Epilepsy is one of the most common neurologic disorders. Underlying cause of epilepsy is unknown in 60 % of the patients. Toxoplasma gondii is an intracellular parasite which is capable of forming tissue cysts in brain of chronically infected hosts including humans. Some epidemiological studies suggested an association between toxoplasmosis and acquisition of epilepsy. In this study we determin...

INTRODUCTION This study evaluated the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in a sample of Iranian patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis. The data were compared with the HRQOL for the Iranian general population. MATERIALS AND METHODS Two-hundred and fifty patients undergoing hemodialysis were included using a convenience sampling approach in a cross-sectional study. Data collection wa...

Introduction: Investigation of supportive care needs of cancer patients is important to implement any supportive care programs. There is no relevant studies investigated supportive care needs of Iranian cancer patients and factors affecting such needs. So, the aims of present study were to determine the unmet supportive care needs of Iranian cancer patients and its predictive factors. Methods: ...

BACKGROUND The polymorphisms of cytochrome P450 2C19 (CYP2C19) gene are major prognostic factors for the response to clopidogrel therapy in patients with coronary artery diseases (CAD). The CYP2C19*2 is the most important allele responsible for resistance to clopidogrel therapy. This study examined CYP2C19 gene polymorphism (CYP2C19*1 and *2) in Iranian patients. METHODS This cross-sectional ...

OBJECTIVE To determine the frequency of DYT1 mutation in Iranian patients affected with primary dystonia. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this study, we investigated 60 patients with primary dystonia who referred to the Tehran Medical Genetics Laboratory (TMGL) to determine the deletional mutation of 904-906 del GAG in the DYT1 gene. DNA extracted from patients' peripheral blood was subjected to PCR...

BACKGROUND The Purpose of this study is to clarify the care process for Iranian diabetic patients with diabetic foot ulcer condition. METHODS The main question of this research was "How is the care process for diabetic foot ulcer patients and how do patients experience it?" This study was within the Grounded Theory method. Data collection was carried out until data saturation was achieved. Sa...

BACKGROUND Immunophenotypic characterization of the leukemic cells has been widely used as a tool for diagnosis, classification, stratification and prognosis of leukaemia. OBJECTIVE To investigate the immunophenotypic subtype profiles of Iranian patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and its association to disease outcome. METHODS In this study, a total of 60 Iranian patients with...

OBJECTIVE Nephropatic Cystinosis (NC) is a rare metabolic disorder due to mutation in the CTNS gene in which more than 90 different mutations have already been reported so far. This study was performed to investigate mutations of the CTNS gene and its promoter in a number of Iranian patients with NC. METHODS Polymerase chain reaction and direct sequencing were performed for molecular characte...

Objectives. We evaluated the psychometric properties of the Persian LupusQoL for the evaluation of quality of life in Iranian systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients. Methods. The LupusQoL was translated to Persian language. Patients with SLE (n = 78) completed the LupusQoL and the Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36). Disease activity and cumulative disease damage were assessed with standard i...

BACKGROUND Papillon-Lefevre syndrome (PLS) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder characterized by palmoplantar hyperkeratosis and early development of aggressive periodontitis. Although cathepsin C (CTSC) gene mutations have been established in about 70-80% of PLS patients, it is assumed that the patients may have dysfunctioning of immune defense mechanisms. OBJECTIVE To assess the associati...