Relationship between using cell phone and the risk of accident with motor vehicles: An analytical cross-sectional study

Purpose: Traffic accidents are one of the major health problems in the world, being the first cause of burden of illness and the second leading cause of death in Iran. The Sistan-Baluchestan province is one of the most accidental provinces of Iran with the highest rate of accidents-caused deaths. This study was conducted to determine the risk factors associated with traffic accidents in Zahedan through 2013 to 2016. Methods: This analytical cross-sectional study was carried out on 223 drivers from Zahedan who were traumatized by traffic accident and sent to Zahedan hospitals. The data were obtained through interviews taken by the trained interviewers via refereeing to the medical records and collected in the researcher-made checklist. Census was obtained from the study subjects. For data analysis, independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, Chi-square and logistic regression were used with the Stata software version 11.0. Results: In this study, 223 male subjects with the mean age of (32.54 ± 12.95) years, 39.8% single and 60.2% married, entered for investigation. Most accidents (38.8%) occurred between 12:00 to 17:59. While driving, 47.1% of the study subjects were using cell phones, 89.1% had manual use of mobile phones, 21.9% had a habit of sending short message service (SMS) and 23.4% had sent SMS within 10 min before the accident. The one way analysis of variance showed that the mean age of individuals with marital status, driving experience, education and accident with motorcycle were significantly different (p < 0.05). Also, the multivariate logistic regression test indicated a significant relationship of smoking, ethnicity, insurance and SMS typing while driving with motorcycle accident (p < 0.05). Conclusion: In this study, SMS and smoking while driving had the highest risk among the variables studied in the motorcycle accidents. Therefore, effective education attempting to enhance people''s awareness about the consequences of using cell phone and smoking during driving to reduce traffic accidents seems necessary.     

Autoimmune diseases in myelodysplastic syndrome favors patients survival: A case control study and literature review

Background

We conducted a monocentric retrospective study of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and autoimmune or inflammatory disorders (AIMs) and a literature review. We analyzed the association with subgroups of the WHO 2016 MDS classification and patient's survival in a case control study. Risk factors associated with survival were analyzed by uni- and multivariate analysis.

Quality of hospital services during New Year holiday (Nowruz) in Iran

Journal of Public Health - Iranian New Year, with long consecutive holidays, although it is celebrated and enjoyed, might influence the quality of services provided by hospitals. The present study...     

Immunological and In-Vivo Neurological Studies on a Benzoic Acid-Specific T-Cell-Derived Antigen-Binding Molecule from the Serum of a Toluene-Sensitive Patient

T-cell-derived antigen-binding molecules (TABMs) specific for benzoic acid were isolated from the serum of a toluene-sensitive patient. The resulting purified TABMs (BA-TABMs) did not contain immunoglobulin G and were associated with the cytokine transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β). BA-TABMs bound to benzoic acid conjugated to human serum albumin (BA-HSA), as well as to other chemicals conjugated to human serum albumin—including dinitrophenol and oxazolone. The binding of BA-TABMs to the conjugated chemicals increased the level of detectable TGF-β, and a similar effect was observed with the unconjugated chemicals, benzoic acid and 2,4-dinitrophenol glycine. The increase in TGF-β was critically dependent on the ratio between BA-TABMs and the conjugated or unconjugated chemicals; the increase was optimum at intermediate concentrations and absent at low and high concentrations. The authors used an established animal model in vivo and demonstrated that TGF-β enhanced the inflammatory response induced by the release of neuropeptides from sensory nerves; this enhancement occurred in a dose-dependent manner. The BA-TABMs also enhanced this neurogenic inflammatory response in a dose-dependent manner, and this effect was blocked by anti-TGF-β antibody. When the authors added either BA-HSA or benzoic acid, the effect of BA-TABMs on neurogenic inflammation was further enhanced at intermediate concentrations of antigen and was unaltered or reduced at higher concentrations. TABMs specific to particular chemicals, as a result of their association with cytokines (e.g., TGF-β), may be implicated in symptom production in chemically sensitive patients.     

Preclinical coronary endothelial dysfunction in Egyptian Behçet’s disease patients; Tc-99m sestamibi pharmacological Gated-SPECT,is it a useful screening tool?

IntroductionBehçet’s disease (BD) is an idiopathic multisystem disorder. Cardiac involvement[cardio-BD] occurs in 7–60% of BD patients. Technetium 99m-Methoxyisobutyl isonitrile (Tc-99m sestamibi) is a myocardial perfusion imaging agent that is used for evaluation of the coronary flow.Aim of the workTo evaluate the usefulness of Dipyridamole pharmacological stress test in conjunction with Tc-99m sestamibi cardiac gated single photon emission computed tomography (GSPECT) to investigate the prevalence of subclinical coronary endothelial dysfunction[SCED] in asymptomatic Egyptian BD patients; also to assess possibly associated clinical predictive variables.Patients and MethodsTwenty-five BD patients without overt cardiac involvement and fifteen healthy controls matched for age, BMI and sex were included. Database included full history, clinical examination, relevant laboratory tests, and Tc-99m sestamibi myocardial GSPECT with coronary angiography[CAG] in GSPECT positive cases. Disease activity was assessed using Behçet’s Disease Current Activity Form (BDCAF).ResultsSCED detected by reduced flow or left ventricular dysfunction (LVD) or both was found in 13/25[52%] of BD-patients[12 males and 1 female] vs. 1/15[6.7%] of controls[P < 0.0001] with normal CAG. Subjects with positive GSPECT had significantly older age[P = 0.01] and longer disease duration (P = 0.02) and were more frequently males (P < 0.0001) than those with negative GSPECT. No statistically significant differences between cases with negative and positive GSPECT were found regarding other clinical or laboratory parameters.ConclusionTc-99m sestamibi GSPECT could be a useful screening tool for detection of SCED in BD patients, so early prophylactic measures and therapy modifications could be considered.     

mTOR inhibitors blunt the p53 response to nucleolar stress by regulating RPL11 and MDM2 levels

Mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) is a master regulator of cell growth through its ability to stimulate ribosome biogenesis and mRNA translation. In contrast, the p53 tumor suppressor negatively controls cell growth and is activated by a wide range of insults to the cell. The mTOR and p53 signaling pathways are connected by a number of different mechanisms. Chemotherapeutics that inhibit ribosome biogenesis often induce nucleolar stress and activation of p53. Here we have investigated how the p53 response to nucleolar stress is affected by simultaneous mTOR inhibition in osteosarcoma and glioma cell lines. We found that inhibitors of the mTOR pathway including rapamycin, wortmannin, and caffeine blunted the p53 response to nucleolar stress induced by actinomycin D. Synthetic inhibitors of mTOR (temsirolimus, LY294.002 and PP242) also impaired actinomycin D triggered p53 stabilization and induction of p21. Ribosomal protein (RPL11) is known to be required for p53 protein stabilization following nucleolar stress. Treatment of cells with mTOR inhibitors may lead to reduced synthesis of RPL11 and thereby destabilize p53. We found that rapamycin mimicked the effect of RPL11 depletion in terms of blunting the p53 response to nucleolar stress. However, the extent to which the levels of p53 and RPL11 were reduced by rapamycin varied between cell lines. Additional mechanisms whereby rapamycin blunts the p53 response to nucleolar stress are likely to be involved. Indeed, rapamycin increased the levels of endogenous MDM2 despite inhibition of its phosphorylation at Ser-166. Our findings may have implications for the design of combinatorial cancer treatments with mTOR pathway inhibitors.     

Topical Corticosteroids and Hospital Length of Stay in Children with Eczema Herpeticum

Abstract: There is concern that the use of topical corticosteroids in patients with eczema herpeticum may facilitate dissemination of herpes simplex virus and worsen disease. Our primary aim therefore was to determine whether topical corticosteroid use in children hospitalized with eczema herpeticum is associated with longer hospital length of stay (LOS). We performed a multicenter retrospective cohort study of 1,331 children ages 2 months to 17 years admitted with a diagnosis of eczema herpeticum between January 1, 2001, and March 31, 2010, to 42 tertiary care children’s hospitals in the Pediatric Health Information System database. Multivariable linear regression models determined the association between receipt of topical corticosteroid therapy on the first day of hospitalization and the main outcome measure: LOS. Receipt of topical corticosteroid therapy on day 1 of hospitalization was not associated with a longer LOS on unadjusted or multivariable analysis (p = 0.75). Receipt of topical calcineurin inhibitors during the hospitalization was also not associated with a longer LOS (p = 0.12). Receipt of systemic corticosteroids was associated with an 18% adjusted longer LOS (95% confidence interval 2%–36%; p = 0.03). Further study is needed to identify which children with eczema herpeticum may benefit from topical corticosteroids, but their use during active infection is not associated with poorer outcomes, although the use of systemic corticosteroids was associated with a longer LOS and should be avoided in patients with eczema herpeticum pending future prospective study.