Modern Care Journal
Volume:17 Issue: 2, Apr 2020

Oxidative stress is a process created by free radicals at the cellular level and can lead to structural damage in different parts of the cell. However, training (T) and medicinal plants with antioxidant effects can prevent these damages.

The aim of present study was to investigate the effect of T with coriander seed (CS) consumption on caspase-3 and cytochrome-C in the heart tissue of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-poisoned rats.

In this experimental study, 35 male Wistar rats were divided into 7 groups of 5 rats, including: 1) healthy control, 2) sham, 3) T, 4) 500 mg/kg CS, 5) 1000 mg/kg CS, 6) T+500 mg/kg CS, and 7) T+1000 mg/kg CS. During eight weeks, groups 2 - 7 received 1 mmol/kg H2O2 peritoneally for three times per week; groups 4 - 7 received CS at given doses. Also, groups 3, 6 and 7 performed T three days per week. Data analysis was performed using independent sample t-test, two-way analysis of variance and Bonferroni’s post-hoc tests. Significance level was set at 0.05.

H2O2 poisoning significantly increased caspase-3 and cytochrome-C compared to the sham group (P = 0.001); T and CS significantly decreased caspase-3 and cytochrome-C (P = 0.001), and interactive effects of T and CS were significant compared to the sham group (P ≥ 0.05). In addition, 1000 mg/kg CS had more effect on decrease of caspase-3 and cytochrome-C than 500 mg/kg CS (P ≥ 0.05).

T and CS consumption appear to have interactive effects on decrease of caspase-3 and cytochrome-C in the heart tissue of rats poisoned with H2O2; also effects of CS can be dose-dependent.

The metabolic syndrome is associated with increased risks of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes mellitus.

As alternative medicine emerged worldwide, this study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of Berberis vulgaris (barberry fruit) in the treatment of metabolic syndrome.

This is a randomized, placebo controlled, double-blind, trial with two treatment arms. A total of 60 patients with metabolic syndrome were randomly assigned to receive barberry or placebo tablets (one 550 mg tablets per day for 3 weeks). Total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, triglyceride, fasting blood sugar and hematocrit were measured before and after 21 days of treatment. Data were analyzed using Mann-Whitney U and paired t-test by SPSS (V.15) software. P-values < 0.05 were considered to be significant.

In the barberry group, there was a significant decrease in systolic blood pressure (pre-treatment 123.1 ± 13.1 vs. post-treatment 117.7 ± 13.2, P-value = 0.04), waist circumference (pre-treatment 105.9 ± 7.5 vs. post-treatment105 ± 7.7, P-value = 0.04) and hematocrit (pre-treatment 45 ± 3.6 vs. post-treatment 43.5 ± 2.7, P-value = 0.004) but other parameters did not change significantly. Serum cholesterol was significantly reduced after intervention in the barberry group (-17 ± 61.1 vs. 23.6 ± 45, P-value = 0.02).

We observed a significant effect of barberry on systolic blood pressure and waist circumference. Further studies with larger samples are needed to longitudinally investigate the effect of metabolic syndrome.

Depression is one of the major mood disorders that leads to development of type 2 diabetes in pre-diabetic patients . Any intervention s alleviate the symptoms of depression in these patients can significantly help preventing type 2 diabetes.

The effects of pure extract powder of Aloe vera on depression in prediabetic patients were examined.

A double blind randomized controlled trial study was conducted on 72 prediabetic patients. After sampling the patients were allocated to three groups (Aloe vera 300 Mg (AL300), Aloe vera 500 Mg (AL500) and Placebo (PL). The participants in the two first groups received pure extract powder of Aloe Vera capsules twice a day in the morning and evening for eight weeks . In addition, they completed Beck Depression inventory before and eight weeks sfter the intervention . After confirming the normality of the mean depression score variable by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, the data was analyzed using ANOVA, Chi-square, and paired t-test.

After the 8th week of intervention, the mean depression scores in the 500 Mg aloe vera (AL500) group decreased significantly (P = 0.033).

Aloe vera extract powder (AL500) considerably alleviated depression mean scores in prediabetic patients during an eight weeks period.

Sexual dysfunction is one of the most common complications of spinal cord injury with potentially negative impacts on sexual satisfaction.

This study aimed to compare the effects of app-based and lecture-based sexual education on the sexual satisfaction of disabled men with spinal cord injury.

A randomized clinical trial was conducted on disabled men with spinal cord injury in 2019. The participants were selected using a convenience sampling method from the Welfare Organization of Birjand city. A demographic form and Larson’s Sexual Satisfaction Questionnaire were completed before the intervention. Then, the participants were randomly assigned to two groups (app-based and lecture-based groups). In the app-based group, the sexual education content was prepared as an Android app that was accessible for the group participants for two months. Similar content was communicated to the lecture-based group in the form of lectures during ten 60- to 90-min sessions over two months. Six weeks after the end of the intervention, Larson’s Questionnaire was completed again for both groups. Data were analyzed using the Fisher’s exact test, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, paired t-test, and independent t-test. The significance level was set at P < 0.05.

In both groups, the mean scores of sexual satisfaction significantly increased after the intervention (P < 0.05). Nevertheless, the mean change in the sexual satisfaction score was significantly more in the app-based group (18.16 ± 3.31) than in the lecture-based group (7.52 ± 4.59) (P < 0.05).

App-based sexual education can be more effective than lecture-based sexual education in improving the sexual satisfaction of disabled men with spinal cord injury.

Level of evidence (LoE) is a hierarchical system for classifying the quality of studies.

This study examined the factors affecting the number of citations to clinical articles related to the treatment of human diseases that have included the LoE in their abstracts.

A total of 3,683 therapeutic articles published between 2011 and 2013 that mentioned the LoE in their abstract and were indexed in PubMed and Web of Science were retrieved. The LoE and type of study design were extracted from abstracts and other bibliographic and citation information was obtained from PubMed and Web of Science databases. Independent samples t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation test and linear regression were used to analyze the relationship between the variables.

Articles with level I evidence had the lowest frequency (290, 7.9%) and articles with level IV had the highest frequency (1,831, 49.7%). Five-year citations ranged from zero to 215, with a median of 13 citations. The median values of five-year citations from level I to level V were 20.5, 15, 14, 11, and 6 citations, respectively. Evaluation of the models to examine the factors affecting the number of citations showed that the change of evidence-level from level I to V reduced the number of citations (P < 0.001).

Journal Impact Factor, LoE, number of references, number of authors, number of title words, number of pages, article type and subject category accounted for about 25% of the variation in five-year citations of clinical papers. Clinical papers with high LoE (levels I & II) received more citations over a five-year period than those with lower LoE (levels III & IV).

Asthma is a disease with chronic airway inflammation, whereby the airway hyper-reactivity increases. Oxidative stress
balance plays a critical role in asthma.

The present study aimed to evaluate serum glutathione peroxidase (GPX) enzyme activity and selenium levels in patients with asthma.

This case-control study was conducted on 64 children aged 1 - 5 years, 32 subjects as controls, and 32 subjects with asthma
who were selected randomly. The serum GPX activity and selenium levels of the studied subjects were determined spectrophotometrically.

The present study showed that serum GPX activity and Selenium (Se) levels of patients with asthma were significantly lower
than those of controls (P < 0.001, P < 0.05, respectively).

Reduction of serum GPX activity and Se concentration in patients could have a potential role in the pathogenesis and
modulation of asthma. Micronutrient supplementation of Se may be beneficial in asthma.

Thiamine deficiency can happen after gastrectomydue to Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) thatleads to Wernicke encephalopathy; it is characterized bythe triad- ophthalmoplegia, ataxia and confusion.

A 52 year old male patient presented with confusion, diplopia, amnesia and ataxia to theRazihospital at Birjandin Iran. Cranial nerves and neurological examinations were normal. MRI, LP and abdominal sonography were also normal. Due to normal para-clinic procedure and symptom progression being observed, the patient was treated with oral and IV vitamin B1. After 3 days of treatment the patient’s condition improved and after one week he made a complete recoverywith no complaints of confusion, diplopia, ataxiaoramnesia.

In patients with a history of surgery and mental status changes, ataxia and ophthalmoplegia should be considered from the outset of treatment because certain irreversible neurological complaints could arise due to Korsakoff syndrome.