مجله دانشگاه علوم پزشکی اراک
سال بیست و سوم شماره 6 (پیاپی 148، بهمن و اسفند 1399)

Background & Aim:

Phonological awareness skills as part of phonological processing skills can predict the degree of success in acquiring written and reading skills. Phonological awareness skills are one of the areas of concern in children with severe and profound hearing loss, which has been less studied in these children. So the aim of this study was to evaluate these skills in cochlear implant children and compare them with their normal counterparts.

Studied population included 25 CI children and 25 normal children aged 4-6 years, who were monolingual Persian speakers. There were selected CI children and the normal children from the Rehabilitation Center of Naqmeh and the Kindergartens in Mashhad respectively. After selecting each participant, test of phonological awareness was administered. In order to compare the mean scores of each of the subtests, data were analyzed using SPSS software and Mann-Whitney U test.
Ethical Considerations:This study was registered with the Ethics Committee of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences under code IR.MUMS.REC.1396.263  .

Mean scores of cochlear implant children were significantly lower than normal children in all phonological awareness subscales (P<0.05).

In both age groups, normal children showed better performance than the cochlear implanted children in the phonological awareness test. Weakness of phonological awareness skills in cochlear implant children seems to be associated with hearing deprivation before cochlear implantation, which requires to speed up surgery at an early age and implementation of an effective rehabilitation program.

  The genus of Lactococcus lactis belonging to the lactic acid bacteria (LAB) group, is a gram positive, faculative anaerobic, non-spore forming and non-motile bacterium. The aims of this paper are to introduce Lactic acid bacteria especially non-pathogenic, non-invasive and safe Lactococcus lactis, to study the previous studies and to investigate the advantages, limitations, promotion methods and future prospects of oral vaccine based on this bacterium as a promising strategy for vaccine production and prevention of some infectious diseases.

In this review article, 62 articles related to Lactococcus lactis and its application in producing oral vaccines were collected via data bases such as PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus since 1981-2020.

Lactococcus lactis, as a safe microorganism (GRAS) widely used in the food industry. Live recombinant Lactococcus lactis as a "biologic drug" is orally administered as one of the live vaccines expressing viral and bacterial antigens.

Recombinant Lactococcus-based vector can be suitable substitutes for live attenuated vaccines and can be considered as a safe and food-grade host for producing the desired products of human consumption over other systems. It also has a high potential for vaccine delivery, especially through mucosal methods to prevent or treat certain diseases.

Traditional Post-operative rehabilitation programs focus on quadriceps strengthening and knee range of motion. Hip muscles weakness is although evident in patients with knee osteoarthritis. The aim of this trial is to investigate the effect of adding early hip muscles strengthening exercises to traditional rehabilitation program on pain, range of motion, quality of life and physical function in patients wih unilateral Total knee Arthroplasty (TKA).

The intervention started from second day after surgery and continued for ten sessions, three times a week on twenty four participants in Control and Intervention groups. Both groups recieved Transcutaneous Electrical Neural Stimulation (TENS) and Infra Red (IR) and then started doing exersice. The control group did knee extensor and flexor strengthening and range of motion exersices. The intervention group did hip strengthening exercises in addition. Outcome measures include pain, knee flexion & extension range of motion, quality of life using Short Form 36, Timed up and go test, step test, six minute walk test and strength of hip and knee muscles.
Ethical Considerations: Research Ethics Code: 1396.9511340012 and  Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials Code: IRCT 20150314021459N6.

All of outcome measures improved in both groups. Pain (P=0/03), knee extension range of motion (P=0/007), Timed up and go test (P=0/033) improvement was significantly higher in intervention group than control group. The Strength of knee flexors (P=0/023), hip flexors (P=0/040), hip extensors (P=0/028), hip adductors (P=0/040), hip external rotators (P=0/047) was significantly better improved in intervention group.

According to the results, both treatments could be effective on patients with unilateral total knee arthroplasty. Considering better result of some of outcome measures in intervention group, addition of hip strengthening exercises to knee exercises can be useful.

Adherence of diabetic patients to the recommended treatment regimens is one of the most important challenges in diabetes control. Dietary adherence is low in pregnant women with gestational diabetes. Non-compliance can reduce the beneficial effects of treatment, symptoms and signs, increase complications or even death. Therefore, further research on the determinants of follow-up behaviors is essential.

This descriptive-analytical study on 260 women with gestational diabetes treated with diet referred to health centers and Imam Reza (AS), Ghaem and Umm Al-Banin Hospitals in Mashhad was performed by sampling of possible, multi-stage, class and cluster methods. Data were collected using a demographic and pregnancy profile questionnaire and a researcher-made questionnaire of adherence to treatment regimen. They were then analyzed by inferential statistical and regression tests and by SPSS software version 16.
Ethical considerations: This study was registered in the ethics code of IR.MUMS.NURSE.REC.1397.091 in the ethics committee of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences.

The results of regression showed that dietary adherence score, blood sugar monitoring score and exercise adherence score had a significant and positive effect on total treatment adherence score(P<0.001). The results also showed that education(P = 0.044), Unwantedness(P = 0.006) or unplanned pregnancy(P = 0.21) had a positive and significant effect on the overall score of treatment adherence. Women with a history of diabetes in first-degree relatives(P= 0.010) and women with a history of miscarriage(P = 0.021) Had a higher score of total treatment adherence.

Therefore, according to the present study, Some demographic and pregnancy characteristics can affect the rate of adherence to treatment regimen in women with gestational diabetes. Health care providers need to pay attention to the role of these factors in improving adherence to patientschr('39') treatment regimens.

In microbial contamination of food and water, identification of trace amounts of contaminating bacteria has always been an interest and concern for researchers. The most common way to remove of this problem is culture-based methods in order to increase and enrichment of bacteria samples, which extends the bacterial detection process to several hours or days. One of the smart strategies to solve this problem is concentrated of bacteria using physical methods. The aim of the present study was to enrich of Vibrio cholerae as the most important water polluting germs using filtration method and evaluation of its function by culture method and two detection methods ATP and PCR assay.

A certain concentration of V. Cholerae was added into a specified volume of sterile water, artificially. Then, the bacteria were extracted from the medium and filtered using 0.450µm separable filters. Finally, the performance of the pre- and post-filtration process was compared using bacterial cell culture (CFU), ATP and PCR assay with the specific primers for the ompW gene of V. cholerae.

The results of this work showed that this method shows high efficiency and recovery performance. So that, samples had no positive response before filtration in both methods, but after filtration in isolated and recovered samples, the presence of bacteria was detected in both ATP and PCR methods.

In conclusion, this strategy can detect V. cholerae in non-culture and in the least amount of time in contaminated water samples.

Knowing the position of the Mental Foramen is important in many cases, such as anesthesia injection and periapical surgery in the anterior region of mandible. On the other hand, the existence of diversity in the location of mental foramen can cause problems during surgical operations in this area.

This study was performed by anatomical landmarks based on panoramic radiographic images obtained in Bandar Abbas. In this study, 450 panoramic radiographic images of men and women were evaluated. All images were converted to JPEG format and imported into Auto CAD (2014) in real size. Data were analyzed using SPSS 16 software and one way ANOVA, Student t-test and Chi Square tests were done.

The mean distance of the mental foramen to the lower border of the mandible was 10.53 mm and 10.51 mm, respectively. The mean distance of the chin hole to the posterior margin of the lower jaw was 49.36 mm and 48.72 mm on the left, respectively. The mean distance of mental foramen to the midline of the right and left was 27.27 and 26.27 mm, respectively. In most cases, the anterior-posterior position of this hole was also symmetric with respect to anatomical landmarks.

The results of this study showed that the most common anterior-posterior position of the mental foramen is between the apices of the first and second premolar teeth and the most common shape of mental foramen is oval using panoramic images.

Weight gain and vitamin D deficiency are associated with increased systemic inflammation and chronic diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of regular Pilates training associated with VitaminD intake on Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)  and  Interleukin-10 (IL-10) levels in men with overweight.

This quasi-experimental study was conducted in 50 overweight men with 45-55 years. Volunteers were firstly selected through convenience sampling and were divided into Pilates training, Pilates training +vitaminD supplementation, vitamin D supplementation (combined), and control groups (13 people in each group). The Pilates training program was performed for 8 weeks (with the intensity of 50-75% of reserve heart rate, 3 sessions/week). The supplement and combined groups also received 50000 units of oral vitamin D weekly for 8 weeks. Serum levels of variables were determined using ELISA method.The data were analyzed by paired t test, one wayANOVA and Kruskal Wallis tests at the significant level of less than 0.05.

Ethical Considerations:

This study with research ethics code IR.IAU.BABOL.REC.1398.088 has been approved by research ethics committee at Islamic Azad University, Babol Branch, Iran

The results showed that 8 weeks of Pilates training, vitamin D intake and the combined intervention were associated with a significant increase in IL-10 (P<0.001) and decreased in TNF-α (P<0.001). In addition, combination intervention was associated with more changes in these variables compared to the other two interventions but in the exercise group, the decrease in TNF-α level was more than vitaminD group (p=0.012).

It seems that in the overweight status with low levels of vitamin D, anti-inflammatory effects of each Pilates training,  vitaminD supplementation interventions and a combination of the two methods can be attributed in part to up-regulation IL-10 and TNF-α reduction  but the effectiveness of combined intervention on the development of inflammation was greater than on the other two interventions. Also, the effect of Pilates training on reducing TNF-α is stronger than vitaminD supplementation.

Patients with symptoms of gastrointestinal disorders and ulcers constitute a large number of patients referred to general and internal clinics and preliminary studies of gastric ulcer have shown the role of psychological factors in the production of susceptible gastric ulcer. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy on pain intensity and stress coping styles in patients with gastric ulcer.

The present study was an intervention with a pre-test, post-test and follow-up design with a control group. The statistical population was all patients with gastric ulcer referred to public health centers in Tehran in the winter of 2018. Among the volunteers participating in the study, 30 patients with gastric ulcer were selected by convenience sampling method and randomly assigned to the experimental group and the control group (15 people in each group). Measurement tools included McGill (2000) Pain Intensity Questionnaire and Andler & Parker (1990) coping styles. Subjects in the first experimental group participated in 8 sessions of 90-minute cognitive-behavioral therapy. The subjects in the control group did not receive psychological treatment during this period. For data analysis, mixed analysis of variance with repeated measures and post hoc tests were used.

Ethical considerations:

This study with the ID IR.IAU.K.REC.1397.85 has been approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Islamic Azad University, Karaj Branch.

The results showed that cognitive-behavioral therapy led to an increase in problem-oriented coping style (P<0.01) and a decrease in emotion-focused coping styles (P<0.01) and avoidance (P<0.01). Also, the mean scores of pain intensity decreased compared to the control group (P<0.01).

It can be concluded that cognitive-behavioral therapy was effective on pain intensity and stress coping styles in patients with gastric ulcer.

Despite the anti-cancer and antimicrobial effect of licorice extract and lavender essential oil, some factor such as low bioavailability and biodegradable, limit the use of them as a therapeutic treatment. Using of nanoparticles is one of the ways to overcome these limitations. The aim of this study was to investigate the anti-proliferative effects of nanoemulsion containing licorice extract and lavender essential oil against cancer cells and evaluate its antimicrobial properties in the In Vitro environment.

In this experimental study nano-emulsion containing rosemary and peppermint essential oils was synthesized by spontaneous emulsification. The cell toxicity of nanoemulsion was studied using the MTT method against HepG2 and SK-MEL-3 cell lines. The antibacterial activity of nanoemulsion was determined using four bacterial strains (Bacillus subtilis, Stapphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) method.

The results of MTT test on HepG2 cells showed that concentrations of 630, 1250 and 2500 μg/ml nanoemulsions caused toxicity to the cell and caused the death of more than 50% of the cells (IC50=401μg/ml ((p<0.05). Evaluation of SK-MEL3 cells showed that with the exception of 75 μg of nanoemulsion, other concentrations caused the death of more than 50% of the cells (IC50=82μg/ml ((p<0.05). The MIC results revealed that the nanoemulsion had a significant antibacterial activity.

The nanoemulsion containing lavender essential oil and licorice extract had antibacterial and anti-proliferative activities against cancer cells. The results of this study indicated that nanoemulsification of lavender essential oil and licorice extract can enhance their biological effect and it can be used as a drug formulation.

Defrasirox (Exjade) is an iron chelating drug used in patients with beta thalassemia major. Oxidative stress is one of the most important causes of nephrotoxicity and its progression. Defecirox due to oxidative stress and increased cell apoptosis causes dysfunction of renal tubules and renal toxicity. In this study, according to the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, the effect of vitamin C on kidney damage caused by defrasirox was investigated.

This study was performed on 30 Wistar rats in three groups, control group, Deferasirox group and Deferasirox with vitamin C group. Inorder to induce the nephrotoxicity, intra-peritoneum injection of deferasirox(75 mg/kg/day) has been used. After taking plasma from blood samples of the rats, the determination of  values of [17]Cr], [Na+], [K+], [Mg+], osmolality , [BUN] in plasma and urine samples performed. The creatinine clearance, relative and absolute excretion of sodium and potassium have been calculated. After separating the two kidneys, they used for  histologic study  with H&E staining and, MDA and FRAP bichemical study.

Cotreatment with deferasirox and  vitamin C, reduced renal tissue MDA and relative and absolute Na and K excretion and urine osmolarity also increased creatinine clearance and renal tissue FRAP .

Co treatment adminstration of  vitamin C has a significant protective effect on the renal toxicity induced by defacirox. The protective ability of deferasirox is because of the antioxidant properties of vitamin C in reducing oxidative stress and reducing lipid peroxidation.

Recently, the use of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) is increasing day by day. one of the critical steps in art is the frozen embryo transfer, in which the endometrium thickness has great importance in outcome. In this case, the frozen embryo will be transferred during the next cycle. There are several ways to prepare an endometrium for transmitting embryos, however, choosing the best method is still debated.  The present study aimed to evaluate the pregnancy rate of frozen embryo transfer in the presence or absence of GnRH agonists.

 A retrospective analysis was conducted of 146 consecutive patients attending Qomchr('39')s infertility treatment center since 2015 to 2017 who were candidates for the transfer cycle of the frozen-thawed embryo were randomly assigned to receive either protocol with or without GnRH agonist. Clinical features, implantation rate, pregnancy rate (chemical and clinical), and abortion rate were assessed.

There was no significant difference in baseline and clinical characteristics, implantation rate, pregnancy rate (chemical and clinical), and abortion rate between two groups of endometrial preparations with or without GnRH agonist (P <0.05).

In this study, pregnancy outcome was similar in each group and this method is recommended as an endometrial preparation without GnRH agonist.

Iron deficiency is one of the most common nutritional problems during pregnancy, which can have a significant effect on the health of pregnant women. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the effect of education on the theory of planned behavior in promoting anesthetic prevention nutritional behaviors in women The pregnant woman was executed.

Methods & Materials:

This is an educational randomized controlled trial study, 80 pregnant women were randomly divided into two groups (40 in the experimental group and 40 in the control group). Data collection with reliable and validity questionnaire consist of demographic factors, knowledge, construct of TPB ( attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavior control, intention) and performance. Before intervention from both groups, pre-test data were collected and then educational intervention was performed based on the results of the needs assessment for the test group, within a month and in the form of four session to 60-minute training sessions based on the theory of planned behavior. The results were collected three months after the intervention and analyzed using Mann-Whitney, Chi-square and correlation coefficient.
Ethical  Considerations: This  study  obtained  its  ethical  approval  from  the  Research  Ethics  Committee  of Arak University of Medical Sciences (code IRCT : IR.ARAKMU.REC.1395.445)

The results of this interventional study showed that before the intervention, all variables did not differ significantly between two groups. But after the intervention, the two groups had a statistically significant difference for all the studied structures (p <0.05). In this study, the performance of the intervention group before education was was 2.88 ±0.415 (out of 5), which had a significant upgrade after training to 3.64 ± 0.216 (p <0.001).

Educational intervention based on the theory of planned behavior of anesthetic anxiety behaviors in pregnant women has increased, which can be attributed to the educational method in the intervention group.