Mahin Behzadifard, Yosof Mortazavi , Sadegh Rezapour, Ali Akbar Pourfatholah, Saeed Kavyani, Mansoure Haghighi, Samane Behzadifard ,
Volume 13, Issue 3 (12-2011)
Abstract
Background: Acute leukemia is the prevalent malignancy in pediatrics. One of the most important
causing factors of acute lymphoblastic leukemia is mutations of proto oncogenes and their chang in to
oncogenes. Activation of N-RAS proto-oncogene due to point mutations plays a major role in ALL
malignancy. Since there was no report on the frequency of N-RAS gene mutation in Iranian pediatric ALL
patients, therefore we decided to determine its frequency and compare the results with age, sex and type of
ALL.
Materials and Methods: In this study, 60 pediatric ALL patients from Tehran Mahak hospital were
screened for the mutations of N-RAS gene at codons 12 ,13 1nd 61.DNA was extracted from peripheral
blood samples before the start of chemotherapy. The above mentioned codons were amplified by PCR
and analyzed by restriction endonuclease enzymes.
Results: We could detect mutations in 7 cases of 60(11.7%) patients. Most of the mutations were detected
in males with an age less than 5 years old. The frequency of mutations for codons 12, 13 and 61 were
8.3%,3.3% and 1.7% respectively. Most of the mutations (71.4%) were found in c-ALL subtype.
Conclusion: We detected mutations in 11.7% of our ALL patients. In general , frequency of the
mutations that we found was in agreement with the results of other studies. However , to do study with
more patients and wider range of age using a combination of PCR-RFLP and direct gene sequencing is
highly recommended.
Mozhgan Kavyani , Majid Abdollahian , Khatereh Anbari , Elham Sheikhi ,
Volume 17, Issue 1 (5-2015)
Abstract
Background: Diabetic ketoacidosis is an acute complication of diabetes, and a medical emergency that is usually seen in type I diabetic patients. No manifestation of type I diabetes is sometimes diagnosed, particularly in children, and the disorder is accompanied by insulin deficiency, reduced size, and altered mental status. Materials and Methods: This descriptive epidemiological study included all the diabetic patients with diabetic ketoacidosis who had been hospitalized in Shohada hospital from June 2009 to June 2013. The records of the patients were studied and the necessary data were extracted considering the specified criteria. The data were then recorded in a questionnaire. Results: Thirty-eight cases with diabetic ketoacidosis were found in the hospital records. Most of the infected cases were female, and the complications was more prevalent in the age groups of 9-10 and 20-29 years. Discontinuation of insulin was the single most frequent predisposing factor. Most of the cases were severe, mostly in the females. Conclusion: The patients and their families' unawareness of the acute symptoms of the disease, and refusal of treatment, which led to the discontinuation of insulin use, were the probable causes of the severity of the disease in our study population.
