Shiraz Emedical Journal
Volume:21 Issue: 2, Feb 2020

As some species of the Salvia family have been shown to exert antidepressant-like activity, the aim of this study was to investigate the antidepressant effects of the aqueous and hydroalcoholic extracts of Salvia mirzayanii and Salvia macrosiphon, two endemic species of salvia in Iran.

In total, 148 eight-week-old male albino mice (25 - 35 g) were used to carry out the forced swimming test. The effects of different doses of the aqueous (100 - 1800 mg/kg) and hydroalcoholic extracts (75 - 900 mg/kg) of Salvia mirzayanii and Salvia macrosiphon on immobility, climbing, and swimming behaviors were examined. Fluoxetine and imipramine were used as control drugs. The effects of extracts on locomotor activity were also evaluated.

High doses of the aqueous extracts of both plants and hydroalcoholic extract of Salvia mirzayanii produced a significant reduction in immobility and increase in swimming compared to the control group. The hydroalcoholic extract of Salvia macrosiphon did not show any significant effect on immobility and swimming. Only some doses of hydroalcoholic extract of Salvia mirzayanii and aqueous extract of Salvia macrosiphon showed a significant increase in climbing behavior. The aqueous and hydroalcoholic extract of both plants caused a decrease in spontaneous activity.

The findings of this study indicated that the aqueous and hydroalcoholic extracts of Salvia mirzayanii and the aqueous extract of Salvia macrosiphon had antidepressant-like activity. In addition, the hydroalcoholic extract of Salvia mirzayanii and the aqueous extracts of Salvia macrosiphon were more effective fractions of these plants. These endemic Iranian Salvia species may have potential therapeutic effects for depression.

Today, electrosurgical units are an indispensable part of surgeries. Yet, inappropriate application of this equipment can result in dire consequences for both the patient and the surgical team.

The present study aimed at developing the psychometric properties of a checklist to evaluate the application of electrosurgery units by operating room personnel.

The present methodological study was performed in two stages: first, the items of the checklist were developed based on a literature review and search in relevant websites; and second, the psychometric properties of the checklist were measured using the methods to evaluate face, content, and construct validities. The reliability was measured through an assessment of the internal consistency of the checklist, based on the degree of inter-rater agreement. To assess construct validity, the researchers compared known groups; 40 surgeries were observed in two university hospitals in the intervention and control groups.

The content validity index (CVI) of all the items was over 0.79. The average CVI (S-CVI/Ave) of the checklist with 32 items was 0.97. The results of the Wilcoxon test showed that the posttest performance scores of the personnel in the intervention group were significantly higher than their pretest scores (P value = 0.005). The internal consistency (the Kuder-Richardson coefficient) of the checklist was 0.66.

Due to the great importance of appropriate application of electrosurgery units, a reliable instrument is needed to assess personnel’s performance in this area. The results of the current study showed that the present instrument is sufficiently valid and reliable to evaluate the application of electrosurgical units by the operating room personnel.

Many people facing life difficulties are unable to sort out these problems.

A study was designed to determine students’ life skills at the Iran University of Medical Sciences (IUMS).

This cross-sectional study was conducted at IUMS in 2016 - 17 with a sample of 342 students. A questionnaire was used with multi-choice questions from poor to high skills. Latent class models were applied for data analysis using Mplus. Bayesian information criterion (BIC) and Bootstrap likelihood ratio tests were used to determine the number of classes.

A two-class model had the best fit since the BIC had the lowest amount. Almost 76% and 24% of the cases entered the high and moderate skill classes of the model, respectively. The level of education (LOE) was the only significant variable (P = 0.004) for classifying the students.

The model could predict the probability of high life skilled students. Also, LOE had a high impact on the probability of high life skills.

Systemic lupus erythematosus is an autoimmune and multi-organ disease. Cardiovascular involvement is one of the most important causes of death in these patients. In some studies, it has been observed that the prolongation of the QTc interval is a prognostic factor in cardiovascular failure.

In this study, we intended to assess the role of drugs used in treating patients with lupus on the prolonged QTc interval.

This descriptive-analytical study was carried out on 150 patients with SLE referring to Rheumatology Clinics in the City of Arak during the years 2014 and 2015. Then, ECGs were taken from all patients in two phases, first on admission and second six hours later. The QTc interval was determined using Bazett’s formula. The results were analyzed using SPSS version 16 software.

The mean age of the studied patients was 35.36 ± 11.8 years and 80.7% were females. An anti-Ro/SSA antibody and treatment with hydroxychloroquine were significantly associated with the prolongation of QTc in patients; however, the duration and dosage of hydroxychloroquine did not affect the QTc interval.

Based on the obtained results, hydroxychloroquine may influence the cardiac condition of patients; thus, it needs more studies in this field.

The infants born before the 37th week of gestation are considered as preterm. Premature birth may have several consequences including low birth weight (LBW). Infants born with the weight below 2500 g are known as LBW. Birth weight can be a proper characteristic of healthy neonate. Integrated interventions, including massage, simulate uterus environment for direct growth of an infant through the target route; hence, such interventions can be beneficial to the premature infant.

Therefore, the current study aimed at comparing the effects of massage therapy with or without physical exercises on the weight of premature infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

The current randomized, clinical trial was conducted on 45 neonates born at 30th to 36th weeks of gestation with the weight below 2500 g admitted to the NICU of Shohada Hospital in Bandar Lengeh, Iran in 2017. Infants were classified into three groups of 15 as massage, massage with physical exercise, and control. Infants in the massage group were massaged with olive oil in the morning and noon after feeding. The massage took 15 minutes and was repeated for five consecutive days. The massage with exercise group received extension and flexion for five minutes after the massage. The control group received no treatment intervention. All the infants weighed the day before as well as the 5th day of the intervention using a fixed scale. The weights were recorded and analyzed using SPSS version 22. Paired and independent samples t-tests and analysis of variance were used for data analysis. The P value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The study protocol was registered in the Iranian Registry of Randomized Clinical Trials (ID: IRCT20170520034039N3).

The three groups were homogenous in terms of birth weight, gestational age, and newborn age. After the 5th day of the intervention, the results of the two groups of massage and exercise-massage were compared with that of the control. It was observed that those two groups gained more weight in comparison with the control group. More weight gain was also observed in the exercise-massage group compared with the massage group, but the differences were not statistically significant (P = 0.65).

The results of the current study showed that massage with or without exercises may lead to gaining weight in LBW infants. Massage may lead to weight gain; therefore, knowledge about this issue might be useful in the weight gain of the neonates.

Elder abuse is a serious and dangerous form of domestic violence that is of particular concern to communities and healthcare professionals. Since health care providers have a central position for detecting elder abuse in hospitals, this study was conducted to determine the barriers in identifying elder abuse among health care providers and the effect of intervention to deal with the problem.

The participants completed the health care providers’ awareness on reporting the elder abuse questionnaire. Then, the interventional study was conducted on 235 health care providers at two teaching hospitals of Babol University of Medical Sciences. The intervention was conducted as a one-day workshop by two professors for four hours and included theoretical and practical subjects. Two months after implementing the protocol for detecting and screening elder abuse in hospital wards, the health care providers completed three questionnaires, including the awareness questionnaire, the potential barriers to assessing elder abuse in hospitals, and the health care providers’ implementation problems in detecting and reporting elder abuse.

The mean health care providers’ awareness to detect elder abuse improved significantly after intervention (8.51 ± 2.81 vs. 15.53 ± 2.39; P < 0.001). The challenges of abuse detection were; lack of awareness about elder abuse and its prevalence (54.8%), fear of legal consequences (51.9%), and fear of communication problems between older adults and their family (53.6%).

More frequent and pragmatic education is necessary to strengthen the practical knowledge of health care providers in regards to the detection of elder abuse.

Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a common cyclic disorder in women, which is characterized by multiple emotional or physical symptoms. The protective effect of vegetable intake against PMS was not completely investigated. Thus, in the current study, we compared vegetable intake in nurses with and without PMS.

In this case-control study, 307 female nurses with PMS (n = 156) and without PMS (n = 151) were participated from eight hospitals affiliated to the Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran. This study was performed from March to October 2014. Anthropometric measurements were performed for all nurses using standard methods. International physical activity questionnaire (IPAQ) was used for the physical activity assessment. The premenstrual symptoms screening tool (PSST) was applied to identify women who suffer from PMS. A validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was used for dietary intake measurement during the past years.

Across increasing total vegetable quartiles, individuals had a significantly higher energy intake (P < 0.001). A significant difference was found in job duration, working shift, and physical activity, according to quartiles of total vegetable intakes (P < 0.05). A significant difference was observed in the mean intake of cruciferous vegetables between cases and controls (P = 0.001). Healthy women had significantly more cruciferous vegetable intakes compared to PMS women (6.8 ± 3.9 vs 4.0 ± 3.3). After adjusting for the confounders such as total vegetables, cruciferous vegetables, green leafy vegetables, dark yellow vegetables, and other vegetables, subjects in the highest quartile of cruciferous vegetables had lower odds (ratio OR) of PMS compared with those in the lowest-quartile (P = 0.002; OR = 0.33; CI = 0.16 - 0.67).

Our findings showed that higher consumption of cruciferous vegetables might be associated with a lower OR of PMS.