Studies in Medical Sciences
Year:2016 | Volume:26 | Issue:12|Papers Count:13

Background & Aims: The purpose of this study was to survey red blood cell distribution width after experimentally induced pulmonary embolism in rabbit. Due to oxygen transfer performance of red blood cells, the survey of their special forms and passable widths through the vessels in many diseases is vital.One of these diseases is pulmonary embolism in which red blood cell distribution width should be considered.Materials & Methods: Twelve adult rabbits were selected and divided into two treatment and control groups with six rabbits in each. In treatment group, pulmonary embolism was experimentally induced by injection of autologous blood clots through right jugular vein. Pulmonary embolisms were confirmed by scintigraphy operations. At 0, 60 minutes, 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours after induced pulmonary embolism, blood samples were prepared by standard methods in groups and the red blood cell distribution width were measured. The technetium was milked from molybdenum- technetium generator and then added to macroaggregated albumin (MAA) kit. In all rabbits, 1.5 mCi of prepared 99mTC–MAA was injected into the marginal ear vein. In control group, 1 ml of normal saline was injected via the margin ear vein.Results: In this study, increases of red blood cell distribution widths were observed in the first to third days but these widths returned to normal statue in the fourth day.Conclusion: It seems that red blood cell distribution width changes could be a response to the reduce complications of pulmonary embolism. Therefore it is better to determine red blood cell distribution width in pulmonary embolism along with other measurements due to their specific function.

Background & Aims: Cognitive emotion regulation has a dramatic role in causing emotional problems such as depression. Since the cognitive emotion regulation processes are educable, this study aimed to concern the effectiveness of Penn Resiliency Program (PRP) on cognitive emotion regulation in depressed people.Materials & Methods: This quasi-experimental study included a pretest and posttest with a control group. The study population consisted of students who filled out health monitoring form in 2013-2014.Depressed people were recalled and reevaluated. Then were divided and assigned randomly into two groups of 20. And 10 sessions of PRP were performed once a week for two hours a week in the experimental group, but the control group did not receive any intervention.Results: It was revealed that after performing PRP there was significant differences between both the experimental and control groups in negative cognitive emotion regulation (F=15.71, P<0.001). People who received training used a lower rate of negative strategies to regulate emotions. In addition, PRP had no effect on positive cognitive emotion regulation (F=1.7, P=NS).Conclusions: The present study findings suggest the importance of PRP on decreasing negative cognitive emotion regulation that has implications for prevention and treatment.

Background & Aims: The aim of the present study was to examine the effectiveness of mindfulness based cognitive therapy on reducing social anxiety and depression in adolescents suffering comorbidity social anxiety and depression to 60 day follow up.Materials & Methods: The present experimental study included pre-test, post-test and follow-up with the control group design. Statistical population of this study contained all female students of 1st and 2nd high school grades suffering comorbidity social anxiety and depression, of Khorramabad city in 2015-16. Screening was conducted and 437 participants with the age range of 14-17 completed the social anxiety and depression questionnaires. There were 30 individuals suffering social anxiety and high depression who were randomly divided into two experimentation and control groups. Experimentation group was imposed to training the mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) during 8 sessions; each session lasted for 2 hours that is one session in a week lasting for two months. After completing the sessions and two months after training, both group responded the social anxiety and depression questionnaires. Analysis of the data was done using SPSS; and descriptive and inferential tests such as covariance analysis was conducted.Results: Experimental group showed significant decrease in social anxiety and depression after being trained (p<0.001). Meanwhile, findings were also preserved in the follow-up phase.Conclusion: The current observations confirmed the effectiveness of MBCT in reduction of the level of social anxiety and depression in adolescences suffering comorbidity of social anxiety disorder and depression.

Background & Aims: Niemann-Pick disease (NPD) types A and B are rare autosomal recessive disorders that occur due to mutations in the sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase 1 (SMPD1) gene, which result in the deficiency or shortage of lysosomal acid sphingomyelinase (ASM) activity. The disorder is characterized by the accumulation of sphingomyelin in the endolysosomal sections, and patients often present with hepatosplenomegaly, atherogenic lipid profiles, respiratory complications, and sometimes progressive neurodegeneration.Materials & Methods: In this study, we report the molecular characterization of seven unrelated Iranian Azeri Turk patients with types A and B NPD by sequencing SMPD1 exons. For collecting more information about the frequency of the polymorphic hexanucleotide sequence, P.37LA (3-8), residing within the signal peptide of ASM, we also designed a control group consisting of 50 healthy participants with the same ethnic background.Results: L137P missense mutation was observed in three of the seven patients in a homozygous state.Four patients were homozygous for rs1050239. In the case of P.37LA (3-8), the allele contained four hexanucleotide repeat units, the most frequent in both patients and healthy participants, followed by five, six, and seven repeats. However, five repeats were found for both cases in the ENSEMBLE and UCSC databases, whereas in the NCBI database, seven repeats are considered as a common allele.Conclusion: L137P was the only pathogenic mutation found in this investigation. The existence of an allele with four repetitions with a high frequency for P.37LA (3-8) in our population can be an example of the founder effect.

Background & Aims: Nitrogen dioxide can cause changes in the tissues of kidney, liver, and heart and also may weaken the immune system against infectious diseases. Thus, the present study was conducted with the aim of quantifying and estimating health effects attributed to NO2 pollutant in Urmia city in2013.Materials & Methods: In this descriptive-analytical study, after validating the hourly concentration ofNO2 according to the standards of WHO along with required primary and secondary processing, the health effects and related mortality rates were estimated by the standard software of AirQ2.2.3 based on the pollutant concentration and the exposure of people.Results: The results of this study indicated that the average annual concentration of NO2 in Urmia city was approximately 2.2 times greater than national standards and WHO guidelines. The total mortality, the cumulative number of mortality due to CVD, and the cumulative number of HA-COPD were estimated to be 89, 50, and 14 cases in 2013, respectively.Conclusion; With regard to the health effects attributed to nitrogen dioxide pollutants in the air of Urmia city, the management of air pollution control and traffic engineering is absolutely necessary for this metropolis.

Background & Aims: The antimicrobial effects of nickel nanoparticles on some bacterial strains such as S. aureus and E.coli have been shown in limited studies. The aim of this study was to investigate the inhibitory effects of nickel nanoparticles on biofilm formation by mupirocin resistant S. aureus isolates.Materials & Methods: In this study, 150 S. aureus isolates were collected from educational hospitals in Urmia city. The sensitivity of isolates to mupirocin and other commonly used antibiotics was investigated by agar disk diffusion method. Microtiter dish biofilm formation assay method was used to determine the amounts of biofilm formation in the presence/absence of nickel nanoparticles.Results: From 150 isolates, 30 ones were resistant to mupirocin. The highest levels of resistance to other antibiotics in Mupirocin resistant isolates were seen to penicillin and Trimetoprim/sulfametoxazol respectively, and the least amounts of resistance were seen to ticoplanin and linezolid, respectively.33.3% of investigated isolates were biofilm producers. The inhibitory effect of nickel nanoparticles on biofilm formation by mupirocin resistant S.aureus isolates was significant (P=0.039).Conclusion: Considering the inhibitory effects of nickel nanoparticles on biofilm of mupirocin resistant S. aureusisolates and the safety of nickel usage in dental materials which allow its administration in the nose and mouth mucosa, after further studies it may be useful for prevention of biofilm formation and removal of the carriers from mupirocin resistant S. aureus.

Background& Aims: Metabolism of several trace elements such as copper and iron in diabetes mellitus has been changed which may have an important role in the pathogenesis and progression of the disease.The aim of this study was to evaluate association of serum copper and iron levels with fasting blood glucose (FBG) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and their first-degree relatives (FDRs).Materials& Methods: We studied 46 subjects with T2DM, 46 FDRs and 50 healthy subjects matched for age and sex. Blood glucose and mentioned elements were measured in three groups with standard and colorimetric methods, respectively. The results were evaluated with one-way ANOVA test using statistical software SPSS 16. Correlations between different variables were analyzed using Pearson’s correlation coefficients.Results: FBG levels were positively correlated with iron levels (r=0.650, P<0.001) in patients with T2DM and (r=0.376, P=0.01) in FDRs. On the other hand, there was no significant correlation between FBG with copper levels in these groups.Conclusion: Alterations in iron and copper concentrations in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and their first degree relatives may relate to blood glucose level, especially in the case of iron. It seems that it is useful to follow up the concentrations of these elements in diabetic patients and their first degree relatives.

Background & Aims: The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of 12-weeks of endurance and resistance training on ANP, Endothelin-1, Apelin and blood pressure in hypertensive middle-aged men.Materials & Methods: Twenty eight middle-aged men (age=39.3±2.4 years and BMI=28.6±1.7 kg/m2) with hypertensive volunteered to participate in this study and were randomly divided into two groups of 14 people taking the resistance and endurance. The training protocol consisted of endurance training with gradually increasing of duration and intensity and resistance training with 80% of the 1RM 3 times a week for 12 weeks. Fasting blood samples were measured before the start training protocol and 48 hour after last training sessions. Changes from baseline were assessed using the paired sample t-test and to determine comparisons between groups were analyzed with independent student’s t-tests.Results: In both endurance and resistance groups significant increase were observed at the post-test in ANP and Apelin and also significant decrease in Endothelin-1, systolic and diastolic blood pressure compared to pre-test. Moreover, the results showed that in the Endothelin-1, ANP and systolic blood pressure there were significant differences between groups in favor of the endurance group at the posttest.Conclusion: Although the implementation of endurance and resistance training for 12 weeks improves Apelin, Endothelin-1, ANP, systolic and diastolic blood pressure in hypertensive men, the rate of progress significantly improved in Endothelin-1, ANP and systolic blood pressure with endurance training.

A 46 year-old man with a history of hyperlipidemia was admitted with acute anterior ST-segment elevation MI and his ejection fraction was 30%. He had rest typical chest pain despite routine and complete medical treatment. Urgent coronary catheterization revealed complete occlusion in the proximal of LAD artery with bulky thrombosis (TIMI flow=0-1). Complete thrombosuction and primary PCI was not possible. Urgent three graft CABG was done due to symptoms of patient and unsuccessful PCI.Total lumen of LAD and diagonal arteries were full of clot. Large and tubular clots of LAD and diagonal were removed with endarterectomy spatula, irrigation with heparinized saline and retrograde coronary perfusion via coronary sinus catheter. Postoperative period was uneventful.This patient was very rare case due to intracoronary thrombectomy via surgery and also due to bulky and large clot that involved all way of coronary arteries. Similar cases were not found in different literatures.

Background & Aims: Chronic alcohol consumption is now recognized as a factor that enhances susceptibility to cardiovascular diseases through mechanisms that still are not completely cleared. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of ginger extract on 8-hydroxy-2' -deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) changes and as well as heart muscle cell proliferation induced by ethanol in the heart of rat.Materials & Methods: Twenty-four male Wistar rats were regimented to three equal sized groups: 1.Control, 2. ethanol (4.5 gr/kg BW by gavaj), 3. Ginger extract treated ethanolic groups (4.5 gr/kg ethanol along 50 mg of ginger extract). After 42 days, 8-OHdG and cell proliferation in heart tissue were measured.Results: The results showed a significant increasing in 8-OHdG amounts and heart muscle cell proliferation in ethanol group compared to the control group. Ginger extract administration along ethanol, reduced significantly 8-OHdG amounts and heart muscle cell proliferation compared to the ethanol group.Conclusion: These findings indicate that ginger extract significantly improves heart structural abnormality in ethanolic rats and that these effects can be associated with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of ginger extract.