Thyroid Cancers: Considerations, Classifications, and Managements

Rapidly increasing trend of thyroid cancer incidence has turned this disease into a global concern. An estimated number of 64,300 new cases of thyroid cancer occurred in men and women in 2016, which represents 3.8% of all new cancer cases of USA (https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/thyro.html). Thus, there is a high possibility for every physician to encounter a case of thyroid cancer during his/her professional lifetime. In this chapter, we clarified epidemiology, different categories, and new approaches toward diagnosis and management of thyroid cancer

Report of 267 Cases of Scorpion Bite Referring to an Emergency Department during One Year

Scorpion bite is a common health problem in many parts of the world, including the Iran’s tropics. There are thousands of cases and a number of deaths due to scorpion bite every year in the country. The present study aims to provide further data regarding the details, complications and outcomes of scorpion bite cases referring to Razi Hospital, Ahwaz, from March 2011 to April 2012. A total of 267 patients (56.3% females) with a mean age of 35.2±15.8 years, were included in the study. The most common genus of scorpion involved was Hemiscorpius (69.3%) and the most frequent body part involved was the lower limb (38.9%). The frequency of hemolysis-induced renal insufficiency and death after scorpion bite were 1.9% and 1.1%, respectively. Of all the factors evaluated in this series only the old age was associated with higher possibility of renal insufficiency (P<0.001).

Salivary Gland Cancers: A Survey through History, Classifications and Managements

In this chapter, we are going to discuss about salivary glands cancers, their clinical manifestations and categories, pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment. We will go through details in each part in both clinical and surgical aspects based on recently prominent published studies and research in prestigious journals. After a short review on clinical features, epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment, we will show staging and tumor node metastasis (TNM) classification of major salivary gland tumors and also basic principles of approach to salivary gland cancers. A little will be explained about basic surgical procedures for removal of cancers and benign tumors

Mg and La Co-doped ZnO Nanoparticles Prepared by Sol–gel Method: Synthesis, Characterization and Photocatalytic Activity

In this study, La and Mg doped, and co-doped ZnO nanoparticles were prepared using the sol-gel method. The prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), and N2 physisorption techniques. The XRD results indicated that the prepared nanoparticles can be well adopted by the hexagonal wurtzite structure crystal and there are no second impurity peaks. Studies of the FESEM, EDX and TEM have shown that the samples have uniform spherical-like morphology with a homogenous distribution. The incorporation of La and Mg into the ZnO lattice had no effect on the morphology of the nanoparticles, but a reduction in the size of the grains (≈ 14 nm to ≈ 7 nm) was observed due to the insertion of these ions. The results of N2 physisorption indicated that there was an increase in BET surface area and pore volume for doped and co-doped samples. The results of DRS showed an increase in band gap energy and a blue shift at the absorption edge for doped and co-doped samples. The photocatalytic activity of the prepared catalysts was evaluated in the removal of RhB under UVA irradiation. The results showed that Mg5%-La5%/ZnO had the highest photoactivity (91.18 %) among all samples

Cochlear Implants: An Excursus into the Technologies and Clinical Applications

Hearing loss causes severe alterations in social function and daily communications. Cochlear device implantation (CDI) is the only beneficiary method for auditory rehabilitation in patients with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). Regarding a report in 2014, over 300,000 people had received cochlear implants throughout the world since December 2012 among which about 60,000 were adults and 40,000 were children in the United States. In this chapter, we discuss the history, origin, mechanism of action, and type of cochlear implants, as well as method of surgery and complications

Herbal Medicine in the Management of Tinnitus

Tinnitus, which is commonly defined as “ringing in the ears” by the patients, is a perception of an auditory sensation without any accompanying external stimulation. It accounts for a notable part of visits in otolaryngology clinics and has been estimated to involve about 5–15% of adult population making serious problems in 3–5% of patients. Tinnitus causes a lot of problems for patients, their family, and guardians and significantly decreases quality of life of patients. Many treatment methods have been proposed and presented for Tinnitus since the first year of diagnosis. These methods range from conservative management and chemical medications to surgical methods. As the other diseases and conditions, herbal medicine has been trying to treat Tinnitus and a variety of medications have been proposed. In this chapter, we aimed to have a comprehensive review on the current herbal medications of Tinnitus from all over the world

Clinical Manifestations of β-Thalassemia Major in Two Different Altitudes; Bushehr and Shahrekord

Background: Patients with β-thalassemia major (TM) develop iron overload through increased iron absorption and transfusional therapy and it’s the most important complication of TM. Thalassemia is common in coastal regions and lands with low altitudes. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of high and low altitude on serum ferritin and treatment requirement in two groups of β-thalassemia major (TM) patients. Subjects and Methods: Patients were divided into two groups, the first group (No: 50) living at sea level (in the port of Bushehr, Iran) and the second group (No: 40) living at the altitude of 2061 m (in the city of Shahrekord, Iran). All patient’s clinical history, blood transfusion and laboratory tests including complete blood count and hemoglobin electrophoresis were reviewed. Results: There were no significant difference in ferritin levels, transfusion period and diabetes incidence of the two cities patients (P>0.05). Patient’s cardiac function and liver condition were significantly better in patients of Bushehr (P<0.05). Patients under 20 years in Bushehr were less splenectomized in comparison with Shahrekord (P<0.05). Conclusion: Our result showed that some of clinical manifestations of patients in low altitude such as cardiac and liver condition were better. But it did not affect ferritin level probably due to transfusion and chelating therapy. Totally patients of Bushehr had better conditions and had longer survivals. Keywords: β-thalassemia major, Ferritin level, Cardiac function, Altitud

Optimization of Phospholipase A1 Immobilization on Plasma Surface Modified Chitosan Nanofibrous Mat

Phospholipase A1 is known as an effective catalyst for hydrolysis of various phospholipids in enzymatic vegetable oil degumming. Immobilization is one of the most efficient strategies to improve its activity, recovery and functional properties. In this study, chitosan-co-polyethylene oxide (90:10) nanofibrous mat was successfully fabricated and modified with atmospheric plasma at different times (2, 6 and 10 min) to interact with enzyme molecules. Scanning electron microscopy images revealed that the membranes retained uniform nanofibrous and open porous structures before and after the treatment. PLA1 was successfully immobilized onto the membrane surfaces via covalent bonds with the functional groups of chitosan nanofibrous mat. Response surface methodology was used to optimize the immobilization conditions for reaching the maximum immobilization efficiency. Enzyme concentration, pH, and immobilization time were found to be significant key factors. Under optimum conditions (5.03 h, pH 5.63, and enzyme dosage 654.36 UI), the atmospheric plasma surface modified chitosan nanofibers reached the highest immobilization efficiency (78.50%). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy of the control and plasma surface-modified chitosan nanofibers revealed the functional groups of nanofibers and their reaction with the enzyme. The results indicated that surface modification by atmospheric plasma induced an increase in PLA1 loading on the membrane surfaces

Study of the inhibitory effect of the small molecule Diethylthia tri carbocyanine iodide, as an anti- Alzheimer's candidate drug on human recombinant tau aggregation

Background and aims: Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that is affected by different factors. Forming aggregations of the tau proteins in the brain is one of the most commonly observation in the patients’ brains suffered from this disease. Several strategies have been devised to target the tau aggregates in the neuronal cells of the patients. Recently, chaperones have drawn the attention of the researchers as a tool to inhibit or disaggregate the tau protein aggregations. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of small molecule chaperone called Diethylthia tri carbocyanine iodide on the formation of tau aggregates. Methods: In this basic laboratory study, Tau protein was expressed in bacteria. Then, Tau protein was purified by the ion-exchange chromatography and affinity chromatography, and its purity was evaluated by SDS-PAGE. Heparin was added as the inducer of tau aggregation, and the inductive effect of heparin on tau aggregation was examinated by circular dichroism (CD) method. Then, Diethylthia tri carbocyanine iodide chaperones was added to the aggregated tau and its effect was evaluated using SDS-PAGE and thioflavin T fluorescence assay. Results: Electrophoresis SDS-PAGE confirmed the expression of tau protein and its purity. CD validated the successful induction of tau aggregation by heparin. Following treatment of the tau aggregates with Diethylthia tri carbocyanine iodide, the results of SDS-PAGE showed that induced aggregation, remarkably reduced compared to the control sample. Thioflavin T fluorescence assay was used to confirm the results of SDS-PAGE analysis. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that Diethylthia tri carbocyanine iodide could inhibit the aggregation of the tau protein which they were produced in the presence of heparin inductor. These results can propose Diethylthia tri carbocyanine iodide as a potential treatment to target the tau aggregates in people with Alzheimer’s disease