Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal
Year:2015 | Volume:17 | Issue:6|Papers Count:20

Background: Reforming the structure and improving care and service system, particularly at hospitals, are the main priorities of the health system. The board of trustees of the hospitals is the main proposed strategy in this field. Hospitals with board of trustees were created with the aim of improving accountability to the community and guaranteeing efficient management and attracting public support in running the hospital.Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the association between hospital effectiveness and the board of trustee’s management method.Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Tabriz City, Iran, during the years 2011 to 2013. To assess the effectiveness of board of trustees’ management, two hospitals in Tabriz City were compared. Hospitals selected through purposive typical case sampling method. Two hospitals had equal structure, same doctors, and both were gynecology hospitals of Tabriz City, but one of them was a gynecology hospital managed by the board of trustees and the other was managed by the chairman. The information about the five variables of hospital effectiveness was collected during the years 2011 to 2013 using standard lists and questionnaires, which were available in the hospitals; these variables included quality management, safety, medical equipment management, and patients and staff satisfaction. Then, each variable was weighted through the technique of hierarchical analysis and finally they were analyzed using SPSS 17 and Expert Choice 11.Results: Among the five variables related to the effectiveness, safety showed to have the highest weight and medical equipment management had the lowest weight. According to the statistical analyses, the score of the effectiveness of the hospital with the board of trustees was 33.08 (on the scale of 0 - 100) and the score of the hospital with the chairperson was 29.52. No significant association was found between the effectiveness of hospital and the board of trustees management (P=0.81).Conclusions: Because there was no significant difference in the effectiveness between hospitals with and without board of trustees, decision-makers must monitor how the commands are carried out to make board of trustees for hospitals and make sure its success in achieving its objectives.

Background: Stigma and discrimination among patients with HIV/AIDS cause various problems for the patients and their health systems.Objectives: The purpose of this study was to explain the perceived experiences of the patients from stigma and discrimination and their roles on health-seeking services among patients.Patients and Methods: This was a qualitative research using content analysis approach and semi-structured interviews, conducted on patients living with HIV/ADS, during 2013-2014 in Iran. Sampling started purposefully and continued in a snowball.Results: The experiences of patients with HIV/AIDS from stigma and discrimination led to exploring three main themes and nine subthemes. The main themes were multidimensional stigma, rejection, and insult and discrimination in receiving health services.Conclusions: Stigma and discrimination play an important role in patients' lives and hinder them from accessing the treatment. The patients' responses to this event by secrecy strategy can be an important factor in the disease prevalence.

Background: The treatment of cocaine toxicity is an important subject for emergency physicians. We investigated the effects of dexmedetomidine, moxonidine and alpha-methyldopa on acute cocaine toxicity in mice.Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of dexmedetomidine, moxonidine and alpha-methyldopa in a mouse model of acute cocaine toxicity.Materials and Methods: We performed an experiment consisting of four groups (n=25 each). The first group received normal saline solution, the second group received 40 mg/kg of dexmedetomidine, the third group received 0.1 mg/kg of moxonidine and the fourth group received 200 mg/kg of alpha-methyldopa, all of which were intraperitoneally administered 10 minutes before cocaine hydrochloride (105 mg/kg). All animals were observed for seizures (popcorn jumping, tonic-clonic activity, or a loss of the righting reflex) and lethality over the 30 minutes following cocaine treatment.Results: The ratio of animals with convulsions was lower in all treated groups when compared to the control (P<0.001). Furthermore, 68% (n=17) of animals in the dexmedetomidine group, 84% (n=21) of the alpha-methyldopa group, 92% (n=23) of the moxonidine group and 100% (n=25) of the control group showed evidence of seizure activity (P=0.009). Cocaine-induced lethality was observed in 12% (n=3) of the dexmedetomidine group, 48% (n=12) of the alpha-methyldopa group, 52% (n=13) of the moxonidine group, and 72% (n=18) of the control group (P<0.001). All treatments prolonged the time to seizure, which was longest in the dexmedetomidine group (P>0.05). In addition, the time to lethality was also longer in the same group (P<0.001).Conclusions: The present study provides the first experimental evidence in support of dexmedetomidine treatment for cocaine-induced seizures. Premedication with dexmedetomidine reduces seizure activity in a mouse model of acute cocaine toxicity. In addition, while dexmedetomidine may be effective, moxonidine and alpha-methyldopa did not effectively prevent cocaine-induced lethality.

Background: Poor adherence to treatment in patients undergoing hemodialysis leads to many complications, including death of the patient.Objectives: This study was aimed to investigate the effect of family-based training on common side-effects during dialysis.Patients and Methods: The present randomized controlled trial study was conducted on 60 patients undergoing hemodialysis at hospitals of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran, from May 2012 to October 2012. Samples were randomly divided into two groups of patient-education (n=30) and education of patient associated with an active member of the family (n=30). Blood pressure, chest pain, nausea, vomiting, headaches and muscle cramps were followed with a check list and a questionnaire. The frequencies of the abovementioned complications at the mentioned intervals were recorded in three stages (before the intervention as well as two and four weeks after the intervention). Data analysis was performed using SPSS software, version 16, with chi-square test, Fisher's exact test and independent t-test.Results: The mean ages of the patients in patient-centered and the family-oriented groups were 47.41±10.31 and 48.16±9.21, respectively. The result showed that some of the variables such as chest pain (P=0.50, P=0.01), nausea (P=0.50, P=0.01), headache (P=0.81, P=0.016), and blood pressure (P=0.91, P=0.016) were statistically significant before and four weeks after the intervention.Conclusions: According to the result of this study, the presence of families in a treatment plan could be essential to follow the treatment plan and subsequently reduced the complications of hemodialysis.

Background: Jaw bones might be potential locations for different lesions. Differences in prevalence and the type of lesions can help in designing and programming prevention procedures in health care centers.Objectives: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence of intraosseous lesions in the jaws of patients referred to diagnostic and therapeutic centers in Hamadan during 1990-2010.Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive analytical study was carried out in Hamadan in 2011. Data sheets of the subjects were used to collect all the data of patients with intraosseous lesions, including their age, gender, location of the lesion, the radiographic view of lesions, and their type and histopathological diagnoses. Data were analyzed with SPSS, using means and frequencies.Results: A total of 284 intraosseous lesions were reported in our study. The mean age of the subjects was 28.8±15.2 years. The lesions were distributed in males and females almost similarly. The most prevalent lesions were cystic lesions (54.58%), manifestations of systemic conditions in jaw bones (18.3%), benign tumors (15.5%), malignant lesions (6.7%), and inflammatory lesions (4.92%), in a descending order. The most common cystic lesion was radicular cyst; the most common manifestation of systemic conditions in jaw bones was central giant cell granuloma; the most common benign tumor was ameloblastoma; the most common malignant lesion was osteosarcoma; and the most common inflammatory lesion was periapical granuloma.Conclusions: Our data provided information on the prevalence and types of intraosseous lesions among an Iranian population. This study provided baseline information to help in designing and programming procedures in health care centers in every community so that preventive therapeutic measures can be adopted.

Background: Having a patient in a vegetative state in the family is a complicated and stressful experience. Caring for such patients with complete disability at home is very challenging.Objectives: The present study aimed to explore the outcomes of caring for patients in a vegetative state for families and caregivers at home.Patients and Methods: In this qualitative study, 16 vegetative patients’ caregivers were selected through purposive sampling. Unstructured interviews and observations were used for data gathering. Data collection was continued until saturation of data and emergence of the main themes. Data analysis was performed by the content analysis method.Results: The analysis of the gathered data led to three themes: "lost main caregiver", "affected caring partner" and "affected family". Each theme had some subthemes and subcategories.Conclusions: The three emerged themes in this study showed that all the family members of vegetative patients, depending on their responsibilities, were affected by physical, mental, social and economic issues.

Introduction: Primary cardiac angiosarcoma is the most common primary sarcoma in adults between the 3rd and 4th decades of life. Nearly 90% of angiosarcomas occur in the right atrium, which is responsible for the late onset of symptoms.Case Presentation: We presented a 56-year-old woman admitted to our center with lung emboli symptoms. Transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography (TTE and TEE) demonstrated very large size (more than 10 cm diameter) multilobulated mass with mobile particles extended from the right atrium to the right ventricle and the right ventricular outflow tract which destructed the right atrium (RA) wall and penetrated to the pericardial space.Conclusions: Unfortunately the tumor was unresectable and just an incisional biopsy was performed. She received chemotherapy as palliative care.

Background: To date, no study has addressed the association between race/ethnicity and obesity considering other sociodemographic and lifestyle factors in Iran.Objectives: The current study aimed to study lifestyle and the environmental factors affecting obesity in the Iranian subjects of the STEPS Survey, 2011.Patients and Methods: The study was conducted on 8639 subjects (aged³20 years) in the STEPS Survey 2011 in Iran under supervision of the World Health Organization (WHO). Height and body weight were measured following the standardized procedures. Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) method was used to examine factors associated with obesity. The examined variables were age, gender, race/ethnicity, place of residence, employment status, physical activity, smoking status, and educational level.Results: Overall, 22.3% of the subjects were obese. In a GEE model, a healthy weight status among adults was associated with being younger, male, in a rural residence, employees, spending more time engaged in physical activity, being a smoker and having a moderate or high level of education. These associations were statistically significant after adjusting for other variables.Conclusions: The study results suggest a need for targeted interventions and continued surveillance for the Iranian adults.

Background: Early diagnosis of odontogenic cysts due to their silent progression is always a challenging problem for clinicians.Objectives: The current study aimed to evaluate the frequency of odontogenic cysts and related factors in a selected Iranian population.Patients and Methods: The current cross-sectional study was conducted on 312 patients’ recorded data in Taleghani Hospital, Tehran, Iran, from April 1993 to December 2013. All related data were extracted from the records and categorized in tables. The correlation between the variables was analyzed by either chi-square or multinominal logistic regression tests. The P values<0.05 were considered significant.Results: Evaluation of 312 patients’ records (185 males and 127 females) with the mean age of 27.6 showed that Odontogenic Keratocyst (OKC) was the most common odontogenic cyst of all followed by the dentigerous cyst as the second most common lesion. Most of the patients were in the second or third decades of their lives, although there was no statistically significant age distribution. The finding of the current study showed that calcifying odontogenic cyst (COC) occurrence was significantly related to the history of trauma. Enucleation and curettage of the odontogenic cysts were the most common treatment plans of all.Conclusions: The current study showed that clinicians should consider the many factors associated with the occurrence of odontogenic cysts.

Background: Stress has been recognized as a significant psychosocial and physiologic component in educational and practical processes.Objectives: The purpose of present study was to survey stress among Iranian nurses in critical wards.Patients and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 3643 anonymous questionnaires were disseminated among nurses in different hospitals in Tehran, Iran, by utilizing multistage random sampling. The questionnaire consisted of two sections: demographic characteristics and a 22-item list on a five-point Likert scale. The association of variables with stress was evaluated using hierarchical logistic regression.Results: A total of 3043 completed questionnaires were completed and returned (response rate, 83.53%). Age (>33 years, 1571 (51.63%);<33 years old, 1472 (48.37%)), marital status (single, 188 (6.18%); married, 2685 (88.24%); and widow, 170 (5.59%)), working shift (morning, 605 (19.88%); evening, 631 (20.74%); night, 603 (19.82%); and rotation, 1204 (39.57%)), and the years of experience of nurses (1 - 5 years, 413 (13.57%); 6 - 10 years, 589 (19.36%); 11-15 years, 832 (27.34%); 16 - 20 years, 758 (24.91%); and 21-25 years, 451 (14.82%)) had significant association with the level of stress (P<0.05 for all parameters). However, sex (male, 937 (30.79%); and female, 2106 (69.21%)), education (associate, 444 (14.59%); baccalaureate, 2250 (73.94%); and master, 349 (11.47%)), and body mass index (>24.6 kg/m2, 2514 (49.75%); and<24.6 kg/m2, 1529 (50.25%)) showed no significant association with the level of stress (P>0.05 for all parameters).Conclusions: Considering the personal and background characteristics of personnel and understanding their association with stress and stressful situations encompasses the ability to persevere and adapt to contextual stressors.

Background: Problems regarding bowel elimination are quite common in patients undergoing abdominal surgery.Objectives: To determine constipation risk before the surgery, bowel elimination during postoperative period, and the factors affecting bowel elimination.Patients and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. It was conducted in a general surgery ward of a university hospital in Zonguldak, Turkey between January 2013 and May 2013. A total of 107 patients were included in the study, who were selected by convenience sampling. Constipation Risk Assessment Scale (CRAS), patient information form, medical and nursing records were used in the study.Results: The mean age of the patients was found to be 55.97±15.74 (year). Most of the patients have undergone colon (37.4%) and stomach surgeries (21.5%). Open surgical intervention (83.2%) was performed on almost all patients (96.3%) under general anesthesia. Patients were at moderate risk for constipation with average scores of 11.71 before the surgery. A total of 77 patients (72%) did not have bowel elimination problem during postoperative period. The type of the surgery (P<0.05), starting time for oral feeding after the surgery (P<0.05), and mobilization (P<0.05) were effective on postoperative bowel elimination.Conclusions: There is a risk for constipation after abdominal surgery. Postoperative practices are effective on the risk of constipation.

Background: Cardiovascular disease is chronic and often a sign of long-standing unhealthy lifestyle habits. Patients need support to reach lifestyle changes, well-being, join in social and vocational activity. Thus, patient responsibility should to be encouraged to provide quality as well as longevity. Cardiac rehabilitation programs aid patients in the attainment of these objectives. However, research shows that behavioral change following the diagnosis of a chronic disease is a challenge.Objectives: We sought to determine behavioral change challenges in patients with cardiovascular disease to improve intervention programs.Patients and Methods: Using a descriptive qualitative approach, we collected the data using 30 in-depth semi-structure interviews. Thematic analysis was conducted to identify themes from the data.Results: Three sources of behavioral change challenges emerged regarding the nature of cardiac disease and the role of the individual and the family in the recovery process. These challenges acted at two levels: intra- and interpersonal. The intrapersonal factors comprised value, knowledge and judgment about cardiovascular disease, and self-efficacy to fulfill the rehabilitation task. Family overprotection constituted the principal component of the interpersonal level.Conclusions: Behaviors are actually adopted and sustained by patients are so far from that recommended by health professionals. This gap could be reduced by identifying behavioral change challenges, rooted in the beliefs of the individual and the family. Therefore, culturally-based interventions to enhance disease self-management should be considered.

Background: Individuals with certain personality disorders, especially the antisocial and borderline personality disorders, are more prone to substance use disorders.Objectives: Regarding the importance of substance use disorders, this study aimed to explore the association between personality disorders and types of used drugs (narcotics and stimulants) in Iranian male substance users.Patients and Methods: The current study was a correlation study. We evaluated 285 male substance users and excluded 25 according to exclusion criteria. A total of 130 narcotic users and 130 stimulant users were recruited randomly in several phases from January 2013 to October 2013. All participants were referred to Substance Dependency Treatment Clinics in Tehran, Iran. Data collection process was accomplished by means of clinical interview based on DSM-V criteria for substance use disorders, Iranian version of addiction severity index (ASI), and Millon clinical multi-axial inventory-III (MCMI-III). Data were analyzed by SPSS 21 using Pearson correlation coefficient and regression, the.Results: There was a significant correlation between stimulant use and histrionic personality disorder (P<0.001) and antisocial and narcissistic personality disorders (P<0.05). In addition, correlation between avoidant, histrionic, and narcissistic personality disorders (P<0.05) and depressed, antisocial, and borderline personality disorders (P<0.001) with narcotics consumption were significant. In clusters, there was a significant correlation between cluster B personality disorders, and narcotic and stimulants consumption (P<0.001). In addition, this association was explored between cluster C personality disorder and narcotics (P<0.001).Conclusions: The results of this study in terms of personality disorders and types of used drugs were in accordance with the previous studies results. It is necessary to design appropriate treatment plans for medical treatment of those with personality disorders.

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is regarded as a health problem worldwide, particularly in developing countries. Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) is the cause of this disease. Approximately two billion people worldwide are infected by M. tuberculosis and annually about two million individuals die in consequence. Forty million people are estimated to die because of M. tuberculosis over the next 25 years if the measures for controlling this infection are not extensively developed. In the vaccination field, Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) is still the most effective vaccine but it shows no efficacy in adult pulmonary patients. One of the other problems regarding TB is its appropriate diagnosis.Objectives: In this experimental study, the recombinant cytochrome P450 CYP141 protein of M. tuberculosis was expressed and purified to be used as a vaccine candidate and diagnostic purpose in subsequent investigations.Materials and Methods: The optimization of the cytochrome P450 CYP141 protein expression was evaluated in different conditions. Then, this protein was purified with a resin column of nickel-nitrilotriacetic acid and investigated via Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and Western Blotting.Results: The highest expression of the cytochrome P450 CYP141 protein was obtained by the addition of 1 mM of isopropyl b-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) to the bacterial culture grown to an optical density at 600 nm (OD600) of 0.6, 16 hours after induction. This protein was subsequently purified with a purification of higher than 80%. The results of Western Blotting indicated that the purified protein was specifically detected.Conclusions: In this experimental study, for the first time in Iran the expression and purification of this recombinant protein was done successfully. This recombinant protein could be used as a vaccine candidate and diagnostic purpose in subsequent investigations.

Background: The prevalence of overweight and obesity is on the increase the world over, which imposes an ever-increasing burden on societies and health care systems.Objectives: This study sought to investigate the effect of motivational interviewing (MI) on a weight-loss program based on the protection motivation theory (PMT).Patients and Methods: This randomized clinical trial study, comprising pretest-posttest with a control group, was conducted on 150 overweight and obese women attending a private nutrition clinic for the first time. Samples were randomly selected using the clinic’s records and then allocated to three groups (50 women in each group) receiving: 1) a standard weight-control program; 2) motivational interviewing; and 3) MI plus intention intervention. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire through in-person interviews and were analyzed using SPSS (version 11) and statistical tests, including the Kruskal-Wallis test, one-way analysis of variance, paired t-test, and linear regression model.Results: In the two intervention groups, the PMT construct scores, namely susceptibility (P=0.001), severity (P=0.001), rewards (P=0.004), self-efficacy (P=0.001), response efficacy (P=0.001), and costs (P=0.014), were significantly increased compared to those in the control group. The anthropometric status was statistically significant in the MI group (P=0.001) and the MI plus intention-intervention group (P=0.001) at 2 months’ follow-up, while in the control group, weight was meaningfully different after the intervention (P=0.027). Weight was different between the groups after the intervention, with the Tukey test demonstrating that the differences were statistically significant between the control group and the MI group.Conclusions: Our results demonstrated that MI, combined with the implementation of intention intervention, increased weight loss and PMT construct scores in our study population.

Background: Promoting Health Literacy (HL) is considered as an important goal in strategic plans of many countries. In spite of the necessity for access to valid, reliable and native HL instruments, the number of such instruments in the Persian language is scarce. Moreover, there is no good estimation of HL status in Iran.Objectives: The aim of this study was to provide a valid, reliable and native instrument to measure and monitor community HL in Iran and also, to provide an estimation of HL status in two Iranian provinces.Patients and Methods: By applying the multistage cluster sampling, 1080 respondents (540 from each gender) were recruited from Kerman and Mazandaran provinces of Iran, from February to June 2014 to participate in this cross-sectional study. The development of the Iranian Health Literacy Questionnaire (IHLQ) was initiated with a comprehensive review of the literature. Then, face, content and construct validity as well as reliability were determined.Results: Internal consistency and test-retest reliability (ICC) of the factors was in the range of 0.71 to 0.96 and 0.73 to 0.86, respectively. In order to construct validity, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) =0.95 and Bartlett’s test result of 3.017 with P<0.001) with varimax rotation was used. Optimal reduced solution, including 36 items and seven factors, was found in EFA. Five of the factors identified were reading/comprehension skills, individual empowerment, communication/decision-making skills, social empowerment and health knowledge.Conclusions: It was concluded that IHLQ might be a practical and useful tool for investigating HL for Persian language speakers around the world. Since HL is dynamic and its instruments should be regularly revised, further studies are recommended to assess HL with application of IHLQ to detect its potential imperfections.

Background: Considering the importance of preventing cardiovascular diseases, determining the contributing risk factors for ischemic heart disease which leads to atherosclerotic plaque, could be effective in selecting the required interventions.Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate socioeconomic factors in patients with Coronary Artery Diseases (CAD) in three treatment groups: Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG), Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) and drug therapy. By identifying and comparing the underlying factors in treatment groups, we can gather useful information for future planning and policy making in order to reduce and eliminate the contributing factors.Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 760 patients with CAD referred to cardiovascular health centers in Mashhad, Iran, including Javad-Al-Aeme Heart Hospital, Qaem, Imam Reza and Dr. Shariati educational Hospital. Samples were collected through purposive sampling from January to March 2014. Based on the experts’ opinion, the subjects were categorized into three treatment groups: CABG, PCI, and drug therapy.Results: The mean age of total patients was 58.3±11.5 years (P=0.09). The proportion of rural patients in the PCI (26.7%) and drug therapy (27.5%) groups was twice as high as the CABG group (11.7%) (P<0.001). The proportion of patients with higher educational level (higher than high school diploma) in the CABG group (35.9%) was higher than PCI and drug therapy groups (26.7%, 24.3%) (P=0.006). Smoking, drinking and drug abuse were more common in the drug therapy group (P=0.03, P=0.02, and P<0.001, respectively). One-vessel and three-vessel coronary artery diseases were more common in the drug and CABG groups, respectively (P<0.001).Conclusions: In total, application of therapeutic approaches in patients with CAD depends on many factors. In our study not only risk factors such as gender, lifestyle, smoking, alcohol abuse, diabetes and hypertension were associated with the incidence of CAD, but also they were highly correlated with the severity of the disease.

Sexual health and rights indicators provide essential tools for monitoring the status of individuals’ sexual health and its rights, in various countries. This paper discusses sexual health and rights indicators in Iran. The indicators under study are derived from similar indicators developed by Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Center for Women, for the 15th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development monitoring project. Four HIV-related and three other indicators, including legal age of marriage, median age of women at marriage, and status of violence against women (VAW) were examined in this study. Iran has made several achievements in combating HIV/AIDS, with the focus on injectable drug users, and has countered a series of challenges in the determination of VAW prevalence, the increase of high risk behavior in adolescents, and sexual education for this group. The most important message of this paper is that special attention to challenging issues in Iranian individuals’ sexual health could promote their current status.

Background: Self-care is one of the most important aspects of treatment in patients with heart failure and ranks among the most important coping strategies against the events and stresses of life. Perceived social support plays an important role in performing self-care behaviors in these patients.Objectives: This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of perceived social support on promoting self-care behaviors among heart failure patients.Patients and Methods: This educational intervention with a randomized control group was performed on 64 heart failure patients referred to The Cardiovascular Research Center of Isfahan. The study population was divided randomly into two groups of intervention and control. The indicators of self-care behavior and perceived social support (before, immediately after, and 2 months after the intervention) were completed by the two groups. The intervention group received educational interventions in 120-minute sessions once a week for 4 weeks. SPSS software (version 20) was used for data analysis in addition to methods of descriptive and inferential statistics.Results: Based on the obtained results, educational intervention was effective in the improvement of perceived social support among our heart failure patients. The results also showed that an increase in perceived social support significantly promoted self-care behaviors in the case group after the intervention compared with the control group (P<0.001).Conclusions: Perceived social support played an important role in improving the performance of self-care behaviors in our heart failure patients. Given the strengths of the present study, these findings can be considered in future research in this domain.

Background: The relationship between decreased activity/neuropathic pain and gene expression alterations in soleus muscle has remained elusive.Objectives: In this experimental study, we investigated the effects of decreased activity in neuropathic pain form on Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 5 (CDK5) and Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3 b (GSK-3b) gene expression in soleus muscle of rats.Materials and Methods: Twelve male Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups: (1) tight ligation of the L5 spinal nerve (SNL: n=4); (2) sham surgery (Sham: n=4), and (3) control (C: n=4). The threshold to produce a withdrawal response to a mechanical and thermal stimulus was measured using von Frey filaments and radiation heat apparatus, respectively. Following 4 weeks after surgery, the left soleus muscle was removed and mRNA levels were determined by real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR).Results: Compared to control animals, L5 ligated animals developed mechanical and heat hypersensitivity during total period of study. Soleus muscle weight as well as CDK5 mRNA levels (less than~0.4 fold) was decreased and GSK-3b mRNA levels (up to~7 folds) increased in L5 ligated animals.Conclusions: These results showed enhanced muscle atrophy processes following peripheral nerve damage and might provide a useful approach to study underlying muscle mechanisms associated with clinical neuropathic pain syndromes.