Use of cannabis in the improvement in the unified Parkinson’s disease rating scale score of Parkinson’s disease: A meta analysis

BACKGROUND@#Cannabis, the source of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the primary psychotropic compound, and cannabidiol (CBD), a nonpsychoactive chemical with potential therapeutic properties, has been widely used as a psychoactive drug, medicinal drug, or industrial hemp. Cannabinoids exert their effect in the brain mainly by interacting with two types of receptors: CB1 and CB2 receptors, which are currently being studied for its possible therapeutic effects for the symptomatic treatment of Parkinson’s Disease.@*METHODOLOGY@#Databases searched were PubMed via National Center for biotechnology Information, CINAHL, Medline, Academic Search, Biomedical Reference collection, via EBSCOhost, and Cochrane Library. Queries were sent to local institutions for unpublished studies compatible with the criteria for study eligibility. Participants’ characteristics, study design, intervention features, outcome variables, reported effects, and study quality were retrieved. Random effects model was used because heterogeneity was significant.@*RESULTS@#The analysis of the four clinical trials included in the study showed that Cannabis and its derivatives’ effects on the mean motor UPDRS showed statistically significant decrease.@*CONCLUSION@#Cannabis and its derivatives may have an effect in the short-term symptomatic treatment of Parkinson’s Disease, although controlled studies with larger samples must be done before any conclusions may be made.

Presentation of histological types and common sites of oral cancers in lower Sindh

Objectives: to determine the frequency of histological types and common sites of oral cancer nin our population of lower Sindh

Study design: descriptive study

Setting: patients reporting at Liaquat University Hospital, Dental Out-patient Department, Jamshoro and Hyderabad Sindh Pakistan, over a period of one year from January 2007 to December 2007

Subjects and methods: biopsy specimens were obtained from patients who were suspected for oral cancer on clinical grounds. All specimens were processed routinely and stained by Hematoxylin and Eosin method

Main outcome measures: histopathological analysis was carried out to confirm the diagnosis and to evaluate the histological types

Results: mean age of oral cancer patients was 46.28 years. It was more common in males. Most common site was cheek mucosa. Histopathological analysis showed 47 [44.3%] patients having well-differentiated invasive squamous cell carcinoma while 24 [22.6%] patients had moderately differentiated squamous cell carcinoma. Twelve [11.4%] patients had micro invasive carcinoma and 11 [10.5%] specimen revealed mucoepidermoid carcinoma. Verrucous carcinoma was observed in 06 [5.7%] patients and 03 [2.8%] patients showed poorly differentiated anaplastic carcinoma. The frequency of carcinoma in situ, neuroendocrine tumor and carcinosarcoma was 1 [0.9%] each

Conclusion: this study gives a detailed account of the histological types of oral cancer along with their frequency and reports two rare malignant tumors occurring in oral cavity. Oral cancer occurred at a younger age with male preponderance. A higher frequency of mucoepidermoid carcinoma was observed