[Survival rate of childhood leukemia and its determinants: cox proportional hazards model]

Leukemia is the most common childhood cancer and is a major public health problem in many countries. The aim of this study was to conduct a survival analysis among leukemia patients and determine the factors affecting survival rate in patients referring to Amir Kabir Hospital in Arak Province from 2006 to 2011. This survival analysis study included 72 leukemia patients. Then, necessary variables were collected and we assessed the survival status of the patients during follow up visits.Using stata software, data analysis was performed by Kaplan-Meier method, log-rank and Cox proportional hazard model were used to analyze the data. The mean follow-up time was 14.54 months [range: 1 to 53 months]. Mortality rate due to leukemia among children was 11.1 cases [95% CI 6.16-20.08] per 1000 person-months. Survival rates at the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th years were 87, 79, 70 and 70 percent respectively. Only age had a significant effect on the survival rate in the Cox proportional hazard model. 4-year survival rate of leukemia was 70% and age was identified as one of the most important predictors of survival in leukemia patients

Removal of Azo dyes from aqueous solutions by biomass of brown algae Cystoseira indica

Background: The effluent of textile industries is high dyefully and this is one of most problems for environmental health engineers. Two Azo dyes biosorption, direct black 19 and direct red 23, on Cystoseira indica, an invasive macroalga in Iran, has been investigated using visible absorption spectroscopy

Material and methods: Pre-treatment and chemical cross-linking with CaCl2, have been conducted in order to improve the stability as well as the biosorption capacity of the algal biomass. All measurements were conducted by UV-Visible Spectrophotometer. The effects of operating parameters such as contact time, pH, initial dye concentration and amount of biosorbent on the dye removal efficiency were investigated. The biosorption has been described in terms of isotherm and kinetic models; from the maximum adsorption capacity values, an estimation of the algal specific surface area was made

Results: It has been found that biosorption kinetics can be described according to the pseudo second order model and biosorption equilibrated for 120 min [89.3% of direct red 23 and 69.02% of direct black 19 removed]. Maximum biosorption found at pH 5 [2.4mg/g]. It also observed increasing initial dye concentration and decreasing biomass dosage would reduce dye removal. Isotherm studies also revealed the dye biosorption on algal biomass followed from Freundlich model

Conclusion: Biosorption of selected Azo dyes onto algal biomass, Cystoseira indica was fast and more dye is eliminated in the first hour. So, by determining the optimum conditions of contact time, pH, initial dye concentration and biosorbent dosage, Cystoseira indica can be used as an inexpensive sorbent for removal of Azo dyes from aqueous solutions

The benefits of progesterone therapy in imminent abortion.

The causes of imminent abortion are multi-factorial. The biggest causal factor is the low level of serum progesterone level. The lowest critical level of serum progesterone for survivability of pregnancy is 10 ng/ml. Eighty percent of patients experiencing abortion showed that their progesterone level was < 10 ng/ml. Patients who realized that their pregnancy would experience hemorrhage generally would suffer from depression. Stress was one of the factors responsible for the occurence of abortion. Administration of natural progesterone substitution (not progestogen) accelerates the disappearance of uterine contractions, and speeds up the stoppage of bleeding. In addition, progesterone has the effect of anti-anxiety. Adminstration of oral progesterone would result in metabolism in the intestine and liver, such that physiological level of serum progesterone could not be reached, while administration of suppositoria progesterone would result in physiological level of serum, such that it was effective to prevent imminent abortion.

A study of cancer patterns among inpatients of public hospitals in Iran.

Cancer is becoming an increasingly important cause of premature mortality in developing countries as their populations expand and their lifestyle becomes westernized. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency distribution of various neoplasms among Iranian inpatients, their demographic status and length of stay involved in hospitals during 2000-2002. Records of 17447 inpatients who were hospitalized with malignant tumors in Iranian public hospitals during 2000-2002 were studied. The neoplasms had been coded and classified according to International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision (ICD-10). The frequency distribution of cancer patients was evaluated by age, sex, place of residence and the length of stay at hospital. There were 9470 male patients (54.3%) and 7977 females (45.7%). The mean +/- sd age was 51.2+/-20.6 with a median of 55 years. The average for females (49.4+/-19.2 yrs) was significantly lower than that for males (52.8+/-21.7 yrs) (p<0.001). The five most common cancer sites were the digestive organs (27.6%) followed by lymphoid and haematopoitic tissues (21.4%), breast (10.2%), respiratory and intrathoracic organs (8.8%) and skin (6%). These accounted for 74% of all malignancies. Some 31% of women's cancers were found in breast or genital organs compared to only 7.6% for males. The male/female ratio was 1.19 with the highest being 2.85 for respiratory organs and the lowest being 0.04 for breast. Mean age of male patients with cancer of the digestive organs, respiratory and intrathoracic organs and skin was significantly lower than that of females (p<0.001). The median length of stay of patients in hospitals each time they were admitted was 6 days. Of the cancer patients, 77.7% lived in urban areas which include only 64.5% of the population. Rural patients with skin cancer accounted for 32.1%. In conclusion, the results of this study carry important implications for future health planning strategies and provide a baseline for further studies on the evaluation of malignancies in Iran.

Manejo de la miastenia gravis en el nino. / Management of myasthenia gravis in children

1. Se presenta la experiencia del Departamento de Pediatria, Seccion Neurologia Infantil del Hospital Universitario de Caracas, en miastenia gravis, forma infantil, en 5 pacientes cuyas edades fluctuaron entre 2 anos y 14 anos, con predominio entre 2 y 3 anos de edad. 2. La evolucion clinica y respuesta terapeutica fue la descrita en las diferentes formas infantiles de miastenia gravis. No tuvimos experiencia en formas congenitas familiares. 3. Sugerimos que la evaluacion del paciente miastenico debe ser completa e integral y debe insistirse en el estudio inmunologico completo, que constituye la base terapeutica y de pronostico en esta enfermedad