Ergonomic and anthropometeric consideration for library furniture in an Iranian public university

In our competing educational world, students spend a considerable part of their daily life, studying at library furniture. Not surprisingly, due to lack of proper anthropometric databases, these products have typically been ill fitted for the intended user populations. To verify the optimum anthropometric match of library furniture within an academic environment, through a combined qualitative and quantitative approach. 267 [120 female and 147 male] students, were subjected to 11 standard anthropometric measurements. In line with the measurements, subjective evaluations were also considered through detailed fitting trials on selected groups of participants. Combinational equations defined the unacceptable furniture dimensions according to elbow and sitting popliteal heights, mainly for smaller and taller divisions of the studied population, which were systematically comparable along with subjective and objective outcomes. In brief, if we classified studied students into "small", "medium", and "tall" groups, the design dimensions should be altered by -5.1, -2.2, and +1.6 cm for chair seat height; and by -8.3, -5.4, and +1.1 cm for table height, for each student group, respectively. The furniture size to be used by Iranian students should be changed to fit their anthropometric measures

[ effects of low intensity aerobi exercise on blood pressure]

Immobility and hypertension [HTN] are known risk factors for coronary heart disease [CHD] and crebrovascular accident [CVA]. Blood pressure control [in normal range] would prevent or postpone CHD and CVA. Non-phamacological method is one of the most important measures in control of high blood pressure. Therefore, the aim of this work was to investigate the effect of low intensity aerobic exercise on blood pressure of employees with essential hypertension. This is a quasi-experimental study in which, 36 male employees suffering from hypertension who referred to the health facility centers of Boroujen, participated in a low intensive exercise program for four weeks, three times [each one, 20-30 min.] a week with intensity of about 50%-60% maximum heart rate [MHR]. Before beginning of the exercise, immediately after that, and one week later, the parameters blood pressure, heartbeat, and body mass index and weight were measured. Using statistical methods [t test and analysis variance] the data were analyzed. The mean age of the subjects studied was 46.13 +/- 5 years. Before and after the intervention [exercise], the mean of systolic blood pressure [SBP], mean arterial pressure [MAP] and diastolic blood pressure [DBP], were 150.04 +/- 12 mmHg and 149.5 +/- 11 mmHg [p>0.05], 109.4 +/- 6 mmHg and 106.3 +/- 6 mmHg [p<0.01], and 109.4 +/- 6 mmHg and 106.3 +/- mmHg [p<0.001], respectively. In the cases of heart rate, weight, and body mass index, no significant reduction was observed. Based on these results, the low intensity aerobic exercise is an effective method for the control of blood pressure

[Methylprednisolon acetate in the management of distal ureteral stones]

Acute renal colic is a common complaint from patients entering the emergency departments. Although, urethral lithotripsy and extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy are known to be effective, the role of medical-expulsive therapy for the treatment of this disease has not yet been established. This study assessed the clinical efficacy of addition methylprednisolon acetate in the medical-expulsive therapy of distal ureterolithiasis. Eighty five [85] consecutive patients with a symptomatic distal urethral stone were included in our study and randomized to one of two home treatment groups. Group A patients [n = 45] received tramadol [50mg bid] and hydrochlorothiazide [50 mg daily] for 21 days, and group B patients [n = 40] were treated with a corticosteroid drug [methylprednisolon acetate 40mg intra-muscular on 0, 7 and 14 days after treatment], in addition to tramadol and hydrochlorothiazide. The treatment duration was 21 days. All patients were re-evaluated after 21days with a clinical examination and KUB. The mean stone size was 5.2mm and 5.8mm in groups A and B respectively [P value>0.05]. Both groups had a significant difference in expulsion rate [20[44.4%] for group A and 32 [88%] for group B; [P value<0.001]. Our results suggest that the use of a corticosteroid drug in association with tramadol and hydro-cholorothiazid appeared to induce an increase in the expulsion rate

[Sleep disturbances and sleep hygiene in hemodialysis patients at hospitals affiliated to Shaheed Beheshti medical university]

Sleep is one of the most important needs of a person. In addition to restoring physical and mental well-being, it decreases stress and anxiety and improves the ability of coping and concentrating on activities of daily living. Sleep disturbances are very common in hemodialysis patients and can be observed in more than %50 of them, which can be reduced by applying hygienic recommendations as well as decreasing disturbing factors. The aim of this descriptive study was to assess sleep disturbances and hygiene in hemodialysis patients at hospitals affiliated to Shaheed Beheshti Medical University. 171 hemodialysis patients were randomly selected. Data were collected by interview via a questionnaire in the form of Likert scale with three parts including demographic and affective variables, sleep problems, and sleep hygiene. Content validity was used to validate it and its reliability was achieved by test-retest method. Results showed that 34.5, 57.9, and 7.6 percent of the patients had low, moderate and high sleep disturbances respectively. Sleeping disturbances included delayed sleeping [%42.1], frequent awakening [%63.2], early rising [%17.6], excessive sleepiness [%25.1] and restless legs [%22.3]. Only %6.4 of patients had proper sleep hygiene. %72.5 and %21.1 of the subjects had moderate and weak sleep hygiene respectively. There was a significant correlation between sleep disturbances and sleep hygiene [p<0.01]. Moreover, the patients reported such problems as bone pain, dyspnea, cramp, pruritus, coughing, and dry mouth with a significant correlation with sleep disturbances. Sleep disturbances significantly correlated with sleep hygiene. In other words, those who don't observe sleep hygiene, take sleeping drugs, or suffer from bone pain, dyspnea, cramp, pruritus, coughing, and dry mouth reported more sleep disturbances. Nurses can apply the above to assess, diagnose, prevent and control sleep disturbances and their side effects

[Survey of serum inhibin B as a reliable marker for prediction of testicular spermatozoa in testes of azoospermic patients]

Introduction: different conventional markers for prediction of the presence of spermatozoa in azoospermic men have been investigated

Objective: a reliable marker for prediction of the presence of germinal epithelium in testes from azoospermic patients is of utmost importance in planning treatment in the ARTs era. The objective of this study has been the assessment of sensitivity and specificity of serum inhibin B levels as an indicator of the presence of testicular spermatozoa in azoospermic infertile men and the comparison of its sensitivity and specificity with the traditional serum FSH marker

Materials and Methods: this study was performed between 11 October 2002 and 9 October 2003 in the urology clinic of Razi University Hospital in Rasht. 45 infertile men including 33 azoospermic patients and 12 men with previous history of vasectomy were studied. After history taking and physical examination, hormonal evaluation including FSH, LH, inhibin B, and scrotal ultrasonography for the assessment of the size of testes, and then bilateral testicular biopsies were performed in azoospermic men. Statistical comparisons between groups were made with one-way ANOVA by SPSS 9 software

Results: the results of our study showed that patients with nonobstructive azoospermia have significantly higher levels of serum FSH [16.14+/-14.09 IU/ml vs. 5.04+/- 6.49 IU/ml] and significantly lower levels of inhibin B [80.2+/-23.9 pg/ml vs. 225.42+/-86.3 pg/ml]. This difference was more significant for inhibin B [p<0.001 vs. P=0.01]. Mean serum inhibin B levels were significantly higher in patients with nonobstructive azoospermia [high serum FSH and small size testes] who had spermatozoa on TESE than in those in whom no spermatozoa were found [215.53 +/- 55.19 pg/ml vs. 79.54 +/- 26.68 pg/ml], but mean serum FSH levels did not have similar predictive power [26.4 +/- 13.9 IU/ml vs. 17.8 +/- 8.2 IU/ml]. The cut-off level of inhibin B separating both groups, as determined by ROC curves, was > 133.4 pg/ml [sensitivity = 100% and specificity = 94.4%]

Conclusion: serum inhibin B level seems to be more accurate than serum FSH level in prediction of the presence of testicular spermatozoa in patients with nonobstructive azoospermia