The Effectiveness of Infrared Thermography in Patients with Whiplash Injury

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to visualize the subjective symptoms before and after the treatment of whiplash injury using infrared (IR) thermography. METHODS: IR thermography was performed for 42 patients who were diagnosed with whiplash injury. There were 19 male and 23 female patients. The mean age was 43.12 years. Thermal differences (DeltaT) in the neck and shoulder and changes in the thermal differences (DeltadT) before and after treatment were analyzed. Pain after injury was evaluated using visual analogue scale (VAS) before and after treatment (DeltaVAS). The correlations between DeltadT and DeltaVAS results before and after the treatment were examined. We used Digital Infrared Thermal Imaging equipment of Dorex company for IR thermography. RESULTS: The skin temperature of the neck and shoulder immediately after injury showed 1-2degrees C hyperthermia than normal. After two weeks, the skin temperature was normal range. DeltaT after immediately injuy was higher than normal value, but it was gradually near the normal value after two weeks. DeltadT before and after treatment were statistically significant (p<0.05). VAS of the neck and shoulder significantly reduced after 2 week (p=0.001). Also, there was significant correlation between DeltadT and reduced DeltaVAS (the neck; r=0.412, p<0.007) (the shoulder; r=0.648, p<0.000). CONCLUSION: The skin temperature of sites with whiplash injury is immediately hyperthermia and gradually decreased after two weeks, finally it got close to normal temperature. These were highly correlated with reduced VAS. IR thermography can be a reliable tool to visualize the symptoms of whiplash injury and the effectiveness of treatment in clinical settings.

[Comparative defense style used by nurses in stressful situations]

Introduction: Nursing is a stressful occupation that its related tensions could affect individual spiritual health. Therefore, defense style against stress is very important for nurses. The aim of this study was comparative defense style used by nursing personnel in stressful situations, in Abadan College of Medical Sciences

Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was carried out at the Abadan College of Medical Sciences. The study population consisted of 100 nurses from Abadan and Khorramshahr hospitals' that was selected by purposive Sampling method. Data were collected by questionnaires include demographic data and [Defensive Styles Questionnaire-40] that consist of three parts of mature defense style, neurotic and immature. Cronbach alpha of the questionnaire was 0.82 and data were analyzed using SPSS/18 software. Appropriate statistical analysis such as one way ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient and t-test were employed to analyze the collected data

Finding: The results showed that 67.3% of Taleghani Hospitals and 67.2% of Vali-e-asr hospitals' Nurses used mature defense style as defense mechanism. The mean score for mature defense style was 11.55???2.4 which illustrates that most nurses used this type of defense style

Conclusion: Although the results of this study showed that most nurses' in front of occupational exposure to stress used appropriate and mature defense mechanisms but around one - third of them used inappropriate defense mechanism. Teaching defense style to nurses to cope with anxiety and stress is suggested for future study work

[ rare case of primary orbital yolk sac tumour [YST]]

The endodermal sinus tumor [EST] or yolk sac tumor [YST] is a malignant germ cell neoplasm that usually arises in gonads, but on rare occasion occurs in extragonadal sites such as mediastinum, retoperitoneum and intra cranium. Orbit is an extremely rare location for this tumor. In this report a primary yolk sac tumor in the orbit of a 17 months old child is presented. Patient had a rapidly progressive proptosis and high level of serum alpha fetoprotein [12500 IU/ml]. After surgical biopsy and histopathological diagnosis, the patient treated with 4 courses of a 3 drugs chemotherapeutic regimen. A period of 6 months follow up did not reveal any sign of recurrence. Although yolk sac tumor is very rare in orbit, a rapid and correct histopathological diagnosis in conjuction with immunohistochemical and other paraclinical evaluation and at last, effective chemotherapeutic regimens can provide a good prognosis and even cure for the patient

Designing an administrative model for Iranian Charity Hospitals

Healthcare is considered as one of the most important indicators for determining the level of development in all societies. To this end, hospitals play an important role and the role of the charity hospitals which provide healthcare for poor patients is of great importance. Therefore, understanding and analyzing the administrative manner of these hospitals is crucial. The main goal of this study is to design an administrative model for charity hospitals in Iran. Information from Library documents including books, scientific magazine, and domestic foreign texts; documents as e-mail, electronic database; and also contact with several charity hospital executive in several countries; and visiting charity hospitals in other countries were used. Further information gathered about weaknesses and strengths of charity hospitals in Iran, and several foreign countries charity hospital models. The primary model was designated and after analyzing various view points, reviews and criticism by scholars and experts, the final model was presented using the Delphi method. This study showed that charity hospitals in Iran are managed in different ways without any specific model and do not supported financially by the government. A number of these hospitals are not autonomous. In charity hospitals outside Iran, different management styles were being used, but they were not managed like Iranian charity hospitals and most of them were foundations or companies. Furthermore, a number of them were not managed as charity hospital since the nationalization of healthcare had taken place. Whereas the cost of healthcare in private sector is very expensive and most of them do not have contracts with insurance companies, charity hospitals can have an important role in providing healthcare for the society. Using model described in this paper could be helpful in responding to the needs of poor clients