Effect of (Salm-Dyck) flowers in liver of fructose-fed rats: Biochemicals, enzymatic and histological studies.

Phytochemical composition and antioxidant activity of flowers decoction at post-flowering stage (F3D) of were determined. The obtained findings demonstrate that F3D has a marked antioxidant activity in all tested assays. Furthermore, the present study was designed to test the protective activity of F3D against induced Diabetes type 2 (DT2) in male rats.

[Plasmatic glutathione levels and their relationships with clinical and therapeutic features in patients with schizophrenia].

Introduction: Altered glutathione systems (GSH) are suggested to participate in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. The purpose of this study was to determine the plasmatic glutathione levels of patients with schizophrenia compared to healthy controls and to examine their relationships with clinical and therapeutic features.

Methods: It was a case-control study carried out on 100 patients with schizophrenia according to DSM-IV-TR criteria and 95 healthy controls.

Protective potential of Opuntia microdasys flower decoction on fructose-alloxan-induced diabetic rats on kidney and pancreas: chemical and immunohistochemical analyses.

Diabetes is a serious condition that is linked to the development of oxidative stress causing among many other effects, kidney failure and pancreatic disorders. However, traditional plant-based remedies can be considered an alternative to diabetes healing. In this context, this study was oriented towards evaluating the protective effect of the flowers of Opuntia microdasys Lehm.

[Clinical and biological study of the 31 cases of gallstones].

This study reports the clinical and biological signs, as well as the morphological aspect and the chemical composition of the calculus during the biliary stones. The study population consisted of 31 patients with an average age of 49 years (30 women and one man) with biliary lithiasis and who had cholecystectomy. Hepatic colic and epigastralgia were the most evocative clinical signs.

[Symptomatic remission and its relationship to social functioning in Tunisian out-patients with schizophrenia].

Introduction: The concept of symptomatic and functional remission represents an important challenge in the care of the mentally ill, particularly in patients with schizophrenia. Operational criteria for symptomatic remission in schizophrenia have been proposed by Andreasen et al. (2005).

Hepatoprotective effect of Opuntia microdasys (Lehm.) Pfeiff flowers against diabetes type II induced in rats.

Opuntia sp. has long been used as a folk medicine to treat hepatitis and diabetes in Sicile (Italy). To extract the polyphenols from the flower of Opuntia microdasys Lehm.

[Stone composition in the central coast Tunisian population].

Background: Studies that evaluated the effect of age and gender on the stone composition were scarce. The aim of this study was to identify the stone composition in Tunisian patients and to highlight their modification according to patients' sex and age.

Patients And Methods: We studied 1200 urolithiasic patients, from the urologic and the pediatric surgery departments, ranging from six months to 92years old and known as having urinary stones (729 males and 471 females).

[Evaluation of the renal function in type 2 diabetes: clearance calculation or cystatin C?].

Screening for diabetic nephropathy is usually done by albuminuria/24h and the use of creatinine clearance. The objective of this study was to evaluate the renal function in Type 2 diabetes by using different formulas of creatinine clearance and to assess the contribution of cystatin C; 83 adults with type 2 diabetes (23 men and 60 women) and 83 adult controls (40 men and 43 women) were studied. Biochemical parameters were determinated on Coba 6000™ (Roche diagnostics).

[Epidemiological and chronological profile of the low birth weight in the region of Monastir (Tunisia) between 1994 and 2007].

In Tunisia, despite the activities of national programs of maternal and child health, low birth weight (LBW) remains common. The aim of this study is to draw up the epidemiological profile of the LBW in the region of Monastir and to study the chronological trends of the associated factors during a period of 14 years (1994-2007). We conducted a population study which interest 97.

False bisalbuminemia and hyperalphafetoproteinemia.

The capillary electrophoresis is a very powerful separation method offering a high degree of resolution. However, certain interferences can be detected giving transitory shoulders or peaks. We report the case of a serum protein electrophoresis performed with Capillarys (Sebia) in a 68-year-old patient, hospitalized for cancer of the head of the pancreas, which showed an important shoulder in the migratory range of albumin, simulating bisalbuminemia.

[Obesity and dyslipidemia in Tunisian bipolar subjects].

This study aims to investigate the prevalence of obesity and overweight and their association with lipid parameters in bipolar patients. Our study included 130 patients with bipolar disorder and 130 control subjects aged respectively 37.9 +/- 12.

[Paraoxonase 1 (PON1) activity and lipid parameters in Tunisian smokers].

This study aims at examine the effect of cigarettes smoking on paraoxonase 1 (PON1) activity and lipid profile. Our study included 102 smokers aged 35.5 +/- 16.

[Complex metabolic disorders revealing a gastric ulcer of the bulb. A case report].

We report the case of a 54-year-old man, without particular pathological antecedents admitted to the emergency of the university hospital of Monastir, for right renal colic. Radiography of the urinary tract without preparation and renal echography showed bilateral renal lithiasis and a right ureteral lithiasis. The interrogation revealed concept of vomiting after which the patient felt relieved.

[Rhinitis and asthma related to cotton dust exposure in apprentices in the clothing industry].

Objective: Respiratory allergies are the most common occupational diseases in the world. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of rhinitis and asthma among apprentices exposed to cotton dust in the clothing industry and to describe their epidemiologic and clinical profiles.

Subjects And Methods: We carried out a descriptive study of 600 apprentices in a textile and clothing vocational training centre in the Monastir area.

[Neurological soft signs in schizophrenic patients and their nonaffected siblings].

Background: Neurological soft signs (NSS) are subtle neurological signs indicating non specific cerebral dysfunction. Several studies have found an excess of NSS in schizophrenic patients compared to healthy subjects. Although NSS have been consistently reported in schizophrenic patients, their clinical relevance and their relation to functional impairment and severity of this disease are not well-clarified.

[A case of hypernatremic dehydration due to breast-feeding].

The authors report an 11-day-old exclusively breast-fed female, with a birth weight of 3 300 g, who had suffered from dehydration stage I, with acute renal failure and metabolic acidosis, with 170 mmol/L of serum sodium. Renal ultrasounds were normal but the rate of sodium in mother's milk was three times higher than controls (87 versus 21 mmol/L). Intravenous rehydration allowed the correction of hydroelectrolytic disorders.

[Neuroleptic treatment and neurological soft signs in schizophrenic patients].

Objectives: To appreciate the impact of the neuroleptic treatment on the neurological soft signs (NSS) in schizophrenic patients and to examine their relation with the treatment response based on the level of CGI-improvement.

Methods: A cross-sectional study bearing on 66 schizophrenic patients: untreated patients (N = 13) and treated patients (N = 53). All patients were assessed by the Krebs et al.

[Influence of consanguinity on clinical characteristics and affective disorders frequency in relatives of bipolar I patients].

Background: The genetic transmission of bipolar disorder remained undetermined up to now, partly due to clinical and genetically heterogeneity. In Tunisia, genetic study will profit from the existence of high rates of consanguinity.

Aim: To determine the rate of consanguinity in bipolar I disorders sample and to compare the clinical characteristics and the frequency of affective disorders in first and second degree relatives of probands with and without consanguinity.

[Pharmacological modulation of the effects induced by ketamine at subanesthetic doses].

The similarity between ketamine effects and endogenous psychoses has created interest in the capacity of antipsychotic medications to block ketamine effects. In healthy subjects, a sub-anaesthetic single dose of lorazepam, typical neuroleptics, such as haloperidol, and atypical neuroleptics, such as clozapine and olanzapine, failed to block ketamine-induced positive and negative symptoms resembling schizophrenia. However, haloperidol is able to decrease ketamine-induced impairment in executive cognitive functions.

Intensive care use in a developing country: a comparison between a Tunisian and a French unit.

Objectives: To compare the variations in intensive care (ICU) outcome in relation to variations in resources utilization and costs between a developed and a developing country with different medical and economical conditions.

Design And Setting: Prospective comparison between a 26-bed French ICU and an 8-bed Tunisian ICU, both in university hospitals.

Patients: Four hundred thirty and 534 consecutive admissions, respectively, in the French and Tunisian ICUs.

Right ventricular dysfunction following severe scorpion envenomation.

Objective: Evaluation of right ventricular (RV) performance in patients presenting with pulmonary edema following scorpion envenomation.

Design: Cohort study.

Setting: Medical intensive care unit of a teaching hospital.