DANESHVAR MEDICINE
Year:2005 | Volume:12 | Issue:56|Papers Count:14

Background and Purpose: Stroke is a major cause of death and disability in all societies and the disability resulting from stroke most commonly presents as hemiplegia or hemi paresis. The purpose of this study was to determine motor function problems in hemi paretic patients and the effects of functional, balance and strengthening exercises (FBS) protocol in treatment of these impairments. Methods and Marc vials: Thirty-four hemi paretic patient's secondary to stroke with a mean±SD age of 52.41±6.19 years participated in the study through simple non-probability sampling. All patients were screened to ensure that their time since onset of stroke was at least 12 months. Patients were assigned randomly to either an experimental group or a control group, and their motor function were assessed using functional, balance and strength scale (FBSS) before and after 12 sessions of intervention. This is an ordinal assessment scale of sitting and standing balance, functional mobility and gait patterns. In this scale, muscle tone was graded on the Modified Ashworth Scale, muscle strength and range of motion was measured using cadence were recorded. The experimental group received FBS exercises protocol that is a combination of sitting and standing balance, functional mobility, gait patterns, selective movements, aerobic and strengthening exercises. The control group received all FBS protocol except for strengthening exercises. Independent-samples Hest and paired Hest allowed for comparisons between the pretreatment and post treatment test results between groups and within groups, respectively. Finding: Both groups demonstrated significant improvement (p<0.0001) in measures of motor function index after intervention. Significant improvement (p<0.0001) after treatment was seen in the experimental group in measures of motor function index compared to control group. Independent samples Hest also identifies a significant difference between the experimental group and the control group with respect to mean difference of motor function variable scores (p<0.0001). Conclusion: The results of this study support the effectiveness of muscle strength training to improve motor function in the chronic stages of rehabilitation following stroke.      

Caffeine is one of the active alkaloids has been used in the treatment of asthma and apnea in the human newborn. Its pharmacological activity varies depending on the dose and the type of target cells. In this study, the effect of caffeine on induction of apoptosis in blood monocyte cells was investigated. In this study, human blood monocytes from the peripheral blood were prepared and the effect of various concentrations of caffeine on survival rate, super oxide anion production and DNA fragmentation was investigated. The results show that caffeine effects are highly dose dependent. Low concentrations (<10 mM), enhance cell survival with a peak at 5 mM. At these concentrations, caffeine failed to affect super oxide anion production and DNA fragmentation. At moderate concentrations of caffeine (5-20 mM), the viability reached to the control and at higher concentrations of caffeine (>20 mM) inhibited cell survival and the O2 production was increased, while DNA fragmentation was similar to the control. The results suggest that low concentrations of caffeine prevent apoptosis of monocyte cells, whereas at moderate concentrations of caffeine induces apoptosis.    

Adenotonsillectomy is the most common surgery in childhood and one of problem after surgery is pain, so the ability of eating and drinking reduced. The aim of this research was the effect of dexamethasone injection before adenotonsillectomy on the pain of after surgery. This research was done in the form of randomized clinical trial and double blind. 46 patients that had indication for adenotonsillectomy selected and divided in two groups. One group 30 minutes before surgery I.V injected distilled water and in another group injected. /15mg/kg dexamethasone. The questionnaire was completed in three sections, cause and indication of surgery, symptoms and pain after surgery and during first 24 hours after surgery and follow up of patients during 7-10 days after surgery. The pain in the first 24 hours after surgery was recorded with scale of VAS (visual analog scale) in three times (8, 16 and 24 hours after surgery), and the mean of them was recorded us the pain value in the firs t 24 hours. For statistical analysis we used the T-Test and K2 and SPSS software. The 47.8% patients had mild pain, 36.9% had moderate pain and 15/2% had severed pain. In dexamethasone group 65.2% had mild pain, 26% had moderate pain and 8.6% had severed pain. In control group 30.4% had mild pain, 47.8% had moderate pain and 21.7% had severed pain. There was meaningful statistical difference between 2 groups in symptoms such we nausea, vomiting and appetite but there was not any difference in fever and trismus and the need for acetaminophen. This research shows that there was meaningful relation between pain after surgery and the dexamethasone injection in 2 group of patients (P= 0/007) and the injection of dexamethasone before surgery causes pain reduction.        

Background: Mercury is a poisonous metal that can especially damage the nervous and immune systems and kidneys or even causes death. Elemental mercury presents in thermometers, barometer's batteries, sphygmomanometers and latex paints. Inorganic mercury salts are found in antiseptics, pesticides, pigments and explosives and as preservative in medicine. Mercury was once used to stop fever. This worked because the immune system was so weakened that it could no longer sustain the attack for which the fever was created. Some medical drugs still contain mercury chloride and mercurial chloride was used in some laxatives. Mercury toxicity in nervous system causes Anorexia, Ataxia and inability to coordinate voluntary muscle movements, Dementia, Depression, Dizziness, Emotional instability, Erethism (abnormal irritability in response to stimulation), In coordination, Insomnia, Irritability, Loss of ability to speak, Memory impairment, Numbness, Saresthesias (sensation of prickling, tingling or creeping on the skin), Psychosis, Tremors, Drowsiness, Fatigue and Weakness. Other organ damages include: Kidney failure, Headaches, Hearing impairment, Visual impairment, Hypertension, Dermatitis, Digestive problems, Colitis, Diarrhea, Stomatitis and excessive salivation, loss of teeth, Metallic taste, Chromosomal damage, Birth defects and Death. Chronic mercury poisoning can cause Acrodynia (Pink disease). Mercury poisoning is a rare cause of hypertension in children. Herein we report a child with severe mercury poisoning and his two siblings with moderate symptoms. Case report: A 10 year old boy was admitted in psychiatric ward with behavioral disorder, irritability, mood change and convulsion. Because of his blood pressure which was 160/120 he was referred and admitted in our unit. On arrival, with his hypotonia and pink discoloration of his fingers the diagnosis of Acrodynia (Pink disease) was considered; in his history, he has played with a ball of mercury which was taken from a laboratory. He and His 2 siblings received BAL and D-penicillamin; At follow-up they gradually recovered all symptoms and are well now.  

Tissue discrimination using computer aided in diagnosis (CAD) systems through measurement set of physical parameters by ultrasound is an ideal goal. In this study, a neural network based approach was applied to a database consisted of 36 histological tumor samples. This database was consisted of 18 malignant cases (mostly ductal carcinoma) and 18 benign cases (mostly fibro adenoma), which had either biopsy or mastectomy proof. A few comprehensive quantitative features were chosen to discriminate these two classes. These features were attenuation coefficient in 10 MHz in breast benign and malignant lesions at 20, 25, 30 and 35 °C, density and the velocity of the ultrasound in lesions at 30 °C. These findings were obtained from the processing of the ultrasound images of the implemented samples inside a tissue phantom. This database was then normalized between 0 and 1 according to the maximum value of each feature in the data set. The normalized data was then feed into a three layer feed forward neural network with back propagation training algorithm. The jackknife technique used to evaluate the performance of the Artificial Neural Network during the training and testing procedure. The output of the Artificial Neural Network showed a reasonable diagnostic accuracy (75%), a moderate diagnostic specificity (72%) and a high diagnostic sensitivity (77%). These results can be further improved by using a more comprehensive database.        

Introduction: Cirrhosis is the irreversible sequel of various disorders that damage liver cells permanently over time. Presently, the use of herbal medicines for prevention and control of chronic liver diseases is in the focus of attention for both the physicians and the patients; the reasons for such shift toward the use of herbals include the expensive cost of conventional drugs, adverse drug reactions, and their inefficacy. In the present study, the aim was to find out the efficacy of herbal medicine Liv-52 (consisting of Mandur basma, Tamarix gallica and herbal extracts of Capparis spinosa, Cichorium intybus, Solanum nigrum, Terminalia arjuna and Achillea millefolium) on liver cirrhosis. Methodology: The outcome measures included child-pugh score, ascitis, serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), total billirubin, albumin, prothrombin time, platelet and white blood cells counts. The indices were recorded in all patients before and after 6 months of drug or placebo treatment. Results: The results demonstrated that the patients treated with Liv-52 for 6 months had significantly better child-pugh score, decreased ascitis, decreased serum AST and ALT. In placebo administered patients all the clinical parameters recorded before and after 6 months were not significantly different. Discussion Conclusion: We conclude that Liv-52 possesses hepatoprotective effect in cirrhotic patients. This protective effect of Liv-52 can be attributed to the diuretic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, and immunomodulating properties of the component herbs.      

Delayed wound healing is a common complication in diabetes mellitus and the using of Extremely Low Frequency Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields (ELF PEMF) has been shown its effectiveness in reducing the wound healing duration. From this point of view, the main purpose of present study is to investigate the effect of Extremely Low Frequency Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields (ELF PEMF) on skin wound healing in diabetic rats. In this study diabetes was induced in male wistar rats via single subcutaneous injection of 65-mg/kg streptozocin (freshly dissolved in sterile saline, 0.9 %). One month after the induction of diabetes, a full-thickness dermal incision (35 mm length) was made on the right side of the Para vertebral region. The wound was exposed to ELF PEMF (20 Hz, 4 ms, 8 mT) for 1 hour daily. Wound healing was evaluated by measuring surface area, percentage of healing, and duration of healing and wound tensile strength. Obtained results showed that the duration of wound healing in diabetic rats in comparison with the control group was significantly increased. In contrast, the rate of healing in diabetic rats receiving PEMF was significantly greater than diabetic control group. The wound tensile strength also was significantly greater than the control animals. Besides, the duration of wound healing in control group receiving PEMF was less than the sham group. Based on the above-mentioned results we concluded that, this study provides some evidence to support the use ELF pulsed electromagnetic fields to accelerate diabetic wound healing. Further researches are needed to determine the PEMF mechanisms in acceleration of wound healing in diabetic rats.        

Introduction: To determine correlation of the histological picture of renal biopsy specimens with clinical signs in cases of nephrotic and nephritic syndrome who needed renal biopsy, we designed this study. Methods: All biopsies together with clinical features of patients were evaluated once more. Place of study was Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran from first month of 1380 to end of 1381. Results: The commonest diagnosis was membranous nephropathy (32%). One hundred cases were included. Forty percent of patients were male.28% of patients were older than 40 years. Hypertension had significant correlation with glomerular sclerosis, high creatinine level and massive proteinuria (p=0.001, p=0.056). Frequency of hypertension and high creatinine in the admission time were highest in focal and segmental glomerulonephritis (p=0.001). Membranous glomerulopathy and minimal change had the mildest presentation. Conclusion: Hypertension and high creatinine in the admission time which had significant correlation with renal insufficiency and glomerular sclerosis needs emergent workup and treatment in order to prevent End Stage Renal Disease.      

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is a common disease in the world, which is caused by Lishmania protozoa. Protective procedures, such as vaccination were not successful so far. Leishmania parasites secret some proteinous products which some of them has enzymatic activity. These enzymes could play a role in some biological function in parasites life cycle. Aims of this study were to detect proteins excreted/secreted in parasite culture. The promastigote forms of the parasite were cultured in RPMI 1640 containing 10% FCS and antibiotics at 22°C. Forth passage parasites were transferred to RPMI without FCS and antibiotics. After 0, 6, 12, 24, 48 and 72 hours, using centrifugation and filters of 0.22µ the E/S products was separated. Activity of Acid Phosphatase (ACP) and Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) were detected and measured in E /S products. Activity of AChE was negative at zero time, but increased after 6 hrs and reached plateau after 24 hrs, and then decreased after this time. Activity of ACP at zero time was very low but reached to maximum levels at 6 hrs and declined after wards. Using SDS-PAGE three protein bands were seen, which corresponded to and 130, 110 and 75 KD. Probably these bonds are related to ACP. We hope these EIS enzymes could play some role in future vaccination and immunization of cutaneous leishmaniasis.      

Introduction: Infertility is one of the most important problems for every family. The aim of this study is to test the prevalence of Mycoplasma hominis in infertile men (with abnormal Semen). The patients that arrive to infertility clinic (Royan Institute in Tehran) with the semen analysis and culture request are asked to fill in a questionnaire about infertility smear collection. Methods: In this case control study presence of Mycoplasma hominis were analysed in tested men. In this study we have compared 40 infertile males with unexplained infertility and 40 Normal men with Female factor as a control case group. The semen samples were sent to microbiology laboratory. The information were analysed with S.P.S.S software by frequency, chi-square & T-test Methods. Results: The average age in patients and control groups were 31.97±5.54 and 31.9±5.9 the value of Mycoplasma hominis in infertile cases were 7(17.5%) and in Normal men were 2(5%) χ2=3.13 and P=0.077, then we have not found statistically significant deference's in the Mycoplasma hominis frequency of the patients. But we have found statistically significant relations between educational levels, the history of and infertility. Also we have not found statistically significant relations between history of libido, premature ejaculation, abdominal pain, testis pain, smoking and infertility. Discussion: We have show a significantly Mycoplasma hominis infections increase in the infertile men. The similarities between this study and the results obtained by others are limited and it may be due to different cultural and normal values in various societies. Though statistically non-significant due to limited number of subjects, however the difference observed in the prevalence infection between cases and controls indicates an association between Mycoplasma hominis infection and infertility. So, it is suggested to check up those patient with unexplained infertility for seminal micro-organisms infections, and if positive, to control the rate of infertility with a suitable and cost effective therapy.