Histologic analyses of different concentrations of TritonX-100 and Sodium dodecyl sulfate detergent in lung decellularization.

Pulmonary diseases cusecs a large portion of mortality in the world. There is no more cure for pulmonary diseases and many approaches are needed for finding ways to cure. Nowadays, implantation and drugs are only ways for curing those people who are facing with these diseases. Tissue engineering and regenerative medicine have been appeared as multidisciplinary field and also, they presents new therapeutic approaches for pulmonary diseases. One of these therapeutic approaches is decellularization which removes cellular but leaves intact important extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins and three-dimensional (3D) architecture and also, this approach has been studied for in-vitro and ex-vivo. In this study, we aimed to investigate a comparison of different concentrations of Triton X-100 and Sodium dodecyl sulfate detergents in lung decellularization in order to evaluate the effects of different concentrations and times of mentioned detergents on three dimensional and ECM proteins lung. Two detergents (Triton-X100 and Sodium dodecyl sulfat) were used with different concentrations for decellularizing rat lungs for maintaining of three-dimensional lung architecture and ECM protein compositions which have significant roles in differentiation and migration of stem cells. Results showed that SDS 0.05%, 0.1% and Triton-X100 0.1% could maintain 3D, elastin and collagen better than other concentrations in 24 and 48 h- decellularization. We concluded that these approaches can help to achieve three-dimensional architecture and extracellular matrix of lung with minimum destruction for next step such as recellularization and in-vivo study.

Noninvasive diagnosis of bronchiolitis obliterans due to sulfur mustard exposure: could high-resolution computed tomography give us a clue?

PURPOSE: Previous pathological investigations have reported bronchiolitis obliterans (BO) as the major long-term sequela of exposure to sulfur mustard. In this study, we investigated whether high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) could be used as a noninvasive imaging modality to differentiate between mustard lung (as a subtype of BO) and other respiratory disorders. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three groups of patients with sulfur-mustard-induced lung injury (BO), severe chronic asthma (resistant asthma) and smoking habit, respectively, were recruited. Also 30 nonsmoking participants were recruited randomly as the control group. Pulmonary function tests (PFT) and HRCT were performed. Images were viewed with a window level of -450 and window width of 1,400 HU. All images were evaluated by an expert radiologist who was blinded regarding the patients' diagnoses and clinical situations. RESULTS: Airway involvement was higher and more frequent than parenchymal involvement in the groups with chemical-induced injury and asthma in comparison with smokers. On the other hand, parenchymal involvement was more frequent than airway involvement in the smokers' group in comparison with the other groups. CONCLUSIONS: HRCT can be a very useful method for differentiating between mustard lung, resistant asthma and lung injuries due to cigarette smoking.

Late respiratory effects of sulfur mustard: how is the early symptoms severity involved?

The association between severity of exposure to sulfur mustard (SM) and late respiratory complications is not clear. The aim of this study was to determine the presence of late pulmonary complications in patients with mild, moderate, and severe initial symptoms of sulfur mustard exposure. This was a retrospective cohort study on patients with mild, moderate, and severe initial symptoms of sulfur mustard exposure (during 1983-1988) in Baqyatallah University of medical sciences (2004-2005). The 'mild' group (n = 115) had no early symptom at the time of exposure. The 'moderate' group (n = 273) had early symptoms after exposure and were not hospitalized for that reason. The 'severe' group (n = 215) had early symptoms and had been hospitalized accordingly. Pulmonary function tests and high-resolution computed tomography of the chest were performed. The chi-square test was used for data analysis. The severe and moderate groups had a similar frequency of obstructive pattern (21%), whereas only one patient in the mild group showed this pattern. Air trapping did not significantly differ between groups. In the mild group, 74.8% (n = 86) showed significant air trapping, whereas it was 62.3% (n = 170) in moderate and 67.0% (n = 144) in severe groups (P = 0.057). Moderate and severe exposure to sulfur mustard causes an equal risk of late pulmonary complications, while mild exposure has lesser risk. Bronchiolitis obliterans is the main underlying respiratory consequence of sulfur mustard exposures and may relate to host factors rather than to severity of early symptoms.

Transplantation research in Iran: a bibliometric study.

BACKGROUND: Scientific articles are indicators of research interest and efforts in every country. The aim of the current study is to describe the characteristics of the transplantation-related research efforts with respect to the domestic published works in Iran between 1993 and 2003. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In a descriptive design, we searched IranMedex (Iranian database for indexing medical articles; available at: http//www.iranmedex.com) for all the biomedical articles published between 1993 and 2003 in 91 Iranian journals. The search was conducted using "transplantation" and "transplant" as key words. A printed copy of the references was reviewed individually so as to identify the transplanted organ, study design, number of authors, and type of article. RESULTS: Among 11371 articles, 545 (4.8%) were related to transplantation. An increasing trend was observed in the number of publications from 1993 to 2003. Most articles were published in Farsi (90%). The most frequently published articles were original articles (84.4%). The main subjects of were kidney (61.7%), followed by liver (12%) and bone marrow transplantation (10.8%). Cornea was the topic of research in only 3% of the papers. Of all manuscripts, 9.5% consisted of clinical trials. The mean number of authors was 3.6 +/- 2.2 (1 to 14). CONCLUSIONS: Iranian researchers seem to be interested in the topic of transplantation; however, some fields of transplantation are neglected. This pooling of valuable information can be used by other countries, especially by researchers from the Middle East Society for Organ Transplantation region. Such databases could form an invaluable network for an exchange of experience in the region to solve common problems.

Prolonged rehospitalizations following renal transplantation: causes, risk factors, and outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Although some studies have described rehospitalization after transplantation, few have focused on risk factors and consequences of prolonged hospital stay. Our goal was to determine the causes, risk factors, and outcomes of prolonged rehospitalizations after renal transplantation. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this retrospective study, 574 randomly selected rehospitalization records of kidney transplant recipients were reviewed from 1994 to 2006. Admissions were divided into group 1, prolonged stay (length of stay >14 days, n=149), and group II, short stay (length of stay 62% of all hospital costs; however, they comprised only 26% of the patients. High-risk kidney transplant recipients for prolonged hospitalizations should be closely observed for infections and graft rejection.