Tehran University Medical Journal

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Background: This study was done to determine presenting features and treatment out-come of Rhino-Orbital-Cerebral Mucormycosis (ROCM). Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted during 14 years (from 1998-2012) in two educational hospitals of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences in patients with rhino-orbital-cerebral mucormycosis. Clinical symptoms, predisposing factors, demografic parameter and treatment outcome were collected by SPSS and analyzed by cox regression model. Results: A total of 123 cases were (92 proven, 1 probable, 30 possible). From 92 cases of proven rhino-orbital-cerebral mucormycosis, 52% men and 48% women were rec-orded. The most risk factor were diabet 42.4% and immune deficiency 38%. From which 32 patients have hematologic malignancy (50% ALL, 37.5% AML, 6.3% aplas-tic anemia, 6.3% other). Mean time of admission in hospital were 30.1±29.3 days (1-230 days). The sign and symptoms were fever 41.3%, nasal ulceration or necrosis of palate 54.3%, orbital sign 59.7%, Headache 55.4%, central nervous system sign 28.2% and facial sign 53.2%. Median time between first symptoms and start of amphotricin B was 8.2±8.6 days. Treatment consist of both surgery and amphotricin B was done in 70.5% of patients. Mean number of surgery were 1.8±1.5. The mean time of mortality was 60.3±83 day. Thirty seven percent of patients survived with a 6 months follow up. Conclusion: Initial symptoms of sinus invasion by mucormycosis are indistinguishable from other more common causes of sinusitis. We must consider these diseases if there is nasal ulceration or necrosis of palate with fever and orbital sign. Diabet and immune deficiency are the most risk factor for rhino-orbito-cerebral mucormycosis. There is no relationship between age, predisposing factors and adverse effect of drugs with surviv-al. Progression to central nervous system in imaging pattern are related with hospital mortality. Treatment modality and number of surgery affect to mortality P= 0.001, P= 0.033. Survival was affected with the total dose of amphotericin B (P= 0.026).

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Background: A balanced reciprocal translocation is a structural abnormality, which at least consist of breakage of two non-homologous chromosomes along with pieces exchange and form quadrivalant structure that can produce unbalanced chromosomes during meiosis I and result in a fetus abortion. The aim of the present study is to offer using preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) 24sure array, which delivers aneuploidy screening of 24 chromosomes, within a few hours to increase fertility and bearing a child without chromosomal abnormality of this couple. This technique could replace embryo donation for child bearing of this couple. Case presentation: A young couple with recurrent pregnancy loss in 6th and 7th week of pregnancy without family history of recurrent miscarriage and any clinical signs had conferred. All laboratory tests including hormonal, infections, semen and hysterosalpingography were normal except karyotype that showed balanced reciprocal translocation between chromosomes 5 and 18 in male. Chromosomal study of male parents showed normal karyotype. Conclusion: A balanced reciprocal translocation carrier is phenotypically normal, but during meiosis І, carrier chromosomes cant pair normally and form quadrivalant instead of bivalant that depend on type of their segregation (alternate, adjacent 1, adjacent 2,3:1,4:0), produce gametes that are chromosomally unbalanced which can result in early fetus abortion. Considering the number of abnormal gametes, the most effective way to help couples with this problem seems to be PGD 24sure, since it can identify reciprocal and Robertsonian translocation and allows concurrent screening of all chromosomes for aneuploidy. Another technique that can be compared with PGD 24sure is fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), but it has several technical limitations such as it is expensive and complexity, in addition it has only few probes (for chromosomes 21, 13, 18, X, Y) so sometimes necessary to create patient specific protocols.

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Background: Any time before labor that termination of pregnancy for mother and fe-tus is better than keeping pregnancy, this is indication of induction for labor. The condi-tion of cervix is the most important factor for labor induction. Cervical condition, In many cases that candidate for induction of labor before labor pain, is poor. As the cervical ripening is quite important for success of labor induction. This study is attempting to compare two methods of cervical ripening. Methods: During this clinical study, 100 patients admitted in Ahwaz Imam Khomeini Hospital from 2010 to 2011. All of these patients had BISHOP score bellow 5, were di-vided to two groups for cervical ripening. Group one: trans cervical catheter and group two: laminaria. After placing transcervical foley catheter and laminaria for patient in-duction with oxytocin was started according to classic protocol. Then the time lapse from the beginning of induction to enter the active phase of labor and also from start of induction till delivery and appearing the side effect in both group was assessed. The result was analysed by SPSS 16 program. Results: Fifty three of patient (53%) were primiparous and the rest 47 (47%) were mul-tiparous. All of them had bishop score bellow 5. The average age for the patient group 1 was 27.1 and the average age for other group was 27.18. The time lapse from start of induction to enter active phase of labor in first group was 5.7±2.67 hours and this time for 2nd group was 7.51±2.33 hours. Also the time interval between the start of induction and delivery in group 1 was 10.3±4.35 hours and this time for group 2 was 12.5±4.9 hours. In both cases there was meaningful difference between two groups. There was no difference between both group for appearing the side effects. Conclusion: Based on this study, it seems using trans- cervical catheter for cervical rip-ening and aid to successful induction of labor is beneficial.

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Background: Nowadays, new methods are emerging each month for a better operation with fewer complications. Laparoscopic surgery have remarkable advantages, Compared to open, such as smaller incision, less manipulation of the digestive system, less postoperative pain, fewer wound complication and faster discharge from the hospital. Therefore it is preferred by patients and surgeons and is replacing the traditional open surgical methods. However, any operation causes significant panic for patients and lack of knowledge about the surgical method is found to cause poor surgical outcomes, such as recovery time after the surgery we evaluated the effect of preoperative education on the recovery time of laparoscopic cholecystectomy candidates. Methods: This randomized clinical control trial was performed at Imam Khomeini and Alborz Hospitals in Karaj from February 2010 till January 2011. Using randomized sampling method, 100 female candidates for laparoscopic cholecystectomy were divided into two equal groups of case and control. The case group received detailed information about operating room’s condition, surgical equipment, anesthesia method, advantages and disadvantages of laparoscopic procedures, and patient’s role in self-care at recovery, whilst the control group received no education before the surgery. The two groups were compared regarding recovery time based on Aldrete modified checklist and mean time to reach the Aldrete consciousness score of 9 and the incidence of nausea was assessed among them. Results: The analysis showed that there was a significant difference between the mean time to reach Aldrete consciousness modified checklist score of 9 between the case and control group (18.04±3.87 vs. 29.66±5.44, respectively, P<0.001), therefore the case group had shorter recovery time than the control group. 10 of the case group (20%) and 3 of the control group (6%) had nausea after recovery (P=0.037, OR=0.255 (CI 95%: 0.066-0.992)). Conclusion: Preoperative education of patients can significantly decrease the recovery time after laparoscopic cholecystectomy surgery. Therefore, it is strongly recommended to include the preoperative education in routine care of laparoscopic cholecystectomy patients for better surgical outcomes.

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Background: Education is the main mission of teaching hospitals, but the residents’ learning in acquiring new techniques does interfere in the overall treatment process of patients. Studies pertaining to the effect of anesthesia residents’ training in operating room on treatment procedures have reported conflicting results. Therefore, this study was performed to investigate the effects of anesthesia residents’ training on start time operative delays. Methods: This cohort study was done in neurosurgical operating room, Imam Khomei-ni Hospital, Tehran, Iran during 2010-2013 on a population study comprising of sec-ond year anesthesia residents. Patients were classified into three groups with 30 cases in each one according to the anesthetic team. Group I: one anesthesiologist in charge of two operating rooms and two anesthesia assistants Group II: one anesthesiologist in charge of one operating room and one assistant Group III: one anesthesiologist with-out an assistant. Patients in these groups were compared in terms of American society of anaesthesiologists (ASA) class, induction difficulties and type of surgery. Studied variables included :1) Interval between the patient lying on the bed to till anesthesia, 2) the time devoted to teaching residents, 3) time from the start of anesthesia until the start of surgery. An observer that was blinded to the type of intervention and the study design, recorded the times. Results: ASA class (P= 0.94), induction difficulties (P= 0.66) and type of surgery (spinal cord or brain operation) (P= 0.41) were not statistically different between patients in groups. Preoperative preparation time for the first group (23.5±8.1 min) was longer than the other two groups (21.5±6.2 min and 15.8±9.1 min), respectively (P= 0.001). Differences between the times from start of anesthesia to surgeries in three groups, based on ASA class and type of surgery were not significant (P> 0.05). There was no re-lationship between the times devoted to teaching residents in the first and second groups (P> 0.05). Conclusion: Anesthesia residents’ training in neurosurgery operating room may in-crease the time required for preparing for surgery, but this time expended is hardly of any significance.

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Background: Chronic spinal cord injury has an important role in sensorimotor disor-ders which is associated with many complications and the rate of these complications should be certainly considered. The most important complications are the changes in bones and joints which come with pain and lead to increase in their motor disability. In this paper, the radiographic images were studied and the ossifications of spinal cord and pelvis were described and also the type of changes and their prevalence was eval-uated. Methods: In this study, 500 patients and veterans with spinal cord injuries who were hospitalized in Khatam-Ol-Anbia Hospital were examined. The spinal and pelvis x-ray of the patients have been studied for spinal cord ossification, the hip joint narrowing, sacroiliitis, heterotopic ossification, osteophyte and the presence of quiver in the graph. Results: Among the patients, 485 cases were males and 15 cases were females, the av-erage age was 50.26 and the mean duration of injury was 26 years. Four hundred and forty six patients were paraplegic and 54 cases were quadriplegic. There was a signifi-cant relationship between age and the number of involved vertebrae (P= 0.000), psori-asis like ossifications (P= 0.048) and large osteophytes (P= 0.037), also between the du-ration of the injury and the hip joint narrowing (P= 0.008), the number of involved ver-tebrae (P= 0.008). In addition the presence of shrapnel in the graph is correlated with large osteophytes and more heterotopic ossification. Conclusion: The most frequent cause of chronic spinal injuries of our patients has been the injury by quiver, it seems our results may not be extended to all patients with spinal cord injury. In lumbar spine radiography of the patients, osteophytes, the quiver and psoriasis like ossifications were mostly seen. In the pelvis x-rays the most changes were hip joint narrowing, sacroiliitis and the heterotopic ossification.

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Background: This study aims to evaluate the outcomes and late complications of open Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery in the treatment of morbid obesity. Methods: Over a 15 year-period between May 1997 and May 2012, we reviewed our experiments with 39 patients who underwent open gastric bypass for morbid obesity. The weight of the patient and surgical complications were recorded. Ideal weight, body mass index, weight loss and excess weight loss were calculated. Results: The follow up period ranged from 6 to 180 months with a mean of 100 months after operation. Average weight loss was 3.9 and 0.28 kg per month during the first and second years after operation weight loss was slower from the third year on-wards. Weight loss generally was stabilized between 12 and 18 months after operation. Only one patient (2.6%) had a weight loss failure criterion. Concomitant condition ex-isted in 14 patients (48.2%) of our series. These included hypertension in 3 cases (10.3%) that was resolved in 100%, diabetes mellitus in 4 (13.7%) that was resolved in 75%, cholelithiasis in 7 cases (24.1%) that was resolved by cholecystectomy during the operation. There was no early postoperative death. Early complications occurred in 2 patients (5.1%), including pulmonary embolism (2.6%) and gastrointestinal bleeding (2.6%). The late complications occurred in 7 patients (17.9%) involved 2 patients with anastomotic stricture at the gastrojejunostomy (5.1%), One patient with symptomatic cholelithiasis (2.6%), three patient with anemia (7.7%), and one patient had Wernicke ’s disease who died of this complication (2.6%). Conclusion: The results of the study showed that the open Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery is an effective procedure in the treatment of morbid obesity with minimal late complications.

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Background: Fibromatosis includes a variety of fibroblastic proliferation whose biological trend and histopathological patterns are at intermediate level between benign fibroblastic lesions and fibrosarcoma. Accordingly, because of overlapping of histopathologic features of fibrosarcoma, particularly low-grade type, with fibromatosis, the present study was conducted to find more precise criteria for histopathological and immunohistochemical (IHC) differentiation of these lesions. Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive analytical study, a total of 40 specimens from pathology department archives in hospitals of Isfahan and Tehran universities from 2003 to 2013, including 20 fibrosarcoma and 20 fibromatosis biopsies, were selected. First, histopathologic characteristics were identified using H&E slides and an optical microscope H&E slides and then they were stained through immunohistochemical staining technique using the EnVision for markers Ki-67 and β-catenin. Afterward the samples were examined by optical microscope and positively stained cells were counted. Results: There was no significant difference between fibromatosis and fibrosarcoma in terms of a mean age (P=0.063), distribution of gender frequency (P=0.197), necrotic rate (P=0.602), clarity of nucleolus (P=0.799) and SID mean of β-catenin marker (0.369). However, it was seen a meaningful difference between fibromatosis and fibrosarcoma in terms of frequency distribution (P=0.017), rate of mitotic figures (P<0.001), rate of herring-bone pattern (P=0.043), rate of cellularity (P<0.001), rate of nucleus overlapping (P<0.001), mean of Ki-67 (P=0.046), mean of Ki-67-limit (P=0.001) and atypia rate (P<0.001). Conclusion: There was a meaningful difference between fibrosarcoma and fibromatosis in terms of mitotic figures, expression of Ki-67 mitotic marker, herring bone pattern, cellularity and atypia. Therefore these features can be used to differentiate the relevant pathological lesions. However, no meaningful difference between two tumors in terms of expression and intensity of β-catenin, clarity of nucleoli and necrosis. This indicates that they are not reliable criteria of differentiation between fibrosarcoma and fibromatosis.

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Background: Sacrococcygel region is the most common site for pilonidal sinus and surgery is the most common treatment for it. Numerous operative techniques have been described for management of this disease but a technique with low recurrence and complication rates is the best treatment option. Karydakis has been introduced as a method with less recurrence rate, but it seems that surgeons debate on complications and it is not a common technique in our country. In this article, we will discuss Karydakis procedure and its results after a prospective follow-up in our patients. Methods: This is a prospective single cohort study on the patients with sacrococcygeal pilonidal disease. Cases evaluated in this study included patients underwent Karydakis procedure for their pilonidal sinus from 23 September 2006 to 22 September 2013. Patients were followed-up prospectively after their discharge within the first week, first month and third month for early complications and then annually for recurrence. The length of follow-up ranged from 3 to 77 months (median 36 months). Results: Of 141 patients, 119 (84.4%) were male and mean operating time was 55.52 (35-120) minutes. Mean time to healing wound with no need to dressing was 15.92 (range: 2-120) days and mean time to return to work was 14.44 (range, 1-35) days. Overall rate of early post-operative complications was 21.3% that most of them treated conservatively. Wound breakdown within the caudal part was the most common complication detected in 12.1% of patients and infection was detected in 5.8%. Hematoma, seroma and complete wound breakdown were seen in one patient each. The mean score of patient's satisfaction after one year was 4.91 out of 5. Recurrence was appeared in 1.42% of patients. Conclusion: Karydakis procedure for sacrococcygeal pilonidal disease is associated with low complications, short healing time and return to work, and reasonable recurrence rate.

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Background: Orthopedic trauma is a common type of injury in children and may cause deep and permanent psychological and physical damage both for the patient and the parents. This study aimed to analyze the epidemiology age, gender distribution and the mechanism of injury in patients presenting to a level I trauma center in urban population of Tehran. Methods: In this prospective descriptive study, the patients under 19 years old with orthopedic trauma who were hospitalized in Tehran Shafa University Hospital were entered. This hospital is the main orthopedic referral center in Iran. The patients were prospectively evaluated from April 2013 to March 2014. The data were collected and analyzed. Results: The study included 1081 patients under 19 years old. There was a male predominance (76.8% n= 830). The boys had a higher mean age 11.04±5.06 year, versus girls with mean age 8.67±4.63 year (P< 0.05). The peak age of boys was 18 and the girls had two peaks at three and nine. The fractures occurred in upper limb in 70.8% (n= 621) and 29.2% (n= 256) in lower limb of patients. There were 27 cases with joint dislocation, 5 cases with knee ligamentous injuries, 128 cases with soft tissue injuries and 44 cases with spine injuries. The most frequent mechanism in both gender were falls from standing position (48.5%). The most common fractures were foreman both bone fractures (n: 146 16.7%), elbow supracondylar fractures (n: 134, 15.3%) and distal radius fractures (n: 84, 9.6%). The most fractures occurred in summer (30.1%) and the least in winter (18.1%). Conclusion: Evaluation of epidemiologic factors can lead to the best prediction and treatment planning of trauma. Early recognition of injury, even minor, and expected care using specialized teams will help to improve outcomes for these patients. This study determines the most at risk children for trauma and fractures and may help the parents to prevent damage.

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Background: Ondansetron is a 5-hydroxytryptamine receptor antagonist which is a highly effective antiemetic for postoperative and chemotherapy induced nausea and vomiting. It is an off-label drug to treat nausea and vomiting of pregnancy but availa-ble data about its safety is limited. In this study our purpose was to evaluate neonatal outcomes in women who received this treatment. Methods: This study is a descriptive retrospective case series study, included 22 preg-nant women who treated with ondansetron due to repeated nausea and vomiting unre-sponsive to our center's protocol, at Mahdiyeh Hospital, Tehran, Iran from May 2006 to September 2014. We investigated neonatal factors including: gestational age at birth, stillbirth, neonatal birth weight, apgar score, need to NICU admission and major birth defects. Results: The outcomes of 22 pregnancies and 22 newborns are presented here. We had two twin pregnancies and two abortions. Ondansetron was initiated in 18 cases (72%) on average gestational age of 9 weeks, during organogenesis. In 8 cases (32%) on-dansetron continued till third trimester of pregnancy. In primary evaluation, all the pa-tients had ketonuria, 15 cases (60%) had hypokalmia (K< 3.5), 3 cases (12%) had ab-normal TSH that all of them were hyperthyroidism and 5 cases (20%) had abnormal liver function test (LFT) Three patients (12%) had positive urine culture, one patient had hypercalcemia and one patient who was known a case of hypocalcemia had low serum calcium. The mean time of admission due to hyperemesis gravidarum (HG) was 5 days (2-10 sd=1.92). In this study we had only one preterm birth and the mean neo-natal birth weight was 3110 gram, one newborn was low birth weight due to preterm birth. Finally none of newborns had low apgar score, no one needed to NICU admis-sion and no congenital anomaly was seen in neonates. Conclusion: Ondansetron taken during pregnancy was not associated with increased risk of adverse fetal outcomes.

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Background: Personal characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, disability, age, goals and personal expectations and academic variables such as the number of classes and grades are among the factors that could have an important role in the development of student satisfaction. Besides these factors, the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and academic satisfaction has received little attention. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was done in Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, 2013. Cluster sampling was applied in this study. First, faculties randomly selected from Tehran University of Medical Sciences then randomly selected classes from the faculties. Self-report and Barr-On's emotional Intelligence questionnaires were used to collect data and measuring the variables of educational satisfaction. Questionnaires were completed by students. Overall reliability test using Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.73. The cut-off point of questionnaires was considered 70. This means that scores below 70 points showed the low level of satisfaction and scores more than 70 points were considered as a high level of satisfaction. Results: One hundred sixty eight students participated in the study. Average emotional intelligence was 3.25±0.45, the scale of consciousness 3.44±0.59, the self-control scale 3.90±0.59, scale spontaneous 3.17±0.46, Social skills 3.30±0.59, social consciousness 3.24±0.67, satisfactory academic 96.55±14.66 respectively. There was a significant relationship between self-consciousness and educational satisfaction (P=0.002) but self-control variable did not significantly correlated with educational satisfaction (P=0.249). The results showed that emotional intelligence on academic satisfaction can be explained. A change in the variance in one unit emotional intelligence was as much as five unit of the variance student satisfaction in based on standardized beta coefficient. There is a positive and direct relationship between them. Conclusion: The promotion of education satisfaction will increase indirectly possibility of job satisfaction in students in the future. Our results showed self-awareness and motivation skills in students increase their educational satisfaction.

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Background: There is a concern by some doctors that not interrupting the patients' initial statements of concerns can lead to too long medical visits. Therefore, in this study, the duration of the patients' initial statements of concerns was studied. Methods: This descriptive cross sectional study was conducted from August to October, 2011 in the Emergency Department of Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran. 100 patients entered the study through convenience sampling. Based on a 5 level triage system Emergency Severity Index (ESI), patients who were not life-threatening conditions (level 5) entered the study and critically ill patients and foreign patients were excluded from the study. Demographic data of the patients and durations the patients' initial statements of concerns were recorded and measured. Results: Fifty-six percent of patients were men. 79 percent of them had academic degree less than diploma and most of them have Persian ethnicity (60 percent). The mean age of the participants was 37.09 (SD, 1.68). The mean durations of patients' initial statements was 71.60±2.37 seconds. The minimum time was 22.51 seconds and the maximum time was 206.51 seconds. There was significant difference between age (P=0.001, r=0.382) and gender (P=0.032, df=98, t= -2.17) with the durations of patients' initial statements. But education level (P=0.996, F (2, 97)=0.004) and ethnicity (P=0.266, F (6, 93)=1.3) did not have a significant effect on the durations of patients' initial statements. Conclusion: According to the findings of this study, duration of patients' initial statements of concerns is less than what which leads to an increase the time of medical visits.

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Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorders in reproductive age women. These women confer with complications of pregnancy such as gestational diabetes, pregnancy-induced hypertension, preeclampsia and neonatal complications such as small for gestational diabetes (SGA) are more prevalence in women with PCOS. The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence of complications associated with PCOS in pregnant women.

Methods: This was an observational and prospective study which recruited 205 pregnant women with PCOS from Imam Khomeini Hospital, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences (AJUMS) between 2013 and 2014. Inclusion criteria were women with PCOS and gestational age over 20 weeks. The demographic and clinical variables including mother's age, body mass index (BMI) and conditions of pregnancy including pregnancy-induced hypertension, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes and overt diabetes and neonatal complications such as preterm labor (PTL), SGA and intrauterine fetal death (IUFD) were recorded.

Results: The prevalence of hypertension disorders, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes and overt diabetes were observed in 44 (21.5%), 18 (8.8%), 29 (14%) and 22 (11%) patients, respectively. The history of familial diabetes was shown in 28 patients (13.6%). In addition, the history of pregnancy induced hypertension was reported in 25 patients (12.1%). Only 6 patients (2.9%) had history of gestational diabetes. Among neonatal complications due to PCOS, SGA with 15.3% and then PTL with 12.6% had highest prevalence. IUFD was shown only in 2 patients.

Conclusion: Pregnant women with PCOS are at the higher risk for pregnancy and neonatal complications. Specifically, these women should be evaluated for pregnancy induced hypertension during pregnancy than others.

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Background: Warfarin is one of the most common oral anticoagulant, which role is to prevent the clots. The dose of this medicine is very important because changes can be dangerous for patients. Diagnosis is difficult for physicians because increase and decrease in use of warfarin is so dangerous for patients. Identifying the clinical and genetic features involved in determining dose could be useful to predict using data mining techniques. The aim of this paper is to provide a convenient way to select the clinical and genetic features to determine the dose of warfarin using artificial neural networks (ANN) and evaluate it in order to predict the dose patients.

Methods: This experimental study, was investigate from April to May 2014 on 552 patients in Tehran Heart Center Hospital (THC) candidates for warfarin anticoagulant therapy within the international normalized ratio (INR) therapeutic target. Factors affecting the dose include clinical characteristics and genetic extracted, and different methods of feature selection based on genetic algorithm and particle swarm optimization (PSO) and evaluation function neural networks in MATLAB (MathWorks, MA, USA), were performed.

Results: Between algorithms used, particle swarm optimization algorithm accuracy was more appropriate, for the mean square error (MSE), root mean square error (RMSE) and mean absolute error (MAE) were 0.0262, 0.1621 and 0.1164, respectively.

Conclusion: In this article, the most important characteristics were identified using methods of feature selection and the stable dose had been predicted based on artificial neural networks. The output is acceptable and with less features, it is possible to achieve the prediction warfarin dose accurately. Since the prescribed dose for the patients is important, the output of the obtained model can be used as a decision support system.

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Stem cells are undifferentiated and multi pluripotent cells which can differentiate into a variety of mature cells and tissues such as nervous tissue, muscle tissue, epithelial tissue, skeletal tissue and etc. Stem cells from all different source have three unique features: 1) Proliferative capability: Stem cells are capable of self dividing and self renewing for long periods or more than six months at least that called immortalization. 2) Undifferentiated nature: It’s considered as one of the essential characteristics of stem cell, so it doesn't have any tissue-specific construction. 3) Differentiation to the different cells from all organs: This ability can Induced by tissue specific transcription factors. Because of that, they are so important in prevention and treatment of human disease. Depending on the sources from which they derive, they have different types which can be used to produce special cells and tissues. The most significant types of stem cells are; embryonic stem cells (ESCs) which are derived from embryos, adult stem cells (ASCs) which are derived from differentiated cells in a specific tissue, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSs) which are produced from adult differentiated cells that have been genetically reprogrammed to act resemble to an embryonic stem cell and cord blood stem cells which contains haematopoietic stem cells and derived from the umbilical cord after gestation. By providing a medium containing of special growth factor, it is possible to orientated stem cell differentiation pathway and gained certain cells from them. The important uses of stem cells includes damaged heart tissue cells improvements and bone tissue repairing, cancer treatment, damaged neurological and spinal tissue repairing, improving burns and injuries and the treatment of diabetes, infertility and spermatogenesis dysfunction. Furthermore, the application of them in gene therapy is an important issue in the modern medicine science due to the role of them in transferring gene into different cells. Today, this method have had considerable progress in the treatment of many disease. In this review study, some aspect of stem cells like types and characteristic, origin, derivation techniques, storage conditions and differentiation to target tissues, current clinical usage and their therapeutic capabilities will be discussed.

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Background: Cartilage grafting is used in rhinoplasty and reconstructive surgeries. Autologous rib and nasal septum cartilage (auto graft) is the preferred source of graft material in rhinoplasty, however, homologous cartilage (allograft) has been extensively used to correct the nasal framework in nasal deformities. Autologous cartilage graft usage is restricted with complication of operation and limiting availability of tissue for extensive deformities. Alternatively, preserved costal cartilage allograft represents a readily available and easily contoured material. The current study was a formal systematic review of complications associated with autologous versus homologous cartilage grafting in rhinoplasty patients.

Methods: In this cohort retrospective study, a total of 124 patients undergone primary or revision rhinoplasty using homologous or autologus grafts with postoperative follow-up ranging from 6 to 60 months were studied. The types of grafts and complications related to the grafts were evaluated. This included evaluation for warping, infection, resorption, mobility and fracture.

Results: The total complications related to the cartilage grafts were 7 cases, which included 1 warped in auto graft group, three cases of graft displacement (two in allograft group and one in auto graft group) and three fractures in allograft group. No infection and resorption was recorded. Complication rate (confidence interval 0.95) in autologous and homologous group were 1.25(0.4-3.88) and 2.08(0.78-5.55) in 1000 months follow up. There was no statistically significant difference between autologous and homologous group complications. Onset of complication in autologous and homologous group were 51.23(49.27-53.19) and 58.7(54.51-62.91) month respectively (P=0.81).

Conclusion: The allograft cartilage has the advantage of avoiding donor-site scar. Moreover, it provides the same benefits as autologous costal cartilage with comparable complication rate. Therefore, it can be a reliable alternative material for rhinoplasty surgeries. A longer follow-up may be necessary to confirm the structural stability of the allograft cartilage grafts.

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Background: Anembryonic gestation (blighted ovum) is the most common identifiable pathology in the first trimester of pregnancy, always leads to miscarriage. Early pregnancy failures from blighted ovum are often due to chromosomal abnormalities and a poor quality of sperm or egg. Oxidative stresses as a factor of disturbance balance between the production of free radicals and antioxidant defenses is involved in the pathogenesis of many diseases, including mouth and throat cancer and cardiovascular disease. Catalase is one of the defensive systems against damages caused by oxidative stress in human. The aim of this study was to compare the activity of salivary catalase in women with blighted ovum and women with history of normal pregnancy.

Methods: This case-control study was performed on 34 patient women with blighted ovum and 34 healthy women as a control group. The study was performed in biochemistry laboratory at the University of Guilan from October 2015 to July 2015. The age range was 20-44 years and 18-45 years in patient and control groups, respectively. Unstimulated saliva samples were collected using spitting method. Catalase activity was measured by evaluating the constant rate of hydrogen peroxide decomposition in patient and control groups.

Results: The patient group matched with healthy subjects in average age and having no other diseases history. The biochemical enzymatic assays indicate that the average catalase activities of saliva in patient and control groups were 14.47±3.8 and 16.42±3.48, respectively. Therefore, the catalase activity was significantly reduced in patient group as compared to the control group (P=0.03).

Conclusion: The obtained results suggested that oxidative stress plays an important role in the pathogenesis of blighted ovum. Therefore, determination the activity of other antioxidant enzymes, in addition to catalse, may be used as a marker for diagnosis of blighted ovum. More studies with larger studied-population is recommended to confidently comment on the results of this study.

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Background: In fact, there is no doubt that medical education should be to prepare students for those clinical problems that they may encounter in their future performance. But according to the findings of previous studies in this area, one of the important priority and basic needs in education is training health workers, including physicians. Methods: In this qualitative study focuses on the content analysis of typical (conventional content analysis) was performed. The aim of this study was to determine the needs and skills required to train neonatal subspecialists in the ability to manage vulnerable neonates problems and their families specialized in the field of comprehensive health care have driven. Based on purposive sampling, the research participants, staff and alumni of the second year and above the five-year sub-specialty in neonatology, formed by the association of neonatal diseases were chosen. Saturation as a termination criterion was applied to the collected data. Method of data collection was semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. Reliability means the adequacy and accuracy that was measured by four methodological criteria: credibility, confirmability, transferability and dependability. All phases of study were recorded elaborately and the researchers reported all findings in the same speech research participants. Results: Respondents consider themselves some week points in neonatal medicine education; they expressed their opinions in three categories with four subcategories as follow: "competent person knowledgeable", "weakness of the curriculum", "educational challenges", "need to review the curriculum", "the need to reform medical education system in the country", and "effective strategies for teaching". Conclusion: Editing curriculum to teach coherent and comprehensive clinical skills in one hand, social support and health care for vulnerable children and families in other hand will improve care for vulnerable neonates.

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Background: To assess patient' reaction towards bedside teaching in the nephrology ward of Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex (Tehran) and to identify the factors that may influence it.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the nephrology ward of Imam Khomeini Hospital Complex from march to September, 2014. All inpatients present on the day of the study were interviewed using a structured questionnaire.

Results: 146 patients were examined in this study that 62 patients (42.5%) were women and 84 cases (57.5%) were men. 112 (76.7%) of patients had a good feeling about the training to physicians. The behavior of students was evaluated respectful by 132 individuals (90.4% of patients). Total number of 106 individuals (72.6% of patients) had trusted to the health care team and 120 people (82.2% of patients) knew that the physicians’ behaviors are associated with the respect to their religious beliefs. Not being same sex of the examiners was important for 47 individuals (32.2% of patients). The number of 123 cases (84.2% of patients) evaluated the physicians' behavior with respect to their privacy. The number of 119 individuals (81.5% of patients) received their responses from the examiners. Statistical tests indicate a significant relationship between the respectful behavior of students with patient and good feeling about training to physicians, so that the 95.5% of people who have seen the respectful behavior of students to oneself had a good feeling about training to physicians (P˂0.001). The relationship between the presence of teacher with students and good feeling on training to physicians was significant (P=0.013). Positive feeling about practicing physicians was associated with patient age. So the age average of people who feel good about practicing physicians was significantly lower than the other people (47.2±17 versus 55.6±18 and P=0.028). Conclusion: The relationship between respectful behavior and presence of teacher with students and age and good feeling on training to physicians was significant.