[ study of day three FSH and LH level on the quantity and quality of oocytes in infertile women candidates for ART cycle]

Gonadotropins are the main regulators of women menstrual cycles during which the process of ovulation occurs. Also, infertile women with high level of FSH are poor responders to ovulation during ART cycles and often do not get good results. This Study tends to evaluate the effects of day three FSH and LH level on the number and quality of fertilized oocytes in infertile women who were candidates for ART cycle. The findings of this study may help the physicians to have better prediction about their patients' responses to the treatment. This is an experimental meta-analysis on 59 women who referred to the infertility Center for ART treatment. On the third day of menstrual cycles, FSH and LH levels were measured using radioimmunoassay technique and their effects on the quality and quantity of oocytes as well as the pregnancy rate were evaluated. Then, having categorized the rate of FSH and LH into four groups, the data were examined, using SPSS, Version 16. After the treatment, the average levels of FSH and LH were measured as 9.01 +/- 7.8 and 7.56 +/- 7.27, respectively. The number of oocytes was found to be 10.29 +/- 7.88. It was also found that FSH level had meaningful relationship with pregnancy rate, oocytes number, oocytes number during Metaphase II, oocytes of quality A and fertilized oocytes. However, LH level had no meaningful effect on the results. In this study, it was found that as the FSH level increases, the number and quality of oocytes, fertilized oocytes and pregnancy rate increase. The best result can be seen in FSH=10-15 miu/ml. An increase in the level of LH also improved the effects where the best result can be seen in LH >/= 8. In other words, the maximum number of fertilized ooctyes with the quality of grade A and grade B and the least number of grade C quality were observed. Therefore, it can be concluded that day three FSH and LH level can predict the results of ART cycles

[Studying the increase of activity level of serum alkaline phosphatase in crystal addicts]

Crystal is one the pernicious addictive drugs which has unfortunately been imported to Iran in the recent years. As Crystal is the purified form of Heroin, its adverse effects are much more serious than those of Heroin. Apart from psychological effects, addiction to Crystal may have adverse effects on organs and tissues. So, the evaluation of enzymatic changes could be helpful in identifying the origin of damages. Alkaline phosphatase is present in most tissues and the most prevalent cause of its elevation is liver and bone diseases. Since liver damages may be caused by Heroin consumption, assaying ALP levels could be useful for investigating the adverse effects of this drug. This study is a case control study which was carried out on 50 control persons and 108 crystal addicts who referred to Salehabad Center of Drug Addiction Treatment [Torbat jam] for the first time during 2008-2010. The activity level of Alkaline phosphatase in the serum was measured with Calorimetry-Spectrophotometry Using Computer software SPSS-16, t-test was used to analyze the data. The results of this study indicate that there is a significant relationship between Crystal consumption and the serum level of ALP in both groups [P=0.001]. Besides, the relationships between the duration of Crystal consumption with Alkaline phosphatase level and cigarette smoking were significant. Our results revealed that Crystal consumption is an important factor for elevating the ALP serum level in Crystal addicts

[p16/INK4a promoter hypermethylation in serum, blood and tumor of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma]

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma [ESCC] is one of the most common malignancies in Iran. ESCC patients are asymptomatic until later stages of disease which makes most interventions unsuccessful with survival rate of 5-20%. New tumor markers for early detection and/or identification of predisposing factors in ESCC may improve the life expectancy for this disease. p16, an inhibitor of cyclin D-dependent protein kinases, is a tumor-suppressor gene, with mutation and deletion reported in a variety of tumors. p16 promoter methylation is an important mechanism for inactivation of this gene and may be studied in serum DNA of cancer patients as a tumor marker. DNA isolated from serum, blood and endoscopic tissue of 30 ESCC patients and 30 normal volunteers were examined for p16 hypermethylation in province of Khorasan, North east of Iran. DNA sequences of methylated and unmethylated genomic regions after bisulfite conversion was distinguishable by sequence-specific PCR primers using methylation specific PCR [MSP]. p16 hypermethylation was found in 8/30 [26.6%] in serum samples, 13/30 [43.3%] in blood samples and 22/30 [73.3%] in tissue samples and none [0%] in normal volunteers. The 8 cases with aberrant p16 methylation in their serum DNA showed similar changes in their blood and tumor tissues. These results indicate that p16 hypermethylation may be found in the circulation with the origin of esophageal tumor DNA. Because methylation abnormalities have been found in many other genes and tumor types, this approach may have implications for noninvasive detection of a wide variety of cancers and this assay offers a potential means for the blood and serum-based detection and for monitoring of ESCC