Iranian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences
Year:2001 | Volume:4 | Issue:1 (9)|Papers Count:9

Herbal drugs such as those in other pharmaceutical articles may be contaminated by microorganisms during process and production. Ever-increasing attentions for the use of herbal drugs which are offered in dosage form necessitate their quality control. So the quality assurance of herbal drugs in dosage form must be considered by the physician and patients interested in using them. In this study the estimation of number of viable aerobic microorganism numbers present and pharmaceutical freedom from designated microbial species according to USP method were taken in some products, i. e. tablets, powders and drops. In tablets and powders the most probable number was more than 1,100 per gram. But there were no microorganisms in the drop specimens. The powder specimens were contaminated with Salmonella and Escherichia coli, but not Condida albicans. Other microbial contamination was evaluated, and tablet specimen contamination with Bacillus circulans was established.      

This study was designed to determine the value of the renal clearance (CL) of N-1-methylnicotinamide (NMN), as a potential new marker of tubular function in renal impairment. Its CL was measured along with 5 other major indicators of renal function in three different models of experimental renal insufficiency in rats. Tubular and glomerular injury was induced using cisplatin and rabbit antisera to rat kidneys, respectively. For the acute model of tubular necrosis all markers were either increased or decreased maximally by the 4th day post treatment. Relative to the pretreatment values (mean values in parenthesis) the maximum reduction in CL or increase in 24h urinary excretion of the markers was: NMN 70% (17.4), creatinine 69% (4.3), urea 86% (8.9), glucose 160-fold (trace), NAG 75-fold (trace) and proteins 2.7-fold (19.7). All markers, except NMN and urea CL, fell and recovered rapidly following the injury. In the model of chronic tubular necrosis similar results were found except that the rate of decline and recovery of the markers was less pronounced. In the glomerulonephritis experiment the maximum reduction for the CL of creatinine, urea and NMN was 74%, 34%, 32% respectively. The clearance of NMN remained low for only one week and then returned to normal. It can be concluded that NMN is potentially a useful marker for proximal tubular necrosis and provides an addition to the existing battery of tests available for the assessment of renal injury.      

In the present study, the effects of milrinone and amrinone, selectivePDE3 inhibitors, on insulin secretion have been investigated, using in-vitro static (incubation of rat islets and CRI- D2 cultured insulin secreting cells) and dynamic methods (islets perifusion) and in-vivo procedures. In incubation of the islets, 10mMof glucose increased the insulin secretion and 10-4 Mmilrinone augmented glucose- induced insulin secretion significantly (P<0.05). But the effect of amrinone, another selective PDE3 inhibitor, was not significant. Milrinone increased 10 mM glucose induced insulin secretion in a dose-dependent manner (EC509 =µ M). However, in the same conditions, the different concentration of amrinone did not produce a significant effect. In the presence of 3mM glucose, the amount of insulin which was released by CRI-D2 cells was very low and 10mM glucose did not increase insulin secretion significantly. But addition of 10-4Mmilrinone to 10mM glucose increased the amount of insulin release. In in-vivo experiments, milrinone increased plasma insulin concentration in a dose dependent manner (P<0.05). While amrinone, with the same concentrations, not only failed to increase insulin secretion, but it seemed to have a decreasing effect, although the effects were not significant (p>0.05). Considering the differences between milrinone and amrinone IC50 for PDE3 activity inhibition in other publications, we may conclude that the difference between the effects of milrinone and amrinone on insulin secretion is because of their IC50. The effects of milrinone confirm the insulinotropic effect of selective PDE3 inhibitor drugs. In comparison with the milrinone effects, the different effect of amrinone might be because of variations in PDE inhibitor effects among different tissues (tissue specificity) or existence of other mechanisms in augmentation of glucose-induced insulin release by selective PDE3 inhibitors.      

The fungal contamination of four indoor public swimming pools was investigated using membrane filtration and carpet sampling method. Sixty samples from water and related places of each swimming pool were tested for the presence of fungi in different seasons during one year. The most common fungi recovered were as follows: Cladosporium sp. 34.9%, Penicillium sp. 31.2%, Rhizopus sp. 9.7%, Aspergillus sp. 9.2%, yeast species 6.2% and unknown filamentous fungi 8.8%. Also Trichophyton mentagrophytes were isolated in nine cases from dressing rooms and bathrooms of swimming pools. The fungal contamination of these swimming pools under specific conditions could be an alarm for induction of infections and allergy in compromised hosts.      

Isolation of components responsible for antidiabetic activity of extract of Morus nigra leaves was carried out using the activity-directed isolation method. Leaves were collected, dried, and powdered. The dry powder was extracted with methanol and phytochemical tests showed the presence of alkaloids, saponins and flavonoids. The blood glucose lowering activity of different extracts were tested in groups of 6 or 7 diabetic male mice at 0,1,2,4,6 and 8 hours after i p. Injection of the extracts, decoction extract, flavonoid fraction before and after extraction with ethylacetate, and n-butanolic extract of ethylacetate extracted flavonoid fraction showed 19,31,26 and 17 percent decrease in glucose blood levels in aloxane-induced diabetic mice, respectively. While n-butanolic extract showed maximum activity after 4h of injection, maximum blood glucose lowering activity of other extracts was observed after 8h injection. Due to higher activity of n-butanolic extract, it was subjected to further purification using column choromatography on silica gel with acetic acid: n-butanol: water (1:5:4) as eluting solvent followed by preparative TLC. Six flavonoids were detected on TLC plates from which two were scraped off and extracted with methanol. With respect to ultra-violet spectra of these two compounds in methanol containing different shift reagents and mass spectra structures Band D were suggested for these two flavonoids. Due to unavailability of sufficient amounts of purified flavonoids, their blood glucose lowering activity was not studied.      

Background: Dimensions of the newborn's body are the basis for all changes in anthropometric indices. Objective: Determining the normal range of head and face dimensions in normal one-day old male newborns in Fars and Turkman races. Method & material: This descriptive and cross sectional study was accomplished on 311 normal male newborns (n=311) by cephalometry. Results: Mean and standard deviation of cephalic and facial indices in the Fars race are respectively 77.28±4.97% , 78.47±5.45% and in the Turkman race are 78.15±10.78% , 71.9±10.89 % respectively. Dominant and rare types in the Fars race are respectively Mesocephalic (38.4%) and Hyperbrachycephalic (10.2%) and so in the Turkman race are respectively Mesocephalic (41.8%), Hyperbrachycephalic (6%) respectively. Dominant facial type in the Fars and Turkman races are respectively Hypereuroprospic (81.9%) and (48%). Conclusion: There is no significant difference between the types of head & face in Fars and Turkman races in this research, but there are significant differences between the dominant types of face in both races.      

Immunity against tuberculosis with consideration to pathogenesis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is closely related to activity of phagocytic cells, particularly monocyte - macrophage class. Activation of cell mediated immunity (CMI) in this infection is achieved following interaction of T-Lymphocytes and macro phages through three phases of (I) antigen presentation, (II) activation of T-Cells and production of lymphokines and (III) finally, promotion of bacteriocidal function of macrophages. There are various reports on alteration of phagocytic activity of these cells in patients with tuberculosis. In this study, the phagocytic activity of circulating blood monocytes and granulocytes in 30 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis was studied by flow cytometry compared with 30 healthy cases (Control group). The test procedure is based on the rate of phagocytosis of opsonized E.coli (With antibody and complement) that previously conjugated with fluorescien isothiocyante. The results of our experiment are as follows: (I) The percentages of phagocytic activity in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis was significantly decreased as compared with healthy individuals. (II) The decrease in activity of monocytic population is clearer as compared to granulocytic population (38.81% and 81.97% for patients and controls monocytes with S. D. of 12.1 and 4.44 respectively, for granulocytes 45.76% and 86.5% in patients and controls with S.D of 11.44 and 4.21 respectively, p<0.001). (III) The decrease of phagocytic activity is related to clinical conditions of patients, for example stage of disease and period of treatment.