Tehran University Medical Journal

Background: For the purpose of ascertaining myocardial infarction (MI) and ischemia, the sensitivity of the initial 12-lead ECG is inadequate. It is risky to diagnose posterior MI using only precordial reciprocal changes, since the other leads may be more optimally positioned for the identification of electrocardiographic changes. In this study, we evaluated the relationship between electrocardiography changes and wall motion abnormalities in patients with posterior MI for earlier and better diagnosis of posterior MI.
Methods: In this prospective cross-sectional study, we enrolled patients with posterior MI who had come to the Emergency Department of Shariati Hospital with their first episode of chest pain. A 12-lead surface electrocardiogram using posterior leads (V7-V9) was performed for all participants. Patients with ST elevation >0.05 mV or pathologic Q wave in the posterior leads, as well as those with specific changes indicating posterior MI in V1-V2, were evaluated by echocardiography in terms of wall motion abnormalities. All data were analyzed using SPSS and p<0.05 were considered statistically significant.
Results: Of a total 79 patients enrolled, 48 (60.8%) were men, and the mean age was 57.35±8.22 years. Smoking (54.4%) and diabetes (48%) were the most prevalent risk factors. In the echocardiographic evaluation, all patients had wall motion abnormalities in the left ventricle and 19 patients (24.1%) had wall motion abnormalities in the right ventricle. The most frequent segment with motion abnormality among the all patients was the mid-posterior. The posterior leads showed better positive predictive value than the anterior leads for posterior wall motion abnormality.
Conclusion: Electrocardiography of the posterior leads in patients with acute chest pain can help in earlier diagnosis and in time treatment of posterior MI.

Background: Widespread of telecommunication systems in recent years, have raised the concerns on the possible danger of cell phone radiations on human body. Thus, the study of the electromagnetic fields on proteins, particularly the membrane nano channel forming proteins is of great importance. These proteins are responsible for keeping certain physic-chemical condition within cells and managing cell communication. Here, the effects of cell phones radiation on the activity of a single nanopore ion channel forming protein, OmpF, have been studied biophysically.
Methods: Planar lipid bilayers were made based on Montal and Muller technique, and the activity of single OmpF channel reconstituted by electrical shock was recorded and analyzed by means of voltage-clamp technique at 20 ˚C. The planar lipid bilayers were formed from the monolayers made on a 60 μm diameter aperture in the 20 μm thick Teflon film that separated two (cis and trans) compartments of the glass chamber. In this practical approach we were able to analyze characteristics of an individual channel at different chemical and physical experimental conditions. The voltage clamp was used to measure the channel’s conductance, voltage sensitivity, gating patterns in time scales as low as microseconds in real time. 
Results: Our results showed that exposure of single voltage dependent channel, OmpF, to EMF of cell phone at high-frequency has a significant influence on the voltage sensitivity, gating properties and substate numbers of the single channel but has no effect on single-channel conductance. Regarding to the relaxation time, the channel also recovers in the millisecond time range when the field is removed.
Conclusion: We observed an increase in the voltage sensitivity of the OmpF single channel while it had no effect on the single-channel conductance, which is remained to be further elucidated.

Background: Recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) is a common disease with unknown etiology. There is no curative treatment. Purslane is considered as a rich source of antioxidants with anti-inflammatory effects. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of Purslane in the treatment of RAS.
Methods: A total of 50 patients were selected for this randomized triple-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial from School of Dentistry of Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2011. All subjects were randomly divided into two groups. Groups A and B received placebo and Purslane, respectively, for three months. Pain intensity based on the visual analogue scale (VAS), the mean intervals of lesions occurrence, number of lesions and the mean duration of complete healing at baseline and at months 1, 2 and 3 were recorded. 
Results: While no patient complained from increased severity of pain, decreased severity of pain for 4, 3, 2, and 1 grades were recorded in %16, %20, 20%, and 40%, respectively, which were much higher than 4%, 8%, 8%, and 28%, respectively, in the control group. A significant decrease in pain intensity in VAS scores were seen after treatment in group B (P<0.001). The mean duration of complete healing showed significant differences (P<0.001) between groups A (-1.52±4.07 days) and group B (-6.56±4.50 days). The mean intervals between lesions also showed significant differences (P<0.001) between group A (17.88 days) and group B (33.12 days). No significant differences were found between group A and group B regarding to number of lesions. No serious side-effects occurred in either group.
Conclusion: According to our study, Purslane is clinically effective in treatment of RAS and considering the lack of side-effects during the study period, this medicine may be a favorable alternative treatment for recurrent aphthous stomatitis.

Background: Acute osteomyelitis is one of pediatric emergency which can cause unpleasant complications among them. This is especially accurate if the diagnosis had been delayed or the treatment was inappropriate. There is some misunderstanding in the detection of patients’ hospital files and it’s difficult to detect the diagnostic and treatment malpractice. We performed an investigation of the clinical and paraclinical data in children with acute osteomyelitis.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cross-sectional study in pediatric department of Imam Khomeini University Hospital in Tehran, Iran, from April 1997 to March 2010. The hospital records of all neonates and children from 15 days old to 15 years old were investigated. Patients with any defect in records were excluded from the study. A total of 54 children were included in this study. A questionnaire including clinical features, paraclinical findings and treatment response was completed for all subjects by design's executer. Data were analyzed using the software package SPSS version 16 (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA).

Results: In general, 35 children were male and 19 children were female. The average of age was 5.89 years. Children were divided into 4 groups based on age (less than 2, 2-7, 7-12 and 12-15 years) that majority of them were less than 2 years old (38.9%). The most common symptom and sign were pain (46.3%) and swelling (88.8%) respectively in this study. The most primary presenting symptoms were pain (46.3%) and swelling (24.1%). The comparison of frequency ranges of fever between children younger than 2 years and children 2-15 years old demonstrated a significant different (14.3% vs 84.8%, respectively) (P= 0.001). Staphylococcus aureus was the most commonly isolated organism (73.5%). Thirty-two patients (59.2%) needed surgical procedures in addition to antibiotic therapy that had successful outcome in all cases. The average of treatment duration with intravenous antibiotic was 28.14±12.84 days.

Conclusion: More than half of the children with acute osteomyelitis didn't response to antibiotic therapy and they needed different types of surgeries.