Physico-chemical properties, fatty acid profile and nutrition in palm oil

The rapid expansion in world production of palm oil over the last three decades has attracted the attention of the oils and fats industry. Oil palm gives the highest yield of oil per unit of any crop. Palm oil is the major oil produced, with annual world production in excess of 50 million tonnes. Throughout the world, 90% of palm oil is used for edible purposes [e.g., margarine, deep fat frying, shortening, ice creams, and cocoa butter substitutes in chocolate]; the remaining 10% is used for soap and oleo chemical manufacturing [fatty acids, methyl esters, fatty nitrogenous derivatives, surfactants and detergents]. Two distinct oils are produced by oil palms [palm kernel oil and palm oil], both of which are important in world trade. Palm oil contains 50% saturated fatty acids. The saturated fatty acid to unsaturated fatty acid ratio of palm oil is close to unity and it contains a high amount of the antioxidants, beta-carotene, and vitamin E. Palm oil contains a high proportion of palmitic acid as well as considerable quantities of oleic and linoleic acids. The physicochemical properties, fatty acid profile and nutrition in palm oils are reviewed

Discrimination of entamoeba spp. in children with dysentery

The present study was performed in order to differentiate E. histolytica and E. dispar in children from Gorgan city, using a PCR method. Differential detection of two morphologically indistinguishable protozoan parasites Entamoeba histolytica and E. dispar has a great clinical and epidemiological importance because of potential invasive pathogenic E. histolytica and non-invasive parasite E. dispar. One hundred and five dysentery samples were collected from children hospitalized in Taleghani hospital in Gorgan city. The fecal specimens were examined by light microscopy [10X then 40X] to distinguish Entamoeba complex. A single round PCR amplifying partial small-subunit rRNA gene was performed on positive microscopy samples to differentiate E. histolytica/ E. dispar and E.moshkovskii from each other. Twenty-five specimens [23.8%] were positive for Enramoeba complex in direct microscopic examination. PCR using positive controls indicated E. histolytica and E. dispar in two [2/25, 8%] and three [3/25, 12%] samples, respectively. There is a warrant to performing molecular diagnosis for stool examination at least in hospitalized children in order to prevent incorrect reports from laboratories and consequently mistreating by physicians

[Treatment of labial adhesion with topical estrogen and correlation with serum estradiol level]

Serum estradiol level is a controversial prognostic factor in the outcome of labial adhesion. The aim of this study was to evaluate serum estradiol levels and topical estrogen response in patients with labial adhesion. A prospective interventional study was conducted among girls with labial adhesion that referred to Pediatrics clinic in Taleghani University Hospital, Gorgan city, Iran in 2011. One hundred patients entered the study. The diagnosis was conducted by clinical examination of vestibule area. Inclusion criteria were, three months to eight years old prepuberty girls, no ambiguous genitalia, lack of vulvovaginitis symptoms, labial adhesion more than twenty five percent, no history of previous topical estrogen treatment since two weeks ago and previous incomplete treatment. The patients who did not use proper amount and duration of drug and also with adverse drug reactions during treatment period were excluded from the study. The maximum frequency of labial adhesion was in the group of less than one year old. The minimum frequency of labial adhesion was in the 7-8 years old group. Eighty six patients had complete or partial remission. No evidence of an improvement was observed in fourteen children. Severity of adhesions did not worsen in our patients. Serum estradiol levels were lower in patients who had a positive response to treatment. There were significant differences in serum estradiol levels between full or relative improvement with no improvement groups [P=0.044]. Findings of this study showed that the labial adhesion patients with low serum estradiol level had better treatment response after using topical estrogen.

Incidence of childhood cancers in Golestan province of Iran

This paper presents the incidence rates of childhood cancers using the data obtained from Golestan population based cancer registry [GPCR] between 2004 and 2006. GPCR registers only primary cancers based on standard protocols of the international association of cancer registries [IACR]. We collect data on newly diagnosed [incident] cancer cases from all public and private diagnostic and therapeutic centers of the whole province. CanReg-4 software was used for data entry and analysis. Totally 5076 cancer cases [all ages] were diagnosed in GPCR between 2004 and 2006. Of these, 139 [2.74%] were children [aged 0-14 years] with mean [ +/- SD] age of 8.06 [ +/- 4.48] years. The age standardized incidence rates for childhood cancer were 119.8 and 78.3 per 1000000 person-years in male and female children, respectively. Leukemia was the most common childhood cancer in Golestan province of Iran. Lymphomas and central nervous system tumors were the second and third ones, respectively. The incidence rates of childhood cancers were relatively high in Golestan province of Iran. So, controlling of childhood cancers should be mentioned as an important issue in health policy making in this area