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Background and Objective: Cardiovascular diseases is the first cause of mortality in developed and developing countries. This study was done to determine findings of coronary arteries angiography of subjects referring to Kosar angiography center in Golestan province, Iran.

Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study 5444 patients whome referred to the Kosar angiography center in Golestan province, Northern Iran undervent in this study during 2008-09. Gender, age, ethnicity, body mass index (BMI), cigarette smoking, opium, hypertension and coronary arteries angiography findings were completed for each subjects. Coronary arteries angiography was performed on 5400 of subjects. Data was analyzed by using SPSS-13, ANOVA, Chi-Square and Kruskal-Wallis tests.

Results: In this study 52% of subjects were men. 72% of patients were Native Fars. 49.5% of subjects were found to be illiterate. While 92.6% of clients did not reported any history of smoking, 22.5% of subjects were addicted to different opium. The mean BMI was 27.48 and 38.2% of clients reported a history of hypertension. Coronary arteries angiography was performed on 5400 of subjects. Coronary arteries disorders were determined in 3142 of subjects (58.8% males, 41.2% females). Left anterior descending, right coronary artery, circumflex and obtuse marginal were the most involved coronary arterial branches in positive angiograms, respectively.The most severe failure (47.7%) has been found in left anterior descending artery.

Conclusion: Due to high incidence of coronary arteries disease in this region of Iran, it is suggested to design a project to investigate the preventive mearsures of cardiovascular disorders.

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Background and Objective: Coronary angiography is a routine and gold standard cardiac diagnostic procedure. Patients are restricted to bed rest after the procedure due to potential vascular complications using a femoral approach. Many patients are required to remain on bed rest for up to 24 hours after the procedure. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of changing position and early ambulation on the amount of bleeding, hematoma and urinary retention in patients with coronary angiography. Materials and Methods: In this clinical trial study 140 patients, which referred to coronary angiography center in Dezfoul-Iran, were randomly divided into four 35-individual groups. The patients in the control group were in supine position for 6 hours without movement. Position change was applied to the first interventional group based on a specific protocol, early discharge was applied to the second interventional group and both early discharge and position changes were applied to the third interventional group. The level of bleeding, hematoma and urinary retention were measured at zero, 1, 2, 4, 6 and 24 hours after angiography. The findings were collected using the individual data questionnaire and Kristin Swain’s checklist in order to evaluate the level of bleeding and hematoma. Results: There were no significant differences between the four groups in terms of occurrence of vascular hematoma and bleeding. The incidence of urinary retention was non significantly higher in the control group in compare to others. Conclusion: Changing position following angiography speed up patient discharge from hospital.

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Background and Objective: Dissection of the axillary lymph nodes is considered as one of the common measures in management of breast cancer. Edema and limitation in hand movement are accompanied with dissection of axillary lymph nodes. Sentinel lymph node biopsy can be used to evaluate axillary metastasis. This study was carried out to evaluate the diagnostic value of sentinel lymph node biopsy in patients with breast cancer. Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was performed on 30 selected patients with breast cancer less than 5 cm without any involvement of axillary lymph nodes in Ghaem Hospital in Mashhad, North-East of Iran during 2009 -10. Initially, the lymphoscintigraphy was performed. Subsequently, prior, to the surgery, the blue dye as a marker was injected for detecting sentinel lymph node and with the use of probe gamma counter and observing blue color on lymph nodes, the sentinel node was determined and separated. Finally, axillary dissection was performed for removing the lymph nodes of I and II level in all patients. Results: Among 30 patients who were evaluated for sentinel lymph nodes and axillary dissection, false negative were observed only in two cases (6.6 %). The sensitivity rate was determined to be 84.6%. Conclusion: Considering the high success rate of detection of sentinel lymph node and limited false negative cases, sentinel lymph node biopsy is recommended in cases of breast cancer without axillary involvement.

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Background and Objective: Bunium percicum is often used in Iranian traditional medicine for the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders particularly gastric ulcer.This study was done to evaluate the antiulcerogenic effect of Bunium percicum Boiss.essential oil against indomethacin and ethanol – induced ulcer models in Wistar rats. Methods: This experimental study was carried out on rats weighing 200-220 g in veterinary college of Urmia University, Iran. LD₅₀ was calculated based on Lorke’s method. To evaluate the short term oral toxicity, animals were allocated into four group of six each. In groups 1-3 animals were received orally 250, 125, 80 mg/kg/bw of Bunium percicum Boiss.essential oil, respectively. Controls were received Tween 80 (2%) orally for 14 consecutive days and monitored daily. Bunium percicum Boiss. essential oil was administered orally at doses of 20, 40 and 80 mg/kg/bw and cimetedin (10 mg/kg/bw) and omopirazol (30 mg/kg/bw) in indomethacin and ethanol–induced ulcer models. Results: The LD₅₀ was 375 mg/kg/bw. Daily single oral doses of Bunium percicum Boiss.essential oil tolerated behaviorally after 14 days without any alterations in body and organs weight, food, water consumption and serum total protein, alanine and aspartate aminotransferase activity. The preventive index in doses of 40 and 80 mg/kg/BW of Bunium percicum Boiss.essential oil was 37.98% and 59.21%, respectively in the indomethacin -induced ulcer model (P<0.05). In the model of ethanol -induced ulcer, the preventive index in doses of 40 and 80 mg/kg of Bunium percicum Boiss. essential oil was 12.40% and 22.05%, respectively (P<0.05). Conclusion: The essential oil of Bunium percicum Boiss is completely ‘‘safe’’ and at the doses of 40 and 80mg/kg/bw significantly prevent gastric ulcers in animal model.

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Background and Objective: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is a common pathogen responsible for health-care-related infections. This study was done to determine the prevalence of Meticilin - resistant Staphylococcus isolated from hand and nasal of hospital health worker. Methods: This descriptive study was conducted on 148 health workers in teaching hospitals in Sari, northern Iran during 2011-12. Samples were collected from fingers and noses and were cultured on mannitol salt agar immediately. Suspected colonies were identified using Gram staining, catalase and coagulase tests. Susceptibility testing was performed by disk diffusion method. Methicillin resistant strains were determined using micro dilution broth method. Results: Staphylococcus aureus was observed in 24 (16.2%) of individuals. 9.5% of population was resistant to Methicillin. The high portions of Staphylococcus aureus carreier were in the operation room, angiography and internal pediatric ward health worker. Methicillin Staphylococcus aureus resistanat were more common in nasal samples of the operation room personal and angiography ward health worker. All strains were sensitive to Vancomycin and Chloramphenicol and resistant to Penicillin and Amoxicillin. Conclusion: In this study the prevalence of the Staphylococcus.aureus in teaching hospitals health worker was low while Staphylococcus aureus resistant to methicillin was higher than other reports in Iran.

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Background and Objective: Pregnancy can not only protect mothers against intimate partner violence but even it may increase the rate and severity of intimate partner violence. This study was done to determine the intimate partner violence during pregnancy in the Northern Iran. Method: This cross-sectional - analytical study was done on 1500 mothers whom attended the primary health centers of Mazandaran province, Northern Iran from Feb to Sep 2010. Mothers screened using modified standard world health organization intimate partner violence questionnaire via interview. The questionnaire included physical, emotional and sexual intimate partner violence. Intimate partner violence was categorized to severe, moderate and mild. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify predictor of intimate partner violence. Results: The most common intimate partner violence was restriction of mothers in terms of money, food, and clothing (88.8%). The prevalence of physical, psychological and sexual intimate partner violence was 14.1%, 69.9% and 10.8%, respectively. The adjusted odds ratio for physical intimate partner violence in mothers with low education and low socio-economic status were significantly higher in those mothers with high education and fair socio-economic status (P<0.05). Conclusion: Mild psychological intimate partner violence is prevalent in Mazandran province, North of Iran.

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Background and Objective: Lower back pain is one of the common discomforts of the occupational-musculoskeletal system, and the scope of motion measurement is important for assessing the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions. This study was carried out to evaluate the reproducibility of the modified-modified Shober's technique (MMST) in measuring the range of motion of lumbar in patients with non-specific chronic low back pain.
Methods: In this descriptive-analytic study, the range of motion of lumbar (flexion and extension) of 15 patients with non-specific chronic low back pain was measured in three times with modified – modified Shober's technique by two physiotherapists. To achieve this, the correlation coefficient (ICC) was used. Two measurements with an interval of one hour and one week were run to evaluate the reproducibility within-days and between-day, respectively.
Results: Flexion and extension were measured by the first assessor in within-day that showed a high reproducibility for flexion (ICC=0.88) and extension (ICC=0.71), findings also revealed an acceptable ICC for flexion (ICC=0.85) and extension (ICC=0.68) in between-days. The second assessor measurements of flexion and extension in whiten-day also presented high reproducibility for flexion (ICC=0.85) and extension (ICC=0.76); moreover, in between-days evaluation, correlation was found for flexion (ICC=0.81) and for extension (ICC=0.71).
Conclusion: This study showed that the modified-modified Shober's technique is applicable for measuring the reproducibility of range of lumbar motion in patients with non-specific chronic lumbar pain.

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Background and Objective: Coronary disease is the most common life-threatening among chronic diseases. Coronary angiography is one of the most important diagnostic procedures that have complications similar to other invasive procedures. This study was performed to determine the effect of changing sandbag weight on complications of femoral artery catheterization and patient comfort.
Methods: This single-blind clinical trial was performed on 140 patients who were referred to Amir Al-Mo'menin Kordkoy hospital in northern Iran. Patients were randomly assigned into four groups consisting 35 patients. After angiography, sandbags with different weights (control group, first intervention, and second intervention, third intervention with weights of 4, 3.5, 3 and 2.3 kg) were placed on the angiography site for 6 hours. Bleeding, hematoma, pain and comfort of patients were recorded and compared immediately, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 24 hours after angiography.
Results: Bleeding and hematoma were not observed in any of the patients. There was a significant difference in pain and patients comfort between groups (P<0.05). The third intervention group had the lowest pain and highest comfort at 6 and 8 hours after angiography. Also, the control group had the highest pain and the lowest comfort.
Conclusion: Reducing sandbag weight leads to decrease back pain and improves patient comfort without increasing vascular complications.

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Background and Objective: Stroke has a high prevalence and is associated with a high premature mortality rate. Thus, it is important to identify the effective factors in increasing the incidence of stroke. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of seasonal changes and environmental factors in the occurrence of stroke.
Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was done on 3,639 patients including 3,102 (85.3%) with ischemic stroke, 472 (12.9%) with intracerebral hemorrhage and 65 (1.9%) with subarachnoid hemorrhage patients. After measuring environmental factors such as air temperature, air pressure, humidity and geomagnetic field, admission data of stroke patients between 2015-2019 were extracted from the Sayyad Shirazi Hospital information system.
Results: The mean occurrence of intracerebral hemorrhage was highest in winter, especially in January and March, and lowest in summer, especially in July and August. Intracerebral hemorrhage had a positive significant correlation with air pressure (P=0.001, r=0.452) and a negative correlation with ambient temperature (P<0.001, r= - 0.457). Subarachnoid hemorrhage and ischemia were not related to the season or the month. It was also found that ischemic stroke had a significant positive correlation with geomagnetic field fluctuations. Subarachnoid hemorrhage was not associated with any of the variables, but intracerebral hemorrhage was significantly positively associated with air pressure and inversely associated with temperature.
Conclusion: This study illustrated that winter, low temperature, high air pressure and high geomagnetic fluctuations are associated with a higher risk of stroke. Therefore, the underlying physiopathological causes of this relationship should be carefully investigated in future studies.
 

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Background and Objective: Micro-ribonucleic acids (microRNAs) have introduced a new field in the molecular diagnosis of cancer. However, the role of circulating microRNAs in the plasma/serum of colorectal cancer patients is still unclear. This study was conducted to determine the expression of let-7d microRNA in patients with colorectal cancer.
Methods: This case-control study was conducted on 40 patients with colorectal cancer and 40 healthy people. In this study, 7 mL blood samples were collected from patients with colorectal cancer (both before and after tumor resection) and healthy individuals (only once). The serum samples were isolated and stored at - 80°C until molecular analysis. MicroRNAs were extracted from serum samples, and cDNA was synthesized. Let-7d expression was examined using the RT-qPCR method. Data were analyzed using GraphPad Prism v. 9 software. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, sensitivity, and specificity were also calculated for the let-7d microRNA data to introduce a diagnostic biomarker between the preoperative patient group and the control group.
Results: In the preoperative samples of the patients, the expression of let-7d microRNA was significantly lower than that of the control group (P˂0.05). The expression of let-7d microRNA significantly increased after tumor resection compared to before. The ROC analysis for let-7d microRNA in the preoperative patient group with the control group showed that the sensitivity was 33.3%, specificity was 92.3%, and the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.622.
Conclusion: Let-7d microRNA could potentially serve as a new noninvasive diagnostic biomarker for the early detection of colorectal cancer. However, further studies are required on this subject.

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Background and Objective: Non-adherence to treatment regimens is a significant factor contributing to the persistence of cardiovascular diseases and their complications. This study aimed to compare the effects of two educational methods, with and without short message service (SMS) reminder, on adherence to treatment regimens among patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS).
Methods: This clinical trial was conducted on 111 patients with ACS divided into three 37-people groups: A control group (receiving routine education), the first intervention group (receiving education and a booklet), and the second intervention group (receiving education, a booklet, and SMS reminders). The study was conducted in patients at the coronary care units (CCUs) and post-CCUs of the following educational therapeutic centers: Shahid Sayyad Shirazi in Gorgan, the Fifth Azar in Gorgan, Amir Al-Momenin in Kordkuy, and Al-E-Jalil in Aqqala, Iran, during 2019. The research instrument consisted of the Treatment Adherence Perception Questionnaire (TAPQ) in three domains, including dietary regimen, medication regimen, and exercise and activity, which was completed at the time of discharge and two months later.
Results: The mean scores of adherence to treatment dietary in patients with ACS two months after discharge in the three domains of dietary regimen, medication regimen, and exercise and activity were significantly higher in the group receiving education and SMS reminders (105.54±75.8, 16.00±2.71, and 23.67±3.85, respectively) compared to the education group (84.73±5.02, 11.05±1.69, and 17.45±2.48, respectively) (P<0.05). Moreover, the scores in the three investigated domains were significantly higher in both intervention groups compared to the control group (82.68±13.54, 11.40±1.96, and 17.67±5.04, respectively) (P<0.05).
Conclusion: The use of education and a booklet along with SMS reminders to patients with ACS discharged from the hospital increased adherence to treatment. This adherence was higher in the intervention group receiving SMS reminders.