Association analysis of-416G > C polymorphism of T-cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain-1 gene with asthma in Iran

TIM (T-cell immunoglobulin (Ig) and mucin domain)-1, one of the members of TIM family, expresses on Th2 cells and promotes the production of Th2 signature cytokines. This can increase a series of responses in these cells which could be one of the causes of asthma or asthma-related phenotypes. The aim of this study was to investigate whether a TIM-1 promoter single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), -416G>C, is associated with asthma in Iranian population. In this case-control study, existence of the -416G>C polymorphism was assessed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) in 300 patients with asthma (97 atopic, 203 nonatopic) and 309 healthy volunteers. Additionally, the relationship between these polymorphism genotypes and total serum IgE levels in this Iranian population was evaluated. We discovered a significant association between the -416G>C polymorphism and atopic asthma susceptibility in the population, but this SNP showed no connection with nonatopic asthma (PC polymorphism in TIM-1 gene could be a predisposing factor for atopic asthma in Iranian population, and CC genotype of this SNP can be associated with increased level of IgE in patients with asthma in the same population

Association of plasma homocysteine, folic acid levels, and C677T polymorphism in methylene tetra hydrofolate reductase with risk of preeclampsia: a case-control study in Iranian women

Introduction: Preeclampsia is the most dangerous hypertension with unknown etiology. Preeclampsia is a kind of pregnancy-specific syndrome. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation between C677T polymorphism of MTHFR gene, folic acid, and homocysteine serum levels in Iranian pregnant women with preeclampsia. Materials and Methods: This study was performed in 129 pre-eclamptic pregnant women and 125 control individuals and MTHFR gene (C677T polymorphism) was determined by PCRRFLP method, and the plasma levels of the homocysteine and acid folic was measured by ELISA method. Result: The CC, CT, and TT genotypes were not significantly different in patients compared to control (p = 0.614). Low mean levels of homocysteine and folic acid in the preeclamptic cases were observed compared to control group. The levels of BMI, gestational age, and neonatal weight were statistically different in two groups and other variables revealed no significant difference between these groups. Conclusion: These findings showed that there was no correlation between the C677T polymorphism of MTHFR gene and preeclampsia but the TT genotype of C677T polymorphism seems to be a protective factor for preeclampsia. It is also concluded that in this study, homocysteine and folic acid serum levels and BMI are significantly affected in patients with preeclampsia compared to controls and can increase the risk of developing sever side effect to mothers and neonates

A Fuzzy MCDM for Evaluating Risk of Construction Projects

Abstract: Construction projects deal with various threats which are called risks. If we do not have good strategies to identify and perform preventive actions for these threats, the project may fail. In the risk management process, contractors are faced by some unintelligible problems such as cultural problems, fundamental problems and changing of policies. If we want to succeed in project we should identify, analyze, manage and control the risks. These tasks must be implemented by contractors. A project must complete in predetermined time and quality according to limited budget. Therefore the risk management of project is very important to succeed in project. One of the most important steps in risk management process is identifying risk factors of a project. In this study, the important risk factors are categorized into two main groups as internal factors and external factors. Each main group consists of several factors. A prevalent problem that is investigated by researchers in project risk management is specifying risks of threats to which the project is exposed. For evaluating the risk of threats, we rank them in terms of their probability and severity. In this study risk evaluation of construction project is investigated by the proposed fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP). The risk factors are prioritized by using analytical hierarchy process. For illustrating the FAHP method, a case study is presented