Study of demographic, clinical, laboratory and electromyographic symptoms in Myasthenia Gravis patients referred to the neurology clinic of Rasoul Akram hospital in 2015.

Introduction. Myasthenia Gravis is an autoimmune disorder, which is clinically a neuromuscular illness that shows itself as muscular weakness and fatigue. The diagnosis of Myasthenia Gravis depends on clinical evaluation, electrophysiological assessment, and autoantibody detection in serum. Known antibodies could be found in about 90% of the patients, which had a causative relation with disease symptoms. Therefore, the purpose of this paper was a survey on demographic features, clinical, laboratorial, and electromyographic signs of patients with Myasthenia Gravis referred to the neurology clinic of Rasoul Akram hospital. Materials and methods. This study was a descriptive cross-sectional one that used an easy sampling method: 54 patients with Myasthenia Gravis who were referred to the neurology clinic of Rasoul Akram were elected in 2015. The patients' information was recorded in the checklists based on the variables and the data were analyzed by using SPSS software version 21. The results. The demographic and the clinical symptoms data of 54 known Myasthenia Gravis patients, whose diagnosis was made according to the clinical symptoms, electrophysiological findings and autoantibody detection, were analyzed in this paper. There were 31 females (57.4%) and 23 males (42.6%) with an average age of 47.3 years. The average age of diagnosis of Myasthenia Gravis in these patients was 42.8 years. Among the patients, 19 (35.2%) had a hospitalization history because of their disease. Due to laboratory findings, 10 patients (18.5%) had Musk antibody, 34 patients (62.9%) had acetylcholine receptor antibodies and 10 patients (18.5%) had none of these two antibodies. Moreover, in electromyographic findings, 38 patients (70.37%) had positive findings and 16 patients (29.6%) had normal findings. Discussion and Conclusion. Due to the chronic nature of this disease, and its rising trend, educating the people for the early detection of the disease, was necessary as soon as possible so as they would be treated and an acceptable life would be provided for them.

Retrobulbar haemodynamics and carotid wall thickness in patients with non-arteritic anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy.

AIM: To compare retrobulbar haemodynamics and ipsilateral carotid wall thickness of patients with unilateral non-arteritic anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy (NAION) with their contralateral side. METHODS: Seventeen patients with unilateral NAION participated in this study. By means of Colour Doppler imaging, the blood-flow velocities of the ophthalmic artery were measured. Intima-media thickness (IMT) of common carotid and internal carotid arteries were measured using B-mode ultrasonography. Measurements of the affected side were compared with the non-involved side. RESULTS: Flow velocities in the ophthalmic arteries on the side of the eyes with NAION were significantly decreased compared with those on the side of the unaffected eyes (p<0.001). In addition, in all patients, both common and internal carotid artery IMT were significantly greater on the side of the NAION compared with the contralateral side (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: NAION may be associated with decreased retrobulbar flow velocities and increased carotid wall thickness.

Autoradiographic method to screen for soil microorganisms which accumulate zinc.

An autoradiographic method was developed to screen for and isolate soil microorganisms which accumulate zinc (Zn). Diluted soil samples (Rubicon fine sand, Entic Haplorthods [pH 5.9]) were plated on soil extract-glucose agar containing radioactive 65Zn. After 7 days of incubation, individual colonies which accumulated sufficient 65Zn could be detected by autoradiography. These colonies were isolated and confirmed as Zn accumulators in pure culture by using the autoradiographic plate technique. Most Zn accumulators were filamentous fungi, identified as Penicillium janthinellum, Aspergillus fumigatus, and Paecilomyces sp. Isolates of Penicillium janthinellum were the most common Zn accumulators. The most abundant Zn-accumulating bacteria were Bacillus spp. The validity of the autoradiographic plate technique to differentiate soil microbes which accumulate Zn was examined independently by energy dispersive X-ray analysis in a scanning electron microscope. This method confirmed that fungal isolates which gave positive autoradiographic responses in the plate assay bioaccumulated more Zn in their biomass than fungal isolates from the same soil sample which gave negative autoradiographic responses. Thus, this technique can be applied to specifically screen for and isolate microbes from the environment which bioaccumulate Zn.