Journal of Kerman University of Medical Sciences
Year:2002 | Volume:9 | Issue:4|Papers Count:12

Considering the structure of appendix, its great blood supply and lymphatic tissue, and its anatomical location it seems to have an immunologic role. There are no clear studies regarding the relation between appendectomy and cancer of digestive system. Therefore, this study proposed for to clarify the relation between previous appendectomy and present gastrointestinal (GI) adenocarcinoma. The cancer group patients (n=406) were compared with no cancer group patients (n=374) from CCU and neurosurgery wards of two University of Kerman hospitals, Kerman Darman and Shahid Bahonar. All patients were interviewed and examined for previous appendectomy and McBurney's incision for appendix surgery prospectively. Data analyzed by software of EP16 and SPSS for windows. After matching of age and sex variables by means of Logistic Regression test, previous appendectomy was 3.81 times more in cancer group than no cancer group. There was more prevalence of GI carcinoma in men than women (P<0.001), and there was increasing prevalence of GI carcinoma in relation to aging, especially 63 years old and older. Considering that more than 1/3 of appendectomies are incidental appendectomy. (removal of healthy appendix during other abdominal and pelvic procedures.) This study hypothesized that the appendix seems to have an important role in preventing GI carcinoma, and offers to reconsider the incidental appendectomy.

In this study the role of CA1 region of dorsal hippocampus on amygdale kindling rate was investigated by bilateral micro injection of lidocaine into the hippocampus. 28 rats were divided into four groups. In group 1, animals were implanted only with a tripolar electrode into the amygdala but in groups 2-4, two guide cannulae were also implanted into the CA1 region of the dorsal hippocampus. Two monopolar electrodes were also attatched to the skull as earth and differential. One week after surgery, the threshold stimulus was determined and each animal was stimulated daily by threshold stimulus to be kindled In group 3 and 4, saline or lidocaine 2% (1µlit/2min) was also injected bilaterally into the hippocampus respectively and animals were stimulated 5 min after injection. Obtained results showed that the number of stimulation to receive from stage 4 to stage 5 seizure was significantly increased in group 4. Thus, it may be suggested that CA1 region of the hippocampus plays an important role in late but not early stages of amygdaloidal kindled seizures and amygdale kindling rate.

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of asthma among elementary school children (6-12years old) of Kerman in 1999. For this purpose, a randomly selected sample of 3036 school children was surveyed with a questionnaire. Of this, 2217 students (73%), including 1035 boys and 1182 girls, responded to the questionnaire. After surveying the returned questionnaires, 60 students with asthma were identified. The prevalence of asthma in elementary school children of Kerman was 2.7% (95% confidence interval (CI) 2.1-3.5) [3.3% (95% CI: 2.2-4.4)] in boys and 2.3% (95% CI: 1.5-3.3) in girls). There were statistically significant relationships between asthma and the presence of family history of asthma, allergic rhinitis, drug allergy, food allergy (P<0.001), and exzema (P<0.05). These results suggest that asthma in Kerman appear to be a public health problem in elementary school children, although its prevalence was low.

Neuropathic pain which is a chronic pain causes hyperalgesia due to peripheral nerve damage. The relation between neuropathic pain and hyperalgesia and the response to treatment in case of somatic and inflammatory pain have been investigated previously. However the response of visceral pain in peripheral neuropathy and the possible gender differences in visceral pain response have not been investigated. In this study the visceral pain response and gender differences are evaluated in albino male and female mice, using Partial Sciatic Nerve Ligation (PSNL) model. Male and female mice were divided as intact, sham and PSNL groups. Visceral pain was induced by intraperitoneal (i.p.) administration of 0.6% of acetic acid and the pain response was evaluated by writhing test. Visceral pain response was also evaluated in days 5, 10, 15 and 20 in sham and PSNL mice. The number of abdominal contractions for a period of 15 minutes was measured in each experimented group as an indicator of visceral pain. The results showed that there was no significant differences in abdominal contractions of intact mid sham operated male and female mice. The abdominal contractions in male PSNL mice was decreased significantly and in female PSNL mice was increased significantly as compared to male and female sham-operated mice respectively. The abdominal contractions in PSNL male and female mice showed a significant difference with sham operated mice 20 days after surgery. i.e. male PSNL group showed significant decrease and females showed a significant increase in abdominal contractions as compared to sham-operated mice. The mean abdominal contractions in female PSNL mice were significantly higher than males in 20 th days of experiment. In summary, the results of this study showed that the female mice are a better model in hyreralgesia studies for visceral pain due to secondary hyperalgesia. The gender differences in the response to visceral pain can be related to the effect of sex hormones in pain transmission or in structural differences in male and female mice which could result in secondary hyperalgesia in female mice.

Average age at diagnosis, clinical features, and karyotype analysis of 40 girls with turner's syndrome (TS) were studied. The medical records of 40 girls with TS were reviewed for age at diagnosis, clinical features, karyotype analysis and reasons of admission in pediatric endocrinology ward. Although lymphedema is the key to diagnosis in newborn period, none of the cases were diagnosed in infancy. The average age at diagnosis was 13.4 years. All of the cases admitted for evaluation of short stature, and 14 of them had delayed puberty too. 50 percent of the patients had a chromosomal constitution 45X, 22.5% were mosaic, 15% isochromosom and the remaining 12.5% had other karyotypes. The diagnosis of TS is often delayed, and this deranged the appropriate treatment of short stature. We recommend cytogenetic analysis of all girls with lymphedema, unexplained short stature, webbed neck, short neck, low posterior hairline and multiple nevi.

One of the major goals of antenatal care is estimation of gestational age. The most widely used parameters for evaluation of fetal growth are biparietal diameter (BPD), femoral length (FL) and abdominal circumference (A C). To determine the value of prenatal ultrasonographic scapula measurements for fetal growth and gestational age prospective ultrasonographic cross-sectional study was conducted in 220 singlton pregnant women with gestational age from 16-40 weeks and several biometric measurements were obtained. A correlation was found between the scapular length and gestational age (GA) (r=0.974, P<0.00001) and also between GA and BPD (r=0.974, P<0.00001) A, C (r=0.967, P < 0.00001), FL (r= 0.966, P < 0.00001). Linear regression model was detected the following equation for prediction of GA from SL: "GA (week)= 0.998 SL (mm) + 0.985", These results suggest that scapula length measurement is a valuable parameter for the assessment of fetal growth.

Amino acids are one of the most necessary substances in intracellular metabolic processes. Aromatic aminoacids such as phenylalanine and tyrosine are precursor of melanin so are important materials for the skin pigmentation. Metabolic disorders in the melanin synthesis causes milky macules or patchs on the skin of patients, known as vitiligo. These patients are hypersensitive to sunlight and consequently at a higher risk for skin malignancies. Because of negative psychological effects most patients (especially women) try to hide their disease. Moreover long term treatment causes patients hopelessness. In this study carried out on 50 vitiligo patients and 50 control cases, matched for sex and age, the amount of phenylalanine and tyrosine in the fasting urine were determined by thin layer chromatography (TLC) method Results showed a significant difference (P<0.05) between the amount of phenylalanine in the urine of case group (8.15±3.72 mg/dl) and control group (6.35±3.94 mg/dl). The amount of tyrosine in the urine of case group (9.56±505 mg/dl) was less than that in the control group (11.32±6.17 mg/dl) and comparison of two groups in this regard showed a significant difference only in the male subjects (P<0.01). Ratio of phenylalanine and tyrosine to creatinine in urine was not significantly different in the two groups.

Oesophageal cancer is one of the most fatal cancer in human. In spite of high incidence in the north of Iran and poor prognosis, there is no information regarding prognostic factors in this area. This study was conducted to determine prognostic factors of the survival of patients with oesophageal cancer under radiotherapy. We conducted a descriptive-analytical study using historical cohort that has been performed on the bases of information presented in medical record of patients with oesophageal cancer referred to the Shahid Rajaii radiotherapy center in Babolsar from 1992 to 1996. Out of 523 patients, we followed 230 patients in nonrandomized convenience sampling method based on the availability of the address for corresponding. The data was analysed using survival analysis by nonparametric method of Kaplan Meier and Cox regression model and the risk ratio (RR) of prognostic factors was determined. The results showed that the survival rates in patients with oesophageal cancer were 0.42 in 1 year, 0.21 in 2 years, 0.11 in 3 years and 0.08 in 5 years after diagnosis. The patients with the age of 50-64 ears had poorer survival rate than ones under 50 years of age and the risk ratio in this age group has been significantly increased (RR=1.73, P=0.03); the risk ratio for patients above 65 years in comparison with patients under 50 years was 1.88 (P=0.01). The females had better survival than males significantly (RR=0.71, P=0.02). For each 100 reds dose of radiotherapy, the risk ratio was decreased by 1% (RR= 0.99, P=0.05); for each session of radiotherapy, the risk ratio was decreased by 4% (RR=0.96, P=0.0001); for each square centimeter surface area under radiotherapy, the risk ratio significantly increased (RR=1.002, P=0.04). We did not observed a significant difference on survival based on the type of histology, anatomical location, and the type of treatment (P>0.05). Although the survival of patients with oeophageal carcinoma has been significantly related to sex, age, radiation dose, frequency of treatment and surface size of radiotherapy, the prognosis is extremelypoor. To compare various combined modality of treatment of oesophageal cancer, a more randomized clinical trials with enough sample size is suggested.

This is a report of 2 very rare cases of radio-ulnar dislocation-translocation in children from Kerman Shahid Bahonar Hospital. This type of dislocation is very rare and only ten have been reported in the literature including our report of two cases. In this type of dislocation the location of proximal ends of radius & ulna are altered, so that the capitalism articulates with the olecranon and the trochlea with the radial head. Considering the rarity of this case, it's diagnosis will be extremely difficult and very often delayed. In addition to reporting our two cases, a review of the literature has been presented in this article.