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Ramadan fasting is one of the most appreciated Islamic rituals in Islamic culture. Although non-healthy as well as weak people are allowed not to fast in this month, some trans-plant recipient patients are willing to fast but are concerned about adverse effects on their health. Due to answering this question, a number of studies have been conducted. In this literature review we review the existing data on this issue and attempt to reach to a conclusion on what we know and what we still need to know.

Living donor kidney transplantation has strong opposition and proponents. Opponents argue that this would exploit poor and female while proponents discuss the high mortality rate of ESRD patients and the low risk of a living donation. In this debate, we reviewed disputes in ethical aspects of living donor kidney transplantation to reach to a good overview of the current concepts on the issue. "To save an innocent human life is equal to saving the humankind." Holy Quran; AlMaeda:32

Gastric infection with Helicobacter Pylori in end-stage renal disease patients is of rele-vance because of its potential impact on the quality of life as well as morbidity and mortality of patients. Existed data on the issue are controversial, and we attempt in this article to evaluate the available data to approach extended perception of the current knowledge on the epidemiology, relevance, and optimum therapeutic strategies.

Background: We studied the number of lymph nodes (LN) assessed in gastric cancer, and evaluated the association between different factors and a lower number of LN assessed. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study in three hospitals in Tehran city, I.R. Of Iran. We used patient medical and pathological reports to obtaine personal and clinical information. We studied the association of being on the N3 stage with the number of assessed lymph nodes (NALN), gender, tumor size, T stage, hospital, tumor site, histopathological diagnosis, tumor grade and age at diagnosis. In addition, we estimated the association between NALN and different clinical variables. A logistic regression model estimated the crude and adjusted odds ratios (OR) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Results: The average number of NALN was 10.48 (±6.9). We found that the probability of being diagnosed as stage N3 was significantly lower in patients who had less than 15 LN assessed in their pathology reports compared to those who had more than 15 LN assessed (OR=0.2; 95% CI 0.1-0.4). The hospital and tumor size were significantly associated with NALN. Conclusion: Lower NALN led to stage migration and underestimation of the real tumor stage in GC patients. The LN assessments were lower than those recommended by the American Joint Cancer Clinician Association in all the three hospitals included in this study. Developing national guidelines, training surgeons and pathologists, conducting regular monitoring and evaluating the data are necessary to increase NALN and thus improve the staging of GC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND A hypothesis has been presented about the role of serum iron, ferritin and transferrin saturation among patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and resistance to insulin (metabolic syndrome [MetS]), but there is much controversy. This study aimed at investigating the level of serum iron and demographic characteristics in patients with NAFLD with or without MetS. METHODS A case-control study was conducted on patients with elevated liver enzymes referring to Baqiyatallah clinic, Tehran, Iran during 2010-2011. After ruling out other causes of increased aminotransferases and approving the diagnosis of NAFLD, the patients were divided into two groups of with or without MetS. Then, the individuals' demographic, sonographic, and laboratory characteristics were recorded. RESULTS This research included 299 patients suffering from NAFLD who were divided into MetS (n=143; 47.8%) and non-MetS (n=156; 52.2%) groups. The age, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, body mass index, waist/hip ratio, glucose tolerance test, serum insulin, C. peptide, triglyceride, and HB A1c were different between MetS and non-MetS groups (p<0.05). There was no significant difference in serum iron and ferritin levels between the two groups, however, a significant correlation was found between serum ferritin and alanine transaminase (p=0.005) and also aspartate aminotransferase (p=0.032). CONCLUSION Our findings did not show a significant relationship between iron, in free or storage form, and the presence of MetS among patients with NAFLD, but serum ferritin can correlate with hepatocytes injuries indicated by raised aminotransferases. Nevertheless, to clarify this relationship further molecular, genomic, and histopathological studies are required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]