Avicenna Journal of Neuropsychophysiology
Year:2015 | Volume:2 | Issue:1|Papers Count:9

Background: Medicinal plants with natural antioxidants have been shown to be beneficial in a variety of complications such as anxiety. The elevated plus-maze (EPM) is one of the most widely used models to assess anxiety in small rodents.Objectives: This study was designed to characterize the anxiolytic-like activity of Borago officinalis (Linnaeus, family Boraginaceae) or Borage flowers extract, using an EPM test.Materials and Methods: Male Wistar rats weighing 220-250 grams were used in the present study. Thirty minutes after an intraperitoneal (IP) injection of the Borage extract (50, 100, 200 mg/kg) or saline, each animal was placed in the EPM. Animal behaviors in the experimental sessions were recorded by a video camera located above the maze, interfaced with a monitor and a computer in an adjacent room. The time spent in the open arms, the percentage of entries into the open arms of the EPM and the numbers of entries into the closed arms were recorded for five minutes.Results: Statistical analysis indicated that acute IP injection of Borage extract before an EPM trial significantly increased the time spent in open arms and percentage of open arms entries. Whereas, the extract had no effect on the number of closed arm entries.Conclusions: Our results demonstrated that injection of Borage extract might have an anxiolytic profile in rats. However, the exact mechanism (s) related to the active compound (s) in Borage extract should be elucidated in future studies.

Dear Editor: Providing easier and more flexible learning, development of the World Wide Web has opened a new horizon in education, which could overcome the limitations of traditional methods of teaching, consequently, development of technology created the possibility of every hour and everywhere education based on the needs of learners. In other words, learning should be available all the time, with ability to stay home, and according to everybody’s needs to learn. Advantages of electronic-learning can be cited as: not entail an expert to supply the program, removal of physical, socio-economic and environmental limitations whilst potentially engaging large numbers of individuals, save time and reduction in costs. In high-risk behavior prevention, web-based intervention, also, could be a convenient solution for all fears of stigmatization or shame about that behavior. While full ambiguity may not almost be accomplished (for example, users may require a login and password to access the program), several users find it easier to reveal information concerning themselves through a computer, with absence of face-to-face interview and decrease of social desirability and pressure for a user to respond in a particular way. However, it should be mentioned that web-based education include some limitations and demerits, such as learners low level of knowledge on computers, lack of equipment and infrastructure, technology limitations and no access to the internet, problems with the internet bandwidth, and also problems with learner assessment.

Background: Addiction is considered a basic structural problem in modern society, and seems to reach an epidemic scale in the last decades. Choosing a method to fulfill the intervention is an important issue to conduct educational interventions to prevent addictive behaviors. In this regard, web-based education has been widely used to introduce preventive programs to risky behaviors during recent years.Objectives: The aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of web-based education intervention to decrease positive beliefs encouraging drug abuse among male medical college students.Patients and Methods: This was a prospective-retrospective intervention study that was conducted among 75 male students in Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran, during 2014. t-test was used for the statistical analysis.Results: Our findings indicated that the belief toward drug abuse was significantly reduced after education (P = 0.003). In addition, compared pre and post-intervention scores on survey items showed a significant reduction in enjoyment, improve energy, attraction, higher strength, and higher self-esteem items after education (P<0.05), whereas there was no significant reduction in excitement, relaxation, improved mental ability and forgetting problems after education (P>0.05).Conclusions: Our findings showed that designing and implementing web-based educational intervention could be effective to reduce the positive beliefs toward drug abuse among college students.

Background: Depression is the most frequent psychiatric disorder in the elderly. Nowadays, because of the rise in the absolute number and proportion of elders in societies, the numbers of elders with this condition may be increasing.Objectives: This study was conducted to evaluate depression prevalence and its underlying risk factors in the elder population of Hamadan, Iran.Patients and Methods: In a descriptive-analytic cross-sectional study, 240 over 65 year old subjects (121 males, 119 females), were enrolled in the study. Depression was diagnosed based on the Center of Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale Revised (CESD-R) questionnaire and pooled data were analyzed by SPSS 16 software (SPSS Inc. Chicago IL., USA).Results: Of the total number of 240 elderly, 116 (48.3%) had depression (score 17 or more, based on CESD-R questionnaire). Women were significantly more affected (61.3% vs. 35.7%, P value<0.001). Other factors, which revealed a significant relationship with depression, were: illiteracy, being jobless or retired, having a chronic disease and dissatisfaction of daily activities. After performing a logistic regression method, only two variables (sex and dissatisfaction of daily activities) were significantly related to depression in the study population.Conclusions: In our study, depression had a remarkable prevalence in elderly, especially in women and in those who suffered from inactive or sedentary life.

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease that affects the nervous system and predominantly occurs in women between 20 to 40 years old. Various geographical, familial, genetic, environmental factors, and factors involved in the immune system and infections in childhood are involved in this disease. Motor, sensory, balance, vision, and sphincter systems are affected by MS; therefore, it is a major negative event in the life that will have adverse effects on health and social life. Social support is one of the factors involved in the resiliency of these patients.Objectives: The purpose of this study was to predict resiliency on the basis of social support in patients with MS.Patients and Methods: In this descriptive study, 108 patients with MS were selected in Farshchian Hospital of Hamadan. Data were collected by Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) and Social Support Appraisals (SS-A) questionnaire. Data analyses were conducted by SPSS in two descriptive and regression statistical levels.Results: There was a significant association between social support and resiliency. Moreover, there was a strong and positive association between social support and resiliency (r=0.449, P<0.01); therefore, the association was significant and the higher the total amount of social support of patients with MS is the higher the level their resiliency would be.Conclusions: Components of social support, totally account for 19% of resiliency variance value of patient; the components of social support, family, friends, and other people’s support at only had lower contribution in predicting resiliency. Support of this group of people to increase their resiliency seems necessary.

years because of their lower adverse effects and high varieties of efficient components.Objectives: In this investigation, analgesic effects of hydroalcoholic leaf extract of Allium hirtifolium were studied in male rats.Materials and Methods: A total of 48 adult male rats were divided eight groups: control, intraperitoneal 50, 100, and 200 mg/kg of extract, 200 mg/kg of A. hirtifolium extract plus aspirin, aspirin (1 mg/kg), morphine (1 mg/kg), and 200 mg/kg of A. hirtifolium extract plus naloxone (1 mg/kg). The analgesic effects of A. hirtifolium were assessed with writhing, tail-flick, and formalin tests. The data were compared with control by one-way ANOVA and Tukey post hoc test.Results: Allium hirtifolium extract at (200 mg/kg dosage), alone and in combination with aspirin, had shown antinociceptive effect in writhing, tail-flick, and formalin tests (P<0.01). Allium hirtifolium extract (at 100 mg/kg dosage) had just shown analgesic effects on tail-flick and formalin (chronic phase) tests.Conclusions: It looks that A. hirtifolium has antinociceptive effects that might be due to flavonoids and saponins in plant the analgesic effect of which was demonstrated previously.

Background: Side effects of synthetic analgesic drugs in the clinical practice have drawn researchers’ attention on developing the herbal medicine as more appropriate analgesic agents.Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the antinociceptive effect of hydroalcoholic leaf extract of Bryonia dioica (HEBD) on male rats.Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, 42 adult male rats were divided into 7 groups: control, HEBD (80, 100, and 300 mg/kg, ip), morphine (1 mg/kg, ip), indomethacin (1 mg/kg, ip), and naloxone (1 mg/kg ip). In order to assess the analgesic effects of the extract, writhing, tail-flick, and formalin tests were used. Also, Tukey post hoc and 1-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests were used to analyze the data.Results: Using writhing, tail-flick, and formalin tests, dramatic antinociceptive effects were observed for HEBD at the dose of 300 mg/kg with P<0.01. The results of data analysis also revealed that there was no significant difference between indomethacin and dose of 300 mg/kg of extract in formalin test. LD50 of the plant was 4200 mg/kg.Conclusions: The experimental data verified that HEBD leaves displayed remarkable antinociceptive activity. Furthermore, the nonselective opioid receptor antagonist, naloxone blocked the antinociceptive effect of the extract in all tests, suggesting that HEBD may act both at peripheral and central levels.

Background: Tobacco smoking among adolescents has been a concern for researchers and health organizations in recent years. However, predisposing factors to smoking initiation among Iranian adolescents are not well recognized.Objectives: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of tobacco smoking and to investigate the role of psychologic, behavioral, and demographic risk factors in adolescents' smoking status.Patients and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 810 male adolescents recruited through cluster random sampling method in Hamadan in 2014. The participants received a self-administered questionnaire that contained questions about tobacco smoking behavior and demographic, behavioral, and psychologic variables. Data were analyzed by SPSS16 through independent-samples t test, Chi square, and logistic regression.Results: A total of 139 persons (17.1%) were tobacco smoker and the mean (SD) age at smoking initiation was 13.7 (2.2) years. Sense of need, decreasing stress, having a smoker friend, and inability to reject smoking suggestion were common reasons associated with tobacco smoking (P<0.05). In addition, statistically significant differences between tobacco smokers and nonsmokers were found in the age, grade, mother's job, and education (P<0.05). In comparison to non-smokers, tobacco smokers evaluated a typical smoker as less immature, more popular, more attractive, more self-confident, more independent, and less selfish person (P<0.05).Conclusions: The results showed that the effect of several psychosocial, behavioral, and demographic risk factors on adolescents' smoking status. Thus, design and implementation of interventions based on the results of the present study may be effective in preventing tobacco smoking among adolescents.

Background: Lead (Pb2+) is a neurotoxin substance that has been known for its adverse effects on central nervous system and memory. Previous studies reported the potential effect of vitamin E as a memory enhancer.Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to assess the protective effects of vitamin E against Pb-induced amnesia.Materials and Methods: Forty-eight male Wistar rats (200-250 g) were divided equally into the saline, Pb, Pb+vitamin E, and vitamin E alone groups. To induce Pb toxicity, rats received water that contained 0.2% Pb instead of regular water for 1 month. Rats pretreated, treated or post treated with vitamin E (150 mg/kg) for 2 months. Passive avoidance learning was assessed using Shuttle-Box after two months. Retention was tested 24 and 48 hours after training.Results: The results showed that Pb caused impairment in acquisition and retrieval processes in passive avoidance learning. Vitamin E reversed learning and memory deficits in pre, post or co- exposure with Pb (P<0.001).Conclusions: According to the results of this study, administration of vitamin E to rats counteracts the negative effects of Pb on learning and memory. To more precisely extrapolate these findings to humans, future clinical studies are warranted.