جستجوی مقالات مرتبط با کلیدواژه « ضایعه نخاعی » در نشریات گروه « پزشکی »

Objective:

 People's lives change after unfortunate events such as spinal cord injury, and the people with this injury, as a citizen, face various obstacles and challenges to participate in society. This study explores the barriers and facilitators of social integration of patients with spinal cord injuries in Rofeideh Rehabilitation Hospital.

Materials & Methods:

 This research was conducted using Granheim and Lundman's (2004) conventional content analysis. The participants comprised 13 people with spinal cord injury, 4 family caregivers of patients, and 5 rehabilitation service providers in Rofeideh Rehabilitation Hospital, which were selected by purposive sampling. Sampling was continued until data saturation. Data were collected and analyzed using semi-structured in-depth interviews. To evaluate the stability of the data, four criteria of credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability proposed by Guba and Lincoln were used.

Results:

 Facilitators of social integration of people with spinal cord injury were identified in the 3 main categories and 8 subcategories. The main categories were "social support," "social participation," and "individual beliefs." The barriers to social integration were extracted from participants' experiences and consist of 3 main categories of "environmental and structural barriers," "physical and motor barriers," and "contextual factors" and 6 related subcategories.

Conclusion:

 According to the findings of this study, patients with spinal cord injuries face various barriers in order to re-integrate into the community. On the other hand, helpful factors at different levels of individual, family, and social facilitate their social integration process. Recognizing these factors, derived from the deep and rich experiences of people with spinal cord injury, family caregivers, and rehabilitation service providers, can be useful to patients, families, professionals, and policymakers. They can use these experiences to program, design, and implement related interventions to reduce barriers and strengthen facilitators to the social integration of the target group.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating condition associated with a sudden loss of sensory, motor, and autonomic function. Despite significant advances in medical and surgical care, there is no effective treatment for its neurological deficits, which can be partly due to the highly complex pathophysiological mechanisms involved in SCI. Inflammatory cascade and overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) are secondary events of injury. Reducing the level of ROS with the help of antioxidants seems to be one of the alternative therapies to reduce oxidative stress. This study aims to review the effect of four natural and strong antioxidants (astaxanthin, saffron and its active ingredients, curcumin, and resveratrol) in spinal cord injuries research studies.

Methods and Materials: 

The present study was reviewed 77 scientific articles and the results were extracted from them. The articles have been searched in international databases using oxidative stress, antioxidant, herbal medicine, spinal cord injury, resveratrol, curcumin, saffron, and astaxanthin keywords, with an emphasis on neuroprotective mechanisms caused by them, mainly between the years of 2010 and 2022.

Oxidative stress and inflammation play an important role in the pathophysiology of SCI. Inhibition of oxidative invasion can significantly reduce the occurrence of inflammation, infection, apoptosis, and dysfunction. Therefore, it seems that adjunctive treatment with potent antioxidants can improve the outcome for spinal cord injury patients.

The use of natural antioxidants can be an important section of future research in the field of SCI treatment. Continuing studies on bioactive compounds with the capacity to inhibit ROS may lead to the development of effective methods based on antioxidant treatment in human studies of SCI.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential benefits of motor training in patients with complete thoracolumbar spinal cord injury.

In an outpatient physical medicine and rehabilitation clinic in Tehran, a preliminary clinical trial was conducted on an available sample. Twenty-five patients with complete spinal cord injury were included in this study. All patients were paraplegic and complete spinal cord injury was proven for them by para clinical methods. All patients participated in a comprehensive rehabilitation training program that was personalized. This program included a combination of the Swiss ball and the use of ankle orthosis, as well as ankle and knee long leg orthosis and the use of a parallel bar.

Fourteen of the participants were men and 11 were women. The age of the participants was between 19 and 52 years with an average of 31.54 years. Gait information, somatosensory evoked potential response and magnet motor evoked potential were recorded from all of them. Our study showed that individualized exercise program enables patients with complete spinal cord injury to move. After receiving movement intervention, the patients were able to walk and continued.

Movement training can stimulate the production of response in complete spinal cord injury. At the same time, motor training does not improve neurological deficits in patients with complete spinal cord injury.

Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) is one of the traumatic events that has a huge impact on the quality of life, growth and development of the injured patient. Several factors affect mental health in SCI patients, but the most important ones affect different aspects of personality and adaptation, such as ego strength, self-knowledge, depression and stress anxiety. Each set of these factors can be introduced as a path-breaking outcome in improving the psychological state of patients with SCIs. To achieve the desired level in these prominent personality and mood factors, flexible treatment approaches are needed. In fact, beneficial intervention in SCI patients should include features that help them to accept their existing situation, to step forward with strength, to achieve goals and progress, and prevent psychological consequences. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of paradox therapy with the PTC model (Paradox + Timetable = Cure) on ego strength, self-knowledge, and anxiety depression stress in a patient with SCI.

This research method was quasi-experimental with a single-subject design that was performed using the baseline-intervention-follow-up. The study population includes female patients suffering from SCI who were members of the Spinal Cord Injury Association of Tehran Province, Iran, in 2019. They were between 20 and 40 years old with the SCI injury at least five years and at most 10 years earlier. The subject of the present study was randomly selected from 60 female participants, who underwent conventional rehabilitation treatments. She entered the study with written informed consent. The first meeting was dedicated to obtaining informed consent and filling out the baseline questionnaires (pretest). The first treatment session was held one week later. Measurements were performed in the fourth session for the posttest and one month later for follow-up evaluation. Research instruments included Ego Strength Scale (ESS) (Beshrat, 2017), Integrative Self-Knowledge Scale (ISK) (Ghorbani et al., 2008), the Stress Anxiety Depression Scale (DASS-21) (Lovibond and Lovibond, 1995), and Treatment Outcome Subjective Rating Scale (TOSRS) (Besharat, 2003). Descriptive statistics, including the percentage change in posttest and follow-up scores compared to the pretest scores, were used for analyzing the collected data.

The results showed that the PTC psychotherapy model is effective. In the posttest stage, the score of Integrative Self-Knowledge reached 40, which showed an increase by 29%. Ego Strength increased by 15% and reached 77, and each of the stress anxiety depression items improved one score, which is a 24% progress. These changes were maintained during the follow-up period for Ego Strength and increased slightly for Integrative Self-Knowledge (16%) and improved to 29% in the symptoms of stress anxiety.

The PTC psychotherapy model is recommended as a very short-term, simple, effective, cost-effective and flexible approach in treating patients with spinal cord injuries.

 Spinal cord injury involves damage to the spinal cord that results in temporary or permanent changes in movement, senses, and or the autonomic functioning of the spinal cord. Compared to the general public, patients with spinal cord injury face significant restrictions in various psychological aspects. Given the problems of these patients, the question is which psychological characteristics may play a role in the mental health and resiliency of these patients. In this regard, ego strength and integrative self–knowledge can be mentioned. As an answer to these patients’ need for improving their psychological capabilities, paradox therapy can be a helpful method. Another therapeutic method that can be useful in improving the psychological state of the patients is reality therapy. Accordingly, the main objective of the current study is to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of paradox therapy and reality therapy on the levels of ego strength and integrative self–knowledge in female patients suffering from spinal cord injury.

The research method was quasi–experimental with a pretest–posttest and a follow–up design with a control group. Using random assignment, the subjects were placed in the experimental (paradox therapy and reality therapy) and control groups. The study population comprised 20–40 years old female patients with spinal cord injury, who were members of the Spinal Cord Injury Association of Tehran Province, Iran in 2019. The sample included 45 female patients with spinal cord injury being treated in occupational therapy centers, and willing to participate in the study. The participants were selected based on a voluntary non–random sampling method. The inclusion criteria were as follows: having a female gender, being single, being between 20 and 40 years old, living in Tehran, passing between 5 and 10 years since their spinal cord injury, not participating in psychotherapy at the same time as research, having paraplegic paralysis or two lower limbs with optimal functioning of the upper limbs, either because of the low severity of the injury or because of receiving rehabilitation. The exclusion criteria were as follows: having a history of psychotic diseases and hospitalization in a mental hospital, experiencing the death of first–degree relatives in six months leading to the beginning of interventions, having chronic diseases, being absent of more than two sessions in intervention groups. The Ego Strength Scale (Besharat, 2007) and the Integrative Self–Knowledge Scale (Ghorbani et al., 2003) were utilized in the study. The statistical analysis was performed at the level of descriptive and inferential statistics based on parametric statistical tests. Regarding the inferential analysis, we used 1–way analysis of variance (one–way ANOVA), the Chi–squared test, and ANOVA with repeated measures were used. Moreover, Cohen’s d was used for comparing the effects of target treatments. The significance level of the tests was set at 0.05.

There were significant group (p=0.011), time (p<0.001), and time × treatment effects (p<0.001) for both ego strength and self–knowledge. Post hoc analysis of simple main effects indicated no significant changes in ego strength and self–knowledge for the control group (p>0.05). Compared to the pretest strage, ego strength and self–knowledge for paradox therapy group (p<0.001) and reality therapy group (p<0.001) showed a significant increase in both posttest and follow–up stages. Additionally, compared to the pretest condition, the effect sizes of both treatment plans were almost the same for ego strength (Cohen’s d=2.6), while the effect size of reality therapy (Cohen’s d=2.37) was higher in the follow–up stage than of paradox therapy (Cohen’s d=1.35). In contrast, the effect size of paradox therapy on self–knowledge was quite higher in both posttest (Cohen’s d=1.94) and follow–up (Cohen’s d=2.10) stages than those of reality therapy (Cohen’s d=0.84 in the posttest and Cohen’s d=0.72 in the follow–up).

Paradox therapy and reality therapy are effective in improving deep psychological characteristics of 20–40 years old women with spinal cord injury, i.e., ego strength and integrative self–knowledge. The role of paradox therapy in improving the integrative self–knowledge of patients must be carefully considered by providers of behavioral interventions.

Spinal cord injury is usually debilitating and has many negative effects on the quality of life of people due to secondary complications. Therefore, improving the quality of life of people with spinal cord injury is one of the main priorities in the nursing profession. Also, educating self-care behaviors and obtaining information from nurses can be helpful for people with this problem. Self-care is also the most important form of primary care for chronic diseases in the health sector. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of self-care education on the quality of life of people with spinal cord injury referred to Khatam Ol-Anbia Hospital in Tehran.

The present study was a quasi-experimental study with a control group. 84 patients with spinal cord injury referred to Khatam Ol-Anbia Hospital in Tehran in the first 6 months of 2020 were selected through systematic random sampling and divided in two groups; an intervention group and a control group. The questionnaire used in this study is an abbreviated form of WHO Quality of Life Assessment Group. WHOQOL-BREF Introduction is a 26-item questionnaire that measures a person's overall quality of life. This questionnaire has four subscales and an overall score. These subscales include: physical health, mental health, social relationships, environmental health, and an overall score. The reliability of Quality of Life questionnaire was achieved through Cronbach's alpha which was equal to α= 0.79 and internal correlation coefficient was calculated for relative reliability which was equal to 0.85. After coordination with the officials of Khatam Ol-Anbia Hospital in Tehran, the researcher referred to the spinal cord injury wards and after introducing himself, explaining the nature and objective of the research, and the procedures to conduct the study to the ward staff, the patients, and their companions, received informed consent from the patients.The pre-test was performed for both groups and before the intervention, the questionnaires of demographic characteristics and WHO Quality of Life were completed by patients admitted to the spinal cord injury wards. Then, the intervention group was formed in the social network entitled "Self-care and spinal cord injuries" and in addition to the usual training, 30-session self-care training was conducted every day for 30 minutes which lasted a month. The training included description of the disease, complications of the disease, types of pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments for disease control, self-care and its importance in rehabilitation, how to follow a proper diet, how to follow the prescribed medication and daily activities, exercise and physical activity, counseling and talking with friends, family and non- family support, the skills of how to change the position, transfer, increase performance and independence of patients with spinal cord injury.In this study, 42 patients participated in each group, and 4 patients in the intervention group and 2 in the control group were excluded from the study for reasons such as cancellation of cooperation, not completing the questionnaire in pre-test or post-test stages, not studying the material submitted for more than three sessions (according to the feedback, the daily review of message information, analyzing Read or Delivered option in the social network), and finally a total of 38 patients comprised the intervention group and 40 patients the control group. At first, the patients were asked not to post irrelevant material and to express their views if they had any questions or concerns about the training provided. Also, only routine trainings were performed for the control group. To perform the post-test, one month after the end of the educational intervention, the tools were completed again by the two groups. The post-test was performed for the patients who returned to the hospital and the spinal cord injury wards on time, but for other patients, the questionnaires were sent privately to the social network and were completed remotely. After the posttest, the educational booklet was given to the control group. In this research, educational content was prepared by referring to the available library resources and with the guidance of supervisors and consultants.The validity of the educational content was assessed qualitatively by a survey of 3 faculty members. After collecting data, the results were analyzed through descriptive and inferential tests such as Fisher's exact test, Chi-square, independent t-test, and paired t-test in SPSS 16.

The results indicated no difference between the two groups in terms of distribution of underlying variables. Comparison of quality of life showed that the quality of life in patients with spinal cord lesions was not statistically significant before and after the intervention (P >0.05) and also the quality of life in the two groups was improved after the intervention and a statistically significant difference was observed (P <0.001). Regarding the changes in quality of life score, the mean quality of life of patients with spinal cord injury before the intervention was 13.10 ± 14.57 in the intervention group and 13.43 ± 13.97 in the control group. One week after the intervention, the mean quality of life of patients with spinal cord injury was 22.38 ± 13.98 in the intervention group and 15 ± 14.48 in the control group.

The results indicate that self-care program training is effective in improving the quality of life of patients with spinal cord injury. According to the researcher, several factors affect the results, including the nature of the disease, involvement of all body systems, and difficult conditions (lack of definitive treatment, dependence on nurses and informal caregivers) that make it difficult to control the disease. On the other hand, environmental conditions and economic situation, as well as lack of easy access to some drugs may have been involved in assessing the quality of life of these patients. According to the results, the method used in the present study can be suggested to nurses as a simple, non-invasive, low-cost, and effective method in improving the quality of life of patients with spinal cord injury.

Resistance against the problems of life and patience about the unfortunate consequences are among the essential skills for living in today's world. The aim of this study was examine the effectiveness of teaching patience based on the Quran in the resiliency and self-compassion of the spouses of the disabled with spinal cord injury in Isfahan.

This study used a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design. The statistical population included all the spouses of the disabled with spinal cord injury in Isfahan in 2020, out of whom 30 were selected according to inclusion criteria on a voluntarily basis and were randomly assigned into experimental (15 person) and control (15 person) groups. In this study, data were gathered using demographic characteristics questionnaire, Resiliency Scale (Conner & Davidson) and Self-Compassion Scale (short-form, Raes & et al,). The data were analyzed by Univariate Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). In the present study, all ethical considerations were observed and the authors declared no conflict of interest.

The results showed a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in their means scores related to the two variables of resiliency and self-compassion (P<0/05).

The results show that teaching patience based on the Quran is effective in increasing resiliency and self-compassion in the spouses of the disabled with spinal cord injury.

 Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) is one of the most common causes of disability worlwide. Perception of coping strategies is important in these patients. This study aims to investigate the coping strategies in patients with SCI. 

 This is a hermeneutic phenomenological study using van Mann’s approach. participants werre 15 adults (4 females, 11 males) with SCI living in Ardail, Iran who were recruited using a purposive sampling method. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. Interviews were recoreded and then transcribed and finally analyzed by using the thematic analysis approach proposed by van Mann.

 The lived experiences related to coping strategies in patients were summarized in six main themes including acceptence of the incurability, desire for being independent, praying for divine help, patience & persuasion, time as a coping factor, and marriage. 

 Patients with SCI use their own strategies to cope with their disability. Therefore, it is necessary for clinicians and psychiatrists to strengthen their coping strategies to help them better adapt to their injury.

Objective :

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of scapular stability-based corrective exercise program on scapular upward rotation and scapulohumeral rhythm in Wheelchair Basketball (WB) players with bilateral scapular downward rotation syndrome.

According to the research conditions, 24 wheelchair basketball athletes with spinal cord injury voluntarily participated in this study. Initially, eight players were selected from each sport class (1 to 1.5 class, 2 to 2.5 class, and 3 to 4.5 class). Then, four subjects in each group were randomly assigned to each group (12 control subjects with Mean±SD age of 43.23±11.0 years and 12 experimental subjects with Mean±SD age of 39.08±5.08 years). Thus, the control and experimental groups were present in an equal number of three sport classes. WB athletes were professional players in Mashhad City league, Iran. The participants were classified according to the Classification Committee of the IWBF, as well as the corresponding national classification from the Islamic Republic of Iran Sports Federation for the Disabled (IRISFD). Two digital inclinometers were used to measure the humeral range of motion and scapular upward rotation and scapulohumeral rhythm in resting position, 45°, 90°, and 135° shoulder abduction in scaption plane. The exercise group performed scapular stability-based corrective exercises based on the Gym training principles and following ACSM guidelines for eight weeks. The independent t-test, analysis of variance, and analysis of covariance were used for statistical analysis at the significant level of less or equal to 0.05. 

 The results showed no significant asymmetry between dominant and non-dominant shoulders in the scapula’s upward rotation at different angles of shoulder abduction. Contrary to the non-dominant shoulder, the dominant shoulder’s scapula had a less downward rotation at the resting position and a higher upward rotation at 45° of shoulder abduction. Also, in 45° humeral abduction, the dominant shoulder has a less scapulohumeral rhythm ratio than the non-dominant shoulder. WB athletes’ dominant shoulders in lower classes (2-2.5 and 3-4.5) have less scapular downward rotation in scapular resting position and more scapular upward rotation in 45°, 90° 135° humeral abduction. There was no significant difference in scapulohumeral rhythm ratio between WB players with different classes. Scapular upward rotation increased significantly after eight weeks of scapular stability-based corrective exercise program (P≤0.05). Also, a significant decrease in the scapular upward rotation was observed at post-program in resting position (P=0.001) and significantly increased in 45° (P=0.01), 90° (P=0.001), and 135° (P=0.001) humeral abduction compared with pre-program in dominant and non-dominant shoulders. However, the ratio of scapulohumeral rhythm in the dominant shoulder did not improve significantly, and the ratio of scapulohumeral rhythm in the non-dominant shoulder improved at 90° and 135°.

 Scapular stability-based corrective exercises can be used as one of the training methods to restore muscle balance, prevent and correct scapular upward rotation and scapulohumeral rhythm in wheelchair basketball athletes. Therapists should know that some degrees of scapular upward rotation and scapulohumeral rhythm asymmetry may be common in WB players. This asymmetry should not always be considered a pathological symptom but may be an adaptation to exercise training and frequent use of the upper extremity.

Depression is the most common psychological consequences of spinal cord injury. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of eye movement desensitization and reprocess (EMDR) on depression in patients with spinal cord injury.

In this clinical trial study, 40 patients with Spinal cord injury (SCI) who were treated at Hadith Rehabilitation Center of Qazvin in 2018-2019 were selected by random sampling and randomly divided into two groups. The methods of eye movements and reprocessing were performed for experimental group in five sessions of 90 minutes. The research instruments included demographic characteristics form and Beck’s depression inventories that were completed by patients in both groups. Depression was measured before, one, three and six months after the intervention. Data were analyzed using SPSS 23, by descriptive and inferential statistics proportional to the data. The data was analyzed with, Chi-square, independent t-test, Paired t-test and ANOVA.

The results of this study showed that before intervention the mean depression score was not significantly different between the control and experimental groups (31.4 ±10.4), (30.5 ±6.3((P=0.7, t=-0.3). After intervention, the experimental group had a significant increase in the mean score of depression compared with the control group (22.3±7.7), (30.3±6.6) (P<0.001, t=-4.1. (The mean depression score in the experimental group showed statistically significant differences three and six months after the intervention (P=0.001, t=-4.05).

Considering that EMDR, as a non- pharmacological intervention, reduced depression in patients with spinal cord injury.

In this study, the critical limit of muscle fatigue was evaluated for patients who use Functional Neural Electrical Stimulation (FNES) rehabilitation devices for walking. These patients do not have voluntary muscle control and have to be artificially stimulated to walk and their fatigue is not recognized in time because of the lack of sensation in their muscles. With the help of this system, it is done more safely and its usage can speed up the training process.

In this study, the time of approaching the critical point of fatigue for Quadriceps muscles in patients with spinal cord injury was investigated. Patients having the injury level between T4-T12 were randomly selected. A system was designed to stimulate the Quadriceps muscle and identify the results before reaching critical fatigue.

By adjusting the electrical stimulation diagrams and the modified electromyogram diagram in the early cycles of quadriceps muscle stimulation, the muscle initially started with a higher slope, but after 5–8 cycles, this difference reached its minimum. This slope difference begins again when approaching the fatigue phase. The voltage required to stimulate the female patients was 180 volts and the male patients needed 225 volts to raise their shins by 60 degrees.

The results of the experiments after the MVIC of quadriceps reached 80% averaged over 290 cycles equivalent to 232 m. There was also a significant relationship between regular use of the device and delay in the onset of muscle fatigue (p <0.001). After repeated testing, all subjects experienced fatigue after a longer period (11% on average).

Promoting education requires using of methods that enable students learn better and play an active role in learning. Achieving such a goal requires using of new teaching methods by teachers in designing teaching methods. The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of two training methods of "simulation patient" and "real patient" in transferring of spinal cord injury patients on knowledge, attitude and skill of occupational therapy students.

The present study is a quasi-experimental study with two group plan: pre-test and post-test, which included 38 undergraduate occupational therapy students that selected by census method. Then participants through simple randomization divided in two groups (19 members). Content of education about transferring of spinal cord injury patients was presented in both groups via lecture and slide during two days. Then, for practical training, students were divided into two groups of training (simulation patient and real patient). Before and after practical -training, knowledge and attitude questionnaires and observational skills checklists were distributed and collected from two groups. Data were analyzed by Wilcoxon test and U Mann-Whitney test through SPSS.

There were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of age, gender, and marital status. After practical training, the results showed a significant difference between the two groups in changing the level of knowledge (P=0.019) skill in terms of general educational content (P=0.006), specific educational content (P=0.000) and relationship initiation (P=0.001).also, findings show significant difference between two groups in "real patient" method but no significant difference in "simulation patient" method.

According to the results, it can be concluded that clinical education can improve the level of knowledge and skill of occupational therapy students as compared to the role-playing method and as a new educational method in medical sciences, increase the quality of education.

Spinal cord injury is one of the problems of human societies, which causes many physical and emotional problems for a person and will have consequences for personal, family and social problems. The purpose of this study was to investigate the phenomenological factors affecting post-traumatic growth in patients with spinal cord injury.

The qualitative research project was based on the phenomenological approach. The statistical population of the study included people with spinal cord injury in Isfahan in 2018. Among them, 16 individuals were selected based on the criteria for entering and leaving the research, semi-structured interviews, and data saturation. Then, the interviews were analyzed using a colaizzi method.

As a result of the main themes, their sub-themes and semantic units supporting the theme in five main themes and 25 sub-themes include the underlying factors (severity and nature of injury, cause of injury, marital status and education), positive psychological characteristics (internal motivation, optimism and hope for recovery, personality abilities and acceptance of injury), social factors (participation in support groups for spinal cord injury, job creation, financial emotional support of family and others), medical care and Psychosocial education (work therapy and physiotherapy, rehabilitation of doing personal tasks, learning job  skills, received individual and group psychological education) and spirituality (Helping people with similar problems, meaning, Belief in God's wisdom, Cultural beliefs and values). Each of the above themes has several semantic units supporting.

The discovered topics with the phenomenological method, based on the experience of living, provide new information on the factors affecting post-traumatic growth after spinal cord injury, which requires the elaboration of the life experiences of these individuals by caregivers, psychologists and experts.

Spinal cord injury is one of the important unresolved problems in the medical society leading to adverse consequences, such as motionlessness and neuropathic pain. Neuropathic pain is seen in both forms of hyperalgesia and allodynia. In this study, the effects of low-level laser radiation on hyperalgesia pain have been investigated. Material &

In this experimental study, animals (N=16) were divided into two groups(i.e., spinal cord injury and laser treatment). Aneurysm clip was used to induce spinal cord injury. Half an hour after the induction of spinal cord injury, animals were exposed to laser for 45 seconds every day up to four weeks. At the end of each week, the animals underwent a heat-hyperalgesia test. The results were analyzed in Prism software,version 6 .The value of P <0.05 was considered significant.

Surgery of the induced spinal cord injury reduced threshold of hyperalgesia pain, compared to the control group (P<0.001). Low-level laser radiation for four weeks increased the pain threshold so that the pain proved equal to the control group and there was a significant difference between treated and spinal cord injured animals (P<0.001). Discussion &

Using a low-level laser as an anti-inflammatory agent in the first line treatment can be useful in controlling injury side effects shortly after a spinal cord injury; moreover,it can reduce the pain and inflammation caused by spinal cord injury.

Objective Spinal cord injury is one of traumatic events that has considerable impact on the quality of life of the injured patients. Not all people react similarly in facing unpleasant event in life. This reaction cold be affected by different factors. Some people after the traumatic event are unable to do normal functions for several years and show some chronic dysfunctions, while others try hard for months, reach some level of adaptation, and show a model of recovery and improvement after tolerating some suffering. Individuals after spinal cord injury tend to adapt and cope with their injuries. However, there are differences in the level of compatibility and coping with injury and some remain vulnerable to some psychological problems. This incompatibility, in addition to the experience of emotional distress can affect other functional areas such as physical health and increase the risk of secondary complications. The purpose of this study was to explore factors affecting the acceptance and adaptation with spinal cord injury based on the experiences of these patients.
Materials & Methods This qualitative study was conducted using content analysis method. Content analysis is a qualitative method to associate data with the main subject and its final product is the concepts and categories of the study subject. The study participants comprised 23 patients with spinal cord injury in Tehran City, Iran, that were selected purposefully, with a maximum variation in age, levels of education and experiences and roles in life. The inclusion criteria were spinal cord injury, over 18 years old, at least one year passed from the time of injury , and their desire for sharing their experiences on the study subject. Purposive sampling was continued to reach the saturation point in every concept so that more new information could not be found about these concepts. The study data were collected through in depth semi-structured interviews during 2016, and were analyzed using content analysis.
Results The results of the data analysis were led to the extraction of the facilitators and obstacles of acceptance and adaptation in patients with spinal injuries. Facilitators were classified in eight main categories, including the correct support, communication with peers, social participation, spiritual belief, positive attitude, motivators, access to facilities and contextual factors. The obstacles were classified also in two general categories or concepts. Category of social and cultural incorrect beliefs with subcategories such as, pity, negative feedback of relatives, and insufficient knowledge about correct support. The second category comprised structural and contextual obstacles, including subcategories of health-related problems, urban handicap, financial problems, inefficiency of supporting organizations, and unawareness of disabled people.
Conclusion The results obtained from the experiences of patients with spinal cord injury showed that a collection of individual factors, environmental and social factors can affect the process of acceptance and adjustment with injury, and take the role of facilitator or inhibitor during the process of acceptance and adapting with the lesion. Identifying these factors that have been achieved with regard to social context and real experiences of people from exposure to spinal cord injury, can have effective application in designing psychological rehabilitation programs for these people and their families. By promoting the individual and environmental facilitator factors, the process of accepting and coping with injury can be facilitated. In addition delays in acceptance and compatibility and negative psychological side effects can also be prevented by reducing the impact of inhibitory factors.

Some neurological diseases such as parkinson, stroke, and spinal injury are as a result of cellular loss in the otherwise normal nervous system.  Replacing damaged cells with healthy ones has opened a new hope window to treat or prevent the further disease progression.  Different studies have shown that stem cells can differentiate and replace the lost neurons and glial cells in the central nervous system.  However, the right cell type selection, treatment procedure, the best cell delivery method, and the treatment follow-up are among the major challenges faced this therapeutic vision.  In this review, we have got through significant basic and clinical studies for neurological disease cell therapy to provide a basis for future applications of this therapeutic approach in clinics.  Indeed, continuous and noticeable progress in cell therapy through the basic and clinical investigations will offer new hopes to people suffer from these diseases across the globe.

Reduction of the antioxidant capacity and oxidative damage has a crucial role in development of damage after spinal cord injury. Since pioglitazone (PPAR-gamma agonist) have a powerful antioxidant property, the present study aimed to evaluate the effect of pioglitazone on antioxidant capacity and oxidative damage in the injured areas of spinal cord in rat.
In the present experimental study eighteen male Wistar rats divided into three groups as follow (n=6); sham, control injured and pioglitazone-treated injured group. Spinal cord injury was performed according to the Ping-Weight Drop (contusion) model in rat. The animals received pioglitazone (3 mg/kg) intraperitoneally at times of 15 min after injury and then each 12 hours until a week. At the end, malondialdehyde level, activity of catalase and superoxide dismutase (SOD) enzymes and also histopathological alterations of spinal cord were assessed.
FINDINGS: Induction of spinal cord injury in control injured animals significantly increased the malondialdehyde levels (56%) and decreased the activity of catalase (48%) and SOD (65%) enzymes compared to sham group (P=0.004, P=0.001 and P=0.008, respectively). Pioglitazone in treated injured group significantly decreased the malondialdehyde levels (38%) and increased the activity of catalase (34%) enzyme compared to control injured group (P=0.038 and P=0.014, respectively). Also, pioglitazone prevented the histopathological changes of injured areas in spinal cord.
The findings of present study indicate that treatment with pioglitazone through potentiation of the antioxidant defense capacity of injured spinal cord decreases oxidative damage and also histopathological changes of spinal cord.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) causes constant irreversible functional deficits. Poor prognosis of such a disease prompts scientists to work on an effective way of treatment. Stem cell transplantation provides a promising strategy for such researchers. Using olfactory ensheathed cells (OECs) has, so far, indicated very good results. Hensce, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of transplanted OECs on functional recovery of delayed phase of SCI in rats.
In this survey, eighteen adult male wistar rats were divided into sham, control, vehicle, and treatment groups. Sham group received only laminectomy in the T9 segment of spinal cord, while in other groups, contusion model was induced following laminectomy.7 days after injury, DMEM medium alone or with OECs was injected to the vehicle and treatment groups, respectively. For cell culture, the olfactory mucosa of 7-day-old male wistar rats was used. Locomotor behavior of animals in all the groups was evaluated by BBB, (Basso, Bresnahan and Beattie) test.
Findings: Comparison of the results by the second week to the end of the study illustrated significant changing differences between the OECs receivers and the control group, (pDiscussion & Our investigation demonstrated a positive impact of the OECs on functional recovery in the delayed phase of SCI.

Background and Spinal cord injury (SCI) is one of the most disabling diseases with various physical and psychological consequences. One of the treatments of SCI is using agents that have neuroprotective effects such as Vitamin C and ubiquinone. This research aimed at investigating the effect of co-administration of these agents on rat experimental model of SCI.
Adult male Wistar rats (n=40) were divided into sham, lesion, AA, CO10, and AAࣤ groups. In sham group only laminectomy was performed and in other groups contusion model of SCI was done. After 24 hr, the animals in AA, COQ10, and AAࣤ groups received intraperitoneal injection of AA, COQ10 and AAࣤ, respectively. Then, behavioral assessment and biochemical study were performed. Eight weeks after treatment, the brains were removed and 5µ sections were prepared. Finally, cresyl violet staining was done.
There was a significant difference in BBB score of AA, COQ10 groups compared to that of the AAࣤ group (P Co-administration of AA and COQ10 in contusion model of SCI led to functional recovery, reduction of MDA, increase of GR level in serum and increase of motor neurons survival in anterior spinal horn.

Spinal cord injury is a major problem for all communities that affect personal and social aspects of the patient’s life. The most common issues that spinal cord injury patients face are paralysis, muscle atrophy, pain, and spasticity. The ability to walk also may be disrupted or lost in many of the patients with spinal cord injury. Most common approaches to rehabilitation for patients with spinal cord injury are the emphasis on healthy neuromuscular sections to promote these sectors and compensate existing defects. But recent studies have reported that the neuromuscular system is capable of plasticity and after spinal cord injury is necessary to pay attention to health and impaired neuromuscular parts of the body. Gait training is one of the rehabilitation approaches that is trying to recruit impaired neuromuscular parts and improve them. This rehabilitation is performed in different ways. In this study, the effect of body weight supported treadmill training on balance and quality of life in patients with incomplete spinal cord injury was evaluated.
This is a quasi-experimental study. Patients with incomplete spinal cord injury (n=15) aged 26 and 48 years with a chronic (>1 year post-injury), grade D=4 and C=11 (according to American spinal cord injury association scale [ASIA]) voluntarily participated in this study. Sampling was conducted from hospitals and spinal cord injury rehabilitation centers of Tehran. For intervention, the patient was in the body weight support system. Patients’ weight supported and suspended with harnesses and lifter of the body weight support system to the extent that knees were not bent in stance phase and fingers can’t be dragged into swing phase. Treadmill speed and amount of weight support adjusted depending on the patient’s conditions. Intervention applied for eight weeks and three sessions a week. Each session lasted 30 minutes. Outcome measures were Berg balance scale and SF-36 questioner. The quality of life evaluated before and after the intervention. Berg balance scale was evaluated at baseline and every two weeks throughout the intervention. The results were compared with each assessment. Repeated measure ANOVA test used for analysis of the scores of Berg balance scale and SF-36, paired t-test used.
The evaluation results indicated that the scores of Berg balance scale, increased significantly compared to the previous stage in each reevaluation. Between the various stages of evaluation, the maximum difference was between the second and third stages (P=0. 008) that were after two and four weeks after the first session respectively. The score of SF-36 showed no significant difference. Between 8 items that measured in SF-36 questioner, just score of »emotional roll functioning « increased significantly (P=0. 006).
According to achieved results, eight weeks body weight supported treadmill training can improve the balance of the patients with spinal cord injury. It was observed that the gait training with stimulation and use of proprioceptors and increase of patient’s confidence in walking and standing positions improve the patient’s balance. The patients were also able to control the internal and external perturbations and maintain the better balance. But eight weeks gait training had no significant effect on the quality of life in patients with spinal cord injury which suggest that more extended rehabilitation is required.