The mermaid syndrome (sirenomelia) is an extremely rare anomaly, an incidence of 1 in 100,000 births, in which a newborn born with legs joined together featuring a mermaid-like appearance (head and trunk like humans and tail like fish), and in most cases die shortly after birth. Gastrointestinal and urogenital anomalies and single umbilical artery are clinical outcome of this syndrome. There are two important hypotheses for pathogenesis of mermaid syndrome: vitelline artery steal hypothesis and defective blastogenesis hypothesis. The cause of the mermaid syndrome is unknown, but there are some possible factors such as age younger than 20 years and older than 40 years in mother and exposure of fetus to teratogenics. Here, we introduced 19-year-old mother's first neonate with mermaid syndrome. The mother had gestational diabetes mellitus and neonate was born with single lower limb, ambiguous genitalia, and thumb anomalies, and 4 days after birth, the neonate died due to multiple anomalies and imperforated anus.

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Background: Osteoarthritis is the most common joint damage that leads to cartilage destruction, pain, and disability. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of resistance exercises and Nano curcumin supplementation on synovial levels of collagenase-2 and NO in patients with knee osteoarthritis. Methods: Forty women with primary knee osteoarthritis were divided into four groups including control, exercise, supplementation, and supplementation /exercises. The resistance exercise group performed exercises in 16 weeks (three sessions per week). The supplement group consumed one Nano curcumin capsule (1000 mg) per day for 16 weeks. Exercise and supplementation group also performed resistance exercises along with consuming Nano curcumin. Synovial fluid samplings were done in two stages of pre-test (24 h before training and supplementation) and post-test (48 h after the last session of treatment and supplementation). The obtained synovial fluid was used to measure the synovial level of collagenase-II and nitric oxide. Results: Although, there were not any significant correlations between resistance exercise, nanocurcumum supplementation, and synovial levels of collagenase-2 and NO among women with knee osteoarthritis, we observed interesting reduced levels of both markers following the supplementation. Conclusions: It can be concluded that the Nano curcumin supplementation can be an effective method to reduce the levels of these inflammatory factors in synovial fluids of cases with knee Osteoarthritis. Longer duration of the protocol may have more promoting results. Trial registration: The project was registered at Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (Trial registration number: IRCT20161208031300N1).

Trauma, especially traumatic injuries due to car accidents are one of the causes of maternal and fetal mortality and morbidity during pregnancy. Fetus brain injuries are usually caused fetus death. We herein report a pregnant woman in 28 weeks of gestation. The fetus was found to be normal during in-hospital. At birth, the female neonate demonstrated developmental delay and neurological deficits (hypotonicity). Neuroimaging after birth revealed extreme dilatation of lateral ventricles, hypoplasia and aplasia of the brain. In 4 months, she had multiple morbidities including developmental delay, hypotonia, blindness, oropharyngeal dysphagia and simple partial seizure. Motor and response to stimulation was normal. Appropriate seatbelt usage can protect the fetus from sustaining severe intracranial injuries.

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