Since the first transplant in 1957 and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is the curative modality for numerous hematological disorders. Nevertheless, it is not available for all patients. Besides unavailability of matched donors a lot of factors could hinder HSCT in a resource limited setting, as financial and administrative factors. In our daily practice we noticed other factors that hinder HSCT in our center, the common myths and misconceptions about HSCT and donation. This quasi-experimental study assessed, for the first time, common myths and misconceptions about HSCT among 218 medical and nursing students before and after an interventional educational program. The study tool was an investigators' developed self-administered questionnaire. Participants' male to female ratio was 1:2.5, and FAS was middle in 52.7%. Pretest high myths scores were reported in 53.4% and 90% of medical and …

AbstractBackground: Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) is the most common chronic lympho-proliferative disorder. This study was done to explore the frequency of serum Immu-noglobulin (Ig) paraprotein in patients with CLL and its correlation with other prognostic factors as expression of CD38 and zeta-chain-associated protein kinase 70 (ZAP70) on malignant lymphocytes.

Aim of Study

To study the frequency of serum immu-noglobulin paraprotein in patients with CLL and its correlation with other prognostic factors as expression of CD38 and ZAP70 on malignant lymphocytes.

Patients and Methods

Clinico-hematological profiles were done to 30 CLL patients. Serum Protein Electrophoresis (SPE) and Immunofixation Electrophoresis (IFE) were per-formed to measure serum Ig paraprotein. ZAP-70 and CD 38 were tested by flow cytometry.

Results

In this study CLL patients were classified accord-ing to modified Rai staging system into: Low risk 10%, intermediate risk 40% and high risk 50%. Four CLL patients (13.4%) had monoclonal gammopathy (M-band), the type of M-band in the 4 patients was IgG-Kappa. One patient (3.3%) had diffuse band (polyclonal gammopathy). ZAP-70 and CD 38 positivity were detected in 7 patients (23.3%) and 15 patients (50%), respectively. There was significant relation between presence of Ig paraprotein in CLL patients and ZAP 70 expression (p=0.034). On the other hand there was no relation between presence of M-band in CLL patients and CD38 expression nor modified Rai staging system.

Conclusion

Monoclonal gammopathy was found in 13.4% of CLL patients. The detection of Ig paraprotein might be …

Background: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) across cortical brain areas appears to improve various forms of pain, yet evidence of tDCS efficiency and ideal stimulation target is lacking. This study aimed to compare the add-on analgesic efficacy of concentric electrode transcranial direct current stimulation (CE-tDCS) stimulation over the primary motor cortex versus the insular cortex on the management of chronic postmastectomy pain. Method: Prospective randomized double-blind sham-controlled study enrolled eighty patients with chronic postmastectomy pain that were randomly assigned to four groups: active motor (AM), sham motor (SM), active insula (AI) and sham insula (SI) group, each received 5 sessions for 20-minute duration with 2 mA tDCS over the targeted area of the contralateral side of pain. Our primary outcome was VAS score, the secondary outcomes were VDS score, LANSS score and depression symptoms by HAM-D scores, assessment was done at 4 time points (prestimulation, after 5th session, 15th day and one month after the last session). Results: Both active tDCS groups (motor and insula) showed reduction of VAS (P Conclusion: Active tDCS stimulation either targeting the primary motor cortex or the insula cortex has add-on analgesic effect for controlling neuropathic chronic post mastectomy pain and the maximum effect was at 15 days after the last session.