Researcher Bulletin of Medical Sciences
Year:2012 | Volume:16 | Issue:5 (83)|Papers Count:9

Background and Aim: The volkmann syndrome is ischimia and muscular necrosis due to pressure augmentation in the closed aponeurotic compartments of the forearm region. The incidence of this syndrome in Iran is more than the normal incidence, since non-medical people perform bandage or casting too tightly, for the treatment of forearm lesions.Materials and Methods: A total of 67 patients, 64 male and three female, ranging in age from 7 to 18 years with the average of 13 years were treated by one of the four methods of Scaglietti, Latissimus dorsi Island flap, Gracilis free muscle transfer or Biceps tendon transfer.Results: From 33 patients with some muscle contracture who underwent flexor muscle advancement (Scaglietti technique) 25 (71.4%) resulted in excellent, and 10 (28.6%) resulted in good outcome. Latissimus dorsi Island flap resulted in 20 (90.9%) excellent, and and 2 (9.1%) good results in total of 22 patients. Gracilis muscle transfer in 4 patients resulted in 4 good outcomes (100%). Six biceps tendon transfer procedure resulted in 6 good outcomes (100%).Conclusion: If some forearm muscle contraction is revealed in the physical examination, good results can be obtained by performing the Scaglietti procedure. We did not have any muscle necrosis of the transferred latisimuss dorsi island flap, or musculocutaneous gracillis free flaps transferred. The transfer of biceps tendon to the digital flexor tendon yields in acceptable results for the patients. But the patient needs good re-education and physiotherapy for adaptation to the new condition.

Background and Aim: Treatment of low-grade glioma (LLG) is one of the problems of neurosurgeon. According to reports, treatment of LGG tumors has been successful with stereotactic brachytherapy (SBT with temporary 125Iodine seeds). Due to the lack of reported experience in our country in this regard, this study was conducted on patients treated in Shohada-Tajrish Hospital between 2004 and 2011.Materials and Methods: This case series was conducted on consecutive patients with diagnosed LGG tumors treated with SBT (125Iodine seeds). Patients follow-up were at least 6 months. Survival of patients was assessed with the Kaplan-Meier method.Results: During the study period 8 patients (7 male and 1 female) with a mean age of 31.1±10.6 y were treated. One patient died due to respiratory and cardiac problems. The overall survival was 42% and 7 patients were alive by the last follow-up.Conclusion: It seems using SBT (temporary 125Iodine seeds) in the treatment of LGG tumors is acceptable. It is recommended to compare the efficacy of this method in newly diagnosed patients compared with those who did not respond to the previous treatments.

Background and Aim: Due to complications and consequences of violence against women and limited information about reproductive health issues in women with experience of violence, this survey was carried out to assess reproductive health status of these women in harm reduction centers in Tehran in 2010.Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 69 out of 75 vulnerable women who were clients of harm reduction centers, and experienced at least one type of violence (emotional, physical, and sexual). Data collection tools were questionnaires and data collection method was structured interview. The questionnaire had five dimensions, demographics, reproductive health, sexual performance, sexual behavior, and violence. Data was analyzed with SPSS 18; descriptive and analytic statistics were applied.Results: Mean age of participants was 34.3 (9.6) years and 37.7% of them were divorced. Mean age at first marriage was 16.7 (2.5) years and mean age at first sexual relationship was 16.1 (4.8) years. Illiteracy observed among 17.4% of participants. Among these women, 69.3% reported all three types of violence; furthermore, 85.3%, 86.7%, and 76% reported physical, emotional and sexual violence, respectively. 62.9% had unwanted pregnancy and 51.6% had an abortion. Contraception was completely ignored in 46.5% of participants. Among eligible women, 52.2% never participated in cervical cancer screening examination, 82.4% of them had sexual dysfunction, 39.1% of them had anal sex and 34.8% had oral sex.Conclusion: Despite of access to reproductive health services, many of these women had poor reproductive health conditions. Greater support and proper interventions can lead to better results for these women.

Background and Aim: Water plays a major role in public health and the contaminated water has direct effect on human health. E. coli is an indicator of water pollution; different strains of E. coli such as ETEC, EHEC, EIEC and EPEC can cause diarrhea in children. The aim of this study is to investigate the contamination rate of well water of Tehran’s parks, and pathotyping E. coli strains which cause diarrhea.Materials and Methods: 156 well water samples from five different geographical parts of Tehran (north, south, east, west, and the centre) were collected aseptically. The collected samples were transferred to the laboratory in microbiology section, School of Public Health, for membrane filtrations and patotyping.Results: 90 out of 156 samples (54/5%) were contaminated with E.coli. The samples from south part were more contaminated compared to others. Out of 90 isolated E. coli only 67 were DEC, in which 42 (62.7%) were detected as EPEC, 12 (17.9%) as STEC or ETEC, 9 (13.4%) as EIEC and 4 (6%) as ETEC by PCR method.Conclusion: Presence of different biotypes of E. coli in well water of parks can be dangerous, especially for children; thus, placing warning signs and educating people in this regard should be taken seriously.

Background and Aim: Beta-thalassemia is a genetic disorder manifested by the presence of anemia in adult patients. One approach to treatment of beta-thalassemia is induction of the fetal gamma-globin gene. One of the gamma-globin repressors is a complex called DRED (Direct repeat erythroid-definitive). DRED is composed of TR2 and TR4 DNA binding subunits. The aim of this study was to set up the RNAi system to increase the expression of the gamma-globin gene.Materials and Methods: In this study, lipofectaminTM2000 was used to transfect siRNA molecules and pSV-b-Galactosidase vector was used as a reporter to monitor transfection efficiency. Real-time PCR method was used to measure TR4 knockdown and gamma-globin expression levels.Results: Our findings showed that K562 cells were transfected by 40% using Lipofectamine TM 2000. Also, the level of TR4 expression decreased by 44% after using TR4siRNA, even though the expression of gamma-globin gene was induced by 1.18 times.Conclusion: Despite a 44% knockdown of TR4, no increase in gamma-globin mRNA was observed. Two factors may count for this observation; first, TR4 knockdown may have been limited by our transfection efficiency. Second, simultaneous knockdown of TR2 and TR4 may lead to increased gamma-globin levels. In conclusion, although knocking down of TR4 expression occurred by using RNAi system, this can not be a solitary efficient way to induce the gamma-globin expression.

Background and Aim: The Stroop Color-Word test is a common and quick tool for assessing selective attention. This study was run to evaluate application of Stroop cognitive test in assessment of selective attention.Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was implemented during 6 months from June to November, 2010 on 84 healthy adults (42 males and 42 females). All participants performed computerized Stroop test after signing consent. The cases were examined before the test to confirmtheir health status and were trained for the test.Results: The obtained data indicate that there is a significant correlation coefficient between age, gender and education variables (p<0.05).Conclusion: The above-mentioned test can be used to assess selective attention.

Background and Aim: Given the nutritious value of Cobia and its importance in terms of rapid growth in cultural conditions and noticeable commercial value, along with lack of sufficient literature in this regard, this study was run to investigate genomic polymorphism of this species in southern waters of Iran in 2010. The study aimed at enlightening genetic variation and determining its rate inside and between probable populations.Materials and Methods: This cross sectional study was carried out on 120 specimens of Cobia which were randomly obtained from four southern Iranian provinces. Two-gram cuts of fin tissue of each fish were transferred to the laboratory in 2 ml microtubes containing ethanol. DNA was extracted by Phenol-chlorophorm method and genomic polymorphism investigation was carried out by PCR-RFLP method. In this method, PCR product of COI mitochondrial gene were enzymatic digested using 6 Restriction Enzymes.Results: PCR product of mitochondrial gene COI was obtained in length of 1060 base pair and 6 polymoiphic sites were investigated. But electrophoresis patterns of enzymatic digestion products were monomorphous in all samples and no polymorphism was observed.Conclusion: Lack of genetic diversity or its noticeable decrease in regions where fish can freely migrate and move between two regions has been reported. Due to lack of physical and biological obstacles Dobia is able to migrate to all parts of the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea. Therefore, lack of polymorphism in the studied Cobia population seems to be logical. Future studies with larger samples and more enzymes from other genetic regions are recommended.

Background and Aim: Pet birds can harbor diseases that can be transmitted to their owners. Although pet ownership is not without risks, many of Iranian households own pet birds and are therefore at risk of a number of bacterial, protozoal, fungal, viral, or parasitic zoonoses. Escherichia Coli O157: H7 is responsible for outbreaks of human intestinal diseases and the potentially fatal haemolytic-uraemic syndrome (HUS) worldwide. Considering people's interests to keep pet birds and the potential ability of pet birds to transmit Escherichia Coli O157: H7 to humans, the present study was conducted to evaluate Escherichia Coli O157: H7 infection in Yazd pet birds. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 180 samples of pet bird feces (150 canaries (Serinus canari) and 30 lovebirds (Agapornis personata)) were collected from different areas of Yazd and evaluated for detection of E. Coli O157: H7 by bacteriological and PCR methods. Results: The overall prevalence of Escherichia Coli in canary feces was 72.66% (109 out of 150) while no positive sample was found in the lovebird feces. Escherichia Coli O157: H7 was not found in any samples. ‍Conclusion: The present study suggests pet birds feces are not sources of E. Coli O157: H7 in Yazd, Iran.