Tehran University Medical Journal

Acute Pyelonephritis (APN) is one of the most common bacterial infections seen in children that may lead to renal scarring. Vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) is an important risk factor of renal damage but not the only one.

Materials and Methods: In order to determine the association between dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) scintigraphic and voiding cystourethrographic findings, a retrospective study was performed on 50 children (100 renal units) with APN that had been admitted to Bahrami Hospital from 1995 through 1998. Voiding cystourethrography (VCUG) and DMSA scan were performed in all patients within 1 to 2 weeks after termination of treatment and a second scan was performed 6 months later in patients whose kidneys showed cortical defects in the first one. The grade of reflux was based on international reflux classification (I-V). The DMSA scans were considered abnormal if one or more areas of decreased cortical uptake were noted (cortical defect). The scar was defined as persistence of these defects in the second scan. DMSA cortical defect and VUR were demonstrated in 42 (42%) and 26 (26%) of renal units respectively.
Results: Fourteen out of 26 renal units (54%) with reflux had cortical defects and 28 out of 74 renal units (38%) without reflux had cortical defects (P=0.15). Permanent renal scarring was noted in 25/ 42 of renal units (62 %) in second scan.

Conclusion: It seems that VCUG alone is insufficient as a screening modality to identity those kidneys at risk of damage and DMSA scan may provide additional information about this.

Background: Migraine is a chronic hereditary and relapsing headache. With regard to the prevalence of this ancient disease and its economic complications in country, in this study , nocturnal serum melatonin of migraine patients and control subjects have been evaluated and compared by ELISA kit.

Materials and Methods: Fifty migraine patients (mostly women) were compared to a control group (mostly men) matched according to age. Results: Statistical analysis revealed a decrease in nocturnal serum melatonin levels for migraine patients (32.9 28.4) compared to the control one (75.6 56.8). With using of t-test by ELISA kit showed significant difference (p=0.0064).

Conclusion: With regard to this, the pineal gland has the main role in the synchronization of the organism with the environmental conditions and migrainous headaches.

Background: Lead poisoning has proven to be one of the most important environmental health problems among developing countries with both direct and indirect effects on human life. Lead is known to cross the blood-brain barrier and placenta, and accumulates in soft and hard tissues. Lead can be excreted in urine, stool, milk, sweat, nails and saliva. During pregnancy and lactation, lead is released from bones into the blood along with Ca²⁺. The toxic effects of lead on various human tissues have been studied extensively, but few studies have addressed its impact on fetal development during pregnancy. Blood levels of lead are higher in people living in lead-polluted regions. It has been reported that Tehran (central and southern parts) is the most problematic city in terms of lead poisoning.

Methods: From 86 sets of mothers and newborns in a non-polluted area of rural Rasht, Iran, we examined specimens of maternal blood, cord blood and colostrum (86×3=258) and specimens from 85 sets of mothers and newborns in a polluted area of Tehran, Iran (85×3=255) for lead levels using atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) and analyzed the results by t-test, SPSS, and linear regression.

Results: The mean blood lead concentrations of mothers, cord blood of newborns and colostrum were 7.6±4.1, 5.9±3 and 4.2±2.5 μg/dl, respectively, in the non-polluted area and 9.1±8.4, 6.5±5.2 and 5.8±5.5 μg/dl, respectively, in the polluted area. The mean weights of the newborns in non-polluted and polluted areas were 3.2±0.5 kg and 3.2±4.5 kg, respectively.

Conclusions: Our data revealed an association between mean concentrations in blood lead of mothers and newborns and between mean concentrations of colostrum lead and newborn blood lead in both areas (p=0.01). There was no association between mean blood lead concentration of mothers with the weight of their newborns (p=0.89).

Background: Hypertension is a very common and important disease. There are conflicting reports about mercury, a trace element, in the genesis of hypertension.

Methods: In this study we examined the relationship between blood mercury levels and hypertension prevalence in a population-based sample of hypertensive and normotensive patients at the Shariati Hospital and the Tehran Heart Center in Tehran, Iran. A cross sectional sampling of 224 patients, aged 40-80 years, who participated in physical examinations conducted in 2006 were included in this study. The population that participated in this study were sample of hypertensive (n=112) which had essential hypertension and normotensive (n=112) patients which had no history of essential hypertension at the Shariati Hospital and the Tehran Heart Center in Tehran. The consent of all the patients were taken in the written form before the experiments. After selecting the patients the range of blood mercury levels were measured with Flame atomic absorption.

Results: The range of blood mercury levels was 0 to 39.55 µg/dL. The mean blood mercury level of hypertensive patients (10.75 +1.23 µg/dL) was higher than that of normotensive patients (1.6 +1.02 µg/dL). There was a significant difference in the mean blood mercury level of normotensive men (1.74 +1.56 µg/dL) versus that of hypertensive men (11.9 +1.38 µg/dL). The mean blood mercury level of normotensive women (1.5 µg/dL) was also significantly different from that of hypertensive women (9.65 +0.53 µg/dL) (p<0.001).

Conclusions: In this population, there is a positive relationship between the concentration of blood mercury levels and the presence of hypertension.