Effects of iron supplementation twice a week on attention score and haematologic measures in female high school students

<p><b>INTRODUCTION</b>Iron deficiency, associated with a decline in cognitive function, is the most common nutritional deficiency globally. The present study aimed to identify the impact of weekly iron supplements on the attention function of female students from a high school in North Khorasan Province, Iran.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>This was a blind, controlled, clinical trial study, involving 200 female students who were chosen using the stratified randomised sampling method. First, laboratory studies were performed to detect iron consumption limitations. Next, the 200 students were divided randomly and equally into case and control groups. The case group was treated with 50 mg of ferrous sulfate twice a week for 16 weeks. We compared both groups' data on attention, iron status and erythrocyte indices. Questionnaires were used to collect demographic data, while clinical data was collected using complete blood count and Toulouse-Piéron tests. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics, as well as paired and independent t-tests.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The mean attention scores of the case and control groups were 104.8 ± 7.0 and 52.7 ± 9.6, respectively (p < 0.001). The mean haemoglobin levels of the two groups were 12.5 ± 0.9 and 11.2 ± 1.0, respectively (p < 0.001). Compared to the control group, the attention scores and haemoglobin concentrations of the case group were found to be improved by approximately 90% and 10%, respectively.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Oral iron supplements (50 mg twice a week for 16 weeks) were able to improve the attention span and haematologic indices of female high school students.</p>

[Effectiveness of computer games on the attention score of mentally retarded persons]

The purpose of this study was to evaluate computer game's effectiveness in mentally retarded persons. This study was a clinical trial [2004-2005], in which two centers of mentally retarded residential institutions in Tehran were selected on the base of willing to cooperate and easy access. Randomly one of them assigned to case group and the other to control group. And 30 persons selected from each, randomly. Computer game programs were implemented in 12 3-sessional weeks. Attention score calculated using Toulouse-Pieron test, in three sessions: pre intervention, exactly after intervention and 5 weeks after intervention. Descriptive analysis, T test and one way ANOVA, and Repeated measure were used respectively for demographic date, comparing groups and attention score comparing in different sessions. Statistic operations were performed using IBM SPSS 19. The results showed that exactly after intervention, mean attention score was 19.33 and 9.09 respectively in case and control group. The intervention had a significant impact on the attention score [F[1.3, 75.2]=13.7, P<0.001]. And in the stage 3 a decline in the attention score of case group was seen. We can conclude that computer game intervention for 35 sessions could affect mentally retarded person's attention score. But this attention score would be going to decline, 5 weeks after intervention. So this intervention wasn't durable