Radiographic measurements of front feet of the sound Akhal-Teke horses

The Akhal-Teke is an ancient horse originating from Asia where it was used by nomadic tribes and used as a warhorse. Lameness examinations require proper interpretation of clinical and radiographic findings. Therefore, understanding of normal radiographic findings of the foot is necessary. Although the radiographic appearance of the normal foot must be understood to recognize abnormalities, there are no studies examining the normal hoof and digital soft tissues in Akhal-Teke horses. The purpose of the study reported here was to determine a normal radiographic appearance and morpho-metry of the distal phalanx and its related soft tissue in mature Akhal-Teke racehorses without any clinical signs of lameness and foot problems. Radiography of the distal phalanx and associated soft-tissue structures of the front feet of 10 healthy pure Akhal-Teke horses were performed to determine normal radiographic appearance and morphometry. Lateromedial radiographic views of each front distal phalanx were used to measure important distances, angles and ratios of the hoof wall. All the measurements from lateromedial radiographs were multiplied by the magnification correction factor to gain the actual distances. Mean +/- SD thickness of the soft tissues dorsal to the middle aspect of distal phalanx was 18.3 +/- 1.22 mm. There was not any significant difference between left and right digits for any radiographic determination. This study introduced S-Founder and CF-Founder as important criteria in evaluating laminitis and sinking of P3

[ antibacterial effect of camellia sinensis extract on bacterias, conjunctivitis in vitro]

Conjunctivitis is one of the most prevalent ophthalmic diseases. The most feasible treatment of that is using antibiotics. According to arising bacterial resistance to usual antibiotics and their side effects, and using of tea as a healing for ophthalmic diseases base on the traditional beliefs, this study was done to evaluate the antibacterial effect of tea on conjunctivitis diseases. In this experimental study, patients suffering from conjunctivitis were sampled from the ophthalmology clinic in Shahrekord, Iran. Samples were transferred to the microbiology lab and were subjected to differential culture media and diagnostic tests. Ten samples from each group [totally 30] were isolated from each of the three bacteria including S. aureus, S. epidermidis and S. pneumonia. These strains were separately tested using the pour plate technique with different dilutions of black tea extract. In addition, antibiograms were performed using standard antibiotic disks including vancomycin, Chloramphenicol, Oxacillin, Cefazolin and Ciprofloxacin. Data were analyzed using Chi square, t test and ANOVA. Findings of this study showed that tea extract had a dose dependant inhibatory effects on bacterial growth [P<0.05]. This antibacterial effect exists in densities of 50. This effect had a rise in shifting from 50 to 100 mg/ml [P<0.05]. According to this study's findings and comparison with similar previous studies, we might suggest tea extract as an antibacterial drug in conjunctivitis

[ effect of hydroalcoholic extract of Zizipus vulgaris L. on burn healing]

Traditionally, burn wound healing activities have been claimed for Zizipus vulgaris L, but there is not any evidence in literature for this effect of the plant. Therefore, this work was carried out to investigate the effect of hydroalcoholic extract of Zizipus vulgaris L. on burn healing. In an experimental study burn wounds were made by placing a hot plate with a surface area of 1.5 cm[2] for 10s on the back of animals. 40 mice were designated in 4 groups. Animal were treated with vehicle or test substance two times per day for 21 days. The first group received nothing, second group Vaseline. Third and fourth group 1% and 10% Jujba ointment two times/day, respectively. Percent of burn wounds healing and total time required for complete healing were evaluated. Results showed that 1% dose of Jujuba extracts had significant burn wound healing compared to control group [P<0.01]. Zizipus vulgaris L. has considerable healing effect on burn wounds and its usage might be beneficial in these patients

[Prevalence of anti-HCV antibody and related risk factors among bleeding disorder patients in Yazd province of Iran]

Inherited bleeding disorder is a disease due to deficiency in clotting factors or platelets. Replacement therapy of unscreened blood and blood products or unviricidal concentrated clotting factors would expose these patients to risk of acquired hepatitis C. The aim of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of hepatitis C virus and related risk factors among bleeding disorder patients in Yazd province. This cross-sectional study was performed in Yazd province in summer 2006 using census method. Following data collection through questionnaires, blood samples were taken from 77 [82.8%] patients. Plasma samples were tested for the presence of anti-HCV antibody via a third-generation ELISA kit. To exclude false positive cases, ELISA positive samples were re-tested by the confirmatory third generation RIBA test. The assessment of risk factors was done from the information analysis of both the questionnaires and test results by Chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression analysis, using SPSS 11.5 statistic software. The frequency of anti-HCV antibody was found in 38 [49.4%] patients. Chi-square test showed a statistically significant relationship between the severe form of the disease [in terms of blood products needed] [P<0.001], treatment duration of more than 121 months [P<0.001] and family history to HCV [P<0.05] antibody positivity. Successful execution of the screening of the blood and blood products as well as more scrutiny in preparing concentrated factors have been led to a remarkable decrease in the new infections among the recipients of these products in Yazd province

[Frequency of 35delG mutation in GJB2 gene in non-syndromic prelingual hearing loss in 3 provinces of Iran]

Hearing loss is the most common inherited sensory disorder. At least 50% of hearing loss is inherited and about half of the genetic hearing loss is autosomal recessive non-syndromic. Mutations in GJB2 gene is the most frequent cause of autosomal recessive non-syndromic hearing loss. A single 35delG mutation is the most common allelic variant of GJB2 in most parts of the world. The aim of this study was to determine the rate of 35delG mutation in non-syndromic prelingual hearing loss in 3 provinces of Iran. In this descriptive experimental study, 240 cases with autosomal recessive non-syndromic hearing loss in 3 provinces of Iran, including Azarbaijan Sharghi [97 cases], Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari [98 cases] and Gilan [45 cases] were screened for 35delG mutation in the GJB2 gene. Blood samples [5 ml] were taken for genomic DNA extraction. The mutation was screened using Nested-PCR method and the positive results were confirmed by subsequent direct sequencing. Results of this study showed that from 240 studied patients [480 chromosomes], 35delG mutation was found in 58 chromosomes [24 patients were homozygote and 10 patients were heterozygote]. The frequency of 35delG mutation was 12.08%, including 18.04% in Azarbaijan Sharghi, 3.06% in Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari and 18.88% in Gilan province. Prevalence of 35delG mutation in Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari population was lower than other provinces studied. These results indicate that the other genes or mutations could result in autosomal recessive non-syndromic hearing loss in Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari population. However, as we found a low rate of 35delG in the populations studied, the cause of deafness remains to be detected in other loci or genes