[Hearing status in the cleft palate patients referring to Hazrat Fatima Hospital between 1388 and 1392]

Background and Aim: The orofacial malformations are among the most common congenital abnormalities of the head and face. Treatment of such patients aims at proportionate growth of the head and face as well as normal speaking and hearing. The objective of this study was to assess the hearing status and the frequency of chronic otitis media by audiological evaluations in the cleft palate patients with or without cleft lip. In the Euro-cleft project, audiometry and tympanometry are considered as necessary tests to evaluate hearing. Since there is a huge statistical difference in the results of the treatment of such patients in different geographical regions, record and assessment of the status of the treatment of the patients during the course of treatment, based on the specified standard records, in every center is necessary

Material and Method: In this cross sectional study, we assessed the hearing status of 200 non-syndromic patients [110 boys and 90 girls]. The mean age of the patients was 1.5+/-1.03 years. Based on clinical ear examination, tympanometry and auditory brain response [ABR] were performed at appropriate age for every patient

Results: According to the results of ABR 5.8% of the ears were normal, 54% had mild hearing loss [20-40 db], and 40.3% had moderate or severe hearing loss. In general, we detected hearing impairment in 94.2% of the patients. The result of tympanometry revealed type B tymapanogram in 89.8%, type C in 3.7% and type A in 6.6% of the patients. After clinical examination, we found that insertion of V.T. is needed for 92.2% of the patients and, there was no difference between the girls and boys in this regard in both age groups of below and above one year old

Conclusion: Considering the high incidence of conductive hearing loss in cleft palate patients and necessity of better understanding of hearing and middle ear problems, similar studies in the future, with comparison of their results in different medical centers in Iran and other countries can lead to development of new treatment methods in regard to primary surgeries of palate and ENT care

Significance of serum angiogenin assay as a novel marker for diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma in liver cirrhosis: a comparative study

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma [HCC] is the third most common cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Angiogenin [ANG] is a potent angiogenic factor first isolated from the culture medium conditioned by colon carcinoma cells. Many reports have demonstrated an elevated serum ANG level in patients with various malignancies including colorectal carcinoma, melanoma, and pancreatic carcinoma. These results pointed to serum ANG as a novel marker for the diagnosis, progression, and aggressiveness of malignant tumors

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical significance of serum ANG as a novel marker for the diagnosis of HCC in liver cirrhosis and compare it with serum alpha-fetoprotein [AFP]

Patients and methods: The study included 40 patients who were divided into group I and group II. Group I included patients with HCC and group II included those with liver cirrhosis. Group III included age-matched and sex-matched apparently healthy controls. Patients in group I were further classified according to the TNM system into subgroup Ia, which included patients with tumor size less than or equal to 2 cm, and subgroup Ib, which included patients with tumor size greater than 2 cm. All individuals were subjected to an assay for evaluating the serum level of AFP and serum ANG

Results: For the diagnosis of HCC, serum AFP showed a sensitivity of 91.7% and specificity of 80%, whereas serum ANG showed a sensitivity of 95.8% and specificity of 85.7%. In discriminating patients with early hepatic cancer from those with more advanced stages, serum AFP showed a diagnostic sensitivity of 70% and specificity of 89.8%, whereas serum ANG showed a diagnostic sensitivity of 90% and specificity of 85.7%

Conclusion: Serum ANG is a promising marker for the diagnosis of HCC, being superior to serum AFP in both sensitivity and specificity. Moreover, serum ANG efficiently discriminates early from late stages of HCC

Comparative study on three different imported isolates of avian influenza virus

Three imported strains of low pathogenic H5N2 avian influenza [AI] from the United State Department of Agriculture [USDA] of the United States [A/Ty/CA/209092/02, A/Chicken/ PA/13609/93 and A/Ty/MN/3689-1551/81] were used to prepare 3 experimental batches of oil emulsion vaccine against AI designated as [1, 2 and 3] in order. Evaluation of the prepared vaccines was carried out using standardized hemagglutination inhibition test [HI]. Evaluation was based on using the same antigen used for preparation of vaccine as HI antigen [homologous strain]. Cross reactivity test was carried out between the three different strains and the prepared vaccines. Moreover, the H5N1 locally isolated highly pathogenic avian influenza [HPAI] A/Ch/Eg/2009 H5N1 was used as a heterologous antigen for HI test against the prepared vaccines. Obtained results revealed that a protective titer was obtained by vaccine 1 and 2. Using homologous virus as an antigen produce high titer rather than using other viruses, the vaccines failed to produce HI antibodies against locally isolated H5N1 AI virus

Ghrelin levels in patients with post hepatitis "C" liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma

Anorexia is a problem of paramount importance that in patients with advanced liver cirrhosis contributes to malnutrition. In turn, malnutrition is a risk factor for the development of life-threatening complications and increased mortality. Ghrelin hormone is an important orexigenic agent that has been postulated to integrate anabolic changes in the body. To measure ghrelin level in Egyptian patients with post-hepatitis C liver cirrhosis with and without hepatocellular carcinoma [HCC] and its correlation with clinical staging. Ghrelin levels were determined in 25 patients with post-hepatitic [HCY] liver cirrhosis, 25 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and 25 healthy subjects [control group]. Ghrelin levels were correlated with the clinical and biochemical parameters. Ghrelin levels were significantly reduced in patients with post-hepatitic liver cirrhosis [52.4 +/- 14 pg/ml], unlike patients with hepatocellular carcinoma who showed markedly elevated levels [453.8 +/- 36 pg/ml] compared to control group [183 +/- 35 .9 pg/ml]. Ghrelin levels were significantly higher in Child C patients in both groups. There was an inverse correlation of Ghrelin with BMI. In the present study, there was significant inverse correlation between ghrelin levels and BMI and significant low ghrelin levels in patients with post HCY liver cirrhosis. However, there was a significant high ghrelin level in HCC patients. Also, ghrelin levels increased markedly in stage C liver cirrhosis and with the development of complications as hematemesis, ascites and encephalopathy

Effect of various carbohydrate snacks on salivary pH, streptococcus mutans and lactobacillus counts

Sixty third grade children aging 8-10 years were randomly chosen participate in this study. The children were divided into three groups: The first group received starchy snacks [potato chips and manufactured maize], the second group received sugary starchy snacks [biscuits], and the third one received sugary snacks [candy]. Six salivary samples were collected just before and then after 5, 10, 1, 30 and 60 minutes from consuming the snacks. The diagnostic tests were salivary buffering power [pH], counts of salivary streptococcus mutant and lactobacilli. It was concluded that the three tested snacks lowered the salivary pH and increased the bacterial proliferation, but the effect significantly differed at different sampling times. And there was a relation between increased salivary acidity and increased bacterial count at different sampling time for the tested snack

Evaluation of efficacy of beta blockers administered early in acute myocardial infraction

In order to evaluate the efficacy and safety of early intravenous blockers in acute myocardial infarction [AMI], 51 patients with AMI were included and divided into 3 groups. Group 1 [21 patients] who received I.V. Popranolol [P] 0.1 mg/kg, then orally 20 mg in divided doses to keep the heart rate at 60/min. thereafter. Group 2 [10 patients] who received I.V. Metoprolol [M] 15 mg in 3 doses then 100 mg/12 hours orally till discharge, and group 3 [20 patients] who served as control group. No difference was noted between the 3 groups as regards base line to medications,. etc. Chest pain relief was easier in groups 1 and 2 than group 3. Chest pain recurrence was 25% in group 1, 20% in group 2 and 50% in group 3 [P >0.05 + trend]. Infarct extension occurred in 2 patients of control group but no in patients in groups 1 and 2. Ventricular arrhythmia was noted in 21 patients [10%] of group 1, one [10%] of group 2 and 5 [25%] of group 3 [P >0.05 + trend]. Left ventricular failure was noted in 4 patients [20%] of group 1, 2 [20%] of group 2 and 7 [35%] of group 3 [P >0.05 + trend]. Significant reduction of heart rate and blood pressure was noted in groups 1 and 2 versus group 3. Serum CPK level was lower in groups 1 and 2 than in group 3. However, echocardiography failed to identify improved left ventricular function in groups 1 and 2 versus group 3. Despite that the beneficial effects of beta-blockers were not showed to be significant at statistical level in the study [only trends], this may be attributed to the small number of patients in each group. It could be concluded that early use of 4 beta-blockers [P] or [M] is safe and beneficial in AMI resulting in smaller infarct size, less incidence of recurrent angina, infarct extension and lower risk of ventricular arrhythmias