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Objective: Environmental stressors such as physical and chemical factors can have a destructive testicular function. The present study aimed to determine the effect of concomitant exposure to lead and noise on testicular tissue in male rats. Materials and methods: Twenty male Wistar rats (250-300 g, 12-13wk) were divided into four groups (n=5/each): 1) Control group, 2) Lead group treated with 4 mg/kg lead acetate by gavage for 30 days, 3) Noise group exposed to 4 kHz octave band at 105 dBA for eight hrs./ day for 30 days, and 4) the exposed group to lead plus noise concurrently. The testes' weight was measured, and testes abnormalities were assessed after staining with Hematoxylin and Eosin. Results: The results showed that the weight of testes in experimental groups was significantly decreased compared with the control group (p<0.0001). Also indicated edema, degeneration and necrotic cell debris in the lumen, congestion and atrophy of seminiferous tubule in rat testes tissue due to sub-acute exposure to lead and noise. Conclusion: Exposure to 105 dB and lead can cause damage to the seminiferous tubules, intubation edema, and testicular weight loss compared to control. We also found that simultaneous exposure to noise and lead could have more detrimental effects on testicular histology and weight than others.

Background Acetaminophen (APAP) is known as a safe drug for the relief of fever and pain at therapeutic levels. However, APAP toxicity is considered as the most general cause of acute hepatic damage. This research aimed to evaluate the protective effects of Protocatechuic acid (PCA), as an antioxidant, on the APAP-induced liver toxicity in mice. Methods In this regard, we treated male ICR mice with 40, 80, and 160 mg/kg PCA followed by 300 mg/kg APAP 1 h later for 7 days. By passing 24 h from the APAP administration, they were sacrificed, their Liver was dissected, and blood samples were collected for the evaluation of liver function. Results The results show that APAP-overdose (300mg/kg, IP) could lead to acute liver injury in mice, which is characterized by a rise in serum liver function tests (AST, ALT), pathological changes, and a decline in the antioxidant defense system. In addition, hepatic MDA levels, as the end product of lipid peroxidation, have increased, while the antioxidant enzymes such as GPX, SOD, and CAT activities have decreased in mice. In contrast, it was shown that pre-treatment with PCA could decline MDA, ALT, and AST levels and obviously attenuate the liver histological damage and the antioxidant enzymes. Finally, the results show that PCA had protective effects on the APAP-induced liver damage in mice. Conclusions Our studies show that hepatoprotective natural agents can be effective in APAP -liver toxicity.

Pulmonary and respiratory researches play a crucial role for all implementation decisions in the human health. The studies were carried out by researchers to treat and prevent breathing disorders for all age groups. Therefore, this evaluation was performed in respiratory medicine publications of Middle East region. We conducted Medline/PubMed and SCImago journal ranking (SJR) searches using selected MeSH keywords to identify pulmonary and respiratory medicine papers published from 1996 to 2012. The SJR database, accessible free of charge, was selected as the most suitable source for ranking specifically. Furthermore, the trend analysis evaluation of clinical, basic and epidemiologic papers was performed. The used indicators were the global ranks of each country according to "number of document", "total number of citations", "citations per document", "Self-Citation", "H-index", and "international collaboration". The world rankings of these countries showed their level among 20-45. Turkey with a total of 2446 papers, 2102 citable publications, 16325 citations, 10.5 citations per paper, and the H-index of 49 took the 20st place among world countries. Iran with a total of 573 papers, 539 citable publications, 2044 citations, 13.24 citations per paper, and the H-index of 20 took the 20st place. The highest "citations per documents" and "international collaboration" among these countries were belonging to Egypt. The lowest "self-cite per documents" was belonging to Iran. Although the productions of scientific productions are neither qualitatively nor quantitatively compared with other countries, the global places of Turkey, Iran, Egypt and Saudi Arabia were 20th, 25th, 42th and 45th, respectively. As a result, scientific collaboration between these four big Muslim countries in Middle East region will boost their rankings. Furthermore, the results may improve perform of the health service policy makers in Muslim countries including Iran to do more effective attentions, management and establishing pulmonary and respiratory medicine research centers.