International Scholarly Research Notices最新文献

[This retracts the article DOI: 10.5402/2012/675285.].

Kidney transplantation (KT) is one of the treatment options for patients with chronic kidney disease. The number of patients waiting for kidney transplantation is growing day by day. Various strategies have been put in place to expand the donor pool. Extended criteria donors are now accepted more frequently. Increasing number of elderly donors with age > 60 years, history of diabetes or hypertension, and clinical proteinuria are accepted as donor. Dual kidney transplantation (DKT) is also more frequently done and experience with this technique is slowly building up. DKT not only helps to reduce the number of patients on waiting list but also limits unnecessary discard of viable organs. Surgical complications of DKT are comparable to single kidney transplantation (SKT). Patient and graft survivals are also promising. This review article provides a summary of evidence available in the literature.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.5402/2011/901416.].

Background: Thoracic Endovascular Aortic Repair (TEVAR) has substantially decreased the mortality and major complications from aortic surgery. However, neurological complications such as spinal cord ischemia may still occur after TEVAR. S-100β is a biomarker of central nervous system injury, and oxidant injury plays an important role in neurological injury. In this pilot study, we examined the trends of S-100β and antioxidant capacity in the CSF during and after TEVAR.

Methods: We recruited 10 patients who underwent elective TEVAR. CSF samples were collected through a lumbar catheter at the following time points: before the start of surgery (T0) and immediately (T1) and 24 (T2) and 48 hours (T3) after the deployment of the aortic stent. S-100β and CSF antioxidant capacity were analyzed with the use of commercially available kits.

Results: We observed that the level of S-100β in all of the subjects at 24 hours after the deployment of the aortic stent (T2) increased. However, the levels of S-100β at T1 and T3 were comparable to the baseline value. The antioxidant capacity remained unchanged. No patient had a clinical neurologic complication.

Conclusions: Our observations may indicate biochemical/subclinical central nervous system injury attributable to the deployment of the aortic stent.

Dyslipidemia is a common metabolic disorder especially in diabetes mellitus (DM). In this study, the ability of Sapium ellipticum (SE) leaf extract to restore lipid homeostasis in streptozotocin-induced diabetes was examined. DM was induced in experimental rats (Wistar strains) using single intraperitoneal dose (55 mg/kg body weight {BW}) of streptozotocin (STZ). Treatment of diabetic rats with SE was oral (p.o), at doses of 400 and 800 mg kg^-1 BW, twice daily at 8 h interval for 21 days. Lipid parameters were analyzed in the serum of rats using test kits. SE caused a significant (P ≤ 0.05) reduction in STZ-induced hypercholesterolemia in a dose dependent pattern (13.7 and 17.89%). These effects were comparable to that provided by metformin (15.45%), a standard antidiabetic drug. Similar pattern was noted with serum triglycerides (TG) (10.63 and 19.06%) and LDL (31.47 and 25.97%). Adipose tissue TG level was improved to near normal. Besides, the cardiovascular risk predictors in terms of atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) and LDL/HDL ratio were lowered by 57.85 and 44.12%, respectively. However, the extract failed to significantly reverse the STZ-induced decline in serum HDL. Overall, with AIP value of 0.28 and LDL/HDL ratio of 0.91, SE demonstrated the potential to maintain lipid homeostasis in the diabetics.

Background: Peptic ulcer perforation is a common cause of emergency admission and surgery. This is the first study that documents the presentation and outcome of management in Irrua, Nigeria.

Patients and method: This is a prospective study of all patients operated on for perforated peptic ulcer between April 1, 2010, and March 31, 2015. A structured questionnaire containing patients' demographics, operation findings, and outcome was filled upon discharge or death.

Results: There were 104 patients. 81 males and 23 females (M : F = 3.5 : 1). The age range was between 17 years and 95 years. The mean age was 48.99 years ± SD 16.1 years. The ratio of gastric to duodenal perforation was 1.88 : 1. Perforation was the first sign of peptic ulcer disease in 62 (59.6%). Pneumoperitoneum was detectable with plain radiographs in 95 (91%) patients. 72 (69.2%) had Graham's Omentopexy. Death rate was 17.3%.

Conclusion: We note that gastric perforation is a far commoner disease in our environment. Perforation is often the first sign of peptic ulcer disease. We identify fasting amongst Christians as a risk factor for perforation.

Background: Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is an autoimmune subepidermal blistering skin disorder which occurs mostly in the elderly. Several studies have reported an association between BP and neurological disorders (ND).

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between BP and neurological disorders in Iranian patients.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 87 patients with BP were enrolled. They were compared to 184 controls. Statistical analysis was done by SPSS statistical software version 19.

Results: Out of 87 patients with BP, 17 (19.5%) had at least one neurological disease. Cerebrovascular accident (CVA) was the most common neurological disease that was seen in 7 patients (8.0%) in the case group and 4 (2.1%) in the control group. The incidence of CVA was significantly different between BP patients and the control group (P = 0.022). Dementia was observed in 6 patients in the case group (16.8%) and 2 (1.0%) in the control group. The incidence of dementia was significantly different between BP patients and the control group (P = 0.008). In this study, the incidences of Parkinson's disease (P = 0.830), epilepsy (P = 0.067), and multiple sclerosis (P = 0.326) were not statistically significant between the two groups.

Conclusion: The incidence of CVA and dementia in patients with BP compared to the control group was significantly higher.

Background and objective: Dopamine dysfunction is known to be associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Dopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4) is one of the important genes in this pathway. This study intended to investigate the variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) in exon 3 of the DRD4 gene in Iranian children and adolescents.

Materials and methods: In this study, 130 children with ADHD, aged 6-14 years, and 130 healthy children, within the same age range, were enrolled. All children were selected from northwest of Iran which have Caucasian ethnic background and are of a Turkic ethnic group. VNTR polymorphisms of the DRD4 gene were evaluated by PCR using exon 3-specific primers followed by agarose gel electrophoresis.

Findings: The Hardy-Weinberg principle and Chi-square test showed a significant difference in 4-repetition (4R) alleles between the ADHD (76.2%) and control (53.8%) groups (p = 0.004; X² = 17.39; df = 5). The least percentage of repetition alleles in both groups was 2R.

Conclusion: There is a significant correlation between the 4R alleles of DRD4 and ADHD in the northwest of Iran.

Rutin is available in some foods, fruits, and vegetables. It has various beneficial medical effects making it useful in the treatment of various diseases. Rutin is available in different oral dosage forms such as tablets or capsules, widely available in the market. Rutin and many herbal medicines lack quality control due to unavailability of analytical methods. In this study, we formulated rutin tablet and studied its stability using a simple developed analytical method. The dissolution profile of our formulated tablet was also inspected. The results showed that our developed method was linear (R² = 0.999), precise (% RSD = 0.026), and accurate (% recovery = 98.55-103.34). The formulated rutin tablet was stable under accelerated conditions as well as room temperature for 150 days (% assay > 91.69). The dissolution profile over 45 minutes of our formulated tablet showed a better dissolution (26.5%) compared with the internationally marketed Rutin® tablet (18.5%). This study can serve as a guideline to companies that manufacture herbal products to improve their formulated herbs and apply validated analytical methods to check the quality of their product.