Frequency and torment caused by migraines direct patients toward a variety of remedies. Few studies to date have proposed ginger derivates for migraine relief. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of ginger in the ablation of common migraine attack in comparison to sumatriptan therapy. In this double-blinded randomized clinical trial, 100 patients who had acute migraine without aura were randomly allocated to receive either ginger powder or sumatriptan. Time of headache onset, its severity, time interval from headache beginning to taking drug and patient self-estimation about response for five subsequent migraine attacks were recorded by patients. Patients(,) satisfaction from treatment efficacy and their willingness to continue it was also evaluated after 1 month following intervention. Two hours after using either drug, mean headaches severity decreased significantly. Efficacy of ginger powder and sumatriptan was similar. Clinical adverse effects of ginger powder were less than sumatriptan. Patients' satisfaction and willingness to continue did not differ. The effectiveness of ginger powder in the treatment of common migraine attacks is statistically comparable to sumatriptan. Ginger also poses a better side effect profile than sumatriptan.

Background: The prevalence of multiple sclerosis (MS) varies in different geographical regions and has dramatically increased in Iran. Revealing the high prevalence rate draws the attention of policymakers and helps them allocate necessary resources. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of MS in Zanjan province of Iran. Methods: We included all registered residents of Zanjan province with MS on the prevalence day (July 31, 2019). All cases met the McDonald criteria. All registered cases in Zanjan MS society were identified as index cases. Data regarding patient's national code, gender, age, age at the first symptom onset, city of residence, marital status, education level, occupation, ethnicity, family history of MS and the time span between symptom's onset and disease diagnosis were recorded. Results: We identified 758 patients, 551 of whom (72.7%) were female. The mean age at the first symptom onset was 28.9 ±8.7 years old. The crude prevalence was 71.6 per 100,000 population (95% CI 66.6–76.9). The disease was most prevalent in Zanjan city (100.5 per 100,000). The gender-specific prevalence per 100,000 population was 105.4 for women (95% CI: 96.8–114.6) and 38.7 for men (95% CI: 33.6–44.1), with female to male ratio of 2.6. The standardized mortality ratio (SMR) was calculated as expected/observed for both men and women as 2.3 (207/88.2) (551/234.1). Conclusions: Our data confirm that the MS prevalence rate is high in Zanjan province of Iran.

Background. The 2010 revision of the McDonald criteria, widely used for the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS), has established that dissemination in time (DIT) can be demonstrated by the simultaneous presence of asymptomatic gadolinium-enhancing and non-enhancing plaques on a single magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). When the use of gadolinium contrast agents is contraindicated, diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) is utilized to confirm diffusion alterations in active inflammatory plaques. This study intended to examine whether DWI can be a viable alternative to contrast-enhanced T1-weighted imaging for demonstrating DIT in MS. Material and methods.We assessed 30 previously diagnosed MS patients during acute relapse (based on the 2010 McDonald criteria) and evaluated their brain MRI via DWI‚ contrast-enhanced T1-weighted imaging, and FLAIR sequences. Asymptomatic plaques were defined as either hyperintense or non-hyperintense in DWI and enhancing or non-enhancing in T1GAD-MRI. Statistical indices for the prediction of plaque enhancement in T1 GAD-MRI via DWI-MRI were calculated and compared. Results. The 30 participants in our study had a total of 925 demyelinating plaques that were larger than 3mm in size and presented to be hyperintense in FLAIR-MRI. Diffusion hyperintensity and plaque enhancement were significantly correlated. The sensitivity‚ specificity, positive predictive value‚ negative predictive value, and accuracy of DWI were calculated to be 69.66%‚ 99.76%‚ 96.88%‚ 96.86%, and 96.86%, respectively. Conclusions. Hyperintense DWI findings do not necessarily overlap with contrast enhancements in T1 GAD-MRI. DWI was shown to produce a higher rate of false-positive results. Our study concludes that although T1 GAD-MRI should not be replaced by DWI to determine DIT due to its lower specificity, DWI’s continued use as a surrogate screening imaging sequence whenever the use of T1GAD-MRI is of concern is not without its merits.

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In this research, an experimental study was carried out on the pre-treatment and turbidity removal of Persian Gulf water using cross flow microfiltration by new composite ceramic membranes. Three types of tubular microfiltration composite ceramic membranes that consisted of Mullite, Mullite/SiC, and Mullite/SiC/Fe2O3 with different compositions were fabricated at relatively low temperature (1250 °C) with extrusion and sintering for this purpose. Furthermore, changes in porosity, pore size, and mechanical strength were compared in Mullite membranes and composite membranes to find the most suitable membrane for turbidity removal from seawater. According to the results, the most suitable synthetic membrane was M/SiC/Fe10 membrane with 60:30:10 ratios of mullite, silicon carbide, and iron oxide with 64.6 ± 2% porosity, average pore size of 0.54 μm, 95.4% turbidity removal, pure water permeability of 3811 L/m2.h, and higher mechanical strength (22.4 MPa) compared to other fabricated membranes. Results of Hermia’s models for fouling modeling indicated that the dominant mechanism of blocking in all membranes was standard pore blocking with the best compliance with experimental data. Therefore, results demonstrated that the addition of Fe2O3 to silicon carbide ceramic microfiltration membranes, with a specific weight percentage, improves their mechanical properties and membrane performance for pre-treatment of seawaters.