Maternal morphine consumption has been shown to result in physical and neurobehavioral defects in fetus and offspring, but the underlying molecular mechanisms of these defects remain unclear. Regarding the critical role of apoptosis in normal development of central nervous system, the present study was designed to investigate the effect of intrauterine morphine exposure on programmed cell death of neuroblasts during the early development of neural system. Pregnant Wistar rats received morphine sulfate through drinking water at the concentration of 0.01 mg/ml (20 ml water per day for each rat) from the first day of gestation to the time of sampling. Control groups received tap water. Control and morphine-treated pregnant rats, each in five separated groups, were killed on gestational days 9.5 to 13.5, and the embryos were taken out, fixed, and embedded in paraffin. Immunohistochemical assay was used to reveal the protein expression of Bax, Bcl2, and the activation of caspase 3. The results showed a significant increase in Bax immunoreactivity in all of the mentioned embryonic days (E9.5 to E13.5) and a significant decrease in Bcl-2 immunoreactivity at days E10.5 and E12.5 in morphine-treated groups compared with control. Data analysis revealed that Bax/Bcl2 ratio was increased in all of the morphine-exposed groups. Consistent with these results, immunostaining of cleaved caspase 3 showed a significant increase at days E11.5 to E13.5. These findings suggest that morphine exposure during the first embryonic days may enhance the susceptibility of neuroblasts to apoptosis by upregulating the ratio of Bax to Bcl-2 protein expression and increasing downstream caspase-3 activity. The increased probability of neuroblast apoptosis may be the cause of morphine-induced defects in the central nervous system development and its structural and neurobehavioral consequences.

Background: Type 1 diabetes is a chronic condition that causes many problems for adolescents and their families. Given the increasing prevalence of diabetes and the numerous complications of the disease that require long-term treatment and the need for daily blood glucose control, lifestyle modification and knowledge acquisition regarding self-care behaviors are essential throughout life. Objectives: Considering the increasing prevalence of diabetes, this study evaluated the effect of self-care education on glycosylated Hemoglobin (HbA1c) level and blood glucose control in adolescents with diabetes in Ilam, Iran. Methods: A randomized clinical trial was conducted on patients with type 1 diabetes in Ilam. Patients were assigned randomly to experimental (n = 21) and control (n = 24) groups. A total of seven self-care group training sessions were arranged by the researcher; each session lasted 90 minutes and each group included five people. Patient fasting blood sugar (FBS) and HbA1c levels were measured before and three months after the intervention and analyzed using the SPSS 16.0 software, including descriptive statistics and chi-square, Mann-Whitney, independent t, and paired t-tests. Results: The findings of this study showed that there was no significant difference between the control and experimental groups regarding FBS and HbA1c findings before the intervention. However, compared to the levels before the intervention, the difference was significant in the experimental group yet insignificant in the control group. Conclusions: These findings suggest that nurses should provide patients with this type of training to improve the health of patients with type1 diabetes.

blaVIM blaIMP Metallo-β-Lactamase Pseudomonas aeruginosaBackground & objective: Beta-lactam antibiotics resistance specifically Imipenem and Meropenem, the last choices of treatment, causes fatal events in patients with P.aeruginosa infection. The aim of this study was to detect the VIM and IMP of metallo-beta-lactamase genes in 103 isolates of P. aeruginosa in two Iranian hospitals.Methods: In this study, we evaluated the susceptibility of P. aeruginosa to a range of β-lactam antibiotics using disk diffusion method as a standard biochemical test. Combined disk test of Imipenem (IMP) and Imipenem plus Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) was performed as a phenotypic method to find metallo-beta-lactamase producing isolates.Using conventional PCR method; we evaluated VIM and IMP of metallo-beta-lactamase (MBL) genes in 103 isolates of P.aeruginosa.Results: Twenty six (25.2%) out of 103 isolates were resistant to Imipenem and 26 (25.2%) to Meropenem. Among 26 Imipenem and Meropenem-resistant strains (25.2%), 19 cases (73.0%) were MBL producing. Using PCR method, we detected the blaVIM and blaIMP genes in 6 (5.8%) and 2(1.9%) of 19 MBL producing isolates, respectively.Conclusions: Evaluation of these carbepenemases genes improve epidemiologic researches and also, can be used as a diagnostic tool for discriminating between antibiotics resistant and sensitive strains of P.aeruginosa as well as follow-up the patients after treatment.

Introduction: Breast cancer (BC) is the most common malignancy affecting females worldwide. Various risk factors play a role in the developing of BC. Infectious agents like viruses have been proposed for this cancer and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a widely researched candidate virus. This study detects the presence of EBV-DNA in breast cancer patients. Methods: The study was conducted on 59 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue blocks samples of women with breast carcinoma and 11 non-neoplastic breast controls. The DNA was extracted for all the samples. Then detection of EBNA1 EBV was done by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results: EBV was detected in 6.7% (4/59) of patients while all breast control samples were negative. All patients with positive EBV-DNA were high tumor grades (II, and III). Also, they had a low level of educations. Conclusions: According to our findings, it can be suggested that EBV may have a potential role in breast cancer development. However, this study provides substantial but not conclusive evidence for the involvement of viruses in BC disease development. Therefore, future investigations are needed to elucidate the exact role of EBV in breast cancer.

Background/Aims: Insulin-like growth factor II mRNA-binding protein 3 (IMP3) is an oncofetal protein with vital function during human embryogenesis in terms of cellular growth and migration. Although it has minimum and undetectable expression in human adult tissues, it is highly expressed in various types of cancer. Few studies have recommend application of IMP3 expression to diagnose challenging cases of esophageal adenocarcinoma. This survey was aimed to evaluate the benefit of IMP3 expression detection in the diagnosis of esophageal adenocarcinoma and high-grade dysplasia by using immunohistochemistry (IHC). Materials and Methods: An immunohistochemistry study of IMP3 oncofetal protein was performed on paraffinembedded blocks of 76 cases, including Barrett's esophagus, esophageal squamous epithelium, Barrett's esophagus with low-grade dysplasia, Barrett's esophagus with high-grade dysplasia, moderately differentiated esophageal adenocarcinoma, and poorly differentiated esophageal adenocarcinoma. Two pathologists reevaluated the diagnosis and evaluated the positivity and intensity of the IHC staining as well. Results: Insulin-like growth factor II mRNA-binding protein 3 expression was intensely positive in all cases of esophageal adenocarcinoma and Barrett' s esophagus with HGD. Only mild positivity in 30% of Barrett' s esophagus with LGD was seen. However, Barrett' s esophagus and esophageal squamous epithelium had, in fact, no IMP3 expression. Conclusion: The percentage and intensity of IP3 IHC staining showed a significant difference between highgrade dysplasia and adenocarcinoma versus Barrett's esophagus with low-grade dysplasia, Barrett's esophagus, and esophageal squamous epithelium. Therefore, IMP3 oncofetal protein could be a very useful marker for the diagnosis of high-grade dysplasia and adenocarcinoma. However, to test the validation, a larger number samples is required.