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Introduction: Production of free radicals and reactive oxygen species is an integral part of aerobic metabolism. Disturbance of the balance between the production of free radicals and antioxidant system against them produces oxidative stress. Paraquat toxicity is induction of oxidative stress. However, the aim of our study was to evaluate oxidative stress in blood samples of workers in a pesticide factory formulating paraquat.
Materials and Methods: In this study we measured lipid peroxidation (LPO) with thiobarbituric assay (TBARS), total antioxident power (FRAP) and SH groups between workers in pesticide factories (case group) and health subjects (control group).
Results: Oxidative stress was significantly higher (p<0.001) in LPO, significantly lower (p<0.001) in TBARS and significantly lower (p<0.001) in SH groups in the case group compared to control group
Conclusion: It is concluded that chronic exposure of workers in their workplace to paraquat producess oxidative stress that could be prevented by well known nutritional antioxidant supplements.

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Introduction: Oxidative  stress is  one  of  the  factors  producing  poisoning  during  chronic  exposure  to  organophpsphporous  poisons.  In  this  research  we  studied  oxidative  stress  status  and  acetycholinesterase  in  pesticide  manufacturing  workers.
Materials  and  Methods: This  is  a  cross-sectional  analytical  study  in  which  45  organophopsphorous (OP)  formulating  pesticide  workers  with  a  minimum  work  history  of  1  year  in  the  age  range  of  23-35  were  studied. Controls  were  age–matched  workers  of  a  food-making  factory.  They  were  evaluated  for  oxidative  stress  markers, including  Tthiobarbituric  acid-reactive  substances (TBARS)  indicator  of  lipid  peroxidation (LPO), ferric  reducing  ability  of  plasma (FRAP)  indicator  of  total  antioxidant  capacity, total  Thiol (SH)  groups  and Gammaglutamyl  transpeptidase (GGT)  levels  in  blood  and  ACHE  activity  in  erythrocytes.
Results: The  results  showed  marked  inhibition  of ACHE, increased  TBARS, decreased  FRAP  and  decreased  Thiol  group  level  in  workers.  The  reduction  in  activity  of  ACHE  correlated  well  with  increased  TBARS  and  decreased  FRAP  in  OP  formualtors.
Conclusion: It  is  concluded  that  Op-formulating  workers  are  exposed  to  more  oxidative  stress. The  measurement  of  erythrocyte  ACHE  activity  in  pesticide  workers  who  formulate  Ops  can  be  a  good  monitoring  factor  and  is  recommended  to  be  performed  in  a  regular  manner.
 

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Introduction: Disturbance  between  production  of  free radicals  and  antioxidant  defense is  named  oxidative  stress. One  of  the  main  sources  of  free  radicals  is  smoking  that  induce  oxidative  stress.
Materials  and  Methods: This  is  a  cross  sectional  study  in  which  questionnaires  including  information  such  as  age, sex, education, history  and  number of  smoking  and  history  of  special  disease  were  filled. Case  group  were  smokers (n=43)  who  were  smoking  at  least  5  years  and  their  mean  age  was  37.7  year. The control  group  was  consisted  of  43  nonsmokers  which  were  matched  for  age  and  sex.  They  were  evaluated  for  oxidative  stress  markers  including  thiobarbituric  acid  reactive  substance  (TBARS)  indicator  of  lipid peroxidation (LPO), ferric  reducing  ability  of  plasma (FRAP) indicator  of  total  antioxidant  capacity, total  thiol (SH)  groups  and  gammaglutamyl  transferase (GGT) levels  in  blood.
Results: Results  showed  that  induction  of  oxidative  stress  in  smokers  as  revealed  by  decreased  FRAP (1.89±0.03 vs  2.24±0.04, p=0.01) and  plasma  Sh  groups  (0.22±0.08 vs  0.81±0.48, p=0.01)  in  comparison  to  those  of  controls. The  activity  of  GGT  and  level  of  LPO  increased  but  were  not  significant . Also  the  correlation  between  history  of  smoking  and  oxidative  stress  was  not  significant.
Conclusion: It  is  concluded  that  smoking  have  decreased  FRAP  and  SH  groups which  may  put  smokers  at  future  consequences  of  oxidative  stress.  It  seems  that  improving  antioxidant  system  in  smokers  is  effective.
 
 
 

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Background: In the recent years, oxidative stress was attended as one of the causal factors of ischemic stroke. In terms of the role of genetic, geographic and ethnic factors in the prevalence of stroke, This study was designed to compare the oxidative stress indexes of stroke patients with normal healthy subjects in this geographic area. Methods and Materials: In this case-control study, 36 patients older than 50 years with ischemic stroke and 45 healthy subjects with same age and sex, were enrolled. Five milliliter blood were drawn from all subjects. Samples were centrifuged and plasma was separated. Total antioxidant capacity, lipid peroxidation and thiol levels were measured respettively by FRAP, TBA and HU methods. Then the result was analyzed using t-test. Results: Results showed total antioxidant capacity and thiol plasma levels were lower in stroke patients in compare to healthy subjects, but only the thiol group had significant difference(P=0/001). Although lipid peroxidation showed a slight but non-significant difference in stroke patients in compare to control group. Conclusion: These findings suggest oxidative stress in patients with acute ischemic stroke may be conseaqence of an imbalance in oxidant/antioxidant homeostasis. Therefore it may be useful to recommend antioxidant medications or diet for these patients.

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Background: Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a malignant clonal disorder of hematopoietic stem cells which results in increase of myeloid cells, erythroid cells and platelets in the peripheral blood and hyperplasia in bone marrow. The research evaluates the cytotoxic effect of hydro-alcoholic extract of M.polegium before flowering aerial organs on K562 cell line as a model of chronic myeloid leukemia.

Materials and Methods: In this experimental trial, Leaves and stems of M. pulegium before flowering collected from Afoos city and extraction using maceration method. K562 cells were cultured and treated with concentrations of extract (12.5-100 &mug/ml) and different times (24,48,72 hour). Cytotoxicity of M. pulegium before flowering extract against K562 leukemia cells was estimated by the MTT test method. The absorbance was measured using an ELISA plate reader at 540 nm. Survey on data accomplished with the use of SPSS15 software and one-way ANOVA test analysis and Tukey test and p<0.001 was considered significant.

Results: Hydro-alcoholic extract of Mentha pulegium before flowering showed the highest cytotoxic effect (IC50=50 &mug/ml) and 72 hour after treatment on K562 cell line .in other words, hydro-alcoholic extract of Mentha pulegium before flowering extracts a dose and time dependent cytotoxic effect on K562 cell line.

Conclusion: Considering the cytotoxic effect of hydro-alcoholic extract of M.polegium before flowering aerial organs on K562 cells, the plant can be considered as a potential candidate for further studies on CML treatment.

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Background: Accidents and injuries one of the main causes of death and disability in the world and the most significant causes in children referred to hospital. So, this study aimed to assess the health belief model constructs and function of the mothers referred to health centers in the city of Khorramabad in the preventive behaviors of accidents and injuries in children.

Materials and Methods: This cross sectional and analytical study was done on 261 mothers with children aged less than 5 years are referred to health centers in the city of Khorramabad in 2014. Data was collected with a questionnaire based on the Health Belief Model. The data collected were analyzed by software SPSS-20.

Results: In this study the mean and standard deviation of age of mothers was 28.98±5.37 years and the mean score of function and self-efficacy were 59.1±14.74 and 69.1±11.07 respectively. Moreover, the mean scores of the other health belief model constructs such as perceived sensitivity, severity, benefits and barriers was higher than average. There was significant negative correlation between self-efficacy and perceived barriers (r=-0.256, p<0.01), and also between the perceived barriers and function (r=-0.391, p<0.01).

Conclusion: According to the score of the function of mothers and the other constructs of health belief model, training programs based on the model directly and indirectly in the form of multimedia training package recommended to promote preventive behaviors of accidents occur in children.

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  Background: M others must gain enough knowledge and practice about danger signs in children to achieve behavior change. Knowing such factors influencing behavior change will facilitate change. So, training about danger signs in children using models that identify the factors influencing behavior is essential. Health belief model is one of the effective models in education. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the effect of education on behavior of mothers about danger signs in children less than five years.

  Materials and Methods: This is an educational trial study that was conducted on 116 mother with children under five years old referring to treatment health centers in Arak city in 2014. They were divided into two groups case (n=56 ) and control ( n=60 ) randomly.

  The data collected by filling the valid and reliable questionnaire that reseatcher made along with interview. An educational intervention was conducted in case group during the four learning sessions. Three months after educational intervention, post-test was conducted by filling questionnaire. Finally, data were analyzed by SPSS software in significance level of p<0/05.

  Results: There was no significant difference between mean score of health belief model construct and behavior in the experimental and control groups before the intervention(p<0.05) , but significant differences were shown after intervention(p<0.001). The mean score of the mothers in the intervention group before and after intervention was 39.58±42.15, and 84.52±23.05 respectively, that showed significant differences (p<0.001).

  Conclusion: According to the results of this study, educational intervention based on initial assessment on Health Belief Model was effective in improving mothers' practice about danger signs in children. Thus, it can be helpful to design training programs.

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Background: Today, environmental pollutants are one of the most important human problems. The purpose of this study was to assess the health belief model structures for promotion of preventive behaviors in pregnant women exposed to air pollution in Arak city in 2014.

Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 208 pregnant women referred to healthcare centers in Arak city were selected by multistage sampling and were studied. Data were collected by using a valid and reliable self- report questionnaire. The questionnaire included the demographic characteristics of the mother, the aspects of the HBM model, and the maternal practice checklist. Finally, the data were analyzed.

Results: The mean age of subjects was 26.48 ±4.77 and the mean gestational age was 14.88 ±5.59 weeks. The highest level of education for pregnant women (47.1%) was a diploma. The mean practice score was 72.9 and among the structures, the highest and the lowest score was obtained for perceived susceptibility(83.25) and barriers(59.16), respectively. To predict the hehavior by using the HBM structures, regression analysis showed that of the studied variables, the external practice guides, perceived susceptibililty, and barriers are as behavior predictive predictive agents that totally, predicted 26% (R2=0.265) of behavior changes.

Conclusion: According to the results of the study, the design of educational interventions should be based on the external practice guides, perceived susceptibility and barriers structures as the most important predictors of maternal behavior.

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Background: One of the common and important public health problems is failure to thrive in during childhood .The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between health belief model structures with mothers' performance in preventihg growth retardation in children aged 1-5 years in Shazand city in 2014.

Materials and Methods: In this analytical and cross-sectional study, 202 mothers with children aged one to five years in the Shazand city were selected by random sampling. The data were collected by using a researcher-developed valid and reliable questionnaire by self-report method. The questionnaire included demographic characteristics of the mothers, the maternal practice cheklist and health belief model dimensions. Finally, the data were analyzed by SPSS20 T-test, Chi-square, correlation, ANONV and regression.

Results: The mean age of subjects was 28.76±5.28 years and a mean age of children was 26.49±14.74 months. Most common level of education for mothers was diploma (76.7%). The mean score of mothers' behavior was 70.65. Among the structures, self- efficacy had the largest score(69.8) and external practice guide had the lowest (38.91). In regression analysis, for predicting behavior by health belief model stuctures, self efficacy, perceived benefits and barriers were main predictors of behavior that predicted 10% of behavior changes(R²=0.101).

Conclusion: The results of this study reveale that the design of educational interventions should be based on self-efficacy, perceived benefits and perceived barriers as the most important predictors of maternal behavior.

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Background: Irisin, a recently identified myokine that seems had important role in hemostasis regulatation and improving insulin resistance. The effect of exercise training on serum irisin levels in type 2 diabates (T2D) is controversial. This study aims to investigate the effect of 6 weeks selective aerobic training on serum irisn levels and insulin resistance in women with T2D.

Materials and Methods: This research is a semi experimental study with pre-and post-test design. Research subjects were 20 women with T2D (mean age 47.4±5.6 years and BMI 29.92±3.42). Subjects were randomly divided into 2 groups: exercise group (n=12) and control group (n=8). Training protocol performed in 6 weeks (4 times a weeks, 40-65 min per session) and main training intencity and time were increased per week (50%-80% Hrmax). Main aerobic training was performed in 6 blocks, each block consisted of 32. Blood sample was collected before the and after end of training protocol.

Results: The results showed significant decrease in blood glucose, insulin and insulin resistance index and significant increase in serum irisin levels in exercise group compared with the control group (p≤0.05), but there is no significant correlation between serum irisin levels and insulin resistance.

Conclusion: It seems that aerobic training can have considerable impact on serum irisin levels, fasting blood glucos and insulin resistance index in women with T2D.

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Background: Today, the consumption of junk food as a snack among children, especially in elementary school students is on the rise. This research has measured Theory of Planned Behavior constructs in this field.

Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional and analytical study that was carried out on 217 primary school students in Arak city in 2015. Students were selected according to cluster sampling method. Data collection instrument was a researcher-developed questionnaire consisting of theory of planned behavior constructs such as attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, behavioral intention and performance. Reliability and validity of the questionnaire was studied before the study. Multivariate linear regression model was used to determine the most important predictive constructs of students behavior.

Results: In this study, the mean and standard deviation score of attitude (75.41±12.42), subjective norm (78.25±11.20), perceived behavioral control (63.69±17.06), behavicral intention (76.26±15.44), and performance (48.84±24.44) were observed. Based on the results, perceived behavioral control could predict 23 percent change in behavior. There was a direct correlation between the score of constructs and performance(p<0.05). Moreover, there were not any significant differences(p>0.05) between students nutrition and age(r=0.019), weight (r=0.07), height (r=0.12) and BMI (r=0.07).

Conclusion: The results of this study suggested that positive attitude and self-esteem must taken into account to control students diet, in the design of interventions to prevent consuming junk food.

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Background: Diabetes is one of the most common disease resulted from metabolism disorders. Thus, Studying medication adherence in patients to explain educational interventions to improve the health of these patients is necessary. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess the factors affecting medication adherence in diabetics patients based on health belief model in Arak 2014.

Materials and Methods: In this analytical study, 366 diabetic patients in Arak in 2014 were selected and data were collected through a researcher made questionnaire about patients behavior in the field of medication adherence and its influencing factors based on the health belief model. Linear regression model was used to determine the predictive power of structures.

Results: The mean knowledge score and the medication adherence was 31.34 and 84.34, respectively. In this study, perceived susceptibility, perceived barriers and internal action guide were as the strongest predictors of medication adherence behavior in patients and predicted their behavior variance 0.36. Between function and susceptibility and severity and perceived benefits and self- efficacy of manual internal and external action guides in the field of medication adherence with diabetes, there was a direct correlation that the highest correlation was related to the perceived susceptibility structure (r=0.42 , p<0.001).

Conclusion: The results showed that the educational interventions with an emphasis on building the perceived sensitivity of patients with diabetes for medication adherence and emphasis on internal incentives as motivators and incentives for patients to achieve better results in the field of medication adherence should be at the heart of educational interventions.

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Background: Known inflammatory factors in type II diabetes and complications are delaying adjustment this factor, it is an effective approach in preventing complications.The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of eight weeks aerobic interval training on interleukin-6 and interleukin-10 serum levels, in women with type II diabetes.

Materials and Methods: In this study, 18 patients with type II diabetes in Ahvaz city, were randomly divided into the two experimental group (n=10) and control group (n=8). The experimental group did the aerobic interval training and pedaling on the ergometer bicycle with 65 to 80 percent of their maximum leg power for three times a week during the eight weeks. The blood samples were prepared in two pre-test and post-test steps to measure the interleukin-6  and interleukin-10 serum levels through ELISA method.

Results: Statistical analysis showed that after eight weeks of aerobic interval training, interleukin-6 and interleukin-10 serum levels, related to the experimental group had no significant difference in comparison with control group (p>0.05).

Conclusion: The results indicate that doing the aerobic interval training for three times a week during eight weeks with 65 to 80 percent of maximum leg power, it has no effect on inflammatory and anti-inflammatory indices, in women with type II diabetes.

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Abstract

Background: One of the common and important health problems is failure to thrive in childhood. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of education on preventive behaviors of failure to thrive in mothers with children based on health belief model.

Materials and Methods: This study is an interventional one in which 100 mothers with children one to five years involved (samples divided into two case and control groups, each of 50) sampling was done by a simple random method. For collecting information, a researcher-made questionnaire based on the health belief model and performance check list were used. Then, case group was trained for one month. 3 months after training, data were gathered and analyzed by Spss20 software. In addition to descriptive statistics, tests such as Chi-square, paired t-test and independent T-test were used.

Results: The mean age of case and control was 29.98±5.51 and 25.35±5.30 years old, respectively. The average age of children was 23.31 ± 13.14 and 27.55 ± 14.01months, respectively. Before the intervention, no significant difference was seen between groups. The average score in case group before intervention was as: knowledge(31.87±14.24), perceived susceptibility(64.23±5.86), perceived severity(64.41±9.34), perceived benefits(61.75±6.79), perceived barriers(67.91±8.14), self-efficacy(68.00±7.87), cues to action(44.53±6.82) and action(70.00±9.77). However, after the intervention, significant differences between groups in all variables were obserred.

Conclusion: According to the results, education based on health belief model is recommended for promoting preventive behaviors of failure to thrive.

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Abstract

Background: Schizophrenia is a common mentaly disorder with high heritability and variable phenotype that they are placed in bipolar nervous disease family. Different genes are associated with this disease that among of them, DAOA gene plays a significant role. DAOA gene is located in the long arm of chromosome 13 and produces a protein called D-amino acid oxidase which is N - metyle D– aspartate (NMDA) receptor activator in the brain. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between DAOA gene polymorphisms and the risk of schizophrenia in Iranian population.

Materials and Methods: In this study, 100 patients with schizophrenia and 100 normal people as a control group were investigated. After genomic DNA extraction from blood samples, allele and genotype frequencies in patients and control group were determined by PCR-RFLP method. Data analysis was performed with Med Calc (ver 12) software.

Results: Frequency of GG, GA, AA genotypes in patients group was 18%, 42%, 40% and in normal group was 14%, 45%, and 41%, respectively. Statistical analysis revealed that there is a significant relationship between DAOA gene polymorphism with schizophrenia disease in the people under the age of 40.

Conclusion: According to the results of this study, the DAOA gene has significant association with schizophrenia in the Iranian population.

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Background and Aim:  It is almost impossible to imagine life without electromagnetic waves. Such waves play a key role in the function of melatonin and create numerous diseases. 
Methods & Materials: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 230 kV substations in Golestan Province, Iran in 2016. In total, 44 workers of electrical substations (the case group) and 23 workers of healthcare centers (the control group) with 24-hour shift works were enrolled in this study.
Ethical Considerations: This  study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Shahid Beheshti University Medical Sciences( Code: IR.SBMU.THNS.REC.1395.9). 
Results: The obtained data suggested that 100% of the electric field intensity and the magnetic flux density measured at the substations were within the permissible range of occupational exposure. The mean level of melatonin in the case group was lower than that in the control group; however, no significant difference was observed in this regard (P=0.761). Additionally, there was no significant difference between melatonin level and age (P=0.381), work experience (P=0.213), job groups (P=0.515), and employee activity area (P=0.482).
Conclusion: According to this study, no significant relationship was observed between electromagnetic waves and melatonin levels. Moreover, electromagnetic waves were within the permissible exposure. Thus, electromagnetic waves did not affect the level of melatonin hormone in male employees of 230 kV substations in Golestan Province. However, there was a decrease in the case group, compared to the controls. Therefore, definite comments require further investigation.

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Background and Aim: Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is the most common mental health condition, with a severe decline in performance, disability, and a 15% risk of suicide. Allopurinol increases the level of tryptophan in the body by inhibiting xanthine oxidase, and by elevating the level of tryptophan, i.e., a precursor to serotonin. Accordingly, it can improve the symptoms of depression. This study aimed to investigate the impact of allopurinol on MDD.
Methods & Materials: In this double-blind clinical trial, 70 patients with MDD, diagnosed based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders- Fourth Edition-Third Edition (DSM IV-TR) were randomly (paired & individual patient records) divided into two equal groups. Both research groups received 40 mg of citalopram daily for 6 weeks. In addition to citalopram, the intervention group received 300 mg allopurinol daily and the control group received a placebo. At the end of the third and sixth weeks, the examined patients were tested for Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS).
Ethical Considerations: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Arak University of Medical Sciences (Code: IR.ARAKMU.REC.1394.68). Also, it was approved by the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (Code: IRCT201508277373n6).
Results:  The Mean±SD HDRS’s score, after 3 weeks of treatment, in the control and allopurinol groups was measured as 28.42±3.1 and 23.02±3.4, respectively. After 6 weeks after treatment, the Mean±SD depression score in the control and allopurinol groups was equal to 23.28±4.1 and 20.4±1.2, in sequence. A significant difference was observed between the research groups; thus, the intervention group obtained a lower mean score in the HDRS than the controls.
Conclusion: Allopurinol can improve the symptoms of depression and can also be used as an adjunct in the treatment of depression.

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Introduction: Sexual self-efficacy is a fundamental concept in behavior, health, and sexual performance that changes over time due to events such as pregnancy and childbirth. The present study was conducted to investigate factors affecting sexual self-efficacy in pregnant women in Arak City.
Methods: The current research is a cross-sectional, descriptive, and analytical study conducted with 234 pregnant women aged 18 to 40 who had minimal reading and writing literacy and lived with their husbands. Ten comprehensive urban health centers were selected using cluster sampling. Data were collected through a demographic information checklist and a sexual self-efficacy questionnaire. Data analysis was done using Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis and (LSD) tests.
Results: The mean score of sexual self-efficacy of pregnant women was 28.51 ± 6.45 and was at a high level. Kruskal-Wallis test showed that the sexual self-efficacy of pregnant women is unrelated to their education (P = 0.2). There is a significant relationship between education and the education of their spouses (P = 0.04). (LSD) test showed a significant difference between different levels of education of husbands and the sexual self-efficacy of pregnant women. Also, no significant relationship was observed between the mean score of sexual self-efficacy and other variables.
Conclusions: The sexual self-efficacy of pregnant women is related to the education of their husbands, so it is suggested to provide a suitable platform for increasing the knowledge and awareness of men.