The Role of Marital Status,Literacy, and Urbanity in Suicidal Behavior by Burns in the Province of Khorasan,Iran

A prospective study of all suicidal behaviors by burns requiring hospitalization was conducted in the province of Khorasan, Iran, from March 21, 2005 to March 20, 2006, to examine marital status, urbanity and literacy among these patients. Data were obtained through interviews during the course of hospitalization. A total of 130 patients with suicidal behavior by burns were identified (incidence rate of 2.9 per 100,000). Females had a higher rate of suicidal behavior by burns than males (4.2 vs. 1.6 per 100,000, P < 0.001). The rate of suicidal behavior by burns was higher among single persons than married persons (4.3 vs. 3.5 per 100,000). The rate of suicidal behavior by burns among the rural population was slightly higher than the urban population (3.2 vs. 2.7 per 100,000). The high rate of suicidal behavior by burns among young, married women in Khorasan is a social tragedy.     

Modified retro-tubercle opening-wedge versus conventional high tibial osteotomy

Despite the fact that common surgical techniques for the treatment of genu varum usually correct the malalignment in the affected knee, these methods have significant complications and cause problems in the long term. Retro-tubercle opening-wedge high tibial osteotomy is among the newer techniques for the treatment of genu varum. The goal of this study was to compare the results of retro-tubercle opening-wedge high tibial osteotomy with those of medial opening-wedge osteotomy. In a randomized, controlled trial, 72 patients with varus knees who were scheduled for surgery were assigned into either the retro-tubercle opening-wedge high tibial osteotomy (n=34) or medial opening-wedge osteotomy groups (n=38). Groups were matched for age and sex. The position of the patella was compared with respect to the tuberosity and the upper tibial slope pre- and postoperatively. Patients were followed for an average of 13 months (range, 10-21 months). In the retro-tubercle opening-wedge high tibial osteotomy group, the length of the patellar tendon did not significantly differ pre- and postoperatively (P≥.5); however, in the medial opening-wedge osteotomy group, a statistically significant shortening was noted in patellar tendon postoperatively (P≤.05). Similarly, the tibial plateau inclination showed a statistically significant difference postoperatively in the medial opening-wedge osteotomy group, while the difference in the retro-tubercle opening-wedge high tibial osteotomy group did not reach statistical significance.     

Study of short-pulse laser propagation in biological tissue by means of the boundary element method

Propagation of short pulses of light through biological tissues can be studied by numerically solving the diffusion equation. The boundary integral method was used to convert the differential equation to integral form and the result was solved using the boundary element method. The effects of different optical parameters of the tissue, i.e. scattering, absorption coefficients and anisotropic factor, on temporal evolution of the diffusely reflected pulse were studied. The results were compared with those obtained using the finite difference time domain method and the boundary integral method was found to be more precise and faster than the last method. The method can be used to investigate reflected pulses in the study of cell morphology and tumours in different types of tissue.     

Neuroprotection in acute ischemic stroke

Acute ischemic stroke, one of the most prominent causes of death and disability in the modern world has attracted an extensive amount of research on its pathophysiology and treatment. There has been significant progress with successful reperfusion treatments associated with improved clinical outcomes, but neuroprotective strategies have failed to show clinical benefit despite promising benchtop results. Unfortunately reperfusion strategies can be employed in a small number of patients who present in the appropriate time window. Neuroprotective strategies may aid in prolonging time windows, thereby potentially increasing the number of eligible patients to benefit from reperfusion treatments. Additional strategies can be used to potentially protect the brain after reperfusion thereby preventing edema and hemorrhage. Previous clinical studies have failed to show benefit likely due to poor patient selection, altering time windows that had shown benefit in bench models and failure to link treatments with reperfusion.     

Contrast‐enhanced whole‐heart coronary MRI with bolus infusion of gadobenate dimeglumine at 1.5 T

We sought to investigate the T₁ kinetics of blood and myocardium after three infusion schemes of gadobenate dimeglumine (Gd‐BOPTA) and subsequently compared contrast‐enhanced whole‐heart coronary MRI after a bolus Gd‐BOPTA infusion with nonenhanced coronary MRI at 1.5 T. Blood and myocardium T₁ was measured in seven healthy adults, after each underwent three Gd‐BOPTA infusion schemes (bolus: 0.2 mmol/kg at 2 mL/sec, hybrid: 0.1 mmol/kg at 2 mL/sec followed by 0.1 mmol/kg at 0.1 mL/sec, and slow: 0.2 mmol/kg at 0.3 mL/sec). Fourteen additional subjects underwent contrast‐enhanced coronary MRI with an inversion‐recovery steady‐state free precession sequence after bolus Gd‐BOPTA infusion. Images were compared with nonenhanced T₂‐prepared steady‐state free precision whole‐heart coronary MRI in signal‐to‐noise ratio, contrast‐to‐noise ratio, depicted vessel length, vessel sharpness, and subjective image quality. Bolus and slow infusion schemes resulted in similar T₁ during coronary MRI, whereas the hybrid infusion method yielded higher T₁ values. A bolus infusion of Gd‐BOPTA significantly improved signal‐to‐noise ratio, contrast‐to‐noise ratio, depicted coronary artery length, and subjective image quality, when all segments were collectively compared but not when compared segment by segment. In conclusion, whole‐heart steady‐state free precision coronary MRI at 1.5 T can benefit from a bolus infusion of 0.2 mmol/kg Gd‐BOPTA. Magn Reson Med, 2011. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.