A Novel Pharmacological Protective Role for Safranal in an Animal Model of Huntington's Disease.

Huntington's disease (HD) is a progressive, neurodegenerative and inherited disease and recent years have witnessed the understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms related to HD. Safranal, an organic compound isolated from saffron, has been reported to have anti-apoptotic, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity and has studied in chronic and neurodegenerative disease. Therefore, this study was aimed to investigate the effect of safranal on 3-NP induced locomotor activity and biochemical alterations in rats. To this aim, 40 male Wistar rats weighting 250-300 g were divided into 5 groups (n = 8) including sham, 3-NP group (10 mg/kg) as control and treatment groups (3-NP + safranal 0.75, 1.5 and 3 mg/kg) in two weeks duration of treatment. Behavioral/movement assessments in addition to oxidant/antioxidant markers in rat cortex and striatum were evaluated in control and treatment groups. Here, we found that safranal significantly alleviated 3-NP-induced changes of body weight, rotarod activity, number of vacuous chewing movements (VCMs), and locomotor activity. In addition, brain tissue assessments in cortex and striatum revealed that safranal could prevent the elevation of nitrite and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels as well as decrease of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase activity and glutathione (GSH) induced by 3-NP. In conclusion our results showed that safranal prevented the motor dysfunction induced by 3-NP in animal model of Huntington's disease. This effect might be due to its modulating effect on oxidants-antioxidant balance.

A Rare Case Report of Undescended Testis: Both on One Side.

Undescended Testis is a medical term that uses for any testis which is not in its normal place (bottom of the scrotum). UDT can be classified as unilateral and bilateral. Unilateral UDT is more common than bilateral UDT. There is a very rare condition in which both testicles are on the same side and have not descended.We report in this article a 3 years old boy by a chief complaint of bilateral testicular mass absence. Diagnostic evaluation has been done but testes was abcent in scrota.  Exploring laparoscopy has been done and rare cases of UDT diagnosed, in which both testicles was on left side of the pelvis by two separate spermatic cord. The shorter spermatic cord fixed in the left scrotum and the longer one fixed on the right side. The testis was normal in follow up examinations.

Validity of glucose measurements in the blood by a glucometer reagent strip in critically ill infants.

INTRODUCTION: Hypoglycemia in critically ill infants is a frequent metabolic disorder which is often due to defective glucose homeostasis. If not recognized annotated early, it can result in severe neurological damage with high mortality and morbidity. Today, glucometer is recommended for fast measuring blood glucose. The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of glucometer for early diagnosis of hypoglycemia in the acutely ill infant. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study evaluates 130 critically ill infants less than 1year of age who were admitted to Besat hospital - Sanandaj - IRAN. Blood sugar was measured by standard serum method (glucose oxidase) and glucometer reagent strip. RESULTS: The overall means of blood sugar were 115.6 ±â€¯1.75 with serum method and 119.1 ±â€¯1.56 with glucometer method. The rates of sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value with glucometer method and with serum glucose method were 72%, 53%, 62%, and 77% respectively. The correlation between the two methods was significant (p < 0.001). Kappa statistics for the two methods was 42%. CONCLUSIONS: The results showed that in general, glucometer may be appropriate for rapid screening in emergency situations and when frequent blood glucose monitoring is needed but it cannot be regarded as a very suitable and reliable tool for diagnosis of hypoglycemia in critically ill infants.