 299.1 ± 676.8 days (range 2-3600 days) whereas twenty one were female (43.8%) and 27 (56.3%) were male. Twenty two (45.8%) had evidences of rickets in X-ray evaluation. Three children with rickets and two with normal X-ray had Vitamin D deficiency while ten in rickets group and 16 in normal group had Vitamin D insufficiency. The main underlying diseases were anatomical biliary atresia in cases with rickets and idiopathic in other group. Rickets and Vitamin D deficiency should be considered in chronic cholestatic children.
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Chronic periodontitis (CP) and peri-implantitis (PI) are multifactorial diseases of tooth and implant supporting apparatus. Bacterial invasion and consequent host immune response seem to play a role in relevant pathogenesis. The structural differences between tooth and implant pose preferential biofilm colonization. This study was aimed to compare the prevalence of bacteria in CP and PI. Clinical and radiographic examination performed over 69 individuals referred to Shahid Beheshti Dental School (Tehran, Iran) and four groups categorized: CP (n=22), HP (n=21), PI (n=13) and HI (n=13). The mean age was 45.6 years, 55% of participants were female and 45% were male. Bacterial samples were collected by paper point method and transferred to Institute of Odontology, University of Gothenburg (Gothenburg, Sweden) for checkerboard DNA-DNA hybridization. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests were used to compare distribution of bacteria in four groups. Significant differences were observed for T. forsythia, P. intermedia, C. rectus, P. endodontic, P. gingivalis, T. denticola and P. tannerae (P<0.05). The most prevalent bacteria in CP and PI were T. forsythia and P. gingivalis, respectively. In conclusion, bacterial prevalence differs significantly between tooth and implant. The most prevalent bacteria in Iranian subpopulation do not necessarily bear a resemblance to other populations. The type of implant surface may influence the biofilm. Other studies should be conducted to corroborate these findings.
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Infectious diseases are one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality and the spread of resistant microorganisms is playing a significant role in this regard. The purpose of this study was to assess the trend in antimicrobial resistance of gram-positive bacteria at the main referral teaching hospital in Tehran during a 4-year period. All patients' biological isolates such as blood, urine, wound drainage, synovial fluid, sputum, and cerebrospinal fluid sent to the central laboratory of the hospital from 2007 to 2010 for identification and subsequently, antimicrobial susceptibility testing by Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method were considered. All isolates (100%) of S. aureus were sensitive to vancomycin and linezolid and resistant to amoxicillin. The rate of S. aureus resistance to oxacillin increased from 60.78% in 2007 to 72% in 2010. All isolates of Streptococci in 2007 and 2008 were sensitive to vancomycin; while, 3.33% and 4.76% of Streptococci isolates were reported to be vancomycin-resistant in 2009 and 2010, respectively. Enterococci isolated from the entire specimens were identified to be sensitive to teicoplanin and linezolid and resistant to cloxacillin and oxacillin. The rates of Enterococci sensitivity to vancomycin were 90.91%, 81.25%, 86.67%, and 93.3% in 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010, respectively. Changes of antibiotics sensitivity against g positive pathogens were significant during four years in this study. To minimize the spread of resistant gram positive pathogens, periodic and regular surveillance of antimicrobial resistance pattern is highly recommended.
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Although the error in health care has received attention recently, patient safety culture in health centers has been relatively neglected. To measure the patient safety culture in primary health centers. A cross-sectional study, utilizing the modified version of the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPSC) developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and a demographic questionnaire. Healthcare staffs from health centers were participated in the survey. The patient safety culture score including subscores on 11 dimensions and 39 items; patient safety grade and number of events reported. The overall positive response rate of patient safety culture was 57 ±16.8 (CI 9555%-59%). The dimensions that received higher positive response rate were "Teamwork across units of health center", "Teamwork within units", "Head of center support for patient safety". The lowest percentage of positive responses was "Non punitive response to error". There were no relationship between working years and patients safely culture score. Similarly, no relationship was found between professional, gender and total patients safely culture score. Statistical analysis showed discrepancies between Iranian health centers and the US hospitals in three dimensions. For improving patient safety culture in health centers, it is necessary to have enough staff and establish an environment to be open and fair with staff which helps report errors spontaneously and without any fear. The findings of this study could be used to measure changes in patient safety culture over the time.
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The goal of this study was to compare depression and quality of life in three auto immune diseases: psoriasis, vitiligo, and alopecia areata. From January 2009 until January 2010, 300 patients (100 with alopecia areata, 100 with psoriasis and 100 with vitiligo) who were randomly selected (by simple random selection) from outpatient clinic of Razi Hospital (Center of Skin Diseases of Tehran University of Medical Sciences) were asked to answer to Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), SF-36 and Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) questionnaires. DLQI scores were significantly higher in psoriasis cases than others (12.8 ± 6.1, P<0.0001) and SF-36 score were significantly lower (59.8 ± 19.5, P=0.007), both indicating poor quality of life. Significant correlation was found between DLQI and BDI in all disease groups (r=0.44, P<0.001). BDI scores were the highest in psoriasis group but this difference was not significant (P=0.2). Based on these results, dermatologists should consider psychological aspects of autoimmune skin diseases.
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Nurses play a functional role in preventing drug related problems. They need to be aware of the dangers of polypharmacy while reviewing patient medications. We studied the nurses’ opinion on the diverse effects of polypharmacy in the hospital setting. Nurses working in a tertiary care teaching hospital participated in this cross-sectional study, conducted over 3 months, by responding to a self-administered questionnaire. Chi-square test was used to analyze association between socio-demographic characteristics and items in the study. A value of P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Increased drug interactions scored the highest (98.1%), followed by increased adverse drug effects (81.9%), and increase in financial burden (69.5%) among the negative effects of polypharmacy. 61% of the respondents felt that polypharmacy increased therapeutic effect in polypathology. No difference was observed in the opinion between male and female nurses or among varying nursing experience. Nurses with 5-10 years of experience opined increase in non-compliance to prescribed medication regimen and increase in financial burden also as negative attributes. Nurses pointed out both positive and negative implications of polypharmacy. Training programs such as continuing nursing education and workshops can be planned to translate this knowledge into practice in their routine nursing practice.
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Night eating syndrome is a common disorder in eating behaviors that occurs in close relation to the night time sleep cycle. Although eating disorders are common in society, night eating syndrome has been left neglected by health care professionals. In this report we present a case of eating disorder that exhibits some novel features of night eating syndrome. Our case was a progressed type of eating disorder which may increase awareness among physicians about sleep-related eating disorders.
