healing effect of Arnebia Euchroma in second degree burn wounds in rat as an animal model

Finding more efficient agents with fewer side effects for treatment of burns has always been a concern for researchers. Silver sulfadiazine [SSD], apparently due to its antimicrobial effect, is still one of the most common prescribed agents. Previous studies suggested that Arnebia euchroma [AE] has shown antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory activities. This study investigates the healing effect of AE extract in comparison with SSD in second degree burn wounds. Forty eight female Wistar rats [220 +/- 20 g] were divided into four groups. Standard second degree burn wounds were induced on the back of their necks. One group was treated with SSD; two groups were treated with AE cream at concentrations of 10% [AE10] and 20% [AE20] and the control group which received no treatment. The duration of treatment was 28 days. This study revealed that AE and SSD noticeably improved re-epithelization, fibroblasts proliferation, and collagen bundle synthesis and had a noticeable anti-inflammatory effect compared with the control group. Results of the present study revealed that Arnebia euchroma herbal extract was an effective treatment for second degree burn wounds when compared with SSD

[Cow's milk allergy in infantile colic]

Introduction and Objective: cow's milk allergy has been considered as a cause of infantile colic. Many physicians change the diet of these infants to a cow's milk free diet. In this study, we evaluated the role of cow's milk allergy in infantile colic in breast fed infants

Materials and Methods: this single blind clinical trial was done in infants between three weeks and three months old with infantile colic who were referred to a subspecialty clinic in Shiraz-Iran from September 2003 to February 2004. Only exclusively breast fed infants were selected. For other infants who were formula fed, only a questionnaire was filled out, stool exam was performed and they were then excluded from the study. Skin prick tests with cow's milk and stool exams [for occult blood] were performed for these infants, and the correct technique of breast feeding was taught to their mothers. Then, the infants were divided to case and control groups randomly. In the case group, the mothers were advised not to consume cow's milk and other dairy products for two weeks. But in the control group, no change in the diet of the mothers was recommended. Furthermore, 50 healthy infants without symptoms of colic were included in the study as the second control group. Their mothers were asked about the type of feeding and stool exams were done for them. Finally, the data were analyzed using chi-square test

Results: from all 270 examined infants, colic was confirmed in 169 cases. Among them, 153 infants were breast fed exclusively. 114 cases in this group allowed the skin prick test to be done. The test was positive in only 3 infants [2.6%]. From these 114 infants, only 77 infants completed the study. 35 infants were in the case group and 42 infants were in the control group. Infants with colic whose mothers did not take dairy products, did not improve significantly in comparison with the control group. Prevalence of formula feeding was significantly higher in colicky infants in comparison with non-colicky infants [24% and 2% respectively]. Prevalence of occult blood in the stools of colicky infants was significantly higher in colicky infants than non-colicky infants [24% and zero respectively]

Conclusion: due to the unresponsiveness of infants to the elimination of cow's milk, it can be concluded that cow's milk allergy is not a common cause of infantile colic. Therefore, it is not advised to eliminate the dairy products from the diet of nursing mothers. Also, it is not necessary to perform skin prick tests as a routine test in these infants. The high prevalence of occult blood in the stools of infants suffering from colic is a new finding. Evaluation of its cause will be helpful in determining the etiology of infantile colic

Characterization of leishmania parasites from archived geimsa-stained slides using nested polymerase chain reaction

In Iran, the clinical presentation of cutaneous leishmaniasis is mainly in the form of dry type [urban form] or wet type [rural form]. The microscopic finding of amastigotes in Giemsa-stained smears is the most practical laboratory test for the diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis. However, determination of parasite species is not possible when using this method. Parasite characterization is made by various biochemical, immunological and molecular methods based on massive culture of the parasites. In this study nested PCR was used both for diagnosis as well as species identification. Giemsa-stained slides from forty-nine patients, that had been included in a drug resistance survey, were used in this study. From the available slides, forty-seven were diagnosed as having leishmaniasis using the nested PCR technique. Twenty of these were Leishmania tropica [L. tropica] and the remaining were Leishmania major [L. major]. Amastigotes were recovered from twenty-nine of these patients after standard treatment. This study revealed that clinically drug-resistant cases are more likely to be infected with L. tropica than with L. major, although this difference was not statistically significant. L. tropica was mostly present in facial lesions while L. major was mostly detected in hand and foot lesions. In patients with more than two lesions, L major was the predominant cause. L tropica was the cause of a more prolonged duration of disease. None of the above findings were, however, statistically significant. It can be concluded that nested PCR is a useful technique for studying the molecular epidemiology of leishmaniasis in the field