Background & Objective : The diagnosis of psychiatric disorders are mainly made on base of clinical interview and physical mental examination of the patient. The clinical application of laboratory tests is limited to rejection of probable causes which may lead to emerge of mental manifestations. For assessing the efficiency of brain computerized tomography in this respect, a study was conducted.

  Methods : All of the hospitalized patients in psychiatric emergency unit of Isfahan medical school for six mounts were examined in the view of demographic characteristics, clinical diagnosis, and the number of performed brain computerized tomography and their results.

  Results : Brain computerized tomography was requested for 142 patients among the 408 hospitalized patient in psychiatric emergency unit. Among the performed scans only in one case (0.7 percent). Mild brain atrophy was reported and the remaining 141 scans were normal or at limit level of normal.

  Conclusion : According to limited diagnostic value of Brain computerized tomography in psychiatry and also techno economic problems, the accurate assessment of its actual application specially in our society, seems necessary.

  Background & Objective : Head trauma is one of the most common causes of death in accidents and it is irreversible. More than 10000 cases of brain death occur annually in Iran and less than 10% of them are donors. That is why the number of organ transplantation in Iran is much lower than Europe and America. This study was conducted to investigate the attitude of 20-60 year-old citizens of Tehran about organ donation in brain death.

  Methods : This cross-sectional study was performed on 730 subjects (384 females and 346 males ( in 2000. The questionnaire and multi-stage sampling methods were used to collect data. The data were analyzed using SPSS and Chi-square tests.

  Results : about 44% of the subjects believed that the brain death is virtually irreversible and 93% of these subjects agreed with transplantation. 88% of those who agreed with transplantation accepted to fill out special donation forms. Humanitarian considerations and heavenly rewards were two main reasons mentioned by these people.

  Conclusions : According to this study, it is necessary to train people in order to increase their knowledge regarding brain death and create a positive attitude about organ donation. meanwhile passing some laws in this regard which are in accordance with Islam is recommended.

 Background & Objectives: The cognitive processes such as attention, thinking, memory and recall have effective role on the child’s confrontation with daily life problems. The psychological disorders are among those impairments which may severely affect these processes. Researches have shown that schizophrenia can impair children’s cognitive processes to a great extent. The aim of this research was to compare the comprehension, lexical Knowledge, memory and recall in children with schizophrenia, conduct disorder and brain damage.

 Methods: The sample of this causal-comparative research consisted of 80 children (8-13 years old) suffering from schizophrenia, brain damage and conduct disorder as well as a group of healthy ones who were selected from among in and out-patients referring to psychology and neurology wards of Emam Hossein health care center in 2004 (20 subjects in each group). The instruments employed in this research were WISC-R (comprehension, vocabulary, digit span) and Recall Test of Babcoch.

  Results: The one way analysis of variance showed significant differences between the children with schizophrenia, conduct disorder, brain damage and non-patient in comprehension, lexical knowledge, memory and recall (p<0.01). The LSD test showed that comperhension, lexical knowledge, memory and recall in children with schizophrenia were more impaired compared to children with conduct disorder and brain damage. Moreover, comprehension, lexical knowledge and memory in children with conduct disorder were more severely impaired than children with brain damage. However, the recall was better in children with conduct disorder than those with brain damage (p<0.01).

 Conclusion: The results showed that schizophrenic children have comprehension, lexical knowledge, memory and recall more impaired than those suffering from conduct disorder and brain damage. The timely recognition of the cognitive abnormalities seems necessary to have a better diagnosis and choose effective treatment and remedial strategies to cope with them.

 Background & Objectives: Delayd post-traumatic intracranial hemorrhage (DTICH) is a kind of brain hemorrhage which occurs after the first six hours of the head trauma, and is not detected in the initial CT Scan taken from the patient in the first 6 hours after the trauma. As DTICH is one of the most important factors in occurance of secondary brain injuries in patients with head trauma, its early diagnosis and treatment could significantly decrease mortality and morbidity of these patientes. This diagnosis is a contraindication to anti-coagulant therapy. This study was conducted to determine the frequency of factors associated with DTICH incidence.

 Methods: This was a case-control study conducted in Semnan trauma center. In this research all the patients with head trauma who referred to Emdad hospital between 2002 and 2004 were studied and the data about the delayed post-traumatic intracranial hemorraege (20 cases) were included. Then, beside determining the incidence of DTICH in the patients with hemorrhage, some risk factors such as headache, contusion, reduction level of conciousness, skull fracture and impact intensity to the head were compared with a control group (40 cases) who had head trauma without primary or delayed hemorrhage. The groups were age and sex-matched. The data were analyzed using Chi-aquare and computing odds ratio.

 Results: This study showed that the frequency of DTICH was 10.6%. There was a meaningful relationship between DTICH and skull fracture, reduction of conciousness level, contusion and impact intensity. But, there was no meaningful relationship between DTICH and intractable headache.

 Conclusions: The results indicated that cases such as skull fracture, contusion, impact intensity and findings such as the reduction of consciousness in patients with head trauma (with no hemorrhage in the first CT scan), can be the risk factors for DTICH.

 Background & objectives: Stroke remains one of main causes of death and disability in human. Animal models of the brain ischemia provide an important roles for studying of the pathophysiological mechanisms and evaluating of the efficacy of neuroprotective agents. The aim of this study is introducing a new model of the focal cerebral ischemia with increased success and low mortality rate.

 Methods: Fifteen six male mice were anesthetized with isofolorane and mixture of O2/N2O divided in four groups. Focal cerebral ischemia was induced by intraluminal filament method. A silicon coated nylon filament was used for middle cerebral artery occlusion. Regional cerebral blood flow was monitored by laser Doppler flowmetery for leading of filament in vascular pathway. In the 24 hours following ischemia (60minutes), animals were assessed for neurological outcome, infarct volume and brain edema induction. A new and reformed neurological test was used for evaluation of neurological deficits. 10 µm coronal sections were collected from 12 levels of the brain and stained, digitized and quantified by using an image analysis system. Ischemic brain edema was investigated by brain water content detection.

 Results: When sham operated mice had no motor deficit and infarction, induction of ischemia in ischemic group, seriously caused impairment of motor functions (neurological deficit score 3.36±0.25). Mean total infarct volume of left (ischemic) hemisphere was 85.2±4.9 mm³ and 47 percent of infarction occurred in subcortical regions of the brain. Induction of focal cerebral ischemia in the left (ischemic) hemisphere of the brain significantly increased water content (83.1±0.29 percent) compared to both hemispheres of sham group and right hemisphere of the same group. Success rate of ischemia induction was 97.6 percent and mortality rate was 4.21 percent.

 Conclusion: These findings indicate. This present model can be used for brain ischemia studies with high success rate, low mortality rate and narrow variety of the size and location of infarct volume. This model provides controlled and standard conditions to study ischemic brain injury and edema formation and introduce new therapeutic strategies.

  Back ground and aim: Cerebral phaeohyphomycosis in humans is caused by fungal agent which belongs to black yeasts. The disease is apparently restricted to Middle East been reported from Saudi Arabia, occupied Palestine and Qatar. The disease has not been recorded from Iran yet or its existence has not been noticed. Ramichloridium mackenziei is responsible for this disease, which belongs to fungal order chaetothyriales. Members of this order are mainly opportunistic pathogens on humans and animals causing a wide range of infections such as chromoblastomycosis (cutaneous, subcutaneous) and cerebral phaeohyphomycosis. Species recognition and delineation in members of this order is based on morphological features of asexual stage (anamorph). This order encompasses several genera such as Ramichloridium, Rhinocladiella, Exophiala, Veronaea, Cladophialophora. Some members of this order are morphologically similar to plant pathogenic or saprotrophic species and there is no clear-cut morphological differences among these genera. Accurate identification of human pathogenic species in both clinics and natural ecological niches will play important role in our understating on ecology of these fungi.

  Materials and methods: In present study, 24 isolates belonging to 15 species from three genera viz., Ramichloridium, Rhinocladiella and Veronaea were subjected to morphological and molecular examinations. Morphological features were evaluated on malt extract agar, using a slide culture technique. Phylogenitc relationship among isolates was inferred based on sequence data from two genomic regions of ribosomal DNA including partial sequences from ITS-rDNA and LSU-rDNA.

  Results: Phylogeny inferred from DNA sequence data placed isolates in two groups. Clade one included Rhinocladiella and Veronaea together with Ramichloridium mackenziei and R. fasiculata, R. anceps and Rhinocladiella basitona which all belong to the order Chaetothyriales. The second clade included type species of genus Ramichloridium (R. apiculatum) together with other plant pathogenic Ramicholridium species which belong to the order Capnodiales. Putting together DNA sequence data, ecology and morphology, Rhinocladiella is an appropriate genus to accommodate Ramichloridium mackenziei.

  Conclusion: taxonomic and phylogenetic position of Ramichloridium mackenziei is ascertained in Chaetothyriales. Combination of DNA data set together with morphology and ecology is indispensable in identification of human pathogenic Chaetothyriales. Current work is good starting point towards studying importance and diversity of these fungi in Iran.

 Background & objectives: Ischemic brain edema is one of the most important complications of cerebral infarction. Edema aggravates the primary ischemic injury to the brain. It was demonstrated that the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) and its active peptide angiotensin II involved in ischemic brain injury. But role of RAS in the formation of ischemic edema is not clear. The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of the RAS inhibition by enalapril on edema formation and blood-brain barrier (BBB) disruption.

 Methods: In this research frothy Sprague Dawley male rat in six groups were studied. Animals were anesthetized with chloral hydrate (400mg/kg, IP). Transient focal cerebral ischemia was induced by occlusion of right middle cerebral artery using intraluminal filament method. Three groups of animals as sham, ischemic and enalapril receiving (0.03mg/kg) groups were studied for assessment of neurological outcome and brain edema formation. 24 hours following ischemia (60minutes), animals were assessed for neurological deficits. Ischemic brain edema was investigated by brain water content detection. Another three groups of animals at the same conditions were studied to evaluate the possible disruption of BBB by Evans blue extravasation technique.

 Results: When sham operated rats had no motor deficit, induction of ischemia in ischemic group, seriously caused impairment of motor functions and neurological deficit score(NDS) of ischemic group was 2.67±0.42. Pretreatment with enalapril (0.03mg/kg) significantly reduced NDS and improved motor dysfunctions (1.5±0.34, P<0.05). Induction of ischemia seriously caused edema formation in right (ischemic) hemisphere of the brain in ischemic group (4.1±0.4 percent). Pretreatment with enalapril (0.03mg/kg) significantly decreased edema compared to ischemic group (1.89±0.23 percent). Extravasation of Evans blue in right side of the brain in ischemic group (12.48±1.94 μg/g) was significantly more than sham group. Pretreatment with enalapril (0.03mg/kg) had protective effects on BBB function and decreased Evans blue extravasation by 44.5 percent (6.92±1.46 μg/g).

 Conclusion: RAS�inhibition by enalapril reduces ischemic brain edema formation by protecting the integrity of BBB and reducing its permeability following focal cerebral ischemia in rat. Pre-ischemic inhibition of RAS activity may reduce ischemic brain injury by ameliorating edema formation.

  Background & objectives: Ischemic stroke is the third leading cause of death and disability in most of the human societies. There is no effective treatment due to complexity of the pathophysiological mechanisms. Today, more researches are designed to introduce involving factors and new treatment strategies in brain ischemia. The objective of this study is to introduce an experimental model of the focal cerebral ischemia in rat with increased success rate and low mortality rate.

  Methods: In this research 32 male rats (Sprague-Dawley) were studied as in four experimental groups. Animals were anesthetized with chloral hydrate (400mg/kg, ip). Focal cerebral ischemia was induced by intraluminal filament method. A silicon coated nylon filament was used for middle cerebral artery occlusion. Regional cerebral blood flow was monitored by laser Doppler flowmetery to guide the insertion of the filament into the vascular pathway. 24 hours after ischemia (90minutes), animals were assessed for neurological outcome, infarct volume and brain edema formation. A new and reformed neurological test was used for evaluation of neurological deficits. 2 - millimeter coronal sections were collected from 6 levels of the brain and stained, digitized and quantified by using an image analysis system. Ischemic brain edema formation was investigated by brain water content detection.

  Results: Induction of ischemia in ischemic group, seriously caused impairment of motor functions (neurological deficit score 4±0.5) While sham operated rats had no motor deficit and infarction. Mean total infarct volume of left (ischemic) hemisphere was 402±43 mm³ and 62.7 percent of infarction occurred in cortical regions of the brain. Induction of focal cerebral ischemia in the left (ischemic) hemisphere of the brain significantly increased water content (84±0.23 percent) compared to both hemispheres of sham group and right hemisphere of the same group. Success rate of ischemia induction was 100 percent and there was no mortality due to technical problems.

  Conclusion: Our findings indicate that continuous recording of regional cerebral blood flow using laser Doppler flowmeter had significant role in increasing success rate and lowering mortality rate in the present model of ischemic rat. This experimental model with high success rate and low limitation can be used for brain ischemia studies and evaluating new therapeutic strategies.

  Background &objectives: Echinococcosis, referred to as hydatid disease or hydatidosis, is a parasitic disease caused by larval stage of Echinococcus granulosus. In the life cycle of this parasite, dogs and other carnivores are definitive hosts and herbivores are intermediate hosts. Humansin this cycle may incidentally involve by ingestion of parasite eggs and play as intermediate host. Hydatid disease can involve any organ but liver and lung are the most commonly affected organs and kidney, brain, heart, bone may also be affected to a lesser degrees. Cerebral hydatid cyst occurs in about 2% of all echinococcosis cases. In this paper we report two cases of cerebral echinococcosis in whom diagnoses were made based on MRI findings and confirmed by pathology reports after surgery.

  First Case Report: The first case was a 30 years old man who was admitted after an episode of generalized tonic-clonicseizure. The MRI imaging performedand patient underwent surgery with diagnosis of a right frontal cystic lesion. The patient was improved progressively and there was no seizure attack and recurrence during 18 months follow up period.

  Second Case Report: The second case was a 28 years old woman presented by headache and abnormal behavior. MRI of this patient revealed a large cystic lesion in left frontal lobe and then underwent surgery. No complication was seen during postoperative period. The headache and behavioral disorder were improved completely and there was no sign of recurrence during 18 months follow up period.

  Conclusion: Hydatid cyst should be considered as a differential diagnosis of cystic brain lesions in endemic areas. Although hydatid cyst is a benign lesion but surgical removal of it without rupture is very important for prevention of probable future complications.