taxonomical, morphological and pharmacological review of Marrubium vulgare L., an old medicinal plant in Iran

Marrubium vulgare L. [common name: Horehound, hoarhound] is one of the medicinal plants which has been used in the treatment of stomach, arrhythmia, asthma, jaundice, lung diseases and liver disorders in Iranian traditional medicine. Other properties are expectorant, antispasmodic, tonic, anti-infective agent and externally, it has been used in ulcers and wounds. Flowers in M. vulgare generally appear in early spring and regularly visited by readily nectar gathering bees. The plant is a good candidate for phytoremediation of Hg contaminated soils. Previous phytochemical studies showed the presence of alkaloids, lactones, steroids, flavonoids, tannins, phenylpropanoid esters, and diterpenoids in M. vulgare. In this review we focused on the several aspects of taxonomy, morphology, chemical composition and traditional medicine of horehound

[Frequency of diabetes mellitus in skin tag patients in comparison with control group]

Background and Aims: Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common types of chronic disease leading to serious complications such as blindness, end stage renal disease [ESRD], neuropathy and cardiac disorders. Skin tag is a common benign skin tumor that its association with impaired carbohydrate metabolism has been reported in some studies. The aim of this study was to compare the frequency of diabetes and other carbohydrate metabolism disorders in patients with and without skin tag

Methods: In a case- control study on 200 individuals over 30 years old referring to Dermatology Clinic of Afzalipour Hospital, 100 individuals with at least 3 skin tags as case group and 100 individuals without skin tag as control group underwent FBS and standard GTT tests

Results: There was no significant difference between case and control groups in the frequency of diabetes [19% vs. 10%], IGTT [11%vs.13%] and IFG [19% vs. 15%]. Mean FBS and GTT were significantly higher in the case group compared to the control group. There was a positive correlation between the total number of skin tags and mean FBS [r= 0.33, P= 0.001] and GTT [r= 0.37, P= 0.000]. The frequency of diabetes in patients with at least 20 skin tags was 45.8%. Positive predictive value, negative predictive value, sensitivity and specificity of skin tag for the diagnosis of diabetes were 19%, 90%, 52% and 65% respectively

Conclusion: This study revealed that patients with skin tags are at a higher risk of carbohydrate metabolism disorders. Therefore, screening of patients with skin tag for carbohydrate metabolism disorders is recommended

[Evaluation of effective clinicopathologic factors on patients outcome with well differentiated thyroid carcinoma]

Thyroid cancer is the most common cancer of endocrine system. Clinical, pathological and therapeutic factors affected patients' outcome with differentiated thyroid carcinoma. To evaluation the effective clinicopathologic factors on patients outcome with well differentiated thyroid carcinoma. In this retrospective analytic-descriptive study. Patients' files with thyroid carcinoma who referred to radiology and oncology ward in Omid and Ghaem hospital of Mashhad were assessed from 1996-2006. Cases with pathologic report of papillary and follicular carcinoma were considered and a specific questionnaire include age, sex, accepted time, pathologic subtype, tumor size and metastases, adjuvant treatment, last follow time, recurrence time, patient condition in the end refer and death time was recorded. The patients' mean age was 50.14 and median age was 52 years. 66 patients [85.7%] had papillary and 11 cases [14.3%] had follicular carcinoma. End condition in 43 cases [55.8%] was good and in 34 cases [44.2%] was bad. Mean survival time was 44.1 and median survival time was 36 months. There was a meaningful correlation between T stage with end condition [P=0.037] but there was no meaningful correlation between N stage with end condition [P=0.665]. Metastases in the first reference time had a clear correlation with patients' outcome. 41 patients [59.4%] from 69 cases with MO disease had a good end condition, against only one patient [16.7%] from 6 cases with Ml had a good outcome [P<0.001]. Also there was a meaningful correlation between patients' outcome and clinical stage [P=0.075]. None of the adjuvant treatment included iodine therapy [P=0.36], hormone therapy [P=0.378], chemotherapy and radiotherapy affected patients outcome. According to this study, factors with influence on patient's outcome with differentiated thyroid carcinoma were tumor stage, metastases in the first reference and clinical tumor stage. Lymph node involvement and adjuvant treatment had no effect on patients' prognosis

[Effect of L-carnitine supplement on semen parameters in men with idiopathic infertility]

It is proposed that L-carnitine is a useful agent for treatment of various dysfunctions of sperm in infertile men. So, in the present study, effect of L-carnitine supplement on sperm parameters in men with idiopathic infertility was evaluated. Thirty infertile men, aged between 20 and 40 years, with the following baseline sperm selection criteria, including sperm count< 66.6 x 10[6], motility< 30%, viability< 60%, normal morphology< 35%, were studied. Patients received 3 gram per day L-carnitine for six months. Semen analysis was performed according to World Health Organization guidelines before study, and 3 and 6 months of therapy. Sperm parameters included liquefaction, pH, volume, sperm count, motility, viability and normal morphology. The results showed that L-carnitine supplementation increased significantly sperm count, motility, viability and normal morphogy and pregnancy rate after 3 months [p<0.01] and 6 months [p<0.001]. Also, L-carnitine supplementation increased sperm motility and viability in idiophatic infertile men after 3 and 6 months [p<0.001]. Five couples became pregnant during the study. The present study indicated that L-carnitine supplementation is an appropriate drug in the treatment of men with idiopathic infertility

Evaluation of prognostic factors in patients with Netastatic Breast Cancer

Metastatic breast cancer has remained as an incurable disease. The main objectives of treatments include alleviating of symptoms, delaying disease progression and increasing survival without any adverse effect on the quality of life. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of some clinocopathological factors on the survival of patients with metastatic breast carcinoma in our institute. In this retrospective cohort study, we reviewed the files of patients who were metastatic at presentation or became metastatic during follow-up and were referred to oncology department of Omid Hospital affiliated to Mashhad University of Medical Sciences from 1997 to 2007. The information regarding clinicopathological characteristics were recorded. The first line chemotherapy regimen was as follows: 79 CAF [cyclophosphamide, doxurobicine, 5FU], 25 CMF [cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, 5FU] and 11 Taxene based; AT [doxorubicin, paclitaxol] or TAC [taxene, doxurobicine, cyclophosphamide]. 115 patients with a median age of 45 [range, 25-78] were investigated. The median follow-up time for all patients from diagnosis was 21 months [range, 5-74 months] and from metastatic manifestation was 12 months [5-36 months]. The sites of recurrence or metastasis were as follows: 18 [15.7%] local recurrence, 23[20%] bone and 74 [64.3%] visceral metastases. The median and 2- year overall survival for all patients with metastatic disease were 15 months and 44.6% +/- 6% respectively. Patients with bone metastasis had a significantly better overall survival compared to those with visceral metastasis. [74.2% vs.36.1%, P = 0.04] Among those patients who were non-metastatic at the time of referral, the time left to metastasis had a significant effect on the overall survival from metastasis manifestation. In comparison with premenopausal patients, the overall survival was relatively better in postmenopausal cases. [59.4% vs. 38.5%, P = 0.1]. In our study, disease free survival [DFS] was the most important factor for overall survival in patients with metastatic breast cancer. The patients with longer DFS [> 18month] had better overall survival. Overall the patients with bone metastasis had better survival than visceral metastasis

Effect of seminal plasma selenium concentration on semen parameters

Selenium is an essential trace nutrient for humans and animals. It is required for normal testicular development and spermatogenesis. In the present experimental study, correlations between seminal plasma glutathione peroxidase enzyme activity [as selenium status] and semen parameters are evaluated in 200 males. Semen analysis was performed according to World Health Organization guidelines. Totally, 200 males were subdivided into 5 groups as normospermic, oligospermic, asthenozospermic, azospermic and varicocele groups according to their spermograms. Plasma seminal glutathione peroxidase enzyme activity was determined by Kit [Randox, Germany]. The results showed that glutathione peroxidase enzyme activity is higher in normospermic than oligospermic, asthenozospermic, azospermic and varicocele groups. Meanwhile, there were an inverse significant correlations between glutathione peroxidase enzyme activity and plasma seminal fructose concentration, white blood cell, tail defects of sperm, coiled tail sperms and short tail sperms. On the other hand, the present data showed that there are positive correlations between vitality, sperm count, motility and normal morphology. The present study indicated that measurement of glutathione peroxidase enzyme activity as selenium status could be a good marker for evaluation of male infertility

[Morphological comparison of spermatozoa taken from TESE and PESA specimens in infertile men who referred to the infertility sections of Shariati Hospital and Navid Clinic in 1378]

In this study morphology of testicular and epididymal sperm was assessed. Morphology of sperms was assessed by using Tygerbery strict criteria. TESE and PESA were done by conventional method under local anesthesia. Percentages of normal and abnormal sperm was studied. The percentage of normal testicular sperm [6.2%] differed significantly from the percentage of normal epididymal sperm [18.6%]. Percentages of abnormal form of head and tail differs in two groups but Percentage of midpiece abnormalities were not significantly different between the two groups. To assess the predictive value of Tygerberg strict criteria for determining morphology of testicular sperms we need a healthy control group