The present study was performed to evaluate pancreatic hemosiderosis by means of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) T2* and its relation to the diabetic state in thalassemic patients. One hundred thirty transfusion-dependent thalassemic patients from Zafar adult thalassemia clinic, Tehran, Iran, were enrolled in the study. Data such as age, type of thalassemia, age at diagnosis, transfusion duration, ferritin level, and fasting blood sugar results were gathered. Pancreatic MRI T2* was performed for all patients. One hundred four thalassemic patients with no sign of diabetes mellitus and 26 thalassemic patients with diabetes mellitus entered the study. Out of a total of 130 patients, 102 had pancreatic hemosiderosis. Among them, 23 of 26 diabetic patients (88.5%) and 79 of 104 nondiabetic patients (76%) showed pancreatic hemosiderosis, indicating no statistically significant difference between the 2 groups. The mean pancreatic MRI T2* relaxation time for all patients was 13.99±12.43 ms. The mean relaxation was 13.62±8.38 and 14.08±13.28 ms for diabetic and nondiabetic patients, respectively, showing no statistical difference (P=0.202). In conclusion, we did not find a significant difference between diabetic and nondiabetic thalassemic patients regarding the MRI T2* relaxation time readings or the rate of pancreatic hemosiderosis. We recommend performing studies with a higher sample size and including patients from different age groups to further evaluate the role of T2* MRI of pancreatic iron overload and its relation with the diabetic state in thalassemic patients.

Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer and the second cause of mortality in women all around the world. It is caused by several factors including genetic determinants, so that both genetic susceptibility factors and environmental factors are involved in the etiology. Significance of genes functioning in steroid hormone synthesis and metabolism are well established in breast cancer susceptibility. In this study, 134 women with BC and 135 normal controls were analyzed for their genotypes for the polymorphisms, rs743572, rs10046 and rs4646903, resided in CYP17, CYP19 and CYP1A1 genes, respectively. Significant differences in distributions of allele and genotype frequencies were found for the rs10046 polymorphism in CYP19 (p-value=0.01, OR (CI 95%) =1.59 (1.1-2.3), p-value=0.04, OR (CI 95%) =1.7 (1.1-2.5) respectively). For rs743,572 and rs 4646903 polymorphisms, no significant associations were observed. A significant association was observed between the rs10046 polymorphism of the CYP19gene and breast cancer in Iranian patients. Due to inconsistent previous results, more studies in different populations with larger sample sizes are indicated.

Introduction: Contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) is one of the major causes of acute kidney injury. Objectives: Regarding an increase in mortality and morbidity in patients with CIN, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of oxygen therapy in prevention of the CIN in individuals with acute coronary syndrome undergoing emergent angiography. Patients and Methods: This study was a double-blinded clinical trial with control group (parallel design), randomized, and with a sample size of 204 individuals conducted on male or female patients over 35 years old and suspected of coronary artery disease undergoing emergent angiography refereed to Rasoul Akram hospital in 2018. Participants were divided into 2 groups (supplementary oxygen and oxygen-free groups). The first group received two to three liters of oxygen per minute from 10 minutes before the start of the procedure until the end of the procedure, and the second group inhaled the oxygen in the room air. Arterial blood gas (ABG) was taken prior to receiving oxygen and at the end of the procedure. Serum creatinine level was tested for all individuals before and 48 hours after the procedure. Results: The mean age in intervention and control groups was 61.66 ± 14.64 years and 60.49 ± 11.59 years, respectively (P=0.54). Mean glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and serum creatinine before and after angiography was not significantly different (P>0.05). There was a significant difference between the two genders regarding the development of CIN (P=0.002), which was higher in women from that of men. Female gender was a strong risk factor and approximately increased four times the risk of CIN (OR = 4.1; (P=0.001). History of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and hypertension (HTN) also produced such a situation (OR = 22.37; P=0.007). Conclusion: According to the results, oxygen therapy has no effect on the occurrence of CIN. It is also found that female gender, history of CKD and hypertension are risk factors for CIN.