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Background & Objective: Job satisfaction is the one of factors that affected by leadership style of managers and can effect on health organization practice. The aim of this study was to determine relation between leadership styles of nursing managers and rate of nursing employees' job satisfaction.

 

Materials & Methods: This cross-sectional study was done on 720 nursing employees of Gorgan Medical teaching centers during 2006. Leadership style and job satisfaction were main variables of study. Data gathering tools were questionnaire of demographic characters, job satisfaction and standardized Bark's leadership style. Gathered data were analyzed by c², Mann-Whitney and ANOVA statistical tests.

 

Results: The most of participants (74.3%) were women, nurses (86.6%) with the mean age of 32.7±7.32 years. The rate of satisfaction in the most of nursing employees (79.8%) was low and moderate. 63.2% of participates believed that their nursing managers had transactional leadership style and 34.9% of them said nursing managers apply transformational leadership method. Data analysis showed that nursing managers have transactional leadership, had higher job satisfaction rate (88.01 V.S 86.36). This difference was not significant.

 

Conclusion: This study showed that, there is not statistical relation between leadership styles of nursing managers and rate of nursing employees' job satisfaction.

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Background & Objective: In addition to pyramidal neurons and interneurons, the hippocampus contains Astrocytes that play important roles in regulating ion flux currents, energy production, neurotransmitter release and memory. Learning needs some instrument for information storage and information maintenances mechanisms resemble to memory. The aim of this study was determination of spatial memory effect on the number of astrocytes in rat’s hippocampus. Materials & Methods: In this experimental study, with usage of Morris Water Maze and Reference memory technique, we used 10 male albino wistar rats. 5 rats were in control group and 5 rats in Reference memory group. After histological preparation, the slides were stained with PTAH staining for showing the Astrocytes. Results: The findings of this study showed significant difference in astrocytes number in CA1, CA2 and CA3 area of hippocampus between control and reference memory group. The mean and SD of astrocytes in CA1, CA2 and CA3 of reference memory group were 118.57±25.29, 58.91±23.59 and 116.6±31.14, that they are more than control group with 49±17.29 in CA1, 48.8±25.21 in CA2 and 41.95±11.22 in CA3. Conclusion: We concluded that the number of astrocytes increased due to spatial learning (e.g. reference memory method).

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Background and Objective: In recent years, the efficacy of low-fat diet has been questioned. One potential adverse effect of reduced dietary fat is a compensatory increase in the consumption of high glycemic index carbohydrate, principally refined starchy foods and concentrated sugar. Such foods other can be rapidly digested or transformed into glucose, causing a large increase in post-prandial blood glucose and insulin level. Review studies have generally found an inverse association between glycemic index and satiety. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of low-glycemic index diet versus low-fat diet on the body weight, body mass index, the percent of body fat mass and waist-hip ratio of obese women. Materials and Methods: In this randomized controlled trial study, 46 obese women with BMI>27 and 18-55 year old randomly divided into low-glycemic index and low-fat diet groups during the course of study and after 6-weeks, body mas index, body fat mass and waist-hip ratio were measured. Data analyzed with t student, t paired student tests. Results: Body weight, BMI, waist - hip ratio, and Triceps skinfold, biceps skinfold, subscapular skinfold, abdominal skinfold decreased significantly in both diet groups. After 6-weeks significant difference was not observed in percent of body fat mass between two dietary groups. Conclusion: This study showed that both low-glycemic index and low-fat diets can equally be effective in body fat, BMI and waist - hip ratio.

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Background and Objective: Memory is an especial ability of brain in which saves the information and reuptake it. The memory is depended on hippocampus and amigdal. The neuronal density of hippocampus and amigdal have direct effect on their physiological functions. Cannabis sativa is belongs to Cannabinaceae family that Tetrahidrocanabinol is important component of this plant. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of alcoholic extract of Cannabis sativa on CA1, CA2 and CA3 subfeilds of hippocampus neuronal density in male Rats.

Materials and Methods: This experimental study was performed on 18 male Rats with (250-320gr) weight and 3 month old in faculty of science, Islamic Azad University of Mashhad, Iran (2010-2011). At first the alcoholic extraction was provided by the soxhlet method of the seed of this plant with coded 2548. Eighteen male wistar Rats were allocated into 2 experimental groups (25,75mg/kg of alcoholic extract of Cannabis sativa) and one control group. Alcoholic extract of Cannabis sativa was injected intraperitonealy (I.P.) in experimental groups for two weeks (every week one injection). After four weeks animal was decapitated and their brain dissected, fixed in 10% formalin, sectioned in 7μm thickness and stained by toluidin blue. By applying stereological techniques and systematic random sampling scheme the neuronal density of hippocampus were estimated.

Results: Neuronal density in control and treated with alcoholic extract (25,75mgkg) CA1 was 17982, 26750 and 22801 respectively. Neuronal density in CA2 was 19171, 26750 and 22801 respectively and also in CA3 was 19391, 24043, 28571 respectively. Neuronal density in CA1, CA2 and CA3 of hippocampus in treated groups with alcoholic extract (25,75mgkg) was significantly increased in comparision with controls (P<0.01).

Conclusion: This study determined that the alcoholic extract of Cannabis sativa can induce hippocampus neurogenesis which is not dose depended.

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Background and Objective: Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common serious metabolic disorders characterized by hyperglycemia, altered metabolism of lipids, carbohydrates and proteins. Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), affects 3.5–5% of all human pregnancy. Therefore, this study was done to evaluate the effect of gestational diabetes on astrocyte density in CA1 and CA3 subfields of hippocampus in rat male offspring.

Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, 12 Wistar Dams rats were randomly allocated in control and diabetic groups. Gestational diabetes induced by 40 mg/kg/body weight of streptozotocin at the first day of gestation (GD) in experimental group and controls were received an equivalent volume normal saline injection intraperitoneally (IP). Six male offspring of cases and controls dams, at the 7, 21 postnatal day (P7, P21) were randomly selected. Animals were scarified using chloroform anesthesia. The coronal sections of brain by 6 micrometer serially were prepared. The sections were stained with PTAH. The number of astrocytes was evaluated in 100000 μm² area of CA1 and CA3 in 1000X magnification. Data was analyzed by SPSS-11.5 and t-test.

Results: In CA1 subfield of hippocampus in offspring, the number of astrocytes  significantly reduced by 36.25% and 36.37% in diabetic group in compare to controls in the P7 and P21, respectively (P<0.05). In CA3, astrocytes density significantly reduced 36.35% and 26.5% in GD in comparison with controls in the P7 and P21, respectively (P<0.05).

Conclusion: This study showed that the uncontrol gestational diabetes significantly reduces astrocytes density in CA1 and CA3 subfields of hippocampus in rat offspring.

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Background and Objective: Ischemia-reperfusion invoke cell death in hippocampus. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of transforming growth factor alpha (TGF-alpha) of dentyte jyrus neurons and pyramidal cells of CA1 subfiled of hippocampus following ischemia-reperfusion in rat models. Materials and Methods: This experimental study was done on 40 male Wistar rats weighing 250-300gr. Animals were divided in four groups: control (n=7), sham (n=7), ischemia (n=14) and treatment (n=14). Sham group was just under surgical stress. In ischemia and treatment groups after induction of ischemia-reperfiusion by obstruction of carotid arteries blocked for 30 minutes, reperfusion PBS (phosphate buffer salin) and subsequently TGF-alpha (50 ng) were injected stereotaxicaly in lateral ventricle, respectively. In 12 and 72 days after treatment the brains were fixated by transcardial perfusion and stained by immunohistochemestry and nissle methods. Furthermore, morris water maze was used to evaluate the learning memory. Data were analyzed using SPSS-16 and ANOVA test. Results: Injection of TGF-alpha increased the cell number in hippocampus of treatment group compared to ischemic group. TGF-alpha increased expression of neuron in dentyte jyrus of treatment group in comparison with ischemic group (P<0.05). Also spatial memory improved in treatment group in comparison with ischemia group. Conclusion: TGF-alpha improves ischemia-induced neurodegenration and memory impairment.

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Background and Objective: Considering the role of the hippocampus in memory, this study was done to evaluate the effect of 3-4,methylenedioxymethamphetamine on CA1 hippocampal neurons in male rats. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study 18 sprague dawley male rats (200-250g) were randomly allocated into three groups as follow: control (intact), control sham and experimental groups. Sham and experimental groups were received normal salin (1 cc) and MDMA10mg/kg IP for 7 days, respectively. Following transcardial perfusion by paraformaldehid 4%, structure and ultrastructure of right CA1 hippocampus were assessed by crysel violet staining and electronic microscope. Data were analyzed using SPSS-16, ANOVA and Tukey tests. Results: There was no significant difference between control (mean=210±40.38) and sham groups (mean=199±38.7) in neuron density. Neuron number decreased significantly in experimental group (mean=98±25.4) in compare to control and sham groups (P<0.001). There was no ultrastructural abnormality in control and sham groups. Finally, ultrastructural changes with apoptosis characterized by mitochondrial cristae reduction, distribution of nuclear chromatin and loss of cytoplasmic organelles in MDMA groups. Conclusion: This study shows that MDMA administration can stimulate the cell death with apoptotic pattern in hippocampus.

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Background and Objective: The first effect of stress on the immune system is usually a rapid increase in function which manifests itself by an increase in the number of inflammatory cytokines in blood. It is however, followed by a decrease of function in immunological response. During inflammation, the expression of hepcidin gene is increased in order to keep iron away from pathogens. This study was conducted to determine the effect of chronic mild stress on the expression of hepcidin gene in the hippocampus of the male adult rats. Materials and Methods: This experimental study was carried out on 30 adult male Wistar rats, weighing approximately 200-250 grams. They were randomly allocated into two groups of 15 rats: control and chronic mild stress group. Animals in intervention group were exposed to chronic mild stress for 3 weeks. At the end of the stress protocol, 2 ml blood sample was collected to measure the serum concentration of IL-6. Real time PCR method was used to investigate hepcidin expression in hippocampus. Data were analyzed using SPSS-16 and independent t-test. Results: The mean level of IL-6 was significantly higher in the CMS exposure group (27.98±0.84 pg/ml) than control group (18.29±1.18 pg/ml) (P<0.05). Hepcidin expression in the hippocampus of intervention group was significantly higher (2.69±0.226%) in compared to control group (1±0.105) (P<0.001). Conclusion: This study showed that chronic mild stress increases the expression of hepcidingene and the serum level of IL-6 in adult rats.

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Background and Objective: Reduction in cerebral blood flow following cereblal ischemia cause the production of oxygen free radicals and finally leads to brain tissue destruction. Pyramidal cells of the CA1 region of hippocampus are highly sensitive to hypoxic condition. This study was done to determine the effect of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and vitamine E on cellular density of CA1 hippocampal area, learning ability and memory, following ischemia - reperfusion injury in mice. Materials and Methods: This experimental study was done on 40 male mice in 5 groups as follow: sham control, ischemia, hCG treated, vitamine E treated and hCG + vitamine E treated groups. Single dose of vitamin E was injected intraperitonaly during the establishment of reperfusion and hCG was injected from 48h after ischemia for 5 days. Folowing the treatment period, mice brains were fixated by transcardial perfusion and stained by nissle method. The shuttle box was used to evaluate the learning memory. Results: Co-administartion of vitamine E and hCG, significantly increased the cell numbers in hippocampus compared to the ischemic group (P<0.001). Also learning and memory improved in treatment group in comparison with ischemia group (P<0.05). Conclusion: Co-administration of vitamin E and hCG improved ischemia-induced neurodegenration and memory impairment.

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Background and Objective: Stem cells are a suitable treatment method for improvement of central nervous system diseases. Neuron regeneration is occure in damaged region using stem cell transplantation. This study was done to determine the effect of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells on memory and neuronal cells graft number in the trimethyltin chloride damaged hippocampus. Methods: In this experimental study, 28 wistar male rats were allocated into four groups including control, model, Vehicle and treatment groups. Animals were received 8 mg/kg/bw of neurotoxin trimethyltin chloride by the intraperitoneal injection for causing damaged in hippocampus. One week after intraperitoneal injection of trimethyltin chloride, stem cells was injected by stereotaxy method. Six weeks after stem cells injection, the spatial memory was assessed by Morris water maze and histological studies were done by Nissl staining and normal cells count by Olysia bio report software. Results: After bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells graft, the number of normal cells were more in the treatment group (74±15.190) in compared to the Vehicle (44.67±12.971) and Model (48.56±18.105) groups (P<0.05). Also in Morris water maze test, the treatment group (387.35±189.18), (31.30±13.67) spent shorter distance and escape latency to reach the hidden platform, but this reduced non significantly in compared to Vehicle (438.18±192.56), (40.14±14.89) and model (407.98±225.44), (37.68±17.15) groups. The model and Vehicle groups spent longer distance to reach the hidden platform in comparision with the control (275.45±165.10) group (P<0.05). Also the traveled distance in target quarter had significant increased in the treatment groups (799.80±125.91) in compared to model (588.51±136.94) and Vehicle (546.48±86.47) groups (P<0.05). Conclusion: Using the bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells leads to reduce hippocampal lesions and increase the number of pyramidal neurons and improving memory in damaged hippocampus in animal model.

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Background and Objective: Muscles fatigue around the joint can altere the movment pattern and incrasing the risk of muscle damage. This study was done to determine the effect of hip abductor muscles fatigue on plantar pressure characteristics during stance phase of gait.

Methods:  This quasi-experimental studywas done on 22 males with age ranes of 15-21 years olds. Hip abduction protocol with 50% of one-repetition maximum was used to induce hip abductor muscles fatigue. Average pressure, plantar peak pressure, step duration and the plantar contact area in both feet distribution were collected using before and after the fatigue protocol during gait.

Results: Despite the relative reduction in average pressure, contact area and step duration and plantar increase in peak pressure after abductors fatigue, but these differences were not significant.

Conclusion: This study showed that the hip abductor muscles fatigue can not alter plantar pressure characteristics during stance phase of gait.

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Background and Objective: Stiffness and restricted range of movement (ROM) affect muscle balance and body alignment. The purpose of this research is the study the relationship between Iliopsoas tightness and hip active range of motion, extensor-flexor muscle strength and thoracolumbar curves.
Methods: This case-control study was carried out on 15 adolescent's male soccer players with short length of Iliopsoas muscle as case group and 15 healthy adolescents witch matched based on age, height, weight, BMI, dominant leg and sport experience as control group. The range of motion was measured with universal goniometer, kyphosis and lordosis with flexible ruler and muscle strength with manual dynamometer.
Results: The range of motion of the hip extension and the strength of the Iliopsoas muscle in the case group were statistically lower than the control group (P<0.05). The rate of lumbar lordosis and the ratio of gluteus maximus to the strength of the Iliopsoas muscle in the case group were significantly higher than the control group (P<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between the range of motion of hip flexion, dyspnea kyphosis, and gluteus maximus muscle strength in the studied groups.
Conclusion: Adolescents with Iliopsoas tightness have limited hip extension and greater lumbar lordosis and weaker Iliopsoas strength in comparison to healthy counterparts.

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Background and Objective: Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) is considered as a metabolic disorder and it is one of the most common endocrine and heterogeneous disorders with complex pathogenesis among women in reproductive ages. This study was done to evaluate the accuracy of diagnosis of lipid accumulate product index (LAP), insulin resistance, waist circumference and waist to hip ratio in women with polycystic ovary syndrome.
Methods: In this case control study, antropometrics, biochemical parameters, LAP and insulin resistance in 43 women suffering from PCOS as case and 40 healthy women as control were measured. Body mass index (BMI), waist hip ratio (WHR) and waist circumference (WC) was determined for each subject. LAP was defined as [WC (cm)-58´TG (m mol/L)]. PCOS was diagnosed according to Roterdam standard .Insulin resistance was defined based on Homeostatic model assessment – insulin resistance (HOMA-IR).
Results: The mean age, BMI, WHR and LAP index, among PCOS women were 24.06±5.86, 26.61±4.34, 0.81±0.061 and 47.13±4.13, respectively. There was a direct and significant correlation between HOMA-IR index and BMI, WC and LAP in case group (P<0.05). Statistical analysis showed that the optimal cut-off value of LAP, BMI, WC and WHR were 46.93, 27.91, 93 and 0.81 respectively.
Conclusion: The WC, BMI and LAP indices are useful in screening the insulin resistance in patients with PCOS.

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Background and Objective: Brain is not able to produce new neurons by neurogenesis after maturity. Neurogenesis after the maturity was reported in Hippocampus and subventricular areas in the brain. Rosa canina L has various vitamins and other valuable compounds such as polyphenols, carotenoid, carbohydrates and fatty acids. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of the alcoholic extract of the fruit of Rosa canina L plant on neuronal density of the hippocampus in animal model.
Methods: In this experimental study 24 adult male mice were randomly allocated into 4 groups including: control and three treatent groups. Animals in treatment groups 1, 2 and 3 were received the alcoholic extract with extract with a dose of 25, 50, 75 mg/kg/bw intraperitoneally (IP), for 21 day continuously with an invertal of 24 hours, respectively. Animals in control group were received normal saline injection. One month after the first injection, the animals were anesthetized and brain gently was out of the skull. After processing, seven-micron serial sections were stained with blue toluidine and erythrosine. Different regions of the hippocampus were photographed and neuronal density was evaluated by stereological methods and was compared with control group.
Results: The mean neuronal density of CA1 area of hippocampus in control and the treated group with a dose of 25, 50, 75 mg/kg/bw was 55±2, 70±3, 65±3 and 61±2, respectively. Neuronal density significantly increased in treatment group with dosage of 25 mg/kg/bw in compared to control group (P<0.05). The mean neuronal density of CA2 and CA3 area of hippocampus in treated group with a dose of 25, 50, 75 mg/kg/bw was not significant in compared to controls.
Conclusion: This study showed that the alcoholic extract of the fruit of Rosa canina L plant with dosage of 25 mg/kg/bw increase neurons of the mice hippocampus.

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Background and Objective: Adult neurogenesis occurs in most mammalian species in two main areas of brain: 1- subventricular zone 2- the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus. Many factors such as 17-B estradiol affect neurogenesis in the hippocampus. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of exogenous 17-B estradiol on neurogenesis and astrocyte functions in the ovariectomized mice.
Methods: In this experimental study; NMRI mice were allocated into five experimental groups including Sham, Control, Treatment with single dose of 17-B estradiol two weeks after ovariectomy (OVX) and were sacrificed 24 hours later, Treatment with single dose of 17-B estradiol two weeks after Ovx and were sacrificed 48 hours later and   Treatment with single dose of Seasame Oil 2 weeks after OVX and were sacrificed after 24 hours. Animals were transcardially perfused with paraformaldehyde. Brains were removed and its sections for cresyl fast violet staining and GFAP immunohistochemistry were prepared. Cells were counted and investigated.
Results: Neuronal density and Proliferation of hippocampal progenitor cells in the CA1 region of 17-B estradiol treated mice significantly increased up to 24 hours (P<0.05). Density of glia and particularly astrocytes in different regions of the hippocampus significantly reduced after treatment with 17-B estradiol (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Density of hippocampal CA1 neurons are influenced by 17-B estradiol. Also, density and morphology of glia cells, especially astrocytes in different regions of the hippocampus are affected by 17-B estradiol.

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Background and Objective: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a neurologic necrotic and chronic illness that causes by demyelination in CNS. One of the common clinical symptoms in MS is cognitive disorders. The most common cognitive defects in patients with MS are reduction of memory and information processing rate hippocampus functions in brain are memory and learning. This study was done to determine the function mechanism of memory discover by study on hippocampus. Nowadays tendency of herbal therapy is increased because of drug's side effects. This study's purpose that is from experimental typ effect of compaind extract of Portulaca olerace, Urtica dioica and Boswellia serrata on memory and number of neurons in CA1 area of hippocampus in induced multiple sclerosis rats.
Methods: In this experimental study 30 male adult rats were randomly allocated into control group, sham group (salin injection), (MS + salin) group, (MS + mixture extract, dose of 200 mg/kg), (MS + mixture extract, dose of 400 mg/kg). MS model was induced by intra hippocampal injection a single dose of ethidium bromide (0.01% ethidium bromide sulotion in 0.9% salin) and in 3 microlitre volume with 1 microlitre in minute rate intraperitoneally. Compaind extract of Portulaca olerace, Urtica dioica and Boswellia serrata were injected as the treatment for 21 days. The shuttle box test was used for evaluation of memory. Dissector method was used for neural density in CA1 of hippocampus. Histopathology method was used for evaluation of the alteration of cells.
Results: Neural density in MS induced group was singnificantly reduced in comparison with control and sham groups (P<0.05). Neural density was singnificantly increased in treatment groups in comparison with MS induced group (P<0.05). Histological results showed that induction of MS caused the disrution of neuron cells in compare to controls, but intraperitonal injection of compaind extract cause neurogenesis in tertment groups. Memory in MS induced group was singnificantly reduced in comparison with control and sham groups (P<0.05), but memory was singnificantly increased in treatment groups in comparison with MS induced group (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Compaind extract of Portulaca olerace, Urtica dioica and Boswellia serrata with dosages of 200 and 400 mg/kg/bw due to neurogenesis and amilioration can effective in memory recovery and neural necrosis in MS disease.

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Background and Objective: Food restriction may have beneficial or detrimental effects on the brain functions such as learning and memory. Also, dopamine receptors are involved in learning and information retrieval. This study was performed to determine the simultaneous effect of food restriction and dopamine D2 receptor inhibition on spatial memory of rats.
Methods: In this experimental study, 60 male Wistar rats were allocated into 6 groups including controls, 25%, 50% and 75%, food restriction, sulpiride (D2 receptor antagonist, 4 mg/kg/day, ip), 75% food restriction and sulpiride and treated for 21 days. To evaluate the memory, an eight-point radial arm maze was used. Then, the catalase and malondialdehyde level of the hippocampus were measured.
Results: Twenty-five percent food restriction caused to 11.8 percent decrease in spending time to find the food compared to control group (P<0.05). The 75% food restriction and or sulpiride injection significantly increased that time by 24.4% and 18.3%, respectively (P<0.05). The group with 75% food restriction were received sulpiride showed the most increase in the time of food finding compared to all groups (P<0.05). Catalase activity was only significantly reduced in the 75% restricted groups to 17.6% and 22.2%, respectively (P<0.05). Malondialdehyde production was significantly increased in the 75% food restricted groups to 50.2% and 59.3, respectively and sulpiride-received group to 31.2% compared to the control group (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Simultaneous applying of food restriction and inhibition of dopamine D2 receptors resulted in increased hippocampal prooxidant levels and exacerbated memory impairment.

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Background and Objective: Early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) seems necessary due to the high cost of care and treatment, the uncertainty of existing therapies, as well as the worrying future of the patient. This study was conducted to AD diagnosis by MRI images using artificial intelligence methods.
Methods: In this research, a computer system for early detection of AD with using machine learning algorithms is presented in the framework of computer-aided process. Conditional random field and Inception deep neural network have been adapted for brain MR images to detect AD. Since hippocampal tissue is one of the first tissues to be affected by AD, hence for the early detection of this disease, the hippocampus was located from other brain tissues firstly and then due to the extent to which this tissue is affected, the diagnosis was made. Conditional random field could accurately extract hippocampal fragments of different shapes in all three brain planes. These components serve as the basis for feature extraction by the deep network. The proposed method was tested on standard ADNI dataset images and its performance was demonstrated. The used Inception network has been trained on the huge ImageNet dataset. One of the important steps is knowledge transfer of the problem under consideration. To facilitate this, data augmentation process was applied according to the shape and structure of the hippocampus.
Results: The implemented method in this research, achieved to 98.51% accuracy for two-class classification of "Alzheimer" versus "Normal control" and achieved to 93.41% accuracy for two-class classification of "Mild cognitive impairment" versus "Normal control", which increased by 2.56% and 8.41%, compared with the rival methods, respectively.
Conclusion: The achieved results of this study showed that the using of artificial intelligence techniques has highly accurate in diagnosing AD according to MRI images.

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Background and Objective: Acrylamide is a neurotoxic agent that increases oxidative stress by creating an imbalance between the production and removal of free radicals, which in turn contributes to the pathogenesis of some neurodegenerative disorders. Thymoquinone extracted from Nigella satvia has prominent antioxidant effects. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of thymoquinone on hippocampal oxidative stress and neuronal density following acrylamide administration in male rats.
Methods: In this experimental study, 28 male Wistar rats aged 10-12 weeks and weighing 180-200 g were randomly divided into 4 groups of 7 rats: control, acrylamide, acrylamide + thymoquinone treatment (1 mg/kg), and acrylamide + thymoquinone treatment (5 mg/kg). For induction of brain injury, 50 mg/kg of acrylamide was injected intraperitoneally. Two days after the acrylamide injection, the rats were sacrificed, and malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione (GSH), and catalase levels were measured in hippocampal homogenate. Evaluation of neuronal density in hippocampal CA1 region was also performed by Nissl staining.
Results: Acrylamide injection significantly increased MDA level and reduced GSH content and catalase activity in comparison with the control group (P<0.05). Administration of 5 mg/kg thymoquinone significantly reduced MDA level (P<0.05) but improved GSH and catalase activity in comparison with the acrylamide group (P<0.05). In addition, neuron density of hippocampal CA1 region did not differ significantly between the groups.
Conclusion: Thymoquinone can attenuate oxidative stress markers in a dose-dependent manner.
 

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Background and Objective: Temporal lobe epilepsy is characterized by the degeneration of hippocampal neurons and the sprouting of mossy fibers in the dentate area. This study aimed to investigate the impact of the hydroalcoholic extract of Rosa damascene on hippocampal tissue changes induced by kainic acid-induced epilepsy in rats.
Methods: In this experimental study, 28 male Wistar rats weighing between 185-225 grams were used. The animals were divided into four groups: sham group, sham treated with hydroalcoholic extract, epilepsy (kainic acid), and epilepsy pretreated with hydroalcoholic extract. Kainic acid was used for intra-hippocampal and unilateral injection to induce epilepsy in the animals at 0.8 micrograms per rat. The rats were given 500 mg/kg of the extract intraperitoneally daily for one week before surgery. Five weeks after surgery, thionin and Tim staining methods were performed on the hippocampal slices.
Results: Kainic acid-induced epilepsy resulted in convulsive behavior, and pretreatment with the hydroalcoholic extract significantly reduced the intensity of convulsive attacks (P<0.05). The density of neurons in the CA3 area of the hippocampus in the kainic acid group showed a significant decrease compared to the sham group (P<0.05), while pretreatment with the extract caused a significant increase in the number of neurons in this area compared to the kainic acid group. Additionally, a significant increase in the intensity of mossy fiber sprouting was observed in epileptic rats compared to the sham group, and pretreatment with the extract significantly decreased its intensity (P<0.05).
Conclusion: The pre-treatment with the hydroalcoholic extract of Rosa damascena decreased convulsive behavior, protected hippocampal CA3 neurons and reduced the intensity of sprouting in the hippocampal dentate region in the experimental model of temporal lobe epilepsy induced by kainic acid.