Anisakis spp, DNA detection in paraffin-embedded tissue biopsies recovered from patients with gastritis using real-time PCR in Bushehr, Persian Gulf, Iran.

Anisakiasis is a zoonotic fish-born parasitic disease caused by anisakid nematodes. Paraffin-embedded blocks containing biopsy samples taken from patients suffering gastritis with unknown causes were investigated by real-time PCR, in the Bushehr region, Iran; where human anisakiasis has not been reported, so far. A total of 50 paraffin-embedded blocks were randomly selected from 250 archived blocks of the patients with gastritis. A SYBER green-based real-time PCR targeting the ITS1 region was developed for the identification of Anisakis genus. An 86 bp partial fragment of the Anisakis spp. ITS1 gene was amplified successfully. A total of 3 out of 50 samples (6 %) had positive amplification in the samples and their pathology reports showed a significant finding of moderate chronic gastritis with or without ulcers. In conclusion, the developed qPCR could be used for detecting Anisakis spp. larval DNA in human biopsy blocks. This study showed the hidden human cases of anisakiasis in the Bushehr for the first time.

The Prevalence and Characteristics of Performance-Enhancing Drug Use Among Bodybuilding Athletes in the South of Iran, Bushehr.

BACKGROUND: Several reports have implied progressive increase of performance-enhancing drug (PED) use among Iranian athletes. More importantly, most of the previous research in the Iranian population had mainly focused on the anabolic steroid abuse, and ignored other agents. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and characteristics of PED use among bodybuilding athletes in Bushehr, south of Iran. METHODS: Four hundred and fifty three male bodybuilding athletes were recruited from Bushehr gyms between February and May of 2015. Men were eligible to participate in the survey if they had regularly participated in the strength-training exercise (minimum of 1 year and 4 hour/week). Data were collected via a face-to-face interview. The survey consisted of three separate parts including demographic data, exercise pattern and PED use. RESULTS: According to this study, 234 (51.7%) of bodybuilding athletes had used PEDs. The PED users reported an average of 3.80 ± 4.52 agents' use in their programs and they had used PEDs for the average of 3.24 ± 3.99 years. The most prevalent agents which had been abused by the athletes were anabolic steroids (used by 185 athletes (79.4% of athletes). Furthermore, 110 (47%) of athletes reported stimulant agents' use during their routines. The most prevalent motivation for using PEDs was increasing muscle mass that was reported by 164 (70.1%) of PED users. In addition, sexual and dermatologic effects were the most prevalent adverse effects reported by the PED user athletes (114 (49.4%) and 103 (44.2%), respectively). CONCLUSIONS: This study showed the high rate of PED use among recreational and professional Iranian bodybuilding athletes that can expose them to the serious side effects of these agents.

Dicer Gene Expression as a Prognostic Factor in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia in Fars Province.

Alterations in the expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) have been proposed to play a role in the pathogenesis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Dicer is one of the main regulators of miRNA biogenesis, and deregulation of its expression has been indicated as a possible cause of miRNA alterations observed in various cancers. Our aim was to analyze the expression of the Dicer protein and its relationship with ALL and CLL. This cross-sectional study was performed from 2010 to 2012 in Shahid Faghihi Hospital, Shiraz, Iran. In this study, 30 patients with CLL, 21 patients with ALL, 10 child healthy donors, and 19 adult healthy donors were recruited. The patients' samples were checked via flow cytometry, immunohistochemistry, and immunocytochemistry. The controls' samples were also examined in the hematology ward. Total RNA was extracted from the bone marrow and peripheral blood samples of the patients and controls. Then, reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction was used to estimate the level of Dicer miRNA. The outcomes of the expression analysis of Dicer revealed statistically significant differences between the ALL patients/child healthy controls (mean±SD, 0.19±0.28 vs. 0.73±0.12; P<0.001) and the CLL patients/adult healthy controls (mean±SD, 0.24±0.25 vs. 0.41±0.28; P=0.033). This is the first piece of evidence showing that the expression of the Dicer gene greatly decreased in the patients with ALL in comparison to the child controls. The expression of the Dicer gene was also downregulated in the patients with CLL compared to the adult controls. Given the above findings, the expression of Dicer may play an important role in the progression and prognosis of these diseases.

Abrupt Development of Plasma Cell Leukemia in a Patient with Chronic Anemia under Follow-up.

Plasma cell leukemia (PCL) is a very rare and progressive hematologic malignancy with unpleasant prognosis, which present with monoclonal proliferation of plasma cells in peripheral blood. Here we report a 52-year-old female case of PCL which diagnosed by morphology and immunohistochemistery (IHC) study. IHC revealed CD20+/CD38+/CD138+/CD56-/kappa-/lambda+. We diagnose PCL on peripheral blood. IHC can be helpful for prognostic determination.

Cytogenetic findings of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in fars province.

BACKGROUND: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the sixth most common malignancy in Iran. Cytogenetic analysis of leukemic blasts plays an important role in classification and prognosis in ALL patients. The purpose of this study was to define the frequency of chromosomal abnormalities of ALL patients in adults and children in Fars province, Iran. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, we evaluated karyotype results of bone marrow specimens in 168 Iranian patients with ALL (154 B-ALL and 14 T-ALL) in Fars Province using the conventional cytogenetic G-banding method. RESULTS: The frequency of cytogenetic abnormalities, including numerical and/or structural changes, was 61.7% and 53.8% in the B-ALL and T-ALL patients, respectively. Hyperdiploidy was the most common (32%) cytogenetic abnormality. Among structural abnormalities, the most common was t(9;22) in 11% of the patients. The children showed a higher incidence of hyperdiploidy and lower incidence of t(9;22) than adults (P<0.05). We found a lower incidence of recurrent abnormalities such as 11q23, t(1;19), and t(12;21) than those reported in previous studies. CONCLUSION: Normal karyotype was more frequent in our study. The frequencies of some cytogenetic abnormalities such as hyperdiploidy and t(9;22) in our study were comparable to those reported in the literature. The results of this study in Fars Province can be used as baseline information for treatment decision and research purposes in ALL patients. We recommend the use of advanced molecular techniques in the future to better elucidate cryptic cytogenetic abnormalities.

Immunohistochemistery study in a case of nephrogenic adenoma of bladder.

Nephrogenic adenoma is a rare benign lesion of bladder that may be confused with malignant lesions. There is a strong relation with urinary tract irritation and intravesicle instrumentations. Nephrogenic adenoma was initially thought to originate from urothelial metaplasia; however, no solid proof is available. We present a case of 55-year-old lady with urinary problem. Cystocopic examination showed a sessile mass, and biopsy revealed circumscribed proliferation of tubules, cysts, and papillae that were lined by low cuboidal to columnar epithelial cells. Nephrogenic adenoma can be a significant diagnostic pitfall due to the presence of certain histological features such as the presence of enlarged nuclei with prominent nucleoli. Immunohistochemistery study was strongly positive for CK7, P504S, CD10, and EMA, but negative for CK20, PSA, and P63.