Papers by Abolfazl Movafagh
Acta Clinica Belgica, 2015
An association between migraine and ischaemic stroke has been observed for many years, but the ex... more An association between migraine and ischaemic stroke has been observed for many years, but the exact mechanisms by which migraine can lead to stroke are still unknown. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of migraine headaches in patients with ischaemic stroke. In this prospective cohort study, we assessed 323 patients with ischaemic stroke; these diagnoses were assigned based on the International Headache Society criteria for migraine with or without aura. Patients were recruited without major risk factors such as stroke, hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, diabetes, taking oral contraceptive pills, history of drug abuse and trauma in issue of their Stroke. Data were collected via a written questionnaire upon admission and were analysed with SPSS version 16 software. Comparisons were performed using Mann-Whitney's U test and chi-square and t-test. Migraine headache was present in 11.2% (36 of 323) of patients, 8.1% of women and 3.1% of men. Migraine prevalence was highest in the age over 60 years. There was a history of migraine without aura for over 2 years in 6.2% of patients with ischaemic stroke. Also, we found no significant correlation between migraine headache and location of the lesion in patients with ischaemic stroke.
Childhood Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection causes both medical and public health challenges. Inf... more Childhood Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection causes both medical and public health challenges. Infants who acquire HBV parentally have up to 90% risk of developing chronic HBV infection. It is now estimated that approximately 10% of worldwide cancers are attributable to viral infection, with the vast majority (>85 %) occurring in the developing world. In this distribution, elevated rate and prevalence of HBV marker have been found in patients with malignancies as compared to the general population. By reviewing the web-based search for all Persian and English types of scientific peer review published articles initiated using Iran Medex, MEDLINE/PubMed, CINAHL and other pertinent references on websites about HBV and HCV blood disorders. The high prevalence of HBV and HCV infective markers was detected in patients with different malignancies. Moreover, identification of high prevalence of HBV infective markers in leukemia patients proposed strong association between hepatitis viral infections and leukemia.
Iranian journal of pharmaceutical research : IJPR, 2011
Phytohemagglutinin (PHA) is a lectin, obtained from the red kidney bean that binds to the membran... more Phytohemagglutinin (PHA) is a lectin, obtained from the red kidney bean that binds to the membranes of T-cells and stimulates metabolic activity, cell division, etc. The object of this research was the comparison between self made PHA (Indigenous) and imported commercial one, following conventional and High Resolution Cell Synchronization technique (HRCS) .From each blood sample of healthy individual donor replicate cell culture with two different PHA (self-made and commercial imported) with same concentration were cultured simultaneously. For culture cells, 3-5 × 106(6) cells were cultured in 4 mL medium( RPMI 1640 supplemented with 15 per cent heat inactivated fetal bovine serum, 0.1 mL Phytohemagglutinin was added and kept at 37°C in an atmosphere containing 5% CO2. The processing of mitotic division from 48 h and 72 h cultures was performed according to the standard and High Resolution Cell Synchronization technique. Cytogenetic studies were performed in 100 normal healthy blood...
Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention : APJCP, 2011
Double minute chromosomes (DMs) are small chromatin bodies consisting of gene amplification in an... more Double minute chromosomes (DMs) are small chromatin bodies consisting of gene amplification in an extrachromosomal location. Although found in an variety of human tumor cells, their presence in hematologic malignancies is rare and their role in leukemogenesis is controversial. However, they are thought to be involved in tumorigenesis and in drug resistance, representing a mechanism for upregulated oncogene expression generally associated with a poor prognosis. The presence of DMs has been associated with a rapid disease course, low response rate, and short survival. Little knowledge is, however, available on DMs in leukemias. To elucidate this issue, a web-based search for all types of articles published was initiated using MEDLINE/PubMed, the Mitelman database and other pertinent references on websites. We found that DMs have the highest frequency in adrenal carcinoma (28.6%), and lowest rate noted as 2.6% for large intestine. The large Mitelman database and other web based pertine...
Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal, 2015
Bipolar disorder (BPD) is a common and severe mood disorder. Although genetic factors have import... more Bipolar disorder (BPD) is a common and severe mood disorder. Although genetic factors have important rolesin the etiology of bipolar disorder, no specific gene has been identified in relation to this disorder. Monoamine oxidase gene is suggested to be associated with bipolar disorder in many studies. This study aimed to investigatethe role of MAOA gene polymorphisms in the etiology of bipolar disorder in Iranian population. This study is a case-control study, with convenient sampling. Three common polymorphisms, a CA microsatellite, a VNTR, and a RFLP were typed in 156 bipolar patients and 173 healthy controls. Patients were chosen from Imam Hossein General Hospital, Psychiatry Ward (Tehran/Iran). Controlsamples for this study consisted of 173 healthy individuals recruitedby convenient sampling. Allelic distributions of these polymorphisms were analyzed in bipolar and control groups to investigate any association with MAOA gene. Significant associations were observed regarding MAOA-CA (P = 0.016) and MAOA-VNTR (P = 0.004) polymorphisms in the bipolar females. There was no association between MAOA-RFLP and bipolar disorder. The obtained results confirm some previous studies regardinga gender specific association of MAOA gene with the bipolar disorder.
BioMed Research International, 2014
The Hodgkin’s lymphoma disease (HD) is a common malignant neoplasm with germinal centre B-cell or... more The Hodgkin’s lymphoma disease (HD) is a common malignant neoplasm with germinal centre B-cell origin. It has been suggested that the HLA class I and class II regions have susceptibility effects on HD. In different ethnic groups, different HLA class I and class II alleles affect HD. As a result, there is no consensus which of the different HLA alleles confers susceptibility to HD. In this study, we aimed to ascertain the role of HLA class I and class II alleles in association with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in Iranian patients. We performed a case-control genotyping study in 85 Iranian HD patients which were selected from the Bone Marrow Transplantation Department of Taleghani Hospital and 150 controls using the SSP-PCR. Our results demonstrated that theHLA-A*68,HLA-B*51, andHLA-DRB1*15 alleles were significantly more frequent in HD patients in comparison to controls (P=0.026; OR = 6.188,P=0.00008; OR = 2.86,P=0.00006; OR = 5.315, resp.) and they have significant susceptibility effects on H...
Hematology, 2015
Objectives Despite numerous studies in order to determine the allele frequency and clinical impac... more Objectives Despite numerous studies in order to determine the allele frequency and clinical impact of DNA methyltransferase 3 A (DNMT3A) gene mutations in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), reports about the expression analysis of this gene are rare and between the available, differences are evident. Methods In this study, we decided to investigate DNMT3A possible expression changes with regard to their mutation and cytogenetic status in a series of 96 AML patients. Results Mutations were founded in 17 of the 96 patients (17.7%) and associated with higher age and white blood cell count (P < 0.001). Our mutants have had shorter overall survival (OS) (P < 0.001) and relapse-free survival (RFS) (P = 0.011) than those without. Multivariate analysis showed that DNMT3A mutation is an independent prognostic indicator for OS and RFS (P < 0.001). In relation to expression results, we had over and under expression for our favorable and unfavorable cytogenetic subgroups, respectively (P = 0.005 and P < 0.001, respectively). In intermediate subgroup, total DNMT3A expression did not alter (P = 0.575). Interestingly, we noticed similar expression results for DNMT3A transcript 2, to that of the total. Discussion and conclusion In relation to DNMT3A expression, from the perspective of diagnostic application and its biological significance, it is difficult to accept its primacy over cytogenetic value in favorable and unfavorable subgroups and if so, we did not address this issue in our study due to sample size limitation. In intermediate subgroup, particularly in normal karyotype-AML, given the lack of convincing results, it seems unlikely that DNMT3A expression analysis could attract attention in diagnostic workup and risk prediction of AML.
Medical Oncology, 2014
Acute myeloid leukemia is a heterogeneous disease with respect to presentation and clinical outco... more Acute myeloid leukemia is a heterogeneous disease with respect to presentation and clinical outcome. Acquired genetic alterations along with epigenetic changes in hematopoietic progenitor cells are associated with the disease development. LATS2, as a tumor suppressor, has been indicated to have expression variations in different cancers. The aim of the present study was to analyze the expression level of the LATS2 gene in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients. Using quantitative real-time PCR, the expression level of the LATS2 gene was detected in peripheral blood samples from 32 patients with de novo AML and 10 normal controls. LATS2 gene was significantly over-expressed in AML patients compared to normal subjects. Significant LATS2 over-expression was observed in all FAB types except for the M3 (p = 0.661). The present work provides the first evidence of the overexpression of LATS2 in AML patients and suggests that the gene might play a role in the disease development and hence may be a potential therapeutic target for AML treatment.
Neuroscience Letters, 2013
h i g h l i g h t s
Journal of the Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System, 2012
The rate-limiting step of the renin-angiotensin system is the enzymatic cleavage of angiotensinog... more The rate-limiting step of the renin-angiotensin system is the enzymatic cleavage of angiotensinogen (AGT) by renin. The aims of the present study were to investigate the association between AGT T704C (M235T) and -217 G→A polymorphisms with the risk of preeclampsia and synergistic effects of both polymorphisms on the susceptibility to preeclampsia. We studied AGT variants in 170 women with preeclampsia, including 84 women with mild and 86 women with severe forms of preeclampsia, and 100 age and parity matched controls. There was a trend towards increased risk of severe preeclampsia in the presence of -217 AA (odds ratio (OR)=1.5, 95% confidence interval (CI)= 0.38-5.84, p=0.57) and TC+CC genotypes (OR=1.32, 95% CI= 0.67-2.58, p=0.42). However, the interaction of both alleles of -217A and 704C highly increased the risk of severe preeclampsia, by 2.23-fold, although this did not reach statistical significance. The frequency of the CC genotype of the T704C polymorphism in early-onset preeclampsia tended to be higher (35%) compared with that in patients with late-onset preeclampsia (21.7%). The present study demonstrates that both variants of AGT -217 G→A and T704C might work in synergism to influence the risk of severe preeclampsia, which needs to be confirmed in studies with larger sample size.
Since several high level natural radiation areas (HLNRAs) exist on our planet, considerable atten... more Since several high level natural radiation areas (HLNRAs) exist on our planet, considerable attention has been drawn to health issues that may develop as the result of visiting or living in such places. City of Ramsar in Iran is an HNLRA, and is a tourist attraction mainly due to its hot spas. However, the growing awareness over its natural radiation sources has prompted widespread scientific investigation at national level. In this study, using an ELISA method, the level of expression of three tumor markers known as carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and carcino antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) in blood serum of 40 local men of Ramsar (subject group) was investigated and compared to 40 men from the city of Noshahr (control group). Noshahr was previously identified as a normal level natural radiation area (NLNRA) that is some 85 km far from Ramsar. According to statistical analysis, there was a significant difference in the levels of PSA and CA19-9 markers between the two groups (p < 0.001) with those of Ramsar being considerably higher. CEA level did not show any difference. Although some of the volunteers tested positive to the markers, they were in good health as confirmed by the physician. Moreover, the high number of positive markers in Noshahr was considerable. Therefore, future study is needed to further validate this result and to determine the level of positivity to tumor markers in both cities.
Iranian journal of basic medical sciences, 2015
Global cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury causes loss of pyramidal cells in CA1 region of hippo... more Global cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury causes loss of pyramidal cells in CA1 region of hippocampus. In this study, we investigated the possible neuroprotective effects of the ethanol extract of Cyperus rotundus (EECR) on a model of global transient ischemia in rat, by evaluating the pathophysiology of the hippocampal tissue and spatial memory. Treatment group (EECR, 100 mg/kg/day) was gavaged from 4 days before, to 3 days after ischemia. Morris water maze test was performed 1 week after ischemia for 4 days. Brain tissue was prepared for Nissl staining. Our data showed no statistical difference between the treatment and ischemia groups in water maze task. So, treatment of ischemia with EECR cannot improve spatial learning and memory. On the contrary EECR ameliorated the CA1 pyramidal cell loss due to transient global ischemia/reperfusion injury. These results suggest that EECR cannot reduce the ischemia-induced, cognitive impairments seen after transient, global cerebral ischemi...
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Papers by Abolfazl Movafagh