Retinopathy of Prematurity among 1000-2000 gram Birth Weight Newborn Infants

Objective: The goal of this study was to identify the risk factors of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in neonatal intensive care unitin preterm infants born with birth weight 1000-2000g or at gestational age less than 34 weeks. Material & Methods: From August 2000 to December 2001, 50 preterm newborn infants with birth weights less than 2000 g or gestational age less than 34 weeks admitted to the NICU were studied. Newborn infants with birth weight between 1200-2000g who received more than 6 hours oxygen and newborn infants with birth weight 1000-1200 g regardless of oxygen therapy, who survived until 4 weeks postnatal, were enrolled and followed. Patients underwent indirect ophthalmologic examination by two ophthalmologists between 4-8 weeks post partum. The newborn infants who had ROP were assigned to case group and those without ROP to control group, both groups were reexamined every 2-4 weeks or according to international classification of retinopathy of prematurity (ICROP) advice. Findings: Fifty newborn infants, 36 (72%) in control group, 14 (28%) in case group, were studied. Gestational age and birth weight of the patients with ROP were significantly lower than those of control group. Duration of oxygen therapy, hyperoxia, acidosis, hypercarbia, hypocarbia and phototherapy are suggested as risk factors contributing to ROP. Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate that the ROP frequency remains elevated among premature and very low birth weight infants. Infants at risk for ROP should have screening eye examinations and proper treatment

A Study of arbutin protective effect on cyclosporin A-induced oxidative damage

Background: Cyclosporine A (CsA) is a potent immunosuppressant drug with therapeutic and toxic actions. The use of CsA is limited by its toxicity. Several researchers had proposed that oxidative stress could play an important role in CsA-induced toxicity. Arbutin has recently been shown to possess antioxidative and free radical scavenging abilities.The present study was designed to investigate the in vivo effects of arbutin on lipid peroxidation and antioxidant capacity in the serum of cyclosporine treated rats.  Methods: Adult male Wistar rats were divided into six groups (n=8/group): (I) control (no CsA and arbutin administration), (II and III) were treated subcutaneously (Sc) with arbutin (50,100 mg/kg/bw), respectively, (IV) administered CsA (25 mg/kg/bw) intraperitoneally (IP), (V and VI) received the combination of CsA (25 mg/kg/bw) i.p and arbutin (50,100 mg/kg/bw) Sc daily, respectively. At the end of the treatment (after3 weeks), serum lipid peroxidation was measured by thiobarbituric acid-reacting substances (TBARS) and serum total antioxidant capacity (ferric reducing ability of plasma [FRAP]) was assayed based on spectrophotometric method.  Results: TBARS had been significantly increased by CsA administration compared with control rats. Arbutin (50mg/kg/bw) completely prevented this effect, but arbutin (100 mg/kg/bw) alone or in combination with CsA significantly increased lipid peroxidation compared with controls.  Conclusion: Our data indicate that arbutin (50mg/kg/bw) had protective effect in the CsA-induced toxicity but high concentration of arbutin (100mg/kg/bw) showed meaningful oxidative and lipoperoxidative effects

99m tc-Ubiquicidin [29-41], a Promising Radiopharmaceutical to Differentiate Orthopedic Implant Infections from Sterile Inflammation

Abstract Ubiquicidin (UBI) [29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] is a synthetic cationic antimicrobial peptide that preferentially binds to bacterial cell membrane at the site of infection. We aimed to assess diagnostic value of Tc-UBI [29-41] was injected intravenously. A dynamic study followed by static whole body imaging at 30, 60 and 120 min post-radiotracer injection was acquired. Periprosthetic tissue culture was considered the closest test to a gold standard for diagnosing infections and scintigraphic scans were categorized as true-or false-positive and true-or false-negative, considering the bacterial culture as the gold standard. No adverse reaction was observed during or after the radiotracer injection days. There were five true positive, four true negative and no false positive and false negative scans. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) were all calculated as 100%. We found a high diagnostic accuracy for 99m scintigraphy in differentiation of bacterial infection from sterile inflammation in suspected orthopedic implants. Therefore, Tc-UBI [29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] scintigraphy might be potentially recommended as a safe and promising imaging modality in these settings. However, further studies on a larger number of patients and different pathologies are still needed