Urinary excretion of 5-HIAA is significantly higher in the gastric cancer patients in comparison with that of chronic gastritis patients or normal individuals. So, this test could be regarded as a tumor marker in conjunction with other modalities in diagnosis of gastric cancer.

Background: Autism is a neurological disorder that limits communication, socialization, and participation of children in symbolic play. Sensory processing disorders are common characteristics (45% to 96%) of children with pervasive development disorders, including. Sleep disorders are also more prevalent in autistic children than in normal children. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between sensory processing disorders and sleep disturbances in school-aged autistic children. Patients and Methods: This study is quantitative, observational, and cross-sectional. 35 school-aged autistic children in Shiraz, Iran were selected using cluster sampling. A demographic questionnaire, short sensory profile (SSP), and the sleep disturbance scale for children (SDSC) were used. The Pearson correlation coefficient and Pearson chi-square were used during data analysis. Results: Results shows that autistic children show clear differences from normal function (74.3%), possible differences with normal function (20%), and normal function (5.7%) in their total sensory processing scores. 95.3% of autistic children had some degrees of abnormal sensory processing disorder. Also, 68.6% of the participants suffered from sleep disorders. However, there was no relationship between sensory processing disorders and sleep disturbances in children with autism (P value = 0.83). Also, there was no correlation between the subscales of sensory processing disorders and the subscales of sleep disturbances. Conclusions: The results showed that despite the simultaneous high prevalence of sleep disturbances and sensory processing disorders in children with autism, there isn't a significant relationship between the two conditions among these children.

The growing usage of aluminum nanoparticles (Al-NP) and their exposure may influence body function. Considering the proposed relationship between Al and the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease and the concern about the effect of this nanoparticle on brain health and cognitive function, the use of neuroprotective agents might be helpful. According to the reported neuroprotective effects of agmatine, in the present study, the possible protective effect of agmatine was assessed in mice model of Al-NP-induced memory impairment. In addition, due to the roles of hippocampal Glycogen synthase kinase-3 beta (GSK-3β) and ERK signaling in memory and its disorders, these pathways were also investigated. Al-NP (10 mg/kg/p.o.) with/without agmatine (5 or 10 mg/kg/i.p.) was administered to adult male NMRI mice for 5 days. Novel object recognition (NOR) test session was used to assess cognitive function. Following the behavioral assessments, the hippocampi were used to determine the phosphorylated and total levels of GSK-3β and ERK as well as GAPDH using western blot analysis. The results showed that Al-NP impaired NOR memory in mice while agmatine 10 mg/kg prevented the memory deficit induced by Al-NP. Furthermore, Al-NP activated GSK-3β as well as ERK signals within the hippocampus while agmatine prevented the effects of Al-NP on GSK-3β and ERK signals within the hippocampus. Besides supporting the neuroprotective effects of agmatine, these findings suggest the possibility of the connection of hippocampal GSK-3β and ERK signaling in the neuroprotective effect of this polyamine against Al-NP.