Galen Medical journal
Volume:3 Issue: 2, 2014

In this article we review the application and procedures involved in scanning electron microscope (SEM) to observe biological and live tissues through using SEM at high resolution. We discuss practical methods for optimizing tissue preservation to achieve the two principal goals of biological specimen preparation: (a) preserving biological structures as close to their living configuration as possible, and (b) rendering them visible with the desired imaging method. We also review and discuss the relative merits of different fixing (chemical fixation and cryofixation), drying (air-drying, critical point-drying, freeze-drying and chemical-drying) and coating procedures of biological specimens with metals to facilitate visualization in the SEM.

Facial harmony and beauty make people attractive. One of the important parts that has a significant role in esthetics is the position of maxillary and mandibular bones. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of different positions of both jaws on esthetic preferences among health professionals and laypersons. Two colored photographs of e profile were selected among one-hundred patients by evaluating the soft tissue parameters. Photographs were changed with Onyx-ceph software. All soft tissue landmarks of lower 3rd part of the profiles were displaced in the horizontal plane by 2mm intervals relative to the true vertical plane. We selected different group of people as judges, who were lay persons (N=100), general dentists (N=100), plastic surgeons (N=25), orthodontists (N=25), and maxillofacial surgeons (N=24); and asked them to select their preferred profile and acceptable anterior and posterior limits. ANOVA and LSD post-hoc tests were carried out to determine the differences among the responses of groups. No significant differences were found among the judges´ opinion regarding the most attractive profile. Ranges for male photographs were statistically different in evaluators groups. A wider range was accepted for the male subject by plastic surgeons and general dentists which was significant comparing to laypersons (P<0.05). All of the evaluators selected the straight profile as the most preferred one. However, the range of acceptability was the narrowest in the layperson group in comparison with plastic surgeons and general dentists. Gender of the judges did not have an impact on their selections.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of apple cider vinegar plus PPI-based triple therapy on eradication of Helicobacter Pylori (H.pylori) infection. 116 patients with H. pylori infection were included in this randomized clinical trial. Patients in control group (n=59) received amoxicillin, clarithromycin, and pantaprazole twice daily. Patients in study group (57 patients) received the same regimen plus 30 mL of apple cider vinegar twice daily. The duration of therapy for study and control were 10 and 14 days respectively. Four weeks after the completion of therapy, Urea breath test was performed to assess the success of H.pylori infection eradication. 86% of patients in control group in comparison to 88% in apple cider vinegar group responded to eradication therapy (P=0.41). Addition of apple cider vinegar to proton pomp inhibitor (PPI)-based triple therapy may decrease the duration of H. pylori treatment but it was not statistically significant. Thus, our results showed no efficacy of apple cider vinegar in H. pylory eradication treatment.

In anterior endodontically treated teeth a better esthetic can be achieved by using all-ceramic post -core restorations instead of metal post systems. Maximum retention and fracture resistance of the post are the criteria upon which selection of a post system is based. The aim of this study was to evaluate the fracture resistance and retention of two all-ceramic post and core systems including IPS Empress 2 post-core system and IPS Empress 2 core connected to Zirconium Cosmopost, and comparing these features among the two groups Eighty extracted maxillary central incisors and canines were divided into two groups of 40 including IPS Empress 2 and zirconium Cosmopost. To evaluate retention, shear force was applied to the cement at the crosshead speed of 0.5 mm/min; force was applied until the post was detached from the canal. To measure the fracture resistance, the samples were loaded at 45-degrees to the horizon at the crosshead speed of 5 mm/min until fracture occurred. The mean fracture strength and standard deviation of zirconium Cosmopost and IPS Empress 2 were 302.10 N (69.922), 151.63 N (48.661), respectively. The difference between groups was significant statistically (P<0.001). The zirconium Cosmoposts had lower retention than IPS Empress2 dowel-core, but the difference between groups was insignificant (p =0.134). Within the limitations of the study, it could be concluded that zirconium Cosmopost system may be a candidate for the restoration of anterior endodontically treated teeth, as the high fracture toughness and propitious esthetic feature.

Cardiac rehabilitation is known as a powerful non-pharmacological approach for improving functional capacity, and left ventricular systolic function; however, some limited data have suggested an attenuation of the decline in diastolic function with this program. This study investigated the effect of high intensity aerobic exercise following coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) on diastolic dysfunction. Forty four patients with different levels of diastolic dysfunction who underwent CABG surgery were included. The participants attended the complete cardiac rehabilitation program three times per week for two months (totally 24 sessions). The patients underwent complete transthoracic echocardiographic studies including two-dimensional and spectral Doppler echocardiography immediately before attending rehabilitation program and also after the completion of rehabilitation sessions. There was a significant decrease of isovolumic relaxation time (IVRT) after participating complete cardiac rehabilitation (94.0 to 89.0; P=0.001). The diastolic function parameters of early diastolic mitral inflow peak velocity to late diastolic mitral inflow peak velocity (E/A) ratio (0.94 to 1.04; P=0.001), deceleration time (DT) of the mitral E wave (192.7 to 219.0; P=0.011), and velocity of early diastolic mitral annular motion (Ea) (5.9 to 6.7; P=0.026) were improved after the rehabilitation, whereas mitral A duration to pulmonary A duration (MAD/PAD) ratio was slightly improved (1.07 to 1.12; P=0.056) and pulmonary veins systolic flow to pulmonary vein diastolic flow (PVS/PVD) ratio (0.89 to 1.04; P=0.345) remained unchanged. A complete cardiac rehabilitation program with high intensity aerobic exercise approach can reverse diastolic impairment in patients undergoing CABG.

Biliary atresia is a 100% fatal disorder without any treatment in infants as a leading cause of cirrhosis and Kasai operation, as the only operative choice, which plays a crucial role in increasing their rate of survival. Nonetheless, many patients end up with liver transplantation in the future owing to various inevitable hepatic and biliary problems which do remain after the Kasai operation. In this study, we aimed to assess the prognosis and influential factors on the outcome of this procedure on children attending Shiraz Namazi Hospital.Patients and A database of medical records of 61 patients (F=41, M=20) with biliary atresia, aged between 30 to 100 days (65.27±18 days) at the time of operation, who had undergone the Kasai operation in Shiraz Namazi Hospital from 2001 to 2010 was examined in a retrospective review. Risk factors of failure (death and liver transplantation) were analyzed by Kaplan-Meier test. Age at the operation time, type of atresia, and dilatation of the bile ducts were identified as the risk factors; 29 patients had signs of hepatomegaly, 6 patients had liver transplantation. Among them, 3 survived. Of the patients, 61% with biliary atresia survived for more than 5 years with their native liver while the overall survival rate among 52 patients was 85.30±5.96 months. Postoperative care and regular checkups should be considered for all survivors as a lifelong procedure to prevent any possibilities of future hepatic deterioration.

Isolation of high quality genomic DNA is one of the most important steps in molecular biology studies related to food borne parasites. Usually, various protocols are used for different tissues but so far, there is no common, simple and cost benefit procedure for genomic DNA extraction of Linguatula serrata (L. serrata.) larvae as a Pentastomida endangering food safety. One of the procedures used in other studies is using commercial kits that are very expensive especially for developing countries which have this health problem. This study investigated a simple and cost-benefit method to extract genomic DNA form L. serrata. In this study, after collection of larvae from sheep, washing was done with phosphate buffer saline. The samples were grinded and incubated in lysis buffer at 56ºC overnight. The precipitation was done in absolute ethanol. Extracted DNA was analyzed using Agarose gel Electrophoresis and Spectrophotometery. Results indicated that the mean concentration of extracted DNA was 59.3±2.84 ng/μl, and the mean ratio of A(260)/ (280) was 1.6±0.3. It seems that the efficacy of this modified extraction method for L. serrata is appropriate. In conclusion, this simple, cost-effective, fast and easy to use method could replace inexpensive commercial kits in molecular laboratories for DNA extraction of Pentastomida and some other similar tissues. So, application of this analytical method could be useful to improve the safety of food especially liver and other meat products.

Neurobrucellosis is a rare complication of brucellosis. Acute meningitis and encephalitis are the most common clinical manifestations; however, symptoms of these two conditions may be subacute and diagnosis requires a high index of suspicion in patients from endemic areas. Diagnosis is often based on neurological symptoms, serology, and suggestive brain imaging because cerebrospinal fluid culture yields are low.Case report: Herein we report a 30 year old female a known case of MS (Multiple Sclerosis) who presented with ataxia and agitation, in physical examination the patient had ataxic gait and decreased concentration, Brain MRI showed significant brain atrophy and hydrocephaly. Laboratory workups showed a lymph dominant leukocytosis. ESR and CRP rose significantly. CSF (Cerebrospinal fluid) was obtained and sent for cell count and chemistry analysis. The CSF analysis showed 1734 mg/dl protein, 254 leukocytes (80% lymphocyte). Complete blood count (CBC) showed lymph dominant leukocytosis. Wright test in CSF was positive. Accordingly Neurobrucellosis was considered as the cause. Due to several of immunomodulating or immunosuppressive treatments in the patients with MS, and Chronic suppression of cell-mediated immunity these patients may be more prone to infections. So in such patients careful evaluation of clinical findings are of great importance.

Urticaria is a skin disease characterized by pruritic edematous lesions also called wheals. Although these lesions are self-limited they may result in lowered quality of life index. By far, the most recognized mechanisms that trigger the progression of this condition are hypersensitivity reactions. As an herbal therapy, Plantago major has been named in several references of Persian traditional medicine with effective properties in ameliorating urticarial symptoms. In this study we aimed to investigate whether Plantago major has the potential to be used clinically in treatment of urticaria according to the current knowledge about the plant effects.A combination of “Plantago major” and other terms related to urticarial therapy such as “mast cell”, “anti-inflammatory”, “prostaglandin”, “histamine” and “IgE” that may have possible role in progression or suppression of urticaria was searched in Google Scholar and PubMed as the reference databases.Eleven articles discussing either the direct role of Plantago major or any of its constituents in urticarial related bimolecular pathways were selected.Review of the selected articles indicated that Plantago major can effectively suppress many of hypersensitivity reactions which are also contributors in the pathophysiology of urticaria development. Further clinical trials are needed to prove the efficacy of this herbal treatment.

Many studies suggested that fractals could be brought in any structural anarchy, such as cancers, for diagnosis and prognosis evaluation by quantifying it and expressing it in terms of fractal geometry. In this study, we aimed to evaluate pathologic grades or breast carcinomas by fractal analysis. This cross-sectional study was performed on 60 women with breast ductal carcinoma. From all the patients some photographs from the smears with pathological standard and with a digital camera were taken to analyze them by MATLAB software via Box-Counting method. The used analytical methods were ANOVA and T tests. There was a significant association between fractal count and the pathological grade (P<0.05). According to the findings of this study, fractal count was a prognostic indicator in breast cancer patients. However, we recommended performing further studies with higher sample size and in other types of cancers.