مجله دانشکده پزشکی اصفهان
پیاپی 588 (هفته چهارم مهر 1399)

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is one of the most common functional gastrointestinal disorders in which stress plays a central role. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of compassion-focused therapy (CFT) on severity of perceived stress in patients with IBS.

 The research was performed in the form of a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design with control and experimental groups. Statistical population included all patients with IBS referred to the functional Gastroenterology Clinic of Psychosomatic Research Center of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran, in 2016. Based on the research purpose, 30 patients with IBS were selected through available sampling method, and then randomly divided into two equal experimental and control groups. CFT were held for the experimental group in 8 sessions that any session consisted of 90 minutes. Patients in control group were in waiting list, and they only received routine medical treatment. In order to assess perceived severity of stress, Cohen Perceived Stress Scale-14 items (PSS 14) was used. Data were analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) method via SPSS software.

 CFT with medication had more effect on perceived stress reduction in patients with IBS than mere drug treatment (F =5.031; P < 0.01).

 CFT can be used to reduce perceived stress in patients with IBS, and this approach is justified for the Iranian population.

The aim of this study was to investigate the sick leave and its causes among the health care workers in Alzahra hospital, Isfahan, Iran.

 The present study was a cross-sectional study conducted at Alzahra hospital in 2018. Subjects were staff of hospital that referred to trusted forensic physician for sickness certification confirmation by census method in one year. After obtaining informed consent, a checklist of demographic and occupational variables, causes of sick leave and confirmation or not was completed by forensic physician. The data were entered into SPSS software, and analyzed using chi-square and independent t tests.

 192 sickness certifications were enrolled the study. The most prevalent sick leave causes of hospital staff were respiratory (21.4%), musculoskeletal (18.8%), gynecology (16.1 %), gastrointestinal (15.1%), and accidents (cuts and fracture) (8.9%) causes, respectively. There was a significant relationship between gender and work experience with the reasons of sick leave (P < 0.05). There was no significant relationship between age, marital status, number of children, education, type of job, type of shift, department, and duration of sick leave with the causes of sick leave (P > 0.05).

The most prevalent sick leave causes among Alzahra hospital staff were respiratory and musculoskeletal disorders. The male staff suffered mainly from musculoskeletal and gastrointestinal problems, hence female staff often suffered from respiratory and gynecological disorders. The least prevalent sick leave causes were accidents (cuts and fracture), and ophthalmological and cardiovascular diseases.

There has not been yet reports regarding the protective effect of vitamin C on spermatocytes in epileptic rats. The present study aimed to evaluate the protective role of vitamin C on numbers and structure spermatocytes in rats with pentylentetrazol-induced epilepsy.

 Forty male rats were randomly divided into five groups of 8, and were kindled with pentylentetrazol (40 mg/kg). The first group (sham) received normal saline. The second, third, and forth experimental groups treated with 125, 250, and 500 mg/kg of vitamin C, respectively. The negative control group was given only normal saline via intraperitoneal injection. All rats were then deep anesthetized and sacrificed, and their right testis were dissected. Histological sections were prepared, and stained with hematoxylin-eosin (H/E). The number of spermatocytes in sections were counted, and morphological changes were studied using histology and immunohistochemical methods. Data were analyzes using ANOVA test to determine significant differences between cases and controls.

 There was a significant decrease in spermatocytes numbers in epileptic rats compared with intact control group (P < 0.001). The spermatocytes significantly increased in rats, which received 250 mg/kg vitamin C compared to those received 125 mg/kg vitamin C or normal saline (P < 0.010). The morphological changes such as dense nuclei and more acidophilic cytoplasm were observed in epileptic rats compared to control groups.</div>

 The present study showed that vitamin C supplementation would protect spermatocytes by decreasing the neurotoxin effects of pentylentetrazol in epileptic rats.