Peak bone mass of Iranian population: the Iranian Multicenter Osteoporosis Study.

Osteoporosis is a major public health problem in the Western countries and is projected to have a similar impact in the Middle East. It has been suggested that peak bone mineral density (BMD), a major determinant of osteoporotic fractures later in life, may be lower in this part of the world compared with the Western world. The purpose of the Iranian Multicenter Osteoporosis Study was to determine peak bone mass in a randomly chosen sample of healthy Iranian subjects. A total of 5201 participants (2340 males, mean age 42.7+/-13.8) were recruited based on randomized clustered sampling from all regions of five major cities across the country. In women, peak lumbar BMD (1.182+/-0.127 g/cm2) occurred in the 29- to 33-yr age group, whereas peak total femur BMD (1.006+/-0.126 g/cm2) occurred in the 32- to 36-yr age group. In men, peak lumbar BMD (1.181+/-0.153 g/cm2) and femoral BMD (1.096+/-0.159 g/cm2) both occurred in the 20- to 24-yr age group. When standardized to mg/cm2 units using established formulas, Iranian peak bone mass values are comparable with that of Western countries and are generally higher than that of Eastern Asian and Middle Eastern countries.     

Effects of a community-based healthy heart program on increasing healthy women's physical activity: a randomized controlled trial guided by Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR)

Background  

Cardiovascular disease remains the leading killer of women in most developed areas of the world. Rates of physical inactivity and poor nutrition, which are two of the most important modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular disease in women, are substantial. This study sought to examine the effectiveness of a community-based lifestyle-modification program on increasing women's physical activity in a randomized trial guided by community-based participatory research (CBPR) methods.     

Review of imaging techniques for the diagnosis of breast cancer: a new role of prone scintimammography using technetium-99m sestamibi

Imaging techniques currently used for the diagnosis of breast cancer are reviewed and compared. Besides mammography, magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography, and thallium-201 scintimammography, a new role of technetium-99m sestamibi scintimammography is discussed. It is concluded that while mammography remains the procedure of choice in screening asymptomatic women for breast cancer, other imaging methods play an important role in detecting malignancies in symptomatic patients.^99mTc-sestamibi scintimammography has high sensitivity and improves the specificity of conventional mammography for the detection of breast cancer; with this technique, prone imaging is preferable to supine imaging.^99mTc-sestamibi scintimammography thus deserves further study as a screening technique.     

The Effect of Intravenous Magnesium Sulphate as an Adjuvant in the Treatment of Acute Exacerbations of COPD in the Emergency Department: A Double-Blind Randomized Clinical Trial

BackgroundAcute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) are serious complications that often require immediate intervention in an emergency department (ED). The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of intravenous magnesium sulphate as an adjuvant in the treatment of AECOPD in the ED.MethodsIn a double-blind, randomized clinical trial, a total of 60 patients with AECOPD presenting to the ED of Imam Khomeini Hospital in Sari, Iran, were included. The study was conducted between September 2016 and February 2018. Eligible patients were randomly allocated into two groups of intervention and control. Patients in the intervention and control groups received intravenous infusion of magnesium sulfate (2 gr) or normal saline over 30 minutes, respectively. For all patients, Borgdyspnea score, forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) result and clinical variables of interest were evaluated before the beginning of the intervention, and also 45 minutes and 6 hours after the commencement of intervention.ResultsRegardless of time of evaluation, pulse rate (PR), respiratory rate (RR) and Borg score in intervention group was lower than control group. Also, FEV1 and SPO2 were greater in intervention group compared to control group. However, these differences were not statistically significant (between-subject differences or group effect) (p<0.001). The trends of FEV1, SPO2, PR, RR and Borg score were similar between two groups of study (no interaction effect; P>0.05).ConclusionAccording to the results of this study, it seems that using intravenous magnesium sulfate has no significant effect on SPO2, FEV1, RR, and PR of patients with AECOPD who presented to ED.     

Circulating levels of the miRNAs,miR-194, and miR-29b,as clinically useful biomarkers for colorectal cancer

Tumor Biology - The microRNAs (miRNAs), miR-194 and miR-29b, have been shown to downregulate in colorectal cancer (CRC) and may identify and classify CRC patients as compared with those in control...