Investigating the relationship between microalbuminuria and prognosis of patients with severe burns in the Motahari Burn Hospital

Microalbuminuria seems to be a reflection of increased vascular permeability caused by systemic inflammatory response, and is likely to be a predictor of mortality, sepsis and other outcomes of severe burn patients. We investigated the impact of microalbuminuria on the prognosis of patients with severe burns. This is a prospective study on severe burn patients (above 20%) admitted in the first 24 hours after burns to the Motahari Burn Hospital. Patients' microalbuminuria was measured at admission and 48 hours later, and its relationship with patient prognosis (sepsis, renal failure, death, inhalation injury and systemic inflammatory response syndrome) was analyzed. We concluded that microalbuminuria at admission in patients with severe burns was directly related to inhalation injury (P = 0.018), ARDS during hospitalization (P = 0.001) and length of hospital stay (P = 0.025). Moreover, microalbuminuria at 48 hours after admission had a direct connection with patient death (P = 0.001), sepsis (P = 0.001), renal failure (P = 0.001) and SIRS (P = 0.001). Microalbuminuria is a simple, noninvasive, fast and affordable test to predict sepsis, mortality, renal failure, systemic inflammatory response and a finding associated with inhalation injury in severe burn patients, making it a fast prognostic predictor that helps to improve the management of these patients.

Honey improves spermatogenesis and hormone secretion in testicular ischaemia-reperfusion-induced injury in rats

This study was conducted to survey the protective effect of pre-treatment with Persian honey during post-ischaemia reperfusion on ischaemia-reperfusion (IR)-induced testis injury. Animals were divided into four groups of IR, honey + ischaemia- reperfusion (HIR), vitamin C + ischaemia- reperfusion (VIR) and carbohydrates + ischaemia- reperfusion (CIR). The testes were examined for spermatogenesis index. Detection of single- and double-stranded DNA breaks at the early stages of apoptosis was performed. Total serum concentration of FSH, LH and testosterone was measured using ELISA. All data were expressed as mean ± SD in each group, and significance was set at p ≤ .05. Spermatogenesis index was significant in the HIR group (p < .001). Serum levels of FSH and LH were significantly higher in the CIR and HIR groups. Serum levels of testosterone were significantly higher in VIR and HIR groups. Apoptotic cells in IR and CIR groups increased significantly statistically (p < .001), while in HIR and VIR groups, the number of apoptotic cells decreased and the positive cells of TUNEL staining were detected in spermatocytes and spermatid. The present study indicates that honey decreases the cellular damage and apoptosis during testicular I/R injury, with significant protective effects on reproductive hormone production.

Insidious destruction of the hip by Mycobacterium tuberculosis and why early diagnosis is critical

Tuberculosis has re-emerged as an important problem in the United States. More than 10 million people presently are infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the United States alone. The symptoms at first presentation of the disease have become more diverse. With extrapulmonary manifestations, such as musculoskeletal infections, as the sole presenting sign, it often can be difficult to determine the correct diagnosis early in the course of the disease. The presenting symptoms, physical signs, and radiographic findings of intra-articular tuberculosis can mimic those of other intra-articular diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, and avascular necrosis. In view of the nonspecific findings early in course of the disease, tubercular infection should be considered in the differential diagnosis when there is insidious articular destruction. Failure to consider tuberculosis can lead to devastating outcomes otherwise preventable with today's chemotherapies.

Effect of sodium and betaine in culture media on development and relative rates of protein synthesis in preimplantation mouse embryos in vitro

Results of recent experiments indicate that the improved development of mouse embryos in medium containing a low NaCl concentration (85 mM) or the inclusion of the organic osmolyte betaine in a medium containing a high NaCl concentration (125 mM) is correlated with the maintenance of intracellular sodium concentrations that more closely approximate those found in freshly isolated embryos (Biggers et al., 1993, Mol Reprod Dev 34:380-390). We examined the effect of these different culture media on the relative rates of protein synthesis since increased levels of intracellular sodium inhibit protein synthesis; a reduced rate of protein synthesis could therefore account for the differences in development in the different media, since cell division requires protein synthesis. We observe that the ability of these media to support development and to maintain more physiological concentrations of intracellular sodium is correlated with their ability to support increased relative rates of protein synthesis. Reducing the NaCl concentration from 125 mM to 85 mM leads to a greater fraction of the embryos developing from the 2-cell stage to the 8-cell stage after 1 day of culture and a substantially improves extent of development to the morula stage after 2 days of culture. This reduction in NaCl concentration also leads to a 2.4-fold increase in the relative rate of protein synthesis in 4-cell embryos. Moreover, addition of betaine to medium containing 125 mM NaCl increases the relative rate of protein synthesis. This finding provides an explanation, at least in part, for the increase in development to the blastocyst stage exhibited by mouse embryos cultured in these media.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)