Diagnostic value of protein Ki67 (MIB-1) in atypical pap smears of postmenopausal women

Cervical Cancer Prevention Knowledge and Attitudes among Female University Students and Hospital Staff in Iran

Background:

Cervical cancer is a major preventable cancers. The, current study aimed to assess relevant knowledge and attitude of female students and hospital staff in Iran.

Method:

This cross-sectional study was conducted in Medical and Nursing faculties and hospitals of East-Azerbaijan Province of Iran. Participants were medical and paramedical female students and female staff in hospitals selected by stratified random sampling techniques. Tools for data collection were questionnaires for which validity and reliability had been verified (α=0.8). Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze data with SPSS.16.

Result:

Response rates were 71 % (426 from 600) and 63.5% (254 from 400) for students and staff, respectively. Some 29.1% admitted that they had no information about cervical cancer, only 70 (10.3%) thinking their knowledge as high, 360 (52.9%) as intermediate, and 237 (34.9%) as low. While 93% of participants considered cervical cancer as a severe health problem, the only statistically significant relationships with knowledge were for education (p<.001) and occupation (p<.001) variables.

Conclusion:

Given the importance of the roles of medical students and personnel as information sources and leaders in health and preventive behavior, increasing and improving their scientific understanding seems vital. Comprehensive and appropriate education of all people and especially students and personnel of medical sciences and improving attitudes towards cervical cancer and its monitoring are to be recommended.

The relationship between histologic grades of invasive carcinoma of breast ducts and mast cell infiltration

Introduction:

Breast carcinoma is the most prevalent tumors among women. Transformation of inflated cells in immune response leads to increase in inflammatory cells such as macrophages, mast cells (MC) and fibroblasts. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between grades of invasive carcinoma of the breast ducts and MC infiltration around tumoral cells.

Methods:

During the present study, 75 female patients suffering from invasive ductal carcinoma who underwent surgery or diagnostic biopsy during 2010 and 2013 in Educational-Medical centers of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, were included in the study. Based on Bloom-Richardson grading system, 25 cases were selected from each grade. To better observe of MCs, samples were stained by Toluidine blue and MCs were counted in 10 40 × 10 fields.

Results:

The mean age was 47.56 ± 10.84 and the number of MCs was between 6 and 96 and their overall average was 43.01. Average count of MCs in grade 1, 2 and 3 were 15.92 ± 10.07, 45.32 ± 10.47, and 67.8 ± 20.70, respectively. There was a significant relationship between the number of MCs and increase in disease grade (P < 0.001). With increasing grade of malignancy, the number of MCs had grown. No significant relationship was observed between age and grade of disease or age and number of MC.

Conclusion:

According to obtained results, number of MC around tumoral cells increased significantly with an increase in the grade of disease. In order to treat in the first stages of the disease, recognizing primary changes in the stroma of cells could be helpful.

Ki-67 is a valuable prognostic factor in gliomas: evidence from a systematic review and meta-analysis

Ki-67 has been widely used as an indicator of cell proliferation in gliomas. However, the role of Ki-67 as a prognostic marker is still undefined. Thus, we conducted a meta-analysis of the published literatures in order to clarify the impact of Ki-67 on survival in glioma cases. Eligible studies were identified in PubMed, EMBASE, ISI Web of Science, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Science Direct and Wiley Online Library with the last search updated on August 31, 2014. The clinical characteristics, overall survival (OS) and progression- free survival (PFS) together with Ki-67 expression at different time points were extracted. A total of 51 studies, covering 4,307 patients, were included in the current meta-analysis. The results showed that overexpression of Ki-67 can predict poor OS (HR=1.66, 95%CI: 1.53-1.80; Z=11.87; p=0.000) and poor PFS (HR=1.67, 95%CI: 1.47-1.91; Z=7.67; p=0.000) in gliomas. Moreover, subgroup analyses also indicated that high level of Ki-67 expression was related to poor OS and PFS in glioma patients regardless of region, pathology type, cut-off value and statistical method. In conclusion, the current meta-analysis revealed that Ki-67 expression might be a predicative factor for poor prognosis of glioma patients, emphasizing its importance as a predictor.

Knowledge production status of Iranian researchers in the gastric cancer area: based on the medline database

BACKGROUND

Scientometrics is a useful method for management of financial and human resources and has been applied many times in medical sciences during recent years. The aim of this study was to investigate the status of science production by Iranian scientists in the gastric cancer field based on the Medline database.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In this descriptive-cross sectional study Iranian science production concerning gastric cancer during 2000-2011 was investigated based on Medline. After two stages of searching, 121 articles were found, then we reviewed publication date, authors names, journal title, impact factor (IF), and cooperation coefficient between researchers. SPSS.19 was used for statistical analysis.

RESULTS

There was a significant increase in published articles about gastric cancer by Iranian researchers in Medline database during 2006-2011. Mean cooperation coefficient between researchers was 6.14±3.29 person per article. Articles of this field were published in 19 countries and 56 journals. Those basex in Thailand, England, and America had the most published Iranian articles. Tehran University of Medical Sciences and Mohammadreza Zali had the most outstanding role in publishing scientific articles.

CONCLUSIONS

According to results of this study, improving cooperation of researchers in conducting research and scientometric studies about other fields may have an important role in increasing both quality and quantity of published studies.