سال:1381 | دوره: | شماره: |تعداد مقالات:5

Peganum harmala L. is a plant, which grows in semi-arid rangeland. The plant is used traditionally as an emmenagogue and an abortifacient agent in the Middle East and North Africa. All parts of plant are thought to be toxic and sever intoxication occurs in domestic animals. Digestive and nervous syndromes have been observed in animals that consume sub-lethal amount of the plant. The toxicated animal appears in a narcotic state interrupted by occasional short period of excitement. Abortion is frequent in animals that digest this plant in a dry year. While this plant has traditionally been used in Middle East, it shows toxic effects in human. A case of human overdose with P. harmala seeds is reported in this paper. Symptoms experienced by our patient found to be similar to what has been reported for domestic animals.

Ethanol-induced acute gastric ulceration (EIGU) is widely studied. ATP dependent potassium channel (KATP) modulators are thought to interfere with some physiologic functions of the stomach. We have studied the effects of different doses of KATP modulators (diazoxide as agonist and glibenclamide as antagonist) on EIGU in rats. Gastric lesions were quantified. Fasting blood glucose (FBS) levels were measured enzymatically. EIGU was prevented by diazoxide and aggravated by glibenclamide. Diazoxide increased and glibenclamide decreased FBS respectively. The present study shows that KATP modulators are involved in the production of EIGU with a mechanism which remains to be elucidated.

Negative symptoms are still a major obstacle in the recovery of schizophrenic patients. Many attempts to develop novel drugs affecting negative symptoms of schizophrenia have yielded insignificant results. This study evaluates the effects of bromocriptine, a dopamine agonist, on negative symptoms of schizophrenia utilizing a placebo-controlled crossover double-blind clinical trial. Methodology: To eliminate interfering factors, only patients with significant negative symptoms who did not have signs of depression, drug side effects, active psychosis, significant somatic diseases, substance abuse, or contraindications for bromocriptine were included. Among 61 patients, only 14 fulfilled inclusion criteria, two of them refrained from taking part. Patients were randomly divided into test and placebo groups and were treated for 13 weeks; for 6 weeks the test group received bromocriptine and the other received placebo, followed by a one week wash-out period during which both groups received placebo, after that groups were exchanged. Subjects were treated with 15 milligrams of bromocriptine and tested with Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), which is a standard test for measuring positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Data analyzed using Wilcoxon sign-rank test. Conclusions: This trial showed that addition of bromocriptine to antipsychotic drugs did not increase the risk of psychosis and reduced negative symptoms of schizophrenia.

Introduction and Objectives: Preanesthetic medication may reduce the risks of adverse psychological and physiological sequela of induction of anesthesia in children. Administration of premedication by sublingual route may provide the best compromise, that is, relatively rapid absorption without causing pain. In this study, we compared sedative and anxiolytic effects of midazolam and buprenorphine in children. Methods: In this randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blinded study, one hundred and fifty normal healthy children, aged between four and ten years scheduled for adenotonsillectomy were randomized to receive sublingual buprenorphine 3 µg/kg, midazolam 0.2 mg/kg or placebo. Heart rate, respiratory rate, and SpO2 were also recorded from the time of premedication to awakening from anesthesia. Anxiety and sedation scores and patients acceptance of mask at induction, were all recorded using a four-point rating scale. Times to spontaneous eye opening and incidence of postoperative emesis were also recorded. Results: Children receiving sublingual midazolam or buprenorphine had similar sedation, anxiety and mask acceptance scores, but higher than no premedication group (P < 0.0001). None of the children experienced respiratory depression or oxygen desaturation after drug administration and during the postoperative period. Time to spontaneous eye opening was longer in the midazolam group (P < 0.0001). Incidence of vomiting was similar in all groups. Discussion & Conclusion: Midazolam has been extensively studied and it has been demonstrated that the drug is highly effective in alleviating anxiety and increasing cooperation. Karl et al. found a 10% incidence of crying at separation from parents after sublingual administration of midazolam. In our study, 6% of midazolam and 8% of buprenorphine group were tearful at separation from parents, but children in Karl’s study were younger (0.5-10 years) than children in our study. We concluded that sublingual buprenorphine is as effective as sublingual midazolam in providing sedation and anxiolysis for pediatric premedication.

The in vitro activity of rac-mefloquine hydrochloride and its pure enantiomers was tested against a chloroquine-resistant (PF.IBS2) strain of Plasmodium falciparum. The parasite isolated from Iranian patients was cultured in vitro by the candle jar method described by Tranger and Jensen and was exposed to the racemic mefloquine or its enantiomers over the concentration range of 10-9 to 10-4M. Neither rac-mefloquine nor the enantiomers showed antiparasitic activity at 10-9 M. The (+)-mefloquine was more potent than the (-)-mefloquine and the racemate by IC50 equal to 1.17 µM in comparison to 4.09 µM.