Comparing Subcuticular and Transdermal Appendectomy Repairs: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Background: Appendectomy is one of the most common abdominal operations. The prevalence of appendicitis increases with increased lymphatic tissue with the maximum prevalence at the beginning of adulthood. Owing to the high prevalence of appendectomy, patients will be benefited from a better method with improvement of surgical site and management of postoperative pain and infection. Subcuticular repair method due to better scar formation and less pain is preferred to the routine repair method, if the infection rate is comparable.Methods: The current study was conducted on appendectomy candidates in 2017. After providing the necessary explanations, the interested patients signed the informed consent forms and voluntarily participated in the study. The subjects were randomly assigned into two groups of randomized clinical trial with parallel design and 1:1 ratio. The sample size was 120 individuals based on previous studies. Subjects were assigned into two groups of 105 subjects each: the first group as subcuticular and the second group as transdermal accordingly. Then, they were studied and followed up.Results: One week after operation, 8.5% of subcuticular and 5.7% of transdermal repairs developed localized infection, and no significant difference was observed between the two groups. One week after surgery in the first group, 10% had no pain, 36% mild pain, 27% moderate pain, and 27% severe pain. In the second group, 7% had no pain, 36% mild pain, 30% moderate pain, and 27% severe pain. Therefore, there was no significant difference between two groups in this regard.Conclusion: There was no significant difference in the surgical wound infection rate between two methods. Accordingly, subcuticular repair was suggested as the preferred method owing to its better scar formation

Depression and its Main Determinants Among Iranian Operating Room Personnel: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Most nurses, especially operating room personnel, seems to be more likely to be affected by mood disorders than other social strata. The present study attempted to systematically review the prevalence of depression and its main determinants among operating room personnel in Iran.Methods: The method of this systematic review is documenting in a published protocol in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) checklist. After this massive search, titles and abstracts of retrieved documents have screened and all irrelevant articles excluded. Two reviewers screened the documents and selected all relevant studies and assessed included articles separately.Results: Totally, 12 citations found in the initial literature search where four citations excluded, as they did not meet the inclusion criteria. The final number of studies available for analysis was 12 including a total of 373 operating room personnel (86 men and 287 women, mean the age of 27.71 years ranged from 20 to 36 years). The pooled prevalence of depression among operating room personnel was estimated to be 45.3%. In this regard, 27.0% of personnel suffered from severe depression. A significant heterogeneity found in the overall analysis of the overall prevalence of depression and its severe pattern.Conclusion: A notable number of operating room personnel in Iran suffer from depression even in its severe condition emphasizing the importance of the managerial approach to minimize its adverse effects on their performance as well as to improve their quality of life

The Survey of Malnutrition Prevalence in Patients With Parkinson Disease In Tehran, Iran

Background: Parkinson disease (PD) introduced as the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disease following Alzheimer disease. A patient’s nutritional status may be compromising in PD. This study aimed to describe the outpatient nutritional status in patients with PD at a third-level hospital in Iran.Methods: The validated Persian version of the Mini-Nutritional Assessment (MNA) questionnaire was used to evaluate the nutritional status of 158 Iranian PD patients (age, 35-85 years). The exclusion criteria were as follows: chronic comorbidities affecting the nutritional status (e.g., diabetes and hypertension); adherence to special diets; and cognitive disorders. Based on the MNA questionnaire, a total score below 17 represented malnutrition, while scores 17-24 indicated a risk of malnutrition.Results: Based on the findings, 26% of the participants had low weight, 67% of whom were over 65 years. According to the MNA questionnaire, 14.3% of the participants showed malnutrition and 26.2% were at risk of malnutrition.Conclusion: Based on our findings, PD can contribute to reduced nutritional status. More than one-fourth of the PD population was at risk of malnutrition, which highlights the need for more attention towards nutritional assessment. Nutritional assessment is essential for the development of nutritional interventions and early detection of PD patients who are at risk of malnutrition

Evaluation of antibacterial activity of peptide fractions derived from Iranian scorpion Hemiscorpius lepturus

Background and aim: Continuous appearance of antibiotic resistance bacteria can cause significant complications and mortality. In this regard, tracing for new antimicrobial agents is of great significance. During the past decades, many studies have documented isolation of Antimicrobial Peptides (AMPs) from different sources. These peptides which are responsible for hinnate immunity were purified from human, vertebrates, invertebrates, insects, venomous animals, and plants. This study aimed to extract antibacterial peptides from Iranian scorpion Hemiscorpius lepturus. Material and Methods: Venom was obtained by electric stimulation and its quality examined by protein electrophoresis. The venom peptides were purified using Gel filtration chromatography and subsequently with Reverse Phase- High Performance Liquid Chromatography (RP-HPLC). The peptide fractions were evaluated for antibacterial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853. Inhibitory activity was determined by disk diffusion method. Result: Seven protein fractions were obtained from Sephadex-G50, among them only two fractions had peptides with less than 10 kDa. One FPLC purified fraction had anti-pseudomonas activity by disk diffusion method and was selected for further purification. Four major fractions were obtained by RP-HPLC ranging from 4 to 7 kDa. Subsequent tests showed that two fractions had bactericidal activity against pseudomonas. Conclusion: Natural compounds like antimicrobial peptides derived from venomous animals could be an effective solution to deal with multidrug-resistant pathogens. The results demonstrated that two peptide fractions of the scorpion venom had bactericidal activity against pseudomonas. This is the first report for isolation of antibacterial peptides from the Iranian scorpion Hemiscorpius lepturus

First report on the isolation of melittin from Iranian honey bee venom and evaluation of its toxicity on gastric cancer AGS cells

Background: It has been previously reported that melittin, the main ingredient of honey bee venom, has anticancer properties. However, there appears to be no earlier study focusing on the isolation of melittin from Iranian honey bee venom (Apis mellifera meda), and evaluation of its effect on cancerous cells. Methods: We isolated melittin using reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography, and its potential toxicity on gastric cancer AGS cells was determined with an MTT [3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide] assay. Furthermore, to ascertain whether melittin induces apoptosis or necrosis in these cells, morphological evaluation, DNA fragmentation assay, propidium podide and annexin-V-FITC dual staining, and flow cytometric analysis were also conducted. Results: The results of our study suggested that melittin inhibited the proliferation of AGS cells in a dose and time-dependent trend. All of the above four distinct assays indicated that melittin induces necrosis in AGS cells at concentrations of ≥ 1 μg/mL. Conclusion: The present study indicated that melittin has an anticancer effect on gastric cancer AGS cells and stimulates necrotic cell death in these cells

Histopathological changes induced by Hemiscorpius lepturus scorpion venom in mice.

International audienceEnvenomation by Hemiscorpius lepturus (H. lepturus) is associated with local necrosis, followed by systemic manifestations. In this work the LD₅₀ of H. lepturus venom were determined by subcutaneous (SC) injection in white Balb/c mice (5 mg/kg). Histopathological alterations in organs such as kidney, heart, liver, lungs, stomach and intestine were determined in 3, 6, 12 and 24 h following experimental (SC) envenoming injection of one LD ₅₀ of the venom in Balb/c mice. Histological studies showed degenerative changes in the kidney with disorganized glomeruli and necrotic tubular in 3 h and reached to its climax in 6 h. Myocardium showed massive myocytolysis with interstitial necrosis in 3 h and reached to its peak after 6 h past envenoming. Bowels showed edema of lamina propria and slight villous necrosis. The enzymatic activities of creatine kinase (CK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were significantly increased in the serum in 9 h. No necrotic lesion observed in lungs and liver. The results indicate that the venom of H. lepturus is a highly cytotoxic, and induces massive tissue damages in specific organs, starting from the heart and kidney as the first target in 3 h and ends to the bowels in 6 h post envenomation