Many people suffer from spinal cord injuries annually. These deficits usually threaten the quality of life of patients. As a postpartum medically waste product, human Umbilical Cord Blood (UCB) is a rich source of stem cells with self- renewal properties and neural differentiation capacity which made it useful in regenerative medicine. Since there is no report on potential of human umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells into motor neurons, we set out to evaluate the differentiation properties of these cells into motor neuron-like cells through administration of Retinoic Acid(RA), Sonic Hedgehog(Shh) and BDNF using a three- step in vitro procedure. The results were evaluated using Real-time PCR, Flowcytometry and Immunocytochemistry for two weeks. Our data showed that the cells changed into bipolar morphology and could express markers related to motor neuron; including Hb-9, Pax-6, Islet-1, NF-H, ChAT at the level of mRNA and protein. We could also quantitatively evaluate the expression of Islet-1, ChAT and NF-H at 7 and 14days post- induction using flowcytometry. It is concluded that human UCB-MSCs is potent to express motor neuron- related markers in the presence of RA, Shh and BDNF through a three- step protocol; thus it could be a suitable cell candidate for regeneration of motor neurons in spinal cord injuries.

Background: Zygomatic fracture is one of the most prevalent one among facial fractures caused by vehicle accident, motorcycle accident, fighting, fall and sport injuries. Materials & Methods: This study was a retrospective study of our patients during past 6 years. Results: We had 1277 facial fractures, of whom 9 patients had blindness. We had 193 patients with Zygomatic fracture. 98 patients had pure zygomatic fracture and other had complicated fractures. Frequency of blindness due to zygomatic fracture in a period of six years was 4.7% in all and in pure zygomatic fractures was 2.04%. Blindness was most prevalent in age group 20 -29 years old (55.6%). The most prevalent cause of zygomatic fracture which causes blindness, was motor vehicle accident (77.8%). Blindness was more common in males (77.8%) than females (22.2%). Discussion and Conclusions: One of the most disastrous complication of zygomatic fracture is transection of optic nerve. Very careful examination of fractured bones careful examination of optic nerve and visual acuity and urgent operation and decompression of optic nerve must be performed. About 4% -5% will have blindness purely due to fracture.

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