QOM UNIVERSITY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES JOURNAL
Year:2008 | Volume:2 | Issue:2|Papers Count:10

Background and Objectives Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) infection leading to Infectious Mononucleosis (IM) is one of the etiologies of fever in women after curettage. EBV is a virus that can be transferred from carrier to the recipient through contact. The focus of this article is to bring more awareness to EBV as a rare cause of infection and fever after curettage procedure. Case Report This is a case of a woman who developed fever after curettage procedure. After a series of medical tests the cause of her fever was found to be IM from an EBV infection. The emphasis of this report is to bring medical team s attention to both common and uncommon etiologies of fever after an abortion procedure for better diagnosis and treatment of patients.

Background and Objectives: The mu-Opioid receptor (MOR) exerts a critical role on effects of opiodis. The objective of this study is to find a peripheral bio-marker in addiction studies through quantization of the expression of two MOR splice variants mRNA (hMOR-1A and hMOR-1O) in peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) of long-term abstinent former opioids addicts.Methods: In this case-control study, case and control people were male and divided in two groups: people who  gave up addiction to opioids (case) and healthy individuals without history of addiction (control). The mRNA expression in PBLs of participants was detected and measured by real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) using SYBR Green Dye. Results: The hMOR-1A mRNA expression in PBLs of abstinent group was significantly reduced and reached to 0.33 of the control group (p<0.001). Similar results were obtained for the other splice variant with the mRNA expression of hMOR-1O in PBLs of abstinent group reaching to 0.38 of that of the control group (p < 0.001).Conclusions: mRNA expression deficiency of two mu-opioid receptor splice variants, hMOR-1A and nMOR-1O, seams to be a risk factor making individuals vulnerable to drug addiction. Based on this analysis measuring the amount of mRNA expression of these two splice variants in PBLs can serve as a peripheral biomarker for detecting people at risk.

Background and Objectives: Exercise affects the immune system. The aim of this study is comparison of the effect of active and passive recovery (AR and RR, respectively) on differential white blood cell (WBC) count after an exhaustive exercise session in athlete males.Methods: Twenty male athletes who signed an informed consent form were randomly divided in to two equal groups. Their blood samples were drawn at rest, immediately after an exhaustive exercise session, immediately after 15 minutes active and passive recovery from an exhaustive exercise session. A WBC's (lymphocytes, monocytes, neutrophils, basohils, and eosinophils) count was done on all of these samples.  This exercise protocol was based on the Bruce Protocol Treadmill Stress Test until feeling excessive fatigue followed by AR (first group), and RR (second group).Wilcoxon signed-rank and Mann-Whitney test were used for descriptive and statistical analysis on collected raw data. Statistical significance in this analysis was set at P <= 0.05.Resultss: A session of exhaustive exercise increased the number of WBCs (except for eosinophils) with a statistical significant differences of (P<0.05). A Comparison of the changes before and after workout, showed no statistical significant difference. Also, a 15 minute AR and RR, didn't alter WBCs count (all P>0.05). Conclusions: The results show a session of exhaustive exercise increases the blood leukocytes, except for eosinophils. Also, taking 15 minutes recovery (AR or RR) has no effect on athlete's WBC count. It means the type of recovery has no special and different effect on athlete's WBC count. In fact, if there are any changes in WBC count during or after exhaustive exercise, they are not due to the type of 15 minutes recovery. Furthermore, under the conditions of this study after completing the AR and RR, number of the blood leukocytes was over their basal level.

Background and Objectives: Prevention and treatment of hyperuricemia are based on control of uric acid levels. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of oral administration of sour cherry and allopurinol on serum uric acid levels, biomarkers of oxidative stress (total antioxidant capacity and malondialdehyde concentration), and hepatic xanthine oxidase/xanthine dehydrogenase activity in normal and hyperuricemic rats. Methods: A total of 36 male Wistar rats (Weights: 180-200 g) were randomly divided into six equal groups. These groups were normal; normal+cherry tart (5 g/kg); normal+allopurinol (5 mg/kg); hyperuricemic; hyperuricemic+ sour cherry (5 g/kg); hyperuricemic+allopurinol (5 mg/kg). Every group received their treatment once a day for 14 days. Hyperuricemia in rats was induced by intraperitoneal injection of potassium oxonate (250 mg/kg).Results: Oral administration of sour cherry for 14 days significantly reduced the serum uric acid levels of hyperuricemic rats in a time-dependent manner. Hepatic xanthine oxidase/xanthine dehydrogenase activity was significantly inhibited in both normal and hyperuricemic rats. Oral administration of cherry tart led to a significant improvement in biomarkers of oxidative stress in rats. Although the hypouricemic effect of allopurinol was much higher than that of sour cherry, allupurinol could not significantly change oxidative stress biomarkers.Conclusions: The results indicate that cherry, as a polyphenols-rich food could be used as a possible therapeutic supplement to minimize the side effects of allopurinol in treating hyperuricemia and oxidative stress diseases.

Background and Objectives: Acute poisoning is an important medical emergency and in some cases one of the causes of death. This study evaluates pattern of deaths due to the drug and chemical poisoning. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of all the patients who were referred to Farshchian Hospital poison center in Hamadan, Iran over a period of two years from 2005 to 2007 and had died due to poisoning complications. The information from this study (demographic data, clinical signs and toxicological tests) was gathered and analyzed by using T and chi-square tests.Results’: From 2920 patients who were referred to hospital due to poisoning, 111 (3.8%) patients died due to poisoning complications. The mortality rate in males was higher than females (M:F: 5:1). The average age was 40.5 years, and most of the mortalities were seen among the age range of 21-30 years. Deliberate self poisoning was found to be the most frequent cause of death (52.2%) with the female: male ratio of 2:1(p=0.001). Opium and opium derivatives were the most common cause of death (45.9%). Pulmonary complications were the most frequently cause of death (56.7%).Conclusions: The results show high frequency of using opium and opium derivatives in suicide in Hamadan, Iran. This data suggest that opium and opium derivatives are easily accessible to general population.

Background and Objectives Diarrhea which leads to zinc wasting from body is one of the major causes of mortality in children around the world. Zinc is one of the elements that facilitate the repair of stomach and intestinal mucosa stimulation of immune system control and transfer of water and electrolytes in our body. World Health Organization (WHO) recommends use of zinc sulfate in all cases of diarrhea in addition to replacement of fluids and continuation of feeding in treatment of children with diarrhea. The objective of this study is evaluation of the effect of zinc sulfate (ZnSo4) on the recovery duration and appetite in children with diarrhea. This study evaluates the effect of ZnSo4 in prevention of respiratory infection and diarrhea for two months after taking the ZnSo4. Methods Two groups of children (total n=153) with non dysenteric acute diarrhea who were hospitalized in Qom s children hospital in 2007 were used in this clinical trials. Sixty four of these children (n=64) were randomized to the study group and eighty nine (n=89) to the control group. The children in the control group received the standard therapy (fluid & electrolyte therapy &continuation of feeding) for treatment of diarrhea and the children in the study group received standard treatment and 5 mg of zinc sulfate twice daily for two weeks. Neither of these two groups received any anti diarrhea therapy and/or antibiotics. Both groups were monitored for occurrence of new episodes of diarrhea and/or respiratory tract infection for two months after the end of their hospitalization. T-score and Fisher tools were used for statistical analysis of the gathered data. Results Children in two groups had several similarities such as gender decrease in appetite nausea and vomiting. There was not a significant difference between two groups with respect to the length of recovery new incidence of diarrhea and respiratory tract infection within two months after hospitalization. However the recovery of appetite after diarrhea treatment was faster in the study group (P=0.015). Conclusion The result of this study shows that the use of 10 mg per day of ZnSo4 does not effect the duration of diarrhea but accelerates the appetite recovery in the children with acute diarrhea. Also ZnSo4 does not significantly effect the prevention of diarrhea or respiratory tract infection within two months after receiving it.

Background and Objectives: Diabetic patients play the main role in the management of their disease. Adequate knowledge of this disease state and self directed patient care will improve the health of these patients. Some studies have indicated a high prevalence of diabetes complication are due to the lack of knowledge of self directed patient care and practice in diabetic patient group.The objective of this study is to measure the knowledge level of self directed patient care and practice in order to evaluate their effects on improvement of diabetic patients' health in the city of Qom, Iran.Methods: In this cross sectional study 1004 patients with diabetes participated (During year 2006). Data were collected from patients of General Hospital metabolism and Endocrine research center. An interviewing method was used to asses the demographics data, history of disease, and knowledge of self directed patient care in these patients. Data were analyzed using a descriptive statistic, chi-square, and Pearson correlation coefficient, and SPSS software.Results: Out of 1004 observed case, 154 patients were with Diabetes type I and 850 patients with Diabetes type II. The knowledge of self directed patient care and practice level of with both types of diabetes were determined to be mostly at an intermediate level. In type I diabetic patients there was a significant relation between knowledge level of self directed patient care and gender of the patients (P=0.01). Also, there was a significant correlation between practice and age (P=0.03(, and economical status (P=0.06) of the patients. In type II diabetic patients there was a significant relation between knowledge level of self directed patient care and educational level (P=0.00(, and economical status (P=0.01) of the patients. The practice level of self directed patient care was significantly related to economical status (p=0.03) in this group of patients.Conclusion: These results indicate that an increase in knowledge level of self directed patient care and practice in diabetic patients can significantly improve their health. So it is necessary to consider training programs for diabetic patients especially for illiterate and patients with a lower economic status.

Background and Objectives: Air pollution in the occupational fields and its economical effects on the health care system is studied from different viewpoints such as products quality, equipment damage, environment preservation, and air pollution control. Nowadays, a lot of attention has been turned toward health effects of air pollution. The objective of this study is detection of the total dust concentration and assessment of the health effect of nuisance dust among workers in a tile production factory.Methods: In this study airborne dust concentration was measured and evaluated by using NIOSH 0500 method. In order to determine the health effects, a standard questionnaire was used. All of personnel of workshop 1 (n=50) and workshop 2 (n=50) were assigned to the case group and one hundreds of factory employees were assigned to the control group. Results analyzed using Z test. Results: According to the obtained results, concentration of dust in workshop 1 corridor was higher than that of workshop 2 corridor (59.262 mg/m3 and 32.158 mg/m3 respectively). Also, these results showed that there are significant differences between two groups in incidence of symptoms such as dry cough, eye irritation, skin redness, shortness of breath, blurred vision, skin irritation, hoarseness of voice, dry mouth and throat, throat itching and skin itching (P<0.05). However, there were not significant differences in incidence of headache, chest pain, epiphora of eyes, mucus cough, sinus problems and chest wheezing between two groups.Conclusions: On the basis of these results it was revealed that nuisance dust can affect human health and performance. This in turn can increase the medical service load and costs. As a result of inadequate control systems established in the industries, lack of information and appropriate training, and lack of personal protective equipment all across the industries, we suggest a more comprehensive research project to evaluate the effects of industrial air pollution on the workers in order to improve quality of their lives and work.