Background & Objective: Iodine deficiency was a public health problem in Iran before iodine supplementation. In order to evaluate the iodine status of school aged children in Zanjan, this survey was conducted in the frame work of national monitoring survey in 2001 to find the prevalence of goiter and urinary iodine level.
Materials & Methods: 1200 schoolchildren, aged 7-10 years, were selected randomly from all regions of Zanjan, and the grade of goiter, in 600 boys and 600 girls, was determined according to WHO classification. Urinary iodine content was measured using the digestion method in one tenth of the schoolchildren.
Results: Total goiter rate was 19.7%, 225% in girls and 16.8% in boys. Median urinary iodine was 18.1 µg/dl. Urinary iodine was above 10 μg/dl in 85.1% and less than 5 µg/dl in 1.6%, no one had urinary iodine below 2 µg/dl. There was no difference in goiter prevalence and urinary iodine between gender and rural or urban school children.
Conclusion: It is concluded that urinary iodine levels in school children of Zanjan province are indicative of adequate iodine intake. There is considerable decrease in goiter rate as compared to survey of 1986. Zanjan province therefore can be considered an “iodine deficiency free” zone.

Background and Objective: Use of medicinal plants for attenuation of hyperglycemia and restoration of lipids to normal level is clinically very important. In this study, the effect of oral administration of Lycium barbarum (LB) fruit on serum glucose and lipids was investigated in diabetic rats. Materials and Methods: Thirty two female Wistar rats were divided into 4 groups control, LB-treated control, diabetic, and LB-treated diabetic groups. The treatment groups received oral administration of plant (fruit)-mixed pelleted food (at a weight ratio of 6.25%) for 6 weeks. Serum glucose, triglyceride, total cholesterol, LDL- and HDL- cholesterol levels were determined before the study, and at 3rd and 6th weeks after the study. Results: LB treated diabetic rats showed a significant reduction in glucose level compared to non treated group at 3rd and 6th weeks (P<0.01- 0.005). There were no significant changes regarding to total serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Meanwhile, LB administration significantly increased HDL-cholesterol level (P<0.05) and reduced LDL-cholesterol level (P<0.01) in treated diabetic group as compared with untreated diabetic group. Conclusion: Oral administration of LB fruit has a significant hypoglycemic effect and led to appropriate changes only in high density lipoprotein-cholesterol and low density lipoprotein cholesterol.

Background and Objective: Based on literatures, the patients with essential tremor have a thinner Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer (RNFL) layer in Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) imaging, compared to the healthy population. Thus, we decided to examine the ocular-neural state of patients with essential tremor, by examining RNFL and Retinal Ganglion Cell Layer (RGCL) in the OCT reports of patients referred to Hazrat Rasool Akram Hospital in the years 2020 to 2022.
Materials and Methods: This research was implemented in the form of case-control study.50 patients were recruited into each group of tremor, and healthy controls. OCT parameters, including thickness of RNFL and RGCL were evaluated and recorded.
Results: The study findings revealed a significant difference in the mean superior, superior nasal, superior temporal sections of the right eye and superior temporal and inferior temporal regions of the left eye in RNFL between the control group and all patients (P < 0.01). Moreover, the results showed that there was a significant difference in the GCL in superior 6 mm of the right and left eye between the control group, and all patients (P <0.01).
Conclusion: Regarding the results this study, it seems that patients with essential tremor have a significant decrease in some RNFL and GCL factors compared to healthy people. However, the majority of variables examined from RNFL and GCL in our study did not show significant differences. Moreover, this thinning could be associated with the neurodegenerative nature of the disease.