Effect of a functional food (vegetable soup) on blood rheology in patients with polycythemia

Objective: Key hemorheological variables are associated with several life-threatening diseases including cardio-cerebro-vascular diseases. A diet can influence the blood rheological variables. To compare the effectiveness of a vegetable soup on blood viscosity (BV), hematocrit (Hct), plasma fibrinogen, lipid profile, fasting blood sugar (FBS), and blood osmolarity in patients with polycythemia in comparison to a control group. Materials and Methods: This randomized controlled trial study was conducted at Isar health clinics in Mashhad, Iran, during a 7-month period. Forty male participants (35 to 60 years old) with polycythemia, but without underlying diseases, were included. They randomly assigned to two groups and either received diet/phlebotomy or phlebotomy alone, for 6 weeks. The data were analyzed by SPSS version 16 using parametric tests. Results: A significant reduction in BV at 30s (p 0.001), BV at 40s (p 0.001), BV at 50s (p 0.001), Hct (p 0.001), plasma fibrinogen (

The prognostic value of conventional imaging tools to determine how patients with hodgkin lymphoma will respond to treatment

Introduction: This systematic review studies the prognostic value of two conventional imaging tools, sestamibi and gallium scans, for predicting how patients with Hodgkin lymphoma will respond to treatment.Methods: The PubMed database was searched for English-language articles that contained the following search terms: (Hodgkin AND [mibi OR sestamibi OR gallium OR spect] AND response). All articles that were identified during this search were included in the study, regardless of date published. The inclusion criteria were as follows: articles that described studies that were limited to Hodgkin patients and that reported the predictive value of conventional imaging tools. Articles about other types of lymphoma and/or those that focused on the diagnostic and staging accuracy of mibi and gallium scans were excluded.Result: In total, 14 articles were retrieved. Of these, the majority met the inclusion criteria of the systematic review with the exception of two, which were limited to an examination of the reliability of performing sestamibi scans to predict the response to treatment. All remaining 12 articles considered both the sestamibi scans and the gallium scintigraphy.The results of the systematic review indicate that positive gallium scan results can be proposed as a poor prognostic factor that is associated with partial or full recurrence of Hodgkin disease, a reduction in overall survival rate, and progression-free survival compared with patients with a negative scan.Discussion: Both sestamibi and gallium scans revealed high sensitivity and specificity in predicting the response to treatment including complete remission, partial remission, and recurrence of the disease.Conclusion:These imaging tools can appropriately assess how Hodgkin patients will respond to chemotherapy. As such, clinicians can use these tools to devise appropriate treatment strategies

Evaluating the association between ccr5delta32 polymorphism (Rs333) and the risk of breast cancer in a cohort of Iranian population

Funding Information: This manuscript was supported by the Student Research Committee of Mashhad University of science (Grant Numbers: 951734 & 961689).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Genetic contribution of caspase-8 variants and haplotypes to breast cancer risk and prognosis: a case-control study in Iran

Abstract Purpose Multiple genome-wide and candidate-gene association studies have been conducted to search for common risk variants of breast cancer. Recent large meta-analyses and consolidating evidence have highlighted the role of the caspase-8 gene in breast cancer pathogenesis. Therefore, this study aimed to identify common variations and haplotypes associated with risk and overall survival of breast cancer with respect to underlying susceptibility variants in the CASP8 gene region in a group of the Iranian population. Methods In a case-control study with a total of 1008 samples (455 cases and 553 controls), genotyping of 12 candidate polymorphisms, consisting of rs3834129, rs2037815, rs7608692, rs12990906, rs3769821, rs6435074, rs3754934, rs3817578, rs10931936, rs1045485, rs1045487, and rs13113, were performed using PCR-based methods, including ARMS-PCR, AS-PCR, RFLP-PCR, HRM-PCR, and TaqMan-PCR. Results rs3834129, rs3754934, rs12990906, and rs10931936 were associated with the risk and overall survival of breast cancer. Several haplotypes were also identified an associated with a higher risk of breast cancer, including a three-SNP haplotype rs3817578-rs10931936-rs1045485 [p < 0.001, OR = 1.78(1.32–2.41)]. rs3754934-C allele showed an association with a lower risk of death in all patients [p = 0.022; HR = 0.46(0.23–0.89)] and in the hormone-receptor-positive group [p = 0.038; HR = 0.37(0.14–0.95)], as well as CC genotype in the hormone-receptor-positive group [p = 0.002; HR = 0.09(0.02–0.43)]. Conclusion The present study suggests a diagnostic and prognostic role of CASP8 gene variations in breast cancer. The risky haplotypes are likely to have one or more underlying breast cancer susceptibility alleles. Understanding the mode of action of these alleles will aid individual-level risk prediction. It also may help identify at-risk patients to provide them with better surveillance