Molecular Investigation of Brucella Species Belongs to Sheep and Goats in Seropositive Samples from an Endemic Area of Hamedan Province; Famenin Brucellosis Cohort Study.

Brucellosis is a zoonotic infectious disease in western regions of Iran, especially in Hamedan province. Following the Famenin brucellosis cohort study, the main aim of the current study was the molecular detection of Brucella species (spp.) in sheep and goats from Famenin, Hamedan, Iran. A total of 23 Brucella-seropositive samples (sheep=21 and goats=2), which had been screened from 1,660 animals in the Famenin cohort study, were used to detect Brucella-DNA using the BCSP31 target gene and IS711 locus. In total, 20 of 23 samples were positive for Brucella infection by using specific primers. Additionally, Brucella melitensis (B. melitensis) and Brucella abortus (B. abortus) were confirmed in 90% (n=18) and 10% (n=2) of positive samples, respectively. There was no sample with the co-infection of B. abortus and B. melitensis. In this study, B. abortus was isolated from one of the goat samples. This is the first report on Brucella spp. in animals in the region. It was found that B. melitensis is the dominant spp. responsible for brucellosis in animals from Famenin. Molecular techniques are reliable tools to detect Brucella infection, especially in cases without serology findings and conclusive results.

Correlation of serum alkaline phosphatase with clinicopathological characteristics of patients with oesophageal cancer.

Oesophageal cancer is endemic in some regions of the Islamic Republic of Iran and efforts have made to find factors that play a role in its prognosis. We retrospectively examined the correlation of serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels with several clinicopathological characteristics of 207 cases of oesophageal carcinoma. The mean ALP level in patients with lymph node involvement was significantly higher [141 (SD 77) U/L] than with node negative cancers [116 (SD 63) U/L]. Patients with ALP levels 165 U/L were 3.29 times more likely to have lymph node involvement than patients with ALP levels < or = 165 U/L. There was no statistically significant correlation between ALP level and sex, age, tumour histological type, site and size of tumour, depth of penetration, distant metastasis, degree of differentiation, presence of lymphatic invasion and presence of simultaneous multiple cancers. Elevated ALP in patients with oesophageal cancer may predict lymph node involvement.

Role of attachment style in prediction of behavior of 3 to 6-year-old children.

PURPOSE: Efficient communication with children is the basis of pediatric dentistry and is a prerequisite for provision of pediatric dental care. Prediction of the behavior of children and their reaction to therapeutic procedures is a challenge for many pediatric dentists. This study aimed to assess the attachment styles of children to predict their behavior during a dental visit. METHODS: The participants included 117 healthy children aged 3 to 6 years presented to the Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, in 2017-2018. A postgraduate dental student examined the children. The parents were requested to fill out the Kinship Center attachment questionnaire (KCAQ) regarding their children, while waiting in the waiting room. The children who met the inclusion criteria in the first visit were scheduled for a dental procedure in the second visit. Another postgraduate student of pediatric dentistry assessed the behavior of children during the dental procedure according to the designed questionnaire and based on the Frankl scale. A third examiner along with the second examiner evaluated the behavior of children on a random basis to determine the inter-examiner agreement. Data were analyzed using the Chi-squared test, t test, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and linear regression. RESULTS: The results showed that 67.5% of the children were cooperative, including 54.7% of boys. The mean age of children was 5.1 ± 0.95 years. Also, 80.3% of children had secure and 19.7% had insecure attachment styles (11.97% insecure avoidant and 7.69% insecure ambivalent). A significant association existed between the insecure ambivalent attachment style and child-dentist communication. A significant inverse correlation was also noted between the total score of the questionnaire and parent-child separation in dental office. CONCLUSIONS: The current findings revealed no significant difference in the attachment styles of cooperative and uncooperative children. Significant associations only existed between the insecure ambivalent attachment style and child-dentist communication, and also between mother-child separation and secure attachment style. Thus, the children's behavior in dental office cannot be predicted based on their attachment style.

Pharmaceutical industry and trade liberalization using computable general equilibrium model.

BACKGROUND: Computable general equilibrium models are known as a powerful instrument in economic analyses and widely have been used in order to evaluate trade liberalization effects. The purpose of this study was to provide the impacts of trade openness on pharmaceutical industry using CGE model. METHODS: Using a computable general equilibrium model in this study, the effects of decrease in tariffs as a symbol of trade liberalization on key variables of Iranian pharmaceutical products were studied. Simulation was performed via two scenarios in this study. The first scenario was the effect of decrease in tariffs of pharmaceutical products as 10, 30, 50, and 100 on key drug variables, and the second was the effect of decrease in other sectors except pharmaceutical products on vital and economic variables of pharmaceutical products. The required data were obtained and the model parameters were calibrated according to the social accounting matrix of Iran in 2006. RESULTS: The results associated with simulation demonstrated that the first scenario has increased import, export, drug supply to markets and household consumption, while import, export, supply of product to market, and household consumption of pharmaceutical products would averagely decrease in the second scenario. Ultimately, society welfare would improve in all scenarios. CONCLUSION: We presents and synthesizes the CGE model which could be used to analyze trade liberalization policy issue in developing countries (like Iran), and thus provides information that policymakers can use to improve the pharmacy economics.

Correlation of serum alkaline phosphatase with clinicopathological characteristics of patients with oesophageal cancer

Oesophageal cancer is endemic in some regions of the Islamic Republic of Iran and efforts have been made to find factors that play a role in its prognosis. We retrospectively examined the correlation of serum alkaline phosphatase [ALP] levels with several clinicopathological characteristics of 207 cases of oesophageal carcinoma. The mean ALP level in patients with lymph node involvement was significantly higher [141 [SD 77] U/L] than with node negative cancers [116 [SD 63] U/L]. Patients with ALP level > 165 U/L were 3.29 times more likely to have lymph node involvement than patients with ALP level </= 165 U/L. There was no statistically significant correlation between ALP level and sex, age, tumour histological type, site and size of tumour, depth of penetration, distant metastasis, degree of differentiation, presence of lymphatic invasion and presence of simultaneous multiple cancers. Elevated ALP in patients with oesophageal cancer may predict lymph node involvement