مجله دانشگاه علوم پزشکی قم
سال پنجم شماره 1 (پیاپی 17، بهار 1390)

Bacterial vaginosis is caused by an imbalance in normal vaginal bacterial flora mainly caused by the introduction of pathogenic bacteria. Failure to properly treat this condition can not only induce abortion but also increase the chance of acquiring other serious infections such as AIDS, gonorrhea and chlamydiosis. Chlamydia trchomatis is one of the causative agents of cervicitis of which 70% is totally asymptomatic. Untreated cases can lead to salpengititis, pelvic inflammatory diseases, infertility, pelvic area pains and other complications. The purpose of this study was to determine the co-occurrence of these two conditions. A total of 137 patients were examined for both Chlamydial cervicitis and for bacterial vaginosis. Gram stain was used to detect bacterial vaginosis and anti-chlamydial antibodies were titered by microimmunofluoresence (MIF) assay. According to the MIF results, 10 patients(7.3%) had elevated anti-chlamydial IgG and 3 patients (2.2%) showed high IgM titers. Gardnerella vaginalis was detected in 6 patients(4.7%) as the causative agent of vaginosis. There were 3 cases of co-occurrence of chlamydial cervicitis and bacterial vaginosis (30%). Due to the fact that bacterial vaginosis can provide the pre-disposing conditions for cervicitis and its chronicity and the similarity of the cilinical singns of these two conditions, Infections with Chlamydia are often overlooked. It therefore seems necessary to check any patient with bacterial vaginosis for chlamydial co-infection.

Alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) is one of the genetic risk factors in the patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The exact number of Iranians suffering from this disease is yet not known. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of the deficiency of AAT enzyme in patients suffering from COPD. The topical test of AAT serum was conducted on 125 patients affected by COPD who had referred to Ekbatan Hospital of Hamadan in 2007. The diagnoses of COPD in these patients dad been confirmed through history and spirometerty test before and after bronchodilator inhalation and the outcomes had been confirmed based on GOLD regulations. In other words, after separation of serum from blood, the specific antibody of AAT was added to the sample. The AAT serum level was read according to nephelometry measurement and the results were given in g/L. The gathered data were then analyzed using SPSS software program and statistical tests such as T-test and 2.

Pregnancy is a critical period during which good maternal nutrition plays a key role influencing the health of both mother and child. The present study aimed at determining the intakes of energy and related factors in pregnant women. In this cross-sectional study 1036 pregnant women were selected from health centers of urban areas in Qom. Personal interviews using the questionnaire of 24 -hour dietary recall were carried out to elicit information. Calorie intake efficacy was calculated based on nutrient substance intake. The data analysis was performed by SPSS software program. X2 test was used to determine the significance of differences.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is still considered the most common cause of death cases related to pathogenic infectious factors in the world. Rifampin is among the most important first-line drugs to treat tuberculosis. The most common mutations in resistance to Rifampin occur due to the displacements in Codons 531, 526, and 516 in rpoB gene. This study was carried out with the aim of introducing the method (Multiplex Allele Specific) PCR in order to identify tuberculosis patients resistant to rifampin through detecting mutations in the rpoB gene. In this study, three cases of mutation were evaluated in three Codons of rpoB gene in 90 samples of the positive cases of culture from pulmonary TB patients who had referred to Research Center of Mycobacteriology located in Masih-Daneshvari Hospital of Tehran from 1385 to 1387 after the drug sensitivity test. To examine three codons 531, 526 and 516, MAS PCR method was used. The results of the culture showed that 33.3% of the samples were sensitive and 66.6% were resistant to drugs of which 44.4% were resistant to Rifampin. By using MAS PCR method, 32.2% of these cases of resistance were identified. Among these cases, 43.4% had mutation in codon rpoB 531, 34.5% in rpoB 526 codon and 31% in rpoB 516 codon. Based on the results of this study, MAS PCR method used in this research is an accurate and appropriate method to rapidly diagnose resistance to Rifampin in the clinical samples of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Secondary sex ratio (SSR), i.e. the gender ratio of fetuses reaching viability has faced a declining trend in most societies in recent years. The aim of this study was to determine the contributing factors such as season of conception, type of pregnancy, housing conditions, monthly income and financial stress on SSR in Iran. In this cross-sectional study, 202 couples with children under one year old were studied. They were selected using two stage random sampling method from two healthcare centers in Tehran. Financial stress of parents was assessed based on a valid questionnaire. Data regarding other variables were gathered through a checklist. Uni-and multi-variate logistic regression tests were used to analyze the data.

Prematurity remains the most significant cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality. Knowing which group of women is at risk for developing preterm labor will define a target population for better prenatal care and preventive modalities. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of premature birth and compare the maternal risk factors among premature and term newborns. In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 400 pregnant women were assessed 200 of whom were patients with preterm delivery and the other 200 were women with the term delivery. The data were gathered through interview and patients’ medical record. Finally The results were compared by statistical tests. In order to determine the prevalence of premature birth all deliveries were taken under study from 86/4/1 to 86/9/30 in hospitals of Qom. The prevalence of preterm delivery in Qom hospitals was (%5/6).This evaluation showed a significant statistical difference between the preterm delivery and the following determining factors: number of delivery, emotional stress, prenatal care, ante partum hemorrhage and surgery, infectious diseases, diabetes, anemia, history premature birth and UTI. There was no significant statistical difference between the preterm delivery and maternal age, BMI, employment, history of abortion, infertility, route of contraception, drug use during pregnancy, preclamcy and patient's medical history. Addressing prematurity in this population will require earlier initiation of prenatal care to allow for early detection and management of complications of pregnancy.

Human parechovirus type-1 (HPeV-1) is a genus of picornaviridea with a single stranded positive sense RNA genome. In general it seems to be responsible for more gastrointestinal and respiratory syndromes and less responsible for central nervous system (CNS) symptoms. Since there is no accurate information about diagnosis and epidemiology of HPeV-1 in Iran and it is very important to distinguish between viral and bacterial diarrhea to decrease the unnecessary use of antibiotics, this study aimed at rapid detection and epidemiology of HPeV-1 in stool samples from children with gastroenteritis using specific RT-PCR. Viral RNA was isolated from 472 stool samples from children (under 4 years old) with diarrhea; CDNA was prepared and amplified using specific primers from 5′untranslated region (5′ UTR) of HPeV-1 genome by nested RT-PCR. Amplified DNA product was electrophoresed on 1% agarose gel and a single band of 265 bp was obtained. Data were analyzed by SPSS software. We also performed a comparison between the cell culture (Vero) and RT-PCR method for HPeV1 detection. Out of 472 samples examined during two years, 112 samples were HpeV-1 positive (23.7%). The results showed that the prevalence of this virus was in children under one year (6-12 months) old with diarrhea (p=0.036) in spring and autumn.

Adenosine 5́-triphosphate (ATP) not only is the current energy source of all cells but also plays critical role in triggering signaling pathways leading to apoptosis or differentiation. In recent years many investigations have reported anti-cancer activity of ATP on different cell lines. Also several mechanisms have been proposed for its mechanism of action and it appears that the mechanism depends on the cell type. In the present study the effects of ATP on human leukemia KG1 cell line as an experimental model of AML and mechanistic approach was studied. KG1 cells were cultured and treated with different concentrations of the ATP (50-1000µM) for various time intervals (24-72 hours). The Effect of ATP on cell proliferation was studied by MTT assay. Apoptosis was studied by flowcytometery, fluorescent microscopy and DNA fragmentation assay. Cell cycle was analyzed using flowcytometery. The effects of ATPγS (un-degradable agonist of ATP) and degradable products of ATP such as AMP, ADP and adenosine were studied to evaluate its mechanism of action. Data were analyzed by student-t-test.

Some studies have investigated the effects of extremely low frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MFs) on brain signals, but only few of them have reported that humans exposed to magnetic fields exhibit changes in brain signals at the frequency of stimulation, i.e. resonance effect. In most investigations, researchers usually take advantage of a uniform field which encompasses the head. The aim of present study was to expose different parts of the brain to ELF-MFs locally and to investigate variation of brain signal and resonance effect. The subjects consisting of 19 male-students with the mean age of 25.6±1.6 years participated in this study. Local ELF-MFs with 3, 5, 10, 17 and 45Hz frequencies and 240 μT intensity was applied on five points (T3, T4, Cz, F3 and F4) of participants scalp Separately in 10-20 system. In the end, relative power over this points in common frequency bands and at the frequency of magnetic fields was evaluated by paired t-test. Exposure of Central area by local magnetic field caused significant change.

This study aimed at investigating the inhibitory effect of acetazolamide on the growth and proliferation of breast cancer cells (T47-D). The appearance of morphological symptoms of apoptosis was checked after staining with Annexin-PI using fluorescent microscope. Flow cytometric studies were used for determination of the amount and type of cellular death and also for analyzing the cell division cycle. The amounts of caspase-3 activity and DNA laddering were determined in the treated cells and compared with samples of the control group. Unilateral variance test was used to analyze data.

Lead is a metal which has the most destructive effect on infants and fetuses. Moreover, it has negative biochemical effects on all persons including the destructive effects on the kidneys, digestive system, intestine, joints, and reproductive system and may cause acute or chronic damage to the nervous system. The aim of this research was screening the bacterial biosorbents with high capacity for absorbing lead among other microorganisms. At first, by using medium containing of determined concentration of Pb(NO3)2, resistant bacterial isolates were received from three wastewater samples collected from the cities of Qom and Qazvin. Then, the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration of mentioned isolates was determined by agar dilution method. In order to identify isolates with metal uptake ability, a particular method (Pümpel et al, 1995) was used. At a later stage, biosorption capacity of lead for each isolate with metal uptake ability was investigated by using an Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. Finally, after selection and identification of two effective isolates in removal of lead, optimizing the biosorption conditions was carried out in several steps. Out of 29 bacterial isolates that received, 15 lead resistant isolates with MIC≥7mM were selected in order to study lead uptake ability that resulted in selection of isolates Q-III and P-II with biosorption values of 162.8 mg g-1dw and 125.6 mg g-1dw, respectively. On the other hand, the maximum biosorption capacity of lead was observed by isolate Q-III in optimum conditions including contact time 2 h, pH 5, wet biomass concentration 0.5g and for isolate P-II in contact time 2 h, pH 5.5, wet biomass concentration 0.4 g. The results of this study indicated that bacterial isolates Bacillus sp. Q-III and Pseudomonas sp. P-II are two suitable biosorbents for the removal of Pb(II).

Leishmaniasis is a disease produced by several species of protozoa of the Leishmania genus. As a therapeutic agent, garlic (Allium sativum) is one of the most popular plants in traditional medicinal systems and is increasingly becoming important in herbal alternative therapy. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of aqueous garlic extract (AGE) on enhancing T-helper IL-10 and IL-12 cytokines in the culture via macrophages for engulfment and destruction of Leishmania. After proliferation of macrophages in culture and incubation with Leishmania during 72 hours, we added aqueaous garlic extract by several doses 9.25, 18.5, 37, 74 and 148µg/ml for 18, 24 and 48 hours. Trypan blue and MTT tests were carried out in order to test the safety of extracts and j744 cells treated with them, as well as cell viability. An enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) was performed on macrophages for interleukin IL-10 and IL-12. The results suggested that garlic extract may provide effective therapy against Leishmania. Our results showed that dose of 37µg/ml for 48 hours of garlic extract destructed promastigots by IL-12 secreted from macrophages. Based on the results of this study, IL-12 is crucial for defense against parasitic pathogens. IL-12 administration differentially affected immune response to invading Leishmania parasites.

Celiac disease can be associated with various extra intestinal symptoms such as primary biliary cirrhosis and auto immune hepatitis but idiopathic portal hypertension is a very rare phenamenon. IPH patient typically has splenomegally, esophageal varices and sometimes Icter and ascitis. Case Report: A case of IPH in a 38 year old woman with celiac disease. She had been suffering from Ascites, Splenomegally, malaise and apathy for several years and had undergone treatment for cryptogenic cirrhosis. Diagnostic re-examination of the patient such as Serology tests and markers from Wilson disease, auto immune and viral hepatitis showed negative reports, but her liver function test and ESR were prolonged In upper GI endoscopy esophageal varices was detected. Abdominal sonography reported moderate to severe splenomegally and rise of portal vein diameter but did not show any evidence of thrombosis. Liver biopsy revealed no sign of cirrhosis. But duodenal biopsy and serologic finding were compatible with celiac disease. Her symptoms improved on a gluten-free diet and her liver function test and ESR were normal.