Lack of correlation between plasma neuropeptide Y and typical and atypical febrile seizures

It is known that neuropeptide Y which is widely distributed throughout the central nervous system is able to prevent seizures in animals. There are limited studies about the role of neuropeptide Y in febrile seizures. This study was conducted to evaluate the association between plasma neuropeptide Y level and febrile seizures in children. Seventy six patients with typical and atypical febrile seizures [each group 38 patients] and 38 sex and age matched control subjects were enrolled. The mean plasma levels of neuropeptide Y in typical and atypical febrile seizures were 90.60 +/- 28.01 and 97.34 +/- 41.27 pmol/l respectively. This value in control group was 88.94 +/- 32.66 pmol/l. There was no significant differences between groups regarding plasma neuropeptide Y level [P=0.532]. Also, there was no significant difference in comparison with case groups [P=0.40]. This study revealed that there is no association between plasma neuropeptide Y and febrile seizures

comparison of histopathological findings and polymerase chain reaction in lesions with primary clinical diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis with negative smear

Cutaneous leishmaniasis [CL] is a common skin disease in Middle East region which involves all ranges of ages and can affects both sexes. With regard to this fact that on time diagnosis and treatment would lead to reduction in its permanent complications and because it resembles other skin diseases, various techniques have been introduced to diagnose its agent in affected tissue. The reliability of pathological examination and PCR technique for diagnosis of CL was investigated in present study. In total 30 patients with clinically CL lesions having negative direct smear, were investigated. Tissue biopsies were taken from the patients, histopatholgic sections were prepared and the sections were examined to confirm or rule out the disease. DNA was extracted from biopsy samples by using standard DNA extraction kit and PCR assay was performed according to standard protocol using Leishmania tropica species-specific primers. Among 30 biopsies from patients with clinical diagnosis of CL under investigation, five were positive on PCR [16.7%] and 4 were positive on histopathologic examination [13.3%], There was not any meaningful statistical difference between PCR assay and pathological examination [P= 0.87] for diagnosis of CL cases with a negative smear. The present study indicated that PCR is a reliable technique for detection of some cases of suspected patients to CL with negative direct smear, but did not find any priority of PCR compared to histopathology in respect to similarity and economics