ABSTRACT
In recent decades there had been considerable progress in the research works on chronic pain, perhaps as a consequence of costs and challenges associated with this problem. The aim of this study was to compare rheumatoid arthritis patients and healthy individuals in regard to fear of pain, pain catastrophizing and catastrophic cognition. In this study we selected 100 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and 100 healthy individuals from a public hospital using census sampling method. After informed consent, demographic variables such as age, sex, level of education, duration of illness were recorded for every subject. We used three questionnaires of fear of pain [FPQ], catastrophic cognition [CCQ] and scale of pain catastrophizing [PCS] in this study. Multivariate analyses of variance [MANOVA] showed significant differences between the two groups in regard to the three cognitive variables of "fear of pain", "catastrophic cognition" and "pain catastrophizing"[P<0.05]. These results suggested that fear of pain; catastrophic cognition and pain catastrophizing were important cognitive factors contributing to aggravation of pain in the patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The results of the current study are consistent with basic assumptions of cognitive-affective model which emphasizes the importance of the 'pain experience' as potential modulators of the pain-cognition relationship
ABSTRACT
Precise control of diabetes mellitus, one of the most prevalent endocrine diseases, is important for prevention of serious vascular complications. Helicobacter pylori [H. pylori] is one of the most common chronic bacterial infections in the world and data reveals that diabetic patients with concomitant H. pylori infection require higher doses of insulin, despite which they have higher levels of HbAic than their uninfected counterparts. Our study was hence designed to assess the effect of H. pylori eradocatopmon hyperglycemia control in diabetic patients. Between January and June 2005, patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and positive urea breath tests, were randomly allocated into two groups, the first treated for H. pylori infection [cases] and the second served as controls. HbAic and FBS were measured in all patients at initiation of study and three months later. The study included 19 cases and 22 controls. Mean decrease of HbAic and FBS in the two groups showed no significant differences. Study results indicate that treating H. pylori in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus has no role in short-term control of the disease. In most studies numbers and types of evaluated cases have limitations, and results differ. More extensive studies, using long term randomized clinical trials-term are recommendated