Impacts of Efficiency Change on the Productivity Growth of Iran Agriculture

The aim of this paper is to study the impacts of technological progress and efficiency change on the productivity growth of Iran agriculture separated by Provinces. The period of this study is from 2005-2014. First of all, the impacts of efficiency change and technology change were separated using DEA and Malmquist model. Then, their impacts on productivity growth were studied. It was concluded that the impact of efficiency change on productivity is stronger than that of technology change. Then, the impacts of production inputs change on three variables i.e. efficiency, technology and productivity were assessed. According to results, labor change has a positive impact on productivity growth while capital change has a negligible impact on the factors of production productivity

Challenges in the treatment of Iranian patients with leukemia in comparison with developed countries from the perspective of specialists

     Evaluation of the factors associated with treatment process of leukemia and comparison with current related approaches in developed countries can present a good indicator to assess the weak and strong points in healthcare system of our country in leukemia treatment. The objective of this research is general and specific description of the challenges and shortcomings in Iranian healthcare system and monitoring of hematologic malignancies as well as comparison with developed countries. Our study is a descriptive-cross-sectional study. 100 hemato-oncologist , pathologists, and faculty members throughout the country were selected by random cluster sampling. Data collected using questionnaires with Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.76 . SPSS and Chi-square test were used for data analysis. According to the specialists, lack of advanced diagnostic facilities as well as cell and BM banks together with high treatment expenses are the main factors contributing to poor treatment processes in Iran, which are far from worldwide standards.The use of novel currently methods used in developed countries for leukemia treatment, financial and psychological support of patients under treatment , making underprivileged provinces well-equipped ,balanced  specialist service distribution relative to capital city either in diagnosis or treatment are factors which makes system standardized. Moreover, integrated institutional work in relation to leukemia incidence and statistical analysis of mortality and morbidity rate can pave the way for reducing and eliminating the problems in diagnosis and treatment of leukemia patients

Bilateral cavernous sinus thrombosis as first manifestation of primary Burkitt lymphoma of the thyroid gland

Cavernous sinus thrombosis (CST) is a rare condition that is usually associated with infections, pregnancy, vasculitis and some types of medication, such as the contraceptive pill and paraneoplastic. Primary Burkitt lymphoma (PBL) of the thyroid gland is very uncommon and the clinical description of such cases has been largely limited to case reports. In this paper, we present a case of CST as the first manifestation of PBL of the thyroid gland. To the best of our knowledge, our patient is the first case report of PBL of the thyroid gland that presents with bilateral CST

Correlation between Methylation and Expression Level of P15 and P16 Genes during Differentiation of Cord Blood Stem Cells into Erythroid Lineage Mediated by Erythropoietin

Background: Several influential factors such as transcription factors and intracellular signaling components are involved in differentiation of stem cells into a specific lineage. P15 and p16 proteins are among these factors. Accumulating evidences has introduced the epigenetic as a master regulator of these factors during lineage specification. The main objective of this study is to determine the correlation between the expression level and methylation pattern of P15 and P16 genes in erythroid lineage after in vitro differentiation by erythropoietin (EPO).Materials and Methods: The purified and expanded CD34+ cord blood stem cells were differentiated into erythroid lineage in the presence of EPO. DNA was isolated from both cord blood stem cells and differentiated cells. The Real-Time PCR performed using cDNA and the isolated DNA was used in methylation Specific PCR (MSP) reaction for methylation pattern analysis in both pre and post differentiation stages.Results: The study demonstrated that P15 and P16 genes have partial methylation after erythroid differentiation by EPO. The Expression of P15 gene was higher after differentiation and the expression of P16 gene had a slightly decreased level in post differentiation stage.Conclusion: Significant increase in P15 gene expression after differentiation to erythroid lineage, suggests the remarkable efficacy of this gene in erythroid function. According to upregulation of P15 gene after differentiation despite unchanged methylation status and slight down regulation of P16 gene with slight hyper-methylation of the gene it can be suggested that although the methylation can affects the expression level of P16 gene, the P15 gene is not affected by this mechanism during erythroid differentiation mediated by EPO

Sodium Channel Gene Mutations in Children with GEFS+ and Dravet Syndrome: A Cross Sectional Study

 How to Cite This Article: Tonekaboni SH, Ebrahimi A, Bakhshandeh Bali MK, Houshmand M, Moghaddasi M, Taghdiri MM, Nasehi MM. Sodium Channel Gene Mutations in Children with GEFS+ and Dravet Syndrome: A Cross Sectional Study. Iran J Child Neurol. 2013 Winter; 7 (1):25-29. Objective Dravet syndrome or severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy (SMEI) is a baleful epileptic encephalopathy that begins in the first year of life. This syndrome specified by febrile seizures followed by intractable epilepsy, disturbed psychomotor development, and ataxia. Clinical similarities between Dravet syndrome and generalized epilepsy with febrile seizure plus (GEFS+) includes occurrence of febrile seizures and joint molecular genetic etiology. Shared features of these two diseases support the idea that these two disorders represent a severity spectrum of the same illness. Nowadays, more than 60 heterozygous pattern SCN1A mutations, which many are de novo mutations, have been detected in Dravet syndrome. Materials & Methods From May 2008 to August 2012, 35 patients who referred to Pediatric Neurology Clinic of Mofid Children Hospital in Tehran were enrolled in this study. Entrance criterion of this study was having equal or more than four criteria for Dravet syndrome. We compared clinical features and genetic findings of the patients diagnosed as Dravet syndrome or GEFS+. Results 35 patients (15 girls and 20 boys) underwent genetic testing. Mean age of them was 7.7 years (a range of 13 months to 15 years). Three criteria that were best evident in SCN1A mutation positive patients are as follows: Normal development before the onset of seizures, onset of seizure before age of one year, and psychomotor retardation after onset of seizures. Our genetic testing showed that 1 of 3 (33.3%) patients with clinical Dravet syndrome and 3 of 20 (15%) patients that diagnosed as GEFS+, had SCN1A mutation. Conclusion In this study, normal development before seizure onset, seizures beginning before age of one year and psychomotor retardation after age of two years are the most significant criteria in SCN1A mutation positive patients.References Dravet C, Bureau M, Oguni H, Fukuyama Y, Cokar O.Severe myoclonic epilepsy in infancy (Dravet syndrome). In: Roger J, Bureau M, Dravet C, Genton P, Tassinari CA, Wolf P, eds. Epileptic Syndromes in Infancy, Childhood and Adolescence, 4th  ed. London: John Libbey Eurotext Publishers; 2005. p. 89-113.Dalla Bernardina B, Colamaria V, Capovilla G, Bondavalli S. Nosological classification of epilepsies in the first three years years of life. Prog Clin Biol Res 1983;124:165-83.Commission on Classification and Terminology of the International League against Epilepsy. Proposal for revised classification of epilepsies and epileptic syndromes. Epilepsia 1989;30:389-99.Scheffer IE, Zhang. YH, Jansen FE, Dibbens L. Dravet syndrome or genetic (generalized) epilepsy with febrile seizures plus? Brain Dev 2009;31(5):394-400.Singh R, Andermann E, Whitehouse WP, Harvey AS, Keene DL, Seni MH, et al. severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy: extended spectrum of GEFS+? Epilepsia 2001;42(7):837-44.Scheffer IE, Harkin LA, Dibbens LM, Mulley JC, Berkovic SF. Neonatal epilepsy syndromes and generalized epilepsy with febrile seizures plus (GEFS+). Epilepsia 2005;46 Suppl 10:41-7.Harkin LA, McMahon JM, Iona X, Dibbens L, Pelekanos JT, Zuberi SM, et al. The spectrum of SCN1A-related infantile enceptic encephalopathies. Brain 2007;130(Pt 3):843-52.Sun H, Zhang Y, Liang J, Liu X, Ma X, Qin, et al. Seven novel SCN1A mutations in Chinese patients with severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy. Epilepsia 2008;49:1104-7.Miller SA, Dykes DD, polesky HF. A simple salting out procedure  for  extracting  DNA from  human  cucleated Nucleated cells. Nucleic Acids Res 1988;16(3):2115.Marini C, Scheffer IE, Nabbout R, Mei D, Cox K, Dibbens LM, et al. SCN1A duplications and deletions detected in dravet syndrome: implications for molecular diagnosis. Epilepsia 2009; 50(7):1670-8.Striano P, Mancardi MM, Biancheri R, Madia F, Gennaro E, Paravidino R, et al. Brain MRI findings in severe myoclonic epilepsy in infancy and genotype- correlations. Epilepsia 2007;48(6):1092-6.Wang JW, Kurahashi H, Ishii A, Kojima T, Ohfu M, Inoue T, et al. Micro chromosomal deletions involving SCN1A and adjacent genes in severe myoclonic epilepsy in infancy. Epilepsia 2008;49(9):1528-34.Lossin C. A catalog  of  SCN1A variants.  Brain  Dev 2009;31:114-30.Fountain-Capal JK, Holland KD, Gilbert DL, Hallinan BE When should clinicians order genetic testing for Dravet syndrome? Pediatr Neurol 2011;45(5): 319-23. Hattori J, Ouchida M, Ono J, Miyake S, Maniwa S, Mimaki  N,  et  al. A screening  test  for  the  prediction of Dravet syndrome before one year of age. Epilepsia 2008;49(4):626–33.Nabbout R, Gennaro E, Dalla Bernardina B, Dulac O, Madia F, Bertini E, et al. spectrum of SCN1A mutations severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy. Neurology 2003;60(12):1961-7.Ohmori I, Ouchida M, Ohtsuka, Y oka E, Shimizu K. Significant correlation  of  The  SCN1A mutations  and severe myoclonic epilepsy in infancy. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2002;295:17-23.Cales. L, Del-favero J, Ceulemans B, Lagae L, Van Broeckhoven C, De jonghe P. De novo mutations in the sodium- chnnel gene SCN1A cause severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy. Am J Hum Genet 2001; 68(8):1327-32.Brunklaus A, Ellis R, Reavey E, Forbes GH, Zuberi SM.Prognostic, clinical and demographic features in SCN1A mutation-positive Dravet syndrome. Brain 2012;135(Pt 8):2329-36.Engel J Jr; International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE).A proposed diagnostic scheme for people with epileptic seizures  and  with  epilepsy:  report  of  the  ILAE Task force  on  Classifications  and  Terminology.  Epilepsia 2001;42(6):796-803.Fujiwara T, Sugawara T, Mazaki-Miyazaki E, Takahashi Y, Fukushima K, Watanabe M, et al. Mutations of sodium channel alpha subunit type 1 (SCN1A) in intractable childhood epilepsies with frequent generalized tonic- clonic seizures. Brain 2003;126:(Pt 3):531-46.Claes L, Ceulemans B, Audenaert D, Smets K, Löfgren A, Del-Favero J. De novo SCN1A mutations are a major cause of severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy. Hum Mutat 2003;21(6):615-21.Lakhan R, Kumari R, Misra UK, Kalita J, Pradhan S, Mittal B. Differential role of sodium channels SCN1A and SCN2A gene polymorphisms with epilepsy and multiple drug resistance in the north Indian population. Br J Clin Pharmacol 2009;68(2):214-20

A Comparative Study of Three Standards of Data Security in Health Systems

Introduction: The increasing influence of ICT on health and changing information systems to electrical form makes using the information, data transmission, and also preparation printouts of information so easy that the importance of internal and external disclosure policy, data security, and confidentiality standards in these systems have been doubled. Method: At the beginning of research, all the combinations of key words were searched, then the history and importance of the health data security standards were studied. So the most prevalent and reliable standards were selected to perform the full text. For the next step the researchers extracted the properties which were used to be compared with the selected standards and finally the comparison was discussed. Results: PCI-DSS, HIPAA, and ISO-27799:2008 properties were classified in 8 groups and 25 subgroups. ISO-27799:2008 was attended to all properties in Encryption group, but HIPAA was just attended to Encryption in storage, and asymmetric key, and PCI-DSS was considered on Encryption in storage, using Hash algorithm and use of asymmetric key. Operation system security was considered only in HIPAA. Only PCI-DSS standard considered RFID and DNS security and cell phone security, and PCI-DSS as well as ISO-27799:2008 considered wireless networks security. Conclusion: One can use the standard that is stronger in context. So, it is recommended to use PCI-DSS for cell phone or PDA systems, and ISO-27799:2008 or PCI-DSS for wireless networks. It is better for security in operation systems to use HIPAA. Combined standard with all these three standards aspects can be used as the safest approach

Relation of Helicobacter pylori infection and multiple sclerosis in Iranian patients

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most prevalent central nervous system demyelinating disease. There are known risk factors for MS. However, there is uncertainty in its protective factors. Few studies have demonstrated that some chronic infections may have protective effects on this disease. We carried this study to investigate the relation between <em>Helicobacter pylori </em>(HP) infection and the prevalence and severity of MS. In this case-control study, 163 MS patients and 150 sex- and age- matched controls were included. Blood samples for IgG and IgM anti HP antibodies were collected from all individuals. Also, the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) was used to evaluate the MS patients. Suitable statistical analysis was applied. A Significant difference was observed in seropositivity between these two groups (P&lt;0.001) but no significant difference was seen in seropositivity between conventional and opticospinal MS (P=0.522). No significant difference was observed in seropositivity among ages (P=0.075) and between genders (P=0.204). A significant difference was seen in EDSS value between seropositive and seronegative patients (P=0.017). We concluded that patients with HP infection had lower incidence of multiple sclerosis and MS patients with HP infection showed lower neurologic complications, which can demonstrate that HP infection may have a protective influence on MS pathogenesis

The Role of Calcium in the Conformational Changes of the Recombinant S100A8/S100A9

Abstract—Calprotectin is a member of the EF-hand proteins, composed of two subunits, S100A8 (MRP8) and S100A9 (MRP14). These proteins are involved in important processes including cell signaling, regulation of inflammatory responses, cell cycle control, differentiation, regulation of ion channel activity and defense against microbial agents in a calcium dependent manner. In the present study, recombinant S100A8 and S100A9 were expressed in E. coli BL21 and then purified using Ni-NTA affinity chromatography. The structure of the S100A8/A9 complex in the presence and absence of calcium was assessed by circular dichroism and fluorescence spectroscopy. The intrinsic fluorescence emission spectra of the S100A8/A9 complex in the presence of calcium showed a reduction in fluorescence intensity, reflecting conformational changes within the protein with the exposure of aromatic residues to the protein surface. The far ultraviolet-circular dichroism spectra of the complex in the presence of calcium revealed minor changes in the regular secondary structure of the complex. Also, increased thermal stability of the S100A8/A9 complex in the presence of calcium was indicated