Journal of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences
Year:2017 | Volume:25 | Issue:3|Papers Count:11

Introduction: The relationship between autism and epilepsy is definitely reported. The prevalence of autism among epileptic children is definitely higher than non-epileptic cases. The purpose of this investigation was to diagnose autism among epileptic children earlier and comparing them with non-epileptic children as well as investigating risk factors, which increased autism among them.Methods: In this case control study, 2 questionnaires were applied; one of them was related to the features of autism and seizure, which was filled for 160 epileptic children between 4-16 years old referring to pediatric neurologic unit in Emam Reza's Clinic in Shiraz. The other questionnaire was the autism screening questionnaire, which was also filled for 160 non epileptic children referring to other pediatric units in that clinic as the control group. This questionnaire was based on DSM-IV-TR criteria and every suspicious child for autism was confirmed or refused by neurologist and psychiatrist.Result: 12 children among 160 epileptic cases were diagnosed as autistic patients. However, no autistic child was diagnosed in the control group that this difference was statistically significant. Furthermore, there was a significant correlation between the prevalence of autism and the age of seizure onset, as well as the findings of CT and MRI and the etiology of the seizure, but there were not any significant correlations with other variables of seizure.Discussion: According to this study, the prevalence of autism among epileptic children is higher than non epileptic ones. As the age of the onset of seizure is lower the prevalence of autism will be higher. Also, the prevalence of autism among epileptic children will be higher as abnormal findings of imaging and known etiologies of seizure increase. Loss of significant correlations among prevalence of autism and some variables of seizure can be due to few numbers of autistic cases, which were diagnosed in this study comparing with previous studies.

Introduction: Curcumin is a bright yellow chemical produced by some plants like Turmeric. The anti-inflammatory effects of Curcumin were recorded in some studies. This study was done to investigate the effects of the Curcumin on the physiological functions of rat blood monocytes.Methods: This study was an experimental one. The study population consisted of 20 rats randomly categorized into the treatment and control groups. Curcumin was orally administered to treatment group in daily doses of 200 mg/kg from the beginning of the study and continued for 4 weeks. The control rats received PBS at the same volume. At the ends, the blood samples were taken from the rats and the monocytes were isolated under a ficoll-hypaque gradient. Isolated monocytes were challenged with opsonized yeast and the functions were evaluated.Results: The results showed that the monocytes isolated from the control and treatment groups have not shown any significant differences in phagocytosis after challenge with opsonized yeast (p=0.1). Nevertheless, the respiratory burst (P=0.009) and nitric oxide production (P=0.03) were decreased in curcumin treated rat compared to the control rats. Albeit, the biological activities of monocytes in the treatment group was increased compared to the monocytes isolated from the control group (P=0.0001).Conclusions: Collectively, it seems that curcumin is a natural source to intervene the monocytes functions especially in autoimmune diseases so that monocytes hyperactivity causes immunopathological conditions.

Introduction: Contingency management therapy is one of the common therapies in field of addiction that shapes the behavior in form of using positive reinforcements such as coupon, goods and services and has a kind of behaviorism basis. This study is conducted with the aim of evaluating the effectiveness of contingency management intervention.Methods: This study was a controlled trial in which fifty men (N=50) were selected voluntarily and were randomly assigned into Contingency management group and control group with 25 individuals in each group (n=25). Contingency management therapy was presented to the participants of experimental group in terms of giving coupon to negative test of urine in a period of twelve weeks and participants of control group just received the base routine treatment. In addition, Brief behavioral compliance enhancement treatment in order to create an atmosphere of support to treatment adherence was provided to the participants. The urine test was taken of participants two times per week with assuming threshold of 300 Ng/ml in milliliter In order to assess the extent of methamphetamine use. Data were analyzed using ANOVA with repeated measure.Results: the results showed that contingency management therapy has significant effect on reducing the consumption.Conclusion: These findings also have the practical aspects in the field of addiction treatment, once again confirms the efficacy of clinical evidence in the treatment of addiction in the field of behavioral.

Introduction: Estrogen regulates many processes in the brain such as synaptic formation, learning, and memory. Empirical evidence shows that there is a correlation among menopause, memory impairment, and anxiety due to Estrogen deficiency. In this study, we tested the effect of Metformin (Met) with antioxidant effect, which can improve the impairment of tactile learning and anxiety-like behavior in ovarectomized mice.Methods: Thirty-two female mice weighting 20±5 g were randomly divided into four groups of eight, including sham group, ovariectomy, ovariectomy with doses 7 and 15 mg/kg of Met. At first, mice were ovariectomized and then they were treated with the doses of the Met or water for 21 days. Then, tactile learning (by Novel Object Recognition Test) and anxiety like-behavior (by Elevated Plus-maze) were determined.Results: Met at the doses of 7 or 15 mg/kg significantly improved tactile learning compared to the ovariectomy group. Met at the doses of 7 or 15 mg/kg significantly increased Open Arm Time (%OAT) and Open Arm Entries (%OAE) compared to the ovariectomy group.Conclusion: Met especially at the dose of 7 mg/kg showed a significant role in improving the anxiety and tactile learning in the ovariectomized mice.

Introduction: Studies have indicated that metformine has different effects on learning and memory. In this study, both acute and chronic therapeutic effects of metformin on memory retrieval and some serum oxidative stress factors in Streptozotocin -induced Alzheimeric male rats were investigated. Methods: In this experimental study, 48 rats were divided into six groups (n=8) as follows: saline - saline, streptozotocin - saline, and streptozotocin - metformine (once, one week, three weeks and eleven weeks). Intracerebroventricular administrations of streptozotocin (3 mg/kg) were done at the first and third day of the surgery. Intraperitoneally administrations of saline (ml/kg) or metformin (200 mg/kg) was started one day before the surgery and continued until the end of the care period. The animals’ memory was evaluated through passive avoidance learning; blood serums were used to measure the levels of malondialdehyde, assessment of Ferric Reducing Ability of Plasma (FRAP), levels of superoxide dismutase and catalase enzymes.Results: Streptozotocin (STZ) significantly reduced the memory retrieval and the levels of FRAP, superoxide dismutase and catalase enzymes and it significantly increased the level of malondialdehyde compared to the control group (p<0.001). Administration of metformin (once, one week and three weeks) improved the memory retrieval and serum oxidative stress factors compared to the STZ group (p<0.001). While the administration of metformin in eleven weeks group did not have any significantly differences compared to the STZ group (p>0.05).Conclusion: It seems that administration of acute and chronic metformin has different effects on the memory retrieval that it may be due to the effect of chronic metformin in increasing the level of oxidative stress factors in serum.

Introduction: Increased serum levels of FGF23 is associated with left ventricular hypertrophy. Increased serum ACE probably plays a role in cardiovascular disease and negatively affects the structure and function of cardiac muscle and leads to an induction of pathologic concentric hypertrophy. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of 12 weeks aerobic exercise on plasma FGF23, ACE and left ventricular hypertrophy in hypertensive elderly women.Methods: In this study, 20 elderly women aged 50 to 70 years old were randomly chosen and and divided into two groups (control and aerobic exercise) based on body fat percentage and body mass index. Exercise program included increasingly aerobic exercise, performed 3 times a week for 12 weeks. Before starting the training and 24 hours after the last training session, blood samples were taken and cardiac echocardiography was conducted. Data were evaluated using t-test analysis at the significance level of P<0.05.Results: According to the results, the significant changes in left ventricular wall thickness (p=0.0001), and the level of ACE were observed between pre-test and post-test of the aerobic training group (p=0.0001); while there was no significant difference among FGF23 of the aerobic exercise and control groups.Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrated that aerobic exercise has a positive effect on heart function and serum levels of ACE, and can potentially reverse cardiac dysfunction associated with left ventricular hypertrophy.

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of different doses of aqueous extract of marjoram on spermatogenesis and sperm concentration in cadmium oxidative damage due to the antioxidant quality of extract.Methods: In the intervational- experimental study, 30 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 5 groups. Control group, T1, T2, T3 and T4 groups. In the group of T1, 2 mg/kg Chloride Cadmium was administered intraperitonialy; T2, T3 and T4 groups, in addition to the chloride cadmium the extract of marjoram at 500, 250 and 125 mg/kg intraperitoneal was administered, respectively, for 10 days. Then, on the last day, after blood collection and separation of serum, TCA was measured. Sperm numbers and percentage of sperm twisted tail were counted in the right epididymis. After measuring the right and left testicular weight and diameter, malondialdehyde and histological studies were examined. The data were analyzed by one way ANOVA analysis and Tukey’s test using SPSS 21.Results: The highest number and percentage of sperm membrane integrity was in the control group and in T4 (doses of 125 mg/kg of extract) and the lowest in the group receiving cadmium (T1) and this different was significant (P<0.05). The highest concentration of MDA was in the T1 group and the lowest in the group of the dose of 500 mg/kg (T2), respectively. The TCA concentration was the lowest in T1 and highest in T2. The most average sertoli, spermatogonia, spermatocets and Leydic cells was in the control group and the group of 250 mg/kg doses of extract, but the lowest was observed in T1.Conclusion: The aqueous extract of marjoram with an appropriate dose can have a positive effect on spermatogenesis and control testicular tissue oxidative stress by cadmium.

Introduction: Acinetobacters especially Acinetobacter baumannii causing nosocomial infections in hospitals intensive care units and can cause a variety of hospital infections such as bacteremia, meningitis, pneumonia and urinary tract infections. There are several molecular techniques for microbial genotyping, among them Pulsed- Field Gel Electrophoreses is introduced as the gold standard for sub typing of bacteria. The aim of this study was investigating the molecular typing of A. baumannii strains with PFGE as well as the relationship between common types available and their antibiotic resistance.Methods: In this descriptive - analysis study, 50 Acinetobacter baumannii were confirmed with cultivation methods and biochemical tests. Then, bacteria were detected using PFGE typing and the results were compared with the results of antibiotic resistance.Results: The results showed that all isolates had multiple resistance. The highest sensitivity was observed for tobramycin (52%), gentamicin (36%) and moropenem (32%).The results of this study showed that A. baumannii strains isolated from Shahrekord hospitals were in seven different genetic patterns that two of these patterns were sporadic and the genetic patterns were different in each hospital.Conclusion: Although variations among strains of Acinetobacter baumannii were observed by using PFGE in Shahrekord, but no epidemic strain was detected among them. In terms of resistance to commonly used antibiotics were also different patterns.