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Background and Objectives: Torque teno virus (TTV) infection can be seen in different types of leukemia and may affect clinical outcomes. This study aims to investigate the prevalence of TTV, hepatitis B and C virus, and cytomegalovirus (CMV) in Iranian patients with different types of leukemia. Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 95 patients with different types of leukemia participated. The molecular prevalence of TTV infection was evaluated using the semi-nested PCR method. The prevalence of HBs-Ag and HCV-Ab viruses was measured by the ELISA method. Also, the prevalence of active CMV infection was investigated by the semi-quantitative antigenemia test. The data analysis was done in SPSS software version 12 using logistic regression analysis, chi-square test, and Fisher’s exact test. Results: The TTV infection was found in 40 out of 95 patients (42.1%). The presence of HBs-Ag was reported in 27 out of 95 patients (28.4%). HCV-Ab was found in 18 out of 69 patients (26.1%), and active CMV infection was found in 11 out of 69 (15.9%). Among 40 leukemia patients with TTV infection, 15 (37.5%) had hepatitis B, 14 (35%) had hepatitis C, and 7 (17.5%) had CMV infection. Conclusion: The high prevalence of single or comorbid TTV infection among Iranian patients with leukemia emphasizes the importance of this virus in causing or aggravating the clinical complications observed in these patients.

Background & aim: CD4+CD25+FOXP3+ regulatory T cells (CD4+CD25+FOXP3+ Tregs) are a group of T lymphocytes that play an important role in regulating immune system responses by suppressing the activity of other T cells and establishing homeostasis in the immune system. be. Th1 and Th2 cells are another group of CD4+ cells that play an important role in the formation of inflammatory responses. Considering the important role of Treg, Th1 and Th2 cells in immune responses in patients with lymphoma, the present study investigated the frequency of Treg/Th1 and Treg/Th2 lymphocytes in Hodgkin's lymphoma patients who were in different phases of the disease (new patients, patients in recovery phase and patients in the relapse phase) and their relationship with disease prognosis. Methods: In the present cross-sectional descriptive study, 47 Hodgkin's lymphoma patients including 10 new cases, 24 remission cases and 13 relapsed cases were included in the study. Due to the limited number of patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma, all eligible patients who referred to the hematology and oncology department of Shahid Motahari Clinic and Amir Hospital between 2019 and 2017 were included in the study. The frequency of Treg, Th1 and Th2 lymphocytes in peripheral blood was measured with the help of flow cytometry method and then the ratio of Treg/Th1 and Treg/Th2 populations was determined. Collected data were analyzed using Mann-Whitney and Croxall-Wallis tests. P value less than 0.05 was considered significant. Results: The results indicated that the ratio of Treg/Th1 lymphocytes in recovered cases (0.025%) and relapsed cases (0.007%) compared to new cases (0.16%) (respectively with p

Background & aim: CD4+CD25+FOXP3+ regulatory T cells (CD4+CD25+FOXP3+ Tregs) are a group of T lymphocytes that play an important role in regulating immune system responses by suppressing the activity of other T cells and establishing homeostasis in the immune system. be. Th1 and Th2 cells are another group of CD4+ cells that play an important role in the formation of inflammatory responses. Considering the important role of Treg, Th1 and Th2 cells in immune responses in patients with lymphoma, the present study investigated the frequency of Treg/Th1 and Treg/Th2 lymphocytes in Hodgkin's lymphoma patients who were in different phases of the disease (new patients, patients in recovery phase and patients in the relapse phase) and their relationship with disease prognosis. Methods: In the present cross-sectional descriptive study, 47 Hodgkin's lymphoma patients including 10 new cases, 24 remission cases and 13 relapsed cases were included in the study. Due to the limited number of patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma, all eligible patients who referred to the hematology and oncology department of Shahid Motahari Clinic and Amir Hospital between 2019 and 2017 were included in the study. The frequency of Treg, Th1 and Th2 lymphocytes in peripheral blood was measured with the help of flow cytometry method and then the ratio of Treg/Th1 and Treg/Th2 populations was determined. Collected data were analyzed using Mann-Whitney and Croxall-Wallis tests. P value less than 0.05 was considered significant. Results: The results indicated that the ratio of Treg/Th1 lymphocytes in recovered cases (0.025%) and relapsed cases (0.007%) compared to new cases (0.16%) (respectively with p

Introduction: TNF-α/NF-kB signaling pathway plays an important role in promoting the inflammatory process and growth of breast cancer. Accordingly, the aim of the present study was to investigate the synergistic combination effect of endurance exercise with curcumin on breast cancer progression through TNF-α/NF-kB signaling axes in female BALB/c mice with breast cancer. Methods: The design of the present study was experimental. After transplanting 4T1 breast cancer into the right flank of 40 BALB/c mice, all mice were randomly divided into four groups, including endurance training (E), endurance training-curcumin (EC), curcumin (CC), and control (C). Then, E and EC groups (5 days per week) were performed for 5 weeks. Curcumin (6 times per week) was given by gavage to EC and CC groups for five weeks. The intratumoral expression of TNF-α and NF-kβ were measured using the qRT-PCR method. One-way analysis of variance and LSD post hoc test with SPSS version 16 were used for statistical analysis. P< 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: A significant decline in cancer growth and the gene expression of NF-kβ and TNF-α was observed in E, CC, and EC compared to the C group (P =0.001). Furthermore, a significant decline in expression of both genes was observed in EC compared with E. Conclusion: Endurance training combined with curcumin supplementation has a more effective role in reducing TNF-α and NF-κβ, and slowing the growth of breast cancer cells when compared with either of other interventions alone.

Water tanks are among the main components of water supply networks for storing, maintaining and supplying pressure, and these structures should have the ability to exploit and supply pressure in the water supply network after the earthquake. In this paper, the effect of foundation concrete hardness to tank concrete hardness on seismic analysis of air tanks has been investigated. In the current seismic analysis, the relationship between the concrete hardness of the foundation and the concrete of the tank body is expressed by the definition of the constant coefficient K. By changing this coefficient, its effect on each of the tensile/compressive stress, and displacement parameters using a probabilistic analysis is examined. The tank is modeled using a three-dimensional finite element method based on ANSYS software. In this model, the interaction between the tank body, fluid and foundation are considered and the accelerogram of Manjil earthquake in the intended model is used to apply the earthquake. The probabilistic analysis used in this study is Monte Carlo simulator using the Latin hypercube sampling method and K coefficient is used as an input variable. The maximum horizontal displacement of the structure, the maximum 1st principle stress and the maximum 3rd principle stress are selected as critical responses and output variables. The results of analyzing models and comparing responses such as maximum principle stresses and maximum displacement show that with regard to economic considerations and the appropriate reliability coefficient for the system, the most efficient and optimal value for the coefficient K is approximately 0.7.

Introduction: Prescribing routine Iron supplementation during pregnancy has been done regardless of their need for many years. Considering the possibility of adverse pregnancy outcomes with unnecessary consumption of iron supplementation in pregnant women, this study was performed with aim to assess the effect of iron supplementation in pregnant women with high hemoglobin on neonatal jaundice. Methods: This double-blind controlled randomized clinical trial was performed on 140 nonsmoker healthy pregnant women with gestational age of 14-18weeks and singleton pregnancy with Hb > 13.2 g/dL and ferritin > 15 μg/l in Ardabil during 2016-17. Mothers were randomly assigned to 50 mg ferrous sulfate and placebo groups from 20th weeks of pregnancy. Also, 24 hour after delivery, the neonates were assessed in terms of bilirubin level (by photometric method using BT3500 device) and jaundice. Data were analyzed by SPSS software (version 16) and independent t-test, Chi-square, and exact fisher test. P < 0.05 was considered statisti­cally significant. Results: There was significant difference between two groups in Hb (P = 0.03) and ferritin (P = 0.04) levels after the intervention, but no significant difference was found between two groups in the incidence of anemia (Hb 13.2 g/dl is associated with increased risk of neonatal jaundice; therefore, routine prescribing of iron supplementation should be done with caution in pregnancy.

Dracaena (Dracaena marginata) is one of the important economic ornamental plants in Iran as well as around the world. Micropropagation and enhancement in genetic variation of various ecotypes of this ornamental plant have been considered in several research studies for several years. The main objective of this study was maintenance of the best media culture for callus induction and shoots regeneration in Dracaena "Tricolor". Therefore, small stem segments of 0.5 cm in length were cut from the maternal plants. In order to set up a proper decontamination control system for Dracaena small stem segment, various levels of sodium hypochlorite including 1%, 1.25% and 1.5% were applied in combination with different time periods of 15 and 10 minutes. Moreover, the most suitable medium cultures for callus induction, shoots regeneration and root induction were identified. A proper statistic approach has been used for data analysis in various stages of callus induction and shoots regeneration. The obtained results showed that the most appropriate decontamination treatment to obtain the highest percentage of tissue healthiness could be applied by using 1.25% sodium hypochlorite for 15 minutes. The most suitable MS medium for callus induction was contained either 0.5 mg/l 2,4-D or 1 mg/l NAA. Moreover, applying the following growth regulators including 1 mg/l Kinetin in MS based medium, and 1 mg/l NAA provided the best results for shoots regeneration and root induction

Background & Objectives: Hepatitis type G virus (HGV) is a flavivirus with RNA genome which has high nucleotide and amino acid similarity with HCV. HGV can infect blood lymphocytes for long period and may have role in inducing or complicating the clinical outcomes in patients with hematological malignancies. Therefore in this study the prevalence of HGV, HCV, and HBV infections were evaluated in patients with hematological malignancies. Materials & Methods: In this study EDTA treated blood samples were collected from 100 patients with hematological malignancies and 110 healthy controls of southern cities of Fars province (Lar, Lamerd, Grash) Iran. The serologic and molecular markers of HGV, HCV, and HBV were analyzed by ELISA and PCR and RT-PCR methods, respectively in Hematology Research Center and Transplant Research Center, Namazi hospital, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. Also the role of some risk factors in pathogenesis of these hepatitis viruses was studied statistically. Results: Antibody against E2 antigen of HGV was diagnosed in 5% and 1.1% of patients with hematological malignancies and healthy controls, respectively. Significant difference was found between the prevalence of HGV antibodies in patients with hematological malignancies and healthy controls (P=0.037). The HCV antibody and prevalence of HCV- RNA was detected in 7% and 4% of patients with hematological malignancies respectively. Significant difference was found between the prevalence of HCV-RNA in patients with hematological malignancies and healthy controls (P=0.02). Also HBV viremia was found in 2% of patients. Conclusion: In this study the significant presentation of HGV and HCV were found in patients with hematological malignancies compared with healthy controls. However, the results suggest that similar study should be carryout to evaluate the prevalence of this viral infection in other part of Iran, to control the spreading of these infections to other people.

Background: The potential of acute and chronic viral hepatitis infections in blood leukocytes is one of the possible risk factors of leukemia. Between hepatitis viruses, HGV is important for unknown mechanism of pathogenesis in affecting the outcome of leukemia. In this research the prevalence of HGV infection was studied for evaluation of the possible role of this viral infection in the pathophysiology of leukemia. Methods: In this study, 100 EDTA treated blood samples were collected for 2 and half a year from different types of leukemia and also healthy control group, respectively. The plasma of these blood samples were harvested and stored at -80°C till laboratory tests were performed. Serological and antigenic markers of HBV, HCV and HGV were analyzed by ELISA methods. The HGV viremia was also studied by an in-house nested-RT-PCR method in plasma samples of patients with leukemia and control population. Results: Anti-E2-Ab was detected in 1(1%) of leukemia patients who has not the history of HBV and HCV infections. HGV-RNA was diagnosed in 4(4%) of patients with leukemia and 1(1%) of control group. Simultaneous infection of HGV-RNA and HBsAg was detected in one of patients with leukemia. Significant difference was seen between the prevalence of HBV infection in leukemia patients and control group (P=0.02). Also significant correlation was detected between sex and the prevalence of HBV infection in leukemia patients (P=0.02). None of studied risk factors of leukemia were not significantly correlated with HGV infection. Conclusion: In this study the low prevalence of active and persistent HGV infections in leukemia patients in comparing with control population was confirmed. Also detection of HGV and HBV co-infection in these patients, announced the need of completed studies in different populations with different hematological malignancies and/or abnormalities, for better therapeutic and laboratory management of these cancers.

AbstractBackground and Objectives: β-thalassemia trait (β-TT) and iron deficiency anemia (IDA) are the most common forms of microcytic anemia. Screening of β-thalassemia trait is important for medical counseling before marriage and preventing β-thalassemia major birth results. The most common problem in screening -TT is differentiating it from IDA. The aim of this study was to define the sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values of some discrimination indices for screening of β-TT in a sample of such patients.Methods: A total of 82 patients with microcytic anemia (MCV< 80 fl) were selected from Namazi Hospital, Shiraz, Iran, and 9 discrimination indices were calculated for them. The patients were divided intotwo groups: 42 patients with β-TT and 40 patients with IDA. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values and Youden,s index of each discrimination index were calculated for screening β-TT.Results: None of the discrimination indices showed 100% of sensitivity and specificity. But the Shin and Lal index, RDW index and RBC count showed the highest and valuable value for screening β-TT.Conclusion: Some discrimination indices like Shin and Lal index, RDW index and RBC index are valuable indices in screening β-TT.Keywords: Beta- Thalassemia; Anemia, Iron Deficiency.

Background and Objectives: β-thalassemia trait (β-TT) and iron deficiency anemia (IDA) are the most common forms of microcytic anemia. Screening of β-thalassemia trait is important for medical counseling before marriage and preventing β-thalassemia major birth results. The most common problem in screening b-TT is differentiating it from IDA. The aim of this study was to define the sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values of some discrimination indices for screening of β-TT in a sample of such patients. Methods: A total of 82 patients with microcytic anemia (MCV< 80 fl) were selected from Namazi Hospital, Shiraz, Iran, and 9 discrimination indices were calculated for them. The patients were divided intotwo groups: 42 patients with β-TT and 40 patients with IDA. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values and Youden , s index of each discrimination index were calculated for screening β-TT. Results: None of the discrimination indices showed 100% of sensitivity and specificity. But the Shin and Lal index, RDW index and RBC count showed the highest and valuable value for screening β-TT. Conclusion: Some discrimination indices like Shin and Lal index, RDW index and RBC index are valuable indices in screening β-TT.

Introduction: Fungal sinusitis is a well known disease in immunocompromised patients, but recently many reports have indicated an increased prevalence of fungal sinusitis in otherwise healthy individuals. The aim of this study was to assess the frequency of invasive fungal sinusitis (IFS) in neutropenic patients and to determine outcome factors that may affect their survival. Methods: A total of 142 patients who were undergoing chemotherapy were followed by clinical and radiological features suggestive of fungal sinusitis. Patients with fever, headache, facial swelling and radiological finding underwent endoscopic sinus surgery. The biopsy materials were studied by mycological and histopathological methods. Results: Eleven from 142 patients were identified to have IFS. The ethiologic agents were Aspergillus flavus (5 cases), Alternaria sp. (3 cases), Aspergillus fumigatus (2 cases) and mucor (1 case). Eight of 11 cases died. Conclusions: Invasive fungal sinusitis causes a high rate of mortality among immunocompromised patients. Therefore, early diagnosis with aggressive medical and surgical intervention is critical for survival.

Background and Objectives The high rate of anemia in pregnancy is associated with complications of pregnancy and delivery; therefore, to assess the level of hemoglobin (Hb) in women who are at risk can prevent these complications. Materials and Methods In this descriptive study, 108 pregnant women referred to a medical and educational center in Shiraz in 2006. They were enrolled in three different occasions: first trimester (10-14 weeks), second trimester (25-30 weeks), and third trimester (37-40 weeks). The correlation of blood hemoglobin concentration with the risk of severe nausea, vomiting, and iron supplementation in pregnant women was estimated . Statistical analysis was done with SPSS11.5 and Pearson correlation. Results The mean age of the participants is 25.74 ± 5.66. In the first trimester of pregnancy 71.9% had normal hemoglobin level and 28.1% higher than normal with no case being anemic. In the second and third trimester of pregnancy, 29.2% of the subjects were anemic. The level of hemoglobin had positive correlation with the total amount of iron intake in the second trimester (p= 0.001 and r= 0.44), also in the third trimester (p< 0.001 and r= 0.46) and the whole pregnancy (p< 0.001 and r= 0.38). Conclusions This study indicated that despite regular intake of iron, %29.2 of the subjects had anemia. These findings emphasize the importance of treating these groups of patients and measuring levels of hemoglobin in each trimester together with reviewing other risk factors which are effective on anemia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]