[ comparison of functional brace with/without patellar tendon bearing in patients with achilles tendon ruptures]

Rupture of Achilles tendon is a disabling condition and accounts for approximately 11-18% percent of all tendon ruptures. The goal of this study was to compare the functional brace with and without patellar tendon bearing in patients with Achilles tendon rupture. This was a semi-experimental study initially carried out on 17 patients with Achilles tendon rupture although 3 patients failed to complete the follow-up course and were removed from the study. The remaining 14 patients were randomly divided into 2 groups. The calf circumference and the power of plantar flexion were measured and also the degree of satisfaction in patients evaluated. The data were analyzed using independent t-test, Kolomogrov-Smironov test, and the mean difference by SPSS13. There was a significant difference between the pre-and post-intervention regarding the calf circumference and also the power of plantar flexion in each group. However, no significant difference between two groups following intervention was found when all 3 variables taken into account [p>0.05]. According to the findings of the present study, both kinds of orthoses used were effective on improving the plantar flexion power and reducing the calf circumference but no significant difference between the effects of both groups of orthoses on all variables after intervention was established

[ comparative study between the effect of functional foot orthosis and modified orthosis on improvement of pain in patients with plantar fasciitis]

Plantar fascia inflammation will result in plantar fasciitis. Nonsurgical treatments include the use of orthoses and physical therapy technics. The goal of this study was a comparative between the effect of functional foot orthosis and modified foot orthosis on improvement of pain in patients with plantar fasciitis. In this experimental study, 30 patients with plantar fasciitis including 7 male and 23 female with ranging age 25-45 yrs old [34 +/- 4.64, 35 +/- 5.02] selected by non probability sampling. Patients randomly allocated in two groups with 15 patients in each group. First group used functional foot orthosis and second group used modified foot orthosis. FAOS questionnaire was used for evaluating the pain. 2 stages included: once before intervention and the second stage after 4 weeks after intervention. Data analysis has been done with paired and independent T-Test, Smironov-Kolomogrov by SPSS13. Paired T-Test showed the difference between before and after intervention stages in group with functional foot orthosis was 0.001 and in group with modified foot orthosis was 0.229. Independent T-Test showed the difference between two groups after intervention was significant [p<0.05]. According to finding of this study, functional foot orthosis was more effective on improvement of pain in patients with plantar fasciitis

Effect of cardiac rehabilitation program on functional capacity following valvular heart surgery

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a 4 to 6 week cardiac rehabilitation program [CRP] on the functional capacity improvement of patients six weeks following aortic and/or mitral valve replacement/reconstruction surgery. Fifteen volunteer subjects were enrolled in the CRP. Functional capacity was estimated by oxygen uptake [VO2] during exercise tolerance testing [GXT] before and after CRP. To determine the CRP mechanism and its effects on cardiac output, left ventricular ejection fraction [LVEF] was measured by manual and automatic echocardiography. Heart rate [HR] and blood pressure [BP], as the criteria to evaluate patient's ischemic risk, were measured. All measurements were performed before and after CRP sessions. Functional capacity and VO2 at the maximum stage of the GXT increased significantly for the participants [from 6.67 to 9.92 Metabolic Equivalents, p<0.001]. Patient's LVEF increased significantly, and at rest HR and systolic BP decreased significantly [from 92.86 to 84.40 bpm, p<0.003, and from 113.33 to 104.00 mmHg, p<0.01, respectively] following CRP. No significant difference was noted between before and after CRP at rest diastolic BP [69.33 and 68.66 mmHg, p=0.6]. It is concluded that CRP strategies have positive effects on cardiac output, functional capacity and functional class improvement in patients who undergo aortic and/or mitral valve surgery

Determination and comparison of range - average and perturbation of basic frequency in addition to intensity disturbance in the voice of the patients with unilateral vocal fold paralysis and normal persons

Vocal fold paralysis is one of the relatively prevailing damages causing voice disorder. There is little knowledge about how it impacts different features of people voice. Now it assumes that laboratory measurements may reveal the effects of this complication arising voice disorder. As, there are not authenticated acoustic measures in Iranian Population the voice of affected individuals is compared with the normal persons in this study. In a descriptive - analytical and cross - sectional study 10 male patients of based hospital affected by vocal fold paralysis were monitored and some of acoustic traits of their voice were compared with the control group by use of DR. SPEECH software. The results were analyzed by independent t-test. There were no significant differences in average and extent of frequency alterations during reading sentences. The average of basic frequency perturbation and intensity disturbance in two groups were significantly different. Any damage to vocal folds makes them asymmetric which in turn vibrate two vocal folds with different pitch resulting in two different basic frequencies. Therefore noises arise in patient voice. These noises in our samples were appeared in high frequencies due to increase of maximum basic frequency which this later enhances mean of basic frequency of patient voice. High pitch extent of basic frequency alterations is the result of difference in voice box mechanisms. Frequency disturbance is due to momentary and involuntary changes in vocal system which appears in damaged larynges and asymmetric vocal folds. Vocal pitch perturbation as a sudden involuntary change in sound intensity is affected by sub-glottal air pressure. This pressure is poorly controlled due to injured vocal folds which cause sudden changes in voice intensity

[ importance of phase I cardiac rehabilitation and evaluation of its performance in Tehran city Hospitals]

Few studies related to the importance of inpatient phase of cardiac rehabilitation and the percentage and full execution of phase I during admission have focused on its importance. The main goal of this study is evaluation and discussion about the importance and correct execution of phase I cardiac rehabilitation in Tehran city hospitals. Eleven hospitals among the governmental and nongovernmental ones which have cardiac surgery sections were chosen randomly. To gain the main purpose of study, we used a questionnaire that was prepared according to American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation [AACVPR] guideline. The questionnaires were sent to the heads of the cardiac rehabilitation departments by educated personnel in a two weeks period. These forms contained ten specialized questions with different scores about evaluation of the quality of phase I cardiac rehabilitation performance and attention to it. The scores were used in SPSS software to analysis the data. The results showed that only 10

Knowledge, attitude and practice of native Gilanian students Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, about fascioliasis disease

Health care professional work to solve health problems of the society. This is the duty of health system to identify the gaps in health professionals' competence and asks the medical school to fill the gap. We took one important health problem Fascioliasis and determined the amount of knowledge, attitude and practices of Gilani students studying at Medical University of Schaheed Beheshti, about Fascioliasis disease. This study was carried on 135 male and female Gilani students studying at different degrees in the age range of 18 to 37. The data was gathered by questionnaire surveys and then validated through content validity and reliability by test-retest method. Data analysis was carried out by SPSS and Microsoft Excel soft wares. To examine the correlation between variables, the T-Test and variance analysis test was used. The research findings revealed that the community under study has an average practice. In all three parameters, however, the average scores of females are greater than males. It is recommended to revise the educational programs for the students so that the students of every region become familiar with health problems of their regions