Imaging of renal cortex in nuclear medicine

Journal of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, 2012

Background and purpose: Since the human health is an essential issue in medical sciences, accurate predicting the individual's disease status is of great importance. Therefore, predicting with models minimum error and maximum certainty should be used. This study used artificial neural network model for predicting coronary artery disease (CAD) because it is more precise Comared to after models. Materials and methods: Multilayer perceptron (MLP) with post propagation error algorithm (EBP) for assessing the coronary artery disease was implemented on 150 patients admitted to the Mazandaran Heart Center, Sari. Then, based on the 80% of the available data, an artificial neural network with NN (14, 12, 1), sigmoid transfer function and 1500 epochs were designed and trained. The data were fed into Excel program and then softwares for artificial neural network designing such as Pythia-Neural Network were employed. Results: Mean square of the error in training step was decreased to the level of 0.0238 and sensitivity and specificity rates obtained were 0.96 and 1. In the end, the model correctly categorized some healthy individuals who did not require angiography and the treatment related to coronary artery diseases. Conclusion: Due to the high specificity index, this model prevents side effects of angiography in patients who do not require such interventions. Moreover, due to high sensitivity, it can diagnose the patients who really need such diagnostic measures.

Iranian Journal of Medical Physics, 2005

Introduction: A major problem facing the patients with chronic liver diseases is the diagnostic procedure. The conventional diagnostic method depends mainly on needle biopsy which is an invasive method. There are some approaches to develop a reliable noninvasive method of evaluating histological changes in sonograms. The main characteristic used to distinguish between the normal, hepatitis and cirrhosis liver is the texture of liver surface. The problem of defining a set of meaningful features that explores the characteristics of the texture, leads to several methods of determining tissue texture. Some of these methods, which have been developed so far, are based on wavelet transform. The selection of wavelet transform type affects the accuracy of determining the texture. In this study, an optimal wavelet transform called Gabor wavelet was introduced and three different methods of determining tissue texture were evaluated. These include statistical, dyadic wave...

Background: Low back pain is a major economical and social problem nowadays. Intervertebral disc herniation and central degeneration of disc are two major reasons of low back pain that occur because of structural impairment of discs. Intervertebral disc includes the annulus fibrosus, transitional region, and nucleus pulposus (NP). NP forms the central nucleus of the disc. Reduction of cell count and extracellular matrix, especially in NP, causes disc degeneration. Different scaffolds (natural and synthetic) have been used for tissue repairing and regeneration of intervertebral disc in tissue engineering. Most scaffolds have biodegradable and biocompatible characteristics and also prepare a fine condition for proliferation and migration of cells. Although no specific marker or method has been suggested for recognition of NP cells, some studies have used real time and immunocytochemical methods and reported high expression of cytokeratin 19, 18, 8, and others as markers for NP cells. This study aimed to recognize NP cells of human intervertebral disc by flow cytometry of cytokeratin 18 marker. It also compared the proliferation and morphology of these cells in chitosan-gelatin scaffold and alginate scaffold. Methods: NP cells were derived by enzymatic hydrolysis of collagenase from NP tissue of patients undergoing open surgery for discectomy in Alzahra Hospital (Isfahan, Iran). Chitosan was blended with gelatin and glutaraldehyde was used for cross linking of the two polymers. Then, alginate scaffold was prepared. After approving the NP cells by flow cytometry of cytokeratin 18 marker, a cellular suspension with 4 × 10 5 cells was transferred to each scaffold and cultured for 21 days. Cell viability and proliferation were investigated by trypan blue and methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to assert the porosity and to survey the structures of the scaffolds. Findings: We can use flow cytometry of cytokeratin 18 markers for recognition of NP cells. MTT assay demonstrated that cell viability on the third day had significant difference with the first day in both scaffolds. There was also a significant reduction in cellular viability from day 3 to day 21. Results of cell count showed that mean difference between cell counts in alginate scaffold was significantly more than chitosan-gelatin scaffold (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Flow cytometry of cytokeratin 18 can be used as a method for recognition of NP cells. Compared to chitosan-gelatin scaffold, alginate scaffold prepared a better condition for proliferation of NP cells. The results of this study suggested that alginate scaffold could be useful in in-vivo studies and treatment.

Journal of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences

Background and purpose: Methotrexate as a chemotherapy drug causes chronic liver damage, infiltration of neutrophils, oxidative stress, and direct renal tubular damage. Quercetin is a flavonoid with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of quercetin on eliminating the liver and kidney toxicity of methotrexate. Materials and methods: In this experimental study, 32 rats were divided into 4 groups. Group I (control) was given regular diet. Group II received single-dose methotrexate. Group III received methotrexate + a single dose quercetin and the last group (positive control) received methotrexate + a single dose silymarin. After five days, blood samples were taken and the serum GOT, GPT, ALP, Cr, urea and antioxidant capacity of plasma were measured. Some parts of liver and kidney were removed to measure the liver and kidney SOD, MDA, catalase activity and histopathological studies. Results: Serum GOT, GPT, ALP, Cr, and liver and kidney MDA were significantly higher (P<0.05) in group II, compared with those of the control group. These parameters significantly decreased (P<0.05) in group III. Compared to the control group, antioxidant capacity of plasma, activity of the liver and kidney SOD, catalase and serum urea decreased significantly in group II (P<0.05). Administration of quercetin significantly increased these parameters (P<0.05) and decreased hepatic and renal lymphocyte infiltration. Conclusion: According to the results, administration of quercetin could have a protective role in preventing liver and renal toxicity induced by methotrexate which could be due to its antioxidant property.

2013

Introduction: Additives such as nitrites compounds are used in meat products in order to create the desired color, creating the desired taste, prevent the growth of Clostridium botulinum spores and increase the storage time of the products. Today, due to the indiscriminate use of nitrogenous fertilizers, it is widely spread in water, soil and ecosystems, and the lives of many people could be put at risk. Therefore, this study was performed in order to examine the histopathological effect of sodium nitrite on Pulmonary artery in male rats. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study in which 30 adult male and female rats strain Vistar were divided into 3 groups of 10 which involved 2 recipient groups who were given 175 mg/kg/day dose and 350 mg/kg/day dose of nitrite. The control group absorbed nitrite through drinking water. The 3 groups were examined for 60 days. At the end of day 60, after Anesthesia, the blood sample was collected from heart. The arteries were taking out of body, and then tissue sections were prepared for testing tissue changes. The samples were stained with HematoxilinEozin method and thickness of internal media (intima media thickness) was measured with Image tool software. Factors such as morphometric and morphologic from arteries, body weight changes were investigated before and after test and also blood nitric oxide level was checked. At the end, the obtained results were analyzed through spss 17 software by T-test and Anova test. Results: The outcome of nitric oxide plasmatic density measurement showed that nitric oxide level in animal 's blood in 175 mg/kg/day dose recipient group and 350 mg/kg/day dose recipient group increased significantly compared with the control group at the level of P ≤ 0.05. Also thickness of media layer decreased in maximum dose group (350 mg/kg/day dose) compared to the control group. Conclusion: Based on the results of different doses of sodium nitrite, the nitric oxide levels in the blood were increased, and the thickness of middle layer of the lung arteries at dose 350 mg of sodium nitrite was reduced.

Journal of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences

Introduction: Diabetic nephropathy is a common complication in the patients with diabetes. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of six weeks of high-intensity interval training on TGF-b1 and SMAD7 gene expression in kidney tissue of elderly diabetic male Wistar rats. Methods: In this study, 36 male 21-month old Wistar rats, with the weight of 340 to 390 grams were randomly divided into three groups: healthy control, diabetes, and diabetes- training. The training group, performed high-intensity interval training five times per week for six weeks, healthy and diabetic control groups have not done any exercises. 24 hours after the last training session, rats were sacrificed and kidney tissues were extracted to examine TGF-b1 and SMAD7 genes expression by Real-Time PCR method. To determine the difference among the groups, one-way analysis of variance with Tukeys Post hoc test was used at the significant level of P&lt;0.05. Statistical analysis was done by SPSS software ve...

Koomesh, 2006

2013

Background and Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the albumin in clinical function after acute intracerebral hemorrhage. Subjects and Methods: The study was a double-blind clinical trial in two group of patient with hemorrhagic stroke, including those with stroke occurred in the last 24 hours. The first group treated with albumin infusion with total dose of 1 g/Kg body weight for two hours per day and the second group was treated with normal saline with the same dose. The treatment duration was 7 days. Functional outcome of the first day, 8 th days and 3 months after treatment were investigated on the basis of NIHSS. By Chi square and T-Test tatistical analyses and evaluation of the effectiveness of the intervention in the two groups were studied. Results: Each arm of study contained 30 patients. Both groups were the similar in age, sex and risk factors. There were not significant difference in mortality rate (P=0.353), hospitalization duration (P=0.343) and hematoma size before (P=0.596) and after (P=0.483) treatment in two groups. NIHSS of the first day (P=0.474) and after 3 months (P=0.095 following treatment did not show significant differences among both groups. However, the result at the 8 th day of treatment showed significant differences (P=0.025). Conclusion: The findings of this study confirmed that, intravenous albumin used in the initial days in the patient with hemorrhagic stroke would improve short-term clinical and functional outcome, but this positive effect is diminished in the long-term.

Journal of North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences, 2012

Background & objective: In short memory, hippocampus has an important role. Hippocampus is one of the regions of brain which neurogenesis has been shown in adults. In the present study, effect of ethanol on histological structure of dentate gyrus (DG) in epileptic mice was investigated. Materials & Methods: in this experimental study, mice (25-30g) during chemical kindling (pentylentetrazol; 40 mg/kg) received ethanol (0.5, 1 and 2 g/kg body weight) intraperitoneally. After treatment period, hippocampus and DG was dissected out. Histological passage and coronal cross-section was carried out in final. After Hematoxyline-stained slides forty fields random systematic (counting of normal neurons in DG) from each group by photomicroscope (Motic, X400) and Advanced motic plus2 software were studied. The mean number of normal neurons in DG of hypocampus were analyzes by ANOVA, Dunnett and Duncan. Immunohistochemical method used caspase 3 for program cell death in hypocampal neurons. Results: Dunnett test showed the number of normal neurons in ethanol receiving groups (0.5 g/kg, 7 or 21 days injection) has not been decreased significantly different in comparison with control group (p=0.41 and p=0.07 respectively). The number of normal neurons in groups which received ethanol 1g/kg (7 or 21 days injection) has been decreased significantly different in comparison with control group (p=0.014 and p=0.007 respectively). This parameter is also different between ethanol 2g/kg group and control group (p<0.001). The apoptosis of hypocampal neurons in groups which received high dose of ethanol 2 g/kg greater. Conclusion: decreasing of the number of normal neurons in DG hippocampus has right relationship with increasing dosage and duration of ethanol usage in epileptic mice.

Physiology and Pharmacology, 2012

Introduction: Intranodal pathways of atrioventricular (AV) node play a vital role in the delay of conduction time in response to various atrial inputs. The present study was aimed to determine the frequency-dependent electrophysiological properties of concealed slow pathway according to a functional model of isolated rabbit atrioventricular node preparation after fast pathway ablation. Methods: Experiments were carried out in rabbit isolated heart AV-nodal preparations (N=8) by superfused/perfused mode. Extracellular recording was carried out from transitional cells of posterior and anterior extension of AV-node and upper part of atrium and its bundle. Unipolar silver electrode (100 μm) and direct voltage (100-110 V) was applied to create AV-nodal fast pathway ablation. Results: Minimum conduction time (AHmin) was significantly increased after fast pathway ablation (p<0.05). Fast pathway ablation had no significant impact on fatigue phenomenon but significantly reduced facilitation value (p<0.05). Rate-dependency properties of concealed slow pathway were explained according to functional nodal model. Conclusion: The mathematical functional model accurately simulated frequency-dependent electrophysiological properties of concealed slow pathway after fast pathway ablation, but some modifications are necessary for accurate prediction of nodal behavior in various cycle lengths and in arrhythmia. Concealed slow pathway may be considered as a potential electrophysiological substrate of fatigue and facilitation phenomenon.