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Background. Cardiotoxicity caused by fluoropyrimidines is an uncommon but potentially fatal complication. Its frequency has been 1.6 to 19% in previous studies. But there are no accurate statistics in Iran. The aim of this study was to determine the rate of cardiac complications of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) infusion. Methods. This prospective study was conducted in patients with gastrointestinal cancers who underwent chemotherapy with regimens containing 24-hour infusion of 5-FU at Rohani Hospital of Babol. Patients with a history of radiation therapy to the chest or epigastrium or suffering from COVID-19 disease in the last 6 weeks were excluded from the study. Each patient was examined in 2 cycles of chemotherapy. In case of complications, cardiac examinations including examination, electrocardiogram, echocardiography and if necessary, coronary angiography were done. Data analysis was done with SPSS 26 software using descriptive indices and Fisher exact test (significance≤0.05). Results. In sixty one patients, 122 courses of chemotherapy were evaluated. Underlying cancer was colorectal cancer in 32 patients, stomach cancer in people. Eight patients (13.11%) had cardiac complication, in eleven chemotherapy cycles, included 7 cases of chest pain and one case of each of complications of myocardial infarction, pulmonary edema and pericarditis. Four out of 8 patients suffered from complications only in the first round, one only in the second round and three patients in both rounds of chemotherapy (P=0.004).The incidence rate of complications in patients without a history of heart disease was 8.7% and in patients with a history of heart disease 26.7%(P=0.073), in non-smokers 10% and in smokers 30%(P=0.084). It was 10.6% in non-diabetic patients and 21.4% in diabetic patients (P=0.294). Conclusion. Cardiac complications are common in 24-hour injection of 5-fluorouracil. A patient who has a heart complication once, might have a higher probability of having a complication in the next cycles. Practical Implications. Due to the high prevalence of cardiac complications of 24-hour floururacil infusion, especially in patients with a history of heart disease, careful cardiac monitoring during hospitalization is recommended.

Background: The present study aimed to investigate the one-year prevalence of SARS-CoV-2, common comorbidities and demographic information among negative- and positive rRT-PCR in health care workers (HCW), hospitalized and outpatients. Also, the association between SARS-CoV-2 cycle threshold (Ct) and the outcomes of patients were analyzed in Babol, northern Iran. Methods: This large retrospective cross-sectional study was performed between March 2020 and March 2021. The records of 19232 hospitalized, outpatients and HCW suspected to COVID-19 were collected from teaching hospitals in the North of Iran. Results: Out of the 19232 suspected to COVID-19 patients, 7251 (37.7%) had a positive rRT-PCR result; 652 (9%), 4599 (63.4%) and 2000 (27.6%) of those were categorized as HCW, hospitalized and outpatients, respectively. Moreover, between the hospitalized and the outpatient group, 10.2 and 0.8% cases died, whereas no death cases were reported in the HCW. Furthermore, it seems that death rate was significantly different between the three groups of Ct value, the highest mortality in those with Ct between 21 and 30 (group B=7.6%) and the lowest in the group with the highest Ct (between 31 and 40 = 5.5%) (p

Background. Achieving a suitable medical laboratory index is very important for the prediction of clinical outcome of COVID-19 patients hospitalized to the intensive care unit (ICU). The correlation between neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and unfavorable outcome of COVID-19 patients hospitalized to ICU was the aim of this study. Methods. We evaluated a cross-sectional study of 312 COVID-19 patients who were hospitalized to the ICU (confirmed by PCR and CT-Scan), in Babol city, Mazandaran province. WBC, RBC, lymphocyte, neutrophil, monocyte, platelet count, NLR, C-reactive protein (CRP), ESR, MCV, MHC, and other factors were evaluated. Results. Our findings indicated that all patients aged 56 to 69 years with COVID-19 had a significant difference (P

Tissue culture technique was used to obtain salt tolerant variants from embryogenic calluses of sugarcane (Saccharum sp. var. CP48-103) that cultured on a selective medium containing different levels of NaCl (0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8% NaCl). A total of four plants regenerated from the tolerant calluses were selected but the best of them in vigor grown in in vitro and hydroponic systems under salinity stress to comparison with source variety. With increasing supply of NaCl in both systems, root growth was more adversely affected than was shoot growth. Chlorophyll contents showed a decreasing trend and dry matter yield of plants reduced but in a slow rate in tolerant somaclonal than source variety. The biochemical analysis showed that at high salt concentration, Cl- and Na+ content in shoot and root increased. With rising salt concentration from 0 to 0.8%, content of Cl- in shoot and root of tolerant variant changed lower than parent showed that this variant had genetic lowest ratio of shoot/root chloride and had minimum transport of Cl- to shoots. Also this variant had high content of Ca2+ in shoot and high K+/Na+ ratio at all salinity levels. Thus it probably has genetic potential to avoid harmful ions uptake.

Tissue culture technique was used to obtain salt tolerant variants from embryogenic calluses of sugarcane (Saccharum sp. var. CP48-103) that cultured on a selective medium containing different levels of NaCl (0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8% NaCl). A total of four plants regenerated from the tolerant calluses were selected but the best of them in vigor grown in in vitro and hydroponic systems under salinity stress to comparison with source variety. With increasing supply of NaCl in both systems, root growth was more adversely affected than was shoot growth. Chlorophyll contents showed a decreasing trend and dry matter yield of plants reduced but in a slow rate in tolerant somaclonal than source variety. The biochemical analysis showed that at high salt concentration, Cl− and Na+ content in shoot and root increased. With rising salt concentration from 0 to 0.8%, content of Cl− in shoot and root of tolerant variant changed lower than parent showed that this variant had genetic lowest ratio of shoot/root chloride and had minimum transport of Cl− to shoots. Also this variant had high content of Ca2+ in shoot and high K+/Na+ ratio at all salinity levels. Thus it probably has genetic potential to avoid harmful ions uptake.

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of heat stress after anthesis on the performance of Photosystem II (PSII) and the enzymatic activity of catalase and ascorbate peroxidase. Two treatments-normal and heat stress-were conducted on four bread wheat cultivars from 7 days after anthesis until maturity. Heat stress led to an acceleration of chlorosis, reduced the efficiency of electron transfer and increased concentrations of malondialdehyde; however, the level of susceptibility varied depending on the cultivars. On the 10th day of heat stress, reductions in fluorescence parameters, depending on the cultivar, were 6.9 to 18.9% for Fv/Fm, 9 to 21% for ΦPSII and 8.3 to 19.4% for F’v/F’m compared to normal conditions. Catalase activity increased after initial exposure to heat stress. However, after 10 days of treatment, catalase activity increased in the Chamran and Aflak cultivars by 32% and 45%, respectively, but it did not change in the Dez cultivar and decreased 22% in Darab2. Ascorbate peroxidase activity decreased in two treatments, while the amount of reduction in heat stress treatment was more than the normal treatment. The highest levels of enzymatic activity were observed in Chamran under heat stress conditions, whereas Darab2 and Dez showed the lowest activity of the enzymes. Chlorophyll fluorescence parameters and chlorophyll index had a significant negative correlation with the levels of malondialdehyde; however, they had a significant positive correlation with the antioxidant activity.