Studies in Medical Sciences
Year:2017 | Volume:27 | Issue:10|Papers Count:16

Background & Aims: Wheelchair basketball players rely on upper body strength. It is well established that strength training potentiates muscle hypertrophy and improves strength. But the anabolic and catabolic effects of upper body strength training have not yet been studied in female wheelchair basketball players. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a 8 week upper body strength training on serum IGF-1 and cortisol, and performance in female wheelchair basketball players.Materials & Methods: Materials and methods: 18 female wheelchair basketball players volunteered (age=29.51±2.6 years, weight=66.35±14.59 kg) to participate in this study. They were randomly assigned into either a control (regular wheelchair basketball training) or an experimental (regular wheelchair basketball training+upper body strength training) group. Either group participated in an 8week training program. Pre and post exercise serum IGF-1, cortisol and also performance tests results were analyzed using independent t- test, dependent t- test and covariance.Results: There were no significant differences between group in post-test IGF-1, cortisol and performance test (penalty shoot, left and right side shoot and three point shoot), except baseball style throwing which was significantly better in the experimental group than the control (P<0.05).Conclusion: Based on these results it can be said that upper body strength training can improve strength dependent skills in wheelchair basketball players, but does not result any significant anabolic and catabolic effects.

Background & Aims: Given the significance of emotions in mental health, the present study aimed to compare the emotional dysregulation and affective styles among smokers and nonsmokers.Materials & Methods: This descriptive and comparative study was conducted on the guilds of Kermanshah. The simple random sampling was used as the basic sampling technique whereby 152 smokers and 152 nonsmokers were selected. To collect the required data, the difficulties in emotion regulation scale (DERS) and the affective style questionnaire (ASQ) were exploited. As for data analysis, the multivariate analysis of variance was utilized. Additionally, the SPSS 21 was employed for data analysis.Results: The results of the present study revealed that there was a significant difference between the smokers and nonsmokers in terms of the emotional dysregulation and affective styles. Besides, the results demonstrated that the emotional dysregulation was significantly higher among the smokers (p<0.001).Conclusion: Given the results of the present study, it was concluded that the emotional dysregulation and affective styles played roles in smoking. Accordingly, it was concluded that two possible reasons for one’s tendency towards smoking were one’s inability to use positive strategies for regulating emotions and numerous shortcomings in affection.

Background & Aims: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune, demyelinating and neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system (CNS). The pathogenesis of this disease is still unknown, although there are evidences of environmental factors affecting subjects with genetic predisposition factors.TNFRSF6B protein in human is coded by the tnfrsf6b gene. One of the biological functions ofTNFRSF6B is that it acts as death decoy and prevents cell death under certain circumstances. Some examples of studies have shown that rs6062314 (tnfrsf6b) polymorphism is associated with risk of MS.The aim of this study was to investigate the association of rs6062314 polymorphism in tnfrsf6b gene in men population with sporadic multiple sclerosis in Khuzestan province.Materials & Methods: The type of study was case-control and 100 unrelated subjects including 50patients with low and moderate levels of MS (EDSS≤3) and 50 healthy men were enrolled and molecular techniques were used; in addition, extraction of DNA, PCR, and direct sequencing were studied.Results: The genotype and allele frequencies of rs6062314 (tnfrsf6b) between MS patients and controls did not differ significantly (P-value=0.268 and P CC=1.0 and OR=3.128, 95% CI=0.61-15.89 for C allele).Conclusion: Our results showed that there was no association between rs6062314 (tnfrsf6b) SNP polymorphism and MS disease.

Backgrounds & Aims: Psychological interventions can have a decreasing effect on the symptoms of patients with somatoform disorders via improving psychological, social and familial status of the patients. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral stress management (CBSM) reducing neurological signs in patients with somatoform vertigo.Materials & Methods: This was a case-control research with pre-test, post-test and follow up phases.The sample consisted of 28 patients with somatoform vertigo according to the diagnosis of neurologist.They were randomly selected and then assigned into two groups of experimental and control. The DASS test was used on both groups in all phases. The experimental group received CBSM for 10 sessions, each session 2 hours, for a period of 2.5 months. The data was analyzed by ANCOVA via SPSS.Result: The mean of neurological signs was significantly decreased in the experimental group (p<0.05).Conclusion: It is suggested that cognitive behavioral stress management have had a positive effect on decreasing neurological signs in patients with somatoform vertigo.

Background & Aims: Medical plants have been intensively studied as a source of antitumor compounds.The antitumor effects of the Scrophularia oxysepala medicinal plant extract is not studied on the 4T1 mouse breast cancer cell lines. In the present study, cytotoxic effects of the Scrophularia oxysepala extract were investigated on viability of 4T1 cells, mouse breast cancer cell line.Materials & Methods: The cytotoxic effects of Scrophularia oxysepala on 4T1 cells were studied using MTT assay, Trypan blue staining, and DNA fragmentation assay were done at selected concentrations of the plant extract.Results: According to the findings, the Scrophularia oxysepala medicinal plant extract (stems and leaves) can alter cells morphology. So the Scrophularia oxysepala extract inhibits cell growth albeit in a time and dose dependent manner and results in degradation of chromosomal DNA.Conclusion: Our data well established the anti-proliferative effect of Scrophularia oxysepala extract, and clearly showed that the plant extract can induce apoptosis in vitro, but the mechanism of its activities remained unclear.

Background & Aims: Although affective disorders and substance use disorders (SUDs) frequently cooccur, the role of affective dysregulation in addiction is often overlooked. Individuals with affective psychopathology have been shown to demonstrate high rates of comorbid SUDs. These findings have suggested that the PA and NA systems may differentially mediate different aspects of substance use.The present study is an attempt to determine the effect of affect regulation training on positive and negative effects of women with methamphetamine use disorder.Materials & Methods: The study is a semi-experimental one using a pretest-posttest scheme and a control group. The population was comprised of all women with substance use disorder in Baghe Fereshteh medium-term stays accommodations center; 39 of whom were selected as a sample based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Then, they randomly were divided into two groups and randomly were assigned to experiment and control groups. The experiment group received intervention, but the control group didn't receive any intervention and were on the waiting list. The data were collected using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). The data were analyzed through descriptive statistics and analysis of covariance using SPSS22.Results: The findings revealed that affect regulation training has no significant impact on negative affects (p=0.61). This training, however, results in a significant increase in women’s positive affects (p=0.03).Conclusion: The findings also demonstrated that affect deregulation is one of dangerous factors for drug abuse. Considering the facts that drug abusers are more exposed to negative emotions and less to positive ones, in such situations they are likely to take drugs to control these emotional states. Hence, affect regulation training makes drug abusers conscious of the appropriate ways of affect regulation and helps to reduce their problem.

Background & Aims: Despite confirmed effectiveness of forced exercise training in reducing doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity, the role of voluntary physical activity in reducing doxorubicin induced cardiotoxicity, especially in the elderly, still has not been investigated properly. The aim of this study was to investigate the protective effect of cardiac protection caused by voluntary physical activity on myosin heavy chain gene (MyHC) expression changes induced by doxorubicin in the aging model rats.Materials & Methods: In this experimental study, after induction of aging, 24 twelve-week old male rats with an average weight of 250±25g received 100 mg/kg D-galactose solution for 9 weeks through intraperitoneal injection. They were randomly divided into three groups: aging+saline (AS), aging+ doxorubicin (AD), and aging+doxorubicin+voluntary physical activity (ADWR). Voluntary physical activity was carried out during the last 6 weeks of aging, on a running wheel.In the last 15 days, 1 mg/kg doxorubicin and saline (cumulative dose of 15 mg/kg) was peritoneally injected to the rats receiving doxorubicin and saline. Forty eight hours after the last injection of doxorubicin, the left ventricle was isolated, and gene expression of cardiac myosin heavy chain was measured using Real time - PCR.Results: Doxorubicin increased beta myosin heavy chain gene expression and decreased alpha-cardiac myosin heavy chain gene expression (MyHC) in the AD group. However, voluntary 6-week physical activity decreased doxorubicin-induced changes in MyHC gene expression in the ADWR group.Conclusion: Voluntary physical activity is a tool effective in reducing doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity in the elderly.

Background & Aims: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic pathogen and one of mortality causes of nosocomial infections specifically in severely burned patients. One of the drug resistant mechanisms in pseudomonas aeruginosa is mutation in negative regulator genes of mexXY efflux pump system. In this study, the role of mexZ mutations was investigated in ciprofloxacin resistant development in Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates in Guilan province.Materials & Methods: In this study, 45 strains of pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from different clinical samples of Rasht and Lahijan hospitals and laboratories between 2014 to 2016 were identified by biochemical tests. The antibiotic resistance and susceptibility of the strains were investigated by Kirby Bauer method and MIC determination. Then PCR-sequencing was performed to assess MexZ gene mutations in ciprofloxacin resistant strains.Results: From 45 isolates of pseudomonas aeruginosa, all were resistant to cefixime, cephalothin and trimethoprim; whereas 17 isolates were ciprofloxacin resistant. The highest MIC of ciprofloxacin was determined 1024 μg/ml. Also, PCR-sequencing analysis showed that 8 isolates had missense mutations in MexZ gene such as L111E and R143P.Conclusion: In this study, mutation in mexZ as negative regulator of mexXY can be a reason of multidrug resistance in some strains in Guilan province. It appears that mexZ mutation led to affinity modification in mexZ protein binding to DNA in some isolates.

Background & Aims: Ear infection is one of the most important infectious chronic diseases throughout the world, and it is likely that the use of tools such as hands-free causes the transfer of microbial flora and aids the activity of pathogenic microbes. This study compares the ear microbial flora of hands-free users with those who have never used the hands-free in Urmia.Materials & Methods: In this study, regardless of the gender, the ears of 24 people (within the range of 20 to 30 years old) who have continuously used hands-free for 3 years and also the ears of 24 people who have never used hands-free were sampled. The samples were cultured in general and specific environment and by using diagnostic tests, the bacteria were identified.Results: The bacteria isolated from the ears of those who have never used hands-free included: Lactobacillusus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, staphylococcus saprophyticus and non-hemolytic Staphylococcus, and the bacteria isolated from the ears of hands-free users included: Staphylococcus epidermidis, staphylococcus saprophyticus, Staphylococcus aurous, D-non hemolytic streptococcus and viridians streptococcus.Conclusion: This investigation showed that the use of hands-free causes the transfer of the type and abundance of microbial flora in ears. The result of Chi-square data analysis (P<0.05) also suggested the significance of these differences.

Background & Aims: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorder in women of reproductive ages that may contribute to uterine complications such as endometrial hyperplasia and hyperfibrosis. Hyperandrogenemia is the key factor in the pathophysiology of PCOS.Based on recent finding concerning anti-androgen effects of Lupeol, we aimed to study the effects of this triterpenoid on uterine damages of hyperandrogenemia and compare them with Flutamide.Materials & Methods: Forty prepubertal female albino mice aged 25 days were randomly assigned to experimental groups. Control group (n=10) received 0.1 ml/day sesame oil (IP) for 35 consecutive days.The rest of animals received 60 mg/kg B.W./day DHEA dissolved in 0.1 ml sesame oil for twenty days and afterward for fifteen days each group (n=10) was treated either sesame oil [group PCOS (P)], Lupeol 40 mg/kg B.W. (group L) or Flutamide 10 mg/kg B.W. (group F). Weight gains were recorded weekly.At the end of treatment animals were humanly euthanized under deep ether anesthesia and uterine samples were collected. Histological sections were prepared and stained with H& E, AZAN and Toluidine blue methods for histomorphometric, fibrosis and mast cells count analyses. Fibrosis quantification was performed based on image analysis using Matlab software (V.8.1.0).Results: At the end of treatment period, group P demonstrated remarkable increase of body weight whereas Lupeol and Flutamide treatment decreased weight gain significantly (P<0.05). Endometrium thickness (mm), average percentage of collagen fibers in uterine tissue (%) and average number of mast cells in histological sections (n) in group P (331.6±63.8, 14.6±1.65, 3.02±0.89, respectively) increased significantly compared to group C (235.3±28.1, 8.10±1.41, 1.47±0.55) and decreased in L (199.8±51.3, 4.07±0.90, 1.02±0.69) and F (194.6±41.4, 5.21±0.39, 1.31±0.60) groups significantly compared to group P (P<0.05).Conclusion: We conclude that Lupeol is able to reduce uterine hyper fibrosis and endometrial hyperplasia induced by DHEA in mice and these are similar to effects of Flutamide. These effects of Lupeol could be in part because of its anti- androgen receptor effects.