[Tyrosine kinase domain gene polymorphism of epidermal growth factor receptor in gastric cancer in northern Iran]

Gastric cancer is one of the most common diseases of digestive system with a low 5-year survival rate and metastasis is the main cause of death. Multi-factors, such as changes in molecular pathways and deregulation of cells are involved in the disease development. Epidermal growth factor receptor pathway [EGFR] which is associated with cell proliferation and survival can influence cancer development. EGFR function is governed by its genetic polymorphism; thus, we aimed to study the tyrosine kinase domain gene mutations of the receptor in patients with gastric cancer. In this experimental study, 123 subjects [83 patients with gastric cancer and 40 normal subjects] were investigated in north of Iran for EGFR gene polymorphisms during 1 year. Genomic DNA was extracted by DNA extraction kit according to the manufacture's protocol. Polymerase chain reaction single-stranded conformation polymorphism [PCR-SSCP] and silver staining were performed for investigating EGFR gene polymorphisms. The participants included 72 men and 44 women. Gene polymorphism in exon 18 was present in 10% of the study population but SSCP pattern in exon 19 did not show different migrate bands neither in patients nor in normal subjects. It seems that screening for tyrosine kinas gene polymorphism of epidermal growth factor receptor in patients with gastric cancer and use of tyrosine kinas inhibitors could be useful in the prevention of disease progress and improvement of treatment process for a better quality of life in these patients

[Risk factors for tuberculosis infection: a brief report]

Tuberculosis is one of the most important diseases with annually 8 million new cases worldwide. The purpose of this study was to investigate the risk factors for tuberculosis [TB] infection. In this descriptive study performed in Health center of Maznadaran province during 2010-2011, 183 patients with pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB infection were recruited. After measuring fasting blood sugar, and human immunodeficiency virus [HIV] antibodies, history of smoking was taken by using a questionnaire. The mean age of the participants was 46.8 +/- 19.8 years. The most common risk factor was diabetes and the lowest was HIV infection. Moreover, the prevalence of diabetes in women compared with that of men [OR=0.19, 95% CI=0.07 +/- 0.46] and smoking in men compared with women [OR=12.4, 95% CI=2.8 +/- 54.4, P<0.05] had statistically significant differences [P<0.05]. The results of this research show that diabetes and smoking could be risk factors for tuberculosis infection. It is concluded that, in case of respiratory symptoms in patients with diabetes and smoking, tuberculosis can be considered as an important differential diagnosis