Cold Ceramic as a Root Canal Filling Material: A Case Series

Objectives Recently, Cold Ceramic (CC), which is a mineral trioxide aggregate-like bio-ceramic and an essential component of calcium hydroxide, has been introduced as a potential root-end filling material. The purpose of this case series was to investigate the reliability and potential periapical healing effects of CC as a root canal-filling material. Cases: In this study, six cases were described with complaints of pain and acute periapical abscess, who were managed in one visit using CC as a root canal filling material. After two weeks of follow up, they were clinically examined, which revealed no signs and symptoms in 12.33 months on average with a mean Periapical Index score of 1.33 (compared to initial mean score of 3). Conclusion: Root canal filling with cold ceramic introduces clinicians to an alternative treatment strategy that might improve the healing outcomes for patients presenting with complex and challenging endodontic conditions

Effects of Different Levels of drought Stress on Yield and Yield Components of Quinoa (Chenopodium Quinoa Willd.)

Due to the limited quality of water resources and considering that the majority of the country is arid and semi-arid, it is important to cultivate plants with a high tolerance to drought and salinity. This research was conducted to determine the effect of different moisture levels on yield and yield components of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) under lysimetric conditions in the spring and autumn cropping seasons. Treatments included irrigation after draining 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8 of the total available water (TAW). Irrigation was done based on the soil moisture depletion and the leaching requirement of about 20%. At the end, dry biomass, seed yield, and yield components were measured. The results showed that with an increase in the moisture depletion from 0.6 to 0.8 TAW, the biomass and seed yield had a significant decrease of 24 and 37% in the spring and 34 and 47% in the autumn cropping season, respectively. But the increase in moisture depletion from 0.2 to 0.4 and 0.4 to 0.6 did not cause a significant decrease in these traits. The results indicated that changes in moisture depletion levels caused significant differences in plant height (P<0.01), stem diameter, and 1000-seed weight (P<0.05) in spring cropping, but their effect on panicle length and width and the number of secondary stems was not significant. In the autumn cropping season, the results showed that changes in moisture levels caused significant differences in plant height and the 1000-seed weight (P<0.01), but the effect on other yield components was not significant

Self-Assessment of Clinical Skills in Medical Internship

Background and Objectives: Self-assessment of clinical performance in a clinical setting is defined as the process of collecting internal and external data, interpreting the data on personal performance, and comparing them with a set of standards. The current study aimed at analyzing self-assessment of clinical skills among medical interns at Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran, and determining the relationship between practical skills and theoretical knowledge. Methods: The current cross sectional, descriptive, analytical study was conducted in 2014 on a total of 141 interns from Kerman University of Medical Sciences selected via census sampling. Data were collected using a checklist including the main procedural skills of medical students and analyzed using the Mann-Whitney and the Kruskal-Wallis tests with SPSS. Results: The majority of participants were female (n = 79; 56%). The mean score of males‘ clinical skills was higher than that of females, and the difference was statistically significant (P = 0.001). Analysis of the relationship between internship duration and clinical skill scores showed that the mean score of interns who had completed 6 months of their internship was higher than that of the ones who had not; the difference was statistically significant (P = 0.001). Conclusions: Since the performance of future general practitioners highly depends on their learning and mastery of clinical skills, acquisition of these essential skills during internships is an important objective of medical students. Correct and complete training of clinical skills, especially during internships, is integrated into the medical curriculum, although its implementation requires careful planning and compliance with the medical standards. Keywords: Internship Period, Medical Students, Self-Assessment, Clinical Skill

Prevalence of micro-aspiration of bile acids in patients with primary lung cancer: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Lung cancer remains a serious public healthproblem and is the first cause of cancer-related death worldwide. There is some evidence suggests that bile acid micro-aspiration may contribute to the development of lung diseases. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of microaspiration of bile acids in patients with primary lung cancer.METHODS: In a cross-sectional study, 52 patients with primary lung cancer referred to a teaching hospital affiliated with Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran were enrolled. Patients with pathology-confirmed lung cancer who did not receive specific treatment were included in the present study. All patients underwent bronchoscopy and the levels of bile acid was assessed in their Broncho-Alveolar Lavage (BAL) samples.RESULTS: According to the results, 53.85% of patients were in the age group of 40 to 59 years. Of the participants, 88.46% were male, 82.69% were smokers, and 69.23% were opium addicted. The most common presenting clinical symptoms of patients were heartburn (61.55%), hoarseness (17.31%), and epigastric pain (9.61%), respectively. Ninety-two point thirty two percent of patients had endobronchial lesions in bronchoscopy. Squamous cell carcinoma, small-cell lung carcinoma and adenocarcinoma accounts for 48.08%, 34.61% and 17.31% of all cases of lung cancer, respectively. Bile acids were found in the BAL sample of all patients with primary lung cancer. The mean Bile acids levels in patients were 63.42 (SD=7.03) μmol/Lit.CONCLUSION: According to the results of present study, there was a micro-aspiration of bile acids in all patients with primary lung cancer that may participate in shaping early events in the etiology of primary lung cancer. It seems that developing clinical strategies preventing the micro-aspiration of bile acids into the lungs could remove a key potential trigger in this process

Detection of Helicobacter Pylori in Bronchoalveolar Lavage of Patients With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease by Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the most important causes of disability and mortality in the world. Although cigarette smoking and environmental pollutants have been recognized as the major causes of COPD, the role of infection in the pathogenesis and progression of COPD has also been reported. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to find the relationship between Helicobacter Pylori infection and COPD through anti H. pylori IgG serology, real time PCR of bronchoalveolar lavage and trans bronchial biopsy urease tests. Patients and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out on 60 adults with COPD. After obtaining the patient’s history, physical examination, spirometry and confirmation of COPD diagnosis by pulmonologist, subjects were selected through convenience sampling. In order to determine the severity and prognosis of disease, the global initiative for chronic obstructive lung disease (GOLD) criteria and BODE index were used. Subjects underwent bronchoscopy for obtaining bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples and biopsy was performed. Biopsy and BAL samples were investigated respectively by urease test and real time PCR. Moreover, patients’ serum samples were serologically studied for detection of anti H. pylori IgG. Results: Mean age of the participants was 60.65 ± 9.15 years, and 25% were female and 75% were male. The prevalence rate of H. pylori in COPD patients was 10% according to real time PCR, 88.3% according to the serology test and 0% based on the urease test. According to the results of PCR and considering the severity of disease based on the GOLD criteria, from those with a positive PCR, one patient (16.6%) had very severe obstruction, three (50%) had severe obstruction and two patients (33.3%) had moderate obstruction. The relationship between H. pylori presence (based on PCR) and disease severity and prognosis was not statistically significant. Conclusions: These findings can justify the hypothesis of direct injury and chronic inflammation via inhalation and aspiration resulting in H. pylori colonization. In fact, it is thought that H. Pylori infection, beside the host genetic vulnerability and other environmental risk factors might make the patient susceptible to COPD or lead to COPD worsening. Although we found H. pylori infection in some patients with COPD, the results of this study, could not explain the pathogenic mechanisms of COPD

Prevalence of Near Fatal Asthma and Related Risk Factors in Asthmatic Patients in Kerman

Abstract: Background & Aims: Asthma is one of the most common diseases worldwilde that can be prevented with optimal access to medical care. Since there is no data about the prevalence of risk factors of death caused by asthma in our region, the present study was performed to determine the prevalence risk factors of fatal asthma in asthmatic patients. Methods: This study was done on 200 asthmatic patients who referred to Be’sat clinic in Kerman/Iran. Asthma diagnosis was made through physical examination or spirometery. A questionnaire consisting demographic features and related risk factors was filled by the physician for each patient. Then, data were analyzed using SPSS15 software. Results: Totally, 82% of the patients had at least one of the risk factors of death caused by asthma. The most common risk factors were being jobless (63%) and inability to pay for asthma medications (43%). Moreever, 73% of patients had severe permanent asthma. Conclusion: Since most of the deaths from asthma are preventable and there are several efficient treatments for asthma, even small proportion of mortality related to asthma is unacceptable. Furthermore, because a majority of patients, in spite of the degree of their problem, had not been treated adequately, providing required education about asthma and its treatment for physicians, especially family physicians is necessary. Keywords: Asthma, Mortality, Risk factors, Severe asthma, Kerma

Human Linguatulosis Caused by Linguatula serrata in the City of Kerman, South-eastern Iran- Case Report

Human linguatulosis poses an important medical and veterinary concern in en-demic countries. Animals, as reservoir host, play a major role in transmission of infestation and epidemiology of the disease. This study reports a case of human linguatulosis caused by Linguatula serrata in the city of Kerman, South-eastern Iran. A woman suffering from upper respiratory symptoms is presented. The pa-tient consumed raw liver of sheep who was admitted to the Afzalipour University Hospital in Kerman for the symptoms of upper respiratory tract. In microscopic examination of the nasopharyngeal discharge, L. serrata was detected. This report has future medical implication in precise diagnosis of L. serrata in patients with complaints of nasopharyngeal symptoms

Evaluation and comparing the tooth discoloration induced by cold ceramic and MTA Angelus as endodontic cements

Background and Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate the tooth discoloration caused by cold ceramic compared to MTA Angelus in contact with the washing solutions such as sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) and normal saline. Materials and Methods: 50 samples of extracted human maxillary anterior teeth were selected. After preparing the access cavity, they were divided into 4 experimental groups and 1 control group (10 in each group). The access cavities of teeth in groups 2 and 4 were rinsed with 5.25% sodium hypochlorite and those in groups 1 and 3 were rinsed with normal saline. Then, after drying, 3 mm thickness of cold ceramic (groups 1 and 2) and MTA Angelus (groups 3 and 4) were placed in the access cavities of the teeth. After setting of the materials, all specimens were restored with a resin modified glass ionomer. Based on the CIE Lab system, each sample’s total color change (∆E) was obtained before, one, and 90 days after application. Data were statistically analyzed using the Wilcoxon test. Results: According to the results, there was no statistically significant difference in the average tooth discoloration between the groups filled with cold ceramic and in different time periods (P>0.05). While, in the groups filled with MTA Angelus, the difference in the average tooth discoloration in 90 days after application was significantly higher than one day (P<0.05). Conclusion: The results of this study showed that compared to MTA Angelus, cold ceramic causes less tooth discoloration over time and therefore, it can be suggested as a more suitable alternative endodontic cement than MTA Angelus

Evaluation of effect of tween 80 on characteristics of tadalafil 0.1% suspension

Tadalafil is a phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitor used orally as solid dosage form. The suspension of this drug has been used for pulmonary arterial hypertension treatment in pediatrics. The aim of this work was to investigate the influence of non-ionic surfactant (Tween 80) on the physical characteristics, drug particle size, and stress-shear rate rheogram of tadalafil 0.1% suspension. Several formulations prepared by xanthan gum as suspending agent. Glycerin has been used as wetting agent. The several amounts of Tween 80 were added and the characteristics of suspensions were evaluated during 6 months. The results showed the effect of surfactant on sediment volume and resuspendibility. The particle size of tadalafil was affected by surfactant amount. This result showed an optimum effect of Tween 80 on drug particle size. The viscosity behavior evaluation of tadalafil 0.1% suspension showed Tween 80 effect. This study showed that Tween 80 can dramatically affect viscosity of suspensions. The results of this study have demonstrated the effect of Tween 80 on physical properties of tadalafil 0.1% oral suspension. An ideal drug particle size was observed in particular amount of Tween 80 (0.15% w/v)