[ relationship between self-esteem and depression in nursing students of a selected medical university in Tehran]

Medical students, especially army university students are considered as being under high risk for mental disorders. This study investigated the relationship between self-esteem and depression in nursing students of a selected medical university in Tehran. In this descriptive-analytical survey, 130 nursing students of a selected medical university in Tehran were selected. Data collection tools were: A researcher-made demographic information questionnaire, the 21-item Beck Depression questionnaire, and 58-question Cooper Smith self Esteem Questionnaire. After entering the data into SPSS version 18 and using the Liker method for scoring options in the questionnaire, data analysis was made according to SPSS software and descriptive-analytical statistics [Chi-square]. The results showed that%24.3 of students had moderate to severe depression. Also%56.1 had a low self-esteem. Chi-square tests showed significant differences between depression and self-esteem in the assessed units [P<0.05]. Given that a significant difference existed between the level of self-esteem and depression and upon increasing self-esteem, the scores of depression decreases, it, therefore is possible to use methods of enhancing self-esteem to improve students' mental health

[Comparative study of topiramate versus sodium valproate in the prevention of migraine headaches]

Migraine prevention is a major step in control and decreasing frequency of this severe and disabling type of headache. Current study was performed to determine the comparative efficacy of topiramate and sodium valproate in the management of migraine headache. In this double-blind randomized clinical trial, among patients attending to Amir-al-momenin hospital between 2006 and 2007, 285 patients [50.1%] received sodium valproate with a dose of 200 mg/day and 284 subjects [49.9%] received topiramate with a dose of 100 mg/day for one month. 262 patients [91.9%] in sodium valproate group and 266 subjects [93.7%] in topiramate group had good response to treatment [NS]. In sodium valproate group, 40 patients [14%] and in topiramate group, 41 subjects [14.4%] experienced drug adverse effects [NS]. According to lack of statistically significant differences between therapeutic efficacy and adverse effects of sodium valproate and topiramate, both modalities may be indicated upon with patient's conditions and physician's opinion

Predicting the mortality risk of ICU patients in Booali hospital using APACHE III system

The ability to estimate the mortality risk, especially in costing setting like ICU, is of great importance in order to evaluate new treatments, resource consumption control and improve quality control. Acute physiology and chronic health evaluation system [APACHE] is developed to predict critical care outcomes. In this system, according to the setting, a score is considered for each patients. Then using an equation, predicted mortality risk for each patients could be estimated. In a prospective study, we observed 269 ICU patients over a 10-month period. We calculated APACHE III scores for each patient and predicted mortality risk. Accuracy of the results were checked with regression analysis. Totally, 51.7% of patients were female while the mean age was 61.2 years. APACHE III average score was 60.6. Predicted mortality risk was 25.6% while actual death rate was 27.1%, therefore, SMR [actual death rate to predicted mortality risk ratio] was 1.05. Results revealed an association between actual death rate and APACHE III score and patient's age [P =0.0001], however, sex and death rate were not statistically correlated. The obtained SMR represents direct linear association between predicted and actual death rate [P=0.0001]