Annals of Military and Health Sciences Research
Volume:12 Issue: 1, Winter 2014

The aim of this study was to characterize prolonged standing and its effect on postural control in elderly individuals in comparison to adults. The elderly individuals’ behavior during standing and how demanding such a task is for them، is still unknown. We recorded the center of pressure (COP) position of 12 elder and 15 young participants while they were standing for 30 seconds. Then an analysis was performed to find the most appropriate and discriminative features for the elderly and young posture signals discrimination. Features were selected in frequency and time domain. Largest Lyapunov exponents of the COP signals were also computed to show the impact of chaotic behavior in static balance characterization relative to age. Working in frequency domain is preferred to time domain analysis and largest Lyapunov exponent of the posture signal can be representatively used for COP signal discrimination between the two classes of subjects. In investigation and analysis of static balance for elders and unhealthy participants the signal of COP can be studied in chaotic domain beside frequency domain. Extraction of features from both chaotic and frequency domains significantly improves the discrimination rate of balance signals in age-related classes.

Some new methods of treatment focus on using magnetic stimulation as a means of induction currents in the brain to produce therapeutic effects. The aim of this clinical trial was to determine the effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) plus routine rehabilitation on hand grip and wrist motor function in hemiplegic patients. Twelve hemiplegic patients were assigned into the treatment group and received magnetic stimulation with routine rehabilitation program for 10 sessions, three times a week. Pre and post-treatment evaluations were done based on Barthel and Fugl-Meyer indexes and dynamometer. In the treatment group, significant improvement were observed in Barthel and Fugl Meyer indexes and dynamometer (-P =. 010, P =. 001 and P =. 007, respectively). Combination of rTMS with conventional treatment can improve hand muscle force and function in chronic hemiplegic patients.

This research will try to predict damage probability and calculate the main stress resulted from baton impacts by finite element (FE) modeling of the human head considering skull texture, brain and cerebrospinal fluid. A three dimensional FE model of the skull-brain complex was constructed for simulating the baton impact. The FE analysis was carried out using ANSYS program with a nonlinear transient dynamic procedure and the Euler-Lagrangian coupling method. The data used this study were taken from the literature, mentioned in Tables 2 and 3. Different results were carried out with different values of the bulk modulus and the short-term shear modulus (G0) for the cerebrospinal fluid and brain material. Considering the values from Figure 8, it was found that the short term shear modulus of the neural tissue had the biggest effect on intracranial frontal pressure and on the model’s Von-Mises response. A comparison between different mesh densities showed that a coarsely meshed model is adequate for investigating the pressure response of the model, while a finer mesh is more appropriate for detailed investigations. Because of the complexity of this phenomenon, in spite of its importance, there is a little understanding of how baton impact affects the human head. In this paper, the model was validated against a series of cadaveric impact tests. We can conclude that a well validated FE modeling is a powerful tool for investigating the physical process of simulating head trauma.

This study investigated the effect of endurance activity on brain-derived neurotrophic factor(BDNF), insulin-like growth factor 1(IGF-1) and its binding protein 3(IGFBP-3) in elderly healthy individuals. Eleven healthy old males (mean age of 68 ± 2.31 years old, height of 177 ± 3.1 cm and weight of 79 ± 1.5 kg) were studied. Seventy two hours after maximal oxygen consumption (VO 2 max) evaluation, the participants performed an endurance activity at the intensity of 70% of their VO 2 max. Three blood samples were collected from the antecubital vein before, immediately and 30 minutes after the activity. The data were analyzed by repeated measures (P ≤. 05). There was a significant increase in serum BDNF and IGF-1 immediately after the endurance activity (P =. 040 and P =. 047, respectively). However, 30 minutes after the activity, there were no significant changes in serum BDNF and IGF-1 compared to the serums before the activity. There was also no significant change in IGFBP-3 immediately and 30minutesafter the research protocol relative to serums before activity (P =. 067 and P =. 154, respectively). The findings showed that BDNF and IGF-1 increase significantly in response to endurance activity, but no significant change was observed in IGFBP-3. Endurance activities might contribute to an increase in neurotrophical factors involved in memory and cognitive function which in turn decrease the incidence of neurological diseases such as Alzheimer, depression and many other related neurophysiological ones in elderly adults.

Good mental health is important for individuals as well as for society. At the individual level, good mental health enables people to realize their intellectual and emotional potential and fulfill their roles in society. This study sought to investigate the role of sports and physical exercises on scales of mental health among a battalion of Iranian conscripts in Fars province. After translating the standard General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), and adjusting some of its question, the questionnaires were evaluated by a few experts of physical education and sport sciences. The reliability with Cronbach’salpha value was 0.8. Then according to Odineski’s table, 98 questionnaires were distributed between the athletic conscripts and 115 questionnaires between the non-athletic conscripts, randomly. The collected data was analyzed by t test and one-way ANOVA. There were significant differences in the mean scores of the four mental health scales: depression, physical signs and sleep disorders and social function disorders in both groups (P =. 01, P =. 02, P =. 03 and P =. 02, respectively). Also, there was a significant difference in the mental health condition of the singleand married conscripts. The married conscripts had better mental health conditions compared to the singleconscripts in scales of mental health. There was significant correlation between exercises and scales of mental health. Since athletic conscripts had less psychological problems, it is recommended that physical activity be part of the strategies to improve mental health among non-athleti conscripts.

Myocardial infarction is among the most common diagnoses in patients admitted to hospitals in western countries, and its rapid diagnosis is of utmost importance. This study was conducted to determine the most sensitive double-marker cardiac isoenzyme of creatinine kinase, troponin I, and myoglobin for diagnosing acute myocardial infarction. This was an observational-analytic research on a diagnostic test conducted on 256 patients who had referred to the emergency department with chest pain from 4 to 24 hours before their referral. They were sorted equally into two groups of 4-14 hours and 15-24 hours from onset of pain, each group including 128 patients. In the first time period, the combination of troponin and myoglobin had the highest sensitivity (sensitivity = 97.3%, specificity = 98.1%), whereas the combination of double-marker and troponin proved the most sensitive (sensitivity = 100%, specificity = 96.3%). The double-marker combination of troponin and myoglobin is more appropriate for the first time period (i.e. during the first 24 hours from the onset of chest pain),while it would be more helpful to use the combination of troponin during the second period of time.

Today considerable advances have been achieved in application of nano-particles. Fullerene is one of the artificial forms of carbon element. Long life cycle of medicines in the human body is a success factor in delivery of medicine to the specific place. Lots of nanoparticles are being developed in this field and from a medical point of view, achieving such goals is vital. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of fullerene chemical properties of antihypertensive clonidine drug in water by density functional theory (DFT) methods. This study was carried out using computerized calculations of Gaussian program in Becke 3-parameters Lee-Yang-Parr (B3lyp/6-31g level in water on clonidine drug and its fullerene connected form. Impact of fullerene on an anti-blood pressure medicine known as clonidine was analyzed as changes in some properties including energetic levels, stability, Highest Occupied Molecular Orbital (HOMO) and Lowest Unoccupied Molecular Orbital (LUMO) levels, chemical hardness, and electrophilicity properties. Clonidine lowers blood pressure by decreasing the levels of certain chemicals in blood. This allows blood vessels to relax and the heart to beat more slowly and easily. Results indicated that combining medicine and C 60 considerably decreases the energy level and increases the bipolar momentum. Therefore, solubility and reacting ability of the medicine increases in solution phase of the water. Totally, combining fullerene structure to an anti-blood pressure medicine, like clonidine, as a nano-carrier enhances the reaction ability of the medicine and it gains more solubility properties in the human body.

This study was designed to investigate the association between knowledge creation and organizational innovation among the staff of Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS). In this descriptive correlational study, 132 individuals from TUMS employees were randomly selected based on Cochran’s formula. The questionnaires of knowledge creation management and organizational innovation were created by the researchers and their reliability was measured by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the 0.87 and 0.85. After data collection, the statistical analysis methods, such as descriptive and inferential statistics, mean and standard deviation were performed. Pearson and Friedman test were carried out to obtain their correlation status. The relationship between knowledge creation components and the components of organizational innovation (product innovation, process innovation and administrative innovation) using Pearson analysis was significant (P <. 001). Knowledge creation and organizational innovation is at an encouraging level in TUMS.