[Malignant ovarian mixed germ cell tumor: a rare case]

Mixed germ cell tumors of the ovary, uncommon but aggressive tumors are seen most often in young women or adolescent girls, and are generally curable if found and treated early. Use of chemotherapy after initial surgery has dramatically improved the prognosis for many females with these tumors. This study reports a case of successful pregnancy in a patient with malignant ovarian mixed germ cell tumor. The patient was an 18-year old nulliparous woman who had pelvic pain, menstruation delay, right Adnex mass and positive B-HCG. She was found to have a malignant mixed germ cell tumor comprising of both embryonal carcinoma and immature teratoma. Treatment consisted of salpingo-oophorectomy with adjunctive chemotherapy. In view of malignant germ cell tumors occurring almost exclusively in young females, preservation of their ovarian function and fertility was an important issue. The present study, confirmed that normal gonadal function and fertility are possible after conservative surgery for ovarian germ cell malignancies, even with adjuvant chemotherapy

[Poverty measurement in Iran during 1989-2004]

Perhaps one of the most troublesome dilemmas in economics is why some people remain very poor for long periods of time, and why poverty persists across generations. Poverty alleviations and satisfying minimum requirements of a decent living standard have come to the focus of the governments, international agencies, as well as nongovernmental organizations. Different administrations in Iran, inspired by the Islamic teachings on poverty eradication, implemented numerous measures to combat poverty. In this regard, in addition to the direct measures taken to combat poverty, various policies implemented within different Five-Year Development Plans. In spite of all the efforts made to alleviate poverty, however, it seems that the goals have not been achieved and still poverty is a source of concern among the policy makers. In order to re-launch fresh policies to combat poverty, we have to have a comprehensive account of the results of the implemented policies. In this paper we provide an assessment of poverty changes that shows how incidence and intensity of poverty have been developed following more than two decades of poverty alleviation policy. This article examines the changes in the incidence and intensity of poverty in Iran between 1989 and 2004 based on Household Income and Expenditure Surveys. To this end, using minimum basic needs approach; absolute poverty lines for urban and rural areas have been estimated. The cost of minimum food requirements based on 2000 kcal. per day per adult is estimated. Accordingly. by application of Orshansky method the cost of minimum non-food requirements has been calculated. Then using Foster et al. [1984] indices, different poverty measures have been estimated. The findings indicate that in the most part of the time period of the study the rural poverty, in terms of incidence and intensity has been higher and more severe than the respected figures for the urban poverty. Moreover, the results show that the general trends of poverty in both rural and urban areas have been declining during the same time period

[Successful pregnancy in a patient with Takayasu's Arteritis: a case report]

Takayasu's arteritis, so-called pulseless disease, is a syndrome mostly seen in young women. It is a chronic inflammatory arteritis affecting large vessels. It is associated with abnormal angiography of the upper aorta and its main branches, resulting in vascular impairment in the upper extremities. This report presents a case of successful pregnancy in a patient with Takayasu's arteritis. The patient was a 36 years old G2P1 woman. Her first child was delivered by cesarean section. She was suffering from Takayasu's arteritis and was treated with prednisolone since 7 years ago. She had an unplanned pregnancy after expulsion of IUD. In her past medical history, in addition to Takayasu's arteritis involving subclavian artery, an iodine 131 ablation for treatment of hyperthyroidism was noticed. She was first sought medical attention at 8th week of pregnancy and as she had normal cardiopulmonary and renal functions, the pregnancy was continued. Subtotal thyroidectomy was performed at 10th week of gestation following a suspicious FNA showing a cold thyroid nodule. She was then treated with thyroxine in addition to prednisolone to control the post-thyroidectomy hypothyroidism. At 37th week, her pregnancy was terminated by cesarean section with epidural analgesia because of reduction of amniotic fluid index and a BPS of 8/10