Prevalence of oxaliplatin-induced chronic neuropathy and influencing factors in patients with colorectal cancer in Iran

Background: The chemotherapeutic agent oxaliplatin can cause acute and chronic forms of peripheral neuropathy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence of chronic neuropathy and its risk factors in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients treated with FOLFOX or XELOX regimens in the Oncology Ward of Hazrat-e-Rasoul Hospital in Tehran. Materials and Methods: A total of 130 patients with CRC were entered into our study, aged over 18 years, without history of receiving other neurotoxic agents or other predisposing factors such as diabetes or neurologic diseases and kidney and liver dysfunction. For the FOLFOX regimen, patients received oxaliplatin, 85 mg/m2, every 2 weeks for 12 courses and with the XELOX regimen, oxaliplatin was 130mg/m2, every 3 weeks for 8 courses. Based on Common Toxicity Criteria (CTC or NCI-CTC v.3), the patients were divided into 5 groups (grades) based on the severity of their symptoms. Results: Fifty-seven patients (43.8) were male and 73(56.2) female. Some 19 patients (14.7) had BMI<20, 97(74.6) were between 20-25 and 14 (10.8) �25. In 105 patients (80.7) neuropathy was found. There was significant correlation between BMI, hypomagnesaemia and especially, severity of anemia in patients with neuropathy compared to those without. Conclusions: Oxaliplatin regimens can induce chronic neuropathy in CRC patients, with anemia, high BMI and hypomagnesaemia as risk factors that can predispose to this kind of neurotoxicity

Asymptomatic bacteriuria and pyuria in patients with chronic renal failure undergoing hemodialysis at dialysis centers in Kermanshah, Iran

Pyuria is the presence of increased numbers of polymorphonuclear leukocytes in the urine and is evidence of an inflammatory response in the Urinary Tract Infection (UTI). The aim of this study is determination asymptomatic bacteriuria and pyuria in patients undergoing hemodialysis with chronic renal failure. Out of 103 patients with renal failure undergoing hemodialysis who were able to produce urine with clean catch way, we received urine sample. All samples were examined by the Microbiologist in Central Laboratory of Kermanshah, Iran. The mean age for the patients at diagnosis was 42.4 years (range, 20-67 years). Sixty-four patients (62.5) were male and thirty-nine (37.5) were female. Results have been showed 39 cases were aged between 44-49 years and the highest number cases were middle-aged. Out of 31 patients with leukocytosis, 14 patients had age between 44-49 years and majority of them were male. Pyuria(>10 WBC/HPF or 10 WBC/HPF) developed colony count more than 105 colony-forming units per milliliter that indicating positive culture. Microorganisms didn�t grow in patients (10/19) with pyuria (10 WBC/HPF is a good marker for significant bacteriuria in these patients. © 2015 Academic Journals Inc

Correlations between HER2 expression and other prognostic factors in breast cancer: Inverse relations with the Ki-67 index and P53 status

Background: Overexpression or amplification of human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) is associated with grade of malignancy and a poor prognosis in breast cancer (BC). The aim of this study was to evaluate of value of HER2 as a prognostic marker, and to analyze associations with common histopathological parameters in BC cases. Materials and Methods: Between of 2007 to 2014, 260 patients with BC referred to Oncology Clinic provided cancer tissue samples which underwent immunohistochemistry (IHC) for markers. ER and PR positivity was defined as � 10 positive tumor cells with nuclear staining. HER2-positive was defined as either HER2 gene amplification by fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) or scored as 3+ by IHC. For HER2 (2+), FISH was performed to determine HER2 positivity. Results: The mean age at diagnosis for the patients with HER2-negative was significantly higher than in HER2-positive cases. Also, there were significant correlations between histological grade, nuclear grade, lymph node metastasis, tumor size, ER status, PR status, p53 overexpression and Ki-67 index with HER2 expression. HER2-negative lesions were of higher grade and more likely to be ER-negative, PR-negative, p53-positive, lymph node metastasis, with a tumor size < 2cm and also Ki-67� 20 as compared to the HER2-positive group. Conclusions: Contrary to the results of other studies, HER2-positive tumors in our study had a lower Ki-67 index and were p53-positive. Also, Ki-67 proliferation index � 20 in more studies was associated with p53-positive. Therefore, tumors which are HER2-positive and have a Ki-67 � 20 had a more aggressive behavior compared to HER2-positive and Ki-67 < 20 lesions

The first inherited retinal disease registry in Iran: Research protocol and results of a pilot study

Background: To describe the protocol for developing a national inherited retinal disease (IRD) registry in Iran and present its initial report. Methods: This community-based participatory research was approved by the Ministry of Health and Medical Education of Iran in 2016. To provide the minimum data set (MDS), several focus group meetings were held. The final MDS was handed over to an engineering team to develop a web-based software. In the pilot phase, the software was set up in two referral centers in Iran. Final IRD diagnosis was made based on clinical manifestations and genetic findings. Ultimately, patient registration was done based on all clinical and non-clinical manifestations. Results: Initially, a total of 151 data elements were approved with Delphi technique. The registry software went live at www.IRDReg.org based on DHIS2 open source license agreement since February 2016. So far, a total of 1001 patients have been registered with a mean age of 32.41±15.60 years (range, 3 months to 74 years). The majority of the registered patients had retinitis pigmentosa (42, 95 CI: 38.9 to 45). Genetic testing was done for approximately 20 of the registered individuals. Conclusion: Our study shows successful web-based software design and data collection as a proof of concept for the first IRD registry in Iran. Multicenter integration of the IRD registry in medical centers throughout the country is well underway as planned. These data will assist researchers to rapidly access information about the distribution and genetic patterns of this disease. © 2020 The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Effect of oral magnesium oxide supplementation on cisplatin-induced hypomagnesemia in cancer patients: A randomized controlled trial

Background: Hypomagnesaemia is one of the main side effects of cisplatin-based chemotherapy regimens in cancer patients. The aim of the current investigation was to evaluate the effect of oral magnesium oxide (MgO) supplementa-tion on cisplatin-induced hypomagnesemia. Methods: This parallel-randomized controlled, open label trial was conducted in a hospital of Iran University of Med-ical Sciences in Tehran between December 2009 and May 2011. Participants were 69 adult patients with newly diag-nosed non- leukemia neoplasms candidate for starting cisplatin-based chemotherapy. Oral MgO supplement according to cisplatin dose (500 mg MgO per 50 mg/m2 of ciring serum Mg change and hypomagnesaemia rate during chemotherapy treatment. Results: Sixty-two participants (31 intervention- 31 controls) enrolled into the study. Serum Mg levels showed signifi-cant difference between the two groups (P=0.01). There was a significant decrease in serum Mg of the control group (P=0.001). At the end of follow-up period prevalence of hypomagnesaemia in the intervention group was 10.7 ver-sus 23.1 in the control group. Conclusion: Continuously oral supplementation with MgO according to cisplatin dose (500 mg MgO per 50 mg/m2 cisplatin) as 2-3 divided daily doses at rest days between chemotherapy cycles reduces the decline in serum Mg levels and also the prevalence of hypomagnesaemia in cancer patients. © 2016, Iranian Journal of Public Health. All Rights Reserved

KRAS and NRAS testing in metastatic colorectal cancer in Central Iran (Tehran): A review on literature of the middle east

Context: The incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) in the past three decades in Iran has made it as a major public health burden. Aims: The aim of this study is to report the prevalence of KRAS and NRAS mutations in Iran and the correlation between KRAS mutation status with clinicopathological factors and survival. Materials and Methods: In a cross-sectional study, 144 patients were entered into the study based on the criteria. Age, sex, tumor site, grade, metastasis location, familial history, KRAS/NRAS status, and survival were checked for all patients, and the patients were followed for 1 year. DNA was extracted with FFPE QIAGEN kit and then polymerase chain reaction for amplification of gene segments of KRAS and NRAS genes. Results: The mean age at diagnosis was 52.9 years (range: 27-72 years) that 39.6 patients had age <50 years and 54.2 were men. KRAS mutation was significantly more in the patients with age �50 compared with KRAS wild type. Furthermore, the 6-month overall survival rate in KRAS mutation patients was significantly more than KRAS wild-type patients. Liver metastasis (72.9) had the highest prevalence of metastasis in the patients, and Grade II with 64.6 had the most prevalence. Conclusions: The metastatic CRC was more prevalent in men than women, and the mean age varied around 50-60 years. The results showed that the present study had the highest prevalence of KRAS mutation in the Middle East and Pakistan with the lowest prevalence in CRC patients. © 2018 Indian Journal of Medical and Paediatric Oncology Published by Wolters Kluwer - Medknow

Clinical, Biological and Pathological Characteristics of Breast Cancer Patients at the Taleghani University Hospital in Kermanshah, Iran

Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common of all malignant neoplasms in women worldwide. This study aims to demonstrate certain biological, clinical and pathological characteristics of patients treated at the university hospital oncology unit. Methods: A descriptive study was conducted during a period of 2 years, from October 2003 through September of 2005 in Kermanshah, Iran. 555 patients were selected to participate, representing all the cases diagnosed and treated for breast cancer. Data was gathered according to questionnaires and pa-tients’ records. Results: The mean age at which breast cancer was first diagnosed was 46.5±11.6 year of age with 89% of tumors being infiltrating intraductal carcinoma. The majority of the patient population had tumors stage II and grade II. Mean tumor size was 2.14±0.57 centimeters. 58% of the tumors were localized to the upper outer quadrant of the affected breast and 89% of the patients received modified radical mastectomies with almost a 92% two year survival. Conclusion: Highest prevalence of breast cancer was recorded in the 40-49 (mean 46) years of age group which compares favorably with studies done under similar circumstances. Tumor size, grade, stage, tumor marker analysis, metastasis and other disease characteristics portray patient population tendencies for breast cancer patients in Kermanshah, Iran

KRAS and NRAS testing in metastatic colorectal cancer in Central Iran (Tehran): A review on literature of the middle east

Context: The incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) in the past three decades in Iran has made it as a major public health burden. Aims: The aim of this study is to report the prevalence of KRAS and NRAS mutations in Iran and the correlation between KRAS mutation status with clinicopathological factors and survival. Materials and Methods: In a cross-sectional study, 144 patients were entered into the study based on the criteria. Age, sex, tumor site, grade, metastasis location, familial history, KRAS/NRAS status, and survival were checked for all patients, and the patients were followed for 1 year. DNA was extracted with FFPE QIAGEN kit and then polymerase chain reaction for amplification of gene segments of KRAS and NRAS genes. Results: The mean age at diagnosis was 52.9 years (range: 27-72 years) that 39.6 patients had age <50 years and 54.2 were men. KRAS mutation was significantly more in the patients with age �50 compared with KRAS wild type. Furthermore, the 6-month overall survival rate in KRAS mutation patients was significantly more than KRAS wild-type patients. Liver metastasis (72.9) had the highest prevalence of metastasis in the patients, and Grade II with 64.6 had the most prevalence. Conclusions: The metastatic CRC was more prevalent in men than women, and the mean age varied around 50-60 years. The results showed that the present study had the highest prevalence of KRAS mutation in the Middle East and Pakistan with the lowest prevalence in CRC patients. © 2018 Indian Journal of Medical and Paediatric Oncology Published by Wolters Kluwer - Medknow

Molecular Identification of Turnip Mosaic virus (TuMV) in Hoary Mustard (Herschfeldia incana) From Iran

Turnip mosaic virus (TuMV) is amember of the Potyvirus genus within the Potyviridae family and is one the most important viruses infecting Brassicaceae plants. In April 2012, suspicious symptoms of a viral disease such as mosaic, stunting and malformation were observed on Herschfeldia incana. The collected samples were tested using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) with specific primers corresponding to TuMV coat protein gene. Amplified fragment (986bp) was first purified and then directly sequenced. Analysis of its CP nucleotide and amino acid sequence revealed 85.42-89.58 % and 91.64-95.12% similarity to those of 31 TuMV isolates from other countries respectively. Phylogenetic tree was constructed by MEGA6 software using neighbor joining method. The results showed that the TuMV isolate and 3 Iranian isolates have been clustered into the basal-B group

Thymidilate synthase and methionine synthase polymorphisms in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in Western Iran

Introduction: Polymorphism in genes involved in folate metabolism may cotribute to the susceptibility to acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Patients and Methods: To examine the influence of polymorphism in thymidylate synthase (TS 28-bp repeat) and methionine synthase (MS A2756G) genes on the susceptibility to ALL, 73 children with ALL and 128 age and gender matched, unrelated healthy individuals from Kermanshah Province were studied. Detection of TS 28-bp repeat and MS A2756G polymorphisms were performed by PCR and PCR-RFLP, respectively. Results: The frequency of TS 2R allele in patients and controls were 41.5 and 38, respectively (OR 1.4, 95CI 0.76-2.56, P=0.27). The allelic frequency of G allele of MS was higher (25) in patients compared with healthy subjects (23) OR 1.04, 95%CI 0.58-1.87, P=0.8. Considering MS AA and TS 3R3R genotypes as references indication where that individuals with MS GG+TS 2R2R genotypes have 1.3-fold increase risk of ALL (OR 1.3, 95%CI 0.6-2.7, P=0.5). Conclusions: For the first time, our study has determined the frequency of polymorphism in two genes involved in the folate metabolism in a homogenous ethnic group of ALL patients. It seems that neither TS 28bp-repeat nor MS A2756G polymorphisms might be risk factors for susceptibility to ALL in western Iran