فهرست مطالب alireza armani kian

Phantom limb pain (PLP) as neuropathic pain affects the life of amputees. It is believed an efficient PLP treatment should consider the underlying neurological mechanisms. Hereby, we investigated brain activity in PLP and its relationships to the psychological and cognitive dimensions of chronic pain. We investigate differences in resting brain activities between amputees with and without pain. We hypothesize significant differences in the motor cortex and parietal cortex activity that are related to pain perception. Also, we hypothesize two groups have significant differences in cognitive and psychological components.

Behavioral assessment (psychological status, life satisfaction, and pain level) and EEG signals of 19 amputees (12 without pain and 7 with pain) were recorded. Data were statistically compared between the two groups. Also, the association between behavioral and neurophysiological data was computed. 

The results showed a significant decrease in the pain group for the beta and gamma waves, as well as, for the theta and delta waves in the posterior temporal on both sides, during the eye-open condition. The eyes-closed condition showed that the delta waves were decreased on the right side of the cortex. Also, data showed a significant difference in the correlation of pain features with brain waves between the two groups. 

Significant differences were mostly observed in regions related to pain perception rather than the motor cortex. This can be due to the learned strategies to deal with pain and the degree of pain. Results showed maladaptive cognitive processes had a relationship with brain wave activities. According to the result of brain wave activities, it seems that cognitive factors have a role in the experience of PLP rather than neuroplasticity through amputation.

The present study aimed to investigate the prevalence of substance use disorder in Iranian children and adolescents and its relationship with demographic characteristics and psychiatric comorbidities.

The data were taken from a national survey on the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in Iranian children and adolescents. The national survey was conducted on 30,532 children and adolescents aged 6-18 years which were selected using multistage cluster sampling. The psychiatric disorders were assessed by employing k-SADS-PL questionnaire and interviews carried out by 240 clinical psychologists with the participants and their parents. Data were analyzed by Chi-square test and logistic regression.

A total of 277 (0.97%) were diagnosed as people with substance use disorder that were further studied for comorbid disorders. Among the various types of drugs, hypnotic/sedative/anti-anxiety drugs were abused by 84 people (46.15%), cannabis by 68 (37.36%) and stimulants by 43 (23.63%). The variables of gender, place of residence, and father’s occupation and parents’ education level were identified as predictors of substance use disorder in children and adolescents. At the same time, 42.50% substances and alcohol abusing people had at least one comorbid psychiatric disorder and the highest comorbidity was observed in oppositional defiant disorder, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder and separation anxiety disorder (p≤0.05).

The findings can be used in the prevention and treatment of substance use disorder and promotion of mental health in children and adolescents by focusing on the psychiatric comorbidities of people with substance use disorder.

Achieving a healthy society depends on a normal and efficient family. Therefore, the present study investigates the effectiveness of integrated behavioral couple therapy in improving family function.

The current research was a semi-experimental study with a control and experimental groups including the pre-test, post-test ,and 45 days follow up. The study population was all the couples who referred to the family therapy clinic of Shahid Beheshti Psychiatric Hospital in Zanjan in 2020. The 20 couples were selected from the available community and randomly divided into control and experimental groups. The experimental group received IBCT sessions of 120 minutes for 11 weeks, while the control group did not receive any intervention. The data were analyzed by SPSS 18 software and repeated ANOVA measures were used.

The findings illustrated that mean score of family function had significant difference between experimental (2.27) and control (2.81) groups in the post test stage. Moreover, comparing the experimental (2.28) and control (2.79) groups in follow-up stage showed that the therapeutic effects were stable.  Further, the result relieved that IBCT was effective on all the variables except behavior control.

Based on the results, IBCT can be used as a treatment choice for improving family function.

 This study aims to investigate niacin sensitivity in schizophrenia patients compared to healthy people and examine the accuracy of niacin skin flush test in diagnosing schizophrenia.

 This diagnostic study was conducted in 2018 in Zanjan, Iran. Three niacin concentrations (0.001 M, 0.01 M, and 0.1 M) was first applied topically to the skin of 36 schizophrenia patients and 33 healthy controls. Flush responses were evaluated at 10 and 15 min after application. Sensitivity, specificity, Positive Predictive Value (PPV), and Negative Predictive Value (NPV) of the test were measured for each niacin concentration and evaluation time. 

 At 10 min, the highest test accuracy was reported when 0.001 M niacin solution was used (Sensitivity=94%, specificity=50%, PPV= 51%, and NPV= 94%). At 15 min, the highest test accuracy was observed at 0.01 concentration (Sensitivity=52%, specificity=92%, PPV=79%, and NPV=77%).

 Flush responses to niacin is more impaired in patients with schizophrenia. Therefore, niacin can be considered as a biological marker of schizophrenia and can be used for its diagnosis.

Some scientists consider emotional divorce as the first step in the divorce process, which means that the marital relationship is declining. Research shows the harmful physical and psychological effects of emotional divorce on couples. The present research was carried out to show the effectiveness of Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy (IBCT) on emotional divorce among couples. This was a quasi-experimental design study with a control group, including a pre-test, post-test and a 45-day follow up. The statistical population of this study was all couples referred to the family therapy clinic of Shahid Beheshti Psychiatric Hospital in Zanjan in 2020. Twenty couples were selected based on a score of eight or higher in a 24-item two-choice questionnaire on emotional divorce which was developed by Guttman in 1998. Next, participants were randomly divided into two groups of experimental and control. The experimental group received 11 weekly sessions of IBCT and each intervention session lasted for 120 minutes and the control group did not receive any intervention. Repeated measures ANOVA was used and data were analyzed by SPSS software V18. The results of ANOVA showed that there was a significant difference between the control and experimental groups in the pre-test, post-test and follow-up (p <0.001). Therefore, it can be concluded that IBCT has reduced the emotional divorce of couples in the experimental group. Results suggest that IBCT can be used as a treatment of choice for reduction of emotional divorce.

Psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents cause numerous issues in adulthood. Epidemiological data could provide a broad understanding of such issues. However, data are scarce regarding the prevalence of these disorders in Iran. The present study aimed to provide detailed evidence on the prevalence of psychiatric disorders among children and adolescents aged 6-18 years in Zanjan province, Iran during November-February 2016.

In this cross-sectional study, 1,039 children and adolescents were selected via multistage cluster random sampling. Data were collected by
face-to-face household surveys using the Persian version of kiddie schedule for affective disorders and schizophrenia-present and lifetime version.

The overall prevalence of mental disorders in the children and adolescents in Zanjan was 10.6%. Enuresis (4.8%) was the most common psychiatric issue, followed by anxiety disorders (4.5%), behavioral disorders (3.8%), and neurodevelopmental disorders (1.5%), while mood disorders (0.4%) had the lowest prevalence. Moreover, the children in the rural areas were 1.73 times more likely to develop psychiatric disorders compared to their urban peers.

According to the results, approximately 18% of the children and adolescents in Zanjan had at least one psychiatric disorder. Our findings could lay the basis for further research and preventive/therapeutic interventions in this regard.

 Procrastination and academic failure are factors that are on the rise among medical universities and threaten the educational system. Therefore, it is necessary to identify interventions that can reduce these factors. The present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) on academic procrastination in Medical Sciences students of Zanjan University, Zanjan City, Iran.

 This study was a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test & post-test design and case and control groups. The statistical population was all students with academic failure who were referred to the University Counseling Office during the academic year 1996-7, out of whom 38 were enrolled in the study considering the inclusion criteria and academic procrastination score. The study data were collected using the standard Solomon’s and Rothlobom questionnaire. Students’ academic performance was also measured by their semester grade point average. Covariance analysis and analysis of covariance were used for data analysis in SPSS V. 24.

 The mean academic procrastination was significantly different between the two groups at the post-test (P<0.05). Group F was statistically significant in academic procrastination equal to 257.553 (P<0.05), so the effectiveness of ACT on academic procrastination and its components was confirmed. Concerning academic performance, the F of the group factor was equal to 9.59 and at the level of P<0.05 which was statistically significant.

 The results show the effectiveness of ACT on student’s procrastination and academic failure.

The present study aimed to determine the relationship between the components of mindfulness and academic procrastination with the mediating role of academic self-concept in students of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences in 2018-2019.

This descriptive, correlational study was performed on 315 students (selected from a population of 1759 individuals) using random sampling. Notably, the sample size was determined using Cochrane’s formula. Data were collected using PASS by Solomon & Rothblum, ASCQ by Wang, and 39-item FFMQ by Baer et al., and data analysis was performed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient, linear multiple regression, and Baron and Kenny’s method (to determine the mediating role).

In this study, there was a significant correlation between mindfulness components and academic procrastination and academic self-concept (P<0.05). According to the multiple regression results, mindfulness explained 27%, 24.7%, 20.1%, and 28.7% of total academic procrastination, procrastination in preparation for exams, procrastination in doing assignments, and total academic self-concept, respectively (P<0.05). Furthermore, academic self-concept played a mediating role in the relationship between mindfulness and academic procrastination.

According to the results of the study, there was a relationship between mindfulness components and academic self-concept and academic procrastination. Moreover, academic self-concept mediated the relationship between mindfulness and academic procrastination.

Recognition of the factors associated with drug abuse in students can have a significant impact on the prevention of their tendency towards substance abuse. Therefore, the present study was conducted to determine the relationship of the tendency towards substance abuse with spiritual and psychological well-being in students of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences.

This descriptive-correlational study was performed on undergraduate and doctoral students (n=1759) of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences in the academic year of 2016-17. The sample size was calculated using the Cochran formula and was estimated at 315 subjects who were selected through the random sampling method. The data were collected using a substance abuse questionnaire which was based on Minnesota multiphasic personality inventory-2, psychological well-being questionnaire by Reef, and spiritual well-being questionnaire by Paloutzian and Ellison. Out of 315 distributed questionnaires, 295 questionnaires were completely filled and returned. The data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and multiple linear regression tests.

According to the findings, there was a significant relationship between the variable of total spiritual well-being and the tendency towards substance abuse and the components of addiction potential and acknowledgment (P<0.05). Moreover, it was confirmed that there was a relationship between personal growth and addiction acknowledgment (P<0.05). Furthermore, the component of self-acceptance had a correlation with the tendency towards substance abuse and addiction acknowledgment (P<0.05). Besides, spiritual well-being, religious well-being, and the component of self-acceptance can predict and explain the variable of the tendency towards substance abuse to 26%, 19.9%, and 18%, respectively. In addition, the two components of personal growth and self-acceptance were able to explain the addiction acknowledgment to 19.6% and 18.4%.

Finally, it can be concluded that self-acceptance and spiritual well-being are predictors of the tendency towards substance abuse in students.

Migraine is a neurological syndrome that involves one-way or two-way recurrent headaches with a moderate to severe severity and lasts from 2 to 72 hours. Chronic migraines occur for about 3 months and at least 15 days or more per month, with a global incidence of 1.4 to 2.2 percent. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of neurofeedback and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in reducing symptoms of women with migraine.

This is a quasi-experimental study with pre-test, post-test, and follow-up for 2 months. The sample consisted of 20 migraine patients aged 15-55 years. Initial evaluation (entrance examination and exit), implementation of the Ahvaz Migraine Questionnaire (AMQ), and Blanchard Headache Diary (BHD) were performed. Patients were randomly assigned to the neurofeedback treatment group (N=10) and tDCS (N=10). Subjects of each group were evaluated 4 times consisting before intervention. The data were analyzed using SPSS 23 software.

The results of Mann-Whitney U test indicated that there was no significant difference between the two treatments during the stages of evaluation in the severity, duration, and number of pain attacks per month. The results of Friedman test showed that there was a significant difference between the severity of headaches and the number of pain attacks in one month in the treatment groups during the stages of evaluation, but the duration of pain relief in each group in the evaluation steps did not differ significantly.

Neurofeedback and tDCS treatments reduce the symptoms of migraine disease, but there is no significant difference between the two treatments in terms of headache symptoms improvement.

Evaluation of satisfaction of students with educational services of universities can show the gap between their expectations and the current state. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the quality gap of educational services from the viewpoint of residency students of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences in 2017-2018.

This analytical and cross-sectional study was performed on 188 residency students selected by census sampling. Data were collected using SERVQUAL, and data analysis was carried out by SPSS version 24 using descriptive statistics and paired t-test. 

In this study, 106 subjects (56%) were female and 82 participants (46%) were male. In terms of age, 122 individuals were below the age of 25 (65%), whereas 66 residency students were above 35 years (35%). According to paired t-test, there was a difference between expectations and perceptions of residency students from the quality of educational services and a negative service gap in five dimensions (P=0.001, t>1.97). In this regard, the highest and lowest gaps were related to the dimensions of reliable (-2.43) and physical dimension and tangible (-2.1), respectively.

From the perspective of residency students of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, there was a negative gap between expectations of quality of educational services with the current state.

Nowadays, the rate of cerebral stroke is increasing in Iran. Therefore, the identification of factors affecting the quality of life in patients with stroke helps researchers to have a more comprehensive understanding of its treatment. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between religious orientation and quality of life in patients with stroke in Zanjan.
This descriptive-correlational study was conducted on 120 patients with stroke who were selected using convenient sampling. The data were collected through Allport religious orientation and World Health Organization Quality of Life questionnaires. Data analysis was performed using Pearson correlation and multiple regression.
According to the results of this study, extrinsic religious orientation correlated with total quality of life (r=0.555, P=0.01), as well as physical health (r=0.400, P=0.01), psychological (r=0.737, P=0.001), and environmental (r=0.463, P=0.01) domains. Moreover, the results revealed that intrinsic religious orientation correlated with total quality of life (r=-0.443, P=0.01), as well as physical health (r=-0.219, P=0.05), psychological (r=-0.522, P=0.01), social relationships (r=-0.252, P=0.047), and environmental (r=-0.631, p=0.045) domains. In addition, the results of the regression analysis indicated that extrinsic religious orientation showed no significant prediction in terms of social relationships; however, the predictions were significant regarding other domains. Furthermore, a significant association was observed between total quality of life, psychological and environmental domains with an intrinsic religious orientation.
Religious orientation can have an effect on the improvement of quality of life in patients with cerebral stroke.

 Lifestyle is an important factor in determining family and community health. Therefore, the current study aimed to determine the status of mothers' lifestyle in Zanjan province, Iran.

 The study is part of a national cross-sectional project implemented by the National Institute for Medical Research Development (NIMAD) in Iran. This study used multi-stage cluster sampling and included 1039 mothers from Zanjan province in 2015-2016. The data gathering tools were the lifestyle questionnaire (LSQ) and a demographic questionnaire. Data were analyzed by SPSS 20.

 The results showed that the lifestyle status of 4.6% of the mothers was lower than the normal level, 89.3% at the normal level, and 6.1% was good. Mean and standard deviation of the total lifestyle of mothers was 2.01±0.31. Evaluating the mean of lifestyle components showed that the highest mean of lifestyle status in mothers in Zanjan province was related to drugs avoidance (M=2.65) and the lowest mean was related to sport and health components (M=1.44).

 The lifestyle status of the studied samples was predominantly at normal level. However, their status in such components as exercise and health, environmental health, weight control, nutrition, and physical health was not very favorable, which makes it necessary to plan more precisely in this area. Results showed that mothers living in the city had a significantly better lifestyle than those living in rural areas. Findings also indicated that mothers with a higher level of education had a better lifestyle than those with a lower level.