[Transplantation of bone marrow stem cell-derived neuroprogenitor into demyelinated rat corpus callosum]

Background and Aim: bone marrow stem cells [BMSCs] are recognized as appropriate source for cell therapy in neurodegenerative disorders. In this exprimental study, neuroprogenitor cells [NPC]-derived from BMSCs were transplanted into an animal demyelination model

Material and Methods: BMSCs were isolated from femur bones of the rats and cultured in DMEM medium containing FBS. BMSCs were differentiated into NPC by inducers such as; RA, bFGF and EGF. Specific neuroprogenitor markers, e.g.:Nestin and NF68 were detected by using immunocytochemistry technique. Demyelination model was induced via injection of gliotoxin lysolecithin [LPC] into the corpus callosum. After one week, Dil labled NPCs were transplanted into the rat brains. The extention of demyelination and cell homing were measured 2 weeks later by histological and immunohistochemical staining

Result: BMSCs were appeared with neurologic morphology and differentiation of the cells into NPC after exposure to neural inducers was confirmed by immunocytochemistry staining. Histological and immunohistochemical evaluation showed significant decrease in demyelination in the experimental group

Conclotion: the results of this study demonstrated that transplantation of NPC-derived BMSCs led to significant remyelination in demylinted corpous callosum

[Productivity of research on diabetes between 1992 and 2002 scanty of research in developing countries]

Diabetes is a worldwide problem nowadays. The present study was designed to assess the productivity of research on diabetes and to evaluate the gap between the burden of diabetes and research on diabetes, in both developed and developing countries. An extensive search in PubMed database for diabetes publications, using diabetes as the Mesh term, was carried out to ascertain the proportion of diabetes publications from countries of different regional and economic classifications in 1992, 1997 and 2002. All information related to the distribution of the global burden of diabetes was extracted from the literature. Worldwide, the overall growth rate of publications on diabetes was 66.3% over the ten past years. Developed market economies, [except for US], contributed 85.4% of publications in 1992, 83.0% in 1997 and 76.7% in 2002. Contributions of developing countries increased from 12.3% in 1992 to 13.8% in 1997 and 19.8% in 2002. Contributions from developing eastern European countries rose from 2.2% in 1992 to 3.1% and 3.4% in 1997 and 2002, respectively. In 2002, the developed and developing countries produced about 128 and 7.5 publications per one million of adult diabetic patients, respectively. Despite the increase in proportion of international diabetes publications of developing countries, there is still a wide gap between developed and developing countries regarding diabetes research. Considering the rising trend in diabetes burden, particularly in developing countries, it seems vital to pay more attention on diabetes research in these countries

Comparing car accidents in Tehran during Ramadan with other months

Car accidents are among the first 10-leading causes of death worldwide that impose large expenses on societies. Variety of factors including alteration in traffic pattern or observation of traffic rules in Ramadan may influence the frequency of car accidents. The present study was conducted to compare car accidents in Ramadan with other months during a 4-year period [1997-2000].Frequency of car accidents was extracted from related files of Police Office in Tehran and stratified according to the months. Then frequency of car accidents was estimated in Ramadan and compare with other months.Totally 5283, 5671, 07047, and 9412 car accidents occurred in Ramadan month of 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000, respectively. The related percentage of car accidents in Ramadan was 8.5, 8.6, 9.2, and 10.4%, respectively. The mean [ +/- SD] of car accidents was 6853 +/- 1866.Car accidents in Ramadan did not significantly differ from other months