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Hossein Pakdaman,1 Ali Amini Harandi,1 Koroush Gharagozli,1 Mehdi Abbasi,1 Majid Ghaffarpour,2 Farzad Ashrafi,1 Hosein Delavar Kasmaei,1 Asghar Amini Harandi3 1Brain Mapping Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 2Iranian Center of Neurological Research, Imam Khomeini Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 3Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Jiroft University of Medical Sciences, Jiroft, Iran Background and aim: Vascular dementia (VaD) is the second most common cause of dementia and currently there is scarcity of therapies for VaD. We aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of MLC601 in the treatment of VaD. Methods: In this multicenter, pilot, randomized, double-blind trial, 82 patients with VaD according to DSM-5 criteria received MLC601 or placebo capsules three times a day for 2 years. The primary efficacy end-point was evaluated by comparing Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale-cognitive subscale (ADAS-cog) score between the two groups over 2 years of study. Safety was also assessed by recording adverse events and abnormal laboratory results. Results: Eighty-one patients completed the study and were included in the analysis. One patient was lost to follow-up in the placebo group. After 2 years, mean (±SD) changes in the MMSE score were –3.71 (±4.50) for MLC601 group and –9.33 (±4.80) for placebo group. ADAS-cog score showed (±SD) changes of 7.34 (±9.55) and 19.00 (±11.28) for MLC601 and placebo group, respectively. Repeated measures analyses showed that both MMSE and ADAS-cog scores were significantly better in the treatment group at 24 months (p

"nBackground: Kidney transplantation had been evaluated in some researches in Iran mainly with clinical approach. In this research we evaluated graft survival in kidney recipients and factors impacting on survival rate. Artificial neural networks have a good ability in modeling complex relationships, so we used this ability to demonstrate a model for prediction of 5yr graft survival after kidney transplantation."n"n"n Methods: This retrospective study was done on 316 kidney transplants from 1984 through 2006 in Isfahan. Graft survival was calculated by Kaplan-meire method. Cox regression and artificial neural networks were used for constructing a model for prediction of graft survival."n"n"n Results: Body mass index (BMI) and type of transplantation (living/cadaver) had significant effects on graft survival in cox regression model. Effective variables in neural network model were recipient age, recipient BMI, type of transplantation and donor age. One year, 3 year and 5 year graft survival was 96%, 93% and 90% respectively. Suggested artificial neural network model had good accuracy (72%) with the area under the Receiver-Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve 0.736 and appropriate results in goodness of fit test (κ2=33.924). Sensitivity of model in identification of true positive situations was more than false negative situations (72% Vs 61%)."n"n"nConclusion: Graft survival in living donors was more than cadaver donors. Graft survival decreased when the BMI increased at transplantation time. In traditional statistical approach Cox regression analysis is used in survival analysis, this research shows that artificial neural networks also can be used in constructing models to predict graft survival in kidney transplantation.

"nBackground: Insect stings can cause local or systemic reactions that range from mild to fatal, and are among the most common causes of anaphylaxis. The major allergens of honeybee venom are phospholipase A2, hyaluronidase, acid phosphatase, allergen C and melitin. Phospholipase and melitin induce hemolysis, rhabdomyolysis and liver damage due to cell membrane breakdown, damage of the vascular endothelium and activation of the inflammatory response. Rhabdomyolysis has been implicated as the cause of acute renal failure in approximately 5-7% of cases. However, bee stings are a rare cause of rhabdomyolysis, and are usually associated with 50 or more stings. It has been reported that more than 250 bee stings are capable of causing death in humans. "nCase report: We report two cases of massive honeybee stings (>2000) with rhabdomyolysis, hemolysis and acute renal failure who survived with full recovery, and two cases of >500 honeybee stings who survived without significant complications.

Heterotopic pregnancy refers to the presence of simultaneous pregnancies at two different implantation sites. We present an unusual case of term heterotopic pregnancy, the ectopic pregnancy being abdominal implantation. The co-existence of spontaneous full term intra-uterine with advanced abdominal ectopic pregnancy and both viable babies without any residual effect or congenital anomalies is one of the rarest forms of heterotopic pregnancy. Other than Ultrasound, increased HCG, or alpha feto protein, sophisticated modern technology like MRI or CT's Scan absolutely needed for proper diagnosis, placental localization and vascularization to prevent intra-operative catastrophies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 23-year-old married woman presented with primary amenorrhoea with well-developed 2ndary sex characteristics. She is chromosomally competent female (46xx) with average body built and had no problem in marital relationship. Clinical examinations and all relevant investigations including transvaginal ultrasound(TVS) showed uterus, adnexa normal size and volume. Progesterone challenge test was negative on 3 occasions. Laparoscopy showed distorted shape of fallopian tubes with beaded appearance. Biopsy from it and endometrial samplzings collected by aspiration showed granuloma with caseation necrosis, typical of tuberculosis (TB) though no AFB found on culture. PCR-RFLP also positive for TB. So, primary amenorrhoea with unresponsive endometrium with underlying Genital Tuberculosis was clinical diagnosis. She received 9 months treatments of 4 drugs regimens of anti-TB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we have investigated the adsorption and dissociation of four small gas molecules including HCOH, H2S, NH3, and O2 on Al12P12 fullerene using density functional theory (DFT). The computations have been performed with B3LYP-D and M06-2X levels of theory and have been calculated with the 6-311++G** basis set. The adsorption of HCOH, H2S, NH3, and O2 molecules can be attributed to the chemical and physical behavior of these molecules. The computational results show that the dissociation energies of HCOH and H2S on the surface of Al12P12 fullerene were found more negative than those of their adsorption. On the contrary, the adsorption energies of O2 and NH3 on the surface of Al12P12 fullerene were found to be more negative than those of their dissociation. The results also indicate that the differences between calculated energies at both levels are negligible. The complex bonds between all molecules and Al12P12 fullerene have been formed due to the charge transfer that occurred during these interactions. According to the computations and the plots of total density of state (TDOS), the results indicate that Al12P12 fullerene is slightly sensitive toward HCOH and H2S molecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Targeted drug delivery systems are very suitable for medical usages. This investigation studies the interaction of anti-cancer drug gemcitabine with C60 and C70 fullerenes by the DFT method at a B3LYP/cc-pvdz quantum chemical level. In addition, the investigation is carried out on the drug delivery capability of gemcitabine. To achieve suitable and optimized adsorption of the drug on the surface of fullerenes (C60 and C70), an carbon atom is replaced by an aluminum atom in fullerene structures. Then, the geometric parameters, HOMO and LUMO energies, and the energy gap are reported and compared, and also the density of state (DOS) plots for Al-doped fullerenes and their complexes with the drug are traced. The obtained results show that the orbital energy levels decrease significantly by the gemcitabine bonding to C60and C70 fullerenes. Other specifications such as chemical potential, chemical hardness, and electrophilicity also vary significantly in these structures. The interpretation of these variations may depend on the electron affinity of C60 and C70 fullerenes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon nanotubes are the most important nanotechnology combinations, one of their most important applications being in the science of nano-electronic segments. In the present study, CO2 molecule interaction with the outer surface of Zigzag (5,0) and Armchair (5,5) carbon nanotubes with specified and optimized lengths and diameters has investigated. Significance of this study is injection of insoluble carbon dioxide gas expanded in the reservoir, causing fluid movement towards the wellhead. Therefore, theoretical approaches have used to investigate the adsorption of CO2 on single-wall carbon nanotubes, identify the adsorption structure and the attached carbon-to-gas configuration, and to calculate the parameters such as energy gap in carbon-gas nanotube structures that can help to identify carbon-gas nanotube complex stability. Results revealed that CO2 molecule reaction with nanotube surface generates diverse adsorption structures. The best CO2 gas adsorption has obtained on the surface of carbon nanotubes (5,5) doped with the Al-Nitride ring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. The nephroprotective effect of co-administration of vitamin C and losartan as prophylaxis against cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity (CIN) was evaluated. Materials and Methods. Co-administration of vitamin C and losartan was compared with losartan (10 mg/kg), vitamin C (250 mg/kg), and placebo in 4 groups of rats with CIN. The prophylactic agents were injected daily for a period of 4 days, and on day 3, a single dose (6 mg/kg) of cisplatin was administrated. The animals were sacrificed 7 days later for pathological examination of the kidneys. Results. Cisplatin prevented the animals' weight gain. The serum levels of creatinine and blood urea nitrogen increased within the groups with CIN, but no significant difference was observed between the groups. The prophylaxis has no effect on serum osmolality, total protein, or nitrite concentrations. The kidney tissue damage was scored, and losartan provided a lower damage score than vitamin C and a combination of vitamin C and losartan. Conclusions. We concluded that co-administration of vitamin C and losartan was not more effective than the administration of vitamin C or losartan alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated whether breast arterial calcification (BAC) has an association with coronary artery diseases (CAD) in young premenopausal women and evaluated the association of BAC with carotid intima-media thickness and standard CAD risk factors. Among 84 premenopausal women aged < 55 years who were referred for coronary angiography, 34 (40.5%) had abnormal angiographic findings and 6 (7.1%) showed BAC in their mammograms. The body mass index of patients with BAC was significantly higher than those without BAC. BAC had no significant association with angiography-confirmed CAD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]