Arya Atherosclerosis
Volume:13 Issue: 3, May 2017

Patients’ early hospital arrival is among the most important factors in minimizing the complications of myocardial infarction (MI). One of the measures which can reduce prehospital delay in these patients is public education. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of public education through Short Message Service (SMS) on the time from symptom onset to hospital arrival (or onset-to-door time) in patients with MI in Kashan, Iran.
This field trial was done on 131 patients with definite diagnosis of myocardial infarction. Intervention included sending an educational short message about the symptoms of MI and the necessity of referring to hospital immediately. Logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate the predictors of the onset-to-door time.
The results showed no significant difference in demographic characteristics, clinical variables and past medical history between the participants in the two groups. The onset-to-door time was significantly shorter in the intervention group than the control group (240.53 ± 156.60 vs. 291.70 ± 251.23, P= 0.003). Moreover, the onset-to-call time was significantly shorter in the intervention group than the control group (127.06 ± 202.62 vs. 44.32 ± 81.26, P = 0.002). The odds of arrival at hospital in the first 120 minutes after the onset of MI manifestations was 5.8 (2.04-16.8) times higher in the group that received the educational SMS.
As both the onset-to-door and onset-to-call times were shorter in the intervention group, it is suggested to use this method to raise the public awareness of MI symptoms and the need for early referral.

Currently, researchers seek to identify factors related to length of hospital stay in elderly in order to reduce burden on the health system. The importance of either physiological or psychological factors in determining health outcomes has been well stablished; however, the possible contribution of psychosocial factors particularly in elderly patients with diabetes is also of special importance. This study aimed to know what psychosocial variables predicts length of hospital stay in elderly patients with diabetes.
This was a cross-sectional, correlational study conducted on 150 elderly patients from July-October 2015. Convenient sampling method was used to recruit the subjects. The data was collected by a three-part questionnaire consisted of demographic and health related characteristics, 21-item depression anxiety stress scale (DASS-21) and multidimensional scale of perceived social support (MSPSS).
The mean ± standard deviation of length of hospital stay was 15.6 ± 7.7 days. Findings from multiple regression analysis showed that the models of predicting length of hospital stay in subgroups of both women (P = 0.001, F6,77 = 4.45) and men (P = 0.03, F6,71 = 2.43) were significant. The entered variables in subgroups of women and men accounted for 27% and 18% of total variance (R2) of the length of hospital stay, respectively. None of the psychosocial variables in women significantly predicted the lengths of hospital stay. However, one out of three predicting psychosocial variables (i.e. stress) in men significantly predicted the length of hospital stay (β = 0.39, t = 2.1, P = 0.04).
The results emphasized the importance of promoting social support of elderly patients with diabetes, particularly in patients who are women, have higher levels of stress, have higher period of disease and a history of hospitalization in the past 6 months in order to lower length of hospital stay and finally promote health status in elderly patients with diabetes. Further studies regarding the effect of each of these factors on health condition of elderly with diabetes are recommended.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are a set of metabolic disorders affecting heart and blood vessels. Green tea and sour tea (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) have attracted significant attention recently due to their high popularity, nutrient profile and therapeutic effects. The aim of the present study was to compare the effects of green tea and sour tea supplementation on blood pressure and lipid profile in healthy adult men.
This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial included 54 healthy adult men. The participants were randomly assigned to two intervention groups receiving 450 mg green tea or sour tea and one placebo group which consumed 450 mg placebo (maltodextrin) for 6 weeks. Blood pressure, lipid profile, dietary intake and physical activity were measured pre- and post-intervention and compared.
After 6 weeks of intervention, sour tea supplementation led to a significant decrease in systolic blood pressure (SBP) compared with the placebo group. However, we faild to find any significant difference in SBP between green tea and control groups. Also, no significant changes were observed in diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and lipid profile between the three groups. In comparison with baseline, there was a significant increase in the mean level of serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) in green tea and sour tea groups. Also, the interventions resulted in significant decrease in the mean levels of serum total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and DBP in the sour tea group compared with the pre-intervention value.
On the basis of our findings, sour tea supplementation led to decreased SBP in healthy men compared with the placebo, but there was no significant difference between their effects on DBP and lipid profile.

Outdoor air pollution has been considered as one of the most serious health concerns over the last decade. This study aimed to investigate the association between ambient air pollution and cardiovascular hospital admissions.
This investigation was carried out from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2016, in the urban population of Arak, Iran. Daily records of concentrations of air pollutants including particulate matter less than 10 µm (PM10), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), particulate matter less than 2.5 µm (PM2.5), ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO), and sulfur dioxide (SO2) as well as the daily number of hospital admissions due to cardiovascular disease were inquired from the Arak Department of Environment and two major hospitals, respectively. Time-series regression analysis was used to evaluate the effect of the pollutants on cardiovascular hospital admissions with different lag structures, controlling for weather variables, seasonality and long-term time trends, and day of the week.
Each 10 µg/m3 increase in PM10 and NO2 and 1 mg/m3 increase in CO concentrations at lag 0 (day) were significantly associated with an increase of 0.7% (P = 0.004), 3.3% (P = 0.006), and 9.4% (P The results of this study showed that hospital admission for cardiovascular disease is partly related to the levels of ambient air pollutions in Arak. Susceptibility to air pollutants varies by age groups and sex.

Hyperlipidemia is one of the important diseases in pregnancy that causes fetal abnormalities during pregnancy and after the birth. Unfortunately, the usual anti-fat drugs are associated with high morbidity in fetus and due to people''s inclination towards taking herbs, it is required to identify side effects of medicinal herbs in pregnancy. The aim of this study was to present hypolipidemic herbs that would not any complications for mother and fetus.
In this review article, the major electronic databases such as EBSCO, Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), China Network Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Cochrane, Google scholar, MEDLINE, SciVerse, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched using the key words “herbal” and “hyperlipidemia”, “herbal” and “pregnancy” matched by MeSH from their respective inceptions till September, 2016. Total of 1723 publications (145 review articles, 855 original research articles, and 723 abstracts) about the effect of herbals on hyperlipidemia and 682 publications (200 abstracts, 423 original research articles, and 59 review articles) about the effect of herbals in pregnancy were retrieved. At the end, a list of medicinal plants effective on hyperlipidemia alongside their effects on pregnancy was developed. Finally, the plants effective on hyperlipidemia and safe during pregnancy were determined and their dosage, complications, mechanism of action, and side effects were reported.
A total of 110 effective herbs on hyperlipidemia were identified and complications of 95 plants in pregnancy were studied. At last, among the 55 selected plants effective on hyperlipidemia and examined for pregnancy, we reported 12 herbs with their dosage and special considerations that can be used to treat hyperlipidemia during pregnancy.
Some medicinal plants can be used to treat hyperlipidemia during pregnancy without any significant side effects both on mother or fetus.

Acute pancreatitis has different etiologies from biliary stone to metabolic disturbances. Coronary angiography is one of the newly understood etiologies.
CASE REPORT: This paper is about a women suffering from acute pancreatitis after coronary angiography.
Embolization of cholesterol crystals due to vessel wall trauma during coronary angiography as well as contrast medium are responsible for such side effect.