Zinc topical and iontophoresis approaches in treatment of standardized leg burns: animal model

This study was designed to compare the effects of Zinc application [Topical and Iontophoresis approaches] on burn wound healing of rats. It included 30 albino rats with second degree burn wound in their left hind limb and were divided randomly into two groups of equal number, 15 rats each, the first one received topical zinc and the other one received zinc iontophoresis. The parameters used for evaluation involved burn surface area measured by tracing wound perimeter and quantitative culture [number of bacterial growth] as an index of burn wound healing, pre and post treatment applications [after one and two weeks]. These two parameters were measured 24 hours post-inflicted burn and 2 times post initiation of zinc therapy at one week interval and the same for colony count. The pre treatment results revealed no significant difference between the mean values of both parameters of both groups, while after two weeks of treatment applications, the findings showed that there was a significant difference between pre treatment and post two weeks for both groups with higher improvement in zinc iontophoresis group. Therefore, it may be of value for physical therapist to consider zinc iontophoresis as a method for treating burn patients

Nerve tension mobilization versus active exercises in lumbar radiculopathy

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of neural mobilization and spinal extension exercises in decreasing pain, hastening neural excitability and increasing, straight leg, raising range in patients with L5-S1 lumbar radiculopathy. Sixty patients with a history of prolapsed disc were involved in the study. Their age ranged from 30-60 years. They were divided randomly into 3 equally groups. Group "1" received neural mobilization, group "2" received spinal extension exercises, and group "3" received both neural mobilization and spinal extension exercises. Pain perception, range of motion of straight leg raise "SLR" and H-reflexi latency of posterior tibial nerve were used as measuring parameters. Results showed that the patients in group "3" got a greatest effect than those in group "1". The patients in group 2 "spinal extension exercises" got the least effect than those in other groups. It was concluded that the cumulative effect of, neural mobilization and spinal extension exercises, is effective to reduce signs of pain and dysfunction for patients with lumbar radiculopathy

Angiotensin II may play a role in overload induced skeletal muscle hypertrophy in the rat model

The aim of the present work was to investigate whether the renin angiotensin system plays a role in overload induced hypertrophy in skeletal muscles. Six groups of male rats were studied, each comprising six animals: Group 1 comprised sham operated non- overloaded animals; group 2 comprised animals in which plantaris muscles of both hind limbs were mechanically overloaded by surgical sectioning of soleus and gastronemius muscles; group 3 comprised sham operated animals treated with angiotensin converting enzyme [ACE] inhibitor for two weeks; group 4 comprised mechanically overloaded animals treated with ACE inhibitor for two weeks; group 5 comprised sham operated animals treated with angiotensin receptor [AT1] blocker for two weeks and group 6 comprised mechanically overloaded animals treated with AT1 blocker for two weeks. At the end of two weeks twitch characteristics [twitch tension, time of peak tension and half relaxation time] and peak titanic force were assessed in situ. Plantaris muscle and heart wet weight normalized to tibia length and plantaris cross sectional area were measured. Serum ACE activity was also measured. It was concluded that angiotensin II possibly through an effect mediated on AT1 receptors is involved in skeletal muscle hypertrophy and fiber type transition in the fast twitch plantaris muscle subjected to mechanical overload

Dual chamber vs. single chamber paching; haemodynamic, respiratory and metabolic assessment using cardiopulmonary exercise testing

Nineteen patients referred for permanent pacing due to a third degree AV block including four patients with re-implantation of DDD PM because of PM syndrome induced by previous VVI pacing were included in this study. Nine patients had no underlying structural heart disease, while the remaining ten patients had rheumatic HD [two cases], congenital HD [three cases], LVH [three cases], CAD [one case] and thyrotoxicosis [one case]. All patients underwent an implantation of permanent DDD PM. One month post-implantation, all patients were subjected to cardiopulmonary exercise testing [CPET] using bicycle ergometry with the PM in the DDD mode, then the test was repeated, while the patients were in the VVI mode two weeks later. The hemodynamic parameters were measured. The metabolic parameters were also investigated. The results showed that DDD mode showed significantly better HR, PA-aO2, Pa-ETCO2, VE/VO2, VO2 and Ca-vO2 compared with VVI pacing

prevalence of anticardiolipin antibodies and pre-eclampsia, a prospective controlled study

Detection of anticardiolipin antibodies [ACA] in 50 primigravida with preeclampsia and in 41 primigravida with normal course of pregnancy was carried out in the third trimester. In 10 cases [20%] and in 4 cases [9.5%] of the control group, abnormal values of ACA were detected, but this was not statistically significant. The outcome of pregnancy did not significantly differ among cases with normal and abnormal values of ACA. Further studies and standardization of the ELISA test used for detection of ACA are recommended