[The effect of one kind of plyometric and aerobic exercises on chest expansion and respiratory volumes in high school students]

In adult population, the stretch-shortening cycle exercise [plyometric exercise] is often used to improve muscle power, neuromuscular coordination and vertical jump performance. Unfortunately, there is limited information about effectiveness of this type of exercise on respiratory system. Thus, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of plyometric and aerobic exercise on chest expansion and respiratory volumes in high school students. This clinical trial study was performed in Zahedan, Iran. Sixty girl and boy students, aging between 14-18 years were selected through simple non-probability sampling. Students were assigned randomly as either a stationary bicycle group [n=30] or a roping group [n=30]. Both groups received exercises for 12 sessions, 3 times per week. Immediately before and after exercises the following respiratory capacities and volumes were collected: chest wall expansion [in two axillary and xiphoid level], vital capacity, residual expiratory volume, forced vital capacity and forced expiratory volume in one second. The data were analyzed using independent and paired t-tests. Chest wall expansion in axillary region was increased from 76 +/- 10 cm to 77.4 +/- 10 cm in the bicycle group and from 77.7 +/- 8.1 cm to 78.5 +/- 8.7 cm in the roping group [P<0.001]. Chest wall expansion in xiphoid region was increased from 68.7 +/- 8.9 cm to 70 +/- 8 cm in the bicycle group and from 71.3 +/- 6.6 cm to 72.3 +/- 6.4 cm in the roping group [P<0.001]. In addition, respiratory volumes were significantly increased in both groups [P<0.05]. The results of this study showed that chest wall expansion and respiratory volumes were increased following plyometric exercises such as roping

[ effect of vacuum-compression therapy [VCT] on the diabetic foot ulcer healing]

Among the most common problems in patients with diabetes mellitus is the faulty healing of foot ulcer wounds which leads to foot or leg amputations. Many attempts were done to treat diabetic foot ulcers. This study evaluated the effect of vacuum-compression therapy [VCT] on healing diabetic foot ulcers. A single-blinded, randomized clinical trial was conducted in Zahedan in 2006. Twenty-two patients with diabetic foot ulcer limbs were used for this study through simple non-probability sampling. Patients were randomly assigned to either an experimental group or a control group. The surface area of the foot ulcer was measured stereologically based on Cavalieri's Principle after 3 weeks and before any intervention. The point counting method was chosen to measure the surface area. In addition to the conventional therapy, the experimental group was also treated with vacuum-compression therapy produced by Vasotrain [VCT]. The control group received conventional therapy only, which included debridement, systemic antibiotics, wound cleaning with normal-saline, and daily dressings. Independent-samples t-test and paired t-test allowed for comparisons between the pretreatment and post treatment test results between groups and within groups, respectively. The mean of foot ulcer surface area decreased from 48.05 +/- 10.3 mm[2] to 34.6 +/- 4.4 mm[2] in experimental group [P<0.01] and also from 59.9 +/- 14.4 mm[2] to 56.8 +/- 13.8 mm[2] in the control group [P<0.01]. The surface area of the foot ulcer in the experimental group and control group decreased by 28.4 percents and 6 percents respectively [P<0.05]. After the treatment a significant decline in the surface area of the foot ulcer was observed within the experimental group in comparison to the control group [P<0.01]. Vacuum-compression therapy enhances diabetic foot ulcer healing when used in conjunction with appropriate wound care. It is recommended that patients with diabetic foot ulcer and non-healing wounds achieve wound healing and limb preservation by using a vacuum-compression therapy