Oil spillage as a result of petroleum industry activities and pipe-line vandalization by saboteurs is a frequent occurrence in oil-producing regions of the world. Conventional oil spill clean-up techniques involve physical and chemical processes that do more damage to the aquatic ecosystem than the oil spill itself. Consequently, the need arises to evolve or develop a more environment-friendly technique that will not only clean-up the environment but also restore the aquatic ecosystem to its status before the oil spill. Phytoremediation, which involves the use of plant to detoxify polluted site, appears to be promising in this regard. It is environment-friendly as well as cost-effective but may take more time than the conventional methods because it is a natural process

Some studies have shown that catecholamines and the changes in their levels during and after head trauma can be useful in predicting the outcome in head trauma patients. The goal of this study is to search for a probable relation between urine levels of catecholamines and prognosis in patients with severe head trauma. Fifty four patients with severe head trauma Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS=8) on admission time were recruited in Imam Reza Hospital within one. These patients were included when having no major accompanying trauma in other organs. Twenty four hour urine was collected after admission and levels of metanephrine and nor-metanephrine were measured. The relation between urine levels of these metabolites with final outcome and also with GCS at admission, 24, 48 h and 1 week after admission and discharge time and Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) were studied. Fifty two patients, 48 males and 4 females with a mean age of 32.3±14.7 (3-72) years were included. The main underlying etiologies were motorcycle (46.2%) and car accidents (25%). Diffuse axonal injury, brain contusion and subdural hematoma were three main diagnoses (28.8, 17.3 and 15.4% of the cases, respectively). 19 (36.5%) of the patients expired within the study period. The mean level of metanephrine and normetanephrine in urine were 207.9±200.5 and 330.2±218.4 µg in 24 h, respectively. There was no meaningful relation between urine levels of these metabolites and any of GCS and GOS. There was also no meaningful relation between these parameters and final prognosis in patients

Cervical lymphadenopathy is a relatively common finding in pediatric age group and is caused by a wide spectrum of diseases from transient infections to malignancies especially lymphomas. The present study was aimed at evaluating the diagnostic performance of grey-scale ultrasonography, color Doppler ultrasonography and power Doppler ultrasonography in differentiation of reactively and metastatically enlarged cervical lymph nodes in pediatric age group. Fifty children with cervical lymphadenopathies were assessed by ultrasonographic methods. In each patient, the longest (L) and transverse (T) diameters, L/T ratio and presence or absence of the normal hilar pattern were checked by grey-scale ultrasonography. Spectral parameters (resistive and pulsatility indices) and vascular distribution pattern of nodes were recorded by color and power Doppler ultrasonography, respectively. Following the ultrasonographic evaluations, biopsy and/or clinical follow up was applied for six months, based on the clinical and paraclinical findings. Statistical analyses were performed by chi-square test, independent t-test and receiver operator characteristic curves. The mean age of patients was 12.42±2.42 years. Twenty eight patients (56%) had malignant enlargement of lymph nodes. The mean value of L/T ratio in malignant group was 1.70±0.22 and 2.40±0.38 in non-malignant nodes (p<0.001). Sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of combined grey-scale and power Doppler ultrasonography were 70, 86 and 81%, respectively. Combination of grey-scale and power Doppler ultrasonography is recommended for the differentiation between the malignant and benign lymphadenopathies in children. Moreover, our findings revealed no diagnostic role of color Doppler ultrasonography in the selection of malignant cervical lymph nodes in children.

The objective of this study was to identify the Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME) from Neurospora intermedia N-1 that isolated from Indonesian red peanut cake (oncom). FAME profiles have been used as biochemical characters to study many different groups of organisms, such as bacteria and yeasts. FAME from N.intermedia N-1 was obtained by some stages of extraction the orange spores and fractination using a chromatotron. The pure compound (1) was characterized by 500 mHz NMR (1H and 13C), FTIR and LC-MS. Summarized data’s of 1H and 13C NMR spectra of compound 1 contained 19 Carbon, 34 Hydrogen and 2 Oxygen (C19H34O2). The position of the double bonds at carbon number 8 and 12 were indicated in the HMBC spectrum (2D-NMR). LC-MS spectrum indicates molecular weight of the compound 1 as 294 which is visible by the presence of protonated molecular ion [M+H] at m/z 295. Methyl esters of long chain fatty acids was presented by a 3 band pattern of IR spectrum with bands near 1249, 1199 and 1172 cm-1. We suggested that the structure of the pure compound 1 is methyl octadeca-8,12-dienoate. The presence methyl octadeca-8,12-dienoate in N. intermedia is the first report.

The aim of this research is to see the effect of intra-arterial infusion of leptin on blood pressure of salt loaded rabbits in vivo. Increased blood pressure was produced in rabbits by giving diets containing 8% sodium chloride for 5 weeks. Leptin in different concentrations was infused intra-arterially into rabbits fed on high salt diets and the response was compared in rabbits fed with low salt diets. High salt diets produced significant increase in blood pressure. In rabbits fed with low salt diet, leptin infused intra-arterially caused an increase in blood pressure while infusion of leptin into rabbits fed with high salt diets does not affect the blood pressure. In conclusion, salt loading to rabbits abolishes the effect of leptin on cardiovascular system. This may indicate that leptin effect on sympathetic activity is altered by high salt diets in these animals

It was studied that type 2 diabetes mellitus is connected with increased plasma lipid peroxidation (lipid peroxidation expressed as malondialdehyde). This review aimed to evaluate the state of lipid peroxidation among type 2 diabetic subjects. Present finding showed that lipid peroxidation increased in type 2 diabetes mellitus. Increased lipid peroxidation maybe is associated with some diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes mellitus. Lipid peroxidation has an important role in the pathogenesis and the complications of diabetes. Antioxidants have been found to prevent the progression and occurrence of diabetes. There are several mechanisms that may cause lipid peroxidation affront in diabetic subjects, although, their precise contributions are not completely clear. We proposed that production of free radicals can be reduced by preventing high blood glucose levels and by the control of instabilities in blood glucose levels. A contributor to these instabilities in blood glucose is glycaemic control by using of fast blood sugar test. Furthermore, the earlier assessment of the advancement of diabetes that firmly control of blood glucose can be obtained; the greater will be the decrease in diabetic complications. Patients with type 2 diabetes may have very high physiological antioxidants requirements.

This study aims at determining the prevalence of neonatal hypoglycemia and its underlying causes. In this prospective study 14168 newborns delivered in Tabriz Alzahra Hospital during 2 years were evaluated in regard to blood glucose level at first 24 h of life. Glucose oxidase method with 4-amino-phenazone with a Greiner G-300 was the used method for determining the blood glucose level. Cases with blood glucose <50 mg dL-1 were considered as hypoglycemic newborns. Underlying causes of this condition, as well as the short-term mortality rate were determined. Prevalence of neonatal hypoglycemia was 0.4% (52 newborns). Underlying causes of hypoglycemia were prematurity (61.5%), diabetic mother (13.6%), septicemia (9.6%), perinatal asphyxia (9.6%), stress (3.8%) and neonatal hyperinsulinism (1.9%). The mortality rate was 53.8%, with prematurity as the leading cause of death

The present study sought to assess antioxidant effect of Origanum vulgare extract in preventing selenite-induced cataractogenesis. This study was performed on Young white rats received sodium selenite (30 nmol g-1 birth weight) subcutaneously on day 13 post partum during two months in 2009. Cataract formation and intensity was detected and measured by slit-lamp. Origanum vulgare (Ov) extract (2 g kg-1) was given (1-2 times) intraperitoneal at different times with respect to the selenite administration lens opacification was analyzed in selenite, selenite-Ov, Ov and control groups on day 7 after selenite administration. Ov extract have revealed a significant protective effect against selenite induced cataract when injected 1 and 2 day (2 times) before selenite injection. There is a protective effect of Ov against selenite induced cataract formation. It is supposed that the anticataract effect of Ov extract could be based on direct or indirect antioxidant mechanisms.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of neurosecretory material (NSM) in Corpus Allatum (CA) of endoparasitic Pimpla turionellae L. on reproduction. For this purpose, the egg maturation of the insect and the amount of the NSM in CA of the serial section of the brain were studied. Egg maturation was determined by measuring the terminal oocyte length. In order to determine the amount of the NSM in CA the neurosecretory granules of which were stained by paraldehyde fuchsin are considered. The egg maturation of P. turionellae have performed twice. The NSM intensity in CA continued increasingly from the first day of egg development until the first oviposition days; and reached the maximum level before the second egg maturation phase. These observations showed that the NSM in CA of this insect may be related to egg development