[ effect of stress inoculation program [SIP] on nurses' general health in psychiatric ward]

Stress can negatively affect nurses' general health from psychiatric point of view. Therefore, use of preventive approaches for stress management should be considered necessary. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of stress inoculation program on nurses' general health in psychiatric ward. This experimental pre-test post-test study included 60 nurses and healthcare workers, in Ebne-Sina Psychiatric Hospital in Mashhad. The most important inclusion criteria were: employment in Ebne-Sina Hospital in the last 6 months and not being off work for more than 2 weeks during the last month. Also the most important exclusion criteria were: missing at least 10% of the time of workshop sessions and experiencing serious stress during the study. General Health Questionnaire [GHQ-12] was used for data collection which was completed at the baseline, at the end of the study and 1 month after the intervention. Stress inoculation program included two workshops at one weak interval. Each workshop aimed at reconceptualization, acquisition and application of the skills for 4 hours. S.I.P increased general health scores from 35/5 +/- 3/4 at the baseline to 38/0 +/- 4/4 after intervention and 39/3 +/- 3/3 after 1 month of intervention which showed a significant rise in the score [p<0/005]. In the control group the general health score decreased significantly after intervention and also 1 month of intervention in comparison to the baseline score[p<0/005]. Based on our results, S.I.P is applicable and beneficial for the improvement of the nurses' general health

Evaluation of ginseng on lipid profiles, liver and renal markers in diabetic rats

Diabetes is a metabolic disorder that occurs as a consequence of decrease in insulin secretion or resistance to insulin. Most diabetes related treatments have problems with adverse reactions. Natural therapeutics have been in use from long time ago up to present time. Ginseng is a traditional drug used for treatment of many diseases particularly diabetes. The aim of this study was to find out the effect of oral Ginseng on the serum glucose and other biochemical parameters such as lipid profile. In this study 30 male rats with a body weight of 250 +/- 25 gr and age of 4-6 months was used. Each animal was housed under controlled temperature [21 +/- 2 C] and standard conditions with free access to food and water. Blood test was carried out to measure glucoses and other biochemical parameters such as cholesterol, TG, ALT, AST and BUN. Animals were equally divided into three groups; 1-control group, 2-the STZ-induced-diabetes [60 mg/kg] group, 3- the STZ-induced-diabetes [60 mg/kg] and 150 mg/kg oral ginseng. The study was lasted for 6 weeks. Blood samples were taken and tested for glucoses and other parameters. The average blood sugar in the control group was 131.1 +/- 7.9 mg/dl, but it was higher than 550mg/dl in streptozocine- received group. In group 3, which received ginseng, blood sugar decreased up to 50%. Cholestrol decreased up to 40% in the treatment group. Among the measured parameters HDL showed a 50%decrease in treatment group in comparison with diabetic group. AST and ALT values between the control and treatment groups did not show a significant difference. BUN values decreased from 71.6 +/- 6.6 in diabetic group to 50.1 +/- 5.7 mg dl in the treatment group. The results of this study revealed that ginseng can be considered as a substance which decreases blood glucoses, reduces diabetes adverse reactions, and consequently diminishing blood lipids in animal model. However, to apply these results to human, further studies are needed to be carried out

[Effect of acupressure on labor pain intensity]

Childbirth is a painful experience for most of women. Acupressure is a noninvasive method that has been suggested for labor pain relief. The aim of present study was to determine the effect of acupressure on labor pain relief among parturient women in Kamali hospital in city of Karadj, near Tehran in year 2006. This double-blind randomized clinical trial was performed on 128 women in labor admitted with cervical dilatation of 3 cm. They were randomly assigned to intervention group with 30 minutes of acupressure on SP-6 point or comparison group with SP-6 point touch for 30 minutes. Visual analogue scale assessments were used to measure labor pain in both groups and to compare the results in several stages: before intervention, immediately after intervention, 30 minutes after intervention, and then every hour until the end of the first stage of labor. Differences of pain intensity as measured in different stages within each group were also compared with each other. None of the above-mentioned comparisons showed a significant difference, except for significant difference in pain intensity as measured at different stages within each group, which indicated increasing pain intensity from immediately after intervention through the end of the first stage of labor in both groups [p<0.0001]. These finding showed that SP-6 point acupressure alone cannot effectively relieve labor pain and needs to be accompanied with other noninvasive analgesic methods

Distribution of blood groups among population in the city of Machhad [North East of Iran]

To determine the percentage of ABO and Rhesus blood groups among population of the city of Mashhad. The blood groups of studied population was performed using routine method of blood grouping. Eight hundred sixty-seven subjects aged 8 Year and above including 436 male and 431 female. The subjects were randomly selected from 20 different areas of the city of Mashhad. The results showed that the percentage of blood groups A, B, AB and O among studied population was 23.1%, 23.3%, 8.9% and 34.7% respectively. 88.71% of studied population was rhesus positive and 11.3% rhesus negative. This study revealed the percentage of different blood groups for the population of the city of Mashhad that was significantly different with those of several other studies