Insulin-like growth factor-1 and zinc status of goitrous primary-school children in Arak, Islamic Republic of Iran

Despite a successful national salt iodinization programme, endemic goitre still persists in Iranian children. In a cross-sectional study in Arak the prevalence of goitre was 5.2% in a sample of 6520 primaryschool children. Subsamples of 193 children with goitre and 151 healthy children were assessed for urinary iodine excretion, thyroid hormone profile, insulin-like growth factor-1 [IGF-1] and serum zinc. The mean urinary iodine levels of goitrous children and healthy children were 17.4 micro g/dL and 15.3 micro g/dL respectively, suggesting that iodine consumption was adequate. No significant differences were found between goitrous and healthy schoolchildren in mean levels of urinary iodine, serum IGF-1 or serum zinc. Other factors need be evaluated to explain the residual prevalence of goiter

[ relation of HbA1C Levels and Major depression in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, referring to endocrine clinic of Arak]

Depression is one of the most common affective disorders, and in addition to different neurotransmitters and life events, various internal stressors such as blood glucose, cholesterol, triglyceride and other factors are responsible for it. Considering hyperglycemia as a possible risk factor of this disorder and inconsistency in results of previous studies, we decided to assess the relationship between different levels of HbA1C and Major depression. This is a cross-sectional analythical study that is carried out on 134 samples. They were chosen randomly among patients with type2 diabetes referring to Vali-e-Asr hospital. The patients were divided into 2 groups on the basis of their HbA1C test results; patients with HbA1C less than 7% [group A], consisting 55 persons and patients with HbA1C more than 7% and equal to it [group B], including 79 persons. Participants were assessed by Hamilton scale of depression. The relation between HbA1C levels and major depression in these 2 groups was assessed using Chi2 and Mann Whitney U tests. We found that 40% of depressed patients had HbA1C level lower than 7% and 60% of them had HbA1C level higher than 7%. No significant correlation was found between HbA1C and major depression. But the duration of disease, using Insulin and being hypertensive simultaneously was correlated to major depression in this study. This study indicates that uncontrolled diabetes and high level of blood glucose is cosidered of less importance as an undelying mechanism of depression in patients with type 2 diabetes