The possible association between Toxoplasma gondii infection and paediatric haematological malignancies in a group of patients and control subjects was evaluated in the present study. We performed an age-, gender- and residence frequency-matched case-control study of 101 blood cancer patients under 18 years of age, all of which were treated in Amirkola Pediatric Hospital. One hundred and thirty-eight control samples were gathered from the outpatient clinic in the hospital. All cases and controls were tested for the presence of anti-Toxoplasma IgG antibodies and then IgG-positive subjects were evaluated for IgM antibodies by enzyme-linked immunoassays. Anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies were found in 37 (36.6%) of the cases and 12 (8.7%) subjects in the control group (odds ratio 6.07, 95% confidence interval 2.963-12.437, P < 0.0001). The median and interquartile range (IQR) of IgG titre from case group (7.7 (IQR 0.25-13.5)) was higher than the control (0.2 (IQR 0.1-0.5)) (P < 0.0001). The frequency of anti-T. gondii antibodies (IgG) in lymphoblastic leukaemia (acute lymphoblastic leukaemia), Hodgkin's lymphoma and T-cell lymphoma were 33 (31.9%), 3 (50%) and 1(100%), respectively. Anti-T. gondii IgM was not detected in the IgG-positive patients in case group. In the case subjects, no significant difference was seen in the positive rates of T. gondii infection between genders (37.3% in male; 35.7% in female; P = 0.52) and ages groups (P = 0.31). This study demonstrated that T. gondii infection is prevalent in children with blood cancer. It also showed that toxoplasmosis may possibly be linked with an increased risk of childhood haematologic malignancies. Furthermore, these results may be helpful in research on blood neoplasia aetiology.

Background:It is estimated about 7% of the world population is carriers of hemoglobin diseases. Alpha-thalassemia is one of the most common hereditary hemoglobin disorders in the world. This study investigated alpha-globin mutations in potential carriers with hypochromic and microcytic anemia from Mazandaran, in northern Iran. Methods:A total of 859 subjects were selected; genomic DNA was extracted and examined for the presence of mutations in the alpha-globin genes.Results: Mutation analysis of alpha-globin genes revealed 27 different mutations.Seven variants were seen in 91.45% of all alpha-1 and alpha-2 mutations among patients in this study. The 3.7 kb deletion is the most frequent mutation with a frequency of 49.53%, followed by PolyA2 (15.19%), −4.2 deletion (8.76%), --MED (5.84%), IVSI-5nt deletion (5.49%), Hb constant spring (3.62%), and Cd 19 (−G; 3.04%), respectively. There are also seven new variants which were reported for the first time either in alpha-1 or alpha-2 genes, including codon 9 (C > A; α2), deletion of codon 60 (AAG deletion; α2), duplication of codon 94-100 plus 3 base pairs of intron 2 (IVSII + 3; α1), codon 99 (C > A; α2), codon 108 (A > G; α2), codon 128 (A > T; α2), and codon 129 (T > G; α2), respectively. The MLPA method also revealed three rare and novel deletions in alpha-cluster region with about 30 kilobases long. Conclusion:This study showed an efficient identification of α-thalassemia can be achieved using standard hematological indices in our population. The details of these variations will help local genetic services for diagnostic and prenatal diagnosis services. K E Y W O R D S alpha-thalassemia, Iran, Mazandaran, mutation, thalassemiaThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creat ive Commo ns Attri butio n-NonCo mmercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

BACKGROUND: Mothers of children with thalassemia usually experience many sufferings and challenges in caring of their children. The present study aimed to explore the experiences of mothers caring for their children with thalassemia.METHODS: In this qualitative study, 14 mothers caring for their children with thalassemia in Hamedan and Babol Cities, Iran were selected using purposeful sampling, from December 2019 to August 2020. Data were collected through semi-structured faceto- face interviews. Graneheim and Lundman's approach of conventional content analysis was used for data analysis.RESULTS: After data analyzing, four themes, including physical distress, psychological suffering, hellish life, and self-negligence, as well as nine categories, including the mother's physical problems, physical weakness, confusion, painful emotions, restless life, involvement in a painful caring process, turmoil in the family, neglect of one's health, and disregard for the occurrence of psychosomatic illnesses, were extracted.CONCLUSION: Our findings provide a broad range of contextspecific challenges that mothers of thalassemic child faced during caring of their children that can affect different aspects of their life and health. Thus, mothers of children with thalassemia need various types of support such as social, emotional, and informational support during caring process of their children.