علی رشیدی پور

 Numerous studies have demonstrated that environmental enrichment (EE) can mitigate the impacts of chronic stress. In this study, we explored the influence of maternal environmental enrichment on cognitive-behavioral disorders stemming from stress in the offspring rats.

Upon confirmation of pregnancy through the presence of vaginal plaque, the mother rats were randomly assigned to two groups: Control and enriched environment. The male and female pups were subsequently categorized into stress and nonstress groups. The stress groups experienced 6 hours of daily restraint stress for 21 days starting from the 30th day post-birth (adolescence). Serum corticosterone levels were measured after this period, and behavioral tests were conducted.

Restraint stress resulted in elevated serum corticosterone levels (P-value < 0.05). Data analysis from the elevated plus maze and light-dark box revealed an increase in the time spent and the number of entries into open arms in the offspring of the EE-St group compared to the STD-St group (P-value < 0.05). Light-dark box results demonstrated an increase in step-through latency and the number of entries into the lightbox in the offspring of the EE-St group compared to the STD-St group (P-value < 0.05). During the forced swimming test, immobility time was decreased in the offspring of the EE-St group compared to the STD-St group (P-value < 0.01). In the shuttle box test, step-through latency and the total time spent in the light compartment increased in the offspring in the EE-St group compared to the STD-St group (P-value < 0.01). Lastly, in the novel object recognition test, the time spent next to the new object increased in the EE-St offspring compared to the STD-St offspring (P-value < 0.01).

Environmental enrichment during pregnancy diminished anxiety and depression-like disorders as well as cognitive defects induced by stress in the adolescent offspring rats.

Neuropathic pain intensifies the response to painful and non-painful stimuli. Curcumin is one of the substances that have analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties. Also, exercise as a behavioral and non-pharmacological method has beneficial effects on general health under many neuropathic diseases. Also, the combined effect of these two factors on peripheral nerve conduction velocity of the sciatic nerve in patients and animals has been less studied. So, we suggested the study of the preventive effects of combined curcumin and exercise on electrophysiological parameters of the sciatic nerve in the neuropathic pain model of chronic sciatic nerve compression in rats.

80 Male Wistar rats were randomly allocated to 8 groups (n=10). First, neuropathic pain was induced by the chronic constriction injury (CCI) method in the respective groups. To prevent neuropathic pain, two weeks before surgery, forced exercise was started in the exercise group, and after a 5-day recovery period, was performed again for one week until the 14th day of the experiment. After CCI surgery, 60mg/kg curcumin or its vehicle injection was performed in the curcumin and vehicle groups until day 14, and electrophysiological tests of the sural and tibial nerve were performed on day 15.

The results showed that before stabilizing neuropathic pain on day 14 of the experiment, co-administration of curcumin and forced exercise could prevent sural and tibial nerve conduction velocity (SNCV and MNCV) loss compared to the CCI group.

The findings of this study suggest that co-administration of curcumin and forced exercise may prevent electrophysiological disorders of the sciatic nerve, before the complete stabilizing of peripheral neuropathy.

Changes in living conditions in modern times have led to the continuously evolving needs of people, especially students at institutions of higher education. Different needs require appropriate guidance and counseling, and improving counseling services for students necessitates assessing their problems and demands. This study aimed to investigate the guidance and counseling needs of students at Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran.

In this cross-sectional study from 2020-2022, 598 students of Semnan University of Medical Sciences (Semnan, Iran) were selected using a multi-stage method. The data collection tool was a 34-item questionnaire assessing students' guidance and counseling needs across five domains: personal growth and development, career needs, educational needs, family and marriage, and emotional/psychological needs. Students specified their level of need for each item as "need it very much" (4), "need it to some extent" (3), "need it a little" (2) or "don't need it" (1).

Career counseling and personal growth and development were identified as the most essential counseling needs for students. These two areas were the most necessary across both genders, educational levels, faculties, and marital statuses. The most important specific needs were "focusing the senses" for personal growth and development, "familiarity with job opportunities" for career needs, "time management" for educational needs, "dealing with life problems" for family/marital needs, and "coping with life stress" for emotional/psychological needs.

The findings showed career counseling and personal growth and development needs as the foremost counseling needs for students. Thus, implementing extracurricular workshops by experienced professors in specialized fields could address these requirements and reduce student concerns. While facilitating academic progress, such training prepares students for post-graduation roles in society.

Peripheral neuropathy (PN) is resulted from damage to the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and usually causes weakness, numbness, and neuropathic pain, which is a type of chronic pain. Despite the variety of treatment options, treating neuropathic pain faces challenges and the existing treatments are not yet satisfactory. Nervous steroids show important physiological regulators of PNS function. Progesterone is a neurosteroid that has both analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties. Also, GABA-A receptors play an important role in mediating the effect of progesterone. This study was designed to determine whether progesterone can prevent electrophysiological deterioration of the sciatic nerve in the chronic constriction injury (CCI) model of neuropathic pain in rats and that do this effect through GABA-A receptors.

In this study, 140 male Wistar rats in 14 groups (n=10) were used. Neuropathic pain was created by the CCI method in the relevant groups. After CCI induction, progesterone and bicuculline or their vehicles were administered daily until day 13 post-CCI. After that, nerve conduction velocity (NCV) tests were performed according to Julu methods on days 14 and 27 after CCI.

According to the findings of this study, daily injections of progesterone for 12 days before complete neuropathic pain evolution in CCI rats could prevent significantly the reduction of sensory and motor nerve conduction velocities compared to the CCI group on days 14 and 27 after CCI. Furthermore, this effect of progesterone was blocked by bicuculline administration

The findings of this study showed that before complete neuropathic pain evolution, chronic progesterone administration may prevent electrophysiological disorders of the sciatic nerve (at least to some extent through GABA-A receptors) in CCI-induced peripheral neuropathy and these effects continue in the accepted range time of the CCI mode.

Neuropathic pain is a chronic pain that results from damage to the central and peripheral nerves. According to the previous studies, curcumin and exercise can be effective treatments for alleviating sensory neuropathic pain individually. Now the combined effect of chronic curcumin (Cur) and forced exercise on behavioral pain responses in the neuropathic pain model of chronic constriction injury (CCI) in rats is considered.

80 Male Wistar rats were randomly allocated to eight groups (n=10). These groups include Sham+ Vehicle (Veh), Sham+Exercise, CCI+Veh, CCI+Exercise, CCI+Veh+Exercise, Cur+CCI, Exercise+Cur+CCI. First, neuropathic pain was induced by CCI in the respective groups. For the treatment of neuropathic pain in the Cur+CCI group, animals received curcumin (60 mg/kg) started 12 days after the surgery until day 26. The exercise started 12 days after surgery until day 33 in the CCI+Veh+Exercise and CCI+Exercise groups. Thermal hyperalgesia and mechanical allodynia were performed on days 12 and 34.

We found that CCI-induced neuropathy could produce thermal hyperalgesia and mechanical allodynia 12 days after CCI induction. In addition, co-administration of curcumin and moderate-intensity exercise in each of the treated groups individually could alleviate neuropathic pain compared with the nontreated CCI.

Our findings showed that co-administration of curcumin and exercise individually, could alleviate neuropathic pain compared with nontreated CCI. In addition, there was not any additive or synergistic effect between the treatment of exercise and curcumin.

Pregnancy, as one of the crucial periods in the mother and fetus life, is extremely vulnerable to impairments such as drugs abuse. Every year, a large number of drug-addicted newborns are born due to motherchr(chr('39')39chr('39'))s addiction. Drug abuse during pregnancy leads to appearance of several negative consequences for baby, such as an increased risk of preterm birth and congenital deficits. On the other hand, it affects the cognitive development of children like learning and memory, attention, language, problem solving skills and execuative functions by causing impairments in the central nervous system learning, memory and attention of the fetus and it also leads to cognitive and behavioral disorders such as depression, hyperactivity and anxiety. Opioids are lipophilic drug, whereas the placental membrane is a lipoprotein, diffused from maternal to fetal compartments easily. Prenatal exposure to opioids delays the growth and development of the brain and neural structures in the embryonic or postnatal period.
Considering the effect of maternal addiction on all aspects of health and susceptibility to addiction in later life of children, efforts to prevent, treatment and control drug abuse in pregnancy are essential. Therefore, in the present article, the effects of prenatal exposure to opioids on cognitive functions are reviewed.

Neuropathic pain is a chronic pain that results from damage to the central and peripheral nerves. According to the previous studies, physical activity or progesterone can be an effective treatment for alleviating sensory neuropathic pain individually. In this way, the combined effect of chronic progesterone and forced exercise on behavioral pain responses in the neuropathic pain model of chronic constriction injury in rats was considered.

Eighty male Wistar rats were used in 8 groups (n=10). First, neuropathic pain was induced by CCI in the respective groups. For the treatment of neuropathic pain, animals in the groups received progesterone (6 mg/kg) started 12 days after the operation until day 26. In exercise groups, the exercise started 12 days after surgery until day 33. Behavioral tests were performed on days 12 and 33.

Interestingly, we found that CCI-induced neuropathy could produce thermal hyperalgesia and mechanical allodynia in experimental groups on day 12 before exercise and progesterone therapy. After the stabilization of neuropathic pain, co-administration of progesterone (6 mg/kg) for 14 days and moderate intensity exercise for 3 weeks in the respective group could alleviate neuropathic pain compared with the CCI and each of treated groups individually.

The findings of this study showed that co-administration of chronic progesterone and forced exercise after the stabilization of neuropathic pain may alleviate neuropathic pain

Neuropathic pain has no definitive treatment and the socio-economic status and personality of patient is severely affected. Since the exercise and/or progesterone effect on Chronic Constriction injury (CCI) neuropathic pain has been studied and each individually have been able to improve neuropathic pain and as a part of its etiology is related to TNF-α production, we tried to test these factors on TNF-α production and electrophysiologic responses of sciatic nerve in neuropathic pain model in rat.

50 male Wistar rats were used in 5 groups. Experimental groups were including: 1- Sham,   2- CCI + Vehicle (VEH), 3- CCI + VEH + Exercise,   4- CCI + Progestrone and 5- CCI + Progestrtone + Exercise. The sciatic nerve CCI model of rat was used to induce chronic neuropathic pain in the respective groups. Some groups of animals treated by progesterone injections (6 mg/kg) or its vehicle from day 1 to day 12 after surgery. The exercise was started two weeks before surgery and again, one-week after that and lasted to day 12. Electrophysiological tests and blood sampling were done on day 13.

The results showed that co administration of progesterone for 12 days and moderate intensity exercise for 3 weeks before complete neuropathic pain evolution could prevent significantly TNF-α production and electrophysiologic (Tibial and sural nerve conduction velocity) abnormality compared to the CCI group as well as compared to the exercise or progesterone group alone.

The findings of this study showed that co-administration of progesterone and forced exercise before neuropathy development may prevent TNF-α production and neuropathic disease. Also, the results showed that the effects of co-administration of progesterone and forced exercise in preventing electrophysiologic abnormality may be additive.

Previous findings from our laboratory indicated that exercise alleviates the deficits in cognitive and anxiety disorders in healthy female rats. But the effect of exercise on cognitive and anxiety disorders induced by chronic morphine in experimental monopose of rats (ovariectomized) not known. Aim of this study was to investigate the effects of mild and modorate forced exercise on anxiety-like behaviors, and object location memory in ovariectomized of morphine-dependent rats during spontaneous withdrawal period.

Sham or ovariectomized rats were injected with bi-daily doses (10 mg/kg, at 12 h intervals) of morphine or saline over a period of 10 days. Then the rats were trained under mild and moderate exercises for 30 minute in a session of five days per week for four weeks. Then object location memory, and anxiety profile in elevated plus maze (EPM) were examined.

Chronic morphine induced the anxiogenic-like behaviours (reductions in time spent, and entry into the EPM open arm) in intact, but not ovariectomized rats, which alleviated by both mild and moderate treadmill exercise. Also, both mild and moderate exercise produced anxiolytic behaviours in the non-morphine depedent intact and ovariectomized rats. Chronic morphine did not change object location memory in the intact and ovariectomized rats. Meanwhile, moderate exercise enhaced spatial location memory in non-morphine dependent, but not morphine dependent intact and ovarietomized rats.

In general, our findings demostrate that sex ovarian hormones modulate the effects of chronic morphine on congnitive function and anxiety behaviour. It seems the nature of this interaction is complex and needs further investigation.

Neuritis is one of the causes of neuropathic pains. It is proved that turmeric and curcumin have anti-neuritis effect that may be reduce of neuropathic pain.

In this study, effects of turmeric and curcumin have been evaluated on behavioral response resulted from chronic constriction injury (CCI) in rat.

In this experimental study Wistar male rat (200-250 gr) were used. For create of CCI, Bennet and Xie (1988) method has been used. 2 weeks after neuritis occurrence, turmeric 60 mg/kg and curcumin 30 and 60 mg/kg injection have been begun and continued until 26th day as daily and Intraperitonealy. Animal behavioral responses have been measured by using of mechanical allodynia (Von Frey) test and thermal hyperalgesia test during 14, 17, 20, 23, 26 and 40 days after neuritis occurrence.

Results indicated that creation of CCI increases behavioral responses as significant. Curcumin injection with dosage of 30 mg/Kg leads to decrease of mechanical allodynia from 20th and thermal hyperalgesia from 23th day. This effect has been observed until 40th day. Curcumin injection with dosage of 60 mg/Kg leads to decrease of mechanical allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia in 26th day. Turmeric injection with dosage of 60 mg/kg had no effect on mechanical allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia.

Finding shown that curcumin has positive effect on decrease of neuropathic pain that induced by CCI. Previous study suggested that the effect of curcumin is partly attributed to attenuation of lipid peroxidation in the periphery that finally reduced of inflammation.

After the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, China, and its spread to other countries, confrontation with it as an international emergency in all countries was seriously on the agenda of governments. Our country was not immune to this outbreak. Effective measures to combat this new virus would be certainly based on a proper understanding of the epidemiological pattern and its evaluation in the community. Under these circumstances, proper understanding and use of epidemiology-based indicators or approaches are more than ever needed by authorities and decision-makers. One of the most important and commonly used indices that have been used in most epidemics, including the COVID-19 outbreak, is the Basic Reproduction Number (R_0). Given the increasing need for the medical community and health care staff to deepen their understanding of the epidemiological concepts in dealing with epidemics, this article aimed to define R_0 and its application in the evaluation and monitoring of the COVID-19 epidemiological pattern in society

Rrecent studies indicated that serotonergic receptors can be mediate the glucocorticoids’ effects on behavioral procesess. The aim of this study was to determine the role of serotonergic receptor (5-HT6) in the effects of acute stress and corticosterone on fear memory reconsolidation in mice.

Male adult mice were trained and tested in an inhibitory avoidance task (1mA, 3sec). For assessment memory reconsolidation, immediately after memory reactivation memory (48 hr. after training) animal received corticosterone or exposed to an acute restraint stress (10 min) and also received SC203575 as a 5-HT6 receptor agonist or SB271046 as an antagonist of 5-HT6 receptors simultaneously. Memory retention test was done 5, 8, 10 and 12 days after memory reactivation.

The results showed that corticosterone injection or acute stress application after memory reactivation impaired memory reconsolidation in subsequent tests. Co-treatment with both the 5-HT6 agonist SC203575 and antagonist SB271046 inhibited the effects of corticosterone or acute stress on memory reconsolidation.

These findings indicated that the 5-HT6 receptors modulate the effects of glucocorticoids or acute stress on fear memory reconsolidation.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) develops after major trauma that is accompanied by certain signs, including pervasive fear memories, anxiety, abnormality in spatial and cognition memory, and decrease in hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are the first-line treatment for PTSD. This study aimed at investigating the effects of moderate treadmill exercise and fluoxetine on spatial memory and serum BDNF levels in rat model of PTSD.

In this experimental study, single prolonged stress (SPS) animal model of PTSD was used. Male and female rats were divided into SPS and control groups (n=10 per group). After that, they were subjected to moderate treadmill running (5 days per week/four weeks) and fluoxetine (10 mg/kg/day). Then, behavioral assessment and BDNF measurement were done.

SPS male rats showed reduced spatial memory and hippocampal BDNF. Female rats showed more resistance to SPS than male rats. This may be due to the effects of gonadal hormones. The intervention alleviated the SPS-induced alterations in hippocampal-dependent spatial memory and BDNF serum levels in both male and female rats (P<0.05).

Combined exercise and fluoxetine administration are more effective in alleviating behavioral and molecular deficits in PTSD patients.

Long-term stress disturbs HPA axis and increases glucocorticoids release, which disturbs neural plasticity in the hippocampus and may lead to learning and memory deficits. Noticeably, vitamin D plays a protective role in the nervous system and has receptors in the hippocampus. This behavioral study investigates the possible protective role of vitamin-D against the negative effects of chronic stress on learning and memory.

All the Rats were randomly divided to two groups; stress and control groups (each had 3 subgroups). Stress-group animals were exposed to restraint stress for 28 days, 3 hours/day. During 28 days, vitamin D (5 or 10 mg/kg), or vehicle was injected (IP) twice weekly to both groups. At day 29, blood sample collected for serum corticosterone assay. Morris water maze (MWM) test was performed in the order of 4 days training, one-day probe testing and finally working memory test. Passive avoidance test was performed after MWM.

Stress group revealed higher levels of serum corticosterone (P <0.0001) relative to controls. In MWM test, all groups learned the location of the platform during training. Latency in reaching the platform was reduced by the training days (P = 0.0001) for all the groups. Probe test indicated that stress groups reached the platform sooner than the control groups. Higher dose of vitamin D reduced this latency (P = 0.0002). Conversely, in passive avoidance test, stress groups spent less time in the dark than the control group (P = 0.0997).  Vitamin D (10 μg / kg) did not change the results.

In this study, chronic restraint stress increased blood corticosterone levels and changed the behavioral effects of long and short term spatial and conditional memory. Treatment with vitamin D improved spatial learning.

Memory deficit is one of the clinical problems of Alzheimer’s disease that progressively leads to cognitive impairment and dementia. In the present study, the effect of Spirulina plathensis microalgae on the scopolamine-induced memory impairment was evaluated. Young female Wistar rats (30 days old) were used. Animals randomly were divided into 9 groups (Saline + Saline, Saline + Scopolamine 1mg/kg, Saline + Scopolamine 2 mg/kg, Spirulina 100 mg/kg + Scopolamine 2 mg/kg, Spirulina 200 mg/kg + Scopolamine 2 mg/kg, Spirulina 400 mg/kg + Scopolamine 2 mg/kg, Spirulina 100 mg/kg + Saline, Spirulina 200 mg/kg + Saline, Spirulina 400 mg/kg + Saline). To measure inhibitory avoidance (IA) task, animals were given an electrical footshock (0.5 mA, 3 s) and then was intraperitoneally treated by scopolamine and 24 latter memory retention tests (time delay to re-entrance to dark compartment) was recorded. Spirulina plathensis was dissolved in physiologic saline and the suspension was gavaged at doses of 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg for fourteen days prior to training. Biochemical experiments were included determination of Malondialdehyde (MDA) and total antioxidant capacity of serum using thiobarbituric acid and Ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP), respectively Our results showed that scopolamine (2 mg/kg) significantly (P<0.001) impaired memory retention respect to control and Spirulina plathensis significantly (P<0.05) improved memory impairment induced by scopolamine. Further, Spirulina significantly (P<0.01) increased FRAP level compared to the control. Spirulina plathensis improves scopolamine induced-memory deficit, probably through enhancing total antioxidant capacity of serum probably.

Gastric cancer (GC) is considered as one of the most serious cancers, and in Iran, due to environmental factors in different regions, it has a high frequency. Apart from environmental factors, genetic and epigenetic ones also play a key role in the development of carcinogenesis of GC. In this regard, the study of functioning of the molecular mechanisms involved in the carcinogenesis and also tumorigenesis of this malignancy in different molecular pathways   to identify applied biomarkers in early diagnosis is of great importance. Thus, molecular pathways like sonic hedgehog  (SHH) may interfere with this type of cancer. In this review, it has attempted to investigate the performance of the fluctuations of these important genes in SHH pathway.

Neuropathic pain is a chronic pain that results from damage to the central nervous system and also environment. Neuropathic pain is important for general health and approximately 6% of the adult population is affected worldwide. Despite the therapeutic choices, treatment for neuropathic pain is facing challenges. An experimental model that is very close to human neuropathic model is the chronic constriction injury (CCI) model. Progesterone (PROG) is one of the most potent anti-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory neurostimulants, and GABA-A receptor palys an important role in mediating the biological effects of PROG. In this study, the effects of PROG on behavioral responses of pain in the neuropathic pain model of CCI, and the possible role of GABA-A receptor in its effect were investigated in rats. 70 male Wistar rats were used in 7 groups (n = 10). First, neuropathic pain was induced by the CCI method in the respective groups. Following CCI, PROG (6 mg/kg) and or the GABA-A receptor antagonist bicuculin (0.5 or 2 mg/kg) or vehicle were administered daily until day 13 post-CCI. On days 14 and 27, the behavioural tests including mechanical allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia were done. Daily injections of PROG PROG for 12 days prevented the mechanical allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia following CCI and this effect was blocked the bicuculin pretreatment. The findings of this study showed that treatment with progesterone may prevent the development of peripheral neuropathy, at least in part, via GABA-A receptors.

Stress is a powerful modulator of memory performance. Emotional arousal affects the various aspects of learning and memory through stimulation of the amygdala or the hippocampus. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of stress related acute exercise on reconsolidation of dart throwing task learned with errorless method. Participants of the study included 60 girls with an average age of 20.5 who were randomly assigned to three groups including: target (n = 20), control (n=20), and control 2 (n = 20). On the first day, all three groups under the same conditions acquired the skill of throwing darts in an errorless method and immediately after that performed the immediate retrieval. On the second day, after memory reactivation, the target group was exposed to stress resulting of acute exercise while the control 1 group did rest. The acute stress was presented to control 2 group without memory reactivation. During the experiment, changes in salivary cortisol were measured. On the third day, the delayed memory retrieval for each of the three groups was implemented.
Findings: the results showed that while the control 1 and control 2 groups did not show enhancement of dart throwing learning across delayed memory retrieval than immediate retrieval, the target group showed substantial enhancement across the same time (p<0.05). Our findings indicate that acute stress after memory reactivation can facilitate the implicit motor memory reconsolidation in women

Thyroid hormones play a key role in the evolution of various body systems. Relatively, maternal hypothyroidism results in structural and functional changes in the testis by decreasing thyroid hormones. Exercise can potentially improve these changes by increasing thyroid hormones. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of voluntary exercise on histopathological changes in testies in children of hypothyroid rats.
In this experimental study 40 female Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups by age 30 days: control-sedentary, control-voluntary exercise, hypothyroidism-sedentary, and hyperthyroidism - voluntary exercise. The total experiments started of the day 30 after birth and ended the day 44 after birth. Hypothyroidism was created using anti-thyroid drug 6-propyl 2-thiouracil from day 6 of pregnancy to day 21 after birth with the addition of the drinking water. At the end of testing, 5 micrometer sections were prepared from the testicle using a microscope equipped with software to analyze the images of tissue were histomorphometry.
Hypothyroidism reduces number of spermatogonia cells, primary spermatocytes cells, leydig cells, and as well as increased sertoli cells in testis. Hypothyroidism also reduces basement membrane diameter and seminiferous epithelium thickness. Exercise increases the number spermatogonia cells, primary spermatocytes cells, leydig cells, and as well as reduced sertoli cells in testes. Exercise also increases basement membrane diameter and seminiferous epithelium thickness.
This study showed that exercise is likely to substantially prevent the testis from structural and functional changes due to hypothyroidism.

The long history of morphine consumption causes anxiety and behavioral disorders. Sport activities can have positive effects, especially via brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) on the brain. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of voluntary and compulsory exercise on anxiety-like behaviors and BDNF levels in hippocampus in morphine-dependent rats.
Rats were injected with bi-daily doses (10 mg/kg, at 12 hr intervals) of morphine for 10 days. Following, the rats in voluntary exercise were allowed to freely exercise in a running wheel for 10 days. The rats in the treadmill exercise groups were forced to run on a motorized treadmill for 30 min once a day for 10 days. Then, anxiety profile was tested using elevated plus maze (EPM) and light-dark box (L/D), and hippocampal BDNF was measured.
Morphine abstinent rats showed increased anxiety in both EPM and L/D box and reduced hippocampal BDNF. Enhanced anxiety, but not a decline in hippocampal BDNF was alleviated by both exercise regimens. Moreover, both exercises increased hippocampal BNDF and reduced anxiety in none-morphine treated rats.
This study showed that physical acivity could allivate the anxiety deficits in morphine abstienet rats probably through mechanisms that do not involve hippocampal BDNF. This suggests that physical acivity could be a potential therpeautic method to reduce anxiety disorders during abstience perioid.

Research in Medical Sciences has special importance and it has received special attention in Iran. Several studies conducted on factors affecting research performance in the Universities of Medical Sciences and each of them focused on particular group’s viewpoint. Therefore, to have a comprehensive picture of the factors affecting research performance in Medical Sciences, this study was done to review these factors in Iran.
This study reviews factors affecting the research performance in universities of medical sciences in Iran through recent 16 years. Related Keywords were used in Pub Med, Scopus, Science direct, Google scholar and Iranmedex, Irandoc, SID, and Magiran in order to find related English and Persian articles.
From 158 obtained articles, 55 eligible articles (46 Persian and nine English) were entered the study. Similar factors put together and 17 categories formed such as: Individual – personality, Organizational – structural, Management, Infrastructure – facilities, and Interaction – team work.
Factors affecting medical research have a wide range. Among factors, the most frequent were respectively infrastructure – facilities (26 times) and over entanglement (22 times) and then in the third place, Individual – personality, motivation, research related abilities and financial and budget (21 times)

Previous studies indicated that the exercise has beneficial effects on cognitive activities and ovariectomies causes the impairment of learning and memory. The aim of this study was to determine the influence of voluntary exercise and estrogen replacement on the effects of ovariectomy on fear memory and hippocampal neuron number in rat.
In this experimental study, adult female Wistar rat (180-220 gr) were used. One week after ovariectomy, the rats received ß-Stradiol (estrogen 20 µg/kg) or vehicle (2ml/kg) daily and were allowed to freely exercise in a running wheel for 2 weeks. After this period, their learning and memory were trained and tested on a passive avoidance task that succeeded by a retention test two days later. Then, all animal were decapitated, and their hippocampi were removed. The number of neurons was counted in different regions of hippocampus.
Analysis of data indicated that the ovariectomy impaired the fear memory and decreased the number of neurons in the hippocmpaus. Volunatry exercise or exstrogen replacement alone, and together improved the deficits in fear memory and neuron counting induced by ovariectomy
Voluntary exercise and estrogen have benfical effects on cognitive deficits associated with the reduction of female sex hormones such as seen in post-monpouse woman.

Several evidences demonstrate the beneficial effects of voluntary exercise on cognitive functions in rodents. It is well established that the glucocorticoid system plays an important role in regulation of learning and memory. In previous study, we have shown that glucocorticoids are involved in mediating the effect of voluntary exercise on spatial learning and memory. Moreover, physical activity enhaces glucocorticoids. This study addressed whether the glucocorticoid system would play a role in the exercise-induced enhancement of fear memory and hippocampal neuronal numbers in rats.
Rats that were either adrenalectomized or daily given the corticosterone-synthesis inhibitor metyrapone were allowed to freely exercise in a running wheel for 10 days. After this period, they were trained and tested on a passive avoidance task, succeeded by a retention test two days later. Immediatley after memory testing, the rats were decapitated, and their hippocampi were removed for the measurement of the neuron conting in the dentate gyrus.
Exercise significantly improved the performance of fear memory retrieval and increased neuronal number in hippocampus whereas this effect was absent in both adrenalectomized and metyrapone-treated rats.
These findings indicate that the glucocorticoids play a crucial role in the beneficial effects of voluntary exercise on fear memory formation and neural counting in the hippocampus

Depression and anxiety are the most common psychiatric disorders. In this account, the aim of this study was to investigate the comparison of aerobic and anaerobic exercise effect on depression and anxiety in students.
In this study, 120 male students were randomly divided into 3 groups of 40, including the first group to do 3 aerobic exercise sessions of 60 minutes per week for 8 weeks. The second group was trained in anaerobic exercise, whereas the third one as the control group of non-exercising subjects gets involved in no intervention/interference. Afterwards, the groups were checked in the terms of anxiety and depression by STAL and Beak depression inventory.
The results showed that mean changes before and after the intervention in depression with exercise 7.23 ± 8.81, 5.89 ± 7.75 in anaerobic training group and the control group 1.23 ± 4.73 which the difference was significant (p=0.001). So that, the aerobic group (p=0.001) and also in anaerobic (p=0.012) more than the control group, but the difference was not significant in aerobic and anaerobic groups (p=0.725) .The mean change in anxiety before and after the intervention in the aerobic exercise 8.45 ± 8.81, 8.05± 8.07 in anaerobic training group and the control group was 2.15 ± 8.32 which is a significant difference and it was (p=0.600). The amount of anxiety in the group with aerobic exercise (003/0 = p) and the anaerobic group (006/0 = p) was significantly more than the control group, but the amount decreased in both groups with aerobic exercise and aerobic (975/0 = p) were not significantly different.
Overall, study findings indicate that aerobic exercise and anaerobic exercise for eight weeks resulted in a significant reduction in depression and anxiety, and the most significant differences were observed in training method. So, aerobic and anaerobic exercises are recommended to reduce the depression and anxiety.

Acute injection of corticosterone impairs memory retrieval in experimental animals.  On the other hand, sex hormones can modulate memory retrieval. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of concurrent injections of corticosterone and progesterone on memory retrieval in the proestrus (when the levels of endogenous estrogen and progesterone are high) and diestrous (when the levels of endogenous estrogen and progesterone are low) stages in adult female rats.

Adult female Wistar rats were trained in an inhibitory avoidance task (1mA, 3s). The latency to reenter the dark compartment and also time spent in the dark chamber were recorded in the retention test performed 48 h after training. In experiments 1 and 2, corticosterone (3 mg/kg, i.p) or vehicle was injected to intact female rats in the proestrus or diestrus phases 30 min before retention test. In experiments 3 and 4, rats in the proestrus or diestrus phase were received vehicle or progesterone (5 mg/kg, i.p) 60 min, and vehicle or corticosterone (3 mg/kg) 30 min before the test.

Acute injection of corticosterone to female rats in the diestrous stage, but not in the proestrus stage impaired memory retrieval. Pretreatment with progesterone did not influence the corticosterone effects on memory retrieval in the proestrus or diestrus phases.

Corticosterone impairs memory retrieval only in the proestrus phase and this effect did not change with pharmacological levels of progesterone.