[Taste threshold of four main tastes between healthy and diabetic individuals]

Diabetes mellitus is a famous metabolic disease with many serious complications. Some studies have documented taste changes in patients with diabetes mellitus and researchers evaluated the change in sweet taste perception in these patients but because of diabetes neuropathy, there is possibility to change in the perception of all four primary tastes. The purpose of this study was to determine the threshold for primary senses of tastes in diabetic patients in comparison with non-diabetics. This single-blind case-control study was implemented on ninety-six diabetic patients who attended Kerman Shahid Bahonar hospital and 99 healthy volunteers for detection of taste sensitivity for four primary tastes. Taste thresholds were detected by whole mouth taste method and use of five concentrations for each taste. The data were analyzed by Mann-whitney and spearman's tests. Statistical analyses indicate taste threshold measured for each taste yielded normal range for all tastes in diabetic group [0.032 molar for sucrose, 0.032 for sodium chloride, 0.001 molar for citric acid and 0.00001 molar for quinine hydrochloride] but there was a significant difference in perception of sweet taste between two groups [p=0.002]. Also there was a significant relationship between perception of bitter taste and gender and age in diabetic group [p=0.019, p=0.047]. Decreased sweet taste sensitivity may result in an increased preference for glucose in diabetic patients and may contribute to increased sugar use between them and leading to poor prognosis of the disease

[Association between type of delivery and maternal blue]

In order to assess whether maternal blue is attributed to the rout of childbirth including vaginal delivery or cesarean section, this study was conducted at Hedayat Hospital in 2000. Among women who attended to the clinic of prenatal care in Hedayat Hospital those who accepted to participate were requested to fill a Beck depression inventory to rule out any underlying depressive disorder. Finally, for 200 parturients a structured questionnaire was filled out, once before and again one week after delivery. Initial data including age, education level, planned or unplanned pregnancy, familial satisfaction were inquired. Results showed that 55% of the subjects had symptoms of maternal blue during post partum period. Maternal blue is more prevalent among women who had cesarean section compared to vaginal delivery candidates [p<0.08, RR=1.6]; however, the symptoms of maternal blue was less serious compared to mothers with vaginal delivery. Maternal blue was revealed to be prevalent among parturient, thus further studies are warranted to address the problem and preventive interventions