Comparison of endoscopy and CT scan in diagnosing chronic rhinosinusitis without polyps

Background: Definite diagnosis of Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is challenging mostly because of overlapping symptoms with other disorders. Nowadays it is mostly dependent on cross sectional imaging. When considering the prevalence and cost burden of CRS, reducing the frequency of cross sectional imaging by replacing it with endoscopic evaluation could be a cost effective way if the endoscopic examination proved to be a suitable substitution. Aim: The aim of this study is to compare the endoscopy with CT scan- as gold standard method- in diagnosis of CRS without polyp and to find out how well the results of the two correlate with each other. Methods: Adult patients with symptom criteria compatible with EPOS 2020 entered the study. They were evaluated endoscopically, and then scored by Lund Mackay CT score. Cases with obvious polyps seen on rhinoscopy or endoscopic evaluation were not entered the study. Results: A total of 49 patients entered the study.  Comparing endoscopic findings with CT scan showed the sensitivity of 69.70% and specificity of 50%. Cohen Kappa statistics of 0.191 was obtained. Positive and negative predictive value was 74.19% and 44.44% respectively. Of note, all 8 patients with Kennedy score of 4 showed positive CT results, and, all 4 cases with isolated sinusitis had negative endoscopic results. Pearson correlation coefficient was 0.63, which showed a significant positive correlation between Lund Kennedy and Lund Mackay scores. (p<0.05) Conclusion: Our observations lead us to a possible need for revision in presented endoscopic criteria to increase the diagnostic power of endoscopy in chronic rhinosinusitis sine nasal polyposis

A comparison of authoritative and participative leadership styles regarding physical education teachers' efficiency

The purpose of this study is to compare the authoritative and participative leadership styles regarding physical education teachers` efficiency. To this end, 40 school principals and 40 male and female physical education teachers at secondary schools were randomly assigned to participate in the study . School principals performance assessed with Fiddler leadership style questionnaire with reliability coefficient of 0.86 by teachers.Also, teachers`performance evaluated with teacher -made questionnaire with validity coefficient of 0.87 (Cronbach Alpha) completed by the students. Data distribution was normal shown in this study using kolmogorov-smirnov test. Additionally,statistical method in terms of statistical model is parametric,while non-parametric statistics is employed for heterogeneous groups through which desired hypotheses discussed using Pearson correlation test, Spearman correlation coefficient and T –test. Results indicate that there exists a significant relationship between the leadership style of school principals and physical education teachers efficiency at 5% significance level.The results show that participative leadership style would end up with substantial efficiency of male and female education teachers, whereas authoritative leadership style has shown the lowest efficiency

Temperament and Character in Cross-Cultural Comparisons between Swedish and Iranian People and Iranian Refugees in Sweden – Personality in Transition?

The aim of the study was a cross-cultural comparison of personality traits between individuals from two very different cultures and refugees who resettled several years before from one to the other. Four hundred forty four Swedish individuals of the normal population; and 100 Iranian refugees in Sweden, and a group of 335 individuals from Tehran, capital of Iran, were investigated by means of the Temperament and Character Inventory, a questionnaire to assess temperament and character. Iranians are those that are most frequently correctly classified followed by the Swedish based on temperament scores by means of a Discriminance analyses. Iranian refugees in Sweden were classified to about 50 per cent as Swedish and to slightly more then one-third as Iranians. Especially concerning character, 4 per cent only could be correctly classified as refugees. The results give some perspective on the adaptation process and personality changes in refugees several years after resettlement in another country with a complete different culture

Immunological Testing Reveals Exposure to Malaria in the Hypoendemic Region of Iran.

Abstract Background. South eastern parts of Iran remain endemic for malaria infection. There is some concern that malaria infection may spread into Bushehr, which is located in the south western part bordering the Persian Gulf and at the periphery of the declared endemic region Hormozgan province due to frequency of visitors from eastern endemic areas and from neighboring malaria endemic countries. We investigated malaria prevalence in Bushehr. Methods and Results. Attempts were made to identify malaria active infection in blood smears and malaria specific antibody and antigens in serum samples. Traditional blood smears prepared from 1955 blood specimens yielded no definitive malaria positive case by microscopic technique. A total of 270 (13.8%) serum samples were positive for malaria antibodies. Using specific ELISA kits, presence of histidine rich proteins and lactate dehydrogenase antigens were investigated in serum samples. No histidine rich proteins specific for P. falciparum were detected amongst 270 antibody positive samples. However, six samples representing 0.3% of total population, were found to be positive for plasmodium pan specific lactate dehydrogenase antigens. This suggested the possibility of low level exposure to malaria in Bushehr community. Conclusions. Out of a total of 1955 samples tested, 270 (13.8%) were positive for malaria antibodies and six (0.3%) of these were positive for plasmodium-specific lactate dehydrogenase antigen suggesting a low level exposure to malaria in a hypoendemic region based on immunological testing. Since none of the 270 antibody samples were positive for histidine rich protein antigens, there is scope for further testing of blood samples by molecular methods such as polymerase chain reactions to confirm the plasmodium species and provide information valuable for future investigations. Our testing strategy for hypoemdemic malaria can be used as a template for investing malaria in 32 eliminating countries for testing ongoing transmission. This approach may be useful as a method in epidemiological studie

The Geographical Distribution of Laryngeal Cancer in Iran from 2004 to 2014

Background: Laryngeal cancer accounts for about 1 to 2 % of all cancers; this incidence rate depends on the geographical region and ethnicity. Due to the lack of a comprehensive epidemiological study on laryngeal cancer in recent years, we designed this study to investigate the incidence and geographical distribution of laryngeal cancer. Aim: This study aimed to investigate the incidence and geographical distribution of laryngeal cancer in Iran from 2004 to 2014. Methods: The data collected from the Iranian National Cancer Data System registry, all the cases of laryngeal cancer (with topography code 32 and histology of laryngeal cancer) have been retrieved and analyzed from a comprehensive cancer database during the 11 years' period. Then statistical data were analyzed by SPSS, version 16. Results: During the 11-year study, 13,241 new cases of laryngeal cancer were recorded, of which 11454 were men (86%) and 1788 were women (14%). According to this assessment, North Khorasan, Sistan and Baluchestan, and East Azerbaijan provinces had the highest growth rate, and North Khorasan, Gilan, and Kerman provinces with the highest incidence rates of 4.44, 3.29, and 2.23 per 100,000 respectively, between 2004 and 2014. Conclusion: According to the results of this study, the incidence rate of laryngeal cancer, especially in women, is increasing in Iran. Further studies are needed to investigate the causes of increased incidence

Human Papillomavirus Is Associated with Breast Cancer in the North Part of Iran

We have analyzed the possible relevance of HPV infection for breast cancer risk among Iranian women from north part of Iran. Among women with breast cancer, 25.9% had positive test results for HPV DNA in breast tumor samples in contrast to 2.4% of women with noncancer status (P = 0.002). The infection of HPV has increased the risk of breast cancer (OR 14.247; 95% CI 1.558–130.284, P = 0.019). The high-risk HPV genotypes (types 16 and 18) in samples of breast cancer patients were the predominant types (53.34%). Other genotypes detected in breast cancer were HPV-6, HPV-11, HPV-15, HPV-23, and HPV-124, and one isolate could not be genotyped compared to HPV reference sequences. While the sole detected HPV in control specimens was HPV-124. Our study reveals that HPV infection and age are the risk factors in breast cancer development in the north part of Iran

Serum Interleukin-27 Level in Different Clinical Stages of Lung Cancer

BACKGROUND: Advanced lung cancer is indicated with rapid disease development. Interleukin 27 (IL-27) is regarded as a cytokine with anti-tumour activities. AIM: Since, the impact of type of lung cancer on the level of IL-27 in patient’s serum has not yet been investigated; current study evaluated the clinical stages according to American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) criteria, Tumor-Node-Metastasis (TNM) stage and the lung cancer spread (localized or widespread) and it's correlation with serum IL-27. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Thirty patients with confirmed histopathological lung cancer and 30 cancer-free healthy individuals as the control group were included in the current study. Patients group were assigned to either small cell lung cancer group (SCLC) or non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) according to the clinical features and the results of lung biopsy specimens. Level of IL-27 was quantified with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test in serum samples. RESULTS: A significant increase in serum IL-27 level was noticed in individuals with lung cancer in comparison with the control group. The level of serum IL-27 in the NSCL squamous carcinoma (NSCLC-Sc) type was significantly greater than in the NSCLC adenocarcinoma (NSCLC-Ad) type, and in both groups, this variable was more than the control group. The serum IL-27 content level was greater in stage III versus stage IV. CONCLUSION: The current research confirmed the existence of the anti-tumour components in patients with NSCLC. IL-27 can be utilised in diagnosis and screening in early stages of lung cancer along with the management of patients. Different levels of IL-27 in different types of lung cancers in the current study can lead to design more comprehensive studies in the future

Efficient Targeting of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma by Systemic Administration of a Dual uPA and MMP-Activated Engineered Anthrax Toxin

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the sixth most common cancer worldwide. Although considerable progress has been made in elucidating the etiology of the disease, the prognosis for individuals diagnosed with HNSCC remains poor, underscoring the need for development of additional treatment modalities. HNSCC is characterized by the upregulation of a large number of proteolytic enzymes, including urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) and an assortment of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) that may be expressed by tumor cells, by tumor-supporting stromal cells or by both. Here we explored the use of an intercomplementing anthrax toxin that requires combined cell surface uPA and MMP activities for cellular intoxication and specifically targets the ERK/MAPK pathway for the treatment of HNSCC. We found that this toxin displayed strong systemic anti-tumor activity towards a variety of xenografted human HNSCC cell lines by inducing apoptotic and necrotic tumor cell death, and by impairing tumor cell proliferation and angiogenesis. Interestingly, the human HNSCC cell lines were insensitive to the intercomplementing toxin when cultured ex vivo, suggesting that either the toxin targets the tumor-supporting stromal cell compartment or that the tumor cell requirement for ERK/MAPK signaling differs in vivo and ex vivo. This intercomplementing toxin warrants further investigation as an anti-HNSCC agent