[Comparison of quality of life in adolescences with thalassemia and their families]

Introduction: The impact of thalassemia major and thalassemia intermedia and their associated complications on quality of life is largely unknown. Determining the degree of health impairment as perceived by the patient is essential information needed to recommend suitable therapy. The impact of thalassemia and its complications on the quality of life of these patients and families perspective has been little studied. The aim of this study was to Comparison of quality of life in adolescence with thalassemia and their families

Method: In this descriptive-analytical study, the quality of life of 90 adolescences upper than 18 years with thalassemia who returned to Shafa hospital of Ahwaz in 2007-2008 was studied using a demographic and quality of life questionnaire [SF36]. The participants were chosen based on a non-randomized sampling. The data was analyzed using descriptive analysis and t-test

Results: The mean quality of life in patients was 70.25 +/- 17.17 and in their parents was 67.44 +/- 16.59. Significant difference has shown between social activities of two groups [P<0.012]. There was no difference between other points of views

Conclusion: Presented data suggest that thalassemia patients and family members in social functioning, which were most affected, will be the special focus in the interventions

[Frequency of sialic acid binding adhesin gene in Helicobacter pylori isolated from patient with gastroduodenal diseases]

Sialic acid binding adhesin gene is one of the most important factors contributing to adhesin of Helicobacter pylori [H. pylori] to epithelial cell layer of stomach. The prevalence rates of sialic acid binding adhesin gene vary in different geographic areas. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of sialic acid binding adhesin coding gene in the patients with different gastroduodenal diseases. This is a cross-sectional study. One hundred twenty patients with GI symptoms were enrolled in this study. Two gastric biopsy specimens were taken from each of the patients for rapid urease test [RUT] and DNA extraction. Presence of H. pylori was investigated by RUT and urease A gene [ureA] PCR. sialic acid binding adhesin gene was detected by using gene specific primers. Among 120 samples, presence of H. pylori was confirmed in 82 cases, of which 64 strains [78%] were positive for sialic acid binding adhesin gene. The frequency of this gene was 84.6%, 86.7%, 77.8% and 72.2% for gartric cancer, gastric ulcer, duodenal ulcer and gastritis [%66.7] respectively. The frequency of sialic acid binding adhesin gene in different samples was almost the same. Discrepancies in the frequency of this gene in different studies may be related to geographical diversity or use of different primers for detection of this gene