We report the first case of a fetus with sirenomelia or mermaid syndrome, whose Afghanian parents were heavy user of a special form of snuff. The case was diagnosed as a mermaid syndrome but some of the features were common to both symmelia dipus and symmelia apus, for example, the single lower extremity had the normal femur, tibia and fibula, but the single foot was rotated medially. The digestive tube ended to a massive closed saclike structure and the anus was absence. The external genital organs were rudiment and the normal testes were undescended. Aorta was divided to branches, such that the external iliac arteries were very small in comparison to the internal iliac arteries. Inferior Vena cava was placed on to the left side of the aorta and unlike the majority of reported mermaid syndrome, the bladder was present. So, the researchers believe that the present case is a rare variant of the mermaid syndrome.

ObjectiveApproximately 10% of pregnant women suffer from pregnancy-associated depression. Fluoxetine, as a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, is being employed as a therapy for depressive disorders. The present study aimed to determine the effects of fluoxetine on neonatal lung development.MethodsThirty pregnant Wistar rats (weighing 200–250 g) were treated daily with 7 mg/kg fluoxetine from gestation day 0 to gestation day 21, via gavage. The control group received a similar volume of distilled water only. Following delivery, the newborns and their lungs were immediately weighed in both of the groups. The right lung was fixed for histological assessments while the left lung was used for evaluation of the expression of SPC and HoxB5 by the real-time polymerase chain reaction method.ResultsResults have indicated that even though the body weight and the number of neonatal rats in both groups were the same, the lung weight of neonates exposed to fluoxetine was significantly different compared to the control group (P<0.05). Expression of both genes was increased, nonetheless, only elevation of HoxB5 was significant (P<0.05). Histological studies demonstrated that lung tissue in the fluoxetine treatment group morphologically appears to be similar to the pseudoglandular phase, whereas the control group lungs experienced more development.ConclusionAccording to the upregulated expression of HoxB5 concerning histological findings, results of the present study showed that fluoxetine can influence lung growth and may in turn lead to delay in lung development. So establishment of studies to identify the effects of antidepressant drugs during pregnancy is deserved.