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Many areas throughout the world, mainly arid and semi-arid regions, are simultaneously affected by salinity stress and heavy metal (HM) pollution. Phytoremediation of such environments needs suitable plants surviving under those combined stresses. In the present study, native species naturally growing under an extreme condition, around Qaleh-Zari copper mine located in the eastern part of Iran, with HM-contaminated saline-sodic soil, were identified to find suitable plant species for phytoremediation. For this purpose, the accumulation of HMs (Cu, Zn, Cd, and Pb) in the root and shoot (stem and leaf) of the plants and their surrounding soils was determined to find their main phytoremediation strategies: phytoextraction or phytostabilization. Seven native species surviving in such extreme condition were found, including Launaea arborescens (Batt.) Murb, Artemisia santolina Schrenk, Pulicaria gnaphalodes (Vent.) Boiss, Zygophyllum eurypterum Boiss. & Buhse, Peganum harmala L., Pteropyrum olivieri Jaub. & Spach, and Aerva javanica (Burm. f.) Juss. ex Schult. Evaluation of phytoremediation potential of the identified species based on the calculated HM bioconcentration in roots, HM translocation from roots to shoots, and HM accumulation in the shoots revealed that all of the species were metal phytostabilizers rather than hyperaccumulators. Therefore, these native species can be used for phytostabilization in the HM-contaminated saline soils to prevent HMs entering the uncontaminated areas and groundwater. Compared with the biennial low-biomass hyperaccumulators, some native species such as Z. eurypterum and A. javanica may have more economic value for phytoremediation because of a significant accumulation of HMs in their relatively higher biomass.

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There are great concentrations of toxic metallic and metalloid elements such as lead, arsenic, mercury, cadmium or silver in many species of mushrooms comparative to other fruits and vegetables. In this study, contamination with heavy and toxic metallic and metalloid elements in the cultivated mushroom of (Pleurotus florida (Mont.) Singer) is investigated. P. florida was cultivated on different substrates; wheat straw (as blank), wheat straw + pine cone, wheat straw + soybean straw and wheat straw + urea and the effects of these substrates on contamination levels of Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, and Pb were analyzed. The results showed that the concentrations of essential elements (Mn, Fe, Cu, and Zn) in the target mushroom are at the typical levels. The estimated daily intakes of studied metallic and metalloid elements were below their oral reference dosage mentioned by the international regulatory bodies. Health risk index (HRI) was calculated to evaluate the consumer's health risk assessment from the metal intake that contaminated in the cultivated mushroom of P. florida on the different nutrient sources. In this study, the individual HRIs were less than 1, which indicates insignificant potential health risk associated with the consumption of target mushroom from the studied substrates. Based on the HRIs values among the toxic metallic and metalloid elements, As in the target mushroom in the substrate of the wheat straw + pine cone is the main sources of risk, and it may cause severe health problems. Thus, this study suggests that the concentrations of heavy and toxic elements should be periodically monitored in cultivated mushrooms.

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OBJECTIVE: Methadone poisoning is common in our society, mainly in drug addicts. One of its lethal complications is pulmonary edema. Therefore, we evaluated the prevalence of pulmonary edema in the deceased cases with methadone poisoning and its possible relationship with some medical variables. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study which was done in 2014, we have investigated the deceased patients with methadone toxicity who underwent autopsy at Isfahan Forensic Medicine Department (Iran). All variables including age, gender, and autopsy findings were recorded and analyzed. Demographic characteristics and medical complications of the patients were compared between the patients with or without pulmonary edema in the autopsy findings. FINDINGS: There were 64 cases who died with methadone poisoning during the 1-year study period. The average age of cases (±standard deviation) was 32.1 ± 10.29 years, among which 92.2% were male. Based on the autopsy findings, 64.1% were diagnosed with pulmonary edema. There was no statistically significant relationship between pulmonary edema and age, gender, history of addiction, and hepatic or cardiovascular complications. CONCLUSION: Pulmonary edema is a common finding in deceased methadone poisoning cases and must be considered and ruled out in patients with acute methadone toxicity.

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Vinca alkaloids are a subset of drugs obtained from the Madagascar periwinkle plant. They are naturally extracted from the pink periwinkle plant, Catharanthus roseus G. Don and have a hypoglycemic as well as cytotoxic effects. They have been used to treat diabetes, high blood pressure and have been used as disinfectants. The vinca alkaloids are also important for being cancer fighters. There are four major vinca alkaloids in clinical use: Vinblastine (VBL), vinorelbine (VRL), vincristine (VCR) and vindesine (VDS). VCR, VBL and VRL have been approved for use in the United States. Vinflunine is also a new synthetic vinca alkaloid, which has been approved in Europe for the treatment of second-line transitional cell carcinoma of the urothelium is being developed for other malignancies. Vinca alkaloids are the second-most-used class of cancer drugs and will stay among the original cancer therapies. Different researches and studies for new vinca alkaloid applications will be carried out in this regard.

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OBJECTIVE: Methadone poisoning can occur accidentally or intentionally for suicide or homicide purposes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the epidemiological and clinical manifestations of Methadone poisoning. METHODS: A descriptive analytical study was performed from 2010 to 2012 in the poisoning emergency and clinical toxicology departments of Noor hospital affiliated with Isfahan University of Medical Sciences (Isfahan, Iran). All patients with Methadone poisoning within this period of time were investigated. Different variables were recorded in a checklist. FINDINGS: A total of 385 patients were studied. About 85.7% had ingested only Methadone and 14.3% had ingested other medications with Methadone. Mean ± standard deviation of the age was 32.1 ± 15 years (range: 1-90). Most of the patients were male (76.4%). Nearly 40% of the patients were narcotic addicts, 25.5% were addicts under surveillance of Methadone maintenance therapy centers and 34.5% were non-addicts. Intentional poisoning was observed in most of the patients (57.7%). Most of the patients had a low level of consciousness on admission (58.2%). Respiratory depression and hypotension was observed in 35.6% and 12.7% of the cases as the most common symptoms. Regarding vital signs, there was a significant difference in respiratory rate on admission among different evaluated groups (P = 0.02). Length of hospital stay was 18.79 ± 0.72 h (range: 4-240 h, median: 15 h). About 57 patients (25.8%) from the intentionally poisoned patients and 19 patients (12.3%) from the unintentionally poisoned patients had a history of psychiatric disorder (P = 0.001). Most of the patients survived without complications. CONCLUSION: Addiction, age, gender, attempt to suicide and a history of psychiatric disorder were of the most important factors effective in Methadone poisoning, which should be considered in the public training and prevention of poisoning.