Background: We aimed to test a new approach for repairing cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leaks and to determine the demographic, diagnostic, and treatment factors associated with the successful management of intracranial complication. Owing to the high frequency of endoscopic surgeries and the low cost of medical care in Iran, we decided to report our experience of reconstruction after CSF leaks. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed our experience in the diagnosis and management of CSF rhinorrhoea in Iran between 2005 and 2012. The locations of all pre-repair leaks were identified using simple, readily available methods. The follow-up time ranged from 2 to 72 months. Results: Of the 37 participants, 59.5% were men and the mean age was 33 years. The success rate was 86.1%, and the most common aetiological factor was trauma (57%). The most common location was the ethmoidal fovea (45.9%), followed by the sphenoid sinus (24.3%), the cribriform plate (13.5%), and the posterior table of the frontal sinus (5.4%). Conclusions: Medical care in Iran has considerable budget restrictions. This study advocates a practical method of treatment for patients in similar circumstances, with a success rate of 86.1% when compared to the 90.6% achieved with other techniques.

· AIM: This study was conducted to compare the outcomes of amniotic membrane transplantation (AMT) with conjunctival autograft transplantation (CAT) in primary and recurrent pterygium. The main outcome measurement was the recurrence rate after surgery.· METHODS: This study was designed as a prospective study on consecutive cases of pterygium from April 2004 to Feb2006. The cases were randomly divided into two groups of AMT (26 cases) and CAT (24 cases). All subjects were operated with an extensive excision of the fibro vascular tissues with AMT or CAT approach. Patients were followed for recurrence and complications for 24 months. The surgical procedures were performed by a single surgeon.The associations between demographic variables, surgical techniques (AMT, CAT), recurrences and postoperative complications were analyzed.· RESULTS: The patients' male to female ratio was 4:1. Involvement of right to left eye ratio was 3:2. Pterygium in70% of cases was primary and in 30% was recurrent. The most common clinical signs were red eye and reduced visual acuity while the most common complications were recurrence and corneal scar. In the first month of follow up, the recurrence rates in AMT and CAT approaches were 3.8% vs 8.3%respectively and these rates increased to 46.2% vs 25% respectively after 24 months of follow up.· CONCLUSION: The success rate of 2 years follow up was better in CAT technique. The AMT technique for pterygium surgery has an unacceptably high recurrence rate.

No abstract available.
Delivery of Health Care ; Global Health ; World Health Organization

Ulcerative colitis is a chronically recurrent inflammatory bowel disease of unknown origin. In the present study, the effect of ginger (rhizome of Zingiber officinale Roscoe) volatile oil on a rat model of colitis was evaluated.

Objective: To investigate the scolicidal effect of the Satureja khuzistanica (S. khuzistanica) essential oil from aerial parts of this herbal plant. Methods: The essential oil was obtained by hydrodistillation method. Gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) were employed to determine the chemical composition of the essential oil. Protoscolices were collected aseptically from sheep livers containing hydatid cyst. Protoscolices were exposed to various concentrations of the oil (3, 5 and 10 mg/mL) for 10, 20, 30, and 60 min. Viability of protoscolices was confirmed by 0.1% eosin staining. Results: A total of 19 compounds representing 97.6% of the total oil, were identified. Carvacrol (94.9%) was found to be the major essential oil constituent. Scolicidal activity of S. khuzistanica essential oil at concentration of 3 mg/mL was 28.58, 32.71, 37.20 and 42.02%, respectively. This essential oil at concentration of 5 mg/mL killed 51.33, 66.68, 81.12, and 100% of protoscolices after 10, 20, 30 and 60 min, respectively. One hundred scolicidal effect was observed with S. khuzistanica essential oil at the concentration of 10 mg/mL after 10 min (comparing with 7.19% for control group). Conclusions: The essential oil of S. khuzistanica is rich in carvacrol and may be used as a natural scolicidal agent.

The change of steroid levels may also exert different modulatory effects on the number and class of serotonin receptors present in the plasma membrane. The effects of chronic treatment of testosterone for anxiety were examined and expression of 5-HT(2A) serotonergic receptor, neuron, astrocyte, and dark neuron density in the hippocampus of gonadectomized male mice was determined. Thirty-six adult male NMRI mice were randomly divided into six groups: intact-no testosterone treatment (No T), gonadectomy (GDX)-No T, GDX-Vehicle, GDX-6.25 mg/kg testosterone (T), GDX-12.5 mg/kg T, and GDX-25 mg/kg T. Anxiety-related behavior was evaluated using elevated plus maze apparatus. The animals were anesthetized after 48 hours after behavioral testing, and decapitated and micron slices were prepared for immunohistochemical as well as histopathological assessment. Subcutaneous injection of testosterone (25 mg/kg) may induce anxiogenic-like behavior in male mice. In addition, immunohistochemical data reveal reduced expression of 5-HT(2A) serotonergic receptor after gonadectomy in all areas of the hippocampus. However, treatment with testosterone could increase the mean number of dark neurons as well as immunoreactive neurons in CA1 and CA3 area, dose dependently. The density of 5-HT(2A) receptor-immunoreactive neurons may play a crucial role in the induction of anxiety like behavior. As reduction in such receptor expression have shown to significantly enhance anxiety behaviors. However, replacement of testosterone dose dependently enhances the number of 5-HT(2A) receptor-immunoreactive neurons and interestingly also reduced anxiety like behaviors.
Adult ; Animals ; Anxiety ; Astrocytes ; Behavior Rating Scale ; Cell Membrane ; Hippocampus ; Humans ; Injections, Subcutaneous ; Male* ; Mice* ; Neurons* ; Receptors, Serotonin ; Testosterone*

Purpose: Newcastle disease (ND) represents a major viral disease across the world which imposes high costs to poultry producers for vaccination. Hemagglutinin-neuraminidase (HN) and fusion (F) proteins are the major immunogenic epitopes of Newcastle disease virus and hence, have been the main targets for development of anti-ND vaccines. This paper reports transient expression of a synthetic gene composing of four tandem repeats of HN and three tandem repeats of F epitopes in maize leaves as initial step toward production of recombinant vaccine against ND. Materials and Methods: The synthetic gene was cloned in pBI121 plasmid to yield an expression vector. The vector was sophisticated by the addition of AUG codon, polyhistidine-tag, tobacco mosaic virus omega sequence, stop codon, and restriction sites. Leaf transformation was conducted by the agroinfiltration method. Molecular detection assays including polymerase chain reaction, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were carried out to evaluate transgene expression in infiltrated leaves of the corn plant. Results: The result obtained in this research revealed that the transgene was transcribed and translated in maize leaves only 48 hours after infiltration. In the second phase of the experiment, the expressed protein was injected into rabbits. The result of the ELISA assay indicated induction of immune response in the rabbits after injection with the heterologous protein. Conclusion These results confirm the feasibility of agroinfiltration for transient gene expression of viral epitopes in monocot plants which naturally resist stable transformation by Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Practical implications of this finding are discussed in detail and some recommendations for future studies are proposed.

BACKGROUND: This study was designed to assess serum vitamin D status (25-OHD) in the fibromyalgia (FM) patients and to compare it with a healthy control group. It also aimed to investigate the correlation of serum vitamin D level with FM symptom severity and invalidation experiences. METHODS: A total of 74 consecutive patients with FM and 68 healthy control participants were enrolled. The eligible FM patients completed the Illness Invalidation Inventory (3*I), the Revised Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQR) and a short-form health survey (SF-12). Venous blood samples were drawn from all participants to evaluate serum 25-OHD levels. Mann-Whitney tests and multiple logistic regression analyses were performed and Spearman's correlations were calculated. RESULTS: 88.4% of FM patients had low levels of serum 25-OHD. FM patients had significantly higher level of serum 25-OHD than the control group (17.24 ± 13.50 and 9.91 ± 6.47 respectively, P = 0.0001). There were no significant correlations between serum 25-OHD levels and the clinical measures of disease impact, invalidation dimensions, and health status. Multiple logistic regression analyses revealed that an increased discounting of the disease by the patient's spouse was associated with a 4-fold increased risk for vitamin D deficiency (OR = 4.36; 95% CI, 0.95-19.87, P = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that although high rates of vitamin D insufficiency or deficiency were seen among FM patients and healthy non-FM participants, but it seems there was no intrinsic association between FM and vitamin D deficiency. Addressing of invalidation experience especially by the patient's spouse is important in management of FM.
Fibromyalgia* ; Health Surveys ; Humans ; Iran ; Logistic Models ; Spouses ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Vitamin D Deficiency ; Vitamin D* ; Vitamins*

OBJECTIVES: Despite all the efforts and increased knowledge of rabies, the exact mechanisms of infection and mortality from the rabies virus are not well understood. To understand the mechanisms underlying the pathogenicity of rabies virus infection, it is crucial to study the tissue that the rabies virus naturally infects in humans. METHODS: Cerebellum brain tissue from 9 human post mortem cases from Iran, who had been infected with rabies virus, were examined histopathologically and immunohistochemically to evaluate the innate immune responses against the rabies virus. RESULTS: Histopathological examination revealed inflammation of the infected cerebellum and immunohistochemical analyses showed an increased immunoreactivity of heat shock protein 70, interleukin-6, interleukin-1, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, caspase-3, caspase-9, toll-like receptor3 and toll-like receptor4 in the infected brain tissue. CONCLUSION: These results indicated the involvement of innate immunity in rabies infected human brain tissue, which may aggravate the progression of this deadly disease.
Brain ; Caspase 3 ; Caspase 9 ; Central Nervous System ; Cerebellum ; HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins ; Humans ; Immunity, Innate ; Immunohistochemistry ; Inflammation ; Interleukin-1 ; Interleukin-6 ; Iran ; Mortality ; Pathology ; Rabies virus ; Rabies ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; Virulence