BACKGROUND Wilson disease is an autosomal recessive disorder of copper transport and is characterized by excessive accumulation of cellular copper in the liver and other tissues because of impaired biliary copper excretion and disturbed incorporation of copper into ceruloplasmin. Hepatic failure and neuronal degeneration are the major symptoms of Wilson disease. Mutations in the ATP7B gene are ...

BACKGROUND Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a serious risk factor for several severe liver diseases such as cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. HBV, like other viruses, uses several mechanisms to escape from specific immune responses including the use of mutations in the genome which lead to epitope variations. There are several immune responses, including T helper cells, cytotoxic T lymphocytes,...

It has recently been shown that ROR1, a member of the receptor tyrosine kinase family, is overexpressed in leukemic B cells of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) and a subset of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). In this comparative study the expression profile of ROR1 mRNA was investigated in Iranian patients with CLL and Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) and the results were compared with tho...

BACKGROUND Tissue Doppler imaging is used routinely to quantify both left and right ventricular function. However, normal reference values of echocardiography parameters of the right ventricle in Iranian population are still unknown. OBJECTIVES Accordingly, we conducted a study to determine the normal values of echocardiography parameters of right ventricular function in a healthy Iranian pop...

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Langerhans cell histiocytosis is a rare disease with unknown pathogenesis and is characterized by local or disseminated proliferation of Langerhans cells. There is no previous investigation on prevalence of oral Langerhans cell histiocytosis in Iranian population. PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to assess the relative frequency of oral Langerhans cell histiocyto...

BACKGROUND Determination of reference ranges of each serum protein in normal population of each country is required for studies and clinical interpretation. The aim of this study was defining reference range values of immunoglobulins and complement components in Iranian healthy children. METHODS This study was conducted from June 2003 to June 2006 in Immunology, Asthma and Allergy Research In...

Apidaecins, short proline-arginine-rich peptides from insects, are highly bactericidal through a mechanism that includes stereoselective elements but is completely devoid of any pore-forming activity. The spectrum of antibacterial activity, always limited to Gram-negatives, is further dependent on a small number of variable residues and can be manipulated. We show here that mutations in the evo...

Radon contributes with more than 50% to the dose equivalent to the public coming from natural sources, and is a major risk factor for lung cancer occurrence (10–14%, in Europe, p.a.) which should be investigated. Insufficient data on radon levels exist for Romania up to now and further extensive surveys are needed. The paper presents a series of in-situ indoor radon data in various locations in...