RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Early diagnosis of renal dysfunction in ß-thalassemia major (ß- TM) may help take specific measures to delay irreversible damage and renal failure. Therefore, the present meta-analysis aimed to compare biochemical markers of premature renal dysfunction between ß-TM and healthy subjects and identify renal issues' prevalence in patients with ß-TM. METHODS: We searched PubMed, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Medline, Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, ProQuest, Google Scholar, and State Inpatient Databases (SIDs) without any language constraints for all relevant articles published up to April 2019. RESULTS: Out of 1458 articles published up to April 2019, 24 case-control and 22 crosssectional studies were investigated. The investigated levels of serum phosphorus, uric acid (UA), cystatin C, and ferritin were significantly different between ß-TM patients and controls. The albumin/creatinine ratio (ACR), N-acetyl-ß-D-glucosaminidase/creatinine (NAG/Cr) ratio, urinary and serum ß2 microglobulin (ß2MG), and serum ferritin levels were significantly higher in ß-TM patients than in healthy individuals. However, glomerular filtration rate, creatinine clearance, and pretransfusion hemoglobin indicated a significantly lower rate. The general prevalence of renal glomerular and/or tubular defects in patients with ß-TM was 50.22%. CONCLUSION: Urinary NAG, ß2MG, ACR, and Scys-C may be early markers of renal dysfunction in patients with ß-thalassemia major. An observation of elevated levels of these markers despite normal levels of other markers of renal dysfunction may indicate primary, subclinical injury to the renal tubules and glomeruli.
RESUMO
OBJECTIVES: The number of medical universities and their faculty members has significantly increased in Iran during the last 30 years. This development has led to the training of a large number of healthcare professionals. But, its effect on medical sciences productivity has not yet been fully analyzed. Here, we use a bibliometric analysis to assess the current status of Iranian medical sciences production in different subject areas. METHODS: The bibliographic data of Iranian medical subjects during the years 1978 - 2008 were collected from the Science Citation Index Expanded database and analyzed according to publication number, different medical subject areas, citations and the annual Iranian mid-year population. RESULTS: It was shown that Iranian scientists have established good collaboration with developed countries. The numbers of medical publications, even after normalization to the population size, and citations of these publications have significantly increased in recent years. It has also been shown that pharmacologic research constitutes the major theme in the Iranian medical research system and thus enjoys the highest rate of growth. CONCLUSION: Strengthening of the non-pharmacologic research infra-structure is advised for both basic and clinical departments, keeping in mind the existing successful research model of pharmacology in Iran.
