Journal of Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences
Year:2015 | Volume:23 | Issue:9|Papers Count:12

Introduction: 103Pd is a low energy source, which is used in brachytherapy. According to the standards of American Association of Physicists in Medicine, dosimetric parameters determination of brachytherapy sources before the clinical application was considered significantly important. Therfore, the present study aimed to compare the dosimetric parameters of the target source using the water phantom and soft tissue.Methods: According to the TG-43U1 protocol, the dosimetric parameters were compared around the 103Pd source in regard with water phantom with the density of 0.998 gr/cm3 and the soft tissue with the density of 1.04 gr/cm3 on the longitudinal and transverse axes using the MCNP4C code and the relative differences were compared between the both conditions.Results: The simulation results indicated that the dosimetric parameters depended on the radial dose function and the anisotropy function in the application of the water phantom instead of soft tissue up to a distance of 1.5 cm, between which a good consistency was observed. With increasing the distance, the difference increased, so as within 6 cm from the source, this difference increased to 4%.Conclusions: The results of the soft tissue phantom compared with those of the water phantom indicated 4% relative difference at a distance of 6 cm from the source. Therefore, the results of the water phantom with a maximum error of 4% can be used in practical applications instead of soft tissue. Moreover, the amount of differences obtained in each distance regarding using the soft tissue phantom could be corrected.

Introduction: Prenatal mortality rate is regarded as an important index of health in a community. In order to maintain and promote health of infants, as a vulnerable group, factors affecting prenatal mortality need to be identified and appropriate strategies should be designed. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the causes of prenatal mortality on the basis of babies’ record in hospitals of Yazd province.Methods: This descriptive study was conducted using the available data in the files. The study population entailed children who were born dead in 2012 in 15 medical centers in Yazd or who were born alive after 22 weeks of pregnancy, but died within 29 days after the birth. Causes of death were extracted from the files according to the related doctor’s opinion.Results: A total of 390 perinatal deaths were registered in Yazd hospital. The perinatal mortality rate was reported 14 out of 1000 alive births. The most common causes of perinatal mortality belonged to respiratory distress syndrome (42.05 %), late delivery (22.7 %), as well as abruption (4.6%) in regard with fetus- recorded, mother-recorded, and placenta-recorded causes respectively.Conclusion: Emphasizing prenatal care, detecting and tracking high risk pregnancies as well as developing neonatal intensive care units might be taken into account as the most important factors in prevention of prenatal death.

Introduction: Diabetic peripheral neuropathy, due to involvement of the peripheral nerves, causes muscle weakness and loss of balance in the lower extremities. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of resistance exercise on balance and muscle strength of lower extremities in women with diabetes who suffered from peripheral neuropathy.Methods: The study population consisted of 700 diabetic patients, referring to diabetes clinic in Mashhad, Iran, out of which 20 neuropathic diabetic patients were selected and nonrandomly divided into one treatment group (n=10) and one control (n=10) group. Static and dynamic balance were measured by the Biodex Balance and strength of the quadriceps muscles and twins were measured by the dynamometer before and after the intervention. Resistance exercise were performed three times a week for two months which, each session lasted an hour with intensity of 30 - 50% 1RM (first meeting was held with 10 repetitions and then, it was increased to 15 repetitions). SPSS statistical analysis software was applied using t-test in order to statiscally analyze the study data and the significance level was set at p £0.05.Results: Static and dynamic balance as well as quadriceps muscle strength increased significantly in the experimental group. While the twin muscles in the control group showed a significant change (0.05³p), no significant difference was observed in the other variables (0.05<p)Conclusion: The study findings revealed that eight weeks of resistance exercise in diabetic women (suffering from peripheral neuropathy) increases muscle strength and balance.

Introduction: Although patients with end-stage renal disease confront numerous oral manifestations such as oral uremic odor, enamel hypoplasia, increased dental calculus and periodontal diseases, which may be hazardous for their systemic health, dialysis can change occurrence of such complications. Therefore, this study aimed to compare dialysis patients with the healthy individuals in regard with dental health index.Methods: In this case-control study, 134 hemodialysis and healthy patients were evaluated. Both groups were matched according to their age, gender, and educational background. The study data were colleted utilizing DMFS index (Decayed, Missed and Filled Surfaces of teeth) as well as demographic data forms. The data were analysed via Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis and Spearman tests.Results: Mean DMFS was reported 90.28±42.95 and 96.12±42.35 within dialysis patients and the control group, respectively. Even though DMFS within dialysis patients was lower compared to that of the control group, this difference was not statistically significant (P=0.79). In dialysis patients, the individuals with higher education level were demonstrated to have lower DMFS index, wheres those with a higher age revealed an increased DMFS. Moreover, no significant correlation was detected between length of dialysis period as well as number of dialysis times per month with the dental health indexes.Conclusion: The present study findings revealed no significant diference between dialysis and healthy groups in regard with the dental health. However, a significant correlation was reported between low education level and old age with the low dental health indexes.

Introduction: Today, third wave therapy in psychotherapy puts special emphasis on the individuals’ awareness as well as their emotional and cognitive acceptance rather than challenging the cognitions. Therfore, this study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on cognitive emotion regulation in the addicted men under Methadone treatment.Method: The study population consisted of all the addicted men under Methadone treatment referring to an addiction treatment clinic in Isfahan in 2014-2015, out of which 24 addicted men were selected via convenience sampling method, and then were appointed randomly into two experimental and control groups (n= 12). Both groups filled Cognition Emotion Regulation Questionnaire. The therapeutic interventions based on aacceptance and commitment therapy were held for the experimental group for 8 sessions of one hour once a week. Ultimately, the collected data were analyzed applying SPSS software via ANCOVA method.Result: The findings of the present study demonstrated a significant positive impact of acceptance and commitment therapy on reduction of self blame, rumination, catastrophizing as well as blaming others. Moreover, a significant increase was observed in regard with the acceptance, positive refocus, refocus on planning, positive reappraisal and positive perspective.Conclusion: It was concluded that acceptance and commitment therapy seems to be beneficial to enhancing the emotion regulation of addicted men under Methadone treatment, which can be related to training the referrents to accept their thoughts and conditions.

Introduction: More than 1% of world population suffer from epilepsy, which affects many aspects of individuals’ life. In fact, multiple treatment methods are used for this disorder, among which treatment effects of herbal plants can be introduced. Humulus Lupulus has been utilized in the traditional medicine as an anti-convulsion herb. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the anti-convulsive effect of Humulus Lupulus extract on the pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) kindling model of epilepsy.Methods: The present experimental study (n=8) was carried out on 40 male mice which have been randomly chosen and divided into 5 groups (n=8), including 1-control group receiving only PTZ, 1 sham group receiving distilled water and 3 experimental groups which received equeous extract of Humulus lupulus in doses of 100, 200 and 300 mg/kg 30 minutes before PTZ injection via gavage tube. Chemical kindling was performed in all the groups by a total of 15 treatments with PTZ intraperitoneal injection of 35 mg/kg of body weight at every 48 hours. The data analysis was carried out by one-way ANOVA and Tukey post-hoc test.Results: The study results revealed that administration of Humulus Lupulus extract had a significant effect on the decrease of PTZ-induced seizures. Moreover, this extract can inhibit progress of seizure stages, decrease seizure duration and increase letency time of seizure onset.Conclusion: The findings of the present study demonstrated that aqueous extract of Hops plant has anticonvulsant effect on chemical kindling and as a result, it seems to be useful regarding the epilepsy treatment.

Introduction: Nephrotic syndrome (NS) is a genetic disease belonging to a heterogeneous group of glomerular disorders, which mainly occurs within the children. Linkage analysis using single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) is used as an indirect method in molecular diagnosis of the disease. A large number of SNP markers have been introduced in NPHS2gene in the available electronic databases.Method: In the present study, the genotype and informative status of rs2274625 marker in NPHS2 genewas investigated in 120 unrelated healthy individuals using Tetra-primer ARMS PCR technique and newly designed primers. Allelic frequency and presence of Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium (HWE) was estimated using GenePop website. Furthermore, PowerMarker software was utilized in order to compute the index of polymorphism information content (PIC).Results: The study results indicated allele frequency of 97% and 3% for C and T alleles, respectively, in regard with rs2274625 marker within Isfahan population. Moreover, the PIC for the rs2274625 marker was 0.5%, and HWE revealed the equilibruim of the study population in regard with the related marker.Conclusion: As the study findings indicated, rs2274625 could be introduced as an SNP marker in the linkage analysis in order to molecularly trace NPHS2 gene mutations in molecular NS diagnosis in Isfahan population as a representative sample of the Iranian population.

Introduction: Pregnancy, considered as a vulnerable period, exposes women to many new problems. Dealing with new conditions and problems can affect mental health of pregnant women. Hence, the present study aimed to determine the effectiveness of a codified educational behavioral program on the mental health of pregnant women.Methods: In this quasiexperimental study, 61 pregnant women were selected via convinience sampling who were assigned into two experimental (n=31) and control (n=30) groups. The experimental group received 4 weekly sessions of an educational behavioral program in a health center in Ahvaz. The study participants completed General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) before the treatment as the pretest and four weeks after the treatment as the posttest. The study data were analyzed via chi square test, paired t- test and independent t-test and significant level of the statistical tests was set less than 0.05.Results: The findings of the present study showed that mean score of mental health in the experimental group was significantly better than that of the control group in the post test (21.1±3.9 vs. 30.1±6.7). Moreover, the anxiety score (p=0.01), somatoform symptoms (p=0.01) and depression (p=0.02) were significantly better in the experimental group than the control group in the post test, though the score of social dysfunction (p=0.16) did not demonstrate any improvements in this group.Conclusion: It is can be concluded that educational behavioral program, as a beneficial method of intervention, could be applied in order to improve the pregnant women’ mental health.

Introduction: Developmental anomalies of oral mucosa are not necessarily related to a specific disease, that may be demonstrated in differential diagnosis of oral disease and premalignant lesions. Mucosal anomalies incidence may be varied in different individuals, which can be related to many genetic and environmental elements. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the developmental anomalies of oral mucosa in the patients referred to department of Oral Medicine of Hamadan Dentistry faculty in 2014.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the developmental anomalies of oral mucosa were studied in 800 patients, who referred to Hamadan School of Dentistry in Iran. All the 800 patients were clinically examined using dental mirrors on the dentistry unit in regard with diagnosis of mucosal anomalies. Demographic data and types of mucosal anomalies were recorded in a predesigned questionnaire. In order to analyze the study data, SPSS software (ver, 16) was applied via chi-square test at significance level of 0.05.Results: Oral developmental lesions were observed in 700 patients (87.5%). The most common lesion was reported as fissured tongue (50.9%), followed by Fordyce granules (49.5%), Macroglossia (17%), torousplatinus (13.4%). A significant association was detected between fissured tongue, macroglosia, fordice granule with gender and age, Varicosities and furred tongue with age and Torus palatines, Comissural lip pit and hairy tongue with gender.Conclusion: The findings of the present study revealed high prevalence of oral mucosal anomalies. As a result, dentists and medical practitioners are demanded to attend to the oral mucosal anomalies.

Introduction: Healing cutaneous wounds is regarded as one of the most important issues in the medicine. Different chemical agents have been used in regard with promoting wound healing, most of which unfortunately present some side effects and defects. Since natural combinations have proposed less disadvantages, this study aimed to investigate the effect of Withania Somnifera root extract on cutaneous wound healing in the male rats.Methods: This study was performed on 36 rats weighing 180-220g that were divided into 6 groups (n=6). First, wounds (2x2) were made on the dorsal skin of the animals. The first group was left without treatment (control group), the second was treated with Eucerin(negative control), the third group received 1% of phenytoin cream and in the other groups, different concentrations of hydroalcoholic extract of Withania Somnifera (20%, 40%, 60% w/w) combined with Eucerin base were administrated once per day. The area of wounds was measured by Autocad software every day, from the 2nd day to 14th day. The study data were analyzed via SPSS software (ver.16) at the significant level of P<0.05.Results: The reduction of incisional wound area in the all groups treated with root extract of Withania Somnifera ointment was significantly higher on the 8th day. Moreover, dose of 60% and 90% revealed better effects (p<0.001).Conclusion: The findings of the present study demonstrated that Withania Somnifera root, due to its significant reduction in the healing time as well as wound area, can be used as an effective material in regard with the cutaneous wound healing.