Jundishapur Scientific Medical Journal
Year:2001 | Volume:- | Issue:29|Papers Count:13

The presence of Anti-Hepatitis C virus (Anti-HCV) in patient sera is an indication of chronic hepatitis due to hepatitis C virus. In the present study the sera of 86 hemodialysis patients referred to Sina hospital were collected. All the sera were tested for detection of Anti-HCV by using ELISA test kit of Anti-HCV, second generation (Sorien Company, Italy) was used for this study. Out of 86 sera, 27(3113%) cases showed positive for Anti-HCV indicating the presence of chronic hepatitis C virus among these patients. In 3 (3.48%) patients SGPT and SGOT tests were above 50 lU/L. Among the 27 positive cases 14 (16.2%) were mailes and 13 (15.1%) were females. The results of the present work indicated that a high prevalence rate of Anti-HCV among the haemodialysis patients. Thus the contamination of haemodialysis devices may bring aboth an increasing risk of infection with, HCV among HCV sera negative patients, medical and aramedical staff.

In order to study type I & III collagen fibers of the rat intervertebral discs, 40 mature male & female rats were used. The female rats, after coupling, were separated. At least three animals were used at each of the following ages: embryonic day 14,15,16,18 and 20 and postnatal ages 1,3 and 5 days, and 2,3,4 and 6 weeks and mature rats. The vertebral column was left in fetal animals and the disc was dissected from older ones. The tissue was fixed in 10% formaldehyde, decalcified if necessary, was processed using general and special histological techniques and observed under light microscope. At embryonic day 18, collagen type I & III were observed in intervertebral disc and more in outer annulus(OA) than inner annulus (lA). Collagen type II in lA was more than in OA. Intervenebral disc was fibroused by increasing thickness of collagen lamellae moreover, in adult fibrous appeared from periphery of disc to center.

Effects of verapamil on the ossification and the length growth of rat's long bones of one, two and three months of age were studied. Rats were weighed, grouped and verapamil was administered as fallow: one month old (a) 2mg/kg/day two month old (B) 3mg/kg/day and three months old (C) 4mg/kg/day, all for one week. Also three months old (D) 4mg/kg/dayand three months old (E) 8mg/kg/day, for two weeks. Same number of rats were used as control groups (A', B', C', D', E') for each group and received distilled water. After studying the conditions of animals, those which showed noticeable differences in body skeleton were chosen and radiographic images were taken. The rats were killed and long bones were separated and cleaned. Length, curvature, diameter and weight of the bones were measured, in addition microscopic study of the femur bone on the test and control groups were performed. The results showed that there was an increase in the number of chondrocytes in the growth plate which was accompanied with a decrease in the classification and ossification, in the test group. In addition the length, curvature, diameter and weight of long bone were increased in the test group compared with the control group. The bones were dark in colour and more breakable, furthermore osteoporosis and damage in all test groups were seen. The results of present study demonstrated that verapamile has adverse effect on group and development of skeleton.

Obesity is considered to be a risk factor for various diseases. The main objective of this research is an evaluation of the effect of obesity on low back pain (LBP) presentation. This was an analytical, "case-control" study on 300 individuals (166 as, case group & 134 as control group, matched by age, sex & job). Using interview & measurement methods, various variables such as age, sex, weight, height, abdominal and buttock diameters were registered in a questionnaire. The results revealed that, although LBP in the obese showed a high incidence, there was not any significant relationship between Body Mass Index (BMI) & abdominal fatness with LBP & its severity. Population specifications showed that BMI & LBP had a high incidence in women in comparison with men. With increasing age, the individuals were prone to weight gain. Although the pain was more severe in women, compared to men, but its severity in all cases was moderate. It is concluded that LBP is independent of BMI and abdominal fatness, but it is related to increasing age & female gender.

In this study, the effects of corn oil on spatial learning have been investigated. Male rats were trained for a spatial learning task using T-Maze. The rats were divided into four groups and 9 rat were considered for each group. The first group, control group was fed with an ordinary diet and the other groups were fed with a diet containing corn oil (10%) for two, three and four weeks. All rats were trained for 9 days based on standard method. Results showed an increase of spatial learning in rats fed 10% corn oil in their diet for three and four, but nor for two, weeks was significant (P<0.05). It seems that polyunsaturated fatty acids like linolenic and linoleic acids have a modulatoty role in spatial learning in rats.

Bibliographical studies on traditional plants indicate that there are some evidence for their application as analgesis. In this research, Lemon Balm or Melissa Officinallis (MO) was selected for studying the analgesic effects by formalin test in mice. After collection and scientific identification, the leaves and flowered branches of MO were used for extraction in both, percolation and suxhelet methods. Fifty six male mice weighing 20-25 grams and aging 4-6 week, were used in this study. Methanolic extract resulting from percolation method at different doses; 50, 75,100 and 200 mg/kg and also 200mg/kg of suxhelet extract were injected intraperitoneally to mice 15 min before formalin injection. Ten ml/kg of vehicle or 300 mg/kg of acetyl salicylic acid (ASA) or 2.5 mg/kg of morphine were injected to the control groups, 15 min before an injection of 0.5% formalin (0.25 µl, S.c. subplantar of leg). The results showed that all doses of extract had a significant analgesic effect as comparing to vehicle (P<0.05) and at the dose of 200 mg/kg had the highest analgesic effect. Moreover percolation extract (200 mg/kg) induced analgesic respones more than suxhelet extract. The analgesic effect of extracts was lower than morphine at all doses. The extract also showed a greater analgesic effect than ASA 5-10 after injection.

Normally the vertebral column has no lateral curvature and such curvatures are called Scoliosis. According to age of the patient scoliosis is classified as infantile, juvenile and adolescent. In previous studies, it was shown that juvenile form has the most prevalence. For determination of prevalence of scoliosis on boys in Ahwaz schools, 1033 students at age 11-15 years were selected randomly, and examined on two positions, standing and forward bending for asymmetry of shoulder, scapula, lumbar line and tilt of pelvis. The suspected cases were referred to orthopedic department for radiography and other special tests. Prevalence of scoliosis was 1.36%, 0.6% being step one idiopathic, and the curves were on the right. Thirteen years old group showed 50% (highest) and 11 year old group 7.17% (lowest). Scoliosis are more common on thoraci (50%), thoracolumbar(42.86%) and less in cervicothoraci (7.14%) regions.

Among the various kinds of elements, the biological effects of gold particularly on human has recently has been studied. This research is a descriptive analysis study of historical cohort based on checking the change in the amount of gold in serum of men with vasectomy to examine the probable hormonal changes. Blood samples were taken from 30 subjects both those who had vasectomy and those who were healthy. A questionnaire was completed for each subject. The mean age for both groups were 43±5 years. The subjects had vasectomy operations was between 6 months to 5 years previously. The method of Atomic Absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) was used. The FSH, LH and testosterone compared to the control group showed no differences but cortisol concentration showed a significant increase in test group. Prolactin and FSH show increae out of normal limits, but testosterone concentration stands in the highest limit of normal range. So, unusual increase in the gold concentration of serum will cause unusual increase in various hormones. Since epididymis is the main route for gold excretion in those people who had vasectomy operation and part of the ductus was removed may show gold concentration increax in semen. The results proved no relations between the changes of gold concentration and the amount hormones.

Recently many investigations have been done about the effect of garlic on immune responses and improvement of some diseases such as cancer. In this study the effect of garlic extract on cellular and humeral immunity system of rats (N. MARI) either male and female, weighting 9O-150g were investigated. The animals were divided into five groups including control group. Control group received  normal saline and four experimental groups received garlic extract, 50, 100, 200 and 400mg/kg intraperitonally for one month. Sheep Red Blood Cells (SRBC) as antigen in delayed hypersensitivity test (DTH) and microhemagglutination test were used for investigation of the cellular and humoral immunity system, respectively. The results showed that those which those animals which received 200 mg/kg garlic extract had significant (P<0.05) cellular immunostirnulation, 24 hour after receiving the antigen as compared to other groups, but humoral immunostimulation was not significant. It seems that garlic immunostimulation may be used clinically.

During a period of 3.5 years, from March 1993 to September 1996, we prospectively evaluated the rate of percutaneous liver biopsy (PLB)complications in 192 children referred to our center. The mean age of the patients was 4.5 years (range-40 days to 14 years). There were five (2.5%) instances of complications. A mild drop in hemoglobin concentration in two case, hematoma at the site of biopsy in two cases and infectious peritonitis in one case were observed. There were no fatalities nor need for laparatomy or blood transfusion in any of the case. Complications were not related to the age of the patients, site of biopsy (intercostal or subcostal), experience of operator or the number of passes. The results of liver biopsy were diagnostic in 93% of cases. We conclude that PLB can be performed with relative safety in infants and children if the patients are selected properly with normal coagulation profiles. It can also be concluded that PLB can be an important diagnostic method.

Amblyopia is the most common cause of poor vision among individuals under the  age of  45 and its prevalence varies in populations. This study was performed to measure the prevalence and causes of amblyopia by ophthalmologists and optometrists in kindergartens of Khuzestan province which were under the supervision of the Department of Welfare (Sazman-e- Behzisti). The inclusion criteria for amblyopia was that the patient had to have visual acuity of 8/10 or less, or have difference of two or more lines of Snellen Chart between two years. Results showed that among 20858 subjects, 215 (1.03%) had amblyopia, 110 were boys (51.2%) and 105 for girls (45.8%). The etiology of 70.2% of cases was refractive errors and in another 21% was strabismus. The remaining cases had different causes. Because the most common cause of amblyopia is refractive errors, which may be asymptomatic, it is recommended that screening of children to be performed for refractive errors and amblyopia in early life.