Journal of Pathobiology Reaearch
Volume:4 Issue: 1, 2001

Dopamine (DA) is one of the predominant cathecolaminneurotransmitter in the mammalian brain playing it's role through the Dl-and D2 - Like recptors. The dopamine-induced hyperglycemia has already been reported, but the type ofreceptors involved in this process is still controversial.In this study we investigated the role of DI and 02-like receptors on the plasma glucose by specifc dopaminergic agonists and antagonists in the Albino mouse. Subcutaneous administration of apomorphine 0.25, 0.5, and lmg/kg) induced a dose-dependent hyperglycemia. This response was decreased by the blockade of the DI and 02 receptors by the SCH and sulpiride respectively. Activation of the 02-like receptors by high doses of the LY171555 produced a significant hyperglycemia which was reduced by the sulpiride. Stimulation of the D1like receptors by the specific Dl agonist, SKF38393, caused an increase in the plasma glucose which was not affected by the SCH. At low doses, apomorphine and SKF induced hypoglycemia in the second and third hours after the injection.In conclusion, dopaminergic system seems to have a dual stimulatory and inhibitory effect on the plasma glucose. The exact mechanisms of the stimulatory effect, mediated by the D2-like receptors, and the inhibitory effect ofthe dopaminergic system needs more investigation.

At the present time, more than 80% of the first and second deliveries are made using episiotomy, while researchers attribute many side-effects to this method. On the other hand, there are controversies over the advantages of this method, specially it's most important advantage in the prevention of severe genital tract trauma. This research was carried out to compare the frequency of the incidence of genital tract trauma between two groups undergoing episiotomy, namely routine and selective episiotomy groups. This research was carried out' using the clinical trial method on 730 patients having their deliveries at Imam-Khomeni and Faterna-Zahra (AS) Hospitals of Sari.Individual cases were divided randomly in two groups of routine and selective episiotomy. All the deliveries were carried out by the obstertrics and gynechology residents. Then, a questionnaire designed to collect thepatients information was filled for every patient by a midwife who didnt know which group the patient was belonged to. Then, the two groups were compared with rgards to the frequency of genital tract trauma. Results showed a 71.1% and 84.5% frequency of episiotomy in the selective and routine groups respectively. Statistical tests showed no significant difference between the frequency of genital tract trauma in the selective and routine groups.Comparison of the cases having episiotomy indicated that all the extensive genital tract trauma (grade 3 and 4) were in the routine group. The hypothesis of this research stating that: "The performance of episiotomy plays a role in the severe genital tract trauma" was proved. Hence, it is proposed that the authorities pay more attention to the performance of episiotomy being solely based on the indications followed by the proper control of perineum to reduce the frequency of episiotomy.

In the present study, 11 medium cultures alone or in combination with some antibiotics were evaluated for growth of Blastocystis hominis. In this regard, stool specimens of 25 positive patients infected with the Blastocystis hominis were cultured in the modified Locke - Egg medium, Nutrient Broth, Nitrate Broth, BHI Broth, Todd Hewitt Infusion Broth, Cholera Broth, Thioglycolate, Selenite-F, Trypticase Soy Broth, Com Meal Agar and RPMI-I640. The results indicated that the growth rate of the Blastocystis hominis in the modified Egg & Locke medium containing the antibiotics was better than the others. To be more precise, 80% of the. r' specimens have grown well in the modified Locke-Egg medium containing the antibiotics, whereas in the lack of the antibiotics only 20% of the cases maintained a moderate growth rate. The microorganism in the PMI1640 medium, RPMI-I640 medium plus antibiotics, Trypticase Soy Broth and Trypticase Soy Broth and Trypticase Soy Broth plus antibiotics maintained 52%, 44%, 12% and 36% growth rate respectively. Blastocystis hominisiii the other media has not grown well.

Using three different methods ofbioassays, the pathogenicity of eight isolates of the fungus Beauveria bassiana to the larvae of the Graeter wax moth Galleria mellonella was examined. The pathogenicity of the isolates was compared in terms ofLT50, LC50 and LD50 values. The isolates exhibited various patterns of pathogenicity in different bioassasys which may reflect their different abilities to breach the larval cuticle. The parallelism of the slopes of the probit regression lines and the equality of log tolerance variances at high spore concentrations supported the idea that the isolated implement similar biochemical strategies in invading the host insect.Therefore, comparisons of the relative potency values were possible. The stability and disturbance of the log tolerence variances at high and sub-lethal spore concentrations respectively imply that the more concentrated inoculum, the narrower is the array of determinant factors involved in the process of infection and vice versa.The results from injection bioassays indicate 29 times greater potency for strongest isolole No 210 (LDso = 42 spore/larva) compared to that for the weakest isolate No. 206 (LDso = 1211 spore/ larva). The Ltsovalues showed great fluctuation over the experiments so that the smallest LTso values at the highest concentration (108 spore/ml) was 3.0 days for isolate No. 251 and the largest one at lowest concentration (lOs spore/ml) was 12 days for isolates No. 274. The LC50 values for the mortality responses of the larvae to the fungal isolates ranged from 2.4 x 105 to 4.5 x 107 spore/ml, The results of this study, not only indicate the involvement of a umber of characteristics in the pathogenicity of the fungus towards G. Mellonella larvae, but also the applicability of toxicological parameters in the study of a microbial agent.

The purpose ofthis study was to determine the effect of aerobic exercise on apolipoprotein A-I apoA1) as cardiovascular anti-risk factor and apolipoprotein B (apoB) as cardiovascular risk factor. Twenty-three previously sedentary males were matched for age, weight, height, dietary intake, and health status. Then, they were randomly allocated to either the experimental (sample) or the control group. The training program was consisted of 8 weeks running with three sessions per week, each session having at least 0 minutes duration, with an intensity producing 70% of maximal reserved heart rate. Pre- and post-training mean apoA-l measured by immunoturbidometric method showed a small decrease in the exercise group (pre-test: l65.46±38.5 3mg/dl, post-test: 157.50±3 1.73 mg/dl, P:5:0.35). In addition, the control group showed a considerable but not significant reduction in the mean value of apoA-l (pre-test: l72.l±59.49 mg/dl, post-test l45.61±23.08 mg/dl, P:5:0.094). On the other hand, the apoB concentration was not reduced significantly in the hoth groups (exercise: pre-test: 91.72±29.74 mg/dl, post-test: 84.7±21.6 mg/dl; cotrol: pre-test:I04.21±17.84 mg/dl, post-test: I02.7±13.7lmg/dl). According to these results an 8 week aerobic training, as described above, could not affect apoA-l & B concentration. It seems that other factors are involved in this regard and further studies are required.

Ultrasound is a commonly used therapeutic modality for which little research has been carried out on the Ffect of it's different modes on the tissue extensibility. The purpose ofthis study was to investigte the ffect of two different modes of ulrasound (continuous VS pulse), in reducing the shortening of hamstrings. Thirthy healthy male adults aged 20 to 30 years (mean 23.84) were selected from a young healthy population. According to the usual standards the diagnosis was bilateral short hamstrings. Subjects received either continous (2 W/cm2, IMHz, 5min) or pulsed (200 microsecond burst of 1 MHz sine waves repeated at 1KHz, 0.5 W/cm2, 5min) ultrasound applied over their short hamstrings.A singnificant difference between the mean values was observed by the Student's t-test. Comparison ofthe ata obtained after the ultrasound treatment showed a significant increase in the extensibility of the hamstrings in the two groups, but there was also a singnificant difference (P<0.0001) between the continuous and pulsed, ultrasound. It is concluded that the heating effect of continuous ultrasound may be more effective than nonthermal properties of ultrasound for increasing the extensibility of short onnective tissue.

Alzheimer's dementia (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease which in recognized as the most ommon form of dementia in the age of 65 years old and above. Diagnosis of this disease is based upon evaluation of congnitive skills, elimination of other dementia associated diseases and cranial CT examination. However, the definitive diagnosis is proved only by neurohistological findings. Although the etiology of the disease is unknown and it's effective treatment is not available, research in the pathomechanism of the disease shows a connection between increased frequency ofapolipoprotein E4 allele and later onset of AD. The objective of this study was to characterize apoipoprotein E polymorphism's in late onset ofAD patients. In his regard, 100 AD patients and 100 individuals (as normal controls) were examined using the PCR method. he result showed that the E4 allele was significantly more frequent in both early and late onset goups (42%) ompared to the controls (11%). This data indicates that the Apo E4 could be regarded as a risk factor for AD.

A quasi-experimental study was carried out in 1999-2000 to evaluate the effects of a play program on the nxiety of hospitalized school-age children. For this purpose 60 hospitalized school-age children at edical units of Tehran Medical Center of Children were selected using the non-accidental and accessible sampling method. Then, they were divided into the case and control groups which were matched egarding demographic factors (e.g. sex, age,. ..). The data was gathered using different questionnairs covering demographic data, anxiety state inventory for children, child medical fear scale, and physiologic indicators of anxiety.After the pretest a designed play program was carried out in the case group at 3 sessions each session eing 30 minutes. The results were as follows: Data analysis using the chi-square (X2) showed that the demographic factors were similar in the two groups (P> 0.05).The paired t-test indicated a significant reduction in the anxiety state after the play in the case group (P<0.001). The paired t-test showed no significant variation in the anxiety state of the control group at the begining and the end ofthe study.The t-test showed no significant differese between the anxiety state of the case and control groups before the play program (P > 0.05).The t-test showed a significant difference between the anxiety state of the case and control groups after he play program. There was no significant difference between the physiological indexes of anxiety between the case and control groups before the play (P>0.05). But after the play program, the t-test showed a significant difference between the two groups regarding these indexes (P<0.05).The paired t-test showed a significant difference between the physiological indexes of anxiety measured before and after the play program in the case group (P < 0.05).Therefore, the hypothesis of the research stating "anxiety of hospitalized school age children in case roup will decrease compared with the control group was proved. Therefore, it is recommended that play, as an effective technique, can be used to reduce the anxiety of hospitalized children.

There has been an increasing number of reports of actinomyces infecting the female genital tract, articularly in women using an intrauterine contraceptive device (LU.D)Most of findings are based on the detection of actinomyces spp. in papanicolaou smears and mmunofluoresence with actynomyces antisera. Other organisms normally present in the vagina may esemble actinomyces in papanicolaou smears and if antisera are not tested against a wide range of anaerobs, cross-reactions with other bacterial species may occur.In this study microbiological techniques were used enabling us to isolate actinomyces spp. from ervicovaginal specimens. The population was consisted of 514 women attending obstetrics and gynecology clinics. The cervico-vaginal swab specimens were obtained from two groups of women. The first group was consisted of274 users of the LV.D and the second group was consisted of240 women ithout the LV.D. The patients had symptoms such as vaginal discharge, cervicitis, vulval irritation, pelvic pain, hemorrhage and irregular bleeding. The cervico-vaginal smears were stained with the gram stain and were screened for evidence of actinomyces like organisms. Examination of cervico-vaginal smears revealed the presence of the actinomyces-like organisms in 16.78% ofthe women having the LV.D and 3.75% ofthe woman without the LU.D.Actiomyces were isolated by culturing the cervico-vaginal specimen from the two groups, consisting of 0 cases (18.24%) of the women with the LV.D, and 35 cases (14.58%) ofthe women without an LV.D. The difference between the two groups of women was not statistically meaningful.Our finding indicated that the type ofLV.D is not related to the colonised actinomyces, and the organisms isolated from the both Iypes of LV.D supper devices (Cupper-T), and plastic devices (Lipps-Loop), had no significant differences.In this study we found no relationship between the duration of the use of the LV.D and the actinomyces colonisation increase. The isolated species from the two groups were: A. Israelii (50%), A.naeslundii 35%), and A.viscosus (14%).These findings suggest that actinomyces are naturally present in genital tract of some women and the use LV.D has not caused a significant increase in the rate of positive actinomyces cases.

Influenza is one of the most contagious dieases in human and other animals. Previous infection with the influenza virus can be shown by showing specific antibodies to the virus. Using single radial diffusion est (SRD), haemagglutination inhibition test (HII), and viral neutralization test (VNT), we tried to detect nd measure influenza virus type-B antibodies.In order to run the above tests viral antigens were first prepared in chick embyonated eggs and cell culture separately. Specific antibodies were prepared in healthy rabbits injected with the above antigens.The SRD, HII, and VNT were done using the above materials. Serum samples were tested for influenza ypeB virus antibodies.The VNT was taken as the standard test and the results obtaind from the other tests were compared with those of the VNT, The sensitivity and specificity of HIT and SRD were 93% and 84%, 85% and 89% respectively.