Tehran University Medical Journal

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Improper drug prescription by physicians due to wrong diagnosis, wrong drug choise or other causes will waste national funds. The annual drug costs in Iran is 900 billions Rials. With approvement of prescription, it can be reduced to 500 billions Rials. Effective factors in costs reduction are: 1) Increasing medical knowledge and persistent education of physicians. 2) Spending more time for each visit. 3) Giving more information to physicians about pharmacological compounds. 4) Teaching symptoms and signs of the common diseases and proper diagnosis of them. 5) Checking the prescriptions of physicians.

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Background: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is one of the major causes of peptic ulcer, gastritis and gastric cancer. This bacterium has a special lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which is responsible for its pathogenesis and its high resistance against gastric acid and escape from the human immune system. This property makes it a target for further research and diagnostic goals. In this study, the extraction of the LPS and separation from the outer membrane is required.
Methods: The LPS was extracted from the outer membrane, or envelope, of H. pylori obtained from patients suffering from gastritis, gastric ulcer and gastric cancer. LPS extraction was performed using the proteinase K method. SDS-PAGE and silver staining were applied to investigate the electrophoretic pattern of the LPS. This pattern was compared with that of E. coli serotype O111:B4 and Salmonella serotype ATCC 14028.
Results: The extracted LPS has a ladder-shaped electrophoretic pattern and the bands are located in three groups: high, medium and low molecular weights.
Conclusion: The distribution of the bands of the ladder-shaped electrophoretic pattern is caused by the different number of oligosaccharide chains associated with the LPS. The high molecular weight bands represent S-LPS and the low molecular weight bands represent the R-LPS, which lacks the O-chain.

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Background: This study attempts to examine the relationship between several dismension of organization climate and medical facutly's job satisfaction in Tehran University of Medical Sciences.
Methods: A survey composed of demographic items and job satisfaction indexes were mailed to a stratified random samples of medical faculties (n= 405).
Results: The overall response rate was 45.1%.
Conclusion: The study indicates that score of job satisfaction was 56.5 with SD= 16.96. In general 47.4% of the medical faculties were highly satisfied. A significant statistical correlation have been found between sex (p= 0.008), administrative position (p= 0.044), faculty rank (p= 0.007), marital status (p= 0.001), employment status (p= 0.003) and job satisfaction. The findings of this survey have implications for university administrative.

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Background: Recently, bone-marrow-derived cells have introduced new therapeutic approaches to the management of wound healing in severe skin injuries. Bone marrow-derived stromal cells are described as a heterogeneous population, including mesenchymal stem cells, hematopoietic stem cells, and fibro-blast cells. Results derived from several studies indicate that these cells may contribute to tissue regeneration whether through producing variety of bioactive growth factors and/or by differentiation into mesoderm lineage. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of subcutaneous administration of bone marrow-derived stromal cells in repairing or regeneration of skin wounds induced by third-degree burn in a mouse model. Methods: In an experimental study that was performed in Urmia University research center from December 2011 to June 2012, The third-degree skin burn was induced on the shaved backs of healthy 7-8 week old male mice (N=18) using a metal rods heated in boiling water. After 1 hour, based on the equal physical condition mice were randomly divided into two separate groups and then subcutaneously administered with phosphate buffered saline (PBS 400 µl) or bone marrow-derived stromal cells (106 cell in 400µl PBS) at the burn site. 7, 14 and 21 days after induction of burn injury, biopsies were taken from burn wounds and then the sections were prepared. Subsequently the prepared sections were stained with hematoxylin/eosin and Masson's trichrome to explore histopathological changes evoke by administration of bone marrow derived stromal cells in comparison with control subjects. Results: Considering investigated parameters including formation of granulation tissue (respectively on days 7, 14 and 21 P≤ 0/007, P≤ 0/0013 and P≤ 0/001), angiogenesis (on day 21 P≤ 0/002) and collagen deposition, in mice treated with bone marrow-derived stromal cells the rate of healing of third-degree thermal burns was significantly accelerated when compared to the PBS-treated mice. Conclusion: This experimental modulation of wound healing suggests that bone marrow-derived stromal cells can significantly enhance the rate of wound healing possibly through stimulation of granulation tissue, angiogenesis, fibroblast proliferation and collagen deposition.

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Background: Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is an inflammatory disease that mainly affects axial skeleton of the body and ankylosing spondylitis ligaments around the spine at the junction of the spine are inflamed, because the disease is progressive and can lead to significantly cause of disability and the studies could provide a mechanism for the early detection of the disease or help determine when to start treatment, the difference in clinical presentations of AS in men and women is indicative of potential effect of gender on severity of the disease. This study was conducted with the aim to investigate the effect of gender on severity of AS.

Methods: In a cross-sectional study, one hundred and fifteen patients with ankylosing spondylitis who referred to Yazd Rheumatology Clinic between 2001 and 2013 were evaluated. Sampling was performed using non-random convenient method. The most important variables studied included demographic data, clinical presentation, radiographic stage of sacroiliac involvement, and laboratory data extracted from patients’ files and recorded in questionnaires.

Results: Both groups according to age at diagnosis, presence of enteritis, peripheral joint involvement and laboratory data such as C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and hemoglobin were matched. Inflammatory neck pain was more prevalent in men than in women (77.2% against 51.8%; P< 0.05). Sacroiliac radiographic study revealed stage 1 involvement in 11.3% of men and 37% of women (P= 0.009), and stage 4 in 27.2% of men and 3.7% of women (P< 0.001), with a significant difference.

Conclusion: According to the results of the study, the time between age of onset and age at diagnosis, inflammatory pain in the neck and advanced stage in men than in women was higher. Although these findings suggest that gender may have an impact on the pattern and severity of AS but the time delay in diagnosis as a disease affecting the intensity and pattern should not be overlooked.

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