IRANIAN SOUTH MEDICAL JOURNAL (ISMJ)
Year:2001 | Volume:3 | Issue:2|Papers Count:14

The present study was performed to explore the possible involvement of arcuate nucleus of hypothalamus in descending inhibitory control of pain. The tail flick test and recording EEG and adult male rats weighting 200= ±20gr. were used. Experiments were performed in electrical lesion, sham and control groups. Following unilateral electrical lesioning of a arcuate nucleus, attenuation of pain threshold was observed. The electrical liesion caused a significant reduction in mean absolute value of domain of EEG waves without any change in mean frequency of EEG waves; in comparison to sham and control groups, before and after pain. The group with arcuate nucleus lesion and also the control group showed an increase in mean absolute value of domain and reduction in mean frequency of EEG waves after pain, in comparison to before pain.    

Beta-thalassemia is a major hereditary blood disorder in Iran. This disease is more prevalent in provinces of the south and north of Iran. In this mutational screening study using ARMS/PCR technique was conducted on 104 blood samples of thalassemic patients from Bushehr Province who receiving regular blood transfusions. We used 12 ARMS primers. Mutations in 81.73% of chromosomes were detected. The frequency of detected mutations were the following: IvI 3' end (24.04%), IvsII-1 (12.98%), IvsI-1 (9.13%), Fr 8,9 (8.17%), IvsI-5 (7.69%), IvsI-110 (5. 77%), codon 30 (3.36%), codun 39 (3.36%), IvsII-745 (3.36%), codon 5 (2.40%), IvsaI-6(1.44%); and no codon 44 mutation was detected. Therefore, the most common mutation among thalassemic patient in Bushehr Province was - 25bp deletion in IvsI.  

Argyrophilic Nuclear Organizer Regions (AgNORs) have been recently identified as a marker of proliferative index in various turmors. We evaluated 20 patients with malignant breast tumors and 30 patients with benign breast masses who were referred to the hospitals of Hormozegan University of Medical Sciences. AgNORs were stained in paraffin sections of the tissues using Ploton's silver technique. For each specimen, the number of AgNORs within the nuclei of 50 tumor cells was calculated. AgNOR count (mean±SD) was significantly higher in breast carcinomas (4,122+/-0.914) than in benign breast tumors (1.795=+/-0.396).The AgNOR size in malignant tumors was higher than benign masses.

Breast-self examination (BSE) is an important screening method for breast cancer, therefore women should be encouraged to do routine BSE. The aim of this study was to compare the two teaching methods on skill and behavior of mothers for BSE. 40 mothers were selected by random sampling. After pre-test of BSE, the subjects were divided into two matched groups. One group was taught by their daughters; group 1 and the other by educators; group 2. After two weeks, their skill for BSE was assessed and after three months, their habit (continuation of BSE) was examined. There was a significant difference between the skill of the two groups (67.85 points for group1 and 52.14 points for group 2; p<0.05) in two weeks follow-up. There was more favorable behavior for continuation of BSE among mothers who were taught by their daughters. So, daughters in school, as powerful educators, can introduce the skill of BSE for their mothers.  

Hyperlipidemias are a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. To determine the prevalence of hyperlipidemia and average of serum lipids in this urban area and identify their socio-demographic determinants, a cross -sectional, randomized study on 1213 persons, aged 19 years or more, residing in Bushehr city was carried out in 1999. After completing a questionnaire, the subjects' height, weight and fasting lipid levels were measured. About half of the population had at least one type of the dyslipidemia. Hypercholesterolemia (T.C=>200mg/dl) was detected in 34.1%, high LDL- C (=>130mg/dl) in 24.5%, HDL-C<35 mg/dl) in 16.1 % and hypertriglyceridemia (= >200mg/dl) in 13.5%. An elevated T.C /HDL -C ratio (=>5) was present in 20% of the subjects. There was not significant difference between males and females in total rates of hyperlipidemia (p=0.23). 49% of the population were overweight (32.7%) and/or obese (16.3%). Cholesterol level was positively related to age, female sex and BMI and had no relation to educational level.Conclusion: our results showed that hyperlipidemia (especially hypercholesterolelmia) and increased. BMI are prevalent in this urban community and preventive strategies should include public health and attention on dietary habits, physical activity and lifestyle changes to shift the distribution of serum lipids to a more favorable level.

Iodine deficiency is one of the most health problems in Iran. The most proper and less expensive approach for preventing iodine deficiency disorders could be production and provision of iodized salts. The national committee of IDD and institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran recommended 40 ppm iodine in iodized salts. In this study, samples of 14 main centers and provisional shops producing and distributing iodized salts were taken and also 5 types of non-iodized salts from the sea and mines of Bushehr were analysed for the amount of iodine by standard method number 119 and British Pharmacope recommendations with some modifications. The results showed that 89% of iodized salts are not according to the known standards and also 56% of samples had packaging problem. Non-iodized salts from both the sea and mines had unacceptable values of iodine (0.5-3.5 ppm). So, the authorities should have serious concern on production, distribution and provision or iodized salts in Bushehr Province.

Toxoplasmosis is one of the most common parasitic infections in the world, it can cause many problems, especially among pregnant women. Its transplacental transmission can cause problems for fetus and may even lead to stillbirth, so it deserves special attention.365 pregnant women (24-28 weeks of gestation) with age range of 17-41 years were screened for toxoplasmosis antibodies. Their sera were analysed for specific IgM and IgG antibodies by ELISA provided from commercial Alfa-biotech kits. 138 (37.8%) had IgG and 21 (5.7%) had IgM in their sera. So, most of women in Bushehr Port are susceptible to primary infection. This undergoes the necessity of promoting measures to prevent toxoplasmosis infection in pregnant women.

 Persistent diarrhea can produce malnutrition, growth retardation and predispose to infectious diseases. To reveal the risk factors of persistent diarrhea in children less than 5 years old in the south of Tehran, this cross-sectional study was designed. 1058 children were studied from 4 health centers in the south of Tehran and were followed for 2 weeks. Of 989 cases who participated in the follow-up period, 10.6%, 74.3% and 42.1% had short-time (1-3 days), moderate-time (4-7 days) and persistent (>7 days) diarrhea. The age range of 6-11 months old, lack of bath room and suitable toilet service, discontinuation breast-feeding during diarrhea period,  and change of feeding pattern or children since 2 months prior to diarrhea, no ORS administration, and dysentery type of diarrhea were the most important associated factors persistent diarrhea. In conclusion, due to high prevalence of persistent diarrhea in the south of Tehran, health education should be encouraged.

The epidemiology of chronic pain has been studied in male teachers of Khuzestan Province; the method of the research was field study and included all male teachers of Khuzestan Province. 1590 teachers who were chosen by simple random sampling from different cities of the province were screened for chronic pain by Assghary Moghaddam Chronic Pain Test in clinical interview. 511 (32.3%) of male teachers had chronic pain low back pain was the most common type of chronic pain (30.9%). There was a significant relationship between age and low back pain and pain in head and neck (p<0.05). In conclusion, chronic pain had a high prevalence among male teachers and health programmes for its recovery and prevention should be implemented in this population.

Plasmapheresis is a procedure that could be used to collect plasma for manufacture of plasma for derivatives, for example, antirabies immunoglobulin as a passive vaccine. This report presents a positive test on an ELISA test for antibodies to HIV (the confirmatory test was negative) after rabies vaccination in a 19 year old women belonged to none of the usual risk groups. This finding may show a common phylogeny for both HIV and rabies virus.

The acute febrile neutrophilic dermatosis or Sweet's syndrome is characterized by fever, neutrophilic leukocytosis, abrupt appearance of erythetmatous, painful cutaneous plaques and dense dermal infiltrate consisting of mature neutrophiles without vasculitis signs. Although it may occur in the absence of other known diseases, it is often associated with hematologic and immunologic diseases. We report a case with upper respiratory tract infection before dermatologic manifestations of Sweet's syndrome who had good therapeutic response to corticosteroid therapy.