Clinico-Hematological and cytogenetic spectrum of adult myelodysplastic syndrome: The first retrospective cross-sectional study in Iranian patients

Background: Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a heterogeneous group of hematopoietic malignancy, has been shown to present different cytogenetic abnormalities, risk factors, and clinico-hematological features in different populations and geographic areas. Herein, we determined the cytogenetic spectrum and clinico-hematological features of Iranian MDS patients for the first time. Methods: This prospective cross-sectional study was conducted on 103 patients with MDS in Ahvaz, southwest of Iran, from 2014 to 2018. Clinical presentations, complete blood counts (CBC), and bone marrow (BM) biopsy samples were assessed. Perls' staining was used to evaluate BM iron storage. The cytogenetic evaluation was performed using the conventional G banding method on the BM. Results: Patients� median age was 62.3 (ranged from 50�76), and the majority were male (72.8). The most common clinical symptom at the time of admission was fatigue (n = 33) followed by pallor (n = 27). The most common subgroup was MDS-Multi Lineage Dysplasia (MDS-MLD) (n = 38, 36.8), followed by MDS-Single Lineage Dysplasia (MDS-SLD) (n = 28, 18.4). A normal karyotype was observed in 59 patients (57.3), while 44 patients (42.7) had cytogenetic abnormalities. Trisomy 8 (+ 8) was the most common cytogenetic abnormality (n = 14) followed by del 17p (n = 9) and monosomy 7 (� 7) (n = 7). Twelve patients (11.65) were transformed to AML. Conclusion: Our data betokened that among our MDS patients, Trisomy 8 is the predominant cytogenetic abnormality, and MDS-MLD and MDS-SLD are the most common of subtypes. Noteworthy, the male: female ratio was slightly higher in Iran than in previous reports from other parts of the world. Our study is the first report of the clinical, hematological, and cytogenetic spectrum of MDS patients in Iran © 2021, The Author(s)

Overexpression of MiR-138 inhibits cell growth and induces caspase-mediated apoptosis in acute promyelocytic leukemia cell line

Dysregulated expression of miRNAs can play a vital role in pathogenesis of leukemia. The shortened telomere length, and elevated telomerase activity in acute promyelocytic leukemia cells are mainly indicative of extensive proliferative activity. This study aimed to investigate the effect of overexpression of miR-138 on telomerase activity, and cell proliferation of acute promyelocytic leukemia NB4 cells. MiR-138 was overexpressed in NB4 cells using GFP hsa-miR-138-expressing lentiviruses. hTERT mRNA and protein expression levels were assessed by qRT-PCR and western blot analysis. For evaluation of apoptosis, annexin-V staining and activation of caspases were assessed using flow cytometry and western blot analysis, respectively. Our data demonstrate that overexpression of miR-138 attenuated the hTERT mRNA and protein expression levels. In addition, cell growth was inhibited, and malignant cells underwent caspase mediated-apoptosis in response to miR-138 overexpression. These findings suggest that loss of miR-138 expression may be associated with increased telomerase activity in NB4 cells. Therefore, strategies for up-regulation of miR-138 may result in inhibition of malignant cell growth, and provide a promising therapeutic approach for acute promyelocytic leukemia. © 2018 Babol University of Medical Sciences

Overexpression of MiR-138 inhibits cell growth and induces caspase-mediated apoptosis in acute promyelocytic leukemia cell line

Dysregulated expression of miRNAs can play a vital role in pathogenesis of leukemia. The shortened telomere length, and elevated telomerase activity in acute promyelocytic leukemia cells are mainly indicative of extensive proliferative activity. This study aimed to investigate the effect of overexpression of miR-138 on telomerase activity, and cell proliferation of acute promyelocytic leukemia NB4 cells. MiR-138 was overexpressed in NB4 cells using GFP hsa-miR-138-expressing lentiviruses. hTERT mRNA and protein expression levels were assessed by qRT-PCR and western blot analysis. For evaluation of apoptosis, annexin-V staining and activation of caspases were assessed using flow cytometry and western blot analysis, respectively. Our data demonstrate that overexpression of miR-138 attenuated the hTERT mRNA and protein expression levels. In addition, cell growth was inhibited, and malignant cells underwent caspase mediated-apoptosis in response to miR-138 overexpression. These findings suggest that loss of miR-138 expression may be associated with increased telomerase activity in NB4 cells. Therefore, strategies for up-regulation of miR-138 may result in inhibition of malignant cell growth, and provide a promising therapeutic approach for acute promyelocytic leukemia. © 2018 Babol University of Medical Sciences

Mobile blood collection sites and their roles in providing safe and adequate supply: A six-year experience

Background: The determination of the role of mobile sites, as compared with fixed sites, in providing safe blood supply will help with the planning of future programs. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study was carried out at the Khuzestan Blood Transfusion Organization from 2007 to 2012. Samples of the blood collected at mobile sites and fixed sites were compared. Comparisons took into consideration noticeable trends as well as the prevalence of major TTIs including HIV, HBV and HCV. Results: The total number of blood donations from 2007 to 2012 was 621117 out of which 89590 (14.43) were collected from mobile sites. The overall blood donation index was estimated at 23.8 per 1000 population. The prevalence of HIV, HBV and HCV in mobile site donations was 5.31, 320.34 and 117.4, and in fixed sites was 5.31, 214.72 and 104.83 per 100000 donations respectively. HBV prevalence in mobile sites was significantly higher than in fixed sites (p = 0.014). Conclusion: The blood donation index in Khuzestan province is much better when compared with areas of similar socioeconomic status as well as neighboring countries. The allotment of blood units collected by mobile teams is lower than that of national reports. In addition, the prevalence of TTIs in mobile site blood donations was higher than at fixed sites. © 2018, Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature

Widely distribution of hematological parameters in thalassemia patients with similar α-globin genotype

Background: Thalassemia is known as the commonest monogenic disorder with an imbalanced rate of globin chains production of adult hemoglobin. Despite the available information about the thalassemia etiology, its phenotype varies from each patient to another. This study aimed to evaluate the hematological parameters of patients with the same -α3.7 homozygote and heterozygote genotypes to amend screening programs. Methods: In this observational study, we evaluated 1301 thalassemia suspected patients who referred to the Thalassemia and Hemoglobinopathy Research Center of Ahvaz University of Medical Sciences, Khuzestan, Iran during 2014–2016. According to the genotyping studies, patients divided into 2 groups with -α3.7/αα (n = 646) and -α3.7/-α3.7 (n = 181) genotypes. Thereafter, distribution of hematological parameters evaluated in both groups. Results: The mean age in heterozygous and homozygous groups was 25.7±4.5 and 26±4.4 years old, respectively. The degree of anemia was considerably varied in patients with the same genotype. MCV, RBC and MCH showed a wide distribution in patients. Conclusion: The findings presented here suggest that other molecular mechanisms along with α-globin gene mutations could be involved in determining the phenotypes of alpha thalassemia patients. © 2018, Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature

Regularized Capon Beamformer Using ℓ1-Norm Applied to Photoacoustic Imaging

Delay-and-Sum (DAS), as a non-adaptive beamforming method, is one of the most common algorithms used in Photoacoustic imaging due to its simple implementation. The results obtained from this algorithm suffer from low resolution and high sidelobes. The adaptive Minimum variance (MV) method improves the image quality compared to DAS in terms of resolution and contrast. In this paper, it is proposed to add a ℓ1-norm regularization term to the conventional MV minimization problem and create a new sparse beamforming method, named Modified-Sparse-Mv (ms-Mv)algorithm. In fact, the sparsity of the output is forced to the beampattern by adding this new sparse added term, which results in more noise reduction and sidelobe suppression compared to MV. The minimization problem is convex, and therefore, it can be solved using an iterative algorithm. The results show that the proposed MS-MV method improves the signal-to-noise-ratio for about 5.36 dB and 6.44 dB compared to DAS and MV, respectively, for the designed wire phantom.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.ImPhys/Acoustical Wavefield Imagin

Distribution of ABO blood groups and rhesus factor in a Large Scale Study of different cities and ethnicities in Khuzestan province, Iran

Background: The demand for blood and blood products has increased due to advances in medical science, population growth and increased life expectancy. This has increased the need for various blood groups in Khuzestan province because of the higher incidence of thalassemia and other blood transfusion dependent disorders in this province. Aim of the study: Due to the presence of various ethnic groups in Khuzestan province, several types of blood components are required. Knowing the distribution of blood groups in different blood collection centers and tribes is vital for proper object oriented blood collection. Subjects and methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. The study population consisted of 29,922 donors visiting Ahvaz transfusion center, affiliated centers and mobile teams (except for teams established in garrisons) during three months in 2014. Forward and reverse blood grouping was conducted based on hemagglutination and hemolysis reactions. Data analysis was done by Chi-square test using SPSS software. Results: The highest percentage of blood groups in Khuzestan province was related to blood group O (40.21%) with the highest prevalence in Izeh and the lowest in Shadegan. The second most prevalent group was A for which Ramhormoz and Bandar-e Emam Khomeini had the highest percentage, and AB blood group had the lowest percentage and was most frequent in Shadegan. Moreover, blood group B was the most prevalent after group O among different ethnicities except for Bakhtiaris. Conclusion: Our study showed ethnicity-related prevalence. Overall, the blood group O had the highest prevalence and AB the lowest percentage among the ethnicities, indicating a significant difference with studies in other parts of the world