The analysis of breast cancer survival in East Azerbaijan province of Iran; prognostic impact of chemotherapy and hormone therapy protocols.

BACKGROUND: The global cancer pattern indicated that there were about 2.3 million newly diagnosed breast cancer cases in 2020 worldwide, and was the most common cancer incident in the world. The aim of the study was to assess the prognostic impact of various treatment modalities and cancer-specific overall and disease-free survival rates. METHODS: One, 5-, 10-, and 15 -years survival rates were calculated; furthermore, overall survival (OS) and disease free survival (DFS) rates were obtained using Kaplan Meier method. To assess the effects of different treatment methods and all clinico-pathological variables with OS and DFS, cox-regression method was used to achieve adjusted hazard ratios of mortality and recurrence rates. RESULTS: During the study period, 504 primary breast cancer cases were evaluated, with mean age of 49.69(± 10.68) years. The one, 5-, 10-, and 15- year survival rates were 98.21%, 87.39%, 68.17% and, 60.60%, respectively. Tamoxifen + GnRh Agonist and Tamoxifen protocols decreased the hazard of relapse 46% and 84%, respectively. The best one-year OS was obtained for patients treated with Tamoxifen with an aromatase inhibitor (AI) for about 100% overall survival rate. The breast cancer mortality rate was lower than relapse rate in the first and 5thyears of disease, but 10- and 15- year mortality were higher than 10- and 15 -year relapse rates. CONCLUSION: Our results revealed better overall survival and disease- free survival among primary breast cancer patients in East Azerbaijan; consequently, this underscores establishing and using better chemotherapy and hormone therapy protocols and sufficient follow-ups.

Terbium-sensitized fluorescence method for the determination of deferasirox in biological fluids and tablet formulation.

A novel, rapid and sensitive spectroflurimetric method was developed and validated for the determination of deferasirox in urine, serum and tablet samples based on sensitization of terbium fluorescence. The excitation and emission wavelengths were 328 and 545 nm, respectively. The optimum conditions for the determination of deferasirox were investigated considering the effects of various parameters. The method was quantitatively evaluated in terms of linearity, recovery, reproducibility and limit of detection. Under the optimal conditions, the fluorescence intensities were linear with the concentration of deferasirox in the range of 5 × 10(-9) to 5×10(-6) mol L(-1) , with a detection limit of 1.5 × 10(-9) mol L(-1) and a relative standard deviation of 1.1-2.3%. Linearity, reproducibility, recovery and limit of detection made the method suitable for determination of deferasirox in urine, serum and tablets samples.

Successful management of total knee replacement in a high responder hemophilia patient with a history of inhibitor.

The development of inhibitors against administered clotting factors may render replacement therapy ineffective for some hemophilia patients. Such patients are therefore at the highest risk of developing arthropathy. Elective orthopedic surgery (EOS) in hemophilic patients having such inhibitors remains a rare, expensive, and difficult surgery, whose management represents a significant challenge. We report the case of a 35-year-old man with a severe form of hemophilia A (factor VIII < 1%), who was suffering from repetitive spontaneous hemarthrosis, especially in his knee joints that had consequently become more susceptible to bleeding. The patient had a history of high levels of factor VIII inhibitor (> 5.0 Bethesda Unit [BU]/ml) as shown by the factor VIII inhibitor assay; therefore, we began treatment with factor VIIa for his mild-to-moderate bleeding (90 µg/kg intravenous bolus injections). The interval between injections varied with the severity of the hemorrhage in each bleeding episode. The inhibitor level reduced to 3.1 BU/ml after three months, to 1.6 BU/ml after six months, and disappeared completely after one year of treatment. We administered factor VIII at a dose of 50 IU/kg every eight hours during the first three post-operative days, then continued administration with a dose of 40 IU/kg every 12 hours for another four days, and observed a very good response to treatment with no bleeding. Recombinant activated factor VII (rFVIIa) is not an inhibitor-removal strategy, but an inhibitor-bypassing product. However, in our patient, the treatment of mild-to-moderate bleeding with short-term use of rFVIIa and no exposure to factor VIII caused a gradual reduction in the inhibitor level over a period of 1 year.

Contribution of Iranian chemists in research activities, on the occasion of the International Year of Chemistry / Contribuciones investigativas de los químicos iraníes, en ocasión del Año Internacional de la Química

On the occasion of the International Year of Chemistry (2011), scientometric analysis of the publications of Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Israel and Malaysia in all fields and also in four chemistry sub-categories were extracted from Scopus and a number of quantitative and qualitative measures of the publications were discussed. Based on these findings, Iran is the leading state among the investigated countries in the field of chemistry concerning the number of publications and Israel is the leading state followed by Iran when the qualitative measures are considered.

Con ocasión del Año Internacional de la Química (2011) en este trabajo se realizó un análisis cienciométrico de los artículos publicados por científicos de Irán, Turquía, Egipto, Israel y Malasia en todos los campos investigativos y también en cuatro subcategorías de la química, según lo reportado en el sistema Scopus, a partir de lo cual, se discutieron varios aspectos cualitativos y cuantitativos sobre la producción académica. De acuerdo a lo obtenido, a nivel químico Irán es el líder entre los países evaluados en lo relacionado con el número de artículos publicados, mientras que Israel es el líder, seguido por Irán, al considerar los respectivos aspectos cualitativos de los autores y las publicaciones.