Pars Journal of Medical Sciences
Year:2011 | Volume:9 | Issue:SUPPLEMENT 2|Papers Count:10

Introduction: Regarding the increasing incidence of cardiovascular diseases in Iran and the role of inflammatory and coagulation factors in them, this research aimed at studying the effect of fresh juice and whole peel of lime on the above-mentioned factors in rabbits on atherogenic diet.Material and Methods: In this clinical trial, 40 white New Zealand rabbits were randomly divided into 4 groups. All the groups were on hypercholesterolemic diet (1gr/day) for 2 months. The first group (hypercholesterolemic) was the control, and groups 2 and 3 received 5CC and 1gr dried lime peel powder during the study period, respectively. Group 4 used only 2CC olive oil per day. Before and after the study, their weight was measured and a fasting blood specimen was taken from each subject and their plasma fibrinogen, factor VII and CRP were analyzed.Results: Plasma fibrinogen mean showed a significant increase in lime juice and peel consumers compared to hypercholesterolemic control (p=0.03). But plasma coagulation factor VII mean level was not significantly increased (p=0.02). Inflammatory factor (CRP) mean value in all groups was increased but this increase was less in olive oil users (p=0.07). Repeated measure ANOVA was used for statistical analysis.Conclusion: As lime peel and juice causes an increase in the studied factors specially plasma fibrinogen in rabbits on atherogenic diet, it seems that lime juice and peel affect the hepatic synthesis of coagulation and inflammatory factors. But to further confirm the observed effects, similar studies in rabbits with normal diet are recommended to be conducted.

Introduction: Anxiety and stress are known to increase blood pressure. Psychological methods and behavioral therapy are appropriate and low-cost methods in hypertensive patients. This study aimed to assess the effect of biofeedback and biofeedback-assisted relaxation on stress and anxiety in patients with mild hypertension.Material and Methods: 10 sessions were held every other day for the intervention groups. The subjects received 15 minutes of relaxation every session. Blood pressure was recorded every session before and after relaxation. The control groups referred for 10 sessions every other day and blood pressure was recorded twice 15 minutes apart. Kettle anxiety questionnaire and Malekpour stress questionnaire were used to assess stress and anxiety, respectively.Results: Stress and anxiety scores showed significant differences in relaxation and relaxation-biofeedback method relative to the control group (p<0.05). However, the difference was not significant between relaxation and relaxation-biofeedback groups.Conclusion: Relaxation-biofeedback was effective in reducing stress and anxiety in patients with mild hypertension. However, biofeedback-relaxation did not show any significant benefit over relaxation method.

Introduction: Cerebrocardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPCR) is an important and complex process in treatment of cardio-respiratory arrest. Multiple factors affect the quality and success rate of this process. This study aimed to assess the administration of drugs in CPCR using the existing standards and determine the effect of education in this regard.Material and Methods: The study was conducted as a quasi-experimental research. All the personnel involved in CPCR processes applied in the Emergency Ward of Pimaneah Hospital were recruited as the study samples. With regard to the main goal of this research, the performance of the personnel on 30 CPCR processes was evaluated before the educational program by an observational checklist made by the researcher. Then a workshop was held for all of the personnel. Then their performance on 30 CPCR processes was reevaluated. The results were then compared.Results: Comparison of the data shows that the rate of standard administration of CPCR drugs after the educational program increased, but no significant relationship was found except for the mean use of epinephrine (P= 0.001).Conclusion: The present study indicated that continuous assessment of CPRC processes, educational workshops and provision of appropriate feedback to health workers can increase the rate of standard administration of CPCR drugs.

Introduction: Type 1 diabetes or insulin dependent diabetes mellitus is an autoimmune disease, associated with damage to pancreatic insulin-producing  b cells. The antidiuretic effects of Cucurbitapepo (Pumpkin) on lipid profile and CRP levels were evaluated in diabetic rats.Material and Methods: In this study, twenty eight male white Wister rats were randomly divided into four groups of seven each as follows: Group 1: normal control, Group 2 diabetic control, Group 3: preventive+ pumpkin powder (1g/kg BW), and Group 4: preventive+ pumpkin powder (2g/kg BW). The normal rats in group 3 received pumpkin powder with gavage injection for 6 weeks, daily; they were injected with alloxan at the end of the second week. The normal rats in group 4 received pumpkin powder with gavage injection for 6 weeks daily and they were injected with alloxan at the end of the second week. Fasting blood samples were collected before the injection of alloxan and the end of the experimental period. Results: The results indicate a significant increase in glucose, lipid profile (cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL, LDL) and CRP level in the diabetic group compared with the other groups. Treatment with pumpkin powder in diabetic rats caused a significant decrease in the levels of biochemical factors compared with the diabetic groups (P<0.05).Conclusion: The observations of this study indicate that phytochemicals present in pumpkin may play a preventive role in creation of diabetes-related complications.

Introduction: Polycystic ovarian (pco) syndrome is one of the most prevalent (4-8%) endocrine glands disorders among women15-45 years old. In women with polycystic ovary syndrome (pcos), increased blood pressure and abnormal androgen are prevalent. In addition to the patients, their first degree relatives are exposed to some risk factors such as hypertension and hyperandrogenemia. Due to the high prevalence of pcos among women and its outcomes among their first degree relatives, it is necessary to recognize the high risk people. This study was conducted to survey hypertension and hyperandrogenemia in the first degree relatives of patients with polycystic ovarian syndromeMaterial and Methods: This is a case-control study in which 107 individuals as case group and 107 individuals as control group were selected from among the first degree relatives of women with polycystic ovarian syndrome in 2008. The participants filled in a questionnaire on demographics. Then their blood pressure was measured and blood samples were taken from all the participants in order to assay their serum androgens. After performing biochemical tests, data were gathered and analyzed by Chi square and Kapa tests with 95% confidence intervals and alpha coefficients 0.05.Results: The mean of the total androgens and high level blood pressure of the control group were much different from those of the case group (P<0.05).Conclusion: The first degree relatives of women suffering from polycystic ovarian syndrome are probably exposed to abnormal blood pressure and hyperandrogenemia

Introduction: According to inconsistent relationship of glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL) with diabetes type 2, this study was done to assess the relationship of glycemic index and glycemic load with diabetes type 2 in an Iranian adult population.Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 1754 individuals who were a subsample of the 1st phase of Isfahan Healthy Heart Program. Basic characteristics such as age, sex, education, smoking status and physical activity were collected using a questionnaire. Dietary assessment was done with a single 24 hour recall questionnaire and glycemic index and glycemic load were calculated. Weight, height, fasting blood sugar (FBS) and 2 hour post-prandial glucose (2hpp) were measured.Results: Energy intake and GL, but not glycemic index had a negative association with diabetes type 2, intolerance glucose test (IGT) (P<0.05). There was no significant relationship between fasting blood sugar and energy-adjusted glycemic index and glycemic load quintiles. However, 2 hour post-prandial glucose showed a negative relationship with dietary glycemic index and glycemic load quintiles (P<0.001).Conclusion: We concluded that there were no significant associations between dietary glycemic index and glycemic load with IGT and diabetes type 2. So, further studies are required to determine the effect of dietary factors on diabetes.

Introduction: One of the best ways of managing the cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) is taking the educational needs of the patients’ family into consideration. An effective education about cardiovascular diseases can promote the health systems. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the educational needs of the patients’ family regarding CVDs. Material and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in hospitals of Zabol city. The convenience sampling method was used to select 150 samples from the patients’ family members. The data were gathered by a valid and reliable questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS (version 17).Results: The most important educational needs of the family were training the family members on essential points during the patient's discharge (99.3%), on how to control blood pressure (96%), and how to use antihypertensive drugs (96%). There was a significant relationship between educational needs of the family members and their sex (P<0.05).Conclusion: Arranging an effective educational program about CVDs for the patients’ families is an essential need for helping patients in order to manage the process of diseases.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to find the most important risk factors which have a role in causing metabolic syndrome and also to evaluate the efficacy of different models by data mining.Material and Methods: We used the data of third phase of “Isfahan Healthy Heart Program” as data set, which was done on 9572 subjects in 2007. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of 3 main algorithms including decision tree, Naïve Bayes and neural network to detect the subjects with metabolic syndrome.Results: The results of the study showed that BMI is the most significant factor leading to metabolic syndrome. The other risk factors included LDL-Cholesterol, age, education, type of employment, sex, physical activity, history of diabetes, hypertension, stroke, income, smoking history of hyperlipidemia, myocardial infarction, and heart rate.Conclusion: We found that the optimal algorithm might be different by the dataset and data preprocessing methods. Various factors have a role in the efficacy of algorithms; using data preprocessing methods increased the prediction accuracy of all the examined techniques. Our results showed that artificial Neural Networks model has the highest accuracy in the pattern recognition while Naive Bayes was better in predicting the metabolic syndrome among healthy subjects.