Journal of Arak University Medical Sciences
Year:2012 | Volume:15 | Issue:4 (63)|Papers Count:11

Background: Dysmenorrhea is a common problem in women of reproductive age and despite the current treatments, it still remains a common problem in women's health. This study was done to determine the effect of aromatherapy on pain severity in primary dysmenorrhea.Materials and Methods: This randomized clinical trial was done on 108 students with primary dysmenorrhea with pain score of 2 and 3 based on the multidimensional spoken criteria. After random allocation, the participants received massage with almond oil, massage alone, and massage with a mixture of lavender and peppermint essential oil a week before menstrual period until the presence of pain in two continuous cycles. During cycles zero, one, and two, the participants recorded the highest level of pain during the first, second, and third days according to the visual analogue scale. Data were analyzed using SPSS software.Results: There was a significant difference in the total of the most pain in days 1, 2, and 3 among the groups (p=0.038). A reduction was observed in massage and aromatherapy groups (p=0.014). There were significant differences in within group comparisons (p=0.002) for zero and first cycles (p=0.016) and first and second cycles (p=0.002).Conclusion: Aromatherapy reduces menstrual pain and considering the prevalence of dysmenorrheal, the low price, and harmless nature of this essence, its application in relieving menstrual cramping and pain is recommended.

Background: Peripheral neuropathy is a common complication associated with diabetes mellitus. It has been shown that oxidative stress is an important etiological factor in neuropathy which contributes to its development, however, the exact pathophysiology underlying this complication is not fully understood. This study was designed to examine the effect of regular exercise and vitamin C administration on pain threshold in rats.Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, 36 male Wister rats (220±10 g) were allocated to control and diabetic (control, vitamin C, exercise, and exercise+vitamin C) groups.Diabetes was induced by the subcutaneous administration of streptozotocin (60 mg/kg). A week after the induction of diabetes, the rats were subjected to swimming training and vitamin C treatment for 8 weeks. At the end of weeks 3, 5, and 8, Tail-Flick test was done on the rats to assess pain threshold.Data were analyzed using SPSS software.Results: Diabetes significantly decreased pain threshold in the rats. Diabetes-induced hyperalgesia was significantly decreased by training and vitamin C. Concurrent effects of training and vitamin C on thermal pain threshold were significantly higher than each of them alone.Conclusion: Regular exercise together with vitamin C administration can be a proper method for preventing thermal hyperalgesia associated with diabetes. Therefore, they can be effective in the treatment and management of pain.

Background: Several different molecular methods have been developed that are capable of detecting HIV-1 in clinical specimens with different levels of sensitivity and specificity. This article describes the results of a reliability study on the development and application of a new real-time TMA method for isothermal detection of HIV-1.Materials and Methods: In this ex Primental study, the molecular beacon primer and probe set were designed for a 176-base-pair region of HIV-1 pol gene using a specialized software.Logarithmic serial dilutions from 10-107 copies of an in-vitro transcribed RNA were used for determination of the analytical sensitivity of the assay. Clinical specimens that had previously been evaluated positive or negative by a valid commercial assay were used for assessing the clinical sensitivity and specificity of the assay.Results: The analytical and clinical sensitivities of the assay were determined 500 copies/ml and 93.3%, respectively. The primers and the probe were HIV-1 specific and no cross-reaction was observed with other blood-borne viruses and human genome bioinformatically. The clinical specificity of the developed real-time TMA assay was examined experimentally using 20 negative samples and determined to be 100%.Conclusion: The developed real-time TMA assay can be used as an appropriate tool for the rapid and isothermal detection of HIV-1 in patients' blood and plasma samples.

Background: Noticing the sensitivity of measles virus to temperature and light, maintaining its stability is highly important in live vaccines. The aim of the study is to evaluate the stability of measles vaccine produced by AIK-C strain.Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, three lyophilized vaccine vials were incubated at 37oC for one week and their stability was evaluated via accelerated test. In addition, reconstituted vaccines were incubated at 4oC, 25oC, and 37oC for 0, 4, 8, 12, 16 hours after reconstitution and their remaining infectious virus titer was measured using CCID50 method. Half-life of the reconstituted measles vaccine was evaluated according to linear regression analysis.Results: When the reconstituted vaccine was incubated at 4oC, 25oC, and 37oC, the titer loss per hour was equal to 0.05, 0.1 and 0.2 Log10 CCID50, respectively. Also, the half-life of this vaccine at these temperatures was 5.31, 2.26, and 1.36 hours, respectively.Conclusion: The loss of potency for measles vaccine produced by AIK-C strain is 0.33 Log after storage at 37oC for one week, while the reported amounts for commercial vaccines such as Mevilin-L, Attenuvax, Edmonston-Zagreb, and Rimevax are 0.7, 0.7, 1 and 0.78, respectively.Lyophilized and reconstituted vaccine containing AIK-C strain is more stable in comparison with Edmonston B, Schwartz, Biken-CAM, and Leningrad strains. The stability of the reconstituted AIK-C strain vaccine is similar to Moraten strain at 37oC.

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease which demyelinates the central nervous system. Vitamin D, is a potential environmental factor which influences this disease.The majority of the biological activities of the polymorphism forms of vitamin D are done through its receptor gene (VDRG). The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between BsmI polymorphisms in VDRG and the incidence of MS.Materials and Methods: In this case-control study, the BsmI polymorphism in the VDRG was studied in 80 Iranian MS patients and 50 healthy controls of the same genetic background and age through polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method Results: There was a significant difference in the frequency of BsmI VDRG polymorphism genotypes between MS patients and controls (P=0.023).Conclusion: This study indicated that the VDRG BsmI polymorphism is associated with MS in this population.

Background: In addition to known environmental and acquired factors effective in cardiovascular diseases, polymorphisms of VKORC1 and CYP2C9 genes are identified as the main genetic factors involved in warfarin dosage requirement variations in these patients. With this approach, investigating the frequency of 1639 G>A in VKORC1 gene for determining the specific dosage required for each person was the main aim of this study.Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, peripheral blood samples were obtained from 200 patients with cardiovascular disorders in the northwestern areas of Iran (West and East Azarbayjan and Ardabil) and RFLP-PCR technique was used to determine the 1639G>A polymorphism of VKORC1.Results: Using Hardy-Weinberg law, polymorphism amounts of 1639G>A gene from VKORC1 in female and male patients with normal, heterozygote, and homozygote were determined 21.6%, 53.7%, 24.5%, and 22.3%, 60.6%, and 17.02%, respectively.Conclusion: VKORC1 genotyping is one of the important parameters that together with other confounding factors reduce the role of trial and error in patients with cardiovascular diseases.Genotypic variety and the high frequency of allele A in the studied population can justify varied responses to warfarin therapy and the importance of investigation before starting treatment with warfarin.

Background: Prevalence and incidence of end stage renal diseases requiring renal replacement therapies such as dialysis and kidney transplantation is on the rise. However, no qualitative research studies have been done to explore the experiences of people living with dialysis and kidney transplant in depth. Therefore, this qualitative study was done to explore the experiences of patients living with dialysis and those with kidney transplant.Materials and Methods: This qualitative study was carried out through content analysis approach. Sampling was done from the beginning and continued until data saturation. Semi-structured interviews were tools of data collection. A total of 18 participants were interviewed. The interviews were analyzed through Graham and Landman content analysis method.Results: After analyzing the data, two main themes including, dialysis, a grueling event, and renal transplantation, a normal life with healthy kidney transplant, were reported.Conclusion: Compared with hemodialysis, receiving a kidney through transplantation provides a significantly more pleasant quality of life for patients. However, there are certain obstacles in transplantation and graft survival in the views of transplantation patients. Hence, it is suggested that health officials design programs to provide support and instruction to facilitate the process of kidney transplantation for eligible patients even before entering the dialysis stage.

Background: Genu varum is a deformity marked by outward bowing of the leg which is accompanied with pain only in severe cases. Failure in timely diagnosis results in the loss of quality of life in future and high health care costs. The purpose of this study was to evaluate genu varum prevalence in male students aged 7-16 years and identify the cases in need of treatment.Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, femoral intercondylar distance (ICD) of 3692 male students aged 7-16 years who were chosen randomly in Arak city was measured. ICD>0.5 cm was considered as genu varum and to determine whether cases need treatment, the MT-MF angle and WBL% were used.Results: The results indicated that the prevalence of genu varum was 2.53% in primary school, 6.98% in junior high school, and 16.33% in senior high school students. The findings showed a significant relationship between the prevalence of genu varum and age, BMI, and the history of lower limb trauma with or without fracture. Overall, 33% of the students required treatment.Conclusion: Considering the importance of having healthy knees, clinical examination and regular screening programs for identifying cases with mild genu varum is recommended. The importance of implementation of regular screening programs is confirmed by the increasing prevalence of diseases associated with age and the high percentage of patients requiring treatment.

Background: Nausea and vomiting are prevalent after laparoscopic cholecystectomy surgery and physicians need to use drugs, such as ondansetron, propofol, metoclopramide, and ramostrogen, for controlling them. This study was done to evaluate the effect of gabapentin 300mg and 600mg administration on controlling nausea and vomiting after laparoscopic cholecystectomy surgery.Materials and Methods: In this clinical trial, 105 ASA patients (classes 1 and 2) were randomly divided into 3 equal groups including placebo group, 300 mg gabapentin group, and 600 mg gabapentin group. The same technique of anesthesia was used for all groups. The patients were controlled for nausea and vomiting each 2 to 6 hours and after that every 4 to 18 hours. Data were analyzed using SPSS software.Results: The mean degree of nausea in the control group was 2.8, in second group which took 300 mg gabapentin was 0.67, and in third group which took 600 mg of gabapentin was 0.55 (p<0.001).In addition, the severity of vomiting in the control group was 0.326, in second group was 0.126, and in third group was 0.053 (p<0.001).Conclusion: Administration of one dose of 300 mg gabapentin can reduce nausea and vomiting, and with increasing gabapentin dosage to 600 mg, these complications will decrease even more. Therefore, using gabapentin in laparoscopic cholecystectomy surgery is recommended.

Background: Left main coronary artery divides into left anterior descending and circumflex arteries. Total occlusion of the left main coronary artery without extensive MI and cardiogenic shock is a rare finding.Case: The patient is a 50-year-old man that had referred to doctor's office with history of exert ional chest pain two months earlier. Although he did not have history of rest angina, he had history of smoking as well as positive family history for coronary artery diseases. Exercise test with echocardiography revealed significant S-T depression. Hence, coronary angiography was done for the patient which showed total occlusion of the left main and originated left circumflex artery from right coronary artery and left anterior obliq filled from right coronary artery. The patient was candidate for coronary artery bypass graft.Conclusion: Total occlusion of the left main coronary artery without cardiogenic shock and death is a rare finding. This phenomenon occurs when occlusion is chronic and it is followed by right coronary artery with well-developed collateral which might be presented with stable angina. The mainstay treatment for total occlusion of the left main coronary artery is coronary artery bypass graft.