The present study was conducted to compare stool antigen detection with PCR for the diagnosis of Entamoeba sp. infection in asymptomatic cyst passers from Iran. Entamoeba dispar and, in one case, E. moshkovskii were the Entamoeba spp. found in the amebic cyst passers. There was a 100% correlation between the results from the TechLab E. histolytica II stool antigen kit and those from nested PCR. We concluded that E. dispar is much more common in asymptomatic cyst passers in Iran and that antigen detection and PCR are comparable diagnostic modalities.Entamoeba histolytica, E. dispar, and E. moshkovskii are morphologically identical but biochemically and genetically different. These parasites colonize the human gut, but only E. histolytica is thought to be capable of causing disease. Amebiasis, defined as asymptomatic, invasive intestinal or extraintestinal disease due to E. histolytica infection, is one of the most common parasitic infections worldwide, infecting about 50 million people, frequently in developing countries, resulting in 40,000 to 100,000 deaths per annum (21). Asymptomatic cyst passage is the most frequent manifestation of intestinal Entamoeba infection. All E. dispar and E. moshkovskii infections and 90% of E. histolytica infections are asymptomatic (21). The studies conducted to date that have used methods capable of differentiating between the two species suggest that, in general, E. dispar is much more prevalent than E. histolytica (9,10,11) and that only a small proportion of individuals specifically infected with E. histolytica will progress to having amebic disease (8). The necessity to identify and treat asymptomatic carriers of E. histolytica is emphasized by the observation that 10% of them develop invasive amebiasis in due course (6). Additionally, asymptomatic carriers are more likely to spread the disease than symptomatic persons with invasive diseases, as the latter individuals seek medical attention (12).In nearly all of the studies of asymptomatic amebic cyst passers in which the distribution of the two species has been investigated (1,3,5,11,16,18), E. dispar has been found to be much more prevalent than E. histolytica; however, in a few studies, including two from Mexico (14, 15) and one targeting mentally retarded individuals in Japan (20), either E. histolytica occult infections were more common than E. dispar infections or E. histolytica was the sole Entamoeba sp. found.Several microscopy-based epidemiological studies in Iran have shown Entamoeba sp. infection rates of 2.2% to 30% (13, 17). The current study, therefore, was designed to address the distribution of E. histolytica and E. dispar in regions of Iran where previous microscopy-based studies showed a high prevalence of infection and to compare the commercially available TechLab E. histolytica II kit to PCR.A total of 1,037 single fresh stool samples were collected from apparently healthy persons in rural and semirural settings of western (Luristan), northwestern (West Azerbaijan), and northeastern (Golestan) Iran, where...

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most common causes of cancer-related death all over the world. This disease is difficult to treat and patients have an overall 5-year survival rate of less than 5%. Although two drugs, gemcitabine (GEM) and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) have been shown to improve the survival rate of patients systematically, they do not increase general survival to a clinically acceptable degree. Lack of ideal clinical response of pancreatic cancer patients to chemotherapy is likely to be due to intrinsic and acquired chemoresistance of tumor cells. Various mechanisms of drug resistance have been investigated in pancreatic cancer, including genetic and epigenetic changes in particular genes or signaling pathways. In addition, evidence suggests that microRNAs (miRNAs) play significant roles as key regulators of gene expression in many cellular processes, including drug resistance. Understanding underlying genes and mechanisms of drug resistance in pancreatic cancer is critical to develop new effective treatments for this deadly disease. This review illustrates the genes and miRNAs involved in resistance to gemcitabine in pancreatic cancer.

During resistance induction in pancreatic cancer cells, miR-608 which is targeting RRM1 and CDA is downregulated which leads to upregulation of these genes.

Précis Molecular epidemiology is a subdivision of medical science and epidemiology that emphases on the involvement of potential environmental and genetic risk factors, recognized at the molecular level, to the etiology and avoidance of sickness through populations. This arena has developed from the combination of molecular biology and traditional epidemiological research. Molecular epidemiology can improve our knowledge about the precise pathogenesis of disease through recognizing particular pathways that affect the risk of developing the disease. Furthermore, it tries to find how the collaborations between genetic characteristics and environmental exposures works in disease occurrence.