Iranian Journal of Toxicology
Volume:2 Issue: 1, Spring 2008

Pesticide poisoning is an important cause of worldwide mortality, especially in developing countries. Due to the fact that, Hamadan (a province in the west of Iran) is an agricultural area, every year some people are poisoned by these products. This prospective & cross-sectional study was designed to analyze the various causes of pesticide poisoning in patients who had been referred to Farshchian Hospital of Hamadan (referral center of the province for poisoning). The information was obtained from the patients themselves, and their relatives. The obtained data were analyzed by SPSS software version 13. The study showed that out of 1692 cases of poisoning in one year, 234(13.8%) had consumed pesticides, most of which (86.3%) were due to suicidal attempts. The most common pesticides used were: organophosphates (59.8%), Parquet (15.4%) and zinc phosphate (12.8%). Greater number of mortalities occurred with the use of organophosphate (10 patients, 4.3%). The Results showed that organophosphates are the most frequently used pesticides for attempting suicide. Educating the users and the community about the dangers of pesticides is essential to increase awareness about the toxicity of these agents and reduce the prevalence of poisoning.

Since alcohol is a general central nervous system depressant, it affects the motor and cognitive performance. Alcohol abuse is a major cause of medical and social problems. Additionally, to determine cause of death in legal medicine centers, alcohol analysis is the most frequently performed test in forensic toxicology laboratories. Accurate interpretation of ethanol concentration at the time of death is a difficult task since the origin of detected ethanol in postmortem samples may vary. Interpretation of postmortem ethanol findings are often confounded by postmortem ethanol production and/or consumption. Many species of bacteria, yeast and molds are capable of producing ethanol from a variety of substrates in blood; therefore, Vitreous humor and urine is important biological specimen in forensic toxicology. This review presents a discussion of criteria for the identification of postmortem ethanol synthesis and factors to consider during interpretation of postmortem ethanol findings. The criteria include case history, condition of the specimen, type of bacteria present, atypical fluid and tissue distribution of ethanol and detection of other alcohols and volatiles. With careful consideration of all the information available, valid interpretation of the source of ethanol, whether it is from antemortem ingestion or postmortem production can be made.

There are a lot of fungi in our environment which grow and reproduce if the heat and humidity are suitable. Aspergillus flavus and parasilicus are among the most important food contaminants and have major roles in food poisoning. These fungi secrete poisons which contaminate feedstuffs as well as the milk we get from the animals fed with them. Because of the dire effects of these contaminations we decided to examine and compare the existence of aflatoxin M1 in samples of raw and pasteurized milk as well as the presence of aflatoxin B1 in feedstuffs in different seasons of the year. In this study a total of 428 samples consisting of raw and pasteurized milk and feedstuffs were examined in different seasons of the year, using the ELISA, HPLC and TLC methods. In 43.36% of the feedstuff samples, the contamination level was above the permissible concentration of aflatoxin B1 (that is above 20 ppb), and in 38.03% of raw and 14.42% of pasteurized milk samples, the contamination level was above the permitted concentration (that is, above 0.5 ppb). We also found that the contamination level was higher in summer and autumn than that of winter and spring. A high percentage of contamination was found in corn and recycled bread compared to alfalfa, bran and straw. There seems to be an urgent need for controlling aflatoxin contamination in feedstuff and prohibiting the use of contaminated feedstuff such as corn and recycled bread. Also thorough analysis of milk and its products for aflatoxin contamination is necessary.

Regarding the high rate of depression in our society, using anti-depressive drugs especially tricycle antidepressants (TCAs) is increasing and poisoning by these agents has become more common than other drugs. Due to its incident and dire complications we decided to study the treatment quality in poisoned patients with TCAss admitted in emergency ward of Arak,s Vali-e-Asr Hospital during March 2003 to May 2005. In this cross-sectional study, all patients poisoned by TCAs were admitted in emergency ward of Arak,s Vali-e-Asr Hospital. We assessed treatment modalities of them base on database questionnaire. 112 patients (66 females and 46 males) entered the study. Concerning the severity of poisoning at the time of arrival to the hospital, 13 were healthy without any signs of intoxication, 64 had low poisoning, 21 had moderate poisoning and 14 cases presented with severe poisoning. Gastric lavage were performed for 49 cases, charcoal was prescribed for 85, ipecac syrup for 36, chest physiotherapy for 1 person and I/O checking for 35 cases. As for primary managements, routine procedures (serial ABG, ECG, heart monitoring and admitting in ICU) were done for most patients. In 32.1% of patients, ipecac syrup was prescribed; nevertheless, it is contraindication for these patients and it was a serious mismanagement in their treatment. In total, we discovered that treatment modalities were not acceptable and preventive procedures were insufficient; nonetheless, the mortality rate in this study was less than the rate of global statistics.

Poisoning is a common reasons for hospitalization in all over the world and exhausts a substantial share of health resources.Khoramabad is a rather large city in Iran but there has been no study about incidence of poisoned patients especially grave ones who are hospitalized in ICUs, thus we designed this study to epidemiologicall assess these patients in two major referral centers for one year Method & materials:This cross-sectional study was carried out on all patients who were admitted in ICU of Shohadaie Ashayer and Tamin-e-ejtemaei hospitals from Oct 2006 until Oct 2007. All poisoned patients who were hospitalized in ICU were enlisted. Information such as age, gender, marital status, measurements of ABG, Na, K, BUN/Cr, WBC, Arrhythmia, length of stay poisoning type and outcome was extract from patients files and recorded checklists. The total numbers of poisoned patients in ICUs were 250 with a mean age was 25.25±5.4 years. 55.6% of patients were males and 44.4% were females. considering motivation, 86.8%of cases were intentional and 13.2% accidental The average of confinement days in ICU was 2.3±2.2 days. In total 29 patients died. The most common type of poisoning was multidrug followed by TCAs, opioids, benzodiazepines and agriculture toxins. Motivation and poisoning types were significantly related. Most accidental poisonings were caused by toxic mushrooms, alcohol or opium overdose, and snake bites and the most common reason for poisoning deaths was agricultural toxic. Totally 1% of all poisoned patients have died which is similar to global standards.

Artifical sourace of radiation have increased worldwide average annual exposure of mankind and could especially affect rapidly dividing cells in gonads. Since, radiation sensitivities of different components of primordial follicles, and the time required for their deplation have not been morphologically eatablished we decided to estimate the time required for depletion of primordial follicles and to analyze the morphological changes in primordial follicles after gamma irradiation in rats ovaries. 108-Female albino rats of 3 weeks age were divided into three groups. Out of them, 36 animals received 4.5 Gray, and 36 received 8.3 Gray of gamma radiation while rest received sham radiation. Then their Ovaries were dissected at 2hrs, 4hrs, 6hrs, one day, 7 days and 14 days after irradiation. Histological examination of five random sections of each ovary was performed. The stockpile of primordial follicles almost depleted within 24 hours. The pool of primordial follicles was greatly suppressed after irradiation showing primordial follicles radiosensitivity. Intense necrosis was evident with karyorrhexis and karyolysis in nucleus of oocyte while effects on granulosa cells were little and they increased the bulk of interstitial tissues. Gamma ionizing radiation induces intense and rapid necrotic degeneration of oocyte in primordial ovarian follicles. The granulosa cells of degenerated primordial follicle increase the bulk of ovarian interstitial tissue. Resultant ovaries do not have enough follicular reserve for ovulatory process which may lead to early cessation of menstruation and eventually infertility.

Scorpion venoms contain a variety of peptides, toxic to mammals، insects and crustaceans and are the main factors in scorpion venom toxicity (their amount being 1-3% of total venom). Most of the scorpion toxins have been isolated from the venoms of scorpions in the Buthidae family. The scorpion Buthotus Schach of this family is widely found in the western regions of Iran, but no published articles has studied its venom properties. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to isolate and purify mammalian toxin from the venom of the scorpion Buthotus Schach present in Iran. The crude venom was dialyzed against deionized water for 48 hours and centrifuged in order to separate soluble proteins from the insoluble mucoproteins, and then the soluble proteins were applied to a Sephadex G-50 gel filtration. The toxicity of each fraction was determined by I. V injection to mice and toxic fraction was further purified by two steps ion-exchange and RP-HPLC chromatography. The purity of the final toxic protein fractions was checked and confirmed by RP-HPLC column & SDS-PAGE. LD50 of crude venom in mice was 84µg/mice and contained at least 20 peptides from high molecular weight to low molecular weight of which only one showed toxicity to mice and was isolated and purified as one neurotoxin, termed BS413. LD50 of this toxin was 3. 67 µg/mice with a molecular weight of 6700 Da, determined by SDS-PAGE. This study showed that the main factor in the toxicity of scorpion (Buthotus Schach) venom is a low molecular weight neuritoxic peptide.

Nowadays, advancements in industries, technology and human welfare level have lead to accumulation of solid wastes and have endangered environmental health. Incorrect waste management intensifies this problem. Recycling and composting (transformation of organic waste to humus) are the most important ways in waste management. Health and safety of the compost is an important issue because presence of heavy metals and toxic organic compounds in compost can be toxic for human or plants. This study is conducted to determine the amount of heavy metals in products of Khomein Compost Factory, then the results are compared with the standards. For sampling we created cutting halfway through the windrow in the five points (by tractor or hand spade). We selected 3 points in each cutting and took 5 samples from each point, weighing 1kg to 1.5kg. The samples were transferred to 20 liter containers and were mixed thoroughly. The mean of concentrations of lead, cadmium, mercury, and chromium in the compost samples in 18.2±3.3. On the whole, the concentration of heavy metals in compost was within the standard limits. We can further decrease this toxic waste by processes such as source separation.