Researcher Bulletin of Medical Sciences
Year:2011 | Volume:16 | Issue:2 (80)|Papers Count:13

In recent years there has been considerable investigation about the potentials of soyfoods to reduce the risk of cancer, particularly breast cancer. Isoflavones are compounds with a chemical structure similar to estrogen and can bind to estrogen receptor. The relationship between soyfoods and breast cancer has become a controversial issue because of concerns -based mostly on some in vitro and rodent data- that isoflavones may stimulate the growth of existing estrogen-sensitive breast tumors. However, some have indicated that soy isoflavones have antitumor and antiproliferative effects. The epidemiologic data are generally consistent with the animal studies, showing no increased risk. In limited clinical studies there is no evidence that isoflavone intake increases tumor growth or proliferation of carcinoma cells. Also, epidemiological studies on breast cancer survival showed that soy isoflavones decrease recurrence and mortality of disease. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that in healthy women the pharmacologic dose of estrogen has very low if any risk for breast cancer. Because of the increasing popularity of soyfoods and the commercial availability of isoflavone supplements and existing concern regarding the estrogen-like effects of isoflavones in the breast, more clinical research seems to be necessary.

Background and Aim: Due to high prevalence of head and neck burns and reports on the success of tissue expansion in reconstruction, this study was carried out to determine the effect of tissue extension on reconstructing head and neck scars, emphasizing on the right flap design. Materials and Methods: In a clinical trial, 51 patients (62 scars) underwent tissue expansion. All patients were examined preoperatively for their scar status and amount of intact tissue. Afterwards, the reconstructed area was examined 6 months post-surgery in respect to tissue similarity, pliability and skin color. Results: This study was conducted on 51 patients (55% female and 45% male) ranging from 10 to 59 years. Tissue expansion was successful in 95.1% of the reconstructions, whereas tissue transmission and covering the defect was successful in 89%. Complications were only seen in 19.4%. In 4.8% of the cases no tissue extension occurred. Good blood perfusion was observed in 81% of the flaps. Conclusion: It seems that using tissue expansion is acceptable in reconstructing head and neck burn scars. We recommend its use with appropriate flap design.

Background and Aim: Several reports have been published on clinical application of various Bone Substitute Material (BSM) which show their successful application. The most important factor in determination of BSM success is the physiological and histological behavior of this material that is evaluated by morphology of osteogenic cells, rate of survival and their proliferation. This research was done to assess the effect of this material on morphology, proliferation and rate of survival of SaOS-2 osteoblastoid cells.Materials and Methods: In this experimental in vitro study, two types of materials of bone graft (totudent and bio-oss) were assessed for their effect on survival rate, proliferation and morphology of SaOS-2 cells. 12 samples from each of grafted material and 4 negative control samples have been used. In day 21, morphology of these cells was evaluated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM).Results: In the term of spiral morphology, there was the meaningful statistics difference between Cerasorb and two other groups, but there was not meaningful difference between two groups of totudent and control. In the term of spindle morphology, there was meaningful statistics difference between the above mentioned groups. In the term of elongated morphology with pseudopodia, none of them had meaningful statistics difference.Conclusion: The synthetic material of totudent bone graft compared with bio-oss, showed better result in the morphologic variations of SaOS-2 cells at culture medium and has better biologic characteristic.

Background and Aim: Unconsummated marriage has been seen in some cases. This study was run to determine the time of consummation of marriage and related factors in women referred to health care centers and hospitals of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Science in Tehran in 2009.Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 200 consecutive women. The maximum length of marriage in these women was 4 months and they did not have any known medical or psychiatric disease or addiction. The time of consummating was recorded using questioner and the role of personal and social characteristics were determined. Not being successful in first trying for consummating was also recorded and 2 test was used for analysis.Results: Findings showed that in 200 women aged 24.7±4.44 y with marriage duration of 3.47±3.44 months, the rate of unsuccessful first try for consummating was %61.Conclusion: It seems that delay in consummating the marriage should be investigated. We recommend further assessment of this problem and its causes, especially because this is a new field of research.

Background and Aim: Although current treatment options for cervical cancer rely on platinum-based chemoradiotherapy, individualized approaches to therapy may improve response or reduce unnecessary toxicity. Overexpression of Excision repair cross-complementing 1 (ERCC1) has been associated with Cisplatin resistance in some tumors. We hypothesized that ERCC1 overexpression is related to treatment response.Materials and Methods: 32 patients with cervical cancer were enrolled. Malignant tissue was isolated from pretreatment biopsies, and quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction assays were performed to determine ERCC1 expression. Patients were divided to ERCC1 positive and ERCC1 negative. Response to chemoradiotherapy was evaluated and compared among the two groups.Results: The mean age of participants was 56.6±12 years. Objective response was obtained in 24 patients (75%). ERCC1 was 2.8 times higher in patients who did not respond to treatment compared with the responders (OR: 2.8).Conclusion: Assessment of ERCC1 expression in tumoral tissue is possible in the clinical setting and predicts response to chemoradiotherapy. Further studies are necessary for final judgment.

Background and Aim: Extensive use of biocides containing quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) have led to the emergence of QACs resistant strains of staphylococci. The aim of the present study was to detect two biocide resistance genes, qac A/B and smr and to study their association with the presence of antibiotic resistance genes in isolated S. aureus from different sources.Material and Methods: Forty two S. aureus from clinical sources, 11 from unpasteurized diaries, and 32 from nasal swabs out of 150 collected samples were isolated. Susceptibility of the isolates to biocide QACs containing didecyl dimethyl ammonium chloride was determined by the colorimetric broth microdilution test. Polymerase chain reaction was done for detection of qac A/B, smr, bla Z, and mec A genes.Results: Fifty percent of clinical isolates, 36.36% of isolates from unpasteurized diaries and 15.6% of nasal isolates of S. aureus with the MIC range between 1.95-7.81 µg/ml were resistant to QACs. The frequency of qac A/B and smr genes among clinical isolates was 19.4% and 45.2%, respectively, which was significantly higher than their frequency in other samples (2.3% and 20.9%, respectively) (p<0.05). The smr gene with frequency of 15.6% was the dominant gene among the nasal isolates of S. aureus. There was a significant correlation between the presence of at least one of the biocide resistance genes and bla Z in clinical (p=0.04) and food-related isolates (p=0.024) but there wasn’t any significant association between the presence of biocide resistance genes and mec A.Conclusion: It is for the first time that not only the prevalence of qac A/B and smr genes for Iranian S. aureus strains is reported but also to the best of our knowledge is the first time that the presence of smr gene with the frequency of 15.6% is reported for nasal isolates of S. aureus. The present study confirms the previous findings that there is a close relationship between QACs resistance and penicillin resistance. However the presence of qac genes in the S. aureus population and their ability to develop biological resistance or co-resistance with antibiotics highlights the importance of effective infection control strategies.

Background and Aim: Although the Pap smear screening test has showed a great success in early diagnosis of cervical cancer in different countries over the past 60 years, cervical cancer has remained the fifth most common cancer among Iranian women. The diagnostic value of Pap smears which are done in health centers around the country compared with international standards for cervical cancer screening requires further consideration. The purpose of this study was to compare Pap test’s findings with colposcopic biopsies as the gold standard.Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, all non-pregnant women attended to Taleghani hospital gynecology clinic between 2007 and 2009 for routine Pap smear and were volunteer to participate in this research, and based on clinical findings as well as colposcopist’s opinion had an indication for colposcopy, were included. Eligible women had a Pap test as well as colposcopy and cervical biopsy thereafter. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value (PPV & NPV) of Pap test was calculated compared with cervical biopsy as the gold standard.Results: Overall, %67 of women had abnormal biopsy (mostly HPV appearance), whereas only %21 of Pap smear results indicated abnormal cervical screening test results. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV of Pap smear for detecting cervical neoplasia in our study was %23.9, %84.8, %76.2, and %35.4, respectively.Conclusion: The sensitivity of Pap smear was less than other reports. It needs more quality control, including sampling, sample preparation and interpretation in this center. Studies with more samples in other hospitals and particularly in different health care centers in Iran are highly recommended.

Background and Aim: There is limited information about the therapeutic results in patients with hydrocephalus in the country, however, it is important to know the results of Endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) in these patients compared to shunt investment. Thus, the research was conducted on admitted patients with hydrocephalus during 2008 to 2010.Materials and Methods: This was a cross sectional study. The therapeutic results were calculated using ETVSS (ETV Success Score) for all patients diagnosed with hydrocephalus and had undergone surgery. Survival rate of patients with shunt or ETV were analyzed with the Kaplan-Meier method.Results: During the two year study, 96 patients were found eligible. Patients aged from 3 days to 14 years (mean: 2.4±3.33) and had at least six months of follow-up. ETV survival rate was greater than shunt in ETVSS³80 (100% versus 40%, P=0.02). The more the ETVSS, the survival of patients treated with ETV is more than shunt investment.Conclusion: It seems that ETV technique is more successful in patients with higher ETVSS. We recommend further research in this regard.