This is the first comprehensive cohort study of the health of older people ever conducted in Iran. The aim of this project is to investigate the health status of older people in Amirkola in the northern part of Iran, near the Caspian Sea. The Amirkola Health and Ageing Project (AHAP) is mainly concerned with geriatric medical problems, such as falling, bone fragility and fractures, cognitive impairment and dementia, poor mobility and functional dependence. It is planned that all participants will be re-examined after 2 years. Data are collected via questionnaire, examinations and venepuncture. AHAP started in April 2011 and 1616 participants had been seen by 18 July 2012, the end of the baseline stage of this study. The participation rate was 72.3%. The prevalence of self-reported hypertension (41.2%) and diabetes mellitus (23.3%) are high. Only 14.4% of older people considered their health as excellent or good in comparison with others at this age. The prevalence of osteoporosis (T score≤-2.5) was 57.4% in women and 16.1% in men, and 38.2 % of older people were vitamin D deficient (<20 ng/ml). Researchers interested in using the information are invited to contact the principal investigator Seyed Reza Hosseini (hosseinim46@yahoo.com).

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: Epigenetics has an important role in gene regulation and other cellular processes. DNA methylation, as one of the main mechanisms of epigenetics, is a type of post-replication modifications. Aberrant DNA methylation can alter gene expression patterns; so, plays a considerable role in the pathogenesis of many diseases. DNA methylation alterations in promoter of specific genes can be used for diagnosis and proprietary targets for treatment that known as “biomarker”. Early diagnosis and prevention may be possible by these biomarkers. According to the recent studies, DNA methylation abnormalities have an important role in retinogenesis and pathogenesis of retinal diseases. Retinal diseases are the main cause of blindness and severe visual loss in the world and will continue to increase. Also, they inflict enormous burden on society and health care systems. Therefore, it is important to focus on the better recognition and prevention of retinal diseases, and fining new targets for treatment. DNA methylation lionized as attractive therapeutic targets due to its reversibility. Epigenetic therapy has a high potency in treatment of retinal diseases. Here, we reviewed the DNA and histone methylation alterations in common retinal diseases, focusing on age-related macular degeneration (AMD), diabetic retinopathy, retinal detachment (RD), retinitis pigmentosa, retinal aging and retinoblastoma, and then we surveyed some new approaches of epigenetic therapy in retinal disorders.

BACKGROUNDPterygium is a common ocular disorder throughout the world. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of simple excision alone with or without topical mitomycin in the treatment of pterygium.PATIENTS AND METHODSThis study was performed in two stages. In the first stage, from 1991 to 1994, 100 patients (group 1) were operated on with simple excision and in the second stage, from 1995 to 1999, 300 patients (group 2) were treated with the same procedure plus topical mitomycin (0.02% eye drops four times a day for 4 days after operation). All cases were followed for 5 years. The recurrence rate of pterygium in these two treated groups were compared.RESULTSThe mean age of the subjects was 49±13 years in group 1 and 47±17 years in group 2. The clinical manifestations in these two groups were similar (P>0.05). After one year, relapse was seen in 21 cases (21%) in group 1 and in 3 cases (1%) in group 2. After five years, 31 cases (31%) in group 1 and 3 cases (1%) in group 2 had relapse (P=0.0001). The mean time to recurrence at five years for the simple excision group was 3.83 years (95% CI: 3.48 to 4.17 years) and for simple excision plus mitomycin C was 4.96 years (95% CI: 4.91 to 5.0 years) (P<0.0001).CONCLUSIONInstillation of mitomycin C eye drops appears to be safe in the treatment of pterygium.

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