Advanced Biomedical Research
Volume:12 Issue: 4, Apr 2022

The aim of this study was to compare the effect of adding oral clonidine to standard treatments on pain intensity in patients with acute renal colic.

This is a randomized clinical trial that was performed in 2020 in Isfahan. The study population consisted of 200 patients with renal colic. Pain of the patients was assessed using Visual Analog Scale. Patients were then randomized into 4 groups of 50 patients. Group A received 0.1 mg/kg morphine and clonidine tablets (0.2 mg). Group B received morphine and placebo. Group C received 30 mg ketorolac and clonidine tablets. Group D received 30 mg ketorolac and placebo tablets. Pain of patients was assessed. 0.05 mg/kg morphine was administered and repeated every 40 min if the pain was not reduced.

Our data showed that there was a significant difference between pains of patient by the time of admission in groups (P = 0.04). However, no significant differences were observed between pains of patients in different measuring times (P > 0.05). Using general linear model, we showed that the decreases in pain scores of each group were significant (P < 0.05) but there were no significant differences in pains of patients in different measuring times (P > 0.05). Our data showed that Group A and Group C had lowest frequencies of morphine administrations while Groups B and D had the highest frequencies (P < 0.001).

We showed that administration of clonidine in patients with renal colic resulted in better pain control and lower morphine injections.

Oral candidiasis (OC) has been noticed as a common mucous membrane infection in immunocompromised patients such as that diabetes. This study, focused on the genotyping of Candida albicans and enzymatic activities of Candida species recovered from oral mucosa among diabetes patients and healthy individuals.

Specimens were obtained from oral mucosa of One‑hundred and sixty patients with type 2 diabetic and 108 healthy individuals. All isolates were definitely identified by ribosomal DNA (rDNA) gene sequencinghHydrophobicity, hemolytic activities of Candida species and genotypes of C. albicans were determined through polymerase chain reaction (CA‑INT).

, Eighty eight (55%) samples out of 160, were positive for Candida species in diabetic patients. Moreover, 79.5% (70/88) and 20.5% (18/88) isolates belonged to the C. albicans and non‑albicans Candida species respectively. Three genotypes of C. albicans have recovered in diabetic patients: genotype A (71.42%), B (21.42%), and C (7.14%). In healthy individuals, 42.6% (46/102) Candida species recovered from oral cavity, with the highest prevalence of genotype A (76.6% of C. albicans). Additionally, hydrophobicity and hemolytic activities from Candida species were significantly greater in diabetes patients than healthy nondiabetic subjects.

Collectively, C. albicans was the most causative agent isolated from diabetes patients and non‑diabetes healthy individuals. Genotype A, as the most remarkable genotype, should be mentioned in both groups. Higher potential hydrophobicity and hemolytic activities of Candida species in diabetic patients compared to healthy cases suggest these features triggering pathogenicity of OC in diabetes patients.

One of the basic practices in the field of waste management is the collection and treatment of leachate. Leachate from municipal waste due to high chemical oxygen demand (COD) and dark color is a potential pollutant of the environment, which causes a lot of problems in the absence of treatment and direct discharge to the environment. This study aimed to determine the efficiency of ultrasonic process in combination with coagulation and flocculation process using sodium ferrate in COD and color reduction.

In this experimental study, all experiments were performed in batch conditions and with changing process variables such as pH and sonication time, and the effect of three parameters, including ultrasonic reaction time (15, 30, and 45 min), pH (2, 4, 5/5, and 7), and coagulant dosage (from 1 to 150 g/l) on the COD reduction and color removal, was evaluated. Coagulant concentration and then the removal efficiency of COD and color were analyzed by ANOVA using SPSS 18.

The COD reduction and color removal were 87.05% and 88.6% in optimal condition (using 120 g/L of sodium ferrate at pH 5.5), with coagulation/flocculation, after ultrasound (15 min). Ultrasound (15 min) + sodium ferrate (without coagulation/flocculation) achieved 46.25% of COD reduction and 90.35% of color elimination, whereas the ultrasonic process alone allowed removing the COD and color in the leachate by less than 50%.

The results indicate that C–F followed by ultrasonic can be used to efficiently reduce the organic matter and color from municipal waste leachate, and it would be an ideal option for leachate treatment.

Ataxia–telangiectasia (AT) is a type of primary immunodeficiency characterized by an autosomal recessive mode of inheritance and usually presents with progressive cerebellar ataxia in early life. This complex disease is associated with humoral and cellular immune dysfunction and other features including characteristic oculocutaneous telangiectasia and increased predisposition to cancers, particularly lymphoma and leukemia. An 11‑year‑old Iranian girl presented with primary immunodeficiency and was diagnosed as having AT according to her clinical manifestations and molecular findings. She had a history of two types of non‑Hodgkin’s lymphoma and showed spontaneous regression of her diffuse large B‑cell lymphoma without any specific treatment. Gene mutations and dysfunction in patients with AT result in different manifestations including abnormal development of the thymus, immunodeficiency, increased susceptibility to malignancies, and increased radiosensitivity. No standard treatment is available for these patients. The use of immunotherapeutic strategies in patients with primary immune deficiency disease‑associated tumors is potentially important.

Also known as intravascular papillary endothelial hyperplasia, Masson’s tumor is a relatively rare soft‑tissue vascular tumor that usually arises in the hand. Felon is an abscess formation in the distal phalanx that usually occurs following a penetrating microtrauma. We present a 30‑year‑old patient who was referred to our clinic with a palpable mass in the distal phalanx of the index finger after a needle stick injury. At first, the lesion was treated as a felon but finally and after treatment failure, a complete reevaluation revealed the lesion to be a Masson’s tumor of the distal phalanx

Carvacrol is a natural phenolic monoterpene with anti‑inflammatory and antioxidant bioactivities. Neuroinflammatory and oxidative stress responses play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease. The present study examined the effect of carvacrol on brain tumor necrosis factor‑alpha (TNF‑α) level and oxidative stress as well as spatial learning and memory performances in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‑exposed rats.

The rats were treated with either carvacrol (25 and 50 mg/kg) or Tween 80 for 2 weeks. Thereafter, LPS (1 mg/kg) or saline was intraperitoneally administered on days 15–19, 2 h before Morris water maze task, and treatments with carvacrol or Tween 80 were performed 30 min prior to behavioral testing. The level of TNF‑α, lipid peroxidation, and total thiol concentration were measured in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex at the end of the experiment.

It was found that LPS‑exposed rats exhibited spatial learning and memory dysfunction, which was accompanied by increased TNF‑α level and lipid peroxidation, and decreased total thiol concentration in the hippocampus and/or cortex. Moreover, treatment with carvacrol at a dose of 25 mg/kg attenuated learning and memory impairments, decreased TNF‑α and lipid peroxidation level in the hippocampus and cortex, and increased total thiol concentration in the cortex.

Carvacrol exerts neuroprotective effects against LPS‑induced spatial memory deficits through attenuating hippocampal TNF‑α level and oxidative stress in rats.

Severe varus deformity of the knee poses a technical challenge in balancing the flexion–extension gaps. The use of a varus–valgus constrained prosthesis is a solution to achieve coronal plane stability. The results of constrained condylar knee (CCK) implants in primary total knee arthroplasty are not well known. This study aims to compare the functional outcomes of posterior‑stabilized (PS) and CCK implants for primary arthroplasty of the varus knee.

Twenty patients with bilateral severe osteoarthritis and genu varum of more than 10° were enrolled in this study. One knee was randomly implanted with a fixed‑bearing PS implant, whereas the other was implanted with a CCK prosthesis. Pre‑ and postoperative Knee Society Score (KSS) and Oxford Knee Score (OKS) questionnaires were completed, and knee flexion was measured and compared.

The patients were followed for 32 months on average (24–36 months). On the KSS and OKS, both the groups improved significantly, but the difference between them was not statistically significant. Postoperative knee flexion was also not different between the two groups. Furthermore, 18 patients could not distinguish the difference between the two prostheses, whereas two patients preferred the PS one.

We demonstrated that a PS prosthesis can achieve comparable functional results to the CCK one in the short term.

Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) may considerably change the gait parameters, including the gait variability patterns. Uncontrolled manifold (UCM) analysis has been used to evaluate the relationship between motor control and gait variability as a useful index for assessing the multi‑segmental movements’ coordination during walking. To our knowledge, no research has evaluated the alterations in the gait kinematic parameters during normal and narrow path walking in individuals with KOA as compared to asymptomatic people.

In this cross‑sectional study, individuals diagnosed with mild to moderate medial KOA and asymptomatic people will walk at their comfortable preferred speed on a treadmill. A motion capture system will be used to record at least 50 successful gait cycles. The kinematic variability of joints during gait will be analyzed using UCM, with the center of mass (COM) displacement considered as the performance variable. The primary outcome measure will be the lower limb synergy index. Variability of the COM displacement and changes in angles and angular velocities of lower extremity joints will be assessed as the secondary outcomes.

The results of this protocol study provide information on the lower limb kinematic synergy during gait on normal and narrow paths for individuals with KOA and asymptomatic controls.

This information will help the researchers and clinicians understand KOA patients’ gait variability characteristics more deeply. Moreover, it may lead to an enhanced evidence‑based approach for clinical decision‑making concerning improving gait stability and decreasing the falling risk in these people.

The axillary reverse mapping (ARM) technique identifies and preserves arm nodes during sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) or axillary lymph node dissection (ALND). Here, we aimed to investigate the prevalence of lymphedema following ARM.

This is a clinical trial that was performed in 2019‑2020 in Isfahan on patients with breast cancer in the early stages. Demographic and initial information of all cases including age and body mass index (BMI) was collected. Patients were then underwent SLNB ± ALND associated with ARM and were followed up for lymphedema every 6 months to a year. The occurrence of lymphedema was assessed.

By evaluating data of 102 patients, we found that 10 patients (9.8%) had lymphedema and patients with lymphedema had significantly higher age (P = 0.004), higher BMI (P = 0.001), larger tumor size (P = 0.018), and longer surgery duration (P < 0.001). The frequency of menopausal women was higher in patients with lymphedema compared to other cases (P = 0.001).

The prevalence of lymphedema was high among patients undergoing ARM that was associated with factors including higher age, higher BMI, prolonged surgery duration, larger tumor size, and menopause. We believe that further comparative studies should be conducted on this issue.