Journal of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences
Year:2010 | Volume:20 | Issue:77|Papers Count:17

Background and purpose: Viral hepatitis is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in human societies. Hepatitis A, in particular is one of the most important health problems in the world. This disease occurs in societies with low to medium socioeconomic status. It is asymptomatic to mild in childhood but the infection pattern has changed and it occurs in adults with higher morbidity and mortality.This study was done to evaluate the prevalence of viral hepatitis and the clinical epidemiology in patients over 14 years old who contracted hepatitis A.Materials and methods: The hospital records of all patients older than 14 years diagnosed with acute hepatitis were studied from 2003-2008. IgM Ab test, the clinical, paraclinical and prognosis data were extracted and analyzed.Results: Over all 439 patients were diagnosed with acute and chronic hepatitis, 40 patients (9.11%) with hepatitis A, 261 patients with (59.45%) acute and chronic hepatitis B, 136 patients with (30.97%) chronic hepatitis C and 2 patients (0.45%) with acute hepatitis E. In patients with hepatitis A, 12 were female and 28 were male. Most of the patients were 14-19 years old. The most common symptoms were icterus, nausea and abdominal pain. None of the patients had normal ALT and AST tests. In 36 patients direct bilirubin and in 37 patients indirect bilirubin were abnormal and 3 patients had unicteric hepatitis.19 patients (90%) had prolonged PT and 30 patients (92.5%) had prolonged PT and PTT, 3 patients (7.5%) died from fulminant hepatitis A.Conclusion: Our study showed that after hepatitis B and C, the most prevalent type of viral hepatitis was hepatitis A with increasing number of adult cases during the study period, as a result, the morbidity of this disease increased, therefore, a program for vaccination against hepatitis A is recommended.

Background and purpose: Low back pain is a common and costly problem in pregnancy. It is one of the main reasons for disability, absence from work and responsible for huge direct and indirect economical impact. Women seem to be more prone to low back pain and pregnancy is one of the conditions that predispose women to low back pain. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of an exercise program and ergonomic advices in the treatment of low back pain in pregnant women.Materials and methods: Following ethical approval and through a randomized controlled clinical trial, 120 pregnant women with low back pain were randomly allocated into two groups; an experimental and a control group. The experimental group (n=60) received intervention including therapeutic exercise combined with ergonomic advices and the control group (n=60) was given no intervention. Pain on Visual Analogue Scale and functional disability on Oswestry Low Back Disability Questionnaire were measured after intervention and at three months follow-up.Results: Intra-group changes indicated that there was a significant reduction on pain intensity and functional disability in the experimental group (p<0.01 in both instances) but no such difference was found in the control group (P>0.05). Inter-groups changes showed significant improvements in both pain intensity and functional disability following intervention (P<0.01) in the experimental group compared with the control group (p<0.01 in both instances). This significant differences in pain intensity and functional disability were maintained at three months follow–up between the two groups (P<0.01 in both instances).Conclusion: The results demonstrate that therapeutic exercise and ergonomic advices could be considered as effective approaches in the treatment of low back pain in pregnancy. Therefore, more emphasis should be put on regular exercise and ergonomic advices during pregnancy and afterwards in order to prevent and control such a common and costly health problem.

Background and purpose: Recent studies show that bronchial hyper-responsiveness occurs in a high proportion of inflammatory bowel disease. Airway inflammation is a common pattern of respiratory involvement in IBD patients and is a major finding in bronchial asthma. This study was designed to evaluate the prevalence of asthma and air way hyper-responsiveness among ulcerative colitis patients.Materials and methods: Through a case-control study, spirometry was performed for 40 ulcerative colitis patients and 40 normal controls who were admitted to the Imam Khomeini hospital in Sari. The methacholine challenge test was performed in all cases with normal spirometry results. Then the data were analyzed using SPSS version 17.Results: The results of the present study showed abnormal spirometry results for 55 % of ulcerative colitis patients compared to 22.5% of normal healthy controls (P<0.05). It has been found that air way hyper responsiveness occurred in 37.5% and 17.5% (P<0.05), asthma occured in 2.5% and 0% (P>0.05); and small airway disease occured in 15% and 5% (P>0.05) of cases and controls respectively. We observed that restrictive lung disease occured in 10% of both groups (P>0.05). There was also inverse correlation between duration of IBD and FEV1 (R=0.395, P=0.012) as well as FVC (R=0.367, P=0.02). Conclusion: Our results show that air way hyper-responsiveness is one of most common respiratory manifestations of ulcerative colitis patients with no symptom of airway involvement.

Background and purpose: Concept of locus of Control, as a personality variable, is now an important theoretical and applied research field, studied in connection with several phenomena. This study evaluates if locus of Control variable can be a predictor for academic performance toward the next semesters and if previous academic performance can affect the locus of control score.Materials and methods: This is a descriptive study and the subjects were students of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. A stratified random sampling and control of educational levels and schools were conducted. We used Rotter 29 item locus of control inventory and demographic questionnaire as measurement tools and researchers attended the selected classes in the third educational semester onward. Questionnaires were distributed and completed forms were collected at the same session.Results: This study showed that, although students who have internal locus of control had higher academic achievement, there was no significant relationship between locus of control and the average score of the second and third semesters. There were no statistical differences between the demographical variables of the parents and the locus of control.Conclusion: Although people with internal locus of control are more successful in their lives, this does not necessarily mean they are successful in any kind of activities, including education. Academic achievement is suggested to be multifactorial.

Background and purpose: Coping strategies, anxiety and depressive symptoms are major problems of post myocardial infarction patients. As the number of investigations studying on such complications was limited, this study was to determine the prevalence of anxiety, depressive symptoms and coping styles among post-MI patients.Materials and methods: In a cross-sectional study one hundred consecutive MI patients admitted to the CCU wards of hospitals in Isfahan were recruited. The patients completed Jalowiec Coping questionnaire and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) sheets. Then the data was analyzed using Chi-squared test, Pearson correlation coefficient, MANCOVA and Covariance.Results: The mean anxiety and depression subscales were 10.22 and 9.28 respectively. Of all cases, 42% and 31% showed anxiety and depressive symptoms, respectively. The means of proportional scores for coping styles were 0.68 for self-reliant and 0.49 for emotive coping styles, which are the most used and the least used methods by the post myocardial infarction patients respectively.Conclusion: Self-reliant, Optimistic, Confrontive and Supportant coping styles were the most coping styles used by post MI patients, in that order. The problem-oriented function of these coping styles dominates the emotional-oriented function.

Background and purpose: control of intraocular pressure has a specific role in ophthalmic surgery. ETT as a common access to airway in general anesthesia leads to increased IOP, so many studies have been done to find an alternative access to airway such as laryngeal mask. We conducted this study to evaluate intraocular pressure changes subsequent to insertion of laryngeal mask airway and of endotracheal tube.Materials and methods: This study was conducted in 50 adult patients who were candidated for phako surgery. The patients were divided in 2 groups with simple randomized method. Laryngeal mask airway was inserted in group 1 and tracheal tube in group 2, then IOP were measured in 2 groupsResults: In ETT group, 3 minutes after anesthesia, IOP in right eye was mean±SD= 16.31±1.45 and in left eye was mean±SD= 16.71±1.747. In LMA group, IOP in left eye was mean±SD= 12.73±1.471 and in right eye was mean±SD= 12.54± 1.398 . As found, a statistically significant rise in IOP was seen in patients with endotracheal tube 3 minutes after ETT insertion (p=0.012).Conclusion: laryngeal mask airway is an alternative technique for tracheal intubation in ophthalmological surgeries.

Background and purpose: The aim of this research was to assess the depression syndrome in male prisoners and its relationship with self-esteem and social support in a Shiraz-based prison.Materials and methods: In this correlational study, 82 male prisoners in Adel Abad prison in Shiraz were randomly selected and the Beck Depression Inventory, Coopersmith self-esteem Questionnaire and Social Support Questionnaire were completed for them. Data was analyzed using Stepwise Multiple Regression and Pearson Correlation coefficient.Results: %93.9 of prisoners had mild to severe depression and it was significant in relation with self-esteem and depression (P<0.001), however, the relationship between depression and social support was not significant. Results of multiple regression showed that self-esteem is a predictive factor for depression in prisoners (b=-0.505, P<0.001) while social support showed no significant relationship.Conclusion: According to the high prevalence of depression syndrome in prisoners, it is suggested that providing psychological services may decrease the prevalence of depression in male prisoners.

Background and purpose: Artemisia aucheri (Ara) is a plant with evident anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties. In the present study, we investigate the effect of hydro-alcoholic extract of Ara on skin wound healing among male rats.Materials and methods: 30 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 3 equal groups: control group receiving saline as wound treatment and two study groups receiving 10 and 100 mg/ml of Ara extract. Saline and Ara were locally applied starting one day after wound introduction on a daily basis.Wound areas were measured on days 1,5,9,13,17 and 21. Data are presented in mean±SEM and analized using repeated measure ANOVA test. The P<0.05 was considered as a significant difference.Results: The area of wound was significantly different at days fifth, ninth (P<0.001), thirteenth (P<0.01) and seventeenth (P<0.05) between control and both Ara extract receiving groups. The amount of wound healing in percent was also significantly different between control and both Ara extract receiving groups at days fifth, ninth (P<0.001), thirteenth and seventeenth (P<0.05). The duration of complete wound healing was also significantly different (P<0.001) between control and treated groups.Conclusion: Hydro-alcoholic extract of Artemisia aucheri accelerates skin wound healing process and decreases the duration of complete wound healing.

Background and purpose: Quality of hospital wastewater is similar to municipal wastewater however, due to the presence of toxic agents and pathogens in hospital wastewater, if not already treated, it is dangerous to the environment and consequently to human’s health. This research was to study the wastewater treatment and disposal condition and the quality of hospitals effluent of Babol University of Medical Sciences.Materials and methods: This cross-sectional descriptive research studied the wastewater treatment and disposal systems condition and effluent quality in Shahid Beheshti, Shahid Yahianejad, Amirkola children and Ayatollah Roohani hospitals. 72 mixed samples were collected and tested for pH, BOD5, COD, TSS and TC in the effluents of wastewater treatment plants using the current standard methods.Results: Mean values of pH, TSS, BOD, COD and total coliforms in the inlet and outlet wastewaters from the studied hospitals were 7.5±0.6, 296±151mg/L, 400±173mg/L, 616±252mg/L, 3.1x105 MPN/100 mL and 7.4±0.4, 78±36 mg/L, 84±31.5 mg/L, 150±51 mg/L and 831±509 MPN/100 mL, respectively. The mean value of free chlorine residual in outlet wastewater was 0.2 mg/L. Mean removal of TSS, BOD, COD and TC in outlet %74.3, %79.6, %76.5 and %99.7, respectively.Conclusion: The mean value of TSS, BOD, COD and TC in the outlet wastewater of the studied hospitals exceeded the maximum allowable thereshold of the environmental conservation administration, which indicate the inefficiency of wastewater treatment systems. We conclude that essential considerations must be taken into account to upgrade the studied wastewater treatment systems in terms of design, operation and maintenance.

Background and purpose: Evaluation of medicinal plants has shown potential antimicrobial effects which introduced many drugs with antibiotic properties. As there were controversies about antimicrobial action in the literature, this study evaluates the antibacterial effect of ethanolic (80%) extract of the seeds of Foeniculum vulgare plant.Materials and methods: The disc diffusion method and determination of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the extract against Staphylococcus aureus PTCC 1112, Bacillus subtilis PTCC 1023, Escherichia coli PTCC 1330, and Salmunella typhi PTCC 1639 were employed and Gentamycin and Amikacin were used as standards.Results: The hydro alcoholic extract of the seeds of Foeniculum vulgare showed concentration dependent antibacterial activity against all tested bacteria. The hydro alcoholic extract was more effective against E. coli and less effective on B. subtilis. The MICs were 3.2 mg/ml and 12.8 mg/ml for quoted bacteria respectively.Conclusion: The results concluded that the ethanolic extract of Foeniculum vulgare is a potential natural antibacterial agent, however its effect is dependent on the source and extraction method.

Background: Renal artery stenos is, which is defined as narrowing of one or both renal arteries or their branches, is one of the most common causes of secondary hypertension. The majority of renal vascular lesions show either fibro muscular dysplasia or atherosclerosis. Fibro muscular dysplasia is a common cause of renovascular hypertension in younger patients, and 90% of patients are young women.The early detection of disease is very important, because fibro muscular dysplasia is curable in most cases (82 to 100 %) and recurrence is not prevalent.Case report: We present a case of bilateral fibro muscular dysplasia of renal arteries in a 25-year-old woman.