mahla babaie

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) causes brain atrophy at the early stages of the disease which leads to progressive motor and cognitive dysfunction. Brain atrophy can be diagnosed indirectly by measuring the Third Ventricle Diameter (TVD) using Trans Cranial Sonography (TCS). The purpose of the current study was evaluation of TVD in MS patients using TCS to examine its possible correlation with cognitive dysfunction and Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS). Seventy-four patients with a definite diagnosis of MS were enrolled in this study. Transverse diameter of the third ventricle was measured using TCS. All patients were assessed by neurological examination and the level of disability was measured via EDSS. The cognitive performance was assessed by the Brief  International Cognitive Assessment for Multiple Sclerosis (BICAMS). Pearson’s correlation was performed to evaluate possible correlations and p-value<0.05 was considered statistically significant.  From the total 74 individuals, 58.1% were diagnosed with Relapse-Remitting MS (RRMS) (n=43) and 43.9% with Secondary-Progressive MS (SPMS) (n=31). The mean EDSS score was 1.81±1.38 (Range of 0-10). The mean TVD was 5.61±1.82 cm which had no statistical correlation with the EDSS score, but it was significantly wider in group with EDSS score>3 when compared to the group with EDSS score≤3 (p-value=0.0001). The mean BICAMS score was 0.65±0.57 and there was no statistical correlation between BICAMS score and TVD.  Measuring the diameter of the third ventricle using TCS appears to be an appropriate method to diagnose brain atrophy and is associated with cognitive dysfunction in the process of MS. Our data emphasized no association between the diameter of the third ventricle and cognitive dysfunction.

 The blink reflex recovery cycle indicates the excitability of interneurons in the brainstem. In this study, we aimed to investigate the blink reflex and R2 recovery cycle in patients with benign essential blepharospasm (BEB).

 This prospective case-control study compared the blink reflex and R2 recovery in 18 BEB patients with 18 age- and gender-matched healthy individuals. The blink reflex was measured in a stimulation duration of 0.2 ms, and R1, R2, and R2’ were recorded for all subjects. The R2 recovery cycle was measured by stimulation of the supraorbital nerve at four interstimulus intervals (ISI) of 200, 300, 500, and 1000 ms, with the same intensity as the previous test. The R2 recovery index was calculated and compared with the control group via independent sample t-test. Two-tailed P-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

 The blink reflex (R1, R2, and R2’ responses) distal latencies and amplitudes in the BEB group were not significantly different from the control group (P>0.05). The R2 recovery index in all intervals was significantly higher in the BEB group than the control group (P=0.00). The most significant difference between the BEB and control groups regarding the R2 recovery indices was observed at ISIs of 300 and 200 ms (80.36 vs. 16.99 and 75.70 vs. 12.57, respectively). There was a negative correlation between the patient’s age at the onset of disease and the R2 recovery index; however, it was not statistically significant (P>0.05).

 Our findings showed that the R2 recovery reflex was higher in BEB patients than the normal population. Therefore, it can be a helpful index for differentiating BEB cases from psychogenic or malingering ones.

 We evaluated the brain computed tomography (CT) scan findings of children with abnormal neurologic recovery during the postoperative period for corrective/palliative congenital heart surgery.

 This study was conducted at a referral educational pediatric hospital from May 2015 to May 2016. We included patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) who underwent corrective/palliative cardiac surgery presenting with abnormal neurologic recovery in the early postoperative period. We recorded the demographic data, past medical history, surgery details, type of neurological disorders leading to a brain CT scan, and postoperative coagulopathy.

 From among 734 cardiac surgeries from May 2015 to May 2016, 40 (5.44%) patients with abnormal neurologic recovery were assessed by brain CT scans. Among them, 55% were male and 45% were female with a mean age of 14.6 months. The most frequent heart anomaly was the transposition of great arteries (27.5%), which is known as the most common cause of cardiac surgery in the first month of life. Seizure (67.5%) was the most common neurologic manifestation and had the highest predictive value for the presence of an abnormal finding in the brain CT scan (91.3%). Intracranial hemorrhage, specifically subarachnoid hemorrhage, was the most frequent underlying pathology in brain CT scans of patients presenting with seizure. The most common findings in brain CT scans included subarachnoid hemorrhage (82.6%), intraparenchymal hemorrhage (26.08%), and ischemic infarction (17.39%). Data showed that a bypass time of over 180 min could significantly increase the probability of abnormal brain CT scan findings (P value = 0.03), particularly intra-parenchymal hemorrhage (P value = 0.016). The presence of coagulopathy concomitant with seizure would significantly increase the possibility of abnormal brain CT scan findings due to an acute neurologic event (P value = 0.049).

 This study showed seizure as the most common neurologic manifestation in the early postoperative period of cardiac surgery and the intracranial hemorrhage as the most common underlying pathology in patients with neurologic symptoms. Seizure in patients with coagulopathy should be considered as a great concern for physicians to evaluate acute neurologic events more precisely.

The aim of this study was to determine the baseline statistics of intussusception in the under-five- year age group in Iran to facilitate the monitoring of potential side effects after administration of rotavirus vaccine.

This hospital-based historical cohort study reviewed children under 60 months of age with the final diagnosis of intussusception, ICD-10 code K56.1, using census in all hospitals of Tehran, Iran from March 2010-2015. Demographic (sex, age, hospital stay duration), clinical manifestations (such as currant jelly stool, abdominal pain, vomiting, and fever),diagnostic and treatment methods (contrast enema, ultrasonography, laparotomy, and laparoscopy), and outcome data of patients aged less than 5 years with the diagnosis of intussusception were collected and analyzed using SPSS Version 16.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA)

In this study, 759 patients were diagnosed with intussusception; 309 (40.7%) cases were less than 12 months old. The annual incidence of intussusception was 66.54 cases per 100.000 in children less than one-year-old and 31.61 cases per 100.000 in children less than five years old. The most common symptoms and signs were abdominal pain/irritability (94.2%) and tenderness (24.2%), respectively. The diagnostic method was ultrasound in 75.9% of cases. The most frequent anatomic location was the ileocolic region (87.87%) and the most common treatment method was barium enema.

This research has provided a baseline statistic for childhood intussusception in Tehran prior to the administration of the rotavirus vaccine to provide a better comparison with post-introduction data.

To determine the molecular and cellular mechanisms of spinal cord regeneration in zebrafish.
Medical databases of PubMed and Scopus were searched with following key words: Zebrafish; spinal cord injuries; regeneration; recovery of function. The map of mechanisms was performed using Xmind software.
Wnt/ß-catenin signaling, L1.1, L1.2, Major vault protein (MVP), contactin-2 and High mobility group box1 (HMGB1) had positive promoting effects on axonal re-growth while Ptena had an inhibitory effect. Neurogenesis is stimulated by Wnt/ß-catenin signaling as well as HMGB1, but inhibited by Notch signaling. Glial cells proliferate in response to fibroblast growth factor (fgf) signaling and Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA). Furthermore, fgf signaling pathway causes glia bridge formation in favor of axonal regeneration. LPA and HMGB1 in acute phase stimulate inflammatory responses around injury and suppress regeneration. LPA also induces microglia activation and neuronal death in addition to glia cell proliferation, but prevents neurite sprouting.
This study provides a comprehensive review of the known molecules and mechanisms in the current literature involved in the spinal cord injury (SCI) regeneration in zebrafish, in a time course manner. A better understanding of the whole determining mechanisms for the SCI regeneration should be considered as a main goal for future studies.