Qom University of Medical Sciences Journal
Year:2017 | Volume:10 | Issue:12|Papers Count:13

Background and Objectives: Tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus L.) is a plant, which has nutritional and therapeutic uses for years. In traditional medicine, this plant has been used for relief of indigestion, detoxification of the body, treatment of insomnia, improvement of liver function, and antibacterial properties. As blood plasma proteins have important role in maintaining the body homeostasis, this study was performed to determine the effect of hydroalcoholic extract of tarragon on the levels of serum proteins in mice.Methods: In this experimental research, 40 mature male mice (weight, 30±5g) were used. The animals were divided into five groups od 8 each: Group 1, control; group 2, placebo; and groups 3, 4, and 5 intraperitoneally received the plant extract at doses of 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg bw for 20 days. At the end, blood samples were collected, and serum protein levels, such as albumin, alpha-1 globulin, alpha-2 globulin, beta globulin, gamma globulin, total protein, and albumin to globulin ratio, were measured. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Duncan statistical tests at the significance level of p≤0.05.Results: The albumin concentration at dose of 200 mg/kg, beta globulin at doses of 50, 100, and 200mg/kg doses, gamma globulin at dose of 50 mg/kg, total protein at doses of 100 and 200mg/kg, had significant decrease compared to the control group (p≤0.05). The albumin to globulin ratio showed a significant increase at the dose of 50 and 100 mg/kg and a significant decrease at the dose of 200mg/kg compared to the control group (p≤0.05).Conclusion: According to the findings, the hydroalcoholic extract of tarragon decreases the levels of the mentioned serum proteins.

Background and Objectives: Evaluation of anterior corneal surface aberrations according to normal corneal topography is important. In this study, aberrations of corneal anterior surface in eyes with normal topographic pattern, was comparatively investigated.Methods: In this comparative study, 165 eyes of 97 patients (20-30 years old), which had normal corneal topographic pattern, were evaluated. Data collection tools were Pentacam topographer, Tomey topographer, standard Snellen visual acuity chart, and slit-lamp. Data were analyzed using Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Tukey post-hoc tests.Results: Based on the results of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov, the distribution of all data was normal (0.058<p<1.000). For symmetric bow-tie group, oval, round, and irregular groups the most level of aberration was related to RMS Total and for asymmetric bow-tie group was related to RMS Low order aberrations (LOAs). High order aberrations) HOAs) were higher in asymmetric bow-tie and irregular group compared to the other groups, and spherical aberration was significantly higher in the irregular pattern group compared to the other groups (p<0.001), except round pattern group (p=0.089).Conclusion: The results of the present study showed that there is a significant relationship between corneal topographic patterns and corneal anterior surface aberrations, and according to the difference of some aberration components in subjects with normal topographic pattern, aberration analysis is essential to achieve higher visual quality after refractive surgery.

Background and Objectives: Adolescence is one of the important period in growth and evolution process, Also, eating disorders in adolescences, especially girls is one of the major problems in communities. Therefore, an effective education is of special priority for prevention of eating disorders. The current study was performed with the goal of assessment of the effect of nutrition education on eating disorders attitude in girls high school students.Methods: This non-experimental study with a single group pre- and post-test design, was performed using purposive sampling method on 97 students of the first year of high school, in 2015. Data collection tool was EAT-26 standardized questionnaire, which was completed by the participants using self-report method before and 3 months after the education. Data were analyzed using paired t-test. The significance level was set at p<0.05.Results: The mean score of abnormal eating attitude decreased from 1.7±0.04 (before education) to 1.4±0.06 (after education). Also, there was a significant statistical difference between the results of before and after education (p=0.0001).Conclusion: The results of this study revealed that nutrition education has brought about desired changes in the attitude. However, the increase of nutrition awareness and attitude change can gradually lead to behavior change. Therefore, the current study can help the authorities to include a wider range of nutritional education in the curriculum of students in dorder to prevent eating disorder.

Background and Objectives: Addiction and its complications is one of the major problems in the world and various types of psychotherapy approaches are used for its treatment. Among these approaches, cognitive-behavioral therapies have been widely used for the treatment of addiction in recent decades. The aim of this study was to estimate the effect of cognitive-behavioral therapies on the treatment of addicts in Iran by systematic review and meta-analysis method.Methods: Meta-analysis method was used, without limitation, to investigate all internal databases as well as Medlib, Sid, Magiran, Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopuse, Iranmedex, and ISI. Finally, 12 out of 63 articles were entered into the meta-analysis. Meta-regression was used to investigate the heterogeneity of the studies.Results: In this study, 12 articles were investigated, which increased to 25 studies, including therapeutic approaches. In 6 studies, no significant difference was observed in the experimental group before and after intervention, and in the remaining 19 studies the difference was significant. Combination of the results of 25 studies and using a random effects model of meta-analysis showed that cognitive-behavioral therapy was effective in the treatment of addiction (p<0.001). The standardized effect size in the experimental group before and after cognitive-behavioral therapy, was estimated to be -2.08 and its 95% confidence interval was -1.57 to -2.58. The standardized effect size in control and experimental groups after cognitive-behavioral therapy was estimated 0.40 and its 95% confidence interval was 0.10 to 0.70).Conclusion: Given that cognitive-behavioral therapy is effective in reducing addiction and its symptoms, this method can be used as a common treatment of addiction.

Background and Objectives: The increasing trend of non-communicable diseases, especially cardiovascular disease in Iranian women, reveals the need for preventive educational interventions. This study aimed to promote preventive behaviors of cardiovascular diseases using Health Belief Model in women referring to health centers in Qom city.Methods: In this intervention, 80 women referred to health centers in Qom city, were assigned to two groups of experimental and control. Sampling was performed using cluster sampling method. The intervention consisted of 6 training sessions in the experimental group. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire before and 3 months after the intervention. Data analysis was carried out using independent and paired t-tests.Results: The mean age of the participants was 26.91±6.90. Three months after the education intervention, the mean score of knowledge, perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, self-efficacy, cues to action and preventive behaviors of cardiovascular disease showed a significant increase in the experimental group compared to the control group (p<0.05). Also, the mean score of perceived barriers significantly decreased in the experimental group compared to the control group (p<0.01).Conclusion: Educational interventions play an important role in the promotion of preventive behaviors of cardiovascular disease in women and can help to reduce the incidence of disease.

Background and Objectives: Allergic fungal rhinosinusitis (AFRS) is a relatively new and known disease with effective treatment, which belongs to the group of nasal polyposis diseases. According to high prevalence of AFRS in regions with warm and humid climate, the aim of this study was to detect the frequency of AFRS in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) and nasal polyposis in Amir-al-momenin Hospital in Rasht city.Methods: During functional endoscopic sinus surgery, the samples were collected from 55 patients with CRS along with nasal polyposis and were examined in terms of histopathology, mycology, culture and total serum IgE level. Data were analyzed using chi-square and exact Fisher’s tests.Results: In this study, 17 (30.9%) female and 38 (69.1%) male patients with the mean age of 38.34±12.67 years, were participated. History of Atopia was seen in 54.5% of the patients, asthma in 25.5%, and blood eosinophilia (>6%) in 26.9%. Total serum IgE level was reported higher than natural value in 48.9% of the patients. Based on Kuhn and Benet criteria, the relative frequency of AFRS was 5.5% (3 patients) and nonfungal eosinophilic mucin rhinosinusitis (NF-EMRS) was 16.4% (9 patients). In AFRS patients, 3 cases had atopy, 3 were eosinophilic mucin positive, 2 cases had asthma, 1 direct smear-positive, 3 positive PAS staining, and 1 positive (Aspergillus fumigatus) culture.Conclusion: In sinus samples of the studied patients, the frequency of eosinophilic mucin was much higher compared to other reports. Although, the frequency of positive smear and fungal culture is lower than other similar studies.

Background and Objectives: Use of capacity of creativity and innovation plays an important role in improving the quality of services in universities of medical sciences. In this regard, the present study was conducted with the aim of investigating and determining individual and organizational factors affecting the improvement of creativity and innovation in the staff of Qom University of Medical Sciences as well as providing a solution for its operationalization.Methods: This research was carried out as a descriptive survey in 2015. The statistical population consisted of all the staff of the Qom University of Medical Sciences (n=4712), of whom 355 subjects were selected by cluster random method. Data were collected using a standard questionnaire. This questionnaire consisted of demographic characteristics and the factors affecting creativity and innovation. Data were analyzed using one-sample t-, independent two-sample t-, one-way ANOVA, paired-mean, Friedman ranking, and Wilcoxon post-hoc tests.Results: The effect of all individual and organizational factors on the improvement of creativity and innovation of the staff of Qom University of Medical Sciences, was estimated higher than medium level (m>3). Also, the effect of individual factors on creativity with a mean of 4.23±0.48 and on innovation with a mean of 4.33±0.55 was more than the effect of organizational factors.Conclusion: According to the findings, to increase creativity and innovation in universities of medical sciences, all individual and organizational factors should be considered through necessary planning and more attention should be paid to individual factors that play more important role.

Background and Objectives: Preconception care is a set of care services, which assesses the risks of pregnancy and improves women health through providing trainings, diagnostic and therapeutic measures, and pharmaceutical interventions. Considering its importance and impact on pregnancy outcome, this study aimed to determine knowledge and attitude of women about preconception care.Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 384 married women aged 15-49 years in the Natanz city in 2015. Samples were selected by systematic random sampling method. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire. Data were analyzed using Spearman correlation and Independent t-tests.Results: In this study, the mean score of knowledge in the women of Natanz city was 8.13±1.5, 1.04% of women had neutral attitude, and 98.9% had positive attitude. There was no statistical difference between attitude and knowledge scores in urban and rural areas. There were significant differences between knowledge and attitude (p=0.019) and between attitude and education level (p=0.000). There was not a significant relationship between knowledge and education level. The main source of information was radio and television (73.2%) and health workers (67.2%).Conclusion: Considering awareness and positive attitude of women about preconception care, encouraging women to use these services via the mass media and other ways of informing and educating, is recommended to improve health care coverage. Also, it is necessary to perform researches on investigation and identification of factors affecting women's performance.

Background and Objectives: Pre-surgery anxiety is a common factor among the individuals referring to the operating room. The present study has been conducted with the objective of investigating the effect of lavender essential oil on the anxiety, hemodynamic changes, and pain using the aromatherapy method.Methods: This single-blinded clinical trial study was performed on 64 patients candidate for surgery with average anxiety score (46-56). The samples were divided into two equal groups (N=32 in each group). The first group had lavender aromatherapy for 20 min and the second group had aromatherapy with distilled water for 20 min. Finally, the levels of hemodynamic changes, pain, and the state (clear) and trait (hidden) anxiety, were investigated using the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety (STAI) questionnaire once at the night before surgery and once on the day of surgery after aromatherapy.Results: In this study, 30 male patients (46.9%) and 34 female patients (53.1%) with the mean age of 28.2±6.4 (minimum 17 and maximum 40 years old) were investigated. Spielberger trait mean score was not significant in control and aromatherapy group before and after the anesthesia. Spielberger state anxiety mean score in control group before and after the anesthesia was respectively obtained 52.1±1.5 and 50.2±2, which was not significantly different, but this mean in aromatherapy group before and after the anesthesia was respectively 51.9±3.8 and 45±2, the difference of which was significant (p=0.03). The mean pain score during exit from recovery in control and aromatherapy groups was, respectively, 45.3 and 29.5, the difference of which was significant (Z=-2.55, p=0.01).Conclusion: Considering the reduction of pain and anxiety in the recovery before and after aromatherapy by the Lavender essential oil, especially in subjects with moderate anxiety, it seems that use of this plant before surgery is effective in the reduction of anxiety.

Background and Objectives: Depression is the second most common disorder, which is at the top of the list of psychological disorders and is directly related with recurrence and improvement of the symptoms of chronic diseases. The current study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of dialectic behavioral therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy on depression in women with multiple sclerosis.Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted with two groups of experimental and control on multiple sclerosis patients referring to occupational therapy and physiotherapy clinics of Hamedan province. These patients had a lower deviation score than the standard in the mental health questionnaire. Eighteen patients in each group, were selected using criteria-based random sampling. The experimental groups were trained in 16 sessions of 1-1.5 h, and evaluated by Lovibond's Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales (1995). Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Tukey post-hoc tests.Results: In this study, there were significant differences between the mean depression scores of dialectical behavior therapy and cognitive therapy groups and the control group. Also, there was a significant difference between the mean depression scores of dialectical behavior therapy and cognitive therapy (p<0.001).Conclusion: The results of the present study showed that in the area of treatment and working with depressed patients who are in crisis, pain, and emotional distress, dialectical behavioral therapy and cognitive behavioral can be efficient and promising due to its nature.

Background and Objectives: Personality disorders are prevalent among psychiatric patients. These disorders can exist along with other psychiatric disorders or predispose the patients to them. Patients with personality disorder are usually not aware of their disease, and their treatment is difficult and complicated. The present research was performed with the purpose of determining affected patients usually do not have insight about their condition and it make the treatment a complex and hard process. The aim of current study was to determine construct and criterion validity of personality disorders diagnostic tool according to DSM-V.Methods: This study was a cross-sectional study with correlational design. In this study, Personality Disorder Inventory was translated based on DSM-V, and its psychometric was determined in Persian. The questionnaire’s validity was determined by concurrent validity method using NEO personality inventory. A total of 74 patients and 29 students with personality disorders, whose disorder was recognized by clinical interview, completed two questionnaire. The correlation between domains of the two questionnaires was determined by Pearson correlation test.Results: There were significant correlations between the domains of Personality Disorder Inventory and those of NEO Personality Inventory (p<0.001 (.Conclusion: The results of the present research showed that the Persian version of PID-5 has appropriate criterion, construct, and convergence validity compared to NEO personality inventory.