Tehran University Medical Journal
Year:2012 | Volume:70 | Issue:4|Papers Count:13

Background: Use of certain antipsychotic drugs has severe effects on fertility in males.Hypothalamus and hypophysial impressions and changes in plasma hormones concentration like prolactin, LH and FSH can affect sperm production. In this study, we investigated the effects of sulpiride on sperm quality, maturation and DNA damage.Methods: Twenty for adult male mice (age: 6-8 weeks) were divided into three groups.The treatment group received 40 mg/kg sulpiride solution and the control sham group was given carrier of the drug intraperitoneally (IP) daily for 45 days but the control group received nothing. Finally, all the mice were sacrificed by cervical dislocation and their cauda epididymis were removed surgically. The excised specimens were placed in 1 ml HTF medium and incubated for 30 min in CO2 incubator to allow the spermatozoa to swim out. Later, sperm count, motility and viability were analyzed. Additionally, sperm chromatin quality and DNA integrity were assessed by aniline blue and acridine orange staining.Results: Significant decrease in sperm motility and count were observed in the treatment group while the number of abnormal sperm increased as compared with the other two groups. Sperm viability and DNA maturation showed significant reduction and the rate of DNA damage increased in comparison with the control sham and the control groups (P<0.05).Conclusion: The study showed that sulpiride has negative effects on sperm parameters in treated animals and in some cases it could cause secondary infertility.

Background: Inflammatory enzymes and free radicals are important factors affecting the immune system. However, there seems to be no detailed information about the extent to which these factors can affect superoxide dismutase 1 gene expression in female athletes, especially in incremental exercises. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the correlation between superoxide dismutase 1 gene expression with lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and free radicals in female athletes after an incremental intensity exercise.Methods: Fifteen 22-24 year old female athletes from Urmia, Iran voluntarily participated in the study after completing an informed consent form in 2010. Venous blood samples were collected in three stages: prior to, immediately and 3 h after an incremental exercise (12 km/h at a 5% gradient for 20 min). Real-time PCR was used to assess superoxide dismutase1 (SOD-1) gene expression as was an autoanalyzer for hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and LDH concentrations.Results: LDH concentration significantly increased in both stages of the exercise (immediately and 3 h after the exercise), (respectively, P=0.009 and P=0.026), but H2O2 concentration significantly increased only in the recovery phase (P=0.002). SOD-1 mRNA did not significantly increase in any stage of the exercise (P=0.05). Moreover, there was only a significant correlation between SOD-1 mRNA and H2O2 increase (P=0.014).Conclusion: Incremental exercise increased H2O2 and LDH levels in female athletes but only free radicals had a significant effect on SOD-1 gene expression.

Background: Probiotic microorganisms are living normal flora of human body that have nutritional value and health benefits when administered in adequate amounts. The health benefits include prevention of bacterial diarrhea, skin eczema and recently understood, prevention and control of various cancers, as well. Different mechanisms such as stimulating the immune system, modifying the composition of gastrointestinal and genitourinary tract normal flora and prevention of the carcinogenic activity of fecal enzymes have been identified for their probiotic activity. Due to the high density of the normal flora in the gut and also preferentially sporadic nature of colorectal cancers, these cancers are among the main candidates of treatment trials with probiotics. In this study, direct effects of probiotic lactobacilli on colon cancer tumor cells were studied.Methods: Supernatant fluid and bacterial extracts were prepared and CaCo-2 cells were treated by these materials. Subsequently, the effects of the aforesaid elements were evaluated on cell proliferation, cell necrosis and cell apoptosis by MTT assay, LDH assay and caspase-3 activity.Results: The supernatants of lactobacilli decreased cell proliferation and increased cell apoptosis but they did not have any effect on cell necrosis. In contrast, when cancerous cells were treated by lactobacilli extract, it lead to cell necrosis in addition to reduction in cell proliferation and increase in cell apoptosis.Conclusion: The use of lactobacillus probiotics may reduce proliferation of tumor cells in the early stages of colorectal cancers.

Background: Transitional Cell Carcinoma (TCC) is the most common type of urinary bladder cancer. Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), a key enzyme in prostaglandins biosynthesis, has been introduced as a new candidate for targeted therapy in this cancer.In this study, we investigated the expression of COX-2 in urinary bladder TCCs and its relationship with clinicopathological parameters such as tumor grade and stage.Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed in the Pathology department of Sina Hospital in Tehran, Iran during 2006-2011. Pathology reports of patients with definite diagnosis of urinary bladder TCCs who had undergone Transurethral Resection (TUR) were reviewed and 40 cases were selected. Subsequently, COX-2 expression was assessed immunohistochemically by the examination of paraffin embedded tissue blocks. Staining in more than 5% of tumor cells was considered as positive expression.Results: COX-2 was expressed in 52.5% of the patients. High-grade tumors revealed a higher (87.5%) COX-2 expression versus other grades of the lesions and there was a statistically significant difference in COX-2 expression between them (P<0.001).Patients’ age was also related to the expression of this marker (P=0.03). In contrast, this marker did not correlate with other characteristics including gender, lymphatic invasion or tumor stage. In addition, perineurial or vascular invasions were not detected in any of the patients.Conclusion: COX-2 expression was seen in more than half of our patients and it had a marked relation to tumor differentiation. Accordingly, this molecule may be a useful tumor marker in the assessment of urinary bladder cancers.

Background: Various therapeutic options such as calcitonin have been suggested for patients with low bone density, despite uncertain efficacy in most patients. Ctelopeptide of type I collagen (CTX) is a new bone marker used for the assessment of bone resorption. The aim of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic effects of nasal spray calcitonin in women with osteopenia via serum CTX and other laboratory tests.Methods: We conducted a self controlled clinical trial in 2009 on 105 women of menopausal age diagnosed in Baqiyatallah Hospital Clinic with osteopenia based on a bone mineral density score of 1.5 SD lower than peak bone mass. The patients were assigned to receive nasal spray calcitonin (200 IU/day), calcium (1000 mg/day) and Vit- D (400 IU/day) for 6 months. Serum CTX and other laboratory parameters were measured before and after the treatment. The data were analyzed by SPSS, version 17, using t-tests and a P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: Fifty-two patients completed the study and the mean CTX level decreased significantly from 3.10±2.03 to 2.61±1.82 pmol/lit (P<0.001), but total serum levels of PTH, Ca, AST, ALT and Alkaline Ph decreased insignificantly.Conclusion: It seems that nasal spray of calcitonin is significantly effective in preventing disease progression and treatment of low bone density by inhibiting bone tissue resorption indicated by CTX although further studies with larger samples sizes and inclusion of control groups are warranted.

Background: Endothelial dysfunction can influence fertility rate in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) as flow mediated dilatation (FMD) is impaired in patients with the disease. The aim of this study was to compare two methods of ovulation induction by letrozole or letrozole plus human menopausal gonadotropins (HMGs) in infertile women with PCOS who were resistant to clomiphene citrate based on brachial artery ultrasound findings.Methods: In this double -blind randomized clinical trial, 59 infertile women who had the inclusion criteria for PCOS were evaluated in the Infertility Clinic of Shariati Hospital in Tehran, Iran in 2010-2011. The patients were assigned to two letrozole and letrozole plus HMG groups and were evaluated for FMD in the brachial artery by transvaginal ultrasonography. Later, the values were recorded and analyzed statistically.Results: In the letrozole group, infertility treatment was successful in 15 (57.7%) but it failed in 11 (42.3%) patients. In letrozole plus HMG group, the treatment was successful in 18 (54.5%) while it failed in 15 (45.5%) patients. The mean FMD values in the groups with successful and unsuccessful treatment results were 19.42±10% and 18.57±7.2%, respectively, but the difference was not statistically significant (P=0.712). Moreover, the average endometrial thickness in groups with successful and unsuccessful treatment results were 8.4±1.3 mm and 9.8±3.9 mm, respectively but the difference was not significant either (P=0.06).Conclusion: In infertile women with polycystic ovary syndrome that are resistant to clomiphene, letrozole or letrozole combined with gonadotropin can be equally effective for ovulation induction.

Background: Lung diseases and lung cancer are among the most dangerous diseases with high mortality in both men and women. Lung nodules are abnormal pulmonary masses and are among major lung symptoms. A Computer Aided Diagnosis (CAD) system may play an important role in accurate and early detection of lung nodules. This article presents a new CAD system for lung nodule detection from chest computed tomography (CT) images.Methods: Twenty-five adult patients with lung nodules in their CT scan images presented to the National Research Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, Masih Daneshvari Hospital, Tehran, Iran in 2011-2012 were enrolled in the study. The patients were randomly assigned into two experimental (9 female, 6 male, mean age 43±5.63 yrs) and control (6 female, 4 male, mean age 39±4.91 yrs) groups. A fully-automatic method was developed for detecting lung nodules by employing medical image processing and analysis and statistical pattern recognition algorithms.Results: Using segmentation methods, the lung parenchyma was extracted from 2-D CT images. Then, candidate regions were labeled in pseudo-color images. In the next step, some features of lung nodules were extracted. Finally, an artificial feed forward neural network was used for classification of nodules.Conclusion: Considering the complexity and different shapes of lung nodules and large number of CT images to evaluate, finding lung nodules are difficult and time consuming for physicians and include human error. Experimental results showed the accuracy of the proposed method to be appropriate (P<0.05) for lung nodule detection.

Background: Postpartum hemorrhage is a leading cause of maternal morbidity and mortality that is preventive by appropriate estimation of blood loss and its treatment.This study was undertaken to evaluate the accuracy of visual estimation of postpartum hemorrhage by clinicians and co worker who work in the obstetrics department.Methods: In this descriptive observational study, 199 educational/clinical personnel participated who worked in the obstetrics department of 3 training hospital in Mashhad in 2010. First characteristic of their occupation, educational and period of work experience recorded. Then scenes similar of postpartum hemorrhage were rebuilt by using of expired whole blood in five different volume (500, 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500, 3000 cc). Participants looked each scenes and estimated volume and necessary treatment and record in forms. Data were analyzed by SPSS software version 12 and fisher and student tests and relation between accurate volume of hemorrhage and estimated volume and treatment, occupation and experience of participants were determined.Results: Accuracy visual estimation of blood loss in different volume of postpartum hemorrhage was between 14.3% to 52%. There was no significant association between the position of the participants and accuracy of their estimation and proposed treatments. There was no association between the staffs’ work experience and accuracy of their estimation.Conclusion: Visual estimation of blood loss was not accurate in the majority of participants. For prevention of maternal morbidity and mortality education is necessary that to be skilled for accurate estimation of blood loss.

Background: Sepsis is a leading cause of death in infants and children. In this study, we determined sepsis risk factors in children admitted in Bahrami Hospital.Methods: Medical records of 94 patients with septicemia and a positive blood culture were reviewed in this study. The patients had been admitted during 2010-2011 in different wards of Bahrami Pediatric Hospital. Variables including age, gender, underlying diseases, causative agents and use of medical devices were extracted from the medical records and analyzed statistically.Results: 54.3% of the cases were male and 51% were below 1 year of age.54.3% had underlying diseases including malignancy (18.1%) and renal disease (11.7%), which were the most common causes. Failure to thrive (FTT) was detected in 34% of the cases.82% of the causative bacterial agents were gram positive bacteria and the most common organisms were coagulase negative staphylococci (63.8%) and staphylococcus aureus (10.6%). IV-catheters (100%), NG tubes (9.6%), urinary catheters (4.3%) had been used in the patients. The mortality rate was 6.3%.Conclusion: This study showed that septicemia was more prevalent in infants and the most common underlying diseases were malignancy and renal disease, respectively.Gram positive bacteria were the most common cause of septicemia.

Background: Drugs applied topically to the eye may be absorbed systemically to a substantial degree, with the potential to cause serious systemic side-effects. Children may be particularly vulnerable to systemic effects of topically applied agents as topical doses are often not weight-adjusted.Case presentation: This article describes a case of serious systemic side-effect by the use of topical phenylephrine, tetracaine, tropicamide and atropine in a 17-year old boy candidate for deep viterectomy in Farabi Hospital in 1389. Following application of the aforesaid eye drops, the patient developed hypertension and subsequent loss of conciseness.Conclusion: Several types of eye drops and their repeated use can lead to their systemic absorption and medical complications due to overdose. Strategies to minimize systemic absorption should be applied, including use of low concentrations of ophthalmic drugs, administration of one type of the drug, use of microdrops and punctal occlusion to minimize absorption via the nasolacrimal duct. While administering ophthalmic drops, one should take these precautions to minimize the systemic effects of the drugs to prevent subsequent complications.