Saba Jalali | Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences (original) (raw)

Papers by Saba Jalali

Breast cancer research and treatment, Feb 28, 2024

Tehran University Medical Journal TUMS Publications, Jan 10, 2020

Renal calculus with increasing prevalence and incidence in recent decades have the highest burden... more Renal calculus with increasing prevalence and incidence in recent decades have the highest burden of urologic diseases. While preventive measures could significantly reduce the rate of recurrence, the amount of compliance with the preventive guidelines is unclear among urologists. This study was designated to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice in kidney stones prevention among urologists for the first time in Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on the participants of the 20th Iranian Urological Association Congress. The questionnaires included questions regarding demographics, educational and occupational information, knowledge, attitude, and practice of urologists in the field of kidney stones prevention. The questionnaires were designed according to the latest guideline of the European Association of Urology and previous studies. Scores related to the knowledge and practice were calculated based on the number of questions with correct answers. The response rate was also calculated. The correlation of knowledge and practice with background variables, including age, work experience, and time since graduation were assessed. Results: The total response rate was 18.08% (64 out of 354 distributed questionnaires). The mean age of the respondents was 47.25±10.20 and the mean work experience was 15.61±11.70 years. The mean knowledge and practice scores were 8.36±1.48 out of 11 and 4.44±1.45 out of 7 scores, respectively. A total of 96.2% and 73.4% of the urologists earned at least half of the knowledge and practice scores, respectively. There was no significant correlation between knowledge and practice scores (P=0.706). Work experience and time since graduation had a negative relationship with the knowledge scores (respectively, P=0.02 and P=0.026), and faculty membership had a positive correlation with the practice scores (P=0.022). Most respondents had an acceptable attitude regarding the effectiveness of stone prevention. Conclusion: Although the study participants had good knowledge, attitude, and practice pattern regarding urinary stone prevention, their performance score was less than their level of awareness. However, we could not generalize the results to other urologists due to the low response rate of the study.

European Journal of Medical Research

Objectives To evaluate the effects of two vitamin D repletion therapies (cholecalciferol) on seru... more Objectives To evaluate the effects of two vitamin D repletion therapies (cholecalciferol) on serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) and 24-h urine calcium in patients with recurrent calcium kidney stones and vitamin D deficiency (VDD). Design, setting, participants A parallel-group randomized controlled clinical trial on patients who referred to Labbafinejad kidney stone prevention clinic, Tehran, Iran. From 88 recurrent calcium stone formers, 62 patients completed the study. The age of participants was 18–70 years who had serum 25(OH)D levels of 10–20 ng/ml. Intervention Participants received oral cholecalciferol 2000 IU daily for 12 weeks or 50,000 IU weekly for 8 weeks. Main outcome measures Study variables including 24-h urine calcium, supersaturations of calcium oxalate and calcium phosphate, serum 25(OH)D and parathyroid hormone were measured at the beginning of the study and after 12 weeks. Results The 24-h urine calcium significantly increased in both groups (β = 69.7...

BMC Women's Health

Background Diet quality is a significant determinant in the etiology of breast cancer (BrCa), but... more Background Diet quality is a significant determinant in the etiology of breast cancer (BrCa), but further studies are required to explore this relationship. Therefore, we tried to assess if diet quality, assessed using the Diet Quality Index-International (DQI-I), was related to BrCa among the Iranian population. Methods In the present case-control research, 134 women with a recent diagnosis of BrCa and 267 without BrCa were selected as case and control groups. Individual food intake data from a food frequency questionnaire was used to compute DQI-I. Also, the multivariable logistic regression models were utilized to evaluate the association between DQI-I and BrCa odds . Results We found a significant association between the last tertile of DQI-I and BrCa odds in the fully adjusted model (odds ratio (OR) = 0.30; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.15–0.56). The subgroup analysis based on menopausal status also showed a significant decrease in BrCa odds in pre-and post-menopausal women (...

SAGE Open Medicine

Objective: Most multiple sclerosis patients have urological complications such as lower urinary t... more Objective: Most multiple sclerosis patients have urological complications such as lower urinary tract symptoms. This study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of these symptoms and whether they result in a urological evaluation. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 517 multiple sclerosis patients at Tehran’s referral multiple sclerosis center and neurology clinics between 2018 and 2022 was performed. Data were collected through interviews after patients completed informed consent forms. Urological examinations, including urine analysis and ultrasonography, were evaluated as final assessments. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical tests in Statistical Package for Social Science. Results: Among all participants, the prevalence of lower urinary tract symptoms was 73% ( n = 384), with urgency (44.8% n = 232) being the most common symptom. The prevalence of intermittency was significantly higher among women ( p = 0.004). There was no gender-significant ...

Biological Trace Element Research, Feb 21, 2023

Objectives The effect of two treatment protocols on serum levels of vitamin D and 24-hour urine c... more Objectives The effect of two treatment protocols on serum levels of vitamin D and 24-hour urine calcium in patients with calcium urolithiasis and vitamin D deficiency Design, Setting, Participants A parallel-group randomized controlled clinical trial on patients who referred to Labbafinejad stone prevention clinic, Tehran, Iran. From 88 recurrent calcium kidney stone formers, 62 patients completed the study. The age of study participants were 18 to 70 years old and, had serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) level 10–20 ng/ml. Intervention Study participants received 2000 IU vitamin D daily for 12 weeks or 50000 IU vitamin D weekly for eight weeks. Main outcome measures Study variables including 24-hour urine calcium, supersaturations of calcium oxalate and calcium phosphate, serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and parathormone were measured at the beginning and after 12 weeks. Results The 24-hour urine calcium significantly increased in both groups (B = 69.70, p < 0.001), with no significant...

Annals of the Romanian Society for Cell Biology, May 5, 2021

Tehran University Medical Journal, 2020

Background: Renal calculus with increasing prevalence and incidence in recent decades have the hi... more Background: Renal calculus with increasing prevalence and incidence in recent decades have the highest burden of urologic diseases. While preventive measures could significantly reduce the rate of recurrence, the amount of compliance with the preventive guidelines is unclear among urologists. This study was designated to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice in kidney stones prevention among urologists for the first time in Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on the participants of the 20th Iranian Urological Association Congress. The questionnaires included questions regarding demographics, educational and occupational information, knowledge, attitude, and practice of urologists in the field of kidney stones prevention. The questionnaires were designed according to the latest guideline of the European Association of Urology and previous studies. Scores related to the knowledge and practice were calculated based on the number of questions with correct an...

Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention : APJCP, 2018

Objective: To explore the role of nutrient patterns in the etiology of breast cancer (BCa) among ... more Objective: To explore the role of nutrient patterns in the etiology of breast cancer (BCa) among Iranian women. Methods: The study included 134 newly diagnosed cases of BCa and 267 hospitalized controls. A validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was used to assess dietary intake. Nutrient patterns were obtained using principal component analysis using Varimax rotation and logistic regression was performed to estimate breast cancer risk. Results: We identified 4 major nutrient patterns. First was high in consumption of vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, C, magnesium, iron, carbohydrate, fiber, selenium, zinc, protein, potassium, and calcium. The second nutrient pattern included Vitamins B12, A and cholesterol, while the third featured vitamin D, EPA and DHA. The fourth was characterized by vitamin E, MUFA and saturated fatty acids. After adjusting for age, patterns 1 and 3 were associated with a lower risk of BCa (OR=0.51, 95% CI: 0.33- 0.80, P=0.003, OR=0.64, 95...

Nutrition and Cancer, 2018

European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, 2018

BMC Cancer

Background Studying entire dietary patterns is a promising alternative approach to overcome limit... more Background Studying entire dietary patterns is a promising alternative approach to overcome limitations of the single food or nutrient approach. We evaluated the relationship between the scores of 4 established Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet indexes and breast cancer risk among Iranian women. Methods This case-control study was carried out on 408 eligible women (136 cases and 272 hospital-based controls). A validated 168 item semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire was used for assessing usual dietary intakes. DASH index scores were generated based on predefined algorithms for each of the 4 previously described indexes (Dixon’s, Mellen’s, Fung’s and Günther’s DASH diet index). Unconditional logistic regression analysis was performed to estimate odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for score categories or quintiles of DASH diet indexes and breast cancer risk in multivariate adjusted models. Results Women in the highest categories of the Melle...

Nutrition and Cancer, 2020

Background Dietary patterns may be an important predictor of breast cancer risk. However, they ca... more Background Dietary patterns may be an important predictor of breast cancer risk. However, they cannot completely explain the pairwise correlations among foods. The purpose of this study is to compare food intake networks derived by Gaussian Graphical Models (GGMs) for women with and without breast cancer to better understand how foods are consumed in relation to each other according to disease status. Methods A total of 134 women with breast cancer and 267 hospital controls were selected from referral hospitals of Tehran, Iran. Dietary intakes were evaluated by using a validated 168 food-items semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. GGMs were applied to log-transformed intakes of 28 food groups to construct outcome-specific food networks. Results Among cases, a main network containing intakes of 12 central food groups (vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, olive oil and olive, processed meat, sweets, salt, soft drinks, fried potatoes, pickles, low-fat dairy, pizza) was detecte...

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Bladder cancer (BC) is the ninth recurrent neoplasm in the world. In Iran, incidence of BC is the... more Bladder cancer (BC) is the ninth recurrent neoplasm in the world. In Iran, incidence of BC is the third most common among men. Few dietary patterns are related to reduced carcinogenesis and consequently are amenable to modification in order to reduce the BC risk. Adherence to the traditional Nordic diet, as measured by the Healthy Nordic Food Index (HNFI), have shown a beneficial effect on chronic disease prevention, including cancer. The principal objective of this study was to investigate the association between HNFI and the odds of BC in a case-control study, in Iran. The present case-control study was performed on 100 eligible cases and 200 controls of patients ≥45 years old referred to three referral hospitals in Tehran. Dietary intakes are assessed by a valid 168-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). The relationship between HNFI and BC is estimated using the logistic regression tests. The average age of cases and control were 65.41 and 61.31 years, respectively. After controlling for potential confounders (age, smoke, total energy, and sex), participants in the highest tertile of HNFI (compared to the lowest tertile) have 83% lower BC risk (OR = 0.17; 95%CI = 0.07–0.42). Based on an independent assessment of HNFI component and BC risk, a significant negative association was observed for fish intake (OR = 0.30; 95%CI = 0.15– 0.60) and whole-grain bread intake (OR = 0.33; 95%CI = 0.17–0.63). The findings of this study suggested that adherence to traditional Nordic diet could decrease the risk of BC. Of the elements of this diet, fish and whole-grain bread consumption seemed to decrease the odds of BC. Such findings ought to be considered in the development of evidence-base intervention for BC prevention in the country.

Background Surgery is usually the first treatment for breast cancer which is followed by some com... more Background Surgery is usually the first treatment for breast cancer which is followed by some complications such as chronic pain. Post mastectomy pain syndrome (PMPS) is a common complication among breast cancer survivors and is considered as a chronic neuropathic pain in the side of surgery which persists more than three months. The exact mechanisms and related risk factors of the chronic pain after breast surgery are unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of body mass index (BMI) and age with PMPS. Methods In this case-control study, a total of 122 women were assessed; of these, 61 women were diagnosed with PMPS and selected as cases and 61 pain-free patients were selected as controls. The demographic and clinical characteristics of participants were collected through questionnaires and medical record of patients. Logistic regression model was used to determine the association of BMI and age with PMPS, adjusted for demographic and clinical characteristic...

Nutrition and Cancer

Abstract Limited studies have conducted on the association between carbohydrate intake, glycemic ... more Abstract Limited studies have conducted on the association between carbohydrate intake, glycemic index (GI), glycemic load (GL), and BC risk among Middle Eastern women. Our objective was to examine whether intake of carbohydrates, GI and GL would lead to more risk of BC among Iranian women. In this case-control study, 136 women with histologically confirmed BC and 272 control women were recruited. Dietary intake was assessed using a validated 168-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) from which GI and GL were estimated. We calculated Odds ratios (OR) using logistic regression. The multivariate OR for the highest vs. the lowest quartile was 2.49 (95% CI 1.28–4.82; P trend = 0.005) for GI with a significant trend. OR for GI and GL among postmenopausal women were 4.45 (95% CI 1.59–12.47; P trend = 0.002) and 4.15 (95% CI 0.87–19.67; P trend = 0.03), respectively. OR for GI among women with reduced vegetable intake was 13.55 (95% CI 3.90–46.99; P trend <0.001). Our data suggest that high GI and GL play an important role in the risk of BC particularly among postmenopausal woman.

Clinical Nutrition Research

Despite mounting evidence that dietary polyphenols might have a protective role against the risk ... more Despite mounting evidence that dietary polyphenols might have a protective role against the risk of breast cancer (BC), few studies have assessed the relationship between intake of polyphenol classes and subclasses with BC. Thus, we examined the relationship between dietary polyphenol classes and individual polyphenol subclasses and the risk of BC. Overall, 134 newly diagnosed BC patients and 267 healthy hospitalized controls were studied. Dietary intake was assessed using a validated 168-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). To estimate dietary intake of polyphenols, polyphenol content (flavonoids, lignans, stilbenes and phenolic acids) of 80 food items were derived from an updated version of the phenol explorer database containing information on the effects of food processing on polyphenol content. The dietary polyphenol intake was calculated by matching the subjects' food consumption data with our polyphenol content database. Multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Controls had higher intake of total polyphenol (marginally significant; p = 0.07), hydroxycinnamic acid (marginally significant; p = 0.05) and lignan (p = 0.01). After adjusting for potential confounders, high consumption of lignans (highest vs. lowest tertile: OR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.26-0.97; p for trend = 0.04) associated with decreased risk of BC. There was no significant relationship between intake of other polyphenols and risk of BC. Our findings suggest that high lignan intake is associated with a reduced risk of BC.