Tehran University Medical Journal

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Background: Dental amalgam, a mixture of approximately 50% mercury with silver, tin, zinc and copper in varying ratios, is a major source of mercury pollution in the general population not occupationally exposed. The toxicity of mercury is enhanced because it is so readily absorbed, with around 90-100% of mercury vapor being absorbed through the oral mucosa. The aim of the current study is to examine the mercury levels in hair and nails in subjects with amalgam fillings.
Methods: For a sample of forty university students reporting infrequent fish consump-tion, with their only known exposure to mercury from amalgam fillings, mercury levels were measured in hair and nail samples using the LECO AMA 254 Advanced Mercury Analyzer (USA), according to the ASTM standard No. D-6722 test method.
Results: Mercury concentration in hair ranged from 0.09 to 3.11 mg/kg, and in nail from zero to 1.35 mg/kg. We found that subjects with five or more amalgam fillings had significantly higher levels in their hair than subjects with zero to 5 amalgam fillings (CI 95% P=0.003). However, the number of amalgam fillings had no effect on the mercury concentration in nails in these two groups (P=0.26). There was no significant difference between the levels of mercury of males and that of females tested (P=0.26 for nail and P=0.15 for hair).
Conclusion: The mercury amount in hair was 1.5 times as much as that of the nail samples, may be due to the differences in the chemical compounds, particularly those with sulfur, or the deposition of those compounds that would be affected by blood circulation during formation of hair and nails. Although the amounts of mercury found in this study were below the WHO maximum acceptable level of 6 mg/kg for mercury in human hair, the levels were sufficient to warrant the use of other dental materials such as composites in order to decrease the overall rate of exposure to mercury.

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Background: Though many therapeutic modalities have been suggested but still no definite treatment for Cutaneous Leishmaniasis is available. Many compounds including Alkaloid, Quinones, Iridoids, Terpenes, Indole analogue have been documented to have antileishmania activity invitro. On the other hand, the aforementioned compounds can be found in the herbs including Thyme, Yarrow. Propolis is a brown color substance that is collected by honey bee from plants. Regarding the lack of data about the possible efficacy of these herbs against leishmaniasis, we have decided to evaluate and compare the efficacy of herbal extract of Thyme, Yarrow, Propolis and systemic glucantime against cutaneous leishmaniasis in Balb/c, and to formulate drugs without harmful chemical material and without side effect.

Methods: During three weeks of inoculation of parasite in base tail of mice, lesions will appear in the inoculation site. The animals divided into seven groups. We used mix alchoholic extract solution two times a day, checked lesions weekly for six week and measured size of lesion in the base of tail with kulis- vernieh.

Results: We observed significant difference between mean of lesion diameter before and after treatment in control, Yarrow and Thyme groups (p<0.05). Paired t test showed no significant difference between mean of lesion diameter after treatment between treatment and glucantime groups (p>0.05).

Conclusion: Alchoholic extract to Thyme and Yarrow have good effect on lesions treatment, we suggest repeat of this study with Thyme and Yarrow extract in gel or cream base in first stage of lesions appearance.

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Background: Carpal tunnel syndrome is the most common focal neuropathy that results from pressure on a nerve. The goal of this study was to assess carpal tunnel syndrome and its associated factors such as occupation, sex, and accompanying complications in a teaching general hospital.

Methods: This cross-sectional study investigated 362 patients with the diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome admitted in the orthopedic ward of Imam Khomeini Hospital affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, Iran during 2000-2010.

Results: The difference in the mean age of men and women was statistically significant (P<0.0001). The percentage of men with the disease was significantly different from that of the women. The prevalence of idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome was significantly different (P<0.0001) in comparison with carpal tunnel syndrome due to its leading causes. The most common occupation in women was first housekeeping and then hairdressing while in men it was being a worker. Diabetes Mellitus and hypothyroidisms as the leading causes of the syndrome were highly correlated with the disease (r=08, P<0.001).

Conclusion: According to the findings, most cases of the syndrome were idiopathic. Identifying the leading causes of the disease is important because their diagnosis probably prevents unnecessary surgery. By identifying such causes and/or correction of activity styles incidence of carpal tunnel syndrome and unnecessary surgical procedures would be prevented. Evaluation of patients for underlying causes can be useful, especially in severe forms of the disease to realistically assess the need for surgical treatment.

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Conclusion: In combination with the carbohydrate adjuvant containing sucrose ester compared to the formulation with alum adjuvant, the NP could provide proper and considerable protection and immunity against the homologous strain (H1N1) of the Influenza A virus. It is recommended that SE usage as an adjuvant results in an adequate immune response and less toxic effect.