Jorjani Biomedicine Journal

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Background & Objective: Myocardial infarction is one of the most common coronary artery diseases. One of the educational needs of patients, is how to perform sexual activities. Unfortunately, this issue is not being taught to patients, leading to problems in patients and their partners. This study was aimed to determine the effect of sex education on patients and their spouses› satisfaction after myocardial infarction. Method: This Quasi-experimental, non-randomized study was performed on 60 patients with myocardial infarction and their spouses in the city of Yazd whom were divided into two groups of experimental and control (60 in each group),in the year 1392. The main method of this study was the education and preparation of nurses and then educating patients by trained nurses and to assess sexual satisfaction based on the standard Larson›s questionnaire. The data were then statistically analyzed using SPSS version 16 using paired, independent t-test. Results: The average sexual satisfaction of patients in the experimental group before the intervention was 81.93 ± 12.47 and after the intervention 82.50 ± 12.57 While in the control group before the intervention the average satisfaction was 83.10 ± 17.36 and after 6 weeks 75.30 ± 15.42. Also the mean sexual satisfaction of partners in the test group before and after the intervention was 81.30 ± 12.47 and 82.07 ± 12.28 respectively. In the control group before the intervention, the average score was 82.50 ± 17.21 and after intervention it was 74.57 ± 15.30. There was significant difference between patients and spouses› sexual satisfaction scores in the experimental and control groups before and after the intervention (P=0.001). Conclusion: Sex education increased the sexual satisfaction among the tested group. Therefore, it is suggested to include programs in order to prepare nurses in terms of sex education of patients and their spouses in cardiac intensive wards.

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Background & Objectives: Defect in Immune responses, such as immunosuppression is one of the major causes of AML pathogenesis and progression which could be targeted for immunotherapy of these patients. CD200 and IDO are immunoregulatory factors which are overexpressed in some solid tumors and hematological malignancies. Distinct researches have shown that CD200 and IDO expressions are associated with AML progression. In the current study, we simultaneously examined the expression of these molecules, as the two important factors including in immunosuppression, in the newly diagnosed and relapse AML patients to investigate their correlation with each other.

Methods: In this study, 48 Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMCs) samples of newly diagnosed and relapsed AML patients were tested and also 32 PBMCs of normal subjects were employed as normal controls. CD200 expression level was examined on the cells by Flowcytometry and quantitative real time RT-PCR was used to determine the IDO-1 gene expression. Finally data were analyzed statistically by Spss 17 software.

Results: Our data showed that CD200 (P=0.02) and IDO-1 (P=0.44) were overexpressed in AML samples especially in relapsed patients. Comparison between FAB AML subgroups demonstrated no statistical differences regarding CD200 level but expression of IDO-1 was slightly increased only in M4 subgroup in comparison to M3 (P=0.01). Correlation analyses showed strong association between the expressions of CD200 and IDO-1 in all patients particularly in relapsed AML, whereas no significant correlation was found in normal subjects.  

Conclusion: According to the role and overexpression of CD200 and IDO-1 in AML patients and also their two-way correlation with T-reg lymphocytes in disease induction and progression, simultaneous assessment of these parameters are so valuable for more exact prognosis detection. Also inhibition of all these immunoregulatory pathways could be so useful for immunotherapy outcome, especially in relapsed AML. 

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Study objectives: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common chronic and systemic autoimmune disease, characterized by inflammation and the destruction of the joints. It is well known that CD4+ T cells play a major role in the pathogenesis of RA. Expanded subpopulations of CD4+ T cells have been reported in RA patients. Here, we investigated the expression of PD-1 on subsets of CD4+ T cells (CD4+CD28- and CD4+CD28+ T cells) in the peripheral blood (PB) and synovial fluid (SF) of patients with RA.
Methods: A total of 42 RA patients, including 10 newly diagnosed (ND) and 32 relapsed (RL) cases and also 20 healthy controls were enrolled. Phenotypic characterization subsets of CD4+ T cells were evaluated by flow cytometry, using fluorescence conjugated specific human monoclonal antibodies.
Results: The frequency of CD4+CD28+ T cells was significantly increased in SF versus PB in ND and RL patients. In contrast, the percentage of CD4+CD28- T cells was elevated in PB of ND and RL patients comparison to SF. Expression of PD-1 on CD4+CD28+ and CD4+CD28- T cells in PB of ND and RL patients was significantly higher than the healthy controls. Furthermore, PD-1 expression on CD4+CD28+ and CD4+CD28- T cells in SF versus PB of RL patients were significant increased.
Conclusion: These data suggest that CD4+ T cells subsets in RA patients were resistance to PD-1 mediated effects and PD-1 has insufficient ability to suppression of CD4+T cells.