[ study of frequency of nasal obstruction in migraine headaches]

Nasal congestion is a problem in which many person with migraine headache are involved and can induce misdiagnosis in these patients. Many of these patients with nasal congestion believe that the cause of their headache is due to the sinusitis. The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of nasal congestion in episodes of migraine headache. This was a cross-sectional and descriptive study on 131 patients which were diagnosed by neurologists based on standard criteria to have had migraine. Sampling was done through non-probability in hand method. The data were gathered with regard to age, sex, type of headache and presence of nasal congestion for each patient. They were then analyzed by chi-square and Fisher's exact test [p<0/05]. Out of 131 patients 18 [13.7%] had nasal congestion in their migraine attacks. 19.8% of patients were male and 80.2 patients were female. There was no meaningful correlation between nasal congestion in migraine patients with their sex, age and type of headache. According to the results of the study there was no meaningful correlation between the type of migraine headache [classic and non-classic] and sex and age

study of the relationship between syncope attacks and diminished carotid and vertebral artery flow using doppler ultrasonography of cervical vessels

Syncope or drop attack is a common and potentially serious condition and prompt evaluation of the affected patients should be evaluated prompting for cardiac disease, seizure, structural lesions of the brain or peripheral nerves, as well as drug induced and metabolic disturbances. This study was conducted to evaluate carotid and vertebral arteries blood flow in patients with syncope in which other etiologies had been ruled out. This one-year retrospective case-control study involved 33 patients [case group] and 33 normal individuals [control group]. Carotid and vertebral arteries blood flow was measured in all subjects [ml/min] and SPSS was used for data analysis. Mean blood flow in vertebral arteries in the case group was significantly lower than in the control group [P<0.001], however mean carotid artery flow was not significantly different between them [P=0.58]. Based on our results and findings of some other studies, we recommend duplex ultrasonography of vertebral and cervical arteries in patients suffering from drop attacks, after ruling out the prominent etiologies, such as seizure, heart disease, etc

Serum homocysteine level in patients with multiple sclerosis

The etiology of multiple sclerosis [MS], a chronic demyelinative disease-is unknown. The damage of blood-brain barrier [BBB] vasculature is a characteristic of MS and Homocystein [Hcy] can damage BBB, then increase in total Hcy may be important in MS pathogenesis. The aim of this study was to compare the serum level of total Hcy in MS patients with control group. In a case control study, serum level of total Hcy measured in 35 MS patient and compared with 30 healthy matched controls. All patients had definitive MS according to Poser criteria, without history of myocardial infarction, stroke, neuropathy, transient ischemic attack, homocystinuria or renal failure. The serum concentration of total homocystein was significantly higher in multiple sclerosis patients than healthy controls. The mean total Hcy level was 17.92 +/- 6.9 mmol/lit in cases and 14.6 +/- 2.92 mmol/lit in controls [P=0.013]. Serum total Homocystein may have a role in MS pathogenesis and reduction of it should be studied moreover