Journal of Research in Medical Sciences
Volume:29 Issue: 1, Jan 2024

Autism spectrum disorder is a neurodevelopmental condition in which impaired connectivity of the brain network. The functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technique can provide information on the early diagnosis of autism by evaluating communication patterns in the brain. The present study aimed to assess functional connectivity (FC) variations in autism patients.

Resting‑state fMRI data were obtained from the “ABIDE” website. These data include 294 autism patients with a mean (standard deviation) age of 16.49 (7.63) and 312 healthy individuals with a mean (standard deviation) age of 15.98 (6.31). In this study, changes in communication patterns across different brain regions in autism patients were investigated using graph‑based models.

The FC cluster of 17 regions in the brain, such as the hippocampus, cuneus, and inferior temporal, was different between the patient and healthy groups. Based on connectivity analysis of pair regions, 36 of the 136 correlations in the cluster were significantly different between the two groups. The middle temporal gyrus had more communication than the other regions. The largest difference between groups was – 0.112, which corresponding to the right middle temporal and right thalamus regions.

The findings of this study revealed functional relationship alterations in patients with autism compared to healthy individuals, indicating the disease’s effects on the brain connectivity network.

Contrast?induced nephropathy (CIN) is associated with increased mortality and morbidity in patients undergoing coronary angiography (CAG) and percutaneous coronary intervention. This study aimed to compare the incidence of CIN in two groups of patients with and without metabolic syndrome (Mets) with baseline normal renal function.

In this case ? control study, 260 patient candidates for CAG, 130 patients with Mets and 130 patients without Mets participated, and
their serum creatinine (Cr) level before and the 48 and 72 h after the angiography was measured. The incidence of CIN was compared in two groups. Two?way nalysis of variance with repeated measures and univariate and multivariate logistic regression models.

The results showed a higher chance of being Mets with raising in riglyceride (adjusted odds ratio = 1.05, 95% confidence interval = (1.03–1.06), P < 0.001), Fasting blood glucose (1.010 [1.001–1.019], P = 0.025), and diastolic blood pressure (1.07 [1.07– 1.20], P < 0.001), but declining in high?density ipoprotein?cholesterol (HDL?C) (0.91 [0.85–0.98], P = 0.008). Furthermore, blood
urea nitrogen (BUN) and Cr level was raised in 48 and 72 h after contrast injection in both groups (All P < 0.001). Furthermore, in 48 h (3.11 [1.12–9.93], P = 0.016) and 72 h (2.82 [1.07–8.28], P = 0.021) after injection, a total of 25 patients had an increased Cr level and a significant difference between Mets and without Mets groups. The developing Mets had a significant association with the increased risk of AKI, which increased the chance of developing nephropathy (7.14 [2.27–22.5], P = 0.001).

Mets, together with other risk factors, increased the overall risk of CIN development. Therefore, the incidence of CIN in patients Mets is significantly higher than that of patients without Mets, indicating a more important CIN risk factor.

There is a lack of evidence on the link between mitral annular calcification (MAC) and coronary atherosclerotic diseases. The present investigation was undertaken to detect the clinical and prognostic value of MAC in coronary atherosclerotic diseases in patients who underwent coronary computed tomographic (CT) angiography.

Two hundred and five individuals with MAC and without it (n = 85 and 120, respectively) were included in the present cross‑sectional study. Coronary artery disease‑reporting and data system (CAD‑RADS) at coronary CT angiography was used to define the severity of coronary atherosclerotic diseases. Patients were classified into no or non‑significant CAD (CAD‑RADS 0–2) and significant CAD (CAD‑RADS 3–5) according to the severity of coronary atherosclerotic diseases. The association of MAC with two mentioned groups (no or non‑significant CAD and significant CAD) was assessed using the Chi‑squared test and logistic regression in crude and adjusted models.

Patients with MAC were significantly older (69.34 ± 8.20 vs. 60.64 ± 11.42, P < 0.001), had lower glomerular infiltration rate (69.67 ± 20.92 vs. 78.00 ± 20.23, P = 0.005), and higher coronary artery calcification score (352.87 ± 495.85 vs. 200.55 ± 426.13, P = 0.05) in comparison to those without MAC. However, the significant difference between the two groups regarding coronary artery calcification score disappeared after adjustment for confounders (P = 0.14). In addition, a statistically significant positive link between MAC and significant CAD was observed (odds ratio [OR] [95% confidence interval (CI)]: 1.96 [1.04–3.71], P = 0.04). Nevertheless, the association became statistically insignificant after adjustment for confounders (OR [95% CI]: 1.60 [0.78–3.28], P = 0.2).

The findings of the study revealed that MAC has no independent prognostic value in coronary atherosclerotic diseases evaluated by coronary CT angiography.

Sleep as a biological phenomenon is effective in the performance and recovery of athletes. Questionnaires can be used as a cost‑effective initial assessment tool for sleep. The Athlete Sleep Screening Questionnaire (ASSQ) demonstrated a clinically valid instrument for screening relevant sleep issues in athletic populations. Due to the lack of validated tools for adequate screening for sleep difficulties in the Iranian athlete population, the present study was conducted to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Persian version of the ASSQ.

The translation process was performed using instructions by Beaton et al. Content validity was assessed by a panel of experts. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was performed for two 5‑item sleep difficulty scores (SDS) and a 4‑item chronotype score. Internal consistency based on Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s omega and stability reliability were used to evaluate reliability.

The ASSQ achieved conceptual and semantic equivalence with the original scale. The item‑level content validity index (I‑CVI) of each item ranged from 0.87 to 1, and the averaging scale‑level CVI/average was 0.95. In factor analysis, one factor for SDS and one factor for chronotype score were identified and confirmed. The internal consistency of the SDS scale (α =0.77, Ω =0.83) and chronotype (α =0.74, Ω =0.77) was acceptable. Stability reliability was confirmed for SDS scale (intra‑class correlation [ICC] =0.87) and for chronotype (ICC = 0.83).

Persian ASSQ has acceptable psychometric measurement properties as a screening tool to assess sleep in Iranian athletes.

Stools from colorectal cancer patients are noninvasive samples that could be used to compare the frequency of hotspot mutations between two different ethnic cohorts.

We collected stool samples from the Iranian cohort (52 patients and 49 controls) and the Finnish cohort (40 patients and 14 controls). Following stool DNA extraction, we used the AmpliSeq Colon and Lung Cancer panel to prepare DNA libraries before sequencing.

The Iranian cohort exhibited 35 hotspot mutations in the BRAF, ERBB4, FBXW7, FGFR1, FGFR3, KRAS, MAP2K, MET, NRAS, PIK3C, SMAD4, and TP53 genes. In the Finnish cohort, 13 hotspot mutations were found in the AKT1, APC, KIT, KRAS, SMO, STK11, and TP53 genes. Mutations in NRAS and FGFR3 were observed only in the Iranian cohort, while APC mutations were exclusive for the Finnish cohort.

Genes involved in MAPK and PI3K‑MAPK pathways showed a higher frequency of mutations in Iranian patients which may have therapeutic implications.