Role of Helicobacter pylori infection in the manifestation of old age-related diseases

Helicobacter pylori is one of the most prevalent infection worldwide. It affects individuals of different age groups. Elderly people tend to resist eradication treatment and worsening of infection can lead to several gastric and non-gastric pathologies. Aging-associated cellular and molecular alteration can increase the risk of other pathologies such as osteoporosis, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, respiratory and renal dysfunction, and cancer in geriatric patients, more than other age groups. This review article highlights some of the most common old age diseases and the role of H. pylori infection as a risk factor to worsen the conditions, presented by the molecular evidences of these associations. These studies can help clinicians to understand the underlying pathogenesis of the disease and identify high-risk patients, aiding clearer diagnosis and treatment. © 2020 The Authors. Molecular Genetics & Genomic Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Dioxin exposure in the manufacture of pesticide production as a risk factor for death from prostate cancer: A meta-analysis

Background: In pesticide exposure groups such as farmers, the risk of prostate cancer was increased, although the report of the cause of evidence is limited. We selected chlorophenol compounds as an important group of the contaminated pesticide with highly toxic 2, 3, 7, 8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). This meta-analysis, the risk of death from prostate cancer was analyzed. Methods: PubMed, Scopus, Scholar Google and web of Sciences until 2016 were searched. The standardized mortality rate (SMR) and 95 confidence intervals (CI) were obtained from the studies. We tested statistical heterogeneity with Cochrane Q test and I2 index. Egger test was used for evaluating publication bias. Random or fixed-effects models and meta-regression were also used in our analysis. Moreover, Cochrane tool was used to assess the risk of bias. Results: Five available papers consist of 28706 exposed populations were assessed. Overall standardized mortality rate as combined result of prostate cancer risk from the fixed model was 1.2 (95 confidence interval (CI) 1.02 to 1.42, P=0.027). Some biases are more probable in these studies such as confounding by indication, loss to follow up and misclassification. Conclusion: A contaminated pesticide with dioxins between other pesticides is an important risk factor for prostate cancers. © 2018, Iranian Journal of Public Health. All rights reserved

Dioxin exposure in the manufacture of pesticide production as a risk factor for death from prostate cancer: A meta-analysis

Background: In pesticide exposure groups such as farmers, the risk of prostate cancer was increased, although the report of the cause of evidence is limited. We selected chlorophenol compounds as an important group of the contaminated pesticide with highly toxic 2, 3, 7, 8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). This meta-analysis, the risk of death from prostate cancer was analyzed. Methods: PubMed, Scopus, Scholar Google and web of Sciences until 2016 were searched. The standardized mortality rate (SMR) and 95 confidence intervals (CI) were obtained from the studies. We tested statistical heterogeneity with Cochrane Q test and I2 index. Egger test was used for evaluating publication bias. Random or fixed-effects models and meta-regression were also used in our analysis. Moreover, Cochrane tool was used to assess the risk of bias. Results: Five available papers consist of 28706 exposed populations were assessed. Overall standardized mortality rate as combined result of prostate cancer risk from the fixed model was 1.2 (95 confidence interval (CI) 1.02 to 1.42, P=0.027). Some biases are more probable in these studies such as confounding by indication, loss to follow up and misclassification. Conclusion: A contaminated pesticide with dioxins between other pesticides is an important risk factor for prostate cancers. © 2018, Iranian Journal of Public Health. All rights reserved

Challenges to promoting population-based cancer registration in Iran: A workshop report

In December 2011, the Cancer Research Centre of the Cancer Institute of Iran sponsored a 3-day workshop on "Cancer Registration Principle and Challenges in Iran", which convened cancer registry experts. The objectives of the workshop were: to introduce standard cancer registration, to review the policy and procedure of cancer registration in Iran, and to review the best practices in the cancer registries in Iran. Challenges to cancer registration were discussed and recommendations were developed. The workshop was evaluated by participants for better organization of subsequent workshops. The objective of publication of this report is that based on Cancer in 5 Continents, many low- or middle-income countries do not meet the criteria for a standard population-based cancer registry (PBCR); on the other hand cancer is the most important cause of mortality and the essential part of any cancer control program is the cancer registry. Therefore this report focuses on problems and challenges of PBCR and provides recommendations which might help other developing countries to decrease their PBCR defects

Cost-effectiveness of different cervical screening strategies in Islamic Republic of Iran: A middle-income country with a low incidence rate of cervical cancer

Objective: Invasive cervical cancer (ICC) is the fourth most common cancer among women worldwide. Cervical screening programs have reduced the incidence and mortality rates of ICC. We studied the cost-effectiveness of different cervical screening strategies in the Islamic Republic of Iran, a Muslim country with a low incidence rate of ICC. Methods: We constructed an 11-state Markov model, in which the parameters included regression and progression probabilities, test characteristics, costs, and utilities; these were extracted from primary data and the literature. Our strategies included Pap smear screening and human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA testing plus Pap smear triaging with different starting ages and screening intervals. Model outcomes included lifetime costs, life years gained, quality-adjusted life years (QALY), and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs). One-way sensitivity analysis was performed to examine the stability of the results. Results: We found that the prevented mortalities for the 11 strategies compared with no screening varied from 26 to 64. The most cost-effective strategy was HPV screening, starting at age 35 years and repeated every 10 years. The ICER of this strategy was 8,875 per QALY compared with no screening. We found that screening at 5-year intervals was also cost-effective based on GDP per capita in Iran. Conclusion: We recommend organized cervical screening with HPV DNA testing for women in Iran, beginning at age 35 and repeated every 10 or 5 years. The results of this study could be generalized to other countries with low incidence rates of cervical cancer. � 2016 Nahvijou et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

National Spinal Cord Injury Registry of Iran (NSCIR-IR) � a critical appraisal of its strengths and weaknesses

The National Spinal Cord Injury Registry of Iran (NSCIR-IR) is a not-for-profit, hospital-based, and prospective observational registry that appraises the quality of care, long-term outcomes and the personal and psychological burden of traumatic spinal cord injury in Iran. Benchmarking validity in every registry includes rigorous attention to data quality. Data quality assurance is essential for any registry to make sure that correct patients are being enrolled and that the data being collected are valid. We reviewed strengths and weaknesses of the NSCIR-IR while considering the methodological guidelines and recommendations for efficient and rational governance of patient registries. In summary, the steering committee, funded and maintained by the Ministry of Health and Medical Education of Iran, the international collaborations, continued staff training, suitable data quality, and the ethical approval are considered to be the strengths of the registry, while limited human and financial resources, poor interoperability with other health systems, and time-consuming processes are among its main weaknesses. © 2019 Chinese Medical Associatio

Pancreatic cancer in type 1 and young-onset diabetes: systematic review and meta-analysis

We conducted a systematic review of the risk of pancreatic cancer in people with type I and young-onset diabetes. In three cohort and six case–control studies, the relative risk for pancreatic cancer in people with (vs without) diabetes was 2.00 (95% confidence interval 1.37–3.01) based on 39 cases with diabetes

Use of data-mining to support real-world cost analyses: An example using HER2-positive breast cancer in Iran

INTRODUCTION: Patient registries play an important role in obtaining real-world evidence of the cost-effectiveness of treatments. However, their implementation is costly and sometimes infeasible in many middle-income countries (MICs). We explored the combination of data-mining and a large claims database to estimate the direct healthcare costs of HER2-positive breast cancer (BC) treatment in Iran and the fraction of total costs from trastuzumab use.METHOD: We performed a retrospective analysis of claims data from the Iran Social Security Organization, a health insurer which covers approximately 50%(~40 million) of the Iranian population, in the period of 21/03/2011-20/03/2014. A data-mining algorithm using R software and validated using patient dossiers in the Cancer Research Center identified 1295 patients and divided them into the three main HER2-positive breast cancer stages (early, loco-regional and advanced). A payer perspective was used to calculate the absolute and relative direc

i Sexual function in breast cancer patients: a prospective study from Iran

Background: Sexual function in patients with breast cancer especially in younger patients is an important issue from clinical and psychosocial perspectives. This study aimed to assess sexual function among Iranian breast cancer patients. Methods: This was a prospective study of sexual function in breast cancer patients attending the Cancer Institute of Iran. Sexual function was assessed using the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) at two points in time: baseline (pre-treatment) and after completion of cancer treatment at follow-up visits (post-treatment). Pre- and posttreatment data were compared. In addition logistic regression analysis was performed to find out factors that contributing to post-treatment sexual dysfunction. Results: In all 277 breast cancer patients were approached. Of these, 231 patients (83%) were sexually active and data for 216 patients (93.5 % of sexually active patients) were available at pre-and post-treatment. Overall pre- and post-treatment sexual dysfunction was found to be 52 % and 84%, respectively indicating a significant deterioration in sexual function among breast cancer patients. The results obtained from multiple logistic regression analysis indicated that younger age [OR = 0.95, 95 % CI = 0.93-0.98; P = 0.04], receiving endocrine therapy [OR = 3.34, 95% CI = 1.37-7.91; P = 0.007] and poor sexual function at pre-treatment [OR = 12.3, 95 % CI = 3.93-39.0; P < 0.0001