Zahedan Journal of Research in Medical Sciences
Year:2017 | Volume:19 | Issue:6|Papers Count:5

Background: Given the studies insisting on the impacts of cultural issues on the emotion regulation strategies in eastern cultures and lack of study on the effects of emotional inhibition in our culture, this research aimed to investigate the influences of emotional inhibition on intrusive thoughts in non-clinical sample.Methods: A quasi-experimental design was adopted with 45 participants that were randomly assigned to 2 groups (emotional inhibition and control groups). Participants which were selected according to cluster sampling answered to some questionnaires, including depression, general health, and emotion regulation. Then, a clip and a related instruction were presented for each group.They were asked to perform according to instruction after watching movie and tick on a paper whenever the thoughts of movie come to their mind. Data were analyzed using t test in SPSS-23.Results: There are not significant differences between groups in terms of mood, emotion regulation, depression, and general health in the pre-test. Similarly, results indicated that there is not a significant differences between groups.Conclusions: This research showed that the usefulness of emotional inhibition depends on the culture. In fact, in Eastern cultures, using emotion regulation strategies such as suppression and emotional inhibition are common so that avoidance is a short term and useful emotion regulation mechanism.

Neuromyelitis Optica (NMO) is a rare disease of the central nervous system that causes optic nerve and spinal cord involvement. The our patient first developed acute paraplegia that was treated with intravenous methylprednisolone with diagnosis of acute thoracic myelitis according to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) finding, concurrently with tapering of oral prednisolone, again affected by quadriplegia and respiratory failure. She was seropositivity for NMO-IgG that was negative in first admission and MRI of spine shows hyperintense lesion in whole cervical and upper thoracic MRI. With considering the findings, NMO was diagnosed and the plasmapheresis starts for her. We report a case of this syndrome because it can increase the physician’s awareness of the unusual manifestations of this syndrome.

Background: This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy on reducing the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome based on the moderator variable of therapy compliance in an Iranian sample.Methods: This was a semi-experimental study, in which 56 patients with premenstrual syndrome disorder were selected using the accessible sampling method. They were all the female patients who had been referred to the gynecologic and psychiatric centers in Isfahan city, and were randomly assigned into two experimental and control groups, each one comprising 28 patients. The experimental group received 10 sessions of cognitive-behavioral therapy. The patients were tested before and after intervention using the screening questionnaires of premenstrual syndrome symptoms. Additionally, subjects in both experimental and control groups were divided into two groups based on the rate of their therapy compliance (from high to low or noncompliant). Data was Analyzed using of covariance and Cohen’s size effect with SPSS-22.Results: The results showed that the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy on reducing the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome was statistically significant. Moreover, research findings have shown that the therapy was more effective on the compliant group.Conclusion: According to the results, cognitive behavior therapy can be suggested as an effective therapeutic approach in reducing the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome, especially for the patients who are complient.

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive group therapy (MBCT) in reducing negative automatic thoughts and dysfunctional attitudes in cancer patients.Methods: The study was an applied and quasi-experimental research conducted by pre- and post-testing. The sample consisted of 30 cancer patients selected by purposive sampling and randomly placed in the control and the experimental group (15 individuals per group). The members of both groups filled out the automatic thoughts questionnaire (ATQ) and the dysfunctional attitudes scale (DAS-26) at the pre- and the post-test stage. The collected data were analyzed by the SPSS software and multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) tests.Results: The results indicated that MBCT significantly reduced negative automatic thoughts (F=126.15, P<0.01) and dysfunctional attitudes (F=179.53, P<0.01) in the experimental group at the post-test stage in comparison to the control group.Conclusions: Based on the results of this study, it is essential that therapeutic centers and support forums related to patients with refractory disorders use MBCT in their programs for reducing negative automatic thoughts and dysfunctional attitudes.

Background: Recent documents indicate that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) express vitamin D3 receptorsand communicate with other immunocytes. However, there is noinformation about the role of vitamin D3 on the crosstalk between MSC sand macrophages.Objectives: The present study was done to investigate the effects of the MSCs treated with 1-25 (OH) -vitamin D3 on the some of the macrophages functions.Methods: In this experimental study, mesenchymal stem cells were isolated from bone marrow of Wistar male rats (8 - 10 weeks old) and pulsed with different concentration of vitamin D3 (0, 50, 100 and 200 nM) for 48 hours. After 24 hours, the supernatants of MSCs were collected and incubated overnight with macrophages. Next, vitality, neutral red uptake, phagocytic activity, respiratory burst, and killing activity of macrophages were evaluated. Data were analyzed using the one-way ANOVA through SPSS software version 20.Results: The supernatants of MSCs treated with vitamin D3 could significantly enhance the macrophage vitality and uptake of neutral red as well as phagocytic activity of macrophages. Supernatants of MSCs pulsed with vitamin D3 reduced tetradecanoylphorbol acetate induced respiratory burst of macrophages more profoundly than the supernatants of MSCs alone. Nevertheless, the killing activity of macrophages triggered by opsonized yeast didn’t show any significant effect by supernatants of MSCs pulsed with vitamin D3 compared to the supernatants of MSCs alone.Conclusions: The supernatants of vitamin D3 treated MSCs potentiate the anti-inflammatory functions of MSCs- educated macrophages without any change in micro bicidal potential of macrophages after challenge with opsonized pathogen cannot be altered.