Investigating the Effect of Intramuscular Dexamethas on Duration of Labor in Post Date Pregnancy

Introduction: One of the problems in midwifery is labor induction in the cases which the termination of pregnancy is necessary. Thus, the methods for cervical ripening and labor induction have always been taken into consideration. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of intramuscular dexamethasone on onset of labor in postdate pregnancy. Methods: This single-blind, randomized clinical trial study was performed on 100 nulliparous women who referred to Amir Al Momenin hospital in Ahvaz. The patients were randomly divided into two groups. Single dose of intramuscular dexamethasone (8 mg) was administered to the study group 12 h before induction. The controls were given 2 cc of normal saline at the same interval. Results: There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of age, demographic characteristics, initial Bishop score, first and fifth minute Apgar score, and meconium. After the injection, Bishop score in the study group was 7/23 ± 1/32 and in the control group, it was 2/98 ± 0/89. Thus, the difference was significant (P<0.0001). The mean interval between induction with the onset of the active phase was 3/1±0.68 hours in the study group, whereas in the control group 4/2±1/3 hours was observed (P=0.001). Conclusion: The results of this study showed that intramuscular dexamethasone by improving Bishop score causes the onset of labor pains resulting in decrease of labor duration in postdate pregnancies

LEVELS AND EFFECTIVE FACTORS ON HALOACETIC ACIDS FORMATION IN DRINKING WATER

Disinfection byproducts (DBPs) in drinking water are important due to the probable risks they pose to human health. In this study, drinking water samples were collected from 11 points from water transmission lines to the distribution system as well as district municipal demineralization plant (DMDP) for the first time in Bushehr from October 2015 to May 2016 for haloacetic acids (HAA5) analysis by using a GC-ECD. The effects of pH, temperature, chlorine dosage, UV-254, TOC, SUVA, different water sources, seasonal and spatial variations were evaluated and the concentration level of HAAS was compared with drinking water guideline. The results revealed that the monochloroacetic acid and mono-bromoacetic acid were the major haloacetic acids found in all water samples, which accounted for 42.65 and 47.03% of HAAS, respectively. HAA5 concentration levels in almost 40.9% of the samples were higher than the maximum contaminant level (MCL) contents set by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Significant correlation was observed between monobromoacetic acid concentration level with pH and temperature, as well as dichloroacetic acid concentration level with UV-254

Hemodynamic changes in experimentally envenomed anaesthetized rats by intravenous injection of Hemiscorpius lepturus venom

Background: We investigated the hemodynamic changes (Inotropic, chronotropic and arrhythmogenic) in intrave-nously envenomed anesthetized rats with Hemiscorpius lepturus venom. The neutralizing potencies of different drugs and commercial antivenom were assessed simultaneously. Methods: Different doses of the crude venom (100, 200 and 400μg/rat) were injected during five minutes via the femoral vein and cardiovascular changes were recorded in rats in Razi Institute Corporation, Karaj, Iran in 2017. The drugs (Atropine, lidocaine, propranolol and prazosin) were injected before the venom for determination of the coun-teracting effects. Different volumes (100, 500 and 1000μl) of the antivenom were pre envenomed to neutralize cardi-ovascular changes. Results: Temporary hypertension and bradycardia with no arrhythmogenic effects were depicted within twenty minutes. There was a difference in arterial pressure between the venom (400μg/rat) and the vehicle at 8 minutes (114.68±5.1mmHg versus 70.2±4.3mmHg). Elevation of the mean arterial pressure was inhibited by propranolol (2 mg/kg) and neutralized by prazosin (1mg/kg) while lidocaine (4mg/kg) and atropine (1mg/kg) had no effects. Pre-medication with Iranian commercial antivenom (1000μl) produced surprisingly temporary hypertension compared to the vehicle (140.84±4.5 versus 84.3±3.2). It had no neutralizing properties on blood pressure variation before the venom injection. Volume-expanded hypertension phenomenon was ruled out in a parallel study. Conclusion: This venom has vasoconstrictive effects in rats probably due to the presence of norepinephrine like ma-terials in its content or liberated from adrenal gland inhibited by prazosin premedication. The neutralizing effects of antivenom on venom-induced hypertension are questionable. © Tehran University of Medical Sciences

A HUPO test sample study reveals common problems in mass spectrometry-based proteomics

We performed a test sample study to try to identify errors leading to irreproducibility, including incompleteness of peptide sampling, in liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry-based proteomics. We distributed an equimolar test sample, comprising 20 highly purified recombinant human proteins, to 27 laboratories. Each protein contained one or more unique tryptic peptides of 1,250 Da to test for ion selection and sampling in the mass spectrometer. Of the 27 labs, members of only 7 labs initially reported all 20 proteins correctly, and members of only 1 lab reported all tryptic peptides of 1,250 Da. Centralized analysis of the raw data, however, revealed that all 20 proteins and most of the 1,250 Da peptides had been detected in all 27 labs. Our centralized analysis determined missed identifications (false negatives), environmental contamination, database matching and curation of protein identifications as sources of problems. Improved search engines and databases are needed for mass spectrometry-based proteomics.8 page(s