ABSTRACT
The most important risk factor for one's sexual health is high-risk sexual behavior. Implementation of educational programs has been considered as one of the most crucial interventions in the prevention and treatment of these behaviors. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the effect of an educational program on the knowledge and attitude of female sex workers toward preventing high-risk sexual behaviors. This pretest-posttest, one-group study was conducted on 40 female sex workers, imprisoned in Mashhad Vakil Abad prison in 2013. Data were collected using a questionnaire including demographic characteristics, as well as knowledge- and attitude-related data. An educational program was designed after the pretest and conducted in four 70-minute sessions. Immediately and four weeks after the educational program, post-test was performed. Data were analyzed by Friedman and Wilcoxon tests, using SPSS version 16. A positive significant increase was found in the mean scores of knowledge and attitude of female sex workers immediately and four weeks after the program [P<0.001]. Considering the increased knowledge and improved attitude of female sex workers in this study, it is necessary to design and implement educational programs in prisons
ABSTRACT
Vasoactive intestinal peptide [VIP] plays an important role in modulating coronary blood flow and heart rate. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of eight weeks of low intensity aerobic exercise on plasma levels of VIP hormone, blood pressure and heart rate in healthy elderly men and women, and patients with coronary artery disease [CAD]. In this study, 15 healthy women and 15 healthy men and 15 female and 15 male with CAD disease were randomly chosen as the experimental and control groups. Subjects did aerobic exercises tree days/week, for eight weeks, with the heart rate of 100 +/- 10 beats per minute. Blood samples were taken from each subject in three stages, [before, immediately after and 24 hours after the 8 weeks of exercising]. The results showed that there was a significant difference among plasma VIP levels in the four groups. Moreover, a significant difference was observed between the systolic blood pressure in the four groups [P=0.01] and the systolic blood pressure in male patients and healthy women [P=0.03] while there was no meaningful difference the systolic blood pressure in the two other groups. There was also a significant difference in the heart rate of the three rounds of sampling in the three of groups [P=0.002] but no significant difference was observed in healthy men. According to the above results, it seems that the duration and intensity of each workout should be considered to reach the VIP stimulation threshold. It may bring about considerable changes in VIP levels.
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Female , Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide , Blood Pressure , Heart Rate , Aged , Coronary Artery DiseaseABSTRACT
Cardiac fatigue or myocardial damage following exercise until complete exhaustion can increase blood levels of brain natriuretic peptide [BNP] in athletes. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of resistance and acute moderate aerobic exercise on alterations in BNP levels in professional athletes. Forty professional athletes who had at least 3 years of a cham-pionship background in track and field [aerobic group] or body building [resistance group] volunteered to participate in the present study. Track and field athletes [n = 20] were requested to run 8 km at 60% to 70% of maximum heart rate. Body building athletes [n = 20] performed a resistance training session of 5 exercises in 3 sets of 10 repetitions at 75% of 1RM [bench press, seated row, leg extension, leg curl, and leg press]. Before and immediately after the exercise, plasma BNP levels of both groups of athletes were measured by PATHFASTTM NT-proBNP assay, an immunochemiluminescent assay using two polyclonal antibodies in sandwich test format, on a PATHFASTTM automated analyzer. Plasma BNP levels immediately following exercise increased significantly as compared with baseline values. Plasma BNP concentrations in the aerobic group were significantly higher than in the resistance group before and after exercise. Moreover, the increase in mean BNP concentrations in aerobic athletes was 7 times more than in resistance athletes. BNP levels in athlete who performed distance exercises increased significantly compared with resistance training. Possibly exercise program type, intensity of exercise, volume of exercise program, and field sport can be factors of changes in BNP levels