فهرست مطالب reza malekpourafshar

The emigration of intellectual capital has grown significantly in recent years. When the experts of the countries reach the production stage, by leaving the country, they transfer their intellectual and economic ability to the destination countries. One of the ways to reduce the damage caused by this phenomenon is brain rotation. The current study was carried out with the aim of investigating strategies to strengthen the circulation of brains and attract elites in the health system.

The present study was conducted as a scoping review. Search and analysis was done using Prisma protocol. The content of articles was analyzed through content analysis in thematic method using MAXQDa20 software. All the contents related to the desired concept were coded in the articles, then, based on the conceptual connection, they were placed in subcategories and categories, and finally they were placed in the main categories.

The initial result of the article search was 2574 articles. After removing duplicate items, 675 items were removed due to being unrelated and 13 articles were removed due to lack of access to the full text, and 33 articles were used for analysis. After summarizing, the codes were placed in 13 subcategories and 3 main categories, which include 1- governance reforms - macro policy making, 2- strengthening and reforming university policies, 3- cultural and social strategies.

The findings show that Iran can pay more attention to the rotation of brains and use the intellectual capital of Iranians abroad to a greater extent. This will be achieved when a written road map is prepared, approved and implemented to strengthen communication and culture.

Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies and the most common cause of death in women worldwide. Recently, viral etiology theory has been proposed on the physiopathology of breast cancer.

This cross-sectional study evaluated the presence of the Human Herpes Virus-8 genome in 138 formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE) breast cancer tissues, using real-time PCR. All samples were collected from the department of pathology of Bahonar Hospital (Kerman, Iran) and sent to the virology laboratory of Kerman University of Medical sciences with appropriate conditions.

Out of the 138 FFPE breast cancer tissues, 17(12.31%) were positive for HHV8. Among the HHV-8 positive samples, 58.8% were in the 41-60 years old age group. Among HHV-8 positive cases, 47.05% were an intermediate grade and 82.05% have involvement of 7-9 lymph nodes. Also, there was a significant relationship between age and breast cancer.

The results of this study showed that the prevalence of HHV-8 infection in patients with breast cancer is high and may be associated with an increased risk of breast cancer.

Health workforce migration is one of the serious threats to the health system in Iran, which has grown significantly in recent years. The aim of the current research is to investigate factors associated with the emigration of human resources in the field of health in the year 2022.

This is a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted using a survey method. The study population included students, faculty members, staff, and graduates of the Iranian universities of medical sciences. The study sample included 360 participants from medical universities involved by a non-probability, convenient sampling method. The data collection tool was a standard questionnaire whose validity and reliability were evaluated and confirmed by a number of expert professors and experts in the field of health.

Out of a total of 360 participants, 170 were students and 190 were graduates or working in medical universities. 195 participants were female (54/2) and 165 were male (45/8). Associate and Bachelor’s degrees (n=118), Ph.D. (n=87), and general medical practitioner (n=77) had the largest share in the studied sample. The fields of medicine (n=89) and paramedicine (n=76) had the highest participation rate. 189  (52.5%) of the participants had a great desire to emigrate. 135 people (37.5%) of the participants even thought of working in non-specialized and lower jobs abroad. 108 people (30 %) planned to migrate or took practical action and had a definite schedule for emigration. Only 65 (18%) of the participants had the desire to return after emigration. Economic, managerial, and social welfare factors were identified as the most important factors associated with the emigration of the health workforce.

The desire to emigrate is very strong among students and health professionals, and many participants decide to emigrate due to economic and social issues. Solving the emigration problem requires a serious, comprehensive, and long-term commitment to the issue of elite management, structural and legislative reforms, meritocracy, and increasing hope in the academic community.

Brain drain is a phenomenon that has become more widespread in recent decades. This issue is gradually becoming a crisis in Iran. Considering the importance of maintaining the elites in the country, this study endeavors to offer solutions to manage this crisis.

In this qualitative study, the opinions of experts on the issue of brain darin were received and analyzed using a crowdsourcing system. Coding method, content analysis and Maxqda10.2 qualitative data analysis software were used to analyse data.

Key results were classified into three main categories: causes of brain drain, its consequences and management strategies. Data analysis lead to extraction of three main categories including: 1) causes of elite migration with two subcategories of repulsive factors of origin and gravity of destination countries;  2) consequences of elite migration with 2 subcategories of elite migration threats and elite migration opportunities; and 3) elite migration strategies with six subcategories of accurate problem recognition, reforming the nurturing system and supporting the elites, establishing and strengthening the system of innovation, reforming the administrative system and meritocracy, promoting the status and dignity of human resources,  fulfilment of the obligationof macro-policymakers.

Elites tend to migrate due to repulsion of the country of origin and multiplicity ofattractions in the destination country. Policymakers in various fields are expected to develop clear programs and laws to manage and eliminate retention of elites and strengthen attractions to prevent the brain drain.

Free radicals such as hydroxyl and peroxide are contributing factors to neuronaldestruction in cerebral ischemia. Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) is one of the potent knownantioxidants. Preparation of ALA niosomes allows IV injection and can increase bioavailabilityand penetration into the central nervous system (CNS).

Film hydration method was used to prepare different niosomes composed of Span®,Tween®, and cholesterol at different molar ratio. ALA and niosome-forming compounds weredissolved in chloroform, before removing the organic solvent by rotary evaporator. Animalswere randomly divided into four groups: Sham, control group, intravenous (IV) injection ofempty niosomes plus intraperitoneal (IP) injection of ALA solution, and finally, IV injectionof ALA niosomes. Rats were subjected to deep anesthesia before inducing cerebral ischemia,then, their internal common carotid arteries were clamped for 15 min and reperfusion wasdone for 30 min. Niosomal ALA was injected intravenously just before declamping.

Mean volume diameter of the prepared niosomes was between 4.36 ± 0.82 and 19.95± 1.21 μm in different formulations. Encapsulation efficiency percent (EE%) of ALA in theselected formulation, Span60/Tween60/cholesterol (35:35:30 molar ratio), was 94.5 ± 0.2, and59.27 ± 5.61% of ALA was released after 4h. In the niosomal group, the rate of reduction incomplications of cerebral ischemia such as histopathologic changes and acute damage (fromscore 3 to 1) in CNS was higher than other groups.

The obtained results show that niosomes can be used as effective drug deliverysystems for ALA in cerebral ischemia.

Laboratory analysis errors in procedure or interpretation may be seen during the process of completing physician test orders. They may also result in rejection of the requests due to some applicability reasons. Hence, this study was carried out to determine the rate and reasons for such rejections in clinical settings.

This cross-sectional comparative study was performed on 104008 laboratory tests in a one-year period in terms of the percentage and type of errors that occurred in Shahid Bahonar Hospital in Kerman, Iran, in 2018. The types of studied errors included hemolysis, sample clotting, insufficient sample size, and mistakes in labels or absence of labels on the sample.

In this study, 104008 laboratory tests were performed, with 2299 (2.21%) sample rejections, 456 (32.31%) complete blood count (CBC) sample clotting; 417 (29.38 %) hemolysis; and 150 (17.47 %) inadequate sample volume as the majority of errors. There was no statistically significant relationship between pre-analysis errors and clinical aspects (P=0.124).

According to the results, it may be concluded that considering the high prevalence of laboratory errors in comparison with the majority of other studies, continuous training courses and determination of the causes of these errors are crucial to attaining better function and basic knowledge.

This study aimed to estimate the incidence of thyroid cancer and completeness of thyroid cancer case registration in Kerman province, Iran using three source capture-recapture approach during years 2008-2015.

All new cases of thyroid cancers reported during 2008-2015 which were registered by pathology, nuclear medicine and medical records were included in this study. Using the personal identifiers, common cases between sources were linked. The log-linear Poisson regression analysis was applied to estimate the number of unregistered cases. The incidence rate per 100,000 population was calculated. To study the trend, Joint-point regression analysis was performed. 

Overall, 1153 new cases of thyroid cancer were reported by three sources. Most cases were female (81/7%). The mean age at diagnosis was 41.53±15.69 years. The estimated number of thyroid cancer cases was 1323. The estimated incidence per 100,000 population varied from 4.5 in 2011 to 11 in 2015. The female to male ratio varied from 3.1 in 2015 to 6.7 in 2011. The completeness of registration for all three sources varied from 33.7% in 2008 to 95.1% in 2013. The completeness of medical records, pathology reports, and nuclear medicine reports were 33.1%, 50.7%, and 66.2%, respectively.

Despite some improvements in completeness of thyroid cancer registration during the study period, there are still fluctuations within the study period. Furthermore, considering each source separately, the completeness of registration is not satisfactory. Therefore, more effort should be done to increase the completeness of thyroid cancer registration specially through the pathology source.

We examined and estimated the trend of breast cancer incidence in Kerman, the largest province in Iran.

Having compiling the data of new cases from three sources (cancer registry, pathology, radiotherapy) in this longitudinal study, the number of untouched cases was estimated using log-linear model. We estimated the annual age-standardized rate (ASR) per 100,000 women in 2001-2015. We utilized joint point regression method to estimate the trend of breast cancer incidence during the examined years.

The ASR of breast cancer increased from 25 in 2001-2005 to 37 in 2011- 2015, showing that the annual average percentage increased by 5.9% (95% Confidence Interval: 3.5, 8.4, p <0.001). Moreover, during this period, the completeness of the cancer registry increased from 16% in the first five years to 70% in the last five years.

Our findings revealed that the coverage of the cancer registry increased significantly. It seems that part of the increasing trend of the reported cancer incidence was attributed to the enhancement of the cancer registry scheme, but our findings suggested that the real incidence of breast cancer had a growing trend.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a common chronic demyelinating disease of the central nervous system with various potential etiology, including infectious disease. The number of studies on the association between Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection and MS is limited. So, in this study, we aimed to assess the relation between H. pylori infection and MS in Kerman city, the center of the largest province in Iran.

In a case-control study, 71 patients with newly diagnosed MS and 145 sex- and age-matched controls were included. Blood samples for IgG anti-HP antibodies were collected from all individuals. SPSS software version 22 was used for data analysis. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.

71 patients with newly diagnosed MS consisted of 48 (67.6%) women and 23 (32.39%) men were included in our study. The mean age was 43±10 years. The mean ages in the case and control groups were 43.83±10.40 and 44.41±16.30 years, respectively (p= 0.114). The control group more commonly had used smoking (p =0.814). Alcohol consumption was higher in the control group (p =0.965). More than 40% of the patients in the case group and 55.17% in the control group had body mass index (BMI)>25 (p =0.074). H. pylori seropositivity was observed in 61.97% of the MS group compared with 76.55% of the non-MS group (p =0.021).

We concluded that patients with newly diagnosed MS had low H. pylori seropositivity, so H. pylori infection may have a protective effect against MS.

Previous studies have shown that breast cancer (BC) risk perception could be a motivation for screening behaviors. This study was conducted to compare the level of BC risk perception of women aged between 30-40 and 41-60 years, and to determine the factors affecting screening behaviors and examine the association between BC risk perception and BC screening behaviors.

This cross-sectional study was performed using a Rutherford instrument for BC risk perception on 754 women aged 30 to 60 years with no history of BC in 2018. The questionnaire included demographic information, risk factors of BC, screening practice, and risk perception of BC. The association between screening behaviors with women’s BC risk perception and some other variables were assessed utilizing pathway analysis method with the Structural equation modeling (SEM), which summarized the results by odds ratio index.

The mean score of BC risk perception was 28.9±24.3, which was 31.2±24.4 in women aged 30 to 40 and 25.9±23.9 in women aged 41 to 60 years (P value = 0.003). The association between mammography with risk perception was (OR:1 [95%CI: 0.9, 1]). According to this study, the most important variables affecting mammography were increased clinical examination (OR: 34.6 [95%CI: 16.3, 73.7]), age (OR: 8.8 [95%CI: 4.9,16]), family history of breast cancer (OR: 4 [95%CI: 1.3, 12.9]), and higher education level ([OR: 1.4[95%CI: 1.1,1.9]).

The results of our study indicated that younger women had higher BC risk perception. BC risk perception was not found to have any direct effects on mammography. This survey revealed that physicians had an important role in encouraging women to perform mammography.

Currently, many medical universities in Iran use e-learning programs to educate and evaluate students. This teaching and assessment method is highly significant during the coronavirus epidemic.

The present study was conducted to compare the analytic indices of in-person vs. online exams at the Kerman University of Medical Sciences, (KMUS) Iran.

This descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study was conducted in 2020. The study samples included all exams given at the KMUS and midterm exam scores obtained from inperson and online courses in the first and second semesters in the academic year 2019-2020. The exams were selected based on courses, and the same courses were offered both in-person and online; thus, only one group was studied. Course exam indicators, including difficulty and discriminative index, were examined. Data analyzed using SPSS software version 22.

The mean of the difficulty index related to in-person and online exams were (0.62 ± 0.1) and (0.68 ± 0.1), respectively. (P=0.01). The mean of the discriminative index related to in-person (0.30± 0.07) and online (0.33± 0.08) exams had no statistically significant difference (P>0.05). The frequency of easy questions in online exams was significantly higher, (55% vs. 43%) (p = 0.008). The frequency of questions with an appropriate discriminative index was significantly higher for in-person exams compared to online exams (58% vs. 54%) (p = 0.01).

The difficulty index was acceptable and appropriate for both in-person and online exams. Both exams had appropriate quality according to the discriminative index Therefore, it seems that e-learning programs and assessments can be a good alternative to in-person teaching in emergencies

Delay phenomenon can be used for better blood supply of the flap in plastic surgery. Effects of Montelukast have been observed to reduce ischemia/reperfusion injury in various organs due to angiogenic and anti-oxidant effects. The present study aimed to determine the role of Montelukast as medical delay of the flaps.

In this experimental study, 42 Wistar rats were divided into 3 equal groups. These groups were Surgical Delay Group (SDG), Medical Delay Group (MDG) and Control Group (CG). In SDG, 8×3 cm rectangular randomized random skin flap was first surgically delayed at rats’ back. The MDG received 10 mg/kg oral Montelukast via orogastric tube for 5 days as medical delay. In MDG and SDG flap, harvesting was undertaken after a delayed period, but there was not any delayed period in CG. After delayed period, a segment of the skin flap was biopsied for assessing angiogenesis. After 14th days, the photos were taken and the size of the necrotic area of the flap was measured.

A significant difference was observed between the mean survival and angiogenesis (p=0.002). The same performance was reported between MDG and SDG, which were alike regarding survival and angiogenesis (p>0.05); while there was a significant difference between the control and surgical groups, as well as control and medical groups (p<0.05). Finally, the inflammation showed no significant difference (p>0.05).

Regarding positive effects of Montelukast on survival and angiogenesis, it is recommended to be used as a medication for larger studies.

Opioids are amongst the most common abused drugs. Pathologic studies on opioid abuse are limited since the evaluation of inflammation and regeneration in brain tissue is not as simple as other tissues of the body. Thus, the present study aimed to determine the relationship between the dependence on morphine and inflammatory and regenerative processes. In this experimental study, 48 male wistar rats were divided into 6 groups. The dependent groups (3 groups) received 0.4 mg/ml morphine in drinking water for 7, 28, and 56 days. The control groups (3 groups) received sucrose solution in drinking water for the same period. The histopathological studies of the brain sample were done. The slides were stained by hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining method. The areas of brain were evaluated in terms of lymphocytic infiltration and glial scar. A significant difference was observed in the mean number of cells in the glial scar of the dependent group 3 (dependent for 56 days) among the control group (P = 0.040). Further, a significant relationship was reported between the increased duration of morphine use and the number of created scar glial cells. Furthermore, a significant increase in the number of astrocytes was observed in the affected areas. After long-term use, opioids can result in increased number of astrocytes and creating glial scar centers in the affected areas in response to the inflammation.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most important common cancers in the world. The main etiology of this cancer in developing and third world countries is due to the infection with hepatitis B and C viruses. Hepatitis B and C viruses (HCV) would both cause liver cancer but the incidence of the disease in relation to the age and gender has not been determined. The present study was conducted to evaluate the relation between some demographic characteristics with rs1053004 polymorphism in STAT3 gene among patients with liver cancer following chronic hepatitis B infection and its comparison with healthy subjects.
In this study, 33 tissue samples of liver cancer from pationts with HBV infection, 50 blood samples from patients with chronic hepatitis B and 50 blood samples from healthy subjects, as the control group, were obtained to determine rs1053004 polymorphism in STAT3 gene (signal transducer factor and activator of transcription in the nucleus) using Real Time PCR method.
In the present study 133 subject were evaluated and from them, 50 (37.6%) were healthy and 50 of the participants (37.6%) had chronic hepatitis B and 33 (24.8%) had HCC. 69.9% of the participants (93 participants) were male and 30.1% (40 participants) were female. According to the results, the gender of the participants in the studied groups had no significant relation with their SNPrs1053004 polymorphism. But the relation between gender and liver cancer was statistically significant (p Results of the present study showed no significant relation between the presence of rs1053004 polymorphism in STAT3 gene (signal transducer factor and activator of transcription in the nucleus) and gender of the participants but the difference between the ages of the healthy group, chronic hepatitis B group and HCC group was statistically significant. In other words, age could be a predicting factor in developing HCC

Melatonin is known as an anti-inflammatory agent, and it has been proven to exert neuroprotection through inhibition of cell death (apoptosis) in several models of brain injury.Secondary injury following the primary traumatic brain injury (TBI) results in glial cells activation, especially astrocytes. In fact, astrocyte activation causes the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines that may lead to secondary injury. Since most TBI research studies have focused on injured neurons and paid little attention to glial cells, the aim of current study was to investigate the effects of melatonin against astrocytes activation (astrogliosis), as well as inhibition of apoptosis in brain tissue of male rats after TBI. The animals were randomly allocated into five groups: sham group, TBI+ vehicle group (1% ethanol in saline) and TBI+ melatonin groups (5 mg/kg, 10 mg/kg and 20 mg/kg). All rats were intubated and then exposed to diffuse TBI, except for the sham group. Immunohistochemical methods were conducted using glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) marker and TUNEL assay to evaluate astrocyte reactivity and cell death, respectively. The results showed that based on the number of GFAP positive astrocytes in brain cortex, astrogliosis was reduced significantly (P<0.05) in melatonin- treated groups (no dose dependent) compared to the vehicle group. Furthermore, based on TUNEL results, melatonin treatment considerably reduced the number of apoptotic cells (P<0.05). In total, the present findings suggest that melatonin treatment following TBI diminishes astrocyte reactivity and neuronal cells apoptosis in brain cortex in the rat model.

Canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL) is a systemic disease with a high mortality rate, caused by a diphasic protozoan parasite, Leishmania infantum/chagasi in the world. The objective of the present study was to determine the presence of CVL in the city and suburbs of Kerman, using a range of serological, histopathological and molecular methods. Blood samples were taken from 80 clinically symptomatic stray dogs All the collected blood samples were tested by direct agglutina­tion test (DAT) to detect the anti-Leishmania antibodies in dogs, using a cut-off value of ≥1:320. Pathological specimens including spleen, liver and lymph nodes were prepared for paraffin blocks, sectioning, staining and final microscopic examina­tion in the pathology laboratory. PCR amplification of kDNA from 9 samples of DAT positive stray dogs was studied. The anti-Leishmania antibody was detected in 9 dogs (11.25 %) of the total 80 stud­ied dogs. No significant difference was found between VL infection and gender. In contrast, there was a significant difference between seropositivity and age (P<0.05). Pathological samples showed changes including hyperplasia of infected macrophages and inflammatory cells that occupied sinusoids and splenic cords. Among the samples which was characterized by PCR, only one specimen revealed to be mixed infection between L. infantum and L. tropica. The results revealed a high prevalence of L. infantum infection in stray dogs in Kerman. This kind of information is needed for implementation of future con­trol programs.

Scientific journals are the most major tools in disseminating research findings. With the increasing number and price of scientific journals, libraries need to select journals. Citation analysis is a practical method in identifying the best titles to be subscribed. This study was to identify core journals in the field of dentistry using citation analysis. Two hundered and seventy six documents including dentistry theses (241 titles) and faculty papers (35 titles) indexed in Science Citation Index (SCIE) were selected and their references were extracted and evaluated using citation analysis methods. The distribution frequency of journals confirmed the Bradford’s Law of Scattering representing core dentistry journals. Eleven thousand twenty three references were totally extracted. Average reference per theses and papers was 39/25 and 44/74, respectively. English journals and books were the most frequent referred documents having 95% of total references approximately. The most updated references were in English dated during 2001-2005 and 2006-2010. Using the Bradford’s Law, five journals were introduced as core dentistry journals. Selecting and subscribing core journals leads into cost-effectiveness in libraries and plays an important role in meeting user’s needs. While having many challenges in accessing scientific resources, core journals selection and subscription is an intelligent action resulting in effective use of financial resources.

Objective (s): Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) is one of the most common digestive disorders that frequently lead to pulmonary complications due to gastric fluid aspiration. In the present experimental study، chronic aspiration of gastric fluid، its components and bile salts in rat lung was performed to find out the main factor (s) causing pulmonary complications of gastric fluid aspiration. Forty eight male rats weighted 250-300 g were selected in six groups. After anesthesia and tracheal cannulation، the animals received 0. 5 ml/kg normal saline، 0. 5 ml/kg of whole gastric fluid، 0. 5 ml/kg pepsin (2. 5 μg/ml)، 0. 5 ml/kg hydrochloric acid (pH=1. 5) or 0. 5 ml/kg bile salts (2. 5 μg/ml) by injection into their trachea and lungs. In sham group nothing was injected. Parenchymal and airways inflammation and fibrosis of bronchi، bronchioles and parenchyma were significantly more in the test groups compared to saline and sham groups (P<0. 001); also inflammation in pepsin and bile salts groups (histopathology scores: 2. 87±0. 35 and 3. 0±0. 0 for bronchial، 2. 87±0. 35 and 2. 87±0. 35 for bronchioles، 2. 87±0. 35 and 2. 87±0. 35 for parenchymal inflammation) were more than hydrochloric acid and gastric fluid groups (1. 75±0. 46 and 2. 5±0. 53 for bronchial، 2. 0±0. 0 and 2. 0±0. 0 for bronchioles، 2. 0±0. 0 and 2. 0±0. 0 for parenchymal inflammation) (P<0. 05). The same results were found for fibrosis، so that the fibrosis in pepsin and bile salts groups were more than hydrochloric acid and gastric fluid groups (P<0. 05). The present results suggested that pulmonary complications causing from bile salts and pepsin might be more than gastric juice and hydrochloric acid.

In this study, the hepatoprotective effect of the methanol extract of aerial parts (shoot) from Otostegia persica Boiss (Golder) was investigated against the carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced acute hepatotoxicity in male rats. Liver damage was induced through the oral administration of 50% CCl4 in liquid paraffin (2.5 mL/Kg bw, per os) 60 min after the administration of the methanol extract of O. persica shoot (in 200, 300, 400 mg/Kg bw doses) and assessed using biochemical parameters (plasma and liver tissue malondialdehyde (MDA), transaminase enzyme levels in plasma [aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT)] and liver glutathione (GSH) levels). Results show that the methanol extract of O. persica shoot is active at 300 mg/Kg (per os) and it possess remarkable antioxidant and hepatoprotective activities. Additionally, histopathological studies verified the effectiveness of this dose of extract in acute liver damage prevention.

About 8% of the general population suffers from autoimmune diseases, from which 78% are women. One of the most important causes of thyroid diseases is autoimmunity in origin, and it seems that people with thyroid diseases present more signs of asthma. This study was therefore designed to investigate the frequency of autoimmune thyroid diseases in women suffering from bronchial asthma. In a cross-sectional study, 100 women with asthma and 100 women as control group were tested for thyroid function and anti-thyroid peroxidase antibody (anti-TPO Ab) measurements. The asthmatic patients were selected based on having chronic cough, dyspnea, wheezing and clinical examination of the chest. The diagnosis was confirmed by pulmonary function tests. Blood tests were done by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay method. No hyperthyroid patient was found in either group. Serum TSH and Total T4 levels were not statistically different between the two groups, but serum anti-TPO Ab levels in women with asthma (74±13.6 IU/ml) was significantly higher than control group (45.24±10.56 IU/ml). After adjusting the effect of age and BMI, the relationship between asthma and anti- TPO Ab (>50 IU/ml) was statistically significant (OR=3.3, P<0.01). Positive anti-TPO Ab in asthmatic patients may show presence of a hidden autoimmune thyroiditis in these patients. We suggested checking asthmatic patients for thyroid diseases.

Objective(s)Studies have shown that morphine, in addition to its analgesic properties, has several effects on cell proliferation and apoptosis. There is also evidence that opioid receptors are present on chondrocytes. Our main objective in the present study was to investigate the effects of morphine on rat femur growth cartilage.Materials and MethodsThis research was carried out on 18 4-week-old male rats. Animals were divided into four groups: groups 1 (n= 3) and 2 (n= 4) were non morphine-dependent and groups 3 (n= 6) and 4 (n= 5) were morphine-dependent. Groups 1 and 3 were followed up for 4 weeks and the others for 7 weeks. We prepared femur bone biopsies, fixed the samples in 10% formalin and 10% nitric acid and stained the samples with haematoxylin and eosin. The thickness of the growth cartilage and its proliferative zone (PZ) cell number were studied. In addition, the existence of necrosis, inflammation, fibrosis, and hyalinisation were evaluated.ResultsThere were no signs of inflammation, fibrosis, necrosis or hyalinisation in the growth cartilages of all rats. The morphine-dependent groups had a statistically significant difference (P< 0.001) in the number of cells in the proliferative zone and thickness of the growth cartilage compared to other groups using ANOVA analysis.ConclusionIt seems that morphine reduces the number of cell in the proliferative zone and decreases the thickness of the growth cartilage which may alter longitudinal growth of long bones.

Glioblastoma multiform (GBM) is the most frequent and malignant primary tumor of brain. Today, the intracellular pathways and the mediators of these pathways are one of the treatment methods regarding to malignancies. Cyclo-oxygenase, C-kit, and Ki67 are the immunohistochemestry agents to staging and treatment of tumors. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between the aforementioned mediators and GBM in the sample of Iranian patients. In a cross sectional study with control group, the GBM and other brain tumors pathology slides were extracted from the pathology laboratory files in Shahid Bahonar medical center in Kerman University of Medical sciences. The immunohistochemestry patterns of all slides were reviewed by two pathologists, separately; considering the COX-2, Ki67 and C-kit markers. The frequencies of the markers were compared between GBM and non-GBM patients by t-test and non parametric Mann-Whitney tests. Spearman correlation coefficient was used between age and degree of markers. The GBM patients were 81 and 45 patents were in the control group among which medoloblastoma and oligodendroglioma were the most prevalent tumors. There was complete agreement between two pathologists. Relationship between COX-2, Ki67 and C-kit in two groups of study were not observed. The result of current study was difference from the other studies. These differences might due to genetic variation in Iranian patients from other ethnic groups. Further studies like cellular and experimental studies should apply to investigate the frequency of markers in brain tumors.