[Effect of Kombucha prepared from green tea on blood glucose level and lipid profile in diabetic rats]

Diabetes is chronic and progressive disease in which lipid disorder is one of the common disorders which in turn cause the formation of its short-and long-term effects. This study was aimed to examine effect of Kombucha prepared from green tea on blood glucose and lipid profile in diabetic rats. In the present study, 30 alloxan-induced diabetic wistar rats randomly divided in to three groups: 1] control group, 2] diabetic group receiving green tea and 3] diabetic group receiving Kombucha prepared from green tea. Experimental diabetes in rats was induced by intraperitoneal injection of Aloxan [130 mg/kg]. The animals of groupsgreen tea and Kombucha received respectively green tea and Kombucha [made from green tea] and group1 received water 5 ml/kg by oral gavage daily for four weeks. Then glucose and lipid profile were measured. Compared to control group, Serum glucose levels in groups green tea and kombucha were significantly reduced [respectively p=0.002 and p=0.0001]. Compared with green tea, Kambocha decreased glucose significantly [p=0.050]. Increasing concentrations of HDL in kombucha group in comparison with green tea group was significant [p=0.02] and reduction of total cholesterol and LDL concentration in groups kombucha and green tea in comparison with control group was significant. Meanwhile, decreased average total cholesterol and LDL concentration in kombucha group in comparison with grean tea group was also significan [respectively p= 0.0001 and p =0. 0001]. Use of Kombucha caused a decrease in serum glucose, LDL, total cholesterol and an increase in HDL cholesterolthat this effects are probably because of fermentation process products

[People awareness of hypertension in Golestan province, north of Iran [2006]]

Hypertension is considered as a major public health problem in most countries due to its association with ischemic heart disease. The aim of this study was to determine people awareness of hypertension in Golestan province of Northern Iran. This cross sectional population based study carried out on 2497 subjects [15-65 years old] including 1500 men and 1247 women in Golestan province- Northern Iran during 2006. The subjects were chosen by proportional-cluster sampling based on sex and age groups. The subjects were interviewed, antropometric indexes and serum biochemical factors were evaluated. Blood pressure was measured three times with 5 minutes interval and defined based on JNC-7 classification. Serum cholesterol and fast blood sugar [FBS] were determined using laboratory kits [enzymatic methods], and spectrophotometery technique. Data was analyzed by SPSS-16 software and Chi-Square test. In general, the prevalence of hypertension in this region was 23.9%. With higher rate among women urban area by 3.3% and 5% respectively. Only 48.7% of hypertensive patients were aware of their disease and that was significantly more in women than men [P<0.001]. Low physical activity, chronical age, diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, general obesity, central obesity and illiteracy were the risk factor for hypertension morbidity [P<0.05]. This study showed, in spite of prevalency of hypertension among 20% of subjects in this area only 48.7% of them were aware about their disorder

[Attitude change toward child abuse after educating behavioral intention model to mothers referred to Falavarjan health homes in 2007-2008]

Parents' attitude toward parenting styles is one of the factors that affect how they treat their children. Through enhancing the knowledge, educational interventions can moderate such attitudes. Studying new health educational models is essential for improving the traditional ones. The purpose of this study was to assess mothers' attitude toward child abuse before and after educating the behavioral intention model. This was a quasi-experimental single group before and after study. The sample consisted of 45 mothers with a child abusive attitude randomly selected among the referees to one of the Falavarjan health homes. The Adult-Adolescent Parenting Inventory [AAPI] questionnaire was used to assess their attitude toward parenting style. Data was analyzed using t-paired test via SPSS soft ware. Comparison of pretest and post test scores using paired samples t test indicated statistically significant improvement in attitudes whole mean scores [p < 0.001]. The findings indicate that educating parents may change their attitude toward proper parenting style. Such educations may result in better parenting behaviors and fewer instances of child abuse and neglect

[Intrapleural injection of bupivacaine for control of postoperative pain]

Post-operative pain is an unpleasant experience following various stimuli resulting in a response by the body. This process causes physiological disturbances in all of the systems of the body. In this clinical trial, 60 upper abdominal surgery patients were selected post operatively and divided into two groups of 30 patients each. In one group, bupivacaine intrapleural injection and in the other group, opioid injections were administered in the recovery room. Pain intensity with visual analogous scale was measured 6 hours after the operation. There was no difference in VAS according to patient's age, sex, and type of operation, but in the Bupivacaine injected group, VAS score was significantly lower. Intrapleural injection of bupivacaine is more useful and reliable than opioids for controlling post operative pain

In Vitro antibacterial activity of Shallot [Allium ascalonicum] crude juice

Shallot [Allium hirtifolium Bosis] belongs to genus Liliaceae There is more than 500 species in this genus. Shallot produces a cluster of bulbs from a single planted bulb. This plant has been used as an additive in foods for many years, but there is little study about antibacterial activity of Shallot. The aim of this study was to determine antibacterial activity of Shallot against clinical isolated bacteria. Crude juice of shallot [Allium hirtifolium] was tested for it's growth inhibitory effect on 4 Gram-negative and 2Gram-positive species Minimal inhibitory concentration [MIC] was determined using dilution method. All test organisms were inhibited by shallot juice. The MIC for Gram-negative enteric rods including Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Proteus mirabilis ranged between 78-624 micro /ml. while the MIC for pseudomonas aeruginosa was 20-80mg/ml.The MIC for Gram -positive bacteria including Staphylococcus aureus strains and Staphylococcus epidermidis strains were 156-312 micro /ml and 19.5-78 micro /ml respectively. It is concluded that Crude juice of shallot has antibacterial activity against both gram positive cocci and Gram-negate rods. It is believed that antibacterial activity of shallot depends on its thiosulfinate components

Nurses' clinical thinking and decision making

Nowadays in health care arena, the nurses are confronting with increasingly complicated situation constantly changing. This unreliable and unstable situation requires nurses with ability of decision making. Since decision making became more complex, critical thinking is necessary to use. Regarding the importance of critical thinking and clinical decision making in modern nursing, this study aims to estimate capacities of nurses and to evaluate their relationship. This is why most of the authors believe that critical thinking improves clinical decision making. This research was a cross sectional descriptive correlation study. The study was planed with the purpose of detection of relationship between critical thinking and clinical decision making of nurses in general and intensive care wards. Furthermore, it is to compare nurses of general wards with nurses of intensive ones. This study was conducted on 140 nurses in two groups [70 nurses from general and 70 nurses from intensive wards]. The samples were selected based on stratified random sampling and the data were collected by a questionnaire. This questionnaire was consisted of three parts, demographic characteristics, clinical decision making inventory and California critical thinking skills test. Validity and reliability of the tool were confirmed with content validity, test retest and internal correlation. Data were analyzed with SPSS and descriptive and inferential statistics. Mean score of critical thinking and clinical decision making for intensive care nurses were 10.61 and 63.27 respectively. For general care nurses, they were 10.67 and 61.66 respectively. The results didn't show a difference between mean score of critical thinking in intensive and general ward nurses. Also there was not any difference between mean score of clinical decision making in intensive and general ward nurses. The result didn't show any relationship between critical thinking and clinical decision making of nurses. The findings showed that mean score of nurses' critical thinking is low. The reason can be either due to the defects during training or professional ones during working period. Also, this study didn't show any relationship between critical thinking and clinical decision making. Some experts claim that lack of relationship between critical thinking and clinical decision making is due to lack of an appropriate tool or project to measure them rather than the lack of their relationship