Introducing and Studying the Materials and Methods of Anesthesia and Analgesia in Ancient Iran.

In ancient Iran, humans have been looking for ways to anesthetize, control, and reduce pain to perform surgeries to treat diseases, which is evident in ancient scientists' medical and nonmedical works. Although modern anesthesia expanded with the introduction of ether into this process, this great success was achieved after years of suffering and with the efforts of scientists throughout history who have played an essential role in advancing this knowledge. In ancient Iran, may (wine) was one of the materials of anesthesia, as in the Avesta, and Minooye Kherad, the properties of wine as an anesthetic are mentioned. Marijuana and Haoma were also used as other substances. The creation of a "hypnotic sponge" in ancient times made general anesthesia and many surgical procedures possible in subsequent centuries. In the history of medicine in Iran, various terms such as Mokhadir (anesthetic), Monavim (sedative), Mosabbit (hypnotic), and Mosakkin (pain relief) have been used to control pain. The purpose of this research was to introduce and study the materials and methods of anesthesia and analgesia in ancient Iran. The results show that anesthesia owes its early progress in part to the works of early Iranian practitioners.

Analysis of mitochondrial ND1 gene in human colorectal cancer.

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer as a mortal disease affected both sexes of all ethnic and racial human groups. Former studies have indicated some mutations in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in different human cancers. Complex I NADH has the most subunits encoded by mtDNA. For a better understanding of the mtDNA abnormality in colorectal cancer some genes of this complex is screened for existence of mutations. METHODS: One of the main regions of the mtDNA encoding protein was screened by PCR-RFLP followed by DNA sequencing. The obtained sequences were aligned with the revised Cambridge Reference Sequence (rCRS). Each alteration recorded as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), deletions or insertions. RESULTS: Eight mutations were found in 15 samples out of 30 studied populations and no mutation detected in other 15 samples. Among these 15 mutated samples, 7 different mutations were found in 7 patients, that means one mutation per patient and the 8th mutation (T4216C) was common in the rest of 8 samples; in other words T4216C mutation in 27% of tested samples was identified (8 patients out of 30 patients). The existence of T4216C mutation was found to be significantly different (p ≤ 0.05) between tumoral patient's tissue and adjacent normal tissue. CONCLUSIONS: Results showed that a high frequency of somatic alterations of mtDNA occurs during the carcinogenesis and/or the progression of colorectal cancer. Based on the mtDNA mutation pattern observed in this study and other previously studies it is believed that looking for somatic mutations in mtDNA would be one of the diagnostic values in early detection of cancer.