Immunohistochemistry Study of P53 and C-erbB-2 Expression in Trophoblastic Tissue and Their Predictive Values in Diagnosing Malignant Progression of Simple Molar Pregnancy.

BACKGROUND: Finding a tumor marker to predict the aggressive behavior of molar pregnancy in early stages has yet been a topic for studies. OBJECTIVES: In this survey we planned to study patients with molar pregnancy to 1) assess the p53 and c-erbB-2 expression in trophoblastic tissue, 2) to study the relationship between their expression intensity and progression of a molar pregnancy to gestational trophoblastic neoplasia, and 3) to determine a cut off value for the amount of p53 and c-erbB-2 expression which might correlate with aggressive behavior of molar pregnancy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In a prospective cross sectional study by using a high accuracy technique EnVision Tm system for immunohistochemistry staining of molar pregnancy samples, we evaluated p53 and c-erbB-2 expression in cytotrophoblast and syncytiotrophoblast and the correlation of their expression with progression of molar pregnancy to gestational trophoblastic neoplasia (GTN). Normal prostatic tissue and Breast cancer tissue were used as positive controls. RESULTS: We studied 28 patients with simple molar pregnancy (SMP) and 30 with GTN. Cytotrophobalst had significantly higher expression of p53 and c-erbB-2 and syncytiotrophoblast had greater expression of p53 in GTN group as compared to SMP group. The cut off values for percentage of p53 positive immunostained cytotrophoblast and syncytiotrophoblast were 5.5% and 2.5%. In c-erbB-2 positive membranous stained cytotrophoblast the cut off was 12.5%. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggests that over expression of p53 and c-erbB-2 is associated with malignant progression of molar pregnancy. We encountered that high expression of p53 and c-erbB-2 in trophoblastic cells could predict gestational trophoblastic neoplasia during the early stages.

Assessment of Circannual Rhythm in Plasma Level of Vitamin D Among Kidney Transplant Recipients in Mashhad.

We studied plasma vitamin D level in 96 kidney transplant recipients and its circannual rhythm. Blood samples were tested for 25-hydroxy vitamin D, parathyroid hormone, creatinine, phosphate, and calcium levels in winter and summer 2014. The mean age was 41 years, and the mean transplant age was 6.1 years. Plasma levels of 25-hydroxy vitamin D were 18.0 ± 15.0 ng/mL in winter and 18.3 ± 14.7 ng/mL in summer (P = .64). Parathyroid hormone was inversely correlated with vitamin D level in both seasons (r = -0.044, P < .001). There was no relationship between vitamin D and other variables. Our study showed vitamin D deficiency is prevalent among kidney transplant recipients both in winter and summer. Also, vitamin D level did not rise from winter to summer. It is recommended to routinely check on kidney transplant recipients' vitamin D status.

Comparative Study of Hearing Impairment among Healthy and Intensive Care unit Neonates in Mashhad, North East Iran.

INTRODUCTION: According to World Health Organization (WHO) 2001 statistics, hearing disorders are the most common congenital disease, and the incidence rate among high-risk newborns is as much as ten times as high as that in healthy neonates. However, 78% of screening test failures are well-baby nursery babies. The Joint Committee on Infants' Hearing (JCIH) has emphasized the importance of early diagnosis and treatment in neonates with hearing impairments in order to preserve their maximum linguistic skills. The aim of our study was to compare the prevalence of hearing loss among babies in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and the rooming-in unit (RIU). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Neonates born in three hospitals in Mashhad between 2008 to 2010 were studied prospectively and screened for auditory disorders using the oto acoustic emission (OAE) test at the time of discharge and 3 weeks later. To confirm hearing loss, the auditory steady state response (ASSR) test was used among those participants who failed both OAE tests. RESULTS: Two-thousand and sixty-three neonates from the NICU were screened and compared with a control group consisting of 8,724 neonates from the RIU or the well-baby nursery. At the end of the study, hearing impairment as confirmed by failure in the ASSR test was diagnosed in 31 neonates (26 in the control group [0.30%] and five in the NICU group [1.94%]). CONCLUSION: In our study, the prevalence of hearing disorders among NICU neonates was 6.5-times greater than that among babies from the RIU or well-baby unit. This observation demonstrates the importance of universal screening programs particularly for high-risk population neonates.