JOURNAL OF ILAM UNIVERSITY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES
Year:2009 | Volume:17 | Issue:1|Papers Count:9

Materials and Methods: This descriptive analytic study was fulfilled in a certain span of time covering working-places occupied by more than 50 members, using voice-measuring techniques and principles of voice such as: voice pressure, rising up of noise level NIHL for both the left & right ears measured and recorded via Bone and phone.Those studied in this study entirely belong to work-shops with more than 50 workers among whom two out of three were randomly picked up to be registered and studied demographically. Using the “SPSS” soft ware, the recorded data were analyzed. To classify the rate of hearing decrease in this research, soft low hearing, medium low hearing, strict low hearing, deep low hearing or ever lasting deaf were recorded in db ,63, 625, 125, 1000, 2000 ,4000, 8000 figures.Findings: It was found out that 13/1 percent of all those covered in this study who were under higher pressure of noise rate suffered from hearing problem. Furthermore, 12/2 percent of the workers complained from noisy feeling following their daily performances.Discussion & Conclusion: Findings revealed that the most loss to hearing ability was due to the left ear from Bone and phone in 2000/4000/8000 frequency, HZ. This can be regarded as a higher sensitivity of left ear compared to that of the right one in reaction to voice, or the workers’ positions at work place, where their left ear is more exposed to noise or in out of work-places like accidents, controversies  and physical contacts exposing left ear to strikes.It was also concluded that the most loss of hearing ability via Bone and Phone in right ear belonged to 4000/8000 HZ, while the highest loss of hearing ability went for left ear in 4000/8000 H.

Introduction: Hypochondrias is a psychiatric disorder characterized by a strong belief and concerns about having a serious malady. As there is little researches on it in Iran, this study was designed to determine the frequency of these symptoms among the students of medicine considering their age, gender and educational major and degree.Materials & Methods: This study was performed on 500 randomly selected students in dormitories of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. Those with a known previous medical or mental disorder or defectiveness were excluded. All the students answered the demographic questions and Evans hypochondrias questionnaires including 36 items. The data was analyzed using appropriate statistical descriptive and analytic tests such as independent t and ANOVA. Findings: In the present study, the prevalence of hypochondrias among the students was %36.8 at the borderline level and 16% at the disorder level. Out of the 70 cases with hypochondriac disorder, 57 people showed mild while 13 cases had moderate symptoms. This disorder was significantly more prevalent in girls than boys (P=0.000). There was no signs of association with marital status (P=0.318). However, all the students with moderate disorders were single. Results of ANOVA showed the differences of hypochondrias variables due to educational fields and curriculum grades.Discussion & Conclusion: The present study showed a higher prevalence of hypochondrias in Iranian students of medicine compared to those in other countries. In contrast to other studies, the disorder proved to be more prevalent in women in this research. In this study, there was also a higher prevalence of symptoms in people with bachelor degrees than those with other educational levels which can be due to inaccurate medical information. In spite of high prevalence rates of hypochondrias symptoms among the students, full criteria disorders were not prevalent.

Introduction: Nowadays, pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy are the main treatments for bipolar mood disorders. Using complementary and alternative medicine has increased over the past decade. Valerian is a herb commonly marketed for treatment of insomnia, anxiety and depression; however, positive results have also been reported in curing bipolar disorders. The mechanism of valerian’s effectiveness is the same as benzodiazepines affecting on GABA-A receptor.Materials & Methods: In a clinical trial setting, a sample was selected from patients aging between 18 and 75 years who met the diagnostic criteria for bipolar mood disorder according to the DSMVTR and whose diagnoses were confirmed by clinical examinations.  Eighty patients with a current diagnosis of bipolar disorder participated in a 8-week, parallel-group, double-blind addition valerian to ongoing mood stabilizing therapy. All the participants had a Mania Rating Scale score of 12 or higher and received conventional mood stabilizers treatment for at least 3 months. Eighty participants were selected and upon obtaining written consent were randomly divided into two equal case and control groups.Findings: Among the patients receiving valerian, severity and frequency of Mania rating scale score decreased from 62/93 (SD=15/21), 67/3 at pre-treatment to 41/38 (SD=11/94), 51/8 at the first month and even further to 32/9 (SD=9/57), 39/7 at the end of the second month. In the control group,  severity and frequency of Mania rating scale score at the end of the first and second months of treatment were 61/82 (SD=12/04), 71/22,  56/05 (SD=10/43), 64/2, respectively. Using the Friedman test, we observed no significant difference in the depression and function levels before and after the 2-months treatment between the case and control groups .Highly significant benefits of the addition of the valerian compared with the control group were found by 8th week of treatment.Discussion & Conclusion: Considering the observations achieved from this study, it is concluded that valerian augments mood stabilizer can be used as an adjunct treatment in bipolar mood disorders.

Introduction: Labor pain is one of the most severe pains ever to be experienced. Fear of labor pain is one of the most important causes for cesarean section to be chosen by pregnant women. It is important for labor pain to be tolerated in parturient. Entonox that is used for pain relief is safe, inexpensive, and reasonably effective in labor analgesic. Hence, this study aimed to ascertain of entonox efficacy on reduction of labor pain.Materials and Methods: This study is a self-controlled clinical trial. In maternity ward of Imam Reza hospital, 40 nullipar, aged 16-30 years and without any contraindication for inhalation of entonox were selected. Sampling method was convenience. Mean of pain was scaled before and after inhalation of entonox according to numeric pain scale. Also APGAR score of neonatal was considered after birth.Findings: Mean numeric pain scale decreased from 8/82±1/81 to 5/98±1/59 after inhalation of entonox. (p<0/005), potential adverse effects were drowsy (41/9%), mouth dryness (37/8%), light headedness and headache (23%) and nausea and vomiting (12/2%).Discussion & Conclusion: Taking into consideration the achievements of this study, entonox provides adequate effective analgesia for many pregnant women, and is, at the same time, safe for the mother and her baby.

Introduction: Breast cancer is one of the most common known cancers among women of all the racial groups. Thus, a study on both the genetic and environmental factors provides a new chance for us to comprehend the risks of breast cancer. Molecular studies were performed in order to elucidate the relationship between three polymorphic metabolic enzymes with breast cancer.Materials & Methods: In this case-control study, the polymorphisms of glutathione s-transferase (GST) M1, T1 and P1 were analyzed by PCR in genomic DNA from blood samples of 31 female breast cancer patients against 46 women as the control group. To investigate any possible relationships between genotype in GSTT1 and GSTM 1 a Mult. PCR method was used, while for genotype in GSTP 1 a PCR-RFLP method was designed and followed. To determine the relationship between genotypes of GSTT1, GSTM1, and GSTP1 with breast-canser risks, the OR (odd ratio) was calculated with a 95 certainty distance.Findings: GSTT1 null genotype was a risk factor (odd ratio (OR), 4.75, 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.66-13.51). Hetrozygoute polymorphism of GSTP1 at nucleotide 313 was associated (OR, 3.85; 95% CI, 1.39- 10.61). GSTM1 null genotype was not associated with the breast cancer risk.Discussion & Conclusion: According to the achievements of the study, we conclude that GSTP1 and GSTT1 genes could play a role in carcinogenesis in the breast cancer.

Introduction: Muscle cramp is a common complication during hemodialysis. Organ ischemia during hemodialysis is held to be a cause for that pain. Massage has been used as a factor of pain palliative and relaxation, since the past. Our aim was to determine the effects of massage on prevention or relief of frequency and intensity of hemodialysis cramps.Materials and Methods: This clinical trial study was performed on 40 patients, who had frequent muscle cramps during hemodialysis. The patients were intentionally selected. Before and after the massage, severity of pain due to muscular cramp was recorded. Analysis of these data was performed in SPSS environment, using paired-sampled T-test method and descriptive statistics.Findings: The severity and frequency of muscular cramp seen during dialysis p<0.001 reduced; mean severity of pain before intervention was 8.73, while this severity reduced to 1.7. In 19 patients (47.5%). No muscular cramps were seen during dialysis. Throwing a comparison before and after the intervention, muscular cramps in 52.5% cases proved to be of less severity during dialysis.Discussion & Conclusion: Whatever can be concluded from the performed research is that massage in the dialysis patients can prevent and decrease pain intensity due to muscle cramp.

Introduction: Although surgery is the corner stone of treatment for esophageal cancer, there have been widespread efforts to find new methods of treatment. Therefore, neoadjuant CRT certainly increases the rate of respectability and 3 years survival. In our research, we reviewed effects of neoadjuant RCT on short-term complications and hospital mortalities.Materials & Methods: 114 cases of esophageal cancer during a two-year period underwent operation by trans-hiatal method. Based on the size and pathologic reports, neoajuant CRT was applied for a subgroup.Findings: Most the tumors were in middle one/third and male to female ratio was 4 to 1. There were 13 complications and 6/3% mortalities. No significant differences were observed between the two groups.Discussion & Conclusion: Neoadjuant treatment does not increase mortality or complication of surgically operated esophageal cancers. More well-controlled studies by different centers with more cases are recommended for more reliable achiements to be reached.

Introduction: Pain due to cancer is one of the major problems of patients affected by malignancies. There are many methods applied for cancer pain management of which opioids consumption is the most important method. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid represented as a trans- dermal patch used for cancer chronic pain relief. In this study, we evaluated effectiveness of trans-dermal fentanyl patch comparing with placebo in cancer pain.Materials & Methods: This study was designed and performed as a double-blind randomized clinical trial. Patients affected by soft tissue tumors with chronic pain referred to Imam Khomini Hospital during 1385-1386 were investigated and divided randomly into trans-dermal fentanyl patch and placebo groups. The patches appearances in both the groups were the same. Pain severity was measured by visual analogue scale (VAS) 24, 48 and 72 hours after beginning of treatment. Repeated measurement analysis of variances was used.Findings: A total number of 166 patients affected by cancer were divided into two groups–trans dermal group (86 patients) and placebo (80 patients).There was the same age and sex distribution. According to repeated measurement analyses, the pain severity was significantly reduced in trans-dermal fentanyl group more than that of the placebo group (p=0/07). The incidence of  side effects was 62 cases (72%) in fentanyl patch group  and 31 cases (39%) in placebo group which emphasized that the side effect in trans-dermal fentanyl patch group was more than placebo group significantly (p=./001).Discussion & Conclusion: The accomplished data suggest that trans-dermal fentanyl patch is an effective and safe method in reducing pain in patients affected by soft tissue tumors. Furthermore, trans-dermal fentanyl patch can improve the quality of life in patients affected by soft tissue tumors.