MEDICAL SCIENCES JOURNAL OF ISLAMIC AZAD UNIVERSITY
Year:2016 | Volume:26 | Issue:3|Papers Count:10

Background: Methylphenidate or ritalin is one of the brain stimulant drug and used in treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), narcolepsy and situational tachycardia syndrome. In the present survey, the effect of methylphenidate on the liver was studied.Materials and methods: In this experimental study, a total of 24 male mice were randomly divided into three groups, including one control and two experimental groups. In experimental groups, ritalin was used in the doses of 2 and 10 mg/kg by gavages method for 40 days. At the end of the period and after animals’ euthanasia, the livers specimens were removed. Then, histological changes were studied using a light microscope. Also, blood sera were collected and the hepatic enzymes activity was determined. The data were statistically analyzed by ANOVA test and the p<0.05 was considered as significant.Results: Administration of methylphenidate in different concentrations resulted in significant reduction of hepatocytes diameters, decrease in nuclei diameters, increase in the size of hepatic sinusoids, and also necrosis and congestion in central vein. Furthermore, in the liver parenchyma belonging to treated groups, the infiltration of mononuclear leukocytes was observed. In the treated groups, the activity of the hepatic enzymes showed a significant increase compared with the control group.Conclusion: Considering the present findings, it could be suggested to avoid of prescribing of methylphenidate, especially in the patients with hepatic failures.

Background: The rapid development of nanotechnology has given rise to broad applications of nanoparticles (NPs) in biomedicine. This material is distributed in all parts of the body, rapidly after injection, by circulation and reach to all organs and tissues. Before their application as medicine, toxic effects of them on human and animals should be assessed. In this study, the effects of zinc oxide nanoparticle on histopathological changes of epididymis in adult male mice was investigated.Materials and methods: In this experimental study, 30 adult male NMRI mice were used. The animals were assigned as control, sham and three experimental groups (n=6). Sham and experimental groups received 1ml of distilled water and experimental animals received different doses of nano zinc oxide (250, 500 and 700 mg/kg, i.p. injection, respectively). Treatments was performed for one day. After a week, effects of zinc oxide nanoparticle on histopathological changes of epididym tissue were studied. Data were analyzed by ANOVA and Tukey test.Results: Administration of zinc oxide nanoparticle in 250 mg/kg dose caused significant reduction in the number of sperm cells. Also, zinc oxide nanoparticle in 250 mg/kg dose lead to degenerated epididymis cells in epididymis tubules. There were no significant changes in diameter of epididymis tubules and number of epididymis tubules.Conclusion: According to the results of this study, zinc oxide nanoparticles may cause adverse effects on the reproductive system. So, we recommend to avoid using products containing nanoparticles of zinc oxide.

Background: Ischemic stroke creates irreparable damages in patients with cerebrovascular disease. The CA1 region in hippocampus is one of the most sensitive areas of brain to ischemia. The recent reports have considered administrating propofol, as a neuroprotective agent. This study evaluated the neuroprotective effects of propofol on CA1 region of hippocampus on male lab rats following ischemia/ transient overall reperfusion in the empirical models.Materials and methods: In this experimental study, 18 male Wistar rats were divided randomly into three groups, each containing 6 rats to serve as control, ischemia and test subjects. Propofol in 40mg/kg dose was injected intraperitoneal, 1 hour before ischemia. The ischemia model was performed by bilateral blockage of common carotid arteries for 20 minutes. The Hematoxylin-Eosin, Nissl and TUNEL methods were used for evaluating histomorphologic changes, the changes in number of cells and the apoptotic bodies.Results: Injecting 40mg/kg propofol revealed protective characteristics on hippocampal pyramidal neurons of the ischemia/reperfusion induced lab rats.Conclusion: Ischemia causes death of neurons and morphological changes, while injecting propofol is able to significantly reduce the death of neurons and protect neurons against ischemic damages.

Background: Components of olive oil include oleic acid, hydrocarbons (as squalene), sterols (as beta-sitosterol), polyphenols (tyrosol, hydroxyltyrosol, oleuropeinand, and others), tocopherols and terpenoids. Olive oil ingredients have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-arrhythmic, anti-inflammatory and vasodilatory effects. The present study was done to evaluate the effects of olive oil on kidney, lipid and liver function in male rat.Materials and methods: In this experimental study, 14 male rats were divided into 2 groups. In control group, each rat underwent no stress such as injection, oral gavage and etc. in experimental group, each rat received 0.4 mL olive oil orally per day for 3 months. All animals bled after 3 months. The blood samples were tested for creatinine, nitrogen urea blood (BUN), total cholesterol, LDL and HDL cholesterol, triglyceride, sodium, glucose, SGOT, SGPT, ALP, GGT, albumin and total protein serum levels.Results: No significant differences were noticed in sodium, BUN, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and triglyceride serum levels in rats treated with olive oil compared to control group. There were no significant differences in SGOT, SGPT, ALP, GGT, albumin and total protein serum levels between rats treated with olive oil and control group.Conclusion: The results showed that olive oil had no effects on kidney, lipid and liver function.

Background: Human induced pluripotent cells (hiPSCs) could be established as promising new resources for obtaining differentiated cells for cell therapy. iPSCs have the potential to use as multipurpose research and clinical tools to understand model diseases, develop and screen candidate drugs, and deliver cell-replacement therapy to support regenerative medicine. Here, we demonstrated the ability of human iPSCs to differentiate into adipocyte and osteoblast fate.Materials and methods: In this experimental study, human iPSCs were culture-expanded. HiPSCs were then cultivated in the osteogenic and adipogenic conditions for 21 days after which differentiations were evaluated by specific staining as well as qRT-PCR analysis for related gene expression.Results: In osteoinductive cultures, the cells formed nodules which were positively stained red following alizarin red staining. In adipogenic cultures, the cells developed some lipid droplets which were positively stained red with oil red. According to qRT-PCR analysis, the bone-related genes including osteocalcin and osteopontin, and also the adipocyte-specific genes such as PPAR and LPL were expressed in the osteogenic and adipogenic cultures, respectively.Conclusion: Taken together, hiPSCs are pluripotent cells with the ability to differentiate into osteocytic and adipocytic cell lineages.

Background: Services quality is a distinctive factor and the most powerful competitive weapon where most of servicing organizations have in their properties. Offering services improvement causes productivity, costs reduction and so increasing patients’ satisfactory.Materials and methods: This correlation description study performed on 405 in-patients of 3 hospitals related to Islamic Azad University, Tehran Medical Branch, in 2015. They were chosen by available sampling. Information gathering was performed by a questionnaire, including 3 parts of demographic specifications, patients’ satisfaction questions and services quality evaluation (SERVQUAL).Results: there was significant relation between patients’ satisfaction and hospital services quality on the basis of SERVQUAL model (p<0.001). 72.8% of patients were completely satisfied by hospital services in these hospitals. The highest mean (±standard deviation) score of total quality comprehension was 75.55±14.15. The highest mean score of quality services in comprehension section was for confidence and the lowest one was for tangible; and also the total quality was significant (p<0.0001).Conclusion: Customer satisfaction is owed to services quality. Services quality analysis makes hospital management system to be able to assign financial resources for performance improvement in fields that are more effective on customer comprehension of services quality.

Background: Some of Aspergillus species are potential generators of aflatoxin that is a mycotoxin with carcinogenic and teratogenic effects. Animal feed contaminated with Aspergillus species produce aflatoxin, and transfer it to milk and dairy products that cause animal and human health problems. The aim of this study was to isolate any potential aflatoxinogen of animal feeds from farms area in the Shahr Ghods – Shahriar districts.Materials and methods: In this study, 394 cattle feed from 41dairy farming in Shahr Ghods – Shahriar districts in autumn, 2014, were randomly selected and they were tested for contamination with potentially aflatoxin-producing Aspergillus by PCR. Isolated Aspergillus from animal feed, by smear and culture, were examined by microscopic and macroscopic and then by molecular method. PCR method used in the presence of primers AFLR, Omt1, FLA1, Nor1, and Par1 to identify potential toxin generating Aspergillus.Results: The results of study showed 42 cattle feed contaminated with 8 species Aspergillus flavus by PCR which could potentially produce aflatoxin.Conclusion: The results showed that the dairy farming in Shahr Ghods – Shahriar districts were contaminated with Aspergillus flavus.

Background: Endometriosis is one of the most common diseases with high socio- economic burden in women. The aim of this study was to investigate the factors influencing on endometriosis by logistic regression.Materials and methods: In this case- control study, data were collected from patients records in Hazrat Rasoole Akram Hospital in Tehran. The patients who suffered from endometriosis (250), and their disease was diagnosed by laparoscopy, were selected as case group, and 250 patients with gynecologic disorder, other than endometriosis, confirmed by laparoscopy were chosen as control group. Factors affecting endometriosis were evaluated by logistic regression using the software SPSS. P- value <0.05 was considered significant.Results: Mean age (±standard deviations) of women in case group (34.84±0.62) was significantly higher than control group (33.75±0.55) (P=0.02). Single variable logistic regression for independent variables candidate age, irregular menses, the duration of menstrual cycle, the duration of bleeding, the number of pregnancies, the number of live births, infertility, speck before menstrual bleeding to enter into multi variable logistic regression at error level of 0.2. Variables of age, the number of live births, and premenstrual spotting were predicted as factors influencing endometriosis.Conclusion: According to the result of present study, age, the number of live births, premenstrual spotting were predicted as effective factors for endometriosis. As we know, increasing awareness of women about factors influencing endometriosis may help timely diagnosis and treatment of this important disease.

Background: Today, quality of life is one of the most important issues in health care. Religious beliefs, in special meaning, are shared beliefs of a particular congregation that are eager to adhere to those beliefs and follow their practice; and self-efficacy means person's ability to deal with certain situations.Materials and methods: This study was a descriptive- correlation type research. Tools used in this study were quality of life, Baraheni religious beliefs and self-efficacy Scherer questionnaires. Data analyses by software SPSS 21 using Spearman's correlation coefficient test.Results: The results showed a significant relationship between quality of life and religious beliefs and self-efficacy, so that increasing religious beliefs was associated with higher self-efficacy.Conclusion: The present study showed that there were significant direct relationship between self-efficacy and quality of life, and also religious beliefs, in all academic disciplines; therefore detecting and applying the appropriate methods in increasing the self- efficacy may enhance the quality of life of the students.

Background: Helicobacter pylori infection is a major cause of chronic gastritis in hemodialysis patients. There are various methods for diagnosis of infections with this organism. This study compared two methods of histology and serology for diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori in hemodialysis patients.Materials and methods: This study has been done on 75 hemodialysis patients with dyspepsia referred to Imam Hossain Hospital of Shahroud, Iran in 2014. Endoscopy with standard biopsy and serology test were done for all patients. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive value were evaluated for serology test.Results: From 75 patients with dyspepsia, 49 patients (65.3%) had positive serology test, and 64 (85.3%) patients were positive by histologic findings. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were 70.3%, 63.6%, 91.8% and 26.9%, respectively.Conclusion: Due to the relative high sensitivity and specificity of serological tests in comparison with other diagnostic methods, as well as its simplicity, speed and low cost, it is recommended to use this test for screening of hemodialysis patients.