Surfactant administration methods for premature newborns: LISA vs. INSURE comparative analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Respiratory Distress Syndrome (RDS) is the most common respiratory disorder among premature infants. The use of surfactant has significantly reduced respiratory complications and mortality. There are two conventional methods for administering surfactant: Intubate-Surfactant-Extubate (INSURE) and Less Invasive Surfactant Administration (LISA). This study aims to compare the effects of surfactant administration using these two methods on the treatment outcomes of premature newborns. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this retrospective cohort study, we included 100 premature newborns with RDS and spontaneous breathing who were admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Besat Hospital in Sanandaj city in 2021. Exclusion criteria comprised congenital anomalies and the needing for intubation for resuscitation at birth. The outcomes of epmericaly trated with two methods were compared: the LISA (50 neonates) and the INSURE (50 neonates). Our interesting outcomes were needing for mechanical ventilation, duration of ventilation, pneumothorax, pulmonary hemorrhage, severe retinopathy, CPAP duration, and bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Finally, we entered the data into STATA-14 statistical software and analyzed it using chi-square and t-tests. RESULTS: In this study, 69% of the neonates were boys. The LISA group exhibited significantly lower rates of need for mechanical ventilation (P = 0.003) and ventilation duration (P < 0.001) compared to the INSURE group. Conversely, there were no significant differences between the two groups (P > 0.05) in terms of pneumothorax, pulmonary hemorrhage, severe retinopathy, CPAP duration, and bronchopulmonary dysplasia rates. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that the LISA method is a safe and non-invasive approach for surfactant administration. Notably, it resulted in a reduced need for mechanical ventilation and decreased ventilation duration compared to the INSURE method.

FoxP3 gene polymorphism is associated with breast cancer in Iranian patients.

AIM: Breast cancer (BC) is one of the leading causes of cancer death among women. Recent studies have characterized FoxP3 as a marker of regulatory T cells and an X-linked tumor suppressor gene, which is involved in the pathogenesis of BC. Therefore, we investigated the potential influence of three single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of FoxP3 gene on the development of BC in Iranian women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The association between FoxP3 rs2232365, rs3761548 and rs4824747 polymorphisms and BC risk was assessed in 124 BC patients and 198 healthy controls using sequence-specific primers. RESULTS: We identified significant difference of rs3761548 in both allele and genotype frequencies between cases and control groups. Our results showed that individuals carrying FoxP3 rs3761548 AA genotype had about 4.3-fold increased risk of BC compared with CC carriers. No significant association was found between rs3761548C>A polymorphism and clinical outcome parameters (age of onset, tumor size, lymph nodes metastasis, tumor stage, progesterone receptor status, estrogen receptor status, Ki-67 status, HER-2 status and duration of disease). CONCLUSION: This study has provided the first genetic data on the FoxP3 gene polymorphism in south of Iran and proposes the rs3761548 polymorphism of FoxP3 gene as a risk factor, but not a prognostic marker in the development of BC in Iranian population.

Dimensions of Safety Climate among Iranian Nurses.

BACKGROUND: Workplace safety has been a concern of workers and managers for decades. Measuring safety climate is crucial in improving safety performance. It is also a method of benchmarking safety perception. OBJECTIVE: To develop and validate a psychometrics scale for measuring nurses' safety climate. METHODS: Literature review, subject matter experts and nurse's judgment were used in items developing. Content validity and reliability for new tool were tested by content validity index (CVI) and test-retest analysis, respectively. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with varimax rotation was used to improve the interpretation of latent factors. RESULTS: A 40-item scale in 6 factors was developed, which could explain 55% of the observed variance. The 6 factors included employees' involvement in safety and management support, compliance with safety rules, safety training and accessibility to personal protective equipment, hindrance to safe work, safety communication and job pressure, and individual risk perception. CONCLUSION: The proposed scale can be used in identifying the needed areas to implement interventions in safety climate of nurses.

Functional, biochemical, and histopathologic consequences of high-dose interleukin-2 administration in rats.

A variety of side effects have been reported with the use of interleukin-2 alone or in combination with lymphokine-activated killer cells in patients with disseminated neoplasms. The present study was undertaken to determine the effects of high-dose interleukin-2 administration in normal rats. Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with intravenous recombinant interleukin-2 (900,000 IU/kg/day) for 9 consecutive days. Animals were placed in individual metabolic cages, and arterial blood pressure, food intake, body weight, and urine output were monitored. On day 10, animals were killed by exsanguination, various tissues were harvested, and a variety of hematologic and chemical assays were performed. The results were compared with those of placebo-injected normal control and pair-fed groups. The interleukin-2-treated group exhibited anorexia, weight loss, hypotension, anemia, leukocytosis, lymphocytosis, eosinophilia, hypercalcemia, azotemia, and a marked urinary concentration defect. Histologic examination of various tissues revealed widespread infiltration with mono-nuclear cells and eosinophils in most organs, especially in the lungs and liver of interleukin-2-treated animals. Other abnormalities included severe panlobular hepatitis, hepatocellular necrosis, and thymic involution. Renal involvement was mild and consisted of focal interstitial infiltration by mononuclear cells. According to these observations, administration of high-dose interleukin-2 in normal rats results in a score of significant functional, biochemical, and histologic abnormalities.