International Research Journal of Medicine and Medical Sciences

56-59

Authors: Daniel Zewdneh Solomon, Natae Fekadu and Yocabel Gorfu

Parasitic twining, also known as heteropagus is an asymmetric twinning of conjoined identical or monozygotic twins where the tissues of a severely defective twin (the parasite) are dependent on the cardiovascular system of the other twin (autosite) for survival. The condition only occurs when an undeveloped or underdeveloped twin is attached to parts of the body of the twin that develops and is delivered. The estimated incidence is approximately 1 per 1 million live births. To date, only a few isolated case reports are published in the literature of this rare congenital anomaly. Here, we report a case of this rare entity in a neonate referred to our teaching hospital.

67-78

Authors: Ali Dezhgir, Tayebe Talebzadeh, Iman Alsadat Hosseini, Donya Altafi, Hamed Hojatian, Rashed Mehrfard, Sahel Towfigh Rafiei, Marjan Moradi Fard, Zeinab Shabani, Morteza Taghizadeh, Massoud Houshmand, Soudeh Soleymani Mashhadi, Navid Rahimian, Arvin Haghighatfard and Soha Sadeghi

Azathioprine therapy was recently used to treat dermatologic conditions such as Alopecia areata (AA). Previous reports showed that Thiopurine S-methyltransferase (TPMT) activities in human red blood cell are associated with a polymorphism in this gene. Therefore, patients carrying mutant allele of TPMT may show severe myelosuppression when they are treated with standard doses of Azathioprine drugs. This study aimed to evaluate the TPMT gene amongst Alopecia areata patients and healthy adult in Iranian populations. TPMT gene polymorphisms were investigated in 1285 Iranian healthy adult blood donors and 632 patients with Alopecia Areata Universalis (AU). Tetra Arms PCR, Real-Time PCR and Sequencing were used to evaluate the presence of allele-specific polymorphisms of TPMT gene (TPMT *2(c.238 GC,), TPMT *3A (c.460 GA and c.719 AG), TPMT *3B (c.460 GA), and TPMT *3C (c.719 AG). Results were shown that the TPMT*2 allele is associated with a low enzymatic activity that was detected in 22.51% (863 in 1917) of Iranian individuals. Heterozygous genotypes were in 827 (43.14%) subjects (232 AA and 595 healthy), and homozygous genotypes were in 18 (0.94%) individuals (3 AA and 15 healthy). The normal allele (wild-type) was found in 55.92% of the studied individuals (20.70% AA and 35.21% healthy). According to a higher frequency of TPMT polymorphism in Iranian population in comparison with other population, determination of TPMT genotype in may have the clinical benefit to thiopurine dosage selection and treat patients as well.

85-90

Authors: Olfat A. Salem, Anoud Kaabi, Bodoor Al shehri and Reem Sufyani

The primary aim of this investigation was to explore the effects of stress management programs on stress levels in nursing students studying in Saudi nursing college. Stress management training help the nurse to cope up with professional challenges, in retaining workforce and assist in solving the issue of shortage of registered nurses. This research project is a quasi-experimental study and sample size for this study was 16 students selected by using random sampling method. The researcher developed a questionnaire to measure the effectiveness of the stress management program regarding the students' stress levels. Results revealed nursing students who did not attend the interventional program reported an increase in the level of stress index level. Nurses who have attended the stress management sessions showed changes in their stress levels, although the minimization in stress was detected at a minute level. The study did not deliver a definitive outcome of the effectiveness of stress management program in improving coping abilities among nursing students. The outcome of this study though has not been clear, it still holds some valuable implications for future endeavors in stress management scenario.