Ardabil University of Medical Sciences
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Effects of the Mixture of Cynara cardunculus var scolymus and Cinnamomum zeylanicum on Hepatic Enzymes Activity and Lipid Profiles in Patients with Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
Get PDFObjective: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is rapidly going to be one of the most common metabolic diseases which can negatively affect the liver function and needs to be more explored within the context of new and efficient therapies. The aim of this study was to determine the benefit of Cynara cardunculus var scolymus and Cinnamomum zeylanicum mixture infusion (1.5 and 0.25 g/100 mL and twice/day) on patients with NAFLD.
Methods: The study was designed as a before-after clinical trial and performed on 20 patients having NAFLD. They were asked to use the mixture of extracts prepared in special bags twice a day for 30 days. Before and after using the mixture, Liver markers of NAFLD including alanin aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphates (ALP), cholesterol (chol), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and also, fatty liver ultrasonograhic grading were measured.
Results: Treatment with mixture of extracts in patients with NAFLD resulted in a significant decrease in ALT, AST, and ALP. Also there was a significant improvement in lipid profile of the patients given by decreased TG, Chol, and LDL and increased HDL in serum. Moreover, a significant decrease in grade of sonographic examination was showed. No significant linear correlation was found between age, BMI and gender one way side and biochemical parameters and liver enzymes.
Conclusion: Taken together, it is concluded that the mixture of Cynara cardunculus var scolymus, Cinnamomum zeylanicum can have beneficial effects on hepatic function and lipid profiles of patients with NAFLD
Strategies to reduce informal payments in health system: a systematic review
Get PDFBackground: Informal payment (IP) is a major barrier to universal health coverage, particularly in low middle-income countries.
Aims: The aim of this study was to determine appropriate methods to reduce IP in health care via a systematic review.
Methods: For this systematic review, we searched the Cochrane Library, PubMed and SCOPUS covering the period 2000–2014: 10 papers which considered reduction strategies for IP were finally included in the review. Three of the authors independently extracted data and assessed the papers against inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Results: Improving public awareness and measures towards changing the culture were the main policies to combat informal payment. In addition, providing additional financial support to motivate physicians and other health service providers, appropriate monitoring of legislation, and converting informal to formal payment through tailored new policies were other solutions mentioned towards reducing or removing IP.
Conclusions: No unique strategy exists for reducing IP in any health system. Choosing an appropriate strategy depends on the context and financing structure of the health system in any particular setting
First Report of a Known Pathogenic Variant in the FZD6 Gene, in an Iranian Family with Recessive Nail Dysplasia: A Case Report
Get PDFCongenital Nail abnormalities are rare ectodermal defects. Autosomal recessive nail dysplasia is much rarer. Recently it has been recognized as a condition resulting in nail dystrophy in the absence of other cutaneous or extracutaneous disorders. Few case reports have identified mutations in the Frizzled 6 (FZD6) gene in families presenting with abnormal nails consistent with Non-Syndromic Congenital Nail Dysplasia. We report a family presenting,
they lived in Namin a country of the Ardabil Province, northwestern Iran in 2016, for the first time in Iran in
whom we identified mutations in FZD6 with abnormal nails formation
Prevalence of Postoperative Endodontic Pain and Its Related Factors in Patients Referring to Ardabil Dental School in 2018-2019
No full textBackground and Aim
Endodontic postoperative pain is a common complication and its incidence varies widely. The present study assessed the incidence of post-operative endodontic pain and its related factors in patients referring to Ardabil dental school during 2017-2018.
Materials and Methods
In a descriptive cross-sectional trial, 150 patients (94 females, 54 males) received root canal therapies in this center by standardized techniques. The data of the patients were obtained from their records while the severity of the posttreatment endodontic pains measured by visual analogue scale (VAS) after 1, 3, 5 and 7 days. The incidence of posttreatment pains were statistically analyzed in terms of patients' age and gender, the tooth position, the jaw type, pulp status before treatment, the pain intensity before the treatment and tooth filling status using chi-square test.
Results
Mean (± standard deviation) of pain scores were 2.3(±2.41); 2.8(±2.24): 1.92(±2.33); 1.25(±2.07) and 0.95(±1.94) at a day before the treatment and days of 1, 3, 5 and 7 posttreatment respectively. At a day before treatment, 88 (58.7%) had pain while 120 (80%), 81 (54%), 58 (38.7%) and 45 (30%) patients showed pains at 1, 3, 5 and 7 days posttreament respectively.
No significant differences were found in the incidence of endodontic pains regarding the patient's age and gender. However, the pain incidence were significantly higher in the posterior teeth than anterior teeth at 3rd (p=0.002), 5th (p=0.002) and 7th (p=0.001) days posttreatments. Furtheremore, at 7th (p=0.05) day after treatment, higher pain incidence were found in the patients experienced pain before the treatment than those who not. Necrotized pulps showed higher pain incidence than normal ones at 3rd (p=0.04), 5th (p=0.02) and 7th (p=0.07) days postoperatively. Again, higher pain incidence was found in the mandibular than maxillary teeth at 5th (p=0.02) and 7th (p=0.02) days posttreatment and also higher pain incidence was reported for the teeth with over- and underfilling restorations than the teeth with acceptable fillings at 3rd (p=0.04), 5th (p=0.001) and 7th (p=0.001) days posttreatment respectively.
Conclusion
Then, the prevalence of the endodontic posttreatment pains found in this study was similar to the previous reports in this area. Furthermore, higher pain incidence were found in the posterior teeth, in the mandible, in patients with previous pains, in the necrotized pulps and in the teeth with over- and underfilling restorations
Spatial Distribution Study of Visceral Leishmaniasis in East Azerbaijan Province
Get PDFBackground and Objectives: Visceral leishmaniasis is a zoonotic diseases and is endemic in northwest of Iran and annually 100-300 positive cases are reported. The aim of this study was to determine the spatial distribution of visceral leishmaniasis in East Azerbaijan province.
Material and Methods: This is a retrospective cross-sectional study that was done on visceral leishmaniasis patients from 2009-2016 which is analyzed based on interpolation and SPSS v.25 and ArcMap10.4.1 have been used.
Results: Totally 78 patients were identified during the study, of which 57.7% were living in rural areas and 42.3% in urban areas. More than 90% of cases have occurred in children under the age of 5 years. The northeastern part of the province, which has a higher average rainfall and a moderate temperature, was identified as a high risk area of the disease and a hot spot of disease among the Kalibar and Ahar counties.
Conclusion: Visceral leishmaniasis has increased by 3-4 times since 2013 in East Azarbaijan province and residents of border areas with Ardebil province and Azerbaijan Republic are at the risk of transmitting the diseas
The effects of zinc treatment on matrix metalloproteinases: A systematic review
No full textBackground
Zinc (Zn) acts as a cofactor of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and is vital for their activity and controlling their expression. Alteration of Zn in the body could affect the expression, activity, and destructive impacts of MMPs.
Objective This systematic review aimed to summarize existing evidence on the effects of Zn treatment on the expression and activity of MMPs.
Method
International sources from Pub Med, Scopus and Google Scholar were searched for the original and English-language studies, published up to the end of May 2018.
Results
During the initial search, 179 records were found, and 135 articles of them remained after the exclusion of duplicate articles. 47 studies met the inclusion criteria, after multiple stages of screening and critical reviews of articles.
Conclusion
Approximately 62% of the included studies (29 of 47) showed an inhibitory impact of Zn on MMPs production and activities. The inhibitory or stimulatory effect of Zn on MMPs seems to depend on physiological conditions of the cells or animals used, dose of Zn used, and duration of treatment
Serum Levels of Visfatin, Sirtuin-1, and Interleukin-6 in Stable and Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
No full textBackground and Objective: Cardiac ischemic diseases are the leading cause of death in the world. Ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) is a result of physical and biochemical disorders which occurs as a result of restoration of blood flow to the ischemic region. Stem cell therapy is a promising therapeutic target for improving myocardial injury. Human amniotic membrane mesenchymal cells (hAMCs) lead to the production and releasing of factors (condition medium) that are able to improve myocardial ischemic regions. But the exact mechanism of their therapeutic effects is unclear. Therefore, we investigated the effects of intra-myocardial injection of hAMCs-condition medium on myocardial interstitial fibrosis in IRI model in rats,
Materials and Methods: Male Wistar rats (15 rats weighing 200-250g) were randomly divided into 3 groups: sham, IRI and IRI + condition medium. MI animals were subjected to 30 minutes left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) ligation and 28 days of reperfusion. 150 μl of hAMCs-condition medium were injected into 3 different sites of the infarct border zone after 30 minutes of ischemia in treatment group. Left ventricle was used to measure cardiac fibrosis by Masson’s trichrome staining.
Results: Interstitial fibrosis in IRI group was significantly higher than sham group (P < 0.05). Intra-myocardial injection of hAMCs-condition medium significantly decreased myocardial interstitial fibrosis (P < 0.05).
Conclusion: The results of this study showed that hAMCs-condition medium has cardioprotective effects in IRI condition. Attenuation of myocardial interstitial fibrosis by hAMCs-condition medium plays significant role in this context
The relationship between emergency department physicians' moral intelligence and patients' satisfaction in Ardabil hospitals
Get PDFBakground and objective: Moral and ethical codes are crutial part of any dicision making especially in medical field. Morality orients the actions to be ethically right. Moral intelligence is the ability to distinguish right and wrong and to act in an ethically oriented manner. This concept seems to be more important in medical proffessions which are in close contact with patiens suffering from various illnesses.
Methods: The current study was a cross-sectional analytical and descriptive survey in which,56 emergency department physicians and a total number of 392 patients were enrolled. Satisfaction of patients and moral intellingence of physicians were gathered using standard questionnaires. Then the gathered data has been analysed using SPSSv22.
Results:Average age of patients was 40/7±9/66 years. Mean mark of moral intelligence of physicians was approximately 69/3±10/97. Further evaluations showed that patient satisfaction score was 21/54±5/53 overally. There was a significant correlation between moral intelligence of physicans and satisfaction score of patient which had a mediocre power. A significant correlation was found between moral intelligence with age and working years of physicians.
Conclusions: physicians working at emergency departments of Ardabil had a high level of moral intelligence and age, working years and marital status were influential factors on this index. Also, Moral intelligence of physicains has a correlation with patients satisfactio
Comparison of the prevalence of Mycoplasm hominis infection in pregnant women with and without preterm premature rupture of membranes and the relationship of this infection with preterm premature rupture of membranes
Get PDFIntroduction: Preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM) is defined as the rupture of the membrane before the onset of a regular uterine contraction and prior to the 37th week of gestation, which indicates a serious perinatal problem. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of cervical colonization by Mycoplasma hominis in patients with PPROM.
methods: In this case-control study, 160 pregnant women with PPROM who were within 25-37 weeks of gestation were studied at Alavi Center, Ardabil, Iran. The control group included 160 pregnant women with normal pregnancy without PROM. Cervical swabs were obtained and evaluated by polymerase chain reaction for Mycoplasma hominis. Data were analyzed using SPSS software (version 20), t-test, Chi-square and Mann-Whitney tests. P value less than 0.05 was considered significant.
Results: Mycoplasma hominis was detected in 17.5 % (28/160) of the patients with PPROM. In the control group, this bacteria was detected in 6.6% (10/160) of the pregnant women. The results of the odds ratio test showed that the odds ratio of Mycoplasma hominis infection in the patients with PPROM was 3.18 times more than that in the pregnant women without PPROM (95% CI: 1.4-6.8). In addition, the probabilityof developing respiratory distress syndrome in the infants of the mothers with PPROM was 3.71 times more than that in the neonates of the PPROM-free pregnant women ((95% CI: 1.9-7.12).
Conclusion: Our results provided evidence regarding the presence of a significant association between cervical colonization with genital mycoplasmas and PPROM
Bioaerosols in the waterpipe cafés: genera, levels, and factors influencing their concentrations
No full textThis study was conducted in order to assess the exposure to bacterial and fungal bioaerosols in the air of waterpipe cafés (AWPCs), in the hose of waterpipe (HWP), and in the water bowl of the waterpipe (WBWP) and to investigate the factors influence increasing the contamination levels in waterpipe cafés in Ardabil. From all the 50 cafés studied, the samples were taken from air and from water contained in water bowl and hose for bacterial and fungal analyses. The results demonstrated that the mean numbers of bacteria and fungi in the indoor air of café, hose, and water bowl were 33.90 ± 14.86 and 25.24 ± 1.99 CFU/m3, 72.16 ± 29.55 and 72.78 ± 42.45 CFU/plate, 53.7 ± 25.46 and 25.26 ± 13.94 CFU/ml, respectively. The predominant bacterial genera in waterpipe cafés were Pseudomonas and Bacillus in air, Staphylococcus and Pseudomonas in the hose, and Staphylococcus and Pseudomonas in the water bowl, respectively. The predominant fungal species in waterpipe cafés were Penicillium and Cladosporium in air, yeast and Fusarium in the hose, and Paecilomyces and yeast in the water bowl, respectively. The results of statistical analysis showed that there was a significant relationship between the mean concentrations of bacterial aerosol and qualitative variables such as type of heating system, materials of wall and ceiling, traditional restaurants, interior supermarkets, moisturized walls, the number of people, area of cafés, and temperature. But there was no significant relationship between these variables and the mean concentration of fungal aerosols. The results also showed that the levels of bioaerosols were high in the air, hose, and water bowl of the waterpipe. Therefore, cafés can be a potential source for the transmission of pathogenic agents and increase the risk of respiratory diseases among waterpipe smoking individuals