frequency of depression among patients with breast cancer in Kermaneshah U.M.S chemotherapy centers in 2007

Nowadays Breast cancer is one of the most common types of cancers among women along with high mortality and morbidity rates. The illness psychologically has negative effects on these patients. The prevalence of this illness has been increasing through out the world including Iran. Lack of adjustment with the illness can have an adverse impact on patients' individual relationships, clinical treatment procedures and prognoses. Depression is considered as a major symptom of unadjusted psychological behaviors of patients with breast cancer. Having considered the role of woman in the society and family institution as a mother and/or a wife, this illness can be devastating which gives rise to instability of the family foundation, causes severe irremediable damages to other family members, and imposes considerable impacts revenues of government annual financial budgets. Therefore, identifying depression and its susceptible components can be of a great help curing the illness and promoting coping strategies against it in these patients. In this study 78 patients with no other prehistorically chronic diseases and/or psychiatric disorders were selected. They were given a questionnaire consisting of demographic information and Zung Self-Rating Depression scale. By using SPSS the frequency distribution of depression was measured and depicted in bidementional tables. Results showed 42.3 percent of the patients suffered from depression. The findings indicate high prevalence of depression among the patients with breast cancer, and have implications for referring them to a mental health center as soon as the illness being diagnosed. A psychotherapeutic plan not only can help these patients to promote the quality of their lives but also to execute mental health programs. It is important to propose that a systematic treatment plan is required for this illness that accompanies with a psychotherapeutic plan

[Clinical characteristics and risk profile of individuals referred to familial breast cancer clinic of Tehran: the necessity of genetic counselling]

Genetic counseling represents the main basis of breast cancer risk assessment. During consultation, the major risk factors of breast cancer, the probability of developing breast cancer and prior probability of germ line mutation in predisposing genes are evaluated. In this study, we assessed the clinical characteristics and risk profile of breast cancer in patients referred to familial breast cancer clinic at Tehran. This study was conducted as a cross sectional research on patients with the positive family history of breast cancer in at least one of their first or second degree relatives who referred to familial breast cancer clinic. During the consultation in familial breast cancer clinic, the pedigree was drawn at least in 3 generations and the history of the breast, ovary and other cancers in the family was assessed. Breast cancer risk factors were evaluated according to the Gail and Claus models and the probability of germ line mutation in BRCA1/2 genes was estimated using the BRCAPRO model. Data analysis was performed by SPSS 13. During the study period, 220 individuals from 45 families were evaluated. At the time of genetic conselling, 84 patients [38.2%] were affected by breast cancer and 6 patients by ovarian cancer. The mean number of breast cancer patients in each family was 1.87. In 14 patients breast cancer occured bilaterally. There was not any history of male breast cancer in the studied families. The average risk of developing breast cancer for breast cancer unaffected individuals was estimated at 17.84% and 19.12% according to the Claus and Gail models respectively. According to BRCAPRO model, the average prior probability of germ line mutation in BRCA1/2 genes was 13.74%. About 1/3 of study population had mutation probability of greater than 10%.The results of this study showed that in the majority of the consulted individuals the family history of breast, ovarian and other cancers was positive and in the most families, the risk factors for hereditary breast cancer were observed. According to mutation probability of 10%, genetic testing was indicated in 62 [32%] individuals. This represents the necessity of paying more attention to susceptible individuals for hereditary breast cancer and providing the facilities of genetic testing for them. It seems necessary to conduct more studies in order to determine the role of germ line mutation in BRCA1/2 genes at developing breast cancer in Iranian population

[60]Co gamma-ray attenuation coefficient of barite concrete

Recently uses of medium and high energy x-rays has been increased in Iran and radiotherapy centers along with a variety of accelerators have been installed in some provinces. In the other hand there is no sufficient skill in designing and making radiotherapy treatment rooms. This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of different mixtures of barite concrete for shielding the radiotherapy rooms. In this way we emphasized on determining the size and amount of barite aggregations to achieve the maximum radiation attenuation which leads to minimizing wall thickness in treatment room. To increase concrete density, the barite aggregation was added to concrete. Different size variations of barite aggregates mixed with different water/cement ratio were examined. The dimension of cubic concrete specimens for compression strength test was 15_15_15 cm. The rectangular barite concrete blocks with different compressions as used for strength test with cross section of 10_10 cm and thicknesses from 5 to 40 cm were used for radiation attenuation test. For this test concrete specimens were irradiated by gamma beam of [60]Co [Phoenix Theratron]. The transmission radiation through the blocks was measured by a Farmer ionization chamber [FC65P] in Yazd radiotherapy center. Our findings showed that in all specimens the highest mean compression strength was related to the specimens with equal ratio of fine to coarse barite aggregates but the lowest HVL was obtained from mixtures with fine to coarse ratio of 35/65. The concrete sample with a 0.45 water/cement ratio, 350 kg/m[3] cement and equal amounts of fine and coarse barite sands had nearly minimum half value layer[HVL] and maximum compression strength, so this sample was considered as the best barite concrete sample. Since HVL of the barite concrete specimens with the same compression strength is markedly lower than the conventional concrete and we have a plenty barite mines in our country it is recommended to use barite concrete with the best mixture condition based on our findings for shielding the radiotherapy rooms