Internal Medicine Today
Year:2011 | Volume:16 | Issue:4 (50)|Papers Count:14

Background and Aim: Newborns are more sensitive to pain than adults and are more susceptible to the long-term complications of pain. So, it is necessary to use procedures for reducing pain in newborns. The present study has been done in order to assess the effect of skin-to skin contact on the pain intensity of intramuscular injection in newborns.Materisals and Methods: This research is an experimental one which was conducted in Shariati Hospital in Bandar Abbas city within six months (2006-2007 years). The sample included 100 healthy newborns. They were randomly divided into 2 groups: case and control groups. In case group, during muscular injection the newborn was naked and with a diaper, had direct contact with skin of chest and abdomen of his/her mother.In control group, the newborn was dressed with a blanket and positioned on the bed. The behavioral responses (facial expression, cry, breathing pattern, arms and legs movement and state of arousal) of the newborns were monitored. The primary outcome measure was the cumulative Neonatal Infant Pain Scale (NIPS) score immediately after injection.Results: There were significant differences in behavioral responses between the two groups (p<0.05). Also, the pain intensity of case group newborns, after modifying apgar score of first minute, was less than the one in control group (p<0.001, OR=0.024).Conclusion: Skin-to-skin contact method is an easy, applicable and harmless way to reduce behavioral responses of intensity reaction to the pain of muscular injection in newborns.

Background and Aim: Glutathione and components involved in its cycle play an important role in many physiological processes. This study evaluates the influence of regular exercise on the glutathione cycle components in rat heart.Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, 104 rats were divided into two groups of exercise and control. The exercise group was divided into six subgroups each of which was considered for one, two, three, six, nine and twelve-month exercise periods (n=8, in each subgroup). Rodents Treadmill was used for training (25 meters per minute, an hour per day, and 6 days per week). For each exercise subgroup, a control subgroup (n=8, in each subgroup) was assigned. The data were analyzed through a two-way analysis of variance using SPSS software V.16.0.Results: GSH levels in 1, 9 and 12 months of training were higher than those in the corresponding control groups (p<0.05, for all cases). Although exercise had no significant effect on GSSG levels, GSH/GSSG ratio in 1, 9 and 12 month training groups were higher than those in corresponding control groups (p<0.05, for all cases). The effect of exercise on GPX enzyme activity was exactly similar to its effect on GSH levels. On the other hand, in 9 and 12 month trained groups compared with corresponding control groups, the levels of lipid peroxidation were higher (p<0.05, for both).Conclusion: Regular exercise increased GPX activity and GSH levels to prevent oxidative stress probably through continuously stress.

Background and Aim: Neonates have increased pain sensitivity in comparison to children and adults.Therefore, recognition and application of pain control strategies by health care workers are necessary.Immunization is one of the most common and painful events during infancy which is typically conducted without pain management. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a distraction technique in reducing pain due to vaccination in infants.Materials and Methods: This study is a randomized controlled trial performed on healthy infants, who were brought to the health centers of Iran University of Medical Sciences in west of Tehran by their mother and had DPT immunization.76 healthy infants were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups.During immunization, experimental group received a rattle as a distraction technique by the researcher 30 seconds before vaccination until 15 seconds after, while the control group received standard care in health centers. The modified behavioral pain scale (MBPS) was used to assess pain scores during baseline and after immunization. The data were expressed as the mean ± the standard deviation, and they were analyzed through independent t-test.Results: The results showed that the MBPS scores were significantly lower in distraction group (6±1.831) compared with those of the control group (8.53±1.059), (p=0.0001).Conclusion: This study showed that distraction technique was effective in reducing pain due to vaccination in infants. It is suggested to use this simple intervention during immunization injection in health centers.

Background and Aim: The chemical anti-viral drugs used nowadays have some main problems such as low number and type, low therapeutic index, limited clinical use and high toxicity. So, it seems essential to investigate and evaluate new pharmaceutical compounds for achieving new treatment methods. The main goal of this research is to study the effect of juice of Nepeta pungens on the measles virus replication cycle.Materials and Methods: This study was an experimental one in which initially the toxicity of Nepeta pungens on vero cells was investigated. Then, its anti-viral effects in the concentration range less than toxicity were evaluated through Tissue Culture Infection Dose 50 (TCLD50) method.Results: The results showed that the juice of mint has a controlling effect on the measles virus replication.The results, also, indicated that the most effect of anti-viral the juice of Nepeta pungens was observed in the early stages of the virus replication cycle.Conclusion: The juice of Nepeta pungens can be the suitable choice for further research to achieve new antiviral factors.

Background and Aim: Music is one of the factors which reduces some states like tension, aggression, anxiety and masochism. This research was done to study the effect of the musical themes on reducing the aggression in university students.Materials and Methods: In this study, 306 Tarbiat Modarres university students, who were studying in 2008-2009 academic year in Tehran, were selected. The subjects completed the “Buss and Perry” aggression questionnaire and 60 students of the sample who scored one standard variation above the average were randomly assigned in 4 groups of 15 students (3 experimental groups and a control one). While being exposed to three musical themes (Relaxation themes, Somatization themes and Mood-making themes), the students were under the test application for 6 weeks. Subsequently, the “Buss and Perry” questionnaire was applied as a post-test.Results: Data analysis through applying the statistical indexes and comparing the average results in 4 groups showed the positive effects of the music on reducing aggression in students.Conclusion: In sum, music can be considered as an effective factor in promoting the mental health and reducing aggression level.

Background and Aims: Quality in educational system deserves special importance and its purpose is the maximum use of resources. Also, evaluation plays a fundamental role in quality improvement. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the internal evaluation of community and mental health nursing department of Gonabad university of medical sciences.Materials and Methods: This study was a descriptive one. The sample included faculty members, managers, students and related resources as well as the documents of community and mental health nursing department of Gonabad university of medical sciences. A non-random selection based on the objective was used for their selection. Data collection tools were a questionnaire and a checklist. Moreover, observation, inquiry and focus group discussion were used to collect data. The data were analyzed via descriptive statistics.Results: Evaluation resulted in 8 factors, 41 criteria and 212 markers that were studied and indicated that the total score of facilities and educational equipments were the highest (92.18%). The minimum score was allocated to educational courses, academic and nonacademic curricula (55.55%).Conclusion: The department should attempt to maintain and promote the items with desired status according to progress of science and technology, they also should try to improve the factors that did not get high score on internal evaluation, by careful planning. University administrators also should provide necessary resources and good conditions to improve the group and achieve the best conditions.

Background and Aim: Allergy is one of the unusual body reactions with the intermediate of immune system. Today, allergy to foods and fresh fruits is one of the world's health problems in developing countries and its incidence has raised like other allergic disorders. The aim of this study is to investigate the allergic reactions, that is, frequency to alimentary allergens, among native population and university students in Gonabad.Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive and cross-sectional study. We studied 339 patients of native population and of university students who were only residing in Gonabad city to continue their study. Simple random sampling was used for data collection. We used the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) questionnaire to collect data. T-test and Chi-square were applied for data analysis.Results: The results showed that from 339 patients, 57.2% were native population of Gonabad, 35.4% native population of Khorasan Razavi province, and 7.4% non-native population. The frequency of males was 152 (44.8%) with 25.1 of age average and that of females was 187 (55.2%) with 21.1 age average. The frequency of each allergen was as follows: melon (34.2%), saffron (17.4%), eggplant (%16.8), milk (16.2%), garlic (10.9%), grape (8.8%), cantaloupe (8%), soya (8%), kiwi (7.4%), egg (7.1%), banana (5.3%), sesame (2.1%) and hazelnut (1.5%).Conclusion: In our study, the patients' most common allergens were melon, saffron, garlic, grape, cantaloupe, kiwi and eggplant. In most of the cases, food allergies were more frequent in females than in males.

Background and Aim: Ice cream is a good growth-medium for microbes due to its nutrients and nearly neutral pH of 6-7. Ice cream contaminated withE.coli is the source of diarrhea and E.coli is an important pathogen that has shown an increasing antimicrobial resistance to most antibiotics. The aim of this study was to determine antibiotic resistance pattern ofE.coli isolated from traditional ice-cream in Gonabad city.Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on 126 E.coli isolated from 523 samples of traditional ice cream which were collected randomly from the retail stores in Gonabad during March 2007 through November 2008. The antibiograms ofE.coli isolates were determined using the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion on Muller Hinton Agar against 17 selected antibiotics.Results: In this research, 126 (24/9%) samples were positive for E.coli. All E.coli isolates (100%) were found to be resistant to Amoxicillin and Amoxyclav; in addition, 99.2% of the isolates were resistant to Erythromycin. However, 89.68% isolates were susceptible to ceftizoxim followed by 64.85% susceptible to ceftriaxon.Conclusion: The results of this study showed that in order to treat diarrhea due to ice cream contaminated withE.coli the best choices for beginning empiric treatment are ceftizoxim and ceftriaxon.

Background and Aim: Positivistic approach to mental health has been highly developed in recent years and has led to the rise of psychological well-being which considers mental health as positive characteristics like self-esteem, appropriate social relationships, and life satisfaction, rather than lack of disease. Thus, the purpose of this research was to study the undergraduate students' psychological well-being status based on gender and academic status.Materials and Methods: This study was a kind of descriptive cross-sectional one. Three hundred and seventy six undergraduate students were randomly selected from different academic disciplines. Descriptive statistics, t-test for independent groups, and ANOVA were used to analyze the data.Results: There were gender differences in well-being components (p<0.01 and 0.05). Females scored higher than males in positive relations with others, regarding autonomy, environmental mastery, personal growth and self-acceptance. Males were higher than the other gender in purpose in life. There were not differences between different entrance time and psychological well-being.Conclusion: Due to the lower level of psychological well-being in male students in comparison to female ones, programs are recommended to strengthen male students so that they can cope with psychological tensions.