comparison of contralateral breast dose due to breast cancer radiotherapy using two different treatment machines in a radiotherapy center

Background: The radiation dose received by contralateral breast [CLB] is one of the concerns of breast radiotherapy, because it may lead to the induction of secondary breast cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate the CLB surface dose in the breast treatment in Yazd radiotherapy center

Materials and Methods: The surface dose of CLB was measured using TLD dosimetry in 50 cancer breast patients. The TLD chips were placed at four points on the each of CLBs. The patients were treated by 6MV photon beams of Oncor [physical wedge] and Compact [motorized wedge] LINAC. The TLD chips were placed on the surfaces of CLB during the medial and lateral tangent radiation fields in one of radiotherapy fractions

Results: The mean percent of prescription dose of the CLB surface doses on the point 1 in the two Linac [Oncor and Compact] were significantly different. The mean of CLB surface doses of point 1 in the physical and the motorized wedge techniques were 5.78 and 7.84 percent of prescription dose of breast cancer, respectively. The medial and lateral fields' contribution from 7.4% surface dose of CLB were 5.8% and 1.6%, respectively

Conclusion: In Shahid Ramezanzadeh radiotherapy center, the CLB surface dose due to breast cancer radiotherapy by the Compact machine [7.84 %] was significantly more than the allowable value [6% prescription dose]. The CLB does due to the medial field beam was more than the lateral field

Application of remote sensing in monitoring of faults

The Siyah Bisheh area is located in central part of Alborz zone, 40km south of Amol, Iran. Rock units exposing in the area consists of sedimentary [carbonates, sandstone, siltstone], volcano- sedimentary [andesite to andesitic tuff, tuff], ignimbrite and basalt. When erosion and tectonics have rendered volcanic structures undetectable, remote sensing provides an invaluable tool for their identification, with finding relation between lithology and vegetation is showed that the integrated use of remote sensing techniques and field studies as a powerful tool to distinguish and map the relationships between rock units, structures and alteration zones associated with mineral deposits along the siyah Bishe area. The main image analysis techniques involved in this study were principal component analysis [PCA] and false color composite [FCC]. In this study, an anomaly area is distinguished in the southeastern part of the Siyah Bishe area. Hydrothermally altered rocks contain economic mineral deposits whereas unaltered country rocks are non-mineralized. Approximately 5 km[2] of the area is underlain by altered rocks, but less than 1 km[2] of the altered area contains economic minerals

[Ranking maternal health status in rural areas in Iran based on multivariate techniques of factor and cluster analysis]

Maternal health status is one the important health index since it could be a hallmark of performance of health care service particularly in rural area. The aim of this study is ranking and identifying homogeneous provinces based on maternal health indices in Iran. Based on the indices in the vital horoscope which were reported by Iran Ministry of Health in 2006, fifteen indices related to maternal health have been selected. Using factor analysis, a factor that can represent rural maternal health in provinces was chosen and provinces ranked according to it. A hierarchical cluster analysis employed for identifying homogenous province based on a distance matrix obtained from the same selected indices in factor analysis. Factor analysis demonstrated that 89% of data variation included in this model. Based on an appropriate factor as index of maternal health, ranking was run in all provinces in Iran. According to this model, the maternal health status was in good condition in the rural areas of Gilan, Mazandaran and Tehran provinces, respectively. While maternal health were in inappropriate condition in rural areas of Khuzestan, Kohkiluyeh and Hormozgan provinces. The worst rural area was the province of Sistan and Baluchestan. It could be concluded that employing multivariate analysis would be an effective tool for ranking and classifying homogeneous population [provinces] in terms of maternal health indices. Therefore health policy makers should consider the practical method of this analysis for any decision making

Efficacy of Olyset long-lasting bednets to control transmission of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Iran

A large-scale intervention field trial of the effect of Olyset long-lasting insecticide-treated bednets on transmission of cutaneous leishmaniasis was carried out in 2 cities in the Islamic Republic of Iran from October 2003 to July 2005. We enrolled 8620 individuals in 3000 households in 6 pairs of sectors in each city. Epidemiological and entomological surveys were carried out pre- and post-intervention. In both cities a statistically significant reduction was found in the incidence of new cases in intervention sectors who received bednets compared with control areas. Entomological surveys showed a reduction in numbers of female Phlebotomus sergenti captured indoors in intervention sectors

[ correlation between MDM[2] protein and histologic grading of cerebral astrocytomas]

MDM[2] is a protein factor that plays an improtant role in inhibition of P[53] and P[73] related apoptosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between MDM[2] expression and histologic grading of cerebral astrocytomas in order to reduce misdiagnosis of this tumor in controversial cases. In this study, 104 cases of astrocytic tumors including 4 different grades were selected randomly. We prepared 4 micro m sections of paraffin blocks of tumors. Then the slides were stained by anti MDM[2] antibody. The intensity of nuclear staining for MDM[2] marker had a statistically significant correlation with histologic grading. There was no significant correlation between percentage of nuclear staining for MDM[2] and histologic grading. The positivity of MDM[2] marker, as well as the multiplication of intensity and percentage of nuclear staining in S.Score had a significant correlation with histologic grading. The S.Score correlation with grading of astrocytic tumors was analysed by ROC Cure analysis method and showed that at the cut off point of 6, this score can be indicative for differentiation of Glioblastom multiform from other grades with specificity of 95.3%. Our results confirm the role of the MDM[2] protein as a oncogenic factor in progression of astrocytic tumors. Evaluation the MDM[2] experession in astrocytic cerebral tumors can be specifically indicative for distinction of glioblastom multiform from other grades of astrocytic tumors