Journal of Disease and Diagnosis
Volume:13 Issue: 1, Jan 2024

 Epidural hematoma (EDH) and subdural hematoma (SDH) are common complications after traumatic brain injury. Intracranial hematomas can be without complications or associated with life-threatening conditions, including midline shift, cerebral edema, intracerebral ischemia, and increased intracranial pressure. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of EDH and SDH in patients with head trauma attending the emergency department.

 This descriptive cross-sectional study included 146 patients with head trauma referred to the Emergency Department of Shahid Mohammadi Hospital, Bandar Abbas, in 2021. Patients’ data, including age, gender, Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) on admission, mechanism of trauma, type of hematoma, length of intensive care unit (ICU) stay, outcome (recovery/death), and neurosurgery requirements were extracted from their medical files.

 The mean age of the participants was 20.97±15.05 years, of whom 114 (78.1%) were male. EDH and SDH were observed in 7.5% and 11% of patients, respectively. The most common mechanism of trauma was traffic accidents (39%), followed by falls (28.1%) and assaults (13%). Moreover, 11% of the patients needed neurosurgical intervention. Most patients recovered (95.9%), and 4.1% died. The mean GCS on admission was 13.47±2.34. Furthermore, SDH was significantly higher in the patients who died (P=0.001) and those aged≥18 years (P=0.028).

 The results of the current study showed a higher prevalence of SDH compared to that of EDH. Both hematoma types appeared to correlate with the mechanism of trauma, ICU admission, GCS on admission, and neurosurgery requirement, while SDH was associated with age and death.

 Chlorpyrifos (CPF) is an insecticide and has a wide range of applications in the world. The purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of 4-week aerobic exercise and eugenol supplementation on the brain-derived neurotrophic factor/phosphoinositide 3-kinase (BDNF/PI3K) pathway on the skeletal muscle of male rats poisoned with CPF.

 Overall, 12-week-old female rats were used in this experimental research. The rats were randomly divided into 7 groups (8 rats in each group), including healthy control, toxic control, poison solvent, corn oil solvent, poisoned+eugenol, poisoned+aerobic exercise, and poisoned+aerobic exercise+eugenol. Moderate training in the range of 50%-60% VO2max, including 5 training sessions per week (treadmill). Poisoning was performed with CPF poison with a dose of 3 mg/kg. The dose of eugenol was determined to be 250 mg/kg. Finally, a one-way analysis of variance and Tukey’s post hoc test were employed to check the difference between groups.

 The expression of PI3K and BDNF in the poisoned control group was lower than that in the healthy control group (P=0.049 and P=0.001, respectively). In addition, the expression of PI3K and BDNF was higher in the poisoned+eugenol+exercise group compared to the poisoned control group (P=0.009 and P=0.03, respectively). The corn solvent group also had a higher PI3K and BDNF expression in comparison to the poisoned control group (P=0.025 and P=0.01, respectively). Eventually, there was no significant difference among other groups.

 Exercise and eugenol increased PI3K and BDNF expression. It is thought that exercise and consumption of eugenol in poisoned rats reduces damage and improves muscle function and the BDNF/PI3K signaling pathway.

 Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is associated with an increased risk of cardiac failure among asymptomatic patients with beta-thalassemia. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of PH and associated risk factors in patients with beta-thalassemia major (TM) and beta-thalassemia intermedia (TI) in Hormozgan province, Iran.

 Eighty-nine patients, including 65 TM and 24 TI, were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. The data regarding the gender, age, history of splenectomy, and type of chelating therapy were collected, and then hematocrit, hemoglobin (Hb), and serum ferritin levels were determined. Doppler echocardiography was performed for patients, and tricuspid regurgitation jet velocity (TRV)≥2.5 m/s was used to screen PH. Eventually, the data were analyzed using SPSS.

 The prevalence of TRV≥2.5 m/s was 21.3% in all patients, indicating that it was not significantly different between patients with TM (21.8%) and TI (20.8%). There was a significant association between the prevalence of PH and the male gender. Based on the results, TRV≥2.5 m/s was observed in both children and adults. No significant association was detected between Hb, serum ferritin levels, and splenectomy with PH prevalence.

 The findings revealed that PH is common in both children and adult patients with TM and TI in our population and should be considered to choose the optimal treatment of patients with TM and TI.

 Vitamin C is a micronutrient with anti-inflammatory and free radical scavenging properties that can strengthen the body’s immune system. In this study, it was attempted to assess the clinical efficiency of oral vitamin C in treating COVID-19.

 This double-blind randomized clinical trial was conducted on 401 patients hospitalized in Taleghani hospital, Abadan, over 18 years of age and with confirmed COVID-19 infection, from November 2020 to May 2021. The patients were randomly assigned to intervention groups (201 people, two tablets per day, each containing 500 mg of vitamin C) and the control group (200 people, placebo, containing starch received for five days). Improvements in clinical symptoms, death from baseline to the 28-day follow-up after the intervention, hospital length of stay, and laboratory values of C-reactive protein (CRP) were some of the considered outcome variables.

 No significant difference was observed between the two groups in terms of the daily improvement of clinical symptoms and the odds of healing from each symptom increased by about 48-50%. The difference in the length of hospital stay between the two groups was close to significant (P=0.051). There was no significant difference in mortality between the two groups (P=0.8). There was no difference between the two groups in the laboratory parameters, except for alkaline phosphatase (P=0.03).

 Vitamin C had no significant effect on improving patients’ clinical symptoms such as fatigue, fever, cough, and shortness of breath.

 Cancer metastasis is the leading cause of death among cancer patients, but there are numerous treatment options available, including drugs such as albendazole (ABZ) and complementary therapies such as cannabis-based medicines, making them important targets for therapeutic interventions. The present study aimed to assess the impact of ABZ on the protein expression of Tau and Stathmin, as well as cell migration, in patients with metastatic breast cancer (BC), where these proteins play critical roles.

 MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines were split into a treatment group that received varying concentrations of a standardized extract of ABZ for 48 hours and a control group that received no treatment in this study. The relative gene expression was measured using a quantitative reverse transcription-real-time polymerase chain reaction assay and the ΔΔct method. A migration assay was also performed to assess cancer metastasis.

 Tau and Stathmin gene expression and cell migration were significantly decreased compared to the control group.

 The results of the study demonstrated that ABZ reduced both Tau and Stathmin gene expression, as well as cancer metastasis. Nonetheless, evidence suggests that we can use ABZ as an anti-tumor drug for BC treatment.

 Osteoporosis, as the most common bone-related disease, causes massive irrecoverable consequences for the health level and life quality of people, especially at advanced ages. The present research aimed to evaluate the prevalence and risk factors of osteoporosis and the correlation between drug consumption and osteoporosis. The present study is a cross-sectional study and is the first stage in the longitudinal Fasa branch of the PERSIAN cohort study.

 The subjects of the present cross-sectional-descriptive study consisted of all cohort populations of Fasa University of Medical Sciences (n=10123) who were chosen through census sampling. The data were collected through a demographic data form and medication checklist, and SPSS-22 was used to analyze the data.

 Among a total population of 10133, 994 had osteoporosis, of which 880 were women and 114 were men, which was statistically significant (P<0.05). The overall prevalence rate of osteoporosis was estimated to be 9.8%, and the mean age of people with osteoporosis was 56 years. The results demonstrated significant positive correlations among osteoporosis and age, gender, marital status, education, smoking, physical activity, alcohol use, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, fatty liver, and glucocorticoid steroid drugs (P<0.05).

 Identifying factors related to osteoporosis can be effective in adopting health promotion programs at all healthcare and prevention levels. Thus, the use of some drugs, such as corticosteroids, as an alarm and risk factor should be taken into consideration by specialists when adopting healthcare plans.

Menopause is the end of the menstrual cycle in a woman’s life. At menopause, a series of physiological changes occur in women’s bodies and hormonal changes are the main cause of these changes. Several metabolic changes occur in the body at that particular period, and the constellation of these changes is referred to as metabolic syndrome. Postmenopausal women have higher chances of developing these metabolic syndromes such as cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), hypertension, diabetes, and changes in the lipid profile mostly due to changes in the level of estrogen. Thus, having an overview of common metabolic disorders, their detection, and their management can improve the overall quality of life and decrease the mortality rate in the postmenopausal group. This review has discussed the commonly occurring metabolic disorders at menopause and how these disorders can be managed and treated.

 In the emergency department, many cases present with a bullet injury. Bullet injury accidents are highly sensitive cases due to the medico-legal aspect and political issues. Gunshot injuries have increased in the past few years because of the easy availability of guns and firearms. Young male adults are more involved in criminal activity and suicides. Gunshot injuries are high-energy injuries that lead to extensive soft tissue damage and bone fractures.

 This retrospective descriptive study was performed on eight patients with gunshot injuries between January 2021 and December 31, 2021. After initial first aid, patients underwent an X-ray and computed tomography for further assessment of soft tissue damage, surgical planning, and forensics. SPSS software was used to analyze the collected data and generate descriptive statistics, and the data were plotted in tabular format.

 In this article, we discussed the imaging investigation modalities primarily used for firearm injury elaborated on the tissue damage due to firearms and secondary complications. Of eight patients, 87% had single bullet injuries, while 13% had shotgun injuries. In addition, 62% had head and neck injuries, whereas 38% had chest and abdomen injuries.

 There are many cases presented in the emergency department with firearm injuries. Radiological investigations are always essential for management or surgical planning to rule out the visceral damage and medico-legal aspects. For an accurate diagnosis, a radiologist must know about the essentials of firearm injuries.