Clinical Signs and Causes of Chronic Kidney Disease in Pediatrics

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a worldwide medical condition with increasing frequency that impairs the quality of life of children. This study aimed to assess the clinical signs and causes of CKD in children in Zahedan, Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was run on 489 children up to 20 years with stages of 3 to 5 CKDs, in Zahedan during 2010-2019. Informed written consent was obtained from the patients’ parents. Data analysis was performed by SPSS 20 considering 0.05 as significant level. Results: Amongst the clinical manifestations, edema (16.4%), (FTT) (13.5%), urinary symptoms (12.3%) and vomiting (11.5%) were more common and congenital structural anomalies (41.7%) were the most common cause of hospital admission. From among the studied children with CKD, 65.8% had stage 5, about 44.4% had conservative treatment and in total, 19.00% died. Most of the laboratory parameters were different in death and survival cases, for instance, Systolic and diastolic BP were higher in deaths when platelet blood was lower. Main causes of CKD (congenital structural anomalies, cystic/hereditary/congenital disease, glomerular diseases, Renal Tubular Disease, unknown origin and stone) had a significant association with gender (X2=13.42, p=0.02), treatments (X2=70.77, p<0.001), stage of CKD (X2=40.31, p<0.001) and survival (X2=11.59, p=0.041). Stages of CKD had a significant relation with treatment (X2=118.18, p<0.001), and survival (X2=26.5, p<0.001). Conclusion: The causes of CKD were significantly associated with treatments, stage of CKD, and survival. Stages of CKD had significant associations with treatment and survival. Therefore, more attention to children with these signs is essential for early diagnosis and proper treatment

Amla enhances autophagy and modulates beta amyloid metabolism in an in vitro model of Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive, fatal neurodegenerative disease characterized by extensive neuronal loss associated with increased accumulation of the beta amyloid (Aβ) protein. Reducing production, preventing aggregation and improving clearance of Aβare areas of active research in the development of therapeutic agents to ameliorate neurodegeneration in AD. The Indian plant amla (Emblicaofficinalis), commonly known as Indian gooseberry, has widely been utilized in traditional Ayurvedic medicine preparations in the treatment of a variety of disease conditions including cardiovascular disease and diabetes: accumulating evidence also suggests that amla may be beneficial in AD. Amla exhibits antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-apoptotic mechanisms and more recently has been shown to modulate autophagy; a vital protein degradation pathway involved in the clearance of damaged organelles and aggregate proteins in cells. Our own recent in vitro work shows that amla extract enhances autophagy and modulates accumulation of proteolytic products of Amyloid precursor protein (APP) such as APP-C terminal fragments (C99, C83). Amla treatment (50-300 μg/ml) induced a dose-dependent increase in autophagic flux, as measured by Western blotting utilizing an LC3 directed antibody as an autophagosome marker. At similar concentrations, amla treatment also reduced accumulation of APP C-terminal fragment levels by 33 to 77%. However, no significant changes were observed in APP levels, indicating that amla did not alter APP production. Overall, our findings suggest that amla may confer beneficial effects through modulating autophagy and Aβ metabolism, and warrants further investigation as a potential therapeutic agent in ADhttps://ro.ecu.edu.au/ecuposters/1026/thumbnail.jp

Evaluation of Antibiotic Sensitivity of Urinary Tract Pathogens among Children in Zahedan, South East of Iran

Background Urinary tract infection (UTI), are the most frequent and serious infection in childhood around the world. The present study aimed to evaluate antibiotic sensitivity of urinary tract pathogens among children in Zahedan, South East Iran. Materials and Methods This cross-sectional study analyzed 396 patients aged 1-18 years with positive urine and suspected UTI. Gender and age of children, kind of isolated bacteria in urine culture, susceptibility and resistance of these bacteria to current antibiotics were studied. Bacterial growth for more than 105 CFU/ml was considered as positive. Data analyzed by SPSS version 21.0. Results The most common age of urinary tract infection were < 1 year and 1-7 years for boys and girls, respectively, and the variation of sex distribution was significant in different age groups (P = 0.003). The most prevalent cause of UTI was Escherichia coli(E.coli) (77%), in total ages and both gender, afterward was Enterobacter (8.1%) and Klebsiella (7.1%). E.coli sepsis was highly sensitive to nitrofurantoin (74.7%), ciprofloxacin (72.5%), and amikacin (64.6%), both highly resistant to trimethoprim and sulfametoxazole (74.8%), ampicillin (66.9%), and nalidixic acid(51.1%); and its resistance to ceftriaxone was increasing. Conclusion  In this study resulted that E. coli was the first responsible pathogen in proven culture of UTI in children, which was increased in resistance to popular antibiotics like Ampicillin, Sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprimand Nalidixic acid. In several countries, emphasize the need for local population specific surveillance for guiding empirical therapy for UTI in children

Clinical and Socioeconomic Factors Associating with Opium Poisonings in Children and Adolescents

Background: Use of opium and derivatives is one of the major health, psychosocial and socioeconomic problems and can lead to complications for societies. The present study aimed to assess clinical and socioeconomic factors associated with the poisonings by Opium and its Derivatives (O&D) in children and adolescents. Methods: This retrospective study was carried out to review the recorded clinical information of children and adolescents admitted to the pediatric emergency department of the Ali Ibn Abi Talib Hospital due to acute poisoning by O&D during a seven-year period since 2014. Demo-economic information was taken from the patient’s guardians at the time of discharge. Collected data were analyzed by SPSS 20 considering 0.05 as the significant level. Results: From among 227 poisoned children, 50.7% were female and 75.8%, 8.8% and 15.4% were in age groups of <8 year, 8-12 and 12-18 years, respectively. About 42.7% of the children poisoned by industrial substances, compared to the traditional substances. Respectively, 87.7%, 11% and 1.3% of the children were poisoned accidentally, intentionally, and due to family challenges or schooling problems. Variables of the children’s gender, age, and father’s age were associated with self-poisoning. The samples’ heart rate, blood pressure and seizure were affected by the type of narcotic. Conclusion: Overall, the majority of poisoned children were girls and young. Those with very young and very old parents had more tendency to self-poison due to family challenges. Types of narcotic substances significantly correlated with irregular changes in the size of the pupil, heart rate, blood pressure and seizure

The Impact of Greenhouse Density on Cognitive Function in Primary School Children Using the WISC Method

Exposure to pesticides is associated with various health concerns and may also be related to impaired cognitive function. This study investigated the relationship between greenhouse density and cognitive function in primary school children using Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) and environmental sampling. This study was conducted on 128 children (6–9 years old) in Ebrahimabad village, Ashkezar, Yazd, Iran in 2019, and 10 students were excluded from the study after filling consent form. The WISC-IV measured children’s cognitive function, and a flame ionization detector for gas chromatography (GC-FID) instrument was used to detect environmental exposure to pesticides. There was a significant inverse relationship between greenhouse density in children’s homes and cognitive function scores with verbal thinking scores (P value=0.003) and the total scale (P value=0.0001) on the WISC. Further, the results showed that the obtained verbal thinking scores are significantly related to their fathers’ education (P value=0.008) and occupation (P value=0.014). Moreover, the results of environmental exposure measurement confirmed the presence of malathion, ethion, chlorpyrifos, dieldrin, and oxadiazine with a maximum concentration of 183 µg/m3 in response to malathion. The present study indicated that increasing the density of the greenhouse reduces children’s cognitive functions. The results of ambient air analysis confirmed the environmental exposure to pesticides as well. Due to long-term chemical effects, management measures such as public education, substituting crop types, and the use of eco-friendly methods are unavoidable

Plasma high density lipoprotein small subclass is reduced in Alzheimer’s disease patients and correlates with cognitive performance

Background: The link between cholesterol and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has received much attention, as evidence suggests high levels of cholesterol might be an AD risk factor. The carriage of cholesterol and lipids through the body is mediated via lipoproteins, some of which, particularly apolipoprotein E (ApoE), are intimately linked with AD. In humans, high density lipoprotein (HDL) is regarded as a “good” lipid complex due to its ability to enable clearance of excess cholesterol via ‘cholesterol reverse transport’, although its activities in the pathogenesis of AD are poorly understood. There are several subclasses of HDL; these range from the newly formed small HDL, to much larger HDL. Objective: We examined the major subclasses of HDL in healthy controls, mild cognitively impaired, and AD patients who were not taking statins to determine whether there were HDL profile differences between the groups, and whether HDL subclass levels correlated with plasma amyloid-β (Aβ) levels or brain Aβ deposition. Methods: Samples from AIBL cohort were used in this study. HDL subclass levels were assessed by Lipoprint while Aβ1–42 levels were assessed by ELISA. Brain Aβ deposition was assessed by PET scan. Statistical analysis was performed using parametric and non-parametric tests. Results: We found that small HDL subclass is reduced in AD patients and it correlates with cognitive performance while plasma Aβ concentrations do not correlate with lipid profile or HDL subfraction levels. Conclusion: Our data indicate that AD patients exhibit altered plasma HDL profile and that HDL subclasses correlate with cognitive performances

Investigation of the role of amla in modulating cholesterol metabolism, and understanding its mechanism of action in reducing Alzheimer’s risk

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain and is associated with a number of cardiovascular disease risk factors. Dyslipidemia is a systemic metabolic change that occurs early in AD and recent studies have suggested using medicinal plant extracts as an effective treatment to slow the cognitive decline in AD. The main aim of this study is to investigate the clinical benefits of Amla, a bioactive Indian gooseberry, and to explore its potential cellular mechanisms that may underlie its effects. The findings presented in this thesis provide significant insight into our understanding of the lipid changes in blood and how they relate to AD pathogenesis and also into the possible molecular mechanisms underlying Amla’s beneficial effects

Molecular Identification of Agents of Human Cutaneous Leishmaniasis and Canine Visceral Leishmaniasis in Different Areas of Iran Using Internal Transcribed Spacer 1 PCR-RFLP

Background: Leishmaniasis is a major medical health problem and distributes in nearly half of 31 provinces of Iran. We aimed to identify cutaneous and visceral Leishmania spp. isolated from infected humans and domestic dogs in various regions of Iran, 2010‒2013.Methods: DNA was extracted from 108 lesion exudate samples of suspected patients to cutaneous leishmaniasis and nine liver and spleen aspirates of infected dogs cultured in RPMI-1640 and amplified using partial sequence of ITS1 gene. The PCR amplicons were digested using HaeIII endonuclease enzyme and used in restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) assay. Then, 48 amplicons representing various hosts were sequenced and compared to se­quences from GenBank databases using BLAST.Results: PCR-RFLP analysis showed that 60 and 48 CL patients were infected by Leishmania tropica and L. major, respectively. From nine canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL) isolates, eight isolates were identified as L. infantum and one as L. tropica. The greatest similarity of 95.7% in ITS1 region was seen between L. infantum and L. major. Furthermore, the lowest similarity with 65.7% was seen between L. tropica and L. major. Intra-species comparison of ITS1 region in L. infantum, L. major and L. tropica isolates were showed 100%, 98.2% and 72.4 % similarities, respectively.Conclusion: PCR-RFLP based on ITS1 region is an appropriate method to distinguish three Leishmania spp. of L. major, L. tropica, and L. infantum. In intra-species comparison of ITS1 region, genotypic variations showed that L. tropica isolates were more heterogeneous than L. major and L. infantum isolates.</p

Investigating the Relationship between Citizenship Behavior and Social Discipline (The Case Study: Shahrekord)

Abstract- The present study was taken from a study titled &quot;investigating the relationship between citizenship behavior and social discipline &quot; and its objective is to study and investigate the relationship between citizenship behavior and the citizens&apos; tendency toward social discipline. Its research design is descriptive and it was conducted through correlation method and with an applied objective. In order to measure the variables two questionnaires (citizenship behavior and tendency to social discipline) have been used. The statistical population included all citizens of Shahrekord from whom 105 were selected via multistage random sampling. The achieved data were too analyzed through applying t-test, correlation and regression analysis. Some of the findings are the followings: the importance of law, punctuality, personal cleaning, observing traffic rules, psychological growth, right social action and public health are above the mean level in the citizens. The tendency toward social discipline in the citizens is above the mean level. The importance of law from the viewpoint of citizens, punctuality, personal and environmental cleaning, observing traffic rules, psychological growth, right social action and public health have significant relationship with their tendency to social discipline, moreover near 37 % of the changes associated with the citizens &apos; tendency to social discipline is explained through their citizenship behavior and it is related to it and the other changes regarding tendency to social discipline are explained by other variables out of the study. Index Terms- citizenship behavior, social discipline, citizens

Amla therapy as a potential modulator of Alzheimer\u27s disease risk factors and physiological change

There is currently no effective treatment for Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD), the most common form of dementia. It has been proposed, however, that a modest delay in onset can significantly reduce the number of cases. Thus, prevention and intervention strategies are currently the focus of much research. In the search for compounds that potentially confer benefit, the Amla fruit and its extracts have drawn attention. Amla preparations have been used for centuries in traditional Indian medicine systems such as Ayurveda, with various parts of the plant used to treat a variety of diseases. Here we review many animal-based studies, and some clinical trials, which have shown that Amla, and its extracts, exert many positive effects on dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia, inflammation, oxidative stress, apoptosis, and autophagy, that contribute to AD risk. Collectively, this evidence suggests that Amla may be of value as part of an effective disease-delaying treatment for AD. © 2020-IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved