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Background: Preeclampsia is one of major reasons of mortality in mother and child and its early diagnosis is one of the most important parts of health care during pregnancy. The current study was done to find the relationship between hemoglobin and hematocrit in the first trimester of pregnancy and the incidence of preeclampsia in women referring to Milad Hospital in Tehran in 2009-2010. Materials and Methods: This prospective cohort study was conducted on 700 pregnant women in the first trimester of pregnancy, selected by convenience sampling. Prenatal tests were run in Milad Hospital and the results were recorded. Then samples were monitored for preeclampsia until delivery. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 18 (P < 0.05). Results: The highest percentage of research groups suffering from preeclampsia was in hemoglobin ≥12/5% g/dl and hematocrit of ≥38% group. There was a significant relationship between hemoglobin and hematocrit levels during the first trimester of pregnancy and preeclampsia (P<0.001, P=0.002). Hemoglobin of ≥ 12.45 g/dl presented a sensitivity of 85%, the specificity of 43.04%, positive predictive value of 9.63%, and negative predictive value of 97.57%. Hematocrit of ≥ 38% presented the sensitivity of 77.5%, the specificity of 50.71, the positive predictive value of 10.1%, and the negative predictive value of 96.93%. Conclusion: The presence of high hemoglobin and hematocrit in the first trimester of pregnancy can be a predictive factor for diagnosing preeclampsia

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Background: Due to increasing antibiotic resistance, it is important to identify the antimicrobial activity of herbs. This experimental study aimed to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of herbal extracts of common hop (Humulus lupulus) and oak (Quercus castaneifolia) against several microbial standard strains.

Materials and Methods: The alcoholic and aqueous extracts of H. lupulus and Q. castaneifolia were extracted. The inhibitory effects of herbal extracts were evaluated against the microbial standard strains (Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Candida albicans) by both agar diffusion and macrobroth dilution methods. In the agar diffusion method, concentrations of extracts were 125, 250, 500 and 1000 mg/ml. In order to determine the MIC, serial dilutions were prepared with a range from 1 to 512 mg/ml.

Results: Alcoholic extract of both hop and oak showed higher inhibitory effect against microbial standard strains, compared to the aqueous extract. Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213 and Candida albicans ATCC 76615 showed higher susceptibility to both alcoholic and aqueous extracts compared to Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853. Statistically significant difference was found on the MIC of alcoholic and aqueous extracts (p<0.05).

Conclusion: This study revealed the considerable inhibitory effects of herbal hop and oak extracts on the various microorganisms, including bacteria and fungi. Although more research is needed in this field, they can be used as new antimicrobials in medicine.