Anthropometric Indices in Children With Refractory Epilepsy

How to Cite This Article: Aminzadeh V, Setila Dalili S, Ashoorian Y, Kohmanaee Sh, Hassanzadeh rad A. Anthropometric Indices in Children With Refractory Epilepsy. Iran J Child Neurol. Winter 2016; 10(1):47-52.AbstractObjectiveWe aimed to assess the effect of body mass index (BMI) on reducing the risk of refractory seizure due to lipoid tissue factors.Materials & MethodsThis matched case-control study, consisted of cases (Patients with refractory epilepsy) and controls (Healthy children) referred to 17 Shahrivar Hospital, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Guilan, Iran during 2013-2014.Data were gathered by a form including demographic characteristics, type of epilepsy, predominant time of epilepsy, therapeutic approach, frequency of epilepsy, time of disease onset and anthropometric indices. We measured anthropometric indices and transformed them into Z-scores. Data were reported by descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and analyzed by Pearson correlation coefficient, paired t test and multinomial regression analysis test using SPSS 19.ResultsThere was no significant difference between sex groups regarding anthropometric indices. Generalized and focal types of epilepsies were noted on 57.5% and 38.75% of patients, respectively. Daytime epilepsies happened in 46.25% of patients and 33.75% noted no predominant time for epilepsies.Clinicians indicated poly-therapy for the majority of patients (92.5%). The most common onset times for epilepsies were 36-72 months for 32.5% of patients. Lower onset time indicated lower frequency of refractory epilepsies.Although, there was significant difference between Zheight and predominant time of epilepsies but no significant relation was found between types of epilepsies and frequency of epilepsies with anthropometric indices. Using multivariate regression analysis by backward LR, Zweight and birth weight were noted as the predicting factors of refractory epilepsies.ConclusionThis effect may be because of leptin. Therefore, researchers recommend further investigations regarding this issue in children with epilepsy

CHANGE IN FREQUENCY OF ACUTE AND SUBACUTE EFFECTS OF ECSTASY IN A GROUP OF NOVICE USERS AFTER 6 MONTHS OF REGULAR USE

Background: Recent research trends are to specify the relation between patterns of ecstasy use and side effects, possibility of dependency, tolerance and long term neurocognitive damage. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of regular ecstasy use on its acute and subacute effects. Subjects and methods: At the first stage, we recruited 120 subjects. If participants continued regular use of ecstasy in this period, they were asked to participate in the second stage of the research 6 months later. Thirty-five subjects attended the second stage of the study, 5 of which were excluded because they had less than 5 drug experiences during the last 6 months. At last, we recruited 30 novice ecstasy users by means of the snowball technique in Tehran, Iran. The pattern of use and experienced effects of ecstasy was documented at the beginning and after 6 months of regular consumption with a self administered questionnaire. Results: Little or no change was observed in acute effects. Those subacute effects that had considerable increase in frequency were anxiety, depression, aggression, memory impairment, poor concentration and learning problems. Conclusion: Small change in acute effects suggests low possibility of tolerance after at least 6 months of regular use. Our results support long term neurocognitive damage and mood impairment with ecstasy use

Biotinidase Deficiency in Newborns as Respiratory Distress and Tachypnea: A Case Report

How to Cite This Article: Kohmanaee Sh, Zarkesh M, Tabrizi M, Hassanzadeh Rad A, Divshali S, Dalili S. Biotinidase Deficiency in Newborns as Respiratory Distress and Tachypnea: A Case Report. Iran J Child Neurol. Spring 2015; 9(2):58-60.AbstractObjectiveBiotin is a coenzyme composed of four carboxylases. It presents in amino acid catabolism, fatty acid synthesis, and gluconeogenesis. Biotinidase recycles the vitamin biotin. A biotinidase deficiency is a neurocutaneous disorder with autosomal recessive inheritance. The symptoms can be successfully treatedor prevented by administering pharmacological doses of biotin. Although, according to neonatal prenatal medicine (2011), a biotinidase deficiency does not manifest during the neonatal period. In this study, we report on a case of biotinidase deficiency in the first week of birth.Case ReportA 3100 g term boy was born via cesarean section. After 3 days, he was referred to the 17th Shahrivar Hospital with the chief complaint of tachypnea and grunting.Laboratory results revealed that liver and renal function tests, serum electrolytes, and blood indexes except ammonia were all normal. Within few days after the administration of oral biotin, the patient showed dramatic improvement and was discharged. However, within 4 months he was admitted two other times with the complaints of diarrhea and pneumonia. Unfortunately, he expired after 4 months.ConclusionAccording to our results, it seems that clinicians should accurately assess suspicious patients and even assess infants for biotinidase deficiency

Thermoresistant Newcastle disease vaccine effectivelyprotects SPF, native, and commercial chickens inchallenge with virulent virus

Background: Due to the more stability and a better homogenecity in immune response, the use of thermoresistant vaccines in different chicken types has been increased. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a newly developed Newcastle disease vaccine (ND.TR.IR ) originating from 1-2 strain in specific pathogen-free (SPF) and native and broiler chickens. Methods: Following determination of pathogenicity indices on the candidate seed, three efficacy examinations were conducted. In the first experiment, 120 1-day-old SPF chickens were randomly allocated to six groups and either vaccinated with ND.TR.IR via eye drop at 1, 7, and 21 days of age (V-1, V-7, and V-21), or considered as non-vaccinated control groups (C-1, C-7, and C-21). At 20th post-vaccination day, sera hemag-glutination inhibition (HI) antibody titres against ND virus (NDV) were measured and then the chickens were challenged by virulent NDV (vNDV). In the second and third experiments, the efficacy of ND.TR.IR vaccine was compared to routine vaccination program (B1 and LaSota) in native and broiler chickens that were vaccinated at 10 and 20 days of age, respectively. The HI antibody titres were measured on 10, 20, 30, and 40 days of age, and also challenge efficacy test with vNDV was conducted on 30 days of age. Results: The studied virus, as a vaccinal seed, complied with the pathogenicity indices of avirulent NDV and molecular identity of 1-2 strain. In the efficacy evaluation trials, the vaccinated chickens had higher HI antibody titres against NDV compared with their corresponding control chickens (p < 0.05). Results of the challenge tests indicated 95% and 100% protection against vNDV in native, SPF, and broiler-vaccinated chickens, respectively. Conclusions: The present findings indicated that administration of ND.TR.IR induced appropriate HI antibody titres against NDV in SPF, native, and broiler chickens associated with good protection in efficacy test

Diagnostic Methods of Metabolic Syndrome in Children

We aimed to define Metabolic Syndrome (METs) from different viewpoints to determine the most appropriate method that could be used for early METs' diagnosis in general population and treat them immediately. This study was an analytic cross-sectional study which was conducted on 725, twelve year-old-girls and boys from Rasht city in Iran. METs was defined based on 7 different methods. Data were reported by descriptive statistics (number, percent, mean, and standard deviation) and analyzed by Cohen's kappa coefficient correlation and chi-square in SPSS version 19. The highest and lowest percentages of METs were obtained by DE Ferranti (17.5%) and viner et al., (0.8%) methods, respectively. Results showed that viner et al., had the highest degree of agreement with NCEP ATPIII and the lowest with DE Ferranti. Furthermore, De Ferranti showed the highest degree of agreement with NHANESIII and the lowest with Viner et al., According to results, the identification of the cut off points of obesity could help to promote public health care

Boosting NAD preferentially blunts Th17 inflammation via arginine biosynthesis and redox control in healthy and psoriasis subjects

Acknowledgments We thank Myron Waclawiw of the NHLBI Biostatistics Branch for assistance with the clinical protocol design, Chromadex for supplying NR and matching placebo capsules for the in vivo study and NR powder for the cell culture studies, and an NIH Bench-to-Bedside award for supplemental funding. We additionally thank Dr. Nina Klimova, formerly of the NHLBI, and Dr. Yun-Wei A. Hsu for their support of the metabolomics analysis at the Northwest Metabolomics Research Center of the University of Washington (NIH grant 1S10OD021562-01). We thank and acknowledge the assistance of the NHLBI DNA Sequencing and Genomics Core in performing the RNA library sequencing and Dr. Pradeep Dagur in the NHLBI Flow Cytometry Core for performing the immunophenotyping. Trial registration was as follows: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT01934660, NCT02812238, and NCT01143454 and NIH Clinical Center blood bank (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00001846). This work was supported by the NHLBI Division of Intramural Research (ZIA-HL005102 to M.N.S.), NIH Bench-to-Bedside award (HL-129510-04S1 to M.N.S. and R.T.) and the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements (J.T.), the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (RYC2018-026050-I and PID2019-105665RA-I00 to J.T.), and the UK MRC (MR/P011705/2 and UKDRI-5002 to J.L.G.; MAP UK).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Propionate functions as a feeding state-dependent regulatory metabolite to counter proinflammatory signaling linked to nutrient load and obesity.

The authors thank Drs. Antonio Murgia and Ben McNally of the University of Cambridge Biochemistry Department for their contributions to metabolomics and lipidomic data processing. They thank and acknowledge the assistance of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute DNA Sequencing and Genomics Core in performing the RNA library sequencing and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Flow Cytometry Core for performing the flow cytometry.Peer reviewe

An Unusual Presentation of Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis With CLN6 Mutation

Background: Neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses (NCL) is a rare progressive neurodegenerative disorder caused by more than 530 mutations of at least 13 different genes (CLN 1-14). NCL is a part of the lysosomal disease characterized by the presence of neuronal and extraneural autofluorescent lipopigment accumulations that leads to motor and mental deterioration, developmental regression, seizure, vision loss, and premature death. NCL is classified into four main groups based on the different clinical manifestations and age of presentation. In this study, we aimed to report an unusual presentation of NCL with CLN6 mutation without retina involvement. Case Presentation: We reported a 10-year-old boy with mixed types of seizures, developmental delay, cognitive problems, unsteady gait, and speech disorders. Although after a thorough assessment, CLN6 mutation was diagnosed, he had all symptoms of this mutation, except the visual impairment. Conclusion: According to recent NCL case reports from Asia, full familiarity with its presentation by pediatricians and neurologists is obligatory. Children with developmental regression or refractory seizures, who also have visual or other neurological symptoms such as ataxia and other cerebellar symptoms, even at older ages, should be evaluated for NCL. Attention to ophthalmological examinations and neurological signs and confirming the diagnosis by biopsy or genetic analysis is desirable to prevent missed diagnosis

Deep Phenotyping of Post-infectious Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Post-infectious myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (PI-ME/CFS) is a disabling disorder, yet the clinical phenotype is poorly defined, the pathophysiology is unknown, and no disease-modifying treatments are available. We used rigorous criteria to recruit PI-ME/CFS participants with matched controls to conduct deep phenotyping. Among the many physical and cognitive complaints, one defining feature of PI-ME/CFS was an alteration of effort preference, rather than physical or central fatigue, due to dysfunction of integrative brain regions potentially associated with central catechol pathway dysregulation, with consequences on autonomic functioning and physical conditioning. Immune profiling suggested chronic antigenic stimulation with increase in naïve and decrease in switched memory B-cells. Alterations in gene expression profiles of peripheral blood mononuclear cells and metabolic pathways were consistent with cellular phenotypic studies and demonstrated differences according to sex. Together these clinical abnormalities and biomarker differences provide unique insight into the underlying pathophysiology of PI-ME/CFS, which may guide future intervention

The effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on psychological hardiness and distress tolerance in female patients with psoriasis

Background and Purpose: Psoriasis is a chronic and common skin disease that affects approximately 2% of the population. The impact of this disease on the quality of life of patients is very high even in cases where a very small level of the body is involved. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on psychological hardiness and distress tolerance in patients with psoriasis. Methods: The present research method is quasi-experimental with pre-test-post-test design and one-month follow-up with a control group. The statistical population consists of all female patients who referred to the skin and hair clinics of Boroujerd in 2022 who received a definitive diagnosis of psoriasis. Among them, 30 patients with psoriasis whose depression rate was higher than the cut-off point were selected by non-random sampling method and alternated in experimental group (acceptance and commitment therapy) and control group. (15 people in each group). Acceptance and commitment therapy was performed according to the Protocol (Hassanzadeh, 2020) in 8 sessions of 90 minutes in the experimental group. Data were collected using the Lang and Golett (2003) Psychological Hardiness Questionnaire, Simmons and Gaher (2005) and Beck (1996) Depression Inventory. Data were analyzed using SPSS-22 software and repeated measures analysis of variance. Results: The results showed that acceptance and commitment therapy is effective on psychological hardiness (p<0.001) and distress tolerance (p<0.001) in patients with psoriasis. Conclusion: It can be concluded that acceptance and commitment therapy was effective on psychological hardiness and distress tolerance in patients with psoriasis and this treatment can be used to reduce the adverse effects of the disease on patients' lives and take supportive measures