Iranian Journal of

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Background: Urtica dioica, or the stinging nettle, is recommended by ancient medical texts for the treatment of high blood sugar.
Methods: We set up a perifusion system, in which an exact number of islets of Langerhans were exposed to an active component of the leaf extract of Urtica dioica, obtained by TLC. The active component was then injected into the peritoneum of both normal and diabetic rats to evaluate response in vivo.
Results: There was a marked increase in insulin secretion in vitro, as determined by ELISA. In vivo, there was an increase in blood insulin content following intraperitoneal injection. The increase in serum insulin observed at 60 minutes was associated with a decrease in blood glucose, checked several times during the observation period. Maximum insulin release over 120 minutes was equal to five times the baseline value. The decrease in blood sugar correlated with both the timing and magnitude of insulin release.
Conclusion: Notwithstanding the magnitude of the changes observed, the results obtained in normal and diabetic rats were similar.

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Background: Prevalence of diabetes increases along with aging. Due to various reasons, rate of falling in the aged suffering from diabetes is higher. Therefore, this study aims at determining factors relating falling of the aged suffering from type 2 diabetes.

Methods: A total of 60 years old or older with type 2 diabetes that referred to selected hospitals of Tehran University of Medical Sciences using continues method. Cases that had experienced falling during last year and controls that had no such experience were assigned to two separate groups. Questionnaire used in this study included demographic data and factors relating falling. Data obtained were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent t- test, Chi square and logistic regression.

Results: Results showed that postural blood pressure (p=0.02) dizziness (p=0.05), fecal incontinency (p<0.01), auditory disorder (p<0.01), visual disorder (p<0.01), pain in the lower extremity (p= 0.027), taking anti-coagulation medicine (p=0.017) had a significant correlation with falling.

Conclusion: Multivariate logistic regression illustrated that fecal incontinency and auditory disorder happened along with falling in the aged suffering from type 2 diabetes. Therefore, preventing falling must be considered in care plan for such groups of people.