Teaching emotional intelligence to intensive care unit nurses and their general health: a randomized clinical trial

Emotion and how people manage it is an important part of personality that would immensely affect their health. Investigations showed that emotional intelligence is significantly related to and can predict psychological health. To determine the effect of teaching emotional intelligence to intensive care unit nurses on their general health. This randomized clinical trial [registered as IRCT201208022812N9] was conducted on 52 of 200 in intensive care unit nurses affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. They were recruited through purposeful convenience sampling and then randomly categorized into two groups. The intervention group members were trained in emotional intelligence. Bar-on emotional intelligence and Goldberg's general health questionnaires were administered to each participant before, immediately after, and one month after the intervention. While the mean score of general health for the intervention group decreased from 25.4 before the intervention, to 18.1 immediately after the intervention and to 14.6 one month later, for the control group, it increased from 22.0, to 24.2 and to 26.5, respectively [p<0.001]. Teaching emotional intelligence improved the general health of intensive care unit nurses

randomized, double-blind, placebo - controlled study of safety of the adjunctive saffron on sexual dysfunction induced by a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor

Recent studies have indicated potential of saffron for applying in a wide variety of diseases such as psychiatric and neurologic disorders. The concurrent use of saffron with SSRIs can lead to reducing the dose of SSRIs. Saffron at a dose of 200 mg may change some hematological and biochemical parameters. The goal of this trial was to assess the safety of concomitant administration of saffron and SSRI in patients with major depressive disorder [MDD]. Twenty adult outpatients between 18 to 55 years-old with the diagnosis of MDD who were receiving an SSRI for at least 1 month prior to the initiation of the study entered this double-blind trial. They were randomly assigned to receive capsule of saffron [15 mg twice daily] or placebo. Some laboratory parameters were measured at baseline and week 4 of the study. Other side effects checked on a prepared list of side effects, were systematically recorded throughout the study at baseline and on a weekly basis. Saffron as an add-on medication to SSRIs for 4 weeks did not cause any statistically significant changes in laboratory parameters including AST, ALT, ALP, BUN, Cr., FBS, TG, TC, WBC, RBC, Hgb, Ht, PT, INR, and Pl count. This preliminary study provides safety evidences of concurrent intake of saffron and SSRI

[Evaluation of matrix metaloproteinase 2 [MMP2] activity in contact nickel dermatitis using zymoanalysis in comparison to normal individuals]

Matrix Metaloproteinases [MMPs], produced mainly by fibroblasts, play a major role in wound healing processes. This study aimed to investigate the MMP2 activity in dermal fibroblasts found in chronic contact nickel dermatitis lesions. In order to study the role of MMP2 in contact nickel dermatitis, fibroblast from patients and healthy individuals were cultured based on ex-plantation of skin. MMP2 activity was measured in fibroblast culture media using zymoanalysis. Zymograms were then analyzed by quantitative densitometry. MTT assay was also used to evaluate and compare proliferation capacity of fibroblasts in both cell cultures. The mean MMP2 activity 6-8 days after ex-plantation was significantly higher in patients fibroblasts than in normal individuals [170 +/- 9.2 and 134.3 +/- 5.9 in patients and normals, respectively [p < 0.05]. The proliferation capacity of patients' fibroblasts was significantly higher than that of normal cases [385938 +/- 2816 and 270261 +/- 6527 respectively, p < 0.05] in the same days. Our study shows a significant increase in degenerative activity of fibroblasts in nickel dermatitis lesions. It was also seen that the MMP2 activity per cell was significantly higher in patients' fibroblasts compared to healthy individuals and that gelatinolytic activity of MMP2 is independent of cell number. Therefore, intra-and inter-cellular signals may be altered in fibroblasts of nickel dermatitis lesions which lead to promotion of fibroblast response to mitogenic and fibrogenic stimulations

[Effect of repairing and medication on treatment of perforation of peptic ulcer]

Background and Objective: Perforation of peptic ulcer is a common complication that its treatment needs several surgical methods [Repairing, vagotomy and anterectomy]. These methods in spite of technical difficulties and complications do not exclude the helicobacter pylori. This study was performed to evaluate the efficacy of simple repairing with anti-acid and anti-helicobacter agents in treatment of perforation of peptic ulcer

Case: This study was performed on 10 cases with perforated peptic ulcer. After simple closure of perforation, all patients were treated by metronidazole, amoxicillin, cimetidine, bismuth, omeprazole. After 6 weeks of treatment, an endoscopic examination was performed. All patients were treated completely by this method

Conclusion: According to the results, simple surgical repairing of perforation in addition to administration of anti-acid and anti-helicobacter treatment is sufficient for therapy of perforation of peptic ulcers

[Study of the existence of neoantigens in affected hair follicles using lymphocyte transformation test in alopecia areata and healthy persons]

Background: Alopecia areata is a common, inflamatory and chronic disease of hair and nails, which in some cases result in growth inhibition and lose of hairs. Several factors such as genetic factors, autoimmunity, atopy, stress, fear etc, are known as effective factors in induction and severity of the disease, but the ethiology of this disease is not known exactly so far. Some evidences such as presence of an autoantibodies against hair follicules and infiltration of immunocompetent cells in affected areas of the disease lead that most investigators classify alopecia as autoimmune disease. In one investigation in immunology department of Tarbiat Modarres university concerning the humoral immunity in alopecia pathogenesis some evidences were found for the presences of a neoantigen in affected hair follicles. Since various studies indicates that cellular arm of the immune system is more important in alopecia areata pathogenesis, in this investigation we studied the existence of neoantigens in affected hair follicles using lymphocyte transformation test [LTT]

Materials and Methods: The proliferation responses of peripheral blood mononuclear cells [MNC] from alopecia patients and normal individuals were investigated against the follicular extracts of affected and normal hairs separately

Results: Our results indicate a non significant difference between proliferation responses of MNC's from alopecia patients and normal controls against follicular extract of normal hairs. These responses were not significantly different against folliclar extracts of affected hairs as well. Regarding our results

Conclusion: We could not show the existence of a neoantigen in alopecia hair follicles, but the obtained results can not completely reject the role of a neoantigen in alopecia pathogenesis as well, because in LTT the responding cells are of memory type and these cells may be very low in peripheral blood. The immune response in this disease may be restricted to affected areas such as hair follicles, so non-different proliferation response of peripheral blood lymphocytes can not exactly reflect the quality of immune response in affected areas. More investigations are needed to clear this matter