Serum omentin-1, vaspin, and apelin levels and central obesity in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

BACKGROUND: Omentin-1, vaspin, and apelin are novel adipokines which closely associate with obesity, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and inflammation. The aim of this study was to investigate the circulating levels of omentin-1, vaspin, and apelin in NAFLD patients and to clarify their relationship with biochemical parameters, abdominal obesity, and high sensitive C-reactive protein. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In a case-control study, serum levels of omentin-1, vaspin, and apelin were measured in 41 NAFLD patients and 41 healthy volunteers. The study was performed in the outpatients' clinic of Imam-Ali Hospital in Zahedan, Iran, during February to July 2015. Fatty liver was confirmed by ultrasonography. The association of the adipokines with lipid profile and anthropometric parameters was assessed using multivariable linear regression models. In this model, those variables that showed P < 0.05 were included in the study. RESULTS: NAFLD patients presented a significantly higher apelin levels compared to the controls (P < 0.01), whereas serum omentin-1 and vaspin levels did not differ between two groups (both P > 0.05). Multiple regression analysis showed that the serum levels of apelin and vaspin correlated positively with waist circumference (WC) (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05, respectively) and low-density lipoprotein (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01, respectively) while serum omentin-1 was inversely correlated with WC (P < 0.01) and positively corrected with high-density lipoprotein (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The findings showed that among the analyzed adipokines only apelin was different in patients with NAFLD when compared to controls. Considering the multivariate regression analysis, apelin seems be more suitable diagnostic marker in predicting of NAFLD and omentin might be considered as a protective factor in occurrence of NAFLD, particularly in those with central obesity.

Evaluation of Outcome and Tolerability of Combination Chemotherapy with Capecitabine and Oxaliplatin as First Line Therapy in Advanced Gastric Cancer.

Background: Combination chemotherapy is accepted as a high efficacy treatment for gastric cancer, whereas choice of standard treatment is unclear. Multiple chemotherapeutic regimens have been used to achieve higher efficacy and lower toxicity. This study was designed to evaluate the treatment results of advanced gastric cancer with Capecitabine and Oxaliplatin regimen. Subjects and Methods: All cases with documented gastric adenocarcinoma and advanced disease were candidates for receiving Xelox regimen (Capecitabine - 750 mg/m2/twice daily/ 1-14 days and Oxaliplatin 125 mg/m2 in 1st day). Results: Twenty five cases with advanced gastric cancer entered in study while 24 cases continued treatment protocol and were evaluated. Mean age was 59.5 ± 12.1 years (range: 20-75), male and female cases were 66.7% and 33.3%, respectively. All cases received at least four cycles of Xelox regimen. Overall response rate was 74.99% with 29.16% complete response. Overall survival rate was 13 ± 0.53 months and DFS (disease-free survival) was 6 ± 1.09 months. Extremities neuropathy (62.5%), headache (45.8%) and muscle cramps (29.2%) were the most common complains. Haematological changes were rare and 16.7% of cases had mild cytopenia. Treatment related death was not observed. Conclusion: Xelox regimen is a safe and highly effective first line treatment for gastric cancer; however, considering it as first line therapy needs larger studies.

Allele and haplotype frequencies for HLA-DQ in Iranian celiac disease patients.

AIM: To assess the distribution of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DQ2 and -DQ8 in Iranian celiac disease (CD) patients and compare them to healthy Iranian controls. METHODS: To predict the HLA-DQA1 and -DQB1 genes, we used six previously reported HLA-tagging single nucleotide polymorphism to determine HLA genotypes in 59 Iranian patients with 'biopsy-confirmed' CD and in 151 healthy Iranian individuals. To test the transferability of the method, 50 cases and controls were also typed using a commercial kit that identifies individual carriers of DQ2, DQ7 and DQ8 alleles. RESULTS: In this pilot study 97% of CD cases (n = 57) and 58% of controls (n = 87) were carriers of HLA-DQ2 and/or HLA-DQ8 heterodimers, either in the homozygous or heterozygous state. The HLA-DQ pattern of these 57 CD patients: heterozygous DQ2.2 (n = 14) and homozygous DQ2.2 (n = 1), heterozygous DQ2.5 (n = 33) and homozygous DQ2.5 (n = 8), heterozygous DQ8 (n = 13) and homozygous DQ8 (n = 2). Two CD patients were negative for both DQ2 and DQ8 (3%). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of DQ8 in our CD population was higher than that reported in other populations (25.4%). As reported in other populations, our results underline the primary importance of HLA-DQ alleles in the Iranian population's susceptibility to CD.

The selenium status in thalassemia patients in South East of iran.

INTRODUCTION: There are limited reports about selenium status in major thalassemia patients. The aim of this study is evaluation of selenium status in patients with major thalassemia south east of Iran with large sample size and wide range of age. This study compared selenium status with other sites of the world. METHODS: In this study 369 cases that had major thalassemia for more than 5 years were enrolled in the study. Selenium level was measured in all eligible patients after 12 hours fasting by graphite enstrum furnace atomic absorption spectrometry in south east of Iran in 2012. RESULTS: Of 369 cases, 333 eligible patients were evaluated. Mean age was 15.63±7.4 years. One hundred ninety two cases were male and others were female (141 Cases). About 27% (90) of the cases were 5-10 years-old, 24 % (80) were 10-15 years-old and 49% were more than 15 years-old. Iron chelator in 62.2% was Dessferrioxamine, in 15.5% was Deferiprone and in 22.3% was combination of Dessferioxamine and Deferiprone. Totally 85 cases (25.52%) had Selenium deficiency, 35.43% (118 cases) had normal levels and 39 %(130 cases) had selenium excess. CONCLUSION: Our study on 333 major thalassemia cases documented variable status of selenium from deficiency to higher than normal levels. It was different with other reports in the world.