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Background & Objective: Monitoring the depth of anesthesia is very important to prevent undesirable events during surgery, such as intra operative awareness and overdosing. It is shown that anesthetic agents have direct effects on synaptic activity of brain neurons. So there is a great interest on electroencephalogram analysis as a depth of anesthesia estimator. Due to difficulties in visual explanation of EEG, automatic and computer based signal processing methods have been used to assess the depth of anesthesia. Investigating the relationship between conscious level of patients and electrical activity of brain neurons was the main aim of this study. Materials & Methods: In this study, EEG signals of six patients undergoing aortic valve replacement surgery have been acquired and recorded in a computer. After applying signal processing methods to these data, 3 different measures included temporal, spectral and bispectral parameters have been extracted. Mean values of mentioned parameters in different anesthetic regimens and levels have been analyzed by ANOVA in SPSS software. Results: Extracted temporal parameter is correlated with depth of anesthesia in deep anesthetic levels and spectral one is correlated with depth of anesthesia in moderate and light levels (P<0.05). Bispectral parameter is correlated with the depth of anesthesia only in ICU (P<0.05). Conclusion: Findings of this study confirm the relationship between consciousness and electrical activity of brain neurons and recommend the use of EEG processing techniques to monitor, control and estimate the depth of anesthesia in operating room and ICU ward.

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Neurofibromatosis type1 (NF1) with the incidence of 1 in 3500 births, is the most common disorder which affects skin and peripheral nervous system. NF1 results from mutations in NF1 gene. The NF1 gene spans 350kbp and to date, nearly 2434 mutations in it were reported. The gene with 100 percent penetrance is located on chromosome 17 encoding neurofibromin protein. Recently, many challenges of its genetic analysis have been overcome through the application of new sequencing techniques. In present study patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 have been characterized from clinical symptoms such as presence of café au lait spot, plexiform neurofibroma, optic nerves involvement, presence of several patients in first degree relatives. These patients were in different ages including 73, 63, 44, 20 with different symptoms and severities of disease. In this communication, a NF1 family with 4 cases in 3 generations has been presented.

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Background and Objective: Depression is the most common psychiatric diagnosis. It causes major health problems. Women are more likely to develop depression than men. This study was done to investigate the effect of group mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on reducing depression and improving the quality of life of female students.
Methods: This quasi-experimental study was performed on 26 female students. Students non-randomly were divided into control and intervention groups. Students in intervention group were received the two periods (8 sessions, 2 hours at week) of training in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. All the participants filled out Beck depression inventory II (BDI-II) and World Health Organization Quality of Life – BREF (WHOQOL-BREF) in perior and after the study.
Results: In the intervention group the mean and standard deviation of pre-test and post-test scores of BDI-II was 20.23±6.98 and 13.38±4.97, respectively (P<0.05). In the intervention group, mean and standard deviation of pre-test and post-test scores of WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire was 66.77±13.39 and 86.84±10.60, respectively (P<0.05). Also, the mean scores of post-test of quality of life in all subgroups items  was significantly increased in compared to the pre-test in the intervention group (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy increases the quality of life and reduced depression in female students.

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Background and Objective: Eotaxin is a pre-inflammatory adipokinin secreted from adipose tissue that plays an important role in function regulating of adipose tissue. This study was done to determine the effect of high-intensity interval training on the gene expression of eotaxin in visceral adipose tissue and insulin resistance following metabolic syndrome in rats.
Methods: In this experimental study, 40 male Wistar rats (weight 180±20 gr) were selected and after 12 weeks of high-fat diet and the creation of the metabolic syndrome model were randomly divided into four groups including  control, metabolic syndrome, High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and metabolic syndrome with HIIT. Rats in the high-fat diet were subjected to a special diet (30 to 40% fat) for 12 weeks to develop a model of metabolic syndrome. HIIT consisted of 5 to 10 interval 1-minute intensive running on treadmill at 80 to 95% of maximum speed and in slow alternations at 55% of maximum speed for 8 weeks. Insulin resistance using HOMA-IR mode is considered as a basic factor for determining metabolic syndrome.
Results: The gene expression of eotaxin and insulin resistance in the metabolic syndrome group were significantly higher than the control group (P<0.05). Gene expression of eotaxin and insulin resistance was significantly lower in HIIT and metabolic syndrome with HIIT groups than the metabolic syndrome group (P<0.05). Also, the gene expression of eotaxin and insulin resistance was significantly lower in HIIT group than the metabolic syndrome with HIIT group.
Conclusion: It seems that HIIT may be an important factor in down-regulating eotaxin and insulin resistance in metabolic syndrome.

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Background and Objective: Major depression is a common disease in the world, which is associated with cognitive impairment. Executive functions are among the cognitive functions that are influenced by major depression. This study was conducted to comprehensively evaluate the executive functions of people with major depressive disorder and normal people using the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB).
Methods: This case-control study was conducted on 13 patients with major depressive disorder and 13 normal individuals aged 21 to 35 years who were referred to psychology and psychiatry centers in Tehran (Iran) in 2019. The subjects were randomly selected from six centers in four districts of Tehran and then divided into an experimental group and a healthy control group. Both groups were subjected to cognitive assessment using the CANTAB, n-back test as well as Daneman and Carpenter's working memory sentences.
Results: The mean of executive functions was significantly lower in people with major depressive disorder compared to their healthy counterparts (P<0.05). When examining the components of executive functions in both the experimental and control groups, there was a significant increase in the shifting in the total number of errors and the inhibition component in direction errors. In addition, there was a statistically significant decrease in the updating component in errors 1 and error 2 and an increase in time 2. Furthermore, there was a significant increase in the component of working memory maintenance in error as well as the planning component in the average delay (response speed) to the first choice, to correct the error and a decrease in working memory manipulation (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Our findings indicate that the executive functions of people with major depressive disorder are lower than healthy counterparts according to the CANTAB.
 

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Background and Objective: Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most common causes of bacterial keratitis and conjunctivitis. This study was done to determine the efficacy of fluoroquinolones on Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains isolated from external ocular infections.
Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 187 pateiants (2 months to 61 years old) with symptoms of conjunctivitis and keratitis who were hospitalized or referred to the emergency department of hospitals in Golestan and Mazandaran provinces, Iran during 2020-22. The samples were taken from the external infection of the patients’ eyes. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates were identified by standard phenotypic microbiological and molecular detection (PCR) methods. The broth microdilution method determined sensitivity to quinolones and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) in the 0.06-64 μg/ml range.
Results: The frequency of ocular MRSA isolates (n=52) was significantly higher in spring, females and patients aged 1-30 years (P<0.05). Among the MRSA isolates causing conjunctivitis, the highest rates of resistance were observed against ciprofloxacin (n=18, 48.64%), enoxacin (n=17, 45.95 %), and ofloxacin (n=17, 45.95%). The MIC of gemifloxacin that inhibited the growth of 90% of MRSA isolates from conjunctivitis (MIC90=0.25 μg/ml) was 32-fold lower than that of ciprofloxacin.
Conclusion: Depending on the season and age, staphylococcus aureus may be the most common cause of bacterial conjunctivitis and keratitis. Considering the in vitro antibacterial potential of gemifloxacin, this antibiotic can be used to treat the bacterial external eye infections.