Journal of Advances in Medical and Biomedical Research
Volume:15 Issue: 60, 2007

Diabetes is a metabolic disorder that has been shown to adversely affect both the central and peripheral nervous system by increasing basal neuronal apoptosis. Since Bcl-2 protein family is considered to play a key role in the regulation of apoptosis, in the present study we have examined the effects of insulin and ascorbic acid on expression of Bcl-2 family members including Bax (pro-apoptotic) and Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL (anti-apoptotic) on hippocampus of STZ-induced diabetic rats. Five groups of six Wistar rats including one control group (C) and four diabetic groups (D, I, AA and I+AA) were used in this study. Diabetes was induced by injection of 60 mg/kg STZ (IP). After six weeks, rats in group I were treated with insulin (4-6 U/kg/day Sc), rats in group AA were treated with ascorbic acid (200 mg/kg/day IP) and rats in group I+AA were treated with equal dosage of both insulin and ascorbic acid for two weeks. Rats in group D were treated with normal saline and considered as diabetic control group. Two weeks after treatment, expression of Bcl-2, Bcl-xL and Bax genes were measured at both mRNA and protein levels. In diabetic control rats (group D), Bax increased whereas Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL decreased at both mRNA and protein levels compared to group C (P<0.01, P<0.001 respectively). Interestingly, treatment with insulin (group I), ascorbic acid (group AA) and insulin plus ascorbic acid (group I+AA) could reverse these changes both at mRNA and protein levels (p<0.001 for I and AA+I groups, p<0.05 (Bcl-2) and p<0.01 (Bcl-xL) for AA group). It is concluded that insulin and ascorbic acid alone or together can inhibit apoptosis in STZ-induced diabetic rat's hippocampus through increasing the ratio of Bcl-2/Bax and Bcl-xL/Bax expressions. We suggest that inhibition of apoptosis may prevent cognitive dysfunctions induced by hippocampal damage in diabetic patients as well. In addition, further experimental studies will need to be performed to confirm such effects.

Although patients with uncontrolled type 2 Diabetes mellitus(DM) despite conventional treatment with oral hypoglycemic agents eventually require insulin to achieve glycemic control, most of them reject use of insulin. To evaluate the efficacy of adding acarbose to full doses of conventional oral hypoglycemic agents on the metabolic control of the patients this study was designed. In this uncontrolled follow-up study, 20 patients with type 2 DM and persistent poor glycemic control despite maximal doses of sulfonylurea and metformin were recruited to receive additional treatment with acarbose. Insulin therapy was rejected by all the patients and 12 weeks of dietary reinforcement and supervision for their diet and exercise programs failed to improve their glycemic control. An active treatment period with acarbose 100 mg thrice daily was fallowed by a 12-week of placebo. Efficacy was assessed by changes in HbA1c, fasting and 2-h postprandial plasma glucose and fasting plasma lipid levels. Acarbose treatment was associated with significantly greater reductions in HbA1c (-1.3 +/- 0.2% vs. placebo 0.2 +/- 0.1%, P = 0.038), Fasting Plasma Glucose(FPG)(-25.3 +/-10 mg/dl vs. placebo 10 +/- 6mg/dl, p:0.019), 2-h postprandial glucose (-24 +/- 8 mg/dl vs. placebo 15+/- 7.5 mg/dl, P: 0.001) and body mass index(BMI) (-0.5 +/- 0.32 kg/m² vs. placebo 0.42 +/- 0.29 kg/ m², P: 0.01). There were no significant changes in plasma lipids levels. In patients with type 2 DM inadequately controlled on conventional oral agents, acarbose resulted in beneficial effects on glycemic control and mean body weight. Additional use of acarbose can be considered as a useful alternative in such patients if they are reluctant to accept insulin therapy.

HG is a severe form of expectancy nausea and vomiting, occurring in 0/5 to 2% of the expectancies. The etiology of HG is unknown, though hormonal stimuli, and psychologic predisposition are attributable to the condition. Recent studies suggest a relationship between HG and H.pylori infection. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between HG and H.pylori infection. Forty pregnant women with HG (Treatment group) and forty asymptomatic pregnant women (control group) were assigned into the research from April to August 2006. Specific serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) for H.pylori was assayed by ELISA. The data was analyzed using SPSS software, Chi-Square and T-test. Out of 40 pregnant women with HG 25 individuals (62/5%) were found to have serologically positive H.pylori, whereas in asymptomatic pregnant women 19 (47.5%) individuals were positive, which shows no significant difference between H.Pylori infection with HG (P=0.178). No significant difference was observed between positive H.pylori and the number of pregnancy, body mass index (BMI), and duration of hospital stay. Since HG has a multifactorial etiology and with regard to high prevalenve of H pylori in our country, research studies with higher sample sizes and utilization of more sensitive diagnostic methods for the detection of active H pylori is recommended.

Secretory extracellular Phospholipases are generally involved in hydrolysis of extracellular phospholipids and thus providing nutritive source of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphate. However, intracellular phospholipases perform metabolic functions and adjust biologic activities. Synthesis of phospholipases in different pathogenic microorganisms and their mode of action in virulence of the microorganism have been the center of attention in recent studies. During this study using degenerate primers based on homologous amino acid sequences of phospholipase D (PLD) search for detection of Aspergillus fumigatus was carried out. DNA extraction of A. fumigatus was performed and then using degenerate primers based on nucleotide sequences of Phospholipase D gene was degenerated. Predicted 850 bp product from A. fumigatus was cloned in pGEMT-Easy vector and then transformed into E. coli Top 10 F’ competent cell for extraction of cloned DNA fragment. Sequence analysis of 850 bp fragments revealed a sequence for the PLD gene of A. fumigatus with a high homology to published PLD sequences in other microorganisms. Gene sequence studies are generally conducted to determine the participation of gene expression in pathogenecity of microorganisms, the evaluation of biochemical features and physiologic function of gene product for understanding the basic knowledge to provide immunity, production of vaccine, drug, or blocker for gene product, utilizing the gene product, utilizing the gene product for infection detection and so on. Thus, cloning of a part of phospholipase D gene in order to full identification of nucleotides sequence of this gene could contribute to achieve those goals.

Cardiovascular disease accounts for about 38% of the cause of death in Iran. The traditional risk factors can not justify the high prevalence of the disease, and therefore oxidative stress has been proposed as a contributing factor in morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to evaluate the plasma measures of oxidative stress in patients with CAD presented with myocardial infarction (MI) or without MI compared with the control group. This study consistsed of three groups as follow: 38 patients suffering from CAD without MI (mean age: 56.55±8.64), 20 CAD patients with MI (mean age: 50.85±7.79) and 55 healthy subjects (mean age: 49.85±8.5) as controls. Vitamin E concentration was determined through HPLC. and the amounts of glutathione and malondialdehyde were measured by spectrophotometer. Plasma malondialdehyde levels were markedly higher in patient groups than in control groups (P<0.05). Lower glutathione levels were observed in patient groups compared with control group, whereas, reduced Vitamin E was only noted in CAD patients without MI (P<0.05). No significant differences were seen between measures of oxidative stress in patient groups. Reduction of glutathione molecules as antioxidants and enhanced lipid peroxidation may be involved in pathogenesis of CAD through up-regulation of signaling pathways leading to tissue damage.

Obesity is a global health problem with an increasing prevalence which affects different medical and health care domains including anesthesia. The present study was carried out to answer the question of which anesthesia technique is proper in obese parturients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of obesity on blood pressure reduction, amount and dose of ephedrine, and sensory level duration of spinal technique for cesarean section. In this cohort study the treatment group consisted of 40 expectant women with body mass index (BMI) of over 30, and the control group comprised of 40 expectant women with BMI of under 30, who were all candidate for elective cesarean section: In both groups 70 mg of Lidocaine was injected into spinal cord from L4-L5 space. Then the mean blood pressure, the amount and dose of ephedrine, sensory level of block and duration of spinal technique were measured. The collected data was compared by statistical tests. There was no statistical different in mean blood pressure reduction and sensory level of block between the two groups. Duration of spinal tap, amount and number of ephedrine injection were higher in obese cases. Relative risk of receiving two or more times of ephedrine was 1.63 times higher in obese expectant women than in normal women. Spinal anesthesia is an appropriate method for cesarean section in obese expectant women and blood pressure reduction can easily be controlled by ephedrine.

Recent studies suggest that intermittent and prolonged normobaric hyperoxia (HO) results in ischemic tolerance to reduce brain injury. In this research attempts were made to see the changes in TNF-a converting enzyme (TACE) and NF-kB activity following intermittent HO and ischemia preconditioning. The rats were divided into two experimental groups, each consisted of 20 animals. The first group was exposed to 95% inspired HO for 4h/day for 6 consecutive days (intermittent HO InHO). The second group acting as the control, was exposed to 21% oxygen in the same chamber (normobaric normoxia or room air RA) continuously for six days (intermittent RA InRA). Each main group was subdivided to MCAO-operated (middle cerebral artery occlusion), sham-operated (without MCAO), and intact (without any surgery) subgroups. After 24hr, MCAO-operated subgroups were subjected to 60 min of right MCAO. After 24 h reperfusion, neurologic deficit score (NDS) and infarct volume were assessed in MCAO-operated subgroups. Immediately and 48 h after pretreatment, blood sampling for assessment of serum TNF- a levels were subjected. Then, the effect of intermittent HO and ischemia on NF-kB activity and TACE expression were measured. Preconditioning with intermittent HO and ischemia decreased NDS and infarct volume. Moreover InHO and MCAO-InHO upregulate TACE and increase NF-kB activity significantly. Although further studies are needed to clarify the mechanisms of ischemic tolerance, InHO and ischemia seem to partly exert their effects via increase upregulation of TACE and NF-kB activity.

Rh (Rhesus) is a highly complex blood group system in man which plays an important role in transfusion medicine. The aim of this study was the isolation of RhD protein from the membrane of RBCs. In this experimental study immunoprecipitation method with human anti-RhD polyclonal antibody was utilized for the isolation of RhD antigen from Rh+ human blood samples Proteins of RBCs were characterized by SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis. Antigenicity of the RhD protein was assessed by ELISA using commercially available human anti-RhD polyclonal antibody with peroxidase conjugated goat anti-human as a secondary antibody. The results show that RhD protein has successfully been isolated by immunoprecipitation method. The expected size of RhD protein was confirmed by Western blot analysis. RhD antibody reacted with RhD antigen prepared from ghost with polyclonal antibody in ELISA, but no reaction was observed in Western blot analysis with monoclonal antibody: It is necessary to mention that this is the primary report of relative purification of RhD and further studies are recommended. The RhD may be helpful to further investigate the molecular basis of RhD protein and could be applicable for production of anti- D antibody in an animal model.

Evidences shows that the defect in the synthesis of some fatty acids can lead to seborrheic dermatitis and elevated serum lipids in lipophilic fungi activities. Epidemiologic reports suggest a relationship between antioxidant levels and serum liplds in a number of dermatitis. This study was carried out to determine the relationship between antioxidant levels of plasma and serum lipids with seborrheic dermatitis. Methods and Materials: In this case-control study 70 patients suffering from SD were compared with 70 healthy people as control group. The two groups had been matched in terms of age and sex. Lipid levels and plasma antioxidants were measured by FRAP (Ferric Reducing A Bility Of Plasma Assay) in both groups. In patients skin lesions samples were tested through web spread to confirm the diagnosis and severity of pityrosporum ovale. The collected data was analyzed by SPSS software, T-Test and Chi-Square tests. The mean level of cholesterol in treatment group (120.5+39.9 mg/dl) was higher than control group (166.5+39.1 mg/dl) and the mean triglyceride level in treatment group (138.1+65.3 mg/dl) was higher than control group (91.7+44.2 mg/dl), which were both statistically significant (p<0.001). No significant difference was observed between HDL cholesterol in treatment and control groups (p<0.177). However, the mean LDL level was higher in treatment group (143.5+37.6 mg/dl) than that of control group (106.3+35.6 mg/dl) which shows a significant difference (p<0.001). No significant difference was observed between the mean plasma antioxidants in treatment and control groups (p>0.05). The study findings suggest the relationship between SD with total cholesterol and triglyceride levels and blood plasma LDL. However, there was no association between SD and plasma antioxidant and HDL levels.

Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) is a systemic autoimmune disease that presents with sicca symptoms of the main mucosal surfaces. The spectrum of disease extends from sicca syndrome to systemic involvement and may be complicated by the development of lymphoma. Many types of malignant and pseudo malignant diseases have been reported, but the most important is non Hodgkin lymphoma. We here present a 45 year-old woman with SS that referred with pancytopenia. By molecular and histochemical techniques a diagnosis of acute myeloblastic leukemia of M3 type (AML-M3) was made for this patient.