ABCB1-C3435T polymorphism and breast cancer risk: a case-control study and a meta-analysis.

PURPOSE: To investigate the association of ABCB1-C3435T transition with breast cancer risk which was followed by a meta-analysis. METHODS: In a case-control study we collected blood samples from 290 women (including 150 breast cancer patients and 140 healthy controls). ABCB1-C3435T genotyping was performed by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. A meta-analysis was performed for a total of 13 eligible studies involving 5,835 cases and 8,178 controls. RESULTS: The results of case-control study revealed a significant association between T allele (OR=1.770, 95%CI=1.236-2.535, p=0.002), CT genotype (OR=1.661, 95%CI=1.017-2.713, p=0.042), and TT genotype (OR=3.399, 95%CI=1.409-8.197, p=0.006) with breast cancer risk. Data from meta-analysis revealed a significant association between ABCB1-C3435T polymorphism and breast cancer risk in allelic (OR=1.243, 95%CI=1.079-1.432, p=0.003), co-dominant (OR=1.349, 95%CI=1.042-1.746, p=0.023), dominant (OR=1.204, 95%CI=1.019-1.422, p=0.029), and recessive (OR=1.226, 95%CI=1.011-1.488, p=0.039) models. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that the ABCB1-C3435T gene polymorphism might be a genetic risk factor and a potential biomarker for breast cancer.

Fatigue and Vitamin D Status in Iranian Female Nurses.

INTRODUCTION: Given that nurses are among professions with frequent problems of fatigue, and given the nature of their profession that provides little exposure to sunlight and the subsequent deficiency of vitamin D, the present study examined the relation between fatigue and circulating vitamin D levels in female nurses working in Shahid Beheshti Hospital, Kashan, Iran in 2013. MATERIAL & METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 200 female nurses working in Shahid Beheshti Hospital. To measure fatigue, fatigue questionnaire containing 9 questions eliciting the subject's feeling in scales of 1 to 7, getting a possible score of 9 to 63, and Visual Analogue Scale in which nurses specified their fatigue in a band of zero to 10 were used. The 25-hydroxyvitamin D, which is the most important vitamin D metabolite, also was determined. The data was analyzed by SPSS-16. The Pearson's correlation of coefficients, t-test, and multiple regression analysis were used in this study. RESULTS: The mean fatigue score of nurses was 38.76±12.66 in questionnaire and 5.73±2.12 in Visual Analog Scale. The 89 per cent of nurses suffered from vitamin D deficiency, 9.5 percent of them had normal level and 1.5 per cent had toxicity level of vitamin D. There was a significant relationship between vitamin D level and fatigue scores (P<0.0001), and visual fatigue scores (P<0.0001). According to multivariate regression analysis, vitamin D level accounted for 13 per cent of the fatigue based on data on questionnaire and 18.6 per cent of fatigue according to Visual Analog Scale. CONCLUSION: High prevalence of fatigue among nurses could be attributed to vitamin D deficiency.

Numerical status of CD4(+)CD25(+)FoxP3(+) and CD8(+)CD28(-) regulatory T cells in multiple sclerosis.

OBJECTIVES: Regulatory T cells, including CD4+CD25+Fox3+ and CD8+CD28- cells play an important role in regulating the balance between immunity and tolerance. Since multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory autoimmune disease, regulatory T cells are considered to be involved in its pathogenesis. In this study, we investigated the circulatory numbers of the two mentioned types of regulatory T cells and also their association with different clinical characteristics in 84 multiple sclerosis patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 84 patients with multiple sclerosis and 75 normal individuals were studied. Demographic and clinical information of all participants were collected via questionnaire and clinical examination as well as MRI. The peripheral blood frequency of two different subgroups of regulatory T cells (CD4+ CD25+Foxp3+ and CD8+CD28- cells) were analyzed by flow cytometry using anti-human antibodies conjugated with CD4-FITC / CD25-PE/Foxp3-PE-Cy5, CD3-PE/CD8a-PE-Cy5/CD28-FITC. RESULTS: The frequency of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ cells in multiple sclerosis patients was significantly less than that in healthy controls (P=0.006) and in mild forms less than that in sever forms (P=0.003). There was not any correlation between the frequency of regulatory T cells and different clinical variables. CONCLUSION: Our results showed that the number of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ cells decreases significantly in multiple sclerosis patients, which probably shows the regulatory role of these cells in multiple sclerosis.

Effects of calcium and training on the development of bone density in children with Down syndrome.

In this study we examined the effects of physical training and calcium intake on the development of bone mineral density (BMD) in children with Down syndrome (DS). A total of 48 children with DS (age 7-12 years old) matched for age and BMD were assigned to four groups exercise and calcium intake (Ex(+)Ca(+)), calcium intake-no-exercise (Ex(-)Ca(+)), exercise no-calcium intake (Ex(+)Ca(-)) and non-exercise-no-calcium intake (Ex(-)Ca(-)). The training protocol included 45 min of weight bearing exercise performed 3 sessions per week in addition to dietary calcium rich food intake of enriched cow milk with vitamin D containing 200 mg calcium per serving or no enriched dietary supplement for a duration of 4 months. Data analysis was performed on data by using t-test, one-way ANOVA analysis and Tukey post hoc tests to determine the main and combined effects of training and calcium regiment on BMD. All groups showed greater femoral neck BMD after 4 months. The increase in femoral neck BMD in the Ex(+)Ca(+) group was 5.96% greater than the Ex(+)Ca(-) group (p<0.01). The effect of training was greater than calcium intake alone. The Ex(+)Ca(-) group achieved 3.52% greater BMD than Ex(-)Ca(+) group (p<0.01). In this study, all the experimental groups had greater BMD than the no-calcium-no-exercise group that served as the control group (p<0.01). It was concluded that additional weight bearing exercise and calcium supplementation resulted in a greater increase in BMD in children with DS.