Journal of Clinical Research in Paramedical Sciences
Volume:8 Issue: 1, Jun 2019

Breast cancer is one of the most prevalent and painful cancers amongst women in the world. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on reducing the severity of pain in women with breast cancer. This was a quasi-experimental study which was conducted on 30 women with breast cancer referring to Ilam Medical Center in 2018. Patients were randomly assigned into two groups of experimental and control groups. Participants in the pre-test stage completed the multivariate questionnaire for the West Haven-Yale. At the next stage, the experimental group participants were exposed to 8 sessions of acceptance and commitment therapy while the control group did not receive any special treatment. Both groups completed the same questionnaire again at the posttest stage. In terms of severity pain, mean scores of the experimental and control groups at the pretest stage were 76.66 and 74.98, respectively. Meanwhile, mean scores of the mentioned groups at the posttest stage were 70.08 and 74.06. The mean score of the experimental group in the posttest phase was decreased after the intervention compared to the control group. The results of the study reveal that acceptance and commitment therapy is a suitable intervention model for reducing the severity of perceived pain in breast cancer patients.

aging is associated with an increase in vascular dysfunction but it can be prevented by exercise training. However, the effect of circuit resistance training as a useful training method in improving cardio-respiratory and muscular strength is unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of CRT on plasma endothelin-1, nitric oxide (NO) and vascular size in aged men. Twenty healthy aged men (55 ± 5 year) were randomly divided into control and CRT groups. CRT group performed circuit resistance training with 40 - 60 one repetition maximum for twelve weeks (3 times per week). Vascular size, plasma endothelin-1 and NO, blood pressure and heart rate were measured forty eight hours before and after the training period. CRT increased the vascular size and decreased endothelin-1 and systolic blood pressure compared to the pre-test; however, it had no effect on NO concentration and heart rate. In comparison with the control group, CRT significantly increased the vascular size and decreased endothelin-1 and blood pressure but there was no significant difference in NO concentration and heart rate between the two groups. Circuit resistance training as a proper training method could induce the increase in endothelial function in aged individual and prevents vascular dysfunction related to aging.

Adriamycin (ADR) is a useful drug for the treatment of hematologic malignancies and solid tumors. However, its clinical uses are limited due to dose-dependent cardiac toxicity. Contrary to moderate endurance training, there is little research about the protective role of high-intensity aerobic interval training (HIIT) against the ADR-induced cardiac toxicity and its mechanisms. The present study aimed to investigate the protective effect of HIIT against ADR-induced cardiac toxicity in the left ventricle of rats by assessment of the serum biomarkers of cardiac injury (LDH and CK-MB). Twenty-four male Wistar rats were randomly assigned into four groups (n = 6/group): (1) Control; (2) ADR (20 mg/kg.bw); 3) HIIT (7 sets of 4 minutes intervals at 80% - 90% VO2max interspersed with 3 minutes periods of 65% - 75% VO2max, for 8 weeks), and (4) HIIT + ADR. The ELISA method was used for measuring the serum levels of biomarkers. Statistical differences were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance followed by Tukey’s post hoc test for multiple comparisons (α < 0.05). Based on the results, ADR-induction resulted in a significant increase in the LDH and CK-MB levels compared to the ADR group (P < 0.05). Also, the HIIT per se insignificantly increased the levels of LDH and CK-MB compared to the control group. However, the HIIT before ADR-induction resulted in a significant decrease in the LDH and CK-MB levels compared to the ADR group (P < 0.05). Therefore, the HIIT can be a proper non-prescriptive strategy for preventing ADR-induced cardiotoxicity via reducing the serum biomarkers of cardiac injury.

The length of the hamstring muscle is measured indirectly. This evaluation can be done by doing the passive straight leg raising (SLR) test or performing an active knee extension (AKE) test. It is important to know how much these two tests are correlated to each other. If they are highly correlated, a high SLR degree may conclude a high amount of AKE. The aim of this study was to determine the correlation between these two tests among patients with LBP having tightness in their hamstring muscle. The sample size was calculated to be 50 patients. Participants with chronic low back pain (LBP) and short hamstring were selected. The hamstring muscles length of the participants were assessed using two clinical tests, 1- AKE test, and 2- SLR test. The mean ± SD of the hamstring length of the patients using the SLR method was 72.52 ± 10.32 degrees. Also, the mean ± SD of hamstring muscle length was 157.28 ± 7.70 degrees using the AKE test. There was a positive and significant correlation between Hamstring length score using SLR and Hamstring length in patients with AKE test (P < 0.05, r = 0.30). The results of this study showed that there is a correlation between the results of two types of testing hamstring muscle length including SRL and AKE tests among patients with LBP having tightness in their hamstring muscle.

The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of a nine-week resistance training program on serum levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) in 17 - 21 year-old sedentary men. In the present quasi-experimental study, 36 volunteers with no history of physical and mental illnesses and regular physical activities were randomly assigned to three groups of 12 men, including progressive resistance training group, moderate resistance training group and control group. Thee experimental groups underwent nine weeks of resistance training with weights; the control group was, however, banned from any forms of exercise. The training programs comprised three 3-week courses. In the progressive group, the intensity and volume of training gradually increased during these courses once every three weeks, whereas the moderate group underwent the same level of moderate resistance training during the whole nine-week program. Ten cc of fasting blood was taken from the anterior brachial vein of the subjects before training at 9 AM, i.e. pre-test and 72 hours after each course, i.e. posttest. The blood samples were transferred to the laboratory to have MDA levels measured using the kits manufactured by the Zell-Bio Company. Repeated measures ANOVA and post-hoc Tukey test were used to analyze the collected data. The findings showed that the serum levels of MDA significantly decreased from 138.85 µM at pretest to 118.92 at mid-test and 102.38 µM at posttest in the progressive resistance training group and from 137.25 µM at pretest to 119.29 at mid-test and 114.43 µM at posttest in the moderate resistance training group compared to the controls. Although the decline rate was higher in the progressive group than in the moderate group, the difference was statistically insignificant. The increasing intensity of daily resistance training with weights’ from light to moderately severe appears to increase the compatibility of oxidative stress and decrease lipid peroxidation .

The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of eight weeks of resistance training in different environmental conditions on arterial factors in overweight men. The present study was conducted in Kermanshah, Iran, on thirty overweight males with a mean body mass index (BMI) of 27.41.57 kg/m2, who voluntarily participated in this study. The subjects were randomly divided into a hypoxic and a normoxic resistance training group and a hypoxia exposure group, and performed the training protocols for eight weeks. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), high density lipoprotein (HDL), low density lipoprotein (LDL), total cholesterol (TC) and triglyceride (TG) were measured before and after performing the intervention. The results showed a significant increase in the level of VEGF in all the three groups (P < 0.05). Significant differences were also observed between the groups in terms of changes in VEGF (P < 0.05). In the hypoxic resistance training group, HDL increased and LDL, TC and TG significantly decreased (P < 0.05). No significant changes were, however, observed in lipid profile in the hypoxia exposure and normoxic resistance training groups. The present findings suggest that hypoxic and normoxic resistance trainings and hypoxia exposure positively affect the level of VEGF, and only the hypoxic resistance training could improve lipid profile in overweight subjects. Hypoxic resistance training is concluded to be a more effective method for improving arterial factors in overweight men.

The proprioception of the lumbo-pelvic region has been claimed to be a factor potentially affecting the results of the functional movement screen (FMS) test, although no evidence has been yet published for this claim. The present study was conducted to investigate the relationships of the FMS test with the proprioception of the core and anthropometric characteristics in athletes. The present cross-sectional study included 58 female athletes in different fields of sports with a mean age of 21.12  7.1 years, a weight of 59.2510.2 kg and a height of 164.416.2 cm. The FMS test was used to evaluate the functional motor integrity, the six-channel gyroscope (Danesh Salar Iranian Co.) to examine the position sense of the core region, including the hip, pelvis and lower back, and tapes and digital scales to assess anthropometric features. The Spearman and Pearson correlation tests were used to analyse the data. All the statistical analyses were performed in SPSS-24 with a significance level of 95% (P < 0.05). The results suggested no significant correlations among the outcomes obtained from proprioception, anthropometric dimensions and the FMS test results (P > 0.05). The total scores of theFMStest appear not to be significantly associated with the outcomes obtained from the position sensation of the lumbo-pelvic region and anthropometric dimensions.

The present study was conducted to investigate the pattern and intensity of primary dysmenorrhea in the students residing in the dormitories of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran, between March 2017 and March 2018. The present descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on a population comprising all the undergraduate students residing in the dormitories of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences. Simple random sampling and a statistical formula were used to select 160 students. The data collected were analyzed in SPSS using descriptive statistics, the chi-squared test and parametric and non-parametric variance analyses. The majority (70%) of the study students suffered mild-to-moderate dysmenorrhea, while the remaining developed severe dysmenorrhea. Analgesics were used by 64.37% of the subjects to relieve dysmenorrhea. The dysmenorrhea intensity caused 43.75% of the students to miss the classes. Given the importance of dysmenorrhea, its effect on women’s quality of life and its inhibitory effects on daily activities, more attention is required to be paid to raising public awareness of the ways of alleviating dysmenorrhea.