Effects of Chamomile Essential Oil on Granulocyte Count In Patients with Neutropenia

Introduction Neutropenia is an abnormality in neutrophil count which lessens to lower than 1500 / microL (<1.5×109/L). Early recognition and treatment are needed in neutropenia cases. Matricaria chamomilla (chamomile) belongs to Asteracea family which often is referred as "star among medicinal species". Recently, valuable effects of chamomile in multitherapy, cosmetics and nutrition has been published in several papers. The phytochemical analysis exhibited flavonoids, essential oils, cumarins and sesquiterpene lactones derivatives like matricin and chamazulene in the plant. The aim of this research wasevaluation of chamomile essential oil on granulocyte count in patients with neutropenia. Methods and Results Essential oil of chamomile was collected consecutively via Clevenger method.  85 people were participated in the clinical trial and divided into three groups. 15 healthy people as control group received chamomile drop, 35 neutropenia patients induced by chemotherapy received chamomile drop as treatment group and 35 neutropenia patients induced by chemotherapy did not receive the drop as non-treated group. Blood sampling was done at the time of the admission and every other day for 10 consecutive days after chamomile drop consumption. Granulocytes, polymorphonuclear cells (PMNs) and white blood cells (WBC) were counted after every sampling. The average of WBC, PMNs and granulocytes numbers were significantly raised in control and treatment group with P<0.05 90±11/ 3520±611, 1.14±0.83/ 17.37±22.8 and 150±0.07/ 1537±305, respectively. In non-treated group the WBC, PMNs and granulocyte were 40±72, 7.91±22.96 and 190±48, respectively.        ConclusionConsumption of chamomile drop significantly increased the level of WBC, PMNs and granulocyte in control and treatment groups in comparison to non-treated group. As the result, chamomile essential oil could be considered as an adjuvant in neutropenia or other immune system deficiencies

Familial colorectal cancertype X in central Iran: A new clinicopathologic description

Background: Familial colorectal cancer type X (FCCX) is a subtype of mismatchrepair (MMR)-proficient colorectal cancerin whichthe patients are clinicallyat risk for Lynch syndrome (LS), a common hereditary cancer predisposing syndrome.In this study, we describeda new clinicopathological feature of the condition in central Iran. Subjects and Methods: We designed a descriptive, retrospective study to screenat-riskcolorectal cancer (CRC) patients,usingAmsterdam II criteria and Molecular analysis in Isfahan (central Iran) throughout 2000-2013 period. Results: 219 early-onset (≤ 50 years) CRC patients of 1659 were selected for the evaluation. Amsterdam II criteria were positive in 45 families; of whom 31 were finally analyzed by molecular testing. MMR deficiency was detected in 7/31 probands (22.6%) as affected to LS, so 24 families (77.4%) were identified as FCCX. The mean age of the probands at diagnosis among FCCX families was 45.3 years (range 24-69) versus 38.0 years (range 31-50) in LS families.The frequency of CRC among FCCX and LS families was calculated 27.9% and 67.5%, respectively. Also, the most frequent extracolonic cancer among both FCCX and LS families was stomach by 25.5% and 30.8%, respectively. Tumor site was proximal to the splenic flexure in 20.8% and 57.1% of index CRC patients in FCCX and LS families, respectively. Conclusion: Given the relative high frequency of FCCXand its different phenotype among Iranian populations, we need to set up more advanced molecular studies for exploration of unknown molecular pathways leading to tumorigenesis in this class of CRC patients

The efficacy of metacognitive therapy on emotional processing components of patients with functional dyspepsia: controlled clinical trial

Background: Functional dyspepsia is characterized by a set of symptoms in the upper gastrointestinal tract due to an underlying organic cause and is one of the common causes of patients ’visits to gastroenterologists. A few researches have been conducted on the effectiveness of psychotherapy with respect to the psychological components of these patients. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of metacognitive therapy on emotional processing components of these patients. Materials and Methods: In this study, 40 patients with dyspeptic symptoms were recruited after medical examination by gastroenterologists, performing H. Pylori test and undergoing endoscopy. Moreover, 20 of the patients were randomly assigned to a group for metacognitive therapy and another 20 to the control group. The Baker's emotional processing questionnaire was used at pre-treatment, post-treatment and three months after treatment for evaluating changes in patients' emotional processing styles. Finally, repeated measures analysis of variance was employed for data analysis by using SPSS 19. Results: The research data that was obtained by repeated measures analysis of variance indicated statistically significant differences in three emotional processing scales in metacognitive therapy group compared to the control group at pre-treatment, post-treatment and three months after treatment. Conclusion: Compared to the control group, the metacognitive therapy of functional dyspepsia patients was more effective in the short- and long-term for coping with difficulty in emotional recognition and experience, difficulty in emotional control and expression as well as inadequate emotional processin

Effect of Squill Oxymel on Knee Osteoarthritis: A Triple-Blind, Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trial

Osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee is a major health problem in the society. Iranian Traditional Medicine (ITM) or Persian Medicine (PM) as a branch of complementary medicine has been practiced in Iran for many centuries. An herbal medication known as squill oxymel has been used by PM physicians for OA. Our aim is to investigate the effect of squill oxymel on OA of the knee joint. Eighty eight patients were assigned to receive a placebo or squill oxymel syrup (10 ml each morning on empty stomach) for 8 consecutive weeks. Acetaminophen tablets were considered as the rescue medicine. Ultimately, 43 patients in the placebo group and 40 patients in the treatment group completed the trial and were included in the statistical analysis. Patients were followed for 4 weeks after cessation of treatment. The Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) questionnaire and Visual Analog Scale (VAS) were considered as the main outcome measures. Laboratory tests including AST, ALT, BUN, Cr plus inflammatory tests including WBC, ESR, and CRP with specific tests i.e. IL6 and SOD at the beginning and the end of intervention were measured. The results showed the positive effect of treatment on the outcome of knee pain (p=0.04) and daily activity (p=0.01) of KOOS after Cessation of treatment. On the other hand, VAS decreased in both treatment and placebo groups while it showed significance intra-group and showed no significance between the two groups. After 4 weeks of cessation of treatment, the positive effect of the squill oxymel on the treatment group continued in some of the subscales of KOOS, including symptoms, knee pain and daily activities, but stopped in the placebo group. In general, both clinically and statistically significant improvement was observed after cessation of treatment. Squill oxymel syrup showed promising results in management of knee OA but future researches with larger sample size and longer duration are necessary

An Improved Vat Photopolymerization Cure Model Demonstrates Photobleaching Effects

An improved high-fidelity simulation model for a grayscale projection micro-stereolithography process has been developed. The modeling purpose is to accurately predict cured part shapes and dimensions, given a radiation intensity distribution. The model employs COMSOL to solve a series of chemical reaction differential equations that model the evolution of chemical species (photoinitiator, monomer, and polymer) concentrations. Additionally, the model incorporates the effects of oxygen inhibition and species diffusion. This research offers two primary contributions to the cure model: the consideration of volumetric intensity to model variations in photoinitiator absorbance as a function of depth into the resin and a change to the rate model for photoinitiator to free radical conversion. The effects of these changes demonstrate observed photobleaching effects. Simulated cured part profiles are compared to experiments and demonstrate good agreement. Additionally, initial results are presented on the usage of the simulation model in a new process planning method.Mechanical Engineerin

A randomized clinical trial on treatment of chronic constipation by traditional persian medicine recommendations compared to allopathic medicine: A pilot study

Background: The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy and side effects of lactulose plus traditional Persian medicine with only lactulose on the functional chronic constipation. Methods: Participants included 20 patients (10 in each group) aged 18–80 years, with major inclusion criteria of ROME III. They were assigned into two parallel therapeutic groups, including the intervention group (lactulose plus traditional Persian medicine [TPM] advices) and control group (only lactulose) through a block randomization. Weekly follow-up was done for 1 month for both groups. Results: After the intervention, the frequency of bowel habit increased significantly in patients of both groups (P = 0.001), and the frequency of hard stool defecation, sensation of painful defecation, sensation of incomplete evacuation, sensation of anorectal obstruction, and manual maneuver for evacuation were decreased significantly in patients of both groups (P < 0.001 for all comparisons and 0.025 for manual maneuver). However, the only significant difference between the two groups was more reduction in the sensation of painful defecation in the lactulose group versus lactulose plus TPM advices (P = 0.014). Conclusions: Based on the pilot study, no significant difference was shown between TPM with lactulose and lactulose only in the management of chronic functional constipation. However, the easy recommendations of TPM can be useful in improving chronic constipation

A high-performance chitosan-based double layer proton exchange membrane with reduced methanol crossover

A novel double layer proton exchange membrane (PEM) comprising a layer of structurally modified chitosan, as a methanol barrier layer, coated on Nafion (R) 112 was prepared and assessed for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) applications. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) micrographs of the designed membrane revealed a tight adherence between layers, which indicate the high affinity of opposite charged polyelectrolyte layers. Proton conductivity and methanol permeability measurements showed improved transport properties of the designed membrane compared to Nafion (R) 117. Moreover, DMFC performance tests revealed a higher open circuit voltage and power density, as well as overall fuel cell efficiency for the double layer membrane in comparison with Nafion (R) 117, especially at elevated methanol solution feed. The obtained results indicate the designed double layer membrane as a promising PEM for high-performance DMFC applications

Loss of heterozygosity and microsatellite instability as predictive markers among Iranian esophageal cancer patients

Objective(s): Variation in microsatellite sequences that are dispersed in the genome has been linked to a deficiency in cellular mismatch repair system and defects in several genes of this system are involved in carcinogenesis. Our aim in this study was to illustrate microsatellite DNA alteration in esophageal cancer. Materials and Methods: DNA was extracted from formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissues from surgical and matched margin-normal samples. Microsatellite instability (MSI) and loss of heterozygosity (LOH) were studied in 50 cases of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) by amplifying six microsatellite markers: D13S260 (13q12.3), D13S267 (13q12.3), D9S171 (9p21), D2S123 (2p), D5S2501 (5q21) and TP53 (17p13.1) analyzed on 6% denaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Results: Statistical analysis indicated a near significant reverse correlation between grade and LOH (P= 0.068, correlation coefficient= -0.272). Specifically, increased LOH in tumor DNA has a significant correlation with increased differentiation from poorly differentiated to well differentiated tumors (P= 0.002 and P= 0.016 respectively). In addition, higher number of chromosomal loci with LOH showed a reverse correlation with lymph node metastasis (P= 0.026, correlation coefficient= -0.485). Furthermore, there was a positive correlation between addiction and MSI (P= 0.026, correlation coefficient= 0.465). Conclusion: Microsatellite DNA alterations may be a prognostic tool for detection and the evolution of prognosis in patients with SCC of esophagus. It can be concluded that regional lymph node metastasis would be less likely with increased heterozygote loci and addiction with any of opium, cigarette, water pipe or alcohol can be a susceptibility factor(s) for MSI