Galen Medical journal
Volume:1 Issue: 2, 2012

Various methods are used to improve the quality and usefulness of basic sciences taught to medical students before beginning of the clinical course and practice in higher grades. One method which is evaluated in the present study is early clinical experience. Methods and Materials: In this descriptive study, all medical freshmen were participated in a half day workshop for familiarity with hospital clinical environment. The attitude of the students towards early clinical exposure, profession, and medical education was investigated using a 30- item questionnaire before and after this workshop. Totally, 207 students participated in the present study. Overall, scoring of the program was good to excellent on a five-point Likert scale (93.75%). Most students (89.6%, score =4.25) believed that the program’s content and management was appropriate for them. It was concluded that early clinical experience parallel with theoretical courses can provide a framework for the beneficial and successful integration of the teaching and learning of basic sciences for medical students.

Functional constipation is one of the most common gastrointestinal symptoms which could affect patients’ quality of life. The colonic transit time test could be used for determining functional constipation subtypes. The aim of our study was to determine the abnormalities of the subtypes of functional constipation using CTT. Methods and Materials:This cross-sectional study was performed on 85 patients in 2011 in Shariaaty Hospital, Isfahan. All the patients received 60 radio-opaque markers, and they underwent radiological evaluation 5 days afterwards. Functional constipation was determined according to the distribution of the markers in the colon. The samples consisted of 24 males and 61 females at a mean age of 42.7 ± 16.28 years. The colonic transit time results showed that 71 patients had normal transit time, 6 had a composite type, 5 had slow transit, and 3 had pelvic delay. There was no significant difference between sex and colon transit time types (P value =0.32). The mean colon transit time in our study was 51.8 ± 16.3 hours. Functional constipation patients should undergo CTT, especially those who use maneuvers for defecation and those who need more time for defecation.

The present study was conducted to evaluate the wound healing effect of Arnebia euchroma (AE) extract, which is traditionally used in some Indian, Chinese, and Iranian tribes, on histomorphometrical parameters involved in the healing process of third-degree burn wounds by using stereological analyses.Methods and Materials: In an experimental study, 48 female Sprague-Dawley rats, each with a standard third-degree burn wound on the posterior surface of the neck, were divided into four groups; AE10 and AE20 groups were treated with carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) gels which contained AE hydroalcoholic extract at the concentration of 10% and 20%, respectively; the untreated burned (UB) group, which received no treatment; and the gel-base treated group. Wound closure rate, fibroblast proliferation, volume density of collagen bundles, length density, and mean diameter of the vessels were measured. Wound closure rate, fibroblast population, volume density of collagen bundles, and length density of vessels were significantly improved by AE10 and AE20 in comparison with the gel-base and UB groups (P value <0.05). Although previous investigations on the different aspects of the wound healing effects of AE and the results of this study exhibited the positive effects of topical Arnebia euchroma on third-degree burn wound, introducing AE as an alternative wound healing agent requires more investigations on its efficacy on human, safety, and possible adverse effects.

Hepatitis B is a viral infection that is potentially life-threatening and is transmitted through contact with the blood or other body fluids of an infected one. Hepatitis B is, therefore, an important professional hazard for health care workers. This aim of this study was to assess the practical knowledge of hepatitis B among the patient porters of the training and treatment hospitals of Rafsanjan. This descriptive study is a crosssectional study utilizing a self-made questionnaire comprised of four sections on demographic information, attitude towards hepatitis B, knowledge of hepatitis B, and practical measures against hepatitis B. Face and content validity and reliability of the questionnaire was performed. After the completion of the questionnaire, parametric and non-parametric tests were conducted to assess the relationship between the study variables. A P value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. In this study, 86 individuals filled the questionnaires (response rate =86%). Results showed that the most prevalent age was between 31 and 40 years old (60%), the dominant sex was male (62.4%), the majority had more than ten years of work experience (64.5%), and a high percentage had a middle school educational level (45.9%). Our results also showed that the majority of the respondents had received training about hepatitis B, and there was no significant relation between some demographic information such as work place and educational level and knowledge, attitude, and practice about hepatitis B. The degree of knowledge, attitude, and practice in regard to hepatitis B among the patient porters of the training and treatment hospitals of Rafsanjan was favorable.

Dental caries and periodontal disease are among the most common infectious diseases in the world. DMFT (Decayed, Missing, Filled, Teeth), CPITN (Community Periodontal Index of Treatment Needs), and plaque indices are applied as suitable criteria for evaluating these two diseases and oral health. Given the significance of dental caries and periodontal disease, the objective of this study was to determine the incidence of dental caries and periodontal disease in the Iranian city of Shiraz. The samples were evaluated in the four categories of medical, manufacturing, educational, and office centers within Shiraz, and then the DMFT, CPITN, and plaque indices in addition to nutrition status were all measured among them. Having considered the DMFT to be below 15% and the CPITN less than 1.5 (the variables’ mean in the population under study), respectively, as resistant to dental caries and periodontal disease while at the same time taking into account the plaque index of less than 1.25 (mean) as the low level of this very index not disregarding the nutritional status of the population under study: the resistant individuals ratio to the two diseases equaling 10%, those individuals prone to these two diseases equaling 55%, the ratio of resistant people to periodontal disease and, simultaneously, prone to dental caries equaling 14%; and, lastly, the ratio of individuals resistant against dental caries simultaneously prone to periodontal disease equaling 20% (estimated) The research was performed in medical, manufacturing, educational, and office centers in Shiraz, Iran. There was no significant difference in terms of periodontal disease and dental caries between the four groups.

Psychological factors play an important role in post-partum period and they may cause some disorders such as post-partum depression. These disorders may be correlated with delivery modes. This study was designed to evaluated depression and social support in women who underwent elective or non-elective Cesarean delivery. Methods and Materials: This case-control study was conducted on 140 pregnant women who referred to Shairaaty Hospital, Isfahan, between 2011 and 2012. Seventy participants had a maternal request for Cesarean. Multi-dimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS-P) questionnaire and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were used for social support and depression evaluation in the subjects. Mean age in the elective Cesarean group was 27.48 ± 4.25 years and mean age in group B was 27 + 4.16 years. 31.5% of the women who underwent elective Cesarean and 27.2% of the participants who underwent Cesarean with a medical reason had depression according to the BDI (p value =0.515) and there was no significant difference between the groups in the social support subscales (p value >0.05). According to our results and previous reports, there was no association between the delivery mode and post-partum psychological disorders; however, family support may decrease these disorders.

Traditional Persian medical and pharmaceutical manuscripts authored by medieval Persian scholars offer not only accumulation of traditional medical systems knowledge, but also contain collection of ingenious studies that provide vast information in the field of medicinal herbs application. One of the most cited derivative compositions of medicinal herbs are exudates. A large group of these compounds along with their different clinical and pharmacological applications can be found in the manuscripts of Persian medicine. Methods and Materials: This work is a literature research on some main traditional manuscripts of Persian medicine, including the book of Alhavi, Canon of Medicine, the book of Tohfat ol Moemenin, and Makhzan ol advieh. Also, current investigations on related subjects were considered by searching in Medline/PubMed and Google Scholar databases. According to the investigated manuscripts, thirty-one substances, incorporating plant exudates relating to sixteen plant families, were used to combat simple to sophisticated ailments. Mostly exudates were derived from herbs of family, Asteraceae, Apiaceae with six and five citations, respectively. Other than the reported clinical applications for herbs, which were defined as a source for gummy compositions, numerous pharmacological approaches were also remarked for the secreted gums. Application of ethnobotanical findings on simple remedies offers rational criteria to evaluate the potential therapeutic properties of medicinal plants.

Malnutrition in hospitalized patients will worsen the medical condition or disease prognosis. Also, duration of hospitalization and recovery will be delayed. In order to investigate these problems, the team of World Nutrition Day, on behalf of Nutritional Support Organization of Australia (with ESPEN support) decided to perform extensive research as a multi-centered one on the nutritional status of hospitalized patients in the world. This study aimed to compare the nutritional status of patients in the intensive care units (ICUs) of Ghaem Hospital with that in the world. Methods and Materials: This study is part of a cross-sectional multi-center audit which was held by the Nutritional Support Organization in Australia (with ESPEN support) on November 4th, 2010. From Iran, only Ghaem Hospital, with 8 ICUs, participated in this study. First, the consent form, and then questionnaires designed by the team of World Nutrition Day were filled for patients. After the completion of the questionnaires, they were sent online to the Center of Nutritional Support in Australia. Data were analyzed by the Center of Nutritional Support in Australia and were returned after they had been compared with the other centers as tables. ResultsThirty-two patients from the ICUs of Ghaem Hospital were participated in this study. Mean age was 57 years, and 46.9% of the patients were female. Parenteral feeding was not prescribed, and the total calorie intake of the patients was 394±790. Also, no monitoring was performed for the blood glucose of the patients, and the mean duration of hospitalization in the ICU was 19 days. This study shows that the presence of nutrition experts in the various units of hospitals is critical to better assess patients’ needs and to promote Iranian hospitals to reach global standards.

Lipomas among the most common benign neoplasms and rarely observed in parotid glands. We present a new case of lipoma in the superficial and deep lobes of the right parotid gland.Case report: A 52-year-old woman with painless and progressive inflation in the right preauricular region was referred to us. Computed Tomography scanning showed a hypodense area 5.2×4 cm in dimension in the right parotid gland region, and the facial nerve was fully exposed. The patient underwent parotidectomy, during which extensive removal of the mass was done. The pathology report cited a yellow-colored fatty tissue mass, 5×4×2 in dimension. In the microscopic report, lipoma of the parotid gland was seen. Determination of the exact tumor location is very important in the surgical approach in such cases. To our knowledge, this case seems to be an extremely rare case of lipoma in the superficial and deep lobes of the parotid.