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Protective effect of lycopene on oral mucositis and antioxidant capacity of blood plasma in the rat exposed to gamma radiation
Get PDFBackground: Nowadays, radiotherapy is used effectively for treatment of head and neck cancers. Mucositis is one of the most important side effects of radiotherapy. Radio-protective agents protect tissues and cells against the adverse effects due to ionizing radiation and cleave radiation-induced free radicals. Lycopene as a potent antioxidant protects cells against oxidative damage by free radical–scavenging.  The present study investigated the antioxidant effect of lycopene on oral mucosa of irradiated rats. Methods: In this experimental animal study, 28 rats were placed in four groups as follows: treated with 50 mg /kg of lycopene (L50), solvent+irradiation (SR), 25 mg / kg of lycopene+irradiation (LR25), and 50 mg / kg of lycopene+irradiation (LR50). The rats received lycopene intraperitoneally. On the irradiation day (day 0) and tenth day of radiation, blood samples were taken from the animals for FRAP and TBARS tests. Results: The results showed that the LR50 group didn’t show mucositis higher than Grade 2. There was a significant difference (p <0.05) between SR and the L50 regarding the severity of mucositis. In addition, L50 showed higher antioxidant activity and lower peroxidation than SR. Conclusion: The lycopene reduced the severity of mucositis. Therefore, it can be used as a potential and promising nutritional substance to prevent radiotherapy complications, especially in the treatment of head and neck cancers. However, further research is necessary to confirm these results.  
A comparison of image artifacts with gutta-percha and different sealers on root filled teeth using cone beam computed tomography: An in vitro study
Get PDFIntroduction: Different materials cause artifacts in cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images, which, in turn, reduce the quality of images. The aim of this study was to investigate the abundance of artifacts induced by different root canal therapy sealers with two different CBCT resolutions.
Materials & Methods: Roots of four maxillary central phantom teeth were prepared using rotary files in three steps. In the first step, the first tooth was scanned first without gutta-percha and then with gutta-percha No. 25. Gutta-percha No. 25 with resin, the zinc oxide-eugenol (ZOE)-based sealer and the ceramic-based sealer were placed in the teeth No. 2, 3 and 4, respectively. The second step was performed similar to the first step, except that gutta-percha No. 35 was used in the tooth No. 1 with resin- and ZOE-based sealers in the teeth No. 2 and 3. due to the lack of access to the ceramic-based sealer that was not used to continue the study . In the third step, canal obturation was performed in the teeth No. 2 and 3 with resin and ZOE-based sealers. At each step, three CBCT scans were obtained in high and standard resolution conditions. Contrast-to-noise ratio was obtained in three root plans, and the data were analyzed.
Results: Gutta-percha alone produced more artifacts than gutta-percha with sealers. Moreover, ZOE-based sealers induced more artifacts than other sealers. There was no significant difference between the three steps. Similarly, at different resolutions, there was no significant difference between gutta-percha and sealer artifacts. The ZOE-based sealers had more artifacts at 1/3 apical whereas resin sealers had more artifacts at 1/3 coronal.
Conclusion: The higher artifact of gutta-percha in comparison with gutta-percha and sealer and the artifact decrease in the combination of gutta-percha and resin-based sealer than ZOE-based sealer has led us to recommend the use of resin-based sealer while root canal therapy in order to better evaluation of the CBCT Images of root canal
Vital role of chest CT in diagnosis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
Get PDFIn December 2019, a new virus called coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) causing severe acute respiratory syndrome emerged in Wuhan, China, and rapidly spread to other areas of China and other regions of the world. Since it was a discovery, COVID-19 has spread to several countries and to this date, affecting about 2,329,651 people and caused about 160,721 deaths. Since most COVID-19 infected cases were diagnosed with pneumonia and characteristic chest computed tomography (CT) scan patterns, radiological examinations have become an important tool in early diagnosis. Nowadays, CT findings combined with normal blood cells (WBCs), lymphopenia and a history of epidemiological exposure have been used as criteria for clinical diagnosis of COVID-19. It is noteworthy that reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test is still gold standard for the diagnosis. This review focuses on role of chest CT in the clinical evaluation of disease progression and more accurate diagnosis
Spiritual attitude of family caregivers in elder with stroke
Get PDFBACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Stroke is a chronic condition that necessitates multidimentional and comprehensive care. The caregivers of stroke patients are faced with various stressors that can threaten different aspects of their health , especially their mental health. Knowledge of the spiritual attitude of family caregivers of elder with stroke can provide effective strategies in this regard. Given the importance of the subject and the lack of study in this topic, the researchers decided to conduct a study to determine spiritual attitude of family caregivers in elder with stroke.
METHODS: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 407 family caregivers of elder patients with stroke, referred to the health care centers and nursing service companies of eastern of Gilan province in Iran in 2016. The participants were selected through convenience sampling. Data were collected using the demographic questionnaires and spiritual attitude scale and were then analyzed in SSPS 18 through descriptive and analytical statistics at significant level of p=0.05.
FINDINGS: The results showed that 88.9% of the caregivers were female. The mean age of the participants was 38.8±8.8 years. Totally, 45.7% of persons were unmarried, 65.6% were housewives, 96.6% were under diploma and diploma and 67.3% of family caregivers lived in private homes. The mean caregiving duration was 4.2±2.5 years. The findings indicated that the mean score of spiritual attitude was 108.77±6.20. Moreover, 22.9, 49.3 and 27.8% of participants had low or unfavorable, moderate or relatively desirable and high or favorable spiritual attitude, respectively.
CONCLUSION: The results suggested that the spiritual attitude was moderate and relatively favorable in majority of family caregivers. Providing strategies for improving spirituality as important factor in family caregivers adapting can improve elder caring and caregivers’ health
Cone-beam computed tomography performance and endodontic filling material influence in the diagnosis of horizontal root fracture
Get PDFIntroduction: The aim of this study was to investigate the accuracy of Cone-beam computed tomography(CBCT) in detecting the horizontal root fractures (HRFs) in teeth with and without gutta-percha.
Materials & Methods: This in vitro study was performed on 100 mandibular and maxillary single-rooted teeth. In 55 samples, the canals were prepared. Then, the horizontal fracture was induced randomly in 56 (29 with gutta-percha, 27 without gutta-percha) samples. The samples were mounted on a wax rim, and the CBCT scan was provided. The scans were examined by two endodontists twice with two-week interval. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS 20.0 software (IBM Corp., Armonk, IL, USA). Sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), likelihood ratio (LR +, LR -) with 95% confidence interval were calculated.
Results: The sensitivity and specificity were 72% and 100% for the group with gutta-percha as well as 89% and 100% for the group without gutta-percha, respectively. The coefficient of agreement for each observer within two observations was 0.940±0.034 and 0.960±0.028 (P<0.001). The inter observer agreement was 0.092±0.039 (P<0.001).
Conclusion: The CBCT scans have high accuracy in diagnosis of horizontal root fracture and gutta-percha although they reduce the diagnostic accuracy with no significant effect
Applying GC-MS analysis to identify chemical composition of Iranian propolis prepared with different solvent and evaluation of its biological activity
Get PDFBackground: Propolis as a natural product has shown beneficial effects on human health. This study was aimed to investigate the chemical compositions and biological activity of three different extracts of propolis from two distinct geographic areas in Iran. Methods: The chemical composition of Iranian propolis extracts that were collected in the Spring of 2016 from two provinces in northern Iran: Ardabil and Polur in Mazandaran Province were measured through gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) methods. In addition, antimicrobial activity and cytotoxicity effect on HN5 and LNCaP cell lines were evaluated. The data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and p<0.05 was considered as significant. Results: The GC-MS analysis identified the presence of compounds that belonged to the different groups such as aromatics acids and their related esters, flavonoid and flavonoid derivatives and terpenes. Flavanone was the most dominant compound of flavonoids. The maximum growth inhibition was observed against S. aureus of ethanolic extract of propolis (p<0.05). Moreover, cytotoxicity showed that ethanolic and dichloromethane extracts had more inhibitory effects on cell lines than the water extract. Conclusion: The results determined that extracts had the highest percentage of flavonoids. Therefore, it is expected that the synergistic effect of the main components of propolis is related to the increase of biological activity of propolis
Administration of Iranian Propolis attenuates oxidative stress and blood glucose in type II diabetic patients: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, clinical trial
Get PDFBackground: Hyperglycemia in diabetic people resulted in oxidative conditions. Propolis is the third most important component of bee products which has various functional properties such as anti-oxidant due to its components. The aim of this study was to evaluate the propolis effect on fructosamine level, the catalase activity, and the level of oxidized LDL changes in type 2 diabetic patients. Methods: In this double-blind, randomized controlled trial study, 62 type 2 diabetic patients, attending Endocrine clinic in Velayat Hospital (Qazvin, Iran) in 2017, were randomly assigned to one of intervention and placebo (n=31) groups. Participants in intervention group took propolis capsule (500 mg) 3 times a day and those in placebo group took placebo capsules for 8-week. Fructosamine level, catalase activity and the level of oxidized-LDL were measured at the baseline and at the end of the study. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software. Results: At the end of the study, significant differences were seen within groups and in-between groups. In Propolis group compared to the placebo, fructosamine (p<0.05), and the level of oxidized LDL (p<0.05) decreased, and catalase activity (p<0.05) improved. However, there were no significant changes in the placebo group at the end of trial. Conclusion: Eight weeks intake of propolis as a supplement in type II diabetic patients could improve anti-oxidant defense and decline production of hyperglycemia induced products such as fructosamine
Dynamic changes in purine catabolism in patients with acute coronary syndrome that underwent percutaneous coronary intervention
Get PDFBackground: Cardiovascular diseases are global problems. They are causes of death in about 43 of people worldwide and may become the most widespread reason of death by 2020. The prognosis is directly dependent to immediate diagnosis and on time treatment. Introduction of new biochemical markers as the early diagnosis of complications after coronary revascularization is very important in this period. Herein, we assayed the changes of purine catabolites in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) before and after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in comparison with control group. Methods: Thirty five ACS patients (20 males and 15 females) were included (57±17 years old) in the study. The determination of intermediates of purine catabolism as guanine, hypoxanthine (GCS), adenine, xanthine (Kc) and uric acid (MK) were assayed before and 3 days after PCI. Conditionally, 35 healthy-matched persons were included in the control group. Purine catabolites were determined in plasma through the method of Oreshnikov E.V (2008). Results: In ACS patients, prior to PCI, there was a tendency to increase the concentration of guanine (P=0.001), hypoxanthine (P=0.002) adenine (P=0.0003), xanthine (P=0.000003) and uric acid (P=-0.000001) relative to the upper limits of normal ranges. And on the third day after PCI, there was the second tendency to increase the levels of guanine (P=0.000001), hypoxanthine (P=0.000001) adenine (P=0.0000001), xanthine (P=0.000001) and uric acid (P=0.0000001) relative to upper limits of normal ranges. Conclusion: Increment of plasma purine catabolites can be a marker of inflammation and instability of coronary artery plaques and may be used as a restenosis marker in patients with history of PCI.  
The First Case of Adult-Onset Periodic Fever, Aphthous Stomatitis, Pharyngitis, and Adenitis Syndrome with Splenomegaly in Iran
Get PDFBackground: Periodic fever, aphthous stomatitis, pharyngitis, and adenitis syndrome (PFAPA) is an auto-immune based disease known as a syndrome for pediatrics which typically occurs in children ≤ 5 years of age, but in 2008, for the first time, one adult case of this disease was reported. Case Presentation: Our case, a 19 year-old young man who is the first adult-onset PFAPA patient in Iran and was accompanied by splenomegaly. Since March 2017, the patient suffered from periodic febrile attacks (39-40 °C). During these fever attacks, the patient had many aphthous ulcers in his mouth, swollen glands in his neck and sore in the back of the throat. The patient was admitted to a hospital in Tehran during a severe fever attack due to weakness, lethargy, high-temperature and slight abdominal pain in the left upper quadrant (LUQ) area. Abdominal sonography was done and spleen size was larger than normal and was determined to be 32×140 mm (splenomegaly). All data were collected from a reliable governmental laboratory in Tehran. Conclusion: Following the rejection of the causes of other diseases, according to the patient's symptoms, the diagnosis of adult-onset PFAPA was given to the patient and the patient was cured with one dose of long-acting Betamethasone ampoule 1ml intravenous at the onset of fever attacks. The disease has remitted after injection of this medicine at the onset of each attack rapidly after about 2-3 hours. Also, Montelukast has been given to the patient and we saw his febrile attack intervals increased.  
Electrocardiographic left ventricular hypertrophy is not associated with increased in-hospital adverse events in patients experiencing first non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction: A single center study
Get PDFBackground: There is conflicting data about prognostic implication of electrocardiographic (ECG) left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in patients with first non- ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI). We aimed to examine the association of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) on admission electrocardiogram with adverse outcomes in patients with NSTEMI. Methods: In the present study, 460 patients (77.5 males with mean age of 65.44±13.15 years) with first NSTEMI were evaluated. ECG left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) was diagnosed based on Sokolow-Lyon voltage criteria. Baseline laboratory and clinical results, angiographic data, as well as in- hospital adverse events were compared between the patients with and without LVH. Results: Electrocardiographic LVH was observed in 74 (16.1) patients. Patients with LVH had higher admission systolic blood pressure (132.91±21.08 vs 125.80±21.78; P=0.01) and higher peak troponin (6.42±1.03 vs 4.41±0.28; P=0.004), but less likely to undergo coronary angiography (54.1 vs 66.8; P=0.03) .Patients with electrocardiographic LVH had similar in-hospital mortality (5.4 vs 3.6, P=0.5) and heart failure/ pulmonary edema (2.7 vs 2.07, P=0.6) compared to patients without LVH. Conclusion: The present study showed that among the patients with first NSTEMI, electrocardiographic LVH was not associated with increased in-hospital adverse events