Daneshvar Medicine: Basic and Clinical Research Journal
Year:2015 | Volume:22 | Issue:117|Papers Count:12

Background and Objective: Parkinson’s disease is one of the neurodegenerative diseases along with learning and memory disorder. Phenolic compounds in olive leaf extract have antioxidant properties. The aim of this study was to investigate the protective effect of hydroalcoholic extract of olive leaf on memory disorder induced by dopamine neurons impairment in male rat.Materials and Methods: In this study, 42 male rats were randomly divided into 6 groups: control, sham, impairment group (6-HODA was injected into the striatum nucleus unilaterally at the end of 3rd week) and 3 extract-treated groups (rats received 50, 100 and 150 mg/kg/day of olive leaf extract orally for six weeks). The sham and impairment groups received solvent extract. Then, during three continuous weeks after toxin injection, recognition memory was examined by novel object recognition task (NORT). Apomorphine-induced rotational testing of animals was done at the third week after impairment.Results: Dopamine neurons impairment which is caused by 6-OHDA toxin injection led to significant reduction in discrimination ratio during three weeks (p<0.001) and consumption of 50, 100 and 150 mg/kg of olive leaf extract caused significant increase in this factor (p<0.001).Conclusion: Results of this study indicated that consumption of olive leaf extract leads to dopaminergic neurons protection and memory disorder reduction in the parkinsonian rat model.

Background and Objective: Dimethylhydrazine (DMH) is metabolized to methyldiazonium by cytochrome p450 (CYP 450) in liver that increases some oncogenes expression and via beta catenin mutation and prevention of its destruction.Materials and Methods: In this study, 48 rats were divided into 6 groups. Colon cancer was induced by DMH injection (20 mg/kg b.w.) (s.c.) once a week for 18 weeks. Also, the effect of food containing Nigella sativa powder (2 and 4%) on cancer prevention was evaluated. Then, the liver and colon tissues were removed after 7 months. The activity of glutathione s-transferase (GST) and CYP 450 and the level of reduced glutathione (GSH) in liver and beta-catenin level in colon were measured. Also, the tumor number and size and histological damages were assessed in colon tissue.Results: The food containing black cumin at both doses reduced tumor number and size. The activity of GST and CYP450 and the level of GSH and beta-catenin were also increased by DMH. Treatment of rats with Nigella sativa modulated the level of these factors.Conclusion: Rats feeding with food containing Nigella sativa led to prevention of colon tumor, probably through the influence of detoxifying enzymes activity and beta-catenin level.

Background and Objective: Tooth eruption is universal, recurrent and easily observed. The aim of this study was to investigate the parental beliefs about teething signs and symptoms.Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in a random sample of 534 parents attending Health Care Centers, Tehran, Iran. The questionnaire contained two sections: Section (1) surveyed parents and their children’s demographic characteristics. Section (2) aimed to assess the general knowledge and beliefs of parents regarding their children’ teething. The analysis of data was carried out using SPSS software and descriptive statistics and the chi-squared test (p<0.05).Results: Response to teething was incorrectly attributed to fever (67.6%), diarrhea (58.1%), and sleep disturbances (46.4%). Only 69.7% of parents allowed their children to bite on chilled objects to relieve symptoms associated with teething.Conclusion: This study shows a common lack of knowledge and beliefs about teething among parents. Parents should be better educated about the teething process and the proper management of teething troubles by the dental health care providers.

Background and Objective: The health workers are at risk of infection with hepatitis B through contact with blood and body fluids. This study aimed to determine the effect of education on standard precautions for the prevention of hepatitis B in the eastern Tehran.Materials and Methods: This study had a quasi-experimental protocol with 135 employees of the health team as a two-stage cluster from eastern Tehran assessed before and after the study and a questionnaire was used for data collection and validation of the method. Content and its reliability was determined by calculating Cronbach's alpha coefficient equal to 76.5 and 0.91. The educational program of lectures, group discussions, questions and answers received training package. Immediately and six months later, questionnaire was used for collecting data and analysis was done using SPSS19 software with the help of Friedman and Wilcoxon tests.Results: Level of consciousness before, immediately after the intervention and six months later was 1.03, 2.79 and 2.79, ranked attitude was 1.01, 1.97 and 2.97 and proactive performance rating of hepatitis B was 1.01, 1.99 and 2.98, respectively, which showed a significant difference between the pre- and post-intervention Hrtkrar (p <0.001) and full relationship between knowledge and attitude variables (r=0.450), awareness and behavior (r=0.280), attitudes and behaviors (r=0.568) with a significance level of 0.001 with odds =3.60, greater change in behavior occurred before and after the intervention.Conclusion: The results showed that the training program developed to improve the knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of the target group was effective in prevention of hepatitis B infection. Therefore, it seems that the inclusion of educational programs can be an effective step in improving the health of the health team.

Background and Objective: The Ministry of Health and Medical Education is committed to full implementation of family physician programme till the end of the fourth development plan in the country. The purpose of this study was to determine the factors influencing family physicians activating the health team as has been done by the physicians.Materials and Methods: This was a qualitative study and information was collected through in-depth interviews with 15 physicians involved with the programme. Sampling was a purposive one and analysis was done via content analysis method with the conventional approach.Results: In this study, the viewpoints of physicians in family practice in the management of activating includes 2 themes (including the 7 major categories of organizing, planning, staffing, process, service, assessment, orientation, health benefits and economic benefits) and public benefits (including 5 sub-floor office inhibiting factors, factors inhibiting welfare, motivational inhibiting factors, insufficient to justify and explain the inadequate public health system).Conclusion: Based on the obtained results, many factors affect the quality and dynamics of the family physician as a mutual cause and effect. Hence, any attempt to improve the quality and activating the program requires a systematic and coordinated action with a deep understanding of the barriers, challenges and facilitators.

Background and Objective: Medication adherence in diabetes is one of the pillars in diabetes self-management. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between perceived barriers and non-medication adherence in type 2 diabetic patients in the Arak city in 2014.Materials and Methods: This research was a cross-sectional study. The study population had type 2 diabetes in Arak city in 2014. Data collection included demographic adherence to medication regimens. Interviews were completed questionnaire by the researcher. To analyze the data, descriptive and inferential statistics (Chi-square, Fisher exact and t-tests) in SPSS was used.Results: In this study, most of barriers was less knowledge and motivation for adherence and expensive cost for provided drugs. Between barrier and level of education and sex of patient, a significant difference was found out (p<0.05).Conclusion: Considering need for assesment and empowerment of patients afflicted with diabetes and more generally non-communicable diseases, which are quite prevalent and on the rise, self-management at the individual and community level will be a vital step towards promotion of health in the population.

Background and Objective: Lawsonia inermis (henna) has unique properties and has been used as a medicine since the past. In this project, a polymeric nanofiber composite from Chitosan/Polyethylene oxide/Henna extract was produced as a wound’s cover by electrospinning method.Materials and Methods: Polymeric nanofibers were prepared by electrospinning method. In order to study the effect of henna on nanofiber properties, diferent nanofibers were prepared without henna and in the presence of henna extract. A scanning electron microscope was used in order to study the morphology and diameter of electrospun nanofibers. The average diameters of prepared nanofibers was obtained by Image J software.Results: The affecting parameters on the nanofiber properties were studied and optimized. The optimum conditions for preparation of nanofibers with diameters less than 100 nm are: voltage; 20 KV, feed rate; 0.5 ml/h, nozzle-collector’s distance; 10 cm and Chitosan/Polyethylene oxide weight ratio; 0.9. The average diameter of prepared nanofiber at optimized conditions was 95 nm.Conclusion: The obtained results showed that the nanofibers containing henna extract have high stability. Moreover, water absorption and degradation of nanofibers increased as the amount of henna was increased. According to our results, it seems that the chitosan/PEO/henna (1%) is a suitable choice for wound dressing that facilitate wound healing procedure.

Background and Objective: Diabetes is a chronic disease and affects many aspects of daily life. Adherence to treatment regimens is one of the major problems in the treatment of patients with diabetes and affected by psychiatric disorders. Depression is a common disorder in these patients which in addition to the impact on the course of treatment can also worsen the prognosis of the disease. Therefore, its association with adherence to treatment in diabetic patients is essential.Materials and Methods: This analytical-descriptive study was performed on 200 patients with type 2 diabetes by simple sampling. Beck questionnaire of depression and adherence to treatment regimens was used for data collection and SPSS package was employed for analyzing data.Results: There was a significant relationship between adherence to treatment regimens and depression in patients with diabetes and more sever depression causes more not-adherent to treatment regimen (p<0.001, r=0.617).Conclusion: Considering the results obtained, depression is one of the factors affecting adherence to treatment regimens in patients with diabetes.

Background and Objective: Nowadays, obesity is considered as one of the health problems that increasess the risk of some diseases. So, identifying the effective factors on obesity is of great importance. Some researchers believe that shift work is one of the indicators for increasing the risk of obesity in society. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the shift work and body mass index (BMI) in petrochemical staff.Materials and Methods: This study was performed on 3801 petrochemical staff who had fixed shift work during 2008-2011. These staff were referred to the occupational medicine center annually and their weight and height measured by trained nurses as a part of their periodical examinations. In this research, the latent growth curve model was used as one of analytical method for longitudinal data in order to assess the relationship between shift work and body mass index.Results: Our findings showed that body mass index of all personnel significantly increases with the mean slope of 0.24 (p< 0.001). Also, the average annual trend of BMI in shift workers was about 0.122 higher than day workers (p<0.001).Conclusion: This study showed a significant relationship between shift work and BMI. More researches are needed for investigating the causes of this relationship and presenting strategies to prevent rising in BMI.