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Serological Widal test is a fast, reliable and easy to perform and this test still is a suitable diagnostic method for diagnosing of typhoidal disease in many clinical laboratories. However, there are some doubtful reports regarding diagnostic value and credibility of this test, which was a motivation for present research. In this study, a total of 378 patients in two groups including 182 typhoidal patients with positive culture for Salmonella Typhi and para-Typhi A, B, C and 196 non-typhoidal febrile patients with negative culture for Salmonella, were studied in Hamadan city during 1994-97. All patients had at least one Widal test. In first group, 52.7% of patients have a titer of ?1:40 using anti-O (A, B, D) and 42.3% of patients also have a titer of ?1:80 using anti-O (A, B, D). In second group, 7.2% of patients have a titer of ?1:40 and 5.6% of them have a titer of ?1:80. In first group, 66.4% of patients had positive blood culture for S.typhi, however, 31.3% of them had positive antibody for OD titer. The results of this study indicated that sensitivity of Widal test for titer of ?1:80 was 86%, specificity 64% and PPV 42% and NPV 95%, therefore the negative Widal test did not have significant effect on the clinical diagnosis of typhoid disease.

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Background and Objective: Acute appendicitis is one of the most common surgical emergencies. Preoperative diagnosis of acute appendicitis remains challenging, despite improvements in history taking and clinical examination. Methods advocated to assist in the diagnosis of appendicitis include laparoscopy, ultrasonography, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. The purpose of this study was to assess the accuracy of ultrasonography in the diagnosis of acute appendicitis. Materials and Methods: This prospective descriptive study was done to evaluate 265 patients suspected to have acute appendicitis and admitted to the emergency department of 5 Azar hospital of Gorgan from Aug 2005 to Aug 2006. Suspected patients visited by the general surgeon and ultrasonography of the appendix was performed subsequently. The ultrasonography examination was done using high graded-compression ultrasongraphy with 5 MHz variable focus linear array transducer. The sonographic data were compared with clinical, operative and pathological findings. Results: The sensivity and specifity of ultrasonography was 66% and 4%, respectively. Also positive and negative predictive value of ultrasonography was 98% and 40%, respectively. Conclusion: This study showed that ultrasonography is a useful method in the diagnosis of acute appendicitis. It also increase diagnostic accuracy of acute appendicitis and minimize negative laparotomy and prevent unnecessary appendectomy.

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Background and Objective: Previous studies have reported inconsistent findings about the effect of endurance training on level of interleukin-18 (IL-18) and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) in obese individuals. This study was performed to determine the effect of resistance training on serum level of IL-18 and hsCRP in obese men. Materials and Methods: In this clinical trial, eighteen obese men were randomly divided into training and control groups. After 12-hours fasting, height, weight, body mass index, body fat percent, serum level of IL-18 and hsCRP were assessed before and after training period. Resistance training protocol consisted of twelve weeks training, 3 sessions training per week, each session for 60 minutes. Results: Mean±SD of IL-18 were 323.34±46.57 pg/ml and 239.43±53.75 pg/ml in training and control groups, respectively. Mean±SD of hsCRP was 3.83±3.65 µg/ml and 3.03±2.98 µg/ml in training and control groups, respectively. This difference was not significant. Conclusion: Performing resistance training for twelve weeks did not significantly reduce IL-18 and hsCRP in obese men.

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Background and Objective: Age-related cataract is one of the most important causes of blindness. Early detection of cataracts can help alleviate the problems caused by this disease. This study was performed to evaluate the visual acuity and contrast sensitivity of patients with early cataract.
Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was performed on 54 patients (108 eyes) in the age range of 35 to 50 years with early stage cataract referred to Alzahra Ophthalmology Hospital in Zahedan, souh-west of Iran. The ethnicity of all the participants was Baluchi and Sistani. After correcting the refractive errors if the inclusion criteria were met, visual acuity with E chart at 6 m and Pelli Robson contrast sensitivity chart at 3 m were measured as monocular.
Results: There was a significant correlation between visual acuity and contrast sensitivity (P=0.033, r²=0.205). The mean of visual acuity and contrast sensitivity were not significantly different in the two Baluchi and Sistani ethnicities. But visual acuity and contrast sensitivity were significantly different in the two genders (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Early cataract, although having a minor effect on visual acuity, can reduce contrast sensitivity. Therefore, measuring of contrast sensitivity in normal light condition in patients with early cataract who complain of blurred vision despite normal visual acuity can more accurately assess their visual function.

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Background and Objective: Thyroid masses are one of the most common reasons for patients to visit endocrinology clinics. Fine needle aspiration (FNA) is used to reduce thyroid surgery for benign lesions. This study was done to determine the diagnostic accuracy of FNA of thyroid mass(s) compared with histological results in Medical Centers, Gorgan, Iran.
Methods: In this descriptive-analytical study, 102 patients (12 males and 90 females) were diagnosed with a thyroid mass and referred for surgery to Medical Centers, Gorgan, Iran during 2020-21. FNA was performed, and the samples were sent to the pathology department for examination. The result of cytology was recorded in the checklist. According to cytology results, some patients were referred for surgery. Then, the surgical pathology results were compared with the cytology findings. In addition, the sensitivity and specificity of the results of the cytology of thyroid masses were calculated compared to the results of pathology.
Results: FNA, mass size, and the patient’s main complaint had a significant relationship with histological results (P<0.05). According to FNA findings compared to pathology, sensitivity was 74%, specificity was 88.1%, positive predictive value was 88.1%, negative predictive value was 74%, false positive rate was 12%, false negative rate was 26%, and accuracy was 80.4%.
Conclusion: FNA remains a key tool in evaluating thyroid nodule(s). Improving FNA techniques is necessary to increase the accuracy of FNA.

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Background and Objective: The therapeutic outcomes of amblyopia after the age range of 8-10 years are poor, and amblyopia in older individuals is resistant to treatment. Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS), among the efforts intended to modulate cortical excitability in the treatment of psychiatric disorders, has been believed to be associated with a specific disease. This study aimed to determine the effect of rTMS on the treatment of treatment-resistant amblyopia in adult patients.
Methods: This clinical trial was conducted on 16 patients (12 males and 4 females) with unilateral amblyopia, with a mean age of 30±5 years referring to the clinics of Khatam al-Anbia Eye Hospital, Mashhad, Iran, during 2016-17. Patients were randomly selected from those with unilateral amblyopia (refractive, strabismic, or mixed) who had not responded to conventional treatments (patching or penalization). The healthy eye was considered a control. The therapeutic intervention consisted of four rTMS sessions at two-week intervals. Visual acuity and contrast sensitivity were measured and compared three times: Before the intervention, at the first session of intervention, and at the fourth session of intervention.
Results: The mean visual acuity at baseline (0.36±0.19) was not significantly different compared to the first treatment session (0.41±0.1); however, a significant increase was observed compared to the fourth session (0.45±0.23) (P<0.05). The mean contrast sensitivity at baseline (2.02±0.74) was not significantly different compared to the first (1.97±0.63) and the fourth (2.16±0.94) treatment sessions.
Conclusion: In most follow-ups, improvement in contrast was not observed in patients with treatment-resistant amblyopia at older ages using rTMS. Only an improvement in visual acuity was observed in the last follow-up compared to the baseline in the patient group.