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Objective Lower limb deformity in children with cerebral palsy (CP) is a common musculoskeletal problem and planovalgus is the most prevalent, characterized by talus median subluxation, calcaneal valgus, and supinated forefoot. According to studies, one issue in orthopedics and pathology is the accurate diagnosis and proper treatment of planovalgus deformity in children with bilateral spastic cerebral palsy, which has attracted researchers’ attention. Accordingly, the present study investigates the effect of planovalgus deformity on the motor performance and balance of these children. Materials & Methods This cross-sectional study employed a descriptive-analytical design. The convenient sampling method was used among children with bilateral spastic cerebral palsy, diagnosed with unilateral planovalgus, who were referred to the clinics of the University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences (Nezam Mafi) and occupational therapy clinics from September 2022 to February 2023 in Tehran City, Iran. Meanwhile, all participants were willing to cooperate in this research. A total of 27 participants were evaluated by an occupational therapist based on the specified criteria and gross motor function classification system (GMFCS), which included the assessments of balance, muscle strength, range of motion, and pain. Data analysis was done using the SPSS software, version 16. Results The results revealed a statistically significant difference between the mean range of motion of ankle dorsiflexion and knee extension between the two limbs (P

Abstract Background Tumor suppressor genes p53 and p16INK4a and the proto-oncogene MDM2 are considered to be essential G1 cell cycle regulatory genes whose loss of function is associated with ESCC carcinogenesis. We assessed the aberrant methylation of the p16 gene and its impact on p16INK4a protein expression and correlations with p53 and MDM2 protein expressions in patients with ESCC in the Golestan province of northeastern Iran in which ESCC has the highest incidence of cancer, well above the world average. Methods Cancerous tissues and the adjacent normal tissue obtained from 50 ESCC patients were assessed with Methylation-Specific-PCR to examine the methylation status of p16. The expression of p16, p53 and MDM2 proteins was detected by immunohistochemical staining. Results Abnormal expression of p16 and p53, but not MDM2, was significantly higher in the tumoral tissue. p53 was concomitantly accumulated in ESCC tumor along with MDM2 overexpression and p16 negative expression. Aberrant methylation of the p16INK4a gene was detected in 31/50 (62%) of esophageal tumor samples, while two of the adjacent normal mucosa were methylated (P < 0.001). p16INK4a aberrant methylation was significantly associated with decreased p16 protein expression (P = 0.033), as well as the overexpression of p53 (P = 0.020). Conclusions p16 hypermethylation is the principal mechanism of p16 protein underexpression and plays an important role in ESCC development. It is associated with p53 protein overexpression and may influence the accumulation of abnormally expressed proteins in p53-MDM2 and p16-Rb pathways, suggesting a possible cross-talk of the involved pathways in ESCC development.

Objective Lower limb deformity in children with cerebral palsy (CP) is a common musculoskeletal problem and planovalgus is the most prevalent, characterized by talus median subluxation, calcaneal valgus, and supinated forefoot. According to studies, one issue in orthopedics and pathology is the accurate diagnosis and proper treatment of planovalgus deformity in children with bilateral spastic cerebral palsy, which has attracted researchers’ attention. Accordingly, the present study investigates the effect of planovalgus deformity on the motor performance and balance of these children. Materials & Methods This cross-sectional study employed a descriptive-analytical design. The convenient sampling method was used among children with bilateral spastic cerebral palsy, diagnosed with unilateral planovalgus, who were referred to the clinics of the University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences (Nezam Mafi) and occupational therapy clinics from September 2022 to February 2023 in Tehran City, Iran. Meanwhile, all participants were willing to cooperate in this research. A total of 27 participants were evaluated by an occupational therapist based on the specified criteria and gross motor function classification system (GMFCS), which included the assessments of balance, muscle strength, range of motion, and pain. Data analysis was done using the SPSS software, version 16. Results The results revealed a statistically significant difference between the mean range of motion of ankle dorsiflexion and knee extension between the two limbs (P<0.001). The mean muscle strength of the quadriceps and ankle plantar flexors indicated a statistically significant difference in the affected limb (P<0.001). Additionally, the mean displacement of the center of pressure of the foot also demonstrated a statistically significant difference regarding topographical involvement (P<0.001). Conclusion Planovalgus deformity is one of the most common ankle deformities, which is of great concern for children with cerebral palsy. The results obtained from the assessments of the child’s balance and motor function demonstrated the importance of assessment strategies and early interventions to achieve better rehabilitation outcomes for children with CP and planovalgus deformity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The divine assistance is given to the faithful Muslims through various ways by the will of God and it leads to the astonishment of all people. This assistance relies on some principles mentioned in the Qur’an such as faith in God, obedience to the divine commands, definite trust in God and His divine promises, decisiveness and persistence for doing pure acts, and finally the divine traditions that exist in all times and places. Using descriptive analysis, the present study aims to delve deep into the subject of divine assistance. A monotheistic look at human history reveals that when faithful Muslims take action relying on the above principles, they can leave the obstacles and arduous challenges behind. Imam Khomeini himself conducted his measures from the beginning of Islamic revolution in Iran with reliance on the above principles and periodically used to emphasize on them in his speeches. People in the world have of course witnessed the real impact of those principles because when the victory of Islamic revolution seemed unlikely at the time of Pahlavi regime that was dominant in Iran as a stable Island, the divine and unseen assistance of God as well as the efforts of the leader and Iranian people who trusted in God and His definite promises to assist the believers against the enemies could defeat the former regime to the astonishment of World Arrogance. Therefore, people could choose their favorite government as a result of divine will and the fulfillment of one of the great traditions of God to give victory to those who aim to assist the religion of God with their pure actions © A’rabi, Gh; Naseh, A.A; Jannati. L. (2020) The Qur’anic Principles of the “Divine Assistance” in the Words of Imam Khomeini. Biannual Journal of Comparative Exegetical Researches, 6 (11) 7-18. Doi: 10.22091/ptt.2020.5335.1730

One of the important strategies for human societies dealing with social-economic crises is “resistive economy” which has been discussed from different perspectives. Some theoretical foundations in this method of economic management has been eloquently depicted in the Noble Qur’an, especially in Surah Yusuf. Using descriptive method and with reference to Sunni and Shi’ite exegeses on the relative verses in Surah Yusuf and other chapters in the Quran, the present study aims to analyze the management strategy of Prophet Joseph (PBUH) in this regard. The objective of this study is to present a role model for management based on the divine commands in order to achieve an economy with characteristics that can be called “resistive economy”. The results of this research showed that resistive economy in Islam relies on the absolute sovereignty of God as well as people’s cooperation. Solving economic crises requires meritocracy in order to rigorously choose righteous individuals based on accurate planning, saving, and appropriate allocation of resources. Therefore, the well-chosen individuals can manage the government and community and execute resistive economy relying on justice, impartiality, sincere cooperation, and with special attention to public assets and Beyt ol-Mal. Received: 27/2/2018 | Accepted: 20/9/2018

The influence of the Qur’anonculture in the age of revelation and changing people’s behavior back then has been one of the important and challenging issues among commentators and Qur’anic scholars. It is even a more serious matter when it comes to some subjects such as Prohibition of usury and usury devouring as some people get enriched by its unfair interest and it is not easy to restore this process. It is essential to study verses of the Noble Qur’an as well as Sunni and Shi’ite viewpoints in order to achieve results in this research. The obtained results reveal that the educational method of the holy Qur’an is based on gradual practice along with conveying behavioral tranquility to the addressees. In this method, the subject is dealt with step by step, and finally it is announced by giving emphatic commands, imperatives and prohibitions to the addressee. Ban on usury and devouring it is also announced this way and various stages are considered for that. Accordingly, the noble Qur’an starts to familiarize people with this subject using the gradual educational method and then it continues the procedure until ultimate prohibition. Undoubtedly, the educational method of the holy Qur’an on imposing a ban on usury, usury devouring, and many other issues has been unique and not commonplace until then.

"nBackground: This study was designed to determine the frequency of Microsatellite Instability (MSI) in young Iranian pa­tients with endometrial carcinoma and to evaluate its association with histopathologic and clinical features of disease."nMethods: Microsatellite status was analyzed in 23 patients with endometrioid type endometrial cancer who were less than 55 years. Clinicopathologic characteristics such as age, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetric (FIGO) grad­ing and staging of tumor, family history of Hereditary Non-polyposis Colorectal Cancer (HNPCC), oral conception (OC) consump­tion, number of pregnancies, fertility, menstrual cycles and underlying disease were considered. Chi-square and Fisher exact tests were used to find the significant relationships."nResults: MSI analysis showed 8 patients (34.8%) were MSS (Microsatellite Stable), 15 patients (62.5%) were MSI positive. Among cases with MSI phenotype, 4 cases (17.4%) had low instability (MSI-L) and 11 cases (47.8%) had high instability (MSI-H). Three cases with MSI-H had family history of HNPCC related cancers. Five cases (21.7%) had infertility in which 4 of them (80%) had MSI phenotype. There was no statistically significant relationship between MSI phenotype and tumor grade and stage."nConclusion: Few studies reported high frequency of MSI among young patients. Some studies mentioned similar results in endo­metrioid type of tumor. This study showed even higher frequency (65%) when MSI analyzed in young endometrioid type endometrial patients. Most cases with infertility had MSI-H phenotype. It may suggest that beside women with family his­tory of HNPCC, EC screening using MSI would be beneficial in infertile women too.

Before the advent of literature and contemporary literary criticism, feminine autobiographical stories had always been considered neglected and inferior. This lack of value is often due to a lack of balance between these stories and the common theoretical foundations of this literary style based on the principles of unity, cohesion, and independence. Feminine autobiographical narratives recite a rational, decent, and collective "self" which is expressed in a scattered and multicultural manner. This discrepancy can be observed in autobiographical narratives of Annie Ernaux and Goli Taraghi, two figures of contemporary French and Iranian literature. This discrepancy is rooted, in particular, in the image that both writers convey from self: the "transactional" self instead of the "coherent" and "unitary" self". Based on the theoretical approach of Philipe Lejeune and Georges Gusdorf, the present paper seeks to extract some of the differences and innovations of biographies in the writings of the two authors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The three amino acid loop extension ( TALE) class myeloid ecotropic viral integration site 1 ( MEIS1) homeobox gene is known to play a crucial role in normal and tumor development. In contrast with its well-described cancer stemness properties in hematopoietic cancers, little is known about its role in solid tumors like esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Here, we analyzed MEIS1 expression and its clinical relevance in ESCC patients and also investigated its correlation with the SOX2 self-renewal master transcription factor in the ESCC samples and in the KYSE-30 ESCC cell line. MEIS1 mRNA and protein expression were significantly decreased in ESCC disease ( P < 0.05). The inverse correlation between MEIS1 mRNA expression and tumor cell metastasis to the lymph nodes ( P = 0.004) was significant. Also, MEIS1 protein levels inversely correlated to lymph node involvement ( P = 0.048) and high tumor stage (stages III/IV, P = 0.030). The low levels of DNA methylation in the MEIS1 promoter showed that this suppression does not depend on methylation. We showed that downregulation of EZH2 restored MEIS1 expression significantly. Also, we investigated that MEIS1 downregulation is concomitant with increased SOX2 expression. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the MEIS1 gene in ESCC. The inverse correlation of MEIS1 with metastasis, tumor staging, and the role of EZH2 in methylation, together with its correlation with stemness factor SOX2 expression, led us to predict cancer stemness properties for MEIS1 in ESCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Tumor suppressor genes p53 and p16INK4a and the proto-oncogene MDM2 are considered to be essential G1 cell cycle regulatory genes whose loss of function is associated with ESCC carcinogenesis. We assessed the aberrant methylation of the p16 gene and its impact on p16INK4a protein expression and correlations with p53 and MDM2 protein expressions in patients with ESCC in the Golestan province of northeastern Iran in which ESCC has the highest incidence of cancer, well above the world average. Methods: Cancerous tissues and the adjacent normal tissue obtained from 50 ESCC patients were assessed with Methylation-Specific-PCR to examine the methylation status of p16. The expression of p16, p53 and MDM2 proteins was detected by immunohistochemical staining. Results: Abnormal expression of p16 and p53, but not MDM2, was significantly higher in the tumoral tissue. p53 was concomitantly accumulated in ESCC tumor along with MDM2 overexpression and p16 negative expression. Aberrant methylation of the p16INK4a gene was detected in 31/50 (62%) of esophageal tumor samples, while two of the adjacent normal mucosa were methylated (P < 0.001). p16INK4a aberrant methylation was significantly associated with decreased p16 protein expression (P = 0.033), as well as the overexpression of p53 (P = 0.020). Conclusions: p16 hypermethylation is the principal mechanism of p16 protein underexpression and plays an important role in ESCC development. It is associated with p53 protein overexpression and may influence the accumulation of abnormally expressed proteins in p53-MDM2 and p16-Rb pathways, suggesting a possible cross-talk of the involved pathways in ESCC development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) refers to a group of autosomal recessive disorders frequently caused by mutations in the steroid 21-hydroxylase gene ( CYP21A2). We describe three novel CYP21A2 mutations in CAH patients. Design and methods Sequence analysis of the entire CYP21A2 gene followed by molecular modelling was performed in three unrelated classical CAH patients of northeastern Iranian origin. The active ( CYP21A2) and pseudogene ( CYP21A1P) alleles were screened for the presence of the new variations in controls. Results Two novel missense mutations, F404S in exon 9 and T450P in exon 10, were found in homozygous forms in two female patients with a salt-wasting (SW) phenotype. These novel variants were screened by allele-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and excluded in 100 unrelated normal alleles. Prediction of clinical severity, based on molecular modelling and sequence conservation, correlates well with the clinical diagnosis of the patients carrying these mutations. The third novel mutation, a small 10-bp deletion in exon 1, g.19_28del, was found in a female patient with a simple virilizing phenotype in a compound heterozygous form with the common intron 2 splice mutation (IVS2–13A/C>G). This frameshift mutation causes a premature stop codon at amino acid position 48, L48X, resulting in a nonfunctional protein. The CYP21A1P pseudogene alleles were also screened and none of these novel mutations could be detected. Conclusions Three novel mutations were found in the CYP21A2 gene and predicted to drastically impair enzyme activity resulting in severe classic CAH. None of these mutations occurs in the CYP21A1P pseudogene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Tumor suppressor genes p53 and p16INK4a and the proto-oncogene MDM2 are considered to be essential G1 cell cycle regulatory genes whose loss of function is associated with ESCC carcinogenesis. We assessed the aberrant methylation of the p16 gene and its impact on p16INK4a protein expression and correlations with p53 and MDM2 protein expressions in patients with ESCC in the Golestan province of northeastern Iran in which ESCC has the highest incidence of cancer, well above the world average.Methods: Cancerous tissues and the adjacent normal tissue obtained from 50 ESCC patients were assessed with Methylation-Specific-PCR to examine the methylation status of p16. The expression of p16, p53 and MDM2 proteins was detected by immunohistochemical staining.Results: Abnormal expression of p16 and p53, but not MDM2, was significantly higher in the tumoral tissue. p53 was concomitantly accumulated in ESCC tumor along with MDM2 overexpression and p16 negative expression. Aberrant methylation of the p16INK4a gene was detected in 31/50 (62%) of esophageal tumor samples, while two of the adjacent normal mucosa were methylated (P < 0.001). p16INK4a aberrant methylation was significantly associated with decreased p16 protein expression (P = 0.033), as well as the overexpression of p53 (P = 0.020).Conclusions: p16 hypermethylation is the principal mechanism of p16 protein underexpression and plays an important role in ESCC development. It is associated with p53 protein overexpression and may influence the accumulation of abnormally expressed proteins in p53-MDM2 and p16-Rb pathways, suggesting a possible cross-talk of the involved pathways in ESCC development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The three amino acid loop extension (TALE) class myeloid ecotropic viral integration site 1 (MEIS1) homeobox gene is known to play a crucial role in normal and tumor development. In contrast with its well-described cancer stemness properties in hematopoietic cancers, little is known about its role in solid tumors like esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Here, we analyzed MEIS1 expression and its clinical relevance in ESCC patients and also investigated its correlation with the SOX2 self-renewal master transcription factor in the ESCC samples and in the KYSE-30 ESCC cell line. MEIS1 mRNA and protein expression were significantly decreased in ESCC disease (P < 0.05). The inverse correlation between MEIS1 mRNA expression and tumor cell metastasis to the lymph nodes (P = 0.004) was significant. Also, MEIS1 protein levels inversely correlated to lymph node involvement (P = 0.048) and high tumor stage (stages III/IV, P = 0.030). The low levels of DNA methylation in the MEIS1 promoter showed that this suppression does not depend on methylation. We showed that downregulation of EZH2 restored MEIS1 expression significantly. Also, we investigated that MEIS1 downregulation is concomitant with increased SOX2 expression. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the MEIS1 gene in ESCC. The inverse correlation of MEIS1 with metastasis, tumor staging, and the role of EZH2 in methylation, together with its correlation with stemness factor SOX2 expression, led us to predict cancer stemness properties for MEIS1 in ESCC.