[ effects of ethanolic extract of Nigella Sativa seeds on ethylene glycol induced kidney stones in rat]

The incidence of urinary stones is very high in population. Treatment of patients with kidney stones in primary stages can reduce the side effects and also may prevent the surgical operations and postoperative complications. Several effects have been reported for Nigella sativa seeds; they include: anti analgesic, anti inflammatory, lowering serum lipids, increasing glutathione in kidney and repairement of kidney tissues after nephrotoxicity. The aim of this study was to investigation the effects of the ethanolic extract of N. Sativa seeds on kidney stones in rat. Thirty two Wistar rats weighed 200_10g were randomly divided into 4 groups: Group an as intact control was received tap drinking water for thirty days. Group B [ethylene glycol control], groups C and D as experimental animals all were received 1% [v/v] ethylen glycol in drinking water for 30 days. Furthermore group C was also treated with 250 mg/kg B.W N. sativa ethanolic extract for 30 days, while group D was also treated with 250mg/kg B.W N. sativa extract from 14th day through the end of the experiment. Twenty four hour urine samples were collected on the 0,7th, 14th and 30th days of the study, when each animal was kept in a metabolic cage. After 30 days all rats were killed by guillotine and kidneys were removed and sections were prepared with routine histological techniques; slides were examined under light microscope to count calcium oxalate deposits. The results showed that the number of calcium oxalate deposits were significantly increased in group B vs. A [p<0.001]. The number of deposits in group C and D were significantly less than group B [p< 0.05]; while the number of calcium oxalate deposits in group C and D in comparison with group A were statistically insignificant. The calcium oxalate concentration in urine at the end of the study was increased significantly in group B vs. A [p<0.001] but decreased in group C [p<0.001] and D [p<0.05] when compared with group B. The result of this study demonstrated that treatment of rats with ethanolic extract of N. sativa has reduced the number of calcium oxalate deposits in both groups of treated animals. Therefore; it may have beneficial effects in treatment of urinary stones in patients

Histologic evaluation of 120 infertile testicular biopsy

Testicular biopsy is a useful method in infertility diagnosis and predicting prognosis, especially in patients with azospermia and normal level of serum FSH that primary evaluating procedures can't differentiate spermatogenesis defect from obstructive one. If the etiology of infertility is an obstructive lesion the prognosis is often good and usually curable, by surgery. The purpose of this study was to evauate various histopathologic changes in incisional testicular biopsies of the infertile men in order to predict frequency of different tissue morphologies and especially interprete these histopathologic changes for better understanding the diverse etiology of infertility. In this clinicolaboratory study performed in Anatomic pathology department of Mashhad Emam Reza hospital, Testicular biopsies of 120 infertile men were histopathologically reevaluated and reclassified applying newly introduced criteria. Clinical data such as age, disease history, associated disorders and results of spermogram were gathered in designed forms. Final data were processed by descriptive statistical method and frequency distribution tables. Median age of the patients was 27 years and duration of infertility 2 to 15 years. 84% of patients had azospermia in seminal fluid analysis and 16% severe oligospermia. In 16 cases, bilateral testicular biopsy was performed in which 18.7% of their morphological features, in testicles were different from each other. Morphologic patterns were as follows: 15% normal spermatogenesis, 30.9% sertoli cell only syndrome, 17.5% complete and incomplete maturation arrest, 14.2% tubular atrophy, 14.2% hypospermatogenesis and 8.4% mixed atrophy. The most and least common histopathologic pictures in testicular biopsies of the infertile men observed in this study were Germ cell aplasia and Focal tubular atrophy respectively. Diverse diseases and etiologies could be associated with any of the histopathologic pictures so that it merits a logic interpretation of these histologic changes in regard to clinical findings to specify the true cause [s] of the infertility

[Detection of HTLV-1 genome in primary gastrointestinal lymphomas: A study on 22 years [1981- 2003] pathology archive biopsy specimens in Imam Reza Hospital, Mashhad, Iran]

Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma [NHL] with primary gastrointestinal localization [GI-NHL] represents only 1-4% of the malignant tumors in the gastrointestinal tract. However, the gastrointestinal tract is the most common extra nodal site of NHL. The etiology of GI-NHL remains unknown, however, recent studies have shown that infection with viruses like HTLV-I in the gastrointestinal tract may increase the risk of T cell NHL. The present study was designed to investigate the presence of HTLV-1 genome using PCR on paraffin embedded tissue of primary GI-NHL specimens diagnosed during the period from 1981 to 2003 in the Department of Pathology, Imam Reza Hospital, Mashhad, Iran. The total number of biopsies was 103, 573; and 65 cases with primary GI-NHL were found. All these 65 specimens were stained with Immunohistochemical markers such as LCA, CD20 and CD3. The presence of HTLV-1 genome was detected in 48 selected patients using tax, LTR, pol and eny [GD21] primers. Our results show that male to female distribution was 1.5: 1. Most of the patients were in their second of third decades of life. Eight patients [12.3%] had primary lymphoma in the stomach, 52 [80%] in the small intestine, two [3%] in the large intestine, and three [4.7%] patients had multifocal involvements [Ileocecal]. According to the Revised European-American Lymphoma [REAL] classification, IPSID Lymphoma was the most frequent histologic subtype, comprising 40% of the cases. Sixty-four cases were classified as B cell lymphomas, and one as T-cell lymphoma. Out of 48 specimens which were amplified using PCR, two [4.2%] were positive for HTLV-1. The first case was a 55-year old male with diffuse pleomorphic T cell lymphoma who had a lesion in stomach; and the second case was a 15-month-old female with IPSID lymphoma who had involvement at duodenum