Tehran University Medical Journal

Background: Infection is a vital problem in intensive care units. Currently, chlorhexidine solution is used to reduce oral colonization. This study aimed to determine the efficacy of chlorhexidine solution on oropharyngeal bacterial colonization in hospitalized patients in the intensive care units.
Methods: This descriptive study (from August 2018 to May 2019) was performed on 60 patients who administered in medical and surgical intensive care units (ICUs) in one of the university hospitals in Semnan city. Patients admitted to (ICUs) were selected according to inclusion criteria. At the time of admission to the intensive care unit, oropharyngeal colonization of patients was assessed. Forty-eight hours after admission and using the chlorhexidine solution 0.2% three times a day, oropharyngeal colonization was assessed again. Data analysis was performed with SPSS software, version. 22 in the significant level of 0.05.

Background: lumbar disc degeneration is a multifactorial degenerative disease which is affected by genetic inheritance and environmental factors. Type XI collagen is important for organization of the extracellular matrix and cartilage collagen construction. Rs1676486 is a SNP that causes the conversion of C-T, resulting in a change in the expression of the collagen 11 alpha chain. The T allele reduces the alpha 1 chain transcription of collagen 11 and ultimately leads to an imbalance in gene expression.
Methods: This study aims to determine the genetic variant of alpha1 type11 collagen is associated with the progress of intervertebral disc degeneration. All patients were selected from the AL-Zahra Hospital of medical university of Isfahan, Iran, between April 2016 and September 2017. SNP rs1676486 of alpha1 type11 collagen was genotyped in 100 patients and 100 healthy controls. The inclusion criteria for patients were: individuals who had typical clinical and imaging symptoms and signs of intervertebral disc degeneration. Exclusion criteria were: patients with trauma, metabolic and neuromuscular diseases, and congenital disorder of the spine. The Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood samples by a Whole Blood Genomic DNA Extraction Kit. The chi-square test and fisher’s exact test were evaluated to determine differences of genotype and allele distributions between intervertebral disc degeneration patients and healthy controls. To compare the relationship between genotypes and clinical features the Mann-Whitney U test was used.

Background: Skin cancer is the most prevalent type of cancer and melanoma is the deadliest kind of skin cancer in the world. Due to enhanced induction of apoptosis and ROS levels, low-level lasers can be utilized to destroy skin cancer cells. Lasers are used to treat some skin lesions. Vitamin A is beneficial in the prevention and treatment of skin cancer. Vitamin A inhibits the pathway of cancer signals in the skin and suppresses tumor growth. In this study, the combined effect of low-level laser radiation (LLL) and vitamin A on cellular factors of skin melanoma cancer cells was investigated.
Methods: An in-vitro interventional laboratory study was performed in the cell culture laboratory of Medical Laser Research Center, Yara Institute in 2020-2021 (July 2020 to July 2021). First, A375 skin cancer cells were cultured in DMEM with 10% FBS. After preparation and culture of A375 cell lines, different concentrations of vitamin A (1, 5, 50, 100 μM) and LLL energy doses (1, 2, 5, 10 J/cm²) as treatments were done. Combination research of these treatments was performed to eliminate skin melanoma cancer cells. The rate of viability was determined using the MTT test, and the rate of apoptosis was determined using flow cytometry.

Results: Doing qualitative research and conducting thematic analysis, paraclinical services were classified into three categories: input, process, and outcome. The inputs  category had 5 organizing themes including paraclinical structure, human resource empowerment, cost management, social responsibility and service purchasing. The processes consisted of four themes: organizing the acceptance and delivery of services, monitoring and evaluating implementation, interdisciplinary coordination, applying innovation, and creativity in service delivery. Finally, outputs included three themes: organizing disease prevention and health promotion, gaining a competitive advantage, and reducing health costs. Conclusion: According to the study's findings, to purchase or rationally use paraclinical services, it is necessary to know the dimensions and components that affect them. Managers of the social security organization are urged to lay a greater focus on employee empowerment, the employment of innovative approaches, and interdepartmental collaboration to enhance paraclinical service supply. Additionally, they may better fulfill their social duties and enhance their workers' health services by monitoring and evaluating executive actions.

Background: Based on the studies, variation in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number in peripheral blood leukocytes is associated with increased susceptibility to diseases including cancer. Opiate abusers are at high risk for diseases. In this study, we measured the mtDNA copy number in peripheral blood leukocytes in a group of opiate abusers compared with those in healthy individuals.
Methods: In a case/control study, three groups were selected consisting of 32 opium abusers, 24 heroin addicts and 25 healthy individuals. The amount of 5 ml of whole blood was collected from each individual who participated in the study and stored at -20 centigrade. The sample collection was performed from November 2018 to February 2020. Case groups were recruited from the Methadone maintenance therapy center. Contro group had no history of drug use and cigarette smoking. DNA was extracted from the whole blood samples using the salting out method. The DNA from a mitochondrial gene, dehydrogenase subunit1 (-ND1 gene) and a nuclear gene, human globulin (HGB gene), were quantified by a real-time PCR-based method to measure the relative mtDNA copy number of each group number.
Results: There was no significant difference in demographic characterization between the three study groups, opium abusers, heroin addicts and healthy individuals. We found that opium users had a higher mean of mtDNA copy number than those in the healthy control group (P=0.11). Heroin addicts had also higher mean of mtDNA copy number than those in healthy group (P=0.21). The mean mtDNA copy number in opium abusers was higher than that in heroin addicts (P=0.22), although the difference was not statistically significant.
Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that mtDNA copy number increased in a group of opiate abusers. Considering that alteration of mtDNA copy number is associated with increased susceptibility to several diseases including cancer, further research on mtDNA copy number with a high number of volunteers of opiate addicts may clear the effect of opiate abuse on the human genome.

Case Presentation: Our report in this article is about four years old girl who went to the MRA center of Baath Hospital in Sanandaj due to flank pain in December 2019. After abdominal imaging, signs of an abnormality of the double collecting system were revealed. Abdominal and pelvic ultrasound revealed abnormalities of the UVJ, and the distal part of the right urethral duct was approximately 2 mm in size. Also, the anterior-posterior diameter of the right renal pelvis was reported to be 2 mm and the upper calyx of the right kidney was quite dilated. This incomplete integration leads to complete or incomplete forms of the renal collecting system. The prevalence of this anomaly is also mostly unilateral, but our report, in this case, is about bilateral ureters. Conclusion: We reported a rare case of bilateral Y-shaped bifid ureter, that's in this kind of anomaly 2, pyelocaliceal systems connect at the junction of the ureter to pelvic (bifid pelvis), and this abnormality was accidentally detected on ultrasound and MRI examinations. However, since duplex kidneys are often asymptomatic and therefore mainly diagnosed incidentally in patients, the actual number of patients with symptoms is probably lower.

Background: One of the major challenges in intensive care unit (ICU) patients is sepsis. The incidence of sepsis in patients admitted to the ICU has been reported from 13.6-39.3%. Many factors affect patient mortality, including acute phase proteins such as albumin.
Methods: The present study was a retrospective study in which patients with a diagnosis of sepsis referred to Golestan Hospital in Ahvaz from March to August were collected. In the present study, patients with sepsis admitted to the ICU who did not show improvement for more than 7 days were evaluated for length of hospital stay, survival and the relationship with albumin levels. During the study, albumin was checked every 72 hours and its validation was done. Based on albumin levels less than 2.6, they were treated with albumin. The patients who did not have an increase in the level of albumin remained in the study.

Results: 124 patients including 64 women (51.6) and 60 men (48.4) with a mean age of 66.4±15.4 were included in the study. The mean duration of hospitalization was 31.4±18.9 days, in which 24 patients (19.4%) died and 100 patients (80.6%) were discharged. Age, albumin and protein levels were associated with disease prognosis (P<0.001). Also, the duration of hospitalization in the deceased patients was longer than the recovered patients (27.7±25 vs. 32±17.1) (P=0.04). After further investigations, it was found that there is no difference between the deceased people (66±15.7) and the recovered people (67.7±14.1) (P=0.7). Conclusion: The results of the present study showed that albumin has a direct effect on the severity of sepsis and this issue affects older patients more. Therefore, it is recommended that albumin be considered as a risk factor and one of the influential factors in choosing the best treatment strategy, which is associated with a reduction in mortality, hospitalization and treatment costs.