نشریه دانشگاه علوم پزشکی خراسان شمالی
سال دهم شماره 1 (بهار 1397)

Fire fighting is one of the most dangerous jobs, in which workers with bulky clothing, require high energy and aerobic capacity to carry out intensive activities, such as firefighting and rescue. The purpose of this study was to determine the maximum aerobic capacity and its related factors using treadmill test in firefighters of Zahedan.
In this descriptive-analytic cross-sectional study, 40 firefighting personnel of Zahedan were randomly selected and evaluated. The job satisfaction questionnaire was used and aerobic capacity was determined in a treadmill test. Spearman correlation coefficients, Mann-Whitney, and Kruskal-Wallis were used to analyze of the data.
The average maximum oxygen consumed in firefighters was 38.08 ± 14.02 mL/kg/min. There was no significant correlation between age and maximum aerobic capacity yet there was a reversed relationship between the amount of oxygen uptake and work experience (r = -0.386, P 0.014), maximum heart rate (r = -0.846, P The maximum aerobic capacity of the firefighters was higher than the reported values in many other occupational groups, yet it was lower compared with International Association of Fire Fighters recomendation. Therefore, increasing the maximum aerobic power of firefighters with a regular exercise program and pre-employment examinations is recommended to ensure that the physical work capacity is proportionate to the job.

Overweightness and obesity, as the underlying cause of physical and mental health, are prevalent in Iranian girls. The present study aimed at evaluating the association between anthropometric measurements with mental health and self-confidence in Iranian girls.
In this case-control study, 160 girls (47 obese or overweight as the case group and 113 normal weight as the control group) aged 13 to 18 years old were recruited. Adolescents’ anthropometric measurements, including height and weight were measured according to international standards, and Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated. Mental health status and self-confidence were measured using the validated General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and the Rosenberg Self-Confidence questionnaire, respectively.
Overall, 78% of cases and 21% of controls had mental disorders, which significantly differed from each other (P Overweightness was associated with mental health disorders in Iranian girls. However, it seems that obesity was not associated with reduced self-confidence of Iranian girls. Further longitudinal studies with larger number of participants are required to assess the mental effects of obesity in Iranian girls.

Family physician and rural insurance policies have been the second important phase of changes in health services provided in Iranian villages and towns with populations under 20 000. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of family physician program on health and demographic indicators in the North Khorasan province.
This descriptive cross sectional study was conducted during year 2016 in North Khorasan province. Data were collected using a standard form and through census at health centers during 2005 to 2016 and summarized by the excel software.
Most of the indexes showed improving trend in the years after the implementation of the family physician plan. Indicators, such as Crude Birth Rate and Births attended by skilled health personnel, have increased and neonatal mortality rate and maternal mortality rates have decreased.
The status of most health and demographic indicators improved. With correct implementation, constant monitoring, and increased awareness of this plan, effective action can be taken to improve vital horoscope indicators.

Implementing health promoting activities in a hospital results in hospital efficiency, increasing satisfaction, and life quality of patients and employees and improves the conditions of health hospitals in the competitive health market. In a hospital, different dimensions of the problem should initially be identified by extensive review of indicators and standards, global experiences, and expert views and then an appropriate program should be presented. Therefore, the present study aimed at performing a systematic review of indicators for health promotion of hospitals.
The present research was a descriptive- practical study. Sampling in this study was conducted by census due to the limited size of the study population (hospital directors of Tehran University of Medical Sciences). The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire in two parts, including demographic information and factors affecting the implementation of health promoting hospitals. For data analysis, descriptive statistical analysis was performed by using SPSS version 18.
For planning a health promotion project at hospitals, they should pay attention to health promotion, clinical outcomes, holistic health, quality of life, patient satisfaction, equitable and health literacy for health promotion.
Since the hospital responsibility goes beyond providing specialized and clinical services, all hospitals need to review their health-promoting standards, consider international experience and experts, and take appropriate actions to improve their services.

Prioritization in the admission of critical patients at the intensive care unit plays an important role in reducing mortality and hospital stay. The aim of this study was to determine the mortality rate of patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU(of Shahid Chamran Hospital of Ferdows City with Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II.
In this cross-sectional study, 80 patients admitted to the Intensive care unit of Shahid Chamran Hospital of Ferdows were selected through the convenience sampling method, according to the inclusion criteria from January 2016 to January 2017. The tool of the study included demographic questionnaire and APACHE II. The survival or death of patients and the length of ICU stay were recorded. Data were analyzed with the Chi-square and independent t-test using SPSS version 21.
The mortality rate among all patients was 40% and the predicted mortality rate with the APACHE score was 25%. The mean APACHE II score was 14.9 ± 8.4 and 17 ± 4.6 in the surviving patients and the dead patients, respectively. The difference between them was significant (P value The actual mortality percentage was far from the estimated percentage calculated by APACHE II. Conclusions in this regard require further researches.

About 40% of pesticide production in the world is related to herbicides. Herbicides are one of the major contaminants of aquatic ecosystems. Paraquat (PQ) is a noble, non-selective, and solvent-free herbicide in aqueous solutions. In this study, degradation of paraquat was investigated using the UV/H2O2 process.
In the present study, variables, including initial concentration of toxin, contact time, pH, and H2O2 concentration on paraquat removal in a laboratory scale were investigated. The concentration of the residual paraquat was determined using HPLC. The amount of mineralization under optimal conditions was measured by measuring the amount of TOC removal according to the standard method 5310- B.
The optimum removal efficiency of PQ by UV/H2O2 process was 87.75% with H2O2 concentration of 33 mmol/L, pH of 5, initial PQ concentration of 25 mg/L, and reaction time of 120 minutes. Moreover, 77.29% of the Total Organic Carbon (TOC) was removed under similar conditions. In addition, the data was found to follow the first-order kinetics.
Considering the growing use of UV radiation in water treatment processes and the considerable efficiency of UV/ H2O2 process in removing PQ, this method can be proposed for the elimination of PQ after performing cost-benefit analyses.
This research showed that according to purification goals and standards for wastewater treatment, UV/ H2O2 process can be used as a past or final treatment.

Due to the importance of Acrylamide (ACR) neurotoxicity, investigation of the compounds, which can reduce the toxicity of ACR seems to be essential. The antioxidant effects of Silybum marianum (milk thistle) have been shown by different studies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible protective effects of the extract of S. marianum in prevention of the neurotoxicity of ACR in both in vitro and in vivo models.
Acrylamide toxicity in PC12 cells and the protective effect of S. marianum extracts to prevent toxicity were evaluated by the MTT test. Neurotoxicity was induced using administration of ACR (IP) for 11 days in rats. The effect of different doses of ethanolic extracts (200, 400, and 600 mg/kg) of milk thistle was evaluated in ACR-induced neurotoxicity in Wistar rats using gait score examination. In this study, vitamin E (200 mg/kg) was used as a positive control. At the end of the treatment the gait score was evaluated.
The viability of the cells decreased following exposure to different concentrations of ACR for 24 hours (IC50: 5mM). The alcoholic extract of S. marianum at different concentrations after 24 hours of exposure to cells led to a significant decrease in toxicity. Furthermore, ACR at a dose of 50 mg/kg caused significant motor disorders in rats. The alcoholic extract at a dose of 600 mg/kg significantly improved animal movements as compared to the group receiving ACR.
The alcoholic extract of S. marianum significantly reduced the neurotoxicity of ACR in both in vitro and in vivo models, possibly through antioxidant activity.

This study aimed at investigating the strategies adopted by North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences medical and paramedical students in learning English medical vocabulary.
In this study, 124 students of North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences (37 males and 87 females) were asked to answer Schmitt''s (1997) questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed by the SPSS software.
The analysis of the data obtained from this study revealed significant points about the student's vocabulary learning behaviors. First, most of the students used strategy No. 4, "guess meaning from textual context" to discover the meaning of the words and students found strategy number 5, "use a bilingual dictionary", as the most useful. Moreover, the strategy adopted by Iranian students to consolidate the meaning of words, i.e. "verbal repetition", had the highest percentage of usage. The most useful consolidation strategies, according to the results of this study, were "image word's meaning", "take notes in class", and "continue to study words over time".
The findings indicated that guessing the meaning from context and dictionary use strategies were the most popular strategies while asking the teacher for meaning was rarely used. Teachers should teach how to guess the meaning from context and to use dictionary in the class to increase vocabulary knowledge.

Universities and higher education institutions, as knowledge-based institutions, play a key role in the development of countries, and their performance in different domains should be evaluated. Ranking is one of the tools for assessing performance, competitiveness, and success of universities. It is desirable to rank, as one of the key missions of the higher education system, so that, with its implementation, institutions can change on the path to reach their goals.
In this study, the researchers identified the ranking indixes of the Northeast Universities of Medical Sciences, extracted from 119 citations of 27 original codes and categorized to seven branches. For the ranking of the medical sciences university, the main functions were considered. This was done to select appropriate criteria based on content analysis and the most important concepts of each criterion were introduced.
The results showed that the most influential codes of each criterion was standardization, training factors, governance index, research, and quality development index.
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Nowadays, the emergence of allergies, side effects of drugs, antibiotic-resistant strains, and the need of body to antioxidants emphasized the importance of herbal medicines. In the current study, the antibacterial activity and antioxidant properties of methanolic extracts of Jurinea sintenisii Bornm and Bupleurium rotundifolium L., two medical herbs from North Khorasan Province, Iran, were investigated.
Methanolic extracts of the plants were prepared by soaking method and accordingly, their antioxidant activity were assessed by DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl-hydrate) and FRAP (Ferric reducing antioxidant power) methods. Also, the antibacterial activity of the extracts were studied on four bacterial species by well-agar-diffusion method.
The IC50 value of Bupleurium rotundifolium L., Jurinea sintenisii Bornm, and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) was 0.61, 1.71, and 0.35 mg/mL, respectively, while based on the FARP method, the antioxidant activity of Jurinea sintenisii Bornm and Bupleurium rotundifolium L. were 424.390 and 180.488 mM Fe 2 /g, respectively. In addition, both plants had a good antibacterial activity on Gram-positive bacteria; the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of Jurinea sintenisii Bornm against Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Micrococcus luteus was 15.65, 7.81, and 31.25 mg/mL, respectively; while it was 125, 31.25, and 125 for Bupleurium rotundifolium L., respectively.
Bupleurium rotundifolium L. can better inhibit DPPH radicals, while Jurinea sintenisii Bornm can better reduce iron cations; both plants have remarkable antioxidant capacity that can be used in different conditions. In the current study, Jurinea sintenisii Bornm extract had higher antibacterial activities against Staphylococcus aureus (MIC = 7.812 mg/L).

Nanocellulose is an exclusive natural substance extracted from lignocellulosic biomass, which attracted the attention of many researchers regarding its medical application during the recent years, owing to their remarkable physical, chemical, and biological properties such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, and low toxicity. The current study aimed at reviewing cellulose types and their application in medicine including drug delivery, tissue engineering, implants and substitute materials in body, and antibacterial agents.
This review study was conducted searching keywords in online databases such as Wiley Online Library, Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, Springer, and PubMed in English language. A total of 300 full-text articles and abstracts were extracted, which some of them were excluded due to irrelevant contents. Finally, the eligible articles were selected and investigated.
Generally, three types of nanocellulose as nanofiber, nanocrystal, and bacterial celluloses were introduced, which their application in medical products improved mechanical and biological properties, reduced toxicity, etc. Although during the last decade several successful nanocellulose-based products were introduced, a significant improvement in cellulose biomedical materials is expected. Totally, innovation of reliable manufacturing methods for biocompatible cellulose materials with controlled certain properties, functionalization of the surface, and dispersion for pharmaceutical and biomedical applications are required.
Among the different types of nanocellulose, bacterial nanocellulose are widely utilized in recent years for biomedical applications, owing to their low toxicity and high porosity.

Co-culture systems showed that feeder cells have positive effects on the development of fetus before implantation. In the present study, the effects of mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEF) and human embryonic fibroblast (HEF) co-culture on two-cell mouse embryos in the early developmental stage were compared.
Two-cell mouse embryos extracted from the Balb/C mice uterine tubes were divided randomly to three groups as follow: the control group (G1) that cultured alone, the first experimental group (G2 group) that co-cultured with HEF, and the second experimental group (G3 group) that co-cultured with MEF. Also, the embryos in all groups cultured in the same culture medium (MEM-α (under the standard conditions such as incubation under liquid paraffin and daily evaluation for hatching stage. Then, data were analyzed by the Mann-Whitney and Student t test (P The results of the current study showed that the development of embryos in terms of blastulation and hatching rate was significantly increased in the G2 group than the control group (P The current in vitro study showed that the monolayer of MEF is better than that of HEF to develop two-cell mouse embryos.

Chronic ankle instability is the most common residual and debilitating symptoms of acute ankle sprain leading to lose of training and competition in athletes. The current randomized, controlled trial aimed at investigating the effect of a six-week core stability training on dynamic postural control in individuals with chronic ankle instability.
The current single-blind, clinical trial was conducted on 30 people who were assigned randomly into the experimental and control groups. A pretest-posttest control group design was used to evaluate the intervention. The six-week intervention (core stability exercises) used for experimental group and both groups underwent conventional physiotherapy. Before and immediately after the intervention, the pain and function were evaluated in the subjects using the visual analogous scale (VAS) as well as the ankle and foot abilities scale (FAAM).Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) compared outcomes between the groups. The paired samples t test compared the results within the groups. P Results showed a significant differences in the mean of pain and performance between the experimental and control groups in post-test analyses (P It can be concluded that core stability training can improve dynamic balance in patients with chronic ankle sprain. Therefore, this type of training is recommended as a therapeutic option for such patients.

While technology has developed and extended, presence and role of manpower force in industrial environments has become bolder so possibility of work hazards and accidents has increased. Therefore, the importance of implementing safety principles and the need for a safety culture has also increased. This study investigated promotion of safety culture by emphasizing on training effect on using individual protection instruments in a casting industry.
This study was analytical descriptive and was done during year 2015. In this study, first, individual’s safety culture was investigated and safety culture level was assessed in twelve dimensions. Then, management and educational proceedings were performed. Next, effectiveness of interventions was analyzed through before and after study by using some statistical tests, such as paired T test correlation with the SPSS 19 and Excel software.
Average score of individual’s safety culture was 243. After using personal protection equipment, twelve dimensions of safety culture obtained a score of 20/21, which was lower than the favorable score. Also, safety training with a score of 13/02 was lower than the favorable score. Indeed, score of using personal protection equipment and safety training reached the desired level after score 26/08 interventions. Average score of individual’s safety culture after interventions was 281. Effectiveness was illustrated by the probability score (p=0.015).
Educational interventions, such as holding training classes by removing unsafe conditions in the organization, can improve and enhance the level of safety culture.

With better understanding of the various structural and biochemical changes during menopause in the liver, as well as the effect of exercises on such parameters, liver changes and diseases can be managed during this period. Therefore, the current study aimed at investigating the effect of a 10-week endurance training program on changes in tissue and stereological structure of the liver parenchyma, as well as the serum levels of cholesterol and triglyceride in ovariectomized rats.
A total of 20 rats were randomly divided to four groups as healthy control, healthy training, ovariectomy, and training ovariectomy. Groups received the training program three weeks after the surgery. The training protocol was a 10-week treadmill-running. The rat liver and blood samples were taken 48 hours after the last training session.
Based on the study findings, ovariectomy damaged the tissue structure, increased liver parenchyma volume (P It seems that endurance training improves the function and structure of the damaged liver following ovariectomy; therefore, the arrangement and morphology of hepatocytes and parenchymal liver cells in the training ovariectomy group were more normal than those of the ovariectomy group.