Tehran University Medical Journal

Background: One of the most important criteria of the development of countries at the national and international levels is the survey of scientific productions indexed in authentic databases. This study aimed to analyze the scientific productions by Iranian researchers on gastroenterology and hepatology in the Web of Science (WOS) database.
Methods: This applied study used a scientometric approach to review the scientific productions by Iranian researchers on gastroenterology and hepatology in the WOS database. Therefore, the total number of scientific documents related to the category of gastroenterology and hepatology, Iran, and other countries were recovered. The time frame was until the end of 2017. Data were collected in April 2018. This research was conducted at the Clinical Research Unit in Afzalipour Medical Center in Kerman, Iran.
Results: The results showed that during 1983 to 2017, the total number of 2180 scientific productions (0.31%) on gastroenterology and hepatology were published in Iran, ranking the country 34th in the world. Compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in Iranian scientific publications was 9.5%. The «Tehran University of Medical Sciences» was identified as the most productive center in gastroenterology and hepatology field with a contribution rate of 35.69%. The results also showed that the most international collaboration of Iranian researchers on gastroenterology and hepatology field was with the United States of America (USA) scientific centers (5.82%). Most articles in the field of gastroenterology and hepatology (26.69%) were published in the «Hepatitis Monthly» journal. Most scientific productions in this field were related to the microbiology. The majority of scientific productions on gastroenterology and hepatology field were published in the form of article. Most scientific productions by Iranian researchers on gastroenterology and hepatology in the Web of Science (WOS) database were in English language.
Conclusion: Results showed that although compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in Iranian gastroenterology and hepatology publications was high rather than gastroenterology and hepatology scientific productions CAGR in the world, it’s not satisfying. Most articles have published in journals with low impact factor. Therefore, we should resolve the problems and increase the scientific level of researches.

Background: Intravenous (IV) injection of drugs is one of the most common methods of drug prescription in hospitals, which is a complex, potentially hazardous and erroneous method; accordingly, it requires control methods to reduce the potential risks. This study focused on determining the frequency and types of different medication errors while preparing and administering mostly used IV drugs in three intensive care units (ICU) and one general department in AL-Zahra hospital, Isfahan, Iran.
Methods: This cross-sectional observational study was conducted for 6 months from September 2017 to March 2018. To determine the frequency of different medication errors, a quoting sampling method was applied to select and observe 400 cases of IV drug administrations. All nurses from any studied department were included in this study. Different stages of preparation and administration of the observed drugs were compared to an instructed checklist prepared by the clinical pharmacist.

Background: Because of geographic variation and regional types of allergens, it is recommended that allergists identify common allergens in their area of activity. In the present study, the prevalence of respiratory allergens in patients with asthma and allergic rhinitis was investigated.
Methods: This study is descriptive and retrospective. The required data of this study were extracted from the records of 661 patients who were referred to the Asthma and Allergy Clinic of Ardabil University of Medical Sciences (Ardabil province, Northwest of Iran) from April 2016 to March 2017. After confirmation of allergic asthma or rhinitis by the asthma and allergy specialist, these patients were subjected to a prick test with allergen extracts. In the group of grasses the extract of nine grasses, in trees the extract of 11 Tree mix, in weeds the extract of Common weed mix, in animal allergens the three extracts of Standard cat, Dog epithelia, Cockroach mix, in weeds the Mite mix and in fungi, three extracts of Mold mix1, Alternaria and Aspergillus mix were used. All the data were analyzed using SPSS software, version 25.

Primary Immune Deficiencies are a group of heterogeneous disorders that involve the innate or acquired immune system, or a combination of them. The underlying disorder may be related to decreased levels or function, or a complete lack of one or more components of the immune system in general. These diseases can occur with a prevalence of about 1 in 10000 live births. According to the fourth update on the Iranian national registry of Primary Immune Deficiency in October 2018, the total number of registered PIDs in Iran are 3056 patients. However, it is supposed to be more prevalent and it seems increasing awareness shall reveal many new cases, especially in societies with prevalent consanguineous marriages like Iran. These disorders predispose patients to recurrent infections, autoimmunity and malignancy and can cause a huge burden on health care systems. This group of diseases has a wide range of symptoms, which quick recognition and timely treatment of them, can greatly reduce the complications of the disease. These symptoms may include recurrent or severe infections, failure to thrive, autoimmune disorders, as well as articular-skeletal manifestations. A variety of skeletal manifestations are seen in patients with primary immunodeficiency, among which septic arthritis caused by pyogenic bacteria or mycoplasma arthritis is the most common joint-bone manifestation. Joint and skeletal involvement is less commonly seen as a sign of primary immune defects. This issue is importance in reducing the cost of diseases and improving the patients’ quality of life. Our review attempted to introduce the most common manifestations of bone and joint in patients with primary immunodeficiency and available treatments for these manifestations. Because of the wide range of symptoms in these patients, it is recommended to observe the rare and suspicious manifestations in the patients with any atypical bone and joint presentations such as: recurrent septic arthritis, infection with unusual germs, immunodeficiency in their relatives, and any history of well-known red flags of PIDs. The Rheumatologist should consider these manifestations and think about the possibility of deficiency disorder.

Results: No RBC was detected in microscopy. The majority of the leucocytes were lymphocytes with rare accompanying platelets. The radiolabeling efficiency of the procedure was higher than 40%. The viability test indicated more than 80% of viable cells. The radiochemical purity of the final product was more than 95%. Two to four hours after injection, low background images were acquired. The liver and spleen were target organs with low-grade urinary, thyroid, and GI activity. Conclusion: Employing multi-stage centrifugation, Tc-HMPAO labeled leucocyte scan could be efficiently performed.

Background: Febrile seizures (FS) are the most common cause of seizure in children. In order to prevent FS and their recurrence, the recognition of the related factors to recurrence of FS is important. According to the high prevalence of FS and iron deficiency anemia (IDA) in children and that IDA is a possible risk factor for FS, as well as controversies in previous studies in this field, in this study, the relationship between iron deficiency anemia and FS in children was investigated.
Methods: This is a case-control study that investigates the relationship between febrile seizures with anemia in 150 patients aged six months to five years with fever who were admitted to Imam Sajjad Yasouj Hospital, from April to August of 2014. In this study, 75 patients with febrile seizures (case group) and 75 febrile patients without seizures (control group) were compared. Cause of fever (urinary infection, gastrointestinal infections, upper respiratory infection, lower respiratory infection and other causes), Information about blood cell count (white blood cell (WBC) and red blood cell (RBC), hemoglobin (HB), mean red blood cell volume (MCV) and serum ferritin level in patients with hemoglobin below 11 were recorded.

Results: The mean age of the study population was 21.4 14 months. 34.7% of the study population were girls and 65.3% were boys. In this study, 10.7% of the cases and 8% of the controls had IDA. Although the prevalence of IDA was higher in the FS group, this difference was not significant (P=0.58). Also, HB and MCV were not significantly different in the two groups (P=0.49, P=0.69). In addition, the mean serum ferritin level in the FS group with anemia and the FS group with anemia did not show a statistically significant difference (P=0.94). Conclusion: According to the result of this study, IDA is not a risk factor for seizures in febrile children.

Background: Adequacy of dialysis is a very important issue in dialysis patients, so comparing the adequacy of dialysis in different dialysis methods is very important. Therefore, due to the fact that the number of people undergoing dialysis  through fistulas and catheters varies in different centers, and depending on different centers, there is a possibility of decreasing or increasing the adequacy of dialysis, so we decided to do this comparison in Arak support center.
Methods: In this analytical-cross-sectional study, the dialysis patients of Hami Arak Center from April 2019 to September 2019 were divided into two groups (the first group with permanent catheter, the second group with arteriovenous fistula) based on vascular access. The both groups were matched in terms of age, sex, weight, pump speed, filter size and also the duration of dialysis. All patients were dialyzed with the same type of dialysis machine, and the duration of hemodialysis for all samples was 4 hours in each session. To confirm the reliability of the device, it was calibrated before each use and the same setting was used for all samples. The blood samples were taken from the arterial route before dialysis and starting the dilution with heparin or normal saline. Statistical models of dialysis adequacy of patients in two groups were measured using the Kt/V criterion, SPSS and AMOS data analysis was performed.

Results: In the analysis of covariance of BUN before dialysis, there is a statistically significant difference in the studied groups (P<0.05), also in the UF and URR variables, dialysis time and the number of times of dialysis in three consecutive repetitions, there is a statistically significant difference in the studied groups. (dime fistula and catheter) are not present (P<0.05). Conclusion: In this study, during repeated repetitions, 22% of the dialysis adequacy in the two groups did not have good adequacy, and 78% of the patients in the two groups had appropriate dialysis adequacy.

Background: Febrile seizures are the most common cause of seizures in children under 5 years of age. Central nervous system infections are an important differential diagnosis of febrile seizures. Apart from infections, CSF characteristics are affected by many factors including the cause, type and duration of seizures. This study was designed to determine the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) indices, including white blood cells (WBC), polymorphonuclear cells (PMN) count, and levels of protein and glucose in the CSF of children with fever-induced seizures.
Methods: The present study is a descriptive study that evaluated the results of CSF analysis in 56 children with febrile seizures admitted to Imam Sajjad Hospital in Yasouj from March 2012 to 2013. In the present study, CSF analysis was performed in children with a diagnosis of febrile seizures. In order to collect information from a pre-designed form that includes demographic information (age and gender), degree of fever, and information related to CSF indices including WBC, PMN and levels of protein and glucose in CSF, which have been extracted and recorded, statistical methods are used in this study to express descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation, number, percentage, etc.

Results: 56 children with a diagnosis of convulsive fever with a mean age of 21.4±14 months were evaluated. 37.5% (21 individuals) of the study population were females and 62.5% (53 individuals) were males. Among them, 33 individuals had low-grade fever and 23 individuals had high-grade fever. In 10.7%, the number of WBCs was more than 5. The amount of protein obtained was in the normal range, between 20 and 50 mg/dl, in 57.1% of cases. However, a significant percentage (39.3%) of CSF liquid protein was below 20 mg/dl. CSF fluid glucose levels were within the normal range at 91.1%. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, febrile seizures may be associated with low protein levels in the CSF. However, due to the limited sample size in our study, similar studies with higher sample sizes are recommended.