pattern of injuries among the victims of the Bam earthquake

On December 26, 2003 an earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale, shook the city of Bam in the south east of Iran and killed more than 40000 people and nearly 30000 were injured. This is an epidemiological study performed on the victims of Bam earthquake to analyze different types of injuries of patients admitted in Kerman hospitals. In a retrospective cross-sectional study the medical records of 1250 victims of Bam earthquake admitted in Kerman hospitals from December 26, 2003 till 21 March, 2004 were reviewed and general demographic data such as age, sex, date of admission, type and anatomical site of injuries, diagnoses and complications were recorded. More than half of the patients were male. The mean age was 29.28 +/- 11.89 years. Lower limb injuries [40.8%] and pelvic injuries [26.2%] were the most common. The least common injury was chest injury [10.9%]. More than 50% of patients had fractures. There were associations between chest injuries, vertebral column injuries and abdominal injuries and between vertebral column, chest and skull fractures. The numbers of injury and fracture locations for each patient were 0.186 +/- 0.11 and 0.0886 +/- 0.098, respectively. The study of individual factors and associations between different locations of injuries indicates a careful physical examinations and attention to special groups. It is important to use findings of epidemiologic studies on disasters to establish well-organized crisis registration system for the next disasters

satisfaction rate of authors from Journal of Kerman University of Medical Sciences in 2005 and 2006

Scholarly activities as well as growth in Science and technology have been well established as the basis for development in every country. In recent years due to more attention to research the number of research projects and published articles in Iranian and International journals has gained a rapid increase. Therefore, the evaluation of Medical journals as sources of publishing the results of research projects is necessary. This study was performed to assess the satisfaction rate of authors from Journal of Kerman University of Medical Sciences and compare it with their satisfaction rate from other Iranian journals. In this descriptive-analytic study a three-part questionnaire was designed and distributed among corresponding authors whose manuscripts were accepted or were under consideration by Journal of Kerman University of Medical Sciences. The questionnaire's reliability was confirmed by using alpha-Cronbach and validity was confirmed by getting experts opinions. Data analysis was done by using Wilcoxon and Chi-square tests. The response rate was 78.2%; and the mean age of the participants was 43.7 [28-62] years and mean number of their published articles was 18.9 +/- 2.3. In regard to satisfaction rate, 14.8% were very satisfied, 40.7% were satisfied and 44.4% were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. The satisfaction rate of the same authors for other journals was as follows: 14.3% were very satisfied, 35.7% were satisfied, 47.6% were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied and 2.4% were dissatisfied. There was no significant difference in this regard

[Role of gonadectomy in development of hyperalgesia induced by partial sciatic nerve ligation in male mice]

Neuropathic pain arising from sciatic nerve ligation [SNL] injury can result in increased sensitivity to both noxious [hyperalgesia] and non-noxious stimuli [allodynia]. Some research studies have been shown that the mechanisms underlying neuropathic pain processing differed as a function of gender and gonadal hormone status. In this study, we try to show the effects of nerve injury after gonadectomy in time-course of hyperalgesia that has not been extensively studied. 45 albino male mice weighting 25-35 gr were subjected to Intact, Shamoperated, Sciatic Nerve Ligated, Gonadectomized, and Sciatic Nerve Ligated+Gonadectomized groups. The tail flick latency was measured at set intervals 10[th]-20[th] days for 11 days after surgical operation [peripheral nerve injury by left sciatic nerve ligation and gonadectomy] in all groups by tail flick analgesiometer. The gonadectomized mice responded [7.15 +/- 1.8 sec] significantly faster than intact ones [10.78 +/- 1.43 sec] to a thermal nociceptive stimulus [P