65 research outputs found

    Congenital left ventricular diverticulum associated with ASD, VSD, and epigastric hernia

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    Congenital left ventricular diverticulum is a rare cardiac malformation. Two categories of congenital ventricular diverticulum have been identified with regard to their localization: apical and non-apical. Apical diverticula are always associated with midline thoraco-abdominal defects and other heart malformations. Non-apical diverticula are always isolated defects. Diagnosis is established by imaging studies such as echocardiography, magnetic resonance imaging, or left ventricular angiography. Mode of treatment has to be individually tailored and depends on clinical presentation, accompanying abnormalities, and possible complications. We report a 10-month-old girl with left ventricular apical diverticulum, large atrial septal defect, two small muscular ventricular septal defects, and pulmonary hypertension, associated with epigastric hernia. This patient underwent total surgical repair for intra-cardiac defects as well as diverticular resection

    Measuring psychosocial exposures: Validation of the Persian of the copenhagen psychosocial questionnaire (COPSOQ)

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    Background: The effect of psychosocial work environment on personal and organizational aspects of employees is well-known; and it is of fundamental importance to have valid tools to evaluate them. This study aims to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Persian version of Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ). Methods: The questionnaire was translated into Persian and then back translated into English by two translators separately. The wording of the final Persian version was established by comparing the translated versions with the original questionnaire. One hundred three health care workers completed the questionnaire. Chronbach's alpha was calculated, and factor analysis was performed. Results: Factor analysis revealed acceptable validity for the five contexts of the questionnaire. Cronbach's alpha ranged from 0.73 to 0.82 in different contexts. Conclusion: This study revealed that the Persian version of COPSOQ is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring psychosocial factors at work

    Paraoxonase phenotype distribution in a healthy Iranian population

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    Human serum paraoxonase (PON1) is a high-density lipoprotein-associated esterase that protects against organophosphate neurotoxicity, and is proposed to play a role in lipid metabolism and the onset of cardiovascular disease. In the present study, paraoxonase activities and phenotype distribution in serum of 132 healthy Iranian individuals aged 17-68 years were assessed using dual substrate method. In the study population, a wide interindividual variability (up to 15-fold) of paraoxonase activity was found. The mean of basal, salt-stimulated paraoxonase and arylesterase activities were 81.8 ± 57 U/ml, 153.1 ± 117.5 U/ml and 80.7 ± 12.8 kU/l, respectively. The ratio of salt-stimulated paraoxonase activity to arylesterase activity was used for definition of phenotypes. Based on the observed ratios, three distinct phenotypes AA (low activity), AB (intermediate activity) and BB (high activity) were determined. The PON1 ratio varied from 0.5 to 6.8. The paraoxonase phenotype frequencies were approximately 48 (AA), 41 (AB) and 11 (BB). In this work, serum triglycerides had significant positive correlation (r = 0.334, P < 0.05) with paraoxonase activity, whereas high-density lipoprotein did not. No significant decrease in paraoxonase activity by smoking was observed. Age and sex had no influences on PON1 activities. In conclusion, the distribution of paraoxonase phenotypes in this Iranian population was trimodal and comparable to that of Caucasians from North America; however, overall enzyme activity was lower than that reported for Caucasians. © 2007 The Authors

    Relationship of occupational and non-occupational stress with smoking in automotive industry workers

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    Background: Tobacco use is the second cause of death and first cause of preventable mortality worldwide. Smoking in the workplace is particularly concerning. Smoking-free workplaces decrease the risk of exposure of non-smoking personnel to cigarette smoke. Recent studies have mostly focused on the effect of daily or non-occupational stressors (in comparison with occupational stress) on prevalence of smoking. Occupational stress is often evaluated in workplaces for smoking cessation or control programs, but the role of non-occupational stressors is often disregarded in this respect. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in an automobile manufacturing company. The response of automotive industry workers to parts of the validated, reliable, Farsi version of Musculoskeletal Intervention Center (MUSIC)-Norrtalje questionnaire was evaluated. A total of 3,536 factory workers participated in this study. Data were analyzed using SPSS and P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The correlation of smoking with demographic factors, occupational stressors and life events was evaluated. The results of logistic regression analysis showed that even after adjusting for the confounding factors, cigarette smoking was significantly correlated with age, sex, level of education, job control and life events (P<0.05). Conclusion: The results showed that of occupational and non-occupational stressors, only job control was correlated with cigarette smoking. Non-occupational stressors had greater effect on cigarette smoking. Consideration of both non-occupational and occupational stressors can enhance the success of smoking control programs. On the other hand, a combination of smoking control and stress (occupational and non-occupational) control programs can be more effective than smoking cessation interventions alone. © 2014 NRITLD

    Frequency of paraoxonase 192/55 polymorphism in an Iranian population

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    Paraoxonase (PON1) is a serum enzyme that plays an important role in prevention of atherosclerosis and also protects against organophosphate-induced neurotoxicity. PON1 displays a high variablility in human populations. In this study, PON1-192 and -55 polymorphisms and correlation to serum PON1 activity were investigated in 132 healthy Iranian individuals from Isfahan province. The genotype frequencies for PON1-192 were approximately 48 (QQ), 42. (QR), and 10 (RR) and for PON1-55 17 (MM), 48 (ML), and 35 (LL). Thus, the frequencies of alleles R and L were 0.31 and 0.59, respectively. PON1 activity toward paraoxon was markedly affected in both polymorphic populations in the following order QQ < QR < RR genotype for PON1-192 and MM < ML < LL genotype for PON1-55. Neither polymorphism significantly affected PON1 activity toward phenylacetate. The RR/LL individuals had the highest PON1 activity and QQ/MM individuals the least. The QR/ML haplotype was the most frequent seen in Iranians, and the RR/MM and QR/MM haplotypes were absent in this population. In conclusion, the frequencies of PON1-192 and -55 polymorphisms in this Iranian population were different from those seen in other Asian populations from Japan and China but similar to those for European Caucasians. Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

    Assessment of the relationship between physical working conditions and different levels of work ability

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    Early leaving of workplace by work forces is one of the fundamental problems worldwide. Maintenance and enhancement of employees work ability are important for raising productivity. This study investigated the relationship between work ability index and physical working conditions and was carried out in 2013 on 641 workers at a manufacturing plant in Tehran. Work ability was assessed by the questionnaire of work ability index and the participants were classified into four work ability groups of poor, moderate, good, and excellent. Physical working conditions were evaluated by the MUSIC-Norrtalje questionnaire and the participants were classified into two groups with proper and poor physical working conditions. The mean score of work ability questionnaire was 42.40; and 2.5 (16 persons), 9.2 (59 persons), 38.2 (245 persons), and 50.1 (321 persons) of the participants were in poor, moderate, good, and excellent work ability groups, respectively. The mean score of physical working conditions questionnaire was 20.06. The results of logistic regression analysis showed that even after adjusting the confounding variables, a significant correlation existed between work ability and physical working conditions (p < 0.05). According to the results of this study, there may be a correlation between physical working conditions such as awkward postures, repetitive movements, load lifting, exposure to whole body vibration and so on with work ability. Therefore it seems that enhancement of the quality of physical working conditions may increase work ability

    Effect of general health status on chronicity of low back pain in industrial workers

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    Recognizing patients at a higher risk of developing chronic low back pain (LBP) is important in industrial medicine. This study aimed to assess the power and quality of General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) for prediction of the odds of chronicity of acute LBP. This study was conducted on industrial workers. All subjects with acute LBP who met the inclusion criteria were enrolled. Demographic characteristics, occupational, physical, and mental parameters and the general health status of subjects were evaluated; they were followed up for developing chronic LBP for one year. Cigarette smoking, high body mass index, job stress, physical load and high GHQ scores were found to be the risk factors for the progression of acute LBP to chronic LBP (P0.05). High GHQ score can be a risk factor for progression of acute LBP to chronic LBP. The GHQ in combination with the Job Content Questionnaire can be used as a quick and simple screening tool for detection of subjects at high risk of chronic LBP when evaluating acute LBP in an occupational setting. © 2016 Tehran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved.

    Investigation of CTNNB1 gene mutations and expression in hepatocellular carcinoma and cirrhosis in association with hepatitis B virus infection

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    Hepatitis B virus (HBV), along with Hepatitis C virus chronic infection, represents a major risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development. However, molecular mechanisms involved in the development of HCC are not yet completely understood. Recent studies have indicated that mutations in CTNNB1 gene encoding for β-catenin protein lead to aberrant activation of the Wnt/ β-catenin pathway. The mutations in turn activate several downstream genes, including c-Myc, promoting the neoplastic process. The present study evaluated the mutational profile of the CTNNB1 gene and expression levels of CTNNB1 and c-Myc genes in HBV-related HCC, as well as in cirrhotic and control tissues. Mutational analysis of the β-catenin gene and HBV genotyping were conducted by direct sequencing. Expression of β-catenin and c-Myc genes was assessed using real-time PCR. Among the HCC cases, 18.1 showed missense point mutation in exon 3 of CTNNB1, more frequently in codons 32, 33, 38 and 45. The frequency of mutation in the hotspots of exon 3 was significantly higher in non-viral HCCs (29.4) rather than HBV-related cases (12.7, P = 0.021). The expression of β-catenin and c-Myc genes was found upregulated in cirrhotic tissues in association with HBV infection. Mutations at both phosphorylation and neighboring sites were associated with increased activity of the Wnt pathway. The results demonstrated that mutated β-catenin caused activation of the Wnt pathway, but the rate of CTNNB1 gene mutations was not related to HBV infection. HBV factors may deregulate the Wnt pathway by causing epigenetic alterations in the HBV-related HCC. © 2020 The Author(s)

    Performance, kinetic, and biodegradation pathway evaluation of anaerobic fixed film fixed bed reactor in removing phthalic acid esters from wastewater

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    Emerging and hazardous environmental pollutants like phthalic acid esters (PAEs) are one of the recent concerns worldwide. PAEs are considered to have diverse endocrine disrupting effects on human health. Industrial wastewater has been reported as an important environment with high concentrations of PAEs. In the present study, four short-chain PAEs including diallyl phthalate (DAP), diethyl phthalate (DEP), dimethyl phthalate (DMP), and phthalic acid (PA) were selected as a substrate for anaerobic fixed film fixed bed reactor (AnFFFBR). The process performances of AnFFFBR, and also its kinetic behavior, were evaluated to find the best eco-friendly phthalate from the biodegradability point of view. According to the results and kinetic coefficients, removing and mineralizing of DMP occurred at a higher rate than other phthalates. In optimum conditions 92.5, 84.41, and 80.39% of DMP, COD, and TOC were removed. DAP was found as the most bio-refractory phthalate. The second-order (Grau) model was selected as the best model for describing phthalates removal

    Design and preparation of a novel colon-targeted tablet of hydrocortisone

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    ABSTRACT The objective of this research was to design a new colon-targeted drug delivery system based on chitosan. The properties of the films were studied to obtain useful information about the possible applications of composite films. The composite films were used in a bilayer system to investigate their feasibility as coating materials. Tensile strength, swelling degree, solubility, biodegradation degree, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) investigations showed that the composite film was formed when chitosan and gelatin were reacted jointly. The results showed that a 6:4 blend ratio was the optimal chitosan/gelatin blend ratio. In vitro drug release results indicated that the Eudragit- and chitosan/gelatin-bilayer coating system prevented drug release in simulated intestinal fluid (SIF) and simulated gastric fluid (SGF). However, the drug release from a bilayer-coated tablet in SCF increased over time, and the drug was almost completely released after 24h. Overall, colon-targeted drug delivery was achieved by using a chitosan/gelatin complex film and a multilayer coating system
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