فصلنامه کومش
سال دوازدهم شماره 3 (پیاپی 39، بهار 1390)

Low back pain is a very common health care problem affecting 85% of population. Spine rehabilitation programs are very various in subjects with chronic low back pain but core stability training is often the chosen treatment. However, the aim of this study was to examine the effects of consecutive supervised core stability training on pain intensity and disability of nonspecific chronic low back pain.

Twenty-four non-athletic females with chronic low back pain were participated in the study. They were randomly divided into two groups: experimental group (12 days consecutively under physical therapist supervision) and control group (no intervention). The subjects in both groups were not allowed to perform any sport activity during 12 days of study. Before and after the intervention, visual analogue scale and the ososetry disability index were used to assess pain intensity and disability, respectively.

The findings show that the disability and intensity pain variables were significantly decreased in the experimental group (P=0.0001 and P=0.003, respectively), while no significant changes were found with respect to those variables in the control group.

Consecutive supervised core stability training may decrease the pain intensity and disability of the patients with chronic low back pain.

One of the intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) methods is based on using compensators. The most important factor in designing a compensator is the accurate calculation of its thickness to achieve the intensity modulation of interest. To achieve that, the exact attenuation coefficient of compensator materials must be calculated. However, there are several parameters that are effective in calculating the attenuation coefficient of compensator materials. In this research, the effects of dosimeter and phantom type as well as irradiation dose and measurement depth in the calculation of this compensator characteristic were assessed.

Using two types of dosimeters (RK & FC65G) and phantoms (RFA300plus & SP34), the effects of radiation dose and measured depth on the estimation of the effective attenuation coefficient was investigated for a 6MV linear accelerator. The value of applied radiation dose was 100, 200, 300 and 400 cGy, and the measured depths were 2, 5, 10, 15 and 20 cm. The measurements were carried out at the reference field size (10×10 cm2) and for a thickness of 1 cm of the compensator.

The results indicated that radiation dose has no significant effect in calculating the effective attenuation coefficient of compensator materials. However, altering measured depth from 2 to 20 cm resulted in a change of more than 5% in the calculations. In addition, the type of the dosimeter and phantom used in this study had no significant effect on the calculations.

Based on these findings, it is recommended that for more accurate estimation of the effective attenuation coefficient of a compensator material, it is necessary to measure the attenuation coefficient at different depths of the treatment field.

Spirituality is known as a factor affecting adjustment to stress conditions in adolescence period. To assess the spiritual coping, a questionnaire in Likert scale is applied. In this study, the ordinal alpha coefficient was used to test the reliability of questionnaire.

The data of spirituality coping scale in a semi-structured interview included 103 items developed in 5-point Likert scale. After validation and factor analysis to identify factors, a multiple-choice questionnaire with 39 items was designed. The reliability of this questionnaire was investigated on a sample consisting of 120 adolescents living in boarding centers, Tehran Province. FACTOR and SPSS softwares were used to measure the ordinal alpha and Cronbach's alpha, respectively.

The factor analysis revealed the spiritual coping in 3 factors: "purposefulness of life", "connection with God "and "looking for spiritual protection". The reliability coefficients of factors by ordinal alpha were 0.834, 0.913 and 0.984, respectively, which were higher in comparison with Cronbach's alpha. The reliability coefficient of 39-item-questionnaire by ordinal alpha was 0.992.

If the data is normally distributed, Cronbach's alpha can be used to calculate the reliability of the data with ordinal scale. Otherwise, ordinal alpha is a more accurate coefficient for testing the reliability. Spiritual coping questionnaire measures the different dimensions of Spiritual coping in institutionalized adolescences and also has higher reliability.

Several studies have demonstrated the antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory, sedative and smooth muscle relaxant activities of the Valeriane Officinalis (VO), Satureja Hortensis (SH), and Mentha Piperita (MP). The aim of this study was to determine the effects of the aqueous or hydroalcoholic extracts from these plants on morphine withdrawal syndrome signs in mice.

112 male albino mice (25-30 g) were used. Morphine was used to produce drug dependency by Marshall method. Different doses of the aqueous extracts of VO (25, 50, 100 mg/kg) and SH (25, 50, 100, 200 mg/kg IP) and the hydroalcoholic extract of MP (50, 100, 200, 500 mg/kg IP) were injected to morphine-dependent mice 30 min before the naloxone injection (2mg/kg). Control mice received saline. The severity of the morphine withdrawal responses was estimated by recordeing the number of jumping and the amount of weight feces during 3o min after naloxone injection.

The results showed that the extracts of VO (25 mg/kg), SH (200 mg/kg), and MP (all doses) significantly (P<0.05) decreased the number of jumping. Also, the VO (50 and 100 mg/kg), SH and MP (all tested doses) significantly decreased the weight of stool

Our findings indicate that the extracts of VO, SH, and MP may diminish the morphine withdrawal syndrome signs.