comparison of direct technique and formalin-ether method in determining parasitic infection among health-card applicants in shahroud city

Parasitic infection is one of the major health problems in the world. This study aimed at comparing the accuracy of two methods of direct examination and Formalin-Ether to detect the presence of parasitic infection among health-card applicants in Shahroud city, 2011. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 801 patients seeking health-card. From each patient, three consecutive stool samples were taken and investigated, using direct examination and formalin-ether method, The use of formalin-ether method in recognizing the parasitic infection specially Giardia lamblia and Entamobea coh'is more than the direct method. The formalin-ether method is a more sensitive method than the direct method. But in circumstances that is urgency to respond or aims to see the shape of trophozoite, the use of direct method is recommended

[Survey the amount of heavy metals in cultural vegetables in suburbs of Sharhoud]

Vegetables are one of the most important components of daily food. Contamination of vegetables with heavy metals might ends to accumulate in the body, therefore in this study the level of lead, chromium, cadmium, arsenic and zinc in cultural vegetables of Shahroud suburb were measured in 1387. In this cross-sectional descriptive study, 150 vegetable samples through 3 months, 50 for each month, were randomly harvested. Atomic absorption instrument was used to determine the amount of mentioned heavy metals after sample preparation, SPSS whit 0.05 was used for statistically data analyzing. For vegetables the average value of Pb, Cr and Cd in different vegetables were different from each other and P value was less than<0.001. There are no significant amounts of Arsenic concentration. The value of these metals with 95% acceptable level was in the range of satisfaction. Arsenic didn't have that much of error of its contamination Except Zn and As other metals like Cr, Cd and Pb were above the standard zone by FAO and WHO. The wastewaters of urban and industrial facilities are the main reason for this problem. The best suggestion is using pure water for this purpose

Evaluation of ejection fraction changes during the course of treatment of mitoxantrone in patients with secondary progressive form of multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis [MS] is one of the most common neurological disorders in young adults. Mitoxantrone, as an immunosuppressant and cytotoxic drug has shown a slight beneficial erect on the progressive form of the disease. However, it has been experienced that in cancer treatment this drug has caused cardiologic side effects such as congestive heart failure and decrease in ejection fraction. The aim of this study is to investigate the left ventricular ejection fraction changes induced by Mitoxantrone as administered in patients with secondary progressive form of multiple sclerosis. During the years of 2005-2007, the patients with secondary progressive MS who referred to the Neurological Clinic of Aria General Hospital in Mashhad were included in our cross-sectional study. These patients had no history of hematological, cardiac or hepatic disorders. Neither they had ever used immunosuppressant drugs. They were prescribed to intravenously take 12 mg/m2 of Mitoxantrone every 3 months for at least 2 years. Before each infusion of Mitoxantrone, the left ventricular ejection fraction [EF] was measured by echocardiography. After the treatment [8 infusions], the results of echocardiography were compared and analyzed through statistical methods using SPSS and Excel soft wares. Forty four patients with secondary progressive-MS were included in our study [24 females and 20 males]. Five of the subjects were younger than 30 year old, 27 patients were between 30 and 40, and 12 patients were above 40. The data was analyzed using the method of repeated measures. The results demonstrate that Mitoxantrone had no significant effect on the left ventricular ejection fraction. Also, the trend mean of EF during 8 months showed no significant drop. The mean of EF between sexes was not significant, either. As a whole, ten percent of the subjects treated with Mitoxanterone showed a decrease of EF which returned to its normal stage once the treatment was stopped. The benefit from using Mitoxanterone in multiple sclerosis was more than the complication caused by its usage. Multiple sclerosis, Mitoxantrone, Heart failure, echocardiography, Ejection fraction

Effects of noise exposure on the volume of adrenal gland and serum levels of cortisol in rat

Noise pollution is considered as a stressful factor in every day's life of the industrial world. The present study was designed to investigate the probable effects of different time exposure of noise stress on histomorphometric changes of adrenal gland, plasma cortisol and body weight of the rat. Sixty adult male Wistar rats were divided into two series of short time noise or STNE exposure [n=20] for one day and long time noise exposure or LTNE [n=40] for 30 days with a sound intensity of 100 dBA. LTNE series were further divided into five groups of control, sham, 4, 8 and 12-hrs noise exposure and STNE series were divided into four groups of the same as LTNE except sham group. The cortisol assay was performed on blood samples of pre and post treatment with noise in two series and Cavalieri methods in a stereological study for determination of adrenal volume changes only in LTNE series. The results showed that the mean plasma cortisol level [5.4 +/- 3.2 micro g/dl in LNTE-8 hrs and 4.9 +/- 1.8 micro g/dl in LNTE- 12 hrs], the volumes of cortex [7.08 +/- 1.31 mm[3] in LNTE-8h and 7.12 +/- 1.31 mm[3] in LNTE-12h], medulla [0.68 +/- 0.19 mm[3] in LNTE-8 h] of adrenal gland increased. The mean animal weight did not show any significant changes. Sound pollutions can increase the stress hormone level and cause increasing the volume of adrenal gland that may be related to the effect of noise on the hypothalamuspituitary- adrenal axis. These results may be important to increasing of many disorders such as cardiovascular diseases in industrial societies