Iranian Joint Registry (Iranian National Hip and Knee Arthroplasty Registry).

Periodic evaluation and monitoring the health and economic outcome of joint replacement surgery is a common and popular process under the territory of joint registries in many countries. In this article we introduce the methodology used for the foundation of the National Iranian Joint Registry (IJR) with a joint collaboration of the Social Security Organization (SSO) and academic research departments considering the requirements of the Iran's Ministry of Health and Education.

Evaluation of HTLV-1 activity in HAM/TSP patients using proviral load and Tax mRNA expression after In Vitro lymphocyte activation.

OBJECTIVES: HTLV-1 is the first human retrovirus that has been recognized and is associated with HAM/TSP and ATLL. Studies have shown that less than five percent of HTLV-1 infected carriers develop HAM/TSP or ATLL and about ninety-five percent remain asymptomatic. Therefore, the proviral load with Tax may affect cellular genes such as cytokines and oncogenes, as well as involve in pathogenicity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty HAM/TSP patients, thirty HTLV-1 healthy carriers, and MT-2 cell line were evaluated for HTLV-1 activity. PBMCs were isolated and activated using PMA and ionomycine. Real-time PCR and TaqMan methods were performed using specific primers and fluorescence probes for Tax expression and proviral load assessment. B2microglobulin (ß2m) and albumin were used as controls in Tax expression and in proviral load, respectively. RESULTS: An insignificant increase in Tax expression was observed in rest PBMCs of HAM/TSP patients compared to healthy carriers. However, after lymphocyte activation there was a significant increase in Tax expression in HAM/TSP patients (P=0.042). The Proviral load in patients was significantly higher than in carriers. Moreover, there was a significant correlation between Tax mRNA expression in activated PBMCs and proviral load (R=0.37, P=0.012). CONCLUSION: Although proviral load had been addressed as a valuable index for monitoring HTLV-1 infected subjects, the results of this study demonstrated that Tax expression in activated PBMCs along with proviral load assessment in HAM/TSP patients are a more reliable factor for determining the prognosis and monitoring healthy carriers and HAM/TSP patients.

Investigation of the asporin gene polymorphism as a risk factor for knee osteoarthritis in Iran.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative disease of the joints characterized by degradation of the hyaline articular cartilage and remodeling of the subchondral bone with sclerosis. The asporin (ASPN) gene encodes a cartilage extracellular protein belonging to the small leucine-rich proteoglycan family. Polymorphisms in the aspartic acid (D) repeat region in the second exon of this gene, which consist of GAT repeats, are associated with OA susceptibility. The D14 allele, which contains 14 D-repeats, is associated with increased OA susceptibility in the Japanese and the Han Chinese but is not an important factor in OA etiology among Caucasians, though the D15 allele is a risk allele for the Greek population. To examine the possibility of this controversial association, we explored the effect of ASPN on Iranians with knee OA. The D-repeat polymorphism was genotyped in 100 knee OA patients and 100 controls, and the allelic association of the D-repeat was examined. Our data suggest that the D15 allele could be considered a risk allele significant only for women (P = .045, odds ratio = 1.73, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.01-2.94) in the Iranian population. This association is in part similar to that found for the Greek population.

The incidence of selected congenital malformations during a two-year period in Tehran, Iran.

In this descriptive cross-sectional study carried out from March 2005 to March 2007, 410 congenital malformations were recorded among 61,112 live births in six general hospitals in different districts of Tehran. The overall incidence was 0.6% (0.69% in males and 0.62% in females) and the most affected system was the digestive system (40%), followed by the musculoskeletal system (20.5%), central nervous system (19.5%), genitourinary system (12.2%) and cardiovascular system (3%). It is essential that government organizations educate the population through scheduled preconceptional primary care visits on interventions like diet supplementation and avoidance of teratogenic agents, in order to decrease the rate of congenital malformations.

A safe postero-medial approach to posterior cruciate ligament avulsion fracture.

The posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) plays a major role in knee stabilization, and clinical studies have shown an increase in incidence of its injury. Due to the surrounding neurovascular elements in the popliteal space, open approaches to repair such injury are difficult to perform. The "safe postero-medial approach" to PCL avulsion fracture is a simple approach, does not require exploration of the neurovascular elements, and produced satisfactory results in the majority of patients.