Thus, in infants with acute bronchiolitis, the effect of nebulized magnesium sulfate is comparable to nebulized epinephrine. However nebulized magnesium sulfate can improve the clinical score so it may have additive effect to reduce symptoms during hospitalization.

The authors assessed the efficacy of bromocriptine in nonfluent aphasia after stroke in a 16-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial conducted from June 2002 to April 2004. In all 38 patients after 4 months of treatment, improvement in both the bromocriptine and placebo treatment groups was observed (p < 0.001). The analysis of repeated-measures analysis of variance revealed bromocriptine did not improve nonfluent aphasia.

Background: The purpose of the study was to analyze naming errors in patients with Alz­heimer’s disease in comparison to healthy subjects and determine the underlying cause of naming errors in these patients. Method: In this study, we included 35 healthy elderly subjects, 23 patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease, and 23 with moderate Alzheimer’s disease. Forty-five images were used to determine the type of naming errors, and to identify the underlying cause of errors, matching an image with a written word was used. Results: Patients with Alz­heimer’s disease had more naming errors compared with the group of healthy elderly, and patients with moderate Alzheimer’s disease showed a slower reaction in matching an image with a written word. Conclusion: Anomia in the initial phase of Alzheimer’s disease is due to problems in lexical retrieval; however, as the disease advances, in addition to lexical retrieval problems, conceptual knowledge causes naming problems.

Background:Toxocariasis is a common parasitic infectionworldwide even in developed countries. Through this health problem, the immune system is triggered and the antibody is produced, leading to some hypersensitive situations like asthma. In the present study, we tried to show a correlation between Toxocara Canis (T. canis) seropositivityand asthma in Isfahan city.Methods:This research is a cross-sectional study involving 40 asthmatics and 46 non-asthmatic cases aged 2-18 years. In all cases, T. canis IgG level was measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and compared between two groups.Results:The seroprevalence of IgG anti-T. canis antibodies were 45%in the asthmatic patients and 21.7% in thecontrols (P= 0.022). The more severe asthmatic patients had significantly more risk for T. canis seropositivity (P= 0.019). In the asthmatic patients, there was a significant correlation between Toxocara seropositivity and goingto park or playground (P= 0.001).Conclusion:In this study, we found a significantly positive serology of T. canis in asthmatic children especially in more severe disease. To verify the etiologic role of Toxocara in asthma, more advanced studies are needed.

Background:The relation between interleukin-33 (IL-33) and asthma is not precisely known yet. The present study set to compare the serum level of IL-33 in patients with asthma and controls and study the relation with the severity of disease.Methods:The serum level of IL-33 and total IgE in 89 asthmatic patients and 57 controls were analyzed. The association of levels of IL-33 with the severity of disease, levels of total IgE, measures of spirometry (forced expiratory volume in 1 s [FEV1]), age, sex, presence or absence of other allergic diseases, and the disease duration was evaluated.Results:Higher levels of IL-33 and total IgE were detected in asthmatic patients compared with controls (P = 0.0001 and P = 0.008, respectively). In the asthmatic group, a significant direct association of IL-33 with age (P = 0.02, R = 0.23) and with total IgE level (P = 0.003, R = 0.31) were observed, but there was no relationship between other variables. Comparison of mean level of IL-33 in different asthma groups concerning the disease severity showed the statistically significant difference between them and a significant increased serum level of total IgE was observed in more severe disease. The results showed a significant negative correlation between FEV1 and total IgE (P = 0.028, R = −0.23) and IL-33 level (P = 0.0001, R = −0.83).Conclusions:IL-33 is suggested as a new inflammatory marker of severe and refractory asthma. Therefore, it may be a unique therapeutic target in these patients.