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Background & Objective: The burden of psychiatric disorders in the developed countries has been identified by the screening questionnaires and standard clinical interviews at a high level, but the epidemiological studies of psychiatric disorders in our country are brief and their numbers are few. Providing essential mental health services to the people requires us to be knowledgeable about the present status of psychiatric disorders in the society. The objective of their research was to carry out the epidemiological study of the psychiatric disorders in the 18 years and above individuals in the urban and rural areas of Golestan province. Materials & Methods: 518 individuals selected through randomized clustered and systematic sampling methods from among the existing families of Golestan province and the schedule for affective disorders and Schizophrenia (SADS) questionnaires completed by the clinical psychologist. The diagnosis of the disorders was based on DSM-IV classification criteria. Results: The results of the study showed that the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in the province is 14.69%, which was 18.14% in the women, and 11.47% in the men. The mood and affective disorders respectively with 7.93 and 4.05% had the higher prevalence in the province. The prevalence of psychiatric disorders in this study was 0.97%, neuro-cognitive disorders 1.16% and dissociative disorders 0.58%. In the group anxiety disorders, panic disorder with 4.05% of had the higher prevalence and in the group of affective disorder, major depression, hypomanic and manic disorder with 1.93. Conclusion: This study showed that 7.53% of individuals that were studied suffered from at least one of the psychiatric disorders. The prevalence of psychiatric disorders in the province among the individuals in the age group of 41-55 years with 13.04%, separated or divorced individuals 50%, residents of urban areas 11.03%, illiterate individuals 12.75% and housewives 13.04% was more than other individuals in the sample. Being aware of this matter reveals the responsibility of the health policy makers and programmers, prevention, treatment and medical education more than before in relation to preparing application and executive plans in Golestan province for mental health.

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Background & Objective: Black pepper is frequently used in Iranian traditional medicine as an analgesic (E.g, for toothache). This investigation was conducted to evaluate the response of mice to pain induced by hot-plate and Formalin test either with or without Piperine (One of the active substances of the pepper). Materials & Methods: This randomized experimental study was performed on mice. Hot-plate and Formalin tests were planned to pain measurement. The mice were divided into 2 groups in each arm of study (Hot-plate and Formalin test group). The data of control (Saline) and drug (Piperine) groups were separately compared in each arm of study with student t-test and ANOVA. The difference between each point of data was considered significant at P-value under 0.05. Results: There was not a significant difference in tolerance time of subjects between hot-plate and saline groups. Piperine (25, 50 and 75 mg/kg) along with Morphine (10 mg/kg) causes significant increase to saline group in tolerance time and also significant increase to Morphine group, but in Formalin test Piperine could have significant effect in decreasing the pain induced by of Formalin on mice. These effects are comparable with Morphine. In Formalin test, pain has 2 phases. The first phase is acute and the 2nd one is chronic that begins from 15-20 minutes. Acute pain has central effect and chronic pain has peripheral pathway and Piperine causes decreasing response to Formalin test at the first phase of pain. Naloxone can prevent these effects in all groups. In Formalin test and hot-plate, the effect of Piperine were dose dependent. Conclusion: Piperine can centrally act on the nociception pathway and its effect on Opioid system exhibits as an enhancement Opioid effect. The effects are dose dependent and will be inhibited by Opioid antagonist.

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Background & Objective: Diclofenac is a non-steroidal, anti-inflamatory drug that is prescribed as an analgesic. However, there is little known about the effects of diclofenac on the neural cells. In this study, we investigated the effects of diclofenac as sodium salt on the proliferation and differentiation of PC12 cells.

 

Materials & Methods: This expeimental study was done in Kerman neuroscience research center during 2004. The cell proliferation was evaluated by using XTT assay in the both free-serum neurobasal medium supplemented with B27 supplement and DMEM/F12 medium containing 10% FBS. The nerve growth factor(NGF) – induced differentiation was assessed  by measuring the neurite length for each treatment.

 

Results: The drug toxicity was exhibited at the higher concentrations of 310 mM in the supplemented neurobasal medium. The treatment of cells in the DMEM/F12 medium increased their sensitivity to diclofenac, with 40 and 85% growth inhibition at the 155 and 310 mM concentrations, respectively. The different generics of drug exhibited a equal toxic effects on the PC12 cells. The NGF- induced differentiation was not reduced by toxic and subtoxic concentrations of diclofenac.

 

Conclusion: This study indicated that diclofenac may be able to exhibit its neurotoxic effects through growth inhibition, but not differentiation inhibition. B27 supplement has several antioxidant compounds. Therefore, the difference of diclofenac cytotoxic effects in two culture media suggest that drug cytotoxicity may be related to the oxidative stress.

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Endoscopic sinus surgery can cause orbital and intracraniol complications. Anisocoria is one of sings of orbital complication. We report a case with anisocoria during endoscopic sinus surgery. Patient was a 42 years old female that was operated because extensive polyposis in right nose and sinuses and retention in otherwise under general ansthesia. A half on hour after the surgery was started, we found dilatation of pupil in left eye which unresponsed to light. Also, as far as the eye symptoms returned to normal after 8-10h after and there was not any veridence of orbital trauma. It seems difiusion of local injection of adrenalin in surgery nasal cavity can probably case of pupil dilatation.

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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 & Objective: Neural tube defects, growth retardation and nail hypoplasia are most common features of teratogenic effects of carbamazepine. This study was done to determine the effects of carbomazepine on eye development in Mice fetuses. Materials & Methods: In this experimental study 40 BALB/c pregnant Mice were divided into four groups. Experimental groups I and II received 15 mg/kg daily 6-15 GD (gestational days) and 30 mg/kg daily 6-15 GD intraperitoneal of carbamazepine, respectively. All drugs recolved in Tween20. Two control groups received normal saline or Tween 20. Dams were dissected on GD18 and embryos were collected. After observation of eye malformation in fetuses, we employed routine histological processes to stain the samples and also skeletal staining was performed. Results: Calvaria deformations, finger anomalies, brachygnathia and short tail in experimental groups I and II were 7% and 10.8%, 13.3% and 16.6%, 7.8% and 11.7%, 10.2% and 9.2% respectively. Ten of fetuses (8.6%) in experimental group I and nine of fetuses (7.5%) in the experimental group II had eye malformations. Premature opening of one or both eyes with mild to severe exophthalmos occurred in both of the experimental groups. Also, histological examination showed deformed lens, retinal folds with undeveloped layers, corneal fold with absence of surface epithelium. Conclusion: This study revealed that administration of carbamazepine during embryunic period can induce eye malformations in Mice fetuses.

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Background and Objective: Dentate gyrus is a part of hippocampal formation that plays an important role in memory and learning. Astrocytes are one of the important glial cells in nervous tissue that play a more active role in neuronal activity, including regulating ion flux currents, energy production, neurotransmitter release, and synaptogenesis. The aim of this study was to determine the spatial memory effect on the number of astrocytes in Rat’s dentate gyrus. Materials and Methods: This experimental study, was done on 18 male Wistar Rats with using Morris water maze and Reference and Working memory methods. After spatial learning the Rat's brains was carried out and histological preparation was carried out, the slices were with PTAH method. The data analyzed, using T-test and One-way ANOVA. Results: The results showed significant difference in astrocytes number in dentate gyrus area between Reference memory (300.57±5.98) and control (73.73±22.61) groups (P<0.05). The difference between working memory (375.77±4.11) and control groups was significant. Comparing two groups there was a significant difference of number of astrocytes cell between the working memory and Reference memory group (P<0.05). Conclusion: This study showed that spatial learning such as Reference memory and Working memory increase the number of astrocytes in dentate gyrus and this increase can be due to duration of learning.

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Background and Objective: Hypertension is considered as a major public health problem in most countries due to its association with ischemic heart disease. The aim of this study was to determine people awareness of hypertension in Golestan province of Northern Iran.

Materials and Methods: This cross sectional population based study carried out on 2497 subjects (15-65 years old) including 1500 men and 1247 women in Golestan province- Northern Iran during 2006. The subjects were chosen by proportional-cluster sampling based on sex and age groups. The subjects were interviewed, antropometric indexes and serum biochemical factors were evaluated. Blood pressure was measured three times with 5 minutes interval and defined based on JNC-7 classification. Serum cholesterol and fast blood sugar (FBS) were determined using laboratory kits (enzymatic methods), and spectrophotometery technique. Data was analyzed by SPSS-16 software and Chi-Square test.

Results: In general, the prevalence of hypertension in this region was 23.9%. with higher rate among women urban area by 3.3% and 5% respectively. Only 48.7% of hypertensive patients were aware of their disease and that was significantly more in women than men (P<0.001). Low physical activity, chronical age, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, general obesity, central obesity and illiteracy were the risk factor for hypertension morbidity (P<0.05).

Conclusion: This study showed, in spite of prevalency of hypertension among 20% of subjects in this area only 48.7% of them were aware about their disorder.

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Background and Objective: MIRU-VNTR typing is currently one of the most frequently-used standardized genotyping systems in molecular epidemiology of tuberculosis in the world. This sudy was done to determine the Mycobacterium tuberculosis genotyping by MIRU-VNTR method. Methods: This descriptive study was done on sputum, gastric lavage clinical specimens of 53 tuberculosis suspected patients. Fifty-three isolates were identified by 16S rRNA and Rv-typing followed by RD typing. They were then subjected to a 12-locus (ETRA, ETRB, ETRC, ETRD, ETRE and ETRF, MIRU-10, MIRU-26, MIRU-39, MIRU-30 plus QUB-11b) MIRU-VNTR typing system. Results: In MIRU-VNTR typing, forty-four types were identified with 13 isolates classified in 4 clustered and the remaining 40 isolates representing 40 orphan patterns. In comparative analysis of MIRU-VNTR loci, MIRU-26 with 7 alleles displayed the highest diversity level (Simpson’s diversity index = 0.767. Out of the 53 isolates, only one was identified as Mycobacterium bovis. All the remaining isolates were characterized as Mycobacterium tuberculosis. None of the samples was affected to Mycobacterium complex strain. No evidence of either double or co-infection of the patients with more than one species/strain was detected. Conclusion: While the genomic diversity observed by MIRU-VNTR typing sounds extensive, the population genomic structure on the whole however, seems to be homogenous. Recent transmission between studied patients does not appear to be a frequent event as only 13 isolates representing 4 MIRU-VNTR types, were assumingly epidemic.

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Background and Objective: Medicinal drug interactions are one of the problems caused by irrational drug prescription. It eigher change the therapeutic effect or cause drug toxicity. This study was performed to determine the prevalence of medicinal drug interactions in medicinal prescriptions in Golestan province, north of Iran.

Methods: In this descriptive study, 1100000 medicinal prescriptions under contract with the Golestan province health insurance organization were assessed for drug interactions during 20 March-
20 September 2012.

Results: Drug interactions frequency was 6262 (0.66%). 35.5%, 63.1% and 1.4% of prescriptions were severe, moderate and mild interactions, respectively. The most common severe, moderate and mild drug interactions related to Atorvastatin-Gemfibrozil (13.67%), Ceftriaxone- Gentamicin (9.05%) and Lithium Carbonate-Haloperidol (2.56%).

Conclusion: In view of moderate and severe medicinal drug interactions in physicians' prescriptions, health system should plan a comprehensive program to improve awareness and effective monitoring to reduce medicinal drug interactions.

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Arachnoid cysts have primary and secondary types. The prevalence of Arachnoid cysts is about 1% of all tumors in cranial cavity. Based on anatomic position, arachnoid cyst can cause different clinical manifestations including hemiparesis, increase intracranial pressure, macrocephaly and isolated headache and stop body growth. The natural course of the disease is not exactly clear. Some of patients have no symptoms during life and some of them may show some symptoms after a while. This case report is about a 10 years boy who had no sign except generalized headache. Anatomic position of the cyst was in right temporal lobe of the brain on the temporal, parietal and the great wing of sphenoid bones. Arachnoid cyst diagnosed through MRI and CT-Scan. Patient treated with ibuprofen for three days and then patient followed up to treat with surgery method when other clinical symptoms appeare in the patient.

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Background and Objective: Postural defects are increased among students due to inactivity. Their unwillingness to perform traditional activities, requires finding appropriate ways to increase physical activity. This study was done to compare the effect of selected Xbox Kinect games and normal on the posture in low activity students.
Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, 26 sedentary fourth and fifth grade students were non-randomly divided into two groups. During the 6-week period, one group engaged in 3 sessions per week of selected Xbox Kinect games and the other group engaged in routine school physical education activities during school hours. The photogrammetry and Kinovea software was used to study the posture of the joint angles.
Results: In static posture, head position angle, thoracic arrow, horizontal scapula alignment, horizontal pelvic alignment, and body alignment were found positive effect in Xbox Kinect group in compared to  normal physical activity (P<0.05). There was not any significant difference between the two groups in Lumbar Arrow, Lumbar Angle, pelvic Tilt Pelvis, Knee Position, Quadriceps Angle and Foot Pronation.
Conclusion: Xbox Kinect games are a good way to correct postural deviations in sedentary students in low activity student.

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Background and Objective: Considering the role of diet and the use of natural antioxidants in addition to exercise, the attention of researchers has been drawn to take further advantage of the effects of exercise to improve cellular metabolism. Despite the favorable role of exercise and antioxidants on heart health, the simultaneous effect of exercise and consumption of propolis (prepared by bees) is not yet known. This study aimed to investigate the effects of endurance training and propolis against oxidative and myocardial stress in diabetic ovariectomized rats.
Methods: This experimental study was conducted on 36 female Sprague Dawley rats aged 12-16 weeks and weighing 220-250 grams. Six rats were included in the healthy control group. Diabetes was induced in 30 overiectomized rats by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (40 mg/kg). Then, the diabetic animals were divided into five groups of six including diabetic ovariectomized control, sham, propolis, endurance training, and endurance training + propolis. Rats in the training groups trained for eight weeks, five sessions per week, with 55-75% VO2 max. Moreover, propolis was administered 100 mg/kg/day by peritoneal injection. The level of Pro-oxidant-antioxidant balance (PAB) and expression of HSP72 and NF-κB genes were measured.
Results: HSP72 expression was significantly higher in the propolis, endurance training, and endurance training + propolis groups. The levels of NF-kB and malonaldehyde were significantly decreased in the ovariectomized diabetic rats (P<0.05). Expression of HSP72 in the endurance training and endurance training + propolis groups were significantly higher than in the propolis group. Moreover, NF-kB in the endurance training and endurance training + propolis groups were significantly lower than in the propolis group (P<0.05). The value of PAB in the propolis and endurance training + propolis groups were significantly lower than in the ovariectomized diabetic rats (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Exercise and consumption of propolis seem to synergistically improve the protective HSP72 pathway and reduce oxidative stress in heart tissue following estrogen dysfunction and diabetes. However, the interaction of the two depends on endurance training.