Diagnostic performance of sonoelastography in addition to ultrasound in investigating breast lesions: can concomitant use of these techniques lead to improvement of differentiation?

Sonoelastography [SE] is introduced as a complementary technique for ultrasoungraohy [US] to evaluate breast lesions. This method is based on tissue strain in response to compression and decompression. The current study was designed to investigate the diagnostic performance of SE for differentiating between benign and malignant breast lesions A total of 35 women with 45 breast lesions who were referred to a university affiliated hospital in Tehran were enrolled. All patients were visited and examined by a same radiologist. A five-point scale was applied for categorizing lesions in SE as malignant or benign. The results of US and SE were compared with histopathological results to calculate sensitivity and specificity of each mentioned techniques. Histopathological evaluations in 12 cases were in favor of malignancy, and the rest of cases were classified as benign. The sensitivity and specificity for US were 100% and 69.7%, respectively. On other hand, SE obtained a lower sensitivity [58.3%] and higher specificity [90.9%] in comparison with US. simultaneous evaluation of suspicious breast lesions with both US and SE can have high sensitivity and specificity and prevent the unnecessary invasive interventions

Neuroendocrine tumor of the gallbladder

Neuroendocrine tumors [NET] arise from neuroendocrine cells and are an exceedingly rare malignancy in the gallbladder. In this case report, a 52-year-old woman with complaints of episodic abdominal pain for two months prior was admitted to our hospital. She had no other signs and symptoms and her laboratory tests were within normal limits. Ultrasonography showed a broad-necked mass [26 x 12 mm] in the gallbladder for which she underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy. The final pathological diagnosis was a high grade neuroendocrine carcinoma of the gallbladder with involvement of the lymph nodes and omentum. The patient received the chemotherapy regimens of gemcitabine plus cisplatin, followed by docetaxel plus sunitinib for her metastatic liver lesions. She also underwent radiofrequency ablation. Serial CT-scans revealed metastatic liver lesions that had decreased in size, with no significant improvement. The patient refused additional treatment and at 46 months, she was doing well with no complaints of any pain, disease recurrence, or metastatic progression

Undergraduate medical students' knowledge about principles of research methodology and impact of extracurricular principles of research workshops: a cross-sectional study in Tehran university of medical sciences

It is widely acknowledged that research is crucial for development of countries. Despite various studies on the benefits of research, there is no fresh study about students' familiarity with principles of research methodology in developing countries. In this study, we aim to assess undergraduate medical students' knowledge in principles of research methodology and its contributing factors. In this cross sectional study, we investigated 65 randomly selected students who were in their basic science stage of medical studies at Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2010. To determine knowledge about principles of research, participants filled a validated and reliable questionnaire. The characteristic information of the students and their answers to ten questions on research principles were collected. Linear regression models were applied to predict the score of knowledge of the participants. Median age of participants was 19 ranging from 17-21. 15 [25%] of participants were male and 45 [75%] were female. 45 [75%] of participants had not attended Students' Scientific Research Center [SSRC] research methodology workshop. The mean of knowledge score was 6.99 +/- 3.23 [out of 20]. We observed no significant difference in knowledge of the students and also participation in SSRC research methodology workshop between two genders [P = 0.75 and 0.86, respectively]. Linear regression model showed participation in research methodology workshop independently predicts 59% of variance of students' knowledge about principles of research methodology and adding students' semester to the model increases the prediction to 70%. Despite limitations of this study, our findings highlight low to moderate level of knowledge of undergraduate medical students in principles of research methodology and the important impact of research methodology workshops

Attitude toward plagiarism among Iranian medical faculty members

The goal of this study was to assess attitude towards plagiarism in faculty members of Medical School at Tehran University of Medical Sciences. One hundred and twenty medical faculty members of Tehran University of Medical Sciences were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. They were asked to answer to valid and reliable Persian version of attitude towards plagiarism questionnaire. Attitude toward plagiarism, positive attitude toward self-plagiarism and plagiarism acceptance were assessed. Eighty seven filled-up questionnaires were collected. Mean total number of correct answers was 11.6 +/- 3.1. Mean number of correct answers to questions evaluating self-plagiarism was 1.7 +/- 0.4 and mean number of correct answers to questions evaluating plagiarism acceptance was 1.4 +/- 0.2. There was no significant correlation between plagiarism acceptance and self-plagiarism [r=0.17, P=0.1]. It is essential to provide materials [such as workshops, leaflets and mandatory courses] to make Iranian medical faculty members familiar with medical research ethics issues such as plagiarism