Prospective evaluation of acute radiation - induced skin reactions in patients after head and neck radiotherapy

Acute Radiation- induced Skin reaction [ARISR] is a common side effect in the majority of patients receiving radiotherapy. ARISR is often characterized by swelling, redness, pigmentation, dry and moist desquamation, edema, ulceration, bleeding and necrosis of the Skin. This study was carried out to evaluate prevalence and severity of ARISR in patients with head and neck cancer undergoing radiotherapy and determining skin dose-response relationship. From December 2014 to September 2015, we evaluated 88 patients with head and neck cancer. The acute skin toxicity was scored based on RTOG toxicity criteria. Analysis of data using statistical software SPSS [version20] and ANOVA or chi- square test was done, with P

Isolation and identification of Brucella organisms in Iran

Brucellosis is a zoonotic chonic and infectious disease, which is caused by bacteira of genus Bucella. The present study investigated exactly what species and biovars of Brucella are responsible for brucellosis in Iran. The various species of Brucella were mostly being isolated from suspected specimens of animal fetus, placenta, vaginal swab, lymph nodes, milk, and human blood and bone marrow cultures. A total of 618 strains of B. abortus and 2413 strains of B. melitensis have been subjected to the identification procedures. Of 3031 isolates, 618 and 2413 were B. abortus and B. melitensis, respectively. Strains of B. abortus were isolated from cattle [612 cases] and sheep [6 cases]. These isolates were biovars 1 [70 cases], 2 [1 case], 3 [511 cases], 4 [1 case], 5 [30 cases] and 9 [5 cases]. Biovar 3 is considered as the endemic one and biovars 1 and 5 are the most prevalent. B. melitensis strains were isolated from sheep and goats [1717 cases], cattle [109 cases], camel [5 cases], dogs [4 cases] and human beings [497 cases]. These isolates were biovars 1 [2102 cases], 2 [205 cases] and 3 [106 cases]. B. suis, B. neotomae, B. ovis and B. canis were not isolated. In many regions of Iran B. abortus biovar 3 still remains the dominant one, however, for B. melitensis biovar 1 is the most prevalent one