ABSTRACT
Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. Obesity is known as a risk factor for breast cancer acting directly on breast cancer by producing adipocytokines. On the other hand, it seems that telomerase activity and especially expression of its catalytic subunit [hTERT] are critical for cancer initiation and development
Objective: To determine the relationship between obesity grades and adipocytokines associated with expression of hTERT gene at different stages of breast cancer
Methods: This was an analytical study carried out on 65 breast cancer patients during 2009-2010. Blood sample and fresh tumour tissue were collected from all patients. Expression of hTERT gene in tumour tissue was evaluated using quantitative real-time PCR and the plasma level of adipocytokines also tested
Findings: Expression of hTERT gene was detected in 53 samples with an expression level which significantly correlated with BMI, stage, and grade of cancer. Also, there was a positive significant correlation between hTERT expression level and leptin level [r=0.484, P=0.008] however, no correlation with other adipocytokines including IL-6 [r=-0.041, P=0.83] and TNF-alpha [r=-0.059, P=0.76] was observed
Conclusion: Considering the data, it could be concluded that obesity, as the source of leptin, may play a direct role in occurrence and development of breast cancer
ABSTRACT
Background: Osteoporosis is the commonest systemic disease leading to increased bone fragility and fracture. Vitamin D receptor Polymorphism is thought to have the most genetic influence on BMD
Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between vitamin D receptor Apa1 and Taq1 genes polymorphism and osteoporosis in postmenopausal women
Methods: This was a case/control study in which 80 patients with osteoporosis [case group], referred to rheumatology ward at Boalisina Hospital during 2010 were investigated. The control group included an equal number of patients who visited other wards of the hospital for a variety of reasons. We obtained the bone mass densitometry [grams per centimeter square] results of case and control groups at the lumbar spine, wrist and hip by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. The distribution of Apa1 and Taq1 polymorphism in the VDR gene was determined by PCR-RFLP. Data were statistically analyzed by SPSS software using chi-square and ANOVA tests
Findings: There was no relationship between the Apa1, Taq1 VDR polymorphism and BMD results. We found that patients with Taq1 genotype [tt] had lower bone mass in the femur and wrist compared with Tt
Conclusion: Based on our findings, a relationship between the VDR polymorphism and osteoporosis remains unclear requiring further in-depth studies. Our results showed that other secondary factors may influence the bone mass density
ABSTRACT
Background: The presence of large number of tonsillectomy surgeries and also the possibility of tonsillar colonization by Helicobacter pylori as the causative agent of tonsillar hypertrophy make it necessary to investigate any possible correlation between the presence of this bacterium and the occurrence of tonsillar hypertrophy
Objective: To investigate the frequency of Helicobacter pylori in chronic tonsillitis patients
Methods: Scorpion real-time PCR was performed on 103 archived paraffin-embedded tonsillar samples collected from patients with tonsillar hypertrophy following tonsillectomy operation at ENT ward of Qods Hospital [Qazvin University of Medical Sciences], Qazvin [Iran] during 2008-2009
Findings: H. pylori DNA was present in 21.35% of total specimens
Conclusion: Although the existence of H. pylori in tonsillar tissue samples of patients with tonsillar hypertrophy is controversial however, it seems that the method by which the laboratory investigation is made may influence the results as the more sensitive and specific scorpion real-time PCR assay showed the tonsils could be considered as important reservoir of H. pylori
ABSTRACT
Genetic factors play an important role in women fertility and embryonic development which may contribute to the efficacy of assisted reproduction techniques. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma [PPAR gamma] His447His polymorphism on oocytes and fertilization in women undergoing IVF. Blood samples were obtained from 98 IVF patients referred to Tabriz Alzahra Hospital. Samples were analyzed for the PPAR gamma gene polymorphism using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism-based methods. Multivariate analyses were used to test the independence of associations between the number of mature oocytes and the number of oocytes fertilized as outcome variables and polymorphism of PPARy gene. Correlation analysis showed a significant inverse correlation between the age of women and the number of mature oocytes retrieved [r=-0.37, P<0.001] and oocytes fertilizaed [r=-0.25, P=0.015]. The ratio of the number of mature oocytes to oocytes fertilizaed was significantly [P<0.05] increased in carriers of the rare alleles than homozygous wild-type genotypes. The association of His447His polymorphism [P=0.003] remained statistically significant after adjustment for confounding factors in the multivariate analyses. This study presents evidences that the His447His polymorphism of PPAR gamma plays an important independent role in fertilization in vitro and thus possibly in female fertility
Subject(s)
Humans , Female , Polymorphism, Genetic , Fertilization in Vitro , OocytesABSTRACT
Of the total population of 1,143,000 in Qazvin province, 7.3% are over 60 and there is no plan to help them spending their spare times. To identify how the elderly should spend their spare times to get benefit the community from their abilities and skills. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were applied. A total number of 104 aged people as well as the representatives of 18 GOs and NGOs were included in the investigation. The data were collected through structured questionnaire, focussed group discussions, and interviews. Later, the data were classified and analyzed, statistically. also, A pilot interventional study was carried out using the assistance of 5 aged volunteers, 3 men and 2 women, while the whole process was videotaped during 2007- 8. The study revealed that most elderly have no plan on how to spend their times and feeling dissatisfied with their situations. The aged population was willing to be useful to the community with demand for access to particular places for gathering and transfer of their skills to younger people. Only 500 persons of the elderly people were the members of NGOs and 4500 as state pensioners. Nearly 68% of the elderly were interested of having their abilities applied to the community. To pilot the intervention, 3 men and 2 women were volunteered and presented their skills in teaching 150 younger people in cooking, archeology, painting, literature and yoga. Municipalities, GOs, NGOs, and mass media should have strategic plans to take advantage from the aged people's abilities as a social capital while improving their quality of life
Subject(s)
Humans , Surveys and Questionnaires , Leisure Activities , Quality of Life , Teaching , Archaeology , Literature , YogaABSTRACT
Heart failure is the main cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide with poor prognosis. Two processes inflammation and apoptosis, play major roles in the pathogenesis of heart failure with poor prognosis. Apoptosis can be discovered in different conditions within the myocardial tissues. One of the regulatory mechanisms of apoptosis is through Fas [CD95]/FasL system. Evaluating the level of soluble markers of Fas/FasL apoptosis system in patients with heart failure and its severity. This was a case-control study in which 85 patients with different functional class of heart failure and 25 healthy persons as control group were examined at Transplantation Institute of Moscow between the years 2004-2007. Evaluation of apoptosis markers was carried out by immunoferment analysis using an automatic analyzer [Personal Lab TM, Adaltis, Italy] and the Bender Med system kits, Austria. In patients with heart failure while the blood level of sFas was lower than that of healthy person, the sFasL was found to be higher compared to control group. Regarding the level of soluble forms of apoptotic markers of sFas/sFasL in HF, the sFas and sFasL levels were demonstrated to have an opposite association with the functional class of heart failure so that a negative relationship for sFas and a positive correlation for sFasL were found. At the same time, the sFas was shown to be weakly associated with ejection fraction whereas the sFasL demonstrated a reverse correlation [P<0.05]. These markers could be used as complementary laboratory markers to assess the severity of heart failure and also the prognosis