Journal of Kerman University of Medical Sciences
Year:2012 | Volume:19 | Issue:2|Papers Count:12

Background & Aims: Nucleostemin is one of the stem cell enriched proteins which encodes a novel nucleolar GTP-binding protein found at high levels in the adult and embryonic stem (ES) cells but not in terminally differentiated cells. It is also expressed in tumor cell lines as well as in the several types of human cancers. Due to the increasing rate of breast cancer in recent years, in the present study we evaluate the usefulness of Nucleostemin as a potential diagnostic and therapeutic molecular marker in breast tumors.Methods: A total of 41 tumoral and 20 non-tumoral adjacent tissues were studied by Semiquantitative Reverse Transciptase-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR).2m was used as an internal control. Data were analyzed through SPSS software.Results: According to the obtained results, nucleostemin is a proliferation marker with higher eapression in breast tumors rather than in adjacent normal tissues. Nucleostemin expression level was significantly correlated with profilertion potential of breast benign tumors (p<0.05). The expression of Nucleostemin was significantly correlated with the advanced stages of breast tumors (p<0.05).Conclusion: Nucleostemin expression level may be used in estimating tumor size and as a potential prognostic marker for determinig breast tumors stage and future metastases. Moreover, nucleostemin inhibition can be an effective sterategy in decreasing the proliferation of breast tumor cell lines.

Background & Aims: One of the important aims of quantitative cardiac image processing is the clarification of myocardial motions in order to derive biomechanical behavior of the heart in the disease condition. In this study we presented a computerized analysis method for detecting the instantaneous myocardial changes by using 2D echocardiography images.Methods: The analysis was performed on the myocardial septum wall of 10 healthy participants in longitudinal and short axis views. Myocardial muscle's vertical and horizontal displacements in the basal and apex segments were also estimated. In order to detemin the validity of the planned program, manual measurements were performed too and the results of automatic and manual methods were compared.Pearson's test used to find out the correlation between manual and automatic methods and the linear correlation function between these two methods was extracted by the confidence level of 95%.Results: There was significant correlation between the displacements of the base and apex segments of the interventricular septum acquired using block matching and manual methods (R2=0.91, p<0.05). In studying the difference between the two methods based on their average, significant correlation between the manual and block maching methods was observed.Maximum displacement of the interventricular septum wall measured by block matching algorithm and manual method showed no significant difference.Conclusion: Since the proposed approach based on block matching is capable of assessing the instantaneous changes of regional myocardial wall in longitudinal and short axes views of sequential B-mode images, it has the potential to be used in clinical practice.

Background & Aims: The present study compared fluoride uptake into enamel from sodium fluoride 0.05% gel and American Dental Association approved fluoride gel (Stannous fluoride 0.4%, Sultan Co.) when used on healthy enamel of the intact teeth.Methods: In an experimental study, 30 intact teeth extracted for orthodontic purposes were randomly assigned into two groups of 15 teeth. The teeth were sectioned in two mesial and distal halves as control and experimental sides. Defined semi-circular areas on the enamel of experimental halves were treated with gel for 4 minutes, the halves were stored in artificial saliva for 24 hours at 37 ºC, etched for 30 seconds by 0.5 M perchlorid Acid and washed by 0.2 ml KOH after each etching. Biopsy of the samples was obtained by Acid Etch Enamel Biopsy technique and the fluoride and calcium concentration were calculated by potentiometer and spectrophotometer respectively. Paired t test and student t test were used for statistical analyses.Results: The results showed significant increase of enamel fluoride content in the experimental halves after exposure to both stannous fluoride 0.4% (P=0.0001) and sodium fluoride 0.05% (P=0.009). Mean fluoride uptakes in stannous fluoride 0.4% gel and sodium fluoride 0.05% gel groups were respectively 4052.5 ppm and 892.5 ppm that shows statistically significant difference (P=0.0001).Conclusion: Although both sodium fluoride 0.05% and stannous fluoride 0.4% increased fluoride Content of tooth enamel after application, stannous fluoride 0.4% caused more fluoride uptake into the tooth enamel that is due to its higher amount of fluoride ion (1000 ppm) compared to sodium fluoride gel (225 ppm).

Background & Aims: Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is considered as one of the most prevalent disorder during the life time and can negatively influence the individual, family and social relationships of patients, so, prevention and treatment of this disorder is highly important. Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), psychological debriefing (PD), and imaginal exposure (IE) are some treatment methods, but there is controversy about long effects of these treatments, especially among chronic patients.Method: In a semi experimental study, a total of 54 adult male patients, based on Davidson scale and psychiatric diagnostic, were randomly selected, and then were divided into 3 equal therapy groups. All participants were evaluated before, after and 3 months after the treatment. Data were analyzed through the repeated variance and Duncan post-hoc tests.Results: Psychological debriefing and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing were better than imaginal exposure in relief of chronic post-traumatic stress disorder signs and remaining the effectiveness in three months follow-up.Conclusion: It is concluded that all of the above methods are effective on chronic post-traumatic stress disorder and the efficacy of the therapeutic techniques would be still in force even after 3 months.Considering the importance of psychological interventions, it is necessary that such methods be taught to psychologists so that they can use them after traumatic accidents.

Background & Aims: Therapeutic abortion in the second trimester pregnancy is the choice treatment in cases with severe anomalies or intrauterine fetal death. It can be done by a number of medical (e.g.misoprostol) or mechanical methods (e.g. laminaria). The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of misoprostol alone and misoprostol in combination with laminaria in the induction of second trimester abortion.Method: In this interventional study, 80 pregnant women with the gestational age of 13-25 weeks who were candidates of therapeutic abortion were selected and randomly divided into two groups (n=40). One group received misoprostol alone and the other received misoprostol in combination with laminaria.Results: Combination of misoprostol and laminaria caused not only a significant shorter time interval from the initiation of intervention to abortion (P=0.034), but also lower dose of administered misoprostol (P=0.001), less need for curettage (P=0.001), and shorter hospitalization period (P=0.042).Conclusion: Based on the obtained results, misoprostol in combination with laminaria is recommended for the induction of second trimester therapeutic abortion.

Background & Aims: Laryngeal cancer is the second common cancer of respiratory tract, following the lung cancer. Carcinogenesis is a complex multistage process, molecular genetics has provided the evidence that activation of proto-oncogene and loss or inactivation of tumor suppressor genes (TSG) are involved in a large number of malignancies. One of the earliest significant tumor suppressor genes identified in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) was P53 have a role in growth suppression activities. Thus, whenP53 is deleted or silenced, the cell develops a selective growth advantage and becomes a cancer. Mutations in P53 are correlated with poorer survival and response to treatment. The aim of this study was to survey the prevalence of P53 gene mutation in patients with laryngeal cancer and to select an appropriate method of treatment.Methods: The samples were 52 patients with laryngeal cancer diagnosis have been treated by surgery. Investigation of TP53 mutation where performed by multiple ligation probe amplification (MLPA) technique which analyze the full length of gene from exon 1 to 12.Results: The TP53 mutation was discovered in 80.8 percent of samples. By contrast between two main forms of mutation (i.e. deletions and duplications), we found that the deletions mostly occurred within exons 1, 3, 6, 9 and 12 by 59.6 percent and duplications observed in exons 1, 2, 7, 8 and 11 by 21.2 percent.Conclusion: Considering our results and reminding this fact that nowadays the definitive diagnosis of laryngeal cancer is made using biopsy and pathology techniques, we suggest that all biopsy specimens should be tested and those confirmed positive for TP53 mutations need some further decisions by physicians.

Background & Aims: In this research, we intended to normalize and examine the reliability and validity of the Fear of Pain Questionnaire-Short Form (FPQ-SF) among Iranian university students.Method: A random sample of 600 students participated in this study. Using confirmatory factor analysis, a 3-factor model with 30 items and a 4-factor model with 20 items were evaluated. For reliability assessment, we used Chronbach’s alpha and for validity applied, convergent validity. Convergent validity was measured through correlation between pain anxiety symptoms scale (PASS-20) and anxiety sensitivity index (ASI).Results: The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) reassessment of McNeil and Rainwater’s 3-factor 30-item model and Asmundson et al proposed 4-factor 20-item model indicated a poor fit to the data. As such, exploratory factor analysis using 4-factor model (severe pain, minor pain, medical and dental pain, and injection pain) with 24 items was developed. The results of Chronbach's Alpha for fear of pain and each of subscales of severe pain, minor pain, medical and dental pain, and injection pain were 0.83, 0.83, 0.80, 0.76 and 0.89, respectively for total sample.Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, it was found that fear of pain questionnaire with four factors and 24 items shows acceptable psychometric properties in psychological research and clinical assessment of fear of pain in Iranian population.

Background & Aims: About 50 percent of menopausal women have sleep problems that can lead to reduced quality of life, according to the population growth in postmenopausal women today, raising the level of their health issues are deemed important. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of valerian on sleep component among 60-50 year women.Methods: In this study, a randomized controlled trial design was employed. Participants consisted of 100 women with menopause aged 50-60, who suffered from insomnia. Instruments included demographic data form and Pittsburg sleep quality index. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data.Results: Prevalence of sleep disorders by Pittsburg sleep quality index in this group was 70%. A statistically significant change was reported in the six component of sleep disturbance in intervention group in comparison to the placebo group (p=0.000). But the sixth component (the mount of drugs) was not statistically different.Conclusion: The results show that valerian improves the component of sleep in women with insomnia. So, it is essential that health providers would be familiar with these herb supplements.

Background & Aims: Empathy plays an important role in patient’s relationship with his/her dentist or doctor. One of the most used tools for evaluation of empathy is the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy-Health Professionals Version (JSPE-HP). The aim of this study was to validate the JSPE-HP for use among Iranian population.Methods: The English original version of the JSPE-HP questionnaire was translated into Persian language by a forward–backward translation method. Reliability was tested on 30 Dental and Medical students. Then validity and internal consistency were tested on 554 students.Results: The reliability coefficient (Cronbach's alpha) of the JSPE-HP was excellent (alpha: 0.83). The coefficient of test re-test reliability measured by ICC (Intra class correlation coefficient) was 0.82 (CI 95%: 0.80-0.87). Freshman students had higher scores than other students and this difference was significant (P=0.03). There was no significant difference on empathy scores between Dental and Medical students.Conclusion: The overall findings of this study indicate that the Persian version of the JSPE is a valid and reliable instrument for evaluating physician-patient empathy in Iranian Population.

Epilepsy is one of the most important diseases of nervous system that involves 0.5-1% of the population. In spite of new developments in antiepileptic drugs, between 20-30% of epileptic patients can not be controlled and even those who are controlled with antiepileptic drugs suffer from their adverse events. Epileptic patients have different challenges in relation to the disease and its medications. This article has reviewed these challenges. The most common challenges are misdiagnosis of epilepsy or type of epilepsy resulting in wrong drug administration, noncompliance with antiepileptic drugs, adverse effects of antiepileptic drugs, drug resistance, non-pharmacological interventions and their limitations, photosensitivity, epilepsy problems in children and the elderly, pregnancy and epilepsy, driving and epilepsy and finally sudden death in epileptic patients.