[Does high dose erythropoietin administration reduce ischemic stroke complications?]

Ischemic brain strokes consist two Third of all strokes and their complications bear a lot of cost and disability for the patient and society. In this study we seek for the effect of Erythropoietin on ischemic brain strokes' outcome according to NIHSS [National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale] changes. This study is a RCT. All patients with focal neurologic deficit with primary suspicion of brain stroke underwent neuroimaging evaluations. After confirmation of new ischemic brain stroke, the patients with inclusion criteria randomized into two groups of cases and controls. NIHSS was defined for each patient and all patients received a routine treatment protocol. Erythropoietin 16000 IU as a bolus intravenous dose was given to case patients as soon as neuroimaging study confirmed new ischemic stroke and continued as 8000 IU each 12hr up to total dose of 56000 IU during 3 days. Patients were re-evaluated at days 14 and 28 and NIHSS was assessed by another neurologist blinded to patient's group. Finally NIHSS changes of both groups were compared with each other. Evaluations revealed that in days 14 and 28 during follow up, Erythropoietin was effective in NIHSS [P-value: 0.0001]. This effect is of value in LOC Commands [P:0.024], facial palsy [P:0.003], motor arm [P:0.0001], motor leg [P:0.0001], sensory [P:0.009] and best language [P:0.023]. Administration of High dose erythropoietin in first 24 hours can be effective on the reduction of ischemic stroke complication. However, a larger scale clinical trial is warranted

Evaluation of the accuracy of panoramic radiography in linear measurements of the jaws

Panoramic radiography has a great place among imaging techniques because of its enormous advantages. One of the characteristics of an ideal imaging technique is to supply precise measurement. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the accuracy of linear measurements of the jaws on panoramic radiographs. In this study, the vertical distances between the metal markers were measured by panoramic radiography in seven sites of two skulls in various head positions. Then the radiographic measurements were compared with the actual values. Eighty three percent of the measurements were underestimated, 8.5% were overestimated on panoramic radiography and 8.5% of the measurements had no difference with the real measurements. Overestimation was not greater than 1 mm. The difference between actual and radiographic measurements was less in the posterior areas and in the mandible. In all head positions, the greatest difference between actual and radiographic measurements occurred in the anterior area. Based on the results of this study, linear measurements on panoramic radiography are more reliable in the posterior areas and may be used in early clinical measurements

[Evaluation of the relationship between skeletal status and radiomorphometric indices of the mandible observed in panoramic radiography in women]

Since the age-related skeletal osteopenia has attracted much attention in recent studies and also because osteoporosis is the most common metabolic bone disease and the panoramic radiography is widely used for routine examinations, the relationship between radiomorphometric indices of mandibular bone [Panoramic Mandibular Index, PMI; the height of mandibular Inferior Cortex, IC [mm] and Mandibular Cortical Index, MCI] in panoramic radiography and skeletal status in femoral neck and lumbar spine [L[2]-L[4]] was evaluated in women referring to radiology department of Mashhad dental school. In this cross sectional analytical study, radiomorphometric indices of mandibular bone of 67 women over 35 years old referring to radiology department of Mashhad dental school were recorded. Women with a history of bone metabolism affecting diseases or drugs were excluded from our study. All the cases had a panoramic radiography in their orders. All of the patients were then referred to Toos Bone Densitometry Center for bone densitometry in left femoral neck and lumbar spine [L[2]-L[4]], using DEXA[1] technique with Osteocore apparatus. The patients were divided into three categories of normal, osteopenic and osteoporotic in each skeletal region according to their T-score. The data were analyzed by ANOVA and Pearson's correlation coefficient. Comparing average of bone mineral density between C[1] and C[3] subgroups of MCI, in postmenopausal females in femoral neck, a significant difference was detected [P-Value=0.04]. The average of PMI in the three different skeletal categories, was not different according to skeletal region and menstruation status [P-Value>0.05]. The results of this study showed that the use of radiomorphometric indices of mandible [especially MCI] can help to determine skeletal status of patients but is not enough for precise evaluation of patients' skeletal status