Journal of Research in Medical Sciences
Volume:21 Issue: 5, 2016 May

The study was designed to assess the role of preoperative neutrophil, lymphocyte, and neutrophil‑lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in predicting survival outcomes of ABO‑incompatible liver transplantation (LT).
We retrospectively collected the demographic and clinical characteristics of 71 patients with end‑stage liver cirrhosis following ABO‑incompatible LT in this study. Kaplan–Meier survival analysis and Cox multiple factors regression analysis were performed to determine the independent risk factors from preoperative blood parameters for poor prognosis.
The 1‑, 3‑, and 5‑year overall survival were 94.9%, 80.0%, and 80.0% in the normal NLR group, respectively, and 59.4%, 55,4%, and 55.4% in patients with up‑regulated NLR, respectively (P = 0.001). Furthermore, no significant difference was observed on post‑LT complications between normal NLR and high‑NLR groups. The high NLR was identified as the only independent prognostic risk factor for recipient survival (P = 0.015, 95% confidence interval = 3.573 [1.284–9.943]).
The preoperative high NLR could be considered as a convenient and available indicator for selecting ABO‑incompatible LT candidates.

Designing the effective and early interventions can prevent progression of prediabetes to diabetes. Few studies have shown the effect of flaxseed on glycemic control. This study aimed to assess the effect of flaxseed powder on insulin resistance (IR) indices and blood pressure in prediabetic individuals.
In a randomized clinical trial, 99 prediabetic individuals were randomly divided into three groups: two groups received 40 g (FG40) and 20 g (FG20) flaxseed powder daily for 12 weeks and the third group was the control (CG). Before and after the intervention, anthropometric measurements, blood pressure, fasting serum glucose (FSG), insulin, homeostasis model assessment IR index (HOMA‑IR), beta‑cell function, and insulin sensitivity were measured.
FSG significantly declined overall in all groups compared to the baseline (P = 0.002 in CG and FG20 groups and P = 0.001 in FG40). In contrast, mean of the changes in FSG was not significantly different between groups. Insulin concentration did not change significantly within and between the investigated groups. Although HOMA‑IR reduced in FG20 (P = 0.033), the mean of changes was not significant between the three groups. Mean of beta‑cell function increased in CG and FG40 groups compared to the baseline (P = 0.044 and P = 0.018, respectively), but mean of its changes did not show any difference between the three groups. The mean of changes in IR indices was not significant between the three groups. FG40 group had significantly lowered systolic blood pressure after the intervention (P = 0.005).
Daily intake of flaxseed powder lowered blood pressure in prediabetes but did not improve glycemic and IR indices.

Considering the increasing trend of obesity, especially in developing countries such as Iran, and the role of inflammatory factors and insulin resistance (IR) in the occurrence of obesity‑related complications as well as the safety of some agents such as folic acid and metformin, this clinical trial was designed to investigate the effect of metformin and folic acid on inflammatory factors and IR among obese children.
In this randomized, double‑blind, controlled clinical trial study, sixty obese children aged 6–12 years were enrolled. Selected obese children were randomly allocated in two interventional (1 mg/daily folic acid or 1000 mg metformin for 8 weeks) groups. Biochemical measurements including homeostasis model assessment of IR (HOMA‑IR), homocysteine (Hcy), tumor necrosis factor‑alpha (TNF‑α), interleukin‑6 (IL‑6), and interleukin‑8 (IL‑8) were measured between and within the groups before and after trial.
In each group, thirty obese children were studied. The groups were age‑ and sex‑matched. After folic acid and metformin administration, mean of Hcy, HOMA‑IR, TNF‑α, and IL‑8 decreased significantly (P  The findings of this trial indicated that both metformin and folic acid could decrease IR and level of Hcy in obese children and adolescents. The effectiveness of metformin on IR was more significant than folic acid. Regarding the effectiveness of the two studied agents on inflammatory factors, it is suggested that the role of folic acid was superior to metformin. It is suggested that metformin is a proper agent for obese children with IR and folic acid is an appropriate supplement for obese children with increased inflammatory factors.

 The organizational environment and its existing context may deeply affect on empowerment of individuals. In educational institutions as well as other organizations, students are going to be powerful when opportunities for growth and achievement of power are provided for them in learning and educational environments. This study has been carried out to explain the facilitators and impediment factors of midwifery student’s empowerment in pregnancy and delivery care.
The current qualitative study has been conducted with participation of 15 midwifery senior students, 10 midwifery academic teachers, and 2 employed midwives in educational hospitals. The given data were collected through individual and group semi‑structured interviews, and there were analyzed using directed content analysis method.
Three main categories of opportunity for acquisition of knowledge, opportunity for acquisition of clinical skills and opportunity for acquisition of clinical experiences formed structure of access to opportunity in the course of an explanation of facilitators and impediment factors for midwifery student’s empowerment in pregnancy and delivery care.
To prepare and train the skilled midwives for giving care services to mothers during pregnancy and on delivery and after this period, the academic teachers and clinical instructors should pay due attention to providing the needed opportunities to acquire the applied knowledge and proficiency in the required skills for clinical work and the necessary clinical experiences in these individuals during college period.

According to the high prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency, a few studies have been conducted to clarify the relationship between 25‑hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) and clinical outcomes in critically ill patients. The objective of this study was to determine this probable association.
Serum 25(OH)D, C‑reactive protein, malnutrition measurements, and Intensive Care Unit (ICU)‑acquired infection from 185 patients in ICU were assessed in the first 24 h of admission and they were followed for the other outcomes.
About 93.5% of patients were classified as deficient and insufficient while the others were categorized in sufficient group. 25(OH)D status was not significantly associated with mortality rate (P = 0.66), and no significant differences in ventilation time were observed (P = 0.97). Sufficient group left the ICU sooner, but the difference was not significant (P = 0.75). Besides the results of relationship between 25(OH)D concentration and nutritional status (P = 0.69) were not significant. In addition, sufficient group suffered from infection more than insufficient patients, but this relationship was not significant (P = 0.11).
In this study, we found that 25(OH)D insufficiency is common in ICU patients, but no significant association between low 25(OH)D levels and ICU outcomes were observed. Hence, because of vital roles of Vitamin D in human’s body, comprehensive study should conduct to determine the decisive results.

The data and determinants of mortality due to stroke in myocardial infarction (MI) patients are unknown. This study was conducted to evaluate the differences in risk factors for hospital mortality among MI patients with and without stroke history.
This study was a retrospective, cohort study; 20,750 new patients with MI from April, 2012 to March, 2013 were followed up and their data were analyzed according to having or not having the stroke history. Stroke and MI were defined based on the World Health Organization’s definition. The data were analyzed by logistic regression in STATA software.
Of the 20,750 studied patients, 4293 had stroke history. The prevalence of stroke in the studied population was derived 20.96% (confidence interval [CI] 95%: 20.13–21.24). Of the patients, 2537 (59.1%) had ST‑elevation MI (STEMI). Mortality ratio in patients with and without stroke was obtained 18.8% and 10.3%, respectively. The prevalence of risk factors in MI patients with and without a stroke is various. The adjusted odds ratio of mortality in patients with stroke history was derived 7.02 (95% CI: 5.42–9) for chest pain resistant to treatment, 2.39 (95% CI: 1.97–2.9) for STEMI, 3.02 (95% CI: 2.5–3.64) for lack of thrombolytic therapy, 2.2 (95% CI: 1.66–2.91) for heart failure, and 2.17 (95% CI: 1.6–2.9) for ventricular tachycardia.
With regards to the factors associated with mortality in this study, it is particularly necessary to control the mortality in MI patients with stroke history. More emphasis should be placed on the MI patients with the previous stroke over those without in the interventions developed for prevention and treatment, and for the prevention of avoidable mortalities.

This study aimed to compare the effects of different depths of sedation during total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA) with remifentanil and propofol given by target‑controlled infusion (TCI) on postoperative cognitive function in young and middle‑aged patients undergoing gynecological laparoscopic surgery.
A total of 150 American Society of Anesthesiologists physical Status I/II patients scheduled for gynecological laparoscopic operation were randomly divided into three groups. Anesthesia was maintained with intravenous infusion of TCI propofol and remifentanil, intermittent injected intravenously with rocuronium. The infusion concentration of propofol and remifentanil was adjusted to maintain bispectral index (BIS) at 30  MMSE scores were >24 sores on the day before anesthesia and the day after surgery in all three groups. However, the first group had the significantly higher MMSE scores than the other two groups after surgery (P  The depth of sedation, 30 

Malnutrition is common in patients with end‑stage renal disease (ESRD) who on peritoneal dialysis (PD) or hemodialysis (HD). This study aimed to compare the frequency distribution of malnutrition in HD and PD patients and its relationship with echocardiographic findings.
This is a case–control study. Using the simple random sampling, 109 patients were selected among HD and PD patients based on the inclusion criteria. HD and PD groups included 55 and 54 patients, respectively. The malnutrition‑inflammation score (MIS) index was used to assess malnutrition. Echocardiography was performed by a cardiologist. All the data were analyzed by SPSS version 18.
In this study, 79.6% (43 patients) were in the PD group with MIS  18 suffered from severe malnutrition (P = 0.74). There was no significant relationship between MIS and echocardiographic findings in PD patients (P > 0.05). In the HD group, there was no significant relationship between MIS and echocardiographic findings (P > 0.05), except for aortic and mitral valve insufficiencies (P  The findings of this study show 27.3% of HD patients had moderate to severe malnutrition. There was a statistically significant relationship between MIS index and aortic and mitral valve insufficiencies in HD patients.

A dinucleotide variant rs368234815 in interferon lambda 4 (IFNL4) gene was recently found to be associated with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment response. This study aimed to assess the impact of IFNL4 rs368234815 polymorphism on treatment response to pegylated‑IFN alpha (Peg‑IFN‑α) and ribavirin (RBV) in hemophilic patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC).
Materials and In this retrospective study, 92 hemophilic patients with CHC who were treated with Peg‑IFN‑α/RBV were investigated. Single‑nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in IFNL genomic region including rs368234815, rs12979860, and rs8099917 were analyzed by DNA sequencing.
Of the 92 patients, 63 (68.5%) achieved sustained virological response (SVR). Of the 43 patients with rs368234815 TT/TT genotype, 36 (83.7%) achieved SVR, while in 49 patients with non‑TT/TT genotypes, 27 (55.1%) achieved SVR. Other pretreatment parameters predicted SVR were patients’ body mass index, HCV genotype, rs12979860, and rs8099917 SNPs. In multivariate analysis, all above‑mentioned parameters except rs8099917 remained as predictors of SVR. IFNL4 rs368234815 was a strong predictor of SVR; however, the prediction power of this SNP was the same as that of rs12979860 SNP in the patients of the current study.
IFNL4 rs368234815 SNP can be considered for decision‑making in the treatment of HCV‑infected patients.

Given the importance of the role of depression in predicting the outcome of cardiovascular disorders, current medications for treating depression, particularly selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), are taken into consideration. This study aimed to systematically review the published findings in the use of SSRIs and the risk for cardiac events.
An independent review of the Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane, CINAHL, index Copernicus, and Google Scholar, up to 2014, was performed. We identified studies evaluating the effect of SSRIs, on cardiovascular events. Articles in English with full text availability, review articles, and experimental studies were included in the study. Among 150 studies reviewed based on the included keywords, 17 met the study criteria and were finally reviewed.
The use of some types of SSRIs may prevent platelet adhesion and aggregation; control the cardiovascular risk profile including hypertension, insulin resistance, and body weight; and also inhibit inflammatory processes. The appearance of adverse cardiac events, including cardiac arrhythmias (torsade de pointes and QT prolongation), syncope, increased systolic and diastolic right ventricular volume, and the production of pro‑inflammatory cytokines leading atherosclerosis development, has also been expected with the chronic use of some types of SSRIs.
According to our systematic review, both beneficial and adverse cardiovascular events can be established following the chronic use of various types of SSRIs. Therefore, when taking SSRIs, the cardiovascular effect of each SSRI has to be carefully considered, based on patients’ cardiovascular risk profiles.

Identification of children with specific language impairment (SLI) has been viewed as both necessity and challenge. Investigators and clinicians use different tests and measures for this purpose. Some of these tests/measures have good psychometric properties, but it is not sufficient for diagnostic purposes. A diagnostic procedure can be used for identification a specific population with confidence only when its sensitivity and specificity are acceptable. In this study, we searched for tests/measures with predefined sensitivity and specificity for identification of preschool children with SLI from their typically developing peers.
A computerized search in bibliographic databases from 2000 to August 2015 was performed with the following keywords: “specific language impairment” or SLI” and “primary language impairment” or ‘PLI’ with at least one of the followings: “diagnosis,” “identification,” “accuracy,” “sensitivity,” and “specificity.” In addition, the related citations and reference lists of the selected articles were considered.
The results of reviewing 23 included studies show that the index measures used in studies vary in accuracy with the sensitivity ranging from 16% to 100% and the specificity ranging from 14% to 100%.
These varieties in sensitivity and specificity of different tests/measures confirm the necessity of attention to the diagnostic power of tests/measures before their use as diagnostic tool. Further, the results indicate there are some promising tests/measures that the available evidence supports their performances in the diagnosis of SLI in preschool‑aged children, yet the place of a reference standard for the diagnosis of SLI is vacant among investigations.

Air pollution is a major concern of new civilized world, which has a serious toxicological impact on human health and the environment. It has a number of different emission sources, but motor vehicles and industrial processes contribute the major part of air pollution. According to the World Health Organization, six major air pollutants include particle pollution, ground‑level ozone, carbon monoxide, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, and lead. Long and short term exposure to air suspended toxicants has a different toxicological impact on human including respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, neuropsychiatric complications, the eyes irritation, skin diseases, and long‑term chronic diseases such as cancer. Several reports have revealed the direct association between exposure to the poor air quality and increasing rate of morbidity and mortality mostly due to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Air pollution is considered as the major environmental risk factor in the incidence and progression of some diseases such as asthma, lung cancer, ventricular hypertrophy, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, psychological complications, autism, retinopathy, fetal growth, and low birth weight. In this review article, we aimed to discuss toxicology of major air pollutants, sources of emission, and their impact on human health. We have also proposed practical measures to reduce air pollution in Iran.

Vitamin D has a wide range of physiological functions in skeletal and nonskeletal tissues which may play a role in many diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the recent evidence regarding the effects of Vitamin D on several health outcomes in women including breast cancer, ovarian and endometrial cancers, hypertension, and osteoporosis.
We searched PubMed and Google Scholar databases through March 2016. We included the most current systematic reviews and meta‑analyses assessing the associations of Vitamin D intake and/or serum 25‑hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels with the risk of incidence of breast cancer, ovarian and endometrial cancers, hypertension, and osteoporosis.
Many studies have represented that Vitamin D supplementation and high 25(OH)D levels can decrease the risk of breast cancer occurrence or mortality. However, there is no strong evidence to support the existence of a relationship between Vitamin D and ovarian or endometrial cancers. Furthermore, the results regarding the effects of Vitamin D on hypertension were inconsistent. Although observational studies have shown an association between Vitamin D and hypertension, there is no evidence regarding effectiveness of Vitamin D in lowering blood pressure in several clinical trials. On the other hand, the findings associating the impact of Vitamin D on osteoporosis were more definitive and most studies have represented that Vitamin D may have beneficial effects on osteoporosis.
Although the adequate Vitamin D level can play a protective role in the incidence and development of breast cancer, hypertension, and osteoporosis, there is limited evidence regarding ovarian and endometrial cancers.

Gallstone ileus (GI) is a mechanical obstruction of small or large bowel caused by gallstone passed to the intestinal lumen through spontaneous or postoperative biliodigestive fistula. A 42‑year‑old female patient was admitted with the clinical presentation of small bowel obstruction. She underwent hepaticojejunostomy 4 years prior to admission for primary sclerosing cholangitis. Barium meal follows through revealed Rigler’s triad. The patient underwent laparotomy which revealed GI. A “stone on a suture” was removed through enterotomy. Patients after cholecystectomy and hepaticojejunostomy can develop GI. Nonabsorbable suture used to create biliodigestive anastomosis can appear to become the frame of a “stone on a suture.”