[Evaluation of CT scan guided fine needle biopsy of the chest lesions]

Background: CT scan guided fine needle biopsy of the chest lesions are increasingly popular technique, but may have complications which the most common is pneumothorax. The purpose of this study was to observe the complications of needle biopsy of chest lesions guided by the CT scan among the patients studied

Material and Methods: This is a descriptive epidemiologic study. All patients that referred to Imam Khomeini in Ahvaz from 2005 to 2007and it was necessary to biopsy the chest lesions were studied. Snapshot files on lung CT scan lesion size and depth measurements and the biopsy samples obtained were sent to pathology. After the biopsy the patient CT scan was to act as the presence or absence of symptoms, proper action was made of

Results: Among 102 patients studied, 85 patients [83.4%] were uncomplicated, but 8 patients [7.9%] were suffered from pneumothorax. In the study were made between lesion size and depth of complications found no correlation, but between lesion location and complications caused there was statistically significant difference

Conclusion: the needle biopsy guided by CT scan due to low complications in many cases is a suitable diagnostic method

[ effect of oxamate on LDH-C4 activity of sperm in rats]

LDH-C4 is one of the lactate dehydrogenase isoenzymes found in mature testis and spermatozoa of many species. The Physiological function of these isoenzymes indicates its role in creating energy for sperm motility and survival. In this research, the effects of oxamate as specific inhibitors of the LDH-C4 of rat were studied in vivo. A total of 20 adult rats were divided into four equal groups. One group as the control group received saline only, and different amounts of oxamate were injected into other three groups [600, 300, 150mg/kg] daily for 45 days intraperitoneally. The rats were then killed with chloroform and the caudal part of epididym was separated. By making several cuts in caudal part of the epididymis, the sperms were isolated and put in T6 medium+5mg/ml[-1] BSA. Later, the sperms were incubated under 37§C and 5% CO2 for one hour. LDH-C4 enzyme was extracted using the Erwin Goldberg and the protein amounts were measured by Lowry's method. Relative purification was done in two stages including ammonium sulfate precipitation and column chromatography by DEAE-Sephadex-A50. All stages of extraction, the amount of total protein, LDH enzyme activity in the oxamate-exposed groups, and specified recipient, were then compared with the control group. In this study, the total enzyme LDH-C4 activity in the control group was 11.8 +/- 0.3 and the oxamate recipient groups [150, 300 and 600mg/kg] were 8.3 +/- 0.3, 6.9 +/- 0.2 and 3.2 +/- 0.1 IU, respectively. The concentration of 600mg/kg oxamate was inhibited about 63% enzyme activity compared to control group. This study showed that the oxamate may reduce in vivo enzyme activity through LDH-C4 with increasing concentration and this effect is proportional. Therefore, with the effect of the competitive inhibitors of oxamate on LDH-C4, this substrate can be used as a contraceptive for males

[ effect of unilateral testicular blunt trauma and protective effect of zinc on spermatogenesis of contra lateral testis of pre-pubertal wistar rate]

There has so far been controversy among researches about the effect of unilateral blunt testis trauma on structure and function of contra lateral testis. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of unilateral blunt testicular trauma after a time span of spermatogenesis [40 days] on the number of round and elongated spermatic cells, spermatogonia, primary spermatocyte, sertoli and leydig cells of contra-lateral testis as well as to assess the protective effect of zinc on unilateral blunt testicular trauma. In this experimental study 30 pre-pubertal male Wistar rats [age 7 weeks] were divided into three equal groups [n=10]. Group I [control] underwent a sham operation of the left testis under general anesthesia. Rats in group II and group III [with blunt testicular trauma] were subjected to left blunt testicular trauma to rupture the tunica albuginea. In group III just after the trauma 30 mg/kg zinc sulfate were given intra-peritoneally followed by admission of Zn for 40 days at a dose of 500 parts per million [ppm] /day orally. Later on, all rats were sacrificed and their right testes were removed and after histological processing and staining by H and E method the samples were evaluated by counting round and elongated spermatid cells, spermatogonia, primary spermatocyte, sertoli and leydig cells and also by cell structures study. Data were analyzed using ANOVA, Tukey and Duncan's tests and pvalue of <0.05 was considered as statistically significant. There was no significant differences in the number of round and elongated spermatid, spermatogonia, sertoli and leydig cells of testis if the three groups [P>0.05]. Histological changes in sertoli and leydig cell were seen. Therefore, the protective effect of zinc was not significant on germ cell proliferation and structure. The results suggest that unilateral blunt testis trauma after time course of 40 days has no effect on germ cell layers and leydig and sertoli cells proliferation. This study suggests long term evaluation of testes after blunt trauma with use of electron microscope

effect of centella asiatica alcoholic extract on the serum levels of testosterone, fsh and lh in male wistar rat

Background and Purpose: Sperm count and their productivity are dependent on the levels of blood androgenic hormones. Also, it is likely that the Centella asiatica extract can affect the levels of hormones affecting spermatogenesis. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the effect of Centella asiatica extract on serum levels of testosterone, FSH and LH in male Wistar rat.

Methods and Materials: In this experimental study, 40 adult male albino Wistar rats were divided into 5 groups: an untreated control, sham receiving a solvent medium and the remaining three groups [experimental groups 1 to 3] which received 10 mgkg-1, 50 mgkg-1 and 80 mgkg-1 Centella asiatica extract every day for 40 days. Twenty four hours after the last administration of extract, 3-4 ml of blood samples were collected from every rat by aspiration from heart ventricle, and their serum concentrations of FSH, LH and testosterone were measured using radioimmunoassay method. The obtained data were analyzed in SPSS13 using one-way ANOVA and Tukey test

Results: The mean and standard deviation of testosterone the control and sham groups were 16.4 +/- 2.18 and 14.1 +/- 0.09 respectively; in the experimental groups [10, 50 and 80 mg/kg], these were 15+/-1.32, 9.8 +/- 0.05 and 8.4 +/- 0.31 nanoM/l respectively. Mean testosterone level in rats receiving 50 mgkg-1 and 80 mgkg-1 Centella asiatica extract were significantly lower than the control groups [p=0.001, P=0.008] and sham groups [p=0.001, P=0.003]; also, it reduced in comparison with the experimental group receiving 10 mgkg-1 Centella asiatica extract [p=0.02, P=0.004]. The difference between the two groups receiving 50 and 80 mgkg-1 Centella asiatica extract was not significant [p=0.09]. The concentration of FSH and LH in all experimental groups was not significantly different from both control and sham groups [p>0.05]

Conclusion: By affecting Leydig cells and causing disorder in the levels of testosterone, sperm count, and by affecting epididymis, centella Asiatica alcoholic extract can reduce the motility and productivity of sperms

Spectrum of beta- thalassemia mutations in various ethnic regions of Iran

Thalassemia is a group of inherited disorders characterized by reduced or absent amounts of hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying protein inside the red blood cells. beta-Thalassemia, one of the most widespread genetic disease in the world, is a common autosomal recessive disorder generally caused by point mutations in the beta-globin gene that is located as a cluster on the short arm of chromosome 11[OMIM:MIM # 141900]. The objective of this study was to identify spectrum of Beta Thalassemia mutations in various ethnic regions of Iran. We extracted and differentiated the Iron deficiency patients with the help of 10 discrimination indices [Mentzer Index, England and Fraser index, Srivastava ndex, Green and King index, Shine and Lal index, red blood cell [RBC] count, red blood cell distribution width, red blood cell distribution width index [RDWI], Mean Density of Hemoglobin per Liter of blood [MDHL] and Mean Cell Hemoglobin Density [MCHD]] from beta-thalassemia patients. In a total of 1098 carriers [1045 beta-thalassemia and 53 iron deficiency], we detected different beta-thalassemia mutations in the studied subjects of 5 different ethnic regions from Iran. beta-Thalassemia was diagnosed based on complete blood counts, Hb electrophoresis, and ASO-Hybridization in patients from each area separately at Research center of Thalassemia and Hemoglobinopathies, Ahwaz Jondishapur University of Medical Sciences, Shafa Hospital, Iran. This study has shown that the most common mutation for each region was IVS.II-1 [G at'A] [34%] in Khuzestan, IVS I [3' end]-25 bp [28.7%] in Booshehr, IVS II- 1 [G at' A] [41.5%] in Fars, IVS-II-1 [Gat-' A] [31.8%] in Isfahan, IVS I-5 [Gat-' C] [44.8%] in Sistan- Baloochestan, respectively. The presence of such a high frequency of various local mutants alleles is strong support for role of non-isolating genetically areas. In likelihood, both founder effect and natural selection caused by migration from neighboring areas have complemented each other to produce the high frequency of unique alleles within each region

Comparison of different indices for better differential diagnosis of iron deficiency anemia from beta thalassemia trait

Iron deficiency anemia [IDA] and beta thalassemia trait [TT] are the most common forms of microcytic anemia. Some discrimination indices calculated from red blood cell count and red blood cell indices are defined and used for rapid discrimination between TT and IDA. Youden's index is the most reliable method to measure the validity of a particular technique, because it takes into account both sensitivity and specificity. We calculated 10 discrimination indices [Mentzer Index, England and Fraser Index, Srivastava Index, Green and King Index, Shine and Lal Index, red blood cell [RBC] count, red blood cell distribution width, red blood cell distribution width index [RDWI], Mean Density of Hemoglobin per Liter of blood [MDHL] and Mean Cell Hemoglobin Density [MCHD]] in 170 patients with IDA and in 153 patients with p TT [pTT]. We divided the patients into two different age ranges of 1 to 10 and 10 to 57 years. We determined the number of correctly identified patients by using each discrimination index. None of the indices showed sensitivity and specificity of 100% in the latter group; it was just Shine and Lal Index [S and L] that showed a sensitivity close to 90% and specificity of 100% in the former group. The accuracy order of these discrimination indicies from higher to lower for the former was Shine and lal > RBC Count > Srivastava > Mentzer > England and Fraser > Green and King > RDWI > RDW and in the latter RDWI > RBC count > Mentzer > England and Fraser > Srivastava > RDW > Shine and Lal > Green and King. Youden's index for Shine and lal and RBC Count, and for RDWI and RBC Count has the highest diagnostic value in the former and latter groups respectively. Mean Cell Hemoglobin Density [MCHD] and Mean Density of Hemoglobin per Liter [MDHL] did not show any diagnostic value. None of the indices was completely sensitive and specific in differentiating between PTT and IDA. MCHD mean and median were very close to normal values for both IDA and PTT patients, but in case of MHDL we have found mean and median values being significantly higher than normal values in pTT and lower in IDA patients. In our study, Youden's index of RBC count and RDWI were the highest ones and they were the most reliable discrimination indices in differentiating PTT from IDA in the latter group while for patients in the former RBC and S and L were the most reliable discrimination indices

contribution of Muslim chemists during the British period in India

This list contains almost four hundred and sixteen references dealing with the Chemical sciences contributed by one hundred and sixty six Muslim Scientists during the British period in India

[ contribution of Muslim physicists during the British period in India: a bibliographic survey]

A total of one hundred and seven articles on physics contributed by about fifty seven Muslims during the British period in India are listed in this paper