effect of selenium administration on restless leg syndrome treatment

Restless leg syndrome [RLS] is defined as an uncomfortable feeling in the limbs which is prominently sensed in legs. Dopamine system involvement is considered as the base of RLS's etiology. Because of safety, anti-oxidant and dopaminergic promoting action of selenium, this study aims to investigate the effect of selenium on restless leg syndrome treatment. Sixty patients with primary RLS were enrolled in this clinical trial [Irct2011103015943n1]. It was based on 3 periods of drug prescription with one month wash out period. As placebo, 50 and 200 microg of selenium were administered in each separated month. The diagnosis was based on criteria published by IRLSG [International RLS Study Group]. The questionnaire included 10 questions while each question's rating was between 0 and 4. Points between 1 and 10 were considered mild, 11 to 20 as moderate, 21 to 30 as severe and 31 to 40 as very severe. After end of each month of drug consumption, questionnaires were completed and each subject was asked to report the severity of disease and side effects of the drugs. At least 10 declines in scale were considered as appropriate responses. Improvement [decline IRLS score >10] was significantly higher in selenium [50 and 200 microg] than placebo group. Selenium prescription in daily recommended dose of 50 ug instead of a dopamine agonist would be an alternative treatment in improvement of RLS symptoms

Evaluation of the electron energy fluence and angular distributions from a clinical accelerator. A BEAMnrc Monte Carlo study

Understanding of the incident electron energy and angular distributions from clinical electron accelerators [linacs] is important for dosimetry and treatment planning. The most important goals of this study were to evaluate the energy fluence and angular distributions of electron beams from a Neptun 10PC linac using the Monte Carlo [MC] code. The linac electron beams [6, 8, and 10 MeV] were modeled, using the BEAMnrc MC system based on the Electron- Gamma-Shower [EGSnrc] code. Central axis depthdose curves and dose profiles of the electron beams were measured experimentally, and calculated with the MC for three field sizes. In order to benchmarking the simulated models, the calculated and measured dose distributions were compared with Kolmogorov- Smirnov [KS] statistical test. The KS test indicated that the calculated percent depth dose [PDD] and dose profile values for the three electron beam energies well agree with measured data [within 2% everywhere]. The results also showed good agreement [discrepancies smaller than 1%] between the simulated electron energy parameters and those calculated from energy-range relationships using equations for the reference field size. The results showed that there was no significant difference between energy fluence curves of each electron beam energy at different field sizes. In addition, the results of the calculated angular distributions showed that the direction of the electron emerged from the treatment head and trimmer applicators were in forward direction

Seroprevalence and bacteriological study of canine leptospirosis in Tehran and its suburban areas

To determine the seroprevalence of canine leptospirosis in Tehran and its suburban areas, 300 blood samples were collected from dogs referred to the Small Animal Teaching Hospital of Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at University of Tehran, Iran, between October 1998 and October 2000. Following separation of sera, they were kept at -30 °C until the time of laboratory examinations at Razi Institute. All referral cases were selected from the non-vaccinated dogs against leptospirosis. They were 3 months to 11 years old. All of the sera were examined by microscopic agglutination test [MAT] and indirect fluorescent antibody [IFA] techniques in serial two-fold serum dilutions from 1:50 to 1:1600. A titer of 1:100 or more was considered positive. All sera were examined against 16 serogroups of live leptospiral antigens as recommended by world health organization [WHO]. Seroepidemiological analysis in this study indicated that 93 out of 300 [31.0%] serum samples were positive against one, two or three leptospiral serogroups of canicola [9.0%], icterohaemorrhagiae [5.7%], grippotyphosa [3.7%], canicola+grippotyphosa [3.3%], canicola+icterohaemorrhagiae [3.0%], grippotyphosa+icterohaemorrhagiae [0.7%] and canicola+icterohaemorrhagiae+grippotyphosa [5.7%] using MAT at a titer of 1:100 or more. No leptospiral organism was isolated from 93 urine samples of reacted dogs in this study. Seventeen out of 93 [18.3%] reacted dogs showed clinical symptoms of leptospirosis. The rate of positive reaction was 36.9% [31 out of 84] in farmer dogs and 31.0% [67 out of 216] in urban dogs. The rate of positive reaction was 42.3% [60 out of 142] in male and 34.4% [54 out of 158] in female dogs. The statistical analysis using McNemar test, however showed no significant difference between urban and farmer as well as between male and female dogs in this study [p=0.076]. The prevalence rate of reacted dogs examined by IFA technique at 1:100 dilution of serum samples was 34.3% [103 out of 300]. The same rate using MAT was 31.0% [93 out of 300]. The proportion of reacted dogs examined by IFA technique was the same as that examined by MAT at a titer of 1:400 or more. If MAT is considered as the gold standard test for diagnosis of leptospirosis, then the IFA at a titer of 1:100 or more would have a sensitivity of 95%, a specificity of 92%, a false positive rate of 8% and a false negative rate of 5%. In conclusion, with the given sensitivity and specificity of IFA technique, we suggest it as a supportive diagnostic procedure to be used for detection of canine leptospirosis in the field. To prevent and control of canine leptospirosis as a potential zoonotic disease in Iran, use of potent vaccines against the three major serogroups of canicola, icterohaemorrhagiae and grippotyphosa in all urban [pet] and farmer [shepherd] dogs older than 3 months is highly recommended