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Summary Global investigation of histone marks in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) remains limited. Analyses of 38 AML samples through integrated transcriptional and chromatin mark analysis exposes 2 major subtypes. One subtype is dominated by patients with NPM1 mutations or MLL-fusion genes, shows activation of the regulatory pathways involving HOX-family genes as targets, and displays high self-renewal capacity and stemness. The second subtype is enriched for RUNX1 or spliceosome mutations, suggesting potential interplay between the 2 aberrations, and mainly depends on IRF family regulators. Cellular consequences in prognosis predict a relatively worse outcome for the first subtype. Our integrated profiling establishes a rich resource to probe AML subtypes on the basis of expression and chromatin data.

Introduction: Physiological, anthropometrical and thermal perceptual are the most important factors affecting thermoregulation of men and women in workplaces. The purpose of this study was determining the validity of a questionnaire method for assessing women′s heat strain in workplaces. Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 96 healthy women. Data were continuously collected over a period of 3 months (July-September) in 2012. Mean ± (SD) of age was found to be 31.5 ± 7.48 years, of height 1.61 ± 0.05 m, of weight 61.55 ± 10.35 kg, and of body mass index 23.52 ± 3.75 kg/m 2 in different workplaces. Heart rate and oral temperature were measured by heart rate monitoring and a medical digital thermometer, respectively. Subjects completed a draft questionnaire about the effective factors in the onset of heat strain. After collecting the questionnaires, the data were analyzed by applying Cronbach′sa calculation, factor analysis method, Pearson correlation and receiver operator characteristic curves using the SPSS 18 software. Results: The value for Cronbach′s α was found to be 0.68. The factor analysis method on items of draft questionnaire extracted three subscale (16 variables) which they explained 63.6% of the variance. According to the results of receiver operator characteristic curve analysis, the cut-off questionnaire score for separating people with heat strain from people with no heat strain was obtained to be 17. Conclusions: The results of this research indicated that this quantitative questionnaire has an acceptable reliability and validity, and a cut-off point. Therefore it could be used in the preliminary screening of heat strain in women in warm workplaces, when other heat stress evaluation methods are not available.

Contains fulltext : 161964.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Radboud University, 22 december 2016 Promotor : Stunnenberg, H.G. 161 p.

Background and Aim: High prevalence of low back pain is one of the most common problems among nurses. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relation of the intensity of low back discomfort to two low back pain contributor factors (Ergonomics risk factors and psychosocial factors). Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted on 120 emergency unit nurses in Esfahan. Job content, ergonomics hazards and nordic questionnaire were used in that order for daily assessment of Psychosocial and Ergonomics factors and the intensity of low back discomfort. Nurses were questioned during a 5-week period, at the end of each shift work. The final results were analyzed with SPSS software18/PASW by using Spearman, Mann-Whitney and Kolmogorov-Smirnove test. Results: There was a significant relationship between work demand, job content, social support and intensity of low back discomfort (P value

Background: This study is aimed to examine the appropriacy of school furniture to Iranian pupils′ anthropometric features. Methods: The participants in this cross-sectional study were 493 boys and 489 girls with the age-range of 7 to 12 years who were selected through a multistage random cluster sampling procedure. Age, weight, height, and anthropometric dimensions were determined. Results: This study indicates that there is a significant difference between the minimum and maximum acceptable dimensions and those of the available furniture (p < 0.001). Conclusions: In designing suitable furniture for pupils the anthropometric differences of age and gender must be tak-en into account.

Background: The study aims at clarifying prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) among steel mak­ing workers and employees as well as associated lost work days.Methods: A detailed questionnaire based on Nordic ergonomic questionnaire describing work history, ergonomic condi­tions at work, sign and symptoms of musculoskeletal system with in previous12 months was applied to the investigation among1030 male workers and employees in a steel making plant in Isfahan, Iran, 2004.Results: The prevalence of low back pain ranked top, regardless of job titles followed by knee pain. The age groups (24-35) and (34-45) manifested the most frequent number of (MSDs) and MSDs related lost workdays.Conclusion: This is almost in harmony with the prevalence of MSDs among general population and statistics presented by Bu­reau of Labor Statistics, the U.S Department of Labor.

Background: Lack of data on occupational stress among Iranian industrial employees persuaded us to design and conduct this study to evaluate the prevalence and associated parameters of occupational stress among male employees of the Esfahan Steel Company (ESCO), one of the biggest industrial units in Iran. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 400 male employees were sampled from the operational divisions of the company. Socio-demographic data and stress-related variables were entered into a logistic regression to determine significant associated factors of occupational stress among the participants. Results: From all samples, 53% were found as stressful. A monthly salary of less than $600 (OR = 1.88, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.21-2.94), family-related problems (OR = 2.75, 95% CI = 1.22-6.21), work environment (OR = 3.09, 95% CI = 1.78-5.33) and having a second job (OR = 2.68, 95% CI = 1.78-6.78) were significantly associated with the outcome. Conclusions: Attention to some variables, especially economic problems and the work environment of employees, might play a protective role against the prevalence of occupational stress, not only among the employees of ESCO but also among all industrial employees in Iran.

Background: Governance is one of the main functions of Health Research System (HRS) that consist of four essential elements such as setting up evaluation system. The goal of this study was to introduce a new web based research evaluation model in Iran. Methods: Based on main elements of governance, research indicators have been clarified and with cooperation of technical team, appropriate software was designed. Three main steps in this study consist of developing of mission-oriented program, creating enabling environment and set up Iran Research Medical Portal as a center for research evaluation. Results: Fifty-two universities of medical sciences in three types have been participated. After training the evaluation focal points in all of medical universities, access to data entry and uploading all of documents were provided. Regarding to mission – based program, the contribution of medical universities in knowledge production was 60% for type one, 31% for type two and 9% for type three. The research priorities based on Essential National Health Research (ENHR) approach and mosaic model were gathered from universities of medical sciences and aggregated to nine main areas as national health research priorities. Ethical committees were established in all of medical universities. Conclusion: Web based research evaluation model is a comprehensive and integrated system for data collection in research. This system is appropriate tool to national health research ranking.

Background: Among the most important and effective factors affecting the efficiency of the human workforce are accuracy, promptness, and ability. In the context of promoting levels and quality of productivity, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of exposure to noise on the rate of errors, speed of work, and capability in performing manual activities. Methods: This experimental study was conducted on 96 students (52 female and 44 male) of the Isfahan Medical Science University with the average and standard deviations of age, height, and weight of 22.81 (3.04) years, 171.67 (8.51) cm, and 65.05 (13.13) kg, respectively. Sampling was conducted with a randomized block design. Along with controlling for intervening factors, a combination of sound pressure levels [65 dB (A), 85 dB (A), and 95 dB (A)] and exposure times (0, 20, and 40) were used for evaluation of precision and speed of action of the participants, in the ergonomic test of two-hand coordination. Data was analyzed by SPSS18 software using a descriptive and analytical statistical method by analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) repeated measures. Results: The results of this study showed that increasing sound pressure level from 65 to 95 dB in network ′A′ increased the speed of work (P < 0.05). Increase in the exposure time (0 to 40 min of exposure) and gender showed no significant differences statistically in speed of work (P > 0.05). Male participants got annoyed from the noise more than females. Also, increase in sound pressure level increased the rate of error (P < 0.05). Conclusions: According to the results of this research, increasing the sound pressure level decreased efficiency and increased the errors and in exposure to sounds less than 85 dB in the beginning, the efficiency decreased initially and then increased in a mild slope.

Establishment of medical research centers at universities and health-related organizations and annually evaluation of their research activities was one of the strategic policies which followed by governmental organization in last decade in order to strengthening the connections between health research system and health system. The aim of this study is to scrutinize the role of medical research centers in medical science production in Iran. This study is a cross sectional which has been performed based on existing reports on national scientometrics and evaluation results of research performance of medical research centers between years 2001 to 2010. During last decade number of medical research centers increased from 53 in 2001 to 359 in 2010. Simultaneous scientific output of medical research centers has been increased especially articles indexed in ISI (web of science). Proper policy implementation in the field of health research system during last decades led to improving capacity building and growth knowledge production of medical science in recent years in Iran. The process embedding research into the health systems requires planning up until research products improves health outcomes and health equity in country.

Background: Knowledge production and evaluation are two important functions of health research system (HRS). In this article, we aimed to reveal the correlation between evaluation of health research organizations and health knowledge production promotion. Methods: A comprehensive evaluation system was developed to evaluate the academic performance of national medical science universities on an annual basis. It assess following domains; stewardship, capacity building and knowledge production. Measurable indicators for each domain were assigned, a ‘research profile’ for each department was provided. In this study, we compared the results of annually national Health Research System evaluation findings during 2005–2008. Results: The number of scientific articles has been increased from 4672 to 8816 during 2005 to 2008. It is mentionable that, the number of articles which has been published in indexed data bases has risen too. This fact could be related to directed policy for more international publication of scientific articles from Iran. The proportion of total articles to the number of academic members was 1.14 in 2008, comparing to 0.84 in 2005. It means that this proportion have increased about twice (0.7 Vs 0.45) during mentioned time. Moreover, other scientific products such as authored books based on domestic researches and cited articles in textbooks have increased according to special attention to knowledge production by policy makers. Conclusion: We conclude that Health System Research evaluation could be used as a mean for implementing policies and promoting knowledge production.

Background: Along with the rapid growth of technology its related tools such as computer, monitors and video display terminals (VDTs) grow as well. Based on the studies, the most common complaint reported is of the VDT users. Methods: This study attempts to design a proper tool to assess the visual fatigue of the VDT users. First draft of the questionnaire was prepared after a thorough study on the books, papers and similar questionnaires. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed using the content validity index (CVI) beside that of the Cronbach′s Coefficient Alpha. Then, a cross-sectional study was carried out on 248 of the VDT users in different professions. A theoretical model with four categories of symptoms of visual fatigue was derived from the previous studies and questionnaires. Having used the AMOS 16 software, the construct validity of the questionnaire was evaluated using the confirmatory factor analysis. The correlation co-efficiency of the internal domains was calculated using the SPSS 11.5 software. To assess the quality check index and determining the visual fatigue levels, visual fatigue of the VDT users was measured by the questionnaire and visual fatigue meter (VFM) device. Cut-off points were identified by receiver operating characteristic curves. Results: CVI and reliability co-efficiency were both equal to 0.75. Model fit indices including root mean of squared error approximation, goodness of fit index and adjusted goodness of fit index were obtained 0.026, 0.96 and 0.92 respectfully. The correlation between the results measured with the questionnaire and VFM-90.1 device was −0.87. Cut-off points of the questionnaire were 0.65, 2.36 and 3.88. The confirmed questionnaire consists of four main areas: Eye strain (4 questions), visual impairment (5 questions) and the surface impairment of the eye (3 questions) and the out of eye problems (3 questions). Conclusions: The visual fatigue questionnaire contains 15 questions and has a very remarkable validity and reliability. Using this questionnaire and its findings, one will be able to identify, assess and finally prevent the effective factors of VDT users′ visual fatigue.

Introduction: Standard threshold shifts (STS) as an important indicator for identifying hearing lossin industries that they perform hearing conservation programs. The aim of this study is theinvestigation of the occurrence of standard threshold shift (STS) among workers of Isfehan metalindustry using audiometric data and noise measurement level.Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional and descriptive study that performed among 2016of workers in Isfehan Metal Industry. All of subjects were men and the rate of using personalprotective equipment among workers were sometime=189, often=865 and always=962. At the first wedetermined the parts of plant that exposed to non permissible noise level and then measured exposureto 8 hour equivalent noise level. Finally in regard to basic audiometric and current audiometric, theoccurrences of STS were examined.Results: This study showed that 29.9 % of workers have a STS in these workplaces. There aresignificance relationship between age, exposure time, noise level, wearing time and number ofworkers with STS. But there is no relation between precedence of work and STS statistically.Conclusion: Findings of this study indicated that occurrences of STS among workers exposed tonoise are high. Thus, it is concluded that hearing conservation programs in these industries wasunsuccessful.

Background: Based on Iran by 2025 defined vision, we must to receive the first grade of science position in south western Asian region. Thus we need to have a comprehensive evaluation program. Methods: A comprehensive WHO Health Research System Analysis (HRSA)- based evaluation system was developed to evaluate the HRS in Iran. This article has explored the results of the five-year evaluation (2003–2008) and aims to introduce this method to other developing countries. Here we explore the results of research performance evaluation from 2002 to 2010 and by comparing the results with previous available information, we reveal the probable role of this method in research promotion and proposed approach to facilitate and expedite achieving the prospects for goals of health research based on the visions of Iran by 2025. Results: All of the indicators of stewardship and capacity building axes are received to their predefined levels. Moreover all of the medical science university research policies are based on their strategic plannings which are extracted from national visions of Iran by 2025. Most of the predefined goals in knowledge production domain had a significant grow trend but for more growth for commitments they should be closely follow. Conclusion: We developed an HRS-based comprehensive evaluation program to our national vision as well as our regional and international research competition.

"nInternational ranking of universities by bibliometric assays has received a great attention in recent years. The developing countries have commenced to build their own infrastructure of research and post graduate training during the past couple of years. In 2000, the Ministry of Health and Medical Education of Iran began an annual national survey for assessing research activities in medical universities and their affiliated institutions by applying a customized ranking method. Research indi­cators were scored in three topics; Stewardship, Capacity Building, and Knowledge Production. In 2000, there were about 300 published medical articles in ISI/Thomson and PUBMED from the whole country. This number increased up to 3376 in 2007. The score of indexed papers in international databases per academic member rose from 0.1 in 2000 to 0.63 in 2007. The share of global articles (in the field of Medicine) grew from 0.06% in 2000 to 0.55% in 2007. This rising in article output led to a change from grade 57th in 2000 to 27th in 2007 in the ranking system of Scopus database. The number of local medi­cal journals, which were 53 in 2000, increased to 141 at the end of 2008. This rising scores was ongoing while the growth of the total staff of the academic members was about 25% (from 9086 in 2000 to 11324 in 2007). The number of the short training courses rose from 458 in 2000 to 1097 in 2007. The registered research projects in health topic rose from less than 3878 in 2000 to 6816 in 2007.

The mechanisms underlying enhancer activation and the extent to which enhancer-promoter rewiring contributes to spatiotemporal gene expression are not well understood. Using integrative and time-resolved analyses we show that the extensive transcriptome and epigenome resetting during the conversion between 'serum' and '2i' states of mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) takes place with minimal enhancer-promoter rewiring that becomes more evident in primed-state pluripotency. Instead, differential gene expression is strongly linked to enhancer activation via H3K27ac. Conditional depletion of transcription factors and allele-specific enhancer analysis reveal an essential role for Esrrb in H3K27 acetylation and activation of 2i-specific enhancers. Restoration of a polymorphic ESRRB motif using CRISPR-Cas9 in a hybrid ESC line restores ESRRB binding and enhancer H3K27ac in an allele-specific manner but has no effect on chromatin interactions. Our study shows that enhancer activation in serum- and 2i-ESCs is largely driven by transcription factor binding and epigenetic marking in a hardwired network of chromatin interactions.

Contains fulltext : 165879.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Innate immune memory is the phenomenon whereby innate immune cells such as monocytes or macrophages undergo functional reprogramming after exposure to microbial components such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS). We apply an integrated epigenomic approach to characterize the molecular events involved in LPS-induced tolerance in a time-dependent manner. Mechanistically, LPS-treated monocytes fail to accumulate active histone marks at promoter and enhancers of genes in the lipid metabolism and phagocytic pathways. Transcriptional inactivity in response to a second LPS exposure in tolerized macrophages is accompanied by failure to deposit active histone marks at promoters of tolerized genes. In contrast, beta-glucan partially reverses the LPS-induced tolerance in vitro. Importantly, ex vivo beta-glucan treatment of monocytes from volunteers with experimental endotoxemia re-instates their capacity for cytokine production. Tolerance is reversed at the level of distal element histone modification and transcriptional reactivation of otherwise unresponsive genes. VIDEO ABSTRACT.

Contains fulltext : 128583.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) The use of two kinase inhibitors (2i) enables derivation of mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs) in the pluripotent ground state. Using whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS), we show that male 2i ESCs are globally hypomethylated compared to conventional ESCs maintained in serum. In serum, female ESCs are hypomethyated similarly to male ESCs in 2i, and DNA methylation is further reduced in 2i. Regions with elevated DNA methylation in 2i strongly correlate with the presence of H3K9me3 on endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) and imprinted loci. The methylome of male ESCs in serum parallels postimplantation blastocyst cells, while 2i stalls ESCs in a hypomethylated, ICM-like state. WGBS analysis during adaptation of 2i ESCs to serum suggests that deposition of DNA methylation is largely random, while loss of DNA methylation during reversion to 2i occurs passively, initiating at TET1 binding sites. Together, our analysis provides insight into DNA methylation dynamics in cultured ESCs paralleling early developmental processes.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2022.1015835.]., (Copyright © 2024 Hassan, Samanta, Dash, Karpiński, Habibi, Sadiq, Ahmadi and Bungau.)