Natural Infection with Rabies Virus: A Histopathological and Immunohistochemical Study of Human Brains

OBJECTIVES: Despite all the efforts and increased knowledge of rabies, the exact mechanisms of infection and mortality from the rabies virus are not well understood. To understand the mechanisms underlying the pathogenicity of rabies virus infection, it is crucial to study the tissue that the rabies virus naturally infects in humans. METHODS: Cerebellum brain tissue from 9 human post mortem cases from Iran, who had been infected with rabies virus, were examined histopathologically and immunohistochemically to evaluate the innate immune responses against the rabies virus. RESULTS: Histopathological examination revealed inflammation of the infected cerebellum and immunohistochemical analyses showed an increased immunoreactivity of heat shock protein 70, interleukin-6, interleukin-1, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, caspase-3, caspase-9, toll-like receptor3 and toll-like receptor4 in the infected brain tissue. CONCLUSION: These results indicated the involvement of innate immunity in rabies infected human brain tissue, which may aggravate the progression of this deadly disease.

efficient trio-based mini-haplotyping method for genetic diagnosis of phenylketonuria

Background: In 1993, Muller developed the Prenatal Attachment Inventory [PAI] which has been used widely in many studies and translated into several languages. The current study aimed to translate the PAI into Persian, assess the underlying structure of the PAI, and the appropriateness of the one-factor solution proposed by Muller

Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we recruited a total of 322 primigravidae in their 27th to 34th gestational weeks that referred to private and governmental prenatal clinics in Tehran, Iran. All participants completed the Persian versions of the PAI and a demographic questionnaire. Participants were re-tested 2 weeks after the initial testing The following psychometric properties of the PAI were investigated: construct validity by confirmatory factor analysis [CFA], internal consistency reliability with Cronbach's alpha, and test-retest reliability according to the intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC]

Results: The CFA results indicated that a single-factor model provided good fit to the data, which confirmed the original model by its developer. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient for PAI was 0.856 and the test-retest reliability with ICC was 0.784. Considering the duration between marriage and pregnancy, women with low duration scored significantly higher than women with high duration on PAI [P=0.043]

Conclusion: The Persian version of the PAI showed that one factor structure was ad- equate and could be used for measuring psychological affectionate attachment between Iranian mothers and their fetuses

Recurrence and five -year survival in Colorectal Cancer patients after surgery

Background: Colorectal cancer [CRC] is a common malignancyworldwide and its outcome is most closely related to the extent of disease at presentation. Early diagnosis of an asymptomatic recurrence increases the likelihood of a complete surgical resection

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence of colorectal cancer recurrence and survival rate within 5 years, after surgery

Patients and Methods: During the 9-year period since 21[st] Mar, 2004 to 20th Mar, 2013, patients whose primary colorectal cancer were resected in Taleghani hospital, Tehran, Iran were selected in a historical cohort. The necessary data such as demographic, age, gender, family history of CRC, site and size of tumor, stage of tumor, operation details, histological results, treatment method, histopathologic, etc. were collected. Then the recurrence and survival of colorectal cancer within 5 years after operation and their risk factors were evaluated. P value less than 0.05 were considered significant. All analysis was done using SPSS software

Results: A total of 107 patients underwent resection for colorectal cancer during the study period, with mean age of 53.50 +/- 12.68 years [range 24 - 76 years], survival rate of 73.8% [rectum 70.0% and colon 75.9%], and mean survival time of 142.17 +/- 21.60 month. The recurrence rate of CRC patients, during five years after surgery was 5.7%. Regional lymph nodes, Distance metastasis and Adjuvant therapy were significant prognosis factors of survival after surgery

Conclusions: The rate of recurrence in Iranian patients was low, which could be due to improvement of exactness and expertise of surgeons or better adjuvant therapy. The significant association between survival and adjuvant therapy clarifies this finding. Early diagnosis and primary detection could increase the rate of survival

Using fertile couples as embryo donors: an ethical dilemma

The use of donated embryos has offered hope for infertile couples who have no other means to have children. In Iran, fertility centers use fertile couples as embryo donors. In this paper, the advantages and disadvantages of this procedure will be discussed. We conclude that embryo-donation should be performed with frozen embryos thus preventing healthy donors from being harmed by fertility drugs. There must be guidelines for choosing the appropriate donor families. In countries where commercial egg donation is acceptable, fertile couples can be procured as embryo donors thus fulfilling the possible shortage of good quality embryos. Using frozen embryos seems to have less ethical, religious and legal problems when compared to the use of fertile embryo donors

successful resection of cardiac metastasis of round cell liposarcoma

Myxoid is a common type of liposarcoma. Cardiac metastasis of sarcoma is a rare diagnosis. Transthoracic echocardiography is a useful tool for beginning the diagnosis. Curative resection of metastasis and then combination systemic chemotherapy for advanced disease is recommended. We report a 50 year old woman who presented with a cardiac metastasis of high grade round cell liposarcoma to right atrium and right ventricle. The tumor was diagnosed with computed tomography and transthoracic echocardiography. The tumor size was 10*10 cm. This is the second report of successful resection of a large intracardiac metastasis of liposarcoma