JOURNAL OF RAFSANJAN UNIVERSITY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES AND HEALTH SERVICES
Year:2003 | Volume:2 | Issue:1|Papers Count:9

Background: The Excreted/Secreted antigens (E/SA) of toxoplasma gondii tachyzoites are thought to play an important role in the pathogenesis of parasite and the hosts, immunity against infection with this Parasite. These antigens are also useful for diagnosis and differentiation of acute from chronic phase of toxoplasmosis. Therefore the aim of the present study was to detect the best technique for preparation, purification and identification of these antigens.Materials and Methods: Tachyzoites (2×108) were incubated at 37°C for 1hour under mild agitation in test-tubes containing 2ml of RPMI-1640 culture medium without FCS. After centrifugation for 15min at 1000g the E/SA containing supernatant were dialyzed and concentrated. E/SA were separated by gel filtration and ion exchange chromatography.Fractions of both chromatography columns were analyzed by Native-PAGE electrophoresis. Results: E/SA were eluted in three and two Peaks by gel filtration and ion-exchange chromatography respectively. The second peak obtained from ion-exchange chromatography produced one band in native - PAGE. Conclusion: The result of this experiment showed that ion-exchange chromatography under this conditions is a good tool for purification of E/SA .

Background: Calcium channel blockers are important group of drugs that have been used in the treatment of a variety of cardiovascular diseases especially hypertension. In this study we have investigated the effects of three newly synthesized ester analogs of nifedipine (Compounds No. 1, 2 and 3) compared to nifedipine on mean arterial pressure, dp/dt (cardiac contractility index) and heart rate in rabbits. Materials and Methods: This study was carried out on 24 white New Zealand rabbits in three groups. Rabbits were anaesthetized with diazepam and sodium pentobarbital. The right femoral vein and artery were cannulated for injections (phenylephrin and sodium pentobarbital) and record of arterial blood pressure respectively. Right jugular vein was cannulated for injection of synthetic compounds. Another cannula was inserted in right carotid artery and pushed slowly to left ventricle to record the left ventricular dp/dt as a measure of cardiac contractility. Then the new compounds were tested in two stages. In the first stage during normotensive conditions, 1ml nifedipine (10-4 M) and five minutes later 1ml of the new compounds were injected through the jugular vein during 1 minute and their effect on arterial blood pressure and left ventricular dp/dt was recorded. Twenty minutes later when arterial blood pressure returned to basal level, 1ml of 10-3 M nifedipine and each of the synthetic compounds were injected. In the second stage, arterial blood pressure was increased by 20 mmHg with continuous phenylephrin infusion and then the first stage experiments were repeated in hypertensive conditions. ‏Results: The results showed that in hypertensive conditions, 10-3 M of nifedipine reduced the mean arterial pressure (MAP) and dp/dt by 22.1%, and 19.7% respectively, and increased the heart rate (HR) by 4.8%. Compound 1 reduced MAP by 7.5%, and dp/dt by 8.3% but had no effect on HR. Compound 2 (10-3 M), reduced MAP, and dp/dt by 9% and 11.2% respectively, but had no effect on HR. Compound 3 decreased 10.2% MAP, and 7.6% dp/dt and increased HR by 1.4%. Compounds 1 and 2 significantly reduced heart rate compared with nifidipine (P<0.05). All three compounds with the concentration of 10-4 M had lower effect than nifedipine. Conclusion: Overall this study showed that compound 2 is closer to nifedipine in reducing MAP and dp/dt, but does not increase HR. Although its lowering effect on BP is less than nifedipine, it may be selected for further investigation to increase its antihypertensive effect and probable side effects. Then it may be used in hypertensive patients with ischemic heart disease as it does not increase HR and O2 consumption.

Background: Release of heavy metals and their dispersal in the environment may cause tragic effects on the exposed population. Heavy metals are non-biodegradable, highly toxic which have bioaccumulation properties in living organisms. Therefore, the development of new technology is required to treat wastewaters as an alternative to classical physicochemical processes. Materials and Methods: Adsorption of copper (CU2+)and nickel (Ni2+)from aqueous solutions at 27±1°C by natural bentonite was studied. The effect of pH, metals' concentration, sorbent dosage and contact time were studied in batch experiments. All divalent metal cation solutions were prepared from nitrate salts with 50 mg/L initial concentration and metals concentration determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Results: Adsorption data were described by qualitative and quantitative methods. In qualitative method Gile's classification and in quantitative method Langmuir and Frundlich isotherm equations were used. Adsorption data was better fitted to Frunlich equation model, with correlation coefficient R2 >0.98 and R2 >0.99 for copper and nickel respectively. The increase in initial metal ions concentration decreased the percentage of adsorption and increased the capacity of metals' uptake per unit of the sorbent (mg/g). Results indicated that the adsorption capacity of natural bentonite increased with an increase in the pH. The uptake of copper was found to be greater than that of nickel. Conclusion: The results of this experiment showed that natural bentonite can be considered as a good substance for removal of heavy metals from industrial wastewater, specially in their low concentrations.

Background: Opium dependency is one of the important health problems in our country. Several studies have shown that most of the patients with opium dependency have concomitant psychiatric disorders. The aim of this study was evaluation of the psychiatric disorders in opium dependent patients, and comparison of the psychiatric disorders between opium and heroin dependency. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, 192 male opium dependent patients who were admitted in dual- diagnosis ward of Beheshti Hospital in Kerman for detoxification, were enrolled in the study. After evaluation of their demographic data, they were assessed by means of SCL-90-R test. Results: The age of subjects ( mean± SD) was 33.92± 7.67 years. All of scales of SCL-90-R were evaluated as borderline or sick. Scores of scales: Obsession and compulsion, anxiety, phobia, psychosis, PST, and GSI were significantly higher in patients with heroin dependency, compare to opium dependent patients (p<0.05).Conclusion: We recommend that all of the patients with opium dependency should be evaluated for co morbid psychiatric disorders, this may improve the outcome and management of their dependency.

Background: The succinylcholine administration and tracheal intubations causes significant rise of intraocular pressure (I.O.P), which is of special concern in penetrating ophthalmic injuries. Different methods have been suggested to prevent this complication, but none of them were completely successful. Reports of use of calcium channel blocking agents specially nifedipine for prevention of I.O.P rise after succinylcholine administration for tracheal intubations have been published. The present study was performed to evaluate the effect of sublingually administered nifedipine on I.O.P rise after succinylcholine administration and tracheal intubations.Materials and Methods: Fifty patients of both genders 30 - 40 years, having ASA physical status 1 without any ophthalmic, hypertensive or cardiac disease scheduled for non ophthalmic surgery in Shiraz Khalili hospital , were selected and divided into two case and control groups randomly. Twenty minutes before the induction of anesthesia, the patients in the case group were given a 10 mg capsule of nifedipine and the ones in the control group, a placebo capsule sublingually. The induction and maintenance of anesthesia was the same in the two groups. I.O.P and systolic blood pressure (S.B.P) were recorded before and 20 minutes after nifedipine or placebo administration. Just after the induction of anesthesia the I.O.P and S.B.P were again recorded as well as at the intervals of one, three and five minutes following intubations. The recorded data were compared in both case and control groups and analyzed statistically.Results: In case group after the administration of nifedipine, during all stages of anesthetic induction and following tracheal intubations I.O.P remained below baseline, but in the control group, the I.O.P raised significantly (p<0.05). On the other hand comparison of systolic blood pressure recording in both case and control groups showed no difference.Conclusion: According to the data obtained in this study, it is concluded that sublingual nifedipine successfully prevents I.O.P rise following induction of anesthesia and tracheal intubations. Since the prevention of the rise of I.O.P especially in penetrating injuries of the eye is of utmost importance, the use of sublingual nifedipine before the induction of anesthesia is strongly suggested.

Background: Previous findings have indicated that glucocorticoids may have an important role in the modulation of acute and chronic pain. The present work investigated the effect of acute stress and dexamethasone (as a glucocorticoids, agonist) on acute pain by two assessment methods (Hot Plate and Tail Flick) in Albino mice. Materials and Methods: In this experiment 60 Albino mice (25-30g) were divided into 6 groups. The animals were given 2 days to adapt to the experiment,s condition.Tail flick and Hot plate tests were used for evaluation of analgesic effect of the drug and stress. Dexamethasone( 0.5, 1 and 2 mg/kg) as an agonist of glucocorticoids and saline were injected 3 minutes before the test or before the animals received stress by swiming in cold water (18 – 22oc).The sign of pain was movement of tail in tail flick and grooming in hot plate.Results: The findings of this study indicated that the stress of cold water and Dexamethasone (0.5 and 1mg/kg) have reduced the animals, responses to pain stimulants in both methods significantly (p<0.01). The effect of 2mg/kg Dexamethasone was not significant whereas the effects of stress alone were more than Dexamethasone.Conclusion: The present data showed that stress and the activation of glucocorticoids, receptors reduce the acute pain. To understand the analgesic mechanisms of stress and glucocorticoids, further studies remain to be accomplished.

Background: Paragigantocellularis plays a role in different physiologic actions. In this study the effect of clonidine administration into lateral paragigantocellularis on morphine withdrawal syndrome in male rat was investigated.Materials and Methods: Rats were addicted to morphine by injecting 25, 30, 35, and 40 mg/kg ip twice a day for four days. In the fifth day rats received 40 mg/kg morphine and after half an hour naloxane hydrochloride (2mg/kg, ip) for morphine withdrawal. Clonidine which is an alpha-2 adrenoceptor agonist was administered in doses of 1 & 2 ug/0.5ul to lateral paragigantocellularis 5 minutes before naloxane injection. Number of chewing, jumping, standing on feet, ejaculation, Paw tremor, and defecating were evaluated half an hour after naloxane injection.Results: The results showed that clonidine decreased the number of chewing, paw tremor and ptosis time, but had no effect on teeth gnashing, grooming and wet dog shakes. Conclusion: It can be proposed that alpha-2 adrenocepors in LPGi could mediate clonidine effects on withdrawal syndrome.

Background: Streptokinase (SK) is used for thrombolytic therapy in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) who have no contraindication to this drug. SK is the only thrombolytic agent currently available in Iran. Several side effects have been reported for SK, but there is not enough information on its effects on the liver function. There are only a few case reports of icterus and spontaneous liver rupture after SK therapy. Therefore this study was designed to evaluate the SK effects on liver function in patients with AMI.Materials and Methods: In this clinical trial we selected 68 patients (42 males, and 26 females with mean age of 56±8 years) with AMI that were admitted to the CCU ward. 45 patients who had indication for SK therapy (SK group) received infusion of 1500000 U of SK during 1 hour and 23 patients with AMI that had contraindication for SK therapy in the control group did not receive this treatment. These two groups were matched for age, sex and drug prescription. In all of the patients, liver enzymes, (AST and ALT), bilirubin (direct and total) and alkaline phosphates were measured at admission, and 2, 7 and 30 days after that. Exclusion criteria's were: history of liver disease, cardiogenic shock, heart failure, ages over 75 years and history of cerebrovascalur accident during the last 6 months. Significant P value was considered as p<0.05.Results: In the SK group 46.6% and in the control group 8.7% had elevated liver transaminases more than two folds of the normal level. 33.3% in the SK group versus 4.3% in the control group had elevated liver enzymes more than 3 folds of the baseline values on admission. These differences were significant by fisher exact test (P= 0.0071).Conclusion: We concluded that thrombolytic therapy with SK causes acute impairment of hepatic function without icterus and commonly seen elevated liver enzyme about 2-3 times of the normal levels.