[Evaluation of the association of NOD2 gene polymorphisms with the occurrence of GVHD in acute myelogenous leukemia patients]

Graft-versus-host disease [GVHD] is one of life-threatening post-transplantation complications. Several recent studies have described a significant correlation between transplantation outcome and three single nucleotide polymorphisms [SNPs] in the NOD2 gene. This study was conducted to evaluate the association of NOD2 gene polymorphisms with the occurrence of GVHD in acute myelogenous leukemia patients who underwent HSCT from their HLA-matched sibling donors. We examined retrospectively NOD2 genotypes by PCR-SSP both in 124 patients who underwent HSCT and in their donors; then, the association of the genetic polymorphisms on acute and chronic GVHD was evaluated. Median follow up of patients was 40 months [range of 28-77 months]. Statistical analyses were performed using Chi-square test and SPSS software. Mutation incidence were the same between donors and recipients as 12.1%. In three of the patient-donor pairs [2.4%] SNPs occurred in both resulting in an overall frequency of 21.8% in patient-donor pairs. There weren't any significant differences between aGVHD and cGVHD incidence rates when donor/recipient pairs with SNPs were compared with the pairs without SNPs. aGVHD and cGVHD incidence rates in the former pairs were 52% and 56% and in the latter pairs 50.5% and 55%, respectively. No impact of NOD2 SNPs on incidence of acute and chronic GVHD was observed. Further studies are required to ascertain whether the findings of this study can be extended to other disease groups. In addition, further studies are required to identify the relevance of other SNPs

frequency of recurrence in primary hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage

Primary intracerebral Hemorrhage [PICH] is a devasting illness with high early mortality which causes 10 -12 percent of stroke cases. Survivors of PICH are at risk for recurrence of hemorrhage. We wanted to determine the frequency of recurrence of ICH in patients with PICH at Alzahra and Noor hospital Isfahan, Iran. A descriptive retrospective study was did on the hospital records of patients with a discharge diagnosis of intracerebral hemorrhage to identify the cases. Data were gathered by means of a check list and were analysed by using SPSS statistical software. A total number of 660 cases were identified by computer search. After abstraction, 400 patients with primary hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage were identified. Widespread distribution of recurrence of ICH were 65 cases which 33 cases of them were men and 32 cases were women. Totally, 16 .25 percent of patients had recurrence which is greater risk of recurrence in comparison to other studies

Low serum zinc level in dpression

Major Depressive Disorder [MDD] is a common disorder, with a lifetime prevalence of about 15 percent, perhaps as high as 25 percent for women. The etiology of MDD is too complex to be explained totally by a single social, developmental, or biological theory. A variety of factors appear to work together to cause or precipitate depressive disorders. Various functions have been reported for trace elements such as zink in recovery or exacerbation of depression. In this experimental study, we studied 46 patients with MDD based on DSM IV criteria, among the patients referred to mental disorders clininc of Noor Hospital. Twenty Patients were men and 26 were women. Thirty two volunteers of general population were evaluated for depression with Beck depression test who did not show any depressive symptoms with this test. A blood sample of 5cc was obtained from each person and the serum zinc concentration was measured. Data gathered and analyzed with SPSS, logistic regression and chi-squar tests. Serum zinc concentrations were 74 to 130 mg/dl in men and 60 to 128 mg/dl in women of control group. Serum zinc concentration was 30 to 60 mg/dl in depressive patients that it was lower in women than men. The difference between serum zinc concentrations of normal and depressive persons was meaningful [P = 0.02]. In our study, the serum concentration of zinc was about half of normal value. This study replicates previous findings that major depressed subjects show significantly lowered serum zinc concentration

[ comparison of the effects of both propranolol and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation in prevention of migraine headache]

Migraine headache is a common familial disorder and its prevalence varies base on sex, age and races. There are two types of treatments for migraine: acute headache treatment [abortive] and preventive treatment. There are a number of drugs such as betablockers are used to prevent migraine attacks. Propranolonl is the most common betablockers used. Also, non-pharmacological treatments such as Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation [TENS] are used for prevention of migraine. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of propranolol and TENS in prevention of migraine attacks. This clinical trial study was performed on 60 patients diagnosed as having migraine headache based on international headache society [HIS] criteria by a neurologist. They were divided randomly into two groups of 30. One group was treated with TENS for 10 sessions and the next with propranolol [40 mg/day] for 6 months. Frequency, duration and intensity of headache were evaluated 3 and 6 months after the treatments. Data was analyzed by chi2 test. Three months after treatment, 90% of TENS patients had no headache while 40% of propranolol patients were headache free. Mean intensity of headache changed from 6.8 +/- 1.2 to 0.65 +/- 2.06 in TENS group while it changed from 6.7 +/- 1.2 to 3.2 +/- 3 in propranolol group. The results of this study showed that TENS is an effective treatment for prevention of recurrence headache in migraine patients

Frequency of BCR-ABL fusion transcript in Iranian patients with chronic myeloid leukemia

Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction [RT-PCR] assay is a useful tool for the detection of fusion transcript resulting from specific chromosomal translocation of the leukemia cells. A specific chromosomal abnormality, the Philadelphia chromosome [Ph], is present in 90% to 95% of CML patients. The aberration results from a reciprocal translocation between chromosome 9 and 22, creating a BCR-ABL fusion gene. There are two major forms of the BCR/ABL fusion gene, involving ABL exon 2, but including different exons of BCR gene. The transcripts b2a2 or b3a2 code for a p210 protein. Another fusion gene leads to the expression of an e1a2 transcript, which codes for a p190 pro-tein. Another, less common fusion genes are b3a3 or b2a3 [p203] and e19a2 [p230]. The incidence of one or other rearrangement in chronic myeloid leukemia [CML] patients varies in different reported series. In general, fusion transcripts are determined individually, a process which is labor intensive in or-der to detect all major fusion transcripts. This study was designed to determine the frequency of different fusion genes in 75 iranian patients with CML. peripheral blood samples were analyzed by multiplex reverse transcriptase poly-merase chain reaction [RT-PCR] from adult patients to detect all types of BCR-ABL transcripts of the t [9:22] and found that all cases were positive for some type of BCR/ABL rearrangement. Most of our patients showed b3a2 fusion gene [62%], while the remaining showed one of the transcripts of b2a2, b3a3, b2a3, e1a2 or coexpression of b3a2 and b2a2. The rate of coexpression of the b3a2 and b2a2 was 5%. In contrast to the other reports, we did not see any coexpression of p210/p190. This may reflect either the sensitivity of the detection techniques used or the possibility of genetic differences be-tween the populations studied. Coexpression may be due to alternative splicing or to phenotypic varia-tion, with clinical course different from classical CML

Evaluation of vasomotor reactivity by transcranial doppler sonography: Age and sex related differences in breath holding index in Iranian Population

The assessment of cerebral vasoreactivity can provide information regarding the reserve capacity of cerebral circulation. Reduction of this property has been found in association with situations predisposing one toward cerebrovascular disease. In this study, we defined the vasoreactivity of brain vesseles according to age and sex of the patients. In this descriptive study, 289 healthy subjects [without hypertension, diabetes mellitus, obesity, smoking, CHF, CHD,] were admitted from January 2004 to June 2004. The population was divided to four groups, according to age and sex [women and men more and less than 30]. After determination of each patient's flow velocity of middle cerebral artery [MCA] by mean of a transcranial doppler instrument [TCD], before and after 30s apnea, breath holding index [BHI] was calculated. Data was analyzed, using SPSS software. BHI was significantly higher in women than men [0.918 +/- 0.40 versus 0.637 +/- 0.22; P 30] women [0.812 +/- 0.31] than in younger [ 0.05]. The average of BHI was lower in men than in women in total and in all age subgroups. BHI was relatively constant in all age subgroups in men but there was significant decline in BHI by increasing age in women. So despite of many physiologic changes related to aging, vasomotor reactivity remains relatively constant in men but decreases in women. Findings of our study suggest that changes of cerebrovascular vasomotor reactivity in healthy subjects may be related to aging, but they are probably mainly influenced by sex