Pathobiology Research
Year:2002 | Volume:4 | Issue:2|Papers Count:21

In order to study mosquito (Diptera: Culicidac) fauna, an investigation on their adult and larval identification and larval habitat characteristics was carried out in Rasht County (Guilan Province, north of Iran) from July 1997 to October 1998. Five general and eleven species at adult and larval stages were collected and identified as follow:Anopheles maculipennis s.l., An. hyrcanus, An. pseudopictus, Aedes geniculatus, Ae. vexans, Coquillettidia richiardii, Culex mimeticus, Cx. pipiens, Cx. theileri, Cx. tritaeniorhyncbus and Culiseta subochrea.In this investigation, 568 adult specimens and 1126 larvae in the third and fourth stage were collected during 16 times of collection from 35 larval habitats consisted of 8 artificial and 27 natural larval habitats. 44% of the total larvae were collected from artificial larval habitats and 56% of them from natural ones. In this paper, the larval habitat characteristics and distribution of each species in Rasht County have been discussed.

The control of cardiovascular disease, especially coronary artery disease, is regarded as one of the most important health problems in the worid. Nearly 25 percent of the worid total mortality rate is due to cardiovascular disease. So far many research studies have been carried out to control cardiovascular disease risk factors, that most of these studies have been quantitative studies not paying enough attention to deep comprehention and understanding of this phenomenon, while recognition and detection of the structure and nature of a phenomenon must be investigated using qualitative research methods. In this regard, this research was a qualitative study using Grounded theory model carried out to determine. The main structure of the control of coronary artery disease among the patients. The Data analysis of the result collected from the research participants (in eluding coronary patients, and their families, cardiologists and nurses) and creating concepts and variables such as transient care, lock of enough knowledge and understanding of the nature of the disease and lack or effective care relation resulted in the production of a Core variable named, "Continous care" which integrate the resulted concepts of the research data. This finding has been proposed as a new caring approch. This approach requiers four steps of orientation, sensitization, control and evaluation processes to control and reduce the complication of the disease, and to increase the quality of life of coronary patients.

In this study the effects of continuous and pulsed ultrasound (3 MHz) on the parameters of hoffmann"s reflex (H reflex) were compared with each other. In order to do this, 14 healthy female subjects aged between 25 and 35 years old (mean = 26.64, SD = 2.71) were tested. Ultrasound (U.S) was applied on the sciatic nerve of right lower limbs on the posterior aspect of the thighs at two different sessions. The area of treatment was 20 square cm (2*10). Duration of the treatment was 5 minutes and the intensity of the U.S. was 1 watt per square cm. The duty cycle was 10% for the pulsed ultrasound.Parameters of M wave and H reflex of the soleus muscle (amplitudes of 1/2 Hmax, duration and latency) were measured and recorded before the application of the U.S. (T0) and immediately (T1), 5 minutes (T5), 10 minutes (T10) and 15 minutes (T15) after the U.S.Statistic<;u analysis of the data (ANOV A repeated measurement and paired t-test) showed that the continuous ultrasound increases the amplitude of H-reflex significantly (P < 0.01). There was no significant difference in the latency before and after the application of U.S.These results may be due to thermal effects of continuous U.S. on the reflex arc and it seems that the continuous U.S. (3MHz) increases the excitability of the alpha motoneurone.

Joint Proprioception (ability to perceive joint movement and position in space) is a a highly specialized neural function. The signals from receptors in skin, muscles, ligaments, and joints capsules are transmitted to the central nervous system through fast transmitting pathways. Any deficit in the joint proprioception can cause joint instability. It has been reported in the literature that the application of cold to the joint and surrounding tissues can decrease the joint sensation. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of local cold on the knee joint as sense in both the open and closed kinematic chains. The cold was applied over the knee joint as well as on the thigh. Eighteen healthy male subjects, aging 20-32 years (25.27± 3.26), voluntarily participated in the study which was conducted in Rasoul Akram Hospital. All subjects were tested for the knee joint position sense before the application of cold, as well as immediately and 15 minutes after the end of the cold applicatidn. All tests were performed in both, the open and closed kinematic chains, in 30 degrees of knee flexion which was monitored by an electronic goniometer. The subject were asked to actively reposition the joint in that degree after it was activity positioned by themselves.The results indicated that the application of cold over the knee joint had no significant effect on the joint position sense in both the open and closed kinematic chains (p> 0.05). The Cold application on the thigh, on the other hand, decreased the joint position sense in the open kinematic chain (p<0.05), while it had no significant effect in the closed kinematic chain. The result of this study also revealed that the effects of the cold on the thigh in the open kinematic chain were sustained for fifteen minutes after the end of the cold application. This is probably due to a reflex decrease in the gamma motoneuron activity and a decrease in the afferent spindle discharge. It can be concluded that caution should be taken when performing the open kinematic chain activities of the knee and special attention should be paid to the joint position sense when planning any treatment program for the knee.

This research was a quasi-experimental (before and after) study carried out to find out how much health education affects family planning among women in villages of Chabahar.Sampling method was random-clustering. Ten Health Houses and 158 women in chabahar villages were selected and studied as samples. The data was gathered through questionnaires and the statictics available at the Health Houses.Then, based on the results of a pre-test, an education program was devised and implemented in four sessions and the results of the sessions were studied six months later. The results showed that the women"s and helth workers knowledge had increased and that they had developed a positive attitude toward family planning. This was confirmed by the pair t-test (P<0.0001).In addition, the rate of practice among women had increased from 34.8% (before the education) to 61.3% (after the education). Mc Nemar test showed a significant difference between then (P< 0.0001).Finally, the rate of family planning coverage of the Health Houses had increased from 33.54% (befor education) to 58.98% (after education). It could be concluded that health education can have positive effects in order to find on how much it affects family planning among women in villages in chabahar district.

The present study was conducted in order to evaluate the efficacy of formalin-petrol and formalin petrol JP4 in comparison with formalin-ether in diagnosis of protozoa and helminth in stool examination. In this regard, 156 Giardia lamblia and 38 Hymenolepis nana positive fecal specimens were collected and examined with aforementioned methods. The results indicated that, sensitivity of formalin-petrol, formalin-petrol JP4 and formalin-ether in diagnosis of G.lamblia were 96.29%, 96.29% and 98.73% respectively while in diagnosis of H.nana the sensitivity were measured as 97.43%, 100% and 95% respectively. Generally, no significant difference was found among these three techniques in diagnosis of G.lamblia and H.nana. It seems that petrol can be a good substitute for ether in formalin-ether technique. In addition, availability and cost of formalin petrol is much more appropriate than formalin-ether, so it can be recommended for human stool examination.

Measles, a viral exanthema of childhood, is the most contagious infection of humans. Measles virus is a member of the genus Morbillivirus of the family Paramyxoviridae. Despite the million"s lives saved by the global measles vaccination program of the World Health Organization (WHO) some 1 million infants and children continue to die each year from measles. In order to reduce the above mentioned figure more than 90% of children having 9 months of age or more must be immunized against measles.It is of great importance to do continuous serum surveys to measure herd immunity to disease.Several serologic tests are used to show the level of measles antibody, and each test has its own advantages and disadvantages.In this study it was attempted to apply indirect immunofluorescent test (IIF), serum neutralization test (SNT), and plaque reduction test (PRT) to detect and measure measles antibodies. One hundred and twenty sera collected from children under the age of 5 living in some villages of Mianeh were tested with the IIF and SNT. Fifty of the sera were also tested using the PRT.To run the tests most of the reagent were used; e.g. fluoresceine-conjugated antihuman rabbit immunoglobulin measles antigen, and purified human IgG were first prepared.Taking the PRT as a gold standard test, the results obtainend from the IIF and SNT were compared with those of the PRT. Sensitivity and specificity of the IIF were equal to 84% and 67% respectively, whereas they were equal to 97% and 83% for the SNT.

Serologic methods are the most important techniques for the diagnosis of hydatidosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diffusion in Gel-ELISA (DIG-ELISA) for serodignosis of human hydatidosis. The DIG-ELlS A is a simple and sensitive ELISA test without the need for absorbance reader. The method combines the diffusion of antibodies in agar with the EIA concept in petri dishes. To standardize the test, 105 sera were evaluated in three groups: hydatidosis patients (40), healthy donors (20), and patients without other parasitic and non-parasitic diseases (45). DIGELISA was indicated as the most sensitive, specific and efficient method in 1:200 and 1:400 serum dilution. Hence diameter of reaction zones at those titers were selected for the cut-off (7:52 mm and 5.06 mm respectively). Sensitivity, specificity and efficiency of DIG-ELISA for 1:200 serum dilution was evaluated to be 95.2%, 95.6% and 95.4% and for 1:400 serum dilution 97.6%, 97% and 97.3% respectively. DIG-ELISA was found to be easy to setup in a moderately equipped laboratory. This test proved to be useful for field diagnosis considering the advantage of eliminating the need of an absorbance reader.

PCR-ELlSA technique is used for sensitive and specific detection of clostridium botulinum type A. In this research catalytic domain of botulinum neurotoxin gene was amplified by PCR. Then, PCR product was detected by DIG-ELlSA. Sensitivity of this technique was found to be less than 0.5pg of chromosomal DNA. Detection of this bacterium in artificially contaminant food samples was also done. After 18-hour incubation under anaerobic condition the sensitivity was 100 bacteria per mililiter.To study the specifity of this method, other types of this bacterium (B and E) were tested and there was no cross reaction with types B and E. The reproducibility was also tested and the reactions showed that the technique is quite reproducible.

Refractive Errors are the most common cause of patients referred to ophthalmic clinics. Refractive errors consist of: myopia, hypreropia, astigmatism, combined forms, and over the 40 years old age, presbyopia. But the main cause of visual disturbance varies with forms the age to some extent.Occasionally refractive errors may acccompany with other ocular or systemic disorders. Therefore, early diagnosis and treatment of this problem, especially in children for the prevention of amblyopia, play an important prophylactic role in ophthalmology. Hereditary, individual, social and environmental factors, somehow affect on the prevalence of refractive errors. In this cross sectional study on 298 male students of intermediate schools (12-15 years old) in Damghan city [in 1999] we found kinds of refractive errors in 58 cases that were analyzed by backward logit statistical method. The results showed that those who had older parents were affected 4.9 times more than those with younger parents. On the other hand refractive errors was 3.25 times more frequent in. thick population families than thin families. The overall result demonstrated that within a definite family the younger child is more susceptible to be affected by refractive errors than older child based on the sequence of birth.

Thalassemia is an hereditary anemia transferred to offsprings from parents carrying minor thalassemia characteristic. Those suffering from thalassemia, have two choices for the treatment, firstly the marrow transplantation and secondly the blood injection. Due to certain difficulties of the marrow transplantation, the blood injection is more common.In this paper, while obtaining the survival rate of these patients through the Kaplan Meier approach, the curves of patiants survival was studied according to different variables with the use of modified log rank test. This study was performed on 101 patients suffering from Major thalassemia in Hormozgan Province. The four variables analyzed were the kind of blood injected, type of their disease, ferritin level and type of patients gene. After grouping the patients according to different levels of each variable, the survival rate in each group was calculated for every variable.The results showed that, the survival rate of patients suffering from major thalasemia was 99% up to the age of 10, 68% up to the age of 20, decreased to 50%, and up to the age of 30 respectively.

In this study the role of CA1 region of dorsal hippocampus on amygdaloid kindled seizures was investigated by bilateral microinjection of lidocaine into the hippocampus.All animals were implanted with a tripolar electrode into the basolateral amygdala and 2 guide cannulae into the CA1 region of the hippocampus of the both hemispheres. Animals were kindled by daily electrical stimulation of the amygdala, then divided into six groups. In groups 1-3, 1% lidocaine was infused into the hippocampus (1µ 1/2min) and animals were stimulated at 5, 15 and 30 min after the injection and seizure parameters were measured. In groups 4-6, 2% lidocaine was infused into the hippocampus (1µ 1/2min) and the seizure parameters were measured by the same manner as in groups 1-3. In all groups, 24h before lidocaine injection, saline was injected (1µ 1/2min) and the parameters were recorded as control. Results showed that afterdischarge duration was reduced at 5 min after the lidocaine (1% and 2%) injection. The stage 5 seizure duration was also decreased at 5 and 15 min after the 2% lidocaine injection. Thus, it may be suggested that in the amygdala kindling, the activity of neurons of the hippocampal CA1 region has a role in the spreading of seizure spikes from the amygdala to the other brain region(s) and reduction of this activity results in the decrease of seizure severity.

The endotoxin from gram-negative bacteria consists of a molecule lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which can be shed by bacteria during antibiotic therapy. A resulting syndrome, endotoxic shock, is a leading cause of multiple organ failure and death. We describe here covalent PMB-HSA conjugate, which has both antiendotoxic and antibacterial activities in vitro. Conjugate of PMB with HSA were prepared by EDAC [1-ethy1-3-(3-dimethylaminopropy1) carbodiimide]. Double Immunodiffusion agar test showed that the purified cojugate contained bound PMB. The PMB Bound in the cojugate retained its endotoxin-neutralizing activity compared to that of the unbound PMB as evidenced by its dose-dependent inhibition of Nitric Oxide (NO) release from murine Macrophages, which was stimulated by Purified E.coli 055:B5 LPS or 106 CFU/ml P. aeruginosa PAO1 filterated.The PMB-HSA conjugate was also bactericidal against E.coli and P. aeruginosa PAO1 with MICs of 400 and 200 microgramlml respectively.These experiments demonstrated that the PMB-HSA conjugate retains bound yet functional PMB and may be useful for the design of drugs for the treatment of gram-negative bacterial sepsis.

Respiratory problems caused by ventilantion changes in C.O.P.D patients leads to physical and emotional problems and limitations, in this study a self care program has been designed and implemented for the patients and its effect on the respiratory and emotional condition of the patients has been investigated. In the Quasi experimental study carried out in 2000 in Birjand city 37 patients having either chronic Bronchitis or Emphysema or the both diseases and having been suffered from these diseases for at least 2 years were investigated. Before the implementation of the program, the questionnaire and check list of demographic data, respiratory condition, emotional condition and educational needs requiered for every person were completed. Then self care educational sessions using the face to face method was implemented. Then after a period of one month, the questionnaire and check list of respiratory and emotional conditions were filled again.Respiratory condition of the patients before and after the intervention evaluated with physical examination and interview of the patients included: daily ayspnea quality, dyspnea during the sleep, sputum drainage condition, respiratory deepness, chest pain, respiratory sounds and rhythm, and type of cough; and pulmonary function test including: FVC, FEV, FEV/FVC% and expiratory time. Other factors such as respiratory rate, body mass index, heart rate, systolic and diastolic pressure, were also evaluated before and after the intervention. The results were analysed using the McNemar, Wilkoxon and pair Hest. It was concluded that the intervention makes a significant difference on the dyspena during the day and sleep, sputum drainage, respiratory deepness, respiratory pattern, chest pain and respiratory sound (p<0.001). But no significant change was observed on the respiratory rhythm as expected (p=0.06). To investigate the emotional condition before and after the intervention the average emotional score resulted from the relevant questionnaire was used using the pair t-test. The test indicated a significant difference between the scores before and after the intervention (p<0.02). In adition the level of depression of the patient showed a noticeable decrease after the intervention.

Mannoproteins of candida albicans cell wall with their considerable impact on immune system are of importance. Various studies have focused on the purification and characterization of these proteins. Different approaches including the wage of tritonx-100 (2% Vol.Nol.), deoxycholate sodium (Doc), 5mM EDTA, 6 molar urea Zymolias to SDS (2% wt.Nol.) have been used to extract and purify mannoproteins. Based on the results of these studies, 2% SDS has been recognized as the time saving and the best approach in terms of the concentration of protein obtained. herefore, this method was used in this study. Later, in order to evaluate the natural form of mannoprotein, Native- PAGE was used which identified the unique band of the manroprotein. Applying the SDS-PAGE on this protein, identified molecules having a 22 bands molecular weight (m.w) of 10.5 to 168 KDa. To better purify mannoprotein the affinity chromatography (Con-A) was used which identified proteins with molecular weights of 16.5, 18.75 and 22.5 KDa. To separate more purified proteins, the Anion-exchange chromatography was used which identified proteins with a molecular weight of 22.5KDa.Mannoprotein has important roles in antigenic complex of cell wall of C.albicans. It is also responsible for immunosuppressive effects of C. Albicans. Therefore having a purified protein in hand, can further help to assess its' effects on the immune system. On the other hand, since antigenic differences of various serotypes of C.albican's in relation to mannoprotein and the differences between virulent strain of wild type and standard laboratory-adopted C.albicans is related to the modified mannoprotein structure, antigenic differences can be studied based on differences in primary structure of protein.