Epidemiology of Sleep Disturbances Among Primary School Students in Kerman, Iran, in 2019

Primary sleep disturbances are common in both children and adults and can lead to cognitive problems and educational and psychological disorders. In this study, we evaluated the epidemiology of sleep disturbances among children in Kerman, Iran, in 2019. This cross-sectional study was done in 2019 with 561 children in elementary schools of Kerman, Iran. Data were collected by a Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaire that was filled out by parents and analyzed statistically. A total of 561children with a mean age of 9.54 ± 1.55 years were enrolled. The ratio of boys to girls was 1.01 and consistent across age groups. The prevalence of sleep disturbances in this population study was 26.7 (150 patients); 51.3 of them were girls. Sleep disturbances were associated with mothers� lower education level and parents� higher job positions (P <.05). This study showed the relatively high prevalence of sleep disturbances among children in this region. It can be reduced by a program such as sleep training or by promoting the level of parents� education. We recommend some educational programs and preschool screening to evaluate sleep disturbances and educating the parents to increase their responsiveness. © 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

Evaluation of L-arginine effects on refractory seizures in epileptic patients

Background: Epilepsy is one of the common neurological disorders and approximately 0.5-1 of populations suffers from it. Unfortunately, despite of treatment by antiepileptic drugs, between 20-30 of patients cannot be controlled completely. There are a lot of supplementary therapies for this group of patients and in this study, L-arginine was used as an additional therapy in refractory epileptic patients. Methods: Two groups of epileptic patients (n=21) were selected randomly. Group 1 received lactose as a placebo, and group 2 received L-arginine (twofold of daily need) as a drug for three months. We used a standard questionnaire for evaluating the effect of L-arginine on the quality of life before and after the study. Results: We did not find significant change in the quality of life of patients after using L-arginine, but the epileptic attacks decreased in L-arginine group significantly. Conclusion: L-arginine therapy is safe and can decrease the rate of seizure attacks in refractory epileptic patients, and can be an alternative of ketogenic diets. © 2020, Kerman University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

The effect of IFN-β 1a on expression of MDA5 and RIG-1 in multiple sclerosis patients

The aims of this study were to compare mRNA levels of melanoma differentiation-associated protein 5 (MDA5) and retinoic acid-inducible gene 1 (RIG-1) in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients in comparison to the healthy controls as well as investigating the effects of IFN-β 1a on the expression of these molecules. In this study, mRNA levels of MDA5 and RIG-1 in peripheral leukocytes of 30 new cases of MS patients and 35 healthy controls were evaluated using the real-time-PCR method. mRNA levels of MDA5 and RIG-1 were determined in the MS patients 6 months after treatment with standard doses of IFN-β 1a. mRNA levels of MDA5 and RIG-1 were significantly decreased in the MS patients in comparison to the healthy controls. The analysis also revealed that IFN-β 1a therapy leads to the upregulation of RIG-1, but not MDA5, in the total MS patients and the female group. MS patients suffer from insufficient expression of MDA5 and RIG-1, and IFN-β 1a therapy results in the upregulation of RIG-1 in the patients, especially in the female patients. Thus, it seems that IFN-β 1a not only decreased pathogenic inflammatory responses but also modulated the expression of RIG-1 to protect the patients from infectious diseases and upregulation of IFN-I in a positive feedback. © 2020 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc

Serum selenium level in patients with gastric non-cardia cancer and functional dyspepsia

BACKGROUND: Gastric cancer (GC) is the most common gastrointestinal cancer in Iran. Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) accounts as one of the main risk factors for gastric non-cardia cancer (GNCC). It is suggested that high serum selenium level may have a protective role in GNCC. In this cross-sectional study, we determined the serum Se level and the status of H. pylori infection in two populations with GC and functional dyspepsia (FD). METHODS: The enrolled patients were 85 (27 women, 58 men) with recent pathologically proven GNCC (adenocarcinoma) and 85 (34 women, 51 men) FD patients. Serum Se was measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. H. pylori IgG antibody was detected by quantitative enzyme immunoassay. RESULTS: The mean age in the GNCC and FD patients were 62.85±14.6 and 58.9±14.7 years, respectively (P=0.08). The serum selenium levels were 111.6±27.7 and 129.9±32.1 μg/L (mean±SD) in GNCC and FD patients, respectively (P<0.001). The frequency of H. pylori infection was 49.4% (n=42) and 68.2% (n=58) in GNCC and FD patients (P=0.013). The crude and adjusted odds ratio (OR) between GNCC and the linear effect of serum selenium level were 0.98 and 0.982, respectively (P=0.002). This means that each unit increase in serum selenium level decreases the odds of cancer by 2%. CONCLUSION: Serum selenium level was significantly lower in GNCC cases. It suggests that lower serum selenium might have some association with the risk of GNCC. H. pylori infection does not play a significant impact on this association