Journal of

Background and Aim: Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is associated with the t(1517) ,fusing promyelocytic leukemia (PML) and retinoic acid receptor-a (RARa) genes. This disease is uniquely sensitive to treatment with all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) and highly responsive to conventional chemotherapy. The t(1117)(q23q21) abnormality associated with a PLZF-RARa rearrangement is the commonest of the alternative translocations accounting for less than 1% APL. Blasts from PLZF-RARa cases have been found to be resistant to the differentiating effects of retinoids. In this study we aimed to determine the PLZF-RARa and fusion genes in patients with APL morphology who referred to Hematology-Oncology and BMT research center, Tehran Shariaty Hospital in 2006.

Materials & Methods: Peripheral blood and/or bone marrow samples were taken from 200 patients with APL morphology and 200 patients with other subtypes of AML. The mono-nuclear cells were enriched by centrifugation over a ficoll-isopaque gradient. RNA extracted by Trizol or TriReagent and then reverse transcribed to cDNA using random primers. PCR performed using specific primers for each fusion. PCR products electerophoresed on a 2% agarose gel containing 0.05% ethidiume bromide.

Results: In 2 (1%) patients with APL-morphology the RT-PCR analysis showed PLZF-RARa fusion transcripts.

Conclusion: It can be concluded that RT-PCR is a rapid and sensitive method for detection of abnormal fusion genes in leukemia and allows the definition of a correct strategy for treatment and subsequent minimal residual disease monitoring

Background and Aim: Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) is a clonal hematopoietic stem cell disorder characterized by a translocation between chromosome 9 and 22 called Philadelphia Chromosome. Telomerase- essential enzyme that adds telomeric repeats into the telomeres- maintains integrity of  chromosomal ends. Most normal somatic cells do not express hTERT (catalytic subunit of telomerase) but most neoplasia and cancer cells express it. In this study we evaluated the hTERT expression in patients with CML at different phases of the disease.

Materials and Methods: In this cross sectional study, 73 samples of 45 patients with CML were studied. Twenty six of samples were taken from patients in chronic phase before therapy and 26 samples three month after therapy. Nine samples were taken in accelerated phase and 12 in blastic phase. hTERT expression was studied by RT-PCR and the results were analyzed using SPSS 15.

Results: Thirty three (73%) of patients were male and 12 (23%) were female. Patients were divided into three age groups 17-29, 30-40 and 41-75 years. Of 73 samples, 43 samples (58.9%) were positive for hTERT and 30 samples (41.1%) were negative for this gene. In chronic phase (before therapy) 69.2% of the samples were PCR positive, but after therapy only 38.5% of samples were PCR positive. In accelerated and blastic phases, 55.6% and 83.3% of samples were PCR positive respectively. The hTERT positivity was differently significant (p<0.05) among different phases of the disease.

Conclusion: Significant difference between hTERT expression in different phases of CML disease can be used as a useful molecular marker for fallowing up, prognosis and disease progression after treatment

Background and Aim: Acute leukemia is one of the main causes of cancer in the world. Now a days using natural materials as source of anticancer drugs is more recommended. HESA-A is a drug of herbal-marine origin (patented by Iranian researcher). HESA-A is composed of 50% inorganic substance، 45% organic substance (aminoenthraquinone) and 5% water. In this study effects of HESA-A، on NB4 cell line (Acute promyelocytic leukemia cells) was evaluated.

Materials and Methods: HESA-A was prepared in normal saline as a stock solution (80 mg/ml, PH=7.4), and then was sterilized. After culturing and proliferation of NB4 cell line, the cells were treated by doses of 1, 2, 4 and 8 mg/ml of HESA-A. Respectively after 72h, the percentage of viable and dead cells were counted by using Trypan blue staining in Neubanr hemocytometer. Then by MTTassay, the percentage of cell survival were determined by ELISA reader in 570nm. Finally the effects of HESA-A on apoptosis were evaluated by flocytometery.

Results: This invitro study shows that HESA-A has a cytotoxcic and antiprolifrative effects against NB4 cell line (Dose dependent).IC50 dose was 5mg/ml .HESA-A can result in apoptosis in 50% of the cells.

Conclusion: Although the mechanism of HESA-A cytotoxicity action is not known, yet this study shows that this drug may cause apoptosis of cells by dose dependent method.

 Background and Aim: X-Ray departments are among the most essential and expensive parts of any healthcare organization. Meanwhile, the proper application of hospital information systems (HIS) leads to the quality enhancement of health services and to the cost reduction of medical departments. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the knowledge of radiology department staffs in hospitals affiliated to Hamadan University of Medical Sciences (HUMS) about HIS applications.

 Materials and Methods: In this descriptive research (2012), the knowledge of radiology department staffs in HUMS hospitals was studied using a two-part questionnaire including a demographic part and standard items to evaluate the HIS knowledge of radiology department staffs. Finally, the obtained data were analyzed statistically by SPSS (version 17).

 Results: The results showed that 3.8% of staff members had a weak awareness, 65.4% an average awareness, and 30.8% a good awareness about HIS applications. Perfect awareness was not observed in this study.

 Conclusion: According to the results of this study, running related and up-to-date courses for staff members working in radiology departments is recommended. 

Background and Aim: The first step in reducing patient dose can be administered at the radiological examinations are taken. Since physicians request radiological tests, this study examined physicians' knowledge of the risks of radiological examinations.

Materials and Methods: This descriptive, analytical and cross-sectional study was conducted in 160 general practitioners and specialists' physicians. Based on the estimated dose posterior-anterior hand X-ray, and put it as a single exposure, medical information of physicians about the patient dose in diagnostic radiology tests were examined. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by expert panel, and its reliability was 0.80 by Alpha-Cronbach technique.

Results: Most of the general practitioners and specialists did not estimate correctly the radiation dose received by patients in the posterior-anterior hand X-ray, and majority of them underestimated the radiation dose of other radiological examination. The results showed that 48% of General Physician and 5/53% of specialist physicians were familiar with the unit dose.

Conclusion: Training of physicians in the field of radiology patients received doses can be an effective measure for reducing doses to patients.

Background and Aim: The issue of organization fit is an important factor for attracting expert individuals within the organization and get their loyalty and commitment. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate and determine the relationship between person–organization fit with organizational commitment of managers of Alborz University of Medical Sciences.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was done on all managers who employed in Alborz University of Medical Sciences. Data collection conducted using a questionnaire which had two parts: person – organization fit and organizational commitment. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed and about 180 questionnaires had been collected. And for analyzing data, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis methods were used. 
Results: The average score of person – organization fit was 5.16 with 0.28 standard deviation and the average score of organizational commitment was 4.91 with 0.44 standard deviation. The results showed statistically significant relationship between person – organization fit and organizational commitment (r=0.63, p=0.000).
Conclusion: Managers of Alborz University of Medical Sciences had average fit with their organization and high organizational commitment. So it is suggested that managers should be oriented about the goals and values of the organization. Moreover, policy makers and leaders of this university should be aware about the characteristics and values of the manegers. In addition, they must  pay more attention to the issue of person–organization fit.