International Journal of Medical Laboratory

173-181

Authors: Farzaneh Alaei Sheini , Malihe Tabnak , Maryam Hasanzadeh Bezvan , Mojdeh Mahdiannasser , Hadis Musavi , Hamid Choobineh , Mojtaba Abbasi

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a species of Herpesviridae showing no clinical symptoms in the earlier stage of infection in pregnant women. Nevertheless, it can be transmitted to the baby through saliva, body fluids, blood and cervical secretions. The aim of this study is a systematic review of the effects of CMV on abortion. Data were collected from Web of Science (ISI), PubMed, Scopus, Ovid, and EMBASE databases published by May 2018. The keywords used included abortion, current abortion, B19, Cytomegalovirus, spontaneous abortion, and placenta. The National Institutes of Health's Quality Assessment Tool was used for quality assessment. Fifteen papers from 1993 to 2018 were reviewed 11 of which were descriptive-analytic and the remaining 6 were case-control. In the case-control studies, the control group consisted of healthy pregnant women with no history of abortion. The case group comprised women who had experienced abortion and recurrent abortion. The maximum sample size included 779 and the minimum included 17 cases of abortion. The highest incidence of CMV infection in abortion was 100% reported by Saraswathy and 97% in the study of Tarokhian. The lowest was observed by Oliveira with 0.04% and by Kakru with 16%.The results of most studies indicate that CMV infection can lead to abortion by transfer through body fluids activation of the uterine inflammatory response and immune response, as well as transfer into embryonic tissues.

188-194

Authors: Zahra Badiee , Mahdieh Sepasizang abadi , Aref Keshavarzi , Mohammad Reza Keramati , Hossein Ayatollahi , Mohammad Hadi Sadeghian , Seyyede Fatemeh Shams , Sepideh Shakeri

Background and Aims: Iron overload is one of the effects of frequent transfusion in beta-thalassemia major (BTM) patients. Osteopenia and osteoporosis are the secondary complications of frequent transfusion due to toxic effects of iron on osteoblasts. Dickkopf-1 (DKK-1) is a secreted protein which plays an important role in the development of osteoporosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between DKK-1 protein and iron overload in BTM patients. Materials and Methods: Fifty BTM patients and fifty healthy individuals participated in this case-control study. Each group were similar in terms of age and gender. We evaluated serum levels of DKK-1 and ferritin by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry method was used to evaluate patients bone density. Complete blood count and osteoporosis parameters (densitometry test results) were checked in both groups. Results: The mean age of BMT patients was 25.82 years (24 male/26 female); it was 26.98 years (25 male/25 female) in control group. Significantly, the serum level of DKK-1 was higher in BTM samples (p<0.001). Mean of DKK-1 was 34447.1 pg/ml in patients, and 15252.0 pg/ml in controls. Mean of serum ferritin was 3808.6 ng/ml and 73.9 ng/ml in both groups, respectively. A significant association was found between DKK1, ferritin and osteoporosis parameters (p<0.001). Conclusions: Probably, DKK-1 protein plays a significant role in the development and intensification of osteoporosis in BTM patients; it can be used as an applicable factor for early diagnosis of osteoporosis and follow-up in adult BTM patients.

208-213

Authors: Arezoo Faramarzi , Reza Safaralizadeh , Mohammadali Hosseinpourfeizi , Yaghoub Moaddab

Background and Aims: An impairment of expression in MLL2 gene involved in histone methylation induces alteration in the methylation patterns at enhancers and causes several cancers including colon cancer. In this study, MLL2 expression was evaluated in North West of Iran. Materials and Methods: To evaluate the MLL2 expression in patients with colon cancer, 25 tumor samples and 25 samples of tumor margins were collected and analyzed by real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results: KMT2B level was not associated with age (p=0.3), gender (p=0.05) and tumor size (p=0.2) but had relation with stage of tumor (p=0.04). Conclusions: According to the results obtained from investigating the MLL2 gene expression, it was found that it has a significant relationship with the stage of tumor.

222-228

Authors: Seyed Javad Pourafzali , Azad Khaledi , Rahele Miri , Seyed Ali Akbar Shamsian , Seyed Abdolrahim Rezaee , Ahmad Piroozmand , Kiarash Ghazvini

Background and Aims: Almost 350 million people worldwide are carriers of hepatitis B virus. The rate of chronic carriers in Iran is about 3%. Therefore Iran is categorized as a country with moderate rate of infection with this virus. In developing countries, transmission from mother to fetus and newborn is considered as one of the main routes of transmission. So, this study investigated the prevalence of hepatitis B and its risk factors in pregnant women. Material and Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study which has been done in 2010-2011, of 759 pregnant women referred to the Central Laboratory of ACCER and laboratory of Mashhad Ghaem hospital for HBsAg testing, after obtaining consent form, patients entered to the study with simple non-probability sampling, and a questionnaire was completed about demographic characteristics and related factors. Then data were analyzed by SPSS ver.13. Results: The mean age of participants was 28.16 ± 4.8, the prevalence of HBsAg among pregnant women was reported 0.3%, and also because of finding only two cases of HBsAg positive, significant association was not found with socio-demographic factors such as; vaccination history of hepatitis B (P= 0.527) and risk factors including family history of hepatitis B or hepatitis C (P= 0.999). Conclusions: Our study revealed that the prevalence rate of HBsAg positive among pregnant women is low. The prevalence of obtained HBsAg in this study compared to other studies from Iran is low, so, further studies with more cases are necessary to achieve real estimation of HBsAg positive among pregnant women.