Journal of Knowledge & Health in Basic Medical Sciences
Year:2007 | Volume:2 | Issue:2|Papers Count:11

Introduction: Prognosticators are indices which are used by medical specialists in early detection to make better decisions about treatment in hemodialysis patients. In this study the ratios of human arginase activity with other biochemical parameters in serum of pre- and post- dialysis patients were compared to healthy individuals. The ratios evaluated as new indices for diagnosis and treatment of the patients.Methods and Materials: In this study, 286 human serum specimens were evaluated, 206 of which belonged to the hemodialysis patients (103 of pre- and 103 of post- dialysis) and 80 to the healthy individuals. Arginase activity were determined by urea method, blood urea nitrogen by urease method, uric acid by modified Folin method, creatinine by Jaffe method and total protein was measured by biuret method.Results: The results showed that the serum arginase activity of hemodialysis patients (pre- and post- dialysis) was significantly higher than healthy subjects (p<0.01). It might be concluded that hemodialysis of patients had no effect on their serum arginase.  There were significant differences between   ratio of serum arginase activity and blood urea nitrogen, creatinine and uric acid in hemodialysis patients (pre- and post- dialysis) with healthy individuals as well as  pre- and post- hemolysis patients (p<0.01). There were no significant differences between arginase specific activity of the three groups (p>0.01).Conclusion: This investigation suggests that in parallel with other serum biochemical tests, it is beneficial to measure arginase activity and using the ratios of arginase activity to other biochemical serum parameters as new indices in prognosis and treatment of hemodialysis patients.

Introduction: Tracheal intubation is a standard technique for the performance of general anesthesia which might lead to stress in patient. This study has been done to evaluate prevalence and specifications of postoperative sore throat following general endotracheal anesthesia in patients undergoing open reduction surgery of extremity limbs fractures.Methods and Materials: In this cross-sectional study a number of 78 patients with 15-65 year old undergoing open reduction surgery of extremity limbs fractures were selected upon to researcher characteristics and in un-randomized sampling. Sensory, affective, intensity and general condition of pain were assessed in 1 and 24 hour after general anesthesia and extubation by using McGill Pain Questionnaire-Short Form (MPQ-SF) questionnaire.Results: Upon to result, average age was 29 year and base on McGill Pain Questionnaire-Short Form (MPQ-SF) questionnaire results, average score of sensory components of sore throat, 1 and 24 hour after general anesthesia was 3.42 and 1.2 respectively, and average score of affective components of sore throat 1 and 24 hour after general anesthesia was 1.14 and.46 respectively, and average score of sore throat intensity, 1 and 24 hour after general anesthesia was 3.51 and 1.18, respectively. 75.6% of patients had sore throat 1 hour after general anesthesia and 24 hour after decrease to 29.5%. In general, the majority of patients (33.3%) said that their sore throat intensity is discomforting. Pair t test revealed a significant difference between sensory and affective components and also intensity of sore throat in 1 and 24 hour after general anesthesia. Average score of sore throat intensity in females was greater than males. Pearson correlation test revealed a significant difference between age and sore throat intensity in 24 hour after general anesthesia.Conclusion: According to results of this study, awareness to complication following general endotracheal anesthesia and implementation appropriate strategies is essential for prevention of these complications and also for patients’ satisfaction of anesthesia and surgery.

Introduction: Fire is one of the fearful and morbid accident for each of members in the operating room team and important destructive accidents for each surgery patient that may occur during surgery. This study has been carried out to evaluate awareness of operating room staff about fire sources and its prevention methods in operating room.Methods and Materials: In this cross-sectional study a number of 48 persons of operating room staff from Shahroud Imam Hossein and Fatemiyeh hospitals were chosen and their awareness about fire sources (ignition Sources, oxygen sources and fuel sources) and ways of fire prevention in operating room were assessed using designed questionnaire related to prevention and fire safety in the operating room.  Mean of participation’s awareness about above-mentioned fields, upon 0-100 was divided to three levels: poor, intermediate and good. The data were analyzed using SPSS, software.Results: Based on the results, 97.9% of participants declare that educational program related to prevention and fire safety in operating room is necessary and all of them told these programs are useful and important. 85.4% of participants declare that never passed any educational course related to prevention and fire safety in operating room. Mean of participation’s awareness about prevention and fire safety in operating room was estimated 15.7 in anesthesiologist, 13.1 operating room technicians, 12.4 anesthesia technicians and 10.9 surgeons. In general 60.4% of operating room staff had intermediate awareness, 33.3% poor awareness and 6.3% good awareness about fire and its prevention in operating room.Conclusion: According to the results, unfortunately majority of operating room staff are not aware of fire sources and its prevention methods in operating room. Thus further research for improving awareness of operating room staff about prevention and control of fire in operating room is recommended.

Introduction: A highly disruptive emotional disorder is major depression, characterized by abnormal regulation of feelings of sadness and happiness. Traditional treatment for depression was pharmacological treatment. One alternative that has been shown to be effective in alleviating depression is physical activity. Previous observation and interventional studies have suggested that regular aerobic exercise reduced symptoms of depression. Moreover physical activity and exercise in water may have some beneficial effects on mood. However the purpose of this investigation was to design an aerobic exercise pattern in water and evaluate the effects of this pattern on depression.Methods and Materials: Two hundred and forty-nine male undergraduates allocated for this study. The Beck Depression Inventory was used to measure the presence and degree of depression. Fifty –two males (body mass, 67.8±9.3 kg; height, 1.73±0.04 m; age, 22.26±2.4) who obtained a depressive score more than 18 participated in an aerobic exercise program. The aerobic exercise program included unstructured water- polo sessions, 60 minute duration, three times per week for seven weeks. The participants trained at 60-70 % of maximum heart rate. The Beck Depression Inventory was administered before aerobic exercise training, at the first, twelfth, and twenty- first sessions. Results: Analysis of variance with repeated measures (ANOVA) showed that levels of depression score were significantly higher pre-treatment than in middle-treatment (P<0.05). A significant change was observed between the pre-treatment and post-treatment (P<0.05), the level of depression score was lower in post-treatment. Comparison of Beck score in the depressed samples at the first day (25.19), twelfth (15.08), and the twenty-first (11.64) of session, after performance of the practice, was significant (P<0.05). The results in control group at pre and post training exercise unchanged significantly.Conclusion: The results of this an investigation indicated that an aerobic exercise, especially in water have a tremendous effects on the treatment of depression. We suppose more clinical trail examination in order to confirm this method as an alternative strategy for treatment of depression.

Introduction: Breast Cancer is the most worldwide spread cancer occurring and the second cause of death among the women. The mortality rate of breast cancer is directly related to the stages of illness at the time of its diagnosis and in the case of using regular breast cancer screening procedures, the rate will be decreased. Breast self-examination (BSE) is one of the most important procedures in early detection of breast cancer. The objective of this study was to evaluate the level of knowledge, attitude and skill of health volunteers about BSE.Material and Methods: For this study, 89 health volunteers, aged 20-57, were selected randomly who were employed in Shahroud health centers. Their level of knowledge, attitude and skill about BSE were examind by a questionnaire and results were analyzed by descriptive statistical methods.Results: Overall 63% of health volunteers have some information about the breast cancer and their knowledge about proper usage of BSE was at medium level. 51% of them knew the best time of BSE. Their attitude on BSE high (78%) and there was a significant difference between their attitude and marital status. 12.4% of were expert to do BSE.Conclusion: Regarding to the results of this study, because of the medium level of knowledge and poor BSE skill of all health volunteers, some training courses for them is recommended as well as carrying out more researches to determine the factors that encourages women to accept cancer-screening methods.

Introduction: Vaginal delivery is the best method of delivery. Regarding to recent data (1382) 33% of deliveries were carried out using cesarean method in Iran. Increasing of cesarean percentage is probably due to negative attitude about vaginal delivery and low knowledge about cesarean side effects. This research is aimed to determine knowledge and attitude of pregnant women about type of delivery.Methods and Materials: This descriptive study was conducted on 136 pregnant women attended to eight health centers in Qom during Jun to August of 2003. The tool for data collection was questionnaire including, demographic obstetrical and gynecological factors and some questions about knowledge and attitude about vaginal and cesarean delivery. The questionnaire was provided by counseling with experts in midwifery and gynecology and its reliability was confirmed by test and retest. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, c², Man Whitney and Kruskal Wallis.Results: The levels of knowledge in the pregnant women about type of delivery, in 40.4% were average and in 59.6% were good. In this study 94.1% of women toward vaginal delivery and 63.2% toward cesarean delivery had positive atitudes, 5.9% of subjects toward vaginal delivery and 36% toward cesarean had indifferent attitude. Significant statistical difference was observed between the level of knowledge and attitude of cesarean delivery (P< 0.0001), but no significant statistical difference was observed between the level of knowledge and attitude of vaginal delivery (P=0.19).Conclusion: According to the result there was significant relationship between knowledge and attitude toward cesarean delivery. Education strategies are suggested for improvement knowledge and positive attitude toward methods of delivery. It can decrease interest of pregnant women toward cesarean delivery.

Introduction: The McGill pain questionnaire (MPQ) was recognized as a valid and useful instrument for moderate to severe chronic or acute pain in all sorts of painful health problems and was translated to different languages. Although, recently the short form of McGill pain questionnaire is recommended, but translated and validated only in two languages (English And French), so this study is carried out to evaluate short form (MPQ) in primi gravid women that referred to Fatemiyeh hospital.Methods and Materials: 140 nulliparuse women with single pregnancy, cephalic presentation and spontaneous labor who referred to the Fatemiye hospital, enrolled in this study. None of them received pharmacologic and any pharmacologic pain relief methods in labor unit. Pain intensity in the first and second stage of labor was determined in sequence with verbal numeric analog scale and short form McGill pain questionnaire. This questionnaire was included 11 and 4 components related to sensory and affective pain rating in index (PRI), respectively. Visual analog scale (VAS) and evaluative overall intensity of total pain experience (six components) (no pain until excruciating) were filled in second stage of labor. Results: Mean intensity of pain according to short form MPQ was 35.9 (from 59 scales). No one of the sample study had throbbing pain. The most pain was related to severe pain and fearful from sensory and affective pain rating (SPR and APR) scale in 90% and 44.3% of sample study respectively. 42% of women suffered from severe and excruciating pain in second stage of delivery.Conclusion: None of the sample study suffered from thrombbing pain. Regards to the important of validation of short form (MPQ), designing research study with the large samples is recommended to confirm presence of this pain sensory component in this questionnaire.

Introduction: Suicide is the basic urgency of psychiatry and one of the greatest problems of human. With this regard, this study was done to determine the characteristics of the attempters and materials that were used for self- harm.Methods and Materials: This cross- sectional study was carried out on 383 patients admitted to Imam Hossein hospital in Shahroud during July 2002-2003. The data were collected through questionnaires filled by health workers and analysed using SPSS software.Results:  During one year period, 383 patients (163 males and 220 females) with poisoning were admitted. The group age of 15-30 years had the most frequency in deliberate self- harm(80.4%), the single persons included 61.9% and 48.8% of cases had less than 12 schooling years education. 88.5% of attempters were from urban areas. In 341 patients, the suicide attempts were with drugs, and banzodiazepins (26%) were the most common used drugs.Conclusion: This study has shown that deliberate self-harm attempters were remarkable among youth and single persons and preventine affairs can include the investigation of these group's problems. The main clinical issues are the assessment of suicide risk and the management of deliberate self – harm.